OTTAWA — The Canadian Press Published on Thursday, Jul. 24, 2008 3:26PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 8:22PM EDT
The federal Conservative party has lost a last-minute bid to enter new evidence in its Federal Court lawsuit against Elections Canada.
A court official dismissed the motion from two Tory campaign agents.
They wanted to submit new affidavits in response to the agency's explanation of why it refused to reimburse 67 candidates for $1.3-million worth of campaign advertising.
The court official set a deadline in late August for the Conservatives to file final submissions.
It gave Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand until early October for a final submission, leaving the settlement of a hearing date for the final stage.
But the Conservatives have 10 days to serve notice the party will appeal the decision to a federal court judge.
That could further prolong the court case the Tories launched in May 2007.
The expenses are also under investigation by the federal elections commissioner and subject to an inquiry by the Commons ethics committee.
As it stands, procedural clerk Miereille Tabib, a lawyer and officer of the court, gave the Conservatives until Aug. 29 for their final submission. Mr. Mayrand has until Oct. 10 to respond to it with his final submission.
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