Peter McCallion, son of Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, waits for the City of Mississauga Judicial inquiry to begin, July 27, 2010.J.P. Moczulski for The Globe and Mail
A judge has asked Mississauga city council to consider giving more money to the son of its mayor to help pay his legal fees, but denied his request to postpone a judicial inquiry indefinitely.
The inquiry is probing a failed deal to build a hotel and convention centre near Mississauga city hall. Peter McCallion, son of Mayor Hazel McCallion, had a stake in the project and the mayor's critics have accused her of a conflict-of-interest because she backed the deal.
The city earlier agreed to spend up to $150,000 to foot Mr. McCallion's legal bills. His lawyers argued that he had exhausted this money weeks ago and requested that Commissioner Douglas Cunningham, who is presiding at the inquiry, ask the city to pay as much as $250,000 more. Mr. McCallion also requested that the inquiry be postponed until the city could offer him more funding.
In his ruling Friday, Commissioner Cunningham said that for Mr. McCallion to participate fully in the inquiry, he needed to have appropriate legal representation and urged city council to consider granting him additional funds.
However, he decided the inquiry would continue as scheduled regardless of the city's decision, suggesting that scrapping it now would be a waste of the money already spent on it.
"There are seven parties in this Inquiry, and the citizens of Mississauga have expended significant resources and are entitled to my findings of fact and my recommendations," he wrote. "The only jurisdiction I have is to make recommendations to the municipality, and it would not be appropriate to hold the hearing hostage until City Council takes specific action."
The inquiry has heard evidence off and on for months. It is set to hear testimony from a handful more witnesses plus final submissions from the various parties involved.
Adrian Morrow