We are into week three of the Dean Del Mastro trial, and
have finally arrived at the moment many have been waiting for: Mr. Del Mastro,
MP for Peterborough, has taken the stand in his own defence.
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| Dean Del Mastro |
Under examination from his lawyer, Jeff Ayotte, Del Mastro
took a walk down memory lane, explaining that he had to return to Peterborough
from his studies at the University of Windsor after his father died in the
winter months of 1994.
“I would have graduated that spring, but was called back,”
he said. “Those were Rae Days. It was hard for a 23-year-old white guy to get a
job.”
The Crown alleges that Del Mastro and his agent for the 2008
campaign, Richard McCarthy, went over their campaign spending limit, and then
covered it up. Central to the Crown’s case is a $21,000 personal cheque from
Del Mastro to Ottawa polling firm Holinshed – well over the $2,100 personal
limited and, if within the writ period, putting the campaign over, too.
We didn’t get that far on Wednesday, though. It was slow going
out the gate with Del Mastro who, for some unknown reason, felt the need to use
the court’s time – estimated by defence counsel Ayotte to be costing taxpayers
$7,000 a day – describing his natural facility for selling cars.
“I never used a single sales technique you will see in a
sales book,” he said. “I have never been lower than in the second sales spot at
any point in my career.”
We heard that Del Mastro’s career began at Kawartha Dodge
Chrysler, where his father had been general manager, then to Russelle Toyota. After
that he “fulfilled his father’s dream” by opening his own dealership. What
followed was a string of successes: landing Suzuki in 1997, becoming the youngest
top Suzuki seller in 1999, and the youngest ever chairman of the Suzuki Advisory
Board in 2001.
Del Mastro was full of bromides about growing up in a poor,
hardworking family,
"My family is a glass is half empty family,” he said (sic). “And
I am a glass is half full person."
To barely-concealed looks of dismay from Justice Lisa Cameron,
Del Mastro then went on to say something about how “he is the straw that stirs
the drink,” apparently alluding to his ability to bring "positive change" to Peterborough.
During the afternoon Ayotte kept trying to keep Del Mastro
on track, directing testimony to Del Mastro’s spending habits in the 2006,
2008, and 2011 campaigns.
“I won by seven votes on the sixth ballot for the 2006 nomination,”
he said. “For that election I had to draw on my personal line of credit.”
Del Mastro, who completed his university degree in 2008,
described himself as a “bit of a savant” with statistics. When kept on topic by
Ayotte, Del Mastro showed a detailed and at times impressive knowledge of the
spending and strategic decisions behind his three successful campaigns.
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| Crown prosecutor Brendan Gluckman |
According to Del Mastro’s evidence, the Conservative Party
offered him only limited support, and his lack of access to the Party’s “Blue
Program” – which provided targeted assistance to campaigns – in 2008 was not a
crisis, as Holinshed’s Frank Hall previously indicated.
“The benefit [of the Blue Program] is not as much as people
might think,” he said, later adding that it was “simply not true” that, as
stated by Frank Hall in earlier testimony, Del Mastro placed a “panicked” call
to Hall after learning that he had been dropped from the program.
The reason for this testimony, one assumes, is to indicate
that Del Mastro was in no need of the help of Frank Hall’s firm, Holinshed.
In the past four days we have seen a stream of witnesses, among them: forensic
expert and RCMP Corporal David Connors; former Holinshed employee David
Pennylegion; Tom Rittwage, who worked with former Holinshed client Rick
Norlock, the Conservative MP for Northumberland – Quinte West; Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews; Kevin Lo, a forensic
computer expert for the defence; as well as fellow Conservative and former Del
Mastro advisor, Alan Wilson.
So far, this testimony has some common themes: first, it is
possible for an individual to corrupt data and to have altered correspondence; and second, that person would
have to be the nefarious Frank Hall, who was so bitter at Del Mastro’s refusal
to pay him, and at the loss of Conservative clients (which led in whole or in
part to the failure of his polling business) that he went complaining to Elections
Canada and, while he was at it, proceeded to falsify documents and perjure
himself.
Oh, and third, if Hall is not an evil mastermind, then Del
Mastro might be guilty.
On Wednesday morning Alan Wilson testified that the
Peterborough Electoral District Association (EDA) had purchased “part of” Holinshed’s
GeoVote software, which can be used outside of election periods. This, one
assumes, could be part of the defence’s explanation for the $21,000 personal cheque
from Del Mastro to Hall.
Del Mastro faces four charges, and McCarthy three. Each
charge brings a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine and one year in jail. The
Crown confirmed these charges to La
politica on Wednesday, but would not comment on a likely sentence should
there be convictions. However, in the case of guilty verdicts, it is La politica’s understanding that jail
time would be highly unlikely.
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
A reverse timeline of the Dean Del Mastro trial:
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
A reverse timeline of the Dean Del Mastro trial:
July 10: Perjury a near certainty at Del Mastro trial
July 2: Note to Del Mastro defence: attacking this witness was bad math
June 23: Defence and crown battle over evidence admissibility on first day of Del Mastro trialJuly 2: Note to Del Mastro defence: attacking this witness was bad math
I, myself, am a glass full kind of person.
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I, myself, am a full of glass kind of person
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