VAUGHAN, Ont. - Former provincial police commissioner Julian Fantino can expect a heated campaign as the Conservative candidate in an upcoming Ontario byelection -- and not just from his political opponents.
A group calling itself Conservatives Against Fantino says it will hold protests outside Fantino's campaign office over five days leading up to the Nov. 29 byelection in Vaughan, north of Toronto.
The group says it has registered with Elections Canada to become a third party, which allows it to spend up to $3,765 in advertising to promote or oppose candidates in the Vaughan byelection.
A news release about Conservatives Against Fantino was sent by Gary McHale, who has been a vocal critic of the provincial police force's conduct during an ongoing aboriginal occupation in Caledonia, Ont.
Fantino has accused McHale of being an agitator who provoked confrontations and baited police, while McHale accuses Fantino and his former force of two-tier policing in Caledonia favouring the aboriginal occupiers.
Byelections will also be held Nov. 29 in the Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette and Winnipeg North ridings in Manitoba.
McHale was charged in December 2007 with counselling mischief not committed over a protest in Caledonia that month that turned violent. The charge was later stayed, but not before McHale called Fantino to testify at a preliminary inquiry and grilled him on the stand.
McHale had also filed a private information against Fantino which resulted in the then-commissioner facing one count of influencing or attempting to influence municipal officials. McHale alleged that Fantino instructed the mayor and councillors in Caledonia -- in an April 2007 email -- not to attend McHale's rallies.
Those charges were eventually withdrawn by the Crown.
Vaughan was previously held for the past 22 years by Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua, who was elected mayor of Vaughan last month.
Fantino is also the former police chief of York Region, which encompasses Vaughan.
