Official complaint lodged in Osgoode race over anonymous website

A website calling for voters to mark their ballots against oneOsgoodeward candidate in the municipal election isviolating the rules for third-party advertisers, according to a complaint filed with the city clerk.

The website WhoIsJay.ca appears to have been created to discourage voters from marking their ballot for Jay Tysick, a known conservative political activist who joined the race on July 27, the last day to register to run.

Tysick is taking on Kim Sheldrick, Mark Scharfe, Auguste Banfalvi andone-term incumbent GeorgeDarouze.

According to a post on WhoIsJay.ca,seven unnamed individuals are responsible for the site, which makes a number of statements about Tysick including that he is pro-life and wasn't allowed to run for a Progressive Conservative candidate nomination in the recent provincial election.

The website clearly states that Tysick "does not belong in any political position, especially in Osgoodeward 20."

Under new rules brought in for the first time during this election, the website could be considered third-party advertising.

If that's the case, that's a problem for the site's creators third-party advertisers are required to register with Elections Ottawa before any activity, and the folks behind WhoIsJay.ca didn't do that.

Jol Charbonneau, a Tysick supporter, filed a complaint about the site on Friday, arguing that the site violated the rules.

City clerk Rick O'Connor confirmed Saturday the complaint had beenlodged, but had no further comment.

New rules forads

Under the Ontario Municipal Elections Act, third-party advertising refers not just to signs and traditional ads, but also to "materials that support, promote or oppose a candidate.

As well, third-party advertisers are not supposed to be in any contact with a candidate in the election. This sort of advertisement whether it's an expression of support or opposition has to be separate from the candidate's campaign and cannot be "under a candidate's direction," according to the act.

Five parties registered with the city elections office before the Friday, Oct. 19 deadline, but none of them are involved with WhoIsJay.ca.

A third-party advertiser is also supposed to have a legally recognized name, whether it's an individual, a corporation or a trade union, and keep campaign records that it must submit to officials after the election.

Hosted by community association president

Tysick told CBC News he was made aware of the website about a week ago.

"I don't agree with this kind of campaigning," he said, calling it a "smear" campaign.

He also said he found it "disturbing" that the people involved in the website were not identifying themselves.

Charbonneau's complaint stated that the website is being hosted by Adam Sooley, who is also the president of the Greely Community Association.

Sooley confirmed to CBC that his company was hosting the site but said he was not involved with it andwould "not reveal" who hisclients are.

He also confirmed that he was hosting the re-election website for Darouze, the incumbent councillor.

By 9 p.m. Saturday, the site had been taken down, replaced with a message saying in part that "we know all information that was here is available through different sources online."

Darouze could not be reached for comment.