Patricia "Patti" Starr (November 18, 1941 — April 3, 2024) was an administrator, novelist, and fundraiser best known for her role in the Patti Starr affair, a political donations scandal that tainted the credibility of David Peterson's Ontario government in the 1980s and contributed to its defeat in the 1990 Ontario general election.
[1] In February 1989, The Globe and Mail published an article that said that the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada had made contributions to political parties in contravention of the federal Income Tax Act.
Gordon Murray, a director at Revenue Canada said that she was mistaken and that charities were specifically barred from contributions to partisan political causes.
Starr successfully argued that an inquiry investigating criminal charges would deny subjects their full legal rights.
She was charged with defrauding the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture in collecting $350,000 more than her organization was entitled to in grants for renovations to its offices.
[9] Starr felt unfairly singled out by the affair and launched a lawsuit against Peterson, his adviser Vince Borg, Attorney-General Ian Scott, the province and the cabinet for $3 million in damages for negligence, defamation, malicious prosecution and abuse of power.
Justice Ted Wren and Crown Prosecutor Peter Griffiths agreed with Mrs. Starr’s counsel, Peter West, now superior court Judge West, on the statement of facts that included the following comments by Justice Wren presented in an open courtroom to the media and the public present: “Notwithstanding there was no personal financial benefit to Mrs. Starr and her colleagues were surely aware of her activities on their behalf, an example must be made as a general deterrent to the public because of the high profile of this case”.
[12] The "Patti Starr Affair" as it was called in the press was one of the contributing factors that led to the Liberal government's defeat in the 1990 provincial election.
The decision has been cited repeatedly in other similar situations including the Westray Mine disaster of 1992 and the Algo Centre Mall collapse in Elliot Lake in 2012.