Producer Garth Drabinsky Fights to Block Removal from Order of Canada

According to court documents, in November the Advisory Committee of the Order of Canada brought forward a recommendation to Governor General David Johnston that would strip former Livent executive Garth Drabinksy of his Order of Canada.

Now, Drabinsky is fighting back. Published reports confirm that on Thursday Drabisnky filed an application in federal courts to block the termination. In his application, he claims that a criminal conviction should not be cause for removal of the prestigious honor.

Read the full report here.

According to the application, Drabinksy was released to a half-way house in Toronto on February 13, 2013 as part of his five-year sentence which began in September 2011. Even during his trial, the arts producer acted as artistic director for the BlackCreek Music Festival in 2011 and produced the film 'Barrymore' starring Christopher Plummer.

Drabinsky and his business partner Myron Gottlieb were convicted of two counts of fraud in 2009 after misreporting Livent's quarterly financial statements after the company went public, from 1993 to 1998. Gottlieb received a four-year sentence and has since been released on parole.

Livent was one of North America's biggest live theatre companies in the 1990s but has since gone out of business. The company had produced such Broadway shows as Ragtime, Showboat, The Phantom of the Opera and Kiss of the Spider Woman.