Conservative flyers 'clearly defamatory,' judge rules

[JaysFan]

Toronto-area Liberal MP wins injunction against Tory rival

Conservative candidate's flyers 'clearly defamatory,' judge rules

Last Updated: Monday, October 13, 2008 | 12:25 PM ET

The Canadian Press

A Toronto Liberal incumbent has won a court injunction against his Conservative rival ordering him and his campaign to pull a defamatory campaign flyer that alleges he has a poor attendance record.

Ontario Superior Court Justice George Strathy ruled Sunday that Conservative candidate Axel Kuhn and his staff must stop publishing and distributing a brochure that makes false claims about Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

The pamphlet claims Wrzesnewskyj skipped dozens of parliamentary committee meetings, but the Liberal incumbent for the riding of Etobicoke Centre said he's only a full-time member of one of the six committees listed in the brochure.

In his ruling, the judge wrote that the words in Kuhn's flyer are "clearly defamatory."

"They imply that the plaintiff has been derelict in his duties as a member of Parliament and that he does not deserve to be paid his salary," Strathy wrote. "Based upon the sworn evidence of the plaintiff, the words cannot be justified."

In a statement released after the ruling, Wrzesnewskyj defended his record in Parliament and called on Kuhn to withdraw his candidacy ahead of Tuesday's election.

"The Conservative candidate and the Conservative Party of Canada have made blatantly false statements about my voting record and attendance in the House of Commons and at committee meetings," Wrzesnewskyj said.

"He's dropping flyers with these statements on Thanksgiving weekend just before the election knowing that there's a virtual impossibility to respond."

In the injunction papers, Wrzesnewskyj alleges that Kuhn's campaign team distributed tens of thousands of the brochures in the riding and that the Liberal candidate only found out about it this weekend after his campaign was contacted about the claims made in the document.

The Conserative candidate's campaign was not immediately available for comment

Source

Edited October 13, 2008 by JaysFan

[jdobbin]

Kind of dirty pool. Even in an election, certain types of statements can still be defamatory.

[Argus]

Kind of dirty pool. Even in an election, certain types of statements can still be defamatory.

Is there any insult which has not been heaped upon Conservatives by the opposition in this election? Any suggestion which has not been made about their patriotism, their motivation, their morality? Kelly McParland went over two press releases from Bob Rae and Elizabeth May the other day and summed them up thusly:

So let’s add up the insults and personal attacks contained here: Mr. Harper is immoral, unethical, duplicitous, dishonest, cold-hearted, manipulative, disrespectful, incompetent, congenitally secretive, undemocratic, partisan, a cheap-shot artist who regularly resorts to low blows, insensitive, out of touch and unCanadian.

Oh, and a disgrace.

Did I miss any? No, I think I got them all. That’s just from two press releases ..

So some tory candidate probably saw Wrzesnewskyj's membership on these committees and counted his attendance and came to the wrong conclusion. Dumb of them to not check better, but that hardly reflects on the entire party.

I might add that you guys have been sniveling before when the Tories go to the courts, but you apparently don't have the slightest problem when Liberals do it.

[Bryan]

Is there any insult which has not been heaped upon Conservatives by the opposition in this election? Any suggestion which has not been made about their patriotism, their motivation, their morality? Kelly McParland went over two press releases from Bob Rae and Elizabeth May the other day and summed them up thusly:

So let’s add up the insults and personal attacks contained here: Mr. Harper is immoral, unethical, duplicitous, dishonest, cold-hearted, manipulative, disrespectful, incompetent, congenitally secretive, undemocratic, partisan, a cheap-shot artist who regularly resorts to low blows, insensitive, out of touch and unCanadian.

Oh, and a disgrace.

Did I miss any? No, I think I got them all. That’s just from two press releases ..

So some tory candidate probably saw Wrzesnewskyj's membership on these committees and counted his attendance and came to the wrong conclusion. Dumb of them to not check better, but that hardly reflects on the entire party.

I might add that you guys have been sniveling before when the Tories go to the courts, but you apparently don't have the slightest problem when Liberals do it.

So, should Harper sue the opposition for defamation once the election is over? I think he should.

[independent]

So, should Harper sue the opposition for defamation once the election is over? I think he should.

Harper has the same right as anyone else. As long as the government does not have too pay. There is no excuse for defamation by any party. In this case the judge ruled "clearly defamatory".

[kengs333]

So let’s add up the insults and personal attacks contained here: Mr. Harper is immoral, unethical, duplicitous, dishonest, cold-hearted, manipulative, disrespectful, incompetent, congenitally secretive, undemocratic, partisan, a cheap-shot artist who regularly resorts to low blows, insensitive, out of touch and unCanadian.

Most of these can't be considered "insults," though.

[kengs333]

So, should Harper sue the opposition for defamation once the election is over? I think he should.

I believe that would fall under the category of "undemocratic". Not only would he be muzzling his own MPs, this would constitute an attempt to muzzle the opposition as well. It's shocking that you would even suggest that he do so. Again, it's a perfect example of how some of you are borderline fascists.

[Topaz]

Most of these can't be considered "insults," though.

What was that quote from "A few good men" You can't handle the truth. Well in Conservatives case they don't want the voters to know the truth and they play as low as they can get. Just look at the the last election. They shifted money to the locals just to take in back and use it for Fed. use when they KNEW they couldn't do it! The simple truth IS , they lie, cheat, they attack the person who tries to show them they are wrong, by degrading them. The Cons should ended up #3, were the NDP were until they grow up and get better manners and character for Parliament!

[jdobbin]

I might add that you guys have been sniveling before when the Tories go to the courts, but you apparently don't have the slightest problem when Liberals do it.

Think I've said that already that I think most matters should be settled in the House of Commons. I was not happy when Dion sued Duceppe and was happy when he dropped the lawsuit.

Perhaps Harper will stop snivelling now.

[Shakeyhands]

Perhaps Harper will stop snivelling now.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA................. no seriously....hahaha

[Bryan]

I believe that would fall under the category of "undemocratic". Not only would he be muzzling his own MPs, this would constitute an attempt to muzzle the opposition as well. It's shocking that you would even suggest that he do so. Again, it's a perfect example of how some of you are borderline fascists.

What's undemocratic is the opposition outright lying in almost every ad, giving the public an "everbody knows" perception regarding things that are complete fabrications.

What's shocking is that anyone would support their leaders doing such things. Absolutely they should be sued for lying. I'd even donate to the legal fund if such a suit went forward.

[kengs333]

What's undemocratic is the opposition outright lying in almost every ad, giving the public an "everbody knows" perception regarding things that are complete fabrications.

What's shocking is that anyone would support their leaders doing such things. Absolutely they should be sued for lying. I'd even donate to the legal fund if such a suit went forward.

Sue the Liberals for lying while Harper is the biggest bald face liar of them all!?!?!?! Hypocracy.

[noahbody]

Kind of dirty pool. Even in an election, certain types of statements can still be defamatory.

How would you characterize the following comments by Wayne Easter now that we know the program originated with the Liberals and Easter had direct knowledge of that?

“Today we learn that as a result of the Harper government’s ideological preference for deregulation, the country’s listeriosis crisis was far worse than it had to be,” said Mr. Easter.

“Increasingly the Conservatives’ campaign of misinformation about their changes to our food safety system is being exposed. They undermined Canada’s food safety system and the results were devastating. It’s time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mr. Ritz to come clean and admit to their actions.”

[jdobbin]

“Today we learn that as a result of the Harper government’s ideological preference for deregulation, the country’s listeriosis crisis was far worse than it had to be,” said Mr. Easter.

“Increasingly the Conservatives’ campaign of misinformation about their changes to our food safety system is being exposed. They undermined Canada’s food safety system and the results were devastating. It’s time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mr. Ritz to come clean and admit to their actions.”

Sounds like a political opinion rather or do you not see the difference?

Given what the union and some independent observers said two days ago, it does sound like Harper made ideological decision on food inspection. They dispute the story that 200 food inspectors were hired.

[cybercoma]

I believe that would fall under the category of "undemocratic". Not only would he be muzzling his own MPs, this would constitute an attempt to muzzle the opposition as well. It's shocking that you would even suggest that he do so. Again, it's a perfect example of how some of you are borderline fascists.

So you believe it was despicable for this Liberal candidate to muzzle the opposition, right?

[JaysFan]

So you believe it was despicable for this Liberal candidate to muzzle the opposition, right?

What was despicable was for the Conservative candidate to openly lie and publish defamatory flyers about his opponent.

It's sad in a pathetic kind of way that the Conservative candidate felt that he had to resort to those tactics.

He must have been feeling extremely desperate about his chances.

[TCCK]

Conservative supporter or not THIS WAS RONG and he should be punished!!