A lawyer for former Alberta premier Jason Kenney was in courtroom Friday arguing {that a} defamation case in opposition to him must be dismissed.
Kenney and the Alberta authorities are named within the lawsuit filed by a number of environmental teams: Environmental Defence, West Coast Environmental Regulation, Stand.earth, Dogwood and the Wilderness Committee.
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The lawsuit stems from the findings of the general public inquiry into anti-Alberta power campaigns and feedback made by Kenney.
The teams declare statements made by Kenney and the provincial authorities “instantly contradict the findings of the ultimate report of the Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Power Campaigns” and that each events “refuse to retract statements and difficulty an apology to succeed in out.”
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The teams declare that statements made within the province’s “key findings” doc — repeated by Kenney — are defamatory as a result of they “allege that environmental teams have intentionally unfold ‘misinformation’ about Alberta’s oil and gasoline business” even though the investigation’s commissioner, Steve Allan, didn’t make such a discovering.
Allan’s Alberta investigative report discovered no organized marketing campaign of misinformation.
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These statements appeared on a authorities web site, in addition to Kenney’s Fb web page and Twitter feed.
Kenney’s protection says there is no such thing as a defamation as a result of his feedback don’t determine any of the teams that introduced the lawsuit.
“The net web page, the Fb put up and the tweet refer and can’t moderately seek advice from the plaintiffs, as alleged or in any respect,” says the assertion of defence, filed March 2022 in Edmonton Court docket of Queen’s Bench.
“The Key Findings doc doesn’t allege that any of those organizations disseminated misinformation, or in any other case point out that they participated within the decade-long marketing campaign of disinformation famous above… The Fb put up and the tweet don’t title any of the plaintiffs, nor does it hyperlink to the net web page.”
On account of Kenney’s and the federal government’s statements, the teams say they, in addition to people, have been focused on social media and a few have even acquired demise threats.
The teams are looking for $15,000 every in precise damages and an extra $500,000 in punitive damages in opposition to Kenney.
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Kenney’s lawyer argued on Friday that the case must be dismissed as a result of in three out of 4 paperwork the plaintiffs should not named instantly. The decide reserved her resolution.
- With recordsdata from The Canadian Press
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