Mayor Gregor Robertson and incumbent Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs have filed a defamation suit in BC Supreme Court against mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe and his slate, the Non-Partisan Association.
In the claim, filed November 6, Robertson and Meggs allege LaPointe and the NPA defamed Robertson and Meggs when LaPointe characterized donations that Vision Vancouver received from unionized city workers as corruption and vote-buying.
It seeks damages and an injunction barring LaPointe or his agents from further publishing the alleged libel.
The claim states LaPointe and NPA “embarked upon a premeditated campaign to discredit the plaintiffs and their campaigns for re-election by way of a series of defamatory statements.”
Central to the allegations is that LaPointe accused Robertson of corruption and vote-buying several times in print, web, at a press conference and in paid TV and radio ads.
According to the claim, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1004 donated $121,000 to Vision Vancouver over the last three election cycles.
In a print story that originally ran in The Province newspaper October 21, 2014 and on the NPA’s blog, LaPointe said that Meggs, speaking on behalf of Robertson, told members of CUPE Local 1004 that the mayor was committing not to contract out union jobs.
LaPointe characterized it as a quid-pro-quo for the donations Vision Vancouver had received from the union, calling it a “cash-for-jobs” deal that was “corrupt.”
The claim cites several instances where the allegations were repeated in various media, including a paid political ad that stated: “In turn for cutting a secret deal with CUPE to stop outsourcing the union cut a cheque to support Gregor Robertson’s party. That’s not a payday but a pay-off that puts Vancouver Vision’s interests ahead of the taxpayer.”
The claim seeks an interim and permanent injunction that would restrain LaPointe or any agent of the NPA from “writing, printing or causing to be written and printed, or otherwise publishing the alleged or any similar libel.”
It also seeks general, special, aggravated and punitive damages.
Neither LaPointe nor his campaign manager could be reached for comment when his campaign office was contacted by Business in Vancouver. LaPointe and the NPA have 21 days to respond to the allegations.
