Alberta Premier Jason Kenney hires lawyers over environmentalist lawsuit threat
The Alberta government has hired a private law firm to defend Premier Jason Kenney after environmental groups threatened him with a defamation lawsuit.
Paul Champ, lawyer for the environmentalists, says he's been notified that the province has retained counsel.
“(Kenney's) counsel advises that they will review the matter and respond 'substantively' in the near future,” Champ said in an email. “We fully expect Premier Kenney will get solid advice on this matter.”
The lawsuit threat was made in a letter to Kenney last month by eight groups who allege the premier deliberately twisted the findings of a public inquiry into their activities and funding sources.
That inquiry, headed by Calgary forensic accountant Steve Allan, looked into whether environmental groups were conspiring to landlock Alberta oil by spreading misinformation about its environmental impacts. The inquiry found the groups had done nothing wrong and were within their freedom of speech rights.
But the groups say that even after Allan's report was released, Kenney continued to falsely accuse them of spreading misinformation about Alberta's energy industry in public statements, social media posts and government websites. Specific documents are referenced in the letter Kenney received.
The groups allege those statements were intended to damage their reputations and credibility in the eyes of the public.
They are asking for an apology, the posts to be taken down and the websites rewritten.
A spokesman for Kenney's office has previously said they would “vigorously respond in court if and when necessary.”
The letter had given Kenney until Nov. 30 to accede to those demands before filing a statement of claim against him. Champ said the government's move to retain lawyers from outside government will delay that filing as Kenney's lawyers review the facts and advise their client.
“Assuming the premier follows this advice, we expect to see those posts taken down with an apology,” wrote Champ.
The Allan inquiry cost taxpayers $3.5 million.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.