{"id":1062806,"date":"2023-05-25T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environmentaldefence.ca\/?p=39709"},"modified":"2023-05-25T16:00:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T16:00:11","slug":"albertas-superior-court-rejects-former-premier-kenneys-arguments-to-avoid-defamation-lawsuit-brought-forward-by-five-environmental-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/05\/25\/albertas-superior-court-rejects-former-premier-kenneys-arguments-to-avoid-defamation-lawsuit-brought-forward-by-five-environmental-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta\u2019s Superior Court Rejects Former Premier Kenney\u2019s Arguments To Avoid Defamation Lawsuit Brought Forward By Five Environmental Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE. WEST COAST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, DOGWOOD INITIATIVE, STAND.EARTH, WILDERNESS COMMITTEE<\/p>\n

Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa \u2014 Alberta\u2019s superior court today dismissed attempts by former Premier Jason Kenney and the Alberta government to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought forward by five environmental groups. Environmental Defence, West Coast Environmental Law, Dogwood Initiative, Stand.earth and the Wilderness Committee are suing former Premier Jason Kenney and the Alberta government for lying about the findings of his Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns. Over two years, groups and individuals were named publicly and targeted on social media, causing some individuals to receive death threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth matters in a democracy, and today\u2019s court decision makes clear that the former Alberta Premier specifically targeted environmental organizations to undermine our efforts to communicate the risks of climate change, and the role an expanding oil industry plays in threatening the future of Canadians,\u201d said Tim Gray, Executive Director, Environmental Defence.<\/p>\n

Former Alberta Premier Kenney tried to argue that he wasn\u2019t referring to the groups specifically, but the court rejected that argument, writing, \u201cConsidering the Key Findings Document as a whole, the publication leads any reasonable person to understand that the alleged defamatory statements refer to campaigns of which the Plaintiffs who appear on the list of participants were part<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who looks at the report or Kenney\u2019s other public statements would know he was referring to our clients,\u201d said Paul Champ, the lawyer for the five defamed groups. \u201cThe Court agreed, ruling that Mr. Kenney was trying to escape liability by hiding behind technical arguments that were unrealistic and baseless. Albertans are smarter than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groups contended that statements in the Alberta government\u2019s \u201cKey Findings\u201d document<\/a>, which were subsequently repeated and amplified by Premier Kenney on social media platforms, were defamatory as they claimed the Inquiry concluded that the environmental groups had deliberately spread \u201cmisinformation\u201d about the Alberta oil and gas industry. In his final report of the Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns, Commissioner Steve Allan was unequivocal in his report that he made no such finding, noting environmental groups did nothing wrong, but simply care about climate change.<\/p>\n

“Jason Kenney wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on a personal vendetta that backfired. Albertans are still paying for his lawyers as he tries to dodge responsibility for what he said. The sooner he apologizes and retracts his defamatory statements, the sooner we can all move on from this sorry chapter,” said Kai Nagata, Communication Director of Dogwood BC.<\/p>\n

The defamed groups have asked Kenney and the Alberta government to retract their statements and issue public apologies. To date, former Premier Kenney and Danielle Smith\u2019s government have refused.<\/p>\n

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.<\/p>\n

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:<\/p>\n

Allen Braude, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca<\/p>\n

Paul Champ, Human Rights Lawyer, (613) 816-2441<\/p>\n

Jessica Clogg, Executive Director, West Coast Environmental Law, (604) 601-2508<\/p>\n

Sven Biggs, Stand.earth, Canadian Oil and Gas Programs Director, (778) 882-8354<\/p>\n

Peter McCartney, Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee (778) 239-1935<\/p>\n

Kai Nagata, Communications Director, Dogwood BC, (778) 829-6493<\/p>\n

The post Alberta\u2019s Superior Court Rejects Former Premier Kenney\u2019s Arguments To Avoid Defamation Lawsuit Brought Forward By Five Environmental Groups<\/a> appeared first on Environmental Defence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Environmental Defence<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE. WEST COAST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, DOGWOOD INITIATIVE, STAND.EARTH, WILDERNESS COMMITTEE Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa \u2014 Alberta\u2019s superior court today dismissed attempts by former…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Alberta\u2019s Superior Court Rejects Former Premier Kenney\u2019s Arguments To Avoid Defamation Lawsuit Brought Forward By Five Environmental Groups<\/a> appeared first on Environmental Defence<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":713,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37212,529],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/713"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1062807,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062806\/revisions\/1062807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}