Although the civic election is over, Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs say they will continue their defamation lawsuit against NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe and his party.
In separate interviews after their victories, Robertson and Meggs said the NPA’s allegations of corruption over CUPE donating $102,000 to Vision’s campaign and that city hall is for sale are untrue and must be acknowledged in court.
“Yes, I’m continuing it because my behaviour has been conducted with complete integrity,” said Meggs Saturday night after learning he was re-elected to a third term on council. “I went to a meeting at the request of the union, I told them our position and they made a later decision without my presence that wound up supporting us. There’s absolutely nothing wrong there. But I would like to see that acknowledged [in court].”
The allegations are related to comments made by LaPointe at a press conference, comments published in a newspaper and on the party’s website, and the content of radio and television ads paid for by the NPA, according to a statement of claim Vision filed in B.C. Supreme Court. The NPA’s statement of defence denies the allegations.
Robertson told reporters Monday he wanted to pursue the lawsuit “just on principle, basically.” The mayor beat LaPointe by more than 10,000 votes in a race in which both candidates accused each other of personal attacks.
“They really lowered the bar for Vancouver politics,” Robertson said. “At this point, I don’t have any intention of holding back on [the lawsuit]. I want to see that there is no attacks like that and spurious allegations going forward.”
The lawsuit is connected to a Courier story posted online Oct. 16 authored by contributor Bob Mackin, who obtained a leaked recording of Meggs telling members of CUPE Local 1004 that Robertson “has again recommitted to not expand contracting out, to make sure that wherever we can bring in new processes, that members of 1004 will be delivering those services.” The meeting occurred at the Maritime Labour Centre Auditorium and resulted in a $34,000 donation from the Local and matching funds from CUPE’s B.C. and national offices for a total of $102,000.
Robertson told the Courier in a previous interview there is a longstanding commitment from Vision to fair collective bargaining and to not contract out services at the city. He added that the city has a balance of services, including some that are contracted out.
During a mayoral debate at Christ Church Cathedral, LaPointe said the deal was “a breach of fiduciary responsibility” and “intended to buy votes.” He said the lawsuit was an attempt to silence him in the final days of the campaign because Robertson’s lead had decreased.
“Let me be very, very clear, I did not defame the mayor, the mayor’s deal defamed Vancouver,” LaPointe said at Nov. 7 press conference at Seasons in the Park restaurant. “It smacked of two-bit city brokering of a different political era.”
LaPointe told reporters on election day that some of Vision’s advertising was “designed to personally ridicule me and make me look like somehow I lacked certainty when I was thinking aloud — that I didn’t have a thought process.”
Added LaPointe: “In a lot of ways, I thought it was very disappointing. I would have loved to have debate after debate on ideas.”
NPA Coun. George Affleck, who was re-elected Saturday, said he was disappointed Robertson and Meggs were continuing with the lawsuit, saying “we should put the election behind us and move forward in a positive way, as Vision likes to say, and that’s certainly not a great way to start a new session.”
Prior to Saturday’s election, Vision revealed it collected $2.2 million in campaign donations, with more than $300,000 from unions. The NPA received $2.1 million, with the bulk of the money coming from corporations and $470,000 from party president Peter Armstrong.
mhowell@vancourier.com
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