A would-be Liberal candidate whose nomination bid in a Toronto riding was blocked by Justin Trudeau has started a defamation lawsuit against the federal Liberal leader and the provincial co-chair of the Liberal campaign.
In a statement of claim filed in court Monday, Christine Innes alleges that Trudeau and David MacNaughton “launched a full-scale character attack” by accusing her and her team of "bullying and intimidating" young Liberals and volunteers during the campaign.
Innes is seeking $1 million in damages for libel and slander and $500,000 in “punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages.”
The national director of the Liberal Party said Monday that Innes’s claim is “without merit and will be defended vigorously.”
After two unsuccessful runs for the Liberal Party in previous years, Innes wanted to run again in the coming Trinity-Spadina byelection, prompted by former NDP MP Olivia Chow’s resignation from federal politics.
But Trudeau blocked Innes’s candidacy, citing complaints of bullying and intimidation by her and her team.
Innes has also been barred from seeking a nomination in any riding for the 2015 general election.
Trudeau has defended the move as necessary, but Innes says she is being punished for refusing to rule out challenging Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland for the nomination in the 2015 election, once some of the Toronto ridings are re-distributed.
She has called Trudeau’s move undemocratic and offensive, saying he broke his promise to hold “open, transparent and fair” nominations.
Innes’s lawsuit alleges that Trudeau and MacNaughton retaliated after she refused to sign a “backroom deal” promising to seek the 2015 nomination in a riding chosen by the Liberal Party.
“The defamatory allegations were widely publicized in the press last month and have taken a personal and professional toll on Innes, a lawyer, community leader, and long-time respected LPC activist and volunteer,” her lawyers at Sotos LLP said in a news release.
The release includes this comment from Innes: "Despite the party leadership's public attempts to destroy my reputation I have been encouraged by a number of people from different political stripes to fight against this unfair and undemocratic action.”
According to the release, Innes offered to settle the case in return for a public apology, a reversal of the decision to block her candidacy and donations from two organizations, but Trudeau and MacNaughton rejected the offer.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
The Liberal Party’s national director, Jeremy Broadhurst, said the party stands behind the decision “to red light Ms. Innes’ nomination” and “has no intention of being pressured into revisiting that decision.”
“The Party received a number of complaints in relation to her 2014 campaign team,” he said in a statement to CTV News.
“We remain committed to preserving open nomination processes and ensuring appropriate conduct and stand by our actions.”
