Mayor Nenshi says legal fees from Cal Wenzel lawsuit are paid in full

Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he is glad to hear of the support that helped him pay back $300,000 in legal fees from a 2015 lawsuit.

Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi says a debt owing to the city has been settled in connection with a lawsuit leveled at him from Shane Homes developer Cal Wenzel.

Nenshi told the media on Tuesday morning that enough funds have been raised to pay back a $300,000 legal bill covered by the city in connection with the defamation suit.

Wenzel filed a $6M lawsuit back in 2013, claiming Nenshi had defamed him when he compared the developer to a character in the Godfather movies during a radio interview.

The pair settled the lawsuit out of court in December 2015 and the city paid for the costs because of a policy in place regarding legal proceedings related to city personnel.

At the time, Nenshi said he always wanted to pay the costs out of his own pocket but is glad for the support in repaying the amount.

“We followed the ethics advisor’s advice on this; I’ve not been involved and today, I’m excited to learn all the names of these donors. I am very humbled that so many people came forward with small gifts and large and from what I’ve heard; I’ve been able to hear a little bit of what the donors said, is that they felt this was really important to preserve democracy,” Nenshi said.

A third party committee was created to gather funds to cover the costs after the mayor ultimately retracted his comments.