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Councillor’s garbled attempt to
discredit website backfires.
At the Ottawa Council Meeting of October 23,2002, Ward 6 Councillor (Janet Stavinga), made the following muddled
outburst:
"…I can think of a website that came forward, a
‘www.munster sewergate’, which actually was not factual,
which was providing lies, which actually took out, in
terms of comments, with regards to Mayor Chiarelli,
Councillor Stewart, myself as the mayor, and yet, I did
not invest any time with staff, to pursue this, because,
regrettably, there are people out there that cannot hold
the degree of respect, through deliberations."
Councillor Stavinga was sent a lawyer’s letter, expressing
that i n all respects, the editor of this website
(believed to be the website, referred to), has made every
effort to report both factually and accurately.
The letter
stated that, if the
Councillor could point to any instance
where the website was not factual, with regard to the
above-named persons, the website editor would address the
matter immediately, with a full apology.
The letter concluded by asking Councillor Stavinga,
alternatively, to provide a full retraction of the allegations
in her above-quoted statement, at the next Ottawa City Council
Meeting, on November 13, 2002, to avoid subsequent legal
proceedings.
At the November 13, 2002, Ottawa Council Meeting, there was
no response.
On November 14th, the City’s solicitor sent a
letter claiming that the Councillor’s allegations were not
defamatory, and stating that "no retraction is required".
On November 15th, the website editor’s solicitor
sent the following message to the City’s solicitor:
"Further to your letter of November 14th, in light of
your position, would you please immediately provide
details of what the Councillor considers to be "lies" in
terms of comments of Mayor Chiarelli, Councillor Stewart
and herself.
If you are unable to point to any lies or false
statements, or an explanation as to why your client might
have reasonably held beliefs in that regard, please
explain why you believe the statement is not defamatory on
its face.
I look forward to hearing from you at the earliest
opportunity."
Up to the present, nothing has been forthcoming from either
the Councillor or the City Solicitor. This may be one of those
occasions when silence speaks volumes.
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