June 21, 2006
Hey TPA Hands Off Community Air
The CBC reports that the Toronto Port Authority, that lovely little federal body responsible for trying to build a bridge to the island airport and complicating waterfront development, has sued community advocacy group Community Air. The $3 million lawsuit alleges that the non-profit group has defamed the TPA.
Spacing Wire has their analysis and John Barber dedicates his column in today's Globe to the lawsuit.
We're echoing Barber's complaints about the lawsuit. This is a blatant case of a large government agency trying to sue a community group exercising its democratic right to debate and free speech. It's also a government agency using tax dollars to sue voters so that they'll shut up just in time for a federal review of the TPA's activities. Who will the TPA go after next, the city? Oh wait, they've already done that.
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Great timing -- an Ontario court just ruled that a municipality has no business suing one of its citizens for defamation:
http://www.canlii.org/on/cas/onsc/2006/2006onsc10205.html
Has the port authority ever done anything good for the city?
I generally oppose lawsuits by corporations or public bodies designed to answer public debate, but I still maintain that the quality of discussion around the issue of Toronto City Centre Airport remains abysmal, due largely to the reluctance of politicians to engage the real question, namely: how do we identify Toronto's transportation needs, how do best fill them, and how do we share (fairly) the pollution that inevitably results? I have more to say on this topic here: http://ohoe.blogspot.com/2006/06/lawsuits-and-political-debates.html
It would be informative to see the actual court claims or the offending "community air" content. Without that, it's hard to judge whether the Sparrow/Barber circle of friends are justly upset by the lawsuit.
Aha, here is this lawsuit's opening salvo, including the statements deemed defamatory by the plaintiffs:
http://www.thetorontobulletin.com/Downloads/tpa_strikes_back.pdf
In any case, one shouldn't think of the "community air" organization is a bunch of poor victims. They have taken the aggressor position in prior lawsuits.