Zytaruk Needs Help to Sue Conservatives
| 2/15/2009 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Ethics, Harper |
Tom Zytaruk would like to sue the Conservatives for their continuing claims that the tape which launched the Chuck Cadman affair was doctored. The problem is that he would need a lawyer willing to work on a contingency basis or pro bono in order to afford it.
So the defamation of this author continues unless that happens.
The court has found the tape was not doctored. There was a break in the tape, Zytaruk turned it off when Harper walked away from the conversation and back on when he returned. Pretty normal move to make. The Conservatives continue to claim as fact that the tape was doctored. Sort of a tell the lie often enough and it might be seen as truth.
Most recently, the Parliamentary Secretary to Harper, Pierre Poilievre rose in the House in response to a question from NDP Bill Siksay to ask if Zytaruk would receive an apology for the false accusations against him. Poilievre responded that it was a fact that the tape was doctored and the lawsuit had been settled with both pleased with the settlement.
Polievre had apparently received his instructions from Harper who had been whispering to him just before he rose in the House.
When challenged to repeat that statement outside the House where immunity from lawsuit is no longer available, Poilievre slipped out a back door and away from the media. Under the terms of the settlement, the Liberals are not allowed to discuss the settlement terms or the suit but that wont stop the NDP or the Bloc from raising it.
Last week the Conservatives suddenly dropped the lawsuit they had launched against the Liberal party when Dion was leading it.
Cadman, sitting as an independent, cast the deciding vote in a crucial non-confidence vote and kept Martin in power. The issue came to light after Zytaruk’s book on Cadman was published and included claims that Cadman had been offered a million dollar insurance policy to rejoin the Conservatives. If true, or any financial considerations are true, then that amounts to bribery which is illegal.
According to transcripts of the tape, Harper was aware of discussions taking place and taht financial considerations were being offered. The conversation doesn’t specify what they are. When the tape came to light the Liberals went on the attack in the House and then posted the allegations on their website. While Harper couldn’t sue over the comments in the House, they could over the website comments.
They launched a defamation suit against the Liberals claiming that the tape had been doctored. Surprisingly, Zytaruk was never named as a defendant. So called experts for each party differed over the doctored tape issue so the court ordered their own expert to examine the tape who concluded that it had not been doctored.
The pending lawsuit kept the issue out of the public eye during the last federal election in October. Seems that the Conservatives have managed to use the courts to muffle their dirty behaviour being brought into the public eye. If they engaged with some integrity instead they would save everyone a lot of money.
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