MLA Awarded $50,000 in Defamation Case Against National Post

An MLA in BC has just won a libel suit, with the judge awarding him $50,000 in damages for four articles published by the National Post.

Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist and Green Party MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, sued the National Post for defamation in four of their articles from December 2009 to February 2010. In the suit, Weaver says that the articles suggested that he had made up stories about the fossil fuel industry being involved with break-ins at his office to divert attention from a scandal about “Climategate” and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Photo Credit: Andrew Weaver

He also claimed that the articles made him out to be untrustworthy, unscientific, and incompetent, and suggested he had concealed public data to promote a public agenda and receive government funding.

For their part, the National Post argued that the articles did not attack Weaver's character. Instead, they say that they reference alarmists and scientists in Climategate and that the statements were protected by fair comment.

The case finished this week in the Supreme Court of B.C., with Justice Emily M. Burke ruling the articles were defamatory and implied a “serious defect in character that impacts Dr. Weaver's academic and professional world”. She awarded Weaver $50,000 in general damages and ordered that the offending articles be removed from the Internet and other electronic databases. The National Post was also told to withdraw consent for others to re-publish the work and require them to cease re-publication. Finally, the newspaper had to publish a complete retraction of the defamation.

Interestingly, the suit brought up a whole other issue for the first time in Canadian courts: who is responsible for comments on an internet forum? In this particular case, Justice Burke ruled that once offensive comments were brought to the attention of the newspaper, it was their responsibility to take immediate action or otherwise be considered publishers of the content. She ruled that National Post should not be considered the publishers of the reader postings, as the newspaper took steps to remove the offensive posts within one to two days.

Weaver took to social media to celebrate his win in the libel case, saying that he was “absolutely thrilled” with the judgement.

*Cover Photo Credit: Green Party of BC*