The man who ran for the Liberal Party in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding in May says he's still pursuing a defamation suit brought against Conservative MP John Weston and others for material distributed during the federal election campaign.
In an email sent to The Chief in response to a query about the fate of his civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court late in the federal campaign, Dan Veniez on Monday (July 11) wrote that while there have been no new court filings since the original claim was filed on April 26, he's still pursuing it.
"The libel action is being pursued," Veniez wrote, adding that two related complaints filed with Elections Canada over materials he says were distributed by Weston campaigners are also still being pursued.
During the campaign, Veniez and his campaign claimed people wearing Weston buttons and T-shirts distributed copies of an email that claimed Veniez was in some way responsible for pension shortfalls incurred when the former Skeena Cellulose operation in Prince Rupert went into bankruptcy. Veniez, who was president of Skeena until September 2004, denied he was in any way responsible for the shortfall and accused the Weston campaign of "engaging in an outrageous smear campaign in a desperate attempt to protect his seat."
The Weston campaign denied Veniez's claim and suggested that the Elections Canada complaints were politically motivated.
Veniez this week said that with the large number of complaints fielded by Elections Canada, it's likely to be several months, if not a couple of years, before those are resolved. This week Elections Canada officials rendered a ruling into a complaint filed against a Conservative candidate in relation to a matter stemming from the 2008 federal campaign, he said.
