I’ve read the Gazette has interpreted that all of council supports Mr. Draper’s defamation lawsuit, which needs to be clarified. There were actually four motions that were voted on. The first two motions dealt with Mr. Draper’s right to protect his reputation and to commence a lawsuit to do this. The last two motions dealt with the city financing the lawsuit and collecting back any judgments awarded. Coun. Cam MacKay and I voted to allow the city manager to pursue a personal lawsuit, if he chose to pay for it on his own, but not to have the city pay for the lawsuit or collect the damages awarded. I did not and do not support Mr. Draper’s lawsuit. However, I also do not believe in stepping on a person’s charter rights. I will not block a person’s charter right to engage in civil ligation and defend his reputation, should they deem so necessary, but I do not want to empower a person to sue whoever he wishes without any financial consequences. It remains my position that Mr. Draper should be paying all his legal costs himself and collecting any awards or paying any damages, whatever the case may be. Coun. MacKay and I voted against having the city pay for Mr. Draper’s legal costs, which have amounted to more than $25,000 to date and growing, and having the city collect all the lawsuit winnings, if the suit is successful. Unfortunately, in a 5-2 vote, the majority of council supported the motions to fund the lawsuit and collect any winnings as a result of the action. The city should be pursuing more important issues than giving the city manager an unlimited budget to pursue a lawsuit against residents for a short-lived blog, which probably had few visitors. The city should not be using taxpayer dollars to pay the costs for individuals to sue residents and create concerns with the citizens relating to their freedom of speech. However, the majority of council voted to get into this situation, and we now have to face the consequences.
Sheena Hughes, St. Albert city councillor
