Kinew, two NDP caucus members file lawsuit defence

WINNIPEG — The premier and two New Democrat caucus members have denied they conspired to defame another politician as an excuse to oust him from the party.

Mark Wasyliw, now an independent Member of the Legislative Assembly representing Fort Garry, was booted from the NDP in September 2024, which the party claimed was due to Wasyliw’s former law partner representing convicted sex offender and disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard.

The independent MLA, who’s a defence lawyer, claims statements his former colleagues made in September 2024 linking him to Nygard or accusing him of lying, harmed him and his reputation.

Wasyliw filed his lawsuit in December last year, naming Premier Wab Kinew, Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie and Seine River MLA Billie Cross as defendants. The claim was later amended to remove Bushie as a defendant and add Environment Minister Mike Moyes, who was at the time chair of the NDP caucus, in his place.

But the defendants, in a joint statement of defence filed last month, deny all wrongdoing and instead argue his law practice repeatedly raised eyebrows within caucus and garnered attention from the public.

“The defendants deny … that the plaintiff’s removal (from caucus) was sudden or without justification, and deny having made any public statements directed at the plaintiff which were reckless, false and/or defamatory with a complete disregard for truth or accuracy, as alleged or at all,” reads the filing.

The defendants have asked the court to throw out the lawsuit, which they argue does not have substantial merit.

“The defendants’ statements constitute expressions relating to matters of public interest,” the defence papers read.

Kinew, Cross and Moyes claim that Wasyliw’s work as a defence lawyer while serving as an MLA — including the feasibility and advisability of maintaining both roles — was the subject of discussion and debate within the NDP caucus and in the media beginning in March 2023.

In March 2023 and before declaring he intended to seek re-election that same year, the defendants say, Wasyliw announced to caucus and publicly that he planned to wind down his law practice.

He was re-elected but not selected to serve as a cabinet minister in the newly formed NDP government.

“At the plaintiff’s swearing-in ceremony, the plaintiff publicly declined to shake Kinew’s hand,” the defence filing says.

“The plaintiff thereafter announced publicly that, because he had not been appointed to government cabinet and notwithstanding his prior commitment and statements to the contrary, he intended to expand his law practice.”

That announcement and his reaction to not getting a ministerial role attracted public and media attention, the defence filing says, pointing to several news articles published at the time.

The caucus continued to discuss, between October 2023 and September, issues involving Wasyliw, including whether he could continue as a “supportive and respectful” member of the caucus.

The defence filing claims, after media reporting on a sentencing for Nygard in which his defence lawyer Gerri Wiebe was quoted, caucus leaders became aware of Wasyliw’s association with Wiebe.

That “renewed concerns” within caucus about his roles and the “resulting public perception,” the defence filing claims.

As a result, along with other “ongoing concerns” about Wasyliw, caucus chair Moyes told the lawyer he had to either fully commit to the caucus team and step away from his law practice or continue his law practice and step away from caucus, the court papers claim.

“The plaintiff chose his law practice,” reads the filing.

The NDP then removed him and publicly announced he had been booted from caucus on Sept. 16, 2024.

Both Wasyliw and the defendants spoke with the media about it, the court documents say, arguing Wasyliw made “various negative comments” about caucus, Moyes and Kinew.

The filing argues the comments made by Kinew and the other two defendants, in context, are not defamatory or intended to harm Wasyliw and were made in good faith.

The defendants explicitly deny any conspiracy as alleged by Wasyliw.

The NDP’s decision to link Wasyliw’s ouster to his former colleague — a widely respected lawyer — representing Nygard sparked outrage from defence lawyers and others in the legal profession in Manitoba and across the country.

Kinew later apologized to Wiebe and to defence lawyers more broadly.

» Winnipeg Free Press