By Gerry Barker
March 8 2020
Opinion
On February 5, two days before being hospitalized, I published a post that outlined the history of a three and a half year lawsuit. The City refused my request to disclose the cost to the citizens of Guelph.
Tony Saxson, a reporter with Guelph Today, made a request under the Freedom of Information Act and revealed that the City’s cost to support the lawsuit was approximately $90,000 to the date of disclosure.
This revelation of $90,000 spent over three and a half years on supporting the defamation lawsuit brought by Amorosi, defies the pledge by the Mayor and his council. Whatever happened to accountability to all citizens, transparency of all administration responsibilities, and operation of an open government?
Who has been aware of the $90,000 cost to the taxpayers, so far?
• Not the four judges in the case
• Not the taxpayers
• Presumably the lawyer who was billing the city
• Presumably Amorosi
• Presumably the Chief Administrative Officers from 2015-2019, Ann Pappert and Derrick Thomson
Superior Court Judge, Cynthia Peterson, said in her denial of our motion to dismiss the lawsuit that it was almost “too close to call.”
If she had known the details of the city’s involvement and the cost to citizens, would she have ruled differently? She ruled against our argument that it was in the public interest.
This whole episode was an abuse of the public trust. The administration in 2016, and since, was complicit in using its resources to build and fund a private citizen’s defamation case against me.
Bottom line, it has cost me $86,000 in legal fees yet I have never been found guilty of defamation.
How many readers could defend themselves against a city-funded attack against them for having the audacity to challenge mismanagement of the public purse? This was a secretive deal to shut me down, using a surrogate to cripple me financially.
Guelph Speaks 