Environmentalists threaten Alberta Premier Kenney with lawsuit over inquiry remarks

A coalition of at least eight environmental groups is threatening to sue Alberta Premier Jason Kenney for defamation if he doesn't retract and apologize for statements saying a public inquiry found they spread misinformation about the province's oil and gas industry.

The groups, in a letter obtained by The Canadian Press, have given the premier a week before they say they would file a statement of claim against him.

"If Premier Kenney doesn't follow the good advice of his lawyers, he will be served with a lawsuit some time by the end of next week," said Paul Champ, a lawyer for the environmentalists.

The letter, delivered to Kenney's office Monday, is signed by the Dogwood Initiative, Environmental Defence Canada, Greenpeace Canada, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, Sierra Club of British Columbia Foundation, West Coast Environmental Law and Research Foundation and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

They point to Kenney's reaction to the inquiry, headed by Steve Allan, which looked into whether environmental groups were conspiring to landlock Alberta oil by spreading misinformation about its environmental impacts.

Allan's report, delivered in October, found that "no individual or organization ... has done anything illegal. Indeed, they have exercised their rights of free speech."

But the groups accuse Kenney of deliberately twisting Allan's findings in public statements, social media posts and government websites. Specific documents are referenced in the letter.

"These statements are defamatory as they assert that our clients have spread 'misinformation,"' the letter says.

"Your statements were designed to undermine the groups' reputations and credibility in the eyes of the public by falsely asserting that the Alberta Inquiry found that the groups were spreading misinformation."

The letter gives Kenney until Nov. 30 to retract and remove the statements as well as apologize. If he doesn't, Champ said, a statement of claim against him is almost complete and will be filed.

Kenney's spokesman Harrison Fleming responded in an email.

"We are not surprised that an organization which routinely pursues political activism through the courts is again threatening legal action. We will of course vigorously respond in court, if and when necessary."

A defamation action has to prove three things, said Fred Kozak, an Edmonton media and defamation lawyer. It has to show the offending comments identified the complainants, that the statements were published and that they would damage their reputation.

"[Those elements] would appear to be pretty straightforward," he said.