Day 27

Note:  I am a poor note-taker and these summaries will contain errors and omissions which will reflect my limitations.  My intention is to report on the facts as accurately as possible although a subconscious bias may creep in.  I can only provide glimpses into what I see as relevant and interesting events. My goal is to capture the essence of the day’s events rather than be comprehensive.

Read the reference documents: The Legal Case and Events Leading to Trial to obtain an understanding of the case and its history.  Names and terms are abbreviated and defined in  Glossary.

Cross‑Examination of Luke Lebrun by Mr. Harrison (Caylan’s Counsel)

Mr. Lebrun had testified on direct that Press Progress was editorially independent from the Broadbent Institute and that such separation was required by his labour agreement. On cross‑examination:

• He confirmed that the labour agreement only came into effect in 2024, not 2019.

• Only after being confronted with his discovery evidence, did Mr. Lebrun acknowledge that Katrina Miller, Program Director of the Broadbent Institute, had final approval over editorial content in 2019.

October 13 Article — “Fraudulent Resident” Letter

Press Progress published an article on October 13 about the “fraudulent resident” letter written by Jivraj. Regarding that article, Mr. Lebrun testified:

• He wrote the headline: “UCP Constituency Associating Accuses Jason Kenney’s Handpicked ‘Parachute Candidate’ of breaking Party Rules.”

• The first paragraph stated: “Nine UCP constituency association board members say Kenney's party is putting 'parachute candidates' ahead of 'grassroots voices'.”

• Magusiak wrote the article; Mr. Lebrun edited and published it.

• Press Progress did not call or contact Caylan or the UCP for comment before publishing.

• Because Press Progress failed to contact the UCP, they were unaware that the Party had already:

  • investigated the letter,

  • confirmed the letter misstated Party rules, and

  • confirmed that Caylan was a legitimate candidate.

• Press Progress did not contact any of the signatories to the letter before publishing.

• Mr. Lebrun did not know whether the Mountainview Constituency Association board had anything to do with the letter, yet he wrote “UCP Constituency Associating Accuses …”

• The Constituency Association did not make any accusations.

• The fraudulent resident letter did not say that “Kenney’s party is putting 'parachute candidates' ahead of 'grassroots voices'.”; Press Progress chose that terminology.

• The letter did not accuse Caylan of being a parachute candidate, but the Press Progress article did.

• It was Mr. Lebrun who inferred that Caylan was “Kenney’s handpicked parachute candidate.”

• Nowhere in the article did Press Progress state that the allegations were unproven.

• Mr. Lebrun made no effort to check whether the facts were true.

• He acknowledged he was not concerned about the truth of the allegations.

• He understood that accusations of fraud and deliberate lying are serious and could harm Caylan’s reputation, yet he published the letter without knowing whether the insinuations were true.

• Press Progress never updated the article to reflect that the letter was incorrect, that the UCP had investigated, or that Caylan was confirmed as an eligible candidate.

• The October 13 article remains unchanged and online.

• It was the first of three Press Progress articles referencing Caylan’s residency status.

December 30 Article — “Bozos, Bigots and Sketchy Characters”

Press Progress published an article on December 30 titled: “Here Are All The Bozos, Bigots and Sketchy Characters Who Created Chaos for Jason Kenney's UCP in 2018.”

A section read: “The UCP parachute candidate who faced a revolt from her own constituency association…”

Mr. Lebrun testified:

• The reference to a “sketchy character” was intended to refer to Caylan.

• The article described her as an “Ontario resident” in the present tense, even though he knew she had lived in Alberta since February 2018.

• He had read in the National Post that Caylan met Jason Kenney at a meet‑and‑greet; he invented the detail that they met at a cocktail party.

• Press Progress never contacted Caylan to verify any of the statements.

• He asked Magusiak to make the headline “click baity”, and they agreed on “bozos, bigots, and sketchy characters.”

January 9, 2019 Article — “UCP Members Keep Getting Fed Up…”

The article described Caylan as Jason Kenney’s handpicked “Parachute Candidate” and stated:

“When she won the nomination, the board accused her of deliberately misleading the party about her residential history…”

Mr. Lebrun testified:

• He had not intentionally falsified the facts but misstated them when he said, “when she won the nomination”; it should have said “before she won the nomination.”

• He denied that the article lied when it stated “The board accused …”, even though he knew the board had done nothing.

• He denied that the article lied when it described Caylan as Jason Kenney’s handpicked parachute candidate.

• The article remains online.

January 12 Email — “paulgmacdonald”

On January 12, Mr. Lebrun received an email from “paulgmacdonald61@gmail.com,”.  The identity of paulgmacdonald has not been ascertained, but his email informed Mr. Lebrun that Jivraj:

·      Exploited his access to the Mountainview UCP party membership list.

• Emailed all party members anonymously using the pseudonym mountainviewconservatives@gmail.com.

• Authored the fraudulent resident letter.

• Was attempting to smear Caylan.

• He had been suspended by the UCP as president of the Mountainview Constituency Association.

• Purchased multiple domain names trying to block a candidate [Caylan] from using them.

• Was a nomination candidate for the federal Conservative Party.

• Was guilty of conduct created a troubling picture for conservatives considering nominating him.

Attached was an email from Kaylee Kent, UCP Constituency Development Coordinator, confirming: “The Executive Board has suspended Mr. Jivraj’s role as president of the Mountainview Constituency Association.”

Court adjourned.

Comment

Continuing Defamation

It is now established beyond doubt that:

·      Caylan was a resident of Alberta when she became a nomination candidate.

·      The UCP eligibility rules for nomination candidates required only that the candidate be a resident of Alberta.

·      The fraudulent resident letter misstated the eligibility rules of the UCP.

·      Caylan campaigned hard and decisively won a nomination contest against two credible opponents.

·      Caylan was not a “parachute candidate”.

·      The Mountainview Constituency Association had nothing to do with the fraudulent resident letter.

·      Caylan did not make any misrepresentations to the Party.

·      Caylan did not commit fraud.

Notwithstanding the facts as stated above, Press Progress continues to this day to have articles live on its website that:

·      Accuse Caylan of being a parachute candidate.

·      Insinuate that she misrepresented herself to the Party

·      Insinuate that she tried to fraudulently circumvent the Party’s rules.

·      Falsely state that the board or the Constituency Association accused Caylan.

·      Falsely state the circumstances in which Caylan met Jason Kenney.

Nothing could more clearly demonstrate the willingness of Press Progress to continue the defamation, to perpetuate the harm done to Caylan.

“paulgmacdonald”

The paulgmacdonald email is significant because:

• By January 12, Mr. Lebrun knew that Jivraj had acted treacherously in his role as constituency president.

• He knew Jivraj was targeting Caylan.

• He knew Jivraj had been suspended by the Party.

• He knew that Jivraj had purchased domain names to block a candidate

• Despite this, Mr. Lebrun continued to collaborate with Jivraj because they shared the objective of damaging Caylan’s career.

Document Production and Redaction

• Parties must produce all relevant documents in litigation.

• When producing its documents, Press Progress redacted the identity of all the third parties with whom they had communicated, including Duncan Kinney, Thomas Lucaszyk, and all the synonyms used by Jivraj.

• Jivraj used at least 6 pseudonyms in his communications.

• Press Progress denied that they knew the identity of the author of the pseudonymous communications.

• In discovery Jivraj admitted that he was the author of the pseudonymous communications.

• Even after they were directly communicating with Jivraj, Press Progress continued to redact his name and claimed he was a confidential source.

• Reasonable observers could conclude that Press Progress was embarrassed or ashamed to reveal that they had collaborated with Jivraj and relied on him as a source.