Former senator Linda Frum speaks during the memorial service for Apotex billionaire couple Barry and Honey Sherman in Mississauga, on December 21, 2017.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
A former Conservative senator has won a defamation case she says was designed to intimidate and silence her, in a ruling she says will set a precedent for free speech and fair comment, including on Twitter.
Former journalist Linda Frum this week won the case brought by a Montreal-based Arab-language journal after she tweeted about it supporting Hezbollah, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.
Ms. Frum criticized Tory leadership contender Patrick Brown for doing an interview with the online journal Sada Al Mashrek during the Conservative leadership race last year. In the interview he urged its readers to back him over Pierre Poilievre.
The Ontario Superior Court on Monday dismissed the claim, which included a demand for $2-million in damages, equivalent to 100 years of the journal’s gross revenue. The court found she was remarking on important political issues and the journal was trying to “quash her speech.”
In an interview with The Globe and Mail after the case was dismissed in an anti-SLAPP ruling, Ms. Frum said it had been a bid to intimidate and silence her through the courts after she refused the journal’s demand to delete the tweets.
Anti-SLAPP legislation lets defendants seek early dismissal of cases brought against them to deter or limit public discourse.
Ms. Frum said in Ontario laws on strategic lawsuits against public participation are “relatively new” and that the case will become important and “precedent-setting.”
“This case represents an example of the system working as it should: A suit was brought against me in an attempt to prevent me from speaking out on an important issue,” she said. “Hopefully the result will dissuade other potential plaintiffs from pursuing a similar strategy.”
The defamation case centred on tweets Ms. Frum sent about an interview Sada published with Mr. Brown, mayor of Brampton, in April, 2022, during the Conservative leadership race.
One of the tweets she sent remarked that Sada was “the official voice of Hezbollah in Canada,” which she later corrected to the “unofficial voice of Hezbollah in Canada” after a Twitter user challenged this allegation.
Hussein Hoballah, chief editor of the publication, said when launching the defamation case that her Twitter comments were “designed to discredit us.” The journal’s lawyer, Stephen Ellis, referred to them in the press release as a “drive-by smear.” On Tuesday, he said his client plans to appeal the ruling.
But the court found her tweets were an example of expression in the public interest and had not harmed the journal’s reputation. It said Sada “already has a reputation for having views aligned with those of Hezbollah” and had praised the Lebanese organization.
Justice Loretta Merritt’s ruling noted she did not accuse Sada of criminal behaviour, terrorist affiliation or involvement and, in her affidavit, had explained that Hezbollah does things “that are clearly not terrorism”; for example it maintains a network of schools, clinics, youth programs and hospitals and is a political party as well as having military operations.
The judge found “Frum’s speech is deserving of protection because it related to important political issues concerning Brown, a prominent political figure who had a reasonable prospect of becoming the next Prime Minister of Canada,” as well as his interview with Sada and his platform.
The journal and Mr. Brown did not respond to requests for comment.