Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette, seen here during budget deliberations earlier this year, is preparing to defend the lawsuit launched against him by the North Bay Taxpayers' Association for what they feel were defamatory remarks. PHOTO BY LIAM BERTI
Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette is preparing to defend his legal battle against the North Bay Taxpayers’ Association.
Forgette is up against a $90,000 lawsuit from the Association for what the organization consider defamatory remarks he made earlier in the year regarding the integrity, transparency and funding of the group.
After Monday night’s City Council meeting, Forgette confirmed that he has secured legal representation and will be moving forward in the case.
“The only news I have is that I have acquired a lawyer for my defence; I can’t say who it is because it could damage my case,” Forgette said after the meeting.
“I can’t comment on the case at all," he added, “but the most important thing is that I won’t allow this to distract me from my duties here.”
While he couldn’t reveal, confirm or deny the identity of his defence team, Forgette did say they are preparing a statement of defence that is likely to be delivered later this week.
The accused's comments in question implied that the Association’s members might be collecting the donations in their personal bank accounts to fund the organization, they lack transparency in their meetings and, ultimately, do not abide by the law.
As a result, the Association has requested Forgette retract his statements and have filed their statement of claim.
Forgette has previously said that he thinks their claim is outrageous.
“We are certainly unanimous in the fact that we all felt slighted, insulted and wronged by the association of operating unlawfully, especially pursuing public funds in trust and putting them into our personal accounts,” Miles Peters, the Taxpayers' Association’s vice president, said after Monday’s meeting.
“We are not seeking any gain; we just want to be publically made right by acknowledging that he can not make those kinds of accusations,” he added. “This has come from an individual and all we were seeking was an apology in the same forum as the accusations were made; nothing else.”
Peters said he has personally approached Forgette twice to retract the statements, but neither request was acted on or acknowledged in the appropriate manner.
“He did want to meet with us as a group and explain this away, and we said that the apology had to come first,” said Peters.
Peters said he had heard rumours on Monday that “things have changed” in the case, but would not elaborate on what exactly those rumours were. He alluded to a potential statement coming from the Taxpayers’ Association later this week.
“The one thing that I would say absolutely is that in no way did we want to put the liability of an individual as a city issue,” said Peters. “This is not, nor do we think that it ever should be, a taxpayer burden or potential liability for taxpayers, and that is deeply concerning for me if it were to develop in that manner."
“If this ever goes beyond the point of being a personal issue…then I would have concern, because the last thing we would ever want to do is have this represented as anything but someone who is stepping out of line and all that was needed was a simple acknowledgment that he shouldn’t have said what was said,” the group’s vice president added.
Speaking from a personal standpoint, Peters said he doesn’t like the direction the situation has taken.
“I’ve sort of stepped aside from this, personally, because I would have let it wash like water from a duck’s back, even though I felt like an apology should have been forthcoming,” said Peters. “All things considered, the experience levels of the individual involved, I would have personally preferred that we let it wash and let him learn gradually.”
Despite the attention outside of Council Chambers, Forgette said he remains as focused and driven as ever in his political pursuits.
“Am I in good spirit? Yeah, I’m in great spirits; I’m really lucky and I’m very fortunate and you’ve just got to move forward,” Forgette concluded.
