SASKATOON – A former Liberal party volunteer and a Conservative MP have buried the hatchet over the volunteer’s slandering of the politician on live television.
George Laliberte says he apologized for phoning into a broadcast debate in 2006 and asking Saskatoon MP Maurice Vellacott if he had been kicked out of North Park Church for sexually assaulting a secretary.
Vellacott had never worked out of that church and had never been accused of sexual assault.
Laliberte, who was ordered by a court to pay Vellacott $5,000 for slander, placed the call to Shaw TV from the committee rooms of Liberal candidate Chris Axworthy.
He is now suing his former lawyers, Joel Hesje and Timothy Froese, and law firm McKercher LLP for $500,000, alleging they tried to protect the Liberal party while sacrificing him and his reputation.
Hesje was recently disciplined by the Law Society of Saskatchewan for conduct unbecoming a lawyer for his actions in failing to keep Laliberte reasonably informed of the slander litigation.
Vellacott and Laliberte say in a joint statement that they disapprove of the quote – “dirty politics” – that characterized the incident.
With files from Global News
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