University of Victoria Professor Andrew Weaver has launched a lawsuit against the National Post, Terence Corcoran, Peter Foster, and Kevin Libin. It's about time.
The National Post columnists stated that Weaver is a "corrupt scientist". They claimed that he fabricated stories about a break-in into his office.
Weaver did no such thing. His office was indeed broken into, and there is a police report to prove it. However, Weaver never made any accusation with regard to who was responsible for it.
Why, then, did it say in the National Post, not once but on four different occasions, by three different authors, Corcoran, Foster, and Libin, that Weaver had accused the fossil fuel industry of being responsible for the break-in?
Because the National Post prints lies, that's why. The editors and management of the National Post know that Terence Corcoran is a liar, but they keep him on the payroll, and don't fact-check his stories.
Here's a couple of examples. On February 3, 1997, Corcoran wrote a piece for the Globe and Mail that stated that the Non-Smokers' Rights Association (NSRA) had used money from public funding to attack tobacco-industry-friendly politicians. The NSRA did no such thing, and the NSRA sued the Globe and Mail and got an apology and a settlement.
In April, 2001, Corcoran, now writing for the National Post, wrote that the British Columbia government "prohibits raw log exports except by exceptional permit". No, it doesn't. Permits are required only for exporting logs from Crown land. Raw log exports tripled in 2000, the year prior to when Corcoran made this false statement.
Weaver is being represented by McConchie Law Corporation in Victoria. Here's their press release: Climate Scientist Sues National Post for Libel. Weaver's suit also intends to hold the National Post responsible for libelous comments posted on their web site.
If you have other examples of lies told by Terence Corcoran, Peter Foster, or Kevin Libin, send me an email, or post a comment to this article. I'll add them to the list here, as well as forward them to McConchie Law Corporation. The idea here is to convince a judge that apologies and retractions have been insufficient in making these liars change their behaviour, and they need to be hit harder in the pocketbook.
