Motion judge rules that hyperlink to list of plaintiffs sufficiently connects defamatory statements to a selection of the plaintiffs

In Environmental Defence Canada Inc. et al v. Kenney et al, Justice Avril Inglis of the Alberta Court of Kings Bench heard a motion for summary judgment in a defamation action brought by a number of environmental organizations against former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the Provincial Crown. The plaintiff organizations were named in the Report of the Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns as having been “participants in anti-Alberta energy campaigns.” Facebook and Twitter posts by Kenney spoke to “foreign-funded misinformation campaigns” that caused hardship for Alberta energy workers; these posts connected to the Inquiry’s webpage, which made similarly defamatory statements, and in turn linked to a document called “Key Findings” (of the Inquiry Report) that listed the plaintiff organizations, among others, as having been involved in a “campaign of misinformation” etc. (and also linked to the Inquiry Report itself).

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