Canadian Federal Judge Throws Out State Broadcaster's Lawsuit Against Opposition Party

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2021) Canadian Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan on Thursday dismissed state broadcaster CBC's lawsuit against the country's conservative opposition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.

The CBC launched legal action against the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) during the heat of the 2019 federal election campaign, alleging the opposition party violated copyright laws by using CBC material in its campaign ads.

"The Court concludes that the Respondents' use of the CBC Works was, on these facts, fair," Phelan ruled. "Given the Court's findings that the Respondents' use of CBC copyrighted material was for an allowable purpose and was 'fair dealing', this matter must be dismissed with costs at the usual scale.

"

The CBC, including its top personality Rosemary Barton, who was a party to the lawsuit, has often been accused by critics of being surrogates for Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada. The CPC and many in the conservative community saw the lawsuit as confirmation of their suspicions and pointed out that Liberal candidates engaged in a similar activity without facing the same consequences.

Neither the Conservative Party of Canada nor the CBC have publicly commented on the decision.