On a day when bullied bus monitor Karen Klein headed up to Toronto to pick up a cheque for $700K, another website has been set up seeking donations to help someone who’s in a bit of a pickle. Only this time, one could argue that the funds raised would go towards a bully, not a bullying victim—namely NDP attack dog Pat Martin.
The member for Winnipeg Centre has certainly been known to speak his mind, and to spare no profanity in the process. Last November, he responded to a government motion to limit debate on the federal budget by tweeting “This is a fucking disgrace…closure again. And on the Budget! There’s not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot shit.” But while that tweet went viral, along with his responses to a couple Conservatives on his feed, it’s the comments he made a couple months later that have landed him in hot water—staring down a five-million-dollar lawsuit, as per the National Post.
According to the letter of apology that remains posted on his website, “I singled out a private individual, Mr. Matt Meier along with his business RackNine Inc. and I wrongfully accused them of being part of a conspiracy to commit electoral fraud.” The letter also states that he repeated the accusation many times to the media, and eventually gets around to apologizing in the seventh paragraph. But that wasn’t good enough for Meier, who notes that the apology wasn’t made until seven weeks after the repeated accusations—and he won’t agree to an out-of-court settlement, either.
Fortunately, you can help (Martin, that is)! The Pat Martin Legal Defence Fund is seeking to raise 250-grand, noting that “In the event any surplus money raised it will be donated in equal parts to the Children’s Wish Foundation and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.” Unfortunately, as the webpage points out, any donations are NOT tax-deductable. Gee, I could understand the need to raise funds if, say, a 68-year-old making 15-grand a year was suddenly hit with a multi-million-dollar lawsuit, but keep in mind that Martin makes more than 10 times that amount—and, as I’m sure the Toronto Sun has already pointed out by now, he’s paid with taxpayers’ dollars. Something tells me he won’t raise any surplus money, to say the least…
