The battle for mayor of Pierrefonds/Roxboro may sweep off the West Island borough's streets and into a Montreal courtroom, with Projet Montreal mayoral candidate Michael Labelle refusing to take down his politically charged online blog after receiving a cease-and-desist order from a law firm representing Union Montreal incumbents Monique Worth and Bert Ward ordering him to do so earlier this week.
"People that abuse public funds are pigs at the trough," Labelle said to The Chronicle, in reference to a recurring image he uses on his blog, called the Pierrefonds-Roxboro Citizens' Coalition, of several pigs sucking at a trough.
Labelle, a former councillor in Pierrefonds who has served both with Worth and Ward, started the blog back in August, originally remaining anonymous.
In his blog posts, he has vocally criticized what he deems inappropriate use of public funds by current borough officials, such as Mayor Monique Worth and councillor Bert Ward.
"I wouldn't call any of it negative," Labelle said, arguing that he is only dealing in facts.
However, his targets clearly do not agree with him.
In a letter dated Oct. 5 delivered by a bailiff, Fasken Martineau law firm attorney Raphaël Lescop warns him to "stop the publication of this blog, which contains libellous, and eminently defamatory content, immediately."
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Chronicle, does not focus on specific items on the website, instead stating "the blog contains many defamatory statements, which are also vexing to our clients."
"The images that you use on your blog," another paragraph in the letter reads, "and your insinuations can justify important claims in damages. We have taken it upon ourselves to exhibit in court the disgraceful pictures that we have in our possession and that you have published at large on the blog."
However, Labelle was having none of it. "You have to be more specific, in terms of, what exactly are you asking me for?" He said.
"If it's just photos of golf tournaments and stuff like that, it seems to bother them," he said, but added they are public domain pictures.
In his posts, Labelle draws attention to the fact Worth and co. have what he considers high salaries, and expense accounts that they use rather liberally. "Monique Worth took in $92, 212 in salary and premiums," he writes in one post dated Sept. 28. "She receives a, no question asked, tax-free expense allowance of $14, 584."
"There are the little extras, like $11,000 spent on charity golf tournaments at some of the finest private clubs in Montreal."
He also recalls media reports from 2004 of Worth spending "$936.80 for a Christmas dinner at a local restaurant […] Included in the bill were 6 bottles of wine and several mixed drinks."
In other sections of the blog, Labelle criticizes Ward's long-distance calls from his cell phone during winters spent in Florida to back home in Pierrefonds, which he says are personal calls billed to the borough.
The three politicians have a history, having served on council together until 2001, when Labelle attempted to run for council in Pierrefonds-Senneville, the first Pierrefonds borough incarnation under the mega-city of Montreal, with a Vision Montreal slate. He lost to Worth, and attempted a comeback in 2005 with Vision once more, this time as borough mayor, losing again.
That year, Labelle was served with a cease-and-desist letter by the same law firm over "defamatory brochures," as the current letter reminds him.
Since then, he has been trying to obtain proof that services retained by the law firm for that particular letter were paid for by Union Montreal, and not out of the borough budget.
"Use of public funds during a municipal campaign for partisan reasons is against the law," he said.
At Pierrefonds/Roxboro's last council meeting on Sept. 28, he obtained word from Worth that she would look up the bill for him after a heated exchange during question period.
The Fasken Martineau firm's letter acknowledges Labelle's right to criticize decisions taken by elected officials, but adds the Projet candidate does not seem to realize his "democratic right to express yourself does not allow you to communicate false information or lies by the Internet which may hurt the reputation of our clients."
Though not a legal expert, John Abbott College political science professor Jim Leeke has watched election campaigns unfold in the West Island area for several years. "It goes a little far," he said of Labelle's blog contents.
For Leeke, some blog pages seem to imply that borough officials have engaged in fraudulent or illegal activities. "Maybe it's misspending," he said of the use of public funds on meals and telephone bills, "but it's not criminal or fraudulent."
"If I was Michael Labelle, I'd be careful about how far I went into my comments," he added.
Leeke agreed that Labelle does raise some legitimate questions, alluding to the phantom law bill from 2005, as well as some of the aforementioned expenses. "These politicians should be holding themselves to higher standards," he said.
Nevertheless, he maintained some of the blog's contents seemed out of line. If Labelle does suspect any fraudulent or criminal behaviour, he should take his complaints to the police, Leeke added. "That's the right way to go."
Worth did not want to talk about her motivations in sending out the letter, letting it speak for itself. "I have no comments on the subject," she only said.
The letter said Labelle had five days to either stop publishing his blog or "to modify its contents completely."
