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“It was apparent that he viewed many of the questions put to him on cross-examination as an affront to his integrity.”

He rejected both Taft’s testimony about his motivation for writing the online comments about Kazakoff as “overly rehearsed and disingenuous” and his evidence that he was unaware of Kazakoff’s sentence and conditional discharge. Twice during cross-examination, the judge noted that Taft said “many crimes in Canada don’t have a severe enough penalty.”

Following the publication of the defamatory remarks, Kazakoff demanded an apology from Taft. Taft’s lawyer, Brent Desruisseaux, argued that his client’s comments of free expression were based on a reasonable person’s understanding of legal terminology.

“He (Taft) intended to attack the plaintiff’s character and integrity and chose his words deliberately,” according to the judge.

Kazakoff pleaded guilty in 2014 to mischief for vandalizing and destroying deer traps set up as part of the district of Invermere’s deer cull program. He was fined and given a conditional discharge in August 2015, which meant he had no criminal record.

Despite that, Taft described Kazakoff as a “convicted felon” in the comments section of the website that had posted a press release about the cruelty of deer culls that had Kazakoff’s name listed as one of several contacts. The press release was introduced, and accepted by the judge as evidence of the defamation.

Taft, 35, was first elected as a district councillor 15 years ago and has been mayor of Invermere since 2008.

With files from Daphne Bramham