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Talk about adding insult to Bill Armstrong’s injury.

The same week he lost his seat on London city council, the seven-term councillor has been given a financial punch to the gut from a failed defamation suit launched after the previous municipal campaign four years ago.

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The Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered Armstrong pay $90,000 in costs: $45,000 to Corus Entertainment Inc. and $45,000 to political rival Nancy McSloy and her allies in her 2014 failed bid to unseat Armstrong in Ward 2.

Armstrong said he intends to pay up and not seek leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

But he will do it with a bitter taste in his mouth. “I believe the appeals court is wrong in their ruling,” he said.

Armstrong’s suit was one of the first cases to test Ontario’s 2015 anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law, which is designed to protect free speech from lawsuits that could deter it.