VANCOUVER -- A B.C. Supreme Court justice has dismissed a petition to remove Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Coun. Geoff Meggs from office over a union campaign donation received after Meggs promised not to contract out future work.

That promise, caught in a surreptitious recording, came at the same meeting the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1004 agreed to give Vision Vancouver $34,000 for its election campaign. The union represents outside park board employees, life guards and workers at the PNE.

That, said the petitioners' lawyer, David Wotherspoon, created not just a perceived conflict for the mayor and councillor, but a real one. Under the Vancouver Charter, the two men should lose their seats, he said. As an alternative, they should be barred from voting on the union contract when it comes up for renewal this year, he said.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elliott Myers disagreed, ruling that the exchange amounted to nothing more than politics as usual and does not fall within the scope of the Vancouver Charter.

"There is nothing wrong with a politician stating his policy in the hopes of obtaining votes or campaign contributions," Myers wrote in his ruling, released Friday. "There is also nothing untoward with contributions being made by supporters of that position. There can also not be anything wrong with a politician carrying out a campaign promise if elected. The petitioners have not demonstrated anything beyond this.

Randal Helten, one of the five petitioners, said the group is saddened by the judge's dismissal of the case.

"We're going to study things very carefully and are considering making an appeal," he said, adding that the judge did not address many aspects of their argument. "We believe still that the merits of the case are very strong and we hope that the public remains very interested in this and the issues it raises."

Meggs said he was pleased with the ruling, calling it "quite conclusive."

"I never doubted I had acted with complete integrity," he said.

The ruling is not good news for the Non-Partisan Association and its mayoral candidate in the last election, Kirk Lapointe, who face libel lawsuits from both Vision Vancouver and CUPE for the way they characterized the donation. After the recording was published, Lapointe and the NPA criticized the contributions as a "cash for jobs deal."

The NPA faces a third lawsuit from former school trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo, who were expelled from the party's caucus in June. That lawsuit claims the NPA and its caucus leader, Coun. Elizabeth Ball, defamed the pair after they held a news conference questioning the school board's proposed policy on transgender students.

tcarman@vancouversun.com

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With files from Jeff Lee

Judgment Robertson:Meggs by The Vancouver Sun