Christine Innes, the former candidate for the Liberal nomination in the Trinity-Spadina byelection, has launched a $1.5-million defamation lawsuit against Justin Trudeau and Ontario Liberal co-chair David MacNaughton.

Innes, who was blocked from running as a federal Liberal candidate in the Toronto riding, says in her statement of claim that she and her team were “repeatedly and maliciously” accused publicly of bullying and intimidation after she refused a “backroom deal.”

None of the allegations in the statement of claim has been proven in court.

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Jeremy Broadhurst, national director of the Liberal Party of Canada, said in a statement emailed to the Star that “the claim is without merit and it will be defended vigorously.”

The party “received a number of complaints in relation to her 2014 campaign team,” he also wrote.

“We stand behind the campaign's decision to red-light Ms. Innes' nomination and the party has no intention of being pressured into revisiting that decision.”

Innes, who ran under the Liberal banner in 2008 and 2011, was told in March she could not seek the nomination for the byelection nor any nomination in the 2015 federal election. In her statement of claim, Innes said she was the target of “a full-scale character attack” in retaliation for refusing to sign a form agreeing to be told where to seek nomination in the 2015 federal election, when Toronto riding boundary changes will be in place.

She said Trudeau's pledge for an “open, transparent and fair” nominations process meant the Liberals could not openly “meddle in local riding politics” so she refused the “backroom deal on principle.”

“The defendants deliberately sacrificed Innes' reputation in order to create a smokescreen to shield Trudeau from public outcry for breaching his public vow of non-interference in local riding nominations,” says her statement of claim.

Trudeau has said Innes was given “weeks” of warnings before she was barred from seeking the nomination, including meetings in February.

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