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London’s embattled mayor reached out to one of Canada’s major damage-control firms before speaking publicly about his affair with a former deputy mayor, a lifeline he says won’t be on the taxpayer’s dime.

Matt Brown confirmed Thursday he contacted Navigator, a national communications company that bills itself as the one to use “When you can’t afford to lose.”

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Navigator has been involved in such high-profile cases as when Michael Bryant, a former Ontario attorney general, was charged in 2009 with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death after an altercation with a cyclist in Toronto. All charges were later withdrawn.

At the time, Navigator’s rates were reportedly about $600 an hour.

Navigator also briefly worked for former CBC-Radio show host Jian Ghomeshi before dumping him as a client.

People turn to companies like Navigator when they’re looking for a “Hail Mary” pass, said political scientist Peter Woolstencroft, a long-time politics watcher in Ontario and a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo.