It will be interesting to see where the courts decide the line is.. 
(Via London Free Press)

London’s longest-serving politician has filed a $700,000 defamation lawsuit alleging a wide array of rivals co-conspired to smear him in radio broadcasts during last year’s civic election campaign.

Court documents obtained by The Free Press show Coun. Bill Armstrong, elected last fall to his seventh term on city council, launched the rare legal action against a radio host, a former council colleague, his opponent from the Ward 2 race and, perhaps most notably, several fellow New Democrats.

“All the defendants jointly participated, as an organized group, in executing a campaign strategy to broadcast defamatory statements against the plaintiff,” Armstrong’s lawsuit states.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Corus Entertainment that owns local radio station AM 980; Craig Needles, host of its morning show; Cheryl Miller, a former councillor who appears weekly; Stewart Blair, a Conservative campaign veteran who appears weekly; and Shawn Lewis, an NDP staffer who also appears weekly.
His lawsuit focuses on two radio segments.

The first, on March 24, 2014, discussed Armstrong’s unsuccessful effort to have McSloy removed from the Argyle Community Association’s board, a position he believed gave her an unfair campaign advantage.

The other segment, Sept. 5, 2014, discussed a topic Armstrong describes as relating to his “conduct while working within the community.”

Armstrong edged out McSloy in the Oct. 27 vote, getting 39% of the ballots cast to her 34%.