Naheed Nenshi is turning up the heat and is taking the fight to the developer suing the Calgary Mayor for defamation.
In a stinging statement of defence filed Monday, Nenshi stands by the statements that prompted Cal Wenzel to launch the $6-million lawsuit, including a comparison the mayor drew between the developer and film's 'The Godfather,' the CBC reports.
"Wenzel, like the 'Godfather,' is a wealthy and powerful man, who is kind and benevolent to those who give respect and agree with his views, but, ruthless when something stands in his way," the document states, according to the CBC.
Nenshi first made the “Godfather” comment in an Oct. 9, 2013 on CBC's the Calgary Eyeopener radio program.
Furthermore, the statement of defence states Wenzel has not suffered the damages the lawsuit claims, The Calgary Sun reports.
"He has suffered no harm to his reputation or loss of any nature," the statement claims, and calls the accusations leveled by Wenzel, "improper, scandalous and abusive," reports the Sun.
A heated war of words between Wenzel and Nenshi was sparked after Global Calgary obtained a secretly-filmed video of the developer speaking to members of Calgary's developer community in which he outlines his intention of influencing the 2013 fall civic election in order to build a more developer-friendly city council.
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Nenshi can't be defeated, Wenzel states in the video, but by 'taking care' of some of the serving members and defeating the rest at the ballot box, a new council can be built that can overpower the mayor on developer issues.
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Calgary Developers Scandal
What followed was harsh criticism from Nenshi, who drew a direct comparison between Wenzel and 'The Godfather.'
According to Global Calgary, the mayor stands by everything he said.
“Mayor Nenshi further states that his comments…. were not made spontaneously, but were in direct response to questions and comments by the media on matters affecting both the 2013 Election and Mayor Nenshi’s policies as mayor of the City of Calgary.”
“In particular reference to the comparison drawn by Mayor Nenshi between Wenzel and 'The Godfather’ in a radio interview, Mayor Nenshi relies on the defence of fair comment based on the true and fair nature of the comparison through popular innuendo.”