Mayor Nenshi has filed a 40 page document where he denies a vast majority of the allegations leveled against him by Cal Wenzel, the CEO of Shane Homes Ltd.
In the Statement of Defence, Nenshi says the lawsuit should be thrown out and his legal costs covered.
He goes on to say that he repeatedly has invited Wenzel to meet in person to discuss his concerns about development in the city, but Wenzel has not met with Nenshi.
Mayor Nenshi also says that he never defamed Wenzel at any point, adding that there is no defamatory meanings to anything Wenzel mentions in his Statement of Claim.
Specifically, Wenzel claimed in a radio interview that Nenshi referred to him as a character from the movie 'The Godfather', but Nenshi references other times, far prior to the interview, where Wenzel was put into the same comparison.
Nenshi says that the CEO of Shane Homes is commonly known as 'the godfather'.
Wenzel sued the mayor in November for $6M, saying that he defamed him for political gain during a radio interview in response to a secretly taped video which was aired on local media.
In the video, recorded in April 2013, Wenzel was recorded making statements about certain members of Nenshi’s council, giving his opinion on which he would rather have there to support their proposals.
A few days later, Wenzel addressed the media pledging he would track down whoever took the video at the meeting.
“It is one of the most cowardly things I have ever seen done,” Wenzel said in April. “This was a private meeting - only 100 people invited. Honestly can’t say why anyone would do that.”
Mayor Nenshi soon ordered an investigation into developer campaign contributions after the video came to the surface.
Neither of the allegation on either side have been proven in court.
