'OUTRIGHT LIES': Caylan Ford tells court Jivraj spread false claims during UCP race, later alleged assault

CALGARY — Caylan Ford returned to the witness stand Thursday as her testimony continued in her defamation lawsuit against political activist and former Conservative candidate Karim Jivraj, as well as media outlets including the CBC, Press Progress and the Toronto Star.The plaintiff’s testimony largely focused on events surrounding the 2018 UCP nomination race in the riding of Calgary-Mountain View, during which she alleges false claims regarding her character and residency status were circulated.Ford testified that a 2018 Press Progress article titled “UCP Constituency Association Accuses Jason Kenney’s Handpicked ‘Parachute Candidate’ of Breaking Party Rules” reported on a complaint letter signed by members of the Calgary-Mountain View Constituency Association, which Ford said misrepresented the actual document.The court heard that the letter Press Progress reported on was written and circulated by Jivraj and was titled “Caylan Ford: Too Good to Live Here.”It was distributed in October 2018 to roughly 1,300 UCP members in the riding, accusing Ford of “residency fraud” and claiming that she was ineligible to run in the nomination race.According to Ford, Jivraj asked nine constituency association board members to sign the letter but did not sign it himself before sending it to several media outlets, including Press Progress..Court hears details of Ford–Jivraj relationship, sexual harassment allegations used to damage her career.She testified the document contained what she described as “outright lies” about her motives and stated it was “dirty politics” and an abuse of membership data that was confidential.The email alleged Ford did not live in Calgary-Mountain View, had shown disdain for local residents and had only chosen the riding after considering other nomination races, implying that she was “opportunistic.”Ford acknowledged to the court that she did not live in the riding at the time of the race but said she had been transparent about living in the Richmond Hill area of Calgary and denied misleading members.She responded by sending a rebuttal email to party members.According to Ford, the email generated sympathy for her campaign, with many party members expressing anger over the anonymous nature of the message.Two members of the constituency board were said to have been dissatisfied with Jivraj’s conduct during the nomination race and eventually gave him an ultimatum to face a vote to remove him from his position as board president or resign, which Ford testified he eventually did the latter.Ford added that after everything that happened it was ironic that when Jivraj’s political aspirations in Alberta failed he moved back to Ontario, whereas when hers didn’t work out she stayed because “Calgary is my home.”The court also heard about an encounter with Jivraj in January 2019 at a neighbourhood cafe after Ford saw messages about her circulating on Twitter.According to the testimony, Ford tapped Jivraj on the back and told him she intended to bring a defamation claim against him.Jivraj allegedly responded “Okay,” after which Ford sat on the other side of the cafe, ending the exchange..Man filed ‘assault’ complaint over woman running for UCP ‘tapping’ his back.Roughly a month later, Ford said she found out from a volunteer that Jivraj had filed a police complaint against her alleging the tap on the back amounted to assault.The plaintiff added that she was never contacted by police regarding the allegation and believed that no investigation ever took place.Ford further testified that a series of detailed anonymous “whistleblower” packages were sent to journalists at the CBC, the Toronto Star and Press Progress in early January 2019.According to her, the documents contained extensive allegations she described as false, including claims that she was involved in corruption.Ford also stated the documents appeared to reference private conversations and campaign activities with a high level of knowledge and said similar screenshots and allegations later appeared across multiple media platforms.The court also heard that Ford contacted police and filed a report that same month after being advised by legal counsel to document what she believed was a pattern of harassment linked to the circulation of these materials.Ford testified that she first contacted Press Progress — an NDP-linked outlet — at the end of December, sending repeated messages identifying what she said were specific falsehoods in their reporting and asking that they stop publishing them.She said that she “really wished” they had contacted her as she could have warned them about the validity of their source, adding that she reached out to Press Progress six times and did not receive a response.“I didn’t think they cared what I had to say or to get my perspective,” she testified, adding that she believed that Press Progress was made up of “people on a political mission.”The trial will continue over the coming weeks at the Court of King’s Bench in Calgary.

'OUTRIGHT LIES': Caylan Ford tells court Jivraj spread false claims during UCP race, later alleged assault

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