On your marks...

For those wondering how far one may go in bashing a government before facing legal recourse, an Ontario court has ruled that municipalities and other government bodies aren't entitled to bring a civil claim for defamation:

(A)ny restriction on the freedom of expression about government must be in the form of laws or regulations enacted or authorized by the legislature; the common law position, in the absence of such legislation, is that absolute privilege attaches to statements made about government.

The ruling does note that government has the power to pass laws to address concerns about defamation against it - at least to the extent that such a law can survive a constitutional challenge. So nobody can claim to be entirely without some danger of retribution.

But my guess is that by the time any appeal is heard, there'll be plenty of added evidence to suggest why an absolute privilege may be going too far. In the meantime, it's effectively open season on Canada's governmental authorities.

(Via the Law Society of Saskatchewan.)