A Ward 3 school board candidate is threatening legal action against a candidate for city council after a tense all-candidates meeting where one tried to silence a women's rights advocate.
Lawyers for Anthony Perri, a candidate for Catholic school board trustee, have written to council candidate Matthew Green, saying Green defamed Perri on Twitter when he identified Perri as telling the activist to "sit down and shut up."
Perri counters that he only said "sit down and let him talk," and that Green's tweets amount to libel.
"This letter shall serve formal notice as intention to seek damages due to libel and inflammatory comments on Twitter," reads the letter from Hamilton-based lawyers Yachetti, Lanza and Restivo.
Catholic school board trustee candidate Anthony Perri, who has threatened legal action against another candidate, says he was only defending a mayoral candidate's right to speak. (anthonyperri.org)
The charge stems back to an all-candidates meeting at St. Giles United Church on Oct. 1. Activist Halima Hatimy asked the seven mayoral candidates on stage how they'd address "gender inequality and other types of inequality" in Hamilton.
The answers were varied. Warrand Francis said he often feels discriminated against as a man. Ejaz Butt said he considers himself a fearless leader but "the only one I fear is my wife."
Michael Baldasaro said he respected men and women, and "If I was married today, I'd have a re-nup. That's about as equal as you can get."
Hatimy stood and interrupted Baldasaro's answer, saying the candidates weren't taking the question seriously.
"You didn't joke about LRT," she called.
"You can't lose your sense of humour, sister," Baldasaro replied, adding that he couldn't hear her.
A live stream of the event by Joey Coleman captures audio of Perri, who was in the audience at that time, saying "Sit down and let him talk," and other audio that is not intelligible.
"No," she called back. "I don't have to sit down."
Matthew Green, Ward 3 council candidate, says Perri's shouts to a gender equality activist were discriminatory, and now faces legal action over his tweets on the matter. (matthewgreen.ca)
Green said he and Perri exchanged heated words in the audience where Perri said more than what was picked up in the audio feed. He said he has several witnesses to back up his version of the events.
Says he was defending a candidate's right to speak
"I don't really, in middle of campaign, want to take on a Catholic school board trustee," he said. "But I also can't tolerate misogyny."
"If he wants to send me this letterhead, that's cool. If he thinks it's going to intimidate me or try to get me to back down from the truth, it's not gonna happen. It was said."
Perri, 66, told CBC Hamilton that he regrets shouting at Hatimy to sit down. He tried to apologize to her after the meeting, but she didn't accept it.
The retired teacher said he is not misogynistic, and was only standing up for Baldasaro's right to speak.
"He doesn't need anybody to defend him," he said of Baldasaro, who he's met a handful of times. "I just felt that she was accusing him of something when nothing could be further from the truth."
'I guess we'll work it out in court'
"Would I say it again? No. Would I defend Baldasaro again from an accusation? I would defend any man or any woman who was unfairly accused."
Both agree it's an unwelcome distraction three weeks before the Oct. 27 municipal election. Both are locked in heated races in Ward 3.
Green, a 33-year-old owner of a fitness centre, is one of 15 people vying for a seat that Bernie Morelli held before he died earlier this year. One of Green's chief opponents is Ralph Agostino, an outgoing Catholic board trustee Perri is running to replace. There are six candidates in Perri's race.
Both intend to focus on campaigning.
"I'm not going to get distracted by this stuff," Green said. "It's unfortunate he got himself into this situation, and I guess we'll work it out in court."
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