The federal government agreed last June to settle the lawsuit, which originally asked for $25,000. The final settlement was paid last week. The terms were not disclosed to the public and the payment to Bruyea was not factored into the Department of Justice’s estimate of the costs.
“I’m floored,” Plett said Tuesday in an interview with CBC News. “I feel the government has to defend itself against frivolous claims. This was not a frivolous claim. This person was defamed by a minister and the government spent almost ten times the original claim to defend against it.”
Had the government “negotiated in good faith, this could have been dealt with honourably,” he added.
Plett said the disclosure of the figure makes him wonder how much the current government spent fighting other “questionable” high-profile cases — such as the criminal case against former vice-admiral Mark Norman, which concluded with the Crown staying the single breach of trust charge filed against the ex-commander of the navy.
