Case involving sponsorship scandal source sent back to Quebec court
In a major victory for journalists, The Supreme Court of Canada has decided that courts must “balance the importance of disclosure to the administration of justice against the public interest in maintaining journalistic source confidentiality.” The decision came after The Globe and Mail‘s Daniel Leblanc appealed an order by a Quebec Superior Court judge that he reveal the sources who tipped him off to the federal sponsorship scandal. Leblanc says he’s confident he will be able to prove to the lower court that there is a “public interest” in keeping the source confidential. Groupe Polygone Editeurs brought the original action against Leblanc, saying they had a right to know the identity of the source code-named “Ma Chouette,” because their business had been damaged as a result of the information. Groupe Polygone was one of the Liberal-friendly advertising firms that earned millions of taxpayer’s dollars from the federal government for work that was never completed.