Since the Ontario government introduced the
Protection of Pubic Participation Act, there have been several
reported decisions. The anti-SLAPP (strategic law suit against
public participation) legislation is already creating an
interesting body of law in the courts – and at least one
tribunal – considering when they should intervene to end
lawsuits against persons involved in the expression of public
interest matters.
Under the legislation, the moving party must establish that a
suit arises from an expression that relates to a matter of public
interest. If the moving party is successful, the burden then shifts
to the responding party to show that the suit has substantial
merit, there is no valid defence, and the harm suffered or likely
to be suffered by the plaintiff/respondent is "sufficiently
serious that the public interest in permitting the proceeding to
continue outweighs the public interest in protecting that
expression." If the respondent is able to meet this
