The appellant radio talk show host broadcast an editorial comparing the respondent, a social activist opposed to positive portrayals of homosexuality in schools, to Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan.
The respondent sued for defamation.
The trial judge dismissed the action on the basis of fair comment.
The Court of Appeal reversed, finding no evidentiary foundation for the imputation that the respondent would condone violence.
The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal and restored the trial judgment, modifying the 'honest belief' element of the fair comment defence to an objective test: whether any person could honestly express the defamatory opinion on the proved facts.
