Cochrane’s mayor says he is “surprised” by a defamation suit from a Timmins insurance company, chalking his comments up to “due diligence.”
BMT Insurance Brokers Limited announced two days ago that it had commenced legal action against Peter Politis over the Cochrane mayor’s Nov. 19 comments in the Cochrane Times Post.
The insurance company says it takes issue with what it describes as accusations of impropriety on the part of BMT and its employee, Rheal Cousineau, a broker who manages the BMT office in Cochrane.
The article does not appear to currently exist on the newspaper’s website.
“I am surprised that BMT insurance, Joel Bergeron and Rheal Cousineau who operate in our community, are taking issue with the local mayor conducting some due diligence around why and how they are receiving a contract to provide the municipal insurance portfolio, costing almost $50,000 (equivalent to about a 1 percent tax increase) more than the competition.”
“However, the responsible thing to do at this point is to reserve comment and allow the process to take its course. I have nothing to hide and in the end, once again, it will be clear that I have conducted myself appropriately. At that time I’ll have more to say.”
BMT says it was selected through a competitive request-for-proposal process to supply insurance services to the Town of Cochrane for one year."We regret having to take this action against Mayor Politis," said Bergeron, BMT president, in a release issued Tuesday. "We've asked him to publicly apologize for the false allegations he has made, repeatedly, both in council meetings and now in the media. He has not responded to our request. We have no choice but pursue this action as his comments have damaged the reputation of our company and our highly regarded employees."
The plaintiffs, BMT Insurance, Joel Bergeron, and Rheal Cousineau are seeking general damages of $500,000 each for harm to reputation and punitive damages of $200,000 each, as well as special damages in an amount to be determined for loss of business and economic harm, pre-and post-judgement interest, and the costs of their action.
The company says it remains committed to the Town of Cochrane.
BMT Insurance operates seven offices in Ontario, including Cochrane, Timmins, Porcupine, Smooth Rock Falls, Peterborough, Grand River (Oshweken), and Mississauga.
