Eliminating A Risk. Why 007?

 In my previous article I referred to the following statement received from The Corporation’s lawyer:

“...Your blog does not need to explicitly name the Management or the Board to defame them; if a reader can surmise from your blog who they are, then you could be held liable for defamation nonetheless.”

Since there was a very remote chance that a reader will manage to connect a three-digit number to a specific Condominium Corporation located in a very specific city in Ontario, I selected randomly 007. All future articles will be about HYPOTHETICAL cases designed to develop awareness about critical issues affecting Condo Owners, and should not be construed as an attempt to blame a specific Condo Corporation for failing to protect the collective interests of a Condo Community.

Please do not leave comments asking me for applications to join His Majesty’s Secret Service (MI6). 007 was randomly selected to highlight the point that the very same dangers encountered in the world of espionage, can exist in a condominium environment. After all, protecting vested interests is the name of the game in the espionage industry. Protecting the vested interests of the Board is the name of the game in the “Condo Industry”. Both industries have nothing to do with the “Collective Good”.

A blogger or an investigative journalist (IJ) is like an “Intelligence Agent” (IA). IA collects info, analyzes the details, and disseminate the conclusions to political decision makers that are supposedly dedicated to serve the “Collective Good” or the National Security of a country.

IJ collects, analyzes, and disseminates information to the public to generate an awareness about an issue that undermines public interests. In other words the IA and IJ use the same methodology for different goals.

When the authority of the State is challenged, IAs are used to neutralize/eliminate dissenting voices labelled “Enemies of The State”. When too much criticism is expressed about The Board, depending on the severity of the criticism, The Board relies on a long list of actors and measures to nip in the bud “Freedom of Expression”.

I can write volumes about the common denominators shared by Boards and State actors, but I will postpone it for another occasion. The only point I need to highlight before wrapping up my article is the fact that in Canada, The Board of Directors of a Condominium Corporation is considered the 4th Government, with powers to collect money, to pass rules and regulations, and literally confiscate and sell your property if you fail to pay your monthly “Maintenance Fees”.

Like all governments The Board has three “Cardinal” obligations:
a) To protect lives.
b) To protect property.
c) To adopt rules, regulations, and decisions that are compatible with The Canadian Charter of Rights, and a set of other Anti-Discrimination Laws passed by different governments.

One more time, please don’t leave comments requesting applications to join His Majesty’s Secret Service (MI6).

n.b.
Anonymous comments will not be published. A name and an email address must be provided.
If you suspect that your views are resting on shaky grounds, and fail to comply with basic rules of logical reasoning, do not make any comments.

Pain & Suffering In A Condo Environment

The article was removed due to a "Cease-And-Desist" order received from the Board's lawyer.The following key points were stated in the letter:

You must immediately and permanently cease-and-desist from making false allegations against
[The Management Company] and the Board. You must immediately and permanently remove any harassing or defamatory content that you have published on your Blog, and you must permanently refrain from publishing any other harassing or defamatory content on your Blog or any other public forum about [The Management Company] or the Board.

If you fail to comply with the above demands and/or there are further violations of the Act or the
governing documents by you, the Corporation will commence legal proceedings against you without any further notice. If such legal proceedings are commenced, the Corporation will seek all of its legal costs on a full indemnity basis against you and/or add such litigation costs to your Unit’s common expenses which will be recoverable by way of condominium lien if necessary. In our experience, such costs could amount to several tens of thousands of dollars.

You are liable for all of the Corporation’s legal costs incurred to date in this enforcement matter against you for your unlawful harassment. If you fail to comply with the demands set out above and/or there are further violations of the Act or the governing documents by you, the Corporation may charge back your Unit for its legal costs incurred in this enforcement matter. The Corporation’s legal costs in this enforcement matter are $904.00 ($800 + HST) to date, but this amount is only as of the date of this letter and is therefore subject to change in the future.

To the objection I made that my article does not identify a person or any party by name, address, etc...the Corporation’s lawyer emailed on April 05/24 the following reply:

“...Your blog does not need to explicitly name the Management or the Board to defame them; if a reader can surmise from your blog who they are, then you could be held liable for defamation nonetheless.

We trust that you will immediately and permanently remove the harassing and defamatory content from your blog, and that you will refrain from further harassment and/or defamation.”

The lawyer of the Corporation does not consider the move made by The Board to pursue the “Cease-And-Desist” warning a SLAPP legal maneuver. For more details about SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) use the following link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation 

n.b.
Anonymous comments will not be published. A name and an email address must be provided.
If you suspect that your views are resting on shaky grounds, and fail to comply with basic rules of logical reasoning, do not make any comments.

 

 

 

 

NEW LOCATION (NARKHAN-Fictional City) SAME OLD PROBLEMS

 YES, we moved from Toronto to Narkhan, but it seems that a set of chronic problems are consistently part and parcel of the “Condo Industry”, simply because when power and money are present in the same environment, they have a tendency to undermine moral principles and ethical values, paving the way for conflicts that impact negatively the quality of life in a Condo Community.

The next article is the best example of what blind exercise of power can do, especially when decision makers cannot tell the difference between managing a building and establishing a caring community where the ultimate focus is alleviating pain based on the principles of “Reasonable Accommodations”, instead of peddling via a twisted logic and a set of wrong assumptions the narrative that, legally we don’t have any obligation to change the status quo.

n.b.
When reading articles on this blog please pay attention to the publication date of an article. Any article published prior to 2024 does not apply to the new Narkhan (fictional) location.