VANCOUVER - Former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm wrote his 2008 book to slam the reputation of a man whose inquiry findings forced him to resign in disgrace years earlier, says a lawyer.
Irwin Nathanson, who represents former conflict of interest commissioner Ted Hughes, said Friday the ex-premier's autobiography also targeted his political enemies so he could get even with them.
Hughes is suing Vander Zalm for defamation, saying the ex-premier attacked his good character after he found the politician breached conflict of interest guidelines in 1991 in relation to the sale of his Fantasy Gardens theme park.
Nathanson said that in the preface of the book, "Bill Vander Zalm: For the People," the former premier likened Hughes to someone who spreads false rumours.
"To those who've lived behind the mask of deceit I think it's time to strip that away," Vander Zalm wrote.
"To those who wouldn't want the false facade that they built up to be torn down I say you'll be disappointed."
Vander Zalm told court that the passages were meant to infer that things aren't always as they appear and referred to the media and a woman named Faye Leung, who brokered a deal involving his property.
However, neither Leung nor the media are mentioned in the preface.
"I suggest to you, sir, that you made those statements to rehabilitate your image and to take down the reputation of Ted Hughes," Nathanson said, as Vander Zalm disagreed.
"Because it was Ted Hughes who made that finding that led to your resignation in disgrace, you decided to attack the messenger personally," the lawyer said.
Nathanson said Vander Zalm also took shots in his book at former high-profile cabinet ministers who'd run against him in a heated leadership race for the Social Credit party in 1986.
Vander Zalm has told court that he won the contest after entering it in the middle of the 60-day campaign that was stacked with 12 contenders vying for the top job.
Brian Smith and Grace McCarthy came in second and third respectively, and Nathanson said Vander Zalm also portrayed them harshly in his book.
Smith, who retained his role as attorney general but then resigned after a disagreement with Vander Zalm, is described in the book as "one of the most disloyal and conniving members of them all."
He also said Smith recommended Hughes for the position of B.C.'s first conflict of interest commissioner and was friends with NDP leader Mike Harcourt, who he called "a hypocrite" who "knew the setup all along" regarding the outcome of the inquiry.
On Friday, Vander Zalm said the Socreds had supported Smith's proposal, although he couldn't explain why he thought a setup was involved, only that "politics is a competitive business."
Vander Zalm has criticized Hughes' inquiry as uncomfortable and secretive because the media was barred.
However, Nathanson said Vander Zalm's two lawyers had met with Hughes for more than three hours to discuss the format before the premier and his wife Lillian were questioned.
Court has also heard Vander Zalm asked Hughes to conduct the inquiry after controversy began swirling that he'd arranged for the billionaire Taiwanese buyer of his theme park to meet with the finance minister and the lieutenant governor.
The former premier also wrote in his book that the NDP approved Hughes' appointment as conflict of commissioner for a five-year term after he stepped down and that he'd "predicted that all along."
Nathanson suggested Vander Zalm could not back up such statements with facts.
"To me, all this taken together, and given the secretive process that I went through, I was of the view that there were things happening politically that affected the outcome," Vander Zalm said.
Court also heard that in January 2009, Vander Zalm told a Delta, B.C., newspaper that publishers weren't willing to take his book because it was too controversial.
"They didn't want to take books of a political nature," Vander Zalm said Friday.
The seven-member jury has heard he published his autobiography on his own and has sold about 1,200 copies.
Vander Zalm has told the civil trial that he wrote the book to set the record straight and encourage debate to change a system he found unfair.