But His Email: Why Did Mayoral Candidate Jami Paras Ask the Minor Hockey Association to Sue Peace River?

Peace River is just as passionate about hockey as you'd expect for a small northern Canadian town. That's why debates over the new multiplex, which is being built in town as we speak, have been raging across local Facebook forums. Some residents want a second ice surface; some wonder why more space wasn't allocated for the arts, or different user groups; some worry about increased taxes to cover the cost of the construction. With the municipal election upon us, the arena has become a bonafide election issue.

The candidate who is perhaps the most responsible for stoking the controversy over the arena is mayoral candidate James (Jami) Paras, who has been publicly questioning the design of the new arena since at least 2014 and has suggested the old arena could still be used as a second ice surface.

However, in the course of these public conversations about ice, a more important question has emerged. It's a question that deserved a fair hearing at the candidates' forum, but didn't get one. At the very least it should be given serious consideration by voters before Oct. 16.

Why did mayoral candidate Jamie Paras ask the Peace River Minor Hockey Association to sue the Town of Peace River?

It's a bit surreal to type, since we're talking about a hockey parent trying to get a kids' hockey association to sue their own hometown over a new arena. Having been on boards in town myself, I can't honestly imagine spending the fees that are meant to be used towards a sport on a costly lawsuit, nor the majority of parents ever supporting that kind of decision.

Here's what happened. In August, Paras emailed the PRMHA board and requested that they bring a lawsuit against the Town of Peace River to halt the arena project.

The interaction is recorded in the PRMHA board minutes, and that section of the minutes was shared online in Peace River's General forum on Facebook by Devin ZoBell:

  

"5.1 Email request from Jami Paras on August 18, 2017. The request is to put a lawsuit against the town to stop the build of the arena. Email accepted as information only. Moved by Kelly Flynn and seconded by Brad Dallyn. Motion carried unanimously."

Paras at first responded to the posting of these minutes by simply challenging ZoBell to come to the all candidate's forum held on Oct. 3 and ask any questions about the email there, although ZoBell later responded in a comment that the forum's rules prevented him from asking the question. Indeed, the rules stipulated any question had to be asked of all candidates rather than just one, and also could not be a question about a particular candidate's integrity. This is certainly a question of one mayoral candidate's integrity.

Paras responded again in comments on the general forum on Oct. 4 and what he said confirms he made the request.

"I said publicly I would explore options when asked by the media. I again said publicly last night the location of the multiplex was wrong, it left no room for other additional venues such as a replacement for Athabasca Hall,” he wrote.

“I was not a candidate at the time of the request, only a concerned citizen trying to avoid a mistake we can't change. The point was to delay construction until the election so the people of Peace River could have a say in the largest recreation project it [sic] this towns history."

It's debatable whether or not the town's residents have already had their say in various ways.

Regardless, the PRMHA board didn't take the emailed suggestion, and wisely, simply noted it for information.

ZoBell has since asked in the public forum if Paras mentioned his mayoral candidacy in that email. As of this writing, Paras has not responded to the question.

When I spoke with Mr. Paras on the phone about the email on the evening of Oct. 4, he told me, “It was a private email - I'm not a representative of the town or any level of government - to a private organization.”

Certainly, none of the candidates were officially nominated until Sept. 18. The email was dated Aug. 18, according to the PRMHA minutes.

When I asked Paras if he mentioned his candidacy in the email, he repeatedly refused to answer. However, he did confirm something I had already heard. 

“Everyone knew I was running for mayor at minor hockey because I announced it at the AGM,” he said.

That AGM was held in March of this year, months before the deadlines for candidate nomination. 

The question of whether Paras wrote the email in any kind of official capacity as a mayoral candidate is therefore a bit trickier than it first appears. Even if he didn't mention his candidacy in the email, and a board member I personally spoke to said he indeed had, it's clear the board already knew he planned to run for the highest political position in the Town of Peace River. Either way, then, the possibility he might become mayor in the future was well-known. 

I also asked Paras if he mentioned any other candidates in the email. 

"No, why would I?" he responded.  

When I asked whether perhaps he'd mentioned several people were going to be elected and could vote together, he clammed up. 

“I'm not talking about the email anymore,” he said.

Mr. Paras was also adamant when we spoke that although he requested the lawsuit, he did not “guarantee” anything to the PRMHA board, stating that same phrase several times throughout our short conversation.

A portion of that conversation went as follows:

Paras: “I don't have to give you the email, and I would just as soon watch you hang yourself, because you think you know what it says. Do you think that I would guarantee that I would win the mayor's seat? Think about that for a minute.”

Thompson: “I'm not asking if you guaranteed it, I'm asking if you mentioned it.”

Paras: “That's what you said in the message to me, did I guarantee money? Well to guarantee money I would have to guarantee the mayor's seat, and we're talking about something that didn't happen.”

Thompson: “So you didn't mention it at all, you just suggested that they sue the town?”

Paras: “What I am saying to you is I did not guarantee anything. I asked them if they were interested in suing the town because the town broke the law, they admitted it, they did, and nothing came of it.”

At a different point in the conversation, Paras also asked me the apparently rhetorical questions, “How could I guarantee the mayor's seat? How does the mayor, alone, sign anything? Who could guarantee being the mayor?”

While in my initial messages over Facebook I had asked Mr. Paras some pointed questions, I didn't recall using the word “guarantee.” He was so insistent on the point, I actually checked my own wording in my Facebook messages to him to see if I was the one who was mistaken. However, I didn't once use the word “guarantee” myself in my initial written questions to him, or during our phone interview. I did ask if he had mentioned his candidacy or offered money in the emailed request to PRMHA.

Since Paras was so intent on denying something I hadn't actually asked, I found myself becoming curious about the word itself, especially its legal definition. Legally, a guarantee is a formal promise, usually in writing, that certain conditions will be fulfilled. We've all bought something at one time or another that carried a guarantee. But a guarantee can also mean a formal pledge to be responsible for another party's debt. 

Such as, perhaps, a debt from a costly lawsuit? To me, it begged the question.

Regardless, Paras denied having guaranteed anything, or doing anything unethical at all.

I still wanted to know more about why he had wanted PRMHA to launch a lawsuit against the town in the first place. His platform promise, after all, is to prevent any tax increases and save ratepayers money. Lawsuits usually aren't cheap.

Here, finally, was a question Paras seemed more than happy to answer.

“I wanted to delay the arena. Obviously. I admitted that. That was the whole point,” he said. “They built it on a poor site. Their costs are already going up because they made that decision.”

When I asked Paras whether a lawsuit wouldn't also cost the town money, money that would, of course, ultimately be paid by local taxpayers, he responded, “A lot less money than we're spending on the construction on that site.”

“But what's done is done, the multiplex is being built there, we're paying extra money to remove extra dirt out of the site, we're paying extra money for the pilings having to be too long, or longer than they were expected. That's a lot more money than it would have cost to delay the project long enough for the election.”

“They broke the law when they funded that project, when they started that project without funding,” he added.

This, Paras said, would have been the focus of the lawsuit he suggested to PRMHA. As he put it succinctly, “Them [the town] breaking the law.”

The candidate did already talk to municipal affairs regarding this alleged law breaking as well. He chronicled it on his official Jami Paras for Peace River Mayor Facebook page on June 29. Much like his request for a lawsuit, nothing much seems to have come of it.

It's perhaps important to note municipal elections in Alberta are obviously also governed by municipal affairs, under the Local Authorities Election Act. This is available for download or to read online at the Alberta municipal affairs website. It outlines the rules for elections, including actions that would possibly invalidate election results, such as bribery and exerting undue influence, and how voters or other candidates can apply to file suit if they think something like that has taken place.

At least one person seems to have already insinuated in a sarcastic comment on the public forum that the emailed request Paras made to PRMHA could be construed as a bribe. ZoBell also confirmed to me and on the forum that he did speak to municipal affairs himself, and told me the unnamed official he spoke to said they believe the email may be bribery, or at least may be perceived as such. Bear in mind, however, that neither of those people had a copy of the email in question, but had only heard from others what it may contain.

I did ask Paras about this directly, to which he responded that the email was, “Not bribery. Not even close.”

For his part, ZoBell has challenged Paras to release the email in order to prove whether or not that's true. 

Fortunately, I have already obtained the email. It was also posted publicly for a while on the Peace River politics forum. It is dated August 18 and the subject is “Arena issue.”

“Many of you may have been following along on FB with the developments in relation to the Borrowing Bylaw for the Multiplex,” Paras wrote. “The Town has made some very critical mistakes that has opened the door for a lawsuit and a injunction against any construction until the lawsuit is heard. That gives us a chance to right this wrong before it's too late. I will be running for Mayor and I have 2-3 confirmed Council candidates and I am looking for more of the right people. With a victory we can finally start on a path towards sound decisions for the future of our community and that starts by building a proper replacement rink if the current one is not salvageable.”

But the next paragraph is the real kicker.

“This isn't free, the retainer is $5000 + research. PRMHA needs to be the one launching the suit for one very important reason. Council and Mayor claim they have consulted the Towns People. If the largest tenant of the facility files suit it makes this defence very ineffective. If elected with your support I will vote to settle the suit and the Town will pay for PRMHA's legal fees.”

Paras then expresses his concern for how this “effects our children, Grand children and Great Grand Children.”

“I am willing to act on PRMHA's behalf on contingency,” he offers in the final paragraph. “My time will not cost anything to PRMHA. We can do this for our town and future generations!”

So it seems we have our answers. Paras wanted the PRMHA to sue the town in order to put the lie to the idea the arena had been designed after proper consultation. He did in fact mention his candidacy, and a possible voting block of two to three other councillors. 

If you're wondering who those councillors may be, Paras has been clear about who he supports. 

I'm curious to know if they were aware of the email
.
UPDATE: At 2 in the afternoon on Fri. Oct. 6, Byron Schamehorn contacted me to state he had nothing to do with the email. He stated "It had nothing to do with me. I had no knowledge of the letter."

Paras also did specifically mention money, even going so far as to estimate the cost of a lawsuit and promise the town itself would settle and then pay for PRMHA's legal fees – if he won and became mayor.

I'm no municipal lawyer, but that certainly doesn't seem at all ethical to me. 

The taxpayers of Peace River at least deserve to know that Paras had promised in writing to spend their money to settle a lawsuit against the Town; a lawsuit which Paras himself tried to launch and offered to handle, against the very town he wants to lead. 

Finally, I do feel I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that Paras threatened to sue me personally for slander multiple times throughout our phone interview. He answered my very first question with the threat of a lawsuit, something he WAS willing to guarantee, and repeated that threat regularly for the rest of the conversation. This was despite the fact I pointed out I called him directly in order to ensure I got his side of the story and that these were not my own allegations. At the time, I did not have the email and told him so. In an effort to find the truth, I asked him questions based on what I had heard from my own primary sources. Everything I was told by my sources has since been confirmed by the email itself.

So it certainly seems to me that Mr. Paras is quick to rely on the threat of a lawsuit. He told me numerous times to, “Be careful.” And while he wasn't technically the candidate when he wrote the email to PRMHA, for what it's worth, he IS a mayoral candidate now.

One must certainly wonder if a lawsuit is his go-to solution for every problem and potential criticism.

Ultimately of course, elections, just like hockey, have rules to keep the game sporting and ensure everyone has a fair chance at getting that goal. Since in the end everyone running in an election is ideally doing it to serve and improve the community, I'd also like to believe sportsmanship is still important in small town politics, even if no rules are broken.

I don't personally think Mr. Paras would win any awards for good sportsmanship here.

Now it's up to the voters to decide if a person who conducts themselves like this while playing the political game deserves to win leadership of Peace River - or take a time out in the penalty box.

UPDATE Friday Oct. 6
Jami Paras has officially apologized in the Peace River Politics group on Facebook. His apology is extensive and essentially confirms what I had written. 

UPDATE June 18, 2018
In a post to Peace River's General Forum on Facebook on what I believe was on or about June 17, 2018, Paras stated he had been the subject of an investigation and was cleared.
In the new post, Paras stated, "During the election much mud was thrown at me trying to discredit me by Susan Thompson in particular. One of those accusations by the self-proclaimed reporter prompted an investigation in which I was completely cleared of any wrongdoing. While this was completed many months ago I chose to stay out of the political realm and not make this public."

He then went on to express his support for a new petition to have municipal affairs review the current Town council. 

Here are screen caps of the full post as sent to me via messenger: 

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