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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (37040)	3/5/1999 5:33:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 67261

Canadian minister sues Clinton associate over lewd contest By Andrea Hopkins OTTAWA, March 5 (Reuters) - Canada's feisty Heritage Minister, Sheila Copps, is suing the Canadian publisher of the raunchy Hustler magazine after its February edition featured her in a pornographic contest and called her a ''hot babe.'' Copps, who has drawn the wrath of some U.S. publishers for her efforts to ban Canadian editions of foreign magazines, has filed notice in Ontario court that she intends to sue the publisher of Hustler's Canadian edition -- but not flamboyant U.S. publisher Larry Flynt -- for libeling her with the lewd contest. The magazine gave three examples of female genitalia and asked readers to identify which would most closely resemble those of the Canadian minister. The issue also invited readers to describe why they would like to have sex with the 46-year-old ''prime minister wannabe'', who the magazine described as ''one hot babe.'' Copps originally said she intended to ignore the sleazy contest, which hit newsstands in mid-January. But her spokesman, Jacques Lefebvre, said Copps changed her mind when her 11-year-old daughter was taunted by schoolmates about the contest. ''Her daughter told her she had been teased in school by fellow school mates, saying that her mother was in a porn magazine. That really affected her,'' Lefebvre said. Copps' lawyer, Julian Porter, said on Friday the one-page feature in Hustler was clearly malicious libel. ''The definition of libel is if it holds people to hatred, ridicule or contempt -- and this certainly is ridicule and contempt,'' Porter told Reuters. ''At some point, material that is offensive, written for other people's gain, having nothing to do with anything other than pure malice, that's all enough to satisfy libel.'' He said the suit only names Belinda Riverin, the president and publisher of Quebec-based BZR Publications. ''The (Canadian) content is all done by the Canadian (publisher), added and inserted by the Canadians, and so I would have no idea of whether the Americans were aware of the insertion of this,'' Porter said. Riverin could not be reached for comment. Hundreds of convenience stores across Ontario pulled the magazine after customers complained it was in bad taste. Porter declined to say how much money Copps' was seeking in damages, but Lefebvre said any monetary award would go to battered women's shelters or women's groups. ''(Her goal) is to ensure that such a situation, a public figure or a woman that is successful does not have to face this kind of situation,'' Lefebvre said. The heritage minister introduced legislation last fall to ban Canadian advertisers from placing ads in so-called ''split-run'' magazines -- Canadian editions of foreign publications that carry little Canadian editorial content. The Canadian government argues that split-runs attract significant advertising dollars away from domestic magazines by offering ad space to Canadians at bargain prices. Canadian officials are investigating the Canadian edition of Hustler to see if it will qualify to be banned as a split-run publication.