Heated debate “is what a free and democratic society does,” an Ontario judge has ruled in a ten-year legal dispute over political opinion. The key decision on free expression came in the case of 2014 commentaries by Jerry Agar of Radio CFRB Toronto.

“So long as facts are sufficiently stated or otherwise known, the defence of fair comment will avail,” wrote Justice Graeme Mew of Ontario Superior Court. Commentary may be “heated” or “colourful” without straying into libel, he said.