Latest news with #KareemAllam
CTV News
05-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Mayor's former chief of staff forms new political party
Mayor's former chief of staff forms new political party Vancouver's next civic election is more than a year away, but Kareem Allam is already gunning for Mayor Ken Sim's job.
CTV News
05-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Vancouver mayor's former chief of staff launches new political party in mayoral run
Kareem Allam, the former chief of staff to Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim who plans to run against him in the next municipal election, speaks to CTV News on Friday, July 4, 2025. (CTV News) Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's former chief of staff has started a political party in his bid to be the city's next top politician. Kareem Allam previously worked for Sim's ABC party as a campaign manager, and credits himself for the party's success in 2022. He's now vying for his former boss's job, and is behind a new civic party called the Vancouver Liberals. 'I wanted to put my name forward because I'm not happy with the direction of the city,' he said. 'I think Vancouverites deserve a mayor that walks into city hall every day and asks themselves one simple question: 'How am I going to make things better in the City of Vancouver?' And right now, I don't think that's happening.' 'Oppose the decampments' Allam said he considers himself centre-left, but intends to recruit candidates further to the left and right. 'Voices that are going to oppose the decampments, oppose supportive housing bans, oppose getting rid of integrity commissioners while being under investigation from integrity commissioners,' he said, referencing decisions Sim has supported in his nearly three years in office. 'I want voices that are going to stand up for a democratically elected park board.' Legal battle Allam left his position at city hall only a few months after Sim came to power. He's now involved in a lawsuit with Sim, who has accused Allam and real estate developer Alexander George Tsakumis of making 'false and defamatory' statements about the mayor. The statements in question relate to an alleged incident in which Sim was supposedly caught driving drunk by Vancouver police, who let him go without citing him for any offence. Will opposition councillors run? CTV News asked each opposition councillor whether they're thinking of running for mayor. The only councillor to hint at it is long-time Green City Coun. Pete Fry. 'A day doesn't go by that people don't ask me if I am,' he said. 'It's a conversation I have to have with my wife and my team. Certainly, (I'm) flattered by the interest. I haven't made anything close to a decision on that one, but certainly considering it.' The next municipal election is scheduled for Oct. 17, 2026.
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Vancouver mayor's former chief of staff, businessman deny defamation allegations
Two men being sued for defamation by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim are denying the allegations, filing responses in court laying out their defences. The mayor's notice of civil claim names his former chief of staff, Kareem Allam, and local businessman Alexander George Tsakumis, saying both made 'false and defamatory' statements about him in relation to an alleged incident in which Sim was supposedly caught driving drunk by Vancouver police, who let him go without citing him for any offence. Sim's notice of civil claim alleges that Allam told Tsakumis and others about the purported impaired driving incident, and that Tsakumis later posted about it on social media. Read more: Vancouver mayor suing his former chief of staff for defamation Tsakumis' response Tsakumis' response 'admits' Allam contacted him in 2023 to tell him Sim had been stopped by police on suspicion of impaired driving and admits to publishing 'written expression' in the form of a post saying the alleged impaired driving incident was 'one of the most shameful acts by a mayor of this city. Ever.' In addition, the document says Tsakumis admits he has not 'withdrawn, retracted, or apologized for the content.' The response acknowledges the Vancouver Police Department reviewed the allegations of police misconduct and the matter was referred to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which ordered the RCMP to conduct a review. That review found no 'objective evidence' the incident occurred 'in the manner alleged,' the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner said in a statement earlier this year. Tsakumis' response also contains a description of Sim's 'true reputation' saying the mayor is 'a politician and businessman who occasionally consumes alcohol to excess, including at events attended in his capacity as a candidate for election or an elected official.' The law of defamation, the document says, 'protects the reputation a plaintiff actually holds, not the reputation a plaintiff desires to hold.' In support of this claim, the response lists a number of occasions on which Sim was allegedly intoxicated in public between 2018 and 2024. In addition, the response says he had been asked for advice by a Sim staffer and an ABC party executive 'including advice related to the plaintiff's alcohol consumption.' Further, Tsakumis' argues his comments – when put into context – related to matters of public interest including 'the standards to which elected officials should be held' and 'the discretion exercised by police officers in the performance of their duties.' The 'gist and sting' of the comments, the response argues, was that there were 'reasonable grounds' to either suspect or investigate the allegations of impaired driving and police misconduct, giving rise to the defence of justification. Tsakumis' response also argues that he did not cause Sim any 'harm, damage or loss.' Allam's response The mayor's former chief of staff's response begins by saying he did not make the specific statements alleged by the mayor. Even if he did, the response argues – they were not defamatory. Allam's response says he received a phone call in February of 2023 from someone on Sim's staff, informing him that the mayor had been stopped by police for 'driving while intoxicated' and allowed to leave without being arrested. 'The defendant, who was the plaintiff's chief of staff, considered the account to be a potential political crisis for the plaintiff,' the response reads. Allam admits to calling Tsakumis afterward and says he told the businessman – who he considered a 'reliable political advisor' about what he had heard, but said he had 'no direct knowledge' of the incident. The statements Allam made to Tsakumis were not defamatory, according to his response, because they were 'true in substance and fact.' The former chief of staff also says his statements were not published and he had no intention of publishing them. Allam was fired soon after the phone call described in the response and Tsakumis' social media post was published 10 months later. Allam recently confirmed his intention to challenge Sim for the mayor's seat in 2026. None of the claims have been tested in court. With files from CTV News Vancouver's Ian Holliday
CBC
24-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim sues former chief of staff for defamation
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has filed a lawsuit against two people, including his former chief of staff, over alleged defamatory comments that claimed he had been pulled over by police for driving under the influence and used his position to cover it up. According to a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court Friday, political strategist Kareem Allam, who had worked as Sim's campaign manager and chief of staff, told Alexander Tsakumis, a local businessman who is active on social media, that the mayor was pulled over by Vancouver police after driving while intoxicated, and officers let him go without being booked or cited for his actions. The claim says Allam told the story to Tsakumis in November 2023, less than a year after Allam was terminated as Sim's chief of staff, "with the intent that Mr. Tsakumis could publish the statements to others, including on the internet." It alleges Allam told a member of Sim's ABC Vancouver party that someone in the mayor's office told him that Sim had been pulled over by police for driving under the influence, and the mayor's office staffer and a VPD officer had "taken care of it." The suit claims Tsakumis posted a message on X on Nov. 23, 2023, accusing the mayor of driving drunk and using his influence to avoid consequences. It alleges Allam and Tsakumis made the comments "with malice, knowing them to be false, or in reckless disregard to the truth of the statements," and they "intended and expected" that others would republish the defamatory language. The suit says the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) investigated following Tsakumis's social media post, and the VPD's chief constable issued a report that concluded the OPCC investigation found "no objective evidence of an interaction between members of the VPD and [Sim]" as described in the post. It said the chief constable "further concluded the matter to be baseless and that Mr. Tsakumis irresponsibly used the platform to spread a rumour communicated to him by Mr. Allam." Speaking to CBC News Friday, Allam said he plans to "vigorously defend" himself. "It is a matter of public record that I was not the source of these rumours," Allam said.
CTV News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Vancouver mayor suing his former chief of staff for defamation
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is suing two men, including his former chief of staff Kareem Allam, for defamation, according to documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court Friday. Sim's lawsuit alleges Allam and real estate developer Alexander George Tsakumis made 'false and defamatory' statements about the mayor. The statements in question relate to an alleged incident in which Sim was supposedly caught driving drunk by Vancouver police, who let him go without citing him for any offence. Sim denies that any such incident took place, and an investigation by B.C.'s Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner concluded there was 'no objective evidence of an interaction between members of the (Vancouver Police Department) and the plaintiff,' according to the lawsuit. The OPCC investigation concluded the allegations were 'baseless,' the lawsuit states. Sim's notice of civil claim alleges that Allam told Tsakumis and others about the purported impaired driving incident, and that Tsakumis later posted about the incident on social media, calling it 'one of the most shameful acts by a mayor of this city. Ever.' Both men are alleged to have made their comments either 'with malice, knowing them to be false,' or in 'reckless disregard' to the truth. The allegations against Allam and Tsakumis have not been proven in court and neither man has filed a formal response to Sim's claim. Speaking to CTV News by phone on Friday, Allam said it is 'a matter of public record' that he was not the source of the allegedly defamatory rumours. He said he would 'vigorously defend the truth.' The lawsuit notes that the allegedly defamatory words were republished in anonymous flyers that circulated during Vancouver's recent byelection for two empty city council seats. Allam described the lawsuit as 'a cheap, political distraction' and attacked Sim's record, saying the mayor has made 'zero progress' on his agenda while raising property taxes 'more than any other mayor in the history of the City of Vancouver.' 'Every single aspect of his platform that he's run on, he's failed on, and this is a distraction away from his failures,' Allam said. In a written statement, Tsakumis also described the lawsuit as political. 'It won't be the first or last time this mayor is more interested in petty politics and frivolity over the needs of the fine people of Vancouver,' he said, in an email. 'His claims against me are vexatious and entirely meritless. My legal team looks forward to seeing how he holds up at trial, under oath.' Sim's claim seeks general, aggravated and punitive damages, as well as a permanent injunction preventing the defendants from 'directly or indirectly making, publishing, disseminating or broadcasting the defamatory words, or words of like or similar effect.' With files from CTV News Vancouver's Spencer Harwood
