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The Saint John pension board's defamation lawsuit against former councillor John Ferguson has never been popular, but new polling data reveals just how unpopular it is. The lawsuit now has five times more critics than it has supporters, representing a clear majority of those residents pollsters spoke to.

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Council's representatives on the pension board must push for an end to the lawsuit. It is the politically responsible thing to do. From a pragmatic perspective, it is also the best way to protect the interests of city employees and pensioners.

The total costs of the suit to date are estimated at approximately $1 million, with some $500,000 in fees generated by the plaintiff pension board. The costs could escalate as the document discovery process continues, and the case has not even made its way to trial yet. If the pension board loses and costs are awarded to the defendant, the bill will most likely be sent to the pension fund, where any long-term deficits are charged to Saint John taxpayers. Residents are already inconvenienced by the additional demand placed on the city clerk's office by the discovery process.

If the plaintiff pension board had polled the employees and pensioners whose interests it represents, how many would have given approval to proceed with this costly gamble? How many approve of it now, knowing employees are being asked to adopt concessions to help the city pay down a pension deficit?

Mayor Ivan Court - the chairman of the current pension board - recently stated that if the city must absorb annual pension deficit payments of $16 million a year for 15 years, "we would have to declare the city bankrupt." Yet the mayor has been a stalwart defender of the plaintiff pension board's lawsuit - a lawsuit which could add $1 million or more to pension deficits in the future.

For the sake of the city, its taxpayers, employees and pensioners, bring this lawsuit to an end before the bill gets any bigger.