Chemtrade is suing a competitor and a PR firm alleging they ran a covert and defamatory information campaign aimed at undermining a critical rezoning in the District of North Vancouver.

District council voted in July to approve an application from Chemtrade to allow the continued production of chlorine at its Maplewood plant beyond 2030, when its current lease with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority was set to end.

Beginning in June 2024, a group calling itself Keep North Vancouver Safe began running an online campaign on Facebook, Instagram and via its own website to generate public opposition.

“The online campaign was secretly orchestrated by K2. K2 retained Crestview to carry out the online campaign,” the civil claim states.

One ad featured a skull and crossbones overtop of chemical containers with the warning message “Chemtrade wants to keep putting you in danger and reverse the 2030 decision,” the suit states.

That ad was seen between 45,000 and 50,000 times.

Another Crestview ad cited in the civil claim depicted an orange cloud radiating over North Vancouver, Burnaby and Vancouver with the text “Chemtrade is trying to overturn a decision meant to keep you safe. Let the district know you don’t support chlorine production in your backyard,” and “Stop Chemtrade and save our community.”

That ad was seen upwards of 250,000 times.

The statements in the campaign were false and “made maliciously without just cause,” the company argues, “with the intent to injure Chemtrade’s business.”

In the suit, Chemtrade argues it has suffered damages including expenses incurred to counter K2’s information campaign, loss of opportunity and goodwill, and damage to its reputation.

“The defendants engaged in high-handed and highly reprehensible conduct that departs from ordinary standards of decent behaviour. The defendants carried out a covert campaign under the false guise of a grassroots public interest organization, a practice colloquially referred to as ‘astroturfing’ with the intent of harming Chemtrade’s business and reputation to benefit a competitor,” the document states.

None of the claims have been tested in court, and neither defendant has filed an official response.

Reached for comment on Wednesday, K2 Pure Solutions executive chairman David Cynamon said “We are unaware of this suit as we have not been served, and won’t provide comment on something that we have not had the opportunity to study.”

No one from Crestview responded to a North Shore News request for comment.