Calgary Court of King’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation heard from both sides during the one-day hearing about what she described as a two-and-a-half-minute exchange between the mayor and city manager nearly a year ago – the core of the legal arguments. And she was pointed in her questioning of the rational for council’s sanctions against the mayor.

Clark’s lawyer, Grant Stapon, described the actions taken against his client as “abhorrent,” arguing the Kingsgate report used to sanction the mayor is faulty and he repeatedly insinuating Mitchell was liar.