One of the darkest chapters in British Columbia’s political history is being resurrected with a defamation lawsuit against former premier Bill Vander Zalm, who is being sued by the man who helped force his resignation in 1991.

The lawsuit by former conflict of interest commissioner Ted Hughes says Vander Zalm falsely published defamatory statements attacking his reputation in a 2008 book title Bill Vander Zalm: For the People.

Hughes’s lawyer, Irwin Nathanson, told B.C. Supreme Court that he will be calling his client and former NDP premier Mike Harcourt, who succeeded Vander Zalm, to testify.

“The natural and ordinary meaning of the passages meant that Mr. Hughes was self-interested, he was biased and he was politically partisan,” Nathanson told the jury.

The court heard that in February 1991, Vander Zalm asked Hughes, then the acting conflict of interest commissioner, to conduct an inquiry into the 1990 sale of Vander Zalm’s Fantasy Garden World theme park after allegations that the Taiwanese buyer had received favourable treatment.

Hughes concluded on April 2 that Vander Zalm, who led the Social Credit Party, had breached conflict-of-interest guidelines, prompting Vander Zalm to resign immediately.

In his book, portions of which were read in court, Vander Zalm said he should never have agreed to the inquiry.

The passages are also outlined in Hughes’s statement of claim, filed in October 2010.

“I now know this was the biggest mistake of my entire life,” Vander Zalm wrote.

Vander Zalm’s lawyer, Frank Potts, said he will call only the former premier to testify for the defence.

In his statement of defence filed in December 2010, Vander Zalm denied most of Hughes’s claim, including his version of how he came to write the report that found Vander Zalm had violated conflict-of-interest guidelines.

He also said Hughes had taken the book passages out of context.