Tim Ball

Timothy Ball was born on November 5, 1938, in England and immigrated to Canada in 1957. He worked in Toronto and Sudbury before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1960. He was trained as an aircraft radio operator and for a time served in search and rescue in northern Canada. It was during his service that Ball first became interested in climate science. After eight and a half years in the Air Force, he left in 1968 and began his college studies.{{Cite news |title=Timothy Francis Ball - Obituary |date=4 October 2022 |newspaper=Winnipeg Free Press |url=https://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-310987/BALL_TIMOTHY }}{{Cite web |title=Memorable Manitobans: Timothy Francis "Tim" Ball (1938-2022) |date= |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/ball_t.shtml }}

Ball received a bachelor's degree with honors in geography from the University of Winnipeg in 1970, followed by an M.A. from the University of Manitoba in 1971 and a PhD in geography with a specific focus on historical climatology from Queen Mary University of London in England in 1983.McLeod, Judi. "[https://canadafreepress.com/2007/cover020707.htm]," Climatologist Timothy Ball sends PhD to Canada Free Press, February 7, 2007: Canada Free Press. Direct quote of how he describes himself.

Ball became an instructor at the University of Winnipeg in 1971, and a lecturer the following year. He then served in the latter capacity for 10 years. In 1982 he became an assistant professor there, and was promoted to associate professor in 1984 and full professor in 1988. He retired from teaching in 1996.

Ball founded the Rupert's Land Research Centre,[https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/rupertsland/ Website at the University of Winnipeg] a historical society dedicated to promoting the history of the area formerly known as Rupert's Land, in 1984.{{cite book | title=A Country So Interesting: The Hudson's Bay Company and Two Centuries of Mapping, 1670–1870 | publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press | author=Ruggles, Richard I. | year=1991 | pages=xiii}} He also served as its director from then until 1996. The society placed a particular emphasis on the use of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives.{{cite journal | url=http://inedition.uwinnipeg.ca/005/IE_005_16.pdf | title=Churchill Provides Ideal Meeting Place for Rupert's Land Colloquium | journal=In Edition |date=April 1988 | volume=5 | issue=16 | pages=1–2}} Ball has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in the field of historical climatology, most of which pertain to reconstructing temperatures in Canada during the past several centuries.These papers include:

• {{Cite journal | last1 = Ball | first1 = T. F. | last2 = Kingsley | first2 = R. A. | doi = 10.1007/BF00141667 | title = Instrumental temperature records at two sites in Central Canada: 1768 to 1910 | journal = Climatic Change | volume = 6 | pages = 39–56 | year = 1984 | issue = 1 | bibcode = 1984ClCh....6...39B | s2cid = 153328941 }}
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Ball | first1 = T. F. | title = Historical evidence and climatic implications of a shift in the boreal forest tundra transition in central Canada | doi = 10.1007/BF00139750 | journal = Climatic Change | volume = 8 | issue = 2 | pages = 121–134 | year = 1986 | bibcode = 1986ClCh....8..121B | s2cid = 150697714 }}
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Ball | first1 = T. | doi = 10.1007/BF00144682 | title = The migration of geese as an indicator of climate change in the southern Hudson Bay region between 1715 and 1851 | journal = Climatic Change | volume = 5 | pages = 85–93 | year = 1990 | issue = 1 | bibcode = 1990ClCh....5...85B | s2cid = 154272626 }}
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Ball | first1 = T. | title = Climate of two locations on the Southwestern corner of Hudson Bay: AD 1720–1729 | doi = 10.1002/joc.3370141006 | journal = International Journal of Climatology | volume = 14 | issue = 10 | pages = 1151–1168 | year = 1994 | bibcode = 1994IJCli..14.1151B }}{{npsn|date=August 2021}} In 2003, Ball co-authored a book entitled "Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay," which was reviewed in the American Indian Quarterly by Theodore Binnema of the University of Northern British Columbia in 2005,{{cite journal | title=Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay (review) | author=Binnema, Theodore | journal=American Indian Quarterly |date=Summer–Fall 2005 | volume=29 | issue=3 & 4 | pages=732–733 | doi=10.1353/aiq.2005.0078| s2cid=162302655 }} as well as by Fred Cooke in the Auk in 2004.{{cite journal | title=Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay Review | author=Cooke, Fred | journal=The Auk | year=2004 | volume=121 | issue=4 | pages=1301 | doi=10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[1301:ENOHB]2.0.CO;2| s2cid=85610965 }}

=== Climate and polar bears study ===

In 2007 Ball was one of seven co-authors of a paper arguing that "spring air temperatures around the Hudson Bay basin for the past 70 years (1932–2002) show no significant warming trend," and that, as a result, "the extrapolation of polar bear disappearance is highly premature."{{Cite journal | last1 = Dyck | first1 = M. G. | last2 = Soon | first2 = W. | last3 = Baydack | first3 = R. K. | last4 = Legates | first4 = D. R. | last5 = Baliunas | first5 = S. | last6 = Ball | first6 = T. F. | last7 = Hancock | first7 = L. O. | doi = 10.1016/j.ecocom.2007.03.002 | title = Polar bears of western Hudson Bay and climate change: Are warming spring air temperatures the "ultimate" survival control factor? | journal = Ecological Complexity | volume = 4 | issue = 3 | pages = 73 | year = 2007 }} The paper was a "Viewpoint" article and was not peer-reviewed.{{cite web | url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626273.300 | title=Exxon's funding of polar bear research questioned | work=New Scientist | date=28 October 2007 | access-date=6 February 2014}}"[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/21/climate-change-denier-willie-soon-funded-energy-industry Work of prominent climate change denier was funded by energy industry]," The Guardian, 21 Feb. 2015. Retrieved 28 Mar. 2017. While the paper was cited by Sarah Palin to justify opposition to listing polar bears on the endangered-species list, its findings were contradicted by reports from the U.S. Geological Survey"[https://archive.today/20140907224136/http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/polar_bears/forecasting.html Forecasting the Future Status of Polar Bears]," USGS: Alaska Science Center, updated August 19, 2014. Retrieved 7 Sept. 2014. and other independent researchers, who concluded that man-made climate change was likely to lead to major declines in polar-bear populations by 2050. The paper was also criticized by an expert at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who wrote that it "doesn't measure up scientifically."{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/30/uselections2008.sarahpalin1 | title=Palin fought safeguards for polar bears with studies by climate change sceptics | work=The Guardian | date=30 September 2008 | access-date=6 February 2014 | author=Pilkington, Ed}} A subsequent in depth international independent study, Re-Assessment of the Baffin Bay and Kane Basin Polar Bear Subpopulations: Final Report to the Canada-Greenland Joint Commission on Polar Bear determined that while polar bear populations are not declining overall and are increasing significantly in some areas, "If the current trends in sea ice continue it is reasonable to predict further changes in [the Baffin Bay] subpopulation including, ultimately, declines in abundance and vital rates. This warrants caution in both future monitoring and management."[https://www.gov.nu.ca/environment/documents/re-assessment-baffin-bay-and-kane-basin-polar-bear-subpopulations-report Report Summary Pdf, pg 21, p3,5]

Tim Ball wrote several books positing a false notion that carbon dioxide is not a greenhouse gas causing warming and advancing a false climate change conspiracy theory.

In his 2016 book Human Caused Global Warming : the Biggest Deception in History Ball tells "the story of how and why the global warming deception was achieved. The world has not warmed for over 20 years, yet carbon dioxide (CO2) levels continue to rise in complete contradiction to what all governments are saying". Ball writes:

{{Blockquote

|text=The deception is the hypothesis that human production of CO2 is causing global warming. The hypothesis is referred to as Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). The agency that carried out the deception was the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

}}

Ball introduces his book as "presented in the form of a journalistic investigation answering basic questions, Why, Who, What, Where, When, and How."{{cite book |last=Ball |first=Tim |year=2016 |title=Human caused global warming : the biggest deception in history |publisher=Tellwell Talent |isbn=9781773021300 }}

Ball's 2014 book The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science was along the same lines.{{cite book |last=Ball |first=Tim |year=2014 |title=The deliberate corruption of climate science |publisher=Stairway Press |isbn=978-0988877740}}

Ball was one of several authors of the 2011 book Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory.Ball, Tim. "Excerpt from Slaying the Sky Dragon." Accessed from [http://drtimball.com/2011/excerpt-from-slaying-the-sky-dragon/ Ball's website], 2 Feb. 2014.O'Sullivan, John, et al. [https://books.google.com/books?id=G197OA8Vd4sC Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory]. Mt. Vernon, WA: Stairway Press, 2011.

Ball worked with Friends of Science and Natural Resources Stewardship Project, which oppose the scientific consensus of significant anthropogenic global warming,Ball, Tim. "The First in A Series of Simplified Explanations of the Corrupted and Falsified Science of Human Caused Global Warming," posted by Ball on [http://drtimball.com/2017/the-first-in-a-series-of-simplified-explanations-of-the-corrupted-and-falsified-science-of-human-caused-global-warming/ his own website], 17 June 2017. Retrieved 3 Nov. 2017. and is a former research fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy."[https://www.fcpp.org/tim-ball Tim Ball, Research Fellow]." Frontier Centre for Public Policy. 31 Jan. 2007, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140715044659/https://fcpp.org/tim-ball/ archived 15 June 2014]. Ball also rejected the scientific consensus on climate change, claiming that "CO₂ is not a greenhouse gas that raises global temperature."Ball, Tim, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190219153527/http://drtimball.ca/2012/co2-is-not-a-greenhouse-gas-that-raises-global-temperature-period/ "CO2 is not a Greenhouse Gas that Raises Global temperature. Period!"], personal website, 15 Feb. 2016.

Ball rejected the scientific consensus on climate change and stated that he believed global warming is occurring but that human production of carbon dioxide is not the cause.{{cite web | url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=4cc39711-79fc-43ad-a2c0-73a1b4fe88a2&k=70079 | title=Climate of controversy | work=Ottawa Citizen | date=18 May 2006 | access-date=27 January 2014}}{{cite web | url=http://www.producer.com/2012/06/global-warming-biggest-deception-in-history%E2%80%A9/ | title=Global warming 'biggest deception in history' | work=The Western Producer | date=8 June 2012 | access-date=28 January 2014 | author=Glen, Barb}}{{cite news | url=http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/michael_coren/2010/02/12/12859851.html | title=Climatology expert threatened for climate change views | newspaper=Toronto Sun | date=13 February 2010 | access-date=29 January 2014 | author=Coren, Michael}} Ball rejected not only {{CO2}} greenhouse gas–induced climate change but the existence of the {{CO2}} greenhouse effect itself.

Ball told National Geographic that carbon dioxide causing warming was just a hypothesis, but had been treated as fact because it fit a political agenda and the views of the environmentalists.{{cite web | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070924-global-warming_2.html | title=Global Warming Inaction More Costly Than Solutions? | work=National Geographic | date=24 September 2007 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Minard, Anne | pages=2 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228110051/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070924-global-warming_2.html | archive-date=28 December 2007 | url-status=dead}} He reiterated the view that man-made global warming was fabricated by the environmental movement, particularly Environment Canada, in a presentation he gave in June 2006 to the Comox Valley Probus Club.{{cite web | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/nurturing-doubt-about-climate-change-is-big-business/article967272/ | title=Nurturing doubt about climate change is big business | work=The Globe and Mail | date=12 August 2006 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Montgomery, Charles}}

Ball was also a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM, an alternative media radio show. On July 21, 2011, while a guest on the show, he stated: "To suggest that {{CO2}}'s a pollutant when it's an extremely important gas in the atmosphere for all plant life and therefore for the oxygen that's produced, is just nonsense."{{cite web | url=http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2011/07/21 | title=Summer Psychic Special | work=Coast to Coast AM | date=21 July 2011 | access-date=3 February 2014 | author=Noory, George}} He is also one of the signatories of the Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.[http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66 Climate Experts Who Signed Manhattan Declaration] Ball also, along with Tom Harris, argued that the National Climatic Data Center misleads the public by announcing premature results from their temperature datasets based on incomplete data, and then quietly updating the data when they gain access to all of it, usually diminishing the warming trend in doing so.{{cite web | url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/11/2012-probably-not-the-hottest-on-record-after-all/?page=all | title=HARRIS AND BALL: 2012 probably not the hottest on record, after all | work=Washington Times | date=11 January 2013 | access-date=5 February 2014 |author1=Harris, Tom |author2=Ball, Tim }} He also wrote about ocean acidification from a similarly dismissive point of view, arguing that "Even if {{CO2}} increases to 560 ppm by 2050, as the IPCC predict, this would only result in a 0.2 unit reduction of pH. This is still within the error of the estimate of global average [which is 0.3 units]."{{cite web | url=http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=3736 | title=ENVIRONMENT: Analysis of alarmism: ocean acidification | work=News Weekly | date=22 August 2009 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Ball, Tim}} Ball also said that since he became a vocal opponent of the consensus position on global warming, he received five death threats.{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1545134/Scientists-threatened-for-climate-denial.html | title=Scientists threatened for 'climate denial' | work=The Daily Telegraph | date=11 March 2007 | access-date=27 January 2014 | author=Harper, Tom}}{{cite web | url=http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/cover031207.htm | title=Death Threats for man-made-global-warming-doesn't-exist scientist | work=Canada Free Press | date=12 March 2007 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=McLeod, Judi}}

Michael E. Mann called Ball "perhaps the most prominent climate change denier in Canada."{{cite book | title=The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars | publisher=Columbia University Press | author=Mann, Michael E. | title-link=The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars | year=2012 | pages=95}} The Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Canadian think tank, states that Ball disputed anthropogenic global warming since the mid-1990s, and asserted that global warming is due to natural variations.{{cite web | url=http://www.fcpp.org/posts/expert-says-global-warming-all-bunk | title=Expert says global warming all "bunk" | work=Frontier Centre for Public Policy | date=28 March 2004 | access-date=6 February 2014}} Ball spoke twice at The Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change, where he was presented as a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg.{{cite web | url=http://heartland.org/timothy-ball | title=Timothy Ball | work=Heartland Institute website | access-date=27 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222160031/https://heartland.org/timothy-ball |archive-date=2014-02-22 |url-status=dead | quote=Dr. Timothy Ball is an environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.}}{{cite web | url=http://climateconferences.heartland.org/tim-ball/ | title=Tim Ball | work=International Conference on Climate Change | access-date=5 February 2014}}{{cite web | url=http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/senator-inhofe-sends-his-regrets/ | title=Senator Inhofe Sends His Regrets | work=New York Times | date=30 June 2011 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Broder, John M. | quote=Scheduled speakers [at the Heartland Institute's sixth conference] include some of the nation’s best-known global warming skeptics, including Anthony Watts, a television weatherman; Timothy Ball, a former University of Winnipeg professor who has been sued for libel by Michael Mann....}} However, critics pointed out that Ball was a professor of geography, not climatology, and that the University of Winnipeg never had a climatology department.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/21/climatechange.carbonemissions1 | title=Why does Channel 4 seem to be waging a war against the greens? | work=The Guardian | date=21 July 2008 | access-date=10 February 2014 | author=Monbiot, George}}{{cite web | url=http://www.ofcomswindlecomplaint.net/fullcomplaint/p134.htm | title=Complaint to Ofcom Regarding "The Great Global Warming Swindle" | work=Ofcomswindlecomplaint.net | date=11 June 2007 | access-date=27 January 2014 | pages=134}} Ball replied that the climate program at The University of Winnipeg was part of the geography department in the early 1980s. He also asserted that websites such as DeSmogBlog made false charges about his credentials and professional qualifications.{{cite web|title=Ad hominem|url=http://drtimball.com/2011/ad-hominem/|date=7 February 2011|last=Ball|first=Tim|website=Dr. Tim Ball|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112211030/http://drtimball.com/2011/ad-hominem/|archive-date=12 January 2014}}{{sps|date=August 2021}}

From 2002 to 2007, Ball wrote 39 opinion pieces and 32 letters to the editor in 24 different Canadian newspapers, and from 2002 to 2012, he gave over 600 public talks about global warming and various environmental issues. Friends of Science maintains a "Climate Digest" of articles written by Ball in 2008–09.Not all of the [https://www.friendsofscience.org/index.php?id=415 19 articles archived] at the Friends of Science website are dated.

In 2007 Ball appeared on The Great Global Warming Swindle, an hour and a quarter-long British television documentary that aired on Channel 4 and that was described as a "deceptive and propagandist portrayal of the science of global warming".{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-07-12/dont-be-swindled/97604|title=Don't be swindled|date=12 July 2007|last=Brook|first=Barry|newspaper=ABC News}} Also in 2007, he participated in Exposed: The Climate of Fear, a special presentation of the Glenn Beck Program, with Patrick Michaels, John Christy, and other climate deniers.Gertz, Matt and Julie Millican. [http://mediamatters.org/research/200705040001 Beck's global warming special dominated by industry-funded experts,' serial misinformers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614204605/http://mediamatters.org/research/200705040001 |date=2012-06-14 }}." Media Matters for America. May 3, 2007. Accessed 15 Feb. 2014.{{cite AV media | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtevF4B4RtQ | title=The Great Global Warming Swindle | publisher=YouTube | date=12 December 2010 | people=Durkin, Martin | medium=Film|location=00:14}} Ball was misidentified in the documentary as Professor from the Department of Climatology, University of Winnipeg; he left his faculty position in 1996, and the University of Winnipeg never had a Department of Climatology. In 2010, he appeared on the Michael Coren Show.Coren, Michael.[http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/michael_coren/2010/02/12/12859851.html Climatology expert threatened for climate change views]." The Toronto Sun. 13 Feb. 2010. Accessed 15 Feb. 2014.

Ball claimed, in an article written for the Calgary Herald, that he was the first person to receive a PhD in climatology in Canada, and that he had been a professor for 28 years,{{cite web | url=http://www2.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=d622e9fa-cdc8-4163-8292-a1a554f58f94 | title=Aussies' Suzuki heavier on rhetoric than on science | work=The Calgary Herald | date=19 April 2006 | access-date=27 January 2014 | author=Ball, Tim | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414100748/http://www2.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=d622e9fa-cdc8-4163-8292-a1a554f58f94 | archive-date=14 April 2015 }} claims he also made in a letter to then-prime minister of Canada, Paul Martin.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQYjQzOkYK0C&q=dan+johnson+tim+ball&pg=PA143 | title=Climate Cover-Up | publisher=Greystone Books | author=Hoggan, James | year=2009 | pages=142–144| isbn=978-1-926706-77-1 }} Dan Johnson, a professor of environmental science at the University of Lethbridge, countered his claim on April 23, 2006, in a letter to the Herald stating that when Ball received his PhD in 1983, "Canada already had PhDs in climatology," and that Ball had only been a professor for eight years, rather than 28 as he had claimed. Johnson, however, counted only Ball's years as a full professor.Ball was an instructor at the University of Winnipeg in 1971, an assistant professor in 1982, and an associate professor in 1984 before promotion to full professorship in 1988, until his retirement 8 years later in 1996. See [http://drtimball.com/_files/dr-tim-ball-CV.pdf CV] (archived version here: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180927075037/http://drtimball.com/_files/dr-tim-ball-CV.pdf]). In the letter, Johnson also wrote that Ball "did not show any evidence of research regarding climate and atmosphere," which Ball later admitted.{{cite web | url=http://monthlyreview.org/2012/05/01/petroleum-and-propaganda | title=Petroleum and Propaganda | work=Monthly Review | date=1 May 2012 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Farley, John W.}}

In response, Ball filed a lawsuit against Johnson. Johnson's statement of defence was provided by the Calgary Herald. In the ensuing court case, Ball acknowledged that he had only been a tenured professor for eight years, and that his doctorate was not in climatology but rather in the broader discipline of geography, and subsequently withdrew the lawsuit on June 8, 2007.[http://people.uleth.ca/~dan.johnson/images/ball-discont.jpg Partial Discontinuance of Action]

In 2011 climate scientist Andrew J. Weaver sued Ball over an article Ball wrote for the Canada Free Press which was later retracted. In the article, Ball described Weaver as lacking a basic understanding of climate science and stated, incorrectly, that Weaver would not be involved in the production of the IPCC's next report because he had concerns about its credibility.{{cite web | url=http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/climate-scientist-sues-skeptic-for-libel/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 | title=Climate Scientist Sues Skeptic for Libel | work=New York Times | date=8 February 2011 | access-date=28 January 2014 | author=Rudolf, John Collins}}{{cite web | url=https://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/michael_mann_national_review_m.php?page=all | title=I Don't Bluff | work=Columbia Journalism Review | date=25 July 2012 | access-date=21 February 2014 | author=Brainard, Curtis}}{{cite web | url=http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/02/post_71.html | title=Climate skeptic makes free speech appeal | work=Nature News Blog | date=9 February 2011 | access-date=28 January 2014 | author=Reich, Eugenie Samuel}}

Andrew Weaver's defamation suit against Ball was dismissed in 2018. The judge noted that Ball's words "lack a sufficient air of credibility to make them believable and therefore potentially defamatory" and concluded that the “article is poorly written and does not advance credible arguments in favour of Dr. Ball’s theory about the corruption of climate science. Simply put, a reasonably thoughtful and informed person who reads the article is unlikely to place any stock in Dr. Ball’s views...".{{cite news |title=B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver has defamation lawsuit against retired prof thrown out |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-green-party-leader-andrew-weaver-has-defamation-lawsuit-against-retired-prof-thrown-out |last=Fraser |first=Keith |work=Vancouver Sun |date=February 14, 2018}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-green-party-s-andrew-weaver-loses-defamation-lawsuit-1.23174209|title=B.C. Green Party's Andrew Weaver loses defamation lawsuit|last=DeRosa|first=Katie|date=Feb 14, 2018|work=Times Colonist|access-date=March 1, 2018|location=Victoria, B.C.}} The British Columbia Court of Appeal in April 2020 reversed the dismissal. Writing that Ball's statements "meet the classic test for defamation," it sent the case back to the trial judge to decide the amount of damages and whether the article was fair comment.{{cite web|title=Article defamed Andrew Weaver, B.C. Court of Appeal finds|url=https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/article-defamed-andrew-weaver-b-c-court-of-appeal-finds-1.24127405|date=April 30, 2020|work=Times Colonist|last=Dickson|first=Louise}}

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy's web site published a February 2011 interview, in which Ball told an anonymous interviewer that Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, "should be in the State Pen, not Penn State". This referred to Mann's role in the Climatic Research Unit email controversy.{{cite web | url=http://www.fcpp.org/publication.php/3606 | title=Dr. Tim Ball, Historical Climatologist | publisher=Frontier Centre for Public Policy | date=10 February 2011 | access-date=2 February 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214123151/http://www.fcpp.org/publication.php/3606 | archive-date=14 February 2011}} Mann then sued Ball and Frontier Centre for libel,{{cite court |litigants=Michael Mann v. Timothy Ball |vol=VLC-SS-111913 |reporter= |opinion= |pinpoint= | format=pdf |court=BCSC |date=2011-03-11 |url=http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/non-us-case-documents/2011/20110325_Court-No.-VLC-S-S-111913_complaint.pdf |quote=}} and stated that he was seeking punitive damages and for the article to be removed from the web site.{{cite web | url=http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/03/28/35274.htm | title=Prof Claims Climate-Denier Defamed Him | work=Courthouse News Service | date=28 March 2011 | access-date=2 February 2014 | author=Greer, Darryl}}

On 7 June 2019, the Frontier Centre For Public Policy published a retraction and apology{{Cite press release |title=Retraction and apology to Michael Mann |format=png| via=Columbia University |date=2019-06-07|publisher=Frontier Centre for Public Policy|url=http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/non-us-case-documents/2019/20190607_Court-No.-VLC-S-S-111913_press-release.png | access-date=19 September 2019}} and settled their part of the case with Mann.{{cite web | last= McIntosh | first= Emma | title=A Scientist Took Climate Change Deniers to Court and Wrested an Apology From Them | website=Mother Jones | date=16 June 2019 | url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/06/a-scientist-took-climate-change-deniers-to-court-and-wrested-an-apology-from-them/ | access-date=16 June 2019}} (story originally published by the National Observer) On 21 March 2019, Tim Ball had applied to the court to dismiss the action for delay. This request was granted at a hearing on 22 August 2019, and court costs were awarded to Ball. The actual defamation claims were not judged, but instead the case was dismissed due to delay by Mann's legal team.{{cite court |litigants=Michael Mann v. Timothy Ball |vol=1580 |reporter= |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=BCSC |date=2019 |url=https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/19/15/2019BCSC1580.htm |quote=This is a relatively straightforward defamation action and should have been resolved long before now. That it has not been resolved is because the plaintiff has not given it the priority that he should have. In the circumstances, justice requires that the action be dismissed and, accordingly, I do hereby dismiss the action for delay.}}

Some have linked Ball's activism to funding from the fossil fuel industry,{{cite web | url=http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/02/23/john-moore-a-peek-into-the-climate-denier-industry/ | title=John Moore: A peek into the climate denier industry | work=National Post | date=23 February 2012 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Moore, John}}{{Cite web |last=Hoggan |first=James |date=2006-08-12 |title=Oil Companies Funding Friends of Science, Tim Ball takes the brunt |url=https://www.desmog.com/2006/08/12/oil-companies-funding-friends-of-science-tim-ball-takes-the-brunt/ |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=DeSmog |language=en-US}} especially through the organization Friends of Science, whose scientific advisory board he sat upon. For example, Peter Gorrie said in the Toronto Star that Friends of Science received a third of its funding from the oil industry.{{cite web | url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/01/28/whos_still_cool_on_global_warming.html | title=Who's still cool on global warming? | work=Toronto Star | date=1 January 2007 | access-date=23 February 2014 | author=Gorrie, Peter}} Bankruptcy disclosures made by Peabody Energy, a large US coal company, showed that Friends of Science received funding from the company.{{cite web |date=16 June 2016 |last=Mandel |first=Charles |url=https://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06/16/news/exclusive-us-coal-giant-owed-money-canadian-climate-change-deniers |title=U.S. coal giant owed money to Canadian climate change deniers |work=Canada's National Observer |access-date=2022-10-01}} Ball himself has publicly denied these claims,{{cite web | url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/02/gb.01.html | title=Exposed: The Climate of Fear | work=CNN | date=2 May 2007 | access-date=10 February 2014 | quote=...I'm accused of getting the money from the oil company, which is simply a lie.}} as has his wife, Marty Ball.

• {{cite book |last=Ball |first=Tim |year=2016 |title=Human caused global warming : the biggest deception in history |publisher=Tellwell Talent |isbn=9781773021300 }}
• {{cite book |last=Ball |first=Tim |year=2014 |title=The deliberate corruption of climate science |publisher=Stairway Press |isbn=9780988877740}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ball |first1=Tim |last2=Siddons |first2=Alan |last3=Olson |first3=Joseph A. |display-authors=etal |year=2011 |title=Slaying the sky dragon : death of the greenhouse gas theory |publisher=Stairway Press |isbn=9780982773413}}
• {{cite book |first1=Stuart |last1=Houston |first2=Tim |last2=Ball |first3=Mary |last3=Houston |title=Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay |series=McGill-Queen's Native and Northern |volume=34 |year=2003 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=9780773522855}}

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