Malcolm Maxwell is the host of a popular radio program. The program's popularity is largely based on Maxwell's reputation for making outrageous statements. Maxwell was in rare form during a recent broadcast. He was discussing what he believed to be the very poor quality of taxi service in his city. He focused on the fact that many taxi drivers are immigrants who came to Canada from the small, impoverished country of Ruritania. Most people in Ruritania speak the Esperantuc language. Maxwell said: 

Why is it that there are so many incompetent people and that the language of work is Esperantuc in a country that's French and English? I'm not very good at speaking "donkey." Taxis have really become the Third World of public transportation around here. My suspicion is that the driving exams, well, they can be bought. You can't have such incompetent people driving taxis, people who know so little about the city, and think that they took actual exams. Our taxi drivers are really arrogant, especially the Ruritanians. They're often rude, you can't be sure at all that they're competent and their cars don't look well maintained. Most of them stink.

The plaintiff is a taxi driver in the same city. He hails from Ruritania and his first language is Esperantuc. He has started a class action, on behalf of himself and approximately 1500 other city taxi drivers from Ruritania, that claims that they have been defamed by Maxwell. Identify and explain the strongest defence that Maxwell can use against the claim.