By arthur Weinreb
Friday, april 15, 2005When the late Izzy asper gained control of the National Post from founder Conrad Black, the predictions were that it would only be a matter time before the newspaper moved leftward. The move was gradual, starting with getting rid of some conservative columnists, most notably Mark Steyn, who in one of his last columns for the paper, marveled at the fact that he was still there. although the asper family is and was close to former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the party, they continued to be critical of all of Jean’s Shawinigan shenanigans. But that was then and this is now.
No matter how critical the Post or any of the media was of Chrétien, the Liberal Party never came close to losing power. But times have changed and as more and more details are emerging from the Gomery Commission the possibility that the Natural Governing Party could actually go down to defeat is looking more and more likely. and the powers that be at the National Post are quickly jumping to defend their Liberal friends.
On Monday the Post’s chairman, David asper, penned a column and had the nerve; the colossal nerve, to compare the Liberal Party of Canada to David Milgaard. Milgaard was a teenager when he was tried and convicted of first degree murder in 1970. He spent 23 years in custody for a crime that he didn’t commit and in 1997 he was completely exonerated by DNa testing. another man was subsequently tried of convicted of the same crime.
asper’s theory was that since Milgaard was wrongly convicted because the main witnesses against him lied when they gave evidence, all the witnesses appearing before Mr. Justice Gomery might be lying too and somehow the Liberal Party can be just as innocent as David Milgaard was. To compare the Liberals to Milgaard is absurd on its face and an insult to the man who spent nearly a quarter of a century behind bars for a crime that he did not commit. If David asper waiting for Joe Clark to come back from wherever Joe Clark is and confess to being the brains behind adscam he’s going to have a long wait.
after making the disgusting Milgaard comparison, asper went on to regurgitate the Liberal Party spin that Canadians need to wait until Justice Gomery completes his inquiry before going to the polls. This too is nonsense; the government can be defeated at any time and Canadians aren’t holding a judicial inquiry. Voters are under no obligation to hear all the evidence and weigh it before deciding how to vote. We have heard enough evidence of corruption to decide whether or not David asper’s precious Liberals should be thrown out of power.
The next day, the lead editorial in the National Post was titled "a little patience, please". although the editorial also spoke about Stephen Harper not being now ready to govern, it repeated the same Liberal Party line about "Waiting for Gomery".
as the Liberals get mired deeper and deeper into accusations of fraud, money laundering and kickbacks, look for the National Post to continue to defend their friends in the Liberal Party.