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From the Editor

Western Standard just doesn't get it

by Judi McLeod

March 22, 2004

The words on the masthead of the premiere edition of the Western Standard tell all: "Independent Voice of the New West."

Byfield-inspired magazine rides out of the west was the headline heralding the advent of Western Standard in Tuesday’s National Post.

The headline would have been more accurate had it announced Magazine rides all over the west.

From my observation, the Western Standard is making the same mistake as the Conservative Party of Canada--too western by half. Dressed in spurred boots and a cowboy hat, it will be unable to shake off its western image.

Canada, which also spreads east, north and south, not only needs, but deserves a publication faithful to a right of centre editorial stance. Unfortunately, the Western Standard is not it.

Sure, winners like Mark Steyn and David Frum are included in the Standard’s stable of columnists. But the work of these talented writers is also available in other publications.

In the same corral are Michael Coren and David Warren. Coren, a supposed "principled conservative" took a job at the Christian television channel, CTS only to showcase union leader Syd Ryan on most of his shows. Warren was editor of the now defunct Idler, a magazine that confused its own readership by being neither fish nor fowl.

according to the Post, "the Western Standard, the former alberta Report aims to be a national conservative news magazine in the tradition laid out by founder Ted Byfield."

"The last time the Report went national, in 1999, it was out of desperation more than optimism: `We can’t survive just in the West,’ Link Byfield, son of Ted, said at the time.

"Three years later, after falling short of its goal of 25,000 subscriptions in Ontario, the Report, gave up on money altogether to become a non-profit lobby group."

Where were the congregation-rich Christians when this happened?

The same Christians trying to pass Coren off as a small-c conservative Christian failed the Report.

and that’s only the fate of the Report among friends and supporters.

according to ann Meredith Brown, associate editor at Masthead magazine, an industry observer, it’s tough going for any Canadian magazine not decisively left of centre.

"National advertisers were reluctant to associate their products with such `controversial, Christian, conservative viewpoints. "Some of their competitors might think that they are optimistic in thinking they can be a national magazine."

Imagine the state of affairs in Canada when "Christian, conservative viewpoints are considered too controversial for national advertisers.

The first edition of the Standard featured Conservative leadership hopefuls, and according to letters posted on the publication’s site, some articles pro Belinda Stronach.

One wonders what pro-Stronach has to do with principled conservatism.

Meanwhile, as the United Nations awaits the arrival of the Maitreya and One World Order, I have been awaiting the advent of a true to form, Canada-wide, right-of-centre magazine.

Having originally read that Ezra Levant wanted to make the Standard the antithesis of Macleans magazine, the pablum dished out by the CBC, etc., I got in touch with him. Now is the time to drop the western image and go for it, was the gist of my message. Levant, who credited Toronto Free Press for information he used in his book Fight Kyoto was aware of TFP/Canadafreepress.com. I offered help in getting the magazine an Ontario base. Levant said he’d be in touch, but I never heard from him again.

"West means new open-minded, pioneering, entrepreneurial, risk-taking, meritocracy," that’s what West means," Levant said. "If Maclean’s magazine is vanilla, we are a little bit of Tabasco."

But West for those of us east of alberta means only a magazine along with a new Conservative Party that has thus far attracted mostly western support.

Unfortunately, so long as the western image remains the Canadian status quo, it means Liberals in office for a long time to come.

Ezra Levant just doesn’t get it, and never will unless he stands tall and flies right.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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