On his second day on the stand at the Oliphant Commission, The Globe and Mail made Brian Mulroney cry.
On his penultimate day on the stand (yesterday), the former prime minister accused the newspaper of “suppressing” a fourth and final article in the series in which it was first disclosed that Mulroney took cash payments from Karlheinz Schreiber. This fourth article, Mulroney hinted yesterday, would have contained information which, if not favourable to him, would have diverted the spotlight to someone or something else. Under questioning from Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, Mulroney conceded he had no direct knowledge a fourth article was every prepared.
A few hours after that testimony, Globe and Mail editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon shoots back replying that, not only was there no fourth story, Mulroney actually called Greenspon directly and was so desperate to prevent the Globe from publishing details about the cash transactions that he offered up what he said was a juicier scoop if the Globe suppressed that story. The Globe turned down Mulroney's offer.
This morning, the public relations firm that has been retained by Mulroney says the Globe is hiding something.
To which I'd say:
You, me, and those who pay taxes on 100 per cent of their income every year are footing the bill for this inquiry and it is Mulroney's behaviour, not The Globe and Mail's, that we are interested in.
I won't get to ask Mulroney a question but I've got two:
- Mulroney said, on the stand, yesterday that he knows the name of a Cape Breton political figure for whom Karlheinz Schreiber set up the BRITAN bank account. Ok, who was it? There's a handful we can suspect and now they're all under cloud unless you might clear the air.
- If the Globe and Mail is hiding something, what is it? Why not table those documents to other news organizations? After all, we have a thriving, competitive media landscape in this country and there are many other reporters who, if offered such a scoop, would surely take more than a week to corroborate the “explosive information” you have. My contact details, as always, can be found here.
I'll have more on this shortly over at the sister site for this blog at www.canada.com/blogs.
It is sad watching this farce take place every day. Watching a former prime minister twist, turn and obfuscate is not a pretty picture. However, there has been little new evidence that says Mulroney broke Ethic rules or committed an illegal act. While accepting cash payments is unseemly it is not illegal.
So we are watching $14 + million of taxpayers money flushed down the toilet for what end. To give Mulroney's enemies both political and in the media an opportunity to gloat. We really are a bunch of small minded people.
This whole thing belonged with the police. If an illegal act was committed charge Mr. Mulroney. Otherwise its just a voyeuristic exercise to demean a former prime minister. Instead of the Conservatives doing truth ads on Iggy they should do them on the media.
On the other hand consumers are abandoning the media feeling they are biased and really do not present fairly the politics of this country. That will do them in in the end rather than truth ads.
Only interested in Mulroney? Not the media? Speak for yourself. I'm always interested in the malfeasance of any character who has power in Canada.
For the record, Mulroney is an EX-prime minister no longer wielding power. The G&M is a current media outlet with a very large sway over public opinion. It, like all media now days, abuses that power. I'd say the G&M is a higher priority.
Mulroney's name is already mud. Everything from this point on is kicking a corpse. It's time to turn our attention to you lot.