Has The BC Rail Trial's Hardest Working Reporter....

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Really Been Duped By Brian Mulroney?

BlamingItAllOnBrian
BigMediaPiracyOfTheConsVille


OK - this is a bit of a strange one because it shows how, sometimes, when you pay attention it can be very difficult NOT to connect a few dots, regardless your disdain for baseless media and/or toobz-based conspiracy theories

In fact, if truth be told, I actually tried pretty hard to sit this one out entirely.

But as more folks around the bloggodome, including the Anon-O-Mice over at Mary's place, have been discussing the thing, I have decided to comment.

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What the heckfire am I talking about?

Well, there was this very interesting year-end column by Victoria commentator Mr. Norman Spector that includes his thoughts about the state of reportage on both the BC Rail Trial and the 'Mulroney story'.

The column was first published in the Dec 31st, 2007 Globe and Mail. It has since been liberated from the BellGlobeCTVTSNRDSCHUM (ie. a Big Media Conglomerate) subscription wailing wall and has been reprinted, in full, on Mr. Spector's personal website:

From time to time – and there have been more of these times lately – I run into people who are convinced that the charges against Dave Basi and Bobby Virk, the two ministerial aides targeted in the 2003 raid on the legislature, will never come to trial.

Though that show – er, scene – that featured boxes being carted away from the seat of B.C.'s democracy, took place four years ago last Friday, no doubt you remember it. How fortuitous it was for cameramen to have been standing in the right place at the right time outside the Parliament Buildings that year, during what traditionally are the lazy days between Christmas and New Year's.

I'm not sure whether the Victoria police official who tipped the local television station at which I was working of the coming action was among the swarm we've repeatedly seen on our television screens. But it was left to another force, the RCMP – an organization then still held in high esteem by most Canadians – to speak darkly about the “cancer” of organized crime and drug money having infested our political system.

Mercifully, that kind of talk has all but disappeared from the arena.

Unfortunately, though it's rarely stated as boldly, it has been replaced by dark hints of a plot to protect Gordon Campbell's government by ensuring that Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk never have to testify in open court.

In the main, this overheated talk circulates on the Internet among people whose minds incline them to believe in conspiracies. Sadly, however, some of the speculation is fuelled by New Democrats and their allies in the media, who see the Basi-Virk trial and its links to the BC Rail privatization as their big chance – okay, their only chance – to win the 2009 election.

This is not to say that repeated delays in setting a trial date are not a source of legitimate concern. However, there's no conspiracy here: British Columbians are simply witnessing for themselves how badly the justice system is managed. We're also seeing how that system can be played by anyone who can afford a good lawyer, or can find a way to have taxpayers pay for one – assuming that person isn't in any particular hurry to clear his name.

If you want to see a system that does accord special treatment to the politically powerful, you need only look to Ottawa. There, too, the allegations swirling about Brian Mulroney are related to lobbyists and money.

Here in B.C., however, the judge presiding in the Basi-Virk case is fully independent and has tenure. She has left no doubt of her intent to bring the matter to trial and, when that happens, it will be governed by the same rules that apply to any Canadian.

In Ottawa, by contrast, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed David Johnston, who once reported directly to Mr. Mulroney, to determine the terms of reference for a public inquiry. And, though it is not within Mr. Johnston's mandate, Mr. Harper in year-end interviews essentially invited him to recommend against holding a public inquiry, now that Mr. Mulroney no longer wants one.

In British Columbia, an independent special prosecutor was appointed to investigate and recommend the laying of charges. In Ottawa, the RCMP completely shut down its investigation – an exceptionally rare occurrence – a few months before the matter of the cash payments to Mr. Mulroney became public in 2003.

The role of the media points to another contrast. The National Post had learned about the cash payments to Mr. Mulroney two years earlier, but the paper refused to publish the story. Reporter Phil Mathias wrote in protest to the owners, to no avail, and ultimately retired. In comparison, there's been considerable coverage by B.C. journalists of the Basi-Virk pretrial manoeuvring – including in The Post's sister CanWest papers, which underplayed the Mulroney story until recently. That story, too, featured a long secret trial to deal with the matter of a confidential police informant; yet I cannot recall a single article hinting at the possibility of a conspiracy to aid Mr. Mulroney, as was the case in B.C. at the first news of a similar issue cropping up in the Basi-Virk affair.

Interestingly, 24 Hours, the Vancouver paper that has been leading the coverage, as well as the hints of conspiracy in B.C., is part of the Sun Media chain. Owned by a company that Mr. Mulroney chairs, its papers have distinguished themselves over the years by their light to non-existent coverage of the allegations against the former prime minister.

So, as one of the Anon-O-Mice, reader 'pg', asked over at Mary's:

Is (Mr) Spector saying that in the Mulroney cover-up there was a conspiracy but with the BC Rail trial there isn't one?"

Now, I'm not sure about that.

One thing I do find extremely interesting is the way Mr. Spector's feelings about 'the Mulroney story' appear to have changed since the former Prime Minister (that he once worked for) explicitly admitted that he took bags of of cash from Mr. Karl Heinz-Schreiber for what also appears to be at least 57 varieties of reasons.

I also find Mr. Spector's current stand on this issue find pretty darned admirable.

However, what I find less admirable is the fact that Mr. Spector also appears to be suggesting that 24 Hours, the local commuter newspaper who's publishing company, Sun Media, is owned by Quebecor, a holding company (ie. another Big Media Conglomerate) on whose board of directors Mr. Mulroney sits, is being irresponsible and/or inflammatory because they are actually covering the BC Rail Trial proceedings in some depth.

And then there is that other thing.

That dot-connecting thing.

Before I get down to that I would like to set it up by reprinting two short, but important, passages from Mr. Spector's column once again:

In the main, this overheated talk (about the Basi-Virk trial) circulates on the Internet among people whose minds incline them to believe in conspiracies. Sadly, however, some of the speculation is fuelled by New Democrats and their allies in the media, who see the Basi-Virk trial and its links to the BC Rail privatization as their big chance – okay, their only chance – to win the 2009 election.....

{snip}

Interestingly, 24 Hours, the Vancouver paper that has been leading the coverage (of the the Basi-Virk trial), as well as the hints of conspiracy in B.C., is part of the Sun Media chain. Owned by a company that Mr. Mulroney chairs, its papers have distinguished themselves over the years by their light to non-existent coverage of the allegations against the former prime minister.

(stuff in brackets mine)

Finally, I would also like to make the point that, as far as I'm aware, almost all of the Basi-Virk trial coverage in 24 Hours has been carried out by one reporter, a man that Mr. Spector knows well (see below), Mr. Bill Tieleman.

Oh, and just one last thing before the connecting of the dots - you might find it worth knowing that Mr. Tieleman has also written extensively about the Basi-Virk trial for the online publication 'The Tyee' and on his own website.

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OK, enough with the interminable preamble.

Here goes......

After reading those two passages bolded above and putting them into the context of the entire column I am of the opinion that Mr. Spector may have been insinuating that Mr. Tieleman is both an ally of the NDP and, due to his employment at 24 Hours, a dupe of Mr. Brian Mulroney.

Now, anyone who knows a little bit about British Columbia politics also knows that the first portion such a potential insinuation does is based on fact. However, given the quality of Mr. Tieleman's reportage so far, I think that most reasonable people would also agree that Mr. Tieleman's previous connection with the NDP is at least as irrelevant as another indisputable fact - that Mr. Spector once worked for Social Credit Premier William Bennett.

Regardless, the second part of such a potential insinuation is laughable in the extreme. In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest, particularly in the absence of any proffered evidence other than a very tenuous Big Media Conglomerate boardroom connection, that it is, to coin a phrase that Mr. Spector might appreciate, little more than the:

"overheated talk (that) circulates in Canada's elite media among people whose minds incline them to believe in conspiracies."

This conclusion is, I believe, further bolstered by fact that 'The Tyee', where Mr. Tieleman's most in depth articles about the Basi-Virk trial have been published is most definitely not owned by Quebecor or any of Canada's other Big Media Conglomerates.

All of which might lead reasonable and discerning readers to ask the following question.....

Why?

Why would a highly skilled writer and apparently unbiased commentator such as Mr. Spector allow such a potential insinuation to linger within his column?

Well, it is possible that it is entirely unintentional.

However, reasonable and discerning readers might also like to consider the following, which is based on the recent regional media record out here in Lotusland:

Not so long ago there was an exchange between Mr. Tieleman and Mr. Spector that literally thousands of people heard because it took place on 'British Columbia's most listened to radio station', CKNW

More specifically, this exchange took place on a highly popular call-in program that is moderated by Mr. Bill Good which carries regularly scheduled discussions that include both Mr. Tieleman and Mr. Spector as co-participants.

The exchange in question, which took place in the spring of 2006, involved a discussion of the word 'bitch' and a certain female MP from Ontario who crossed the floor and also broke up with her then boyfriend, who also happens to be a cabinet minister in the government of Mr. Stephen Harper. During that radio exchange Mr. Tieleman was steadfast in making the case that Mr. Spector's continued use, and public defense of that use, of the word 'bitch' to describe the MP from Ontario was unacceptable.

Now, given that exchange, and the considerable post-exchange publicity that was associated with it, reasonable and discerning readers may wish to consider the possibility that, perhaps, Mr. Spector is not completely unbiased in this matter.

Alternatively, those same readers may instead wish to consider another possibility, which is that everything I've had to say here is nothing more than the:

"overheated talk (that) circulates on the Internet among people whose minds incline them to believe in conspiracies."

I leave it for you (especially if you are reasonable and discerning) to decide (or not).

OK?

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By the way, the next scheduled co-appearance for Mr. Tieleman and Mr. Spector on Mr. Good's radio show is today, Monday , at 10am Lotusland (ie. Pacific) time. It can be streamed here.
And one last, last thing - apparently the Basi-Virk (-Basi) court proceedings are scheduled to start-up again this week. Sure hope Mr. Tieleman makes it to Studio 54 on time. After all, some of us in British Columbia are not ostriches and really do want to read about what actually goes on in there.

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