Was It Really Just Cost-Cutting?

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Apparently inquiring minds and Charlie Smith want to know.

About Quebecor's laying-off of Sean Holman I mean.

Especially given the good use Mr. Holman's reportage on the friends, uncles and business associates of British Columbia's most 'progressive' consultant has been put to during the last couple of weeks or so.

So, without further ado, here's......Charlie:

The NDP made a lot of noise about Patrick Kinsella before the legislature shut down yesterday (March 31). The NDP linked Kinsella to a number of controversial issues in recent years--appearing to borrow heavily from this definitive article by Sean Holman. It's worth reading because it will likely form the basis of the NDP's campaign to throw out the B.C. Liberals on May 12.......

{snippety-doodle-dandy}

In recent years, Kinsella has kept a low profile even as he quarterbacked Gordon Campbell's two successful campaigns to become premier.

That's about to change--thanks in part to Holman's revelations last year on his Web site www.publiceyeonline.com/. He performed a useful public service, and it's too bad that his employer, the commuter paper 24 hours, didn't see fit to keep him on staff.

Pierre-Karl Peladeau, the head of media giant Quebecor, could have afforded to keep Holman working for his company. Perhaps Peladeau didn't want these types of stories surfacing in his newspaper during an election campaign. Generally speaking, businessmen don't like pissing off provincial premiers--though there are some exceptions to that rule.

Now I'm not really sure about all of that.

But here's the real thing.

If I remember correctly, Mr. Holman banged a whole lotta gongs while typing as fast as he could for the Vancouver Sun during the 2005 provincial election campaign.

So, might there be a concern about future performance based on past history that might have some folks worried about a daily, big proMedia audience for Mr. Holman's work?

Or.

Is it just that Quebecor doesn't give a crap about what's going on in Victoria?

Or.

Could it be both?

.