CP’s Ditchburn wins sleaziest Guergis “story” award

You’d think by now that the media would reign themselves in a bit after some revelations came out about the private dick whose 2nd hand information from a con-man/extortionist came to light Thursday (see here), but you’d be wrong.

Jennifer Ditchburn of the Canadian Press tops the list of gotcha/yellow journalism that has spewed from the Canadian media on the Guergis/Jaffer saga with a piece titled “Guergis had a history in the clubs with the hometown playboy”.

Yup, you read right…Ditchburn digs into Guergis’ days of growing up in her hometown to produce a story on an old boyfriend. Ditchburn drags this guy into the public spotlight trying to show a pattern of partying and drug use in Guergis’ past.

The Canadian Press should be ashamed to be associated with this type of TMZ-style reporting. (see here)

Also: see earlier post on Ditchburn’s previous “big” Guergis story that had the CBC’s O’Malley all a Twitter here

CBC reports private dick Snowdy in bankruptcy court. $13 million debt, $11,000 assets

“The private investigator at the centre of allegations against MP Helena Guergis owed creditors more than $13 million as of August 2009, according to documents obtained by CBC News.

Court records reveal that Derrick Snowdy has filed for bankruptcy, with total liabilities of $13,313,976 and total assets of $11,379 as of Aug. 21, 2009. A decision by the court has not yet been made.” (see story here)

Also: see earlier post on his story not jiving here

HST appears on Liberal’s radar 3 days after election

BC Liberal Finance Minister Colin Hansen on whether the HST decision was hidden during the provincial election:

“HST not on the radar”

The CP is reporting that the:

“British Columbia’s Liberal government started working on a harmonized sales tax just three days after winning last May’s election, federal Access to Information documents show.

The documents obtained by The Canadian Press show bureaucrats from the B.C. Finance Ministry contacted federal Department of Finance tax officials on May 15 with an information request regarding the HST.

B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen has said the Liberals didn’t consider the HST until after the May 12 vote, but the documents show for the first time just how quickly the move toward the tax began” (see story here)

Hansen actually had the nerve to demand the NDP remove the HST “lies” from their website during question period (see here) and after saying that the HST would be revenue neutral, admitted that:

“We have been very upfront with British Columbians. There are some things that are going to cost a little bit more” (see here)

Guergis/Jaffer private dick’s story isn’t quite jiving

Private investigator Derrick Snowdy’s privacy concerns are a little at odds with what he says and what he does in that he won’t say who hired him in the first place but has done quite a few media interviews so far:

“There is a reason the title is `private’ investigator”

The Toronto Star is reporting that:

“Snowdy said he had previously tried to pass on some of this information to the police, both to the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP. Snowdy will not say when he did this or to whom he spoke”

Then as such a “committed member of that party (Conservative)” he took his story to the law firm that represents the Conservative Party. (see story here)

One little problem…CTV is reporting that Snowdy shopped it first to the Liberal Party:

“Private investigator Derek Snowdy told CTV News that he first sought to talk to the Liberals, but he was turned down by Peter Donolo, the chief of staff for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

“Mr. Snowdy told me yesterday that he had offered to meet with Mr. Ignatieff to brief him on the allegations that he ended up giving to the Conservative party lawyer,” said CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife”

Quite the committed Tory isn’t he? (see story here)

Also: check out this story on Snowdy as the parking ticket “fixer” here

Just noticed Blue Like You saw some similar findings on this as well here