In a very fair article by a former Star editor on the journalistic ethics of the Toronto Star running its alleged Rob Ford video story (see here) was this stunning revelation that the Vancouver Province was collecting money from the public to pay the drug dealers for the video:

Help us buy the Rob Ford video

Gawker has published a post claiming a video exists of Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoking crack. We do not know if this is true, but we would like to see it. Gawker claims to have seen it, but they did not want to pay the $100,000 being requested by the owner. Together, perhaps we can pay that. Surely there are 107,500 people who would be willing to pay $1 to see this video. (The extra $7,500 is to pay fees.)

Our promise

If we reach our goal, we will reach out to Gawker for their contact who has the video. If we are successful in obtaining it, and our legal counsel clears it for publication, we will publish it. If any of these things do not happen, your money will be refunded. You cannot lose.

But there’s more than one campaign… which should I fund?
While our campaign will return your funds if we come up short, another worthy campaign will donate them to an addiction centre. We won’t object if you choose that one!

Tell me how Wayne Moriarty, editor-in-chief of The Province  still has a job?

Also: Search result on Toronto Star website for ‘Mulcair bribe’ here

Sun News has the audio of Brian Lilley asking NDP leader Thomas Mulcair in 2010 on whether he had ever been offered any cash bribes by Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt (listen here).

This is all coming to head after Mulcair admitted the bribe attempt did indeed happen when he finally revealed this week (see here) that he had told the police about it in 2011, well after denying it to the media.

h/t Wilson

Once again, CTV’s Robert Fife had better be darn sure that this story smearing his competitor is true:

Sen. Mike Duffy attempted to influence the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission’s upcoming decision involving the right-leaning Sun News Network, a source has told CTV News.

A well-placed source told CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife that Duffy approached a Conservative insider with connections to the CRTC three weeks ago to discuss Sun Media, which is asking the federal regulator to grant its news channel “mandatory carriage,” or guaranteed placement on basic cable and satellite packages. (see here)

Because Sun News’ VP Kory Teneycke has denied any knowledge of it:

Senator Duffy does not, nor has he ever, been employed as a lobbyist for Sun News/Sun Media. Nor have we asked Senator Duffy act as an agent on our behalf. (see here)

Pretty safe to guess Sun News has taken this to their lawyers.

Update: CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao has denied Fife’s story (see here)

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair has a lot of explaining to do on why it took him 17 years to tell the RCMP that he was offered an envelope stuffed with money:

In a written statement, federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair says he met with the embattled former Laval, Que., mayor Gilles Vaillancourt in 1994.

French language newspaper La Presse is reporting that Mulcair was targetted by the former mayor. The article says Vaillancourt offered Mulcair an envelope and said he could help him. It goes on to quote Mulcair as saying he did not see the contents of the envelope but was certain it contained money.

A statement issued today by a spokesperson for the NDP leader says Mulcair put an end to the 1994 meeting immediately and recounted the events to police investigators two years ago. (see here)

Instead of doing the right thing, Mulcair enabled a now criminally charged politician to continue operating.

Update: Bombshell! The Globe and Mail is reporting that Mulcair said he was never offered envelopes full of cash in 2010 – the year before he came clean to the RCMP (see here).

In a stunning allegation, CTV’s Robert Fife accuses PM Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright of promising to cover Conservative senator Mike Duffy’s repayment of claimed living expenses:

At one point, Duffy expected the PMO to cover all of the money he’d improperly claimed – more than $90,000.

In a Feb. 20 email, Duffy said Wright worked out a “scenario” where all of his claimed living expenses would be covered, including “cash for the repayment.” (see here)

Fife just put his career on the line.

Also: See earlier post on Fife falsely attributing a quote to ex-Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau here

Update: Harper’s spokesman Andrew MacDougall admits that Wright cut a cheque from his personal account to cover Duffy’s expense re-payment (see here). Not cash though.

Update: Harper will not fire nor ask for Wright’s resignation (see here).

Update: Duffy has now stepped out of the Conservative caucus (see here)

You can’t get more disgusting than saying PM Stephen Harper is more concerned about the death of a white man than he is about a native woman, but Winnipeg Free Press’ Mike McIntyre did just that:

And it’s why someone with Stephen Harper’s clout should be very, very careful about the message he sends when he offers a personal note of sympathy to the family of a white man in Ontario who meets an awful demise – yet remains silent when a native woman from Manitoba who has been missing for seven years turns up dead in equally tragic circumstances. (see here)

McIntyre sure has a lot of nerve to say that he’s “not trying to be political”

In John Ivison’s tribute column to Conservative Senator Doug Finley (who died Friday) is the admission that Ivison and Finley were friends:

We became friends, despite the convention that we belonged to separate clans and never the twain should meet. (see here)

This is the second time recently that Ivison has revealed being tight with people he writes about as last December he mentioned being tennis partners with then Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney (see here).

How many more Ottawa insiders and players are buddies of Ivison and who does he choose to either make look good or bad because of those relationships?

Sun News’ Brian Lilley has discovered that the CBC kept a briefing paper on Quebecor and Sun News employees:

I became aware of the document after requesting and receiving the 547 pages that CBC had amassed on me and the stories I had written about its problems with openness, transparency and handling of taxpayers money. Tucked away in those many pages was an email that made reference to a document all about Quebecor, parent company of Sun News Network and this newspaper. (see here)

Just don’t expect the minister in charge of the CBC, James Moore to do anything about it except maybe say that Sun News deserved it for daring to hold CBC to account.

You have to hand it to the CBC for the massive audacity of running a story carping about the Conservative government being slow to join an international group looking to ferret out tax cheats:

Canada will be forced to play catch-up to its closest allies on a major international tax-evasion probe, after Thursday’s revelation that Britain and Australia have had a huge trove of secret offshore financial records for years, while the Canada Revenue Agency has only recently requested access. (see here)

When it’s the CBC who refuses to give them access to the documents they have (see here).

It takes a special kind of hypocrisy to be this ballsy.