Ed Is Everywhere

Captain Ed, of Captain's Quarters, is bigger than Wayne Gretzky these days, at least if you're talking about Canadian politics:Edward Morrissey, 42, began posting allegations of corruption in the Canadian Liberal Party late Saturday on his Captain's Quarters blog, a web log, which he runs as a hobby.Why should anyone care?

The story involves a massive infringement of press freedom:

It defies a ban, instituted by a federal judge, Justice John Gomery, that severely limits what Canadians can publish about the investigation into allegations of money laundering and kickbacks in a government program from the 1990s. The scandal dominated national politics for a year and led to the Liberals losing their majority in the House of Commons in June. The government program aimed to undermine Quebec separatists and involved payments of $85 million to some Montreal advertising firms for little or no work.

Hearings in the case are open to the public, including the news media. However, Gomery limited news coverage of the proceedings so as not to taint potential jurors for upcoming trials involving a government bureaucrat and two advertising executives facing criminal charges

Now, the Canadian government has put a gag order on the testimony; unlike in the US, where gag orders affect only the principals in a case, the Canadian ban affects the entire Canadian news media.

Which I think is hilarious; remember when the left was wetting its pants over John Ashcroft's "assaults on freedom", and all the lefties who were yapping about wanting to move to Canada after the election?

Canadian law already allows all of the infringements on freedom that the left wrongly pinned on Ashcroft!

Congrats to Ed on becoming bigger than 'awkey Night in Canada!

Posted by Mitch at April 7, 2005 08:12 AM | TrackBack