Revolutionary Moderation

Reader mail

I'm relocating to Edmonton for a new job, and that's cut into my posting time, so there's been some lag time on these e-mails I've received. Sorry about that.

First up, alert CBC radio listener Deb W. has noticed the removal of host Don Hill from from Alberta's 1pm phone-in show, Wild Rose Forum. She doesn't explicitly suggest political influence, but points out a couple of curious points:

Don had recently been bringing up some pretty damaging and worrisome information related to Alberta's electrical energy deregulation, and, on his "final" program on Monday, he referenced a Toronto Star article from the fall of 2004 where integration of Canada-U.S. electrical energy was apparently discussed by such "luminaries" [no pun intended] as John Manley, Thomas d'Aquino and...........Jim Dinning.

And as she notes in an e-mail a few days later, the Friday Alberta noon show, "Friday Scrum", began a series of "interviews with influential Albertans". The first guest? Jim Dinning.

Dinning basically outlined his plans for Alberta in the 21st century as a hopeful for the Premier's role. [Friday Scrum host Donna] McElligott mentioned only briefly at the beginning, that Ted Morton was also planning to vie for PC leadership.

This was a blatant, free, political "ad", mostly. Listen to it. You can hear McElligott asking questions as if she were being forced to read from a script. You can also hear the discomfort in her voice.

Readers should draw their own conclusions.

Jonathan Ross was the first to let me know about Medicine Hat MP Monte Solberg's blog, which included this disturbing rant:

Cattle producers should have sent Paul a letter telling him that they just discovered that an open border is a "fundamental human right" that is protected by the Charter. Then Paul Martin Luther King would have had no choice but to at least mention it in his speech and maybe even confront those American cattle segregationists who won't let Canadian cattle drink from the same watering hole as American cattle.

Aiyaa! New-to-me blogger Bruce at Canuck Attitude has been all over this as well.

Keep the cards and letters coming. Well, the e-mails, at any rate - don't be dropping my address in any webforms, SVP.