A federal Conservative political aide sent members of the Chinese media a list of questions for Raymond Chan just before the Liberal parliamentarian was scheduled to hold a press conference. Mr. Chan called the Friday afternoon press conference to "set the record straight" concerning accusations he "did not contribute" to a motion calling on the Japanese government to "formally apologize" and compensate "women who were coerced into military sexual slavery during the Second World War." But, four hours before that conference, former Fairchild Radio AM 1470 producer and host Ronald Leung - the special assistant to British Columbia political minister Stockwell Day - sent an email to "five or six" of his friends in the Chinese media, telling them "I think the public should know the role of (sic) Raymond Chan played in the Comfort Women motion issue."
And he included in that email a list of fourteen questions, such as "Why was Raymond Chan never involved in all-party negotiations on the successful Comfort Women motion? Why was his party represented by other Liberal MPs, while Chan was nowhere to be seen?" Asked about the perception he was feeding questions to the media, Mr. Leung responded, "You can look at it different ways. But those are my friends in the media. And I was just trying to say, 'I worked in the media before. So I would ask those questions if I was in the media.'" The following is a complete copy of the aforemetnioned email.
***
From: Leung, Ronald
Date: 1 Feb 2008 10:14
Subject: Comfort Women Motion and Raymond Chan
To: "Leung, Ronald"
Dear friends,
I think the public should know the role of Raymond Chan played in the Comfort Women motion issue:
- How many questions did Raymond Chan ask in the House of Commons about the Comfort Women issue? (answer: none)
- How many statements did Raymond Chan make in the House of Commons about the Comfort Women issue? (answer: none)
- How many speeches did Raymond Chan make in the House of Commons about the Comfort Women issue? (answer: none)
- How many times did Raymond Chan raise the Comfort Women issue with ministers of the Harper government? (answer: not once)
- How many motions on the Comfort Women issue did Raymond Chan introduce in the House or in any committee? (answer: none)
- Why did Liberal MPs on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs refuse to support the Comfort Women motion adopted by Jason Kenney` s Subcommittee on Human Rights?
- When the Comfort Women were testifying to parliamentarians, why did Raymond Chan arrive 45 minutes late, and then leave early? Is that his idea of showing respect?
- How many other Comfort Women motions meeting did Raymond Chan attend? (answer:none)
- What did Raymond Chan do about the Comfort Women issue during his nine years in government? (answer: nothing)
- What did the Liberals do about the Comfort Women issue during their thirteen years in government? (answer: nothing)
- Why was Raymond Chan never involved in all-party negotiations on the successful Comfort Women motion? Why was his party represented by other Liberal MPs, while Chan was nowhere to be seen?
- Who was the only MP to raise the issue of former Prime Minister Abe`s objectionable remarks about Comfort Women (answer: Conservative MP Nina Grewal)
- Who sponsored the successful Comfort Women motion? (answer: NDP Olivia Chow, Conservative Barry DeVolin, Liberal Derek Lee, Bloc Meilli Feille. NOT Raymond Chan)
- If Raymond Chan objects to elements of the successful Comfort Women motion, then why did he and his party support it with unanamous consent?
Ronald Leung
Special Assistant
Ministers' Regional Office
Permanent link
So?
There is a distinct difference in providing questions to a reporter to ask at a press conference which may or may not get asked. It is quite another for a media outlet, who is suppose to be unbiased, to conspire with a political party to ask specific questions in the Ethics committee no less about a subject matter which had nothing to do with the subject at hand. There is a difference but I guess you can't see it.
Did the media ask the questions?
There is a huge difference between an MP feeding questions to journalists for a press conference and a journalist feeding biased questions to an MP at an Ethics committee session, which is conducted under oath. MPs try to shape the country according to their views. A journalist is supposed to report the news, not fabricate the news.
This is nowhere near the same as what the CBC reporter, Krista Erickson did, and to draw a parallel is just partisan blather.
To have a broadcaster, which is predominately funded by the taxpayers,to collude with a political party in providing partisan questions in a parliamentary committee, should be against the law.
Oh, was the reporter fired?......huh, no.
And why wasn't she fired?.......we as taxpayers are not allowed an answer by the CBC.
Just what is the issue here? I am not an MP or a journalist and I can call any journalist in the country to suggest questions. The same goes for every citizen in the country, including MP's. It is usually called a leak.
The only difference here is signing your name. Clearly, when it comes to making leaks, the Conservatives are amateurs.
Pablo denied he was fed question which means he lied to the media and the Canadian people.
He still hasn't apologized to anybody and his leader Dion has shown no leadership on the file since it is his party that was in coillusion with the CBC.
I can't see much of a difference. The MPs on the Ethics Committee didn't have to ask Erickson's questions, any more than the media had to ask the questions fed to them by a Conservative.
Personally I don't think either of them did anything wrong.
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
Allan Warnke
At the Rockpile
Bob Russell
Broken News
Creatures of Government
Fighting Words
From the Gallery
Letter from the Editor
Loose Lips
Off the Hill
Public Eye Radio
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
Copyright © 2004-2006 Public Eye Mediaworks. Reproductions of any portion of this Website are permitted only with the expressed permission of Public Eye Mediaworks. Public Eye is graciously hosted by TransitionalMedia. Content management services courtesy of Ian King. Layout and graphics courtesy of Art Department Design, Victoria, BC.
This site is powered by Movable Type.