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The Globe and Mail, Saturday, January 12, 2008
Floridity, memory and bafflegab
by Jane Taber
jtaber@globeandmail.com. With reports from Ian
Bailey and Tu Thanh Ha
[...]
Hot and Not:
Hot: The menu: It's pan-Canadian and predictable. The
premiers dined last night at 24 Sussex Dr. on PEI
potatoes; seafood from B.C., Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland; Arctic char; beef and veal from Alberta
and Quebec; Quebec cheese; berries from Saskatchewan;
and fruits, seeds and grains from Manitoba, New
Brunswick and Ontario.
Hot: Paul Martin is the latest former prime minister
to write his memoirs. Mr. Martin's book, to be published
by McClelland and Stewart, will chronicle his life, from
his early years to his time in government and his brief
stint as prime minister. Will he take a few shots at his
nemesis, Jean Chrétien? Mr. Chrétien got his licks in at
Mr. Martin and his gang in his recent memoirs. Former
journalist Paul Adams is helping Mr. Martin with the
writing.
Not: David Orchard - the anti-free-trade activist who
delivered delegates to Stéphane Dion to help him win the
2006 Liberal leadership. Mr. Orchard says he was
blindsided by the leader's decision to appoint Joan
Beatty, an aboriginal woman, as the candidate in the
northern Saskatchewan riding where he was campaigning
for the nomination. But Adam Campbell, the Alberta
Liberal Party president, says that Mr. Orchard, who is a
friend, is "not coming clean on this." He says Mr.
Orchard was fully aware that if an aboriginal woman came
forward to run, she would be appointed. Mr. Campbell
says that Mr. Dion knew "David was going to be upset" by
the decision but he asked him to remind Mr. Orchard "of
what we are all trying to achieve here." Mr. Campbell
says that Mr. Orchard "is saleable in lots of other
ridings."
Hot: National Arts Centre president Peter Herrndorf
for pulling together today's star-studded tribute to
Oscar Peterson, who died Dec. 23. The tribute at
Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall is free and open to the
public. In addition to stars from the music world, such
as American record producer Quincy Jones, it has drawn
politicians from all parties. Two former Liberal prime
ministers, Jean Chrétien and John Turner, will be there.
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and junior
minister Jason Kenney are attending, as is Ontario
Premier Dalton McGuinty.
An edited version of this letter
was published in the Globe and Mail, Saturday, February 2, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Dear Editor,
I was very surprised to read the item in Jane Taber's
Saturday Notebook about Alberta Liberal Party president
Adam Campbell making statements as David Orchard's
"friend, " discrediting Mr. Orchard from the basis of
his supposed personal knowledge.
Adam Campbell is no friend of David Orchard's,
although the Globe and Mail is not the first one to whom
he has made that claim. He was a political acquiantance
and in the Liberal leadership campaign they both
supported Stephane Dion's candidacy, nothing more, and
certainly is not the trustworthy and close friend he
presents himself as. Clearly he is the very opposite as
he makes outrageously false and self-important claims
that he "knows" that Mr. Orchard was "fully aware" that
an aboriginal woman might be appointed over him, (when
in reality Mr. Orchard was neither consulted nor
informed about the appointment, until it was offered and
accepted), and that he, Adam Campbell, was asked by Mr.
Dion to be a liaison between himself and Mr. Orchard. It
is, of course, possible that he fooled Mr. Dion into
thinking that he was a messenger for David Orchard, but
he has never fooled Mr. Orchard who, once he became
aware of the nature and character of Mr. Campbell,
stopped returning his calls. Now we know that this
caution was well deserved.
I am very disappointed that your columnist Jane Taber
was so easily taken in by Mr. Campbell, without doing
the most elementary fact checking with the source, Mr.
Orchard himself.
Marjaleena Repo
Campaign Manager
for David Orchard
306-244-9724
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