CBC must put up or shut up
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
119.881805
Summary
A bunch of hot button issues have been going on between the offices of Alberta s premier, Danielle Smith, and Alberta s Crown prosecutors. The CBC says they have evidence, but the government says they don't have them. What's the problem?
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Let's talk about these hot-button emails that supposedly passed between the offices of Premier
00:00:05.380
Danielle Smith and Alberta's Crown Prosecutors. Let's start with the CBC. If I were them,
00:00:13.260
I'd be a bit uncomfortable right now. The CBC says it has a source who says they have these messages.
00:00:21.780
Their story is that a staffer in Smith's office sent a series of emails to the Alberta Crown
00:00:27.600
Prosecution Service challenging prosecutors' assessment and direction on cases stemming
00:00:34.560
from the Coutts border blockades and protests. Now, there should be no problem with a government
00:00:42.120
seeking blanket amnesty for an entire group. What would most definitely be a problem would be
00:00:49.840
interference with individual cases? If that's what happened, it's a huge story. And with four months
00:01:00.480
to an election, the consequences for the United Conservative Party could be disastrous.
00:01:07.980
The source would know that. So would the CBC. That's something to keep in mind when you're
00:01:18.400
trying to figure out what's going on here. Personally, however, I think the CBC has taken
00:01:26.100
a huge chance. They'd better be able to back up this story.
00:01:31.320
Look, leaks are the stuff of news reporting. Heaven knows the Western Standard lives on them.
00:01:39.880
During the dog days of the Kenney administration, we once got live feed from a caucus meeting.
00:01:45.320
Doesn't get much leakier than that. But you have to be careful. If somebody told me they had something
00:01:55.400
really juicy on somebody I would like to see lose an election. And they swore on a whole stack of Bibles
00:02:03.800
that they had personally seen damning evidence, but couldn't show it to me. I wouldn't put their name
00:02:11.000
to it for fear of career repercussions. I wouldn't touch it. At the very least,
00:02:18.600
the very least, even if I wasn't going to publish the evidence, I would want to see it.
00:02:28.440
But the CBC didn't even do that. When they broke the story, we assumed they had at least
00:02:36.360
been shown these emails. But it was only in a later update that the CBC specifically said
00:02:45.480
they had not viewed the emails. Neither apparently has the government of Alberta.
00:02:52.920
The offices of the Premier and the Justice Minister have conducted a search and say
00:02:57.640
nothing came to light. A million emails were inspected. Meanwhile, the CBC digs in.
00:03:08.440
There's an easy way to end this. If these emails exist, the CBC should produce them.
00:03:15.880
How hard can that be? If they say what the CBC says they say, the CBC is in the clear.
00:03:26.920
And it's the Smith government that has some explaining to do.
00:03:38.920
That can't scrub the smear, of course. Smith haters will still believe it.
00:03:46.920
But that would be the right thing and the honorable thing for the CBC to do.
00:03:58.120
Canadian Shooting Sports Association, without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long,
00:04:03.960
long ago. These guys are on the front lines, helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms
00:04:09.880
regulations and legislation in Canada. And more importantly, educating the public about how we
00:04:15.480
keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. To become a member, it's absolutely worth every penny.
00:04:22.840
You can become a Western Standard member for just $10 a month or $99 a year for unlimited access.
00:04:27.880
For more information, visit www.fema.gov.au.au.au.au.au.
00:04:40.280
For more information, visit www.fema.au.au.au.au.