The good news is Global TV reporters read the Western Standard. The bad news is they don’t like what they read..Or is that actually more good news?.Barry Cooper, political science professor at the University of Calgary, said he received an “indignant” e-mail from a Global TV reporter for calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “chicken” in a Western Standard article..Upon request, Cooper shared the e-mail sent February 12. The reporter sent it from their Global News account with the subject line “Really?” and wrote, “Calling the PM a “chicken” is your contribution to this debate?”.Following a link to the article, he wrote, “Shaking my head …”.Cooper replied the next day, “I am happy with ‘mendacious supine coward,’ if that fits more snugly.” He tells the Western Standard his assessment of Trudeau remains much the same..“For what it is worth, I think he has just moved from being a chicken for his being afraid to meet with the truckers to a bully. Same coin, different side,” Cooper said by e-mail..“I came across a remark by Solzhenitsyn: ‘Violence and lies are the twin pillars of tyranny’ — he had the communists in mind, obviously; but if the shoe fits etc.”.Elsewhere, former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford took exception to online comments by CTV. In an article entitled “Who is who? A guide to the major players in the trucker convoy protest” published February 10 and last edited February 22, CTV suggested Peckford’s claim to be the last living signatory to the 1982 Constitution was not quite true..Peckford, who claims that mandates are unconstitutional, is frequently cited by convoy supporters as “the last living” signatory of the Constitution Act, 1982. The royal proclamation that brought the act into effect was signed by others who are alive and well, like Queen Elizabeth II and then justice minister Jean Chretien, who later became prime minister. Peckford is the last surviving premier involved in the negotiations of the constitution..On his blog Peckford42, the former premier ripped CTV in an article entitled, “Smear The People —CTV —If Ever You Thought There Was Any Honesty Left In The Mainstream Media , Forget It !! I Dare You , Publish This!!”.Peckford wrote,.I know it hurts , CTV —mainstream MEDIA , but it was a proposal from Newfoundland that led to the Agreement in the first place . .Red faces yet?? .Oh, and do you remember? Of course you don’t———that the Supreme Court of Canada Decision of September , 1981 rejected the unilateralism of Papa Trudeau —Justin’s Daddy, and that you needed a majority of Provinces and the Federal Government to change the Constitution or Amend it. That is what led to the Partition Agreement that became the Constitution Act of 1982. .Without the signatures of a majority of Provinces and the Federal Government —NO CONSTITUTION ACT 1982. .NO ROYAL PROCLAMATION !!.Shortly after posting to his blog, Peckford spoke via Internet video to an audience assembled at the rink in Moosomin, Sask. and said his counterpoint was historically verifiable..“It’s not a declaration by me, it’s the facts of history, proven by documents that are available to CTV and CBC, and Global and all the rest of them. But they’ve ignored me now, for a year and a half. I’ve been writing about this for over a year and a half,” he said..It wasn’t Peckford’s first complaint about Canadian broadcast media. In a January 27 blog post entitled, “No Canadian CBC, No Canadian CTV But American Fox News — Carried My Lawsuit Story,” the opening words are taken verbatim when Fox News called Peckford, “The last living drafter and signatory of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”.CTV did eventually acknowledge Peckford’s legal action in their February 10 post (in the revised version at least), and included a link to a redacted version of his court application..Lee Harding is a Saskatchewan-based contributor to the Western Standard.
