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David Asper has taken an unusual stand in defending Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from Conservative Leader Joe Clark's accusations of Jean Chrétien's improper conduct in the Auberge Grand-Mère's affair and from the related charges and coverage by the media and journalists. I say unusual because David Asper used his family's media business CanWest Global(1) to tell off his own media people. And I am happy to realize that if David Asper owns the newspapers, he doesn't own the journalists' thoughts.

David Asper says that Jean Chrétien has been cleared of any wrong doing by both the Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson and the RCMP, and says it is time that Joe Clark and the media put up or shut up, and let the Prime Minister concentrate in matters of national interest(2). We must remind our readers that Jean Chrétien has been responsible for Canada's worst economic performance among the many OECD countries(3), and that his outrageous management has been condemned by the Auditor General of Canada Denis Desautels, and by the Information Commissioner John Reid. Therefore, I congratulate the work of Joe Clark in trying to restore democracy in our governance, and I congratulate the work of our journalists in describing the misdeeds of the Prime Minister and of his criminal friends.

David Asper did commendable work in defending David Milgaard(4), and in this respect he found out that David Milgaard was convicted because of the criminal and unpunishable activity of the police and of the Crown prosecution. And now David Asper is telling us that we have to believe the Prime Minister, the Ethics Counsellor and the RCMP rather than find out what is wrong with our Prime Minister, the Ethics Counsellor, and the RCMP. Maybe, David Asper should put up and shut up with the good work of Joe Clark and our journalists, and concentrate his attention in the $350 million lawsuit launched against his business of national interest(5).

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

1. CanWest Global http://www.canwestglobal.com/overview/index.html

2. To Chrétien's accusers: Put up or shut up, David Asper, chairman of the publications committee of CanWest Global Communications Corp., March 7, 2001, National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010307/493557.html

3. Business must not be as usual, and the "Dalhousie School" of Economics, by Mario deSantis, February 26, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_300/desantis334/dalhousie.html

4. A Mother's Story, by Joyce Milgaard with Peter Edwards, Doubleday Canada Limited, 1999

5. CanWest sued by former partners. Demand $325M in damages, Barbara Shecter, March 7, 2001, Financial Post, http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010307/493299.html