06.09.2018 11:33 AM

My Letter to the Editor of the New York Times

About this bullshit.

Let’s see if they publish it. I’m not holding my breath.

In her June 8, 2018 news story, ‘Between the smiles, mounting tensions between Trudeau and Trump,”  your Catherine Porter goes to considerable lengths to insinuate that a report about Mr. Trudeau “handling” a young reporter in British Columbia in August 2000 only surfaced as part of some ill-defined conspiracy by pro-Trump forces. In this, she is flatly wrong, and I would know.

The article, from the Creston Valley Advance, was sent to me – an author, a former Hillary Clinton volunteer  and a one-time Special Assistant to another Canadian Liberal Prime Minister, Jean Chretien – last Wednesday evening. It was sent to me by a Canadian Member of Parliament who requested anonymity.  I agreed to give it.

I investigated the report. The eighteen-year-old article was authentic. It stated as a fact that that Mr. Trudeau, years before he himself became a Member of Parliament, “handled” a young female reporter at a local festival. The article further stated that Mr. Trudeau had apologized for his conduct, quoting him as saying  he wouldn’t have done it “if I had known you were reporting for a national paper.”

When I published the editorial and my own commentary on my web site – just two monosyllabic words, “Um, what?” – I was not doing so as a tool of Breitbart (as Ms. Porter insinuates) or because I was “a well-known critic of Mr. Trudeau” (as Ms.  Porter states).

I was doing so because I have been very active in promoting the stories of Canadian women who have raised their voices in the #MeToo moment. I did so because, as noted, I considered the notion that our Prime Minister had allegedly sexually assaulted a woman to be, as noted, quite newsworthy.

If your Ms. Porter had bothered to make the merest effort to seek my comment, I would have told her all that. She however made no such effort whatsoever. Instead, she published a misleading and dishonest account.

I have been an active Canadian Liberal and am still a Hillary Clinton supporter. The notion that I would re-publish such a report to further the interests of “the ideological champions of Mr. Trump” is outrageous and flatly wrong.

I published the story because it was authentic and it was news.

Two considerations, clearly, that matter less to your Ms. Porter.

Sincerely,

Warren Kinsella, LL.B

Privilege in this communication is not waived.

12 Comments

  1. barn E. rubble says:

    RE: Is this for real? See below:

    https://twitter.com/davidd_dds/status/1004941879136391169

    Uhmmm . . . words escape me.

  2. Jim Keegan says:

    Wow…..well, even though the “Trump angle” is ridiculous, at least the Times published the report, unlike the majority of our Canadian mainstream media. I have emailed both CBC and the Globe, asking why they have not run with this story, which should be front page, headline news (as it surely would have been had it been Harper rather than Trudeau as the alleged perp). Predictably, I have had no response. Are there legal concerns from our media or is this just plain and simply a coverup?

    • barn E. rubble says:

      RE: ” . . . as it surely would have been had it been Harper . . .:

      The very idea that Harper wore fake eyebrows, as noted above, would’ve sent the chorus, sorry, journalists into a tizzy of gleeful fun and ridicule. How is it the ‘Boy King’ gets away with anything?

  3. Steve T says:

    Great letter. This is the sort of lazy reporting that is giving journalism a bad name.

    Some journalists (such as Ms. Porter, it seems) like to preserve a very black-and-white view of the world; assuming their readers are stupid. If you criticize Trudeau on a particular matter, you are anti-Trudeau generally. And if you are anti-Trudeau generally, then you must be pro-Trump and pro-Breitbart.

    Sadly, the media perpetuate this crap because many in the public take the same view. If you are Conservative, then surely you must be against gay marriage, abortion, and helping the poor. If you are NDP, then surely you must be against all private enterprise. And it continues. Nuanced or topic-specific opinions are not welcome – please just stick to your stereotype.

  4. Matt says:

    Hmm…..

    All the Liberal “journalists” jumping to Trudeau’s defence all claimg it’s a made up Breitbart story. It’s almost like they planned it.

    Actually, I’m told that’s exactly what they did. PMO heard this had resurfaced and someone “in Ottawa” sent it to Breitbart specifically so the Liberals could claim it was just an attempt by a far right group to slander Trudeau.

    But lots of people know the truth.

  5. Brendan Kane says:

    “It was sent to me by a Canadian Member of Parliament”
    So…”some ill-defined conspiracy by pro-Scheer forces” then?

  6. Ray says:

    Why is there no mention of this in the Canadian MSM?
    Anybody?
    Pretty f**king sad.

  7. JH says:

    The Canadian MSM is obviously ethically challenged when it comes to reporting on Justin Trudeau. J Source says 10,000 jobs were lost in Canadian Media in the past 5 years. Social Media is winning and this is part of the reason, #EthicsnCredibility.
    As for Ms. Porter, she made her reputation long ago when suspended by the Star for using fake sources in one of her articles.
    Obviously another ‘credible’ journo to be safely ignored.

  8. RichardS says:

    Just a quick question and comment, a short time ago, you wrote (Warren) that there were a few women, who had so called dubious interactions with “someone very powerful in Ottawa, whom we would all be shocked, yes shocked to discover who this person was. Apparently, editors and lawyers were dotting i’s and crossing t’s to ensure all was correct. Is this the first so called shoe to drop, and is there more women
    still to come forward? Now a comment, if the MSM in Canada are indeed spiking or sitting on this story, this is truly a sad, sad state of affairs

  9. VBolton says:

    Question: was this the “bombshell” assault by a very high-ranking liberal you alluded to back in Nov/Dec 2017? The one where affidavits were being checked, legal, etc. before it could be broke? Or is this another, separate incident?

    • Warren says:

      I didn’t say it was a Liberal.

      Because it sure could be a Conservative.

      • Fred from BC says:

        One small part of me actually hopes so, in a way. The liberals, democrats and the left in general seem to be very over-represented when it comes to these #MeToo accusations (looking at you, Hollywood…).

        Almost makes it seem that Conservatives have no sex drive or something.

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