(Published in 24 Hours April 17, 2012)
Enough rhetoric, just the truth please
By
Leo Knight
After spending Monday in the usual manner, flying somewhere east on Air Canada, I disembarked my flight in Ottawa thinking surely hell must have frozen over as I stared open mouthed at my Twitter feed.
The reason for my surprise was NDP MP Pat Martin apologized for making ill-advised, uninformed and patently untrue remarks when criticizing the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Typically, the representative for Winnipeg Centre engages his mouth before his brain and the case for which he was apologizing was no exception.
When the so-called ‘robocall scandal’ broke last month Martin accused Racknine, the Edmonton based automated calling company, of being involved in a conspiracy with the Tories to rig the election. He demanded all manner of things, including the overturning of the results of last spring’s election and Harper be drawn and quartered, tarred and feathered, or at least admit that he rigged the election and resign.
Granted, Martin only apologized after a great deal of consideration, and of course after he was slapped with a libel lawsuit by Racknine and its owner. His first reaction to the news of a lawsuit was much huffery and puffery, sputtering that he stood by everything he said, a very dangerous position for someone who says so many bizarre things.
In the end, someone within the NDP must have advised him, in the simplest possible terms, that the laws of libel and slander in Canada are quite clear about something called the truth. The truth is an absolute defence – saying something is so because it fits your flawed perception of events is not.
The robocall scandal in the first instance was nothing of the sort, despite the best efforts of Martin and other equally pretentious members of the opposition, like Bob Rae and members of the parliamentary press gallery who were convinced this was evidence of the most vile corruption this country has seen. Unfortunately, no amount of shrillness can replace the government of Jean Chretien and the billion-dollar boondoggle, Shawinigate and Adscam for that.
The RCMP and Elections Canada are still looking into whatever occurred in Guelph, Ont. But whatever they discover there is no conspiracy between the prime minister, the Tories and any other party, despite the volume of ink spilled by a compliant media or excess rhetoric from the likes of MPs like Pat Martin.
Maybe even the press gallery will stop reporting on opposition rhetoric and start looking at facts. Perhaps, but don’t bet on it.