Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

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For your consideration

by Paul Wells on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:11pm - 39 Comments

The National Post takes this whole Chrétien Order of Merit news badly. Conrad Black has other things on his mind these days, but eventually he might think about suing the Post editorial writer for a really bad attempt at stylistic voice appropriation:

So perhaps one cannot quarrel too loudly with his appointment to the Order of Merit. But if one happened to be Lord Black of Crossharbour — a figure admittedly never too far from our thoughts — one might be sorely tempted to try. Hypocrisy played a large role in Mr. Chretien’s particular genius, so should anyone be surprised that there is a certain distinct flavour of it haunting what may be the supreme moment of his life?

Tags: Conrad Black, Jean Chretien

More by Paul Wells

CAPS

Paul, Bluesfest is on and KISS is playing tonight. How can you possibly be concerned with anything else? I thought for sure you'd be busy putting on your makeup.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

What makeup? I look like those guys naturally.

Kevin

Nah. I've seen you around town. You're much more noticable. :-)
Sigh

Joe Cocker or Lonesome Paul?

Evalina

Well the National Post can just go cry. Conrad Black is the definition of loser.

http://intensedebate.com/people/M_A_N M_A_N

I have to say, I like this part of the editorial…

"a figure admittedly never too far from our thoughts "

Really? Perhaps a hobby might help.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

The Nickle Resolution is a motion passed by the Hous of Commons once 80+/- yrs ago. Subsequent PMs supported it, others did not. They made their own respective policy accordingly.

The NR does not apply to the Order of Merit. It is not a titular distinction and is merely a personal gift of the Queen in the form of a badge of recognition of her favour. The difference is substantive.

The merits of the NR and whether it should be strengthend by making it a law, or enlarged to include the Order of Merit is a distinctly different question.
Mike T.

i only read the first page. Did the reasons for not allowing him in get substantially better after that? Because that was pretty weak.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Does this mean Chrétien will now be disgraced and sent to prison?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

That whole Chrétien-Black feud was a bit uncomfortable, because on balance I was very fond of both guys, and each used to bend my ear off about the other.

The night before the 2000 election, Chrétien's campaign threw a dinner in Shawinigan for campaign staff and reporters covering his campaign. This was when the Post had spent a whole year going after him hammer and tong for Shawinigate. Chrétien and Aline left the dinner early-ish, but on their way out he made a wide detour to the table where I was sitting with some other Southam reporters. "Mr. Black told a British newspaper that by the time he was done with me, they wouldn't be able to scrape me up with an eyedropper," he said. "We'll see tomorrow. Lord, what a victory."

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Ha! A telling anecdote. It would be interesting to see who could still pick whom up by the throat.

What was the origin of the feud? Was Black provoked into the relentless anti-Chrétien coverage by some slight?
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Ha! A telling anecdote. It would be interesting to see who could still pick up whom by the throat.

What was the origin of the feud? Was Black provoked into the relentless anti-Chrétien coverage by some slight?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

I think they were just made for each other. Neither could argue without personalizing it. The stakes were too high for both. Black absolutely saw the Post as a vehicle to force major policy shifts. (\”There'll be some changes in this country come Tuesday,\” he said at the launch party, \”but for now let's party.\”) He would argue that many of those changes have happened, and claim credit for much of it. Recall that our first front page had a banner story about uniting the country's conservative parties, and people thought it was hilarious. But for a while in 2001 he was monomaniacally obsessed with Chrétien. \”Paul,\” he told me that summer, mostly jokingly \”correct your thoughts.\” Chrétien, on the other hand, greatly resented the Shawinigate stories, though he often didn't have good answers to the charges our reporter raised. Each blamed the other for…..a lot. Black has since become more magnanimous. Chrétien… hasn't needed to.

Dee

Chretien served his country for 40 years and arguably made some very important contributions as an MP and PM. Black ran a newspaper chain and wrote a few books, and by the way, is a convicted criminal who stole millions from his shareholders.

I wonder why most Canadians would hold Chretien in much higher esteem than Black?
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Not to jinx the Post, which I'm glad to see is still keeping it together, but you and some of your former colleagues should really get together and write a collective memoir of the Post at some point. Blacks are not five a penny and it may be that there's some other baron out there who needs reminding that it can be done with sufficient willpower (every journalism student in the country would also buy a copy). I actually hope we are moving into a more egomaniacal age on that front, since this idea that's been floating around (at least down south) of government support for the media, and tenure for journalists, strikes me as a recipe for blandness (if academe is anything to go by). Love milord or hate him, there's no denying that he had the entrepreneurial spirit in spades.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

This is my chance to plug, once again, two excellent books about the newspaper wars of the late 90s: Chris Cobb's non-fiction, exhaustively reported Ego And Ink, and Katrina Onstad's hilarious, moving novel How Happy to Be, which has elements of roman a clef.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Ah, great, thanks!
http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

I read the Cobb book a while back and it is well done… but keep in mind
that it is an employee writing about an employer.
Not a criticism so much as a caveat.

And it's good keep in perspective his Lordship's whole career. From Argus
to Dominion to Massey Ferguson. He brought pain to a lot of people for the
benefit of a very few. Those who like him like him a lot but …
CAPS

If I recall correctly the first front page of the Post carried a big picture and story of an American hero and retired (and slightly disgraced) politician heading back to space for the second time.

Joan Tintor

Thanks for a reminder of why it is hard to be magnanimous about someone so petty.

anon463

The Post doesn't seem to like someone almost as arrogant as Black getting recognition. Maybe the Queen is thanking Jean for trying to save the embarrassment of having a British Lord in an American jail among other things.

I got distracted by Terence and his "President Barack Obama, backed by an army of anticapitalist spear-carriers on the left…" usual type rant. When I was in high school the hicks didn't use carriers to finish that gem… damn political correctedness I tells ya.
John W.

Well, Mitchell, I can't see him getting involved in those hideous, grotesque, costume party extravaganzas Black entertained us with when he was in London.
The little guy from Shawinigan versus the little guy from Dominion Stores.
Chretien seems to have landed in a better place and deservedly so.
John Gomery around anywhere?
Paul Martin?

Dave

"Through his political machine's bid to control the province, moreover, he bequeathed his party a scandal that remains coterminous with sleazy politics to this day."

Doesn't it seem a touch hypocritical for anyone with such fond thoughts for Lord Klepto of Crossharbour to wag their finger at Chretien for a scandal in which he was found to have played no part personally?

Orson Bean

Nice spin. Are you W Kinsella in disguise?

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Well, the Queen doesn't need the NP's approval does she. It's her personal (as other Monarch's) award. The NP should take it up with the Queen.
John W.

Thank you, Lawrence Martin.
John W.

I'm somewhat puzzled at the relative lack of coverage this prestigious award has received in the media. Far from a leading story in a slow summer.
I've often wonderd what the Ottawa media know about Jean Chretien that the rest of us don't, What it is that has the led the pack to so obvuiously detest the man.
This was evident during the Chretien to Martin changeover period
when the disdain for the 'little guy' was so evident and Martin was elevated to near diety status. Then came the obsequious, fawning, near worshipful coverage of Judge Gomery. Who?
All a mystery. But thankfully the Queen has not bought in to any of it.
CAPS

I disagree with your analysis but even if it were correct, Paul Wells certainy does not fit your description of the Ottawa media with regard to Messrs. Chrétien and Martin.
sbt

The story is still on the ctv.ca homepage and it was last updated on Monday. It was also on the front page of the Globe and Mail. It's been adequately covered. Personally, I'm still hoping Wherry will post about how Chretien swore in front of the Queen. Apparently, Chretien would fit right in with the rest of the Conservative cabinet.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

The Nickle Resolution is a motion passed by the House of Commons once 80+/- yrs ago. Subsequent PMs supported it, others did not. They made their own respective policy accordingly.

The NR does not apply to the Order of Merit. It is not a titular distinction and is merely a personal gift of the Queen in the form of a badge of recognition of her favour. The difference is substantive.

The merits of the NR and whether it should be strengthend by making it a law, or enlarged to include the Order of Merit is a distinctly different question.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

The Nickle Resolution is a motion passed by the House of Commons once 80+ /- yrs ago. Subsequent PMs supported it, others did not. They made their own respective policy accordingly.

The NR does not apply to the Order of Merit. It is not a titular distinction and is merely a personal gift of the Queen in the form of a badge of recognition of her favour. The difference is substantive.

The merits of the NR and whether it should be strengthend by making it a law, or enlarged to include the Order of Merit is a distinctly different question.
John W.

He's already talked about that in the last two days. That's why she loves him so much! Get over it..
sbt

That's why I like him, too. BTW, where'd you hear about that? There's so little coverage of this, you know (I kid. I kid). Personally, I don't think it's a big deal but I'd really like to know what all those self-proclaimed saints who derided Baird as unprofessional and an embarassment think about it.
John W.

CBC Radio. You know.
Orson Bean

I always thought Chretien was a skunk. A skunk with very good partisan political instincts and a genius for survival. He was damn lucky that he didn't get taken down by Shawinigate, because he should have. But he did his usual stonewall job, and managed to squeak through that. But as for this honorific, I just roll my eyes. And I think that what's most Canadians are doing — pretty much shrugging it off, which is about what it deserves. The fact that Warren Kinsella gets a big woody over it speaks volumes.
John W.

I guess it sort of reveals what people think of the Queen herself who used to sit down across the table from Winston Churchill.
scf

Seems to me Chretien's use of the Nickle Resolution should disqualify him from this honour.
Lord Kitchener's Own

Yes, if he were receiving an honour with a title and an appointment to another nation's legislative assembly. Which he's not.

Next.
http://intensedebate.com/people/tigerinexil1428 tigerinexile

The Nickle Resolution doesn't apply, anyway. Bennett resumed offering advice for knighthoods and the like in the '30s.

No, Chretien stepped in because… well, he could. And that's that. His call as PM. (And what the heck, I've always liked his vindictive side. Liked it when I was a Liberal, and I still like it now that I'm a Tory.)

The OM, on the other hand, is Her Majesty's call as Queen.

Any time a Canadian ends up in the Order of Merit — and it is the most prestigious gong in the world — that's something to celebrate.