[R-G] Stephen Harper risks his career if he gives away the farm to Canwest

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.straight.com/article-207275/stephen-harper-risks-his-career-if-he-gives-away-farm-canwest

March 19, 2009
Stephen Harper risks his career if he gives away the farm to Canwest
By Charlie Smith

Last month, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore dodged questions  
from the Georgia Straight regarding how he might help the troubled  
media giant Canwest Global Communications Corp.

Moore dismissed any suggestion that the government might make  
regulatory changes to allow a foreign takeover as a “good Georgia  
Straight conspiracy theory”.

However, Moore was quoted yesterday (March 18) in a Canadian Press  
story saying that the government is looking at how to assist Canwest.

Canadian Press also reported that Canwest has contracted former  
Conservative campaign strategist Ken Boessenkool to “help plead its  
case”.

Canwest CEO Leonard Asper is the only person listed in the lobbyists  
registry doing any lobbying on behalf of Canwest.

Boessenkool is a registered lobbyist for Taser International,  
Enbridge, and the Vancouver Foundation, among other clients, but he is  
not listed on the electronic registry as an advocate for Canwest.

It's a bit of a mystery to me how Boessenkool could be lobbying for  
Canwest as a consultant without being listed in the registry, unless  
there is some time layover between when he begins working and when the  
registry posts this information on-line.

Nobody should be surprised that the Harper government will pull  
whatever levers it can to ensure the Asper family retains control over  
Canwest.

It's an important ally of Prime Minister Stephen Harper because it  
owns Global TV, the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the National Post,  
the Vancouver Courier, the North Shore News, the Delta Optimist, the  
Now papers, the Richmond News, and the Royal City Record as well as  
daily papers in several other Canadian markets.

The Aspers and Harper have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Harper  
ensured that the family patriarch Izzy Asper’s dream of a human-rights  
museum would come to fruition in Winnipeg, courtesy of massive sums of  
public funding.

And the Aspers helped ensure that Harper would remain prime minister  
when Canwest newspapers provided supportive editorials before the 2008  
election and then hammered the idea of a Liberal-NDP coalition  
government supported by the Bloc Quebecois.

Don’t be surprised if Harper returns the favour by providing generous  
tax breaks to the private broadcasters, including Canwest.

It might not be enough to ensure the Aspers remain in control. After  
all, the corporation is struggling with a $3.7-billion debt.

But not to worry. If things are on the verge of falling apart, Harper  
can make regulatory changes to allow a foreign media giant to come to  
the rescue by purchasing a big share of Canwest.

Here’s my conspiracy theory for James Moore to chew on: the prime  
minister is trying to figure out how to save the Aspers’ asses without  
angering the boys in charge of CTVglobemedia, Quebecor, and Rogers  
Communications.

The only way to do that is to open the floodgates to all the  
broadcasters with massive tax breaks and regulatory changes, while at  
the same time refusing to offer one iota of help to the Canadian  
Broadcasting Corporation.

It might buy Canwest some time. But it’s not going to guarantee the  
Conservatives will get reelected.

In the Internet age, people are no longer so reliant on broadcasters.  
Word will filter out that Harper has put the media giants at the front  
of the soup line.

As the bailouts and sweetheart deals in the United States have  
revealed, this sharply elevates the risk that average citizens will  
exact their revenge at the ballot box.

I'm guessing that by this time next year, our prime minister's surname  
is probably going to be Ignatieff and not Harper--in part because  
Harper will have misread how the public would react to a bunch of  
legislative changes designed to benefit private broadcasters.