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Lord Conrad Black is all yours now! He has renounced his Canadian citizenship.. Cheers, Ken Hanly Ottawa dispatch ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Conrad's black mark for Canada Media tycoon Conrad Black is very vocal about why he took the unusual step of renouncing his Canadian citizenship, writes Anne McIlroy Monday November 19, 2001 Lord Black of Crossharbour returned to his native land last week and pronounced it unworthy. Newspaper magnate Conrad Black, owner of Britain's Telegraph, had renounced his Canadian citizenship in August after the courts ruled that the prime minister, Jean Chretien, had every right to block his appointment to the House of Lords. It was an honour Mr Black coveted dearly. "You're not going to see the end of me until the undertaker tells you I am gone," the media mogul said after turning in his Canadian passport. He was true to his word last week, delivering a bitter speech at a lunch organised by a rightwing thinktank in Vancouver. It was the latest sniping in a two-year war of words between the man who was for a time the most powerful newspaper owner in the country and the prime minister he tried to drive out of office. Mr Chretien appears to have the upper hand. He is firmly in power for a third term. Lord Black has retreated from Canada, selling his share in the National Post, the national daily he created and which relentlessly attacked Mr Chretien. He also unloaded his other major Canadian newspapers and took the unusual step of renouncing his citizenship. He had held British citizenship for several years and two weeks ago became a member of the House of Lords. But that doesn't mean he's going to stop criticising Canada or its Liberal government. In his first major speech since taking his seat, Lord Black denounced Canada has a one-party state doomed to mediocrity by leftwing policies and complacent citizens. He criticised gun control and the publicly-funded national healthcare system. "Renouncing my citizenship was the last and most consistent act of dissent I could pose against a public policy which I believe is depriving Canada of its right and duty to be one of the world's great countries." It was no surprise that he saved some of his harshest words for Mr Chretien. After the National Post raised questions about the prime minister's business dealings, he said Mr Chretien "deliberately gave false advice to the Queen of the United Kingdom and Canada, that I was ineligible under Canadian law for the British peerage to which I had been nominated". "I was, as I said when the decision came down, the only adult, sane, solvent, unincarcerated UK citizen ineligible for an honour in that country because I was also a citizen of a country with a capricious and antagonistic prime minister without a serious political opposition or the discipline of a reliably independent judiciary." His speech, the latest chapter in a drama that has entertained Canadians since 1999, didn't win warm reviews. "We are indeed fortunate that Lord Black could share his litany of what's wrong with Canada, but he didn't go far enough," said one letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail. "Another problem is the ease with which almost any greedy entrepreneur can grab a podium to pass off his or her elitist views as insightful, reasoned commentary." ----- Original Message ----- From: <GrDnnlly@aol.com> To: <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 10:57 AM Subject: [casi] The Pro-War Media > > The Daily Telegraph has now become so devoid of objectivety, and pro-war in > its > stance, that it is becoming unreadable.Frank Johnson,their Parliamentary > journalist wrote,on the morning of the Iraq debate( 26th Feb.), "The planned > Labour uprising against Tony Blair is not happening". > Michael Smith,the so-called Defence Correspondent, waxes lyrical about > how wonderful our "smart"bombs are going to be, and the B52 Strato-Fortress > bombers,operating out of Fairford in Gloucester carry a `raft of technology'. > Apparently this is supposed to ease the conscience of the public while their > bombs are blowing the arms and legs off small children. > > The Daily Telegraph is part of the Hollinger group,owned by ardent Zionist > Conrad Black, whose controlling finger can be seen throughout the paper.His > zest for the war can only be matched by his distance from it,sitting > comfortably > in his Toronto(Canadian) office while others do the dirty work. > > Gerry Donnelly. > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss > To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk > All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk