The National Post and the rise and fall of Lord Black of Cross Harbour

As promised in our previous post (scroll down to footnote), here's the story of how Canada's National Post got its name... and how its founder got his comeuppance. 

Back in the 1980s, a Canadian business tycoon by the name of Conrad Black decided he wanted to be a media mogul -- a sort of latter-day Lord Beaverbrook -- if only to see his turgid op-ed pieces in print. 

First he bought some lesser-known newspapers, including the Jerusalem Post, which he acquired in 1990 through his company, Hollinger Inc., for a mere $17 million. Under his ownership, the paper underwent an editorial shift to the right. It was eventually sold in 2004 following Mr Black's departure from Hollinger, which Walt will explain momentarily below. 

But the Jerusalem Post was just a beginning. Wanting a national, conservative-leaning voice in Canada to challenge the Groan & Wail, Mr Black acquired the Southam newspaper chain, including its flagship Financial Post, a weekly which was to be relaunched as a daily. 

But what should the new rag be called? Disrespectful hacks suggested that in view of Mr Black's circumferential challenge, a good name would be Daily Tubby. 

For some reason, Mr Black chose instead to launch the "new" paper on 27 October 1998 as the National Post. (Here at WWW, we usually refer to it as the Notional Pest.) The "new" newspaper was soon losing money briskly, with an estimated $190 million lost during its first three years. 

Conrad Black went from strength to strength (as he tells it, anyway) and his greatness was eventually recognized by Queen Elizabeth II, who granted him a life peerage in 2001, giving him the title of Baron Black of Cross Harbour. He had to renounce his Canadian citizenship to accept the title, since Canadian citizens are prohibited by law from accepting British honours. 

Just months before his elevation, Lord Black sold 50% of his stake in the National Post to CanWest Global Communications Corp., then owned by the loathsome Izzy Asper, a prominent member of Canada's Jewish community and great friend of the Zionist Entity. A few months later, CanWest bought the remaining 50% from Lord Black, who, after all, had all those fancy robes to buy and very high-maintenance wife to support.

Seated at his right hand in the photo is Lady Black, née Barbara Amiel, whom Walt met, just once, in the offices of a student newspaper somewhere. Conrad Black (as he then was) was her fourth husband. 

Things started to go south for M'lord and M'lady in 2003, when the tax and securities boys in the US of A started to look at the books of Hollinger Inc., including some which were in the hands of Lord Black when he had his collar felt. Caught black-and-white-handed, he was.

It took some time for the wheels of justice to grind Lord Black down, but in 2007 he was convicted of felony fraud and obstruction of justice for a scheme that involved stealing roughly $6.1 million from Hollinger International investors. He served over three years in an American prison, but was fully pardoned by President Trump in 2019. To this day, Lord Black's gratitude is expressed regularly in his columns in the NP.

As for his peerage,  Conrad Black was removed from the British House of Lords in July 2024 for non-attendance, losing his seat as a working peer. But he got to keep his title. In 2023, the Canadian government of Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface decided that Mr Black's renunciation of his citizenship had been only "temporary". His title is effectively meaningless, as was that of Officer of the Order of Canada which was stripped from him in 2014.

Yes, all is forgiven, and Tubby's relentless pro-Israel, pro-Trump and pro-America propanda can be read in the National Post regularly... too much so for our liking.

Shocking news: Majority of Canucks think diversity is causing problems!

Here's something we were surprised to see in one of Canada's "legacy" (read" state-supported) newspapers. Still, at least the National Post's Tristin Hopper had the cojones to touch it. You wouldn't find it in the Toronto Red Star or the Groan and Wail.

[What IS it?! Ed.] OK, OK.... Blackie McBlackface, Prime Minister of All Canuckistan, has been repeating for over a decade the mantra that "Diversity is our strength!" Canadians are sick, sore and tired of being told that by Mr Socks and his lickspittle media. What's more, the majority of them don't believe it.

What's more, the Hamas-Israel war has fuelled a growing anti-immigrant backlash. Not all immigrants, you understand. Just those who bring with them the sectarian wars of the Middle East and Africa. According to a Leger-Postmedia poll, cited in this NatPo article, there has been a significant increase in the number who believe non-permanent residents who express hate towards minorities or support for terrorist groups should be deported from Canada

The poll finds that the majority of Canadians, both white and "other", call BS on "Diversity is our strength!", and believe that diversity can bring “problems” as well as benefits. Look at this.

The poll found a majority of respondents also endorsed the notion that newcomers should be encouraged to embrace Canada's values and traditions, and discard whatever cultural identity is incompatible with that.

51% of responders agreed with the statement that Canadian authorities "should do more to ensure newcomers accept Canadian values." An even higher proportion (55%) endorsed the notion that Canada's immigration policy should be premised on "encouraging newcomers to embrace broad mainstream values and traditions," and leaving behind any beliefs "that may be incompatible with that."

For starters, Walt recommends encouraging businesses and the media to stop using the phrase "Happy Holidays", and encouraging newcomers to exchange "Merry Christmas" wishes with old stock Canadians. I could go on. [Next time. Ed.] 

VIDEO: Recommended for Canadians, a great independent newspaper

"A paper by the people, for the people!" What a novel idea, especially in Canada where the "legacy media" is overwhelmingly controlled by the Laurentian elites who in turn are controlled by the WEF and part of the New World Order.

If you've had enough of the Groan & Wail, the Toronto Red Star, and (sad to say -- see footnote), the Notional Pest, there is an alternative, a real newspaper that you can hold in your hands to read the news and information that the mainstream media won't give you. It's called Druthers. Check this out!

 

For more intformation, click here to go to the Druthers website. If you decide to donate or (even better) subscribe, tell `em Walt sent ya!

Footnote: The newspapers named (you know the ones I mean) are funded by millions of tax dollars paid by the Canadian sheeple to their federal government (J. Trudeau, prop.), yet claim to be "independent". Remember the old adage: He who pays the piper calls the tune. 

In spite of the subsidies received from Blackie McBlackface, they are losing money hand over fist, particularly the Red Star, which is now the print/digital version of the CBC. The Star is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Since the Gliberals can't be seen to own the alleged newspaper directly, its owners are now in talks with Postmedia to merge with the National Post. 

The Canadian Press* calls the plan a "Hail Mary pass". If it comes off, the editorial policies of either the Star or the Post will have to be "adjusted" so as not to flatly contradict each other, as they sometimes do now. Guess which one will have to change? If I were Conrad Black, John Ivison, Terry Glavin or Rex Murphy, I'd learn the lyrics to that fine old gospel song, "I Don't Wanna Get Adjusted".

* Torstar (an owner of the Toronto Star) holds an investment in The Canadian Press as part of a joint agreement with subsidiaries of The Globe and Mail and Montréal’s La Presse. See what I mean?

VIDEO: Together at last: Rex Murphy and Jordan Peterson

Rex Murphy, sometimes quoted and often recommended by Walt, is one of Canada's premier journalists. Jordan Peterson calls him "tough, truthful, politically correct, and possessed of a singular style and character." Like Don Cherry (although he might not like the comparison), he was "deplatformed" by the Canadian Broadcorping Castration some years ago for being too opinionated (on the wrong side, of course), too nationalistic, too politically incorrect... too truthful. Canada's National Post is the only lamestream media outlet which still carries his columns.

I'm pleased to see that Mr Murphy now has his own video channel - RexTV. Last week he interviewed Dr Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto clinical psychologist who has become even more famous than Rex for speaking to power, calmly and rationally, the truth about the modern state of education, politics, identity, and the (((controlled media))). Those are just some of the subjects they cover in this discussion. It runs nearly an hour and every minute is worth watching.



You will have noticed that for much of the interview, Dr Peterson is suffering considerable emotional distress. It's hard for us, his fans, to see him choking up, and verging on tears. But one must admire his courage in putting himself "out there" in spite of everything. He deserves our support and our prayers.

Jordan Peterson has his own YouTube channel, by the way. Walt recommends it highly.

MOR Canuck pundit blames Liberals for NAFTA talks impasse

The NAFTA renegotiation between the Excited States of America and the Dominion of Canada (yes, that's its proper title) is not going well. The Canuck Minister of Global/Foreign/External Affairs (or whatever it's called today) appeared at her country's embassy in Washington yesterday to indicate through body language if not unequivocal words that things are, errr, stalled.

Andrew Coyne, a middle-of-the-road-hugging columnist for Canada's somewhat National Post, had something to say about the NAFTA talks and who's responsible for the Mexican standoff (pun intended), in "The Trudeau Liberals fall to earth...". Here's the relevant excerpt:

And then there's the Liberals' trade agenda. In one arena after another — China, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and especially the NAFTA renegotiations — the Liberals appear to have genuinely believed they could impose their own bleeding-edge social-justice agenda on that of their negotiating partners, transforming blueprints for managing international commercial relations — difficult enough at the best of times — into sweeping progressive manifestos. Each time they were rebuffed but without apparently learning any lessons in the process.

NAFTA may yet be salvaged, but if so it will not be for any of the Liberals' doing. It's probably too strong to blame the perilous state of the talks on the failings of Liberal negotiating strategy — Donald Trump is simply not a rational actor — but it's equally hard to see how they have helped, from their intransigence on issues that ought to have been bargaining chips, like supply management, to getting visibly outhustled by the Mexicans.

Further reading:
"Trump Hits Canada Over Trade Talks: U.S. Shouldn’t Have to 'Buy' Allies with 'Bad' Deals", Breitbart News, 1/9/18.
"Payback for the Lady in Red - Trump set to stick it to Canada", WWW 28/8/18.

Footnote: Agent 3 saw video of Ms Freeland's presser on the CBC, which runs Freeland clips at every opportunity, and claims she was not wearing a bra. Walt asks, hasn't No. 3 heard of the legal maxim "De minimis non curat lex?" WTF is wrong with you, 3?!

New poll: record numbers of Canucks against more immigration

The official party line of Canada's Liberal government, dutifully parroted by the state-owned Canadian Broadcorping Castration, is that the majority of tolerant and progressive Canadians support immigration, and all the benefits that admitting hordes of Third-Worlders will bring to a grateful country. Just a few days ago, the Ministry of Immigration and Refugees [sic] released the results of a poll, taken in March, that said that although Canucks have some reservations about the asylum-seekers crossing the US-Canada border "irregularly", they still welcome the world's poor huddled masses.

Walt and others called BS on that one. The truth is that, outside of the chattering classes of downtown Toronto and Parliament Hill, most Canadians have been dubious for decades about the merits of higher levels of immigration, now closing on 300,000 per year not counting the illegals. Today's National Post reveals the truth about popular sentiment, according to a poll taken in late July by the respected Angus Reid organization. Walt trusts that Angus Reid and Postmedia won't mind our reposting part of the article by Brian Platt and the main graphic, which shows clearly the growth of opposition to immigration over the past few years. [Memo to Postmedia: Walt doesn't make any money from this blog! It's a public service. Thank you! Ed.]

The report from the Angus Reid Institute analyzes polling data going back to 1975. It shows that throughout that period a relatively constant number of Canadians — around one in four — have always said they think immigration levels should be decreased, while support for keeping levels the same has tended to be slightly higher. Only about 10% of Canadians have supported increasing the levels during that time. But the latest poll shows a spike in opposition to immigration, which the organization says coincides with "more frequent and increasingly fraught conversations about policy regarding immigration and migration to Canada."

This year's survey shows 49% of respondents think immigration levels should be decreased, compared to 36% in 2014. 31% think levels should stay the same, compared to 48% in 2014. Only 6% think levels should be increased, compared to 9% in 2014. This brilliant bit of satire, scraped from Blazing Cat Fur, explains why so many Canucks feel that way.

Walt wonders if King Trudeau II is pleased with his handiwork. Turns out his constant virtue-signalling and shaming Canadians who disagree with him (see "What happens when Canadians exercise their right to speak freely about illegal border jumpers and diversity", WWW 20/8/18) has had the effect of poking the bear. We'll see the results in 14 months... or sooner, if Mr Socks decides to call a snap election before things get worse.

But chances of a snap election are, IMHO, slim and none. (Lifetime pct .991.) Junior doesn't read the polls, or the comments section on those CBC articles where commenting is allowed (as long as M-103 is respected).

Just yesterday, Saddam Hussesn, the Somali-born Minister for Refugees &c, announced that the Gliberals are dropping the controversial lottery system for reuniting immigrant families and moving to a first-come, first-served online system. Under the family reunification programme, they will admit 20,500 parents and grandparents -- many of them illiterate and suffering from chronic illnesses -- in 2019, and 21,000 in 2020. Those numbers are more than double the figure for the first year of JT's government, 2016, in which 10,000 applications were approved. Talk about listening to public opinion! The Liberals are stone deaf... and in 14 months will be stone dead! (Lifetime pct still .991.)

Further reading: Never thought we'd see the day when Walt would recommend a piece by the CBC's resident anti-Trumper, Neil Macdonald, but "Maxime Bernier is challenging orthodoxy. He deserves a civil reply", dealing as it does with freedom of speech, is worth reading. The comments section is open too!

Journalistic illiteracy - National/Financial Post (again)

When I was teaching ESL, my dear students sometimes asked how many words they should know. I told them that the average native speaker (of English) would use between 3000 and 5000 words on an everyday basis, and a vocabulary of 10,000 words would make you a well-read and well-spoken person. But, I warned them, it's no good memorizing a lot of words if you don't know what they mean.

This principle is obviously not taught in North American j-schools, for the lamestream media is full of spelling, grammatical and vocabulary errors, which we delight in pointing out from time to time. Here's one from today's online edition of the Financial Post, a part of Canada's so-called National Post.

If you didn't spot the error, it's back to Remedial English for you! And take Joe Chidley with you! At least it wasn't the "its/it's" mistake, or (my current pet peeve) "incidences" for "incidents".

More lamestream media illiteracy: National Post

Today's shocking example of journalistic illiteracy comes from Canada's National Post. Here's part of the landing (index) page from this morning's online edition.

Walt hopes that the bombs in question were defused, not "diffused". In today's Europe, bombs are diffused by Muslim jihadis, not (we hope) "experts". But such is the vocabulary of your typical lamestream media "reporter" nowadays. Journalist wannabes should read more. Or sign up for Walt's course in Remedial English, coming soon to a university not near you.

Footnote: The article to the left of the bomb story tells you all ye need to know about the state of the No-Longer-Great White North.

Does your apartment have a "garbage shoot"?

Agent 3 saw this today on the landing page of Canada's National Post.

How did a Toronto man, now under an ISIL-related terrorism peace bond, get an AR-15 type assault rifle?

When police searched Abdul's apartment in an attempt to find the restricted weapon, his father had already broken it and thrown it down the garbage shoot

Conrad Black on a dismal decade

Agent 6 passes along a lengthy column by Conrad Black, which appeared in the so-called National Post just before Christmas. Conrad Black used to own the Post. Possibly he owes the present owners some money as a result of the financial dealings which have landed him in a Florida country club [prison, surely. ed.] Maybe he's working off the debt at so much per word.

Be that as it may, his dismal view of a dismal decade is still worth reading. He inveighs against the dismal campaign against global warming [also so-called, ed.], the dismal Copenhagen conference, the utterly dismal Al Gore and the dismal and "untrammeled vulgarity of public taste". I agree entirely and recommend the article for the cold nights when a little attack of biliousness will help to warm you.

On the subject of global warming [yes, yes...get on with it, ed.] I pass on a comment from Rex Murphy, whose book Canada and Other Matters of Opinion I reviewed this morning.

"Of all the causes that are out there, none is so sentimental, so saturated with vague, emotive attitudinizing, fed on soft science and ripe with moral grandstanding, as global warming.

"Global warming, precisely because it is so grand and nebulous, precisely because it is that perfect storm of scientism and moralism, because it is so susceptible to demagoguery (however fashionably packaged and presented), is an almost unstoppable cause.

"Hands up, those of you who are against 'saving the world'."