What's up with AllNovaScotia's curious blind spot for Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor John Morgan? Like many others, AllNS's editorialists took umbrage when the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society charged lawyer Morgan with professional misconduct for accusing Supreme Justice John Murphy, and Nova Scotia judges in general, of political bias in the performance of their duties. An AllNS editorial argued that it was dangerous and wrong to muzzle political speech by a politician who also happens to be a lawyer. So far, so reasonable. The odd thing is that the usually reliable news service seems to be letting its editorial passion slop over into its news columns. AllNS news stories have persistently misrepresented the comments that got Morgan in trouble. Instead of quoting or characterizing Morgan's original words, AllNS quotes only the sanitized version Morgan came up with after he got in hot water. The background is here, but in short, Morgan pretends he merely said Nova Scotia judges were not tree-shakers; in reality, he went on for paragraphs alleging political bias by the judge who first rejected his grandstanding constitutional claim for higher equalization payments — a lawsuit that was ultimately rejected by every judge who reviewed it, up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada.
13 February, 2010
Contrarian reader David Smith has doubts about the Anne Calder arrest story:
Too much about this story is starting to look like a setup to me. First, there is the bit about the police not identifying the lawyer, but "sources" naming her.  Somebody wanted her identity leaked, and the front-page photo in the Chronicle the next day certainly made sure everyone knew who she was. Then there were the two "tidbits" about her legal career: that one client had a mistrial, and that another client had fired her.  How many other trial lawyers in Nova Scotia could have both of those things said about them?  I'm willing to bet a fairly high percentage.  Again, it looks to me as if this information is being reported in an effort to embarrass and humiliate her.  Just to make sure, the Chronicle-Herald repeated those "details" again the next day. Just who did Anne piss off, anyway?
22 July, 2009