Angry in the Great White North

In the aftermath of Garth Turner's disaster on CPAC, the Liberal MP had an opportunity to let the story fade away.

Yes, he was burned and burned badly for having staged a "random encounter" with a constituent for the CPAC cameras to record.

That constituent was, in fact, Michael Shaye.  Michael Shaye is the son of Esther Shaye, Garth Turner's campaign manager.

I revealed this information, and almost immediately, the CBC followed up.  During their investigation, the CBC contacted CPAC.  Why?  Because the CBC had learned from Garth Turner's people (and we learned today, from Garth Turner himself) that CPAC was complicit in the broadcast shenanigans.

CPAC went ballistic.  Their fury is what prompted Garth Turner's apology.

Well, we can speculate that is was their fury that prompted some senior Liberal to contact Garth Turner to command him to apologize.

But something curious came out of all this.  Garth Turner originally insisted that he never spoke to the CBC, an assertion he made during his confrontation with CPAC:

Peter Van Dusen: When you say this is not a federal case, I know that you've done other interviews.  What's your sense of what this means and says?

Garth Turner: I haven't done any other interviews on this story, Peter.

Was Garth Turner splitting hairs?  Interview versus discussion?  During my interview with the CBC, Sue Ormiston made it clear to me that Garth Turner had been interviewed over the phone, so when I heard later Garth Turner denying having done any interviews, I was confused.

Nevertheless, Garth Turner stuck to his guns.  Not only had he not given an interview, he was illegally taped by the CBC:

Susan Ormiston of the CBC called for an interview, but I declined. Instead I tried to explain to her on the phone what I knew at the time. That was a mistake, because she was taping me without revealing it. Peter Van dusen from CPAC called and was much more professional. He asked for a taped comment, which I gave – based on what I knew then.

The CBC taping people without permission?  Sue Ormiston?

I didn't believe it. 

And Sue Ormiston is denying it in the strongest terms possible:

Caught staging a campaign stop, Garth Turner is now turning his outrage on us, for reporting it. In his blog he says he did not agree to an interview with Ormiston Online.

Here are the facts:

A CBC producer called Garth Turner, Monday morning. He identified himself as calling from CBC News. The producer asked if Mr. Turner would speak with Susan Ormiston and said we would call back from a studio to record. He agreed.

Ormiston started by saying we are trying to “drill down on the bloggers claims,” Turner responded “well I hope you are going to drill down on the kind of gutter politics that creates this crap.”

And later, quoting from the interview transcript:

Garth Turner: “It's one thing to have it on YouTube, you put this on CBC... ahh, I can't prevent you, and you can do it if you want and I'll do your little interview here.”

It is clear that Garth Turner was speaking to a CBC journalist and agreed to do so, and that he acknowledged the interview.

At the end of the day, Mr. Turner, in an email to CPAC, copied to CBC, still put the blame squarely on CPAC:  “The bottom line seems to be that CPAC was informed, prior to shooting, that the home in question was that of the son of my associate.”

CPAC has categorically denied that claim. CBC represented both Turner’s position and CPAC’s rebuttal. You can see that story at cbcnews.ca/ormistononline

I believe Sue Ormiston.  Why?  Because during my interview that afternoon, Sue Ormiston asked for my response if I was told that CPAC was, in fact, party to the Michael Shaye doorstep interview.  I was surprised, and expressed my doubts.

The only reason Sue Ormiston would have suggested that CPAC was a party to the deceit is if she had heard Garth Turner's allegation as written up in that transcript.  So I think the transcript is true.

And yet, Garth Turner still won't let go!  From Stephen Taylor:

Well, Susan, there are two sides to all stories and I’m flattered you feel it necessary to use my blog to get your message out, when a national TV network is insufficient. Actually, I was asked if I wished to be interviewed by you, but before agreeing, I wanted a conversation. When you became argumentative, the futility of speaking with you further was apparent. So, I did something useful. I went door-knocking. At no point did you indicate our words were being taped.

Well, if that's true, Garth Turner could lay charges.  But he won't.

If the CBC transcript is true, then Garth Turner knew he was being interviewed, and he knew that he was being recorded.  It was only after the controversy boiled over that he decided to assert that he was being recorded illegally.  He repeated that allegation in his apology, meaning that the story did not end with the apology, but continued to go forward in a new direction.  He continues to insist that he was being recorded illegally, and that he was not being interviewed.

Why?  Does he think everyone will suddenly forget the allegations he made that CPAC was a party to the deception in Oakville?  I think they call that "unringing the bell".

So let's review the score.

• Number of allegations lodged by Garth Turner at CPAC for being party to an attempt to pass off a staged meeting as a casual unplanned encounter: 1
• Number of allegations lodged by Garth Turner at the CBC of illegally taping a conversion: 1
• Number of times Garth Turner's allegations against the main stream media have become stories in of themselves: 2
• Number of times we'll be revisiting this story because Garth Turner refuses to accept all the responsibility for the mess he has gotten himself into: ?

That last one is tricky.  The correct answer for anyone else is, of course, zero.  No one in public office wants to keep a story like this alive.  Except for Garth Turner.  Who knows how many times he'll keep coming back to this, finding another innocent third party to cast in the role of Garth Turner's Tormentor du jour?

He seems to like playing the victim.  And for as long as he continues play games the media, and then cry "I've been victimized!" when they refuse to play by his rules, I'll be here to keep score.