CORNWALL Ontario – It’s been a whirlwind of a week here in Cornwall and CFN Central.
As many viewers know all of my criminal charges have now been dropped.
Chiefly the police charges that I’d made threatening phone calls and uttered threats against Mike Bedard, formerly of Roy’s & Platinum Pools, and apparently of SCM and Philos?
Mr. Bedard claimed I made phone calls which led to my arrest and public smearing. CCPS did not check my phone or records before charging me. The Crown(s) refused to drop my charges or investigate what actually happened after a production order clearly stated I never made any calls. I was held on conditions for nearly a year.
Likewise a ridiculous attempt by South Stormont Deputy Mayor Tammy Hart and even more ridiculous claims by City Councilor Brock Frost were also finally dropped. Frankly they should never have been accepted and the fact that I myself attempted to file the very same 810 request against a few online haters that clearly were threatening myself and pets show the abuse of the justice system in our area.
In particular Bill Kingston and Todd Lihou used the charges to smear me during the Municipal Election. Their childish attacks clearly go beyond the standard competitive zeal that normally occurs in industry.
When my charges were finally dropped this week it was interesting to see the coverage. Both Kingston and Lihou downplayed and certainly did not give equal ink to the charges being dropped compared to when they were made. I was even labelled a blogger. CFN is the largest newspaper in the area with over 19 million human page views in 2014. (Frankly I don’t care what you call CFN or myself as long as you’re clicking, but in 2015 calling someone a blogger simply reflects on the person hurling that.)
Clearly they should not be journalists. At the bottom of every story has to be the truth. It’s one thing to write opinion, but omission of the truth is in fact lying, and if you’re lying you’re clearly not a journalist.
One would have to ask why these people behave this way? I think only they can answer that, but again it’s a black stain against journalism, and more importantly against our City and area.
The Freeholder chose to handle it differently. Not sure if it’s because Post Media is now the owner or if there is a shift in tone, after all editor Hugo Rodrigues is the President of the CAJ as well?
They stated some clear facts about the case and Hugo, as late as it was, did do an editorial about it. Reading his piece it felt as though he was of conflicted emotions.
The Freeholder is in a funny predicament. Clearly they are fighting with the Seaway News for ad dollars and clearly they are fighting with CFN for online traffic as the days of print are coming to an end. It should be interesting to see whether either entity ends up owning CFN or an outside buyer enters (CFN is been for sale) as I have several writing projects that will pull me away by the end of this year, and my role will be changing with the paper.
There is a balance that tests all media outlets as we are living in times which make true journalism harder and harder to perform because at the end of the day if you don’t have cash to pay the bills and the journalists, not to mention shareholders, then you don’t survive and can’t tell those stories.
CFN has told many and we’ve paid a huge price. Some very crooked politicians and their underlings clearly show that by omitting CFN from events such as the one that took place at CCH this week.
CCH boycotts CFN, not just by refusing to advertise with us to place notices even though we reach the most public in the area, but they also do not send us press releases and invites. It seems anything connected with some of these very sensitive politicians occurs in the same manner. That goes for Jeanette Despatie’s other group, CAS which is one of the largest advertisers in Cornwall for some odd reason….
It should be very interesting for example to see what the Chamber of Commerce does this week as Premier Wynne is in town. The Chamber also boycotts CFN with past President Kevin Hargreaves, owner of the local Kelsey’s, with holding charter rights during the election debates.
It’s amazing the lengths and depths that this dwindling power clique will sink to and how they refuse to realize that the public sees this behavior more and more.
And then the funniest thing is that their monkey’s claim that we don’t care about the community and don’t show up or support it. It even extends to local charities. Essentially the cronyism system in Cornwall is that if you’re not useful at the top of the food chain they find you a gig at a local charity. As long as you vote the right way, do what you’re told and question nothing you’re good to go.
Yes things are changing, but they need to do so at a faster rate.
And that brings us to our last bit in this piece, CAO Norm Levac.
Mr. Levac was chosen to replace Paul Fitzpatrick after “Fitzy” was allowed to slither away by his “good friend” Mayor Bob Kilger who had enough councilors supporting him to cover things up.
Mr. Levac had a pretty good reputation before his promotion and the Kilger team used that up culminating with the Chem Tank debacle.
Mr. Levac threw a low blow at Mayor Kilger by announcing his retirement just before the election which caused a minor stink, another nail in Bob’s political coffin. However Mr. Levac quietly supported and didn’t call Mr. Kilger on his antics anymore than he called Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy on his clear conflict of interest last Monday night.
That the city and council haven’t appeared to even look for his replacement shows a veil of hypocrisy over the announcement that he’s delaying his retirement by another year with the clear support of council.
But then again under O’Shaughnessy, who campaigned on accountability and transparency (Just ask Diane Shay), Norm isn’t going anywhere and the Chem Tank issue, like any other from the Kilger messes, have not been addressed. In fact this council seems to be even more secretive than the last.
So here you are Cornwall, with the full press to block CFN from attending events, getting information, or having access while some Councilors sing the praises of other media that “play ball”.
Is that news? Only you can ultimately decide.
Interesting article Jamie.
Truly sad that it took over a year for the charges to be dropped, even though there was evidence to show you never made the alleged phone calls.
CNW and CSW have never been your friends that is very easy to see. At times they seem to be kissing up to the organizations that hand out ad dollars.
Hugo and the CSF have had a different perspective lately. I think Hugo’s having a change of heart in how he does things.
Would you even consider selling CFN to CSN or PostMedia / CSF knowing that at the first opportunity they’ll shut it down?
A group of leaderless individuals that really have little or no clue as to what their true responsibilities to the public are should be expected to produce acceptable results?
I think not. Their record since the beginning of this term unfortunately supports that conclusion. So much is needed in Cornwall and Cornwall needs 100% effort and performance out of its elected officials in order to move in a progressive and positive direction forward.
Idling in one spot (more of the same old same old) is not going to accomplish anything and we certainly do not need anymore legacy projects sucking cash from our pockets with minimal return (if any).
I would like to see them tackle something that would benefit the taxpayer. Top on the list would be a plan to deal with the fact that the contract between Fortis (Cornwall Electric) and Quebec Hydro expires December 31, 2019 and Cornwall loses its exemption status under the Green Energy Act.
Would you like to know how much your January 2020 bill is going to be. Ask any councilor. If they really are serving you they will provide you with a reasonable estimate based on the current known values. This is an easy task.
Or better yet ask the premier during her public appearance in Cornwall or your MPP.
Council will act on this issue responsibly otherwise it will be another “Tank” fiasco only the issue of our electrical bills hits our pockets. However they may not, as the public in Cornwall has never had an appetite to hold its mayor and council accountable. Look as us now, what are we doing. Nothing. Just waiting and doing nothing.
Hugger to date only TC Media has attempted to purchase CFN. We were hoping that PM would as they had one glaring hole in their Ontario coverage and that was this area.
They purchased the Sun chain and filled that hole. Strategically CFN gives whoever buys it the #1 audience in this market. If a big enough chain buys it that would probably change the clique/boycott position. They have done with other businesses in the area where they push out a non-clique owner.
You never know how the ball will bounce. In the meanwhile we will just keep building our market share and kicking down the boycott barriers one at a time.
Our yearly re-model will be up before the end of May and the pedal shall stay to the metal until something changes.
Jamie it is such a relief having the charges dropped but one thing is certain is that they have destroyed your good name and that is unforgiven. The gang that doesn’t support you (ex. the businesses) will not get my business when I go down to Cornwall). I will boycott them and I can assure you that I have boycotted Farm Boy and we used to spend an awful lot of money there but no more my dear man I swear. I told you what I was going to do and I keep my promises and don’t let go – I am more stubborn than a pit bull. If CFN is sold Cornwall’s news is finished. Everything is controlled and all lies and the sheeple will continue to believe the lies that are fed to them. I will not be among the sheeple being fed the lies because if CFN goes Jules will no longer be around. You are the very best there is out there for news Jamie. We sure don’t spend much in Cornwall since we only go down once a year sometimes twice depending on our mood but not more than that – we get enough of the dead town when we go there. Never let your guard down at all in life anywhere but Cornwall is one of the worst places for anybody to go to. All the very best to you Jamie and I mean that fully.
I have never trusted Norm Levac from the very beginning and my gut feeling was right all along. I said it quite some time ago that I didn’t like him at all without knowing him personally. I could see through him for what he was and always will be.
Jaime….you don`t think TC or PM would purchase CFN with the intent of silencing it?
Hugger I can’t speak for anyone but myself. I would think that would be a terrible waste of a valuable asset and brand though personally. So far every discussion to sell CFN has involved retaining me in some capacity. There have been three discussions with one deal that nearly was closed.
I hope you’re right. It would be detrimental to Cornwall and its potential to lose CFN.
Well hugger don’t you think CFN should get more support from subscribers and advertisers? Should our elected officials and agencies be able to use ad $$$ like a weapon or should we not have some resemblance of our market share?
Yes, CFN should get support from subscribers and advertisers. The ad dollars should be equally divided amongst all the qualified media outlets.
I will say something here Jamie and that is you helped Leslie to win because the vast majority of your readers and supporters in Cornwall voted for Leslie and that you gave him some free publicity during his campaign. BOB destroyed your good name in Cornwall and now is pay back time. I think that Leslie should do something good for you and I have been thinking about this for a while now. The Freeloader and Lihou’s rag do not tell the people the truth at all and CFN is the only place for truth in Cornwall. The sheeple are blinded by their fleece and lies thrown at them from the powers that be.
Enough is enough!!