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PrintWinnipeg Free Press columnist says Aspers will lose control of Canwest
Yesterday (April 11), Winnipeg Free Press columnist Martin Cash wrote an article claiming there will be an "inevitable breakup" of Canwest Global Communications Corp.
Cash, who works for a non-Canwest paper, suggested that this wouldn't be enough to ensure the Asper family will retain control over the company.
He based it on the company's dismal financial situation, as well as on the tone he heard in CEO Leonard Asper's voice during a conference call with analysts on April 9. I also listened to that call—it's available on the Canwest Web site—but I didn't detect a tone of defeat in Asper's voice.
Then again, I don't know Asper like Cash, a veteran Winnipeg journalist. The Aspers are from Winnipeg, though Leonard moved to Toronto.
If Cash is right, this could have significant ramifications in Vancouver, where Canwest is a major employer.
Canwest not only owns Global TV, but it also owns the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the North Shore News, the Vancouver Courier, the Now papers, the Delta Optimist, the Richmond News, Infamous, and other publications farther east in the region. That's a lot of jobs at stake.
If there is a breakup of Canwest, the new owners can expect to hear calls from Vancouver activists for them to drop a lawsuit against two media satirists in Vancouver: Gordon Murray and Carel Moisewitsch.
They created a fake edition of the Vancouver Sun in 2007—complete with fake articles and fake bylines—to try to highlight how the Aspers have stifled criticism of Israel.
The Seriously Free Speech Committee—which is assisting Murray and Moisewitsch—issued a news release on April 1 claiming that lawyers familiar with the case estimate that Canwest has already spent $80,000 to $100,000 in legal fees against the duo.
It's a topsy-turvy world we're living in. Who could have imagined a few years ago that former Vancouver Sun and Province owners Conrad Black and David Radler would go to jail?
Now, we may be on the verge of seeing the Aspers lose control of both Vancouver daily papers in a spectacular financial flameout.
What's next? Is it conceivable that voters will give a slap in the face to Gordon Campbell on May 12, with Carole James becoming premier and Mel Lehan becoming the new MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey? In light of what's happened to the Aspers, Black, and Radler, that's not such an insane idea anymore.
Comments
The Aspers were hungry for acquisitions and willing to take on large and risky amounts of debt. The bet went sour and now the piper has to be paid.
Sadly this means a large number of talented people may be out of work in a very short time through no fault of their own.
Which leads me to another abject failure, by the name of G. Campbell, Premier of the Province of British Columbia.
Mr. Campbell was arrested and charge for drunk driving in Hawaii just months into his Premiership. Now, he just didn't have a couple of brewskies and then drive a car. He was HAMMERED when he was pulled over by a policeman. Look up his mugshot on the internet, and you will see him smiling ( smiling in a mug shot, how charismatic of Gordo is that ?).
I predict that the Liberals will lose to the next election to the NDP and that Gordon Campbell will not be reelected in his riding.
I hear that George Bush is doing some consulting these days to other loser politicians on how deal with the exodus of fame.
After May 12, Mr. Campbell is free to get as hammered as he wants in Hawaii and the rest of us won't care less.
Cheers for Fears Mr. Campbell , you were your worst enemy and now its time to pay the piper.
wiseguyinthewilds
And Charlie, thank you for your ever insightful words and comments.
Keep it up.
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