The Pat Martin Affair: Straight Talk, Lost Gonch

So Pat Martin arrives in the HOC today looking disgruntled, uncomfortable.  In the middle of this morning's session, during a vote on a motion to salute Canada's Crappie fishermen, he sneaks out, comes back a little bit later...at ease and smiling!  Turns out his underwear was too tight, but they're better now!  So what happened during the missing minutes?  Nobody from the Media Party has bothered to inquire!  Did Pat Martin discard his gonch?  Does his junk-catcher haunt the halls of Parliament?  Was he walking around all afternoon commando style?

And on issues like this is where we start to miss the Sun News Network.  If they'd been around, Brian Lilley would have led in a whole team (wearing Hazmat suits!) to search for the missing, like he did when CBC lost a chair in '011. And, shit, if it had been rumored that the underwear had fled to Budapest to join ISIS, SNN would have sent David Akin over to spy out the place for a couple of weeks, staying at fine hotels, eating street food in the markets.  Because SNN did news, man, don't say otherwise.  And when they did news they did it hard.

I'm really starting to miss those guys.

Ezra On Tour

Playing the mighty Pen with Bian Lilley (who is back-ground left; looks like he's trying to hustle coins out of a vending machine).   Witnessed by crazy boy Dean.

More grey hairs in this place than backstage at a Rolling Stones concert.

Will Brian Lilley Issue Grovelling Apology For November 18th Video Segment?

The video segment itself is  here.  Its print counterpart here. The grovelling apology (print edition) is below:

Will there be a video version of this apology to follow?  Official steps have been taken by Mr. Raynolds to extract one, and they seem to have paid off:

Pls'd we r expecting a full Sun News retraction of falsely attributed statements in last week's article + TV. More to follow. #cdnpoli #LPC
— Marlo Raynolds (@MarloRaynolds) November 22, 2014

Stay tuned (but not to Sun TV, needless to say).

Thumped By A Frenchy! Sun News Star Brian Lilley Takes Boot To Nads From French Billionaire Boss!

The only time I would ever ask my readers to watch anything from Brian Lilley.  If you really don't want to, I'll just say its all about Brian calling out the politically correct "over-pronunciation of French athletes names".

Its a thoroughly grovelling apology, and the word is:

Everyone's speculating that Quebecor bosses (or even PKP himself) forced @brianlilley to apologize. If so, why now?
— Steve Faguy (@fagstein) February 11, 2014

As to why of all occasions would PKF force his guy to eat dirt on tape, well, the Olympics are everywhere. Mr. Lilley's remarks reached an audience far beyond his usual.

The State Of Levant

Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen has some new viewer numbers for the Sun News Network.  They are very sad:

Who is the Monkey King, you ask?

In any case it looks like Brian Lilley is out-pointing Ezra these days. ratings wise.  Gotta be the hair.

Michael Sona Vs. Brian Lilley: The Tale Of The Tape

According to Brian Lilley from Sun News, he is the guy who first broke the Mike Sona = Robocaller story back in February, 2012.  Mr. Sona has recently stated that Brian Lilley did not attempt to contact him before making the Sona = Robocaller accusation.  He has further suggested that Lilley admitted on air that he had indeed not attempted to contact Sona before making the accusation. Lilley has denied this, but his denials have been vague and a bit cagey.  That is, he's not making clear just when Sun TV first attempted to make contact with Sona.

Well here's the video of the show in question, on at about noon, Feb 23, 2012:

So, forward to about the 5:35 mark and you will hear Brian Lilley say that (in paraphrase) Sun News is still waiting for Sona to make a statement and will be reaching out to him later in the day.  Which implies that the network had not yet attempted to make contact with him, just as Mr. Sona has claimed.  Shame on Brian Lilley and Sun News.  If I were Mr. Sona, I would have sued your balls off.

A New E-Book

...from Brian Lilley, the man who found Peter Mansbridge's lost chair.

But I bet it can't all be that exciting.

What Will They Whine Of Next?

From the CHRC page detailing with access to info requests:

Logically, the only people on the planet who would care would be the folks named in the request itself, desperately trolling about for something to be fake-outraged about.  It appears, however, that they haven't found anything useful, as Fox News North is apparently down to hassling hippies at the Occupy Toronto campsite again.

Kicking Ass In Canadian Politics

Alright, I'm a bit late to this.  Warren K carves Brian Lilley a new one in this Sun TV interview.  Notice though how hard it is to cut through an ignorant asshole's (Lilley's) stream of bullshit.  Many progressives think it can be done via elegant erudition.  It can't .  WK knows you gotta be there for the whole 15 rounds, or six plus minutes or so, and keep pounding them.  Politics isn't like chess, where you check-mate 'em.  It's like WWI, where you slowly crush their will to resist.

Too bad this interview didn't happen on CBC or CTV or the yuletide log channel where people might see it.  Kudos to WK nevertheless.

Sticking Up From The Little Guys: Is Brian Lilley Sun TV's Tallest Midget?

 From the Owen Sound Sun Times:

... it's long overdue, says Lilly, whose personality, lively style and opinions -- and hairdo--resonate with viewers. He's the highest-rated TV host on the Sun News Network.

The Ez won't like hearing that, but its roughly in accord with Bureau of Broadcast Measurement numbers from late June, which were, generally speaking for the new network, crap.

In any case, Brian's previous work experience stands him in good stead, given the perilous state of the floundering station:

Born and raised in Hamilton, Lilley is actually a jack of all trades -- from bricklayer, painter, cook and waiter at a 24-hour diner, to actor, factory worker, Second Cup manager, gas station manager, and Greenpeace canvasser.

Worked in a restaurant, at a gas station...Your past may well be your future, Brian Lilley.

Why Sun Media Quit The Ontario Press Council

Some speculation from John Miller (several weeks old, but not reported elsewhere as far as I know):

Sun Media's stated reasons for pulling out are as misleading and full of holes as some of its breezy tabloid news stories. I'm told the breaking point came earlier this month when Sun executives showed up bristling with anger at a press council hearing into a complaint from the Canadian Labour Congress about this story written by Brian Lilley, its chief parliamentary correspondent.

Yup.  If its not Brian Lilley getting them  into Dutch, its Ezra.  And it its not Ezra its Krista Erickson. 

Actually, its pretty much all of them, but for Akin.

Fox News North DeadPool!

After Theo Caldwell, who's next out the door at Sun TV?

Glen McGregor says that Lilley (By-Line) and The Ez (The Source)  aren't doing bad,

...but if you look at the numbers, everyone else is pretty seriously on the bubble.  Canada Live is the bodacious but no-talent Ms. Erickson; the Daily Brief is Akin; Adler is Adler.  The 2nd set of figures are evening repeats.

My bet is Adler will be taking that big booming voice of his back to Mushaboo within three months.  Anyone wants to venture an alternative hypothesis in the comments, feel free.  The prize for guessing right--should we ever meet (which I doubt) and I have cash at the time (but who knows?)--will be an ice-cream cone of whatever flavour you choose.  But only one scoop, and no sparkles, because I am not made of money.

They Don't Understand The Consequences Of Their Intents: Tory MPP Randy Hillier Trashes Federal Internet Crime Bill

...at about the eight minute mark. 

A fabulously confused conversation.  Just afterwards Hillier agrees that Tim Hudak's proposed revamp of Ontario human rights legislation will make "truth a defense" when it comes to adjudicating potential hate speech.  And yet about three minutes previously he had noted, quite correctly, that that same legislation doesn't let the OHRC/OHRT adjudicate hate-speech in the first place. 

And they're calling it hard news.

Also, try to watch the whole clip from the beginning. The first four minutes are Brian Lilley babbling against a garish back-drop.  You can feel the sleep coming on.

Ezra Levant: King Of Tut Tut

And, of course, QMI's mighty chair-hunter, Brian Lilley, reports it. Pretty low, even for these two.

Move In Night At Fox News North

As the folks from SunTV move into their Ottawa facility, we can glean a few clues as to the nature of their operation from the pics posted by star reporter Brian Lilley of his own new digs (yeah, Lilley's the chair-gate guy):

1) They're not even giving their top gun a cubical. But on the bright side, he's getting the end work-station (WS#28). It's like having the end unit in a row-house: it's worth a little more because there's only people on one side. Hopefully, for Brian, the men's isn't just offstage right. And I'm all for reporters not getting too shirty about their personal space. This kind of arrangement prepares them for the McDonald's cash-out line that's in their future.

2) I'm not sure, but that monitor looks like an Acer to me. Not that I mind. I have an Acer. I bought it at Walmart, and I got a free bowl of soup out of the deal. The guy at the store said "It'll work great for three months, then cover your eyes whenever you try to boot up." Which I do, and so far everything is OK.

Remember, it took Fox News North months to get their other star, David Akin, a blackberry. And apparently he doesn't even rate an end-workstation.

PS. McClelland asks in the comments when FNN is due to go on the air. The date right now appears to be mid-March. Some dude on the BT forums said Ezra told him this, but I can't find the thread right now so you will have to trust me or go look yourself.

Lilley's On The Case

Brian Lilley, in his ongoing mission to smear the CBC on behalf of PKP (that's what Pierre Karl Peladeau's word-slaves call him behind his back), uncovers the fact that one of their executives ate lunch with a Liberal:

Sylvain Lafrance, the executive VP of CBC's French language services, treated Liberal Senator Francis Fox to a $119 lunch in October 2009 at Montreal's Restaurant Julien.

Details of what was consumed are not provided in the documents, but an online version of the restaurant's menu shows entrees normally cost less than $20, meaning the pair likely dined on more than just food.

Lilley doesn't speculate what this "more" might have been, but I have confirmed from the restaurant's website that they do not offer table-dances. Looking at the menu, however, I would guess that the two men split a bottle of Chablis.

Also, as anyone can see by looking at this shot of the restaurant interior--and I am frankly surprised Lilley missed it--the Restaurant Julie suffers from an extreme shortgage of chairs. Putting 2+2 together (and building on Lilley's seminal reporting in the CBC missing chair scandal), I am willing to bet that Fox and Lafrance showed up at Juliens, banged back a bottle of bubbly, were rebuffed in their demands for a table dance, and drunkenly attempted to auction off Peter Mansbridge's chair.

Good Lord! Release the hounds!

CBC DIDN'T Hold Ontario Liberal Party Fundraiser

But they mighta, and that's enough for crusading chair-hunter Brian Lilley--who has clearly been instructed by Pierre Peladeau tha he should dredge up any scandal re CBC no matter how trivial-- to fire up his word processor and start tapping away.

Wonder if Fox News North has assigned anyone to the "hassle David Suzuki" file yet?

Whoopsie! Incorrect title changed! Thanks Imp.

And Then They Called It News Again

OTTAWA - The mystery of Peter Mansbridge's chair has been solved.

Thank you, Brian Lilley. From all of us. For doing that newsgathering thing you do, the way that only you can do.

And They Called It News

OTTAWA - Questions about what ever happened to Peter Mansbridge's chair may never be answered.

Lilley's latest is up there with the T.O. Sun's front-page story from years ago about a suicidal raccoon. If the chair shows up dead in an alley-way, will they publish the gruesome crime scene pics?

Brian Lilley Admits He Was Had

A blow-by-blow in which Lilley outline's how he played softball with the government all last week and now feels personally fucked over. Ends with a transcript of the puff-ball he threw Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on Thursday, and the Minister's non-response. You can almost imagine Cannon thinking: "Thank you Mr. Lilley, you are a pleasure to work with."

An epic of self-abasement! Bravo Mr. Lilley!!

PS. I bet Norm Spector's feeling like a sap this morning!