But all the muck stirring has kicked up a few interesting items. For example, the government's conduit for the smear job was, no surprise, The Sun News Network. That fact inspired Paul McLeod, Ottawa Bureau Chief for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, to draw a few connections between the network and the gov. that even I wasn't aware of:
The Sun brain trust is apparently made up by three key people. They are:
Kory Teneycke - This is the name everyone knows. Teneycke is a former director of communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Sun TV is said to be his brainchild. He’s the big boss there.
Matt Wolf - Sun’s executive producer of primetime programming. From 2008 to 2010 he served as issues advisor in the office of… Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Dennis Matthews - The director of marketing and brand development at Sun. From 2006 to 2010 he served as manager of advertising and staff director for, you guessed it, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Before that he worked for Conservative MP Rona Ambrose and Harper again during his opposition days.
Now, when the smear first emerged folks were quick to recall Jason Kenney's visit to Jaffari Centre in 2013. But if we are looking for cheap-shots, we could also mention the CPC's dalliance with the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement), a Pakistani political organization with a "reputation for violence, extortion and other criminal acts such as murder." What's interesting is that Harper continued to court MQM-Canada until at least 2012. He even addressed a delegation from the group back in 2011.
