June 9 at the Chateau Laurier.
Topic: The Province We Are; The Province We Aspire To Be
Mel Gibson Update: The World the Old Man Lives In is about to get weirder than usual.
One of the sponsors of the Premier’s luncheon speech in Ottawa will be none other than Ogilvy Renault. Now for those who may have missed this little detail, OR is one of the law firms who’ve been helping the evil conspiracy – in this case fronted by AbitibiBowater – to thwart the aspirations of no less a personage than the Old Man Hisself.
Arguably, Ogilvy Renault is itself part of the gigantic, possibly global conspiracy centred in Quebec.
Now this should all make things very interesting if the Old Man’s speech includes his recently offered opinions about “Quebec lovers”.
Incidentally, Ottawa news media may get hand-out copies of the speech. But if they don’t, copies are available under the province’s Access to Information laws for a not so-nominal nominal fee.
According to a recent decision by the Premier’s Office, backed by the access commissioner, copies of speeches delivered publicly must be first read and redacted – you cannot make this stuff up - with all the applicable charges for editing and deleting sections from speeches which were delivered in public.
One recent requestor found himself on the receiving end of an initial estimate of $10,000 for copies of the Premier’s public speeches since 2003. Williams even bitched about the request during a scrum. And no, they aren’t available for free download from the government website.
Such is the World the Old Man Lives In.
-srbp-