Canada Free Press owes its colleagues at the Western Standard an apology over a statement made in Judi McLeod's July 5, 2005 column, Killing Off Rachel.

In that column, McLeod wrote that Western Standard writer, Kevin Steel had written "word for word" a line from Toronto Star media critic Antonia Zerbisias' June 5 Uppity Date tagline in her June 5 column, Ding! Ding! Ding! Recess is Over..."Post staffers are circulating an email loaded with almost-porn" (emphasis ours) pictures of Marsden."

McLeod wrote in her column that Antonia Zerbisias wrote: ..."near-pornographic images of the columnist in skimpy lingerie" when in fact it was Steel who wrote those words.

There was no intent by CFP to portray Kevin Steel as having plagiarized Zerbisias, as Western Standard editor Kevin Libin accused us. Indeed, McLeod was attempting sarcasm, believing that the pictures in question were not pornographic or even "near pornographic", and having noted that Steele did not write about the Post staff having allegedly circulated pictures of their then fellow employee, Rachel Marsden.

Although Zerbisias' actual quote: "almost-porn pictures" and Steel's actual quote: "near-pornographic images" are similar, they are not word-for-word, and thus the CFP apology as "requested" and "expected" by Western Standard editor Kevin Libin.

Although there was no intent by CFP to cast aspersions on the integrity or the writing style of Kevin Steel, CFP remains steadfast in its belief that the Western Standard column on Rachel Marsden was extraordinarily demeaning and cruel in its portrayal of conservative columnist Rachel Marsden, and that demeaning a fellow conservative is a waste of time given the ongoing conduct of the scandal-plagued "Libranos".