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Hezbollah, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Terrorists, Polls

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation trolling or polling for removing Hezbollah from terrorist list?

By Judi McLeod

Saturday, August 26, 2006

It seems that the last chapter has yet to be written on Liberal deputy foreign affairs critic Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who resigned last week in the public heat over his controversial statement on Hezbollah. Wrzesnewskyj said that Canada should negotiate directly with Lebanon's Hezbollah, which is on Canada's list of terrorist organizations.

Condemnation for Wrzenewskyj, who made the statement during a self-styled visit by opposition MPs to Lebanon last week, included his own party. Indeed, all 10 Liberal leadership candidates condemned the remarks, including Wrzesnewskyj's preferred candidate Gerard Kennedy.

Wrzesnewskyj, himself the pit of election campaign anti-Semitism when his election signs were defaced by Swastikas, devil's horns and a Hitler moustache, seems to have learned very little about what he then described as the"ugly side to politics".

His siding with Hezbollah seems all that more striking given his public admission that brown shirts had terrorized his family during World War II.

Last week, Wrzenewskyj was called onto the carpet by boss man Interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham, who had asked him to meet with him to explain his controversial comments.

"He did that and in the course of doing that, he tendered his resignation as associate critic (of foreign affairs), which I accepted in the circumstances‚" Graham told reporters. "Therefore, I consider that matter closed.‚"

But the taxpayer funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) through its partner CTV.ca, does not seem to view the Wrzenewskyj matter as closed. In its section Your Opinion, described as "(news.sympatico.msn.ca/World/#PS) Click here to complete more polls & win fast cash", people are being asked:"Do you think Hezbollah should be removed from Canada's terrorist list?‚"

An Internet message from Judith Binder states: "We urgently need you to vote in a CBC poll that asks whether Hezbollah should be removed from the terrorist list. To vote click on the link below" the poll is on the right side of the page. Naturally, we ask that you vote "No".

"On completion, please pass this on as quickly as possible and to as many people as possible."

And CBC, through its partner CTV.ca is not the only entity pushing the envelope on the Borys Wrzesnewskyj affair.

The Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC) does not see the Wrzenewskyj resignation as the closing chapter.

"The LCCC does not actually consider that this very sensitive case, which has created a great deal of public uproar, should simply end with Mr. Wrzesnewskyj's resignation. In this context, we call on the Liberal Party leadership to seriously consider applying the same problem solving process that was executed with ex-MP Carolyn Parrish.

(Former Mississauga MP Carolyn Parrish was booted out of the Liberal Party for among other things having stomped on a President George W. Bush doll on national television.)

"The LCCC reiterates its denunciation of Mr. Wrzesnewskyj's outrageous comments and affirms its strong belief that Hezbollah and all other organizations and groups that are on the Canadian terror list should not be negotiated with unless they completely fulfill all the legal provisions stipulated in the Terrorist Act and prove with no shred of doubt that they have given up and practically abandoned all the tactics conduct, ideology, attitudes and behaviour that initially were behind their classification as terror groups," said LCCC chairman Elias Bejjani and political adviser Charbel Barakat in a media communiqué.

Perhaps LCCC should take up it up with the envelope pushing CBC.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com