By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 18, 2013
One Crazy Week of News
Several big headlines were emerged within the space of a few hours in Ontario last week:
OLG chairman Paul Godfrey was relieved of his duties after a call from Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne, who earlier in the week spoke about the need for change at the commission. This came after months of debate about the creation of a Toronto casino, with the city and province at odds over revenue sharing. The rest of the OLG board resigned en masse following Godfrey’s ouster. Godfrey is also the president and CEO of the Postmedia Network, which owns the National Post and Canada.com.
After months of scrutiny over his senate expenses and whether he truly lived in Prince Edward Island, Mike Duffy announced he was leaving the Tory caucus. The former broadcaster released a statement saying the controversy had “become a significant distraction” and that he looked forward to rejoining caucus once the matter had been resolved.The most recent episode in the expenses scandal involves the prime minister’s chief of staff; Nigel Wright wrote a personal cheque worth $90,000 to cover the senator’s repayment of improperly claimed housing expenses.
Gawker’s editor-in-chief John Cook described a video he had seen showing what appeared to be Rob Ford inhaling from a crack pipe. The cellphone footage was allegedly taken by a group of men who were shopping it around to different news outlets looking for a buyer. Gawker has previously reported on Ford and has a history of paying sources, but the “six-figure” sum proved more than the New York media company was willing to pay. After word got out that Gawker was working on this story, Cooke published his post.
Meanwhile in Hamilton, The Mayor, Bob Bratina, was enjoying a rare day without being embroiled in controversy. (Source: Canada.com)