Out East

I was in transit for most of the day, briefly stopping in Ottawa, arriving in St. John's, Newfoundland a few hours ago.

It has been far too long since I was here last -- the moment you start talking to people you realize why Newfoundlanders love their province so much, and those who leave hate to do so. If I hadn't been born in Alberta, I'd want to be a Newfoundlander. As my friends will testify, I have tried to import Newfoundland phrases to Alberta, my favourite, of course, being "Lord t'underin'", which I use several times a day, but never on the Sabbath. (While I'm here I'll have to pick up a copy of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English, with a foreword by Rex Murphy.)

When I wasn't airborne today, I did have a chance to read some of the many e-mails I received in response to my blog entry about Warren Kinsella's threat to sue me. I appreciate those, and I'm grateful for both the financial and moral support.

There were many people who had already contributed to my legal fights, some for the fourth or fifth time -- thank you again for that.

What was striking to me, however, was how many new people wrote to me -- people who aren't usually on my side of a debate.

I received e-mails from two separate machers at the Canadian Jewish Congress in Toronto. I didn't know either of them well, and hadn't spoken to one of them in years. It was startling to hear their support for me, given that Kinsella is a CJC committee member (and that I frequently lambaste the CJC on this blog). One of the machers even made a PayPal contribution, too. I called him back, and he lamented the CJC's overly-amorous dalliance with radical Muslim groups in Canada. It seems that there is a disconnect between some of the CJC's supporters and directors, and the direction of Bernie "Burny" Farber. I told my newfound supporter that Kinsella's lawsuit against me was a symptom of the problem -- the problem itself was the CJC's affection for censorship, and its kid glove treatment of radical groups like the Canadian Islamic Congress. He didn't disagree.

But if you think getting a donation for my legal defence fund from the CJC is weird, how about this: I received a letter of support from someone who works at Daisy Consulting Group -- Kinsella's own lobby firm! It was a brief note, but it was a note of support, sent from the company e-mail, with the corporate signature block on it.

I couldn't believe it. My first reaction was that it might be some sort of trick, but that was just me thinking like, well, Kinsella. It was sincere -- and I appreciated it.

I won't catalogue everyone who wrote to me today. Suffice it to say that, from the Liberal Party of Canada, to McMillan Binch, to the Canadian Jewish Congress to Kinsella's own staff, I have a lot of suprising new allies now that Kinsella is threatening me.