The Black Rod   Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada   Thursday,
April 28, 2005  First Casualty of the Election  The election
hasn't been called yet, already it's claimed the first casualty.
It's been apparent for weeks now that there has been a deep
split at the Winnipeg Free Press between the editorial page and
the editors of the newspages. One has been railing against the
corruption exposed by the Gomery Inquiry and calling for an
immediate election; the other has been promoting the federal
Liberal party and local Liberal MP's at every turn.  Guess which
was which.  Call us precient or paranoid, but The Black Rod was
in the midst of writing about this scism at the very hour the
stretcher was called onto the battlefield.  Wednesday, the paper
made it clear it speaks with one voice, and that voice is not
the voice of ex-Publisher Murdoch Davis, who has been
unceremoniously shown the door. And with him, we expect, will go
all those calls for the resignation of Paul Martin and his
Liberals.  There can be many