According to CTV NewsNet, Judge St. Eve has ruled that Conrad Black cannot go back to Canada. The original conditions imposed upon him in the first custody hearing stand, as well as the freedoms he had gotten. She did stipulate that she may change her mind if Conrad can scrape up more money for bail - in fact, the reason why she let her earlier decision stand was Conrad's refusal, or inability, to put up more bail money.
The Toronto Star has webbed a brief written report on the decision that also includes the name of Conrad Black's lead appeal lawyer. A more detailed one, by Theresa Tedesco, has been webbed by the National Post. It quotes Judge St. Eve as saying in her decision: "'With no additional assets and the uncertainty of the extradition process, I am not convinced that you have met your burden.'"
Some details on the arguments used by each side are in this Bloomberg report, written by Andrew Harris, as there are in this detailed Reuters report by Andrew Stern.
Also, Susan Berger has a report on the second hearing that's been webbed by CBC News.
More news reports can be found through Google News.
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5 comments:
I am intrigued by Larry Derfner's Jerusalem Post comments on Black's tenure there. It will curl your hair:
"FOR ANYONE interested, I invite you to ask any journalist who worked at the Post between 1990 and 2004 to give their opinion of Conrad Black as a newspaperman. I can guarantee what the spirit of the answer will be: As a newspaperman, he was a butcher. A bloodsucker. A destroyer. He wasn't a newspaperman, he was an anti-newspaperman. ..."
The full article is linked here:
http://www.malaspina.org/znews.htm
First of all, thanks for posting that article.
Secondly, the theme in it may prove to have legs if it gets noticed in North America. MSM journalists certainly have an interest in linking anti-MSM bias to "excessive" cost-cutting.
Thirdly, it suggests that any CEO who undertakes deep cost-cutting "for the shareholders" is going to have (to use an appropriate Britishism) their head in the block thanks to the current corporate-governance trend. Anyone running an "ethical vulture fund," who doesn't mind being a bit of a buccaneer at it, might find an easy buck in stirring up a shareholder revolt against a cost-cutting CEO who crossed the self-reward line in one way or another. Having some of the shareholders turn on a CEO who's been supposedly acting roughly for their benefit would unleash a feeding frenzy.
Wouldn't it be extremely difficult for Black to regain his Canadian citizenship after a conviction? Usually convicted felons are not admitted into the country -- at least in the US. I would think it would be the same in Canada. Also, I would think it would be extremely difficult to renew a temporary visa as Black has to do in Canada when his current one expires. I don't think any special favors would come his way. He'd have to stand in line with everyone else unless Barbara Amiel has Canadian citizenship. She's British I believe.
From what I remember, you're right, except for the possibility of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration acting on his behalf. I don't know if the Prime Minister specifically has the power to secure an exemption for him, but the PM is the Minister's boss.
These are the only two practicable avenues that I know of. I suppose HM Queen Elizabeth II could issue a formal request to bestow Canadian citizenship on Conrad through the Governor-General of Canada, but it wouldn't count as a formal order - meaning, it could be ignored by the Government of Canada without formal repercussions kicking in. I'm only speculating about this option, because Lord Black even making such a request to the Queen would be highly irregular. He might have to do so, if he does so at all, through a Viscount.
It's also possible for an Act of Parliament, which would restore Conrad's Canadian citizenship to him, to be passed; the Canadian Parliament does have the power to do so. Doing so, though, would be quite contrary to current custom, even if such ad hoc measures were not uncommon in the distant past in a Parliamentary system.
I advocated that Conrad be given Canadian citizenship largely because it would send a message that Canada takes care of its own, however estranged. It looks like that proposal is a no-go. To be honest, from the standpoint of the entire Commonwealth (all the countries that have Elizabeth II as Head of State, if only titularly so) it would be better for Conrad to do his time, if his appeal options run out, in Brixton prison in the U.K. The U.K. government has already offered to take him in to serve in a U.K. prison.
If I may make a comment to Russell McNeil....What I have found of interest is that the employees who have been the most critical of Conrad Black are the ones who have worked for the Jerusalem Post and The Chicago Sun Times. Both of these papers were the "babies" (so to speak) of David Radler, the man who appears to have sucked the blood of Conrad Black, butchered him and left him all but destroyed. If I am not mistaken Conrad Black visited Isreal (the Jerusalem Post) once, possibly twice, in the time frame you refer to. David Radler was much more hands on...to the point of making sure that when all other costs were cut, there was a still a job for his daughter, Melissa.
(P.S. I did not read the full article you linked, as I found the excerpt hair curling enough...)
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