Press council
issues ruling

THE B.C. Press Council has
upheld in part the complaint by
former political candidate Warren
Kinsella against the North Shore
News with regard to columns by
freelance columnist Doug Collins.

Mr. Kinsella, who ran in the June 1997
federal election as a Liberal party candidate
tor the riding of North Vancouver, Jlaimed
thar Mr. Collins had made as many as 20
errors of fact or conjecture elevated to fact
in several columns published in the News
between March and June 1997. He ako
charged that his attempts to obtain correc:
tions or apologies in the News had been
unsuccesstul.

In a 5-3 decision, the press council con-
cluded thar nvo of the 20 alleged factual errors lisced by the com-
plainant should be upheld. However, the dissenting minority of council
believed that the complaint should have been dismissed in its entirety as

r. Collins’ opinion columns constituted “fair comment” during a
heated election campaign.

The two aspects of the complainr upheld by council were:

@ that Mr. Collins mistakenly stated in his March 3 column that Mr.
Kinsella had “ranted” during a political meeting at the Centennial
Theatre in North Vancouver in October 1996, when in fact Mr. Kinsella
maintained that he had not ranted. This factual error, which was also
made by North Shore News columnist Trevor Laurens, was vohuntar-
ily corrected by Mr. Laurens when brought to his attention but never
by Mr. Collins; and

@ thar Mr. Collins, in his columns of March 3 and May 7, had wrong-
ly stated that three Manitoba men charged with “hate” crimes had been
“acquitted,” whereas Mr. Kinsella in his book Web of Hate (which Mr.
Collins criticized as “error-ridden™) said the charges had been “stayed.”
Council considered relevant court documents and determined that Mr.
Kinsella was correet: charges against the three men were stayed, not
acquitted, as a review of court records would have shown.

The consensus of the dissenting group was that most of the subject

WARREN Kinsella
objected to column
by Doug Collins.

matter of this complaint fell clearly into the category of an expression of

opinion; that which did not, consisted of inconsequential errors upon
which the main argument did nor depend.

Tr was the dissenting group's opinion that the emphasis placed upon
these errors was too great, in light of the fact thar most of the com-
plained-of work was found to be fair comment.

In short, the dissenting group found thar Mr. Collins offered aggres-
sive commentary during the clection campaign upon a person s
public office, as newspapers have been wont to do for d
group felt that censure was unwarranted, but the Majority of council did
not.

The council also found that the need for a formal hearing might have
been avoided had both parties been more accommodating to cach other
over the matter of publishing Mr. Kinsefla’s written response to Mr.
Collins’ critic

the fact that the News invited a written response trom
sted it on advice from legal counsel, and that
la then chose to tile a complaint with the press council instead

d article to the News.
ion council upholds its principle on dealing with
enjoy a hard-

of submitting a rev

Finally, in this de
complaints about opinion that newspapers and column
won right to exercise the widest possible latitude in expre opinions,
no matter how controversial or unpopular those opinions may be, but
thar they should also strive to avoid expressing comment and conjecture
as established fact.

Collins responds

THE cabal that hoped I would
“hang by my heels” as a result of
Warren Kinsella’s complaint to the
B.C. Press Council must be at its
wailing wall.

The North Shore News and [ won
hands down.

Kinsella’s lament concerned my coverage
of his “dirty tricks” election campaign, bur
he gor nowhere with it.

OF the 20 items he listed as being mis-
leading or wrong, the council threw: 18 into
the trash bucket, and the remaining two
were of no consequence

The council upheld the News* reftsal,
on legal advice, to publish the sulphurous
letter he wrote about MP Ted White and
myself following the debate on separatisn in
October, 1996, in the Centennial Theatre.

It did not fault me for my comments on the “dirty tricks” aspect Of
Kinsella’s campaign. And Kinsella’s request that the council have the
News and me apologiz ignored.

The council did uphold the complaint “in part.” But it was a
tiny part. | had incorrectly stated that three men tried on hate charges in
Winnipeg in 1992 had been acquitted, where Ua said the charues
had been stayed, Big deal. As U told the council, a stay or an acquittal i is
“a distinction without a difference. en then, three members of the
council agreed with m

Tr also said that I was

Doug Collins sees
press council deci-
sion as a “win.”

wrong to have stated thar Kinsella had

See R caddy pate 4

Itustration based on map by Wittenburg Publication

THREE possible high-speed commuter rail corridors connecting Vancouver to Squamish.

Andrew McCredie
Editor andrew@nsnews.com

THE theme of Vancouver’s
bid for the 2010 Winter
Olympics is Can You
Imagine 2010.

Can vou imagine the
Vancouver-Whistler Games with-
out a vastly-improved land link
between Vancouver and W

The vear 2010 may seem like a
millennium a
precious fittle time bearing in
mind the scope of
the engineering { Can You Imagine
and construction H 2 : O
job required to
bring the
Vancouver-

Squamish-

Whistler corridor inte 21st
Century shape. Tf vou think 144
months is a dong time, consider
the NDP government has spent
half that period, six vears, opping
around over the Dions Gate Bridge
upyrad ana stl ne decision.

In hight of Vancouver's bid for
the games -— offigally entered a
week ago today and led by the
indomitable Arthur iths of
West Vancouver ANsporhanion
will be the key issue.

“Certaindy it these guys fand
the bid, government is going to
have to de something about the
railway and the highway,” said
sportswriter Jim: Kearney. He has
covered seven Olympic Games for
Vancouver daily newspapers.
“Arthur and h

problem.”

experts must have some ideas on this
because they know this is going to be the biggest

Po ge

deemed a recreation area, incl

campground. The high- speed rz
Station in downtown Vancot cry

acai de

any, comra cr
the line make this route the least ¢

along the North ‘Vancouver wa

through the Indian Arm River Valley:to S
route that has long been looked fex-Squamish
connection, the major drawback is large z amounts wor snow in some of
the higher elevations. On the plus si Ss our/Deep
Cove area would be well served by such’a'line commuter rail would
offer quick and bridge-free; trav

a route would take pressure off the precipitous Howe ‘Sound ‘corridor.
The greatest benefit with this route, h tld be the spectacular

scenery along the mountain. valley way.
; ‘Andrew McCredie

the most. In anticipation of the 1972 Summer Games,
the German city built a state-of-the-art underground
rapid transit system. Likewise, anes high-speed train

OF the four summer and three winter Olympic

Games he attended, Kearney said Munich benefitted

See Rail page 12