Chuck Cadman Affair: Key part of tape not altered, may call into question PM Stephen Harper's testimony; CanWest newspapers fail to print story

The court-ordered analysis of a tape recording by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s own audio expert has found that it was not altered, the Toronto Star has reported. The majority of CanWest newspapers, however, are not printing the story.

The key portion of the recorded interview of Harper by B.C. journalist Tom Zytaruk contains no splices, edits or alterations, says U.S. forensic audio expert and former FBI agent Bruce Koenig.

Koenig is the sound expert Harper hired to prove his allegations that the tape was doctored. Koenig’s report was submitted in a report dated Oct. 10, 2008, to Harper’s lawyer, which also had to be sent to the Liberal lawyer Chris Paliare.

The analysis was filed in Ontario Superior Court on Oct. 10, 2008, by lawyers for the Liberal party, despite attempts by Harper’s lawyer to keep the opinion out of the court file until at least next week.

The findings may call into question Harper’s testimony about the interview during a sworn cross-examination conducted by a Liberal party lawyer in August.

When Liberal lawyer Paliare questioned Harper during cross-examination in August, Harper said of Zytaruk’s question about the insurance policy: “That is not the question as he put it. He has done some editing there.

“What I do know is that this answer is not the answer to this question, I think there’s been some editing in this question, so I don’t think it goes from this question to this answer.”

Harper insisted in his testimony that at that point in the interview he told Zytaruk he did not know about the offer of an insurance policy. He claimed Zytaruk edited that response out of the recording. [Tape not altered as Harper claimed, expert finds (Toronto Star, October 10, 2008)]

The Toronto Star posted the story on its website on Oct 10, 2008 at 8:41 PM well before the deadline for other newspapers across Canada to pick-up on it.

The Globe and Mail and CBC News carried the story.

A scan of CanWest Global major dailies, however, show that the story was completely ignored in the Oct. 11, 2008, print edition for many of its newspapers. These include: The Gazette (Montreal), Ottawa Citizen, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal and Victoria Times Colonist.

For the people living in these communities that rely solely on the print media for their news, and are following the Cadman story, they’re out of luck on this latest development and that seems to suit CanWest just fine.

Only the National Post, Vancouver Sun and Windsor Star printed the story, and even then there is no mention of Prime Minister Harper’s testimony in August that the tape was doctored.

It should be noted that several CanWest newspapers have come out and publicly endorsed Stephen Harper for prime minister. These include: National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, The Gazette (Montreal) and the Ottawa Citizen.

Anyone requiring further evidence that CanWest and its chain of newspapers are biased in favour of the Conservatives can find it in these editorials. Stephen Harper owes Canadians answers.