Breaking news - New Free Press drive-home radio show connected to Kick-FM director/ Harry Walsh passes away

The Winnipeg Free Press has just announced that their Hustler and Lawless sports radio show is changing time slots - to 4-6 PM, and changing stations - leaving CJOB to join CFRW.

Bob Cox is thrilled the FP will be a "full participant" allowing the FP to sell radio time as part of their ad packages.

Really.

So here we have the newspaper editor, Margo Goodhand, making an unfounded complaint about The Great Canadian Talk Show,

and

the general manager of CFRW, Chris Stevens, who sits on the "executive committee" of Kick-FM, deciding to cancel our show on 92.9 Kick-FM and then putting a Free Press call-in program in the time slot he threw us out of, on his own station.

Nonetheless, good luck to Hustler and Lawless, who were very good friends of TGCTS and our efforts to promote the Kerry Brown Memorial Wrestling event in 2009.

PS: CTV, parent company of CHUM, put out this press release: http://www.ctvmedia.ca/chum/releases/release.asp?id=13519&yyyy=2011

****************

Funeral Service for Harry Walsh
Sunday, February 27th 2011 12 noon
Congregation Etz Chayim / / B'nay Abraham Cemetery

RRC president Stephanie Forsyth forced to reply to Police Association complaint about Cathy Rushton's snide insinuation

On Friday November 5th, vice-president Cathy Rushton declared there were "aspects of censorship that are relevant" to justify Red River College hiding behind the Kick-FM "executive committee" to cancel The Great Canadian Talk Show. College officials had been directed by RRC president Stephanie Forysth to find a way to eliminate the show, after a false complaint was made to her by Winnipeg Free Press editor Margo Goodhand.

All weekend long, word of the decision spread throughout the city, despite Goodhand's request that her attack on Marty Gold be kept confidential.

A call from one of the key sponsors of TGCTS was placed to the station the following Monday morning, and station manager Rick Baverstock sent a heads-up email to Graham Thomson at 11.10 AM:

"I just got a call from the Winnipeg Police Association, who heard something about "Marty's possible termination" at City Hall this morning ... I asked Mike Sutherland (who called from the Police) to send me his concerns via email. As soon as I receive it, I'll forward it you."

Sutherland's email arrived within 15 minutes.

"I was recently advised today of the potential for the cancellation of the great Canadian talk show purportedly as a result of a complaint from a Free Press reporter.

I must advise that the Winnipeg Police Association is greatly concerned about the cancellation of the show for a number of reasons. It is the only radio show the association has provided long term sponsorship for in recent history and we do so for a variety of reasons."

The list included:

- "it highlights the communities concerns and inspires debate among the public and Red River students in regards to the whole spectrum of public safety in Winnipeg" ;

- access RRC students working with the show got to "the front line police perspective ... that otherwise may not exist";

- the consideration of mainstream and alternative media sources in TGCTS reporting ; and

- "to silence an important voice in the spectrum because they dared to be critical of the Free Press is in our view significantly alarming"

When Cathy Rushton got the email from Thomson and passed it upstairs to Forsyth, and the college lawyer who was drafting the termination notice, she did not comment on;

- how city hall and the police union had heard about the no-longer confidential link between the cancellation and the Free Press, blowing the cover-up story 3 hours before it had even been floated.

- the importance of TGCTS enabling student journalists to develop a positive relationship with the police.

- the platform the show provided for the community to discuss important policing and safety issues.

Instead, what Cathy Rushton commented on, was why the email protesting the cancellation had been sent at all.

And she was able to impugn the reputation of Kick-FM station manager Rick Baverstock and discredit Mike Sutherland and the entire Winnipeg Police Association, with a single speculative sentence:

"Another example of what appears to be Rick lobbying for support."



page 2


When a Freedom of Information filing uncovered Rushton's smear of the police union, Mike Sutherland emailed RRC President Stephanie Forsyth "to formally indicate our strong objection to a patently erroneous representation of our motivation".

From: Mike Sutherland
Sent: January-11-11 8:55 AM
To: sgforsyth@rrc.mb.ca
Cc: ' Rick@kick.fm '
Subject: Freedom of Information Disclosure & Concerns over WPA correspondence

Attachments: EMAIL RRC 1.pdf; EMAIL RRC 2.pdf

Dear Ms. Forsyth

I am corresponding with you in order to clarify and correct any misconceptions you may have about our concerns as expressed to kick fm station manager Mr. Rick Baverstock, in relation to the cancellation of the Great Canadian Talk Show, as well as to formally indicate our strong objection to a patently erroneous representation of our motivation in that regard.

I have recently been provided a number of emails as a result of a freedom of information request, some of which reference me and my organization specifically. The particular email, to which I refer (and has been attached), appears to have been authored by Cathy Rushton, the Vice President of RRCC, and although some ambiguity may now exist, also a current or former member of the Cre Comm radio board.

By way of background I can advise that the Winnipeg Police Association supported TGCTS. Upon learning of the show’s impending cancellation, which I can unequivocally assure you was not from Mr. Baverstock, I telephoned him as the station manager, presumably as he would have had a significant role in that decision.

I then expressed my concerns and further followed up with a detailed email dated November 8^th 2010. Let me absolutely clear, the expression of that concern was in absolutely no way recruited by or initiated by Mr. Baverstock in any fashion whatsoever.

In fact an email sent at 11:10 am on November 8^th from Mr. Baverstock to Mr. Graham Thomson, illustrates the nature of how our concerns came to be expressed. Mr. Baverstock requested the email from me at the conclusion of our phone conversation, which was initiated by me, simply to ensure the exact and detailed nature of my concerns during that discussion would be accurately and completely outlined.

The strong objection we now have centers around the following comment, which refers to us, in an email at 12:23 pm on November 8^th sent by Ms. Rushton, and apparently authored by her, to you RRCC president Ms. Stephanie Forsyth;

“Another example of what appears to be Rick lobbying for support.”

In our view, not only is this a clearly inaccurate representation of our motivation behind the expression of our concern, but it is quite conceivable that our real and significant issues, could be easily trivialized and therefore dismissed as manufactured, by those with the jurisdiction to consider the show’s future.

I don’t recall ever having met Mr. Baverstock, and I can assure we have never participated in any alleged “lobby” purported to him. In terms of the categorization as arguably being recruited as pawns in this “lobbying” effort, nothing could be further from the truth.

Furthermore one might hope that either Ms. Rushton who made the assumption, or you who received it, might have instead done us the courtesy of a quick inquiry, to determine if in fact the assumed premise was correct.

You must appreciate that the receipt of the information regarding these communications is disturbing to us.

We would have hoped to have at least to been contacted to seek clarification before dismissing or minimizing our concerns, the concerns of an organization that represents roughly 1750 men and women who risk their safety on virtually a daily basis to protect Winnipeg's citizens.

We hope that this dismissive categorization was not the impression left with those considering the fate of TGCTS. I cannot emphasize enough that my communication was a sincere expression of our concern. It is disappointing to learn that it was portrayed otherwise.

Regards

Mike Sutherland

President

Winnipeg Police Association

In response, Forsyth did ... nothing. So after 15 days, Sutherland sent her a reminder:

From: Mike Sutherland
Sent: January-26-11 4:54 PM
To: 'sgforsyth@rrc.mb.ca'
Cc: 'Rick@kick.fm'
Subject: Previous email

Dear Ms. Forsyth, I sent an email to you back on January 11^th 2010. Although it did not invite a response I just wanted to ensure that you received it. I have included the original copy of the email below. I have as well attached the two emails that came to my attention as a result of a freedom of information request that I refer to in my discussions in that original email.

If I could impose upon you to do me the courtesy of letting me know that you did receive this email, the previous email, or both, I would certainly appreciate it.

Regards,

Mike Sutherland

Finally, in the only known response to any supporter of TGCTS that has contacted her about the cancellation, Stephanie Forsyth was forced to say ... something, while trying to say nothing.

From: Stephanie G Forsyth [mailto: sgforsyth@rrc.mb.ca ]
Sent: January-28-11 12:17 PM
To: Mike Sutherland
Cc: Stephanie G Forsyth
Subject: Reply

Dear Mr. Sutherland;

I am in receipt of your email of January 11, 2011. Thank you for taking the time to clarify and correct any misconceptions I may have had about the Police Association’s concerns regarding the cancellation of the Great Canadian Talk Show. We appreciate your efforts to keep misunderstandings on this subject to a minimum.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Forsyth

President & CEO
Red River College of Applied Arts, Science and Technology

(204) 632-2360

sgforsyth@rrc.mb.ca

Sutherland still wanted to make sure that Cathy Rushton or any other College official was never again left unchecked if, in the future, they decided to talk smack about the Police Association.

From: Mike Sutherland
Sent: January-28-11 4:00 PM
To: 'Stephanie G Forsyth'
Subject: RE: Reply

Thank you for the reply and reassuring me that you have received my email outlining our overall concerns. Although cancellation of the TGCTS seems to be essentially a “fait accompli” I trust that any others with jurisdiction over that decision also had any misconceptions about our position similarly clarified.

Although to some it may seem inconsequential in light of the result, the implication that we were “recruited” for a “lobbying” effort is troubling to us, not only as it is completely inaccurate, but suggests that the Association’s concerns as expressed were perhaps not sincerely held, but simply manufactured.

As you can appreciate this view potentially undermines our reputation as sincere advocates for public safety and public safety education in the community, and therefore mandated we address it expeditiously.

Should there be any instances in future where the position of the Winnipeg Police Association, as it may be associated to some activity or issue related to RRCC, is portrayed or categorized by someone other than those properly designated to indicate it, we ask that you, or the appropriate party from your executive, please not hesitate to contact me directly for clarification. This should alleviate any such problems in future, as we would be pleased to address any inaccuracies that may have developed.

It is unfortunate that we were not provided a more timely opportunity to do so in this instance, but we were unaware of the categorization until we received the related materials.

I thank you again for the courtesy of your reply and confirmation of receipt our concerns.

Sincerely,

Mike Sutherland

*******************
The Winnipeg Police Association email marks the third known incident in just the last half of 2010 alone, where supporters of The Great Canadian Talk Show were misrepresented in comments attributed to RRC vice-president Cathy Rushton that were circulated to other College officials.

Rushton made a point last summer of mentioning "people whose opinions we care about".

Supporters of The Great Canadian Talk Show and of freedom of speech are evidently not included in that group.

We have received no indication Cathy Rushton has ever apologized to the WPA,
to Mayor Sam Katz (who called her repeated claims he had complained about the show to the College "patently false"), or to Provencher MP Vic Toews (who denied he had ever complained about the show).

Her boss, RRC President Stephanie Forsyth has, to our knowledge, not apologized to any of them either.

Winnipeg Free Press opposes censorship - - except by Red River College officials who oppose censorship

Last Monday, the Winnipeg Free Press published a little - noticed editorial. After a week it had yet to be Tweeted or shared via Facebook. It will now be a less well-kept secret.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/single-standard-115465009.html

It may be what the Free Press says for public consumption, but it's a matter of 'do as I say, not as I do.'

In private, they embrace the very attack on free speech that they claimed in their editorial of February 7th to abhor.

Here's what the FP editor did, when The Great Canadian Talk Show on 92.9 Kick-FM threatened the election chances of their preferred, NDP-backed candidate for mayor by exposing a scandal involving illegal NDP financing of Mynarski candidate Ross Eadie in the October election.

Margo Goodhand phoned the new President of Red River College, Stephanie Forsyth to silence the show.

And she wanted her call kept secret.
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/01/red-river-college-emails-prove-fp.html

Stephanie Forsyth immediately picked up the torch and the pitchfork and gave orders to kill the show.

Her hatchetman -- RRC vice-president Cathy Rushton, who represented the "President's Council" on the Board of Directors of the radio station.

http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/01/emails-prove-red-river-college.html

Rushton had already taken one run at TGCTS prior to this. Another special interest group, the bike lobby, had tried to silence the show in August. Rushton went so far as to claim a nonexistent complaint from Mayor Sam Katz to garner support to have the show cancelled. But she failed.

Oh, and she made sure to say she was "against censorship."

" I'm not big on censorship at all but I think the CKIC Board needs to talk about our relationship with him. I'm not sure why we allow him to use the station as his soap box ."
http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/01/tgcts-cancelation-set-up-by-false.html

Note how the people most active in censoring free speech always want to make it clear they're against censorship.

Well, this time she had her orders from her new boss. The only problem, was how to explain why the show was being cancelled, without admitting it was censorship to mollify the Free Press.

Red River College officials tried one excuse (students need the airtime), then amended that to "students and grads only" as a loophole to allow the Free Press show on Kick-Fm to continue. But they refused to say the obvious.

Station manager Rick Baverstock suggested they just admit it:

"I think it would be best to tell the truth and say he's offended partners of the College"

When she found out on November 5th, Rushton said:

" Rick's recommendation of how to talk to Marty does not work for me at all. I do not want to create the impression that this is about censorship of negative opinion about us or our partners".

So Red River College officials kept lying, with Forsyth's approval.

They lied to the National Post.

"(Graham Thomson) said the cancellation was part of a far-reaching “reorganization” aimed at ensuring students get air-time, and said the decision “was not about censorship.”
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Controversial+conservative+Winnipeg+radio+host+silenced/3838992/story.html

They lied to callers.
http://johndobbin.blogspot.com/2010/11/latest-on-great-canadian-talk-show.html

They lied to the student body and station volunteers.
http://canadianauxiliary.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/my-take-on-the-marty-gold-cancellation/

They want you to know they were against censorship before they were for it.

Just like the Winnipeg Free Press.

And what did that Free Press editorial say ?

"Freedom of speech is hardly worth defending if it means only standing up for what we agree with."

Next: When a sponsor of the show found out what Cathy Rushton said about them speaking out against the cancellation, it forced Stephanie Forsyth out of her bunker.

Red River College Vice-President Cathy Rushton invented complaint from Vic Toews to kaibosh TGCTS appeal to return to KICK-FM

(2 related posts added at bottom of story)

Last year, Red River College vice-president Cathy Rushton spread false allegations that Mayor Sam Katz had complained to former president Jeff Zabudsky about Marty Gold.

"I know Sam Katz called Jeff a couple of years ago about attacks" on The Great Canadian Talk Show, she wrote on August 12th to two officials who served with her on the Board of Kick-FM.

On September 30th, two fellow vice-presidents of RRC also read how the College had "received complaints from Sam about him in the past" in an email sent by Rushton.

The only problem was, it was not true.

But a negative attitude of RRC officials towards The Great Canadian Talk Show was what resulted.

Weeks later another "complaint" to the College, this time from Free Press editor Margo Goodhand, was never forwarded to station manager Rick Baverstock for verification and investigation. Instead, with the "suggestion" of her new boss Stefanie Forsyth backing her, listeners of campus radio found out how big Cathy Rushton really was on censorship. After the show was canceled, she intended to keep it that way.

As it turns out, Sam Katz was not the only high-profile politician Cathy Rushton talked about about in relation to TGCTS.

And this time, it was to more than just 2 fellow Kick-FM Board members and 2 fellow Red River College administrators.

At the Annual General Meeting on December 9th, Marty Gold and his producer appealed the action of the "Executive Committee" in canceling the show to the full Board and stated their case. Afterwards, the Kick-FM Board, with 3 new members able to vote for the first time, held their regular Board meeting over lunch.

Rushton, legally prohibited from continuing on the Board after that day, was faced with the possibility that the student reps and other board members might actually consider

- the pleas of community members who had taken time to appear on 3 days notice and voice their support for re-instatement;
- the possibility the show's growing ad base could continue to help cut the station's $140,000 debt to RRC; and
- the evidence of a valid contract contained in emails from Rick Baverstock to Marty Gold in 2006.

With only 3 members of the Executive Committee present, the rest of the Directors of Cre Comm Inc. could have reversed their undocumented decision to cancel TGCTS, and by a majority vote put The Great Canadian Talk Show back on the 92.9Kick-FM airwaves.

Midway in the discussion about the presentations and the appeal for re-instatement, Rushton once again pulled the politician card out to to play against Marty Gold.

According to the minutes of the meeting:

Cathy Rushton had a complaint registered in the summer about Marty from Vic Toews’ office, and she would like to have a discussion with the Board about it.

But now, for the second time in a week, Cathy Rushton is faced with an embarassing problem.

There are no records in the files of the College secretary, of President Forsyth, or or of vice-president Rushton containing this alleged complaint, and according to the federal Treasury Board president himself, there was never any complaint made whatsoever.

"Complaint
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:11 AM
Hello Marty,

(Senior official) has advised me that he is unaware of any complaint coming from any of my offices regarding your conduct.
I certainly made no complaint personally.
I appreciate your efforts to get to the bottom of this issue.

Vic Toews"

When challenged last week, Rushton certainly scrambled to explain away the false claims she made about Sam Katz.

On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 2:47 PM, Cathy Rushton
Thank you for your email of January 31, 2011. I appreciate this opportunity to set the record straight about the matter of the alleged complaints from Mayor Katz.

In mid-January, when I returned from vacation, I became aware that I might have been confused about the alleged complaints from the Mayor. I contacted Jeff Zabudsky who reminded me that I was likely thinking about a phone call from the Mayor about a different (but somewhat similar) matter. When I realized my error, I wrote the chair of the KICK-FM board David Wiebe to correct my mistake and asked him to set the record straight at their next meeting. I have also spoken to my internal colleagues who received the original emails to correct my error. Other than the KICK-FM Board members, no one else external was party to my incorrect assertion.

This was an honest mistake and was not intended to harm you or anyone else in any way. I apologize for my error.

I would appreciate it if you could include this email in a future TGCTS blog so I can set the record straight publicly.

Catherine Rushton MBA FCA
VP Finance & Administration
Red River College

Before any email from Cathy Rushton was going to be published, there was the formality of reminding her to set the record straight the proper way.

Ms Rushton;

Your excuse is not believable and your attempt at mitigation is grossly insufficient.

The toxic, prejudicial and defamatory statements you made did not come from a silly freshman. You were the acting president and CEO of Red River College when you made them, and thereby in a position of influence and authority, which you used to damage my reputation and to poison the College against me in your effort to get me fired.

That is the context of your false claim that the Mayor himself complained about me.

The process to correct the erroneous record you created is clearly laid out.

I expect you to track down every copy, electronic and otherwise, of the email you sent and to attach to each and every one 1) this email, 2) the mayor's letter and 3) your apology. You will notify me when this is done and I will have the Ombudsman verify the proper attachments have been made.

I also want a list with the names of everyone you ever repeated this false claim to, verbally or otherwise, internal to Red River College or external.

Did you think I would be satisfied with your word that you phoned the people on your email list and told them " Remember what I said about the Mayor and Marty Gold, well, forget it "? I've learned not to trust a syllable from anyone connected with Red River College regarding The Great Canadian Talk Show.

With that in mind I would like to see what your wrote to David Wiebe regarding this matter so please forward it to me.

Yet Rushton continued to refuse to correct the record; a strange response indeed considering she is the Chief Privacy Officer for Red River College, and it is her duty to enforce the Act which requires her to correct a false record so when asked...

I am sorry that you don't believe me but I assure you that I am telling the truth. I made a mistake in two internal emails and I regret that. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. The incorrect information was not widely circulated until you published it on your blog yesterday.

Publishing my email from yesterday on your blog would publicly disclose my error and apology and set the record straight.

I will forward my email to David Wiebe to you under separate cover.
Cathy Rushton

It took two weeks after discovering this "mistake" for Rushton to contact Marty Gold, and only after the false allegation of complaints from the highest level at City Hall was exposed on the TGCTS blog.

According to Mayor Sam Katz on Friday Feb. 4th, Rushton had not yet contacted him to apologize.

Vic Toews better get in line.

Still to come, as promised last week: Cathy Rushton was a lot bigger on censorship than she first let on.

RELATED post from Graham Hnatiuk, and a reader response to him:
" Last week following my blog post, Cathy Rushton had emailed me about this "mistake" and begged me, a blogger, to "correct the record." Since obviously the blogosphere is an official place to make such corrections.

Rushton won't actually correct the record with the College. No no, she's more concerned about what I, Progressive Winnipeg, write about her instead. And for a moment I was willing to at least consider her "mistake" as true, but TWO different politicians? This, a mistake is not."

http://progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com/2011/02/cathy-rushton-rrc-one-ups-her-own-katz.html

"at Red River College, it is not about contributing to society by holding government to account in the interest of fair government, it is about what you can get out of them to pay your mortgage in River Heights."

http://progressivewinnipeg.blogspot.com/2011/02/correspondence-progwinnipeg-op-ed-on.html