Well, it’s been 10 days since the edstelmach.ca fiasco began last week and I’m still surprised that it’s still getting the media attention that it is. As I’m in and out of classes at the University of Alberta this week, I seem to be unintentionally playing a game of phone tag with one Mr. Ron Glen (who’s .ca domain name is apparently still available…).
It’s been a little quieter this week, which is good because I have now had a chance to catch up on the reading that I didn’t get done last week because of edstelmach.ca. I’m looking forward to things dying down a little so I can concentrate on my courses before the expected provincial election begins in February (two new interesting classes I’m taking include POLS 419: Politics of the Canadian Constitution and HIST 460: Water History: Local, National, and Continental).
Here is some of the media coverage from this week:
– Is Stelmach made of Velcro or Teflon? (Graham Thomson in the Edmonton Journal)
– Stelmach’s legal threats against blogger spawn backlash (Globe & Mail)
– Web-savviness not PC’s domain (The Gateway)
– Stelmach’s seeming lack of foresight unsettling (Letter to the Gateway)
– Will the real Ed please stand up (Calgary Sun)
– I was on CBC Radio’s Search Engine radio show which aired this morning.
And to echo the Edmonton Journal’s editorial “Tuppence for a smile,” I think some people might need to take a breather and lighten up a bit…
Appropriation of premier’s name for website an invasion of privacy
The Edmonton Journal
Tuesday, January 15, 2008Re: “Tuppence for a smile,” Editorial, Jan. 11.
The Journal calls the controversy over the website www.edstelmach.ca “a truly magnificent prank”? Horse manure.
How about invasion of privacy — with an ulterior motive? Cournoyer sets up the domain, worsens the problem by pointing it to an Internet article about former Social Credit leader Harry Strom name, and then suggests that Stelmach should have registered his name first.
Cournoyer did not outsmart anyone. His actions have done nothing to enhance the Liberal party of Wilfrid Laurier and Louis St. Laurent.
Stelmach carries the very responsible position of premier. I expect he does more work in a day than Cournoyer has done in the last year. Stelmach concentrates on important issues and already has addressed teachers’ pensions and royalties, among other issues.
I am an emeritus professor at the University of Alberta. My position has been debased by Cournoyer’s actions, as he is a U of A student.
There are some jobs to be done: Kevin Taft should throw him out of the Liberal party. The president of the U of A should take away his student registration. Who can teach him some manners?
D.J. Laurie Kennedy, Edmonton
