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At a time when First Nations are being told that Canadian authorities can provide all the answers related to openness, transparency and accountability in government, a new investigative book detailing how Canadian authorities manage only to apply those principles when it's convenient has been released.
The Last Amigo arrived in bookstores in early April. It's a follow-up to the successful book On the Take, about corruption in the Mulroney era.
Reporters in Canada who know how hard it is to pursue a successful investigative story dealing with powerful, influential people are generally big fans of Stevie Cameron.
On the Take is seen as either one of the finest investigative works ever produced in this country or, if you believe the right wing, pro-Mulroney press, as a hoax perpetrated by a reporter with an axe to grind.
Cameron, currently a member of the Globe and Mail's investigative team and a contributing editor for Maclean's magazine, believes honest reporters know the former is true. But Cameron said many Canadians have been left with the impression it's the latter because of a skillful public relations campaign mounted to deflect attention from the allegations made in the book. The campaign, started by Luc Lavoie, a Mulroney ally, and aided by the former prime minister's friends working in high places in Canada's two national newspapers, has created a chill in Canada's media, especially after Mulroney sued the RCMP and settled out of court for millions, said Cameron.
"It wasn't just a very right wing, pro-Mulroney press. What was worse than that was, basically, journalists got afraid to talk about it. And Luc Lavoie conducted one of the most skillful spin campaigns I've ever seen. And he did it in five ways. He arranged a program that would attack the journalists-the lawsuit that (Mulroney supporter Karlheinz) Schreiber launched against the CBC. Attack me. They tried to discredit me. They tried to discredit the RCMP, especially (RCMP Staff Sgt. Fraser Fiegenwald, the Mountie who it was alleged libelled the former prime minister in a letter to Swiss authorities requesting information related to an investigation). They worked...