Gerald Chipeur

When people in politics lie about sex, well, that seems fairly normal. But about Canada? (If you aren't so into reading about Canada...stop reading now.)

And yet the American conservative activist Paul Weyrich seems to misled the Canadian press about an incident The Politicker got rolling with the publication of a leaked email from him, in which -- at the urging of a Canadian conservative -- he asked American conservatives not to talk to the Canadian press about that country's election, for fear of scaring the Canadians.

The story got big play in Canada, and a reporter from the Canadian Press (a wire service) called Weyrich:

Weyrich said the e-mail was the product of an overzealous staffer who works for him.... It was apparently widely distributed, he said, adding that he never actually spoke to Chipeur [the Canadian conservative].... "I don't know him, but he has been in touch with Free Congress [Weyrich's group]. He may have called the office and expressed some concern." ....He discussed his views with a staff member in an off-hand way, he said, and didn't expect an e-mail to go out.

Weyrich's version, however, changed pretty substantially in a celebratory article he posted to his Web site:

It has been rather exciting to watch the Canadian Elections. I had the benefit of discussing the projections with one Gerald Chipeur, an Alberta attorney who is involved with Conservatives in Canada.... In fact, Chipeur and I inadvertently were involved in the Elections a few days before Election Day. Chipeur had contacted Free Congress out of concern for what the leftwing Canadian media could do to obtain from some unsuspecting United States conservative an off-the-charts quote which could be hung around Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper's neck. I asked my associate Bob Thompson, who runs our Coalition meetings, to tell American conservatives what the media up north intended to do and request that folks not conduct interviews until after the Canadian Elections. Of course, in this city of leaks, our e-mail had been released only a few hours before I received a call from the Canadian News Service. Our e-mail message mentioning Chipeur was read back to me.

It was, Weyrich declares with some relief, a "small victory":  read more »

"In the end, there just wasn't enough there to make a fuss, although there was potential to blow this sky high. Conservatives did not conduct interviews."

Whew!

A Politicker reader forwards an amazing email from conservative organizer Paul Weyrich:

From: Paul Weyrich Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 9:38 AM To: Bob Thompson [a staffer at Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation] Subject: message from Canada Importance: High

Please get this message to the Stanton, Family Forum and Wednesday lunch groups:

I received a call last night from Gerald Chipeur, an important figure in Canada's Conservative Party. He told me that Conservatives are with-in striking distance of electing an outright majority in Parliamentary elections Monday.

He said the Canadian media, which is trying to save the current Liberal government, has a strategy of calling conservatives in the USA in the hopes that someone will inadvertently say something that can be hung around the Conservatives.

Canadian voters have been led to believe that American conservatives are scary and if the Conservative party can be linked with us, they perhaps can diminish a Conservative victory. Chipeur asks that if Canadian media calls, please do not be interviewed until Monday evening at which point hopefully there will be reason to celebrate.  read more »

Many thanks.