Reporter allegedly fired for too many questions about Nexen

The government has just badly messed up on this file – NDP's Peter Julian.

by Ish Theilheimer and Samantha Bayard

OTTAWA, Straight Goods News, November 5, 2012: Today the House debated the case of Manitoba reporter Jill Winzoski, who appears to have been fired for asking a Conservative MP embarassing questions over things like the takeover by Chinese interests of the Nexen oil company.

At issue was an email Conservative MP James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake) sent to Winzoski — and later retracted — in which he said he did not support the Nexen deal. She was fired from her job at the Selkirk Record shortly afterward.

NDP energy critic Peter Julian told Straight Goods News: "I think it’s very disturbing that a journalist has lost her job after we had a backbencher in the Conservative Party telling the truth on his opinion as far as the CNOOC takeover of Nexen is concerned."

Science minister Gary Goodyear dodged all questions about Winzoski in the House.

Peter Julian says the Conservatives have botched the Nexen file

The NDP has repeatedly asked for a clear defininition of the "net benefit" to be considered for all major foreign investments in Canada. They want these terms clearly set before the Nexen deal is finalized.

"The government has just badly messed up on this file," Julian said. "There’s no other way to put it. We now have potential investors who are concerned because they’ve no clarity around net benefit."

With all the negative feedback they're getting on this, Julian thinks the Conservatives may try to finalize the deal quickly before the holiday break. "If they try to rubberstamp it around Christmas time and they think the public won’t be attentive to that — I think they’re deceiving themselves — because I think that Canadians will react very badly," said Julian.

© Copyright 2012 Ish Theilheimer and Samantha Bayard, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca