On Thursday night in Toronto, reporters swarmed a party (hosted by none other than former Ontario Premier Mike Harris) for a new book published by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution by Adam Daifallah and Tasha Kheiriddin. I suppose this is what happens when you invite a recently indicted press baron to your book launch.

Conrad Black showed up for a glass of white wine and the company of some like-minded individuals. The real fun began when Black left the party at the Albany Club and found that his driver hadn’t arrived with his car. I suppose the hired help tend to slack off when it starts to look like the boss could be going away for a while.

Left with only reporters to talk to until his car arrived, Black held forth on his predicament. “This has been one massive smear job from A to Z and it will have a surprise ending — a complete vindication of the defendants and the exposure of their persecutors,” he said. “This isn’t Enron. This isn’t WorldCom. This was a magnificent company that the people who seized it used as a platform in which to persecute and defame the people who built it. [They] have torn it apart and destroyed it at the expense of the shareholders…. Those are my thoughts for the evening.”

Related links:
Click here for the story from the National Post
Click here for the CBC story, which has the delightful video