...in response to a boneheade article about Crossharbour from Lawrence Martin, who decides that Black isn't really Canadian, a la Ben Johnson and Ernst Zundel...Coyne decides that Conrad just outgrew us....


Martin

He stood apart from the Canadian mainstream, not only because of his wealth, lifestyle and power, but because he was an arch-conservative in a land where that breed is uncommon ... His views were an ill fit ... We hardly viewed him as one of our own. He was cut from a different cloth

and Coyne

www.canada.com/nationalpo...405441360b

Coyne

So it will be now that the verdict has been returned. How you feel about the result will reflect how you feel about Conrad, and how you feel about Conrad will in part reflect how you feel about Canada.
For those who see any criticism of the "Canadian way" as disloyal, of course, Conrad has always been problematic. But even more so has been his larger-than-life persona, the outsized virtues as much as the obvious faults.
(Has there ever been a case of an accused man finding the time, while under indictment in a complex fraud trial, to write a 1,000-page biography of a U.S. president?)
He simply outgrew the country, at least in his own mind, and it hurt and bewildered him as much as it did us. And so, in his blustering, unpleasant way, Conrad came to represent those who wished for a bigger country, a country in which people could lead larger lives.
It wasn't always pretty -- the "envy" he decried was hardly better replaced with disdain.
But I would far rather live in a country with a Conrad Black than without him, and now that he has been found guilty -- pending appeal -- I confess I will be one of those hoping for a light sentence.