Warren Kinsella
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- For the Canadian author, see W. P. Kinsella.
J. Warren Kinsella, (born August 1960 in Montreal, Quebec), is a Toronto-based Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, lobbyist and commentator.
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[edit] Education and career history
Warren Kinsella has a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism (Honours) from Carleton University, as well as a law degree from the University of Calgary. He is the president of a new firm, The Daisy Consulting Group, recalling the name of a Democratic Party ad in the 1964 U.S. presidential election[[1]]. He worked as a strategist in the Canadian federal Liberal Party's 1993 election campaign "task force", as a staffer in Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's office before Chretien won the 1993 federal election, and as chief of staff to federal Public Works minister David Dingwall. He also ran the Liberal Party "war room" in the successful 2000 election campaign.
[edit] Politics
Kinsella's work as a political strategist has led to his being labelled by his opponents a "Liberal attack dog", and the "James Carville" and "Prince of Darkness" of Canadian politics. Kinsella gained national exposure during the 2000 federal election when he appeared on the CTV television show Canada AM brandishing a purple Barney dinosaur to highlight Stockwell Day's creationist beliefs. He ran as a Liberal candidate in the 1997 federal election in the riding of North Vancouver which he lost. The next year, Kinsella moved to Toronto to work for the Bay Street law firm McMillan Binch.
Kinsella was a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and criticized Paul Martin for challenging Chrétien's leadership. He criticized the Martin campaign several times in the 2004 federal election, and 2006 election [2]. In December 2006, he revealed on his National Post blog [[3]]that his firm had been actively supporting the candidacy of new Liberal leader Stephane Dion.
[edit] Gomery Inquiry
Kinsella was, and remains, highly critical of the Gomery Inquiry into the federal sponsorship program. The program came into existence two years after Kinsella left government service[[4]], but the former Chretien aide often publicly defended Chretien's role in the affair, and attacked Judge Gomery for alleged bias. After writing to request an opportunity to appear before the inquiry, Kinsella was a witness at the Gomery Commission and frequently derired Judge Gomery on his web site and in the media. He also successfully sued one of his persistent online critics, blogger Mark Bourrie, over a post by Bourrie regarding Kinsella's role in the affair [5]. Kinsella's lawyer argued, "The way in which it was written leaves it to the reader to conclude that Mr. Kinsella was a participant in the kickback scandal and he was not". Bourrie issued an apology and made a payment in settlement: "The manner in which my January 14, 2006 blog entry was worded made it seem that Mr. Kinsella had been a party to illegal conduct when this was clearly not the case. I apologize without reservation to Mr. Kinsella for that error on my part.[[6]]"
[edit] Involvement in punk rock
In his youth, Kinsella was the bassist of the Canadian punk band, "The Hot Nasties".<ref>Punk History CanadaThe Hot Nasties Retrieved July 3, 2006.</ref> In 2005, Kinsella wrote Fury's Hour: A (sort-of) Punk-Rock Manifesto (Random House, 2005), a history of the early days of punk.
Kinsella is now playing in punk rock band Shit From Hell, which features many former or current Liberal Party of Ontario and Liberal Party of Canada staffers. They have one album.
He wrote the song, Barney Rubble is My Double, featured on the Hot Nasties long play cassette tape and the Shit From Hell self titled CD. It was also covered by The Evaporator's on their Ripple Rock album.
[edit] Personal life
He is the son of physician and medical ethicist Douglas Kinsella, C.M., founder of the National Council on Ethics in Human Research (NCEHR). He and his wife have four children. In late 2000, he established a weblog, "Latest Musings".<ref>Warrenkinsella.com (2006). Latest Musings June 2006. Retrieved June 30, 2006.</ref>
[edit] Works
- Unholy Alliances (Lester, 1992)
- Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network ISBN 0-00-638051-4 (HarperCollins, 1997)
- Party Favours (HarperCollins, 1997)
- Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics (Random House, 2001)
- Fury's Hour: A (sort-of) Punk-Rock Manifesto (Random House, 2005)
