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- Warren Kinsella should not be confused with Canadian author W. P. Kinsella.
J. Warren Kinsella, LL.B (born August 1960 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Toronto-based Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant and commentator.
Kinsella is counsel to and a principal of the Toronto consultancy firm Navigator. He worked as a strategy advisor in the Canadian federal Liberal Party's 1993 election campaign "task force", as a special assistant to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, and as chief of staff to a federal cabinet minister.
Politics
Kinsella's often controversial work as a political strategist has led to his being labelled a "Liberal attack dog", and the "James Carville" and "Prince of Darkness" of Canadian politics. Kinsella showed his political savvy during the 2000 federal election. During the run-up to the vote he appeared on the CTV television show Canada AM brandishing a purple Barney dinosaur to discredit Stockwell Day's creationist beliefs. He ran as a Liberal candidate in the 1997 federal election in the riding of North Vancouver where he lost by a margin of over 9,000. In 1998, Kinsella moved to Toronto and became a partner in a Bay Street law firm.
In the 2003 Toronto municipal election, Kinsella was a senior campaign strategist for conservative mayoral candidate John Tory. He is a lobbyist for, among others, the Ontario Funeral Directors Association.
Kinsella was a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and criticized Paul Martin for challenging Chrétien's leadership. He criticized the Liberal campaign several times in the 2004 federal election, and 2006 election .
Memo related to sponsorship scandal
Kinsella's work as a political aide eventually figured in a 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal. In 1995, while serving as chief of staff for David Dingwall, then Minister of Public Works, Kinsella wrote a memo to deputy minister Ran Quail recommending that the department place Charles Guité in charge of reviewing federal advertising policy . Guité would go on to be arrested for fraud for allegedly misdirecting funds intended for government advertising or sponsorship in Quebec, a program created after Kinsella left government.
In his report on the scandal, Justice John Gomery noted that the memo was "a highly inappropriate attempt by political staff to interfere in the internal administration" of the department.
Kinsella was a witness at the Gomery Commission and frequently mocked Judge Gomery on his web site. He also became involved in a dispute with one of his own online critics, blogger Mark Bourrie, filing a $600,000 libel suit over a post by Bourrie regarding Kinsella's role in the affair . 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 a apology: "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."
Writing
Kinsella has written five books: Unholy Alliances (Lester, 1992); Web of Hate (HarperCollins, 1994; Party Favours (HarperCollins, 1997); Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics (Random House, 2001); Fury's Hour: A (sort-of) Punk-Rock Manifesto (Random House), 2005.
Kinsella has also been a newspaper and magazine columnist and op-ed writer; he is currently media columnist for the National Post. In late 2000, he established a weblog, "Latest Musings".
Personal
The son of respected physician Douglas Kinsella. He and his wife have four children.
See also
External links
- Warren Kinsella's website
- His weblog
- Mark Bourrie's web page
- Audio interview with THECOMMENTARY.CA's Joseph Planta