Kory Teneycke, the now-departed Sun News TV chief, wanted to attack David Suzuki

The odd stories from Kory Teneycke’s brief tenure as head of the Sun News TV project (a.k.a. Fox News North) just keep on coming. With Quebecor’s final concessions to the CRTC, the project is almost certain to launch without any new controversies on January 1, but it looks like it will be a slightly less crazy network than it would have been under Teneycke, who left under a cloud of suspicion. According to blogger, former reporter and climate change “skeptic” Donna Laframboise, Teneycke offered her a job, a story she tells in two blog posts (here and here). The line that raised our eyebrows was “[Teneycke’s] one firm directive was that I should challenge David Suzuki.”

To wit:

Kory responded to my really, I’m not a television person protestations with assurances that it would be OK. At the beginning, few people would be watching anyway, he insisted. He was sure that, with a bit of practice, I’d do fine.

His one firm directive was that I should challenge David Suzuki. I hadn’t thought much about Suzuki before that conversation, but Kory’s instinct was correct. Although Suzuki tells us constantly that he’s a scientist, he’s actually a preacher who espouses environmentalist views with religious fervor.

Teneycke’s desire to go after Suzuki is being backed up by other sources, like the CBC’s Kady O’Malley (on Twitter here and here). This has a lot in common with attacks on prominent climate change advocates in the U.S., where Al Gore and NASA scientist James Hansen are basically public enemies number 1 and 2 on the right’s climate watch.

But going after Suzuki sounds like a risky proposition even for Fox News North. This is a guy, after all, who placed fifth in the CBC’s Greatest Canadian contest (we’re pretty sure that’s higher than Teneycke placed, but we’d have to check). Going after Suzuki means going after a Canadian institution—they might as well have gone after the Mounties or The Hockey Sweater.

• Adrian MacNair: So Much For SunTV [Unambiguously Ambidextrous] • When is a job offer not a job offer (Part 1) [No Frakking Consensus] • When is a job offer not a job offer (Part 2) [No Frakking Consensus]