Warren Kinsella
- 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.
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. 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.
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 Liberal campaign several times in the 2004 federal election, and 2006 election [1].
He has been a long-time anti-racism activist, and has been frequently targeted by the far right for reprisals. In 1995, in Ottawa, Kinsella and his family were placed under police protection following death threats. While a practicing Roman Catholic, he is a member of the board of the Canada Israel Committee.
Writing
Kinsella has written five books, three of which have been bestsellers. His first, Unholy Alliances (Lester, 1992), [2] dealt with the possibility that outlaw Arab states were exporting terrorism to North America, and was called "profoundly important, tautly written and absolutely necessary" by Books in Canada. His next, Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network (HarperCollins, 1994, 1996 and 2001) [ http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0006391249/sr=1-1/qid=1150857759/ref=sr_1_1/701-0399699-3297112?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books&v=glance] was a national bestseller and detailed the activities of far-right racist organizations. It received a number of awards, and was called "remarkable" by Saturday Night magazine. Kinsella's third book was written under a pseudonym, Jean Doe, and was titled Party Favours (HarperCollins, 1997) [ http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0002245620/ref=sr_11_1/701-0399699-3297112?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance ]. In the best-selling novel, Kinsella speculated that an ambitious Liberal Minister of Finance (Paul Martin) would seek to overthrow a populist Prime Minister (Jean Chretien). His fourth book, Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics [3] (Random House, 2001) was not a best-seller, having been released on September 11, 2001, but was called "highly readable" by the National Post and remains popular among followers Canadian political observers. Kinsella's fifth and most-recent book, Fury's Hour: A Sort-of Punk Manifesto (Random House, 2005) [4], the punk rock fan provided a history and analysis of the punk movement. It was called one of the best books of 2005 by the National Post.
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".
Kinsella is tracking the changes made to this Wikipedia entry, as well as other Wikipedia entries, by Mark Bourrie. Bourrie vandalizes as Ceraurus and Arthur Ellis. He has used a House of Commons hot room computer, at 192.197.82.203, to post under false names. Anyone with information for Kinsella's National Post column may reach him at wkinsella@hotmail.com. Thank you.
Kinsella and Gomery
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, 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."
Personal
Kinsella is the son of physician and Order of Canada recipient Douglas Kinsella. He and his wife have four children.
Music
Kinsella plays bass guitar for the Toronto-based punk rock band Shit From Hell, and has released a CD [6].