Conrad Black Gets Fast-Tracked Back to Canada; NDP's Mulcair Decries Government's "Double Standard"

When I read the NatPo headline--Mulcair blasts 'double standard' that cleared way for Conrad Black's return--I thought the story was going to be about the "unfairness" of the former press baron getting to come home while Omar Khadr yet languishes in Gitmo. But that would be silly, wouldn't it?, since Black's, at worst, was a non-violent white collar crime, while Omar's involved blood, murder and jihad. Surely not even an NDP leader would think to equate the two:

Mulcair compared Black’s case to that of Gary Freeman, an American-born man who has been denied re-entry into Canada because of a criminal record. The 63-year-old was involved with the Black Panthers, and was extradited to the U.S. in 2008 and pleaded guilty to shooting a police officer in 1969. After serving a 30-day sentence, he was denied re-entry to Canada, where his wife and four children live.

“It is a clear case of a double standard, one for an American black man from Chicago, another for a British white man coming out of federal penitentiary,” Mulcair said.

No, one "standard" for the guy who was put away because of some over-creative bookkeeping, and who poses no threat whatsoever to society, and one for the violent, radical cop-killer who was invovled in a violent, radical organization.

In other words, the "standard," so-called, amounts to plain old common sense.