The Sixth Estate

One of the long-running themes of this blog are the unstated corporate conflicts of interest which the major newspapers cheerfully allow to proliferate on their editorial pages. Monday’s strange promotional piece about RIM by former Conservative minister Jim Prentice provides an unusually explicit case in point. RIM, you will recall, is the manufacturer of the Blackberry, and, it would seem, a notably un-Canadian operator who helps foreign dictators spy on their citizens. I only mention this because Prentice is so absurdly insistent that loyal Canadians should praise RIM in the same breath as they call for a fresh round of seal meat.

As it happens, Prentice’s new job is Vice-Chairman of CIBC. So this is the Vice-Chairman of CIBC writing a promotional piece about RIM. Here are two sentences which CIBC is required to disclose in its financial advice reports about RIM, but which its senior officers apparently do not feel the need to state when they promote RIM to the public in other forums today:

CIBC World Markets Inc. expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from Research in Motion Limited…

CIBC… own 1% or more of a class of equity securities issued by Research in Motion Limited.

As usual, you should take your daily op-ed page with a large helping of salt.