Judi McLeod used to sit beside Bob MacDonald at the Sun newsroom because the two of them were of the few who believed that communism was evil and could be beaten. As a matter of fact MacDonald would often ask McLeod to stand up from her chair so he could scribble a note on it, while he was on the phone, because, well, his desk was absolutely covered with paper. She would do so roaring with laughter.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Judi and her husband were brought to the Toronto Sun newspaper by Peter Worthington because they ran into trouble, while working at the Brampton newspaper, with the Brampton political machine, for political issues. The politicians threatened the advertisers and the paper asked the McLeods to leave. "This was Bill Davis territory," said Judi.
At the Sun, while husband John worked in the business section, Judi covered the education beat just when the conservative element had taken a slim majority from the left wing on the school board and were rolling back the leftist policies they had implemented while in control. The political battles were hard, Judi was threatened by the left, who would pack the board meetings. Having Judi writing her hard-hitting articles made the job of the conservatives easier and put many of the left into their places.
Judi also worked hard with the Black Ribbon Movement, writing articles, covering events and even going to Estonia among the other countries. There they met people who would later become leaders of their countries and explained what Black Ribbon Day had been doing, in Canada, to help their cause. Judi then wrote articles about the trip for other papers and outlets. "This was an event I will never forget," said Judi.
When Judi left the Sun, it wasn't long before she suffered "printer's ink withdrawal syndrome" and she started her own paper, a monthly, "Toronto Free Press". Coverage was City Hall and often further and while advertising is always hard to get for a "start-up" newspaper she persevered.
The "Toronto Free Press" continues in paper format but also has a daily updated "web page" called "Canada Free Press" that now has acquired sixty top flight journalists, such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Bates of Canada's Frank Magazine to keep up with her own relentless style. "When we first ran Rush Limbaugh, we received two million hits on the web sites that day," said Judi.
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