Sun News Network Rises

The launch of the right-leaning cable news channel has probably already generated more headlines than CBC and CTV combined.

Sun News Network launches in the midst of the federal election at 4:30 p.m. ET today with the promise of “hard news and straight talk” in an effort to broadcast more conservative viewpoints and inject some energy into Canadian cable news. The network, created by Quebecor Media and helmed by a former spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has been criticized relentlessly before a single show has even aired for being a “Fox News North," as it will employ reliably right-wing pundits such as Ezra Levant and Brian Lilley. We submit that any such judgments of the channel – which also boasts parliamentary reporter nonpareil David Akin as host of the main news program – are at least as prejudiced and baseless as they claim the nascent network to be.