Who is Justin Ling?
Ling is a Montreal-based, Cape Breton-transplanted freelance investigative journalist whose work has appeared in the Globe & Mail, the National Post, Maclean's Magazine, the Ottawa Citizen, National Magazine, the Tyee, Xtra!, and countless other publications.
Ling is an alumnus of the University of King's College Foundation Year Programme and, really, not much else. After three years of restless confinement in academia, studying journalism and history, Ling escaped the ivory tower thinking and leaped head-long in the job force.
Burning out, deep in existential crisis after working several communications contracts, Ling flipped the proverbial table and decided to go back to what he's good at -- journalism. So, for the past year and some change, Ling has slogged through the overgrown marsh that is the freelance journalism industry in Canada. And he's made a go of it.
Ling is available for whatever you want him for. He accepts story assignments, pitches, contracts, strange questions, random comments, and part or (heaven forbid) full time positions.
He also makes a great talking head, offering critical commentary that can come from either the center, left, right, all three, or none of the above. Politics at any level is his forte, and can do TV, print, radio, phonograph or morse code.
What has he done?
Ling got his start in community radio, fell into an independent community newspaper, then a national independent newspaper, before finally freelancing full-time. His work ethic is somewhere between "workaholic" and "obsessive compuslive."
Ling has repeatedly got the stories that nobody else has, with a dozen-odd national exclusives under his belt, he's graced the frontpages of both national papers, been on the country's to political panel, and once trended on Twitter. He's done everything from mobile to court reporting, feature writing, investigative muckracking and all sorts inbetween.
Working as a lone gun in the industry since 2012, Ling became one of the go-to journalists for coverage of the Montreal student protests, a trusted voice on the Quebec provincial election, a tireless pundit on the Liberal leadership race, an avid House of Commons watcher and a know-it-all on virtually every aspect of government policy -- everything from Canada's role in Africa to mining policy -- all wrapped in sarcastic wit and irreverence.
His scruffy mug has popped up on CBC's Power & Politics, CTV Newsnet, Russia Today, and Ezra Levant's The Source, on the Sun News Network.
Canada funding opponents of ‘abhorrent’ bill in Uganda
Canada is quietly financing a concerted grassroots effort to aid gay Ugandans’ fight against their country’s proposed anti-homosexuality bill — and preparing them in case it passes, says a senior Department of Foreign Affairs source.
Collecting an old debt
By Huot’s own admission, Canadian courts have never ruled on the Royal Proclamation’s constitutional weight. When Judge Crête asked if there was any precedent whatsoever that would give a court reason to entertain the notion that the Royal Proclamation of 1763 be considered a constitutional document, Huot answered “No. We’re hoping this will be it.”
“No pressure,” Peltier-Rivest jumped in, laughing.
Navigable Waters Act changes could spark court battles
It does not look like there will be any bridge over the troubled water of the House of Commons any time soon. Tempers flared across the aisle last week in House Chamber after a vote to remove federal oversight on bridges, dams, wharfs, and just about everything else that can built on or around Canada’s waterways.
Tweeting in Handcuffs: Covering the Montreal Protests
Having already been on the business-end of a police baton, a foot away from getting my head lopped off by a flying trashcan and, to much fanfare, detained and arrested by Montreal's police (SPVM) -- I needed to vent with some other journalists.
Justin also hosts Some Honourable Members, a Canadian politics podcast on the No More Radio podcast network.
Justin blogs at Demarchy and from time-to-time does opinion and editorial.
Why Pride is about sex
What she calls tacky, I call rebellious. What she calls undignified, I call courageous. What she calls business casual, I call a fabulous outfit for Saturday night just waiting to happen.
Pouring gasoline on the debate over Quebec separation
There’s a reason we’re journalists and not politicians – we have ethics. We ought not engage in irresponsible – and unfounded – Henny Penny rhetoric that serves only to stroke radical partisanship. This national naval gazing emanating from Ottawa’s high-rises is pouring gasoline on Quebec’s still-smoldering identity crisis.
Ethical Oil: A Series
The tarsands have been losing the PR campaign for quite some time now. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has been pumping out TV ads for some time lauding the environmental responsibility of the tarsands. Yet they’re losing the communications battle against a 10 year-old Aboriginal girl on Youtube singing about how she wants to save dolphins. You just can’t beat that.
