Avast, Matey! Alberta Opposition Leader Danielle Smith has signed on to ship out with a group of Sun News Network bloviators aboard the Holland-America Line's MV Minnow for Ezra Levant's "Freedom Cruise" in August.

It has not yet been announced if Smith will play the role of Mary Ann or Ginger aboard the Alaska-bound excursion. 

Sun News commentator Brian Lilley is likely, it is said here, to be cast in the role of Gilligan opposite Levant's natural portrayal of the Skipper. And the Professor? Everybody's crossing their fingers for a surprise cameo by Tom Flanagan. The Fraser Institute mailing list will supply undeserving millionaires.

As part of its full-court press to get the CRTC to approve a better spot for it on the dial and give it access to direct subsidies from Canadian cable TV users, Sun News Network is begging anti-choice groups and their supporters to write the national broadcast regulator to support the far-right vanity broadcaster's application.