Does the kind of man who would call immigrants to Alberta from Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada "bums" and "creeps" deserve the Order of Canada?

Surely one would think not! But anything can happen in the weird and wacky world of Canada's "honours system," so one supposes that, with a noisy campaign under way by the corporate media and various far-right bloviators, an Order of Canada for Ralph "Katastrophe" Klein is a virtual inevitability.

Governor General David Johnston is a distinguished lawyer, so he surely understands the importance of precedent, both as a practical and symbolic matter.

Now, early in his term as Canada's vice-regal personage, Johnston is faced with the urgent need to act decisively to protect a cherished Canadian institution.

I speak, of course, of the Order of Canada, and the pressing requirement that the notorious and unrepentant felon, Conrad Moffat Black, lately a resident of Coleman, Fla., be removed from the ranks of the Order's membership post-haste.

Yesterday, three judges of the Seventh Circuit Court in Chicago upheld two criminal charges against Baron Black of Crossharbour.

In other words, Conrad Moffat Black, late of the federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Fla., where he resided for a spell at the courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, remains a convicted felon.

According to Article 3 of the Policy and Procedure for Termination of Appointment to the Order Of Canada, revocation of the Order may be considered when the holder has been convicted of a criminal offence.