This is from a CP story, forwarded to CAJ-L by Ricky Leong, about the career-ending booboo by Bob Keating, a former CBC radio reporter.

He anonymously sent a box of chocolates to a B.C. health care lobbyist. Two of the chocolates had come in contact with raw chicken and dirt.

An excerpt from the story, which was carried on CNews:

"I did something crazy at a time when I was under intense pressure," Keating told The Canadian Press on Friday from Nelson, B.C., where he now runs a communications company.

"I'm a journalist. I hold people accountable to their actions. I should be held accountable to mine.

"I did something beyond stupid and it cost me a career. I think the CBC was justified in firing me."

The chocolates were destined for Earl Hamilton, who had been involved with the group Save Our Services. He had allegedly called Keating a toady of the government in 2000.

The chocolates were sent in 2003.

The Canadian Media Guild grieved Keating's firing, saying he should have been suspended for three months.

However, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Allen said in her written decision: "I find that the CBC was entitled to conclude that (Keating) had lost his credibility as a CBC reporter and that the public's trust in him had been irrevocably destroyed. The misconduct fundamentally breached his employment relationship with the CBC, thus justifying his termination."