Finances at CBC spelled h-o-c-k-e-y
PARLIAMENT HILL—No matter how you scramble finances at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it spells h-o-c-k-e-y. The viability of the whole enterprise rests on the national pastime. In 1959, CBC released a financial audit of its television programs. That would be unthinkable today; such information is closely guarded and proprietary. At the time, CBC monopolized […]
In the case of Innocence of Muslims, Canadian media managed to be sensational and uninformative
PARLIAMENT HILL—“Publish and be damned!” is the immortal newsroom cry, though it was uttered not by a reporter but a politician, the Duke of Wellington. In reality, media executives are much more officious. So it was Canadians were told Innocence of Muslims inflamed the Arab world; that the film was so provocative it threatened […]
Is poverty a subject for storytelling?
PARLIAMENT HILL—Is poverty a subject for storytelling? An Ottawa photographer, Shane Hultquist, attempted an unusual project. Hultquist is a freelance portraitist; he accepts commissions and assignments; he takes sports photos at the University of Ottawa. He wanted something different. Believing “every person has a story in them,” Hultquist set out to create a photo […]
TV attack ads are toxic, indispensable: really?
PARLIAMENT HILL—TV attack ads are toxic but indispensable in party politics, they say. Canadians are assured electronic punches “work” and are therefore justifiable. The greatest promoters of this claim are salespeople who manufacture ads and party organizers. What if the claim was false? What if the Mother Of All Attack Ads that inspired […]
Parliamentary press gallery should expel Chinese news agency Xinhua
A Chinese government agency is using Parliamentary Press Gallery privileges for intelligence gathering and monitoring of political dissidents in Ottawa, says a veteran journalist. The Xinhua News Agency retains a press pass—a privilege denied any Canadian government employee—that permits restricted access to Parliament Hill and legislators’ offices, confidential government briefings and embargoed financial data. The […]
Do Tories still ‘stand up for ordinary Canadians who work hard, pay their taxes and play by the rules’?
Play by the rules, the man said. It was the most passionate speech Stephen Harper ever made, touching a chord of public disgust and cynicism with Ottawa. “We are standing up for ordinary Canadians who work hard, pay their taxes and play by the rules,” Harper told the country in 2006. It was no […]
Four years later, media realize Obama’s just human
An old friend and I were talking politics in 2008 when he grew serious, as if preparing an important announcement: “I read Obama’s book,” he said. “He has the answers.” I replied, “You sound like you’re talking about Jesus.” He glared. For the sake of friendship we never spoke of politics again. The spell […]
Obama casts a spell over many opinionated Canadians, remains a strange phenomenon: Korski
PARLIAMENT HILL—An old friend and I were talking politics in 2008 when he grew serious, as if preparing an important announcement: “I read Obama’s book,” he said. “He has the answers.” I replied, “You sound like you’re talking about Jesus.” He glared. For the sake of friendship we never spoke of politics again. The […]
Senate reform just around corner, Tories say, but Brown’s been at this for 30 years or so
PARLIAMENT HILL—It was 33 degrees with 88 per cent humidity, and Alberta Conservative Senator Bert Brown was talking to The Hill Times about reform. The thought struck: what if this is Hell? It’s just the way British writer Hector Munro imagined it; he wrote a 1911 short story The Infernal Parliament where the damned […]
Liddell, Olympian, is dead but not forgotten
PARLIAMENT HILL—Eric Liddell, Olympian, is dead but not forgotten. Born In China, raised in Scotland, he is immortalized by media as the most intriguing track and fielder of all time with a little-known Canadian connection. Liddell personified “the age of amateurism,” as The Times of London put it—the triumph of discipline and sportsmanship stripped […]
