Politicians, press enthusiastically promote government’s solar energy initiative, guaranteed
Imagine turning a 200 per cent profit from the sun—guaranteed! It sounds like a sales pitch captured on hidden camera at an airport hotel seminar. Yet it’s the promise of a Government of Ontario program enthusiastically promoted by politicians, the press, even a church bulletin. It may be the strangest government initiative in the country. […]
You won’t hear Harper refer to Belgium in fundraising speeches anymore
Pointless bickering, political drift, inconclusive elections, two language groups set at each other’s throats—is this our future? No, it is Belgium’s, the tragi-comic kingdom where they’ve set a postwar record for careening 232 days without a government. “Belgium will be snuffed out slowly, like a candle, barely noticed by anyone,” a leader in the Belgian […]
Thank goodness there’s no housing bubble, eh?
“No housing bubble,” it said in the paper, which is a relief. If there was a bubble we’d be in real trouble. Canadians were told that “housing bubble talk is discounted” (Daily Commercial News) since there is “no bubble yet” (Victoria Times-Colonist) as “the housing meltdown failed to materialize” (Saint John Telegraph-Journal). The public could […]
Macdonald Day was designated by Parliament nine years ago but in truth it’s a media creation
It was noon Tuesday so I walked to the John A. Macdonald statue on Parliament Hill. Last Tuesday was Macdonald’s birth day 196 years ago, in Glasgow. They do not know much about him in Glasgow. The Scotsman, self-described national newspaper of Scotland, last year referred to Macdonald as “the Scot who created the Mounties.” […]
Year five, and Tories grope for a legacy
Year Five, and they grope for a legacy. Year Five, and Conservatives know the end is likely closer than the beginning. So a legacy must be found or manufactured. Media friends will help. Enthusiasts credit as a legacy the fact Stephen Harper survived five years as prime minister. “The longest-serving minority PM without a confidence […]
StatsCan figures show Canada was already in recession when Harper called vote in 2008
PARLIAMENT HILL—It was a lightning strike, a one-in-a-million statistical hit that turned the fortunes of Parliament—and is detailed here for the first time. Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the last election picked up 143 seats and numerous media endorsements on his pledge to steer the nation past recession. “This government is running the economy so […]
Journalists invoke public’s ‘right to know,’ it should extend to CBC salaries
Journalists invoke the public’s “right to know”—and should. It is a legitimate demand for disclosure of facts on public figures, regardless of embarrassment or inconvenience. So, when records showed a Manitoba native chief was paid $206,000 a year, CBC-TV deemed the story so newsworthy that anchor Peter Mansbridge told the nation, “He’s paid more than […]
Media cast Trudeau as a dilettante
Did media coverage of a political dynasty turn on a pencil-thin moustache? Justin Trudeau, one-term Liberal MP, boasts a famous name. Pundits once deferred to him as a Parliamentary heavyweight of leadership calibre. Expectations were high; Trudeau himself vowed he’d try to “change” the way Parliament worked. He was rated “a political neophyte with star […]
Bank of Canada missed forecasts by a mile and failed to anticipate steepest downturn in 20 years
The Bank of Canada disapproves of the way ‘skeptics’ have covered this recession—and who can blame them? Real figures show the bank missed its forecasts by a mile and failed to anticipate the steepest downturn in 20 years. But when the bank didn’t like the story, it just came up with its own. In the […]
Bank of Canada missed forecasts by a mile and failed to anticipate steepest downturn in 20 years
The Bank of Canada disapproves of the way ‘skeptics’ have covered this recession—and who can blame them? Real figures show the bank missed its forecasts by a mile and failed to anticipate the steepest downturn in 20 years. But when the bank didn’t like the story, it just came up with its own. In the […]
