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 […]
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 […]
Politicians Disneyfy war when they’re bent on war
Patriots get sentimental about old wars. It makes it easier to perpetuate new ones. In the same month the government sank deeper in Afghanistan, red-blooded Canadians marked a November-long, flag-hoisting remembrance with mandatory attendance and trench games for the kids. In Tillsonburg, Ont., a group of Grade 10 students jogged through a ditch maze in […]
LaPointe named CBC’s new ombudsman
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named a new ombudsman, Kirk LaPointe, late of The Vancouver Sun, CTV and others. LaPointe reminisced in his blog, “Twenty-five years ago this month I began managing in newsrooms.” And that got me and some of his former colleagues reminiscing. This is the story. On Oct. 18, 2001, CTV cut 150 […]
