Gender does not make reporters exceptional, talent does
Is there such a thing as female journalism? I’ve worked in 11 newsrooms and discovered talent, like mediocrity, is gender neutral. Yet an article in J-Source, the online periodical, recently lamented the lack of women pundits and editorial writers. “Women need to be heard,” it said. “But above all, we need to hear them. After […]
Gillani, Jaffer and Guergis putting Tories’ reputation at risk
Lurking in the scandal now making pariahs of Rahim Jaffer and Helena Guergis are the spectres of the Quebec sponsorship scheme and privileged political access to lush federal contracts. Conservatives who remember that Liberals were ruined by easy money now must convince the country that history isn’t repeating. Nazim Gillani’s testimony to a Parliamentary committee […]
When economy’s tight, volume rises on MPs’ pensions
Complaints are up on MPs’ pensions. Volume rises and falls in direct proportion to the federal deficit. I’m surprised it took this long. Taxpayers presume balanced budgets mean prudence and thrift. When the treasury ran surpluses a reporter in this town could not give away stories about fat pensions. Now the budget is sunk and […]
After all the blood and billions misspent, whose war was it anyway?
As meetings go, it was far-reaching and catastrophic. It happened five years ago. The anniversary is never observed. The closed-door conference cost a thousand casualties and some $20-billion on a military misadventure in Afghanistan. Parliament was never consulted; there was no public debate of any kind. It set a standard for secrecy, half-truths and self-deception […]
Today’s redistribution bill reflects 21st century Canada
“I’m not surprised!” crowed Bill Vander Zalm, former British Columbia premier, on the line from his lilac nursery in Ladner. “I saw this coming.” A redistribution bill now before Parliament grants B.C. and Alberta combined more seats in the Commons than Quebec, 76 to 75. It’s never happened before—and it might not have happened this […]
Politics in trouble, politicians don’t run it anymore
Politics is in trouble because politicians don’t run it anymore. And they wonder why voter turnout is 59 per cent. Every national party in the Commons is led by a former university lecturer. That has to be a malforming experience. By training and instinct, they talk and you listen. It’s popular to scorn genuine politicians—the […]
Private TV executives should be able to make money, eh?
TV executives in tailored suits came to Ottawa and pleaded hardship. “Can’t survive,” one said. Gosh, thought regulators, if millionaire TV managers are scraping by it must be rough out there. So the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission last week reversed itself and ruled the public should pay for American reruns whether they watch them […]
Journalists shouldn’t write Harper’s legacy yet
OTTAWA—Stephen Harper has passed four years in office. Journalists now write of his “legacy.” The Prime Minister insists the final verdict rests with God. This can only end badly. “With us,” novelist Hector Munro wrote in 1910, “a Cabinet usually gets the credit of being depraved and worthless beyond the bounds of human conception by […]
CBC displays keen sense of self-preservation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation rated lesser mention in the 2010 budget than the tariff on duvet covers. Naturally this drew whispers on Parliament Hill. The CBC is a predictable target for cost cutting though MPs know this will take time and tact. No federal bureaucracy has displayed a keener sense of self-preservation. In an age […]
If I were finance minister, I’d impose a luxury tax on air conditioners
They played “if I were finance minister” last week. It is popular. Monte Solberg, retired five-term MP and former vice-chair of the Commons Finance Committee, fantasized in The Calgary Sun of making phenomenal changes. Solberg announced he’d abolish equalization payments for Quebec, penalize workers who draw Employment Insurance and eliminate grants “for social agencies that […]
