Toews’ divorce and new marriage newsworthy for Winnipeg Free Press
Is it news if your MP gets a divorce? Canada’s Treasury Board President Vic Toews’ marriage is an issue for The Winnipeg Free Press, the largest daily in his home province of Manitoba. “Messy personal stuff,” they called it. The Free Press cited his marriage in 11 articles published over five months, not including a […]
Martin casts himself as heroic figure foiled by rotten luck
If this is Monday, it must be Vancouver in a 10-city book tour that’s rekindling memories of Paul Martin and his brief, unhappy prime ministership. In his $38 memoirs and comments to gullible journalists, Martin casts himself as a heroic figure foiled by rotten luck and, presumably, the millions of Canadians who didn’t vote for […]
CTV right to broadcast jumbled Dion interview
In the ashes of a Liberal defeat a conspiracy theory was born. Unchecked, it has spread in the past two weeks. Even some journalists seem to believe it. In the blogosphere it provokes dark muttering of outrage and media boycotts. The claim is this: that Conservative-friendly CTV executives deliberately broadcast unflattering videotape of Stéphane Dion […]
Carbon tax anyone? It was a bad idea and badly sold
R.I.P. carbon tax, a bad idea badly sold. It is in the graveyard of doomed political schemes alongside national daycare (died in 2006), Senate reform (1993) and tax-deductible mortgages (1980). With Stéphane Dion as its spokesman it never had a chance. “The man has the charisma of Jell-O,” sighed The Chatham Daily News. In the […]
Prime Minister fails to grow in popularity
Brace for outbursts of chair-kicking rage at Stephen Harper’s place tomorrow evening. This is his third strike at a majority. No Conservative leader has ever been given a fourth. The likelihood of another minority Parliament mirrors the attrition in support most governments suffer in a five-week campaign. “Conservatives are going to get their majority,” The […]
Campaign debate on youth crime resembles Great Lakes fog horn: big noise and no light
OTTAWA—Does evil exist? The noun, long-banished from everyday newsroom discourse as old-fashioned, is making a resurgence in the debate over youth crime. “There’s no question that teenagers can sometimes be evil,” wrote The Red Deer Advocate. “Evil-doers,” The Vancouver Province called them. The two dailies were in distinguished company. William Golding, the schoolteacher who wrote […]
May burdened with expectations no newcomer could ever meet
Untested and praised to the skies, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May can only disappoint in this week’s telecast election debates. Having blustered her way in—”See you in court,” she threatened TV executives—May is burdened with expectations no newcomer could meet. “This is now her time to shine,” ordered The Prince Albert Daily Herald. May for […]
Dion’s problem? He’s not Barack Obama
Stéphane Dion’s problem is that he is not Barack Obama. Liberals take their heroes super-sized, industrial strength, the real kapow. Everyone else is happy to settle for mere mortals with a proven capacity to drive voters to the polls. It is the Liberals’ misfortune that elections in Canada and America should coincide. It is doubly […]
Politicians, media prefer to talk trivialities than Afghan war
The war is lost. It’s lost in the editorial pages of the most conservative newspaper in the most conservative city in the country, the Calgary Sun: “Are we winning? Can we win? What would a win look like?” Afghanistan is a “hellhole most people can’t find on a map”; claims of victory are “silly rhetoric,” […]
I love punditry and so should you
I love punditry and so should you. It fills dead air and blank newsprint that would otherwise be assigned to essential facts and accurate weather forecasts. It is inexpensive and entertaining, like watching the village humpback bite the head off a garter snake. To serious people who complain we need serious discourse, I say: Look! […]
