Look at that Prime Minister Harper go, eh?
Stephen Harper is the most darkly compelling leader in politics. No one is the subject of more media psychoanalysis. He has the “angry-man syndrome,” as The Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin put it. Only Harper parades his distaste for political arts like smiling, bantering with reporters or telling amusing anecdotes to put colleagues at […]
Media typically have not questioned how far Gov.-Gen. Jean might go
It is barely a whisper: just one of those Ottawa rumours, surely. Is Governor General Michaëlle Jean preparing to seize her moment in the sun? No, it couldn’t be. Yet, the she does enjoy making an impact. She has often said so: “I am also part of history,” (Canadian Press, Sept. 24, 2006); “I like […]
Some media too quick to dismiss NDP’s documents on Karzai speech
Reporters stand ready to defend their work. That’s why they put their names to every story they write. Yet when a Member of Parliament suggested war coverage was manipulated, journalists’ reaction was so prickly it was uncomfortable to watch. New Democrat defence critic Dawn Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam, B.C.) recently released censored documents detailing steps taken […]
Proportional representation is a consolation prize for losers
Canadian voters have a sharp eye for weeding out peculiar characters who skulk on the fringes of political thought: Social Creditors, flat-taxers, and petitioners who claim fluoridation is mind control. Yet, of all exhibitors in the Political House of Oddities, none are more tireless than advocates of proportional representation. Ontario next week votes on PR […]
This just in…less than five per cent of gay Canadians wed since 2005
For all the hype and histrionics, new data show gay Canadians are just mild about marriage. Ironic, yes? The Commons, courts, and churches were spurred into years-long debate over the issue in the belief it was vital or at least relevant to the gay community. Yet recent federal figures show less than five per cent […]
StatsCan counted over one million children as ‘unmarried’ in report
Statistics Canada counted more than one million children as “unmarried” in a report chronicling the single lives of Canadians, according to data requested by The Hill Times. A Sept. 12 census document widely reported by media claimed for the first time in Canada’s history “more than one half of the adult population was unmarried.” The […]
Dion gets journalism’s kiss of death, some condescending dismissiveness
OTTAWA–After a long summer Stéphane Dion is now welcomed back to Parliament with journalism’s kiss of death. I know of no party leader to recover from it. Audrey McLaughlin was the last victim. Electioneering in British Columbia in 1993, the NDP leader was cornered by a Nanaimo radio reporter who politely posed a series of […]
Media should scrutinize military spending more
You realize tomorrow is the anniversary. For some it is a moment frozen in time: 8:46 a.m., when a jetliner barrelled into the World Trade Center. The Pentagon then had a budget of $291-billion U.S. a year but was powerless to defeat men armed with $2 box cutters. “Since the plotters were flexible and resourceful,” […]
Rights and religion, what an excuse to harangue, eh?
Did you hear the story about the rabbi and the priest? It’s no joke in Ontario, where media have set voters to boiling in an Oct. 10 election over rights and religion. It is poisonous. Journalists have made an issue of one party leader’s faith, and depicted another as a crazed suicide bomber. The impact […]
Right, we’ll win the war by putting ‘Support Our Troops’ ribbons on municipal garbage trucks
Armchair patriots are the pests of every war, the red-faced ranters who specialize in shaming dissent. Media have our share. They are journalists with a Constitutional right to free speech who ridicule others who dare to speak. They aim to win the war by putting “Support Our Troops” ribbons on municipal garbage trucks. God help […]
