Well it looks like the Conservatives did it. I’m not talking about the vote. I’m talking about getting the mainstream press to completely buy in to the “no confidence in the government” spin line.
While most papers did a good job of reporting that two Liberal cabinet ministers and one independent MP were absent, that key nugget of information seemed lost on the editorialists and columnists. Had all three voted with the Liberals, the vote would have been a tie and the Speaker would’ve broken it – the Liberal Speaker.
MIA were Irwin Cotler (at a funeral for a close relative), John Efford (getting medical treatment) and Chuck Cadman (bed-ridden with cancer). Does that seem a bit callous to anyone else? Cadman has made it clear he can get to Ottawa with a few days notice, but the Tories kept him in the dark knowing that his vote was not guaranteed (Cadman has said he’s not sure if he’d vote for or against the government). What do you think that little stunt did to his voting conscience?
There are many reasons to support bringing this government down. My personal favourite is that nothing is getting done right now because everyone is focused on bringing down the government. But seeing the editorial pages awash in Conservative spin makes my tummy hurt.
But . . . but . . . we installed the good guys, no?
The Globe and Ottawa Sun reported that the Haitian Supreme Court is ready to overturn the convictions of those involved in the massacre that saw supporters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994. There are suggestions that the U.S. (and Canada) backed government in power might have a hand in it.
I don’t want to get into the he-said, she-said nature of the story too much, because frankly, I don’t know that much about the Haiti situation (thanks to the media ignoring the story, more on that later).
What I do know is that Aristide was a democratically-elected president who was overthrown in a coup that was supported by both Canada and the U.S. The media seemed to walk away from the story after Aristide was thrown out, despite the fact that there is as much (if not more) violence and poverty there today.
Whether or not the sitting government is behind the overturning of the convictions is, frankly, irrelevant at this stage. The Canadian media has a responsibility to stay on this story. Canada was involved in the coup and Canada has police personnel in the country attempting to run training operations.
It’s shameful that more papers didn’t pick this up.
Ipperwash Inquiry: Not just for the Toronto Star anymore
The Globe makes its bold entry into the coverage of the Ipperwash Inquiry, reporting on the testimony of the ranking OPP officer on scene at the time.
Better late than never, I suppose. Welcome to the show.
The Citizen and some SunMedia papers chose instead to report that Dudley George’s family has set up a webcam to monitor the proceedings.
Hmm, maybe it’s because Canada’s largest media chain isn’t covering the hearings . . .
Sgro update
The big papers all got the Sgro news, though CanWest was more concerned about how the ethics commissioner handled the case. Oh well, at least it’s there.
I hate Christie Blatchford
Man, she really represents the worst in column writing, doesn’t she? Check out today’s gem, where she gleefully abuses the priviledged status of Gomery testimony and libels the hell out of senior Liberals in Quebec. All in her patronizing, high-school English essay style.