Blue Like You

Archive for August 5th, 2007

CTV’s Question Period was quite a snooze today, except that I did get a bit of a chuckle out of the self-obsessed Parliamentary Press Gallery and their total indignation at not being allowed to stay in the hotel lobby where the CPC was holding their caucus meeting in Charlottetown.

Anyway, before the link disappears, go to the CTV Politics site, and click on QP - “Journalists Panel on Conservative Tactics”. And just who forms the panel? Well, we have Jane Taber, Jim Travers, Robert Fife and Craig Oliver. All the usual suspects.

No bias there, right?

Fife makes a reference to the use of the RCMP to clear ‘ half a dozen’ (i.e. six) journalists from lobby and set them up in a media centre across the way, as something from ‘Vladamir Putin’s Russia’.

Travers agrees, saying it felt something like being in Russia before the wall came down…etc.

He talks about the “authoritarian“, “controlling” character of the CPC that he doesn’t think goes over well with “most Canadians”.

Gee, I wonder where he got his statistics from.

And then we have Craig Oliver chiming in with a comment that over the years his view is that the Press Gallery is a reflection of public opinion!!!

“…And I can think of many governments that went down hard, and I think of Martin, I think of Mulroney, I think of Joe Clark who were also very unpopular with the press gallery by the time they were defeated and I think of governments that lasted a long time, like Trudeau and Chretien who a had relatively off and on, but a good relationship with the press.”

So there you go, folks. If you want your party to have a long-lasting government in Canada, all you have to do is suck up to the PPG.

No need for democracy. No need for elections.

Canada only needs the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

It just goes on and on. Quite nauseating, but also quite an eye-opener.

I hope Jack Layton is paying attention as these ground rules are being drawn up. Perhaps Mr. Layton could offer to assist in the negotiations.

Why aren’t you volunteering to help out here, Jack?

Free Dominion is also asking the question, “Where’s Jack?”

Well, let’s give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’s on his way by bicycle.

This is a huge story, less so for the content as the fact that ’senior government insiders’ divulged the details.

Was this a leak or a deliberate attempt to gauge public reaction?

And who will replace Prentice in the very volatile Indian Affairs Ministry?

Interesting times.