Maclean's National Affairs Blogs

(Not) Forgetting Tom Flanagan

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:15:39 GMT

Turns out that some books - yes, even books about Canadian politics - can make for a far more interesting read the second time around, particularly if written by an eminently quotable former Conservative insider like Tom Flanagan. Fellow gallery bloggers David Akin and Elizabeth Thompson are posting some of the most noteworthy Flanaganisms, culled from "Harper's Team", his warts-and-all memoirs of life as a political operative.

Given the current brouhaha over campaign financing, one can almost hear the strangled yelps of frustration emanating from Langevin Block, PMO and Conservative party officials likely believed that they had seen the last of Flanagan's special brand of trouble once the book hit the remainder bins, but thanks to last week's raid on Tory headquarters, and the return of the in and out scandal, all those offhand musings on campaign financing have come come back, like Marley's ghost, to make life difficult for the party once again.

Flanagan was even more candid in conversation with veteran Hill reporter Tim Naumetz, who, working alongside Ottawa Citizen reporter Glen McGregor, were the first reporters to spot the spending irregularities that would eventually become the in and out scandal:

"It was no secret," he told the Citizen. "Everybody in the world knew it was happening, but I wasn't part of the discussion of making it happen."

As far as he was concerned, it was standard operating procedure - not just for the Conservatives, but other federal parties as well. On the legality of the practice, however, the University of Calgary political science professor was a little less categorical, telling the Citizen:

"It looked to me as if this is in conformity with legislation, but I don't claim to be an expert on it."

Not only was Flanagan aware that money was being funneled between national and local coffers during the 2006 campaign, but he told Naumetz and McGregor that the party would have done the same thing during the previous election, if only they'd been able to spare the cash:

"We had enough to pay for the campaign, but we didn't have money that we thought we could start transferring it to the ridings on that scale because we were just coming off the leadership race and the party had newly been merged and things were tighter ... By the time we got to 2006, there was extra money, so we thought we could help the ridings this time."

And, in answer to what could well be the very first question that the Prime Minister will face when the House returns next week:

"I have no idea what Mr. Harper did or did not know."

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Revenge of the lazy journalists!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:10:15 GMT

Elsewhere on macleans.ca:

Aaron Wherry goes through the warrant line by line, posting bits and pieces that makes him go "Hmmm"
Paul Wells is clearly enjoying this way too much.

Oh, and one more teeny tiny bit of advice for the Tory spin team

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:16:26 GMT

You might want to think twice about having Peter Van Loan repeat, with Tourettes-like fervour, that the Conservatives are the only political party in Canadian history to have their headquarters raided by the RCMP. I don't think it sends quite the right message.

You say "transparency," I say "chilling effect on cooperation of potential witnesses" ...

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:02:51 GMT

Hey, lawtalking guys (of either gender):

Is this totally standard boilerplate for requesting a sealing order, particularly the bit about witness cooperation and "tailor[ing] evidence"? It just strikes me as an interesting argument, given how much trouble the investigators had in trying to interview candidates and other interested parties. (I'll type up that bit up later if the OCR fairy doesn't show up soon.)

GROUNDS FOR SEALING ORDER

I believe the disclosure at this time of the Search Warrant, this Information to Obtain a Search Warrant and the material filed in support of this application, would subvert the ends of justice by compromising the nature and extent of an ongoing investigation. The investigation is proceeding but a considerable amount of work remains to be completed, including interviews of numerous persons of interest to the investigation. I believe that should the information contained in my Information become public knowledge, the ability to carry out the remainder of the investigation would be compromised because:

1. The outline of the investigation and the evidence obtained to date would be known to potential interviewees; and

2. I believe such knowledge would tend to have a chilling effect on cooperation of potential witnesses and could allow interviewees to tailor their evidence to achieve a desired result.

[...]

Reporting in from under an enormous stack of virtual evidence ...

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:54:22 GMT

Not, I should note, to be confused with imaginary evidence, which is how I'm sure Peter Van Loan would describe the search warrant, and 600plus pages of potentially devastating supporting evidence that the Conservative Party deliberately skirted that was released by a Toronto court earlier today. So far, I've only made it about a quarter of the way through the filing, but already, my brain is hurting the best possible way.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I've plowed through to the end, but so far, my reaction can be summed up as follows: "Wow. They actually thought that this story could be killed off by meeting with a few reporters on a Sunday afternoon? I mean, there's audacity of hope, and then there's just crazy talk."

Sunday in the hotel hallway with Ryan Sparrow

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:48:50 GMT

Y'all, it's been a day:

A search warrant that led to last week's raid of Conservative Party headquarters will be released Monday by an Ontario court, but it was made public Sunday to some media by the Tories, the CBC's Keith Boag reported.

The Conservatives, who already have the warrant containing hundreds of pages of documents on CD-ROM, gave private briefings about it in Ottawa to select media, including the Toronto Star and CTVglobemedia, Boag said.

CBC News requested to attend the briefings, but was rejected and told by party spokesman Ryan Sparrow that it was a private meeting, Boag said, adding reporters from the Canadian Press, Maclean's magazine and Canwest Global Communications Corp. were also not permitted to attend.

Giving some reporters a briefing before Monday's court release of the warrant allows the party a chance to shape the story, but it also creates the impression that the Conservatives need to spin it, Boag said.

I can confirm that macleans.ca was most emphatically not welcome on the voyage. However, being unable to take a hint, we wound up hanging out in the hallway outside the backup briefing room - hastily arranged after word of the first meeting was leaked - with various other uninvited media guests: CBC, Canadian Press, and the Halifax Chronicle Herald and CanWest News, which had, in fact, originally been on the list, but was abruptly disinvited when the Conservatives realized who had been sent to cover the story.

These now infamous "private briefings" for select journalists - most of whom were shocked to find out that they had been invited to an exclusive event - were made public almost immediately, which was was pretty much inevitable from the moment that Conservative Party media wrangler sent out a notice to his handpicked journalistic prey.

Contrary to everything that he ought to have learned in the two years and change that he's been on the Hill, he still doesn't seem to have grasped the fact that reporters talk to each other. Yes, even reporters from competing news outlets. No, it's not a conspiracy. It's just what happens when there's a body of media assigned to cover a particular beat, like, say, Canadian politics. (For further enlightenment, read Good Omens, and pay special attention to the Crowley/Aziraphale dynamic; to wit: those on the front lines often have more in common with each other than they do with their respective superiors, no matter how seemingly conflicting their motives may be.)

Anyway, that's I spent the better part of my day: first trying to track down the not-really-a-press-conference-more-of-a-private-meeting which was moved from the Lord Elgin (lovely patio, yay!) to the Sheraton (no patio, boo!) after the initial outing, and then hanging around outside, waiting for Ryan Sparrow, Doug Finley and - yes, really - the semi-mythical Paul Lepsoe
to emerge from the boardroom where they were briefing the few journalists who turned up before some sensible type back at Tory HQ called off the whole tete-a-teteage midway through the afternoon.

I'm sorry, by the way, I wasn't able to liveblog the festivities - no wifi, and I didn't want to bug my colleagues to post on my behalf on a Sunday. I'm even more sorry I didn't get a copy of the warrant - which, according to the court, won't be released until Monday morning, and which, according to Peter Van Loan, the party had never even seen in its entirety as of Friday morning, which makes me wonder how the Conservatives got it scanned and burned to CD-ROM between then and now. But, on the plus side, I got to scrum Mike Duffy, and how often does that happen, really?

I

: Polley wants a bill stopped

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:03:59 GMT

Wearing red Fluevog boots, actress Sarah Polley was on the Hill as part of an effort by ACTRA to stop Bill C-10 from allowing the government to deny tax credits to films deemed “contrary to public policy.”

As she approached the Peace Tower, Polley was greeted by NDP leader Jack Layton.

Polley’s press conference in the Charles Lynch Press Gallery room was packed with journalists.

Green Leader Elizabeth May arrived and posed for a quick photo with Polley. She told the actress if she needed anything she should just “tell” the Green party what to do.

May had booked the same room after Polley’s announcement. The Green leader was demanding a full public inquiry into the RCMP income trust investigation “and the interference in the 2006 federal election campaign by former Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli.”

Only the Toronto Star’s Richard Brennan showed up to cover it. But the room was filled up with young men and women from all branches of the Canadian military studying to be media officers.

At least May had a much better-looking crowd.

The blogger is out

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:34:16 GMT

Kady would like everyone to know that she's locked in an internet-less room with Tom Axworthy and "the guy who designed the Canadian flag," in hopes of saving democracy. She promises to return this afternoon with loads of in-and-out goodness.

MPs do some airtime

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:00:51 GMT

It was Air Force Appreciation Day on Parliament Hill. MPs came out to honour the more than 17, 000 men and women who serve in Canada’s Air Force.

NDP MP Catherine Bell gets a little airtime.

As does the NDP’s Yvon Godin.

Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney spoke with some pilots and got a few posters of military jets.

MP puts collar up for urban chic bash!

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:47:05 GMT

The dress code was “urban chic” at the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee’s Action party held at the Manyata Courtyard Caf? in Toronto’s Hazelton Lanes. But almost none of the attendees sported anything close to urban chic. A few MPs tried.

Tory Pierre Poilievre funked it up by putting his collar up.

Poilievre, Patrick Brown (centre) and fellow Tory MP Rick Dykstra.

Former Scott Brison staffer Ari Pottens.

The ladies’ man himself, Scott Brison.

Liberal MP Joe Volpe (right) with party attendee Daniel Feldberg.

Justin Trudeau gets the point from the Liberal candidate for Don Valley West Rob Oliphant.

Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney (right) with CJPAC executive director Josh Cooper.

Kenney with CJPAC reveler Yoed Goldstein.

Tory MP James Lunney, Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's executive assistant Adam Chambers..

Thornhill Liberal MP Susan Kadis.

Liberal blogfather Jason Cherniak (left).

Tory man Isaac Apter (left).

CJPAC partier Jonathan Kirshblum.

Former Belinda Stronach aide, Mike Liebrock, chills with Jared Tessis.

Food included chocolate cake on a stick.

Funky fries.

And mini burgers.

Plus there was a dancer on the ceiling.

Red Tuesday

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:58:13 GMT

The Liberals held Red Tuesday to welcome their freshest MPs: Joyce Murray, Martha Hall Findlay and Bob Rae.

For a party whose leader talks the green talk, you would think there would be some healthier food. Cheese and grease!!!

Glen Hendricks ruffles some feathers and gets smoochy!

Belinda Stronach aide Greg MacEachern.

Irwin Cotler goes red.

Senator David Smith’s aide Jane Wisener.

St?phane Dion’s wife Janine Krieber goes super red.

Liberal party whip was also redded out.

Liberal staffers Marko Trivun and Ian Anderson

Anderson with Kristin Blais.

Perry Tsergas boas it up.

Tsergas with recent Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister finalist Pam Hrick. The two took driving lessons together back in the day.

?Red alert?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:14:12 GMT

Israelis living in the town of Sderot were on the Hill to talk about being one the closest cities to the Gaza Strip. Over 1,000 rockers have been launched at them so far this year.

Liberal MP Irwin Cotler visited the city. He was shocked to hear that some kid’s first words were “red alert,” which is what they hear as the rockets come down.

Other MPs at the talk were Liberal MP Anita Neville (right).

Liberal MP Susan Kadis (right).

And Tory MP Dr. James Lunney, head of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.

Autism day

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:38:22 GMT

Tory MP Mike Lake was with his son Jaden handing out puzzle pins for the first World Autism Day on April 2.

Jaden (left) has autism.

Inside Peter Stoffer?s office

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:36:46 GMT

NDP MP Peter Stoffer had to rearrange his office. The walls were closing in on him. In the main room, Stoffer has hung 900 hats and placed 2,500 pins, 1,000 buttons and dozens of awareness ribbons and bracelets on the walls. Other MPs in the Confederation Building bring guests to ogle at the eclectic collection.

Now Stoffer is in the room next door with less clutter.

When people enter Stoffer’s office for the first time, they are asked to sign the guest book and given three darts “I bought it in the store for like 10 bucks,” he says. If you hit the bull’s eye on Stoffer’s dartboard, your name is added to his “Wall of Fame” plaque.

Stoffer keeps the quality 28-gram tungsten darts with an Andy Capp cartoon on the feathers in a drawer. Guests use the crappy darts.

ITQ <3s parliamentary democracy!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:19:40 GMT

But you already knew that, right?

Anyway, as Colleague Selley posted I am spending the morning at Queen's University's Centre for the Study of Democracy, at a conference devoted to one of my favourite topics in the entire world: the parliamentary system, and how to make it better - or, at least, stop it from getting worse.

It's sort of a hybrid roundtable/seminar, inspired by the recent musings of CSD president Tom Axworthy, who, it seems, has some thoughts on the whole minority government gongshow currently in its second hit season on the Hill. I'll link to his paper as soon as it goes online, but David Akin (who, contrary to appearances, I am not contractually obligated to link in every single post; it just seems to have turned out that way lately) has the highlights here.

I'm here with fellow Hot Room-ite Steve Maher, who covers the Hill for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, for the "media perspective," although being a huge procedural wonk, I've mostly been telling war stories from the committee-liveblogging front - I'm totally going to print up some business cards with 'Accidental Agent of Parliamentary Committee Chaos' - and offering helpful suggestions to people who know a whole lot more than I do about the history of the Westminster system, but have yet to witness the ritualistic storming out of Art Hanger from yet another committee room.

It's been great fun so far; the crowd is made up of fellow democracy geeks, and the discussion has been full of bawdy tales of dysfunctional parliaments of the past, as well as some very good suggestions on how the system could be tweaked to make it a little less prone to descending into something envisioned by Hieronymus Bosch after a weekend bender.

Anyway, I should probably give my full attention to the political panel, but I'll have more to say later. Oh, and if you're really good, I'll post some pictures of me and Maher at the grave of Sir John A. Macdonald.

The super match

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:32:28 GMT

Liberal MP Mario Silva has coats made from the same material as his suit jackets and pants—even a matching vest!

The return of Bob Rae

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:11:31 GMT

It was Rae’s day as he easily swept to victory in the by-election held in Toronto Centre. St?phane Dion and his wife Janine Krieber arrived for the celebration. The word Outremont was forbidden from being uttered in the staid room at the Courtyard Marriott.

Liberal spokeswoman Leslie Swartman checks the results.

Doing the wave: (left to right) Arlene Perly Rae, Krieber and Bill Graham.

Scott Brison hangs out with Enza “Supermodel” Anderson, who is the grand marshal for Toronto’s 2008 Pride day.

Defeated Tory candidate Don Meredith wished Rae well.

Meredith walks by Mark Warner (left), the former Tory candidate for the riding who got turfed by the party.

Warner is now a Liberal.

Liberal youth mover and shaker: Milton Chan.

Another Liberal youth mover and shaker: Brian Clow.

Clow poses with fellow Liberal youth Seth Jutzi.

Rae poses with supporters.

Rae organizer Craig Knowles was beaming that night.

Rae’s media man Fred Kuhr.

Two Tory youths decided to crash Rae’s victory party. Craig Stevens (left) and Shane Barnes provided some much needed emo trendiness at the bash.

Liberal diva Denise Brunsdon accessorized by Geoff Hunnisett, a member of the Liberal lawyer student group at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman said he knocked on more doors for Rae than he’s done for himself.

Down the street from the Rae bash, the NDP candidate for Toronto Centre, El-Farouk Khaki partied with his partner Troy Jackson (right) and supporters. The NDP party was at the bar George’s Play in the heart of Toronto’s gay village and had much better music than the Rae event. The DJ spun songs by Amy Winehouse, Rihanna and Jully Black. Note to Liberals: invest in good DJs! Or at least have a DJ.

The food was foiled at Khaki’s party.

Canada?s Next Great Prime Minster

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:09:46 GMT

The latest winner of Canada’s Next Great Prime Minster was Alika Lafontaine (below). The show aired March, 23 from 7-8pm. Lafontaine now joins a group of winners which include Deirdra McCracken, press secretary to industry minister Jim Prentice, and Joseph Lavoie, one of the spokespeople for a former PM Brian Mulroney.

We've moved....

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:17:10 GMT

...to the nifty new macleans.ca site. So if you're an RSS Inkless subscriber, you should go over here for the new RSS feed:

http://blog.macleans.ca/category/blog-central/national/inkless-wells/feed/

I think you'll like the new blog setup.....Thanks pw

Le chiffre chiffr?

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:43:12 GMT

In his television interview/press conference thingie, Nicolas Sarkozy -- who looks fantastic, by the way, lush, backlit, with luminescent panels and rococo details -- just put the number of French soldiers he's sending to Afghanistan at 700. There's been some question about the precise scale of the French supplementary contribution. I'm not aware that the president has, himself, put a number to the deployment before.

Seven hundred is less than 1,000, less I checked.

All hat and no cattle, but what a hat!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:53:05 GMT

Nicolas Sarkozy prepares for a prime time news conference to dispel the idea that he is all flash and no substance....

"Since Tuesday, Elys?e Palace has opened its doors to the television crews. A studio has been built in the middle of the Presidential palace's festive hall. The director Renaud Le Van Kim put a call in to set designer Philippe D?sert, whose already contirbuted to the debate between Nicolas Sarkozy and S?gol?ne Royal between the two rounds of the presidential election. 'His back to the Elys?e garden, the President will take his place at a triangular translucent Plexiglass table placed on a luminescent platform,' Philippe D?sert explains. ... 'We appreciated the way he treats light, especially the luminescent panels which created a lovely atmosphere around the debaters,' explains Franck Louvrier, Elys?e press counsellor. ... 'The idea is to add some freshness even as we bring out the rococo and baroque style of the surroundings,' says Philippe D?sert. In the background, about 40 spectators will watch the broadcast: 'We didn't want well-known personalities, members of the government or of his entourage. We invited the Elys?e staff to attend,' explains Franck Louvrier.
"Off the record, the journalists from the two networks involved explain that everything was decided by the Elys?e, and that the proposals submitted by TF1 and France 2 corresponded precisely to the booklet of presidential demands. An allusion to the rumours that Nicolas Sarkozy was disappointed after the broadcast of last Nov. 29, his most recent such exercise. According to several press accounts, Nicolas Sarkozy was critical of a broadcast that was 'too dated,' 'too soft,' 'too similar to what we saw under Chirac.' Those concerned have acted accordingly...."

(source)

Exeunt, pursued by OPML

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:26:51 GMT

Attention any and all readers following Inside the Queensway via RSS:

As of today, this feed will no longer be updated. Don't panic (or, depending on your perspective, celebrate): I haven't been fired, or reassigned. The entire macleans.ca blog family is in the process of migrating to a shiny, new platform, which means shiny, new URLS for all!

Share and enjoy:

ITQ Central:
http://blog.macleans.ca/category/blogs/national/inside-the-queensway/
ITQ RSS: http://blog.macleans.ca/category/blog-central/national/inside-the-queensway/feed/

Department of missing the point utterly

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:07:39 GMT

Bertelsmann announces it will publish, on paper, 50,000 of the 700,000 articles in the German-language edition of Wikipedia. Updated annually. That's useful: 8% of last year's Wikipedia, if you're willing to pay for it.

Rupert's Tuesday

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:31:55 GMT

The media mogul had one of the busiest days in the history of the industry, dusting the Wall Street Journal's top editor, buying Newsday and forcing the New York Observer to replate its front page. But it was worth it. Absolute total must-reading for media-industry mavens, the Observer piece asks the obvious question: Is Murdoch going to war against the New York Times?

May's April

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:13:17 GMT

We are reluctant to write much about the Green Party of Canada in this corner. There are two reasons, and here they are now.

(a) One seemingly not-entirely-hinged reader has taken to haranguing me and ITQ about our refusal to give proper scrutiny to the (as he sees her) nefarious Elizabeth May. ITQ and I worry that if we actually wrote about the Greens we would only encourage this fellow, and we seriously don't want to do that.
(b) THE GREEN PARTY OF CANADA HAS NO SEATS IN PARLIAMENT!!! Sorry for shouting, but this is what ITQ and I want to say to the fellow in point (a) as an explanation for (as he sees it) shirking our duty: It feels unaccountably more rewarding to pay attention to people with power than to pay attention to people without power.

(Incidentally, if you're wondering why the Green leader should not have a spot on the already-crowded stage at the next election leaders' debate, I recommend a careful inspection of the first 10 words of point (b). But I digress. Onward.)

As I say, we are reluctant to write Green here at Inkless, but it has been an eventful few weeks over there. To wit:

Four members of the party's Federal Council appear to have resigned, and one of them says that in his own case, it's because Elizabeth May showed up in person to bushwhack his nomination meeting. This is causing some grumbling among Green party members, some of whom are recalling that during the last campaign, May seemed eager to have the party fold its tents rather than standing as an obstacle to the Liberals. (Note that May hotly disputes this interpretation, or indeed any interpretation whatsoever: "I didn't have a very well-formed idea at all... I had no actual plan... I didn't have an actual proposal... It wasn't a clear idea that I was putting forward.")

(Incidentally, if you're wondering why the Green leader should not have a spot on the already-crowded stage at the next election leaders' debate, ask yourself -- after carefully considering the first 10 words of point (b) above -- whether it's really fair for the Liberal leader, who thinks the Liberal leader must at all costs be prime minister, to be joined onstage by a special auxiliary backup party leader who also thinks the Liberal leader must at all costs be prime minister. But I digress again. Onward.)

Very interesting, if you're the kind of person who is interested in the escapades of zero-MP political parties. There. I did my bit. No more. And you, sir -- yes, you know who you are -- get off our backs!

Adler

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:24:56 GMT

Via Warren and Dan Cook, Charles does unto Pierre Poili?vre what Poili?vre has lately done with the facts: gets a little rough.

Hillary

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:10:34 GMT

All I have to say is that you can't stop that woman. She's months past losing the "aura of inevitability" that was once thought to be her only guarantor of success. She's months past losing the fundraising advantage. Her Tuzla lies were appalling and, properly, humiliating for her once she was caught. And yet she still stands. The lady is tough. Should Obama be the nominee? Sure. If he can beat her. So far that remains a tall order.

Data-rich environments, anyone?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:02:33 GMT

I'll be writing about the night's U.S. presidential primary news in a few minutes, but first a point about... pointing.

I refer, of course, to John King. The strapping CNN reporter is doing his thing with the computer board again tonight, ordering and displaying layers of information with extraordinary agility. Here's some Youtube footage of King doing his thing earlier, and here are New York Times blog and article hagiography.

As the Times hints, while the technology of King's touch screen is stunning, it has preceents: Tim Russert's delegate-count whiteboard in 2000 and, some of you may remember, the virtuoso performance Eric Malling put on during the CBC's election-night coverage in 1988, armed with no more than an impeccable briefing book and Malling's own knowledge of local riding races.

In every case what was remarkable was the density of pertinent information on display for viewers. I just watched King present a county-by-county analysis of the Pennsylvania returns, including maps of metropolitan-versus-hinterland voter trends going back four election cycles. It couldn't be further from the kind of coverage that seeks to ratify coffee-table chit-chat by wasting viewers' time with reporters who know no more than the audience does.

Not for the first time, I'm reminded of a key topic of discussion at the Maclean's Ottawa bureau: if we actually had U.S.-style campaigns and coverage, instead of centre-left Canadians' cheap stereotype of U.S. campaigns and coverage, it would be a considerable step up from the current situation.

Who's capable of delivering the density of information King now routinely delivers on big political nights? CBC Newsworld, which ran a documentary about Akhmed the poppy farmer instead of covering the last four by-elections?

The answer, of course, will be that CNN is a niche network serving a fraction of the audience of the big Canadian broadcasters. I don't buy it. I maintain that voters are hungry for comprehensible information, not for cheerful information-free glibness.

So I think reporters who can digest and comprehensibly deliver large amounts of data, sense and explain the connections among the returns, reduce the amount of ignorance and confusion in the air rather than adding to the confusion as a mark of cheap populism, are under-valued in the current Canadian journalistic market.

Meanwhile back in France...

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:42:58 GMT

...Nicolas Sarkozy is the least popular president, at the one-year mark in his five-year term, of any French president in polling history. Twenty-eight per cent approval rating, and he doesn't even have Peter Van Loan spinning for him.

As always, the underlying current is that the French dearly wish the Omnipr?sident would simply get on with the job. Eighty per cent think fiscal restraint is unavoidable -- duh -- but nearly 60% don't trust Sarko to deliver it. When Russia was failing its transition to a market economy, Tom Toles drew a cartoon in the Buffalo Daily News showing Boris Yeltsin piloting an old-fashioned biplane. There's a banner behind the plane with the word REFORM. The plane is on the ground, motionless. The banner is lying on the grass behind the plane. And there's a Communist Party apparatchik in the seat behind Yeltsin's, shouting: "Fly slower!" Mutatis mutandis, Sarko is his own apparatchik. Here's one of his more interesting cabinet ministers, launching a ginger group to try and imagine how France could have a functional economy by 2025. Which is Eric Besson's polite way of saying he has already written off the government in which he serves.