In his year-end interview with The Canadian Press, Justin Trudeau has promised an end to message control if he were to form government, and the unmuzzling of bureaucrats. It’s a bold promise, and one that we’ll have to see to believe because we have to remember where many of these directives come from, which is largely because Conservative candidates were making boneheaded statements to the media during campaigns, which sunk the party’s chances until message discipline became the order of the day. Once media could no longer jump on their every utterances, people weren’t exposed to what they were saying, and the Conservatives eventually got into power, where the discipline continued in order to keep their place. Likewise, after the 2011 election when a busload of accidental NDP MPs got elected, that party went into message lockdown in order to ensure that they didn’t have any particular bozo eruptions. If more Liberal candidates start saying things that causes the party some embarrassment – especially as We The Media can jump on said quotes and run with them rather mercilessly – then we’ll see how long they go without message control. Trudeau makes a point about the fact that you can’t be a government from a single person, and he has made a concerted effort to showcase the team around him, probably to mask any perceived weaknesses he has on the policy front (though I would say that most people underestimate his intellectual capacity). I also think that Harper’s spokesperson disputing Trudeau’s assertions and claiming that ministers are available to speak to the media is utterly precious. The last time a minister responded to my phone calls was pretty much never, and I’m not the only one who has to make do with a bland talking point from their spokesperson rather than getting an actual quote from said minister, let alone a briefing on a new piece of legislation.
Good reads:
- Aaron Wherry has year-end interviews with Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau, and gives a lengthy link-filled recounting of the 41st Parliament to date.
- On his way out, PEI Premier Robert Ghiz says that he’s pro-choice, and that he didn’t know that Health PEI was planning on providing abortion services but opted against it to continue funding it for those who go out-of-province.
- Tony Clement rather incredulously says that the government can’t release documents in machine-readable formats, like spreadsheets, because they’re afraid people will alter it and spread falsehoods. Because having the data readily available wouldn’t counteract that, or anything.
- Rob Clarke’s private member’s bill to make changes to the Indian Act has become law, not without some controversy.
- PC-turned-Wildrose MLA Heather Forsyth is the new interim leader of the Wildrose after Danielle Smith and eight other MLAs defected to the PCs. Meanwhile, an outside PR consultant was used to help the defection negotiation – the kind of cozy relationship that Danielle Smith railed against. Preston Manning is also apologising for the role he played in the defections.
- Elizabeth Thompson continues to look into the detailed hospitality reports of MPs.
- Here’s a look at the responses by the NCC and City Hall during the October 22nd shootings.
Odds and ends:
The federal deficit is going to be bigger than pegged because of those family tax credits and new infrastructure spending.
Michelle Zilio recaps this year’s parliamentarian Xmas cards, plus a few flashbacks.
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