Roundup: Fill in the blanks

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None of what happened with the Amherst branch of the Royal Canadian Legion announcement yesterday was out of the ordinary or unexpected, but it was one giant confirmation of what we are seeing daily in the debasement of our politics. Conservative MP Scott Armstrong mistakenly sent out a press release that still had all of the track changes, and it showed very clearly that it was a fill-in-the-blanks job. Because gods forbid an announcement was made that wasn’t pabulum. Pretty much all political speech has become this – checklists of talking points that need to be ticked off in whatever the context. Giving a members’ statement? Here are the talking points you need to say – or better yet, here’s the fill-in-the-blanks statement we’ll hand to you. Going on a panel show at 5 o’clock? Here are the lines you can deliver, and the slogans you need to recite. The funny thing is, I’ve met MPs who’ve gotten media training – which they paid for out of their own pockets – and they can do without all of this box-checking, blanks-filled-in pap that they would recite otherwise. But those MPs made the choice to not do what their fellows were doing, and proved they could speak on their own without sounding like a babbling idiot. But most MPs don’t take the time to learn how to speak in public, or in the media, or how to write a speech on their own. It’s mostly just a handful of veteran MPs who can do it these days, and that doesn’t bode well for the future seeing the number of incumbents who aren’t running again. Unless MPs start to do something about their own situation – or better yet, voters demand that they do – we’ll wind up with a parliament of MPs reading more of these scripts like robotic simpletons.

Good reads:

  • The PBO says we’re on track for a $1 billion deficit if we spent the contingency reserve this year. Whee! Joe Oliver disputes this, but won’t answer questions.
  • Nathan Cullen muses about coalitions, and the Straight gets the post-election options so wrong it actually hurts.
  • The government is throwing a bunch more money into cyber-security for all the good it will do, as it’s still a relatively tiny amount.
  • David Pugliese speculates on the upcoming military procurement announcements.
  • A number of cadet corps websites have been hacked by ISIS sympathisers.
  • Here’s a conversation with Larry Beasley, chair of the NCC advisory committee on planning, on why the Victims of Communism memorial went wrong.
  • Kady O’Malley offers some advice for political staffers going on “election leave.”

Odds and ends:

Kady O’Malley gets some answers on those disappearing PMO staffers.

Thomas Mulcair referred to his candidate Alex Johnstone as male, when she is in fact not. While we have done it, one would imagine you’d know the local candidate.

Pierre Poilievre’s website contains a quote warning people about government largesse – even as he goes around the country touting the UCCB cheques.