As the hollowing out of the Press Gallery continues, we lost a fairly unique voice yesterday, being Peter O’Neil, who was writing for the Vancouver Sun. While he is but yet one more journalist who has been let go in this period of bloodletting, his was a fairly unique position of being the only “regional” voice left in a major chain paper. Yes, we still have the Winnipeg Free Press and the Halifax Chronicle Herald sending journalists to the Hill rather than just buying wire copy (which they still do, mind you), but those independent papers, and that does make a difference.

Gulp. 2day is my last day at @VancouverSun. Thanks 2every1-colleagues, MPs, staffers-who made this an amazing experience #cdnpoli #bcpoli

— Peter O'Neil (@poneilinOttawa) January 31, 2017

Once upon a time, each local paper for the major chains sent someone to Ottawa to cover stories here from the local perspective rather than rely solely on national reporters to feed stories to them. It allowed for local concerns to be brought to MPs here, and for the MPs to better engage with their local papers from Ottawa – especially as they had someone who knew their home ridings here to keep them honest. That’s all gone now. And part of why this is a problem is that there has been a proven correlation between the loss of regional reporters in the Press Gallery and a decline voter turnout in those communities where they suffered that loss. (There are academic studies on this, but my GoogleFu is failing me on this one, but yes, this was a subject frequently discussed during my master’s programme). And now, with even fewer national reporters there to do the daily reporting plus trying to get any kind of perspective, we no longer have reporters doing the same kinds of accountability on MPs themselves rather than just of the government. Peter was the last of the regional voices from the big chains, and because Vancouver has a particular unique political culture of its own, that was an important perspective to have. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why he wound up writing the biography of former Senator Gerry St. Germain – because St. Germain knew that O’Neil knew West Coast politics, he could trust him enough to tell his story. That’s not an insignificant thing in a country with big regional differences like Canada has. And this becomes a growing problem as we lose more and more journalists and positions here in Ottawa, which we need to figure out how to reverse, one way or another, before things deteriorate to the point of no return.

Good reads:

• Despite the Trump “Muslim ban,” the government isn’t budging on refugee levels or the “safe third country” agreement. For now, anyway.
• While Andrew Leslie urges calm in dealing with Trump, the NDP led off last night’s emergency debate by denouncing Trump and his policies.
• Yesterday was John McCallum and Stéphane Dion’s last day in Parliament, Dion having (finally) accepted the position of Ambassador to Germany and the EU.
• The government has begun negotiations for the interim acquisition of Super Hornets, expected to cost between $5-7 billion, and could arrive by 2019.
• The RCAF has appointed its first female deputy commander.
• The PMO complained to Fox News that a wrong tweet about the Quebec shooting suspect was still circulating, and it was deleted within hours.
• PEI has now signed onto the federal government’s healthcare deal, leaving five provinces who have not yet.
• Kevin O’Leary dropped by Parliament Hill to chat with Conservative MPs.
• Maxime Bernier led the Conservative leadership race in terms of fundraising over the last quarter. Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey donated $100 each to five campaigns.
• Former PBO Kevin Page has questions about the planned legislation to create a new independent Parliamentary Budget Office.
• Conservative MP Garnett Genuis writes that immigration bans won’t actually stop radicalization.
• Michael Den Tandt says that Trudeau’s balancing act with Trump is reminiscent of Mulroney-Reagan. Hopefully there won’t be an “Irish Eyes are Smiling” moment.
• My Loonie Politics column talks about the government having to lay in the bed they made with independent senators.

Odds and ends:

Former cabinet minister and now senator Josée Verner has left the Conservative caucus to sit as an independent.

Maclean’s chronicled the day of new democratic institutions minister Karina Gould’s first day back on the Hill in her new portfolio.

Note: My Loonie Politics columns are now paywalled. Subscription is normally $50/year, but use promo code Smith and it’s $40. Thanks!