It has become increasingly clear that the Conservatives plan to wage war against the media as part of their election strategy, which you’d think is funny because We The Media aren’t running in the election. The problem is that this isn’t actually about the media, but rather about undermining the foundations of the institution and the trust that people place in it. Why? Because in the wake of the growing success of populist leaders and movements, they’ve decided to abandon all shame and simply straight-up lie. Most of the media won’t call them lies, because they tend to aim for both-sides-ism “balance” that tends to look like “one side says this, the other side says that, you decide” in its construction, and Scheer and company have decided to exploit that for all it’s worth. And if you do call them on those lies, well, you’re the one who is suspect, whose motives are driven by partisanship, or because you’re looking for some kind of government job, (or my favourite, that I’m allegedly performing sexual favours for the PM).

What I find particularly rich are the Conservatives operatives behind this campaign of harassment is how they insist that they don’t rise to Trumpian levels, but you could have fooled me. They may not say “fake news,” but they intimate it at every opportunity. And if you call them out on a lie (which doesn’t happen often), then they go on the attack. It’s happened to me on numerous occasions (and usually the attacks are themselves wrapped in more lies and distortions), but then again, I’ve also decided to call a lie a lie and not couch it in both-sides-ism. As much as they insist they’re just “pointing out specific inaccuracies” or “countering criticisms,” that’s another lie, and we all have the receipts to prove it.

This line from Harrison is straight-up bullshit. https://t.co/P7SRU5j1Sn pic.twitter.com/YC759itnay

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 27, 2018

In the meantime, they’ll content themselves with this sense of martyrdom, that they’re just so hard done byfrom the media, that the coverage of the Liberals is “glowing” while we do nothing but attack the Conservatives (have you actually read any reporting?) and that apparently the pundits are all taking the Liberals’ sides (seriously?) and that justifies their need to “go for the jugular.” But when you’re accustomed to blaming others to assuage your hurt feelings, you think that your attacks righteous, and that’s where we are. So yeah, this is going to get worse, it’s going to get Trumpian, and they’re going to keep insisting that they would never demonise the profession, but don’t believe them. It’s in their interests to undermine journalism, and they lack any shame in doing so.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau spoke with Turkey’s (strongman) president about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
• Mexico says they’ll refuse to sign the New NAFTA until Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs are lifted.
• Canadian officials say they’re stalling further trade talks with China until they start being more reasonable in their policy positions.
• Catherine McKenna says the government will spend $1.5 billion over the next five years to help small businesses adapt to the new carbon price regime.
• The federal government is updating its regulations around fertility treatments, but one Liberal MP wants to change the whole regime and decriminalising paying for it.
• The federal government says they’ll commit up to $1.75 billion, should Calgary win their bid for the 2026 Olympics.
• The complex employee classification system may be delaying federal pay equity legislation.
• StatsCan is looking to acquire banking and financial transaction data (that will be anonymized) in order to build a database of trends.
• The Supreme Court of Canada has handed down a ruling that makes it harder to challenge Breathalyzer data in impaired driving cases.
• Jagmeet Singh’s new “interim” chief of staff has a history of not dealing with harassment complaints seriously during his time in Manitoba.
• Car dealers in Alberta have been funnelling donations to the UCP, which makes it look like their policies are up for sale.
• Kevin Carmichael looks at the government’s attempt to get more companies interested in trade outside of the US.
• Chris Selley lambastes the Ontario bill to strip those convicted on terrorism charges of public services.
• Martin Patriquin calls out Michelle Rempel’s ginned up outrage over things that are statistically insignificant in order to further a narrative about Trudeau.
• Chantal Hébert wonders if electoral reform is gaining momentum (or gods forbid taking root) in Canada. (Let’s hope not).
• My weekend column notes the deliberate obtuseness of the Conservative strategy around carbon pricing (and the government’s inability to communicate around it).

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.