Roundup: Debating the “manipulated media” tag

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Because this campaign is already reaching levels of stupid that are hard to comprehend, we got into the supposed health care debate portion over the weekend, with Chrystia Freeland tweeting clips of Erin O’Toole responding to a question where he praises certain elements of privatizing healthcare – apparently to help “drive efficiencies” – but what the clip didn’t show was him saying that he still felt universal healthcare was paramount. And while this raged back and forth over social media, Twitter slapped the “manipulated media” tag over the French version of the video (but not the English, leading to some speculation that it was because of the subtitles), and lo, did all of the Conservatives on social media have a field day.

Of course, said field day simply outlines their own hypocrisy, as they went into the weekend widely sharing shitposts of Justin Trudeau saying he doesn’t think about monetary policy – while having truncated the clip so that you don’t hear him talking about affordability. It’s a game they’ve long played (hello, the truncated quote of “budgets balance themselves” anyone?) so they can’t claim to be the wounded party here, and their wounded tones about Freeland proving she wasn’t such a statesman after all is all partisan bullshit, and yet, we’re in a campaign so it’s not wholly unexpected. But seriously, guys, tone down the sanctimony – and the gloating.

Meanwhile, a couple of reminders when it comes to the healthcare debate:

https://twitter.com/tammyschirle/status/1429525317866115079

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1429546698184003589

On the campaign trail:

  • Justin Trudeau made stops in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to showcase Anita Anand as the “minister of vaccines.”
  • Erin O’Toole was in BC to promote his plan to address the opioid crisis, which is mostly failed policies but he says they can’t police their way out, so progress?
  • Jagmeet Singh was in Toronto to mark the tenth anniversary of Jack Layton’s death, and promised to rename his old riding after him.
  • The Bloc have unveiled their platform (for as much good as it does as they can never form government).
  • The ongoing drama around Annamie Paul is dogging Green candidates while they try to campaign.
  • Here is a comparison on the different parties’ promises around seniors.
  • Heather Scoffield sees hope in the parties all looking to tackle long-term care…provided that they can get the provinces on board.

Good reads:

  • The Canadian Rangers are being dispatched to help the Northwest Territories deal with their current COVID outbreak.
  • Marco Mendicino says it’s nothing short of miraculous that they have evacuated as many people as they have thus far from Kabul given the challenges.
  • Kevin Newman recounts how Afghans to be evacuated with their families were sent instructions, but no one could meet them as Americans had closed the entrance.
  • Paul Wells relays more of the frustration he’s hearing about the bottlenecks in getting people out, many of whom are blaming bureaucrats.
  • Jen Gerson checks in with the swivel-eyed loons in the Maverick Party, who want to split the Conservative vote and become the Bloc Québécois of the west.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Debating the “manipulated media” tag”

  1. One problem I am now seeing in this campaign is that O’Toole may be SAYING the “right” things — about opioid policing, health care, climate change, etc — but he hasn’t shown any capacity yet to actually DO anything different, in a party that in the past has not supported these directions.
    He is going to get roiled badly by his own guys, unless he can make the CPC and his MPs follow the policies he says he wants. I have seen no evidence of leadership so far — instead, the party turns down his new climate change direction at their convention, and then O’Toole declares in the name of “freedom” that its OK with him if his MPs do whatever they want in terms of vaccinations and abortion policies.
    I hope Canadian media will demand some evidence of his leadership ability or capacity before they let the party continue to sell him as Canada’s Fix-it Guy.

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