Roundup: No breach of privilege for horse jokes

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Our long national horse-joke nightmare is over. The Speaker of the House of Commons ruled that said tweet didn’t impinge on Garnett Genuis’ ability to do his work, and was not a prima facie breach of privilege, and the matter is dropped. I’m just surprised that it took him three days to determine that, but here we are. I was able to return to the House of Commons without fear that I would be removed by security (because the privilege complaint got the Sergeant-at-Arms involved), and things went as they have for pretty much the past almost fourteen years. Sure, Andrew Scheer gave me a death stare, but he’s not going to keep me from doing my job.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1574767434145447940

With that in mind, a few notes and observations—while I might have preferred a stronger statement from the Press Gallery executive, I have come to learn that there was a lot of backroom pressure being exerted by certain Conservatives, so the Gallery didn’t relent to that, which is a positive sign, but still worrying about the overall implications. I am under no illusions—this was a targeted attack on me, and this was a test case for what the Conservatives hoped they could get away with in their attempt to go to war with the media. They figured that I was vulnerable, because I’m a freelancer without a corporation and a newsroom backing me up, and I’m gay, and they hoped it would count against me. It didn’t. The Gallery rebuffed their attempts, and I wasn’t about to let the Conservatives bully or intimidate me. But this was pure intimidation, and We The Media can’t kid ourselves. I was one of the first, but I will not be the last. We’re going to need to get a lot better at solidarity in the months and years to come. Am I going to recycle this horse joke yet again? Probably not. But I’m not going to stop calling out their bullshit, either in print or over Twitter.

The bigger warning sign is about what this says about the state of politics. For Scheer and Genuis, this is just a game, and they are more concerned with scoring points than they are in doing the work of being an MP, whether it’s actual accountability, or policy work, or any of it. And the sad reality is that this is where politics has been headed under the current generation for a few years now. Friends of mine who used to be staffers got so discouraged by this attitude about point-scoring—and this is from all parties, not just the Conservatives—that they wanted out. Their going after me was just another attempt to score a point, and that’s why I’m not going to laugh this off and say “It’s just politics.” Because it’s not “just politics,” and this is not a game. We need to break this mindset, and return to this being a serious place with serious people. Garnett Genuis and Andrew Scheer are not serious people. Oh, and if they couldn’t parse the grammar of that tweet, then they have no business scrutinizing legislation.

And finally, a big thank you to all of my supporters and followers over the past week. It was very heartening to get your messages of encouragement throughout, even as I dealt with an influx of trolls who apparently have nothing better to do with their time than stalk my Facebook, or click on my YouTube videos in order to down-vote them. (Guess what guys—the algorithm counts those clicks, down-votes and shitty comments as engagement in my favour).

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 216:

Russia is claiming to have won overwhelming majority votes in their sham-referendums (conducted at gunpoint) in occupied regions of Ukraine as a pretext for annexation, which no Western country is going to view as legitimate. Meanwhile, Russian men at risk of conscription are fleeing the country, and a Russian-backed disinformation network trying to spread propaganda about the invasion has been shut down.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau toured the devastation on PEI and Cape Breton Island following Hurricane Fiona and met with workers doing clean-up.
  • Marco Mendicino says the Conservatives are pushing a false narrative about ArriveCan, which those American power workers say didn’t cause delays.
  • After leaving the post vacant for a year, the government has finally appointed a new victims of crime ombudsman.
  • The government also announced that they are updating their questionnaires for potential judges to have more inclusive language.
  • The Royal Canadian Navy is short some 17 percent of its personnel needs, because its recruitment crisis is so bad at this point.
  • The head of the union for border officers says staffing shortages, not ArriveCan, have more to do with delays, and they may be getting worse.
  • Experts say that the latest round of sanctions on Iranian officials won’t do much to pressure the regime, leading to others to call for more multilateral solutions.
  • The Federal Court has certified a $1.1 billion class action against the RCMP by current and former members, regarding bullying, intimidation and harassment.
  • Dominic LeBlanc finally met in person the stem cell donor who saved his life.
  • The NDP want the agriculture committee to probe grocery chain profits, which sounds to me like an exercise in showboating for the cameras.
  • The Saskatchewan NDP have voted to exclude Jagmeet Singh from their convention, believing that the federal party is too much of a drag for them.
  • The BC Liberals, who aren’t affiliated with the federal Liberal Party, want to change their name to BC United, which sounds like a European football team.
  • Michael Den Tandt makes the case for an international Digital Stability Board.
  • Susan Delacourt sees signs in Poilievre’s moves that he is switching to play a longer game than just trying to score short-term points.
  • My column wonders if Canada can manage to create a civilian disaster relief agency rather than just relying on a strained military, but the signs aren’t good.

Odds and ends:

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6 thoughts on “Roundup: No breach of privilege for horse jokes”

  1. Congrat’s Dale!
    #ResponsibleJournalism prevails
    Imo we need more independent journalists – like you!

  2. I am glad to hear that you won this one! I am unhappy with the slow response from your colleagues. There should have been no hesitation on their response. You are right that Question Period is being used as a “Game” to score points, and must change.The quality of elected candidates would be helpful. Thank you, and so happy that you are back!
    Mary Wright

  3. Dale: I read your twitter feed regularly and consider it an unvarnished source of what is actually occurring in the House. I also concur with your assessment of the two amigos from Sask.; a pair of clueless wonders as my Grade 8 teacher would have said.

  4. Dale,

    I am very pleased for you re: horse joke v. breach of privilege.

    In my humble opinion, the Press Gallery should NEVER bow to pressure from politicians, for if they do, it may lead to the loss of press freedom. All Members of the Press Gallery should have the right to due process re: discipline by the Press Gallery.

    Keep up the good work!

    Ronald A. McCallum

  5. The “conservative” reaction to your “joke” has indelibly stamped those idiots with the well deserved mantle of the Meanest Party of Canada. Of course most free thinking Canadians have known this for generations. For so many reasons Dale, thanks for withstanding the tory ignorance, you have spoken for all of us. It is shameful that the media who sat with you didn’t stand with you, but that is another story.

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