[note-- MediaScout was sadly retired at the end of 2008. The texts below were once, or may still be, in the email inboxes of thousands of subscribers to the free service that provided daily birds-eye coverage and analysis of Canada's top seven news sources. These are some but not all of my installments for MediaScout.]
A Tumultuous Year, An Uncertain Future – Dec. 19 2008
This time of year, we tend to reflect on the past twelve months, while doing some existential work on what needs fixing come January. In politics, in money, and in media, 2008 was more volatile than our collective imagination could have ever conjured. The National’s year-end At Issue panel had fun picking best and worst political plays; but by now you’ve heard it all, and have likely made up your own mind anyway. The Tories have done a bit of their own year-end navel-gazing, and have finally come to terms with the need for a big stimulus package that will sink them $30 billion in the red next year. Further, to the immense enjoyment of the Globe editorial board and the Post’s Kelly McParland, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has named eleven top-notch business and economics leaders to a panel that will help him decide how to align the budget. (A very “Obama-like” move, the Globe lauds.) As Harper explained to CTV’s Bob Fife and Lloyd Robertson yesterday, the stimulus will be used for significant aid to the auto and forestry industries, as well as spending on infrastructure, social housing, worker retraining, and stimulating consumer spending. It likely can’t come soon enough; as of now, Canada’s monetary policies of slashing lending rates haven’t been effective. (Glen Hogson’s piece in the Post explains why fiscal policy can work faster than monetary policy.)
But toward 2009? Canada is deeper into a recession than the prime minister would like to admit, and the creation of the new Economic Dream Team reinforces the fact that throughout the holidays there will be lots of quibbling about what to do about the economy. To jump-start things, the Post’s Colby Cosh says we need tax cuts pronto, and the Globe retorts that tax cuts really aren’t that great, especially considering that municipalities are being forced to increase taxes to pay for basic amenities. Interesting, too, is that the federal government’s new budget watchdog has seen his funding frozen, and maybe not at the best time — La Presse reports today that, in the past four years, Canada Mortgage and Housing has spent $80,000 on golf balls. It’s a whirlwind note on which to leave 2008. But there is good news: McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and Marvel Comics stocks are up this year; a leader of the Rwandan genocide was sentenced to life imprisonment; and CSIS was ordered to stop wiretapping privileged attorney-client conversations. And, though it be at the cost of enormous travel difficulties, it looks like there will be a white Christmas for all Canadians, whether you care to celebrate it or not.
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THE LEADS:
THE NATIONAL: “Seeking Wisdom: Jim Flaherty names a council of eminent Canadians. Their task: help him write a recession-busting budget”
CTV NEWS: “Recovery Package: The Prime Minister’s economic plan of attack”
GLOBE AND MAIL: “Flaherty gives banks deadline to lend more”
TORONTO STAR: not available due to technical difficulties
NATIONAL POST: “Obama’s pastor pick angers gay activists”
LA PRESSE: “The great waste”
OTTAWA CITIZEN: “Embattled budget officer’s funding frozen”
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
President-elect Barack Obama comes under fire for choosing the very conservative Reverend Rick Warren to lead January’s inaugural prayer invocation. An Afghan-Canadian academic is named governor of Kandahar. Premier Danny Williams’ expropriation of Newfoundland natural resources from a forestry company may be uncouth, but may not be so unwise, say some.
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RICK WARREN TAKES THE HEAT
The Post leads, the Globe fronts, and the Citizen goes inside with the political heat surrounding President-elect Barack Obama’s invitation to have Reverend Rick Warren lead the invocation at the inauguration ceremony this January. Warren is the evangelical leader of California’s Saddleback Church and has sold thirty million copies of his book The Purpose-Driven Life; he campaigned against California’s Proposition 8, and has compared abortion to the Holocaust. Criticism of the reverend was more muted earlier this year, when he hosted Obama and McCain at his church for a debate on faith and politics. But the gay community and liberal Americans have come out in scathing opposition to Obama’s surprise choice this week. Joe Solomonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, called the selection “a genuine blow” to gay and lesbian Americans, and Andrew Sullivan, a gay Catholic conservative, wrote on his blog in the Atlantic, “If anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now.”
The Big Seven don’t jump on the anti-gay wagon, but focus their attention more on Warren’s general religiosity. John Ibbitson at the Globe doesn’t seem to be too worried, saying that the religious right’s leadership “is aging, dead or mired in sex scandals.” But Dan Gardner writes scathingly in the Citizen that Obama’s appointment means that, like Warren, the president-elect has lost grip on reality. Obama has made many, many gestures lately toward bridging the right-left divide in the US, but it is interesting that the Warren pick has so captured the limelight. Certainly he is being used as another rallying point for anti-Proposition 8-ers; but that Americans and Canadians are mounting criticism on a ceremonial figure rather than controversial new cabinet members suggests that the role of religious figureheads — and indeed, of ceremonies in general — remains intensely politicized in the US.
MR. WESA GOES TO KANDAHAR
The National, CTV News, the Post, the Citizen, the Globe, and La Presse (not available online) all go inside with the appointment of Tooryalai Wesa, an Afghan-Canadian specialist in rural agricultural development, as acting governor of Kandahar. Wesa grew up in the region and was a childhood friend of current Afghan President Hamid Karzai; he served as the first president of Kandahar University before moving to Coquitlam, British Columbia, thirteen years ago. Wesa will be the province’s third governor in eight months; the last was fired for alleged involvement in tribal power deals. There is no help from the Big Seven today in answering why a democratic vote cannot occur for the position of provincial governor, but according to the Globe, “educated” Kandaharis are pleased that a person knowledgeable about rural development will oversee the province, instead of one who has been bred on the tribal politics at work in the region. Still, Wesa acknowledged he would not be able to implement development plans until security in the region is achieved, which means he’ll be representing Canada’s perspective while working with the national and local leadership — tricky political gaming in which Wesa seems to have little experience. He’ll also have to explain why Canadian soldiers will soon be shining laser pointers in the eyes of Afghans at border crossings — no small task, no matter what one’s credentials.
HYDROELECTRIC POWER TO THE PEOPLE
CTV News goes inside with Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams’ decision this week to expropriate the natural resource rights of a pulp-and-paper mill owned by AbitibiBowater, following the Montreal-based company’s decision to shut down this spring and leave hundreds out of work. Not only will Williams’ Progressive Conservative government take back the water, timber, and hydroelectric usage rights dating back a century, when the plant was first built, but it also plans to put the plant under control of a Crown corporation. The week’s coverage has given airtime to plenty of critics, who fume that the move could endanger an already-shaky NAFTA, and CTV last night echoed that line of thought. But today Susan Riley in the Citizen draws a different conclusion — that the populist politics at play make good sense. “We have become convinced that it is financially risky, provocative, even dangerous, for our elected officials to do what they are elected to do: protect the public interest, not just the balance sheets of private enterprises,” she writes.
Defining the Right to Know – Dec. 17 2008
8:25 am EDT | Montreal | Kelly Ebbels reporting: Lovers of government openness: Watch carefully the Supreme Court of Canada in the coming months, as it will decide whether the public’s access to information about the government is a constitutional right.
The case pits the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, struggling since 1997 to obtain police reports on a botched investigation into the murder of Toronto mobster Dominic Racco, against the Ontario Ministry of Public Safety and Security. Other attorney-general offices, civil liberties groups, and journalists have also been folded into the case as interveners.
When the case for Racco’s 1983 murder went strangely under-investigated, the CLA sought reports from the Ontario RCMP. But due to an exemption on law enforcement information in the province’s access-to-information laws, their request was rejected. Since then, the CLA has been fighting to gain access to the documents to re-examine the case.
The Supreme Court saw last week that neither side would be pulling punches. Ontario Crown prosecutor David Guttman argued that access to government information is not a right but a privilege bestowed on the citizenry, and that establishing a blanket right to government information would create a chilling effect for government employees.
But the CLA argued that an affirmation of the right to information would only trump law enforcement needs or solicitor-client relations for cases of “compelling public interest” — likely a very few.
In one sense it may be useful to have some clarity on defining what the “right to know” really means in Canada — especially since dozens of other countries have done exactly that, usually in favour of greater openness. And there’s no doubt a ruling in the CLA’s favour would add sharp teeth to often-rejected FOI requests filed by journalists, lawyers, and NGOs.
A ruling against the CLA could take the wind out of the Freedom of Information Act’s sails, and set a dangerous precedent of Supreme Court-supported government secrecy and unaccountability. As lawyer David Stratas argued for the CLA, “history has shown that one of the first things that anti-democratic leaderships do is to pull a curtain of secrecy around their activities.”
Exchanges at last week’s hearing weren’t hopeful. At times, Justice Ian Binnie seemed to side with Guttman, allowing that “there are many deep-rooted confidentiality interests in order to make government work.”
And this isn’t the only attack on freedom of information lately. In May the Tories quietly shut down an Access to Information Database that kept track of all requests since 1989, leaving investigators in the dark as to how past requests had been filed, and by whom.
For all those with government dirt-digging to do: Now, not later, is the time to file those Access to Information requests.
The Tory Patronage Orgy – Dec. 12 2008
In what may be the last great drama on the Hill this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will push to fill the Senate’s eighteen empty seats with his own choice of reform-friendly Tories. The Post revels in leading with the story, even going so far as to put a mug shot of Don Cherry in its montage of possible choices. (Cherry will likely not be appointed, but it’s a running joke around Ottawa that he’d be an obvious Harper ally.) These eighteen will be lucky indeed. Senators have a cushy job, raking in $130,000 a year for just seventy-three days of work, and a guaranteed position until age seventy-five. The opposition have been lightning-quick to knock down Harper’s move; New Democrat MP Pat Martin called it a “hog-troughing orgy,” while others point out that for someone who lobbied in the 1990s to have Senators elected instead of appointed, it seems a tad hypocritical for Harper to go the appointment route. Canwest’s David Aiken notes the Tories’ chicken-or-egg predicament: The Liberal-majority Senate won’t back the reforms, so Tories must make appointments to see their promise through. The question of the Senate’s place in Parliament has been brought to trial. Indeed, the Bloc and the NDP, not to mention the Globe and many Canadians, support the idea that the Senate be thrown out entirely. But that would introduce a debate on proportional representation in the House of Commons, which in turn would likely lead to more coalition governments, to which this prime minister seems deadly allergic. So it would seem it is in Harper’s best interests that the Senate remain, as CTV’s Craig Oliver put it, “like a national common cold — it’s always there, and it’s always incurable.” Regardless, most sources — even the Post — agree that this wasn’t such a shrewd move, given that Harper’s government was very nearly thrown out and the PM has an upstart new rival on the scene. As Rex Murphy aptly wondered, “Does Ignatieff have Santa Claus tied up in his basement?”
Indeed, all eyes are on Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. The National’s At Issue panel weighs Harper’s Senate move against Ignatieff’s new position as party leader, with all panelists concurring that Iggy has been a smooth operator thus far. But the Citizen’s John Robson wonders whether Ignatieff’s ducking-out on the coalition question isn’t proof of his intellect, but of his malleability or timidity — troubling, “given that on other important questions like ‘Is he for or against the Iraq war?’ the answer is yes.” The Globe’s Rick Salutin isn’t keen on Ignatieff, either, though he says the worst of his character inconsistencies are over. But it is doubtful that the Tories’ antics are over, given that 2008 saw 561 Conservative appointments to boards, tribunals, and commissions — a 56-percent increase over last year, with plenty of those appointments done right before the election was called this fall, away from the media spotlight until today. But there’s insolence of all flavours to be savoured today: Former Harper chief-of-staff Ian Brodie has been hired to a big Ottawa lobby firm, three years after Tories promised to end the revolving door between the feds and the lobbying industry.
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THE LEADS:
THE NATIONAL: “Bad News: Bank of Canada warns Canadians could start losing their homes if the downturn is severe”
CTV NEWS: “Drowning in Debt: Words of warning — the Bank of Canada’s top message for consumers”
GLOBE AND MAIL: “Bailout talks collapse, GM consults on bankruptcy”
TORONTO STAR: not available due to technical difficulties
NATIONAL POST: “PM faces quandary over Senate reform”
LA PRESSE: “Hustle and bustle” (not available online)
OTTAWA CITIZEN: “Harper government ramps up appointments to federal posts” (top non-local)
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
In the shadow of a failed auto deal, Canadians hear from the Bank of Canada that foreclosures may increase if the recession worsens. CTV reports that British Columbia will not charge four RCMP officers with the death of Robert Dziekanski, killed last year by a Taser gun. Much as they’d like it, the United States won’t get more military help from Canada in Afghanistan past 2011.
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MUST YOU RUB IT IN, BoC?
CTV News and The National lead, while the Post goes inside with a grim yet so-obvious-it’s-silly warning from the Bank of Canada: If the economy gets worse, home foreclosures will increase. MediaScout thinks it senses Canadian homeowners’ heads turning to gaze in horror at the United States — but signs don’t all indicate that’s the way to look. Yes, it’s worrisome: A real estate expert in Toronto found that foreclosures in the area were up 100 percent since last year. But Canada’s mortgage system has never had the US-style adjustable-rate mortgage that sent homeowners spinning and Wall Street banks crumbling when homeowners couldn’t pay loans that had reset to higher interest rates. An investment banker on The National says that, if anything, Canadians pay historically low mortgage rates on their houses. Ever the Big Seven’s favourite talking head, Don Drummond of TD Waterhouse briefs CTV’s Lloyd Robertson, first applauding the BoC for being upfront, then chastising it for “musing” too much about worst-case scenarios without offering solutions — like what the bank would do to help, were things to actually get that bad. The Post’s story consists of spitting out the BoC statement, but without further reporting — perhaps a sign that it doesn’t think too highly of the story.
Meanwhile, the US’s Big-Three auto bailout failed to get through Senate last night, largely due to Republicans’ demands that Detroit do more to slash pay, pension, and other benefits to its unionized workers in the race-to-the-bottom mentality that some think will save the US economy. It will undoubtedly leave Ontario’s auto manufacturers and workers wondering what’s in store for the Canadian auto scene. Out west, Petro-Canada and EnCana announced that they would be scaling back spending on oil field development due to volatile oil prices and demand. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is, of course, grappling to find investment — even drawing up plans for the province to accept royalty payments in bitumen instead of cash. In the gamble that is the economy these days, it’s clear that governments, businesses, and journalists alike are struggling to predict what will come next.
A DEATH WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE
CTV News, The National, the Post, the Globe, and the Star go inside while the Citizen briefs CTV’s scoop that British Columbia’s attorney-general will not charge four BC RCMP officers over the death of Robert Dziekanski. The announcement is to be made today, but CTV reports that Dziekanski’s lawyer was informed Thursday of the decision, reportedly made due to a lack of evidence. The Polish immigrant’s death at the hands of RCMP Taser guns at Vancouver International Airport last fall forced both the police and the Taser’s manufacturer into the spotlight, with many calling for the officers to be tried for Dziekanski’s death. Conducting an independent investigation into forty-one older X26 Taser models, the CBC reported last week that four of the tested guns gave off significantly more voltage than the manufacturer says is possible, in some cases exceeding the limit by 50 percent. As the CBC’s Frédéric Zalac reported last night, Taser International is now on the offensive against what it calls the CBC’s “false allegations based on scientifically flawed data” — yet independent experts confirmed the tests were solid. Regardless, provinces are taking heed: This week, Alberta’s RCMP said it would re-test four hundred of its nine hundred Tasers, and several other provinces plan to do so as well. For MediaScout, it seems fitting that it is broadcasters who excel in covering this story, since it was a video made by a witness to Dziekanski’s death that first sparked public outrage and further investigation into the RCMP’s increased use of the stun gun. It is up to all at the Big Seven to demand more information on why the officers will not be tried.
CANADA FIRM ON AFGHAN EXIT
The Globe fronts, while the Post, the Citizen, CTV News, The National, and the Star go inside with a polite-but-firm exchange between US and Canadian defence departments regarding the Afghanistan war. In Kandahar yesterday, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told reporters that no country “has worked harder or sacrificed more than the Canadians … the longer we can have Canadian soldiers as our partners, the better it is.” Comforting for Canadians firmly opposed to the war will be Defense Minister Peter Mackay’s spokesperson’s response, calling Gates “gracious” but holding firm that “our mission there ends in 2011.” Still, there is much to keep in mind. The Citizen reminds us that Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is in Washington today to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The main topic will be the economy, but Afghanistan will also be discussed. And the Globe’s story highlights that Canada will almost certainly not be entirely out in 2011, likely maintaining a smaller force there to train Afghan soldiers and protect development and reconstruction efforts. What is certain is that, as the US prepares to add at least fifteen thousand troops to its Afghan contingent, news about the military effort in Afghanistan — be it Canadians or Americans at the helm — will soon be sounding a more aggressive note.
If the Parliamentary drama of late is the most outrageous show of power-grabbing to have hit Ottawa in recent memory, it is also a show of desperate glory-grabbing by the media, each fighting for a piece of the action. By late last night, the Liberals and the NDP seem to have ironed out the details of a coalition government: A slim cabinet of twenty-four ministers would include six NDP members, and would aim to stay in power for two-and-a-half years. (The CBC and CTV each took credit for breaking the story.) But if the Post’s John Ivison is to be believed, he’s got the scoop: A late-night dinner between the Liberal leaders concluded with a tentative agreement that would see Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc step aside so that Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff could lead the Liberals as prime minister. La Presse provided its own blush to the drama, commissioning a poll showing that a strong majority of Quebeckers would support a coalition government.
Some in the media want to see the Tory minority government continue – predictably, the Globe, writing that despite Harper’s “small-minded hyper-partisan” attitude, the Tories “are better positioned to provide stable government than the alternative.” But others take the opposition line. Chantal Hébert in the Star says that the Tories did not have the economic best interests of Canada in mind when they presented their funding package on Thursday, but “wanted to use the cover of an economic crisis to financially strangle the other parties.” The Star editorial board thinks Harper is to blame; and the Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson points to growing Tory infighting as a sign that things are only getting worse. But answering the question of whether an election is nigh is still a guessing game. Don Martin fronts the Citizen, saying that an election would be in Harper’s favour, since Canadians would reject the coalition as “unwieldy at best as an instantly dysfunctional clash of left-leaning ideologies propped up by separatists.” But Roy MacGregor in the Globe disagrees, saying that Harper is out of touch with Canadians if he thinks they want to go to the polls again. If he’s right, then the Post’s editorial board, which calls for an election so the matter can be decided upon by Canadians, is also out of touch. But the cards are still in the air until at least December 8, the date of the vote on the fiscal update that started it all. MediaScout’s favourite part of this frenzy is the Citizen’s decision to front, under a headline shared with the parliamentary crisis, a story on urgent repairs that will likely force the Harper family out of 24 Sussex Drive. One way or another, the prime minister is moving out.
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THE LEADS:
CBC NEWS: SUNDAY NIGHT: “The NDP and the Liberals may make a deal to topple the minority Conservative government”
CTV NEWS: “Deal or No Deal: A taped phone call adds ammunition to the war on Parliament Hill”
GLOBE AND MAIL: “Liberals, NDP firm up deal to topple Tories”
TORONTO STAR: “Tories make concessions but coalition close to deal”
NATIONAL POST: “Coalition deal done?”
LA PRESSE: “Quebeckers favour a coalition”
OTTAWA CITIZEN: “Crisis of House and home”
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
As Mumbai recovers from last week’s terrorist onslaught, authorities cast blame on a Pakistan-based militant group. An Oshawa, Ontario, mother is hailed as a hero for giving her life to save her family from a knife-wielding attacker at a birthday party. Only the Citizen and the Star acknowledge that today is World AIDS Day.
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AMIDST ANGER AND GRIEF, MUMBAI BEGINS ITS RECOVERY
The Globe fronts, while CBC News: Sunday Night, CTV News, the Post (not available online), the Citizen, and La Presse go inside with the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. Coverage this morning falls into three broad categories: More on the Canadians affected; details about the group likely responsible for the deaths of the (at least) 174 people killed during the sixty-hour siege; and implications for India-Pakistan relations as well as global politics — though strong analysis on the last front was in shorter supply today. The Citizen and the Post focus on the Canadians killed — Michael Moss, a doctor from Montreal, and his partner, Elizabeth Russell. The CBC runs a Terry Milewski interview with Canadian actor Michael Rudder, shot several times by the terrorists, who said he pretended to be dead so that he could escape. As for details about the perpetrators, a Globe article focusing on Lashkar-e-Taiba today provides a clearer picture of the Pakistani militant group, staunchly anti-India due to the long-running dispute over the region of Kashmir. The reporter also identifies potential pitfalls in honing in on the LET — they have a political wing, the Jamaat-ud Dawa, and are involved in welfare projects. They also appear to be unaffiliated with the Pakistani intelligence agency — which makes sense, since the attacks would clearly be against Pakistan’s national security interests.
Coverage about India is now drawing into the realm of “India’s 9/11″ talk. Hundreds in India took to the streets yesterday to protest what is seen as a lack of preparation for a terrorist plot in the country, a point now underscored by the resignation of Home Minister Shivraj Patil, India’s top security official, over the weekend, who said he took “moral responsibility” for the violence. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency, the CBC reports. The Globe’s Stephanie Nolen sides with the protestors, writing that “the current lack of a law of the kind many other countries adopted after the September 11 attacks in the United States speaks to the way in which the weakness of the Indian state made the country vulnerable to these attacks.” This more or less falls in line with a narrative that the Mumbai attacks are India’s 9/11. MediaScout urges readers to consider a less knee-jerk analysis by Doug Saunders from the Globe this weekend, which argues that Mumbai is, in fact, not India’s 9/11, but a more multi-sided confrontation that hinges partly on the growing popularity of the Hindu nationalist activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Saunders quotes Martha Nussbaum’s astute analysis that the conflict is not one of a clash of civilizations, but “between people who are prepared to live with others who are different, on terms of equal respect, and those who seek the protection of homogeneity, achieved through the domination of a single religious and ethnic tradition.”
BLOOD AND HEROISM IN OSHAWA
The Globe and the Post front, the Star teases, and the Citizen, CBC News: Sunday Night, and CTV News all go inside with the brutal attack on an Oshawa, Ontario, family at a birthday party. According to police, on Saturday afternoon forty-seven-year-old Gino Petralia entered the home of Rick and Leslie Kelly and stabbed several in the family, killing Leslie, the mother. Her husband, Rick, and two of their sons were also stabbed, and one boy remains in critical condition. The police responded to Leslie’s 911 call and chased down Petralia, shooting and killing him. There is speculation that Petralia, who suffered from mental instability and had been taking medication, could have attacked the Kellys because they had recently taken foster care over Petralia’s thirteen-year-old son, who was also Rick Kelly’s half-brother. CTV News and the Star point out that Leslie Kelly was a “hero” for lunging in front of her husband to block the attack. Interestingly, both the Globe and the Post note near the top of their stories that the killing occurred in a working-class area just blocks from the town’s “sprawling” General Motors plant; MediaScout wonders if they are subtly implying that, on the fringes of an economic disaster, there lies a panicking and potentially violent working class.
WORLD AIDS DAY GOES UNMARKED
The Citizen and the Star go inside with what is, stunningly, the only coverage in the Big Seven of World AIDS Day today. The article, an op-ed piece written by James Orbinski, implores governments to recognize that global interdependence brings the AIDS crisis to bear on not only the developing world, but also on the developed world. It is no incisive or fresh analysis, but it is surely better than nothing. Clearly the naming of “days” is really nothing more than a way to launch causes into the public eye – that is, into the media. If the Big Seven are willing to devote a week of coverage to Remembrance Day, which included some creative coverage of past and present wars, MediaScout thinks that the AIDS crisis surely ought to be afforded the same dignity. But perhaps Orbinski’s fears are right: We have let the economic crisis, and now Canada’s parliamentary crisis, overshadow the gravity of the AIDS pandemic.
With Parliament still out of session, Canada’s election book closed, and precious little left to do on the US election except wait and watch, it seems that Canada’s Big Seven had more news options than they knew what to do with today, but little that came out of the woodwork. Coverage ranged from the celebrified — the Post leads with news that Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page will likely avoid jail time for his cocaine possession charges — to the mundane — The National devoted almost five minutes to Ontario’s ban on cell phones in cars — to the interesting but perhaps less resonant. For example, the Globe has a good article on the shortfalls of indigenous education; and La Presse (not available online) devotes a full spread to discussing the sexual harassment of a cycling champion by her trainer. But a reader would have a hard time making sense of what’s important, and why.
Most notable is that so little ink was spilled today in revealing Canada’s role in keeping chrysotile asbestos off the list of the world’s most dangerous substances in yesterday’s Rotterdam negotiations. As the world’s second-largest producer of the classified carcinogen responsible for one hundred thousand premature deaths annually, Canada became in 2006 the only Western democracy that opposed adding chrysotile asbestos to the list of hazardous substances. Some in the Big Seven have done a good job of bringing this story to light, but not today. The Citizen and La Presse report inside that Canada made its mark this year by refraining from the negotiations but by convincing its top asbestos trading partners — India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Philippines — to vote against the measure, which requires consensus. Despite a quick mention on The National last night — which incorrectly said Canada voted against the listing of chrysotile asbestos (though a more thorough report online exists) — it is a story that MediaScout would have thought the Big Seven would have converged on. Canada’s continued economic interest exporting a substance so dangerous that it is no longer used in the developed world is, as a critic in the Citizen says, “ransoming the future of the children of these countries, in order for Canada to make a buck.”
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THE LEADS:
CBC NEWS: “Sudden Surge: Stock markets bounce back big time”
CTV NEWS: “Looking for Relief: North American markets rebound big time”
GLOBE AND MAIL: “‘Disaster’ unless Ottawa offers pension relief”
TORONTO STAR: “Suspect surrenders in bystander’s slaying”
NATIONAL POST: “Barenaked Ladies singer makes deal to avoid jail”
LA PRESSE: “Jeanson affair: ‘He knew what he was doing’”
OTTAWA CITIZEN: “Project Awaken: The case behind a charge of terrorism”
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
Amidst volatile markets, Canada faces up to its troubles in the auto sector and pension plans. Violence and warfare in Congo lead some to question why Canada isn’t helping. Margaret Wente’s column defending Dick Pound’s “nation of savages” comment takes a beating in a Globe op-ed today.
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IS THE FALLING SKY THE LIMIT?
The National, CTV News, and the Globe lead, while the Star (not available online) fronts, and the Post and the Citizen go inside with some scattered coverage of the latest economic rollercoastering. Stock markets told one story — after plunging on Monday, they almost completely recovered yesterday, with the Toronto Stock Exchange climbing 614 points and in New York the Dow nearly nine hundred points. It was one of history’s biggest one-day recoveries. But it isn’t all good news, and the Globe leads with a splash of cold water: Yesterday’s stock jumps won’t do anything to help companies’ dwindling ability to continue their pension payouts. The Finance Department says it is “closely monitoring developments” on the pension problem, but so far no word from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty of any substantial assistance plans.
A second potential crisis, as reported in most places on Tuesday and in the Star this morning, is that, in the face of halting auto sales to the US, the car industry in Canada has asked for a $1-billion bailout to keep jobs and businesses afloat. Industry Minister Jim Prentice has said that the auto industry’s pleas won’t be answered with any long-term loans, and certainly not any bailout gifts. The idea may be that these problems are dire, but not so dire as to warrant buyouts, bailouts, and massive market interjections — yet. CTV News’ Robert Fife actually covers all this economic spin far better than the rest, looking ahead to the November 10 first ministers’ summit called by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss the economy. As he points out, Canada’s economic woes are differentiated by province: manufacturing troubles in Ontario and Quebec; oil prices in Alberta and Saskatchewan; offshore drilling in Atlantic Canada; and British Columbia’s troubled export sector. Solving Canada’s economic troubles will mean tending to the complexities in each region — and, yes, tending away from indulging the Chicken Littles.
MINING THE CONGO FOR ANSWERS
The Globe fronts with three teasers, and goes inside with text, on the escalating violence in Congo, where as many as five million have died in a civil war since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 brought rebels and refugees into the country’s east. Aside from the Globe’s nearly two-page spread, the conflict is far from well-defined in any of the mainstream media, and especially in the Big Seven, where the Globe’s coverage stands alone so far this week. As an Associated Press article notes, a Hutu-led militia called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda has allied with the Congolese army to defend against minority forces, largely led by Laurent Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi. Violence has increased in recent weeks, overrunning aid camps with as many as 850,000 people this week and trapping other doctors and aid workers in hospitals. An article by Stephanie Nolan takes coverage of the conflict a step further with an investigation into the corrupt mining practices in the area, with armed groups profiting from a gray-market trade in minerals. Nolen’s sources come to an interesting conclusion: That international investment from mining companies such as Canada’s Banro Corp., which plans to set up shop in the area, could help alleviate the violence, though this prospect is both slim and problematic. It is Omar El Akkad’s sidebar that is most salient: Canada has been asked twice by the United Nations to lead the Congo mission there, but that instead Ottawa has focused on the war in Afghanistan. “The decision is seen by some as perhaps the most significant sign that Canada is moving further away from its internationally recognized role in global peacekeeping,” he writes.
THE WENTE COLUMN UNPACKED
The Globe goes inside with an op-ed from Hayden King, a professor of indigenous studies at McMaster University, who, in an impressively balanced and moderate tone, attacks Margaret Wente’s jaw-dropping defence of Dick Pound, who told La Presse earlier this year that pre-colonial Canada was “a nation of savages.” Wente argued in her Saturday column that Pound’s comments were poorly articulated but factually correct. Aboriginals here, Wente wrote, “had not developed broader laws or institutions, a written language, evidence-based science, mathematics or advanced technologies”; she lamented that “we have romanticized indigenous culture so much that it is often described (especially in native studies courses) as morally superior,” and that “claims about aboriginal contributions to civilization are also vastly overstated.” In response, King outlines the accomplishments of aboriginal people before and during the arrival of Europeans to North America: Extensive agricultural systems, the Mayans’ star maps, the Wet-suwet-en tribe’s practice of a matriarchal society, the Haudenosaunee’s influence on the US Constitution, and indigenous ecological studies and their relevance to Western medicine and environmental studies today. After the storm of letters the Globe has received, and a netroots campaign to have Wente fired, it’s no big surprise that the Globe has printed a full op-ed attacking Wente’s views. It’s only too bad that the damage may already be done. As King writes: “Wente has likely set back the first nations’ campaign for an accurate representation of native peoples in the mainstream media by ten years.” MediaScout couldn’t agree more.
It began last week, with the leak of a diplomatic cable from the British ambassador to Kabul saying the military presence in Afghanistan is “part of the problem, not the solution.” Then NATO’s top commander, US General David McKiernan, followed, saying “it might get worse before it gets better.” Yesterday, the head of the British command, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, added more fuel to the fire and set off a blaze in the Canadian media. “We’re not going to win this war,” he told the UK’s Daily Telegraph. “It’s about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that’s not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army.” Even more scandalous: Negotiating with members of the Taliban is “precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this.”
What does this mean for leaders on this side of the pond? Judging from the Big Seven’s rather extensive coverage of the British commander’s comments — the Post led, while the Globe fronted and others went inside — it ought to mean a lot. The Post compared Carleton-Smith’s candid remarks to the response from John Manley of the Harper-commissioned Manley Report, who called for more troops and equipment to be deployed to Afghanistan. Oddly, Manley attempted to portray cohesion between Canada and Britain, saying he didn’t think Carleton-Smith’s comments were “inconsistent with our report.” But NDP leader Jack Layton took the opposite viewpoint, saying he was “heartened” by the frankness of the commander, and argued that Britain was taking a cue from the NDP platform of military withdrawal in favor of development initiatives. But while both sides claim that the brigader’s comments justify their position, Carleton-Smith’s position seems to vindicate the NDP leader’s attitude — the man nicknamed “Taliban Jack” because of his interest in meeting with Taliban leaders — much more than it seems to vindicate the pro-war side. And with likely three years to go before Canada reels in its troops, the question in the face of a disintegrating mission is: What next?
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THE LEADS:
CBC NEWS: SUNDAY NIGHT: “Heading Off Disaster: Europe scrambles to head off financial disaster”
CTV NEWS: “Economic Alert: Are things worse than Canadians have been led to believe?”
GLOBE AND MAIL: “Europe races to shore up faltering banks”
TORONTO STAR: “Vandals strike again”
NATIONAL POST: “‘We’re not going to win this war’: PM rejects UK general’s assessment”
LA PRESSE: “Duceppe unleashes on Harper” (top non-local)
OTTAWA CITIZEN: “Scores of federal prosecutors quit over poor pay” (top non-local)
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
As Europe moves toward its own financial bailouts, Canada grapples with whether it ought to be pressing the panic button as well. The Big Seven focus on the candidates’ crime legislation and whether any of it is worthwhile. Supporters of Omar Khadr take to the streets to push the Guantanamo prisoner as an election issue.
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TO PUSH OR NOT TO PUSH THE PANIC BUTTON
The Globe, CTV News and CBC News: Sunday Night lead while the Citizen, the Post, the Star, and La Presse (neither available online) go inside with news of Europe’s ad-hoc efforts to bail out its banks and a look at whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper has skirted the economy issue as a way of keeping the Canadian consumer fear factor at bay. Last week and weekend, governments in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iceland, and Luxembourg took various steps to protect their banking sectors. But, as the Post points out, the issue has forced Europe into a debate about how the European Union’s central bank ought to lead on financial matters. France had called on national treasuries to abandon the bank-by-bank approach and instead focus on a coordinated response. Not surprisingly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was cool toward the idea, saying instead that each country had to deal with each bank as it saw fit. Regardless of the nature of the bailout strategy, the markets weren’t happy this morning, with reports of losses in the Asian and European markets, and traders at the TSX panicking.
Compared to the European mish-mash of reactions to failing mortgage lenders, Stephen Harper’s non-reaction stands out as curious at best and, according to some, dishonest, and CTV’s coverage of a Scotiabank report to its customers forecasting a recession stands out as exactly the kind of evidence Harper had been trying to avoid. The prime minister has instead been focusing on what the Globe calls a “steady-as-she-goes” platform of lower taxes, debt reduction, affordable spending, and focused investments — but the reports and the actions in Europe have underscored the fact that Harper has done relatively little to protect Canada’s banks, and has instead chosen to keep silent about growing risks so as to not rattle the markets. Is a Tory vote, then, a ticket for a stronger economy, or will the opposition convince Canadians otherwise? This week will likely see pressure from the Big Seven for Harper to clarify just what kind of support he is willing to offer Canada’s economy, should he remain prime minister after October 14.
TOUGH ON CRIME AT ELECTION TIME
The Citizen fronts, while the Post and La Presse go inside with stories touching on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s case for his tough-on-crime agenda this fall. With falling Tory numbers in Quebec largely attributed to the prime minister’s newest proposals to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the task is on to interpret Canada’s crime rates and evaluate what effect the candidate’s plans could have on it. The Post’s story is largely critical of all candidates for trumping up the crime issue when, by many measures, the numbers on violent offences are down; to its credit, the Post also provides a clear run-down of the parties’ crime platforms. The Citizen fronts news that federal prosecutors are abandoning the Crown in the wake of tougher work loads under the tough-on-crime Tories. Said the president of Canada’s crown prosecutors’ union: “The minute you get tougher on crime, you get an increase in the workload for Crown attorneys, and if the Harper government doesn’t do anything about salaries and hiring, we will be overloaded.” Most interesting is a letter, printed in Sunday’s comment and reported on Monday in La Presse, signed by dozens of Quebec’s experts in criminology, psychology, and adolescent development accusing the Harper project of “starting down the wrong direction without any empirical support” to back up tougher youth crime penalties. Crime legislation tends to appeal to the less-rational side of voters, who, when faced with a questionnaire, say that poverty is more important to them than crime. Yet when stories of tragic crime steal the spotlight, as was the case this weekend, it is difficult to argue for long that Canadians don’t care. MediaScout wonders if we’ll ever hear the statistics on how the Tories’ tough-on-crime policies are affecting the size of the prison population, or if Green Party leader Elizabeth May will be the only one to talk about the problem of the privatization of prisons.
KHADR CASE KICKS UP
The Globe and the Star go inside with coverage of rallies in Toronto and Ottawa this weekend for the repatriation of Omar Khadr, the twenty-two-year-old Canadian imprisoned in Guantanamo and facing a military tribunal on charges of murder, among other things, following a gunfight in Afghanistan in 2002. The Star goes deeper in its coverage, with an attempt to sketch Khadr’s character based on reports from Canadian Foreign Affairs officials, made public by Khadr’s lawyers as part of their lawsuit against the Conservative government. The Canadian officials noted the prisoner has been reading avidly and learning yoga and French. It is a touching personal account, given journalists have been forbidden access to Khadr since his incarceration at Guantanamo Bay. Though the demonstrations drew modest numbers, the protesters’ message of “Omar in, Harper out” rang clear. Tory spokesman Kory Teneycke said the rally was “yet another attempt by Mr. Khadr’s lawyers to avoid trial.”
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