Has the 'news' media has become the opposition?

Have the Liberals run up the white flag?  It appears Liberals are using hockey tickets and free steaks to help provide volunteers for the by elections. The news media told us the bus tours were working and the party was energized.

Our Canadian media outlets too short staffed to conduct proper research, report the facts in a balanced manner anymore?

 

NDP selective outrage on Senate: Where was the outcry from the NDP when the unelected Senate was blocking legislation during the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada led by Brian Mulroney?

NAFTA signing

I remember the Canadian media outlets reminding Canadians how unelected Liberal  Senators were providing a 'sober second thought' and it was their responsibility.

Two days ago Canadian Senators did it again with the help of Liberals who were too busy to show up up for  votes/work. The Senate killed a private members Bill C- 311 that was not supported in principle or in ANY part by the Conservative members in the government or upper chamber. In this case the news media does not feel it is second sober though?

The fact this Bill was terminated has caused a great deal of grief in the media circles and parties in opposition. The media is enabling the opposition and critics to cry foul. The Canadian media has failed to provide a balanced position with concrete examples in history of Liberal Senators killing or delaying legislation during government of Brian Mulroney. Did the research department take the night off? Are the hosts and anchor unable to remember the period between 1984-1993?

Laureen Harper and Preston Manning

Preston Manning was the leader of a political party called the Reform Party. They never won enough seats to form a government. Stockwell Day formed a new political party called the Canadian Alliance in 2000 and was never able to form a  government either. Tony Clement, Belinda Stronach and Stephen Harper ran for the new leadership of a new political party called the Conservative Party of Canada several years ago. It was made up of Canadians who belonged to the The Reform Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative, Canadian Alliance. The rest is history.

Canadian News Media Defender of Liberalism

In my opinion the Canadian news media is failing miserably in holding each political party to account .  Many in the media repeat the talking points of the opposition political parties and invited experts are do not appear to be neutral  when they exclude historical facts to pile on criticism. Is the media not capable of providing a balanced view of the facts and history of the Senate?  Is the media in Canada compromised, short staffed? 

Canadian News Media: Climate Alarmists?

The news has become the editorial. The balance and context have been supplanted with opinion.

Related articles

• Ignatieff: "I don't vote on private members bills" (pragmatictory.blogspot.com)
• Conservatives attempt to fast-track Senate reform (theglobeandmail.com)

Everyone Loves Harper

Annual Stampede Breakfast PM Harper

I know what you are thinking but bear with me.  The West began a split from the Progressive Conservative Party of Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark in the late-eighties, early 90's. The West had already rejected the Liberals for the most part in the 70's, Robert Stanfield PC and the CCF were embraced.

The Liberals through unilateral changes in campaign reform are responsible for giving over $ 60 million dollars of taxpayers money to the right of centre party led by Stephen Harper since 2004.

Liberals, Democrats and Separatists MP's Love Stephen Harper and their voting record in parliament proves it. Canadian voters have only awarded a minority since 2004 but PM Stephen Harper has never had a non-confidence unlike Paul Martin who did within two years of his mandate. Voters rejected him in 2006.

Background in the Liberal mindset on campaign reform.

Campaign Reform by Liberals in 2000

The new Canada Elections Act introduced by Bill C-2, which came into force on September 1, 2000, does not alter the voting process itself, but modifies the federal electoral system to make it more accessible, fair and transparent.

It greatly empowers the Top Civil Servant at the head of Elections Canada as previously it could only be enforced through the criminal courts.

In 2003, the Chrétien government passed An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act and the Income Tax Act. This Act amended the Canada Elections Act to include stronger financial disclosure and registration requirements for political entities, introduced new limits on political contributions, and tighter restrictions on contributions from labour unions and corporations to political parties and leadership contestants. The Act further implemented new public financing provisions, allowing political parties to access public funding to support their activities. The Act also amended the Income Tax Act, increasing the maximum tax credit for a political contribution.-MapleLeafweb

 

The Liberal Party must miss a trans-formative leader such as Stephen Harper:

Stephen Harper was born in Toronto and attended Leaside Richview Collegiate Institute. When he was very young he was a Liberal and than later a PC.
"What drove him into politics was indignation, outrage," argues commentator William Johnson, who has written a biography called Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada. It was ideology, not love of the game, that Mr. Johnson believes pushed Mr. Harper into public life.
"One thing that I would say about him, with great conviction, is that he's a straight arrow," Mr. Johnson believes. "What you see is what you get. He's not good at acting or pretending. He doesn't weep with widows and hug every orphan in sight, and he won't wear a hundred hearts on his sleeve. By character and by principle he opposes all the photo ops and false sentiments" that are part of political theatre.- Who is Stephen Harper?
Stephen Harper grew unhappy with political culture of several parties and with the help of many reshaped the political landscape in Canada.

In March 2002 Stephen Harper beat Stockwell Day to lead the Canadian Alliance. Within 18 months he merged the PC with Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada by beating Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement on March 20, 2004.

On May 23, 2004, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Martin, ordered the dissolution of the House of Commons. Following a 36-day campaign, voters elected 308 Members of the House of Commons. 

History in the making a slow romance with Ontario playing hard to get.

Canada Day PM Stephen Harper

The 2006 Canadian federal election (more formally, the 39th General Election) was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up from 29.6% in the 2004 election. The election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. By proportion of seats, this was Canada's smallest minority government since Confederation. Despite this it was the longest serving minority government led by a party other than the Liberal Party of Canada, and the third longest serving minority government overall.

In 2008 Canadian federal election (40th General Election) was held on on Tuesday October 14, 2008. The Conservative Government were able to pick up an additional 19 seats, Liberals gave up 26 seats, Separatist  lost 2,  and the NDP picked up 8 additional seats. The Green Party gain no seats but make tremendous gains with raw votes.

In November of 2008 the conservatives tried in their economic update to stop the flow of taxpayers money in excess of $ 10 million per year to their own political party war-chest but the coalition led by Dion, endorsed by all opposition political party leaders demanded the political subsidy remain and it was undemocratic to remove it. They were threatening an election over it.

The Conservative Party of Canada has been able to raise $ 147,594,561 without the Liberal Campaign Reform changes. If you include the subsidy they have earned through various revenue streams nearly $ 250 million since 2004.

• In 2006 the Bloc and NDP took turns passing the Conservative Party of Canada's Agenda.
• In January 2009 the Liberals abandoned their coalition in order support Stephen Harper.
• In September 2009 Jack Layton did the same.
• In 2010 we have at least thirty Liberal MPs who are unable to show up, whipped not, to vote against Stephen Harper Conservative Party of Canada Agenda.
• This summer Ignatieff spent his summer dancing, talking about his unrequited love for the Conservative Agenda and visiting friends asking for money. The Liberal Express summer bus tour has been a flop, according to a new Leger Marketing poll.

  

h/t/Pundits Guide Party Financing.

The Harper Govt accomplishments here

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Canadian Space Agency Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: What waste?

Kudos to the media for trying to flob this on the Government and inserting the word quietly in order to push the narrative of sneaky. Clearly no agenda from the media. After all everyone likes to broadcast to a wider audience when they makes mistakes or fail.

Canadians understand how silos work. Wasteful or inefficient spending exists in all levels of Governments and public and private business.

Who is responsible for this program, monitoring the costs and lack of success? Are the agencies head, the agriculture minister or the Prime Minister? Do we elect forensic accountants as MPs to audit all expenses? Does the media ask if the existing controls are in place are working? Is this a typical failure for a government agency?

Beef Jerkey

Work on the moveable feast began in December 2006, when the Canadian Space Agency signed its first contract with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to develop "Good Tasting Foods for Space Travellers."

The space agency initially kicked in $65,000, while Agriculture Canada's contribution was budgeted at almost $350,000. The agency had hoped to have a made-in-Canada space menu ready in two years, approved by NASA, and placed permanently on U.S. flights.

Are you kidding me? Just more proof a program review by Stockwell Day is overdue and cuts across the board is necessary in government agencies. After consulting with five Chefs, a desire to reinvent the packaging, the single submission or winner is beef jerkey from Cold Lake, Alberta.

The last two points are both concerned with maximizing government efficiency and exercising fiscal restraint. As we follow our roadmap to return to a balanced budget, we need to take action to ensure that government lives within its means. All Canadians have had to make sacrifices over the past year. Families everywhere have had to take a look at their own expenses and set priorities. They expect their government to do the same, and that is exactly what we are doing.- National Post

Perhaps a twenty per cent cut is too small for some departments.

News Media: Journalists Should Report Their Own Personal Bias on Blogs

"The greatest problem with news is not that journalists are influenced by their perceptions," Haskell writes. "The greatest problem is that news audiences do not realize journalists are influenced by their perceptions."

In 2000 was Stockwell Day was destroyed for his religious views?

Were the media to blame? Is our own bias responsible for how we feel about how the media is being blamed?

 

Most of the national television journalists who completed his questionnaire revealed that they have little personal interest in religion and that they view evangelicals with disdain.

 

 

..reviewer John P. Ferré finds there is not enough solid evidence to support the claims. The sample was too small. I recommend looking at his lists.

 

Resolution for the CBC and other Canadian media outlets that feel it might be necessary or important to update their journalistic Code of Ethics and provide viewers, critica an oppotunity to engage, restore credibility in their brand or product.

Do journalists report more favourably on people that they like than on those they don’t? Canada’s evangelicals think so. For years, they’ve accused the country’s news personnel of being prejudiced against them both personally and in their coverage. However, up to now, the evangelicals’ charge of media bias has never been empirically examined. This book puts that charge to the test. An in depth survey of national news personnel accompanied by an extensive, multi-year examination of news coverage reveals how Canada’s journalists feel about evangelicals, how they report on evangelicals, and how and when their feelings influence their reporting. In the end, this book concludes when the beliefs and actions of Canadian evangelicals directly clash with the heart-felt convictions of Canadian national journalists, the journalists are willing to abandon their professional objectivity and slant their stories against their ideological opponents.- David M. Haskell


OR
 

They can delay and whitewash the entire controversy. Let it just blow over and in a few months it will be forgotten. If the Management is serious about the brand, they should use this as an opportunity to rebuild and reconnect.

 

Require a disclosure of  Personal Opinions on Major Issues from the journalists so viewers can have that extra information. A series of 100+ questions.

• Education
• Role of Government
• Birth Control, Abortion, who should pay?
• Family, Marriage
• Equality what does it mean?
• Religion: Role Conspiracy Theory
• Pensions: Public, Private, Who is responsible to pay?
• Justice: Criminal Punishment, Rehabilitation, Capital Punishment etc.
• Taxation basic services or wealth redistribution etc.
• Division of Powers: Large Federal Government vs Provincial, Municipal Authority
• Individual Responsibility vs Collectivism
• Political Ideology: Socialism, Marxism, Oligarchy, Theocracy, Democracy etc.
• Economic Education Litmus Test: How things work.
• Global, Interprovincial, Free Markets vs Protectionism, Union Supply Side (Quebec Dairy)

Everyone has a bias or a lens in which they feel something is good or bad and it does affect how you react. I do like the recommendations in having journalists report their own biases including their preferences on a large number of topics as a side note on a blog as for more disclosure.
 

Inside the CBC
 

The Iceman has posted Measuring CBC Bias and Alberta Ardvark has posted on the CBC here. Chasing Apple Pie has a great piece on CBC here showing the problem has existed before the Ekos Research President Frank Graves outing by Kory Teneycke here.

 

Proud to be Canadian has detailed page on the CBC.  I also visit the The Tea Makers for inside scoops.

Cultural Class War Continues: Policy Debate?

In his penetrating analysis, Lyle Rossiter, M.D., reveals modern liberalism's assaults on:

The freedom of adults to make good lives for themselves by cooperating with others. The ability of families to raise children to be self-reliant and mutual .The morals, rights and laws that protect our freedoms

More information  here.

The loyalty of leader of the Liberals is proud of belonging to the "political class".  Invoking a cultural war? The class war has been never stopped,  divisive Politics has always been deployed.

The intolerance of the left has always been on display and invoked as routine politics. Preston Manning, Stockwell Day, Stephen Harper have been prime targets for divisive politics. Today buzz words of choice in question period "culture of deceit".

Liberals think nothing of dividing Canadians, it started with Trudeau giving the west the finger and the NEP, it carried on with Chretian ignoring the west and the military for over 10 years, and Iggy seems to be carrying on the ignore the west theme with the "whipping" of his MP's to vote against scrapping the gun registry. He is pandering to the feminists and anti-war crowd.- Hunter

I believe this strategy has always existed and each party taps into their strengths. The problem is going too far and damaging the country with bad policy.

Frank Graves on CBC here .

In his advice, Mr. Graves could hardly have been more blunt. “I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.” - Lawrence Martin 

Ignatieff brand new mistake on gun registry Ignatieff’s plan won’t make a single Canadian safer. It will make the dysfunctional, obsolete registry more expensive while simultaneously making it weaker. The registry has already failed and permanently alienated large swaths of voters from the Liberal party. Why is Ignatieff the last person to realize this?- Matt Gurney

He's doing it. Ignatieff is actually implementing the Graves Strategy: divide Canadians against each other, to conquer them politically. -Ezra Levant

Private Members Bill: Bilingual Supreme Court by the Bloc, NDP, Liberals fallout. "Stupid," "scary," "ill-conceived" and "pandering" are just some of the adjectives used to describe New Brunswick MP Yvon Godin's proposal -- and those come from lawyers and jurists who believe the bill is actually well-intentioned.

Policy Debate and a failure to make priorities -For almost 30 years the issue was forgotten but it resurfaced in the 1970s when some Italian Canadian community leaders started talking about an apology and financial compensation. But prime minister Pierre Trudeau, another Liberal, said the issue was closed. He told the House Commons that he didn't believe "in attempting to rewrite history in this way."- Angleo Perischilli

Bev Shipley had commented on the conflict of interest of Frank Graves pollster of record, donor to the Liberal Party  the CBC.  Is an inquiry needed to investigate any other relationship with the Liberal Party? We had an example of failed oversight regarding an H1N1 flu clinic.

The CBC code of ethics is now embroiled and a letter to the CBC ombudsman has been sent.“Why is a pollster who conducts polling for Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC, also giving partisan advice to the Liberal Party of Canada?” Walsh writes in a letter obtained exclusively by the Sun. “Is the CBC aware they were sharing resources with the Liberal Party of Canada, if so, how long have they been aware? Can the CBC assure us that data collected at the expense of taxpayers is not shared with the Liberal Party of Canada?- Frank Walsh

Perhaps we will get a little more adult conversation, policy debate in Question Period without the need of protection of parliamentary privilege by the opposition .

Contrast how the PMO is expanding his office in community outreach:

Much of the ethnic media's audience is in the suburbs of Metropolitan Toronto and Vancouver, areas where the Tories seem to be making gains with newer Canadians who embrace fiscal and social conservatism.

In the 2008 election, the Conservatives' share of the popular vote in B.C. reached 44.5 per cent, up from 37.3 per cent in 2006. In Ontario, they out-polled the Liberals after finishing behind them in 2006, though in Quebec they lost ground. - Canadian Press

The writing is on the wall.

Update: Ekos Statement Frank Graves

Statement From Frank Graves (April 23)
Update II:
Globe & Mail Round II by Bill Curry does the opposite.

“I do believe, and this gets more subtle, that there is a higher incidence of people who are less tolerant to homosexuals and more wary of other races, within the Conservative Party. I can demonstrate that empirically."

Sometimes those words we choose can be taken out context, this does look like we have a serious problem. A tribute to the politically incorrect.
 

Stockwell Day - Exposed Intolerant Left

Divide & Conquer: Fanning the flames of Intolerance of your opponent has been used in politics to demonize and boost the morale of your partisans for hundreds of years. If we take a critical examination on how the Liberal Party campaigned against the Reform Party, Canadian Alliance with the support of the mainstream media in tow.

Have the "progressives" in the left changed their tactics since losing power?

...it was a Liberal government that implemented the new conservative domestic agenda – lowering taxes on the wealthy, privatizing crown corporations, cutting social services to the poor, eliminating health and safety rules.

But as the Liberals moved farther to the right, they always exuded a slight sense of embarrassment. Rhetorically, the party insisted it hadn't changed even when the evidence showed otherwise

With Harper, there is less confusion. While he is not uniquely responsible for all the changes in Canadian political life, he articulates them better than his political opponents. - A Transformative Prime Minister Thomas Walkom The Toronto Star November 21, 2009

Photo credit: Fillibustercartoons

What’s more, we have introduced a strategic review process whereby all federal programs must demonstrate that they are effective and efficient. They must show they are focused on Canadians’ priorities and meeting the changing needs of Canadians. The 2009 round of reviews reallocated up to $287-million to budget priorities. In 2010-11, about $33-billion will be reviewed and in all, we anticipate savings of close to $1.7-billion.

In addition, we will also conduct a comprehensive review of administrative functions and overhead costs. Our goal is to eliminate any redundant spending and find savings wherever they may exist. The review will look at external and internal service operations, business processes and administration.  - - Stockwell Day National Post March 14, 2010

 Evangelical support for the Liberals has dropped throughout the country in the last decade, according to a new study by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, which means more work for the Grits' outreach efforts on top of trying to turn around their sagging support in the polls. Liberals losing evangelical voters, says EFC study

-The Hill Times October 12, 2009

Political parties say nasty, torqued things about one another all the time. The only thing that’s unusual here is that this particular piece of nasty, torqued messaging targets a core Liberal constituency that has, for the first time in decades, suddenly become an object of real competition. And it is this that has the Liberals panicked. It was one thing for the Liberals to lose the West, the rural vote and much of Quebec. But now, their very survival is in question: If they lose their monopoly on ethnic Canada, their support level will begin falling into NDP territory. The New Ethno Politics Editorial The National Post November 23, 2009

Our American neighbour to the south. The Democratic Party's victories including Obama's has weakened the anti-American support in Canada in the progressive political parties. 

"It's disgusting in my own country, and I love my country, Canada, but they would rather bitch about their rich neighbour to the south than actually pay the note," he said, in response to a question about PEACEKEEPING. "To pay the bill to be an international citizen is not something that they want to do."  - Michael Ignatieff

The "Progressives" can't demonize our American neighbours to the south effectively with Obama - Harper providing cover for each other's inactivity on the Energy file. Anyone see a Carbon Tax motion?

This is why the Liberal Party is finished for good.  Unless it turns back to its Catholic roots, it will never be able to regain power.This report is very important because if the Liberal Party wants to regain power, it must start to cater more to social conservatives.  - Pacheco

The progressive parties in opposition are unable to attack on alternative policies regarding the economy, jobs and issues that matter to most Canadians. Instead they will attack with intolerance and suggest the government is a right wing neo-conservative party with a hidden agenda like they did with Stockwell Day and Preston Manning.

The progressive parties in the left are tired, listless and offer no vision for a better Canada. In Europe the retreat has been taking place for years. Instead of working in parliament they offer more distractions and personal attacks.

Canadians are much smarter than our politicians and the NDP, Bloc and Liberals have no interest in getting approval at the ballot box.  Where is your plan to cut spending, raise taxes and help Canadians?