The Rewrite

Peter Menzies

Who knew? Plus! Online smartassery by reporters continues to curse the industry, Vancouver loves Harry Potter (shhhh!), layoffs continue and newspaper revenue now in uncontrolled descent

Journalists just love sensational political accusations and way too many of them are more than happy to spread them far and wide while shrugging aside their first obligation, the truth.

Why they put so much faith in the honesty of politicians, who have a history of being a bit, shall we say, truthy, is quite beyond me, but reporters often seem more interested in it being true something salacious was said than they are whether the scandalous thing that was said is true.

To help save journalism from bad journalism please subscribe to The Rewrite.

A fine example of this behaviour, which continues to undermine public trust in journalism, unfolded a week ago. That was when freshly-minted Liberal MP and Tory turncoat Chris d’Entremont told the CBC’s Catherine Cullen that, after publicly musing about crossing the floor, “Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin “barged” into his office, pushed open the door — almost knocking down his assistant — and yelled at him about “how much of a snake” he was.”

The Conservatives, in response, issued a statement accusing d’Entremont of telling barefaced lies and described a much calmer scenario. CBC then issued a correction after d’Entremont “clarified” an embellishment but some journalists were happy to ignore that and stick with repeating the original, more salacious version.

Stu Benson of The Hill Times enthusiastically Tweeted that ““[D’Entremont] says Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin ‘barged’ into his office, pushed his assistant aside and yelled at him about ‘how much of a snake’ he was.”

National Newswatch, despite CBC’s correction still had a Tweet up days later stating “Pushing, yelling from Conservative leadership ‘sealed the deal’ on defection: d’Entremont. MP says Conservatives felt like ‘part of a frat house rather than a serious political party.”

Ignoring the correction and “clarification,” CBC’s Power & Politics used the clip of d’Entremont’s self-confessed embellishment and repeated what both he and the CBC knew not to be true. To be fair, the segment that can be found here fully details the Conservatives’ response but, according to one of the CBC’s most diligent critics, no on air correction has been made. Instead, host David Cochrane went out of his way to point out that while his editors had used the term “correction,” the CBC was blameless for reporting d’Entremont’s admittedly false representation of the event.

The pattern of behaviour indicates to the public that news organizations do not take their obligation to the truth seriously. The public actually expects journalists to seek to establish the truth of statements they are reporting before they report them.

Edmonton City News reporter Sean Amato meanwhile managed to take foolish online smartassery to a new level when, repeating the Liberals’ Trump = Tories theme, he posted:

“Quite the press conference from (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre in Calgary today. Basically…the Liberals suck, the media sucks and a lot of other stuff in Canada sucks. Hey, it worked for Trump.”

Tens of thousands of views and (at time of writing) more than 500 comments later, he replied with renewed smug smartassery:

“Never thought a tweet that says “the Liberals suck, the media sucks” would anger so many Conservatives. But here we are .”

Here we are, indeed. Amato appears to have set a new personal best for comments in response to one of his Tweets while simultaneously embedding the impression that not only he but all journalists are biased against Conservatives. And, I ask, for what? And why?

Maybe think before you Tweet or, better yet, just shut up. Many good journalists find that works just fine.

Amato, though, seems determined to prioritize personal commentary over journalism. When he recently got some pushback on lack of objectivity, his response was unrepentant.

“Bonnie…mute me, follow people you like, no hard feelings. But let me be free too. Cheers!”

Liberation awaits.

The “controversial” Harry Potter Forbidden Forest experience opened 10 days ago in Vancouver, weeks after the parks board, cowed by trans activists, vowed such an event would never happen again.

The distress of the “Qmunity” over the connection to J.K. Rowling and her vocal insistence on a traditional definition of women was well documented in the weeks leading up to the event. But there was nary a peep from CTV, CBC or Global News when organizers announced on media day that the pre-sales were the largest they had experienced anywhere in the world.

I found coverage in The Daily Hive and in Black Press papers in British Columbia. But it wasn’t until Remembrance Day that one of the city’s legacy media, the Vancouver Sun, delivered a review of any kind. CBC, CTV and Global News appear to be boycotting.

Share

To help save journalism from bad journalism please subscribe to The Rewrite.

Operating revenue for Canada’s publishers continues to plummet – an indication the nation’s newspapers are increasingly unable to deliver the readers needed to provide results to advertisers.

Statscan reported a decline of a whopping 17.9 per cent since 2022, which compares with a drop of 7.3 percent from 2020-2022.

News Media Canada lobbyist Paul Deegan, meanwhile, confessed to a House of Commons committee that operators “cannot make a buck as a digital-only publisher,” have failed to transition their business models and still need revenue from print.

Profit margins, according to Statscan, are down to 3.2 per cent.

Postmedia, meanwhile, is later than usual in posting its annual report but has a little under another two weeks to do so.

Last week, The Rewrite noted how an extra $150 million from the government for the CBC would be bad news for everyone else in the business. This week, Groupe TVA announced it was eliminating 87 positions and laid the blame squarely at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s door.

“Repeated appeals to government authorities to support the private television industry, at a time when it faces fierce competition from the web giants and CBC/Radio-Canada, have been ignored,” a company statement explained.

Poilievre, who has been the focus lately of much of the press inclined to favour the Liberals, tried to shame media into paying some attention to dissent from the likes of Beaches-East York MP Nate Erskine-Smith within Liberal ranks.

It was left to the Toronto Star’s Althia Raj to gently explain to his Deputy Leader, Melissa Lantsman, why dissent within Liberal ranks is not a story because, unlike dissent with Conservative ranks, it’s in the best interests of the country.

“Nate has normalized independent thought so it isn’t new/s,” she wrote. “IMO it would be nice to see this from other MPs. Those outside of cabinet, their job is to hold the govt to account. More independent thought means better reports, better debate, better policy. Better social cohesion too.”

Take that, you silly Tories!  The narrative is entrenched.

Some of you will remember how last fall, CTV News terminated two employees following the doctoring of Poilievre’s quotes in a fashion not too dissimilar to that used by the producers of a Panorama documentary at the BBC. Two of the BBC’s senior executives walked the plank there when it was revealed its team had intentionally misrepresented a speech by US President Donald Trump, who then threatened to sue the organization for $1 billion.

Well, one of those fired CTV employees, Derek Thacker, is back on the list of approved Parliamentary Press Gallery members as an employee of Global News.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s Full Press podcast and, if you haven’t done so yet, click at least one of the Subscribe, Share or Donate buttons provided.

Readers will notice a new DONATE button has been added. Please consider making use of it and help us save journalism from bad journalism.

Donate

(Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald, a former vice chair of the CRTC and a National Newspaper Award winner.)

Dan Knight

Six months after blasting Liberal mismanagement, a Nova Scotia MP crosses the floor and Democracy Watch wants answers. Canadians want accountability. What they’re getting is silence.

Just months—months—after running as a Conservative, collecting votes on the back of a party platform he claimed to champion, and swearing into office with the full red-and-white-blue of Team Poilievre, Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont decided, whoops, never mind. He flipped. Crossed the floor. Ditched the people who elected him and jumped into the waiting arms of Mark Carney’s Liberal government like it was all just a big political Tinder swipe.

See here for full Democracy Watch Press release

And sure, voters might feel betrayed, but hey, Chris got a comfier seat, didn’t he?

This jaw-dropping about-face has now drawn fire not just from disgusted constituents, but from Democracy Watch, Canada’s supposedly nonpartisan ethics watchdog, which is demanding that the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein, do his job for once and rule on whether d’Entremont violated the MP Code of Conduct. You know, that dusty old document that says Members of Parliament are expected to “act with honesty” and “uphold the highest standards” to “maintain public trust.” Cute, right?

Well, according to Democracy Watch, d’Entremont has torched that code like a Liberal budget projection. After all, he didn’t just quietly slink out the backdoor. He gave three different excuses in five days, contradicted himself in interviews, and even admitted to misleading the press about why he crossed over. If that’s integrity, then the word has no meaning. If this happened in the private sector, he’d be cleaning out his desk. But in Parliament? That kind of two-faced maneuver gets you a standing ovation and a shot at Cabinet—if you play your cards right.

This isn’t subtle betrayal. It’s not nuanced. It’s not even clever. This is a politician looking straight into the eyes of the people who put their faith in him and saying, “I’ve decided your vote meant nothing.”

Back in June, d’Entremont stood in the House and practically choked up thanking Nova Scotians for electing him as a Conservative. He called it “an incredible honour.” In September, he blasted the Liberal government for their out-of-control spending, their inflationary firestorm of a budget, and said it was “inhumane” and “a monstrous, irresponsible burden” on future generations. That was September 25. Not 2015. Not last year. Seven weeks ago.

And now? He’s proudly seated with the same big-spending, deficit-loving, carbon-tax-hiking Liberals he was roasting barely two months earlier. Not because the Liberal government changed. They didn’t. They’re still the same elitist, central-planning clique headed by Mark Carney. No, they didn’t change. Chris did.

And not because of pressure from constituents. Not after any referendum. Not after a riding-wide consultation. No, d’Entremont talked to a few people in his riding and decided he knew best. Democracy Watch calls it what it is: dictatorship-lite. One man playing kingmaker over the will of tens of thousands of voters who put a check mark next to Conservative, not Liberal.

The only thing more grotesque than the floor-crossing itself is the fact that you—a citizen, a taxpayer, a voter—can’t even file an official complaint about it. Under the current MP Code, the public has no right to trigger an inquiry under Section 27. No matter how corrupt, dishonest, or self-serving an MP’s behavior may be, unless another MP steps up and files the paperwork, the Ethics Commissioner can keep pretending nothing happened.

And let’s not forget who appointed von Finckenstein. That’s right, Trudeau’s Cabinet. The same swamp crew that’s buried ethics complaints faster than they bury deficit numbers. Eight of them in just six months.

So here’s the question: will the Commissioner actually rule on d’Entremont’s behavior? Or will he roll over like he has before, licking the hand that fed him? Canadians are watching. And they’re tired of being played like fools.

Floor-crossing might be legal. So is lying under oath, if you’re a Cabinet minister in Ottawa. But legal doesn’t mean right. And this? This is a fraud against democracy. If Chris d’Entremont had a shred of the integrity he once pretended to uphold, he’d resign and run again—as a Liberal this time. Let his constituents decide if they still want him.

Spoiler alert: they don’t.

That’s why Democracy Watch is demanding that Commissioner von Finckenstein finally show some teeth and issue a ruling, not just on d’Entremont’s conduct, but on floor-crossing in general. In Canada’s political tradition, floor-crossing may be legal, but that doesn’t make it ethical. As Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher put it, “Floor-crossing is a fundamental violation of the right of voters to make an informed choice when voting.”

The real kicker? Members of the public aren’t even allowed to file formal complaints under section 27 of the MP Code. That’s right, citizens, who pay MPs’ salaries, fund the Ethics Commissioner’s office, and ultimately own the democratic process, are barred from initiating complaints that would lead to a binding public ruling under section 28.

So the fix is in. Unless another MP files a complaint, von Finckenstein isn’t obligated to lift a finger. And let’s not forget, this is the same Ethics Commissioner who was handpicked by Trudeau’s Cabinet and who has quietly buried at least eight complaints against Liberal ministers in his first six months in office.

The entire system is built to insulate politicians from the people they supposedly serve. It’s a sham.

And d’Entremont’s betrayal? It’s just the latest reminder that in Ottawa, loyalty is fluid, honesty is optional, and integrity is negotiable, especially if the price is right.

Democracy Watch is calling not just for accountability in this case, but for real structural reforms: public access to ethics complaint mechanisms under both the MP Code and the Conflict of Interest Act, so Canadians can actually hold their representatives to account.

Until then, it’s business as usual in the capital. The Liberal swamp may have a new face in Mark Carney, but it’s the same old stench.