Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Today's News: Calling out Dear Leader


CBC calls out the Conservatives version of "freedom":

Christian Noel / CBC
Poilievre's office maintains tight control over what Conservative MPs say and do
Party staffers monitor caucus for signs of message indiscipline and fraternization with other MPs
After two years of Pierre Poilievre as their leader, many Conservative MPs say they are much less free now than they were before his arrival.
The man who promised during his leadership run to make Canada "the freest country in the world" maintains tight control over the actions of his caucus members.
Normally loquacious Conservatives close up like oysters and dare not speak without their leader's approval. MPs are watched by Conservative staffers both inside and outside Parliament. Elected representatives are publicly called to order for deviating from the party line.
Conservative MPs' words and actions are closely scrutinized by the leader's office. Partisanship is encouraged. Fraternizing with elected officials from other parties is a no-no.
Those who follow these rules are rewarded. Those who don't often have to suffer consequences.
"There are always multiple people in the penalty box, there is always someone in trouble," one caucus member said.
"You don't need to be told what to do. You watch the leader and understand what's expected from you," one Conservative source said.
The further you get into this article, the creepier it gets:
"You are celebrated in front of the entire caucus for being a good cheerleader. And you get more speaking time in the House and during question period."
Those who refuse to parrot the lines lose their speaking time, another source added.
It's radio silence at the entrance to Conservative caucus meetings these days. Every Wednesday morning, journalists throw questions at the arriving MPs. Almost all of them pass without answering; some avoid making eye contact with journalists.
... Conservative Party staffers keep a close eye on MPs' activities — who's talking to reporters, who's deviating from the party line, who's fraternizing with MPs from other parties. Journalists have spotted party staffers taking notes and sources say these activities are reported to the leader's office.
"Everybody is being watched. What we say, what we do, who we talk to. We're told not to fraternize with MPs from the other parties. And that's not normal," a Conservative source said.
...Conservative staffers monitor MPs' interactions not only in the Commons chamber but also in the corridors of Parliament and at social events such as the Press Gallery dinner and the Speaker's garden party.
Poilievre's press attaché was even spotted jotting down the names of Conservative MPs attending the Press Gallery dinner this spring. It's an event that Poilievre — who has strained relations with the Parliamentary Press Gallery — and most of his MPs have avoided for the past two years.
"We don't get told not to go, but we can see that the leader doesn't go, so we do the same. Otherwise, it would be frowned upon," said one Conservative source.
...Poilievre imposes iron discipline on himself. He works hard. He works late.
"We've been telling him for months that he needs to take a vacation, but he just won't listen," one source said.
"He's the one who decides everything. His main adviser is himself … The people around him are only there to realize the leader's vision."
..."There's a very small circle around the leader. There's a lack of variety of opinion. That's our biggest challenge," said a Conservative source.
It will be Canada's challenge too, if Poilievre ever becomes PM. 
Here are some tweets about this article: One thing is for sure -- Poilieve would have a terrible time trying to run Canada by himself, with his three-word slogans:

Especially when it consists of three-word slogans, or feel-good pabulum.

[image or embed]

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 8:18 AM
No wonder Poilievre is so fixated on "defunding" the CBC -- they're apparently the only journalists in Canada who are willing to call him out.

“I understand why Conservatives like Pierre Poilievre and his various proxies want to defund the CBC. If they can marginalize its influence or eliminate it entirely, it clears the field for media outlets like True North, Rebel Media, and other openly www.nationalobserver.com/2024/11/19/o...

[image or embed]

— Diane Blais 🇨🇦 (@dianeblais.bsky.social) November 19, 2024 at 6:09 AM
Andrew Coyne's full tweet:
This is all very true, as I’ve argued many times. But Poilievre isn’t proposing to defund the CBC because of some principled public good analysis. He’s doing it out of revenge and spite: to punish it for being mean to the Tories. That’s no way to make public policy on anything. And it’s pure politics: if it were really based on “the conditions that once made the case for public broadcasting no longer apply” he’d be shutting down French CBC as well.
There’s a strong argument for taking the CBC off public subsidy (and private media along with it). But it needn’t and shouldn’t be equated with punishing it, or shutting it down. Move the CBC onto pay, rather, and everybody wins: taxpayers no longer have to pay for a network they don’t watch; viewers get a network that’s closely attuned to their preferences (since its revenues depend on it); and CBC staff get a clear mandate to seek and serve viewers, rather than either governments or advertisers.
Final point. Everyone’s worried about the disruptive effects in the short run. Okay: the day he comes in, give everybody, public and private, three years’ notice. The subsidy gets phased out over three years. Make plans accordingly.

Poilievre wants to get rid of the CBC. Why? “Journalists, publishers, writers, academics are always in the first wave. Doctors, teachers, accountants will be next. Authoritarianism is as predictable as a Swiss train. It’s already later than you think.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

[image or embed]

— Loritmbf 🧑🏻‍🎨🇨🇦 (@loritmbf.bsky.social) November 17, 2024 at 7:29 AM

Just remember that when #Poilievre says he wants to cut dangerous propaganda from the government funded #CBC, this is what he's referring to:

[image or embed]

— Disorderly Borderline (@disorderlybrdrline.bsky.social) November 17, 2024 at 12:33 PM
And this is worth watching:

WOW. This is a must-watch. Here’s CBC Power & Politics host @davidwcochrane.bsky.social bluntly confronting dumbfounded Con pundit Gary Keller today with a very chilling scenario for Canada under Poilievre. Canada, this is an emergency and it’s only one facet of a Poilievre govt bringing calamity.

[image or embed]

— Stephano Barberis (@hellostephano.bsky.social) November 14, 2024 at 6:34 PM
Posted by at

6 comments:

lungta said...

'lil pp le pire , the sniveling tentacle of the "harper " government (it never is for Canada with these egotists) will systematically try and fulfill stevies promise that "when he is done you will not recognise Canada".
I remember exactly when harper threw on the party muzzle. One of his prize members had a piece in the local paper here I responded to. He had given 3 examples about how reducing the GST would affect different people. The deputy finance minister had calculated every one wrong. After that nothing was released unless it had crossed the PMO desk. True story.
If 'lil pp has his way these will have been sunny days compared to the brokenness his claptrap will bring to Canadian society.
'lil pp is the equivalent to a movie critic in the entertainment industry. Can't do anything but bitch. In his long political career he has added nothing. Please tell me one thing in his over 20 years of collecting his government welfare that he has added to Canada or Canadians.
I'll wait over here.

8:32 pm
Cathie from Canada said...

The other problem is that PP doesn't actually know anything - he has never had to learn a job, he has no humility nor street smarts. I dread the day he ever becomes PM.

10:50 pm
Anonymous said...

With the specter of PP winning an election looming, and the polls daily indicating that JT is not the person Canadians want to vote for, where is the spine of the Liberal Party? They need to get another option in there for Canadians asap. It's not PP's fault that he's leading in the polls. That lands squarely on JT.

9:23 am
Cap said...

Remember when Harper had his own online video channel called 24 Seven showing carefully curated videos of him looking prime ministerial? And when he used to send his attack dogs to go after the media and opposition - guys like Del Mastro, Baird and PP?

Well, PP was never a good student. He learned the control part, but, unlike Harper, never evolved past the attack dog stage. As leader, PP should be keeping his hands clean and getting others to fling poo. He will make a terrible PM if that ever happens.

11:09 am
Anonymous said...

Does anyone else think that "Pierre Poilievre" and Pierre Poutine sound awfully similar?

11:24 am
Anonymous said...

"Conservative Party staffers keep a close eye on MPs' activities — who's talking to reporters, who's deviating from the party line, who's fraternizing with MPs from other parties. Journalists have spotted party staffers taking notes and sources say these activities are reported to the leader's office.
"Everybody is being watched. What we say, what we do, who we talk to. We're told not to fraternize with MPs from the other parties."

That's not a political party, that's a cult.

I don't know who Sean Speer is but I used to live in Terrace, B.C. from 1966 to 1972. There was no live TV when we arrived and it wasn't until 1969 we received a live tv feed. It was the Federal Government and not private broadcasters who built the microwave towers so we could watch CBC, see the National on the same broadcast day, the Grey Cup, HNIC, all the TV everyone else took for granted. As a matter of fact, it was CBC who developed HNIC into a moneymaker for the crown corporation and not private broadcasters until Harper foisted it off to Rogers while subsidizing Saturday night games.

Gary Keller on giving an example of Trump stating outrageous things but not following through: Unfortunately, my neighbour will be voting Conservative in the next election. When I challenged him on PP saying Bitcoin will become our currency under the Cons, my neighbour followed up with, "He's not going to do what he says he's going to do." This from a UBC grad. There's too much of this thoughtlessness among Canadians ATM.

Lungta: My oldest daughter worked at one of the Agriculture Research stations during the Harper years. She left and took her MSc down to the USA where there's a possibility of deportation now despite her being married and having a family. She left Agriculture Canada because the Harper Government let it be known that scientific research wasn't their priority while cutting their budgets and merging them with other departments thus shrinking their budget even further. Of course, government scientists were also muzzled by Harper. She didn't see a future there and wasn't going to wait around to get axed.

mr perfect

10:13 pm

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)