2CDO 2CDO:
The press turn on him? Rolling Eyes Like the way the CBC openly endorsed the liberals in every election in the last 20 years.
Apparently you haven't been paying attention. The CBC doesn't endorse anybody.
Mansbridge gave Harper a much lighter ride in his one on one with Harper than he did with Layton or Martin though. Watch the tapes.
The CBC has been shilling the Afghanistan thing to the point where I'm beginning to wonder whether Mansbridge and O'Reilly have more in common than hair loss. Have you heard Rex Murphy in the last twenty years? The man is so far right that he has to stand sideways to piss.
The CBC leans towards whoever is in power, just like they always have. When Chretien left and Martin came to power, the one notable left-wing show (Counterspin) disappeared. That will continue to happen until the CBC's funding stops being politicised. That they maintain the amount of independence they do is because of the integrity of their journalists.
Never mind the CBC though...look at the endorsements Harper had in the mainstream press in the last election. Compare that to endorsements for the NDP or parties further left. Now sit there and try to tell us the press is Canada is left leaning. Christ, just because Linda McQuaig hasn't been arrested yet doesn't mean that the press is liberal. Pay attention to reality for a change.
$1:
I don't think it is a wise move either but I can understand his motives. As an aside Rev, I love how Jack now wants a debate when he was missing from the last talk on troops deployments in Nov.. Ah, but now he has zero ability to affect anything, no more balance of power and blackmailing the liberals to get his agenda across as the conservatives will ignore him and his party.
What talk? You mean the short take note debate? Blaikie was there speaking. There was no vote. There was nothing. With the Liberals and the Conservatives fighting over who got to suck on Georgie first, there wasn't much point in pushing the point either.
$1:
Once again, I say Harper will have to remove the muzzle eventually, but for the time being it might be prudent to get all the ministers together and make sure they are all on the same page!
Is that like a Bible reading, or the same page of the memos the Republican National Congress sends them?
Scape Scape:
Any information on the five promises must be cleared by officials in the office of prime minister Stephen Harper. The five priorities are a Federal accountability Act; a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax; a child-care allowance; tougher criminal sentences; and a guarantee that waiting times in hospitals for patients will be reduced. The controls are part of the Conservative government strategy to show the public they are different from the previous Liberal government in handling sensitive policy issues.
You're forgetting the context though, Scape. This isn't the first edict Harper has issued telling his party memebers to shut up. This is a PM who, when in opposition, made a point of controlling what his people could say in public. During the last election his people were not only not allowed to talk to the press, but went unrepresented at all candidates debates because Harper didn't want them speaking in public. Let's not forget him kicking the shit out of furniture at the policy convention either...seems he loses his temper when he can't control every word the press hears.
This isn't about the five priorities or staying on message. Send your closest CPC MP a question about abortion or Iraq or childcare or drug policy or taxes or Afghanistan or Kyoto child poverty or anything else and you'll get no answer. Same thing if you direct the question to a minister. Same thing if it goes right to Stevie himself. At least the Liberals had the decency to send out a completely inadequate form letter.
$1:
The press being told where they can ambush is not a travesty to the freedom of the press, they can still do their job downstairs.
It's not an ambush. There have been mics set up there since I was a little kid, and I'm middle aged now. The press are being forced into a situation where they have to resort to ambush to get their story. They will, if they are doing their job, stand on MP's doorsteps at 6 in the morning or follow ministers to restaurants. The press is supposed to have an adversarial relationship with the government, no matter who that government is. If they don't, then we have a problem. Our politicians are answerable to us, and much of that happens through the press. If our local representatives are muzzled, then they cannot be answerable.
$1:
The press in the UK is brutal to the point of tabloid tasteless and the press in the US is docile to the point of being superfluous. I would like to think our press on the hill strikes a balance between the two but being told where they can do their job is not a draconian measure by any stretch.
I'd like to think that the Fort Garry Brewing Company will suddenly pay me for plugging their products, but it ain't gonna happen. I end up plugging their products because they have products worth plugging. Perhaps our politicians should try doing as good a job as the people who make the beer I drink. Instead, the Conservatives make the kind of slop that those Minhaus Creek people sell and the Liberals brew the kind of crap that Molson's pawns off as drinkable. Hmmm...neither of those beers is really Canadian. Funny how that worked out.
CKA Moderator 
Like the way the CBC openly endorsed the liberals in every election in the last 20 years.Who in his position would trust the press, who are just waiting to exploit any little slip to further their Liberal agenda. The same press that has members blaming Stephen Harper for excalating our mission in Afghanistan! Convieniently forgetting it was the Liberals that first sent us to Kandahar, then Kabul and now back to Kandahar.
Not that I am suggesting we will..... 
