The "FREE" Press in Canada: An obituary

Today Prime Minister Harper shuffled Julian Fantino out of his post as Minister of Veterans' Affairs and into a less visible spot in his cabinet. Clearly, the PM is cleaning house, dealing with irritants that might get in the way of getting votes. He is assuming a) Canadians are stupid and will forget all about the various gaffes and atrocities in Veterans' Affairs over the past few years and b) Canadians are stupid and don't realize that, as odious as Mr. Fantino appears to be, he is not running anything, everything that happens in this government comes from the PMO and starts in Mr. Harper's head.

CBC news network covered the announcement of this shuffle by reading the press release from the government. That is not journalism. That is reciting the government's talking points. Even when pressed to discuss the implications of this move, the reporter seemed to suggest that now Fantino was gone from this post, everything was hunky dory and all that bad blood between veterans and the government could be put to rest.

Fortunately Tom Mulcair had the guts to get in front of the cameras and come right out and say that what happened in Veterans' Affairs happened because Stephen Harper wanted it to happen. Even so, the commentary on Mulcair's speech was hesitant and careful to stick to repeating what he had said, rather than examining this issue.

In other news... It appears that a video clip of CTV anchor, Don Martin, saying that Harper was "flirting with fascism" when it came out that the PM and the CPC were preparing legislation that would circumvent copyright laws, allowing them to use news footage for campaign ads without compensating the news agency that produced it, has been wiped from the internet.

 You can see the comments here but if you click the link to see the clip, you will be informed that Bell media has removed the clip because of copyright issues. Oh, the irony!

The CTV is not entirely virtuous in terms of political objectivity, by the way.  It was found in breach of the code of ethics governing Canadian broadcasters in 2009 when Mike Duffy interviewed then Liberal leader Stephan Dion and broadcast clips that were not to be aired and which were later used by the CPC to discredit Dion. Mike Duffy got a senate seat. Dion lost the leadership of the Liberals and Harper won the election.

The attempts to suppress criticism have been many and varied this past year. Probably the most publicized spat between a columnist and the government involved an opinion piece by Toronto Star's Heather Mallick, and the angry response by Conservative Party political operations director Fred DeLorey. Ms Mallick rightly retorted that her job is to express opinion. It is not intended to be neutral or objective. DeLorey attempted to suggest that holding a critical view of the PM or the government was somehow seditious, and he goes on to attempt to undermine the public's faith in mainstream news media: "We’re up against the Liberals and the NDP in the next election, but we also have to fight an uphill battle against all their friends in the Ottawa media. Since we can’t count on fair coverage, we’re going to need to speak directly to voters. It’s not cheap, but it’s the only option."

And in still other news, it seems the federal government doesn't like its staff checking out Blacklock's Reporter. The accredited news source, specializing in parliamentary news, has been blocked on government servers. If you are not familiar with Blacklock's, the publication is not your usual news outlet. You won't see traffic accidents or fires or sports scores. It is a very serious, often very dry medium that deals with the doings on Parliament Hill; bills, regulations, Access to Information and federal courts. They take the quality of their reporting very seriously and, in so doing, have often been critical of the government. Not just this government, by the way, previous governments have not been spared the Blacklock scrutiny.

 Not only does the CPC want to make sure federal civil servants are protected from news regarding their places of employment, it has also worked very hard to make information nearly impossible to access by members of the press. Investigative reporter, Mike DeSousa, offers an insight into the difficulty many journalists encounter when trying to do their jobs in Canada these days. Months of waiting to get documents that have been completely blacked out. That is not transparency, or accountability, or access to information.

Many people are unaware that things are deteriorating rapidly here in Canada. Between 2013 and 2014, Canada slipped 10 places in the World Press Freedom Index, landing at 20th. Sad, because in 2002 we were in 5th place. A brief synopsis of the decline in press freedom in Canada can be found here.

But, back to the CBC. Every government has disliked the CBC. This is because the CBC has been doing what it was intended to do: speak truth to power, ask the tough questions, and dig for the deeper story. As an independent publicly-owned broadcaster, the CBC was not reliant on advertising and so could not be pressured by corporate interests to cover events in any particular way. All other mainstream media in Canada is owned by corporate interests and relies on advertisers (other corporations) to be able to operate. This financial reliance leads to a tendency to frame the news in ways that please the corporate interests. It can slant the news, sometimes to the point where it barely resembles the actual facts.

But the CBC, like the BBC, was a public broadcaster, and therefore not beholden to corporate dollars. The Liberals were no fans of the CBC when they were in power, but they accepted that it was part of Canada's cultural fabric. The CPC, and especially PM Harper, do not accept it. They hate it. They hate that public money is supporting any publicly beneficial organization, from Canada Post to the Canadian Wheat Board to Parks Canada. They feel that people should pay for services like postal delivery, health care and education. But they especially hate that public money is supporting an organization that asks questions and sheds light on things they would rather keep hidden.

The CPC war on the CBC goes back well before 2006. Back in the days of the Northern Foundation and the National Citizens' Coalition, Harper was already engaged in a war of words with the public broadcaster. Since gaining power in Ottawa he has steadily whittled away at the CBC, cutting funding, cutting jobs, bad-mouthing the CBC to fund-raise, installing a new Board of Directors comprised of hand-picked CPC supporters... He has even gone so far as to change the bargaining process so the BoD has a say in compensation and staffing. It certainly appears that word has gone out: criticize the PM or the government and your name will go on the list for the next round of job cuts.

The changes are evident, from the cuts in staff, to the choices made in lead stories. The CBC, once the most reliable and relevant news source in Canada, is becoming a mouthpiece for the government. And soon it will be moot. It was recently announced that the federal government has contracted, to the tune of millions of taxpayer dollars, to have a company write "custom" news stories. Back in the day, this was called "propaganda". Soon there will be no need for the CBC, CTV, Global, or the print media. The government will provide all the news they want you to see...

#HarpersRecord: A Sociological Phenomenon

This past weekend I participated in a very interesting social media event. A hashtag on Twitter emerged, #HarpersRecord, inviting Canadians to recall just what our Prime Minister has done. With an election coming up this year, it seems only fair to take a good look at the record he seems so proud of.

The participation in this event was surprisingly large. Launched on Saturday afternoon, the hashtag trended in Canada several times Sunday morning. One thing was clear, a lot of Canadians are ANGRY.

Another interesting observation is that there was almost no "troll" activity. Does that mean CPC supporters didn't notice the thread? Does it mean that the documenting of Harper's record in government was such that they could not argue? Or does it mean that the PMO staff were off for the weekend so there was no one around to write up talking points and give the paid trolls their marching orders?

Participants added statements, photos, news links, opinions, and frustration. And the thing is, it's all documented. From closing libraries, to cheating in elections, to abandoning the long-form census, to removing protection from our waterways, to raising the OAS age to 67, to making it harder to get EI, to closing Veterans Affairs offices and returning over $1B to the treasury that was earmarked to be spent on veterans, to running a full-time propaganda machine, and more.... It is all on record. None of this is opinion. There is nothing that can be denied about Harper's record. The question is, will Canadians ignore this record and return Harper to power for another 4 years? Or will this collective rage finally get us up off our couches and out to the polling stations in unprecedented numbers to make sure these things never happen in Canada again?

To view #HarpersRecord, go here.  

If the link doesn't work for you, let me know in the comments section and I will try to do something different so everyone can see.

Musings on Remembrance Day 2014

As a child, Remembrance Day ceremonies were a strange thing. My Dad was a WWII vet who seldom talked about his service overseas, except for tales of things he did on leave in the UK. We had relatives he visited, and I have a little cat statue he bought in a curiousity shop in London during the blitz. We never went to the public Remembrance Day ceremonies, he never went to reunions or to the legion. He always called these things "a bunch of old guys who want to relive their so-called glory days". But on November 11, at 11 am, whatever we were doing, everything stopped. I recall practicing piano with him sitting beside me as he often did, and he suddenly put his hands over mine to stop me playing. I looked up at him, wondering what was wrong. His eyes were closed and there was a tear on his cheek. I was only maybe 7 years old and felt very confused. After a few moments, he opened his eyes, brushed the moisture from his face and simply said, "Just remembering". And we went on with the piano practice.

(There is no doubt in my mind, looking back, that my Dad was profoundly affected by his experiences. Not just by the pins in his hip or his inner ear damage that affected his balance, but also in his mind. When he was dying and all doped up on painkillers, he was convinced he had crashed behind enemy lines. The nursing home had to put an ankle bracelet on him because he was intent on escaping and getting home. I had many odd conversations with him during that time that made it clear he felt we were both prisoners of war, and the nurses and staff were German soldiers. That was a very hard time, because he was so very anxious and distressed. It was almost a blessing when his illness progressed to where he was beyond those almost lucid kinds of thoughts.)

Years went by... I got a clearer idea of what Remembrance Day was. A recalling of the lives lost fighting an evil in Europe. The young men and women who died fighting to stop Hitler from spreading his tyranny and oppression across the world. The young men and women who died in a far less clear-cut war 20 years before that: The War to End All Wars. That war, the First World War, was supposed to be a final victory for peace. And since then, war has been raging in one form or another around the world.

Certain things about the big Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa have always bothered me. I have always felt a profound grief for the Silver Cross Mother. Each year a woman who has lost her child in war is selected to represent all bereaved mothers. It is supposed to be an honour. It is hard to imagine anything more terrible than to bury your children. I feel both sympathy and rage for the Silver Cross Mother. She is selected to bear an honour that probably very few turn down. But she is brought out as a symbol - she is meant to demonstrate to the country that we should be willing to sacrifice our children like this good woman. And that fills me with rage. It is not our children's blood that will make the world peaceful. It is the ability of world leaders to commit to diplomacy and overcome their greed and ideology, to resolve to not go to war.

My Dad used to say, "It's old men that start wars. They should be the ones that have to go and fight them."

War has become an economic proposition. The US and, more recently, Canada, and other countries, have a huge investment in companies whose sole business it is to make weapons of war. Bombs and ammunition have a shelf life. The military industrial complex has a vested interest in keeping wars starting and continuing. Creating a market, if you will. And then there are issues like oil, and land. Some predict fresh water will be the next strategic golden egg that countries will go to war for. Our children are not commodities, or military "assets", to be thrown out as cannon fodder to further a political or commercial agenda. 

Seldom has Canada seen a government as militaristic as the Harper regime. I can't think of one in my lifetime. "Honour the troops" days are becoming a frequent part of our sporting events. Endless commemorations of historic battles suck up millions of tax dollars. The War of 1812? Really? Canada wasn't even a country for another 55 years. Revamping our museums to showcase Canada's military history (while downplaying peacekeeping in favour of active combat), creating a huge monument to "the victims of communism", the CBC and other networks spending the week or more leading up to Remembrance Day wallowing in old footage and tape from WWI and WWII, the government engaging in fiery rhetoric in the House and in press conferences - fear-mongering, trying to instill a militaristic patriotism... The worst offender in the media must be the Sun Network, which is now offering these shirts...

And the most recent undignified emotional orgies over the two servicemen killed in separate incidents on Canadian soil a few weeks ago... We live in a world where our brains have been softened by the endless barrage of Jerry Springers and Oprahs and reality TV... A world where people feel the need to writhe and wail and beat their chests, without looking at the facts and examining the evidence. Both those men were killed by lone assailants. Men who had fallen through the cracks, become disengaged in society, suffered from untreated mental illness, one was a homeless addict. Yet the government was declaring both as terrorist attacks before any information had emerged. They are sticking to the story, too, because it so nicely fits their narrative and lends fuel to the fire of militaristic patriotism they are trying so hard to build.

Harper grabbed a big photo op at the funeral of one of the soldiers.

And all of this against the backdrop of our government fighting veterans' groups in court, seeking benefits and care for battlefield injuries. Harper and co. deny that our country has a sacred trust to those who risk life and limb and mental health at the whim of the government. They cut veterans loose just shy of being eligible for their pensions because they have service-related injuries. They offer lump-sum pay-outs to people who have lifetime injuries. These are young people coming home missing limbs, missing eyes, organs, with psychological injuries. They have years, 50 years, 60 years, or more, to live with these injuries and the government wants to pay them off and send them away. Veterans are killing themselves because they are not receiving the treatment they need. That just isn't right.

Harper is in love with the idea of military. He likes the pomp and ceremony, the uniforms, the medals, the explosions, the Edwardian notion of "glory", and the photo-ops with cool, tough-looking equipment. He does not care about the young men and women he sends off to war, just as he does not care about those who come back. He does not care about their families. He does not care about innocent civilians who may be injured or killed overseas. Remaining in power and remaking Canada in his own image is his primary concern. This, coupled with his absolute control of a majority in the House, makes him an exceptionally dangerous Prime Minister.

This Remembrance Day, we should remember that.

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Sorry this has rambled a bit. But for a very in-depth but readable account of the Harper government's relationship with the military and veterans, please read: Delay, Deny and Die: The Harper Government and Veterans

Or maybe just this:   Gananoque
Three weeks ago, hidden amid the national outpouring of support and grief for Canada’s soldiers Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, Canada lost another soldier, Johnny Duffney.
Johnny was my friend. He died in relative obscurity, at the age of 49, in his home above a store on Gananoque’s main street, two doors down from the Royal Canadian Legion and across the street from the cenotaph in our town park. Although he had a loving partner and a circle of friends Johnny died alone by his own hand, a victim of the mental illness that ravages many of our returning soldiers. http://m.thestar.com/…

The treatment of our veterans by this government, and the glee with which they send more young men and women into harm's way, is a national crisis, a national tragedy and a national shame!

What Just Happened Here?

In case you missed it, the past several days have seen a huge chunk of the news cycle occupied with the death of one reservist, Cpl Nathan Cirillo, who was unfortunate enough to have been on duty guarding the cenotaph on Wednesday morning. This coverage has risen to a fever-pitch over the past two days. A good chunk of on-air time yesterday was spent watching his hearse travel from Ottawa to his home town of Hamilton, and then interviewing people coming out of the public viewing. Today the CBC covered his funeral procession and funeral - live.  The funeral is over now, but the worship is not. Coming up, they are going to talk to people who knew him, and some who didn't, and find out what they remember most about him.

Excuse me?

Mountains of flowers and teddy bears and stuff has been piled at the war memorial, and also around the front gate of his home in Hamilton. We have been treated to heart-wrenching shots of his dogs peering under the fence with captions like, "Their master will never come home" and "His faithful dogs still wait for him."

Thousands of people lined the overpasses on what has been renamed the Highway of Heroes, one of many similarly named roads across Canada used to transport caskets from Afghanistan to an army base.

Let's grab some perspective, can we?

In World War 1 and World War 2, families got telegrams to notify them of deaths overseas. They cried, of course, in their homes. Some went to church and cried there, or over to the neighbours'... Huge outpourings of grief, weeping loudly and hysterically in public were generally frowned upon. Such outbursts lacked dignity, and even disrespected the courage of the soldiers they had lost. They would have been shocked and confused by what we have witnessed in Canada in the past few days.

Times have changed, certainly. Caskets bearing troops home from Afghanistan arrived at an airbase and were transported, via a ramp ceremony with honour guard, to their home base or a funeral home of the family's choosing. The public was invited to come to the overpasses on whichever "Highway of Heroes" the hearse would travel. But it was quite low-key. It had been the practice to fly the flag at half-mast on federal buildings. when the fallen were returned from Afghanistan. However, according to this entry from Wikipedia, "A controversy surfaced in April, 2006, when the newly appointed Conservative government discontinued the practice, initiated by the previous Liberal government following the Tarnak Farm incident,[6] of flying the flag at half-mast on all government buildings whenever a Canadian soldier was killed in action in Afghanistan. The issue divided veterans' groups and military families, some of whom supported the return to the original tradition of using Remembrance Day to honour all soldiers killed in action, while others felt it was an appropriate way to honour the fallen and to remind the population of the costs of war. In spite of the federal government's policy, local authorities have often decided to fly the flag at half-mast to honour fallen soldiers who were from their jurisdiction, including Toronto and Saskatchewan."

But, in this case Harper has ordered the flags across the country to remain at half-mast until further notice.

Let's recap. 24 year old Cpl Cirillo was a reservist in Hamilton. He loved dogs and had a 5 year old son. He had always wanted to be in the military. He was assigned to guard the cenotaph in Ottawa last week. Apparently it is a duty that gets passed from regiment to regiment. The main responsibilities of this symbolic guard are to let tourists take pictures with them and keep drunk people from peeing on the war memorial. Last Wednesday morning, a 32 year-old homeless man with a drug problem and possible mental illness shot Cirillo before running into the Parliament Building where he would die in a hail of gunfire. Since then the rhetoric about Cirillo's heroism and courage has been unending. His death was tragic. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he was just standing there, doing his job, when he was shot. He didn't rush across a battlefield under heavy enemy fire to drag a fallen comrade to safety. He did not dive into an icy river to rescue a child who had fallen from a bridge. What, exactly, makes him heroic? Doesn't it cheapen the meaning of the word to use it so gratuitously? What, for that matter, makes him courageous? He may have been brave, in general, but there was no moment of bravery in this instance. He was likely surprised, shocked, distressed when he was shot. But if you throw the word into a sentence describing the actual incident, you get something like, "He lay on the pavement, courageously bleeding..." It makes no sense. Tragic. Yes, it was tragic. A little boy has lost his dad, parents have lost a son, siblings have lost a brother... But it is always tragic when someone dies so young, or so unexpectedly.

So what is the meaning of this spectacle we have been witnessing here?

My mother had a term for such things. She called them "emotional orgies", and she disapproved strongly. She would say, "Politicians, religions, companies, do things to get people all worked up. Everyone competes to show that they are the most emotional, the most eloquent. People saying things to evoke strong emotions in others... It makes people confused when they get that worked up. They forget to think for themselves..." Smart lady, my Mom was.

Harper and the media are playing us here, like the strings on a harp. Never before has Canada so worshiped the military as it has in recent years, since Harper came to power. While at the same time, cutting funding and services for wounded veterans, cutting resources for the Department of National Defence, bungling acquisition of infrastructure and equipment... Harper likes the "concept" of the military. There are so many opportunities to dress up like soldiers, so many cool photo ops with big tough looking weapons... And Canada has always honoured our military. So Harper is endeavouring to inextricably connect himself with the notion of the military in Canadians' minds. So that we will vote for him.

There is no doubt he is reshaping this country. He hardly ever appears now without being flanked by countless huge flags. He likes to get his picture taken in military-esque situations, laying a wreath at the cenotaph, or, at a soldier's funeral...

He keeps repeating that the attack on Wednesday as an act of terror. A brutal attack on the essence of our country. Drum up fear, drive people into an emotional frenzy, glorify the military... See a pattern here? Make us scared, uncertain, looking for protection. Make us emotional so we can't think straight. Make the military into some sort of sacred nobility. Then pass laws to give themselves all kinds of powers to keep an eye on any critics, you know, to protect us...

Please don't get me wrong. I am not anti-military. Both my parents served in the Canadian military, my Dad during WW2. I am not anti-military. I am anti-manipulation.

I am frankly disgusted by the blatant attempt to manipulate the minds of Canadians. If you have watched Russell Brand's deconstruction of Harper's post-Ottawa shooting speech, try to follow his example and think critically about what you are really hearing in all of Harper's speeches. It will open your eyes and free you from the mind-control.

Russell Brand's video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALEaAAU3KAE
Yes, he is annoying, but he nails it here...