Meanwhile, Back At The Trough

The steps of Peter Mansbridge and Rex Murphy, I imagine, have a bit of a spring today, content in the knowledge that they are no longer outliers in the land of journalistic conflicts of interest. There's a new kid on the block (or, perhaps more appropriately, at the trough).

The Toronto Star reports that Global News anchor Leslie Roberts has been caught in a multitude of egregious conflicts of interests, promoting on air and in his tweets the interests of clients of BuzzPR, the public relations firm he owns with a partner:

Here is but one example of that the newspaper has uncovered:

Toronto lawyer Sandra Zisckind of Diamond and Diamond has often been a Global guest, sitting at the anchor table with newsman Roberts with both her name and the name of her law firm in a bold caption on the television screen as she comments on legal issues. The spots, connected to the news of the day (a high profile arrest or liability issues related to something in the news) run for about three minutes — a boon for any company trying to build a business. What Roberts said he has never revealed, to viewers or to Global, is that he is “creative director” and part owner of BuzzPR, which provided Diamond and Diamond lawyers with media training and helped them get featured on Global news.

His defense of such practices is weak:

Roberts said he never directly accepted payment from a client to be a guest on his show. However, he acknowledged that each business client pays BuzzPR to get media exposure on Global and other networks.

The list of Roberts' moral and ethical compromises is lengthy, and the clients mentioned in the Star article have either enjoyed on-air interviews with 'their man', been treated to 'shout-outs' by him, or enjoyed his twitter acknowledgments.

Predictably, Roberts says that he has done nothing wrong; it is an assertion that offers everyone a rare and unflattering look into the soul of an on-air personality.

Personally, what I see repulses me.

'Dear Leader' Decries Attacks On Democracy

This is indeed rich.

Said Prime Minister Harper, in response to the French massacre:

"When a trio of hooded men struck at some of our most cherished democratic principles — freedom of expression, freedom of the press — they assaulted democracy everywhere.

Actions, Sir, speak much louder than words.

If We Want To Save The Planet...

We have to be prepared to leave most of the world's fossil fuels in the ground. So says a new published report.



Expect none of us, neither our political 'leaders' nor our fellow citizens, to rise to the occasion.

Uh Oh. Mr. Harper Will Not Like This

There are many ways in which the 'Fair' Elections Act makes it more difficult for Canadians to exercise their voting rights; a group especially hard hit are aboriginals, not known for their support of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Previous federal elections have allowed a second person to vouch for the identity of a voter who lacks documents that contain an address. But last year’s controversial Fair Elections Act essentially ended the practice after the Harper government said it was open to abuse.

The act substitutes a new procedure — called “attestation” — which makes it more difficult and complicated for a second voter to declare that a prospective voter resides in a riding.

Critics of the Fair Elections Act warned the elimination of vouching would particularly hurt First Nations communities, where ID with addresses is hard to obtain.

In response, Elections Canada has budgeted up to $1 million to try to reduce the damage done to First nations people by this odious act.

How do they hope to accomplish this? Elections Canada

is planning a series of outreach projects, including through the Assembly of First Nations, to spread the message that people without ID at polling stations “don’t have to give up and go away”.

The contract with the AFN includes an effort to hire more indigenous people for election work, and a post-mortem after the vote, now scheduled for October.

While the efforts by Elections Canada are commendable, it faces an uphill battle, given the traditionally poor participation in elections by aboriginals, who bear an historic alienation from the democratic process.

Nonetheless, one can be certain that the Harper braintrust, which looks upon any opposition, however legitimate, with deep animus, is at this moment plotting ways to circumvent this modest effort by Elections Canada to engage First Nations people.

And Speaking Of Closet Cowards

The following is also thanks to a link from Skeena's page:

An Invitation From Skeena

I recently received an invitation from Skeena Sage Williamson, pursuant to my Harper Naming Contest (which, by the way, is still running), to embed her Facebook page carrying the Harper closet cowardice meme. Continuing to grow, the page deserves to be visited regularly, especially now that we are in an election year.

You can access it here.

Below are just two examples of the delights that await you there:

How Fed Up With Harper Are Canadians?

The answer to that could very well determine Dear Leader's electoral fate in 2015, according to Tim Harper's analysis in today's Star.

As well,

He must keep voter turnout low because his supporters are more committed and likely to cast a ballot. A flood of new, Trudeau voters will doom him.

Given their well-known voter suppression tactics, as well as the provisions of the 'Fair' Elections Act, we can be certain that the Harperites will be indefatigable in their efforts to ensure the above.

He must soften his stand on climate change and the primacy of energy and resource extraction. He is an outlier on the world stage and Canadians know it. Worse for Harper, his jobs-first, environment-second mantra makes him an outlier in his own country, even in the Alberta oilpatch, which realizes a little greening could help get their bitumen to market.

The success of the Harper cabal's attempts to 'green' their master, of course, will depend largely on the credulity of the Canadian electorate. One hopes that voters have paid more than scant attention to the ongoing duplicity of Harper on this file.

He must maintain the support of new Canadians who, Conservatives believe, will remain loyal to a government that creates the atmosphere for success, but stays out of their face.

This could be Harper's strongest suit, given his bellicose but essentially empty rhetoric on the world stage.

He must again convince Canadians that change is risky, champion his trade deals, and argue that putting the economy in the hands of an untested poseur or a job-killing socialist would bring ruination.

Anyone paying attention to the precipitous drop in oil prices should be able to question the myth of Harper as some kind of economic genius, given how he placed almost all of Canada's proverbial eggs in one basket.

Tim Harper ends his piece with some reminders that we all need to carry into the election:

Whether it is the Harper autocracy, his environmental record, his demonizing of opponents, Supreme Court spats, omnibus bills, back-of-the-hand treatment of natives, dictatorial treatment of the premiers, ethical stumbles, treatment of veterans or an unyielding lack of collaboration, the list of grievances against a government verging on 10 years in power adds up.

It is those crippling Harper-engineered failures of democracy that all of us have a responsibility to repeatedly remind often amnesiac voters before they go to the polls this October.