This being the second day of the new year our local rag the Ottawa Citizen brought out a two page article on who will shake or shape up the City in the next year. Names or people to follow who are rising stars, apparently, says the paper. In most cases I have no idea who these people are and why they are suppose to be rising stars. A few names are recognizable instantly because of who they are and play a prominent role in City politics, but the others, in my opinion are just filler and we may not hear much about them after 3 January.
The Ottawa Citizen is part of the large National Post Chain of right wing conservative newspapers in Canada and is not known for serious reporting, example page one headline banner news, Downton Abbey Romance, on page 20 buried in a corner a developing story which will have a direct impact on our lives in Ottawa. Another story is the OC staunchly defending the old style Taxi industry in Ottawa and the mediocrity it represents against the dark menace of the new business model Uber or its associate Air B&B apartment sharing. The OC is not known as an innovative thinker in media circles.
The strategy is the use of the lowest common denominator or the use of simple words repeated again and again school of reporting, a bit what Donald Trump does all the time in his blabbering, it does have its appeal with a certain public.
Another article is about Politicians in Ottawa, this being the National Federal Capital, there are lots of them around. The OC is interviewing prominent members of the new Liberal government. The photos are of relaxed guy or gal next door look. Canadian politicians love to appear as if they are just like you or your neighbour at the grocery store. For the photo shoot, jeans, shirt, no tie, sitting on an ordinary chair, the backdrop however is an Oak Panelled Office in the House of Parliament. So you have Mr. or Ms. Ordinary looking Member of Parliament, non-threatening, approachable in an extraordinary setting. Politicians know it is very important to cultivate that image with the masses, they are deceiving us of course and are far from being like any other Canadian simply because of the status they have as MP’s. The House Leader and the Party Whip of the Government were being interviewed, the Party Whip who is the one ensuring that MP’s follow the Party line is retired General Leslie, a man of distinction, he claimed he loved the job he now has and was having great fun. Really, fun? I am having problems visualizing it, it is a difficult job since you have to be careful not to ruffle too many feathers of fellow colleagues and at the same time ensure party orthodoxy so that everything goes smoothly in the House.
I take a jaundice look at it all, given that I have met and know many of them to know that they are never as nice or approachable as they want to project.
Also in the news a recent poll showing that a majority of supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada, the ex-government of Canada under Harper are staunch advocates of the politics of Donald Trump. That is the problem of the CPC today in Canada and one of the reasons why they lost the last election. Will the CPC be able to dump the politics of nastiness of Stephen Harper who is still around as a backbencher. I somehow doubt it, despite the fact that many are advocating it, the current leader Rona Ambrose, who has her own nasty reputation, is not doing much to change that image. This means that we could be in for another 25 years of Liberal rule, which is fine by me.
The year is young and the media have little to write about or report so there is a lot of re-hashing of old news.
Here is my miniature Orchid growing in a bit of moss, it bloomed New Year’s Eve.
Larry Muffin At Home 
I love orchids. We had a collection of them in Southern California. SOME even bloomed more than once!
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this Orchid has bloomed 3 times in the last year.
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The sad truth is if a paper left or right prints any story with investigative reporting or in-depth reporting, people won’t read it, everyone wants pop news. Papers are struggling to survive. Perspective is funny, you say OC is a right-wing rag and the conservatives I know see it as a left leaning paper trying to convert everyone to voting Liberal or NDP. LOl.
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yeah this is true depending on the days the OC is either left or right. Wish people read and inform themselves more. But that is not going to happen.
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Tell your conservatives Mr. Trump probably has very little interest or opinion in Canada, considering he has little interest in anything but himself.
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Hi Larry, interesting post. The thing is newspapers don’t spend money on quality journalism. Newspaper chains are owned by companies out of touch with journalist, readers and citizens. A good example of that was during the federal election when the policy from management of Postmedia (owners of Ottawa Citizen, National Post and others) was to endorse the Conservative Party. Andrew Coyne stepped down from his position of Editor, Editorials and Comments due to managements attitude. Management had the same policy in Alberta earlier in the year during their Provincial Election. Management should be able to back whatever party they want, but they should be willing to give space to other opinions. Traditionally that has been the responsibility of newspapers. That has been lost. It is true newspapers are suffering (and dying) due to other forms of media, but newspapers are not helping the process. Newspapers may very well be killed by the internet but they won’t be replaced by it. Many people are still proponents of quality in-depth journalism. In todays world we need it more than ever. Sorry I ran a little long. Take care. Bob
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