11.26.2019 03:14 PM

The former managing editor of CBC News weighs in


20 Comments

  1. Martin says:

    Seriously? Is that question rhetorical? It was an effort to hurt their boy by helping his opposition so the CBC didn’t like it. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Somehow the CBC managed to take the PPC’s side and actually have some influence on the election. When it looked like Scheer had a shot, I suggested to my MP who got reelected easily(despite a last minute rally by JT which the City staff temporarily had on their website-it was taken down with extreme prejudice) that the first two things they should do was defund the CBC and cut the 600 million dollar bribe to the media. This fiasco is just one of many reasons why both of those things should still happen eventually.

  2. Steve T says:

    Do you see why many small-c conservatives have, for many years, proposed de-funding the CBC?

    Somehow the CBC is put on a pedestal, like universal healthcare, or hockey. Yet they suck taxpayer dollars year after year, while taking political stances that are entirely inappropriate.

    Other media outlets in Canada and the U.S. may also have a political slant, but they all survive (or not) on their merits. If they can’t attract sufficient advertisers, they die. Would be nice for CBC to be exposed to that model for a while.

    • Warren says:

      I’m with you now!

    • The National Post survived a long time without making money because its purpose was to create a united conservative party to get elected and lower the owner’s taxes.

      In a lot of “illiberal democracies” the major media outlets exist to keep the right-wing governments in power.

      • Steve T says:

        Uh, pardon? So the media’s role is not to actually report the news, or the facts, but instead serve as some sort of shadow control group – but only when a “right wing” government is in power? And I suppose they are the ones who determine which governments are scrutinized in a fair and unbiased manner, versus those governments on which they decide to perform a hatchet job? Welcome to 1984.

        As for the National Post, you can have as many conspiracy theories as you like, but ultimately they relied on someone other than taxpayers to stay afloat.

    • Lawrence Barry says:

      I’m sorry but after having been subjected – way too many times – to having to listen to CBC as a “news” source – refering to any of their employees as a “reporter” in my books is a real stretch. This $$ sucking Albatross should have been de-funded many years ago. Just BRUTAL!!

  3. Martin says:

    I just watched the reporter in question on P and P. Quoting verbatim:

    “As far as we can tell, no rules were broken.”

    The follow up question(at least one of many) that should have come from Vassy was not asked:

    “So what is the story, exactly?”

    She finished the segment.

    • Nasty Bob says:

      That was my thought when this first came out in the G & M – why is this news ? Particularly when the real story is the fact Warren has the DNC server in his basement .

      • Fred from BC says:

        “That was my thought when this first came out in the G & M – why is this news ?”

        Only the identity of the (alleged) client made it newsworthy, I think. If any other Canadian party was involved the news media wouldn’t even have bothered with this…

  4. joe says:

    I gave up watching the CBC years ago. My life improved.

  5. Vote Quimby says:

    Foil helmet trigger warning for following comment:

    It’s probably the Liberal Party (or subsidy-seeking CBC, or both) on a smear campaign as passive aggressive revenge/suppression due to W’s commentary on the PM’s racism & ignorance filled campaign. I dont think that’s outside the realm of possibility from the PMO seeing that they tried…well, #LavScam.

    Those personal text messages were either her conscience weighing on her, a lack of judgment caused by a happy hour, or a set up.

  6. Jason says:

    I’m fundamentally confused as to why this is a story at all. If political parties have opponents they hire expert firms to do opposition research and create messaging strategies around that. The first of WK’s books I read was the War Room; if you don’t know he’s likely to be involved in such activities, I don’t know where you’ve been. And, he’s regularly in the news in the context of his anti-racist advocacy… being hired to go after Bernier seems like a natural extension of two of his areas of expertise and drive.

    Then again, I’m in the dreaded camp that also didn’t see the scandal in SNC-Lavalin (not a Trudeau fanboy, but just always assumed that’s how politics work, and saw this as an internal party power struggle). So perhaps I am just scandal-blind.

  7. Jack McLeod says:

    You criticised a Trudeau. Is it a CBC vendetta?

  8. Gord says:

    I too do not understand why this is a story, but more baffling, I do not understand why the Conservatives (if indeed they were the client) continue to play silly buggers over this. I have no idea why they are acting like they’ve been caught doing something outside the realm of politics.

    If I were Scheer, I’d be saying “You’re damn right we hired an opposition research firm to expose the PPC. We saw who followed Max to his new party. They were people we wanted nothing to do with, and we also wanted Canadians to know who was behind the Peoples’ Party. Specifically, we wanted people to know that the party was becoming a vehicle for racists. We followed the election laws, and we have nothing to apologize for. Next question.”

    • Ron Benn says:

      … and that is why Andrew Scheer should not be the leader. His failure to give a simple, clear cut answer was indicative of someone who is not particularly quick on his feet.

      • Fred from BC says:

        I think he’s probably deferring to the so-called ‘experts’ working for the CPC who are telling him what to say and not say. The “we don’t talk about our contractors” mantra was just embarrassing, frankly; everyone knows he would have denied the allegation if it wasn’t true, so why not just admit it?

    • the real Sean says:

      BINGO

  9. the real Sean says:

    CBC helps racists running for office. Only in Justin Trudeau’s Canada. Because its 2019.

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