October 20, 2003
Feminist Doris Anderson supports sister activist Barbara Hall for Toronto mayor: "I think it would be great to have the biggest city in Canada run by a woman--and an experienced woman."
Never mind that Hall, a woman once did run the City of Toronto as mayor, but was soundly defeated following a single term by a guy called Mel Lastman.
The Who’s Who of the Sisterhood are stacking up for left-of-centre mayoralty candidates.
Judy Rebick, former president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and author Margaret Atwood are in Coun. David Miller’s corner.
Political giants like Senator Anne Cools call ex-Liberal MP John Nunziata their man for mayor, while former Rogers Cable executive John Tory can count on former Progressive Conservative federal cabinet minister Barbara McDougall.
Who’s standing with former Toronto budget chief Tom Jakobek? Liberal MP Maria Minna before she jumped ship for Hall. Mary Cannis, wife of Liberal MP John Cannis, and defender of the underdog Judi McLeod, of Toronto Free Press/Canadafreepress.com.
If you happen to be reading this article south of the Canadian border, Toronto is the kind of place where Arnold (The Groper) Schwarzenegger would be out of town by sundown should he ever step foot in this Hollywood of the North. That wife Maria Shriver stands by her man wouldn’t cut it in T.O., the sisterhood would be poised to dismiss her out of hand as a "white woman of privilege."
But it is the brotherhood and not the sisterhood that’s having the most impact on the Toronto mayoralty race of 2003, the brotherhood of the mainline media.
The ganging up of the mainline media on Tom Jakobek is as disquieting as it is awesome.
While Hall escaped police investigation for alleged Ontario Municipal Elections Act contravention, and while Nunziata too has had legal problems stemming from another election, it was Tom Jakobek who made the fatal and unforgivable move of lying to the media. Jakobek lied about taking a flight to an out-of-town Leafs hockey game, and admitted his lie under sworn testimony at an investigation into a controversial leasing contract between a company called MFP Financial Services and the City of Toronto. The computer-leasing contract somehow shot up from $43 million to $83 million without city council approval. Costs of the judicial inquiry into the MFP debacle will exceed that of the leasing deal.
It seems that the mainline media is out to prove that no politician can lie to the media in Toronto and get away with it.
From the outset of the mayoral campaign, a majority of mainline media writers and broadcasters have been determined to block Jakobek’s attempts at the mayoralty.
In that journalistic pursuit, they’re having a field day.
Some, such as the National Post’s Don Wanagas write Jakobek off as "the no-hope mayoral candidate". Toronto Star’s municipal affairs columnist Royson James responded to an email request inquiring why Jakobek’s name was not mentioned in a column about mayoral candidates, "Because he’s not fit to be mayor".
This is what the big boys in the print media brotherhood have had to say.
Then there are the little big boys whose sensibilities are offended that Jakobek lied to the media. Like the CFRB Radio reporter, who when Jakobek was the only mayoral candidate who bothered to show at a basketball game for disadvantaged youth in the city’s west end, acted as though the entire event never took place.
The media boys are always sanctimonious and always stick together. They’ve got nothing to lose. The Toronto Star says Barbara Hall is a sure winner on election night. The polls show Hall as the front runner with NDP Coun. David Miller closing in on her. Polls showed the provincial Progressive Conservatives were toast and the Dalton McGuinty Liberals are now running the show.
Newspaper polls are always right and always know what’s best for the electorate.
As someone who has been a journalist for all of my adult life, there are a few things I couldn’t help but notice about the mainline media.
They are largely lib-left and they almost always endorse lib-left candidates.
Members of the mainline media have a running-with-the-herd-like mentality. How many would be lost without scrums for the story line of the day?
The mainline media boys never ever resort to lies. Go to any watering hole attended by journalists. You never hear how the editor reamed them out for almost getting their publication or station litigated for not getting their facts straight. When arriving home late, their wives are never told they were down at the bar with the guys. No, they were working on "a major, late-breaking story."
The media boys are bound to take the path of least resistance. If the polls, the Toronto Star, the National Post and CFRB are all in league saying that Barbara Hall is going to win and even that there needn’t even be an election, then what’s in it for an enterprising reporter from an obscure news outlet to suggest otherwise?
Left out of the Toronto mayoral equation is the dignity of the voter, and the democratic right for them to choose the mayor of their choice on the municipal ballot.
The brotherhood will undoubtedly gather to celebrate the defeat of Tom Jakobek after November 10, and pat themselves on the back for having pulled it all off. After all Tom had the temerity to lie to them--the media, the elite.
But no matter how wide the river of scotch, it’s not Tom Jakobek the media brotherhood will have kicked in the keester.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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