by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
February 23, 2004
In this column I have often criticized Citytv, not so much for being biased but for appearing not to be able to appreciate that there are ways of thinking about things other than the way that their liberal elites think . Sometimes, however, they manage to get it right.
On the February 16 noon newscast, Laura DiBattista gushed sympathy for Prime Minister Paul Martin to adam Vaughan. In talking about the scandal that resulted from the release of the auditor-General’s report, DiBattista said, "You gotta' sympathize with the guy--he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. If he says he knew about it that’s one thing and if he says he didn’t know about it, it makes him look incompetent".
actually Laura, for those honest hardworking taxpayers who are not members of the elite media; who do not think that the greatest problem facing civilization is the bridge to the Toronto Island airport; and, who do not think that the end justifies the means, you don’t "gotta sympathize" with the Prime Minister--the guy who gets the big bucks for being in charge.
after DiBattista had finished exuding pity for the man who served as Minister of Finance and Prime Minister in the most corrupt government in Canada’s history, adam Vaughan gave little Laurie a lecture on the way government works. Vaughan explained that in this country, Canadians do not vote for a prime minister; they vote for a party and then the party with the most seats forms the government. He further stated that the present federal government was the one that was elected in November 2000 and as Paul Martin is now the prime minister, he’s responsible for what the government does. There is no "new government".
DiBattista probably isn’t the only media person who could use a lecture in Civics 101. But many journalists and television news persons who know better, eagerly buy into the Liberal spin of referring to the government since Paul Martin became PM on December 12 as the "new government". Even worse, some even use the american term and report that Canadians have a "new administration". While it appeared dreadful that adam Vaughan appeared to be saying all this, not only to inform the public but to inform DiBattista, at least he good it right. Keep up the good work, adam.
What the world thinks of Canada
Not a lot apparently. What is, or will likely be, the largest scandal in Canadian history is not getting a lot of play in newspapers outside of this country. There has been the odd american paper that has reported on it, mostly under sections such as World Briefs where the allegations of fraud and corruption are reported along with train wrecks and bus crashes in third world countries. as Peter Worthington wrote in his column in the Toronto Sun, there has been a lot more publicity south of the border about so-called anti-French remarks that were made by Don Cherry and Conan O’Brien.
The corruption scandal seems to be getting coverage in other countries. For two consecutive days, articles concerning the fallout from auditor-General Sheila Fraser’s reports have appeared in China’s news agency, Xinhua, and in the Financial Times of London. Ken Warn, writing in the Financial Times began one of his articles with the lead; "Canadian officials at international summits are fond of lecturing their counterparts from poorer countries about the debilitating effects of corruption" and then went on to describe the corruption in the Canadian government. Canadians can probably expect more of the same as the scandal continues to develop.
To the extent that the foreign media is covering the corruption of the Liberal Party, it isn’t doing Canada’s image abroad any good.