Washington File

Maybe the media needs to focus more on relevant issues, like the quality and type of education across Canada - the similarities, the differences, & what is being taught. New and innovative ideas should be shared.

Maybe we citizens have grown soft - from years of hiding our feelings from politicians behind the comfort of a TV/computer screen.

Maybe talking with the politicians, maybe a phone call instead of grumbling to the neighbours might help give them the reality check they need.

If they govern under their own agenda, can we say we didn't do anything about it, aside from ramblings on the internet?

What is being overlooked again by the Media is why there was another "Backroom" agreement with Washington where no reporting was intentional. Facilitating Canadian and American information sharing is directly tied to the Security and Propserity Partnership. If the Media was really responsible and wished they had greater access to the Harper government then it is their responsibility to generate public outcry by informing the public of items of concern.
Considering there were no reporters covering the North American Forum held in Banff in August which is directly tied into Stockwell Days meeting this week I find the Media to at fault. Reporters cannot report if they aren't informed of what is going on and therefore since they are being negligent or lazy in keeping informed it is their own fault for not being able to force the government to reply to its queries.
Integration sounds like a buzzword, but it has deep implications, the Media/reporters need to understand the full meaning and results from its underpinnings. Once they latch on to this new agreement Stockwell Day signed and look at the wider picture of the Security and Prosperity Partnership in depth and report on it, only then will there be politicians willing to clarify what they are doing. The result will be politicians scrambling to cover their butts from the resulting fallout.

I for one am happy that Harper and his cronies have chosen to run our government in a pseudo covert manner displaying their general disdain for and paranoia of the public's right to know.

It reveals a major Tory miscalculation that the Canadian electorate is unsophisticated and easily manipulated. They truly believe they can hide their social conservative, neo con policies from voters. I have never in my life seen such a collection of miserable, angry, intolerant, unempathethic and just plain mean politicians!

However, the good news is that Canadians, especially in the east are a lot more politcally savvy and all this secrecy along with forcing unpopular policies down our throats has eroded what hesitant confidence the electorate gave this government a few months ago.

Not to mention that Harper has given the media plenty ammunition to accuse him of hidden agendas for the next election campaign.

Harper is a perfect example of a ship that sinks the moment it's launched from the dock.

Hugh, you haven't addressed the issue: why should the PM/gov't/Stockwell Day conceal this meeting? The argument that "the media is biased" is not an excuse, even if it were true. By your logic, a gov't should be able to operate in total secrecy if the gov't feels that the media (or... citizens??) are biased/don't like the gov't. THAT is truly scary. However, I guess even dictators like Hitler had fans & admirers.

I have noticed the mainstream Canadian media jumping all over poor Mr. Harper and the Conservatives. And although I am certainly no Conservative (or small c), they unquestionably did not do the same to the Chretien liberals.

There is a bias, for sure, but it is kind of fun to watch!

And the Cons do appear to be ignoring the media in a number of situations...don't they realize that it is just going to make the press that much more hungry for a scoop?

All this complaining about the Conservatives being tight-lipped with the media, and by extension keeping average Canadians in the dark, is justified in my mind.
Yet, it won't do much to post complaints here on the CBC website. Send your complaints to your MP or the Prime Minister and see if you get a reaction. If they don't respond, then I guess they don't really care about your viewpoint. At least you'll know not to vote for them the next time.

Mike from York, you missed the point completely, Henry is informing us of something that is happening, something that isn't right and smells foul. Just because he is on the front lines telling us about it doesn't mean he's whinning about the loss of a potential story or of a personal misstreatment. He is telling us about his experience, and the secretive nature, and dealings of our government. That involves us all!
I for one am realy put off by all the secrecy.
I liked it before Harper, when there was more transparency. Politicians were in the news daily and you knew where they were and what they were doing, and what the issues of the day are. Since Harper has been in power, we hardly see him, or hear what is on the daily or weekly agenda. I watch the news closely, and I will tell you all the secrecy is making me mistrust the current government. I also feel completely mistreated and misrepresented by our government.
I will admit, I voted them into power. But I promise you now, I will not make the same mistake twice!

Bring on the election! We don't need this stinking secretive government, it smells like GWB/USA and Gordoccio/BC. Clean Air, Clean Water, Affordable Housing, Public Health Care, Education for all, environmental protection, the rule of law, and a foreign policy that reflects what we desire for ourselves.

Good grief people grow up. The point of this museing is, Harper isn't talking to any of the media! This isn't a rant about the Liberals or Henry pouting. So Harper's government do not see the need to let Canadians (who elected them in the first place) know what agreements they are making with other nations? Ah back room politics? As for shutting the media out in Vietnam...just made Harper look like a little boy having a terrible twos moment.

Seem like reasonable agreements, to be sure, and we all know Doris should not be let out without a minder. Nonetheless, I read in the European press that Gen. d'Allaire is to testify in the Rawandan war crimes trial in Tanzania, yet have not seen it here. Go figure....

Both the gov't and the media fail us.
Shame on the lot of you.

Cheers,
dba

I must say that I am troubled by the tenor of these comments, which in some cases seem almost hysterically partisan. People should realize that it was the very press some dismiss as biased that brought various abuses of power and position to light: adscam; Watergate; the Arar affair. It seems that many people want their "news" kept simple, but it takes some effort to remain informed. We are all human - simply because a news account does not reflect what one remembers of an event one attended, does not mean that the news account was incorrect - that is, we all are capable of remembering only what we wish to remember or that which impresses us. Aside from all that, I for one am not content to consider infomercials produced by the PMO to be what I need to know or all that I need to know. I am troubled by the control-freak aspect of this government, which seems to assume that the public is simple and stupid and that we need our "news" either predigested or censored. Judging by the vitriol displayed in some of these comments, it may be right. Micromanagement is just a reflection of paranoia. An active press, with its very human failures and flaws, is what separates a democracy from a dictatorship....carry on, Mr. Champ.

Oh I long for the days of Liberal corruptness, at least they weren't dangerous. Anything would be better than the dog and pony show on Harper's leash.

Grow up Henry.

You are letting your vanity interfere with your judgement. Tell us the news, the best that you can, use all your resources, but don't pout that you didn't get an interview, or a scoop, or some other entitlement that you think you have earned.

The job of the government is "governing", not providing juicy-content to the content-distributors.

Was it not Stephen Harper that ran his election campaign based on ethics and transparency in government? He spoke with such bravado and called the Prime Minister "Mr. Dithers". Why is Harper so afraid of the media now? This govenment has been more secretive than any in my lifetime. Someone please tell Mr. Harper he works for the Canadian public and one of the pillars of our society is freedom of the press. Without the media, governments run amok and democracy crumbles. Yet, here Harper is telling the Chinese government how to treat its citizens. What a hypocrite. If Harper can't stand the heat he should get out of politics.

The propensity of the media to persistently whine about their treatment is only exceeded by the Liberal ambition to whine even harder! The liberals got soundly trounced, we want to try something new and kudos to Harper for placing the media on notice that their failure to be accountable much less accurate in their reporting simply is of no interest. The media have rightfully earned their bad reputation as scoundrels just the same as the liberals got turfed for feeding their own at the public trough.

How do we expect our government to push for more transaparency from the US government in such matters as Arar's, when they themselves cannnot even disclose to the Canadian public a major bilateral meeting with our hegemonic neighbour? Unless of course there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Nevertheless, let's commend Mr. Champ for the report.

I believe the print and electronic media doth protest too much. One has to be concerned not about our present government, but, the type of reporters we have today. For instance: their idea of a story was Belinda Stronach and a so called dog which they talked incessantly about. For the record, she is, has never been news for most women.

All I ask is the media do their job, tell the whole true story instead of spin and without bias. It comes through loud and clear for the record.

Does the present government have some work to improve getting the message out? YES!!! information?

A question to those of you who sneer at the CBC and its coverage: "Why is it acceptable for the government to refuse to talk to reporters about public policy?" Allowing an agent of of foreign government to operate in Canada seems pretty newsworthy to me. It's probably even a good idea given that most of the illegal guns in Canada originate in the US. Still, the public has a right to know what is being done by the government on its behalf.

The Tory minority government is secretive, afraid of criticism and questions, look at the ATF announcement or the China debacle. If Mr. Harper is going to ask tough questions… lets see him ask about Maher Arar in the US. Mr Harper won’t respond to George Bush like he has to President Hu Jintao of China. Re iterating an earlier Harper aide response.. ‘you must be kidding’.

The Liberals are a non-issue for Mr Harpers government. The Tory continued rearview mirror response shows regionalism and provincialism while hiding behind the illusory skirts of the former government. I was no fan of Cretien and I’m no fan of this Tory clone; both prone to strutting. I have had enough of that style of leadership from any party. I want an open transparent government led by a leader who is accessible and honest. So far Mr Harper is failing on all including royalty trusts.

jan...the quote "you must be kidding" was from an aide of
mr. gonzales..h

I am surprised and dismayed by the inflamatory posts by people who allege the liberal agenda in media. CBC has always been very centric in the way it dealt with news disemination. For example, Afghan mission has been covered from both the peace/no war side and the free the Afghans side. Very balanced coverage. This media bias does not exist. Mr. Champ is within his right to raise a question on why information is not shared by the Canadian ministers.

Media bias doesnt exist. Mr. Dillon and Mr. Owen - I think you are just flagging a shadow puppet here.

I have to agree on this: it feels awkward to hear something that you should be concerned of from somebody else's mouth. It's like hearing from your brother-in-law that your wife just got a brand new pair of shoes...

But I have to say this though: The media was spoiled by the Liberals, especially by the Martin cabinet. They would come after (almost) every Parliament session with their mikes and cameras trying to dig the latest dirt. Every move the Liberals was making had to be interviewed, commented, and conferenced.
Prime Minister Harper sharply ended this media circus and put them right in their place: Just give necessary and useful information. And still, the Conservatives are compared with extreme-religious-right-wing-pro-Irak-hillbilly and (OMG!) George Dubya.

By whom? THE MEDIA.

Perhaps Harper hides from the media in an effort to hide the fact that he and his cabinet know very little about anything.

For instance where does he get his patently wrong ideas about Vancouver's Safe injection site?? This was to prevent harm to society and the addicts. It was never said that this pillar of the 'Four Pillar' approach(to drugs) would materially reduce the number of addicts,but this is the excuse being mooted for the sites possible closure!
Who advised our P.M. to state that Israel's invasion of The Lebanon was a 'measured and reasonable' response to the kidnapping of two soldiers and then advise him not to demand equal 'measured and reasonable' reparations from Israel for the DELIBERATE killing of a Canadian Officer by a precision guided missile??(How many MPs and Senior Officials have been wined and dined in Israel recently?)
I am very disappointed in our P.M. with regard to his gay abandonnment of the Conservative Party's written policy promise not to tax 'Unit Trusts'

Why is it that it is always the "media" that needs to be reined in. Who are you to decide that because the news is 'negative' it is therefore not newsworthy. Should we all be fed the 'happy' news like pablum. Good grief your government is hiding from you. Klein did this very effectively, feeding out only the message that he wanted people to hear. Who knows what other secret deals are being made and done. By the way Bush says thanks for the billions...suckers.

Woohoo, more Liberals whining. I love the culture of defeatism that exists with the liberal media and liberal supporters. Most of liberals are so clueless when it comes to what Harper is all about, all you do is repeat what the Lib-bots here.

YOU, the liberal biased media, made your own bed. YOU were not fair in reporting of the facts, now YOU have started a war by doing the same thing that got YOU in hot water with the PM in the first place, biased reporting. So YOU respond with more politically biased reporting.

With some liberals being so utterly clueless as to the country that they live in, some are easily manipulated sheep.

Please insert absurd and stupid George Bush/ Stephen Harper comparision here, we havent quite had enough of liberal fear and absolute ignorance. That is what is scary. Last week it was "hidden agenda", the week before it was "Harper is muzzling the super religious neo-con right wing of his party", this weeks its "Harper and Bush are buddies", before that it was "Our children are dieing from asthma, but we should be worried about Canadas insignificant contribution to global warming".

Ignorance is as scary as it gets.

Thin gruel indeed. People are having a hard time with this non-issue? If anything I fully expected this very thing to happen as, in years past, conservative politicians - particularly those running for office at election time and given free rein to run off at the mouth - had a tendency to say the stupidest damn things. Mr. Day, for example, could always be counted on to do his bit and shoot himself in the foot every time: he may be a nice man and he may be a pillar of his society, but a disciplined, intelligent, thoughtful man he is not and it shows.

Mr. Harper may be many things but stupid isn't one of them: as the leader of his party he is keenly aware that the knuckle draggers he leads must be kept in line for, like alcoholics and drug addicts, they can't be trusted to look after themselves without constant supervision. It is hardly surprising then that a distance from the press - who delight in providing free rope to every airhead who wants to hang himself - has been instituted. If Harper's crew achieve re-election his iron-willed policy of say nothing doofus will be the major reason because, lord knows, these people can't do it themselves. It became very clear in the run up to the last election that Mr.Harper was finally able to initiate a modicum of party discipline as it was the Liberals who wnet running off at the mouth and lost the kingdom as a result. You want a recipe for political success? Hide the brain deads in your party and don't say anything to anyone without running it past the big guy first.

No surprise.Harper'agenda is and was for stopping all news and stop media to report and to integrate Canada quietly into USA.
Why to care about demokracy.Just a dictatorship,even to hush own ministers.

As all good politicians they try to control information. Harper and his advisors seems to be more concerned with hiding their agenda than letting Canadians in on what they want to achieve in their remaking of Canada and trashing of Canadian values.

It is understandable that the media will see something sinister in this. The hiding of information is dangerous especially when it is our government that do it. In a democracy we expect openess. Would the US be repeating the follies of Vietnam in Iraq if they had a more open government and the press was not so muzzled with the patriotic crap.

My fear of the Harper's christian conservative government is only increased by their need for secrecy on trivial maters. What is Harper and the conservatives attempting to hid, what is their real agenda?. As citizens we must not allow any government hid the information from us. Thats if we want to remain a democracy.

Henry - here's the facts - I don't trust lawyers turned polictian very much and I don't trust the CBC at all.

No news - is better than your news

Rod

PM Harper considers any and all media to be an annoyance at best. He has shut down many opportunities for public access and questioning of government actions since taking office and on those rare occasions where his ministers speak to the media, they have hardly come across as savvy or informed so needless to say, reporters are not his friends.

What is more disturbing is that there seems to be a culture of tight lipped concealment throughout the federal Conservatives at present. I’ll admit, they have done a bang-up job of quieting most of the western religious right as well as the hard core neo-cons within the party but this is due mostly to the fact that Harper is not stupid and knows that partisan rants by those elements could ruin a future shot at a majority government. However, in silencing a significant portion of the party itself and restricting ministers from traditional public roles, the culture has changed to one of generalized secrecy that should be quite unnerving to the population.

One of the reasons that the Conservatives won the last election was because of Liberal Party backroom dealings and corruption done “on the sly” and away from prying eyes. PM Harper might be reminded that keeping the workings and motivations of his government away from much media coverage doesn’t make it necessarily any more ethical than the party he berated.

I am alarmed that the gov't feels the need to withhold information from the population. The meeting should have been known to journalists, Minister Day should have been available to the media, and this would all underscore the fact that the gov't campaigned on the need for openness and transparency. There appears to be a tendency for the gov't to control the message.

The news media is generally used by politicians as a staging and marketing opportunity. The backdrop is blue, the Canadian flag is properly draped in the background. People of suitable age, gender and ethnicity are placed behind the speaker depending on the nature of the announcement. The same podium is carried from place to place. Key phrases are repeated by all in government. All of this is to deliver a consistent "branding" impression. The American comedian Jon Stewart uses this truth to comedic effect by showing staccatto clips of various political leaders uttering identical catch phrases. It's funny but it can't help but make you cynical.

I think it is for both reasons. Harper doesn't trust Day to not say something stupid and also it would further cement Harper's tight relationship with Bush.

After reading Henry Champ's "Hard to Understand" I think all Canadians should be deeply concerned with this government's attitude to the Canadian Press. What is Mr.Harper trying to hide from the Canadian public. I believe the Official Opposition should demand answers from Mr.Harper in the name of all concerned Canadians. This is absolutely unacceptable in a democracy.

I'm sad to say that, with this government, a story like this is not all that shocking anymore. The next election can't come soon enough to get our country back on track.

I'm glad the press is covering stories like this. I've always enjoyed Mr Champs reports.
Thanks

Yes, I do have a theory. Maybe Stockwell Day is not a Canadian at all! Maybe he is an alien and does not reside in Canada at all! Good grief Henry, this is pretty thin gruel. With the US election over is this all you can find to carp about?

Harold, you didn't miss the memo. Contrary to what the current government says, there is no transparency.
The only reason that Canadian journalists have no access to any member of the govenment is due to the nature of the questions being asked. Some Canadian journalists have a tendency to ask questions that embarass the government because there things that they don't want the public to know about. In Mr. Day's case, we all know he has made some rather stupid comments in the past, one reason the PM might not want him to talk to the press. There are countries out there at the moment, who are more forthcoming with the press (ours and theirs) than our own government. We may have to start getting our information from them.

It has long been my opinion that the news media (in general), need to be reined in. Time and again I have noticed in both the printed and electronic news media that there seems to be a consistent effort to emphasize the negative and usually ignore, or at least play down, the positive.

Further to this, it seems there is a bias toward or against individual politicians by members of the reporting fraternity. Please understand that I am totally apolitical. I feel that the lot of them are liars and crooks no matter what their brand. But to give the devil his due, the politicians (or anyone subjected to the "tender" mercy of scrutiny by the press , deserve even handed and unbiased reporting. This precludes snide commentary and insinuation from the press.

What frustrates me the most about this issue is that Harper works for us, doesn't he know that? He was given a very slim mandate from Canada, even less of one in the East where these issues are most important (Arar, gun control), and he acts as though he can spend our money any way he likes and not tell us about it. Isn't this why we were (supposedly) so upset with the Liberals?

Changed? A quaint and obsolete notion that is the infinitely thin faux veneer concealing the corporate-controlled world economy and global policy. Canadians, wake up. You have Evangelist extremists in office and should they win a majority gov't, we will see a shift to the far-right that is previously unimagined in this great land.

Examine carefully the record of this party and you will witness the emergence of a right-wing policy agenda that is likely to run roughshod over progressive free thought and freedom of speech over time. To see Stockwell Day and Alberto Gonsalez chumming makes me feel somewhat ill. Not certain which personality I consider more dangerous to freedom. The present leaders of our country are going to school on this current US administration. Beneath their cloak of secrecy, they are giving the Bush administration anything they ask for.

BTW, are you surprised about our country's shameful position on global warming? Remember, fundamentalists insist the earth was created 6000 years ago and therefore science doesn't count. Like global warming science, for example. Also, all bets are off as, judgement day draws nigh, at which point the saved will be physically elevated to heaven via rapture, where they will eye-witness God's massive genocide of the remaining sinners on earth. Amen.

It is an unfortunate when the relationship between journalists and senior government politicians has evolved from a kind of healthy tension to outright mistrust. What is more unfortunate still is that the media never asks about its own role in creating this situation. Mr. Champ, for example, raises questions about Mr. Day and how it is that a meeting about public safety is characterized by Canadian officials as private - fair enough. But, he does not raise questions about the conduct of the media. A senior journalist such as Mr. Champ ought to be doing this.

A number of years ago I attended a talk at the University of Ottawa given by the then Minister of Justice, Allan Rock. Two days later I was reading a lengthy story in the the Ottawa Citizen about an event attended by Rock and comments he had made. I found it puzzling because the event described seemed vaguely familiar; but, not until I had re-read the story and checked the date and location of the event did I recognize that they were reporting on the event I had attended at the University of Ottawa. Ninety percent of the story focused on less than one third of Rocks comments and much of the story was filler that provided background selected by the journalist, or editor. The story did not reflect what occurred. I know, I was there. But, did anyone write a story about the story? No.

Yes, democracy suffers when journalists' access is restricted. Democracy also suffers when freedom of the press does not go hand in hand with the obligation to report fairly. Any analysis by journalists about the decline of democracy that results when politicians are secretive is in principle deficient when there is no analysis of whether journalists' reports are truly reflective of the public square.

The Prime Minister declared war on the news media early in the year. This is no surprise to any of us, or unless one has been in the wilderness, it shouldn't be.

The PM uses the media under controlled conditions favourable to himself and his party. The PM has been less than transparent from the beginning so why should Canadians be surprised? Quite simply, the PM doesnt trust anyone but himself to deal with the media. This is blatantly obvious.

It is rare that a government minister is free to answer questions. A prepared statement is usually given and if any, a couple of questions are allowed by journalists friendly to the government.

My question is why would the US media or government be surprised by any of this? Do they not have anyone keeping some sort of finger on the pulse of their closest neighbour and trading partner?

The PM screamed about Adscam but in this writers mind, a lack of government transparency and access to our ELECTED officials is a far greater crime.

In my opinion this sort of "control" is little more than propaganda and is most certainly outside any definition of a true democracy; But I guess could be wrong in my interpretation of democracy. Maybe it changed and I missed the memo.