This column is an opinion by Wyatt James Schierman, a freelance writer from Alberta. For more information about CBC’s Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
It’s been a thoroughly disheartening month in Canadian political and domestic current affairs coverage; one that should test the patience of any engaged citizen with an interest in the country and the well-being of its people.
Don’t believe me?
Consider some of the national stories in the first few weeks of 2020 that galvanized the attention of Canadians.
For starters, in the opening days of the New Year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned to the country after a two-week vacation in Costa Rica. His arrival in Ottawa caused quite a stir, though not due to anything of substance.
Trudeau made no significant policy announcements. Nor did he declare any major staffing changes or a cabinet shuffle.
So what was all the media fuss about?
Merely that the Prime Minister came back from his holiday retreat sporting a new beard.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, seen at a news conference in Ottawa on Jan. 11. (Blair Gable/Reuters)
That was it. A bit of hair growth on his face. Some salt and pepper stubble to cover what was once Trudeau’s clean-shaven jawline.
Unfortunately, that was only the first of many banal and relatively inconsequential stories to come.
The relocation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, to Canada was another story which consumed an inordinate amount of precious journalistic air time and prose.
Harry and Meghan’s move, along with the relinquishing of their official titles, was even more obsessively covered by media outlets. While the story deserves some attention, it certainly doesn’t warrant the immense exposure it received, especially as neither Harry nor Meghan will have any substantial impact on the health, happiness and welfare of Canadians.
Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have said that they plan to move to Canada. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AP Photo)
Then an even more ridiculous “news” event occurred.
Just the other week, Justin Trudeau tweeted out a photo of himself purchasing some gourmet doughnuts while en route to his government’s cabinet retreat in Winnipeg.
It all seemed harmless enough. But you wouldn’t have known it from the outrage on Twitter. Nor from the coverage the “scandal” received, extending even to American news organizations like CNN and Fox News.
And what was it that caused such furor, you might ask?
Simply that Trudeau, “elitist” that he is, chose to purchase some expensive doughnuts — and not from that staple of Canadian identity Tim Hortons, but rather from a local bakery.
Never mind that Oh Doughnuts, the bakery in question, is Canadian-owned, while Tim Hortons is not. The outrage still ensued. As did the widespread media coverage of the absurdly silly affair.
Picked up some of Winnipeg’s best to keep us going through another full day of Cabinet meetings. Thanks for the fuel, <a href=”https://twitter.com/OhDoughnuts?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@OhDoughnuts</a>. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/shoplocal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#shoplocal</a> <a href=”https://t.co/9vrgWnUdxo”>pic.twitter.com/9vrgWnUdxo</a>
Of course, this is not to say that genuinely important and newsworthy events haven’t been given the time of day. There has been in-depth coverage of a number of recent developments with major effects on Canadians, whether it be the escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran, President Donald Trump’s impeachment or the spread of the coronavirus.
And efforts have certainly been made to cover the Conservative leadership race here at home. Though not even that has been able to spark much excitement, now that it appears Peter MacKay’s coronation is well underway. Indeed, the race could certainly have been much more interesting if Jean Charest, Rona Ambrose and Pierre Poilievre hadn’t turned out to be such merciless teases.
But that’s beside the point.
What is the point here is that far too often it’s the trivial news stories which receive an overabundance of attention, at the expense of issues that truly matter and deserve the public’s meaningful consideration.
The January release of Oxfam’s annual report provides one such instance of an important issue deserving of much more scrutiny. In its findings, the organization detailed absolutely appalling levels of income and wealth inequality throughout the world. In fact, the inequality has become so rife that now, “The world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 per cent of the planet’s population.”
If you think Canada is exempt from such inequality, think again.
The latest Ipsos poll asked respondents about their financial expectations looking one year and five years into the future, and found that optimism was near a record low for the survey. (Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press)
What other issues deserve far more attention from the media and the public?
Alas, the opioid crisis isn’t the only social emergency Canadians are contending with.
According to a statement from the Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada issued Jan. 21, the population of Indigenous Canadians in federal prisons has reached truly alarming levels and continues to grow. Despite representing only about five per cent of Canada’s population, Indigenous people now make up over 30 per cent of those incarcerated in federal prisons.
These are just a handful of the extremely important, ongoing issues in this country that deserve serious attention and consideration from both the media and the Canadian citizenry alike. Not whether two members of the Royal Family relocate to Canada. Nor whether our Prime Minister grows a beard or not. And certainly not what type of doughnuts he chooses to purchase.
There’s no doubt that the media needs to improve and prioritize its coverage of the stories of greatest importance. But Canadians, too, must be attentive and avoid becoming distracted from the critical issues of our day.
The more actively engaged we are in the really important things happening around us, the more equipped we will be — both as individuals and as a nation — to tackle these issues.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
