Tuesday, November 05, 2013

It's Only The Beginning



After attending last week's Conservative convention, Tasha Kheiridden wrote that the party was "a party  under lockdown." In fact, the public was not welcome at the event:

Canadians, unfortunately, saw none of it, since reporters were banned from attending. In fact, the press was excluded from most of the convention. No events were open until the prime minister’s speech on Friday night. Velvet ropes and security guards kept reporters out of the day’s policy and constitutional debates. Reporters were not allowed to walk on the plenary floor the next day to talk to delegates during their policy deliberations.

The party also made every effort to make it as difficult and unpleasant for working journalists as possible. Few electrical outlets for laptops, no copies of the program book, no Internet access (unless you managed to pay after multiple tries). No water, at first (and when a few jugs were finally provided, no cups).

Mr. Harper has been at war with the press since he arrived in Ottawa. It's so much easier to govern when the people don't know what you're doing:

Harper figures that the average Canadian doesn’t care how he treats the media, and he’s probably right. But people should care, particularly the members of his own party. The reason Harper keeps the press in the dark is that he doesn’t like what most of them say about him. Limit their access to information, he figures, and you limit what they can report, and the damage they can do to his agenda.

So Stephen Harper set the tone and the theme. "I could care less," he said. Self absorbed as he is, he believes that he knows what and how Canadians think and feel. He believes that if he can get enough Senators to do his bidding, he can get enough Canadians to follow suit.

What he doesn't understand is that the storm has only begun to break. Mike Duffy will not go silently. And, if the RCMP charges Nigel Wright -- a lawyer who knows that it's best to stay mum when you're under investigation -- Harper will be at the centre of a maelstrom.



8 comments:

Kirbycairo said...

Unfortunately, the media is just as to blame as Harper. The media went along with everything Harper has done. The media has been failing this country for years and it is rather rich to hear them complain about it now.

Anonymous said...

All Dictators are control freaks and very arrogant. Hark back to Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini, their characteristics are very similar.
We also know, Harper has a very close relationship with Ford. He too has, lied and deceived his people non-stop.

It is said, Duffy hasn't dropped all of his bombshells on Harper yet. I can only hope Duffy's bombshells, will take Harper out.

Owen Gray said...

I agree with you, Kirby. They have helped to enable Harper. But they smell blood in the water.

And "if it bleeds, it ledes."

Owen Gray said...

I'm sure Duffy will not go quietly, Anon.

If Mr. Harper thinks that suspension is the end of the story, he's deluded.

the salamander said...

.. I read an article, that quoted a Conservative delegate .. saying 'Stephen Harper is 'squeaky clean' ..
I won't mention the delegate's name .. but that delegate's quote & name should be carved in stone.. a la stone cold, walking zombie .. Good grief .. learn to read newspapers !!

Owen Gray said...

He appears to possess one of those domes, salamander, in which no one's home.

e.a.f. said...

The MSM didn't report acurrately on harper, but then who owns the media? Big business. What may now be occuring is the MSM big business has not benefited from their "support" of harper, so they'll try something else.

It was a good strategy to keep the media out of the convention, from harper's position. Had the media been inside and reported on what was going on and being said, many would have not voted for harper next time. He is playing to his base and his base has some extreme view. He doesn't want that getting out.

Owen Gray said...

From the very beginning, e.a.f, Harper has worked hard to control the information that gets to the media.

However, one thing has changed. The media now smells blood in the water -- Harper's blood. Instead of targeting his enemies, they now have the prime minister in their sights.