Last week, we got a good look at who Pierre Poilievre is. Michael Harris writes:
After jumping to the conclusion that the tragic accident at the Rainbow Bridge on Nov. 22 was a terrorist attack—a thesis which quickly proved to be patently false—Pierre Poilievre was asked by a CP reporter if it was responsible of him to make that public declaration before the facts were known.
Instead of answering the question, Poilievre went on the attack, accusing the reporter of getting her facts wrong. He said he was citing a report from CTV News when he made his comment about the incident.
Poilievre went on to trash CP itself, pointing out that the outlet had been forced to make three corrections to a single story—which he characterized as a possible Guinness Book of Records magnitude of error. He also suggested that the CP reporter was questioning the integrity of the CTV report, when in fact it was his own integrity that was in question.
Poilievre doesn't have the temperament -- and thus the judgment -- to be prime minister:
As subsequently reported by The Globe and Mail, Poilievre first claimed that the Rainbow Bridge explosion was a terrorist attack before CTV broadcast its report. In other words, the reporter was totally justified in asking her question. Poilievre’s answer was nothing but a public relations flapdoodle to cover up the fact that he had been caught with his pants down around his ankles.
But that is not to say that there were no media reports claiming a terrorist attack before Poilievre made his incendiary comments.
In the United States, several Republicans, including Arizona Representative Andy Biggs, said that the false claim that the Rainbow Bridge accident was a terrorist attack. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas added to the drumbeat of fear-mongering to make U.S. President Joe Biden look weak on the national security file: “This confirms our worst fears that the explosion at Rainbow Bridge was a terrorist attack.”
Whether Poilievre got his misinformation from Fox “News” rather than CTV, and just didn’t want to say so, no one should be surprised at his sophomoric response.
He carries the American Disease. And, therefore, he attacks the media:
When another female reporter had questioned Poilievre’s position on vaccine mandates in 2022, a position which amounts to public health Russian roulette disguised as protecting civil liberties, he attacked her, too. Poilievre said Rachel Gilmore, who was with Global News on the Hill at the time, was “smearing” him with her question, and went on to describe her as a “so-called journalist.”
The fact is the CPC has made a cottage industry of trashing the free press since it first came to power as a united Conservative Party. Then-prime minister Stephen Harper demonstrated time after time that he would rather go to the NDP’s annual picnic than sit down with serious journalists and take questions. The CPC has repeatedly shown that it believes that journalists are not here to inform the public, or to exercise free speech, but to do the Liberal Party’s “dirty work.” This could be why Poilievre is vowing to defund the CBC.
Caveat Emptor.
Image: The Hill Times
10 comments:
My guess: The Pundits revolt is all about nudging Lil'PP back to the cuddly-bear track before the unwashed notice and good poll numbers slide.
Northern PoV
I bet he wishes he had a nice juicy apple around so he could talk with his mouth full. What a bullshit artist.
I suspect the pundits want to take him down, PoV. This is all of his own making.
That's exactly what he is, zoombats.
Discrediting the media is a tried and true tactic drawn from the authoritarian's toolkit, Owen.
I think you are right Owen. There seems to be some hints that PP's long honeymoon is wearing off. They are not huge but they are there.
I suppose there are several possible reasons, One can only write so many "the Liberals are doomed" stories a day before the public gets sick of them, the idea of journalistic balance may have kicked in, or "Good lord, this boy in a nut and should make good copy". Or even, "We should report the news".
I think I'll go with the " this boy in a nut and should make good copy" reason though it could be thy are really starting to dislike him.
This is behaviour we're very familiar with, Lorne. Canadians are fools if they put their trust in this man.
It's clear the man lives to get even, jrk. That takes all of us down a dark road.
What I most oppose most of this politician’s plans is him saying he will defund the CBC.
I lived in northern BC for 30 years, and discovered pretty quickly that small northern town radio stations were, and still are, on the whole, pretty abysmal.
I found the alternative, the CBC, to be well rounded in its programming with something of interest to most people.
When I returned South over 10 years ago, I found all the stations I listened to in the Vancouver area 30 years before to be quite boring - gut wrenching boring, such as yammering about Sports all day long.
And CKNW was doing infomercial type programming on Saturday mornings such as a real estate agent playing the role of call in show host while directing callers to his listed homes for sale. That was and is the epitome of patheticism. DJF
The CBC is a national treasure, DJF. Poilievre knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Post a Comment