Looks like the Trudeau regieme has a big scandal going on complete with media bias and duplicity.
First - from the Toronto Star:
Newspaper editors, not politicians, determine which op-eds are published
The notion that the office of the prime minister of Canada — or any other politician or public official — could simply “lineup all kinds of people to write op-eds” and expect them to be automatically published in newspapers like the Toronto Star, is both disturbing and laughable.
It cynically suggests that our journalism is a passive process of publishing to appease powerful special interests.
And the meat of the story:
Undoubtedly many Canadian journalists and quite likely, members of the public, were rattled by the allegations this week of former justice minister and attorney-general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, in which she stated that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford had told Wilson-Raybould’s chief of staff that the PMO would lineup op-eds in support of the then attorney-general coming to a decision to provide a deferred prosecution agreement to SNC-Lavalin. Wilson-Raybould made these statements Wednesday before the House of Commons justice committee examining allegations that she was pressured to politically interfere in criminal charges against the Quebec company.
Second, from Canada's Global News:
COMMENTARY: Don’t worry — opinion writers aren’t for hire
One thing you learn very quickly in political communications is that ordinary people are quick to discount the words of politicians.
Call it the built-up cynicism of a population used to watching politicians go down in balls of scandalous flame. Call it the failure of many politicians to keep their promises. When politicians speak, too many of us now assume shaded truths — if not outright lies — are what’s on offer.
And that goes double for a government caught up in scandal. If Justin Trudeau were to pen an opinion piece in the midst of this SNC-Lavalin mess calling for Canadians to respect our institutions and the rule of law, he would get a discounted reading, at best.
And finally, this from The Globe and Mail:
Look away. There’s no scandal here with SNC-Lavalin
The SNC-Lavalin controversy, if truly a scandal as so many pundits would have us believe, is one of the wimpiest I can recall in more than 40 years as a journalist covering federal and provincial governments.
No one pocketed envelopes of kickback-cash in dimly lit restaurants. No tainted food or blood products were distributed to Canadians. No one died or was physically harmed. Yet the Official Opposition Leader and political commentators are widely calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s head because he attempted to influence his then-attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould to avoid criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in favour of a deferred prosecution agreement.
Actually, this is a very big scandal but the media bias is preventing knowledge from becoming widespread. The joys of progressive government.
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