Scaring up some cash

While Conservatives never need an excuse to drum up a bit of cash (they're experts at it), I note this new fundraising letter with interest.  Most intriguing, perhaps, is the  mention of a full review on affirmative action. Did I not see Stockwell Day say last week on TV that the system was working great? Drive on, nothing to see here?  So why the mention again? I guess we can only conclude that people who don't like affirmative action also have deep pockets. 

Meanwhile, I'm aboard the Liberal Express, and apparently this should scare the bejesus out of me. I wish someone had warned me first. 

Sent: Fri, July 30, 2010 4:11:33 PM

 Subject: Getting things done. 

Getting things done... In English |  Friday, July 30, 2010

 Dear XXXX, 

The "dog days of summer" are with us, and Michael Ignatieff's "Just Visiting Express" is making its way across the country. It's clear Ignatieff is on the road for one reason only...to improve his image. He is desperately trying to change his image from elitist visiting professor to man of the people. 

But while the Liberal leader grasps at style, your Conservative Government is focused on getting things done. We're working hard to bring prosperity, security, and a bright future for Canadians through our efforts at home and abroad. In recent weeks we've announced: Investments to deliver our armed forces with the tools they need to get the job done overseas. Agreements with the US, strengthening our commitment to open borders and free markets with our largest trading partner. Strategic investments in research facilities and equipment at colleges and polytechnic institutes across Canada. Improvements to our security by imposing increased sanctions against Iran. Re-affirmed support for abolishing the long-gun registry. The launch of a review of affirmative action hiring practices to ensure federal hiring is fair. Continued strategic investments across the country to create jobs now, and jobs for the future. 

While Mr. Ignatieff continues his awkward pursuit of photo ops, Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues his solid leadership. His steady hand has already brought us through an economic crisis that swept the entire world. His continued leadership means a united Canada with low taxes, freedom, and prosperity at home and a higher standing in the international community. 

The alternative is almost too scary to think about-a Coalition government in Ottawa. Canada would be put in the hands of socialists, separatists, and Liberals, "led" by a visiting professor after 34 years away. Meddling government, high taxes, and weak leadership would be just the beginning. There's only one way to prevent this nightmare from becoming reality-a Conservative majority government. And there's only one way that this can happen-through the support of Canadians like you. The stakes are high and your help is crucial. Please, make a contribution of $200 or $100 right now by following this link. Your support is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Irving R. Gerstein, C.M., O.Ont. Chair, Conservative Fund Canada Conservative Party of Canada 1204-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4

Lies and damn statistics*

 Something in Munir Sheikh's testimony before the Commons industry committee this morning made me think of the coalition crisis. I know, maybe a stretch, but bear with me.

It was when Sheikh was talking about his decision to resign -- prompted, incredibly, by what he was reading in the paper.

Here's a bit of what he said:

"I think if you go back to the day that I resigned, there were stories in the media, particularly in The Globe and Mail, which had a headline on page four, which said that the chief statistician supports what the government is planning to do."

"I don't really know what the minister said. What I'm going on is the stories that emerged in the media, regardless of what the minister said... In the media, and in the public, there was this perception that Statistics Canada is supporting this decision that no statistician would, it really cast doubt on the integrity of that agency and I, as the head of the agency, cannot survive in that job."

"The point is that Wednesday morning, when I read the stories in the media, they started to cast doubt on StatsCan's integrity. It is what I read in the Globe and Mail... It doesn't matter what the minister said. It is what the perception is out there and what Canadians believe in, that will have an impact on whether or not I can do my job." 

This made me shudder. In essence, one of Canada's top public servants believed that he had only one option for fighting back against the media perception -- resignation. You want to talk about feeling threatened by misuse of information? Someone, spreading this interpretation of StatsCan's stand, was deliberately taking advantage of the fact that Mr. Sheikh wouldn't speak publicly -- neither to confirm nor deny the alleged support of the government's census decision.

So what does this have to do with the coalition crisis? In that case, the battle was also over perception versus reality. By the time the matter landed in the Governor-General's lap, the public had been whipped up into a frenzy about separatists running the Canadian government. There was no public debate or education campaign about the realities of the coalition and minority parliaments. The Governor-General was spun into a corner and again, unable to speak directly to the public, because of ancient codes of silence and discretion. From what I understand, the GG was also worried about public perception, fearing that any decision to deny prorogation would unleash a PR campaign against the institution of governor-general itself.

Dutiful silence is an honoured tradition in Canadian public service, but if it becomes a weapon in someone else's hands, that should make us all worried. And it  might  make public servants reconsider whether discretion is always the better part of valour. If Mr. Sheikh had another option -- specifically, refuting things said about him publicly -- maybe he didn't need to resign.

And we in the media, yes that means me too, should be careful about allowing mischievous spin to fill a duty-bound silence. Sheikh essentially said this morning that StatsCan was outgunned by a whisper campaign against it, much in the way that the GG was,  and that cannot be right. In a larger sense, I think this tension between perception and reality is the biggest problem facing political journalism and politics in general. Perception shouldn't be a trump card against facts. 

*Sorry for the inevitable headline.

Get off my lawn

It's hard not to be struck by the comments this morning of some rock-hard Conservatives, puzzled or perplexed by why the government has waded so deeply into the census controversy. Tom Flanagan is most eloquently baffled in this CanWest story.  

"It's just never been an issue in the Conservative movement," he said in an interview. "It just literally comes out of nowhere as far as I can see."

Flanagan, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, said while some of the privacy concerns may be legitimate, the way the Conservatives have handled this is completely misguided.

"I think it was an exercise in bad government to suddenly spring this on the public without any previous discussion, no consultation at all," he said. "You don't deal with the public that way in a democracy."

*** Update ** I also love this La Presse story, which reveals that Harper used long-form census data for his M.A. thesis. 
 

And then there's Kevin Gaudet, head of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, and a long-time supporter of Harper, going back to the days of the old Reform caucus, when Harper was an MP and Gaudet worked in Manning's office. On Twitter this morning, Gaudet is engaged in a lively attempt to draw Industry Minister Tony Clement into debate. I.e: on spending, regional dvpment, corp welfare you act interventionist. Suddenly libertarian on census???

Personally, I've wondered aloud on Twitter this morning whether all these announcements, like that old saying about Scottish cuisine, were founded on a dare. Ie. Bet you can't eat this sheep's stomach, or bet you can muse aloud about doing away with affirmative action and then deny it the next day. 

Alternately, I'm thinking that someone in the PMO saw this movie clip below  and decided it would make a great campaign slogan for the next election. Good luck with that.

The reality-based bureaucracy

Given the ongoing fuss with the census here north of the border, you might understand why this article, from the current issue of the Utne Reader, leaped right out at me when I was perusing the magazine today. (It's an excerpt of an article that originally appeared earlier this year in The New Republic.)

Essentially, it seems while Obama is headed in one direction in the U.S., we may well be headed in another in Canada when it comes to putting our faith in science and expertise. Some excerpts: 

Yet there is one extremely consequential area where Obama has done just about everything a liberal could ask for—but done it so quietly that almost no one, including most liberals, has noticed. Obama’s three Republican predecessors were all committed to weakening or even destroying the country’s regulatory apparatus: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the other agencies that are supposed to protect workers and consumers by regulating business practices. Now Obama is seeking to rebuild these battered institutions. In doing so, he isn’t simply improving the effectiveness of various government offices or making scattered progress on a few issues; he is resuscitating an entire philosophy of government with roots in the Progressive era of the early 20th century. Taken as a whole, Obama’s revival of these agencies is arguably the most significant accomplishment of his first year in office.

 

The regulatory agencies, most of which date from one of the three great reform periods (1901–14, 1932–38, and 1961–72) of the past century, were intended to smooth out the rough edges (the “externalities,” in economic jargon) of modern capitalism—from dirty air to dangerous workplaces to defective merchandise to financial corruption. With wide latitude in writing and enforcing regulations, they have been described as a “fourth branch of government.”

That wide latitude could invite abuses of power, but the old-time progressives who fashioned the regulatory state rested their hopes on what could be called “scientific administration.” Louis Brandeis and Herbert Croly—to name two of the foremost turn-of-the-20th-century progressives—believed that the agencies, staffed by experts schooled in social and natural science and employing the scientific method in their decision making, could rise above partisanship and interest-group pressure. The success of the regulatory agencies, Croly wrote, depended upon “a sufficient popular confidence in the ability of enlightened and trained individuals . . . and the actual existence for their use of a body of sufficiently authentic social knowledge.”

Remind you of anything? Or more precisely, perhaps, remind you of the opposite? How about this?

Obama’s regulatory appointments could not be more different—no surprise given that he is the son of two social scientists (one of whom attempted to introduce scientific administration to Kenya) and that he once worked in academia himself. Indeed, the flow of expertise into the federal bureaucracy over the past year has been reminiscent of what took place at the start of the New Deal.

I'm not sure when it became a hallmark of Canadian Conservatism to mistrust the experts and science, but that sentiment definitely seems to be part of this ongoing census saga here. Happily, it seems to be a phenomenon limited to north of the 49th parallel these days.

Who's next? Anyone?

On his blog today, David Eaves carries an anonymous note from a public servant, wondering whether the resignation of Canada's chief statistician will set off a larger chain of reflection/reaction from within the public service.  We hear hints almost every day of civil-service unease with the hyper-political bent of this government -- you just don't see many public servants standing up for themselves so publicly.  But maybe it only takes one brave soul to inspire some bravery in others>

Of course, the unease works both ways. Back in 2007, after a year in power, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had this to say in an interview with the CBC's Rex Murphy.

"Probably the most difficult job, you know, practical difficult thing you have to learn as a prime minister and ministers, our ministers as well, is dealing with the federal bureaucracy. ... It's walking that fine line of, of being a positive leader of the federal public service, but at the same time pushing them and not becoming captive to them. ... I could write a book on that one."

Personally, I think he should be working on this tome before he tackles the hockey book. It could be a LOT more interesting.

What rhymes with census?

Every cause needs a song and now the controversy over the long-form census (believe it or not) has its own tune. Courtesy of gay-rights activist John Campey and an ad hoc accompanying group called "the Data Hounds," here's the song, borrowed from that old Gary Lewis and the Playboys hit, "Count Me In." If you'd like to sing along, I've put the lyrics below.

Count me in (with apologies to Gary Lewis and the Playboys)

Give us back the long form census - Count me in!
Information we rely on, through thick and thin
It's a source of crucial data that we never doubt
If you think that we don't care -- you can't count!

When you count the ones who need it, count me too.
Towns and cities -- every province -- think it through!
Public transit, schools and health care, even business too!
Tory pollsters -- yes, even you!

It's a picture of our nation over time!
Stealing such a source of knowledge, that's a crime!
Census data serves a purpose, tells us who we are
How we've changed and done so far!

When you count the mess you're making -- count this too
Once it's gone we can't replace it - count me blue
Just be sure you count the cost, and when the counting's through
Count me mad as hell ... with you!

And here's Bob

Given that Bob Rae is about to join the Liberal Express tour at the next stop in Ajax (and yes, we'll be asking him about this story too), a little anecdote from last night: 

Ignatieff was just settling into the patio with reporters and a beer in front of him, when a local fellow came up to say hello. He introduced himself as the brother of a man who had gone to school many years ago with Ignatieff and Rae. He gave the name of his brother, and Ignatieff said: "Ah yes. I do remember him. Hey, do you happen to know what ever became of that Rae fellow?" 

The man laughed, turned and walked away. As he departed, he said over his shoulder: "I'm a Conservative, by the way." 

Ignatieff and the media

Yesterday, aboard the Liberal Express, we got several glimpses into Michael Ignatieff's feelings about the media.

There were, first of all, these comments, about his personal feelings toward the arts, CBC and the Canada Council. Essentially, Ignatieff  told the crowd in Kingston that his personal past is all tied up in these institutions, so they could all be reassured of his allegiance if he becomes prime minister. 

But there was another, more provocative question posed to Ignatieff yesterday as well, about how Liberals could try to regain favour with the national media. Given that my own newspaper has delivered a bit of a kick to him this morning, Ignatieff's answer is probably worth noting:

There are representatives of the national media here. I say that for a reason. It’s a waste of time in politics to blame the messenger. It is a waste of time to try to manipulate the messenger. These guys have got a job to do. ... (CTV national reporter) Roger Smith is five feet away from me here and he’s got a job to do. And we welcome him here and he can report any darn way he wants. And if I get it wrong, it’s my problem, not his problem. So let’s get out of the Harper mindset, which is: we’ve got to control this, we’ve got to spin this, we’ve got to manipulate this, we’ve got to keep them 45 miles away, we’ve got to set up a roster of which questions get asked and which can’t get asked. If the bus breaks down, we don’t tell them some story. We try to get a replacement bus and try to get them on the bus as soon as possible. And we did.  I don’t know any other way to do it, other than ‘what you see is what you get’. And you go to Canadians and you make your pitch.

Later on last evening, on the patio of the Holiday Inn in Peterborough, Ignatieff and his wife Zsuzsanna convened a dinner of reporters travelling with him. I was there, along with the National Post's John Ivison, Sun Media's Brian Lilley, The Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson and Matthew Pearson from the Ottawa Citizen.  The talk was pretty much the same kind any folks would have over dinner -- movies, books, sports and  travel were the main subjects. Scotland figured heavily into the discussions, funnily enough, because three of us have direct roots there (Ivison had just returned from a visit to his homeland) and Ignatieff's daughter has just graduated from the University of Edinburgh. Other than that, no great state secrets were revealed. If it's true that an exit strategy from politics is being contemplated, as my paper is reporting, Ignatieff gave absolutely no hint of that over dinner with the media.

Oh, and before anyone is tempted to start carping about cozy dinners between reporters  and Liberal politicians, I should note that Stephen Harper also had many social contacts with the media before he became prime minister and continues to invite reporters over for garden parties and Christmas gatherings.  If memory serves, I believe I was at a small dinner party at Harper's house only a couple of months before the 2005-06 election.

Brockville-Kingston

Michael Ignatieff warned today that he is in danger of becoming a "fat guy" after this summer tour. (And yes, the bus is back up and running today.) 

It is true that there's a food-centric element to these political events: barbecues, baked goods at every stop; junk food on the bus. Just a few minutes ago, I found a box of cookies floating in front of my face. I was so taken up with choosing which one to have that I didn't notice that it was Ignatieff himself holding out the box in front of us. I guess the idea is that if he's going to get fat, we have to too. 

CTV has rejoined the tour today, by the way. Roger Smith has been explaining that the bus breakdown yesterday made bosses rethink plans to ignore the tour today. 

Now it's on to Chez Piggy in Kingston. 

Aboard the Liberal Express

All this week, I'm riding on the bus with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, or not, as he launches his summer-long tour of Canada. 

As anyone saw from the news reports, it was an inauspicious start. First, it was the torrential rain, which began precisely as Ignatieff pulled up to Parliament Hill. By the time we got on the bus for the first time, we were all drenched and moderately cranky. It was incredibly crowded in the bus for the first day too -- as well as media (about a dozen of us, I estimate), there were also MPs, staffers, and of course, Ignatieff and his wife, Zsuzsanna, as well. 

The mood, among a bunch of drenched reporters shivering in an air-conditioned, then broken bus, is about what you'd expect, but perhaps somewhat better. There's no beer -- by official OLO command -- but there are Timbits.  After the bus thudded to a halt, everyone was still able to laugh - and, file stories too, thanks to some cars and volunteers quickly rounded up as we sat at the side of the road outside Hawkesbury yesterday. For a while, we worried that a singsong might start again. While this was jolly fun for most people aboard the bus yesterday (and as Rosie Barton pointed out, better than vuvuzelas) spoilsports such as myself complained that we couldn't hear our tapes as we were trying to transcribe what Ignatieff had said in his speeches and interviews along the way. Damn media. Always complaining. 

Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc was among the MPs commandeered for this first week, as well as Ralph Goodale and Mark Holland. Future candidates such as Steven MacKinnon and Scott Bradley also were in our midst. LeBlanc  -- you'll remember him from his brief foray into the non-race for leadership a couple of years ago -- is looking tanned and fit. Several reporters commented on it. LeBlanc said the tan comes from driving his convertible, and then he went on to talk about the great time he's having at home this summer in New Brunswick. "But I woke up this morning with an urge to tour a cheese factory in Ontario," he said. "So  here I am." 

The bus, now in purgatory, or wherever they put buses that misbehave so publicly, is (was?) reasonably well appointed. It's not the grand, luxury  model of Liberal yesteryears, but it does have a small kitchen, working tables for most journalists and wifi aboard. Or it did. I'm assuming we're getting a lesser bus today. There will be fewer media hacks. I'm staying aboard, as is the Globe and Sun Media, but the TV folks have mostly skedaddled back to Ottawa.  So don't look for any reports of the tour on your nightly news, unless you're watching local newscasts. 

Deciding how often and where to file is an ongoing challenge -- a preview, perhaps, of the next election campaign. Now we print folks have Twitter, blogs, filing to the web, and of course, the old-fashioned newspaper. I've been finding that I can only manage two of these at once,  and Twitter's immediacy makes it easier to file small bulletins, as opposed to longer posts such as this. You can find my Twitter updates, and the others from the bus, under the search #lpcx (that's the short form we've chosen).  I will try to keep this blog updated too, but the fastest bulletins come from Twitter. You can also find some "twitpics" here. 

Ignatieff, in case anyone's curious, seems in good spirits, despite the bus breakdown and the weather yesterday. Last night, after the sodden day, he and his wife were enjoying a glass of wine in the Best Western here in Cornwall, and laughing about it all. Today, it's Kingston, Napanee and Peterborough.