Every year or two I find a reason to point to Declan's post on the Media Failure Two-Step. (And actually I could find a reason much more often than that.) To review, the Two-Step looks like this:
Step 1) Cause something (bad) to happen through your reporting.
Step 2) Report on this (bad) thing from the perspective of an innocent bystander.
And then you just repeat indefinitely.
Our latest example? With the Globe and Mail leading the charge, since yesterday many in the media have been having a great old time implying that a Quebec politician who has previously been involved with the BQ is somehow unfit for her position as an interim leader for the NDP. That in turn would imply that about half the voters of Quebec are illegitimate participants in the democratic process until they somehow redeem themselves to the satisfaction of the Globe's editorial board. And in case it isn't obvious, deserting the BQ in droves to vote for the NDP isn't sufficient for the purpose.
And today, right on cue, we have John Ibbitson lamenting the fact that Quebec has become politically isolated from the rest of Canada. He cites a number of reasons for that but he seems to have skipped over the lamentable habit that his employers and their colleagues, not to mention the governing Conservatives, have of using the province as a prop to undermine the credibility of politicians they don't like.
And incidentally, I can't let this go (my emphasis):
Unless and until Jack Layton either returns or retires, Nycole Turmel, former separatist supporter, is the leader of the NDP...
Anyone paying even a small amount of attention to Quebec politics knows that support for the BQ isn't necessarily an indication of support for separatism. And I'd be pretty sure that Ibbitson pays at least a small amount of attention since it's his job. This is just dishonest.
I don't really get all the criticsm at the MSM here including Judy Rebick's letter in the Globe today. It seems to be that there is something newsworthy to report and they reported it. They didn't at the same time run an editorial demanding that she resign or be exiled. But the fact that the interim leader of the Opposition was a member of the Bloc until earlier this year and gave up her membership to run for the NDP (citin gonly "personal reasons" for the resignation, as opposed to disagreeing with sovereignty) is something I would have thought the public would find newsworthy. Putting it another way, if this same person had run as a Conservative and had become the leader of that party (in opposition, to keep it parallel) and the MSM chose NOT to report it, there would be passionate cries of "cover up!"
So Marky. Worst cast scenario. Canada elects a party who has a leader who has links to a separatist party. And, as a result, Canada separates from itself.
Seriously. Come on.
Give me a break.
I would rather have a Quebec Separatist as Opposition leader than a PM who wants closer integration with the US. Sadly, we will lose our country all together with Harper's moves.