The Con Media and the Fake Helicopter Scandal

It was a horrible way to end a long and grim week. I crawled across the Friday finishing line, turned on the TV, and there was Rosemary Barton, looking even more like a dominatrix than usual.

And leading her grim increasingly boring show with the story of Justin Trudeau, the helicopter, and the Aga Khan's island. For about the fifth day in a row.

Even though the story couldn't be more trivial, and the only Canadians outraged or excited by it are the ghastly Cons. 

And of course the pathetic parliamentary press gallery, led by the boys from Postmedia.



Like David Akin, the old Sun TV hack, who has been blowing up the story like a hot air balloon. 

In the wake of accusations he broke federal law when he flew on a private helicopter during a recent holiday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined Friday to offer a justification for that decision.

Which he no doubt wishes Trudeau would have used to get to the Aga Khan's private island, if he couldn't swim there instead. Or take Akin with him.

Only to end his week in this sad place...



After following Justin Trudeau's cross country tour through northeastern Ontario and being forced to admit he is still incredibly popular...



And see with his own eyes, as other media have reported, that nobody cares about his "big" helicopter story.

But that didn't stop the other Postmedia boys from sucking and blowing to try to keep the story alive.

With the old Harper fluffer John Ivison proclaiming that Trudeau should be working not meeting with ordinary Canadians.

Finalizing the budget; salvaging the government’s democratic reform agenda; formulating a response to Trump’s protectionist tax and trade plans. These would, by any objective measure, be a better use of the prime minister’s precious time. 

Instead, he is traipsing around the country, calling local radio stations to request Tragically Hip songs and telling everyone he’s “just here to say hi to people.” 

The real arrogance is in thinking that people are going to fall for this charade.

As if all these people were taking part in some charade...



And were too dumb to know otherwise.

While Andrew Coyne, desperately tries to one-up Ivison, by mocking Trudeau and those ordinary Canadians, or commoners as he calls them. 

Greetings, fellow commoners! I come among you, unchaperoned and unadorned, in a spontaneous and unrehearsed effort at mingling with the middle class, and those wanting to join it. Just keepin’ it real, kickin’ it, hangin’ out, as we middle class folk are wont to do of a weekday. Don’t mind the cameras, they’re just here to record my every move.

I’m not at Davos, am I? I could have gone — I could be on the slopes with Heidi Klum right now — but I didn’t. Instead, I’m here, with you, downin’ double-doubles in some godforsaken Ottawa Valley Tim Hortons at seven o’clock in the morning and honestly, Gerry, I couldn’t be happier about it.

Which couldn't be more disgusting or hypocritical coming from Coyne, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and likes to hang out with the Bilderberg gang...



But of course, what really bothers the Postmedia boys, and other members of the parliamentary press galley like Rosemary Barton, is to see how disconnected they are from the feelings of real Canadians.

And what makes it even more pathetic is that Ivison and Coyne really are competing against each other, to see who can impress their boss the old Con Paul Godfrey the most...



In a desperate attempt to save their jobs as the Postmedia ship threatens to go down like the Titanic. 

Postmedia’s digital revenue increased slightly in the first quarter of its financial year — but the company did not meet its goal of cutting salary expenses by 20 per cent, according to an e-mail signed by the company’s CEO and president Paul Godfrey and circulated to employees Thursday.

Martin O’Hanlon, president of CWA-SCA, Canada’s oldest media union, called Godfrey’s message a “clear signal that layoffs are coming.”

And what is Godfrey doing apart from giving himself and his top managers big bonuses?



Begging for help from the Liberal government.

Which again couldn't be more outrageous or more hypocritical.

And what makes the whole thing even more disgusting, as Andrew Cohen points out, is that Trudeau has nothing to hide. And he and all Canadians should be celebrating his friendship with the Aga Khan. 

So let’s revisit this: The Prime Minister goes on holiday over New Year’s. His office does not say where. We learn later that he and his family and some unidentified friends were in the Bahamas, guests of the Aga Khan, on his private island.

Inevitably, this raises suspicion in Canada, where tall poppies flourish. The harpies alight, accusing Mr. Trudeau of benefiting personally from the largesse of a man who is the founder of a global foundation that receives money from the federal government for its highly praised humanitarian work.



And those who are trying make it into a big ugly scandal are truly little people.

Mr. Trudeau’s problem was not that he accepted the invitation but that he forgot that Canadians don’t like their leaders rising above their station. At 150 years old, we remain strangely insecure. We are accountants of envy, and the saga of the Aga Khan and Justin Trudeau is the latest entry in our bulging national ledger.

The shabby hacks from the parliamentary press gallery should be ashamed of themselves, and stop sniffing their own farts.

Canadians should let the CBC and its Con masters know how they feel about Rosemary Barton.

And Postmedia should be buried once and for all...