Sunday, February 04, 2018

Is This Why The Con Media Hates Justin Trudeau So Much?



As you know, I've often wondered why the Con media is so biased against Justin Trudeau, and hates him so much.

I've blamed that bias on shameless scribblers trying to please their corporate bosses, who are furious with Trudeau for raising their taxes.

I've wondered whether our dilapidated media are being secretly propped up by uber right-wing groups like the Fraser Institute or the Koch brothers.

But now I have a new theory to add to the mix, and in many ways it's the most horrifying.



For it has to do with the culture of the place where most of them work.

A place as Tim Harper explains, that is toxic with loneliness and booze. 

This is a place populated by the powerful and the ambitious, but also the wide-eyed and those drawn to power.

It is tiny. 

As the old adage goes, two blocks from Queen’s Park no one knows who the health minister is. Two blocks from Parliament Hill, you could see the health minister at the next table at your restaurant. 

It is a transient population. Most of those in the precinct are thousands of kilometres from spouse and family. Its currency is information, but that too often takes the form of gossip, very often of the baseless, malicious variety born of jealousy or a bid for partisan gain.

The winter nights are long. An empty condo does not beckon. It takes a special commitment to go home with a committee report and tune in CPAC reruns. A Toronto friend told me Ottawa was nights at different venues with the same people. She was right. 

And there is booze everywhere.

A place as Carol Off writes, that is corrupted by power. 



I flew to Ottawa one cold February morning in 1987 filled with anticipation, eager to start my first real job as a reporter. No one warned me that I was actually travelling there in a time machine, back to an age when girls were girls and men were men. It soon became obvious. 

What I learned in the few years I worked in the nation's capital was that power and privilege allow for the most boorish behaviour imaginable.

A place that the old boys club turned into a shark tank, where women were routinely groped and assaulted.

The senator came to the door to say goodbye. He shook hands with the men, then turned to me. Suddenly, he had me pushed up against the wall while he groped and tried to force his tongue into my mouth. My colleagues stood by, aware of what was happening but not knowing what to do. I fought the senator off, grabbed my coat and fled the house, dishevelled and confused.

A sordid little place where a Prime Minister's press secretary Michel Gratton, would offer respected broadcasters like Judy Morrison access to his boss, in return for sexual favours.



And the old boy's club thought that was hilarious.

NDP MP Margaret Mitchell rose in the House of Commons a few days later to demand an explanation from the Conservatives. But instead of contrition, the House erupted into uproarious laughter, a rare moment of shared mirth among political foes. The mockery spread into the press gallery above, seemingly everyone enjoying the yuck fest.

A place where the same press secretary could assault women and have the other old boys excuse his behaviour.

Columnist Don McGillivray wrote: "Michel Gratton has doubtless suffered, perhaps horribly," but the affair is now settled with the apology. The Globe and Mail's George Bain wrote: "It may be that I talk with the wrong people, but in three days I met no news person who said he or she thought the press secretary had done anything more reprehensible than to be a somewhat macho self."

And to make matters worse, a place where young women, and presumably some young men, are STILL not safe.

As the young Ontario MPP Sam Oosterhoff explains.



"You were told to stay away from certain MPs. You were told to be careful about where you went with certain MPs, even myself as a young male staffer," said Niagara West-Glanbrook Progressive Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff, who worked for the federal Conservatives during the 2015 election. 

"So, I can only imagine what that was like, and having those conversations with my female colleagues at the time, who expressed discomfort. And it was never a particular issue, it was always a general understanding that there was a toxic atmosphere in place sometimes that, in all parties."

So here's my theory, or my question:



How do you think that old boy's club would react to the arrival of a prime minister like Justin Trudeau, who is proud to call himself a feminist?

And would rock that ugly sexist boat by promoting respect for women and LGBT Canadians.

And I think the answer is very, very, BADLY...



And is in my opinion one of the main reasons the Con media is so biased and hates Justin Trudeau so much.

It's a depressing situation, made worse by stories suggesting that Trudeau is part of the problem, and that the members of the old boy's club are the real victims. 

Ottawa is an especially tense and politicized place these days. Fuelled by the whispers and rumours of sexual harassment and worse, the climate is “overwhelmingly toxic”, in the words of one MP who spoke to iPolitics editor James Baxter.


Boo hoo hoo.

But the good news is that the day of the dotard, and the old boys club is almost over.

As the young Ontario MPP Ooosterhoff says, the times they are a changing.

"I think there's a shift occurring in younger generations, such as mine, that understand the importance of equality, that understand the importance of dignity, and worth, and that see the need for men to hold themselves and to be held up to higher standards when it comes to their behaviour and when it comes to their treatment of women, and I'm very, very impressed by the number of women who have come forward with these allegations, which are serious, but are necessary to come forward with.

Most young men don't believe in that garbage, and most women won't take it any longer.

And needless to say I'm with them.

At a time when women all over the world are rising and saying enough is enough.

Justin Trudeau represents the future.

And it belongs to us....



21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oosterhoff is a Bible thumping maniac

Mark H said...

Yet, in this case, he is right. Fighting him when he's wrong does not have to mean refusing to acknowledge when he's right.

rumleyfips said...

After I read this I read a piece by the BayBabbler that I hoped was ironic but instead was just sad.

He thinks federal party leaders are unmanly for trying to eliminate sexual harassment in the halls of power.

He congratulates himself once for trying to protect an MP , seen romancing someone not his wife, from exposure. What a hero.

Pity that such a sexist dinosaur posts on Progressive Bloggers; his views are not progressive.

Anonymous said...

I'm just saying let's not crown him as a champion of women. He is young enough to change but I doubt he has.

lagatta à montréal said...

I do want to remind people that the toxic journalistic culture does not always skew rightwing. I worked for years (as a freelancer) at the CSN communications department, and was deeply involved in the La Presse strike (no, not the one in 1966!!!). Booze was not the only substance it involved - Nicotine, of course, and often cocaine, and lots of strong black coffee - certainly the most innocuous of those substances, but it played a part in the bomb just as caffeine - and sugar - do in those strong alcohol and caffeine drinks young teens get bombed on nowadays.

But no way were those people remotely cons.

One of my friends from that period died from a combination of substances. Another, who was a colleague but NOT a friend, kept threatening to kill his (estranged) wife, when he was high on cocaine, booze and god knows what else. Wife's brother, who is one of the sweetest men I know and an excellent father, had to assume the old macho avenger schtick and threaten to beat up the violent macho ijut. It worked...

The younger journalists and other wordsmiths I know are much more health and life-balance conscious, but they still all work freelance and you know how unsettling that can be, even if they ape Foglia and Alain Gravel and cycle everywhere.

Steve said...

I think Wynee must have canceled her Star Subscription. Lots of flowers for the Cons lately. First a enormous puff for Brown, today a con editorial full of bouquets and whats next a Ford endorsement?

Jackie Blue said...

Well, you know what they say about a broken cuckoo clock. That being said, speaking of Bible-thumping maniacs, when is Scheer going to be taken to task for elevating the Richard Spencer wannabe Dane Lloyd who has a long and public history of ranting on Facebook about "feminazis"? Over the objection of Rona Ambrose at that. "Elbowgate" was an accident overblown by the press. Scheer is the one who really muscled a woman out of his way. He can try to cover his tracks all he wants by trying to blame the Liberals as "hypocrites" for protesting against Rachel Harder's confirmation, but it's he who needs to answer for his affiliation with known woman-haters like the junior Nazi in his caucus with the tiki-bro haircut.

Then of course there's the Rebel Media connection. In this age of #metoo, someone should ask him why he finds it appropriate to hire as his campaign manager a longtime colleague of Ezra Levant, a man who for years employed the known rape apologist Gavin McInnes, who in turn is friends with another notorious Internet rape-defender named Mike Cernovich, the progenitor of the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory against Hillary Clinton? There really aren't that many degrees of separation between Scheer and rape-defenders all around. And it all goes back to Hamish Marshall and Ezra Levant.

Plus, if we're going to talk about false allegations, then why chum around with Levant at all, considering he himself once insinuated that Trudeau had sexually assaulted a young bride, who asked him to pose for a photo where he gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek? And, in his own way, sexually harassed Pierre Trudeau posthumously by calling the man a "slüt"? What about calling Environment Minister Catherine McKenna "Climate Barbie," fanning the flames of the "Nannygate" BS to paint Sophie as a selfish and inattentive mother, or the disgusting "Madame X" article he posted about Maggie, planting a poison seed in the already diseased minds of his deranged mob cult with a rumor that she had an affair with Donald Trump??? THIS is the man who Scheer thinks is upstanding and respectable enough to be the standard torchbearer for the mainstream Conservative Party???

I don't know much about this kid Oosterhoff, but I do know that Andrew Scheer has a LOT to answer for. Maybe not personally, but there's an old saying that you can judge a man by the company he keeps. Something about lying down with dogs, or rolling in the mud with pigs. And that's an insult to dogs and pigs.

Anonymous said...

I found the Off story shocking, and I wonder why it took so long for the Con media to start exposing its own dirty laundry. Martin Patriquin's claim that those who work on Parliament Hill are the real victims is a joke. If they're feeling like victims, serve them right.

Anonymous said...

Just another confirmation that Ottawa is a place where the wide eyed with political ideals and personal ambition go to be killed by self interested power brokers of all stripes. Not the best prognosis for a country reliant on proactive leadership smoothing some of the structure wreaking turbulence that lies ahead.
In another sense Ottawa symbolizes the creeping death of the American dream and highlights some of the crony capitalist good old boys club networks that are helping to kill it. Success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative is slowly dying along with the middle class that believe in it. The older journalists hate Trudeau because their dream is dead but rather than blame those responsible they see Trudeau as an elitist who surfed the benefits of the past dream only to effortlessly jump on a new wave leaving them drowning in the under tow. They are disillusioned and desperate enough to follow anyone that promises a return to the days of yore. Many of their younger replacements view the past as a suckers game and are cynically gaming the system and view the public as malleable short memory empty vessels. In many respects we behave in that manner only accelerated with the help of social media.
RT

Simon said...

hi anon@10:11 AM...I an well aware that Oosterhoff is a social conservative. But I've heard him interviewed, for a social conservative he seems reasonably decent, and I thought what he had to say was interesting and important. And tells us that the ugliness in Ottawa continues...

Simon said...

Hi Mark...yes, I agree with you. We should not judge people on who they are, but on what they do and say...

Simon said...

hi Jackie...yes, beyond the reason why the Con media is so biased, is the need to strike back at the and the other toxic Trudeau haters. For in my opinion they have been allowed to create an atmosphere resembling the Salem Witch trials, where Justin is portrayed as corrupt and evil for among other things taking a vacation and wearing colourful socks. Progressives have to get more engaged, and remember that we are in a war with monsters who will destroy us unless we destroy them first. And we won't be able to do that until we start hitting them where it hurts...

Simon said...

hi rumleyfips...yes I also read that post and wasn't impressed. Like some of the dinosaurs on parliament hill he seems to think that sexual harassment is a game, and thinks that what Trudeau is doing is bad, when in fact it's what any decent man should do. And if he didn't do what he is doing, the new generation would not support him, and our future would go down the drain. Men are who we are, and sex is a game we like, but unless we respect others how can we expect others to respect us?

Simon said...

hi lagatta...what you say may be true, ad there are bad apples in every journalistic tribe. But if you see what is happening here, and you look at what is happening in Britain, it's clearly mostly a rightwing problem. In fact the problem in Britain is even more acute, and if we are not careful we could end up in the same boat...

Simon said...

Hi Steve...the Toronto Star is no longer a liberal paper. It is getting more right-wing by the day. An this was shown by something that happened about ten days ago, when a story was printed with the editor's notes as part of the text. And those editor's notes clearly showed that the Star's bosses wanted the writer to put as positive spin as possible on the departure of Patrick Brown. I made screen caps of the notes before they were deleted, and may use them at some point to reinforce my belief that our media is hopelessly biased...

Simon said...

hi anon@4:55...I read Patriquin's story, and while I agreed with him that Warren Kinsella's insinuations were over the top, I thought his claim that those (men) who work on the hill were all stressed out also ridiculous. For if you haven't done anything wrong, why would you be stressed? And his notion that any of that damages the #Metoo movement is also ridiculous, because that movement is much bigger than what is happening in Ottawa...

Simon said...

hi RT...you make some good points, and I am glad that what is going on in Ottawa is finally getting some attention. Although I have to say that what is going on is not unique to the Peyton Place on the Rideau. I get exactly the same vibes when I stay in Quebec City. It's another small town, a beautiful place to visit, but a horrible incestuous power place to live in.
I've been offered a chance to work in Ottawa, and although I'm sure that many good people live there, it's definitely not for me, and I had to bite my tongue to stay polite.... ;)

Simon said...

hi anon@11:53...I'm certainly not suggesting that Oosterhoff is a champion of women. And I can understand your distrust of social conservatives, since I share that view. But he is young, and as a young person I was interested in what he had to say about the toxic atmosphere on the hill. Maybe one day, if he tries to tie me to a burning cross, I'll change my mind about him... ;)

lagatta à montréal said...

Given the number of bars and lounges in the Mother of Parliaments, hardly surprising!

Also a boys-will-be-boys culture endemic among those who attended private schools. Boris Johnson. Prince Phillip without a filter...

lagatta à montréal said...

Great Middle Eastern food though... If you do accept that job, live in Gatineau. Two of my cousins live in Aylmer and in Old Hull.

e.a..f said...

Lagatta is oh so correct about harassment not being restricted to the right wing. Until there are fewer "boys" in the club things will remain the same. it was interesting to note it was reported that until women became at least 30% of the group, things remained an old boys club. People laughed when the NDP has "quotas" for female candidates, but given what we now know, about the "30% rule" they were ahead of the game.

When groups are gender balanced, there isn't quite the same games going on. What is important is people get called out on their inequitable behaviour.