Month: August 2006

Take one Internet meme (link fixed), mix in the blogosphere’s bust of the Reuters fauxtography scandal and you get this:

Well done Jawa!

Disclaimer: while the blogosphere is venting over recent MSM scandals, I will say that a good number of journalists are doing a great job and report the news to the professional standards that we all expect. Unfortunately, we don’t tend to emphasize this work as often as we should. I hope that the blogosphere continues to rout out all of the yellow journalism that unfairly tarnishes the profession.

I indirectly received this memo this morning. It’s written by Doug Finley, the CPC director of political operations, and in the internal memo, Finley seeks to rally the troops in the eventuality that the opposition parties defeat the government on the softwood lumber deal (it’ll be a ways and means motion, therefore an automatic issue of confidence).

MEMORANDUM

TO: Conservative Party Caucus
Conservative Party National Council
Conservative Fund Canada
Conservative Party EDA Presidents

FROM: Doug Finley, Campaign Director

DATE:August 23, 2006

SUBJECT: Election Readiness Alert

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced that a clear majority of lumber companies had confirmed their support for the Government s softwood lumber agreement with the United States, and that the Government will proceed with implementation of this agreement when Parliament resumes sitting in September.

Implementation of the softwood lumber agreement requires passage of a ways and means motion containing financial measures. As a money bill!, this ways and means motion will automatically be a confidence measure for the Government. Should the motion be defeated, the Government will fall and an election will take place.

When the softwood lumber deal was first reached last April, all three opposition parties quickly attacked the deal – even before reading it ” and have maintained their opposition ever since. Some, such as Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae, have even urged their parties to defeat the Government over the softwood deal.

The opposition, in my view, would be foolish to defeat this ways and means motion. The softwood lumber deal is backed by two national governments, the three key softwood-producing provinces and a clear majority of lumber companies. Further, public opinion polling has shown that most Canadians support the deal.

Nevertheless, the opposition parties are on the record as being opposed. And although we hope the parties reassess their positions, the Conservative Party must be ready to fight an election should the opposition parties decide to force an election over the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement.

I have instructed staff within the Political Operations department at National Office to step up contingency planning efforts. And I would also ask that all EDA boards meet to assess their election readiness and prepare local contingency plans should the writ be dropped after Parliament resumes in September.

Here is the memo in PDF form: English / French

Programming notes:

The CBC “regret” was the topic of conversation on Rob Breakenridge’s show last night (CHQR Calgary). Listen to the clip

and, I just finished up a segment on CHML in Hamilton on Roy Green’s show. Listen to the clip

If you’ve been following the CBC-Lawand story on the blogs, you’re already up to date; there’s really nothing new in the audio. The radio guys are pushing the story out to a wider audience.

So, let’s give this post a wider purpose. Let’s make this an open CBC thread and let’s initiate a discussion surrounding the following questions:

• Do peoples in remote areas of Canada now have access to satellite television and the Internet? Thus is CBC required as a “national service” to these people?
• What is the current audience share for the CBC vs. CTV and Global? For the flagship newscast?
• Should Canada be open to NBC/ABC/FOX/CBS affiliates? Would the introduction of the Canadian market to these networks ironically increase the amount of Canadian content viewed on television by Canadians (CSI: Toronto perhaps?)
• Where are we headed with the emergence of new media technologies? While the CRTC regulates satellite radio, will we trend towards a preference in media delivery that cannot be reasonably regulated? (Internet, wifi VoIP, subscriber video programming delivered via the Internet to cell phones, personal media players, etc.) What implications will this have on restrictive election speech laws? Has the speed of technological emergence surpassed that of bureaucratic regulation?
• What are your thoughts on media consolidation? Without the CBC, we’d have two national networks. With a privatized CBC, we’d have three market driven networks. Is this enough? Has the introduction of alternative media introduced other choices that can compete?
• What realistic political conditions would be necessary for either the abolishment or privitization of the CBC to occur?
• What is the CBC’s role? American reality shows? Hockey? Children’s programming? News? If operating with public funds, should the CBC compete on content covered by private networks?