The pattern set in the early days of his government -- by not announcing when Cabinet meetings were scheduled and only dropping in on provincial and territorial premiers on twenty-four hours notice -- Harper is now repeating on the trail. As Skinny Dipper notes, and as shown last night on the very pro Conservative CTV News, the press was not allowed off the bus for a scheduled media appearance in Montréal then were told they could talk to protestors who were waiting for the PM if they got permission from the PMO first.
Permission of course which was not coming, just as it wasn't coming for protestors who wanted to complain about human rights abuses during the Beijing Olympics last month and were instead rounded up and sent off to the gulag for "re-education" (i.e. torture).
An enemy of the press is an enemy of the Constitution. The PM is supposed to be the guardian of the Constitution and the rights within it; and like in the States with Bush 43 for the US Constitution, Harper has shown nothing but contempt for our Basic Law. He does not deserve a majority government. He does not deserve a minority government. He does not, in fact, even deserve to be re-elected in his home district of Calgary Southwest.
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4 comments:
So what stop our wonderful press core from all walking of the bus?
Talk about gutless.
Right now Harper needs them as much or more than they need him.
Tootrusting, the press says they were prevented from getting off the bus by the Mounties who in turn said they got the word from the PMO to have them stay on the bus. Shouldn't that say something about the kind of country Harper wants this to be?
I do agree with you that Harper needs the press to carry his message. The question is, what is his real message? This makes it look like he has something to hide, or that he's scared of legitimate dissent. Behaviour worthy of a dictator.
The press should have called his and the mountie's threat, just like they called his threat to boycott the debate. Oh wait, they DIDN'T HAVE THE GUTS.
The press is being as much the enemy of the Constitution as Harper is, by letting him have his way.
Harper has no respect for the rule of law, and the RCMP are not upholding it either.
the MSM is too complacent - just like the US media were on Swift Boat in the 2004 Presidential election. They just abandonded their responsibilities.
Is Canada's media making the same mistake?
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