Bloc Quebecois Gilles Duceppe (bottom right), Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff (bottom left), NDP Jack Layton (top left) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper (top right). CHRIS ROUSSAKIS/ QMI Agency
Who knew that the most pressing issue facing the country was whether the Conservative Party of Canada checked the Facebook statuses of people coming to their rallies to see if they are friends with other politicians.
I’m not saying the Tory tactics are right, in fact it was one of our family of papers, the London Free Press, that started the ball rolling on this. In essence, we broke the story and the rest of the media ran with it.
And how have they run with it.
Almost all other issues were put aside while reporters following Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s election tour quizzed the PM and tried to force an apology. They got one Thursday.
Questions about his plans for a cap-and-trade system, the economy and Quebec’s rejection of federalist parties were all vetoed so that we could get to the bottom of Facebookgate. Oh, and there were no questions about Canada sending more troops to Libya.
What is interesting is that while there has been plenty of pick-up on the story we started with the Facebook flap, other media outlets ignored another part of our story that ran on Tuesday.
“When Ignatieff was here last week, the RCMP got physical with two Free Press reporters, even elbowing a pregnant reporter in the stomach. Told she was pregnant, the male Mountie said: ‘That’s what you get for rushing a bodyguard.’ ”
I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines and watched the nightly indignant reports on Ignatieff’s goons roughing up reporters.
What’s that? You haven’t seen any reports like that?
I wonder why?
It’s not like the media hasn’t been tough on Jack Layton. In between snide tweets, the NDP leader has had to deal with claims that his schedule was slower than the other leaders because of his fragile health. Of course that’s not true. Layton’s schedule has been as busy as the other two federalist leaders and he’s covered the same ground.
It’s almost like some reporters are trying to kick the cane out from Jack as he walks by.
Meanwhile it’s all hugs at the Big Red Tent.
On Wednesday, we found out from the NDP that the Liberals had a candidate in Quebec who referred to Native Canadians as “featherheads” and belonged to a white rights group. He had been the candidate since August 2009 but was booted quickly.
We also found out that the Liberals have a candidate in Vancouver who was convicted of drunk driving in 2003. Given how Ignatieff has made it clear he doesn’t believe in criminal rehabilitation for former Harper aide Bruce Carson, you would think he would have something to say. Not really.
You also might think that with two candidates in trouble you’d have seen headlines on Thursday morning that declared the Liberals had racist, drunk-driving candidates.
No, those issues weren’t on any of the front pages, but the Toronto Star did put the Facebook flap back on the front page. Top story, above the fold.
Stories on Liberal woes were downplayed.
I’d rather see election coverage focus on policy. What would each of the leaders do if elected? How would they change Canada?
But if media outlets plan on running story after breathless story about the latest mini-scandal, then it should happen on all the campaigns.
That’s not happening right now and Canadians are poorer for it.