Inkless Wells

 Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW
He also offers his thoughtful perspective of Stephen Harper’s last 10 years in his recent eBook, The Harper Decade.

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

Coyne v. Wells: Shocking news!

by Paul Wells on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 10:00am - 11 Comments

The news, as you’ll see if you watch Andrew and me discussing the new Liberal “attack” ads, is that there’s finally something decorative on the wall behind me. For the rest of it, you know the routine: Andrew’s stern and wise, and I can’t remember the name “Fort McMurray.”

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

    Attack ads are great (as long as they are done well) and think Coyne's belief that ads need to be honest, and fair, is ridiculous. Voters get to decide what's fair, not pols, so bring on the mud flinging. I wish we had American style attack ads – they do them so much better than we do here. We seem to get half-assed attack ads, I presume parties are worried about effects of launching a calamitous ad similar to the one mocking Chretien in '93.

    If I was in charge of Con attack ads, I would be making one about how Libs think our soldiers are war criminals and what do Canadians think of that.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/c_9 c_9

      It's naive I admit, but my concern about the US-style attack ads is that there's no bottom to that pit. Every election we see new reports of lies, accusations, and ridiculous claims, but they never pull back or calm down. I'm really not interested in that showing up here.

      If it were up to me, every ad would have to pass a "actual facts" test. In your example, there would need to be confirmed video/audio/print of a Liberal MP saying that soldiers are war criminals, instead of the vacillating and context-adjusting that happens now.

      Never gonna happen, of course.

      • Tim

        One of the dreams I have always had although it has no chance of happening is to see Stephen Harper debate a hard core US leftwinger like Arianna Huffington or Michael Moore.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/colbycosh colbycosh

    If you forget the name "Fort McMurray", "Canada's Mordor" is a perfectly acceptable alternative.

    • ahm

      Mordor describes a large area, bordered by mountains, with natural resources being plundered inside [with concomittant waste being dumped into local watersheds]. I think a better comparison would be to Minas Morgul.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

        Or the Appalachian strip mines.

  • Dot

    Or for the locals: "Loam, sweet loam"

  • Dan

    Coyne is wiser than you know. Check out the kicker he wrote in a January 25th, 1986 piece about Marc Garneau…

    To some, the next move is clear. But Garneau has a sensible aversion to political life. "At this point in my life, by and large people like me," he says with a smile. "If I was a politician, I might have to put up with not being liked so much."
    Clip'n'save for future reference, though: his Who's Who entry lists "politics" as a hobby.

  • jarrid

    Chantal Hébert's comment about the recent Liberal attack ad was, does this ad make you want MP's to return to Parliament as quickly as possible, or does it make you wish the contrary?

    • Maureen

      The fewer days that MPs are in the House, the better. As far as I'm concerned they can just be in session to pass a budget and legislation that if not passed will harm Canada. For example, one of the pieces of legislation that was abandoned was the one preventing spanking – does the federal government really need to be involved in this?????? It is not just the legislation, but then all the regulations that go with the legislation and the bureaucrats who need to be involved in implementing the regulations and reporting back to MPs on the status etc. etc. etc. Then you will need an education program developed to inform everyone of the new legislation etc. etc. etc. Every piece of legislation passed generates a whole industry which costs us taxpayers money – most if it is not needed.

  • Justiin

    Did anyone one else have problems downloading their chat about proroguing? I got a copy of an older podcast.

    I download it from itunes… anyone have the same problem?

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