Who's to blame if no one cares?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 10:55 AM - 87 Comments

That the public is generally disinterested in the business of Ottawa is something I blamed for the current state of the House of Commons. Scott Reid blames, in part, the press gallery for the fact that so few are interested.

We can begin with a Parliamentary Press Gallery that, increasingly, is dazzled by political tactics, bored by substance and disinterested in the awkward obligation of challenging authority. With too few exceptions — and one fewer with the sad passing of the Star’s Jim Travers — reporters seem more interested in sounding like in-the-know party strategists than detached observers.

It is they, in particular, who tell us repeatedly that “no one cares.” And all too frequently, there is little, if any, suggestion that part of the media’s function is to serve as a check on abuse of authority. Put another way, if Woodward and Bernstein had followed the same method we sometimes witness in Ottawa, they would surely have shrugged off Deep Throat, explaining that no one cares about such a technical, complicated story and that, in any event, Nixon’s triumph over McGovern rendered the matter moot.

Scott Reid Maverick Watch

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 12:52 PM - 0 Comments

On at least a couple of occasions over the last 15 years, the census has been a subject of debate in the House. In 1996, Deborah Grey moved a motion that sought to make “Canadian” a recognized ethnic origin—see here, here and here. In 2005, Bill S-18, which dealt with the release of census records, was debated and passed—see here and here. During debate on the latter, Conservative MP Scott Reid offered the following observation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on the suggestion that the long form be made voluntary. One concern I would have if that were to be done would be that people would exclude themselves on a non-random basis, which means that the data collected, while still true of those who filled it out, might not actually be representative any more of the population as a whole.

People are selected right now on a random basis for the long form. Given the very large number of Canadians and given that these forms are intended primarily for the purposes of data that is aggregated into very large areas–provincial levels, whole metropolitan areas, or national data–I wonder if we could simply reduce the number of people who are required to fill out the long form.

Fight! Fight! On whether it's right to unite! The left! (OK, that part doesn't rhyme)

By Paul Wells - Friday, June 4, 2010 at 4:35 PM - 145 Comments

Over on her l’Actualité blog, Chantal Hébert takes such a mighty swipe at Scott Reid that I’m left wondering whether it’s 2004 and I wrote the blog post. “A good example of the wishful thinking that prevails in Michael Ignatieff’s palace guard,” she writes, and “to say the least, rich in intellectual shortcuts.”

Ha! Yeah. Go get ‘im, Chantal! Actually, I have a hard time summoning quite as much dudgeon against Scott today as I have, on occasion, in the past. The former Paul Martin communication director’s piece on the Globe website today is at least as much of a caution against wishful thinking as a case of it. Cooperation or merger between political parties with a long history of deep antagonism is a perilous exercise. Continue…

All the good things and the bad things that may be

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 4, 2010 at 10:59 AM - 164 Comments

Scott Reid, the former aide to Paul Martin, notes the important distinction between a pre-election coalition and a post-election coalition.

Indeed, from a Liberal perspective, a pre-campaign coalition of the centre-left is far worse than a bad idea. It is a betrayal of the party’s identity, history and future prospects. Why? Because what’s being proposed is not a true parliamentary coalition. It is a political combination or, more accurately: a merger.

It’s important to clarify these terms. Typically in Canadian experience, a coalition between parties is understood to mean a parliamentary alliance established in the aftermath of a general election – usually a minority circumstance. This is in keeping with accepted traditions of both the country and the party. Post-electoral coalitions of a formal and informal nature have populated minority parliaments frequently over the past century and Liberals have often taken part. Consideration of such coalitions should definitely be maintained in future.

To eat or not to eat

By Charlie Gillis - Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:32 AM - 13 Comments

Amazing, the trouble one wafer can create. Stephen Harper took a rhetorical drubbing yesterday when footage surfaced of him palming a communion host during the funeral of former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc. Monsignor Brian Henneberry, the vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint John, described the incident as a “scandal.”

PMO officials quickly issued assurances claiming the Prime Minister ate it off-camera, leaving lay people to wonder exactly what Harper did that was so terribly blasphemous.

Nothing, say experts experienced in government protocol. In fact, Harper may have been wrong to eat the wafer—assuming the PMO’s version of events was anything more than an after-the-fact whitewash. “If you are not a Catholic, you should not, in fact, you cannot take holy communion,” a retired senior federal protocol official—who happens to be Catholic—told Macleans.ca. “It’s considered apostate, and it’s hypocritical to do it.”

“Ideally, the prime minister’s team would have informed the organizers what time he would be arriving, asking them where he would sit, what he would be expected to do. And when told he will be invited to take a communion host, they would say, ‘He is not Catholic and therefore it would be ideal for him to recuse himself.’”

The key word here, of course, is “ideal.”  Sometimes unplanned incidents arise, and the official, who asked not to be named because he is still working in public service, acknowledged there are no black-and-white rules when those moments occur during religious rites. In this case, Harper found himself stuck in a front pew of dignitaries receiving communion from the priest; it wasn’t as if he were invited to line up in the aisle. So, faced with this awkward situation, “the right thing to do would be to accept it with his hands,” said the official.

Whatever the correct reaction, the controversy highlights the protocol minefield modern leaders face as they try to appear inclusive, tolerant and diplomatic in the modern public arena. Elected officials are increasingly pressed to participate in religious ceremonies that fall outside their own denominations and faiths, notes Peter Donolo, the former communications director to Jean Chrétien. Donolo, who also served as Canada’s consul general in Milan, recalls countless instances in which Chrétien was asked to join rites that could easily have gone awry. That’s why the former PM’s handlers usually spent hours poring through protocol documents to ensure he didn’t touch the wrong person, say the wrong thing, kneel in the wrong direction.

Not least among the concerns in such preparations, of course, is ensuring the leader doesn’t look silly to his own voters. For that reason, says Scott Reid, a longtime aide to former prime minister Paul Martin, the work of advance teams is critical to ensure a proper balance between the integrity of the rite and the politician’s dignity. Think of it as the “no silly hats” rule. “For years, politicians of all stripes have found themselves wearing a scarf when visiting a mosque,” Reid noted in an email by way of example. “That’s because it’s the tradition, as dictated by the faith hosting the event. The fundamental rule of thumb is two-fold: know what to expect, and honour the faith of which you are a guest.”

As for those rare occasions when the unexpected does arise? Well, a lot hangs on the poise of the leader involved. And let’s face it: Harper has a long history of standoffishness in what would otherwise be poignant moments (remember him shaking hands with his kids?). As such, Reid—ever the partisan warrior—doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for the PM in this case. “Palming your wafer like you’re a pulling a street corner card trick,” he said, “is something that many who take the sacrament would find offensive—as the PMO has been reminded.”

Bizarro world

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 2:32 PM - 39 Comments

Scott Reid has some advice for the Prime Minister.

The fourth and final tactic is to make a high-profile beau geste: Mr. Harper should apologize to Quebec. He should go to Quebec City and tell voters in that province he was wrong. He was wrong to attack the arts when they are so critical to Quebec’s heritage, to imply culture is an indulgence rather than an integral component of identity, and above all to attack the coalition in the way he did, insofar as it left the impression that he equates Quebec pride and nationalism with a separatist impulse to destroy the country. And then he should explain, contritely, what Quebec means to him as a Prime Minster, why he moved to respond to the fiscal imbalance argument and above all why he formally recognized Quebeckers as a nation in the federal Parliament.

Beer, chocolate and MPs

By Mitchel Raphael - Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 11:23 AM - 3 Comments

The lineup for Ontario Tory MP Scott Reid’s sixth annual Ontario microbrewery beer tasting/Quebec cheese reception was huge. Reid hold two beers below.

Continue…

Apropos of nothing

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, May 15, 2009 at 2:57 PM - 62 Comments

Excluding those born outside Canada, the following Conservative MPs have lived, studied or worked outside the country.

Jim Flaherty, Lisa Raitt, Brian Jean, Russ Hiebert, Jason Kenney, Maurice Vellacott, Mike Allen, Ray Boughen, Barry Devolin, Garry Breitkreuz, Ed Holder, Randy Kamp, Pierre Lemieux, Ben Lobb, Phil McColeman, Cathy McLeod, Scott Reid, Greg Rickford, Andrew Saxton and John Weston.

Just when you thought the world was safe from post-cabinet shuffle ruminations …

By kadyomalley - Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 11:28 PM - 66 Comments

… the BlackBerry Roundtable reunites to survey the damage.

BlackBerry Roundtable: By the clicking of our thumbs …

By kadyomalley - Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 8:44 AM - 70 Comments

… yet another election postmortem this way comes.

Save the last PIN for us: The Final BlackBerry(tm) Roundtable

By kadyomalley - Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 12:40 PM - 0 Comments

… enjoy!

The Blackberry Roundtable: "He told me he deleted those pictures from his hard drive after we broke up!"

By kadyomalley - Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 9:32 AM - 40 Comments

Courtesy of the one and only Andrew Potter, check out our latest back-and-forthing here. Oh, and somehow, a mischievous gremlin in the printing press incorrectly attributed a paragraph of my musings to poor Scott Reid. For the record, this is all me:

That’s true, but not every foot soldier slogging through the mud on the electoral battlefield may have expected to be there, and unless you’re willing to live your entire life as though you might, at any point, be on the national — or even the local — stage, fielding pointed questions from the media — I’m not sure if there’s any way to anticipate every potentially embarrassing eventuality. What you should do, however, is make sure that your campaign knows about that experimental art video you made with your now-estranged ex-boyfriend before they find out about it through a press release from the opposing team.

Enjoy!

Liveblogging the Khadr committee – Who will think of the children?

By kadyomalley - Monday, May 12, 2008 at 12:30 PM - 0 Comments

11:51:47 AM
It’s a pity, really, that the Khadr hearings always seem to be shoehorned into the lunch hour, although I guess that’s by design, since subcommittees have to work around the schedule for the full committee. Still, you always come away with the feeling that members are frustrated by all those questions they didn’t have time to ask.

Scott Reid is chairing the committee again. I don’t see Jason Kenney, which is odd because he’s been taking the lead for the government up until now. Maybe he’s off apologizing for another historic wrong like the head tax or internment camps. I wonder if the Jason Kenney of the future will wind up apologizing for Canada’s failure to protect a child soldier from the machinations of the American military justice system.

Continue…