Since I drafted this blog, but before I got it posted, two more examples appeared in the Opinion section of the August 22 Globe and Mail. Elizabeth Renzetti observed that the Liberals “somehow lost a finance minister, Bill Morneau, in the way a child loses a mitten – no one is quite sure what happened.” Jonathan Malloy referred to a Liberal tendency to drive out those who oppose their views, with Morneau as the latest casualty. Neither opinion piece appeared to recognize any role played by a relentlessly critical media.
Even Morneau’s resignation has done nothing to stop the negative commentary, as the media disputes the reason given for that resignation and immediately starts speculating about whether Chrystia Freeland – hitherto highly regarded – has the right background to handle the Finance portfolio she has now assumed. Are members of the media incapable of anything but critical commentary? Would it have been so difficult to have at least a brief item thanking Morneau for his years of service and wishing him well in his future endeavours?
What About Some Historical Perspective?
Is it too much to expect the media to put the WE issue in context and to show some awareness of how it compares to past controversies involving payments to those in government? We are reminded daily that the Prime Minister’s wife (long before he became Prime Minister) was paid $1,400 by WE for a presentation she made. The fact that she was also paid a substantial amount for expenses over the years only indicates to me that she was called upon frequently to volunteer her time as a speaker. That $1,400 payment seems rather miniscule when compared to the envelope containing $100,000 that Prime Minister Mulroney accepted – three times – from KarlHeinz Schreiber in the early 1990s. How about the $350,000 that Sir John A received way back in 1872 in connection with the construction of the railway to the west (the so-called Pacific Scandal)? So that the Liberals won’t feel left out of this litany of abuse, what about the $700,000 that party received in 1930 from the Beauharnois Power Company in connection with water rights on the St. Lawrence River near Montreal? Convert those amounts to dollars in 2020 and then explain to me why we are so obsessed with the alleged financial abuses by Trudeau and Morneau.