Maclean's November 9th Issue

[Cyrus]

i have long thought that canada is very fertile ground for a non-populist right-wing political party. we're not tea partiers -- our conservative tradition has always been more, well, traditional. more elitist.

 

we are, after all, the country that didn't join the (radical at the time) american revolution. we're conservative by temperament, if not -- at least at the moment -- politically.

 

I think Canada is a lot more "conservative" today than in the past... even say 1970.

 

I mean we have the Liberal party complaining about the deficit. The Liberal party of Trudeau basically invented deficit financing in Canada and "big government". Mulroney tried to cut it down, and did cut down the actual deficits, but with a non-zero deficit, and the high inflation rate of the era, of course the debt will still balloon. It took the Chretien/Martin team to slash spending (mostly via downloading) and bring the country back into the black, well sort of black. At the same time, the same kind of fiscal conservatism ran all over the provinces, in Alberta (Klein) and Ontario (Harris) especially, but even with the socialist-seperatist Bouchard government in Quebec (who was obviously not nearly as successful as Klein or Harris, but for Quebec not so bad!).

 

There isn't really any appetite in Canada for "social conservatism" but by and large Canadians hate deficits and are fiscal conservatives, except for a few wingnuts who vote NDP but they are nowhere near the centre of opinion in Canada today. Even the NDP has mellowed somewhat towards "Tony Blair" attitudes and not the outright Soviet socialism of say Broadbent and earlier, always calling for nationalizations and the like (hell even the NEP!)

 

I think Hebert's column sounds like some Toronto pundit ignorant of what happened. Harel was PLAGUED by corruption scandals just like Tremblay, I mean remember the Benoit Labonte affair? And of course we cannot forget the municipal merger boondoggle that she masterminded... it was a lot more, or even everything except, than just being a "pequiste".

Modifié 2 octobre 2010 par Cyrus

[Cyrus]

A voir tous ces titres chocs, on sent bien que ce magazine se tourne de plus en plus vers la droite, en ne se contentant pas d'informer mais plutôt "d'éduquer" à partir de ses valeurs et sa vision du monde. C'est une tendance croissante en Amérique du Nord où plusieurs médias tentent d'influencer leur public respectif en le formatant aux idées conservatrices. Leur méthode: frappé l'imaginaire collectif par le sensationnalisme.

 

On ne vous fournit plus seulement la nouvelle mais on vous dira surtout quoi en penser, à la télé, dans les journaux et autres médias de masse. Une dérive journalistique anti-professionnelle, dans le sens noble du terme, et dangereuse pour la liberté d'expression si elle se généralise davantage. Bien sûr le phénomène n'est pas nouveau, mais il prend une expansion partout en prétendant représenter la majorité silencieuse qui, elle, s'abreuve inconsciemment à ses sources convaincue de la vérité absolue des propos qui y sont véhiculés.

 

C'est là où il est important justement de pouvoir s'informer à partir de plusieurs sources, pour pouvoir départager les opinions et les croyances des faits réels et cela de la manière la plus objective possible. Heureusement il y a aussi un contrepoids nouveau dans le paysage médiatique, celui là difficilement contrôlable parce que trop dispersé à travers les milliers de forums, blogues et médias sociaux.

 

L'internet a donné une voix à tous ceux qui choisissent l'indépendance d'esprit et des idées, pourvu, bien sûr, qu'il ne soit pas censuré comme dans certains pays. C'est un peu la planche de salut du monde démocratique qui garantit l'existence de la pluralité des idées et des opinions et leur circulation libre dans toute la cybersphère.

 

On aura jamais trop de moyens pour combattre le nivellement par la bas de l'actualité et la politique en général. Les gros conglomérats médiatiques sont puissants et envahissent insidieusement toutes les sphères de la société moderne, pour mieux en exploiter la vulnérabilité et, bien sûr, en tirer au passage le maximum de profit pour leurs actionnaires. Une attitude immorale qui s'attaque aux plus faibles et aux plus démunis en manipulant les esprits, et qu'importe les conséquences pourvu qu'il y ait de l'argent à faire en bout de ligne.

 

Le monde a changé, mais une chose demeure, la cupidité qui se renouvelle constamment, en créant de nouveaux moyens pour mieux profiter de la naïveté des gens. Ils veulent leur "bien" et ils l'auront, si on perd notre vigilance. C'est donc à chacun de demeurer alerte en luttant contre cette domination médiatique, à la Maclean's et autres du même acabit, pour protéger le dernier territoire personnel qu'il nous reste, notre indépendance d'esprit.

 

Ca manque de bon foi de dire a le fois d'exprimer un opinion conservateur = immorale et dangereuse pour la liberte d'expression. C'est comme si tous les idees sont valides et meritent d'etre discutes, sauf ceux qui sont "de droite"!

 

Meme avec leur affaire de dire que le Quebec est la province la plus corrompu. Peut on dire que c'est faux? Notre premier ministre est effectivement a l'instant devant un commission d'enquete sur la corruption, et il y a un autre investigation policier sur la corruption, les affaires des envelopes brunes a l'Hotel de Ville a Montreal, etc etc tout a le present jour. Ailleurs au Canada, actuellement, ca n'existe pas. Il y eu un affair de corruption a la Nouvelle-Ecosse recemment, ou le premier ministre (NPD!) et quelques autres ministres achetent de l'equipment et des meubles avec les fonds publics, qu'ils donnait a leurs amis ou mettent dans leurs maisons et pas leurs offices et des choses du genre... mais rien comme on voit ici. Certes, quand les choses sont si clandistines que ca, c'est dur a assurer que ce n'est pas le cas ailleurs. Mais, prima facie, c'est facile et acceptable de conclure ainsi.

 

Est-ce seulement parce que les médias écrits perdent du terrain et doivent s'exciter dans la démagogie pour redresser les ventes ? Ou est-ce qu'on assiste à une "albertatisation" de la droite canadienne, qui du temps des red tory était bien plus civilisée...

 

Vite, vite l'albertisation! C'est sur qu'il nous faut plus d'Alberta dans tout les sens du terme

Modifié 2 octobre 2010 par Cyrus

[uqam+]

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Modifié 11 novembre 2011 par uqam+

[LindbergMTL]

NY Times: Accusation Upsets a Province

 

OCTOBER 4, 2010, 1:08 AM

 

 

By IAN AUSTEN

The editors of Maclean’s, the venerable weekly Canadian magazine, have made provocative covers something of a specialty. But none of their earlier efforts produced quite the same response as an image of Bonhomme Carnaval, the snowman mascot of Quebec’s winter festival, jauntily carrying a briefcase overflowing with cash. The bold cover headline on the issue dated Oct. 4 was no more subtle: “Quebec: The Most Corrupt Province.”

 

Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press Maclean’s recent cover article on Quebec drew criticism.

Whether or not that claim is correct, the magazine had cause to examine the issue. A highly publicized inquiry has been looking into allegations by a former official that Liberal Party fund-raisers influenced judicial appointments. Opposition political parties have demanded an inquiry into bid-rigging by the province’s construction industry. And Montreal, Quebec’s largest city, is involved in contracting and political fund-raising scandals.

 

Not surprising, charges that Maclean’s, based in Toronto, had unjustly and inaccurately portrayed Quebec came first from members of the Parti Québécois, which wants Quebec to separate from Canada. But they were soon joined by politicians across the political spectrum. By Wednesday, all parties in Canada’s House of Commons had approved a motion saying that Parliament “expresses its profound sadness at the prejudice displayed and the stereotypes employed by Maclean’s magazine to denigrate the Quebec nation, its history and its institutions.”

 

For good measure, Jean Charest, Quebec’s Liberal prime minister, sent the magazine a blistering letter demanding an apology to everyone in Quebec.

 

Some of the magazine’s critics seemed unlikely ones. Among them was Carole Beaulieu, the editor of L’Actualité, a general interest magazine based in Montreal, which, like Maclean’s, is owned by Rogers Communications. She, among others, faulted Maclean’s for not providing any comparisons between Quebec and other provinces.

 

Maclean’s depiction of Bonhomme as a less than wholesome character seemed to disturb many in Quebec as much as the magazine’s corruption claims. Gilles Rhéaume, a prominent Quebec separatist, compared it to a news organization’s showing Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the queen of Canada, “dressed as a prostitute.”

 

Brian Segal, the president of Rogers’s publishing unit, said in a statement that the cover had “clearly offended some readers.” He said the company, which is also Canada’s largest cable television and wireless operator, did not interfere with its editors’ decisions, but added, “On behalf of the company, we sincerely regret any offense that the cover may have caused.”

 

Hugo D’Amours, Mr. Charest’s press secretary, said Mr. Charest remained unsatisfied. “He didn’t ask Rogers for regrets,” Mr. D’Amours said. “He asked Maclean’s for an apology.”

 

 

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/accusation-upsets-a-province/?scp=2&sq=montreal&st=cse

[Maisonneuve]

Stephen Harper is just holding out hope that the conservative wave trashes to shore long enough for him to get his majority.

[jesseps]

Remember that controversy surrounding that famous Maclean’s cover?

 

Personally, having lived in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, I was skeptical and wanted to see some empirical evidence – and said so in a blog post back then.

 

Well, some interesting results are now in.

 

According to a survey conducted in 86 countries on behalf of Transparency International, 72 per cent of Quebecers believe that politicians are corrupt – the highest percentage in Canada, and the 22nd highest in the world.

 

56 per cent of Quebeckers believe that corruption has gotten worse over the past three years and 13 per cent say that they would keep their mouths shut if they saw any evidence of it.

 

On the 11 categories tested, Quebec gets the worst mark in Canada for corruption in the private sector, public service, the judiciary and the education system.

 

British Columbia gets the worst marks for corruption in police forces and in the church; the Prairies get the worst score for corruption in the non-profit sector and the military gets the worst score for corruption in the Atlantic provinces.

 

2.7 per cent of Canadians admit to having paid a bribe.

 

In Quebec, that number climbs to 3.9 per cent – just ahead (or behind) British Columbia. But the Atlantic provinces lead the pack, with 4.9 per cent admitting to having paid a bribe in one of the above sectors.

 

(Courtesy of The Globe and Mail)

[Habsfan]

Looks like Maclean's wasn't too far from the mark with their front page a while back! Turns out they were right.