Just last week, the Liberals and the New Democrats both launched their environmental platforms. But analysis of those platforms did not even manage to make the front page of most newspapers.

OTTAWA—Former prime minister Kim Campbell once said an election is no time to discuss policy.

Her party went on to face a historic defeat, saving only two seats in the House of Commons.

In this election, Campbell’s viewpoint seems to be shared by some journalists on the campaign trail.

Just last week, the Liberals and the New Democrats both launched their environmental platforms. But analysis of those platforms did not even manage to make the front page of most newspapers.

Instead, The Globe and Mail chose to print a front-page story allegedly exposing insider details of why a former Liberal Member of Parliament was not re-offering.

The piece, by the same journalist who broke Jody Wilson-Raybould’s story, reflected a similar message. Strong woman, who would not defend the PM, are allegedly shown the door.

Delving deeper into the details, the MP claimed that all three colleagues in ridings neighbouring her own had been bullying her. She claimed intimidation and harassment starting in 2016.

She also showed The Globe the screenshot of a text conversation with Montreal Minister Mélanie Joly. She said the minister called to ask why she wasn’t supporting the prime minister when his feminist credentials were under attack by media during the SNC-Lavalin case.

Presumably The Globe published the piece on the front page because editors believe this “Liberal woman as victim of Trudeau” narrative was relevant.

But voters are smart enough to make decisions based on current issues, not on fake personality politics.

That explains why Justin Trudeau’s Liberals did not lose ground following the revelations that he costumed himself in blackface and brownface on more than one occasion 20 years ago.

Media blackface coverage dominated the airwaves in Canada and around the world for a week. Trudeau tackled the issue head on, with a town hall meeting in Saskatchewan on the evening after the revelations. He also apologized immediately and appeared to genuinely understand the gravity of his childish actions.

It was a shocking news story. But the notion that somehow Trudeau is a racist did not ring true.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi put it best in an op-ed he wrote for The Washington Post. “He should be judged on the totality of his record and whether Canadians believe in his ability to do good in the future.”

When Trudeau demoted Wilson-Raybould, he was accused of being a fake feminist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

He was the first prime minister in the history of the country to deliver a gender equal cabinet. Andrew Scheer has refused to commit to doing the same, if he forms government while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has committed to a gender equal cabinet in the unlikely event of a New Democratic Party victory.

Journalists attacking Trudeau’s feminist credentials in the Wilson-Raybould case included so many misogynists that the claim was obviously fake news. When the sexist Sun chain decried misogyny, women laughed.

Differing viewpoints on the use of the deferred prosecution agreement has nothing to do with sexism.

So attacks on Trudeau required caucus and cabinet women to come forward and set the record straight. That is how politics works.

There are many strong women in Trudeau’s caucus and cabinet.

The decision of Wilson-Raybould to quit the cabinet had nothing to do with feminism or sexism.

Although the minister was upset to lose her “dream job” as attorney general, she accepted another ministerial post in veterans affairs. She even tried to remain in caucus, all the while secretly taping conversations and breaching the trust of all those who served with her on the team.

When you are part of caucus, you don’t screenshot internal texts and you don’t secretly tape conversations. You trust each other and work as a team.

As a minister, you do not write copious notes about cabinet conversations because they are supposed to be confidential discussions between trusted colleagues. This is the normal functioning of a healthy political team.

In an election campaign, the public is not focused on the internal machinations of a caucus. They are interested in what policies differentiate the political parties.

On Sept. 27, thousands of young people gathered in a huge strike in Montreal with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

Young Canadians want to know what the parties are doing to confront the climate crisis that, if unchecked, will destroy their futures.

Trudeau, who has actually submitted a substantive climate plan, joined the young people in this march.

Scheer took a pass. That is real news.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on September 16, 2019.

OTTAWA—The Justin Trudeau campaign plane being hit by the media bus could be a metaphor for his campaign. Or not.

It depends on the success of what appears to be a campaign by The Globe and Mail to keep the SNC-Lavalin story on the front page.

The first two official days of the race have been dominated by stories of fresh, anonymous claims in the ongoing story involving allegations of undue pressure on former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Globe’s Ottawa bureau chief Bob Fife tweeted that RCMP interviews earlier last week with Jody Wilson-Raybould were “to discuss political interference in SNC criminal prosecution.”

The only person who publicly claimed she participated in a recent RCMP interview is Wilson-Raybould. The Liberal leader’s office issued a statement saying no one on their team has been contacted or interviewed.

Wilson-Raybould had initially testified before the House Justice Committee that there was nothing illegal in the interventions of the prime minister and his officials on the issue of SNC-Lavalin.

But, according to The Globe, she appears to have revised that opinion, now claiming that the ethics commissioner’s report opened new questions. “I believe the public deserves to know and to have full knowledge of this matter.”

She will no doubt have more to say on the matter when she launches her book this week.

The unschooled observer might be forgiven for thinking that an RCMP interview of Wilson-Raybould constitutes an investigation.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer jumped on The Globe story, falsely claiming on television and in tweets that the RCMP has opened an investigation into possible obstruction of justice.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Globe was careful not use the word “investigation.” Instead, it focused on the fact that police went to Vancouver to interview the former attorney general.

But travelling to a former minister’s riding to take a statement is a well-established police protocol.

The RCMP has interviewed me several times during my life in politics. Sometimes, it was at my request. Sometimes the police initiated the interview.

When they come to your office to take a statement, that action does not constitute an investigation.

The RCMP does not take statements by phone. So if the former minister called them to provide further information, after telephone contact, she would always be interviewed in person.

The Globe story did not clarify who initiated the “several telephone conversations” that precipitated the in-person interview.

Some believe, present company included, that The Globe is ginning up the story in tandem with Wilson-Raybould and her advisers, in an effort to do maximum damage to the electioneering Liberals.

It remains to be seen what impact these confusing RCMP claims will have on the election trajectory.

Some polls say Canadians have already made up their minds on the actions of all parties in the SNC-Lavalin deferred prosecution agreement question. Whether they support Trudeau or Wilson-Raybould, the issue has already been factored into their voting intentions.

But the explosive headlines on the first two days of the campaign could change that.

It wouldn’t be the first time that the spectre of an RCMP investigation was used to sow uncertainty during an election campaign.

Back in 2006, RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli faxed a letter to an NDP MP, confirming that the force had commenced a criminal investigation into budget leaks from the Finance Department headed by Ralph Goodale, named in the communication.

Stephen Harper won that election. In the end, Goodale was completely exonerated but a departmental official was charged.

Some say the letter from Zaccardelli literally changed the outcome of the election. Up until that point the Liberals had been leading in voter intentions.

One only has to look at the last election in the United States, where a judicial intervention in the last 11 days of the debate changed the outcome of the election.

FBI director James Comey’s letter in the dying days of the American election had a lasting impact on democracy.

His announced reopening of a stale-dated investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails was the likely tipping point in securing Donald Trump’s election victory.

At the time, Comey claimed he acted because polls showed Clinton would win and he did not want to be accused of concealing relevant information.

To avoid undue election influence, the RCMP has announced it will not be investigating anything during the writ period. That fact was buried in The Globe story.

Front-paging a self-generated police interview makes great headlines.

Time will tell whether the story influences the election result.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By Sheila Copps

First published in The Hill Times on July 23, 2018.

OTTAWA—Barack Obama is not the only one who says men are getting on his nerves.

Men in positions of power who don’t seem to understand when they have crossed the line are getting on my nerves.

Just last week, Pablo Rodriguez replaced Mélanie Joly as minister of Canadian Heritage. One man replaced one woman in a cabinet change. Joly did not lose her job, she was shuffled into a different portfolio.

In addition, five newbies were added to the roster, including two women and three men.

So why does a seasoned journalist write that a “parade of men” had been “called on to clean up the messes others could not.”

Others is code for women, as there are no transgendered members of the cabinet yet.

Why would The Globe and Mail carry a blazing headline that reads “Trudeau deviates from the diversity script.”

Talk about misleading sexist claptrap.

In a featured opinion piece garnering coveted top billing across from the daily editorial section, journalist Konrad Yakabuski called the decision to replace Joly by Pablo Rodriguez a blow to “the sisterhood.”

Does Yakabuski really think a parity cabinet with women in senior portfolios including foreign affairs, justice, environment, and health is a downgrade to women?

Or is he amongst those scribes still smarting over the quip that shut down journalistic criticism of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s original commitment to equality almost three years ago?

“Because it’s 2015” was an answer that silenced the initial vocal backlash to the prime minister’s gender equal cabinet.

The Yakabuski narrative, that men have been brought in to clean up women’s messes, featured by the Globe, promotes the notion that somehow the “weaker sex” is simply not up to the job.

But the facts do not bear out this opinion piece. In the last few months, much of Canada’s heavy lifting, on the trickiest economic file facing the government, has been done by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. She has had to navigate the murky waters of Washington, staring down a dictatorial wannabee and accomplishing it with a rapier tongue and the aplomb of a diplomat.

Likewise, the trickiest federal-provincial files, the move to legalize marijuana and fight climate change, have been stickhandled by two very capable ministers, in justice and environment, who also happen to be women.

Yakabuski claimed Trudeau “deviates from his own script, which we noted because he drew attention to diversity in his first cabinet.”

But then he offers absolutely not one shred of evidence to back up his claim. On the contrary, cabinet positions are still split equally among women and men, and the prime minister is continuing a trend which has changed the face of Canadian politics forever.

Any new prime minister who tries to ignore the established equity principle will do so at their peril.

The notion that somehow women need to be cleaned up after needs to be exposed for what it is, the ranting of an out-of-touch scribe who simply does not get it.

On the same editorial page where Yakabuski makes his claim, there are two other opinion pieces, one written by a man, the other by a woman.

On the opposite page, in letters to the editor, there are seven letters submitted by men and one submitted by a woman. Not surprisingly, the editorial page editor also happens to be a man. The first five names on the Globe masthead are all men, from the deputy editor to the executive editor to the managing editor.

On the front page that same day, every single political story from Ontario, Ottawa, and Washington was written by men; five of them and not a single contribution from a woman.

It is not surprising that a misleading narrative on diversity would pass muster with this male-dominated editorial team.

Parity may be good for politics, but it is not a media priority. Instead, journalists are still not-so-subtly promoting the notion that the men in cabinet are stepping in to save us from incompetence.

When Trudeau made world news by insisting on parity in his first round of cabinet choices, the biggest pushback actually came from the media.

The good news is that the majority of his ministerial choices have been sound. With a few exceptions, most ministers have been able to move forward on an activist government agenda. His female roster is strong, capable and in charge of their files.

If anything, the balance of cabinet excellence is tipped in favour of women. They are obviously getting on someone’s nerves.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.