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submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/canada
 

I’m a senior reporter covering the Conservative campaign this week.

We've seen unprecedented efforts at message control from the Poilievre campaign that have broken with tradition in a number of ways.

The CPC is the only party to bar media from its campaign plane and buses. The Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole campaigns all allowed media to travel with the leader, and charged sometimes exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege. The other parties do the same, and also charge.

Poilievre takes fewer questions than other leaders, a maximum of four per event, and insists on choosing which reporters are allowed to ask. After a week following the campaign, neither I nor my CBC colleague Tom Parry have been permitted to ask any questions.

Sometimes, CPC staffers try to get reporters to say what they plan to ask — a question a reporter is not supposed to answer. However, we have seen local media pressured into answering. Obviously, if a reporter declines, that could factor into the decision of who gets to ask questions at all.

The decision on who asks questions is always last-minute. A CPC staffer holds the microphone, ready to pull it away. No follow-up questions are permitted.

On occasion, CPC staffers have gotten physical with journalists, such as on the public wharf at Petty Harbour, N.L., where there was pushing and shoving.

Today, in Trois-Rivières, we asked to be allotted a question. Party staffers said yes, so long as it was asked by my colleague Tom Parry. We responded that I would prefer to ask it. At that point the party took away our question and gave it to another outlet.

The difficulty of trying to keep up with a campaign that has its own chartered aircraft is a logistical problem that can be mitigated to some extent. But the extreme message control makes it all but impossible to bring the same level of accountability to the Poilievre campaign that other campaigns are subject to. It also protects the campaign from having to answer tough questions and is a marked departure from previous Conservative campaigns I have covered.

 

The overall security advice remains green, "take normal security precautions/"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Even beyond the landfill search, there's a lot to like in the NDP's handling of the economy, and the new homelessness strategy.

I remain relatively unimpressed with their work on the environmental front, but it unfortunately seems like that's the way the winds are blowing these days.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I've been wondering what Dave & Laverne's was going to be, and...it seems like my kind of place. I'll have to check it out.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

The headline I posted was the headline at the time - the other verdicts hadn't come in yet.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I have no beef with Paul Wesley - young Kirk was described as "a stack of books with legs" back in TOS, and I think that comes through in the performance.

But Sam Kirk is an absolute delight.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

If the first season wasn't your cup of tea, you might try skipping to season two - I personally think it's the weakest of the five, but it does introduce Mount, Peck, and Romijn as Pike, Spock, and Una.

And then there's the major shift at the end, which sets the stage for some seasons that I really enjoyed.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

There was a leak a few days ago suggesting July 31, which has since been retracted by the source (SkyShowtime in Europe).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Interesting, thanks for catching that.

It does seem like a strange "error"...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This will probably be the only remotely positive thing I'll have to say about the CPC during this campaign, but good for them for taking out the trash.

And yeah, there's still a lot of trash left.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Clarifications

An earlier version of this story indicated Liberal Leader Mark Carney said Canada will exempt Winnipeg's NFI Group from Canadian counter-tariffs. In fact, he said Canada may exempt NFI.

Apr 01, 2025 4:46 PM CDT

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I know it was technically the lower bid, but I had high hopes for the Loblaws offer.

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