Election: Some thoughts from the media
At the bidding of its Postmedia masters, no doubt, the Gazette is endorsing the Conservatives in Monday’s election. You’ll notice the byline is just “Postmedia Nework” [sic].
(Update: On Twitter, Steve Faguy observes: “A little bit of trivia: A judge ruled reporters have the right to a byline strike after one in response to CanWest’s attempt to impose national editorials on the Gazette in 2001.”)
La Presse is not endorsing any party. Instead, they looked at three themes: the environment, identity issues and the economy. François Cardinal ponders the contradictions: Quebec, the province with the highest concern for the environment, elected the CAQ, with the most meager environmental platform; voters may say they want a balanced budget, but when – for example – the government of Philippe Couillard achieved this by making harsh cuts in services, they threw him out.
Le Devoir has an interesting exercise where you can compare your impressions of the Trudeau government to the reality, also a fairly nifty infographic comparing party promises. Editor Brian Myles concludes, with faint praise, that voting Liberal is the least bad option for Quebec.
I can’t find any specific endorsement from the Journal de Montréal, although its opinion page shows a range of headlines concerning the election. No doubt who Richard Martineau’s “deux jambons” are.
Yes, more federal politics. But I reserve the right to make meta-commentary on what Montreal media are doing, and when I woke up to the Gazette tweeting for the Tories, I knew I needed to compare media endorsements.
Chris 19:49 on 2019-10-19 Permalink
The Gazoo’s criticisms of Trudeau seem correct to me, but to conclude the Cons would be better is a bridge too far.
david100 15:35 on 2019-10-20 Permalink
I’d love to see Trudeau turfed out, and I really don’t care about Canada, only Quebec. There’s just no good option to replace though. Everything got screwed up when Mulcair didn’t win. Best cases now are either (1) a minority government from which the BQ can extract money for Quebec/Montreal infrastructure from whichever joker is in office (this would necessarily be a CPC government, as NDP/PLC would ignore the BQ); or (2) a minority PLC government with widespread losses across Canada that holds the line in Quebec, so that when they’re working with NDP, it’s a Quebec-dominated PLC caucus, which leads to more of a focus for Quebec interests that can be plausible defended as national. That’s what I’ll be rooting for when I vote NDP.
Kate 09:55 on 2019-10-21 Permalink
david100, if you see Trudeau turfed out that means Scheer is in. Is that really what you want?
In my view you can’t care about Quebec without also caring about Canada. Whether you like it or not, we’re still part of Confederation. Tearing down Canada doesn’t automatically benefit Quebec. It’s not a zero-sum game.
In my lifetime I’ve seen Quebec saying over and over “what can we squeeze out of Canada?” without ever saying “What can we give back?” and in the long run that isn’t tenable.