Month: January 2009

The Onion gets it right — eight years early

The folks who wrote up The Onion report on George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001 thought they were being funny. With hindsight, it looks more sad than funny …

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that “our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over.”

President-elect Bush vows that “together, we can put the triumphs of the recent past behind us.”

“My fellow Americans,” Bush said, “at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us.” … [Read the rest]

Tip o' the toque to the good lookin' guy with the Accordion …

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Don Drummond: Rock Star

The federal New Democratic Party national caucus held an open, i.e. media is welcome, roundtable on the economy today. The NDP roundtable featured presentations from some notable economy experts, including Don Drummond, a former senior bureaucrat at the Department of Finance and now the Chief Economist at the TD Bank.

Two things struck me as I listened to the two-hour roundtable that was at times a little windy but was also filled with the occasional nugget.

First, the very event, it seemed to me, was primarily a political one or one that was organized to serve a political objective, namely to so that the NDP could be seen to be credible on economy issues. NDP members, including leader Jack Layton, listened dutifully to the economic advice that was being offered and asked some relatively intelligent questions.

Second: I was struck at just what kind of rock star, if you will, Drummond has become as a result of the current economic crisis. Drummond is a credible voice on economic policy issues because he seems to be politically unaligned. That's not to say he does not have opinions on policy issues but he views the policy debate in terms of economic outcomes not political outcomes. Where social goals or other non-economic goals play upon a particular policy choice, Drummond recognizes that his area of expertise is not in these non-economic areas and instead falls back to clearly explaining the economic costs or consquences of various policy options. In that way, the work of Drummond and his team of economists at the TD Bank ends up being cited to support seemingly competing political positions.

I should note here that Drummond is not unique in this respect. Several other Bay Street bank economists – I can think of Merrill Lynch's David Wolf, BMO Nesbitt Burns Douglas Porter, and Scotiabank's Warren Jestin to name a few — who are also effective at playing this kind of influential non-partisan role.

After the panel concluded, several NDP MPs were keen to have their photo snapped with Drummond, no doubt so that they could be used in the next MP newsletter. – “See, mom, I've been talking to important economists!” Drummond seemed to suffer the grip-and-grins with good humour and patience.

I'll have more once I go through my notes on some of the nuggets that came out of the meeting.

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The size of the inaugural crowd: A journalist's dilemma

As journalism instructor Steve Doig correctly notes:

“…estimating the size of crowds at mass public events is much more about public relations than a quest for truth. Whether the crowd is gathering for an anti-war protest, a sports team's victory parade, a golf tournament, a pope's outdoor Mass or the swearing-in of the most powerful man on Earth, organizational reputations and personal egos are ballooned or deflated by public perceptions of whether the crowd is surprisingly large or disappointingly small …”

Indeed, as NBC Chicago is reporting, some civic officials are pushing for an accurate official headcount:

“I am an advocate for open and transparent government,” D.C. Council member Kwame R. Brown said in a statement Friday. “If there is a way to provide an accurate count of how many people attended this historic inauguration, the information should be made available to the public.”

Most organizers say that Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration could draw the largest crowd to Washington in modern times. In a hair-raising moment for some inaugural planners, District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said 3 million or more people might show up, more than double the 1.2 million at Lyndon B. Johnson's inauguration in 1965, the largest turnout the Park Service has on record.

But how do you get those numbers? Are they accurate? It's a important part of a journalist's job who is covering such an event is getting an accurate crowd count even if there are “official” or “police” sources giving one a head count.

Personally, I can't remember ever covering an event where there was a crowd that wasn't too big to actually count. So that's what I do. But when you're talking 100,000 plus or an area that is just too large to see from one vantage point, you've got to be creative. Doig, in his piece, reviews some of the creative ways journalists have tried to accurately estimate crowd size.

And then Doig does the math on the crucial question: Could 2 million people actually jam the Washington Mall to watch Obama's inauguration? His answer is no but you'll want to read his piece to find out how many he believes could fit there.

The New York Times has a neat graphic which takes a look at this issue, as well.

And here's a great statistical nugget I did not know before. Doig has calculated that if a human being who is standing up needs about 10 square feet of space (what he calls the “loose crowd” standard), you could get every single human being on Earth into Miami-Dade County at the tip of Florida. Wow.)

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What Nortel's loss really means

A lobbyist friend here in Ottawa who works on issues that help promote Canadian research and development sends me this note today:

“In all the discussions about Nortel, one point that hasn't been made is that Nortel accounts for about one-third of all the commercial R&D done in Canada. If it goes south in bits and pieces, that would be double jeopardy – short term job losses coupled with longer term loss of R&D capacity in Canada.”

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Who's heard the CLC radio ads?

CLC Ad

Commenter JAD alerts me to the ad campaign of the Canadian Labour Congress. You can listen to the ad here. The ad encourages listeners to tell their MPs to put “working people” first as they draw up the budget.

The ad is part of the CLC's “Get Real” campaign (that's its logo on the left). “Government must find solutions that help everybody, not just the banks and corporations that got us into this mess. Working people and their unions are going to be part of the solution as Canadians rebuild their lives and communities.,” the CLC says.

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Who's heard Tory attack ads on the radio?

The Conservatives unveiled new radio spots in which they call on “all MPs” to get to work on the economy. It's an anti-coalition ad.

We've asked the Conservative Party what radio stations are playing this ad but they won't say.

Some of my more cynical colleagues suggest that the Party tells the Parliamentary Press Gallery that they're releasing these ads and then the media immediately puts them on their television or radio programs for free (as my old friends at CTV Newsnet just did).

So before I say any more about these ads, I'd like to know where they're playing. You can help: If hear one, tell me what the station is, the time, and what you thought of them.

What your First Ministers will be eating for dinner

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the provincial and territorial leaders and aboriginal leaders will gather at Old City Hall in Ottawa this evening to discuss the state of the economy.

The prime minister's office notes that this will not be a swanky affair. In fact, all these VIPs will be getting up to load up their own plates, buffet-style. Taxpayers will be covering the $25.95 cost per plate. Those who wish to share a bottle of wine will be asked to pay a modest $22 for their vintage of choice.

As to the menu, the PMO helpfully provides the following:

  • Alberta sirloin or beef, carved coq au vin, and vegetarian lasagna
  • Roasted parisienne potatoes
  • Seasonal vegetables
  • Vegetable tray
  • Domestic cheese tray
  • Garden salad
  • Marinated vegetables
  • Macaroni salad
  • Buns and butter
  • Antipasto tray
  • Assorted cakes and mousses
  • Fruit tray
  • Tea and coffee

Bon appetit!

Who says the Tories don't love the arts?

If there's been a focus of media attention on any one federal cabinet minister it's been on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and with, I think, good justification. Flaherty has been criss-crossing the country meeting with this group and that as he prepares to deliver a budget which will send the country deep into deficit but, everyone hopes, have the benefit of preventing the worst ravages of a recession from being visited upon Canada.

But another minister has also had a very busy 2009 so far. Heritage Minister James Moore has been very active trying to prove that, contrary to some popularly held beliefs, the federal Conservatives really do like art and culture and are ready to back up that love with some federal funds.

Since Jan. 1, Minister Moore has made six announcements handing out a total of $286,074 to arts and cultural groups. Today, it was Nova Scotia's turn to benefit with $62,500 for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, $100,000 for the Jazz East Rising Association, and $61,000 to the Scotia Chamber Players.

Moore has also made a point of visiting some cultural institutions that were at the epicentre of the Tories political troubles in the last election with the cultural sector. Since the Minister Moore, last week, visited the National Theatre School and the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal and then touched down in Toronto to visit the Ontario Art Gallery, and the Wychwood Barns project of Toronto Artscape, a non-profit group artists find space to work. Moore immediately set about improving the Conservatives' visibility in key arts communities as soon as he became minister. There was this interview, for example, with Montreal's La Presse almost as soon as he took office.

Moore did not announce any new funding for Toronto Artscape when he toured Wychwood Barns but the press release accompanying that event certainly pointed out that Ottawa had kicked in $2.25 million towards that project. And when he visted the Musée d'art Contemporain last week, the release, while it did not tally up federal financial support for that institution, there was this not insignificant line in the release: “The Government of Canada has been a financial partner of Montreal's Musée d'art contemporain for several years, recognizing that the arts and culture are essential to our society, our identity, and our economy.”

The Tories troubles with the arts community first flared up back in August when we were the first to report that the feds were cancelling a relatively small program called PromArt which helped send Canadian arts and cultural workers overseas to promote their work. Part of the reason for the cancellation, as we reported, was because “the program's grant recipients included “a general radical,” “a left-wing and anti-globalization think-tank” and a rock band that uses an expletive as part of its name.”

That rock band, incidentally, was Toronto's Holy Fuck, who went on to become finalists for the Polaris Prize and have generally won substantial critical claim.

Now, while at the Montreal musée, Moore took in an exhibition called Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, an exhibition which curators says brings together more than 100 works that highlight the close ties between avant-garde art and rock music over the past 40 years.

“Once again, the Musee d'art contemporain is on the cutting edge with Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, an exhibit that blends innovative art and rock and roll,” Moore said in the release.

So, just to be clear if you want to get funding from the feds: Rolling Stones good, Holy Fuck bad 🙂

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Will the NDP vote for the budget?

I'm in the lobby of 140 O'Connor, the office tower in downtown Ottawa that houses the offices of the Minister of Finance (and the Treasury Board president, for that matter).

A few minutes ago, NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair and his caucus colleague Judy Wasylycia-Leis passed through here on the way up to meet with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Earlier today, the NDP pair held a press conference to talk about the budget and their expectations.

Mulcair was asked if would give the Tories a chance with the budget. He said:

“Is it possible we will support the budget? Look, let's be realistic. Based on what the Conservatives have said and done in the past, it's very unlikely we will do that. However, miracles can always happen.”

Why do they feel that way?

“There's a lot of scepticism on our end as to whether or not they're sincere, as to whether they can be believed,” Mulcair said.

Mulcair said that, among other things, the sceptism was bred partly by Flaherty standing up in the House to give the Economic and Fiscal Statement and saying there would be no deficit and then, two weeks later, saying there would be:

“All of a sudden he tells us he's painted too rosy a picture. I don't where you come from, but where I come from that's called lying,” said Mulcair. “When he said that there was going to be no budget deficit and then two weeks later he admitted that there was, either he's got a bunch of incompetents — and I don't believe that's the case – giving him advice or he was making it up. And I do believe that that was the case. He was saying the opposite of the truth to Canadians. And I think they should be called to account for that.

“This is a question of trust, a question of confidence. Can Canadians trust this government?”

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