"You may know them as transcripts, ma'am"

A little more Ryan Cleary.

Federal Election - Week 1

We learn that this politics thing might be harder than it looks.

Nationally, even!

Let's see if it gets better.

Mythbusting - What if NL did the same?

Then a few scattered blogs here and there would vanish from the ether, I'm sure.  As would some newspapers.

On the other hand, others have been doing yeoman's service in carefully and systematically demolishing longtime received "truths".

When you base choices for the future on myths of the past, don't be surprised when things go awry and others look askance at you.

Simpson's column today covers another province looking hard at myths of their past.  We are overdue in doing the same.

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Hard sell: What if Quebeckers turned their backs on false history?

In the dream palace of Quebec's existential politics, articulate and forceful federalists are at a premium.

Provincial politics has evolved into a competition among secessionists (Parti Québécois), autonomists (Action Démocratique) and federalists who seem chronically unhappy with most aspects of the Canadian status quo (provincial Liberals).

Federally, politics plays itself out among secessionists (Bloc Québécois), asymmetrical federalists (NDP), Quebeckers-are-a-nation (Conservatives) and Stéphane Dion Liberals. That the Liberals are now third or even fourth in Quebec says much about the leader, and attitudes toward federalism.

Federalism is a devotion in Quebec that often dares not speak its name. That it might be an excellent form of government, and beneficial, is an argument seldom advanced, except in cold mechanical terms in which Quebec's financial "gains" are recorded, then quickly forgotten in a welter of fresh demands.

It is, therefore, refreshing (although likely not consequential) that a group of federalists recently produced a collection of essays defending federalism. That the authors are swimming against the tide of elite opinion in Quebec makes their enterprise the more laudable, since they represent the few voices ready to state their federalist credentials clearly and largely without equivocation (although the contribution from the ADQ representative is as muddled as the party's attitudes toward Canada).

Reconquérir le Canada was the brainchild of André Pratte, editorial pages editor at La Presse. It brings together academics, political organizers, past candidates for the Conservatives, Liberals and ADQ, Quebec Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Benoît Pelletier and former federal Liberal justice minister Martin Cauchon.

Even among these redoubtable federalists, however, an undercurrent of dissatisfaction exists with current constitutional arrangements. Most of them say further constitutional changes (at some point) will be required to "satisfy" Quebec by way of allowing the province to sign on to the Constitution that the PQ government did not accept in 1981.

The time is obviously not right to reopen constitutional discussions (will the time ever be right?), but many of these authors suggest it must come.

Mr. Pelletier observes, correctly, that politics in Quebec is driven by identity over language, institutions and other manifestations of the "nation."

History, too, indelibly shapes the collective sense of the "nation," and that sense is exceptionally strong in Quebec. It is also a received sense, in that it is handed down in a certain way, largely as a trail of tears for Quebec within Canada, offset by ephemeral triumphs by provincial politics to "defend" the interests of Quebec.

Mr. Pratte's essay, therefore, is the bravest and most interesting because it is the most iconoclastic, for he takes issue with some of the received assertions of Quebec history.

The Conquest, for example, was a trade of one colonial master for another, and it allowed francophone Quebec to join the winning team in world affairs for the subsequent century and a half -- which meant the Industrial Revolution, parliamentary government, rule of law, and huge export opportunities, all while retaining its language and religion.

The Second World War is presented in Quebec as a doughty struggle against conscription wanted by les anglais, whereas, as Mr. Pratte points out, francophone Quebec's Pétainist preferences and its cultural/religious elites' disengagement from the fight against Nazism left too much of the province on the wrong side of history. To this day, Quebec has not faced up to that sad chapter in its "national" history, preferring the self-comforting saga of valiantly opposing conscription.

Mr. Pratte also takes issue with the premise that the Quiet Revolution turned a backward society toward modernity. Quebec, he argues, had an entrepreneurial class and spirit long before the 1960s.

Quebeckers, he urges, should be more outward looking, more embracing of the idea they can succeed in Canada, and less reliant on the clutches of false history that lead them toward the comforting but inward-looking options of secession and disengagement.

This is the book's most important idea. It will not be an easy one to sell, given the intellectual forces, conventional wisdoms and political choices ranged against it.

Independent? Not so much

It's now widely accepted amongst sensible people that The Independent is the local promoter of pseudo-nationalist, politically paranoid elaborate grievance-based conspiracies about this province.

So it's easy to forget that the publication is not a stand-alone publication but part of a larger corporate family comprised of a web of formal and informal connections. And they are not shy about exploiting those connections for maximum synergies.

For example, pick up this week's copy and start scanning the text and pictures which passes for news on the front page. It turns out that Managing Editor Ryan Cleary has been doing some travelling on an airline called Astraeus.

You know them - they are the heirs to the NL-London route which Air Canada dropped amidst great controversy.

Courtesy of two free airline tickets, he's been able to write a very fine travel story. The text and photos (by the talented photo-journalist Paul Daly) cover the top half of the front page and then goes on to fill both pages of the centerspread.

Cleary, the hard news writer and polemicist extraordinaire, outlines the joys of travelling in Great Britain and breathlessly informs us that London is not just a destination that's cheaper than you might think, it's a gateway to other destinations too.

And if you're lucky, you just might be able to catch a glimpse of Justin Timberlake! Or Fergie!!

The only shadow in the story is the fear of not generating enough traffic to keep the flights going so the story drops in a gentle hit about supporting this worthy venture. And just so you don't miss that subtle sales message, the whole article is headlined Use it or Lose it.

And by the way, don't forget the fact that they:

... also operate charter flights between Gatwick and Deer Lake, the nearest airport to the high-end Humber Valley Resort ...

It's an unbiased, clear-eyed and fair promotional piece about this quality airline, their flight schedule and their future plans. All in all, it's just another bland and happy puff story about about a great company providing a great service to great places and incidentally supporting our historical right to have an airline flight to London.

Actually, it's a good deal more than that.

Astraeus Airlines has a fair history in this province already. Back in Nov 2006, Minister of Transportation John Hickey was falling all over himself praising Astraeus for their twice weekly flights to Deer Lake and St. John's.

What an odd flight, when you think about it - Gatwick to Deer Lake through St. John's twice a week. What would generate that kind of traffic? Well, the "high-end Humber Valley Resort" as referenced above has a very significant European clientele and they need to be able to get back and forth.

In that press release, Hickey was thrilled to note that:

The partnership with Astreaus Airlines was brokered by Brian Dobbin, chief executive officer of Newfound NV, to service Newfound’s Humber Valley Resort.

And why wouldn't wouldn't Mr. Dobbin broker such a deal? It's only right and proper and it serves his interests to do that.

Mr. Dobbin, a local businessman of some repute, has quite a few businesses in his stable. While mainly in the area of real estate, he also dabbles in other sectors as well.

One of them is as Publisher and majority owner of the Independent.

Don't bother looking on the website for that information because it's not there except as a passing reference in one online story. He does, however, appear on the masthead of the print publication. Other than that he's usually simply referred in the paper as a businessman with wide interests.

Oddly, he's never mentioned as the chief executive officer of "high-end Humber Valley Resort" which advertises heavily in the paper.

And so we come full circle: Mr. Dobbin brings the airline to NL to service his resort and then ruthlessly promotes the flights of the airline in his paper as well as the resort it services.

And he has every reason to ensure those flights continue and continue profitably: if Astreaus pulls out of the province, that strands the "high-end Humber Valley Resort" high and dry.

So you thought the Independent took the time and trouble to tell the airline's story out of a sense of NL pride in maintaining historical NL-London air links? Think of it more as a feature piece in a corporate newsletter.

Of interest is the other recent change in the paper where we now see an impressive and generous selection of advertising from the provincial government and government owned agencies.

Who knew one would need a full broadsheet page ad just to advertise 3 jobs and a tender? I'm sure government could have seen better value for it's advertising dollar it it wasn't for all that gratuitous white space and the huge triffid in the corner.

It wasn't all that long ago that Independent was on the outs with our premier and nary a government ad could be found between its covers. Now the cup of government and government related advertising overflows.

As for editorial policy, it's clear: Our Man In Ottawa, Loyola Hearn, is evil.

Oddly, that's exactly what out Premier thinks too. And lets not forget the casual smears made about the reputation of private citizens who criticise our premier.

Will coincidences ever end?

In addition to being the ringing voice of local patriotism, the defender of the Pink-White-Green and supporter the "Fighting Newfoundland", you really have to wonder what and who's corporate and political interests the Independent and Managing Editor Ryan Cleary really speaks for.

Independent? Not so much.

Seriously? Or irony?

The other day, Bond Papers brought to my attention the editor's column of the Telegram. In it, Russell Wangersky concludes with:

That would give us a media that specializes in cheerleading, printing speeches and delivering political adoration — and I don’t think it is disdain to suggest that that sort of media will serve our politicians very well, but our population not at all.

In part, that conclusion would be based on some observations of the latest shenanigans of The Independent and its Managing Editor, Ryan Cleary. For a sample of those observations, you can check mine here and those by Meeker on Media here.

So when I was tossing the trash this morning, my eye caught this from P3 of the Indy (click to enlarge).

It was the last line that grabbed me - "Maybe they agree with Danny ...".

I really can't tell if this was meant to be irony (because the gentleman quoted expressed a sad sentiment that I've heard frequently from all walks of the business community) or if the editor intended it seriously.

Then again, that question could be asked for most of the paper these days.