Have voters tuned out our politicians?
There is trouble brewing in Ottawa. Despite recent tragic events in the Middle East forcing him back into public view, to the greatest extent possible, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is apparently intent on sticking by his vow to keep his head down and his mouth closed, a sharp shift from his first four years of selfie- taking, magazine- adorning, virtue- signalling puffery.
This could be a result of the prime minister having seen his popularity plummet from overexposure, not to mention all the stumbles, scandals and general inanity that plagued the Great Liberal Sunshine Government. If there was a message voters issued on Oct. 21 it owed something to the chant New York Islanders fans put up every time their former captain — now the Toronto Maple Leafs captain — returns to Long Island: “We don’t need you!”
But no action in Ottawa goes uncriticized, and it would appear that the same holds for non-action as well. Take away the prime minister and his non- stop, 24/ 7 self- promotion department, and what do you have left? More pertinently, what does the Ottawa press gallery have to write about? When we said we wanted to see less of the prime minister, we didn’t mean we wanted to see less of the prime minster!
Paul Wells, easily one of Canada’s most knowledgeable political pundits, complains in Maclean’s magazine that the Trudeau government appears to have fallen asleep since October. “It’s now been 11 weeks since the 2019 election reduced the Liberals to a minority,” he writes. “Seven weeks since the new Liberal cabinet was sworn in. Even over holidays, governments normally do things over the span of seven or 11 weeks.”
Except this one, evidently. That is, if you assume that a government that goes quiet about its activities isn’t actually engaged in any activities. If a minister makes a decision and the decision isn’t communicated to the press, did the decision happen? A less polite question might be, once the press gets used to its daily plate of government cookies, is it fair to snatch the plate away?
It’s an eternal question in the fraught relationship between government and press, especially the slightly hyper media machine in Ottawa. Reporters and pundits want to know everything that happens. That’s their job. They also insist it is Canadians’ right: we elected you, and you’re not supposed to keep secrets. They want it on their own terms, however. Just the facts, without the standard blather and embellishment. Tell us everything, except the boring bits. Save those for the CBC.
Without the prime minister, the press is left with mere cabinet members. Cabinet members are dull. Who cares what the minister for middle-class enhancement is up to, or the minister for trying to get along with the provinces? The press gallery has long chafed at the growing concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s Office, but, take it away and is anyone going to get out of bed to chase down the latest hot item from oceans and fisheries?
The prime minister is interesting because he has most of the power. If he shares the power as the press regularly urges, he gets less interesting. Does that mean he’s doing a worse job, or the power is being mishandled? So bad has the situation become since the election, however, that reporters are being forced to pay extra attention to the search for a new Conservative leader. Is Rona Ambrose going to run? Would the party seriously consider Pierre Poilievre, and, if so, why not just pick Don Cherry and be done with it?
There’s an assumption in the gallery’s angst that may not be solid, however. Just because those who are paid to transmit information from Ottawa feel they need more to transmit, does the country as a whole agree? If there is universal consensus on anything, it’s that, thanks to the internet, the world is overwhelmed by information. The great struggle is wheedling it down to digestible portions, particularly when it comes to politics and outrage. Does anyone believe Twitter actually needs more ammunition to feed its bottomless anger?
We’ve been learning for some time now that people don’t care as deeply about political leadership as one might surmise. That’s because they don’t take it seriously. They think it’s a lot of self-sustaining hoo- ha. We got a good indication of this when voters were presented with several examples of their prime minister flouncing around in blackface, and gave it a giant shrug. Mr. Respect for Diversity was caught making an epic goof of himself, and did it hurt his re-election chances? Not a lot, perhaps because the other guy evidently forgot he was an American citizen.
I don’t have scientific proof of this, but I’d argue that the intensity of the coverage given political actors is a direct cause of the lessening of respect for national leaders and institutions. People are deeply flawed, and you can’t be constantly exposed to those flaws without any esteem you might feel being eroded. The result is that a president who has no grasp of truth, cavorts with porn stars and treats power like a toy could win re-election from an electorate that has long since tuned out the details.
I suspect a lot of people would be quite happy for Ottawa to go quiet for an extended period. It won’t stop working just because it doesn’t feel compelled to top the news on a daily basis. Governments do a great deal. Many people feel they are too big and do too much. WAY too much. They don’t necessarily have to do it loudly. It doesn’t mean they’re not doing it at all.
THEY THINK IT’S A LOT OF SELF-SUSTAINING HOO-HA.