Keep promise to stay open

What’s this? A prime minister who doesn’t appear to hate the news media? Who actually seems to value the work that political journalists do? And who instructs the people who work for him to do the same?

Of all the welcome changes introduced by Justin Trudeau and his new Liberal government, this one is near the top of the list. After the secrecy, manipulation and paranoia of the Harper years, it’s a head-snapping switch in direction that speaks volumes about how the Liberals intend to conduct themselves in office.

This isn’t just self-interest on the part of the media, who naturally want the politicians to treat them with respect and let them do their jobs. Ordinary citizens don’t have day-to-day access to the people who run our government, so journalists act as their eyes and ears and help to keep the powerful people in check.

Here’s how Trudeau himself puts it in the “mandate letters” he gave to his new cabinet ministers, as reported on Friday in the Star by Susan Delacourt. He tells ministers they will be judged by how they treat a range of people, including business, labour, the opposition and even the news media:

“Members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, indeed all journalists in Canada and abroad, are professionals who, by asking necessary questions, contribute in an important way to the democratic process. Your professionalism and engagement with them is essential.”

As Delacourt pointed out, this is an elaboration on what the prime minister told some Liberal supporters in Montreal who booed reporters near the end of the election campaign. “Hey!” he said sharply. “We have respect for journalists in this country. They ask tough questions and they’re supposed to. OK?”

A professor of journalism couldn’t have put it better. It’s the kind of comment that brings a lump to the throat of reporters, especially after the abuse they took from the previous, unlamented government.

It’s equally heartening that Trudeau is expressing concern about the impact on press freedom of RCMP investigations into the sources of leaks to the media. He said he is “looking into” the effect of investigations into leaks to journalists from La Presse of Montreal and Vice News, and called them “troubling issues.” That’s a very welcome change of tone.

Before we get too carried away, however, it’s worth underlining that these are very early days. The Liberals were elected just four weeks ago on Monday; Trudeau and his cabinet have been in office for only 12 days. Canadians have welcomed the new government like the first warm day after the winter freeze, and the honeymoon is still very much in full bloom.

It’s easy for the Liberals to make nice with the media now, when the stories are all about new faces, new possibilities and #RealChange. The test will come when things turn sour, and the tough questions begin.

It will happen. It always does. A minister will stumble. Reporters tired of “sunny ways” will smell blood in the water and circle for the kill. Promises will be broken or forgotten, and the stories will be more critical, even negative.

This is the cycle with every government. It begins with hope and develops — with luck and good will — into a respectful but wary tension. It’s the nature of the relationship.

We’ll see soon enough how deeply Trudeau and his ministers believe in the admirable principles the prime minister has expressed early on. It will be an important test of the promises of open government that his party put at the heart of its platform. For now, at least, the signs are good.

Prime minister’s pledge of openness to the media is welcome news, indeed