Ginna Dowler at PeakTalk notes that even the traditionally liberal Canadian media have, in their disappointment and disillusionment, turned on the Liberals:
In 2004, the media still believed in Paul, the man who would rescue us. I think the turning point came in May 2005, when Martin held onto power by bribing an opposition member (Stronach) into crossing the floor. I can't find the link, but there was a particular press scrum where all the journalists burst out laughing at the Liberals' explanations. And all of a sudden things began to change.By the time this campaign began it seemed clear that the media love affair with Martin was over. He'd duped them, collectively and individually. And collectively and individually they are lashing back.
Well, maybe. Certainly, there's a certain sense abroad in the newsrooms that the Liberals are intellectually bankrupt, and have resorted to the shabbiest schemes to keep from being financially so. But this looks a great deal more like one of those "interventions" done for a friend's own good than an actual eye-opening questioning of allegiances.
Look at the one major media source that's actually bowed to the inevitable and endorsed the Tories, the Globe and Mail. Its reasons for voting Tory amount to giving the Liberals a timeout from the strains of pretending to govern in order to tidy up. After all, a certain amount of malaise and entitlement is bound to set in after a decade or two.
I suppose that's better than then-Canadian Peter Jennings's calling the 1994 Congressional vote that turned out a 40-year Demcratic House majority "a tantrum." But it's clear they're angry at the feckless Liberals for being fxkless, not for being liberal. There's certainly nothing in there about Conservative ideas.
"Fear of becoming too American" is so firmly entrenched in the national trope that it's part of opinion poll questions, and invariably interpreted as a Tory weakness. The notion that the ongoing national identity crisis has led them to become "too European" seems never to have crossed their minds. (Given the latest Government proposals on marriage, becoming "too Arabian" might be more of an issue, but that's another story.)
The eye-rolling foolishness of accusing Stephen Harper of planning martial law is obvious to all. The fact that Canada no longer has a military worthy of the name goes unmentioned. (Perhaps having played a key role in liberating France, they just don't want to make that mistake again.)
PM-to-be Harper suggests that Canada abandon the Kyoto-treaty-in-name, and he's "turning his back on Kyoto," or "endangering Canada's diplomatic standing." The fact that Canada's greenhouse emissions have grown faster than those CO-breathing, poison-swilling Americans have gets buried next to a statment about how ditching Kyoto now will only make things worse later on.
The debate on Public Health only goes as far as trashing the NDP leader for actually trying to secure treatment a decade ago.
Canada may be financially sound. It may be able to struggle along with its Europeanisation Programme for a little while longer. But if you look at where it's gotten the Europeans, you have to be worried about the Tories winning an election without a clear mandate to steer in some other direction.
