Blame Obama

In a sure sign that things are far worse in Canada than we had been led to believe, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his apparently less than independent Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney are blaming the Obama Administration for being somewhat slow off the mark in showering banks with obscene amounts of money while requiring no meaningful reforms.

Canada has of course done much better, funneling up to $200 billion to the banks through the EFF, with no oversight by Parliament or opposition parties. Not surprisingly, for this and other nefarious reasons, our banks are in far better shape.

Yet our economy is not, as the energy sector is in free-fall and our auto industry is heading into bankruptcy protection. GDP is declining at almost 8% per year -- near depression rates. And unlike Obama, who faces real, if delusional, opposition, the Harper government faces an opposition far more concerned with political manuevering than with holding this government to account at a crucial time in our history.

Journalism 101

Listening to Michael Enright's show on CBC this morning, I was very surprised to hear that Prime Minister Harper had said on Farreed Zakaria's show last week that the Taliban could not be defeated. As I noted in a post last week, Harper said nothing of the sort. What he did say was that western military might alone would not defeat the Taliban, or any other insurgency, but that insurgencies such as this can be managed and controlled by competent and effective local governments aided by foreign powers. He further suggested that Canada might well have a role in making a contribution to this kind of transformation, though it would be very careful in assessing that role.

Again, I am amazed and depressed by the capacity of the MSM, and the CBC is certainly that, to get it wrong by putting their own spin on a story. If Enright is "the hardest working man in radio" as many of his fans describe him, then surely he, or one of assistants would have taken time to listen to the Zakaria interview. This is not an issue of left or right. Those in favor of military intervention have been just as guilty of inaccuracy and spin. It is simply an issue of separating fact from opinion and being honest about which is which.