There was an interesting piece out yesterday about a study that showed that those with strong partisan leanings were less likely to be able to correctly identify current events, and are likely using news to confirm their existing views rather than being well informed. It’s not too surprising in the current milieu, where partisanship it turning more toward tribalism as we are apparently trying to import America’s culture wars into Canada out of some misplaced sense of envy, however I worry that this will be the kind of study that will simply turn into an exercise in confirmation bias by all sides – partisans and supposed non-partisans alike.

Let us first recall that partisanship is not actually a bad thing – it’s fundamentally about a contest of ideas and values, which is a good thing in politics. While everyone likes to talk about “evidence-based policy” and doing what’s best for all, there are fundamental philosophical differences about what that may be – and that’s okay. That’s good for democracy! Let us also recall that party membership is of fundamental importance in our system of government, and it’s one that has been gradually been debased as leaders have grown too strong and have hollowed out their parties – in part because memberships have allowed it rather than jealously guarding their own powers. We need more people to be party members, because that’s where grassroots engagement happens. We should resist the temptation to turn this kind of a study into an excuse to debase this kind of engagement in the political process.

We should also note that a big part of the problem is a lack of media literacy – particularly as the study also points to people being unable to locate where how their partisan biases line up with media outlets (which is also not a surprise, because people will paint an outlet with bias if they don’t like a story that makes their team look bad). So long as people don’t have these media literacy skills, any partisanship gets conflated with their preference for their own “teams,” and that helps magnify the kinds of problems that this study points to. It’s a complex problem overall, but we can’t simply say “partisanship makes you stupid,” as will be the temptation. Partisanship on its own doesn’t make you stupid – but if it’s mixed with other kinds of ignorance, it adds fuel to the fire.

Good reads:

• Ralph Goodale says the government is trying to find a balance with online privacy as some allied countries want law enforcement to get encryption “backdoors.”
• Goodale also says the government is considering the feedback from their gun control consultations, and any recommendations will be campaign promises.
• Catherine McKenna says the federal government will go around the Manitoba government to give schools climate rebate funds where the province won’t.
• Here’s a look at the opening of the road that ends the isolation of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
• A number of civil society groups want the government to give an update on its review of arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
• A hotline has been set up to track when CSIS agents come questioning Muslim students (though one also wonders why complaints weren’t filed with SIRC).
• With changes afoot at Postmedia that could affect its ideological bent, here is an examination of the situation and how it could affect the media landscape.
• Incoming Supreme Court of Canada Justice Nicholas Kasirer was officially appointed yesterday, and his first day will be September 16^th.
• Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu says he wasn’t aware of the far-right nature of the Facebook group he joined, but also appeared on a far-right YouTube channel twice.
• The Commons health committee tabled a report calling for the federal government to investigated forced or coerced sterilizations of Indigenous women.
• Dominic LeBlanc made his first public appearance post-cancer treatment, and defended his use of an Irving aircraft for treatments in Montreal.
• Elizabeth May unveiled a plan to transition energy workers to the clean economy (but I think you’ll find the issue will be the massive difference in salaries).
• Dwight Ball says that Trudeau has promised to help mitigate the province’s power rates resulting from the Muskrat Falls cost overruns.
• Jason Kenney says the province’s elections commissioner (which is investigating his party) is not above coming budget cuts. He did cut his own salary, however.
• Kevin Carmichael talks to the CEO of Stingray streaming service about Canada’s ambition-lacking corporate culture and ways the government could help it.
• Colby Cosh digs into the contradictory way that different levels of government treat federalism, and how Scheer and Trudeau are looking to use their federal powers.
• Paul Wells parses Chrystia Freeland’s press conference with her UK counterpart, and what was and wasn’t said about post-Brexit trade talks.

Odds and ends:

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