Roundup: No reporters on the plane

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The Conservatives have declared that there will be no media contingent on their campaign plane or busses, while still mouthing words like claiming they’ll be the “most transparent” campaign out there. (Full letter here). They won’t be, of course, because not allowing journalists on the plane/bus means that they can’t see unscripted moments (from their limited vantage point), but stage-management is much of what this is really about—giving that added bit of message control that the Conservatives are very desperate to maintain.

The claim they are advancing is that they’ll give two- or three-days’ advance notice of stops so that local media can be there, or that national media can fly (last minute, driving up costs), and that people can use “technology” to connect to the campaign, but that generally means relying on the party’s infrastructure and feeds, which allows for greater chances of manipulation (especially if they delay their feed). And before you say it, yes, media do pay for seats on that plane/busses. Thousands of dollars. For comparison’s sake, the Liberals’ proposed fees for the campaign were $1,500 per day; $6,600 per week; or $33,500 for the full campaign. Those fees cover travel, food, access to filing rooms, and Wi-Fi (but not hotels). So let me reiterate—this isn’t about costs, it’s about control. And because the Conservatives claim that they will balance local and national coverage at events, we’ve seen what this means in recent press conferences, where they refused questions from English-language national media, and only took questions from local ethnocultural outlets, and so-called “independent” faux-news outlets like Rebel “News” or Juno.

Ukraine Dispatch

Putin claimed he was willing to engage in a thirty-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure only (which doesn’t mean much given that this is the time of year Russia would be letting up on attacking those targets—they prefer to do so in the winter to freeze out the Ukrainians), and lo, continued to bomb other civilian targets. Some “ceasefire.” Ukraine then stopped an attempted Russian incursion into the Sumy region, because of course.

Good reads:

  • In Iqaluit, Mark Carney pledged new funds for more infrastructure in the North as part of Arctic defence and sovereignty, which will include new radar tech.
  • Carney also spoke about the bodies recovered at the Winnipeg landfill, and the closure it will bring the families.
  • Carney gave a more detailed answer about his assets and possible ethics screens that might be set up, after his snippy responses earlier in the week.
  • Carney is set to have his first meeting with the premiers on Friday.
  • Carney has thus far refused to say where he’ll be living as prime minister.
  • Some defence experts say that the secrecy over the price tag of the first batch of new destroyers likely stems from the scars of the F-35 procurement.
  • There are some concerns that the Americans could block the sales of other alternative fighters than the F-35s, because they also contain American components.
  • The number of travellers from Canada to the US has dropped to COVID lows.
  • Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy wants Canada to rally to the defence of the Ottawa Convention banning landmines, as some European countries pull out.
  • Sweden’s Varieties of Democracies project says that by next year, the US could no longer be considered a democracy thanks to Trump.
  • The Liberals are lagging behind in party nominations ahead of the campaign (which is why I wrote this column about my concerns about it).
  • In his first post-political selfie posted to social media, Justin Trudeau posted about being in Canadian Tire (buying kitchen gear).
  • Tom Nichols recalls a 1965 political thriller that strangely mirrors what we’re seeing with Trump today.
  • Emmett Macfarlane muses about what the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Working Families says about how we think about judicial ideology in Canada.
  • My column offers some observations over the past few days of Mark Carney’s transition to the office of prime minister.

Odds and ends:

"Just hire more," callous MPs keep demanding as interpreters get injured and burn out because said MPs don't care about their health and safety. Turns out there are no more to hire. We are careening toward a crisis in Parliament, and MPs haven't been able to arse themselves to care.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T13:18:49.064Z

Yet again, the NDP didn't bother to read the CPI report. The food prices in question was food from restaurants, not grocery stores. Yet again, the NDP have failed in basic reading comprehension. Report: www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T18:39:43.971Z

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One thought on “Roundup: No reporters on the plane”

  1. Re: no reporters on the plane
    If I were a CPC voter, this would be a huge red flag (to go along with the numerous CPC ridings where candidates don’t turn up for local debates). The party seems to prefers their voters to be uninformed.

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