Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Greg Weston makes me gag

Greg Weston's hostility and vitriol directed at the PMO has reached a new low - PM makes 'em gag.

...Even letters to the editor that may be critical of The Conservative Truth are apparently out.

"If you identify yourself as a Canadian Grain Commission employee in a letter to the editor that criticizes government policy relating to (the commission), you could create a perception that your views of government policy are not impartial, and that you may not be able to follow or apply government policy in an impartial manner."

Translation: By all means write to the paper, and be sure to check the want ads for your next job opportunity...


Pull-eeze. Public servants are supposed to appear non-partisan. A few years ago, I was at a large family get-together, and wanted to talk politics with a relative who works for Elections Canada. He shied away from the discussion citing a need to be non-partisan. And that was a Liberal Government, Greg. At a family party. Not even a public forum.

So go find something else to whine about.


* * * *
Update: Platty has a new assignment for Weston - How about a Superstore story, Greg?

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Truth hurts doesn't it. He speaks the truth here and you can't take it.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

"Truth" obviously depends on the interpretation of the observer.

Anonymous said...

"Truth hurts doesn't it. He speaks the truth here and you can't take it."

Oh PULEEEZE....grow up....you of all people, anony, should know that "truth" takes many faces, and can also sometimes be called "the little white lie". Good thing that the majority of "thinking" Canadians can see through the rhetoric and spin. It is only the non-thinking Canadians that get sucked in.

Weston is one of the "pissed off Ottawa gang" that is out to "payback" the Harper Government for their so-called "treatment" of the Ottawa press gallery.

Anonymous said...

Oh - secondly, Anony....I happen to work for municipal government. If I were to speak of what goes on in that municipality before it was public knowledge, I would be fired.

So - sweetie, I guess I could be "gagged" ...but I have a job. It is the way of the world - but obviously not the left-wing world.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I happen to work for municipal government. If I were to speak of what goes on in that municipality before it was public knowledge, I would be fired.

Exactly. I don't know of too many places of employment in the real world where you don't have to sign some kind of non-disclosure agreement.

Perhaps Mr. Weston could educate us as to what he really thinks about Sunmedia management, etc.?

Anonymous said...

From Weston's column:
"We don't pretend to understand all the minutia of the great grain debate, but even we can comprehend Measner's concern ..."

I notice Weston using the royal "we."
I wonder who's included in that select group.

As for the government's "offing heads of federal agencies who dare to doubt The Conservative Way":
The government in power has the right to implement its policies. If there are managers in various departments who oppose those policies, they should either use internal mechanisms to try to change/improve the policy or get out of the way. Their job should not include blocking the government's implementation of policies.

Weston may not agree with "the Conservative Way." That's his prerogative. But when another party comes to power, will Weston complain as loudly that managers sympathetic to that party have been installed?
For instance:
Allison Hanes wrote in The National Post
February 15, 2007 edition ...
"... In 2005, the government named at least nine loyalists to the bodies that help choose federal and provincial superior court judges, including a president of the federal Liberal party's B.C. and Manitoba wings, a contender for the presidency of the Nova Scotia branch, a former Newfoundland Cabinet minister and unsuccessful provincial candidate. ...
In 2005, an Ottawa Citizen investigation revealed that more than 60% of 93 lawyers who received federal judicial appointments in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan since 2000 donated exclusively to the Liberal party in the three to five years before securing their posts."

Any party that comes to power wants to see its policies implemented.

maryT said...

I wonder how many reporters and talking heads, have had to google Canadian Wheat Board to find out what it is. And I wonder if any of them have ever talked to farmers to see how dictatorial the cwb is.
These people have no idea of the rules and regulations farmers are under in what they can and can't produce, sell, and when and how they get paid.
What we farmers want is the right to sell our grain when and where we want to, for the best price we can get. I wonder how Greg would like it if he only got paid an initial price, and when all the costs of production of his paper were taken off, he might get the rest. The majority of canadians do not realize that all costs of the wheat board, including bloated salaries, comes out of the farmers pocket. We also pay for all the costs of getting our product to market after it has been sold to the cwb, via an elevator company.
Freight charges are enormous.
When there is a strike at a port, or by secretaries, we pay the demurrage charges for all the ships waiting to be loaded.
Why don't you ask car dealerships who pays the freight on the cars on their lot, they do. Who pays the freight on products in grocery stores, wal-mart and other businesses, they do. Who pays the freight on grain shipped to other countries, we do. We can't pass those costs on, the other business can, so you the consumer pay.
And, the cwb books are not open. The cwb does not report to parliament.
It is only recently that cwb board members were elected by farmers, before they were all patronage appointments. It is these farmers that are bringing change, and voting to fire the political appointees. Most of them probably wouldn't know a kernel of wheat from barley.

Anonymous said...

"I wonder how Greg would like it if he only got paid an initial price, and when all the costs of production of his paper were taken off, he might get the rest"

I also wonder how Greggy would feel if the Sun Media journalists in Western Canada got to have their submissions printed with no editorial perusal, but his got red circled from management before printing.

You are right MaryT, they probably had to google - if they did it at all or just took the word of their "anonymous source".

Jeff said...

Good thing that the majority of "thinking" Canadians can see through the rhetoric and spin. It is only the non-thinking Canadians that get sucked in.

well alberta girl, close to 70 % of canadians plan to vote for a party other than the harper conservatives, and seeing that all the other parties in the land are decidedly left of harper's positions on EVERYTHING, the definition of a thinking canadian must have a narrow definition.

maryT said...

The majority of that 70% will be in the east. Also, that same 70% do not plan to vote liberal.
The ndp and greens will thank you for your 1.75/vote, with few seats.

Platty said...

well alberta girl, close to 70 % of canadians plan to vote for a party other than the harper conservatives...

Well Jeff, close to 40% of Canadians plan to vote for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, a number that will surely grow on election day.

That's right Jeff

Platty said...

Hard to look at Weston as a legitimate reporter when he starts out his column with super-Steve's fun emporium and then throws in the Lefty version of clever with "Harperites".

==

Anonymous said...

Awwww, Weston is just having some fun with us.
No serious journalist would refer to our democratically elected Prime Minister and his office as"super Steve and the fun emporium"
Would he?

Anonymous said...

When your the govt in power expect to get piled on by the press on a daily basis...its what the press does. President Gerald Ford once said that when he was in Congress he used to wonder why the idiots in the White House never listened to Congress...and when he was in the White House he wondered why the idiots in Congress didnt understand the President. I've read Weston and Michael Harris lambaste the Liberals time after time when they were in power...and wether anyone likes it or not its just the price of being in power, get a grip and get over it because, he could be hammering away at the Liberals.. which would mean they were in power..yikes! Billg

Anonymous said...

The CBC is on the ropes so Weston is trying to take up the slack.

Platty said...

I think it is more about Weston's inability to write a story, that hits the mark, on any kind of a consistant basis. If he does a story purely based on fact, then he gets it right, but anyone can do that.

It's when he attempts to inject his own personal vision into a story, that's when he shows his true lack of insight. And isn't that what you buy a paper for?

Anonymous said...

You may be right anon (billG), but what i strenuously object to is an article that is so contemptuous of a duly elected Government no matter what party it is.
Many "journalists" have openly stated their desire to "payback" the Government for their mistreatment (real or perceived) at the hands of the PMO.
Unfortunately, it seems that many of the populace put some credence to the printed word, witness comment #1.

Anonymous said...

" ... wether anyone likes it or not its just the price of being in power, get a grip and get over it because, he could be hammering away at the Liberals.. which would mean they were in power..yikes! Billg"

You certainly have a point, especially the "yikes!" ;-)

Joanne (True Blue) said...

You certainly have a point, especially the "yikes!"

lol! Always a bright side if you look hard enough.

Anonymous said...

I am sick and tired of so-called journalists like Weston thinking they know how the "real world" operates and taking out their personal disappointment on this Government.

In the "real world", or at least the one I inhabit, even governments are entitled to fire civil servants and bureaucrats who refuse to support them. It's not a question of being fired "for simply doing her job", Linda Keen was fired because she tried to take on the government for her own reasons and lost. In Saskatchewan recently, Brad Wall fired about 70 senior civil servants when he took power and there have been no repercussions. In the "real world", governments are allowed to take action to defend what they are trying to achieve.

Similarly with this "gag order". As I understand it, John Baird finally had enough of being sandbagged by questions relating to leaks to the media by scientists. Why do scientists have to talk to the media anyway ? Most media people seem to be well below Mensa on the IQ scale, so what can scientists tell them about their work that the media could actually understand ?

I used to work in a Minister's office in the Alberta provincial government, and there were only 2 people in the entire department and minister's office allowed to speak to the media - the communications manager and the minister himself. Not even the deputy minister. And when the minister was interviewed, one of his staff sat in and took notes.

Same thing in the oil company I used to work for - only the communications guy and the president talked to the media. No-one else. In fact it would have been a firing offense.

Why is the Department of the Environment supposed to be so special ???

And does anyone outside of Ottawa think this "gag order" is of any importance ?

Anonymous said...

Its kinda funny really! With the Toronto Star as the exception most papers have pretty good balance. I get a kick out of the leftoids slamming the Sun Media chain..that would be the same chain that employs Weston, Margolois, Harris and Copps...yeesh! I've said it before on this blog...the smartest thing Mr Harper did in the last election was to focus on his message and not what the CBC, the Star or Susan Riley had to say, because Mr Dion isnt getting a free ride from alot of journalists either. billg

Anonymous said...

" ... Mr Dion isnt getting a free ride from alot of journalists either. billg"

Well, maybe one should wonder WHY the media isn't giving Dion a free ride.

Since most members of the MSM - great psychotherapists/psychoanalysts that they are - almost always ascribe motivations to the Conservatives, I feel fully justified in ascribing THIS motivation to the media's disappointment with Dion:
They don't think he's as effective as they'd like him to be against their "enemy" - PM Harper.

Anonymous said...

Public servants are supposed to appear non-partisan.
Public servants are not allowed to be involved in political organizing, like canvassing and otherwise working on campaigns.

Criticizing Canada's New Government's policies is only now being considered "partisan" because Canada's New Government says so. Fellating the government is now "non-partisan". Only criticizing is considered partisan. Did you understand that from Weston's article?

You blow this off as whining, yet you advocate finding a way to destroy Suzuki's livelihood to shut him up because he dissents, just as you think firing people for dissenting (not, for revealing any secrets, simply for disagreeing).

You might also note that outside of letters to the editor, which usually require your name, all these other now forbidden activities are usually not attributed to a specific person. But the wording doesn't say that does it? It basically says you will be fired if any negative comments about Canada's New Government are connected to you.

And you laugh at me for being careful and hiding my identity and location so well. You'd just love to track me and publish my info, wouldn't you?

Maybe now, you are beginning to understand. It's not just the HRC's being abused by private citizens. It's the squashing of dissent and abuse by this dictatorship in waiting.

Anonymous said...

The problem isn't that truth takes many faces - it's that certain people can't face the truth.

...go back to never, never land folks.

Anonymous said...

albertagirl - you have a job? Why are you blogging on taxpayer time?

I have retired, but I had a very senior positions during my career, so the sweetie crap doesn't wash with me. I had a real job - not a government drone job.

Anonymous said...

Last week Mr.Weston wrote that PM Harper was a bully and a thug while referring to jackboot wearing conservatives. His visceral contempt for Harper appears almost out of control. His writting skills appear junvenille for the position he holds at the Sun. Maybe it is just because his hairpiece does not sit right ,regardless he should be able to write with a touch more finess.

Anonymous said...

Greg Weston let it be known at the very beginning when the media didn't think Mr. Harper was giving them that much information, PAY BACK TIME would be COMING!.. Everytime he possibly can, he "slam" the conservative government.... and with that unhappy looking face, looks like - "I told you I would get ya!"...He is just like a little child, you don't ask me to your birthday party, I will get you, and was so use to his supporting liberals inviting him to all their parties to swing the message, he just can't take it!.... Too bad he is a man that looks very unhappy in his job!..

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that paranoid rant Libsupporter..I really like the last part....dictatorship in waiting...did you miss the part about having to be elected in a democratic society? Only a fool would believe that being a public servant and critisizing the government will get you fired, what gets you fired is being a public servant and not doing what your being paid to do..and that is work on behalf of the government..I'm not sure what's so hard to understand. Do what your paid to do...put in your 5 hours..(aha..i was a silly servant too)..take your 11 paid holidays..your 4 to 5 weeks vacation time and of course the 8 sick days alloted to you per year and do what your asked to do...by a Liberal or a Conservative govt. Good gracious its not that hard!
billg

Anonymous said...

Most good senior executives never felt the need to belittle others to make themselves seem superior.

Greg said...

Well Jeff, close to 40% of Canadians plan to vote for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, a number that will surely grow on election day.

And your evidence is?

Anonymous said...

"Last week Mr.Weston wrote that PM Harper was a bully and a thug while referring to jackboot wearing conservatives."

But in fairness, Weston also wrote this:
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2008/02/03/4809823-sun.php
Sun, February 3, 2008
"The Chalk River isodopes
How the heck did so many get so much so wrong for so many years? Ask the Liberals"

As for the "jackboot-wearing conservatives" that same description was used by NDP MP Pat Martin during yesterday's QP.
As soon as he finished his diatribe, the "honourable" MP started giggling, shoulders shaking in mirth as he sat down.

After I'd heard his intemperate remarks time & again on radio, I emailed Martin regarding his extreme language, but of course I received no reply - from the party that constantly says it's listening to Canadians.

Anonymous said...

Have these people never worked for a comapny before? Like previous commenters have said, usually there are one or two 'offical' people to talk to the media. When I worked at a senior managment level for 15 years in ON hospitals, I wasn't allowed to talk to media. Media contact was through the PR director or the hospital president - no one else.. and I'd have been fired for breaking that rule. Now I am in not-for-profit sector. I've worked at a senior level in 6 large non-profits and have never been 'allowed' to speak to the media even when the issue was in the area I was responsible for.

Those are the rules that the corporate sector runs under, why would it be any different for government? It's not being 'gagged', it's responsible communication by people who are in the know and have the experience to deal with an often manipulative journalist.

Anonymous said...

I just read another blog about Greg Weston's bias attack today. It was reported on that blog he worked very hard the last election for the liberals, did everything he could to get them elected... and was promised a "plum" job... that didn't happen, so he has been mad at Harper ever since.... Too bad, maybe he can get Gloria Galloway's husband (Mark Dunn)to give him a job... he is chief strategist for dion... I would think there would be lots of openings there! She too loves to swing the stories. I wrote the Globe and Mail and told them they should get Mrs. Harper to write a few stories about dion.... same bias reporting. They have her on Mike Duffy Live often as a political commentator and I wrote Mike as well....... If that is not unbelievable, I am not sure what is....

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I just read another blog about Greg Weston's bias attack today. It was reported on that blog he worked very hard the last election for the liberals, did everything he could to get them elected

Do you mind telling us the name of the blog, or would you rather not? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

No problem - I read on "Plattytalk"... and it was a comment at 11:36 a.m. from Anonymous

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Oh right. I thought maybe I had missed another blog post on this topic. I linked to Platty on an update to this post. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

"albertagirl - you have a job? Why are you blogging on taxpayer time?"

For the record anony....

1. I was posting my comments before 8 am this morning.

2. I work part time at the municipal job and have a second home based business - today is my day off.

NOT that it is any of your business - just setting the record straight.

Anonymous said...

Just so anony can't come back with some smart comment about the time saying 9:16 - obviously there are time differences in this country. I posted my comment from Alberta at 7:16am.

Anonymous said...

albertagirl - you have a job? Why are you blogging on taxpayer time?
What a moron. There are plenty of jobs where the main requirement is just to show up. Such as firefighters. Do you think they run fewer staff like Home Depot, because they expect a slow fires day? How about support desks? Once you're down to one or two on, there can be slack times.

Then there are all those jobs that involve creative thinking. You need to take a break and do something else or the ideas stop coming. For those, your brain continues to solve problems when you are not at the office. So time online actually can enhance your ability to do your job.

alberta girl hasn't won the argument, why are you resorting to ad hominem attacks, anon?

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Ad hominem attacks from Anonymous sources are best left ignored.

If anyone feels someone has seriously crossed the line though, please contact me.

I often just scan comments for offensive language etc. Don't always have the time to examine each one thoroughly. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Is Weston actually a journalist? He writes opinion pieces that few people read and even fewer believe. Likewise the flyweigts at TorStar etc they are playing to their base and their base is getting smaller.

Anonymous said...

To say that Weston is an irrelevant, pompous blowhard is to be kind.

Whenever he apppears on TV, I immediately switch channels.

Shorter Weston: We don't understand what we are bloviating about but it doesn't matter because Steve's mean.

Anonymous said...

"seeing that all the other parties in the land are decidedly left of harper's positions on EVERYTHING"

Oops, wrongo Jeff Davidson.

You forgot the Green Party, for one.

Anonymous said...

Next to Greg Weston's column in yesterday's print edition (to the right on the page of course) was the "Best of the Blogs". It was from Lizzie May's blog. It had one of those mouth open unflattering pictures and the headline was about her getting red in the face. The actual stuff she wrote didn't seem too hysterical, though. She was writing about how an "unnamed source" told her Environment Canada weather reports now have to be cleared through John Baird's office, and even said the reports of the storms last week had to be vetted. Unfortunately, they do not put "best of the blogs" online anymore.

So in today's letters to the editor we see evidence that the Sun appears to be required reading in the upper levels of the government.

First there is a response "No joking about weather" from the Director of Ministerial and Executive Services, Environment Canada harrumphing that this is patently false. The Sun's letter retort writer wonders if they can take a joke.

Then there is a response "Paging Rick Mercer" from no less than the Hon. Gerry Ritz, P.C., MP, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board.

A Minister of the Crown, indulging in the kind of ad hominem attacks we love so much here in blog land. He would be a worthy contributor to the likes of SDA, I suspect.

A Minister of the Crown, declaring a journalist as being delusional! Not an underling, not a communications director, the Minister himself!

Greg is a journalist, a mere scribing hack. I expect better of a Minister of the Crown, don't you?