The shallow minds of the Canadian media exposed

Ottawa’s Downton Abbey: Sears

Let’s be proud of a Sophie and Justin Trudeau raising their children in the public eye, while attempting to lead the country, and to be exemplars of Canadian values to the world

There is only one behaviour that stains our carefully polished self-portrait as “those nice Canadians” more than our sanctimonious anti-American finger wagging. It is our feigned Presbyterian parsimony about the private expenditure of public officials — or worse, their abuse of our money to support their self-indulgent lives.

Rarely a month goes by without some lazy reporter, certain of a front-page story, digging up the shocking total of hotel costs of some well-travelled trade minister, or the abomination of the two bottles of Ontario wine consumed at a “working dinner” with a visiting dignitary. (the quotes conveying always the ‘some work, some dinner!’ sneer).

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau showed considerable class making fun of the childish nature of her critics at the Ottawa Press Gallery dinner this month. One doubts they will get the message, sadly.

It never seems to strike Canadians as curious that this is a tabloid journalism weakness that we share with almost no other advanced democracy. Our closest cousins, in this below stairs Downton Abbey vulgarity are the Aussies — who really do have a society riven with class envy, so it is perhaps more understandable. But what is our excuse?

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/06/12/ottawas-downton-abbey-sears.html

Has there ever been a story about the “millions of dollars wasted by Barack Obama in his sayonara jet-setting about Asia.” Did you read in the New York Times what the outrageous cost of the White House desserts were at Canada’s official dinner? Neither did I.

Oh, but you probably did see the sneering coverage of Margaret Trudeau’s attendance. As if the Obamas would never have shown the grace to offer such a famous former first lady an invite without a demand from the PMO. And the snide cutlines under the photos of the Trudeaus’ celebrating their anniversary in Japan, which was called a “working visit” (nudge, nudge).