The PMO says in a “typical week” Cabinet ministers participate in 60 media interviews, but today’s federal government communications is tightly and centrally controlled, a feat facilitated by the approximately 1,500 communications staff currently working in departmental and ministerial offices across Canada, and Hill journalists say they continue to be frustrated by the decreased access to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Cabinet ministers even after nearly six years in power.The Hill Times called the offices of every Cabinet minister and minister of state over eight days to try to speak, on the phone, with a communications staffer about how their minister engages with the Parliamentary Press Gallery media. Of the 38 Cabinet ministers and ministers of state, only nine offices responded to The Hill Times’ request for a phone discussion about media access to the minister—that’s less than one quarter. But of those nine, only seven responded meaningfully to The Hill Times’ questions.
Communications staff in the offices of Senate Government Leader Marjory LeBreton, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.), Chief Government Whip Gordon O’Connor (Carleton-Mississippi Mills, Ont.), Minister of State for Seniors Alice Wong (Richmond, B.C.), Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification Lynne Yelich (Blackstrap, Sask.), Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq (Nunavut) and Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism Maxime Bernier (Beauce, Que.) all discussed media accessibility, providing specific times, topics, and news outlets they did interviews with.
Fraser Malcolm, Mr. Van Loan’s director of communications, said the minister takes almost every interview request relevant to his work and that he “scrums every now and then.”
Andrea Walasek, Mr. O’Connor’s communications aide, said as whip, the minister doesn’t get as many interview requests but that they handle the requests on a case-by-case basis.
Ms. Walasek said reporters sometimes catch Mr. O’Connor leaving the House through the foyer and that “he certainly talks to them, but he doesn’t go out and scrum” on a regular basis.
Jerra Byrne, Ms. Yelich’s director of communications, said the minister prefers to do one-on-one interviews “as much as possible” because it is a better chance to sit down and address a reporter’s individual questions.
While Public Works and Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose (Edmonton Spruce Grove, Alta.) and Human Resources Minister Diane Finley’s (Haldimand-Norfolk, Ont.) offices did go as far as speaking on the telephone with The Hill Times, their responses were vague and followed the Conservative Party line, with familiar phrases such as “committed to communicating with Canadians” being a common thread.
A total of 16 ministers, 42.1 per cent, responded to The Hill Times’ request with an emailed statement. In the case of 13 of those offices, the emailed response cited the same figure to describe media access.
In fact, seven of those 13 offices, provided an identical, word-for-word response: the office of International Trade Minister Ed Fast (Abbotsford, B.C.), Minister of State for Transport Steven Fletcher (Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia, Man.), Minister of State for Finance Ted Menzies (Macleod, Alta.), Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan (Vancouver Island, B.C.), Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (Provencher, Man.), Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.), and Industry Minister Christian Paradis (Mégantic-L’Érable, Que.).
Andrew MacDougall, associate director of communications and PMO spokesperson, in an email to The Hill Times, said: “We took it upon ourselves to compile some stats regarding interviews done by Cabinet during one particular week, hence the number you cite. This is a fairly typical week. In fact, we encourage all Ministers to do as much media as they can. … All ministers do media, whether it’s with so-called ‘national’ media, regional media, or ethnic outlets.”
The Hill Times attempted to speak further with Mr. MacDougall on the phone to, at the very least, learn more about the “60 interviews” figure, as it could be the product of any number of ministers doing any number of interviews each with any sort of media outlet, whether local or national.
For instance, on Nov. 5 Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Alta.) tweeted: “Just finished 52nd interview/talk show in 2 days!”
Mr. MacDougall could not be reached for follow-up comment.
Liberal Ontario Senator Jim Munson, who worked on the Hill as a CTV reporter for more than two decades, said the Harper government uses local or regional media to bypass national, Hill reporters who are more critical and better-informed on Parliament’s issues of the day.
“I think they go through the motions of dealing with the national media,” said Sen. Munson. “They deliver their message directly, without having to go through a third party like the national news media.”
Though ministers still often speak publicly at press conferences, teleconferences, or when they testify before a House committee, those are organized and highly-controlled environments where statements can easily be vetted and scripted.
“It’s all pre-approved messaging. So you don’t get anecdotes, you don’t get insight, you don’t get the shades of grey that inevitably are part of public discourse when it comes to serious public policy matters,” said Canadian Press reporter Jim Bronskill.
Two months after the newly-constituted Conservative Party won minority power in January 2006, Mr. Harper stopped announcing Cabinet meetings, effectively ending the practice of Cabinet “ins” and “outs”—a coveted opportunity for Hill journalists to access ministers and question them on the issues of the day.
Scott Reid, a former communications director to former prime minister Paul Martin, said under previous governments, ministers were more accessible.
“Cabinet meetings were announced, microphones were set up, ministers would be questioned. Strong ministers would be questioned on their files and weak ministers would be questioned on their files, and the prime minister would take a few questions each week. That was eliminated under Mr. Harper,” said Mr. Reid.
The Hill Times spoke with 18 Hill journalists about their experiences in accessing both Cabinet ministers and ministers of state.
Every reporter The Hill Times spoke with said they thought Cabinet “ins” and “outs” should return.
Jacques Bourbeau, Parliamentary bureau chief for Global TV, said Cabinet “ins” and “outs” were a “good process,” even for the ministers themselves, as it forced them to improve their communications skills. Moreover, Mr. Bourbeau, a seasoned Hill journalist, said the ability to face media and “run the gauntlet of reporters” should be part of a minister’s job.
Not all 18 press gallery members agreed on a number of points, including the degree to which access to ministers is a problem.
For large-scale operations such as CTV and CTV’s Power Play, CBCNN and CBCNN’s Power and Politics, or Global’s The West Block, while it isn’t guaranteed, booking ministers is an easier feat for these widely-viewed prime-time shows. But for smaller operations, such as the Parliamentary bureau for the Aboriginal People’s Television Network, access is often much more limited.
Mark Blackburn, APTN bureau chief, said his daily newsroom has had their interview requests to Mr. Duncan ignored since the Attawapiskat crisis took over news headlines. Mr. Blackburn said the only brief tid-bit they managed to gleam from the minister was the product of, essentially, ambush—they saw him on CBC and rushed to catch him on the way out.
Mr. Blackburn said his bureau recently did their first one-on-one interview with Ms. Aglukkaq after trying for months to arrange a sit-down. Mr. Blackburn told The Hill Times that Ms. Aglukkaq said it was one of her first one-on-ones with a reporter during their interview. Ms. Aglukkaq has been Canada’s federal health minister since 2008.
Steve Outhouse, Ms. Aglukkaq’s director of communications, in the six months that he’s been in her office, said Ms. Aglukkaq has “easily” done one sit-down interview a week.
Most reporters The Hill Times spoke with stressed that subject matter was an important factor in how accessible a minister is.
Treasury Board President Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) has recently become infamous for dodging the media on questions concerning the $50-million G8 Legacy Fund scandal. Yet on Nov. 29, following House Speaker Andrew Scheer’s (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.) ruling that he had no part in the alteration of a Hansard transcript, Mr. Clement wanted to talk to reporters and stopped, unasked, to scrum in the House foyer.
Mr. Clement, on the whole, is one of a small number of ministers in Prime Minister Harper’s Cabinet who reporters said are more open and accessible. Recently, Mr. Clement has spoken frequently with the media on the topic of open government.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird (Ottawa West-Nepean, Ont.), Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.), Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore (Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C.), Mr. Van Loan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.), Mr. Menzies and Mr. Clement were consistently described by reporters as being on a “longer leash.”
Reporters noted these ministers are the ones most often seen scrumming, and are more likely to give meaningful, less party-line answers to questions. Moreover, these ministers were all noted for regularly exiting the House of Commons through the foyer after Question Period, the area where the media is staked out.
Ms. Aglukkaq, Ms. Ambrose Ms. Finley, International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda (Durham, Ont.), Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino (Vaughan, Ont.), Transport Minister Denis Lebel (Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, Que.) and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy (Calgary-Nose Hill, Alta.) were all noted for regularly avoiding the House foyer. And while he is said to occasionally exit through the foyer, reporters consistently said Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney (Lévis-Bellechasse, Que.) has a strong dislike for scrums.
Ironically, in general reporters said ministers were relatively easier to access and question if reached in person on the Hill, rather than through the communications staff in their ministerial office.
Raymond Giroux, Parliamentary bureau chief for Le Soleil, said a couple of years ago he “tried and tried” to get an interview with Mr. Lebel through his office to no avail. Later, seeing him in the hallway on the Hill, Mr. Giroux approached Mr. Lebel and asked for an interview—the minister agreed.
Multiple journalists said the offices of Mr. Toews and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson (Niagara Falls, Ont.) had completely ignored their interview requests, and Ms. Ambrose was said to often refuse interviews.
Ken Pole, a freelance journalist and long-time member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, said he sees a “pattern of this whole administration” to avoid “speculative” interviews, instead preferring scripted, pre-prepared media encounters. Mr. Pole, who began working as a freelance reporter during the days of prime ministers Pierre Trudeau and Joe Clark, said government control over communications “started to tighten up noticeably after Mulroney, into Chrétien…and then bang, right into this situation. So yes, [control is] much tighter [now].”
In terms of getting one-on-one interviews with ministers, the most accessible were the same familiar set of names: Mr. Van Loan, Mr. Baird, Mr. Clement, Mr. MacKay.
In all, it seems how accessible a minister is depends on a number of factors: the topic of discussion, the reporters’ relationship with the contact, how experienced the minister is in Cabinet, how long their “leash” is from the PMO, how helpful their communications staff are, and how busy their schedule is.
Speaking for Sen. LeBreton, communications aide Johanna Quinney said Ms. LeBreton “does not think there is a problem with media access to Cabinet Ministers.”
“All ministers are accessible to the media if there’s an issue to talk about,” said Ms. Quinney.
During this year’s election campaign, press gallery reporters were limited to four questions, to be split evenly between French and English. But away from national media, Prime Minister Harper did more than 17 one-on-one interviews with both local and ethnic media during his campaign stops (including an interview with a student for Humber College’s Humber News), in addition to one ethnic media roundtable in Toronto, Ont., as previously reported by The Hill Times.
The Hill Times pushed to get phone discussions with every minister’s office—even those that responded by email. No less than two attempts to re-contact the office, and sometimes more, were made in the instance of an email reply.
Only one office was subsequently reached. Rudy Husny, press secretary to Mr. Fast would only say, “you have your answer,” in response to The Hill Times’ follow-up request for a phone discussion.
In the case of six different ministers’ offices—or 16 per cent—The Hill Times was unable to speak directly with a communications staffer, instead leaving ultimately fruitless messages conveying the request with staff. In seven other offices (18.4 per cent), after reaching communications staff directly to explain the interview request, The Hill Times was subsequently ignored.
Regardless of the ultimate response, almost all communications staff asked that the interview request—a comparatively simple one, considering the complex issues that often occupy Parliament—be conveyed in writing, by email.
Seasoned Hill journalists have noted this trend, both in ministerial communications staff and departmental communications staff.
Mr. Bronskill said communications staff routinely ask him to submit questions in writing. But once this is done, he said, the questions are usually handed off and given scripted answers that have been approved by the PCO or PMO.
And even though using email wards against the threat of ‘broken telephone,’ by sending a reporter’s questions through the approval chain in writing, Mr. Bronskill said, the email responses he ultimately gets don’t always answer his questions.
“So you’ll ask: ‘Is the sky blue?’ And they’ll say: ‘yes, the grass is green.’ It’s almost comical,” said Mr. Bronskill. “When you’re actually getting into an issue with nuances, with supplementary questions where detail is required, you need to actually speak to someone.”
But not all journalists feel the same about using email to communicate with the government.
Joël-Denis Bellavance, a Hill reporter for La Presse who has worked on the Hill for almost two decades, said for his daily news deadline, sometimes email is a faster way to get a response.
A number of reporters who The Hill Times spoke with said perhaps more concerning than the decreased access to ministers, is the decreased access to public servants, who now rarely talk to media.
Mr. Pole said a while ago he had set up an interview with a public servant with whom he was familiar for a story he was working on, but when word of the interview made its way through the department to its minister, Mr. Baird, it was cancelled, he said.
Origin
Source: Hill Times
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