But none ever suggested that the government was not the main event.
Over their tenure, the majority governments of Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien sucked in most of the parliamentary media light.
As often as not in between elections, an opposition party had to be imploding to come under anything near the same intense scrutiny as the sitting government.
On that score, think of the long internal siege on Liberal leader John Turner or the 2001 Reform caucus mutiny against Stockwell Day
As for the third parties, a minimum of internal discipline usually allowed them to keep their warts off the radar.
Since 2006, the balance has shifted.
In the Harper era, the opposition parties have been getting an unprecedented share of sustained media attention.
That initially stemmed from the minority dynamics that prevailed on the Hill.
For the first five Harper years, every time Stéphane Dion, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe took a stand, it was measured against their willingness to walk their talk and risk a snap election.
Conservative attack ads resonated loudly with the voting public over that period, helping to cast the government’s Liberal rivals in a negative light.
So far the same tactic has not been nearly as effective against Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau or, for that matter, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair.
Attempts by the Conservatives — starting with the Prime Minister — to divert attention from the government’s senate-related troubles by talking up a storm about alleged opposition failings have also increasingly been falling flat.
Some have argued that voter fatigue with the relentless partisan rhetoric of the Conservatives has irreversibly set in.
But it could also be that, in a majority setting, the Conservative messaging is losing a lot of punch to a lack of immediacy.
As opposed to Dion or Ignatieff, neither Trudeau nor Mulcair is going to become prime minister tomorrow. With two years to go to an election, voters may be more inclined to reserve judgment long enough to see how Harper’s rivals grow into their leadership jobs.
After the last election two unique events got in the way of a return of the media pendulum.
The first was the untimely death of NDP leader Jack Layton.
The timing of the leadership campaign — at a crucial time in the life of the NDP — inevitably raised its profile.
The fact that the man who eventually succeeded Layton was not the choice of the party’s elder statesmen provided more unexpected political drama.
Then Trudeau’s change of heart about bidding for the Liberal leadership gave the opposition media season another extension.
Political rock stars are few and far between in Canada and the sustained coverage of the Liberal campaign reflected the front-runner’s unusual celebrity status.
Now the opposition makeover is complete and the focus is belatedly shifting back to where it ultimately belongs.
At this juncture the Conservatives are visibly squirming under the media microscope.
There have been suggestions that the parliamentary press gallery has somehow reconnected with its critical instincts; that it is becoming collectively more aggressive in its pursuit of political news. But that thesis overlooks a more fundamental reality, one that is dictated by economics, not politics.
The parliamentary press gallery has not been immune to the downsizing that is ongoing across the industry. At a time when there is 24/7 demand for on-air and web output, the ranks of the journalists who cover federal politics have been shrinking.
Beyond Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin, and the Prime Minister’s now former chief of staff Nigel Wright, the Conservatives should get used to the more intense, more critical media scrutiny they have endured with less than brio this spring. It is likely to be the overdue new normal on Parliament Hill.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Chantal Hébert
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