How should voters deal with Pierre Poilievre’s criticism of journalists?
All politicians disagree from time to time with the way they are portrayed by journalists. Many have stated this publicly or privately. (The late Brian Mulroney, fondly remembered last week, was known for ranting on the phone to journalists when he disagreed with their coverage.) Sometimes their complaints were justified.
In the hothouse atmosphere of Parliament Hill, there is almost constantly a tiny struggle. In a 1993 book, Scrum Wars, about the relationship between prime ministers and the press gallery, Allan Levine suggested the scrum-a uniquely Canadian tradition, taking its name from rugby, where journalists press politicians outside the House of Commons to ask questions-was emblematic of “the test of will, the contest of wits, and the struggle for control that has characterized the relationship between Canadian prime ministers and journalists” for more than a century.
In many cases, these battles are tedious and easy to ignore.
