You would think that when a city councillor – who has long been identified as profoundly sympathetic to the “harm reduction” ideology and the plight of the homeless and drug addicts – announces she opposes the provincial plan to open a supervised consumption site in her ward, it would be BIG news.
It’s been over a week, but Winnipeg broadcasters haven’t told the public yet. And that’s the focus of Episode 15.
You would think that when a city councillor – who has long been identified as profoundly sympathetic to the “harm reduction” ideology and the plight of the homeless and drug addicts – announces she opposes the provincial plan to open a supervised consumption site in her ward, it would be BIG news.
It’s been over a week, but Winnipeg broadcasters haven’t told the public yet. And that’s the focus of Episode 15.
Part 1- A recap of the reasons cited by Point Douglas councillor Vivian Santos for deciding the NDP’s election promise of a drug user facility “meeting users where they are at” would overwhelm the North Logan neighborhood she represents, and a review our coverage in the Winnipeg Sun and on the TGCTS podcast.
We broke the news, and for some reason local newsrooms receiving large federal wage and operating subsidies didn’t deem it newsworthy.
10.45- What are the chances that in a city with four television newsrooms, and a couple of radio stations still offering reporting, not one of them told the public that Coun. Santos was standing against Premier Wab Kinew, Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith, and the left-wing social agencies she usually courts?
Marty Gold juxtaposes the cone of silence about the tide turning against the safe consumption site with CBC reporting on a Siloam Mission event where the media was deliberately not invited by the embattled CEO, Sonia Prevost-Derbecker.
When the legacy media gets frozen out on something, that’s news. When a city council chair goes nose to nose and head to head with the Minister who is also the area MLA, it isn’t deemed important enough to even mention. Hear what concerned citizens can do about that.
19.55 Part 2- Odds and ends, including:
– Not a single newsroom raised a red flag about Sheila North saying she’ll continue to be a consultant to the Winnipeg Police Service despite being elected chief of her home reserve. She admits her job is to advocate for her stakeholders, and real journalists know that means the Police Board will have to consider whether there’s a potential conflict of interest.
– The lack of curiosity about North’s comments lead to a discussion of the bias that local and national media have towards colleagues who move into active political careers.
– Marty tells the story of when he first met Scott Oake, now headed to retirement from sports broadcasting. CBC itself couldn’t get the facts accurate about Oake’s start in Winnipeg, but we remember.
*****
Our column last week in the Sun did what no other media outlet in the entire country did- look into the radical views and opinions of Canada’s new Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joss Reimer.
Feds hiring of Joss Reimer as top doc nothing to cheer about
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