"A Crazy Job"
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Podcasts are finally finding their feet. Or maybe it’s just that politicians have found them. We had been hoping to get the Prime Minister on our podcast, maybe it will still happen. Justin Trudeau has certainly discovered them. It seems everyone has. Joe Biden and former U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton just went on “Smartless”. Hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes sold their podcast for $100 million. We’d sell for half that!
Still, the call from the PMO has not come, and Trudeau doesn’t even know I want to ask him why on earth anyone would want that job. On a Quebec radio show, he said “I think about quitting every day. It’s a crazy job I’m doing, making the personal sacrifices”. Last year, he and his wife Sophie, announced they were separating, they have three kids.
I was once asked if I’d run for office. It was years ago. The call came out of left field, I had no desire to be a politician, thinking it is much better to ask questions than to answer them. (Or as some would argue: to stand for something instead of just questioning it!) I told the guy I would run only if I could be prime minister, and that I never wanted to be a joiner. I was mostly joking. He said I'd have to start a little lower, I’d have to run as an MP first.
Then there’s my obsession with windsurfing. I wouldn’t be able to give it up, even if I was spotted on a beach in Tofino or laughed at when I rode in on a Seadoo ala Stockwell Day. Windsurfing used to be seen as very elite. Now, people chortle when they see me on the water. I’m the only one left, everyone else is flying along on newer wind toys like a kite or a wing. Also, no one is asking me to run these days. I’m sure it’s the windsurfing. I do however look very cool in neoprene, particularly from a distance. Or maybe it’s the helmet, it’s only when I take it off that people realize that I’m not hot, just well-contained. I’m never taking off the wetsuit.
Some people actually do run for office, do become prime minister, and do try to keep surfing. Like Justin Trudeau. He became an MP first, back when the Liberals were again in the toilet. Today, not being elected before trying to run the country is seen as a good thing. Most politicians are as popular as journalists, as in not popular at all. Except for one guy who has been an MP since he first got his adult teeth, but this is not about him. It’s about me! Somewhat disguised as a rant about politicians and journalists.
When I first moved to the parliamentary bureau in Ottawa, politicians did lots of newsers, and participated in lots of off-the-cuff scrums. When a cabinet minister didn't want to talk, you'd get nice shots of them running away. Not anymore, we usually don’t get anywhere near them. Most politicians are not interested in talking to us, and they don’t have to. They can just go on social media. Most journalists never bother to leave their chairs, they too are locked onto a screen.
I just read a great piece by CBC Nova Scotia reporter Jean Laroche about how the premier and cabinet ministers used to be approachable, how they used to answer journalists' questions. They sure don’t anymore. And it’s not just Nova Scotia.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-politics-information-1.7183568
The piece has a picture of several communications or “comms” people with various parties, recording one lone reporter as he interviews a cabinet minister. The reporters once vastly outnumbered the political staff. Laroche says that in 1994 there were 24 comms staff costing $1.2 million. Now, there are 87 “information” staffers, and their budget is $7 million. Governments everywhere post clickable bits on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, they send messages, and host live events online. It all reaches people and smells like access, but it’s fake access, more about control, virality and clicks than accountability. Newsrooms are shrinking, while the marketing of “news” is blossoming.
My personal guess is that Mr. Sunny Ways no longer wants to be PM. He’s gotta know he’s facing political oblivion, but he wants to be remembered as more than a failure. And podcasts are part of that. Some say Trudeau is giving the job one last shot, but I think he wants people to know he’s there, he tried, and he did some stuff. There is no “Just watch me”. No “I have a dream”. Those days may be gone, now it's the ambushes that get the headlines.
I'm sure Trudeau has an agenda. My question is “Why did he want that job?”. Was it worth it?”.
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We talk with Chef Michael Smith, who now runs a lovely Inn on PEI, and has a thing with the Celebrity Chef moniker. He should know! He used to do “A Crazy Job”.