Politics is a dirty business. I knew that before I started reporting on Parliament Hill. I saw it firsthand over the two years I’ve spent covering a very dysfunctional minority parliament. But not until I hit the road for the 2011 election campaign have I seen up close and personal just how dirty it can get.
The so-called "war rooms" are hard at work, digging up dirt they hope they can mould into a grenade to throw strategically onto another party’s turf. They’ve got the reporters on all the campaigns on speed dial. I chuckle as the calls make their way from one end of the bus to the other. No sooner does my colleague hang up the phone with a war roomer, does my phone ring. I have the same conversation I just overheard. It goes something like this…
War Roomer: "You know that announcement (insert leader’s name here) just made?"
Reporter: "Oh yeah? What about it?"
This is where the war roomer gets 10 seconds to pitch me. It usually goes along the lines of one of these…
War Roomer:
a) "Their numbers are bogus, and here’s why."
b) "In (insert year here), (insert leader’s name here) did exactly what he’s accusing us of doing… Except we can justify why we did it and he can’t."
c) "(insert leader’s name here) just confirmed they’re going to do this horrible thing they’ve denied they’ll do."
Every party does this. It’s part of the game. In many cases, it becomes a story and a bad day for the leader we’re covering. In others, it’s just a smear tactic.
Literally.
It happened on the way to a Michael Ignatieff barbecue in St. Isidore, Ontario.
As we drove down the highway on the Liberal bus, my phone rang. It was the Tory war roomer I’ve come to expect calls from every day. He kindly gave me a "heads up" that a group of "local" Tory supporters would be staging a "peaceful" demonstration at the event to celebrate what he called "Iggy’s tax-aversary."
"Just good fun," he told me on the phone. "We’re marking the anniversary of Ignatieff’s comment that he’d raise taxes."
"Oh yeah?" I asked. "When did he do that?"
Armed with his history, the war roomer told me the alleged time, date, place. "A year ago today, he voted for an iPod tax!" he said. Ignatieff vehemently denies this. I made a mental note to fact check later.
As we pulled up in St. Isidore, there they were. Mixed in with a few "local" Tories were familiar faces from…you guessed it…the Tory war room. One of them was the former director of communications for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Nice guy with a good sense of humour, and who knew – a knack for baking.
He and others were holding boxes of chocolate coins and cupcakes he had made, decorated with green dollar signs on white frosting. It was immediately obvious these treats were not being well received by Liberal supporters who were waiting for the leader. Several had been smashed into the pavement.
When we asked the war roomer why he would come all the way here to crash the party, he said it was all in good fun and showed us the greenish-white icing smushed into his hair. He even seemed to find it funny. Given how bitter this campaign has been, he couldn’t possibly have been expecting a warm welcome!
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The party crashers left before Ignatieff arrived.
Back on the bus, on the way back to Ottawa, the war roomer who gave me the heads up called again.
"Those Liberals roughed up a 20-year-old girl!" he said. " We have video to prove it!"
"Oh yeah? Send it to me!" I said. I hadn’t witnessed that, but maybe it happened before we got there.
No later did I hang up the phone, did my colleague’s phone ring.
"Send it to me," I heard him say behind me. "I’ll take a look at it."
We shared a chuckle after he hung up.
I’m posting the video he sent us here so you can judge for yourself. Was she "roughed up?"
Like I said… Politics is a dirty business.
YouTube video of the alleged campaign incident:
Shirlee is one of Global National’s correspondents based in Ottawa. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShirleeEngel.
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