Thread by @JesseBrown

1. I finally had a chance to take a close look at the reporting on this story about @puglass "refusing" to vacate her office, and I think people should be wary of it and think hard about where it came. Here's why... cbc.ca/news/politics/…

2. The narrative CBC published is loaded & the language seems engineered to set off a series of emotional responses: @Puglaas is "refusing" to leave, she's "no longer entitled" to "occupy" her "suite" of offices with a private bathroom. And she calls the *other* side petty...

3. It goes on. CBC dedicates 7 paragraphs to the fact that @puglaas had an elder bless the office. The implication is that she is playing the race card and basing a claim to keep the office on this blessing. But she doesn't.

4. She doesn't invoke the blessing as a reason why she deserves the office or a reason why she won't leave it, she just confirms that it happened and is part of why she'd prefer to keep the office. The focus on the blessing seems to be entirely CBC's choice.

5. Also, ask yourself why a story like this would need an anonymous Liberal party source to question @puglaas' rationale? Perhaps it's because nobody wanted to put their name to a quote criticizing @puglaas' rationale for squatting when she hasn't actually offered one.

6. The follow-up is no less loaded: the new Speaker is threatening to "evict" @puglaas if he has to. Whoa.

But he never offers this. What he does say seems to be in response to a hypothetical question posed by the CBC, cut from the clip...

cbc.ca/news/politics/…

7. ...sure, yes, IF she refuses his office would eventually have to do something. Which of course would be true for any MP in this imaginary situation. I guess CBC could ask him the same about any MP and then report that he's threatening to "evict" them too.

8. Get past the trigger words & here's what it seems we have, factually: there was a misunderstanding & @puglaas thought she could stay. They told her on Dec.5th she had to go. She asked for clarity on the rules. But there are no rules, only protocol & tradition...

9. She offered a compromise. On Dec.12 they said no and gave her a list of other office options. She accepted that list and was considering her options, when, on that day, CBC reported that she was "refusing" to leave, citing an anonymous Liberal source.

10. I don't buy into the idea that the CBC is a Trudeau government mouthpiece, but this whole story does come off like it was written by Liberal strategists, either settling petty grievances or trying to marginalize @puglaas and rob her of her moral authority.

11. TLDR: the whole story is based on @puglaas "refusing" to leave her office. It is not clear, from the reporting, that she ever did.

@puglass Of course I meant to tag @Puglaas, throughout.