Ottawa is a pretty small place politically. It is astonishing that journos/pundits treated the Baird potential run as normal or maybe good. You knew & you covered for him. That is unconscionable. YOU KNEW. Or you had heard rumours or more. Who thinks this is OK? I sure don't.
One has to assume that all the Canadian federal political journalist/pundit classes are on the payroll of the CPC. There is no F*ing excuse for not pointing out that a party might elect a serial predator/abuser as leader. People NEED to know this sort of thing.
I knew about Baird's proclivities out in Alberta, far from the Ottawa bubble. How the hell can #cdnmedia claim any innocence in this at all? I knew he had been accused of inappropriate behaviour. It's not about being gay, just to be clear. It's about consent or lack thereof.
Journalists, your sacred duty is to the people of Canada, to provide unbiased, factual (not balanced) coverage. Anyone running to lead a major political party, who could ascend to be PM, MUST be put under the microscope.
You do it to the PM. Why not those who aspire to the position? Is it OK to look carefully at people from one party and not another? That smacks of substantial bias. Every major party leader, everyone who aspired to be a party leader, is a potential PM...
The rules around coverage should be exactly the same for all. Politicians' private lives have been kept private by Canadian media tradition. And that is fine. Marital spats are inevitable & not pertinent. But when behaviour crosses the line into potentially criminal behaviour...
That IS something the Canadian electoral should know about. Shame on you, all you CPC lapdog stenographers. You defile journalistic integrity and contribute to loss of faith in news coverage. We DO NOT need a Trump-type here. Do your F*ing jobs! #WhereAreOurJournalists
