I disagree with the last half of what Jay Hill had to say.

The anonymity is important for accountability in our society; that said as long as the anonymous opinionator is identifiable by an independent third party for liabal reasons.

How else do you get whistle blowers to government corruption who can speak the truth without fear of reprisal by partisan political party hacks?

I wonder how many elected politicians use a name that is not their birth name to hide a past or make them more electable?

Must be a slow conservative week on the federal scene when such an idiotic issue as *Harry,the bar girl and the media* constitute a *Report From Parliament's Hill* - as if there weren't real issues aplenty, such as war in Afghanistan, crumbling Canadian infrastructure, global warming, Canadian homelessness and poverty...etc.

Ah, well.

Not really sure what the point of Jay's latest blog is?
When a elected politician starts to rag on the general public for what they think and feel on any given issue,they are usually starting to hear footsteps behind them.
And thank god for the media!
While they don't always get it exactly right,it is still the only thing that keeps politicans on the straight and narrow!
Like granny always said....if you can't take the heat,get out of the kitchen!

What I find is there has been a shift in how politicians think of themselves. They show up at private functions or for some service group announcing the money they have fund raised and the politicians show up and say isn't this just great ! Yet they didn't provide any of our tax dollars towards the cause or if they just properly funded the majority of these things people wouldn't have to spend so much time volunteering to raise money for the groups. Come on now, spend some of that 8 billion dollar surplus or at least just stop taxing us to that level !

"Come on now, spend some of that 8 billion dollar surplus or at least just stop taxing us to that level !"

Precisely! That 1 billion dollars that was spent by Harper to buy 100 Leopard tanks for the war effort in Afghanistan could have been used better right here in Canada - for instance to reduce surgery waiting times and to stock the shelves of food banks, or build affordable housing for low income Canadians, or...I can think of dozens of other pressing domestic uses!

Afghanistan (like Iraq for the USA) are bottomless pits for hard earned tax dollars!

Politicians just never get it! The media is far too gentle on them, in my opinion!

Very good point lunarguy!
I have also noticed that politicians in general are becoming more arrogant than ever.
They are in fact ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES and yet many of then tend to think they are gods own gift to the public.
An appearance by them is not the great revelation they seem to think it is!
Perhaps a little bit of humble pie would take them further?
One of the first things many of them tend to forget after election is the ability to listen and represent.
Marching to the sound of your own drum just doesn't cut it with anybody.
And in spite of what they seem to think,the voters a NOT stupid and can't always be baffled with retoric and bull***t.
Just because they managed to get elected by making promises they don't keep, doesn't mean they will be good at the job!
People are not actually all that impressed when they come across like a tape recordering for the party leader!
I also seem to see more political unrest than I have seen in a long time, on both a provincial,and federal level across the country in general.
I wonder if they notice it too, or does their arrogance prevent that?

Nice stab at journalism. Journalist would not have to quote “un-named sources” if the elected officials would answer questions when asked. Jay seems to be forgetting that we see the elected government walk away from reporters refusing to answer questions, or better yet when they do stop to share some of their infinite knowledge with journalist they side step the question. Quit blaming the previous government and share what the agenda of the current government is. Be accountable to the people who pay your wage Jay, and the journalist would not have to use un-named sources. Fortunately there are journalists who will ask questions about what is going on in the government; it’s just too bad the government chooses not to respond to the people of this country. Open and accountable would be nice, set the example of honesty and integrity for the rest of Canadians and the world.

Investigative reporting in Canadian Journalism is if not dead surely laying on the floor dying.

Rather than investigate and report stories, journalist phone politicians and others and ask for their response to a situation, and then print the response as news. Politicians **plant** stories as news and newspapers print it.

We have a prime example here in Prince George where our local Municipal Government has many projects on the go, such as the re-location of the Golf Course, the Re-Construction of the Cameron St., Bridge, the need for a new Police Station, etc; All these stories have been published as news, however it would appear that none of them were ever investigated to see how we got to where we are.

A case is point. It appears that the re-location of the Golf Course is more about Property Development than golfing, however I havent seen anything to this effect in the Newspapers.

The need for a new Police Station seems to have come from (a) The Police and (b) City Council. Was there any effort to see if the present facility could be renovated, and if not, why not.

In the case of the Cameron St. Bridge the Newspapers of the day have been consistantly reporting that this bridge is rotten and unsafe and has to be replaced, however this information is not consistant with what was originally stated by the City before they decided to build a new bridge.

Has anyone ever seen a report from the City Engineers that specifically states that this bridge is totally unsafe, and cannot be repaired. The answer to that question is no. In fact the opposite is true, and that is that there is a report that the bridge can be repaired. I understand that the rot was found in one beam only and that it could in fact be repaired.

The reporting on this whole situation has been (a) Information put out by the City and reported by the newspapers. (b) Letters to the Editor regarding the situation, and then comments from the City in regards to the comments in the letters to the Editor.

During this whole fiasco I have not heard of any reporter getting down to the nitty gritty and finding out what the real story is on this bridge.

What do we know.

(1) The bridge can be repaired to a level that would handle the **so called** 8000 vehicles per day without any problem, and would cost less than $1 Million.

(2) There will be no additional traffic crossing over the New Cameron St. Bridge than there was on the old one. A little investigative reporting could find this out quite quickly.

(3) The new steel superstructure is going to be built on the old cement piers, and of course the wooden structure will be destroyed. This wooden bridge is 75 years old and for all intents and purposes in a **Heritage Structure**. Has anyone including the so called Prince George Heritage Society done anything to save this bridge. If they have then it hasnt been reported, or I missed it.

(4) Assuming that 1,2,3, are correct then why do we need a new bridge for $13.5 Million. Why cant we repair the old bridge, and maintain the status quo.

These are questions that a good reporter would be asking those in charge at City Hall.

If they are not forthcoming with all the information pertaining to these situations, then it should be obtained under the freedom of information laws.

I have in the past three years seen two local papers report the following.

(1) 2005/2006 The Cameron St. Bridge can be repaired and resurfaced for a total cost of $724,000.00

(2) 2006/2007 The Cameron St. Bridge cannot be repaired because of rot being found in the support beams, and therefore the bridge must be replaced.

The amazing thing about this situation is that the same reporters reported both stories approx one year apart and both stores are in direct contradiction of each other. The only thing that has remained consistant during this whole period is the bridge itself.

This bridge basking in the evening sunlight after having served a purpose for 75 years will now be subjected to the wrecking ball, because of politics, rather than common sense.

While other Citys are building or repairing wooden bridges for tourism, etc; we in Prince George are in the process of tearing one down. Are we out of step.??

"They are in fact ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES and yet many of then tend to think they are gods own gift to the public."

By definition, they are. After all, they won the popularity contest at the polls. And the two around here win them handily. But why? Not because they are popular but because none of the parties which they do not represent are popular. As simple as that.

But, that is not the way they look at it.