The ability for bloggers like myself to self-publish raises some significant questions.
By Eric Bowling
Compare the different projections of Provincial Debts:
A flash application I designed to demonstrate the different values listed for provincial debts. Notice how some jurisdictions, like Ontario, Quebec and all of the Maritimes, seem to have set numbers while the western provinces' numbers seem to vary. Note that Alberta's figures will likely be quite different from the budget to be released on April 14 as these numbers are from the October 2015 budget.
April Fool's Day has come and gone, but it remains questionable how much one should trust what they read on the internet on any given day anymore. Even understanding something as topical as provincial debt can get very confusing.
To say our mass media is no longer the gatekeeper of
information is an understatement – the entire fortress has crumbled away. The
digital revolution has given everyone a voice and some have chosen to use it to
inform the public. Citizen journalism is now an active and vital
part of new media. But alongside citizen journalism we also appear to be
witness to the birth of citizen propaganda – ordinary people who use the
internet to espouse the cause of their chosen political brand.
If you have a decent variety of Facebook friends and
use your news feed to find stories that involve local politics, you probably
have had a link like this suggested to you.
A recommended article taken from my facebook news feed.
Conservativefans.com is a rather spiffy looking web
site that offers “Conservative News, Views and Gossip.” A visit to their
website shows a series of top stories involving Muslims secretly forcing their
beliefs on people through the federal Liberal party, a headline about Rachel
Notley spending 15 minutes lying, a news category entitled “End Times” and one
of the most outrageous terms of service I have ever seen – claiming the right
to fine people who hyperlink to the website up to $100,000. The website also
directs you to like the Facebook page “Canadian Fuck Ups” which essentially
serves as an outlet for the blog.
Interestingly enough, the website’s sole piece of
contact information is an email address, floptuf at gmail dot com,
which a quick Google search reveals belongs to a Philip Hofer of Sylvan Lake,
Alberta. The email also is the point of contact for the web sites
OilPriceNews.ca, JustinTrudeauNews.com and the now defunct wtfconfession.com.
According to Hofer’s YouTube channel, he drives a water truck in the oil patch.
Taken from Philip Hofer's YouTube channel
Regardless of how factual or even original Hofer’s writing is (much of his content appears to be re-posted from other news sites), he is a popular read among the far-right these days. Most of his articles seem to garner at least 150 shares apiece.
On the opposite end of the political spectrum is albertapolitics.ca
– an unapologetically pro-NDP blog by David Climenhaga. Climenhaga is a former
journalist turned communications officer who worked for the Alberta Union of
Provincial Employees and now works for the United Nurses of Alberta. Climenhaga’s blog is
a bit more researched than Hofer’s, but it is not without its blatant spin. For
example, take a look at this headline:
Taken from albertapolitics.ca
Climenhaga also routinely takes jabs at the special interest group the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, best known for its infamous “Debt Clock” which casually dials up to the government’s projected gross debt. In a recent blog post, Climenhaga chided the CTF for working up a commotion by showing the Alberta government's debt as a gross debt figure instead of a net debt figure.
Taken from the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation's Debt Clock.
“I don’t think showing a net position is fair,” said Scott Hennig, Vice President of the CTF, “The money they set aside in the heritage fund, which is what they net against, is not earmarked for debt repayment.”
Hennig acknowledged that the debt does not actually
increase in the way it’s presented on the CTF’s website – usually money is
borrowed in chunks. Instead, the debt clock takes the projected debt from a
government budget and averages it out over the entire year.
“It’s entirely a communication tool.”
The image of a steadily increasing number certainly
is provocative, but it’s worth noting that there are other debt clocks that
provide radically different numbers that the number the CTF presents. The
Canadian Federation of Independent Business also produces a debt clock that is
noticeably different in its framing of the books.
Taken from the CFIB's Debt Clock.
“I stick to the fiscal comparisons used in the federal government's Fiscal Reference Tables, published in October of each year,” explained Ted Mallet, Chief Economist for the CFIB, “In Alberta's case they use net financial assets.”
The CFIB is not the only differential voice on the debt front. Economists at both TD Canada Trust and the Royal Bank of Canada each
publish a report that has its own take on the public books.
Published yearly and updated quarterly, the Provincial
Balance Tables are written for businesses to help aide in their decision
making. Both reports offer nationwide summaries of provincial budgets from a
wide variety of angles – ranging from listing provincial debts against GDP to retail
sales and housing starts.
But even these numbers, compiled by economists for
purely economic reasons, have to be taken with a grain of salt. RBC Economist
Laura Cooper pointed out that their numbers are only as good as what they are
given.
“We just re-produce the figures the government
provides,” said Cooper, “It’s putting all the information from the
provinces in one place.”
This all begs the question: why all the discrepancy about
just how much the government is in the red? Wouldn’t we all be better off with
just the basic facts?
“To me this is a political shell game,” commented Jay Smith, a
professor of political science, “It’s setting the narrative. They’re trying to
determine how people will look at these issues.
“This is a very strategic way of getting the parties
in line and the electorate in line.”
But there is a clear difference between the framing
of government data by special interest groups and the no-holds-barred frankness
of political bloggers such as Hofer and Climenhaga.
Organizations like the CTF and CFIB (as well as
groups such as Greenpeace and UNICEF) seem less interested in which side of
the political spectrum supports their agenda so long as they are getting
support. Usually these groups advocate for their cause to a standard that
governments are seldom able to achieve. For example, the CTF was highly
critical of the Harper government’s deficits and Greenpeace has had a field day
with the Notley government’s position on the Energy East pipeline.
Similarly, there have always been think-tanks that
take right or left leaning spins on factual data – both the Fraser and the
Parkland Institutes have been providing well researched partisan views on the
world and have provided some good insights on many topics.
Both of these types of groups seem to manage a
delicate balance between their political goals and maintaining an arms-length
level of bipartisanship.
But this third type of political blogger has burst
onto the scene with surprising gusto. With their credibility often being based on the
reader not being able to trust the mainstream news, they are able to push
whatever narrative they so choose.
The effects of the spread of these alternative
realities can already be seen on our political landscape. For decades we’ve all had that friend or neighbor
with the tinfoil hat. But today we are in an era where Donald Trump, who could
very well be the Republican nominee for president, calmly took the stance in a Republican debate that Vaccines cause Autism and was no worse off in the polls
for it. Conspiracy theories, once the domain
of the fringes of society are creeping ever closer to the statistical norm.
It would seem we are as much in the information age
as we are in the misinformation age. However, while the fringes of Canadian politics may
be making a great deal of noise right now, the various movements may run out of
steam.
“These purpose of these messages, in effect, is to
galvanize a political base,” explains Smith, “It’s to remind them that ‘we can’t
let any other party get in.’
But if you use that narrative all the time, it just
wears off.”
