Almost done. Since I launched this newsletter I’ve actually never been as single-topic as I have during this federal election campaign: Five weeks of writing, video and podcasts. I plan to diversify my subject offering pretty quickly once the returns are over, although frankly next week’s post-election episode of The Paul Wells Show is already shaping up nicely.
But while we await the returns, I called up some friends to ask how they perceived the campaign. My friends tend to be journalists, and I draw fewer distinctions between mainstream and independent journalists than some of you do. This week I’ve got Hélène Buzzetti and Vassy Kapelos, whom you’ve heard reently on the pod; and a newcomer to these precincts: Steve Murphy, special correspondent, commentator and analyst for CTV Atlantic. Steve was the long-time anchor for CTV Atlantic’s 6 pm newscast. His anchor desk was an obligatory stop for campaigning party leaders. He helps us decipher what’s been going on in Atlantic Canada. Hélène’s got the latest from Quebec. Vassy sees everything.
Together — I lost control over this panel five minutes in, and I couldn’t be happier about it — we parse a campaign for the fate of Canada that sometimes forgot that frame, a highly dramatic campaign in which the polls shifted wildly until approximately the minute Mark Carney visited Rideau Hall. I’m kind of the only common thread among guests; Murphy didn’t know Buzzetti, whose English is better than my French but who doesn’t often do English-language media. We all hit it off pretty fast.
I don’t want to be heavy or didactic about this, but it was good to be among colleagues. Journalism is long past expecting automatic deference from its audiences, or should be. But a few times over the past month and change, it’s felt too often like scapegoating coverage was on some candidates’ list of pretexts for avoiding real scrutiny. That’s a debate for another day, but in the meantime, here’s our campaign wrap-up.
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You can read a (machine-generated) transcript of this week’s episode via the "Transcript” button at the top of this page when you view it on your desktop browser. As we learned from Campaign Week 3’s cross-platform Transcript button search, which was actually a thing (and thanks to everyone who took part!), it can be tricky if you’re reading on your phone or a tablet. But on your desktop browser, you should be able to find this post at this URL, and the Transcript button should be reasonably discoverable.
I am grateful to be the Max Bell Foundation Senior Fellow at McGill University, the principal patron of this podcast. Antica Productions turns these interviews into a podcast every week. Kevin Breit wrote and performed the theme music. Andy Milne plays it on piano at the end of each episode. Thanks to all of them and to you. Please tell your friends to subscribe to The Paul Wells Show on their favourite podcast app, or here on the newsletter.
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