A couple of weeks ago, I headed down the street to Parliament Hill to cover the budget for my blog and for Blogging Tories. You can see the product of that effort here, here, here, and here. I have a Hill pass that indicates that I have been pre-screened by security and allows me access to a variety of places in the Parliamentary district. While hovering on the periphery of a budget-day scrum with Jack Layton, I was spotted by Elizabeth Thompson of the Montreal Gazette. She scolded me and expressed to this lowly blogger that he wasn't allowed to scrum with Layton. Largely ignoring her, I continued to mind my own business and started to needlessly check my camera settings. Thompson alerted Parliamentary President Richard Brennan to my presence and minutes later, security asked me to leave the foyer area.
I left the hallway outside of the foyer and walked over to the railway room to interview some 'stakeholders' of the budget. This went off without incident and during that time, I cheerfully chatted with some reporters that were in the same room.
Having completed my interviews with the stakeholders, I left and headed on over to the Rotunda where I had a friendly chat with Jack Layton. Elizabeth May and her assistant were also hanging around chatting when I saw Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc walk by. Having heard that his party was the lone opposition party supporting the budget, I asked him for an interview. He agreed. After the interview something ugly happened.
An official from the Press Gallery walked over and informed me that he had received "complaints" about me. "Thompson?" I inquired. "Complaints", he seemed to acknowledge. I pointed out that we were currently in the Rotunda of Parliament and that my pass allowed me to be there. "But you have a camera" he informed me. He called over a security guard to escort me from Parliament.
Unbelievable!
Yes, the Parliamentary Press Gallery, with no powers granted to it by constitution or statute, used security to remove somebody who had the right to be present on the Hill granted to him by the Speaker of the House.
Ed Morrissey added the following thoughts:
I'm not familiar with the rules for press access to Parliament in Ottawa, but I'm certain that the Speaker must be. If his office granted Stephen a pass to the areas in which he operated, it seems more than a little strange that the press liaison would have him ejected, especially for bringing a camera. Has the Parliamentary Press Gallery never heard of photography? Do they draw pictures for their newspapers instead of printing pictures?
I have had the pleasure of traveling twice to Canada and meeting the bloggers of the North. They told me at the time that the Canadian blogosphere was not as well established as the American blogosphere, but it wasn't from lack of talent. I wonder if the Canadian press has started to fear the rise of Canada's bloggers and have decided to use petty tricks to kneecap these independent journalists and pundits. If this is an indication of the professionalism of the PPG -- and I hope it isn't -- then they should fear the bloggers.
Of course you cannot ignore the political overtones. Obviously you have the Montreal Gazette attempting to silence conservative opinion, acting as de facto agents of the Liberal party. (I know, I know...what else is new?) The truth of this statement can be seen in the fact that this has happened before, as Taylor outlines in his post.
So I guess it isn't only in the United States where the press bestows upon themselves extra-constitutional powers.
Oh goody.
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