The word ‘Truthiness” has come into heavy play. “Truthiness” applies to the relative truth of what we learn from the Internet and other questionable sources for news. ‘Truthiness’ is truth, as defined by people without facts, logic or concern for verification. There is, for example, the truthiness of the climate deniers and grocery store magnates. And there is former president Trump in the United States and the pipsqueaks in this country who like to ape him, such as Pierre Poilievre of Canada’s federal conservatives and people such as Doug Ford and his minister of anything needing cover-up Paul Calandra of the Ontario conservatives.
The tendency of those of us who still respect the news media for truths, is based on the many editorial hands that legitimate news stories must submit to, prior to being published. And then there is truth as defined by that strange man, Ontario’s premier Doug Ford. Mr. Ford would not know the truth if it bit him on the bum.
Speaking of Ford, did you hear the other day that he and that new premier in British Columbia had both taken to telling the governor of the Bank of Canada what to do. This advice was wasted, as they later found out. What they did not seem to know was that that the Bank’s board is required to ignore any and all political interference in their deliberations to protect Canadian and foreign trust in our currency.
And speaking of Mr. Ford’s truthiness, it is questionable at the best of times. Mr. Ford is that old-fashioned blustering type of salesman. He is out to make the sale, no matter what. If he cannot look after his friends with a few chunks of the Ontario Greenbelt now and then, how else would you spend your days cooped up in the Ontario premier’s office? He is very free with his promises but few are kept.
I mentioned Paul Calandra. This is a MPP who, when he was a federal MP, made it all the way to parliamentary secretary to the prime minister. It was in that position that he made his mark. He might not have been the first parliamentarian to cry in the House of Commons but he came closer than most. He was apologizing to the leader of the opposition for not answering his questions for the prime minister. He had made a habit of doing it in all truthiness. He also lost his federal seat because of it in the 2015 election.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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