I once heard or read somewhere that Sheila Copps, if she hadn't entered politics, would have gone on to become a star journalist (she worked briefly for the Hamilton Spectator and Ottawa Citizen), earning "in the six figures."
Really? In Canada? In print journalism?
I can think of maybe a few who make that much, but they'd all be opinion columnists, not journalists. Copps, who does now write a column for the Sun chain brings to it extensive knowledge of government, but her insights into it are nothing that a dozen others couldn't offer; and she has at best a rather pedestrian writing touch.
She does have, though, the one indispensable requirement for a budding journalist: A blithe disregard for facts.
Here she is on Garth Turner:
He blogged away daily on what was going on in caucus. His e-mail list was huge. He used the web to openly criticize his leader, calling Harper a clone of U.S. President George Bush [. . .]
To which Turner posted this rebuttal:
This description of Stephen Harper was offered on this web site in a comment by a visitor. In the melee of the last few days it has been attributed to me. In fact, Craig Oliver did so today during CTV’s “Question Period” and Sheila Copps did it again in her Sun Media column of this date.Be aware that I never wrote those words, nor would I. I do not view Stephen Harper that way, and if I did then I would have had no place whatsoever in the Conservative caucus. Harper is his own man, and is doing his best for Canada.