Dispatch from The Front Line: Canada, land of the strong, wealthy, and well connected

On the problem with corruption; and a farewell to Hugh Segal

Well hello and happy Friday, dear readers.

Those of you most keenly attuned to the comings and goings at the The Line will remember that one of our editors is enjoying a richly rewarding vacation in Europe while the other, prettier, more vulgar editor has been left to handle the newsletter all on her own and she’s doing just fine, thank you. She doesn’t need any dispatch blurbs or editing help from a bar in Amsterdam, so just try to relax already, Matt.

Anyway, no video or podcast today because such a thing would amount to Jen Gerson staring at a screen and going on an increasingly unhinged Russell Brand-style YouTube rant and we really considered it but ultimately decided that it’s Been Done.

Three quick reminders. 1) Our over-long dispatches are no longer fully showing up in your email inboxes; if you find our wit and irreverence to be totally irresistible, your best bet is to click through to the website proper to read the whole thing. 2) Canadian media is probably borked due to C-18, so please consider giving us a place of honour on your bookmarks page so you can find us again easily if Emperor-God Google cuts the flow of space. Please consider also telling your friends and family about how much you like us. And, 3) We are continuing to plan our first Line event in Toronto in Ontario and we are constantly on the prowl for sponsors. Big sponsors. Little sponsors. Drop us a line if you are looking for a partnership with Canada’s coolest journalists. (She wrote, from her suburban lair, while re-adjusting her glasses and grabbing the Tide stick to tidy up the tea stains on her blouse.)

Without further adieu, your dispatch….

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The news item most of note this week is the report from Ontario’s auditor general over the Greenbelt imbroglio. This is, fairly, your vacationing editor’s beat and we highly suspect he will with to share some words on the subject in the imminent future. So we will not go into the specifics of this matter at length in this dispatch.

However, we would share a few hard-earned words of cynicism about the subject of corruption more broadly — and corruption this surely is. For those who are not aware of the story: the auditor general found that Doug Ford’s government worked with politically well connected developers who had identified key parcels of land located within a protected stretch of land encircling Toronto called the Greenbelt. This allowed the developers to purchase land at bargain prices right before the restrictions were lifted. The subsequent land purchases vs. value proposition is estimated to be in the billions.

By any measure, this is another embarrassing mark on the Ford government’s already heavily dotted ethics-and-competence blotter.

However, your remaining Line editor lives in Alberta. She’s lived in Alberta for a number of years now, many of which came during the days of the province’s one-party rule. If there is one very sad conclusion she has come to as a result of this, it’s that people don’t actually care very much about mid-tier corruption, especially when that corruption has little direct impact on their otherwise comfortable lives. Partisans care; journalists care; people who care deeply and passionately about integrity and fair play and the democratic process care. People like us care.

But most people aren’t like us.