“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” – Mark Twain The wry wisdom of Samuel Clemens resonates in the modern world of communications. I often tell clients, particularly those facing crisis, that the best strategy is always to do the right thing. In the...
Read more
Category Archives: Politics
When Key Messages Aren’t Enough
(Originally posted on LinkedIn March 25, 2019) Advisors to Ontario Education Minister Lisa Thompson must have thought long and hard before agreeing to book her for an interview with CBC Radio’s Matt Galloway. It meant subjecting a minister with a sketchy performance as a communicator to one of the most...
Read more
A Boy and Man and His World-Expo ’67 & Maybe Expo 2025
I’m exciting about assisting the communications team working on a possible Toronto bid for Expo 2025. Here’s a piece I wrote for the Huffington Post, mixing boyhood memories with middle aged dreams. Huffington Post Blog...
Read more
Rachel Notley’s Big, Dry Tent
Rachel Notley has almost nothing in common with Lyndon Johnson. But in developing her climate change strategy the Alberta Premier followed the practical political advice of the Texan who was US President in the 1960s. Talking about the fearsome J. Edgar Hoover, Johnson pithily observed: “Better to have him inside...
Read more
Spin Doctor Heal Thyself
Like long time convicts suddenly released into the light of day, Parliament Hill journalists were perplexed at the burst of information sunshine on the first day of the Justin Trudeau government. There was the new prime minister striding out from Rideau Hall to take questions, several questions, with no preordained...
Read more
Open Door Perils: The Risks and Rewards of Letting in the Camera
For a few months it was the most discussed documentary that nobody had ever seen. When it finally made it onto TV screens, you had to wonder why all the fuss over Premier, The Unscripted Kathleen Wynne. It was a well-crafted and fascinating look behind the scenes look at the...
Read more
When the Media Advisor Needs Media Training
The most memorable quote out of Ottawa this year sprang not from the lips of a politician, but a top-level aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It came in a lively and contentious interview that Conservative campaign spokesperson Kory Teneycke gave to Tom Clark of Global News. They were speaking...
Read more
Bridging the Divide:
Reporters Make Great PR People
Let us begin with full disclosure: for more than 30 years I was a reporter. A few weeks ago I became an independent communications consultant. As a result, I bring a certain bias to the debate. I covered election campaigns and disasters, great moments in world history and local stories...
Read more
Now the Hard Part:
Danger Looms for Alberta’s NDP
Rachel Notley will never have a better night. Whether her political career is long or short, troubled or triumphant she will not see another time when the stars align so serendipitously, when the sheen is so pristine and when every word is so apt, golden and gracious “Spring has arrived,”...
Read more
Say It Ain’t So, Joe! The Unborn Child that Upended the Budget Message
There is no single project in a government’s year more important than a budget. Economists and policy-makers slave for months to craft the tax and spend measures, constantly adjusting for the unexpected—see this year’s plunging oil price. Political operatives burn the midnight oil, sweating and massaging the details of...
Read more