Emails fly into my work inbox consistently. Press releases, news reports, police blotter, and story pitches make up the bulk of the never-ending drone of new email. These are all given due consideration as they are filed for future use, archived, or trashed.
Many of the emails are government releases. This cabinet minister is announcing this; that cabinet minister is announcing that; a cabinet minister is going to announce something soon – stand by please. Most of the sources I chose to subscribe to. Nearly two weeks ago, I received a press release from a source I had not signed up for – the Office of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
“Trudeau’s Shocking Crime Wave in Ontario” was the title of the email from Sam Lilly, who is press secretary for Pierre Poilievre. The email arrived on the heels of the latest National crime statistics from StatsCan.
“StatsCan released their devastating new crime numbers for Canada which highlight the extent of the crime wave Trudeau has unleashed across Canada,” said Lilly in his press release email. I was confused by this release as I thought Justin Trudeau was Canada’s Prime Minister, not Canada’s Crime Lord. Maybe I was mistaken? The release continued saying that Lilly’s boss, Pierre Poilievre, “Addressed Trudeau’s shocking crime wave that is sweeping across our nation and the heartache and despair it is causing.”
The comments were a video speech – which admittedly I did not watch. For the record, I also turn the channel when I see Trudeau, and pretty much any other political talking head. (My views on Trudeau needing to leave were published in a column nearly two months ago.) I also believe that Canada could lower its carbon emissions by 10 per cent by eliminating the hubris of political parties – but I digress.
Reading Lilly’s email did shock me, and caused me heartache and despair – but not for the reasons he and his boss might think.
Many people – myself included – skim our emails. Reading news online or even printed on newsprint, we skim news stories. In journalism school, you are taught to write news with the most important facts at the top of the story for this very reason – it’s a technique called the inverted pyramid. This is done because we all know that unless the reader is really interested in a topic, they’re not going to read the whole story to the end.
Had I just skimmed that email release, I would have only seen that Justin Trudeau has unleashed a crime wave across the country, and Pierre Poilievre said something about it – the end. If that news release was published online, indexed by search engines, and even possibly reported on by legitimate news outlets – skewed information would have been published and probably consumed by some readers.
Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a crime lord who unleashed a crime wave plaguing Canadians like Lex Luthor in the Superman comics (with better socks of course)? No! Has StatsCan’s Crime Severity Index increased this year – yes.
According to the data, violent, non-violent, and overall crime are all on the rise. In 2022, the index for overall crime was 78.1 per 100,000 Canadians. It increased by two per cent from the previous year. Overall crime levels are still lower than when the pandemic began, and while on the rise, match that of 2011. In comparison, in 2006 the index was at 100, and 1998 it was 118.8.
Violent crime is also on the rise, up over five per cent in a year – and at the same level as 2007. Non-violent crime has also increased.
Lilly’s missive from the Opposition Leader’s office cited the 167 per cent increase in vehicle thefts in Ontario, and 328 per cent increase in vehicle thefts in Toronto. These have been well reported by all the media, and I am surprised that none of those journalists have pointed to Canada’s Lex Luthor – Justin Trudeau – as a crime boss. My, how we all have been fooled.
Just as shocking as the information given about this national crime wave and Lex Trudeau (or is that Justin Luthor), is the lack of details of what Poilievre would do to solve the problem. I remember being told not to point out a problem unless you also could also offer a solution.
I did give Lilly the opportunity to respond, sending questions about what the news release was really trying to say. I asked if this was a coordinated effort with the criminal underworld, or ineptitude that caused this shocking crime wave? Did they have any proof of this? I also asked what Poilievre would do to combat it. Oddly enough, I did not get a reply – I am not surprised.
What gives me heartache – and despair – for all Canadians is that some will fall for this rhetoric, just as Trudeau and other political leaders will grab their shovels to spread their own rhetoric about the Conservative leader. This is what our political system has become, a cheap comic book-like parade of broad statements based on data, but with little-to-no factual context.
To quote Poilievre’s favourite word (also used in Lilly’s emailed press release that I received) – it’s “wacko.”
This column was originally published in the August 7, 2024 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.