Ontario PCs bar reporters from policy convention

Ontario’s imperfect Conservatives testament non grant reporters to go to their annual gathering in Toronto this weekend, a move critics say projects an appearance of "weakness" and breaks from political norms.

Premier Doug Ford defended the decision during remarks on Wednesday.

"You know something, it's a convention, and I'm out in the media almost every second day," he said. "And we'll chat. But this is a party convention. And so, we'll keep it as a party convention."

It’s not clear why the Tories decided to bar media from the annual gathering, which comes nearly a year after Premier Doug Ford won a third straight majority government. Hundreds of party delegates from across the province are set to attend, debate policy and hear from Ford during a fireside chat.

The event is set to run three days, starting Friday, and is focused on the “Protect Ontario” theme which was a key part of government's re-election campaign. 

The PC's event comes on the same weekend as the federal Conservative party holds its annual convention in Calgary. Pierre Poilievre will face a leadership review at that gathering, which is open to media. 

Typically, political parties open their annual conventions, at least in part, to journalists for coverage. Last fall, both the Ontario Liberals and New Democrats held weekend-long party conventions which were open to reporters.

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University of Ottawa political science professor Geneviève Tellier called the move surprising and said it breaks from democratic norms. 

“The PC convention was supposed to be something uneventful, in the sense that I don't see any issues or challenges,” she said. “Everything should be going smoothly, but now with this decision, we will talk about it and wonder why?”

Tellier said members of the public should have insight into what members of its governing party are discussing and debating at its political conventions.

“It would be normal to keep the population updated about important decisions made at that convention,” she said. “And also where the Conservatives in general are leaning and what to expect for the coming months. So, it's really going at the heart of democracy.”

NDP strategist Melanie Richer called the move “disappointing” and criticized the PCs for dodging transparency and accountability to voters.

“It seems like it's a position of weakness instead of a position of strength,” she said of the message the decision sends.

“You want everybody to see the good news that you're telling at convention. So why wouldn't you have media?”

Former Liberal cabinet minister John Milloy said the move is also misguided, since if there is any internal controversy at the event it is likely to leak out to reporters. 

“There's nothing confidential that goes on at a convention,” said Milloy, who is now the director of the Centre for Public Ethics at Martin Luther University College.

"[The audience] doesn't have the benefit of a first-hand clip of perhaps a tough question or an embarrassing question, but you're going to hear about it,” he said. “Every journalist is going to hear about it 30 seconds after it happens.”

Milloy said parties typically use the conventions to tell their story to Ontario voters in an environment where they’re surrounded by a friendly group of supporters.

“It really strikes me as strange,” he said. “At the end of the day, they should be projecting strength. They should be hitting up new stations to cover the premier's speech.”

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