An important vote took place quietly in Ottawa last week. Chances are you heard nothing about it. Nevertheless, it was a timely — if purely symbolic — attempt at defending democracy and the idea of a free press in this country.

The vote took place not in Parliament, but among members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, who voted unanimously to adopt a motion reaffirming their “democratic” right to ask questions at government-orchestrated photo ops and so-called ‘media availabilities.’

Yes, you read that right. This nation’s parliamentary press corps actually had to hold a vote to affirm the right to ask questions of the politicians they cover at staged PR events. That should tell you a lot about the depth of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s loathing for the fourth estate.

This is an old, depressing story. Despite having been in office for a good many years now, Harper and his cabinet acolytes remain convinced that enemies lurk everywhere in Ottawa — in the press especially, although they also view the civil service with deep suspicion.

Only the hyper-partisan Sun News — run by Kory Teneycke, Harper’s former director of communications — is exempt from suspicion. (That’s unlikely to change, even though Pierre Peladeau — the former CEO of Quebecor, which owns Sun News — is running for the separatist PQ in the upcoming Quebec provincial election.) Apart from its close relationship with the Sun ‘news’ network and the odd tractable columnist, paranoia has long defined the Harper government’s media relations strategy.

This neurosis manifests itself in several familiar ways. This is a prime minister fond of playing hide-and-seek with reporters. He scurries furtively to his Centre Block office after question period like a truant schoolboy on his way to detention. He prefers to remain holed up in his private quarters in Canada’s modest version of Air Force One, rarely venturing out to be scrummed by the rabble occupying the less-comfortable seats in the plane’s rear. He has even largely abandoned those sonorous year-end interviews with network news anchors and bureau chiefs.

Here’s what I’m talking about: No more coverage of government media conferences, photo-ops or other displays of PR play-acting until reporters are once again permitted to ask as many questions as they damn well please on behalf of the Canadian public.

Harper developed his severe media allergy soon after he became prime minister. Before that, he courted press coverage enthusiastically. (There’s a word commonly used in Ottawa to describe politicians who hunger for media attention as shamelessly as Harper once did; I’m guessing I can’t get away with using it here.) In any event, Harper’s political career was aided and abetted in some measure by his routine appearances on political chat shows that featured him as a sound-bite-happy right-wing pundit.

That was then. These days, Harper’s former fondness for media attention has morphed into scarcely-concealed contempt.

The most offensive symptom of this enmity is Harper’s habit of limiting media questions at press conferences — or barring them altogether. He’s been extending this ludicrous practice to caucus meetings and those heavily stage-managed ‘availabilities’ where cabinet ministers sell the day’s talking points before sprinting for the exit.

The press corps is, understandably, fed up with this behaviour. It led to a memorable display of defiance at a regular Conservative caucus meeting last year when — after having been penned in like cattle — a crew of reporters shouted questions at Harper and company in defiance of an edict banning such queries.

That was a commendable act of rebellion. As a response to the Harper government’s cynical efforts to subvert journalists’ efforts to hold elected officials to account, however, it didn’t go nearly far enough. If reporters in this town want to regain the freedom to do their jobs properly, they’re going to have to go further. They’re going to have to boycott.

Here’s what I’m talking about: No more coverage of government media conferences, photo-ops or other displays of PR play-acting until reporters are once again permitted to ask as many questions as they damn well please on behalf of the Canadian public. Such a blanket ban would require a rare — even unprecedented — act of professional solidarity by Ottawa’s press corps, editors and publishers. I’m not convinced they can do it; this is a competitive business and parochial interests tend to overwhelm all other considerations. But this is a dire situation and a message needs to be sent — No questions, no press.

The boycott should also extend to ending the practice of dispatching a pool reporter to cover such events as ordained by the PMO’s ‘boys in short pants’. It also should apply to Opposition parties whenever they impose similar restrictions on a reporter’s ability to do their job.

I know this sounds risky, even radical. But we can’t keep this up. For too long, this government has behaved like a petulant, unrepentant bully, dictating the unequal terms of its relationship with the media. And as with any bully, the more you yield, the bolder the bully becomes.

The time for gestures is over. It’s time for journalists to take a stand.

Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.

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