| Date |
Event |
| 1867 |
Spaces are reserved for journalists in the new parliament |
| 1867-1891 (not inclusive) |
MacDonald uses partisan press to campaign outside Ontario and offers friendly newspapers money and access. |
| 1896-1911 |
Laurier never holds press conferences and his private life is never reported. |
| 1911-1920 (not inclusive) |
Borden uses the Montreal Star’s money and sway to get elected. |
| 1917 |
Canadian Press joins the Parliamentary Press Gallery and journalists are expected to be unbiased |
| 1920-1926 (not inclusive) |
Meighen selects reporters to act as political advisors, and his negative press in Quebec leads to his sweeping loss. |
| 1921-1948 (not inclusive) |
King reveals little in scrums and press conferences, choosing instead to brief select Ottawa reporters. |
| 1930-1935 |
Bennett bullies reporters, even threatening jail time and censoring. |
| 1948-1957 |
St. Laurent closely controls his media agenda, and doesn’t even give press conferences by the end of his term. |
| 1957-1963 |
Diefenbaker keeps cabinet discussions secret and won’t allow ministers to make comments to journalists after meetings. He is the first PM to have a press secretary. |
| 1963-1968 |
Pearson banned scrums. |
| 1968-1984 (not inclusive) |
Trudeau’s press secretary selects questioners at press conferences, and grants access to preferred journalists. A deal is struck between the PPG and the PMO, in exchange for a weekly press conference, the gallery won’t scrum. Trudeau becomes the first PM to skip the gallery dinner after reports concerning his marriage, which have been kept silent for years, emerge. |
| 1979-1980 |
Clark is criticized for being submissive and feminine, as well as his chin and the way he walks, while his wife is called domineering. |
| 1984 |
Turner suffers a short and highly criticized stint in the public eye, with particular emphasis on the bum-patting incidents. |
| 1984-1993 |
Mulroney faces criticism for attempting to limit media access, and then for his big closets and Gucci loafers. |
| 1993 |
Kim Campbell’s short term as Prime Minister is punctuated by criticisms concerning both character and qualification. |
| 1993-2003 |
Chrétien restricts media access in the House of Commons and avoids scrums. He also leaves the gallery to find their own travel arrangements on his last minute trip announcements. Eventually, he becomes more accessible to media. |
| 2003-2005 |
Paul Martin gives lots of press updates, and is criticized by the media for his lack of action on his numerous statements. He’s also named “Mr. Dithers.” |
| March 2004 |
Harper blames the media for the breakdown of his election campaign with the Canadian Alliance. |
| 2005 |
During the election, Martin staff makes a list for questions. Organizations that did not give him positive press complained they were rarely, or never, called for a question. |
| January 21 |
Stephen Harper refuses to do a formal question and answer period, and also refuses to fill out the light-hearted questionnaires sent out by media outlets. |
| February |
Now PM, Harper stops publicizing cabinet and caucus meeting times and bans the media from the corridor outside the cabinet room, preventing post-meeting questioning of ministers. |
| March 25 |
Harper’s ministers, their staff, and the senior government official’s comments are restricted to the Conservative’s five priorities. |
| March 27 |
Journalists must be satisfied to use in-house photos after Harper keeps them out of a photo-op of children with cancer giving him daffodils. |
| |
Harper and George Bush have a 20-minute phone call about their upcoming meeting in Mexico and a hostage rescue. The PMO does not issue a statement regarding the call. |
| March 28 |
Harper holds his first secret cabinet meeting. |
| April |
Reporters and news cameras are banned from the repatriation ceremonies for Canadian soldiers. |
| April 11 |
The media is given 15 minutes to look at the Accountability Act prior to the news conference. When the floor opens for questions, Harper ignores the line up and picks a reporter from the centre of the room. Harper answers questions from two journalists and leaves. |
| April |
Editors and reporters are scrambling during Harper’s post-Easter tour because his office does not release the information on his visits to Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and St. John’s until the last minute. |
| The Press Gallery is not notified that Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue is visiting. |
| May |
Harper’s communication staff announces that questions will no longer be permitted during photo ops. |
| Harper waits three days to announce that Canada has renewed its commitment to NORAD. |
| May 17 |
Harper leaves a media event unannounced after members of the press gallery dispute the new procedures of putting names on a list to get asked to give a question after press conferences. |
| May 23 |
Prior to the announcement of aid to Darfur, Parliamentary Press Gallery members leave in protest of the new procedures. Harper gives his comments to a nearly empty room and a single camera. |
| May 25 |
Harper says he’ll no longer give news conferences for the national media, because they’ve decided to be the opposition to the government. This follows two press conferences where 90% of regular attendees were absent. |
| May 27 |
Members of the Press Gallery form a solidarity pact and agree that none of them will ask Harper any questions until he agrees to a compromise. |
| June |
Harper gives one-on-one interviews to Hill journalists from the Globe and Mail and the CTV, breaking the solidarity pact. |
| August |
The media boycott continues to crumble, as CanWest News decides to ignore the ban and put its reporters’ names on the list. |
| Sept 5 |
The Press Gallery votes to suspend the boycott for 30 days. The vote succeeds by two ballots. |
