Talking to Canadians on American TV

Last Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly became the latest Canadian politician to do an interview on American TV. Joly talked about the proposed Trump tariffs on CNN on her 46th birthday.

Canadian politicians have been interviewed more on US TV in the last three weeks than they have in years. The question is why?

The Race to American Media

I got a phone call last week from Brookes Merritt, who like me, is a former journalist. He’s been involved in politics and communications for years in Alberta.

He asked me if I had noticed the number of interviews Canadian politicians have been doing on American TV and if I knew why.

Good question Brookes. I told him I had noticed the trend, but I would have to give the “why” more thought. Then as we talked, we figured out what was behind the sudden need for our politicians to speak to American audiences.

At the heart of the issue is Donald Trump’s infatuation with tariffs and what Canada and its biggest exporting provinces, namely Ontario and Alberta, should do about it.

It all started with Ontario Premier Doug Ford going on Fox News in the US to provide his thoughts and make his pitch, followed by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. This makes sense. In books I read about the first Trump presidency, they all wrote about how much Trump watched Fox News and often reacted to what he saw and heard. If you can’t talk directly to Trump, talk to him through Fox News. How effective it was, we will soon find out.

I would imagine the people around Prime Minister Trudeau figured having the PM speak to Americans was a good idea too and got him on CNN and MSNBC for sit down interviews.

Although Trudeau was in Washington for the funeral of former US President Jimmy Carter, it was interesting to see him sitting in CNN and MSNBC studios for the interviews. No video chats for the PM. He was talking his case to Americans while there. It’s been awhile since that's happened.

It certainly wasn’t lost on me that Premiers Ford and Smith were on Fox News and Trudeau countered with CNN and MSNBC. Politicians tend to gravitate to media outlets and reporters they like. The basic feeling seems to be, if I’m going to talk to you one-on-one, I had better like the way you’re going to interview me and report on it.

News on Comedy Central

Last Monday night things went to a different level when Mark Carney, who hadn’t even officially announced he was running for the Liberal leadership at the time, went on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor, who wasn’t officially a politician (although you could argue he’s been nibbling around the edges for years) was on a late-night American talk show that we can only see on Comedy Central and Paramount+.

Interesting.

While critics have rapped Carney for the appearance, wondering who would watch it, I look at it totally differently.

I watched it the next morning on YouTube. Apparently so did many many others. 36-hours after the show aired, Carney’s interview had 1.6 million views on YouTube. By yesterday, it had 2.3-million views.

Can I interest you in those numbers?

Snubbing Canada?

The clear message here is the media has changed. Politicians no longer have to get their messages out by doing media scrums in Ottawa. They no longer need to do a sit down with Rosie Barton on CBC, Vassy Kapelos on CTV or Mercedes Stephenson on Global. They have other ways of getting the word out.

That’s not to say they shouldn’t do those interviews, but the reality is regardless of the American media outlet they’re on, they’re not going to face the same type of questions people like Barton, Kapelos or Stephenson would hit them with. Similar to what Jon Stewart did, American media doesn’t really understand the Canadian political system and their questions, although perhaps different from what Canadian politicians would get from the media in Canada, aren’t as difficult to deal with. The questions are really softballs and the politicians know it.

Clips from these interviews get played on Canadian TV and end up in newspaper stories. As a result, the politicians are getting their messages out to Canadians by speaking to Americans. When they face Canadian reporters, they’ll be asked questions about the things they said in American media and they’ll be quoted again.

It’s a win-win for them. It’s actually a brilliant strategy.

Canadian journalists aren’t happy with Trudeau or Carney because they haven’t been talking to them. The first media interview Trudeau did after his resignation news conference was with CNN. Carney talked to Jon Stewart before Canadian journalists. I get why they’re upset, but the reality is politicians have other ways of getting their messages out.

It’s another reflection of the media today.  Gone are the days you needed to always be talking to the big TV networks and newspapers. Most people get their information from social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. Mainstream media is no longer the only game in town. Reporters on Parliament Hill just aren’t as important as they used to be.

Part of the issue too is that we don’t have late night talk shows in Canada. We don’t have shows that often feature political discussions from people like Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, or John Oliver. We do have This Hour Has 22 Minutes, but you get my point. Maybe if we had a Canadian version of Stewart or Colbert, we might see more politicians sitting down and trading barbs.

For now, we’ll have to watch them on American networks.