Andrea Barbour here we go again

By Ivan Morgan

What is news? Journalists have been debating this question for generations. I am not here to tell you what it is, but I know what it isn’t.
It’s summer and some in the journalism profession refer to this as the silly season. Regular reporters are on vacation, summer students abound, and there isn’t much happening. That makes for silly news. (I can remember it being so slow we had to make up the news once – but that’s another story). Suffice it to say it’s slow this time of year.
How slow? A few weeks ago, Tory Minister Andrea Barbour gave a speech at Beaumont-Hamel in France on the eve of the 110th commemoration of the slaughter of brave Newfoundland boys. She stumbled in her speech, a Liberal supporter got it all on his phone and then sent it home to manufacture outrage. Some media decided this was newsworthy. Here’s the quote from a media story: “Clips of Barbour’s speech were shared online by a known Liberal supporter.”
Must of been a mighty slow week.
If you get all your news from the legacy media, you might think this was a thing. However, we are free from those people now thanks to social media, where I read many posts from people who were disgusted with how the minister was treated and wondered why this was newsworthy. The speech may have been shared online, but so was the reaction.
The Liberals attacked Barbour once before and I wrote about that. Here we are again. What is the endgame here? Do they think mocking and bullying their opponents works? Is this really somebody’s idea of how to get back in power?
This is exactly what’s wrong with politics. This is not news; this is sleazy depressing politics that we – in 2026 – should be above. Maybe she did struggle – she is a new MHA. Is this grounds for bullying? So, she tripped over a few words. So what?
This was a decision made by members of the Liberal Party to smear what they obviously see as a weak minister. A chance to “score some hits” and weaken the Tories. It is disgusting.
Despite efforts by some, we in Canada still enjoy freedom of speech and freedom of the press; whoever ran this story had the right to run it. I would not have. Or I would have run it as yet another sleazy attack on Ms. Barbour by the Liberals.
Years ago, a Premier’s child was connected to a murder investigation and there were plenty of people who wanted to hang that all over that man. They wanted to damage him. We all have family and sometimes they screw up. This had nothing to do with anything other than trying to smear an opponent. At the time we would have none of it. Report the facts? Absolutely. Try and tar the poor man who loves his daughter? I have no stomach for that.
I think the Liberal Party needs to get its act together and give up this outdated, nasty and unnecessary mudslinging. What is encouraging is the number of people on social media saying the same thing. Some media outlets in this town block comments. Thank God they can’t stifle feedback online – yet.
Plain and simple: Leave Minister Barbour alone.
Were I a Liberal (God Forbid) I’d be pushing for firings. Our tax dollars provide handsome salaries not only to our elected officials but also to the employees and hangers on who work for them. If they have people on the payroll pushing this sort of politics, those people should be shown the door. If your supporters are doing this, maybe you should distance yourself from them. We are spending a great deal of money to have elected people tackle the many, many problems of this place and this is what they do instead?
Andrea Barbour’s missteps are not shameful, but this is.
Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com