'You've been framed': Yukon party politics in the age of spin

The fall sitting of the Yukon legislature opens Tuesday, and it will likely be a tumultuous ride — courtesy of the official opposition.

The Yukon Party is sharpening its knives in preparation for the sitting, which runs from Oct. 3 to Nov. 27.

It's been churning out "attack style" news releases, Tweets and Facebook posts — mostly calling the ethics of premier Sandy Silver into question — since it was defeated at the polls last November.

It's almost as if the election campaign hasn't ended.

And that's the point, says Ira Basen.

Sandy Silver's carbon tax

The veteran CBC documentary maker and journalist teaches a course at Ryerson University's journalism school called "Journalism in the age of spin."

He says the idea of the "perpetual campaign" started among right wing parties, such as the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party in the U.S., but now has spread "pretty well everywhere."

It's partly fuelled by social media, which is cheap, accessible, and allows for a lot of repetition of political messaging.

A good example, says Basen, is the Yukon Party's endless repetition on the looming carbon tax. The prime minister and the federal environment minister have stressed that it's a federal pricing plan.

But Basen says there's a reason the official opposition studiously ignores that fact.

"[They're] taking a statement that doesn't have a lot of truth to it, but just saying it over and over again, and then it becomes internalized with voters, so that they really can't kind of distinguish between what is true and what is simply political rhetoric, political framing."

And what is 'framing?' Basen says it's a staple in political communications.

"Essentially it means to establish in voters' minds a perception of a politician… the rule is you have to frame yourself, or else others will establish that frame for you."

Some truth required

As examples, he points to former federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion ("he's not a leader"); Michael Ignatieff ("he's just visiting"); Paul Martin ("Mr. Dithers"); and finally, Justin Trudeau ("nice hair, but that's all he's got going for him.")

Basen says for all those leaders, shaking off the framing proved very difficult.

And he says the Yukon Party, which appears to be borrowing from the CPC playbook, is trying to establish a frame for Yukon premier Sandy Silver with attack style ads showing him gesturing like a huckster, and calling out examples of "flip flopping." 

But it's not just the Conservatives who've used the framing technique.

Basen says just after Stephen Harper was elected in 2006, a Liberal Party communications official told him they had decided on a "frame" for the new prime minister.

"He said 'Our tactic is going to be, we're going to try to frame Harper as a bully.' Because there was an element of truth to that, right? And eventually that frame clicked in."

That framing, he says, eventually took hold because it contained an element of truth. 

'Hope and joy' not insignificant

And while all of these are examples of a more personal, angrier tone in politics, there's also the flip side: campaigns that focus on positivity.

Basen offers the examples of NDP Leader Jack Layton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the British Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn.

To Basen, "idea of hope and joy is not insignificant," and personal attacks and mean-spiritedness can backfire — something he says Stephen Harper learned the hard way in 2015.

"It winds up your base, but it makes it very difficult to expand that base, and that's ultimately what happened with Harper. He has his 35-40 percent of the people that are going to support him, no matter what. In the end, he wasn't able to expand that, and one of the reasons was people felt he had become too nasty, too much of a bully, and so it wound up costing him a lot."

Basen says Harper's error could be a 'teaching moment' for the Yukon Party.

"It could backfire on the Yukon Party, too, so that when the next election comes along, the party that has the most hopeful message, the party that's able to give people some optimism, some sense of joy, is actually going to be the most successful party."

Basen says most people aren't interested in politics as a blood sport, and says that sentiment tends to be especially prevalent in smaller centres, like the Yukon.

"They'd rather see their politicians get along and would rather see people work together to make important decisions and make lives better for people," he said.

"So it's entirely possible — and maybe Trump will be the turning point — we might see a shift back to some level of civility in politics."