Can't we believe anything we see any more?
When you watch a public service announcement from the provincial government featuring comments from regular people in the street, the assumption is that they're really regular people in the street.
So imagine the consternation at the discovery that the regular folks in a video put together by the Public Affairs Bureau aren't really regular folks at all.
They're Public Affairs Bureau staffers.
Colleagues Rob Shaw and Lindsay Kines discovered the YouTube video this week. It's a benign message supposedly featuring people from all walks of life speaking out against child abuse.
But three of the people are from one particular walk of life. They're Public Affairs Bureau staffers.
Once again, my suspicious colleagues have taken one of my cherished illusions and wiped their feet on it.
When I see a professional-looking person in scrubs, with a stethoscope, standing in front of an institutional building, I don't think "Be careful! This could be a government trick."
I think, "She's a doctor, I should probably pay attention."
Lots of people do the same. But then colleagues gently take me aside and brief me: "She's not a doctor, you idiot. She's from PAB."
I feel ... used. The video was put together in a hurry for Child Abuse Prevention Day, so they cut a few corners. It's posted on the web and has been viewed about 160 times.
Not a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. But it's a slippery slope from using PABsters in place of real people in public service spots to faking it on bigger issues.
The harmonized sales tax website, for instance. It's got "regular people" asking questions about the HST.
But who knows for sure? If a regular person has an HST question, would they appear on a government video to ask it? Or would they just google it, like they do everything else?
What about "Jack Mintz"? The government pitched him as the former CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute. He's a renowned fiscal and tax policy specialist, they told us. And he loves the HST. He thinks it's great.
But have you ever met "Jack Mintz"? I don't know the guy. I never heard of him before they trotted out a paper he wrote about how the HST is going to create thousands of jobs. He could be janitor in the PAB offices, for all I know.
This new skepticism is prompting a re-examination of everything I thought I knew.
What about Investment Minister Pat Bell's "trip to China"? I didn't see him get on the plane to China. He has not showed me a stamped visa.
All I'm working from is a series of news releases about the great work he's doing selling the Chinese on building with wood. A video on the government website shows him standing by a construction site. He says he's in Hebei. I'm starting to wonder. He could be in front of a Richmond shopping centre, for all I know.
No more faking it on government videos. Politics is phony enough as it is.
Just So You Know: Guessing continues about whether Premier Christy Clark will call an election this fall or next year.
Whenever it is, some Liberal MLAs are preparing to fight for their nominations. Sitting MLAs theoretically don't have any protection against challenges, but they're rare.
Caucus members, however, are developing the impression there will be a few challenges from people who have Clark's blessing to join her team. She wants to make room for new candidates, specifically ex-news anchor Pamela Martin. The logical spot for her is West Vancouver. It's now held by the respected elder statesman in the caucus, Ralph Sultan, who has no current plans to retire.
Gently easing Sultan and one or two others out to make room for Clark favourites will be one of the more sensitive things on her to-do list. The word this week is that it could get awkward.
lleyne@timescolonist.com
