I used those interviews of gun laws as an example because the people interviewed seemed to think it sounded like a good idea (perhaps in a broad sense?) but didn't have a clue what they were talking about.
I've seem similar videos about Canadians supporting ending woman's suffrage.
Again I wonder how many people felt what he said was wrong compared to how many were told what he said was wrong and nodded their head. But I agree the perception is enough to sink him.
Do you think Conservatives are held to a different standard than Liberals by the media in Canada?
I think Canadians are smart enough to make their own opinions on matters.
Canadians didn't need to be told blackface was bad, they heard the stories about it, knew how it hurt certain people and could come to the obvious conclusion that the PM done goofed, even if it was in the past.
In that same sense, Canadians know now how bad the residential school system was, how it hurt generations of first nations, and that it is inexcusable. Then when O'Toole said what he said, Canadians naturally came to the opinion that what he said wasn't acceptable, and to his credit, he backpeddled from that position right quick.
The media may try to shift a story one way or another, but I feel like these days of social media and instant commenting, a lot of opinion is shaped online before the news can even break a story. The influence on opinions by the media is shrinking IMHO, with people reading stuff on Twitter or Facebook, sharing it with friends, family and coworkers in real time, so what you get is probably a more pure visceral reaction than days of media trying to spin anything.
In this case, I don't think the media went overboard with it, he apologized and people moved on. The unfortunate thing for O'Toole was that it was probably the in first impression many Canadians got of him due to his winning the leadership in the middle of a pandemic and not having huge name recognition beforehand.
