Is my reporting biased because I'm from a small town?

I certainly asked myself this question over the weekend, as I traveled to spend Easter with my parents and siblings. It was an emotional trip home, given the events of recent weeks that have thrust Fort Erie into the news. I moved to Toronto when I was 18, but "The Fort" has a way of sticking to you.
 
As for my reflections on bias, I suppose you can check the CTV archives to measure for yourself.

I conclude the answer is no
 
But I'll get it on the table right here and now, that I do indeed feel emotion when I write those stories about the closing of the Racetrack slots and the local Emergency Room.
 
Of course, I'm trained to discard the emotion, and focus on the balanced facts. After all, I realize I'm not very credible if I lean one way or another in my coverage just because my childhood friends are losing their jobs and someone we know died on the way to an ER in Niagara Falls, because the one in Fort Erie is closed.
 
Credibility is currency for journalists. And, at CTV, we still place great value in objectivity. My corporate bosses never, ever pressure me to cover a story one way or another.
 
But wow, as I sat in church Sunday, my mom beaming with pride, it sure was hard not to lean a bit in a certain emotional direction when the person sitting next to me whispered: "Those kids bringing the offerings up to the altar are the children of that man who had a heart attack and died on the way to hospital in Niagara Falls."
 
My mother spent years of her life raising money for that hospital, volunteering to help seniors there and delivering communion to bed-ridden patients. It's a hospital that saw plenty of my own blood on its floors as a young boy crashing his way through childhood and adolescence.
 
On the way to church Sunday, I passed large banners at the Fort Erie Racetrack and slots, asking why they're being closed to save the provincial government money, when the hospital ER has been closed too. The town is literally wondering, "Why us?" and "How much more can we take?"
 
When I go "home" to my small town, the pace slows for me. I get time to reflect and appreciate the places and people that shaped me and supported me.  I see the faces of my childhood friends, now raising their own children.

I drive by my old schools, where I used to spend quite a bit of time in the principal's office over broken windows, broken lights and broken rules.

I considered how surreal it was for me last month, when during the 6 p.m. news on CTV, I broke the grim "exclusive" from my office at Queen's Park, that Fort Erie slots were closing by the end of April.

Essentially, I had just told hundreds of people in my hometown, that their jobs were soon to be gone.
 
It was a hard story for me to write that day in my CTV Bureau.
 
And let me tell you, this was a hard weekend to be in my small town.
 
But, boy oh boy, I wouldn't trade that heritage for anything. I wouldn't trade that small-town feeling. 
 
For in spite of the economic and healthcare smack-downs it's taking, this small town still holds true to form.  People still care about people.
 
I learned that from my mother, as I watched her hug almost everyone in church. 
 
She even said "hi" and smiled at the people at mass that she didn't know. 
 
Yeah...hard not to be biased.  But I'd rather fight the emotions, than not feel them at all.

Ornge. E-health. Eco-fees. Rising hydro bills. Car insurance rates. The health tax. Broken promises.
 
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals have survived them all. Let's face it, winning three straight elections is impressive by any measure.
 
But there is one thing the Liberals may fear more than any of the above lightning rods of public anger. I'm talking about a dreaded credit downgrade.
 
It sounds boring, but the political implications are staggering.
 
Moody's Investors Service has issued a warning about Ontario's $16-billion deficit and mounting $200-billion debt.  Ontario is on "credit watch" with negative implications if it doesn't get its financial house in order.
 
If Ontario's credit rating is downgraded, the province will have to pay higher interest on the money it borrows.
 
A 1 per cent increase in the province's interest rates would cost taxpayers an additional $500 million a year - that's half a billion dollars more for taxpayers to bear with the stroke of a computer key by a ratings agency.
 
The dollar cost is worthy of concern, but for the Liberals, the political costs could be devastating.
 
If Ontario loses its good credit, Progressive Conservatives will declare open season on Dalton McGuinty's ability to manage the province’s finances.
 
The downgrade would be a slap in the face for the Liberals, from outside experts whose only job is to mind the money and heap praise and/or criticism on the deserving.
 
The PCs will be able to hammer away at the McGuinty government's spending ways, at a time when all families are tightening their belts at home.

It will hand back to the Tories the traditional impression that they are the party to mind the money (in spite of the fact they left Ontarians with a hidden $5.6-billion deficit when they were booted out of power).
 
If you follow me on Twitter  you may have seen my tweets from various speeches by McGuinty and his cabinet lieutenants in finance and health.
 
They talk tough about freezing wages for doctors, freezing wages for teachers and forcing government unions to accept strong medicine.
 
It's hard not to wonder if that message is meant more for the ears of Moody's than the ears of Ontario taxpayers.
 
Follow my coverage of the Ontario Legislature and the odd astronomy-related topic on Twitter @blissblogs.

Ornge. E-health. Eco-fees. Rising hydro bills. Car insurance rates. The health tax. Broken promises.
 
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals have survived them all. Let's face it, winning three straight elections is impressive by any measure.
 
But there is one thing the Liberals may fear more than any of the above lightning rods of public anger. I'm talking about a dreaded credit downgrade.
 
It sounds boring, but the political implications are staggering.
 
Moody's Investors Service has issued a warning about Ontario's $16-billion deficit and mounting $200-billion debt.  Ontario is on "credit watch" with negative implications if it doesn't get its financial house in order.
 
If Ontario's credit rating is downgraded, the province will have to pay higher interest on the money it borrows.
 
A 1 per cent increase in the province's interest rates would cost taxpayers an additional $500 million a year - that's half a billion dollars more for taxpayers to bear with the stroke of a computer key by a ratings agency.
 
The dollar cost is worthy of concern, but for the Liberals, the political costs could be devastating.
 
If Ontario loses its good credit, Progressive Conservatives will declare open season on Dalton McGuinty's ability to manage the province’s finances.
 
The downgrade would be a slap in the face for the Liberals, from outside experts whose only job is to mind the money and heap praise and/or criticism on the deserving.
 
The PCs will be able to hammer away at the McGuinty government's spending ways, at a time when all families are tightening their belts at home.

It will hand back to the Tories the traditional impression that they are the party to mind the money (in spite of the fact they left Ontarians with a hidden $5.6-billion deficit when they were booted out of power).
 
If you follow me on Twitter  you may have seen my tweets from various speeches by McGuinty and his cabinet lieutenants in finance and health.
 
They talk tough about freezing wages for doctors, freezing wages for teachers and forcing government unions to accept strong medicine.
 
It's hard not to wonder if that message is meant more for the ears of Moody's than the ears of Ontario taxpayers.
 
Follow my coverage of the Ontario Legislature and the odd astronomy-related topic on Twitter @blissblogs.

The Ontario government needs to cut spending. Now.

Moody's ratings service is on the verge of downgrading the province's credit status, a move that would jack-up borrowing rates for the government. A 1 per cent increase in interest rates would cost taxpayers an added $480 million per year to service the debt. That's almost half a BILLION dollars a year more in interest payments.

Cleary, the McGuinty government needs to avoid such an unnecessary charge. Half a billion dollars is more than the budget for the Ministry of Environment, which comes in at $380 million. (Half a billion is also the amount that you, the taxpayer, just deposited into the Ontario Teachers Pension plan to help them out.)

This fiscal year, Ontario will pay roughly $10 billion in interest to service its debt of $193 BILLION.

Yes, these are staggering numbers. So how is the government going to trim $16 billion to balance the budget?

The NDP says Dalton McGuinty should freeze planned tax cuts for corporations, saving billions in the coming years. However, New Democrats want that money spent instead to eliminate the HST on your home-heating bill.

That would do nothing to reduce the deficit.

PC Leader Tim Hudak proposes a province-wide wage freeze for all government workers, from doctors and nurses to university professors and civil servants. That could save billions, as wages account for some 57 per cent of spending by the Ontario government.

Economist and McGuinty-appointed spending czar Don Drummond will table his report on government operations in the coming weeks, giving the Premier ammunition to bring out the knife and cut some ministries by as much as 30 per cent.

Something has to give. Spending must be brought under control. Revenues need to be found and government needs to find a stable footing. The Premier keeps insisting he will not be raising taxes, so that leaves "finding efficiencies" as a solution.

Dalton McGuinty says we all must pitch in to help slay the deficit beast.

Sure, words don't hurt, but some of the looming cuts might.

Follow Paul Bliss on Twitter @blissblogs