Police swept the lock-up room beforehand – for hidden cellular phones, two-way radios or live microphones.
No contact was allowed with the outside world from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., but within the room MuchMusic VJs mingled with CBC news anchors.
Up to 500 journalists and technicians swarmed around the House of Commons on Feb. 27, searching for interviews.
Welcome to the life of Barry Wilson, our Ottawa-based special reports editor, on budget day.
Monday is our paper’s main deadline day, where normally all stories are in before 4:30 p.m. (Saskatoon time)
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Barry couldn’t send his stories until finance minister Paul Martin began to give his budget speech. As the bell rang at 4:30 p.m. (Ottawa time) for Martin to rise in the House, Barry finished the last line on his fourth story.
He ran the 10 blocks back to his office and began filing stories to our Saskatoon office where graphics awaited numbers and editors held pages ready.
An hour later, Barry was phoning politicians and farm leaders for their reaction.
At 6 p.m., he participated in a news conference Ralph Goodale gave with journalists across the country.
Barry filed another story, then began more interviews, finishing around 9 p.m.
At 7:30 a.m. the next day, Barry was in another lock-up to receive government spending estimates.
At 11 a.m. he left for Halifax, where Goodale was to address the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
Barry covered CFA’s meeting, then waited to see if Goodale’s plane could land in very foggy conditions. After several attempts, the plane landed. Barry got his interviews before beginning his trek back to Ottawa at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. More interviews awaited.
Thanks to the extra efforts of Barry and other staff, the Producer’s readers received timely and in-depth coverage of the federal budget .
