The federal Conservatives have chosen Rona Ambrose as their new interim leader and I think she’s off to a pretty good start. In fact, I hope the party reconsiders its rules and allows her an opportunity to take the role and have the interim tag removed. The media has tried to make her look two faced, almost, immediately. Ambrose did an interview on CBC and expressed support for the new Liberal government’s desire to hold an inquiry into the multitude of missing aboriginal women in this country. Ambrose was branded two-faced as the Conservatives did not want to hold an inquiry and now she’s come out in support of one. The truth is that the media should have reported her entire response. She’s always been in favour of acting on this very serious issue, but she supports action and not studies. Nevertheless, she says if the Liberals want to hold an inquiry, she’s not going to stand in the way of it and hopes it will spur the action she’s long supported.
The media in Canada has, somehow, gone from being impartial to extremely partial and I can’t explain why. When I was in Communication Arts as a college student, it was stressed that no matter what party you support personally, it’s important to not allow that to affect the impartiality of your work. That no longer exists and we have a media right across Canada that doesn’t hesitate to show its political stripes. It’s unprofessional. Keep in mind I have strong opinions in my column, but I am an unpaid columnist with this newspaper. I’m not paid to parlay a particular opinion nor am I encouraged to write a certain way.
One thing I’ve learned about the majority of Canadians through the election of the Liberals into power, federally, is that we, as a nation, support hiring through gender equality and making sure various special interest groups and cultures are included as well and those factors should trumpet qualifications. Example - a work force has 3 women and 6 men and has an opening for a tenth spot. A man and woman take a test and if you score 7/10 then you are qualified for the job. If the woman scores 7 and the man scores 9, the job goes to the woman because there are only three of them, presently, on staff. I disagree with this way of thinking, but most of Canada does not.
The Quebec government has ordered an area hospital to remove its bilingual signs, citing the fact it is not a bilingual province. The signs were posted so that English speaking folks (namely senior citizens who have never learned French) could navigate their way through the facility without asking French speaking employees the directions. Doesn’t sound like anything that hurts anyone, but the signs have to come down. Now, think about the ‘new’ cultures that the rest of Canada accommodates. I guess it’s okay to be non-accommodating so long as it’s only English people who are offended.
Last week, I wrote about the challenges facing journalists who are told what to say and write to support the company line, and in particular, I was referring to Rogers and the spin they’d like to put on the departure of Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopolous. Most people can smell fake and phoney from a mile away and so radio listeners, especially, were calling out the sports announcers for not being critical of Rogers, a company who owns Fan590, Sportsnet, and the Blue Jays. Having worked in the media industry, I can tell you announcers are, frequently, told what to and what not to say. This week, someone who writes for the Sportsnet website must have been told to say something nice about Don Cherry and Ron MacLean in the wake of their securing a spot on Canada’s Walk Of Fame. If Rogers was truly sincere in this praise, they would not have reduced Cherry’s time on Coach’s Corner and they would listen to the public, who continue to cry for MacLean’s return as host of Hockey Night In Canada. Instead, Rogers abides by what is believed to be the NHL’s wish to not have MacLean in a position where he can oppose the league in his thinking and use an influential platform to do so. Now, it becomes a little more clear why Alex Anthopolous isn’t interested in working for them despite an offer of $10-million.
Sports replays continue to be blundered. As I write this, I am watching the Hamilton Ti Cats get screwed over on a phantom offensive pass interference penalty. It’s not challengeable by the coach. However, if the bogus call was made on the defense, the coach can challenge. Does that make any sense? Hamilton coach Kent Austin has taken some heat for how he has handled the media in recent weeks, but if you listen to the questions asked, I’d suggest the media is lucky he isn’t more confronting. A lot of the questions are dumb and are asked for the sake of asking a question. That’s unacceptable.
Nice people this week: Mike Malayney, Kent McMann, Heidi Derbowka, and Doug Jonassen.
