By Danna Farhang
The CBC has recently learned that the man they pay a king’s ransom to comment in a loud, obnoxious and biased manner on a weekly basis is in fact, doing his job quite nicely.
The debate surrounding Don Cherry’s unfortunate and mistaken use of the words ‘French’ and ‘wimp’ in the same sentence has all the markings of a uniquely Canadian scandal: dull, over-politicized and wholly unnecessary.
Cherry has been reprimanded by the CBC for his “inappropriate and reprehensible public opinion” which lead to a seven second content delay on his weekly rant. One can only imagine the stress within the top ranks of the ‘holier than thou’ CBC when it officially realized the man it has paid handsomely for many years doesn’t quite appreciate the subtleties of the French culture
Most viewers know, Cherry has gone on more offensive tangents and it is because of this bureaucratically spun pseudo-scandal that the CBC emerge as hypocrites.
Profiting enormously from Cherry’s on-air presence, yet raking him over the political coals because of relatively tame and, perhaps, factually accurate comments only further damages CBC’s lacklustre reputation.
In any case, isn’t the complaint that Cherry stepped outside the box because he expressed a personal opinion some what illogical.
Isn’t that what commentators are supposed to do?
Long after people forget that the CBC did not stand by its resident celebrity, a seven second delay will remain between Don Cherry and his viewers. From now on, the CBC will censor the liveliness and colour viewers have come to expect from one of Canada’s few national celebrities.
Whether we love, hate or dismiss him, we as individuals have the right to choose the ideas and principles we stand for.
If the CBC doesn’t like Cherry’s “reprehensible” opinion, it should get rid of him. Otherwise, it should support its network family.
Unfortunately, Cherry’s punishment doesn’t stop there. Canadians can also rely upon federal language commissioner Dyane Adams to set things right through her investigation into the CBC’s possible violation of the Official Languages Act.
In fact, Adams’ right to launch an investigation is murky at best.
A quick reread of the Official Languages Act would remind her that her responsibility is to “ensure respect for English and French as the official languages of Canada.”
It’s a minor oversight that Cherry’s comments had nothing to do with language.
Those pesky details.
And, of course, the picture would not be complete without opportunistic politicians like federal cabinet minister Denis Coderre ready to pounce on the chance to puff out their chest and with as much emotion as can legitimately be mustered, tell the red-necked Don Cherry to “stop pushing French-Canadians around.” (Sniff).
It’s enough that the antics of Cherry have been disputed in Parliament at the cost of attention to real issues, but Canadians really don’t need overzealous ‘language police’ to waste resources investigating a politically incorrect Canadian icon who is paid and loved for being exactly that.
If French-Canadians are as angered by Cherry’s comments as the government and the CBC would like us to believe, then Don Cherry is right. They really are a bunch of wimps.And so is the CBC for caving in to political correctness running amok.