11 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Prime Minister Mark Carney's office wouldn't weigh in on a push by the federal Conservatives to award the Order of Canada to controversial hockey commentator Don Cherry.

 

Audrey Champoux, a spokesperson for Carney, declined to say whether the prime minister felt that Cherry had met the requirements for the accolade, which is awarded in recognition of exceptional achievements, extraordinary contributions to the nation, or remarkable dedication to a community.

 

Champoux noted those were the criteria for awarding the country’s highest honorary distinction, but referred questions to the federal Heritage Department.

 

Conservative MP Andrew Lawton is gathering signatures on an online petition on the party's website.

 

Some Quebec federal Conservatives are opposed to the party's push due to Cherry's comments about Quebec and francophones. But others, including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, have said they support the petition.

 

McGill University political science professor Daniel Béland said the reaction reveals the full extent of the political risk involved.

 

“When we talk about the two solitudes, we have a perfect example here,” Béland said, noting how Cherry is perceived in Quebec compared to elsewhere in Canada.

 

 

https://www.timescol...cherry-12006117

[aastra]

Political risk, jumbo shrimp, civil war....

[Victoria Watcher]

70% of Canadians love him. This should be easy.

[Blair M.]

Cherry was 100% railroaded in an era that can only be described as the high tide mark of the painfully "woke" era. 

If he'd made his completely innocuous comments ten years earlier, or ten years later than he did - nobody would even find the time to bother commenting on them. 

 

You'd have to know nothing whatsoever about hockey to not fully accept that Cherry was calling it like it was years before anybody else even realized what sort of a difference bringing (largely) European players into the NHL would result in.

The players from countries other than Canada and the United States brought with them an entirely different social and sporting culture - which was entirely Cherry's point, and it was his only point.

 

That Cherry simply used the wearing of poppies on Remembrance Day to highlight those differences is at the core of Sportsnets gutless and petty move to fire him. Along with Sportsnets endless shame, that spineless piece of garbage Ron Maclean also deserves special mention.

[aastra]

He was the definitive Canadian. Little-man syndrome, jingoistic, divisive, generally full of crap, and yet also right sometimes.

 

Oh, and he helped to advance the notion that it's possible for people of European descent to be racist against people of European descent. Many of our 21st-century government programs wouldn't even exist if not for his efforts in this regard.

[aastra]

 

The players from countries other than Canada and the United States brought with them an entirely different social and sporting culture - which was entirely Cherry's point, and it was his only point.

 

Meaning: they could skate and pass. Stealing jobs from good Canadian boys.

[aastra]

 

He was the definitive Canadian...

 

His double-standards were glaring, but maybe not in the same league as the Canadian government's double-standards.

[aastra]

He was always defending the little guy, meaning the very big guy who was generally devoid of talent and not willing to work very hard.

[aastra]

I can't listen to one word from Ron MacLean anymore. Even his plays on words sicken me now. I'd sooner listen to a TV news anchor.

 

I file him as one of those mysterious celebrities whose financial position should have insulated him from even a hint of vulnerability to pressure, and yet...

 

(For those who may not know, some people have speculated that highly-paid celebrities don't actually get paid at all. Rather, they're provided with spending money, toys, and lifestyle under the terms of very long-term contracts, possibly even lifetime contracts. The reason why they never stray is because they can't stray. And in the rare case when they DO stray, they tend to lose everything in very public fashion, as if their lifetime earnings and decades of accumulation of hard assets just went poof.)

[aastra]

In some ways his TV persona was like the extension of the Archie Bunker character into the sporting realm. He cared, he was emotionally invested, he fumbled to find the right words and the correct pronunciations, he struggled to make his point without seeming angry or abusive, and yet if you heard enough of him between his various segments and shows you came to realize there was more there there in him than there was in (for example) someone like Ron MacLean, who presented a facade of more reasonable analysis and expression but -- as we've come to learn -- there actually wasn't very much substance behind his curtain.

 

I liked it when Don Cherry mentioned some aspect of coaching that he and Al Arbour both had in common. He sealed his point by noting they had four Stanley Cups between them. Many blowhards aren't even capable of making a self-deprecating joke like that. 

 

I'd also say, we saw Don Cherry evolve over the course of his time on TV. Right out of the gate he was kind of a sneering & contemptuous jerk, the expression of some of the most unpleasant aspects of Canadian hockey culture. He was playing hockey's equivalent of a pro-wrestling villain. But he demonstrated much more range over the years and even offered a fair number of nice surprises. Ron MacLean on the other hand is still playing basically the same character that he was playing from day one.

 

[Mike K.]

Plus he likes to dance shirtless atop Victoria bars.

[dasmo]

Ron was the straight man. I noticed during the olympics he had an empty chair beside him. It’s just lame he was cancelled. Political correctness taken too far….