Yes, that was one of the ones I was forgetting. Thanks. I am quite sure Chantal Hebert’s ears are burning because of all the re-tellings of the “lobsters in a pot” story.
I feel the astronauts really lost out on recognition yesterday.
But the worst thing about yesterday was explaing Genocide to my 11 year old. :mad:
“But why would someone from a church or a teacher do those things to kids?”
ugh
Because of the organization I work for (a national First Nations group), I have been present at several events related to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Although no one in my family was ever involved in the residential school system, I have heard the stories from some of the former students and they have just ripped my soul apart. I had to go for some counselling myself after a couple of those meetings. Being an empath hurts. A lot.
Bless you Das Gladperlenspiel. I was going to be part of the Burrard Presbytery’s work with the Vancouver TRC hearing and I did some behind the scenes things (baked cupcakes and so forth) Personal events precluded me from the march or attending. However, at that time, I know I would have been worse off to attend.
I have a friend who was working in a pilot project with First Nations women with multiple diagnoses both mental health and physical health related. She never broke confidentiality but while the job was interesting and important I know it changed her. It put her more on touch with her First Nations roots whi ch was good but in other ways it made her angry and depressed. It has caused a fair bit of distancing from many former friends and also branches of her family that deny their native side and the impact of colonialism in general residential schools in particular.
I am now reading the 260 page stories of the survivors. I think this should become manditory reading in high school taught in context with either Canadian History or and Aboriginal History. Every Canadian must be educated about this.
My son’s school has an Aboriginal Resource person that teaches first nations culture/history at the school a half day a week. It’s a start.
(Mona Lisa Simpson, born in/near traditional Anishnabe-aski lands now living in the unceded traditional lands of Coast Salish people.)
[
](Loading... | iPolitics)If these numbers hold, Harper would be stupid to boycott the consortium debates.
Harper is many things: he’s arrogant, needlessly petty/spiteful, continuously self-sabotaging, mind boggling combative…But he’s not stupid! He’s quite intelligent (smarter then I). However, if English Canada tuned in to the classical debates to watch a rousing joust of wits between the Libs, NDP, Greens, and empty podium where the Tories should be…that’s just stupid.
If these numbers hold (or get worse) the CPC front-line needs to quietly slap Harper out of his arrogant “strategy zone” and back into the real world.
Poll results are transitory and we still have 4 months to go.
Skipping a leaders’ debate in the UK didn’t seem to affect David Cameron’s majority re-election. It does look more and more like a three horse race though.
According to the 7:00 pm newsbreak the CBC has parted ways with Evan Solomon (first Jian, now this 
CBC why has God forsaken thee?)
They are, not surprisingly, currently tight-lipped about the why.
So, anyone have any ideas or insight as to the possible reason for their ditching another of their most respected and high-profile personalities?
I’m guessing another brewing Gomeshiesque scandal that they have leapt in front of but I have no reason for this belief other than the abruptness.
Regardless why, this is yet another instalment of the death by degrees of my beloved CBC.
Zeke
Turns out it was over a conflict of interest involving art deals.
The radio didn’t report that but the website did.
I’ve never in my life heard of Evan Solomon. That’s about how relevant CBC is to my life.
Moncton sure has changed since I went to bed last night! I hope I don’t get caught in the new rush hour traffic on the way to work. 
I would like to thank you for your meaningful and insightful response. Such rich content is rare now-a-day.
Zeke
So you’ve got the right to post about how much the CBC means to you, but Leaffan can’t post about how little the CBC means to him?
Indeed, I’d say Leaffan’s post is rather pertinent. The CBC is a weird institution, and the argument over how much it should be funded rightly should begin with how many people watch or listen to it and who they are. (I didn’t know who Evan Solomon was, either. I did know who Jian Ghomeshi was.)
CBC viewership is collapsing; depending who you believe it’s down either 30 or 40 percent in just the last few years. CBC Radio is also shrinking though, as near as I can tell, not quite as badly as TV. Part of this is because all channels are being hit hard by competition from streaming, and part of it is because there’s so much amazing TV on networks other than CBC (or in the case of radio, satellite options) but part of it is also because CBC appears to be managed by idiots and/or jerks.
CBC is put on something of a pedestal by its supporters as something better than the for-profit media outlets; it’s kind of a touchstone of debate, whereby if you’re to the left you’re supposed to say CBC’s awesome give it more money, and if you’re to the right you’re supposed to say it’s a nest of Liberal snakes and kill it. There is, at the very least, though, a general sense it’s a clean and decent outfit that tries its best. Or there used to be that sense. The events of the last few years suggest it might actually be worse than for-profit outfits. It appears to be the place both money and ethics go to die.
How you fix that I am really not sure, though it is apparent mass firings of top management is probably merited as a first step. A second might actually be putting out some compelling programming that appeals to people who aren’t old enough to remember the Korean War.
I believe there is an error in emphasis here.
The post mentions how much the CBC means to me but that is not the focus. The focus is the abrupt termination of another of their high profile people and the - at the time I posted - lack of given reason.
Specifically I asked if anyone had any insight or guesses.
This would be equivalent to Leaffan posting something like “I love the Leaf’s but I don’t get why they traded Stephen Stephenson. Alas my beloved Leafs.”
And me replying, “I’ve never heard of the guy, shows how little I care about hockey.”
Had I posted something primarily aimed at discussing the relevance of the CBC or the effect of budget cuts on its effect on Canadian unity his response would be perfectly on point.
Again, while you make a great many valid and discussable points, the post was not about the worth / status / problems / need for the CBC. It was about why Evan Solomon was fired.
I’m happy to talk about the CBC and its place (or lack thereof) in today’s Canada - clearly I believe it is incredibly important - but that is not what the post was about.
See my analogy above regarding a hypothetical posting about a fictitious action taken by the Maple Leafs.
Zeke
Agreed. IMHO, Leaffan was simply threadshitting here.
Yeah, I’m having a few speed bumps in life right now, to say the least; apologies for my comment.
I do listen to CBC Ottawa radio occasionally, but usually only during commute times. That’s usually just local Ottawa/Eastern Ontario hosts though, although I know some national names like Carol Off, Kate MacNamara and the like. I didn’t know Evan Solomon. To be fair, my main radio news comes from the local AM station here. It’s about as far on the right as CBC is on the left, which isn’t really a tonne, but it is noticeable.
I wonder how many Canadians even know who Evan Solomon is? Not many, I believe.
I listen to the CBC a lot but I didn’t listen to Evan Solomon’s show much.
I hope this doesn’t hurt the CBC’s reputation much, as I believe the CBC is very important.
I don’t know who he is. I love CBC radio 1 and 2. Radio 1 in particular is part of the pulse of our community, so the cuts hurt.
Yeah, I really hope the current government won’t succeed in getting rid of the CBC, or whatever it is they seem to be trying to do.
I’m another who never heard of him until the recent news.
I’m not much into political radio or TV shows, so although I’d heard of him, I wasn’t too familiar with him.
My family are all news junkies, fans of the CBC (me, more Radio, hubby more TV) and we really like watching the evening panel shows “At Issue”, “Power and Politics” and what used to be “The Lang and O’Leary Exchange” although Kevin O’Leary being gone has changed it. (i’m ok with that, can’t stand him)
So Power and Politics with Evan Solomon is … not going to be that. My son suggested “Fired and Ignored with Evan Solomon and the Shopping Cart Homeless” as a new show. We also floated “Fired and Sued” with ES, “Conflict and Interest” with ES, and “Queing for Manpower” with Evan and Jian. (Manpower is only funny if you remember it was an old name for Employment Inusrance… I had to remind hubby.)
Jesse Brown’s Canadaland show was interesting yesterday.