# The great, ongoing Canadian current events and politics thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059 "2011-05-16T03:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/903 "2011-12-18T00:27:23Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > \ > > So… what am I missing? What am I not seeing? Where’s the bias? \ I think I very large part of it is the ongoing _perception_ of bias, irrespective of whether that bias exists. As **Uzi** pointed out above, there was a central Canada bias to CBC broadcasts for years, and arguably it was justifiably so, since that’s where the biggest chunk of the population lives. The politics, therefore, of southern Ontario have historically been presented as the politics of Canada. The hockey that matters to southern Ontario (ie. the Leafs) has been presented as the hockey that matters to Canada. While the ebb and flow of CBC’s content may have evolved from that, the perception that this is how they do business persists and, like most issues of perception among the masses, they don’t change easily, resulting in lots and lots of confirmation bias – when a westerner turns on the CBC and sees a story on the news criticizing PM Harper, he sees bias, whether the criticism is justified or not. When a westerner turns on HNIC and the early game, virtually without exception, is a fucking Leafs game, even though there are three other Canadian teams currently in the Eastern Conference that could be getting broadcast time, he sees bias (guess who’s on the early game tonight?). The simple reality is that perception is more important than facts to the masses, because thinking is hard and critically assessing one’s own biases is harder still. There really aren’t a lot of open minds out there, which I think is sad.\* \*Since most people would do well to throw out their own points of view and just accept mine as the correct one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/904 "2011-12-18T00:59:15Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > These people? You mean the ones talking about it in this thread? You’re right. I was too polite. Conservatives are not people. They are predatory vermin. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/905 "2011-12-18T01:06:07Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > \*Since most people would do well to throw out their own points of view and just accept mine as the correct one. 😃 Is there a handy online reference guide to your point of view, or do I have to call you up every time I need to know what to think about something? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/906 "2011-12-18T01:11:39Z")
So…I should just stop trying to understand then? I get some of it - growing up in Sherbrooke, it’s not like you heard anything about where I lived on the national news and it took something dramatic to make the Montreal-based news. My in-laws, in Drummondville, have to either listen to local radio or do some sort of mental weighted average of the weather in Montreal, Sherbrooke and Québec in order to get a forecast for Drummond. So the fact that the activities that matter to small towns don’t make the big-town news isn’t something I’m not familiar with, but I struggle to take it to the next step and be _offended_ or feel belittled by it, the way some of **Spoon’s** acquaintances seem to be. The other night (morning? hehe) I was almost getting the impression that some people wouldn’t be happy until Peter Mansbridge opens The National on a regular basis with something like “Today in Toronto, a family of four spent a few minutes acknowledging the existence of Lethbridge, Alberta, and figured that people there were probably nice and how unfortunate that that mom and pop store went out of business because of the Wal-Mart.” 😃 The fact is that, as annoying as it is, a massive pileup and closure of part of the Gardiner Expressway does affect more people than the fallout from a red-light camera getting shot at and so the former is more likely to be reported. It’s just the way it is; that’s the nature of news. I can see how tone can come into it… though if people are looking for bias, they might find it where none was intended, so that’s something people should be wary of when they judge a news source. I can understand the older perceptions, and I agree they are hard to shake, but with the wealth of availability of other news sources today I don’t see why anyone should still be offended that the national news reflects things that affect larger groups of people. (And a Russian airport, apparently :rolleyes: ) Though I agree about HNIC being Leafs-central. If for no other reason, this is why you should all learn French - to watch hockey on RDS (which is Habs-central, or Sens when the Habs aren’t playing!). And you get to avoid Don Cherry, which I do at all costs! I think it’s a shame that there aren’t better regional arrangements for the other teams - I have a feeling that will change on the next contract, especially if the CBC doesn’t retain the NHL broadcast rights! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/907 "2011-12-18T01:13:13Z")
> [@detop](#): > > You’re right. I was too polite. Conservatives are not people. They are predatory vermin. Please don’t do this. This isn’t the right thread, and we want to keep things civil. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/908 "2011-12-18T01:38:46Z")
> [@detop](#): > > You’re right. I was too polite. Conservatives are not people. They are predatory vermin. This isn’t GD or the Pit, but MPSIMS, in what is intended to be a nonpolemical thread. If you want to bash Conservatives, please start a new thread in the appropriate forum. Thanks, **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/909 "2011-12-18T01:53:43Z")
The early game is going to be an eastern team most of the time pretty much by definition, though. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver aren’t going to start many games at 5 pm. Also, they’re showing Winnipeg’s and Montreal’s game in their markets, and showing the Toronto game in the west because, well, Vancouver’s playing them. The Hockey Night in Toronto cracks made sense a long time ago, but ever since the era of the doubleheader (1995!) they just sound dumb, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/910 "2011-12-18T02:01:35Z")
Well, the commentators are certainly Toronto fans (and Bruins). Cherry, Stock, Milbury (well, not since he assaulted a child :rolleyes:) but there is a bias in the editorial segments of HNIC, but certainly not as much as one with regards to the games shown. I don’t watch HNIC, though. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: hockey should be watched in French. Football should be watched in English. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/911 "2011-12-18T02:02:44Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: hockey should be watched in French. > > 😉 Word. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/912 "2011-12-18T02:17:06Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: hockey should be watched in French. I looked up ‘goal’ for the French translation and got ‘l’objectif’. Somehow I don’t think that is what is shouted when someone scores. ‘But’, I’ve been incorrect before.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/913 "2011-12-18T03:51:43Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > And you get to avoid Don Cherry, which I do at all costs! The CBC should use some of it’s budget to hire a woman with a French accent to dub-over that clown’s rants into “Political Correct”. Ideally, she should be able to do it in sign language also with a French accent. He and Ford make me shake my head. Cherry for being Cherry, and Ford for being a wanna-be Cherry. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/914 "2011-12-18T04:15:33Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > How much money have we as Canadians wasted talking and whinging about language? One of our major provinces has tried twice to separate just because they speak a different language. If it just affected them, I’d say let them bitch and moan, but it doesn’t. It affects all of us all the time. > If it wasn’t for Canada and Quebec supporting the French language, it would be slowly dying out in Canada to be superseded by English as most of the French language has died out in the US. No, it wouldn’t. Your position simply is not supported by the facts, many key ones of which you’re omitting: 1. The renaissance of French culture in Quebec started before anything like the current level of suppoirt existed. French was very strong in Quebec when Canada wasn’t really even a fully bilingual nation. 2. The comparison to French in the USA simply isn’t a good parallel. French in America was never spoken by as large, as centrally located, and as politically important a population as Quebec. I’d furthermore point out that French is still the first language of over a million Americans, which is probably about as high as it’s ever been, so it cannot be said to have “died out.” I can’t even see evidence it’s declining. 3. It’s not even logical to assume French would die out without “support.” Languages can be propped up by government support when they’re near death, but French has never in the history of Canada been remotely close to death, even though it was certainly not wanted for much of Canadian history. I can’t think of any reason to believe French would die if the federal government suddenly lost interest in it; it defies all logic and any examination of world history to believe that a geographically concentrated language with six and a half million native speakers with a minority language group of just 1.5 million living among them - the overwhelming majority of whom speak French as a second language - would give up a language they’ve spoken for four centuries and which is bolstered by having an addition 100 million native speakers elsewhere in the world. Finland has fewer people than Quebec has Francophones and yet there is no serious threat that Finnish is going anywhere. Hungarian, Serbian, Lao, iziZulu, and God alone knows how many other languages are spoken by less-than-huge populations, surrounded and neighboured by more commonly spoken tongues, and are supported by relatively tiny diasporas of speakers and relatively miniscule levels of historical impact and importance, but none of those languages are going away. Even languages that governments try to stamp out will not die… the Basques and Tamils continues to speak their languages. If you think Quebecois are just going to give up speaking English if they change the cereal boxes… well, it’s just absurd. There’s no reason at all to think that’d happen. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/915 "2011-12-18T05:20:26Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > The other night (morning? hehe) I was almost getting the impression that some people wouldn’t be happy until Peter Mansbridge opens The National on a regular basis with something like “Today in Toronto, a family of four spent a few minutes acknowledging the existence of Lethbridge, Alberta, and figured that people there were probably nice and how unfortunate that that mom and pop store went out of business because of the Wal-Mart.” 😃 Okay, _that_ got me laughing out loud. So loud, that the cat jumped. He’s calmed down now, thankfully. And we have _two_ Wal-Marts. 🙂 Only one Chapters store though … grumble, grumble. I’ve been reading up on the Alberta shootings. Everybody involved was from Lethbridge, and while I don’t know any of them, I do know the places they were that night: the nightclub where things seemed to have started (I was there once, but have driven by it umpteen times), the convenience store they stopped at in Claresholm (I’ve bought coffee there many times on my way to and from Calgary), the stadium where the ballplayers played. Apparently, the group was heading to Calgary Airport–probably to get an early-morning flight, as the ballplayers were heading to Charlottetown, PEI. If the event happened at 3:30 a.m., as has been reported, they would have been to Calgary Airport by about 5:00 a.m. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/916 "2011-12-18T05:27:50Z")
Tar sands is a much older term and was colloquial since the the Athabaska fields were explored > [@1788](#): > > "At about 24 miles (39 km) from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet (6.1 m) long may be inserted without the least resistance. The bitumen is in a fluid state The term was used well into the late 20th century. It’s hardly an attempt to smear the industry. Of course you can object that tar is properly a distillate of coal but so what? You’d not object to tar-like sands? ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/917 "2011-12-18T07:11:36Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > The early game is going to be an eastern team most of the time pretty much by definition, though. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver aren’t going to start many games at 5 pm. Also, they’re showing Winnipeg’s and Montreal’s game in their markets, and showing the Toronto game in the west because, well, Vancouver’s playing them. The Hockey Night in Toronto cracks made sense a long time ago, but ever since the era of the doubleheader (1995!) they just sound dumb, IMO. As I pointed out, there are four Eastern Division teams in the NHL right now, and obviously, it makes perfect sense that the early game be an eastern team. However – and this is kinda my point – the eastern team shown in all regions that aren’t regional coverage is Toronto. Admittedly, I haven’t watched the early game much this year, but 100% of the times that I have tuned it in, it has been a Leafs game. This explains, to a large extent, why I rarely watch the early game. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/918 "2011-12-18T07:43:24Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > As I pointed out, there are four Eastern Division teams in the NHL right now, and obviously, it makes perfect sense that the early game be an eastern team. However – and this is kinda my point – the eastern team shown in all regions that aren’t regional coverage is Toronto. But – and this is kinda my point – also Vancouver. Two Canadian teams playing each other is rightly going to get maximum priority when it’s not a regional game. I haven’t done a scientific study on this or anything and the HNIC schedule doesn’t have the regional assignments, but at the very least you picked a bad night for your sample. On another note, someone else mentioned the Toronto-homerism of the show – their #1 PBP guy is Jim Hughson, who is probably the biggest Vancouver Canucks homer in all of the media. Also, they brought on Eric “I know Darryl Sutter” Francis as a regular part of their Hot Stove panel, who is majorly in the tank for Calgary. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/919 "2011-12-18T11:34:13Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > No, it wouldn’t. Your position simply is not supported by the facts, many key ones of which you’re omitting: … > 2. I can’t even see evidence it’s declining. Go down to the Anglicization and francization section. Without the support of the government to keep French front and center the pressure to learn English would be even greater. > **[Language demographics of Quebec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_demographics_of_Quebec)** > > This article presents the current language demographics of the Canadian province of Quebec. > The complex nature of Quebec's linguistic situation, with individuals who are often bilingual or multilingual, requires the use of multiple terms in order to describe the languages which people speak. > The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian census and the 2016 Canadian census, and lists languages that were selected by at le... ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/920 "2011-12-18T12:11:10Z")
An interesting link on languages. I wouldn’t be betting on French even though it is in number two spot now. [Top Languages of the world](http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/921 "2011-12-18T17:20:38Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > On another note, someone else mentioned the Toronto-homerism of the show – their #1 PBP guy is Jim Hughson, who is probably the biggest Vancouver Canucks homer in all of the media. Also, they brought on Eric “I know Darryl Sutter” Francis as a regular part of their Hot Stove panel, who is majorly in the tank for Calgary. I’ll admit that I don’t know the PBP and all the panel people they use. Don’t they still use Bob Cole for a lot of games? While having nothing to do with homerism, and I read the other day that during last week’s Devils-Habs game, Cole kept calling the player wearing #21 “Brian Gionta”. That doesn’t seem so bad, until you realize that the only #21 in the game was Mattias Tedenby, _a New Jersey Devil_ and that Brian Gionta - the Captain of the Montreal Canadiens - wasn’t even in the game due to injury. :smack: I have no point to make by relaying that little story other than to laugh again at the mistake! ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/922 "2011-12-18T17:26:11Z")
Yeah, Bob Cole should have retired about 10 years ago. He and Harry Neale were a horrible team that were acclaimed as great based on past performance, but they were clearly past their prime. Cole almost seemed to take pride in not knowing who played for Ottawa. But then most sportscasters hang on too long. And not that I blame them, it’s got to be one of the best jobs in the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059.md?page=47)