I love Canada.
The maple leaf. The beer. The hockey. The names of the little towns way up in northern Saskatchewan.
I also like Canadian media. The difference is subtle, but one of the things I enjoy most compared to American media is the Canadians’ relaxed approach to everything, including political correctness. I listen online to stations in Toronto and Edmonton (for the hockey talk, of course) and read Canadian newspapers (for the hockey coverage, of course) and notice how they tend to get away with saying or writing things that if uttered down here would trigger any of the following:
- An uproar
- A public apology by the host/writer/anchor
- Suspension
- Firing
- All of the above
A radio host uses the term “douche bag” (I’ve heard it) and there isn’t a headline in tomorrow’s paper. I also enjoy the way many Canadian media members write and speak. Direct. Quick wit. Dry humor. There’s just something about their style that’s different from down here. It’s a cultural thing. Mostly, I like it because it’s real. It’s how people speak.
All that being said . . .
Bruce Dowbiggin, a columnist for the Toronto Globe & Mail, needs to hang it up.
In his column Tuesday, Dowbiggin criticizes the Edmonton Oilers for hiring an American play-by-play host. He asks how the Oilers could ignore the flood of Canadian resumes they received. Alan Watt, the Oilers’ executive in charge of media, explained it rather simply: ”It was close, very close. But Jack just kept cutting through as the best. This was not a one-person decision. It was not easy. But we feel we’ve got the right guy.”
Don Cherry, who I happen to like even though I realize he’s basically a cartoon character, is notorious for his diatribes against Russians, Swedes, Fins and basically any hockey player who doesn’t hail from Canada. Everyone chuckles, thinks it’s cute, pats Don on the back and tells him to go get fitted for a new blazer.
But he’s wrong. And so is Dowbiggin (who is eternally surly and negative in his columns, most of which I do not read.)
How is Dowbiggin’s take any different than arguing against a black or a Hispanic or a woman? What would happen if he wrote that column down here?
Watt says it best: “I don’t think it’s much different than a Canadian symphony bringing in a guy from Milwaukee to conduct their orchestra … There’s a long list of Canadians who have announcing jobs in the U.S., and no one is bothered. The game itself is now full of Russians and Swedes and Czechs, so I think that’s a little bit xenophobic to say we have to hire a Canadian in Edmonton.”
Bingo.
PS: The Oilers hired Jack Michaels, a career minor league play-by-play broadcaster who, most recently, was calling games for the Alaska Aces of the ECHL for eight seasons. The guy has over 900 games of experience … and now has his break. Cool.
PSS: Xenophobia is an irrational, deep-rooted fear of or antipathy towards foreigners. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning “stranger,” “foreigner” and φόβος (phobos), meaning “fear.” Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity.
