Bruce Dowbiggin
Snobs & Yobs: How Canadian Media Made Themselves The Convoy Story
In case you missed it, the most compelling story to emerge from the #Convoy2022 was the disrespect shown to Canada’s media covering the event. Just ask them. While the stalemate dragged on, heart-wrenching stories of reporters scorned and told to “get lost” dominated the feed of the Media Party. One Radio-Canada stalwart was actually shoved live on-air. Gasp.
It was poignant to hear how people supported by government handouts bravely did the jobs reporters have done for ages without complaint. They were the stars of their coverage, and we were going to hear about it. (Right on cue the hapless Toronto media lifted the flag of Press Infallibility, calling the harassment a national disgrace. pace G & M TV critic. )
No one had had the heart to tell the ladies, gentlemen and others of the press before the event that a large portion of the population now dismisses them as mouthpieces for the prime minister and his coterie of WEF followers. Even though their ratings had cratered and their influence disappeared it was business as usual in the minds of CBC, CTV, Global and the titans of the printed word.
They were brave, intrepid warriors wandering like Diogenes, searching for the flickering light of truth amongst the protesters. Doing a dirty job for all the world to see their courage. Even as they carried #PMJT water about swastikas, white power, KKK and national threats they took a bow at their own courage. It’s hard to think how this could be more out of touch, but we’re sure they’ll find a way.
This just in: They hate you. No one cares. Do your job.
Sarcasm aside, the descent of the media’s credibility— already crumbled— plunged faster than the bobsleighs at the Beijing Olympics. They ignored the PM’s salvo against truckers that started the debacle— “‘antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, homophobia and transphobia that we’ve seen in display.’ “— to concentrate their scorn on the horn-honking rabble who came to sully the Glebe, Centretown and Sandy Hill. They were, the words of Andrew Coyne, “Yobs”.
The crisis moment arrived when the police advanced on protesters on Friday. CBC and CTV locked off their cameras to focus solely on the fray. Former police officials from across the nation were deputized as “experts” to cover the clashes. They pronounced the police reluctance to use force— in the words of Liberal MP Mark Gerretson— as the “gold standard”.
Then the damned New York Times broke the spell. The Parnassus to Canadian journalists reported that police had advanced with guns drawn. Immediately CBC grandee Carol Off denounced the Times’ story. Then video appeared showing—oops— a squad of cops arresting a man in a van at gunpoint. The Times then lectured their “see no evil” junior cousins on how to cover a riot. How embarrassing.
Okay, it happens. Anyone can get a story wrong once in a while. But, we were assured by Canadian media, the rest of the police work was impeccable. Sadly, CBC and its colleagues forgot that this is the age of citizen journalists. Despite police attempts to keep prying eyes away from the “battle zone” the police gold-standard myth was exposed by private citizens and Rebel Media.
Footage showed police viciously kneeing and assaulting a Romanian immigrant driver as he lay trapped on the ground (only Fox’s Tucker Carlson interviewed him). Video showed cops using similar WWE tactics in other parts of the lines. In another segment heavily protected cops shoved a woman and tossed her phone to the ground as they threatened her with arrest.
Most egregious, an indigenous woman, run over in her wheelchair by a formation of mounted police, was taken to hospital for her injuries. (Remember #PMJT said this was a white-power protest) This assault only came to light as a denial of rumours she’d died. Which was made worse when an RCMP private chat room showed Mounties laughing at the woman being ridden over and promising to do the same when called up for duty. With no rebuke from #PMJT.
The point is not did cops have physical encounters with demonstrators. These things happen when cops engage unarmed but unruly demonstrators. The point is the snow job performed by CBC/ CTV/ Global and their colleagues on any of this, instead interviewing and congratulating friendly cops and themselves on escaping danger.
Even after video rebutted the narrative of brave reporters and heroic cops, it was repeated— without media correction— by Liberal MPs in the parliamentary debate the networks ignored for almost three days. Liberals seemed to conflate defiance in the face of @CBCNews / @CTVNews interviewers with assault.
Journalistic assault is reporting the Liberals’ fake stories about swastikas, condo fires, Putin influence, cenotaph clearing and property destruction without corroboration. Or having no recall of previous indigenous blockades of rail lines, the “Occupy” movement in many cities, the never-ending siege of Caledonia, etc. All of which lasted months, not weeks. No ther Convoy was unprecedented.
Media had no curiosity about who was carrying swastikas and Confederate flags among the protesters (anyone interview any of them?)— even after they were kicked out by the demonstrators. Instead the media disgraced itself further when an illegally hacked list of donors to the Convoy was printed by media. The suddenly curious Jimmy Olsens published it, then left no stone unturned to find a lady making a $50 donation in BC.
Make no mistake, the past three weeks were about one thing for MSM journos: covering #PMJT’s fatal error in underestimating the Convoy movement. Everything— enlisting media, inventing alt-right threats, false flags and now martial law— was to protect his leadership and reputation with his globalist cousins.
Example: Did anyone grill him on the real terrorism on the pipeline that weekend? Twenty people with axes? Setting fire to vehicles with people inside them? No? Anyone doing their jobs?
There were some reporters who brooked the urge to go all-in on the narratives. CBC Radio’s Evan Dyer tried to bring perspectives to what’s involved in reporting a riot. David Common kept his cool. And CTV’s Evan Solomon attempted to push back on the size of the threat and ask pointed questions. For the rest, it was demonize the demonstrators, not the PM. Burnish their own halos for surviving an “occupation”.
When you see such Media Party enterprise journalism remember that they’re not writing stories for the public or their bosses or even Trudeau. They’re writing to impress each other. Bragging rights in the morning story meeting is the gold medal. (Just ask Wendy Mesley what happens when you diverge from the party line in story meetings.) Hell, they brag on air about how good they are.
And nothing got bigger props than building up the Liberals now-cancelled Emergencies Act by raking the truckers’ incursion on NIMBY Ottawans. As Kelly McParland of the National Post writes, “The belief that Liberalism is Canada, and any criticism is unCanadian and unacceptable may be the defining quality of this government.”
While Canadian reporters blissfully back-patted each other, their peers outside Canada were less impressed with the comfy-pillow treatment of Trudeau. Here’s the NY Times shooting holes in the media’s demonizing of the truckers’ behaviour: “They have a right to be noisy and even disruptive. Protests are a necessary form of expression in a democratic society, particularly for those whose opinions do not command broad popular support.”
Here’s the Wall Street Journal on Trudeau’s enormous gaffe imposing martial law.. Here’s the Financial Times, the voice of British business, on the faux-Emergency act. “The measures are designed to respond to insurrection, espionage and genuine threats to the Canadian Constitution rather than peaceful protest, no matter how irritating and inconvenient,” Here’s Piers Morgan on Trudeau’s strategy that went unchallenged in his purchased media.
Even the EU took time from its Ukraine threat. Cristian Terhes, a member of the European Parliament, declared that Canada’s prime minister was acting “exactly like a tyrant, a dictator. If you raise doubts about the vaccines, you’re outcast.” Yobs, indeed.
For an independent press this upbraiding of their coverage would be embarrassing. Coming from a press that is fulsomely rewarded by the ruling government it was an existential failure.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
It hasn’t been the greatest month for Wayne Gretzky. One one hand he has a Putin pal, Alex Ovechkin, systematically stalking his record for the most regular-season goals in an NHL career. After a slow start The Great Eight is now tracking Wayne like Carey Price tracking a mule deer (more on that later). When this is over he could have only 60 NHL records left!
On the other hand, his secret about supporting Donald Trump got out in the wake of Orange Man Bad re-possessing the White House. Yes, Gretz is a MAGA man, right down to the hat. While his son-in-law, LIV golfer Dustin Johnson, tees it up regularly with The Donald (they’re neighbours in the Palm Beaches) most of the hockey sweats were unaware that No. 99 votes for Trump. (In Wayne’s defence he votes GOP in the Hollywood congressional district which is like using a hair blower to melt the Columba Ice Field.)
Then, after Trump’s stunning (to some) win on Tuesday, pictures emerged on the Great One with his family at Mar A Lago celebrating the win. Janet Gretzky cooed, “Congratulations Mr. President Donald J Trump ♥️🤍💙🇺🇸 You did it, You deserved it, you earned every bit of it. The world is a better place to have you as our Leader. Proud to be an American. Thank you for being such a great friend . May God keep watching over you ♥️🙏🏻♥️ Love our family to yours !”
The secret (to some) was out. Then hero of the Great White North, which has elected Justin Trudeau three times, melted down. Like this. “People should burn all their old hockey jersey and cards of this guy. A shame”. And those were the nice ones.
University of Alberta professor Robert Summers @RJSCity: “He’s been a pretty unlikable guy for a long time, this just further solidifies it. He was an amazing hockey player.” @ktownkeith: “Gretzky is disgusting and pathetic. I will celebrate when Ovechkin breaks his record. Also FYI, Mario was the best hockey player ever, not Whine Gretzky.”
Dave MacIntyre @dave_macattack: “Wayne Gretzky being at Cheeto’s inauguration party is disappointing in ways I can’t properly express in a tweet. And no, I don’t care that hockey culture is conservative. Being fiercely opposed to a fascist dictator should be the absolute floor for anyone with a conscience….He ain’t the GOAT for me anymore.”
“Not sure this guy is the Canadian icon and encapsulation of Canadian values that many think he is. The first red flag was his very partisan support for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives starting in the mid-2000s. No thanks, Wayne!”
Globe & Mail columnist Andrew Coyne, who was on an 0-50 heater during the election weighed in. @acoyne: “I have no problem with Gretzky being a conservative. I do have a problem with him hanging with Trump. Who, for starters, is not a conservative.”
There were some who defended him. My pal Ted Bird chirped back. @manofbird: “The pissants complaining about Wayne Gretzky attending Trump’s victory party are the same people who would’ve snitched on their own kids for playing road hockey during COVID.”
But it’s safe to say that as Canada prepares to defenestrate Trudeau in the next federal election, Gretz will not be invited to Rideau Hall for beaver tails with Justin. It’s likely he’ll experience the Bobby Orr blackout, becoming a non-person in Canada for getting too close to Trump.
In Orr’s case it was his published endorsement of Trump’s losing 2020 campaign that led to the shade being drawn over the greatest defenceman (IMO player) ever. “He’s the kind of teammate I want”.
Much like the Gretzky tsunami of condemnation, Orr took it in the cup, especially in liberal New England where he made his bones. “Not that Bobby Orr will care, but his endorsement of Donald Trump is one of the most disappointing things I’ve ever read in my life. I guess all I can say is that he seems to have a weak spot for conmen/future convicted criminals.”
In Canada it was no better for Orr. Here was Vancouver columnist Daniel Wagner: “In other words, Orr faces no harm from a Trump administration and is likely insulated from the harm that others have experienced. That doesn’t excuse his endorsement, but goes a long way towards explaining it.” In the Hockey News Ken Campbell tied Orr to the Jan. 6 riots. “Bobby Orr Was Part of the Problem. Now He Can Be Part of the Solution”.
In our column of Nov. 8, 2020, we pointed the wee hypocrisy of the liberal-left press box. “Just weeks after giving LeBron James’ political activism a tongue bath, the Globe & Mail sent in the goons for Orr. “Neither Bobby Orr nor any other athletes should be leading the political conversation” thundered Cathal Kelly.
Sure. Leave it to us. Other Canadian sports media called Trump a “monster”, a “racist” and “a totalitarian”. You could heat most of the GTA with the steam emitted by their indignation at Orr having the temerity to speak out. Others swore to sell off their precious Orr memorabilia as if Orr had been accused of throwing a Stanley Cup Final.”
A bitter Orr has taken a low profile since as even some in his hometown of Parry Sound wants nothing to do with him. “Poor Parry Sound,” tweeted Mary Lou George on Oct. 31, 2020. “What a disgrace #BobbyOrr has turned out to be. Guess he believes bragging about assaulting women really is just locker room talk since he wants Trump on his team. Sad.”
Longtime fans in Parry Sound dumped on him. “I just assumed that he was a good guy. Honestly it was heartbreaking for me to learn this about him. It just shattered my impression – I guess it was an illusion – it just shattered it… It kind of now, makes me rethink a lot of my hockey heroes … it’s just disappointing.”
The message is that in progressive Canada it doesn’t pay for even the greatest hockey heroes to diverge from their Trudeaupian orthodoxy. As Canadiens star goalie Carey Price learned when he dared to disagree with Trudeau’s plans to seize guns.
“I love my family, I love my country, and I care for my neighbour,” Price wrote in a published post. “I am not a criminal or a threat to society. What @justinpjtrudeau is trying to do is unjust… Thank you for listening to my opinion.”
We commiserated with him in our column at the time. “Good luck with that, Carey. Coming in the week when Quebec commemorates the 2014 École Polytechnique massacre, the political message backfired. Quebec’s media exploded against the man who was so recently their hero. Price tried to clarify his stand.
“My views are my own, and I do believe in them,” he tweeted. “The only reason I bring up this issue is because it is what’s being brought up now and not out of disrespect to anyone.” That brought the Habs belatedly to protect him. “Carey was not aware of the unfortunate timing on his statement. The Montreal Canadiens wish to express their sincere apology to any and all who have been offended or upset by the discourse that has arisen over this matter in recent days.”
But the message is clear. Whether you’re Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr or Carey Price, Canada’s Woke chorus will not abide insubordination to their cause. That includes much of the media. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men , they can’t handle the truth. So shut up and pass the puck.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
“A Second Trump Administration Would Be a Carnival of Corruption and Greed,” New York Times headline.
Surprise! The carnival just rolled into DC. On a night after Americans told the Washington elites and Hollywood toffs to get stuffed, the denial squad was back in full force in both America and Canada on Wednesday. Instead of asking what they did wrong they re-doubled efforts to do the Obama finger point at people they see as their lessers.
But it’s falling on deaf ears. It’s now okay to answer questions again about what happened in 2020 and what will happen going forward. Our good friend Toronto Mike asked if we thought the 2020 election— laughingly billed as the “the most secure election in history”— was rigged. Our answer was that, just as in justice, it’s not good enough stage a fair election. You must be seen to stage a fair election.
The 2020 vote failed that test. Tuesday night the best argument that 2020 was a stinking potage was the mystery of the missing voters, Specifically, it appears that Kamala Harris will win about 12 million fewer votes than did Biden. They didn’t go to Trump, who’s just barely ahead of his 2020 number. Where did they go? Did they sit out the election? We thought there were millions more Americans set to vote in 2024?
Or did they, as Trump loyalist Steve Bannon suggests, never exist in the first place? It’s a telling point as the new Covid voting rules left gaps in the supervision and conduct of mail-in voting, drop boxes, vote harvesting and chain of custody. Because they were so greedy for power the DEMs engineered the @Biden win in 2020, using Covid restrictions to gin up a fanciful 81 million votes for Biden, who they knew was senile. In their exuberance to stomp out Trump using illegal ballots did they produce too high a bar for votes? Oops.
They got their comeuppance Tuesday night as Biden World collapsed onto a shellshocked Kamala Harris. Perhaps the biggest losers outside of Harris/ Biden were the legions of celebrities who took it as their appointed duty to lecture what Sunny Hostin of The View called “uneducated” voters. The sense of entitlement by everyone from Beyonce to Bruce Springsteen to Cardi B was shattered by the referendum on privilege Tuesday.
All you needed to know about their heavy foot in this election was George Clooney. The A-list actor decided after the June debate that senile Biden couldn’t win. He cut off his financial support and urged other Hollywood libs to do the same. Then he wrote an OpEd telling Joe to go. On the say-so of Clooney and Hollywood loons like Rob Reiner, Mark Ruffalo and Ed Begley the DNC threw away the legal primary votes for Biden and stuck Kamala in his place— without any vetting on her lecherous husband or radical roots.
They then rounded up the Media party and pollsters to take her from 36 percent approval to 50 approval in a week. And there we were on Tuesday. George Clooney’s election. Hope The View enjoyed it. Now they’re reduced to begging for rapprochement from the GOP after having none when the tables were turned.
The lasting takeaway from 2024 won’t just be Trump but Elon Musk and the replacement of legacy media by social media. By restoring Right voices to his X site he destroyed the social media cabal of Facebook, Google, MSM and more supporting the Blob. By going on the Joe Rogan podcast for two hours or talking to Tucker Carlson’s podcast he emphasized the new prominence of podcasts and social media as an alternative to debates on the Big Four networks or sit-downs with dismissive hosts on 60 Minutes .
Suddenly there was another channel for message sending. Musk’s conversion to Trump (after the Left spurned him) left the grandees of status quo from the Bidens and Barack exposed. Their traditional interlocutors had lost the public trust during Covid. With no alternatives but middle-of-the-night raids and dissembling NYC prosecutors they showed their true colours. .
The Trump hate was endemic— some of it justified. Allusions to Hitler, internment camps, defunding unfriendly media and more. This from the party where Barack Obama said they go high when others go low. Good night and good riddance. Had they simply waited out Trump’s second term in 2020 they’d have likely won last night with a fresh leader and an eight-year runway. Now Trump gets four more years, with J.D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Hailey and Tulsi Gabbard ready to tack on another eight years. Kamala Harris disappears ignominiously. Bad move all around in 2020.
In Canada, a volatile Trump re-elected should act as a brake on Justin Trudeau’s wilder instincts. While Canada is not America, the populist unrest that propelled Trump is very alive in Trudeau’s nation. He sits in the 20s for approval. A Kamala win might have been a green light to more globalist pandering. Now, after Tuesday’s bloodbath Trudeau risks the CDN economy by moving further to the trash heap. For the next six to twelve months his Chinese handlers are going to be mad as Trudeau must cleave closely to them.
As we said, some are calling for unity and understanding in the wake of the 2024 election. (Most of them the ones who took the nastiest, most vicious shots at him in the courts and Congress.) There will be time for that soon. But first, for no other reason than to remember how they acted in power, recall how they took a picture of mounted border police apprehending illegal migrants in a Texas river. Biden said they were whipping the people with their reins. His lapdog media piled on. It was a lie they perpetuated for weeks.
Finally, say a prayer for the polling industry such as Disney’s 538 Project whose work was followed religiously by most media and political junkies. In the end almost all pollsters outside Rasmussen and Atlas Intel came grovelling in favour of the candidate from the uniparty. Even when the mistake was revealed several major firms refused to call close races. Meanwhile those who followed the polymarket betting sites saw a consistent preference over 60 percent in favour of Trump all night. In the end they might have been the night’s biggest winner.
Charles De Gaulle famously asked, “How can you govern a nation with 538 different cheeses?” America is about to find out that, in the new news era, governing will involve 538 different media sources producing information. With Elon Musk as the ring leader.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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