Roundup: Don’t complain to the minister

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There was a whole lot of online anger over the weekend directed at CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup, as the topic was the whole American annexation talk, and they decided to co-broadcast this with an NPR in the US, and treated the whole thing like a though experiment when it’s our sovereignty we’re discussing. It’s not a cute thought experiment, and it’s not

https://twitter.com/HNHughson/status/1893684327973539938

While I did not personally listen, I have been informed that the topic was framed around the notion that this would be some sort of democratic process, which is not the threat, and then they invited Kevin O’Leary on to give his take, and not only didn’t bother to actually push back or fact-check anything he said, but Ian Hanomansing invited people do to their own fact-checking online after the show. Are you fucking kidding me? That’s supposed to be your job as journalists. But seriously. Kevin O’Leary. You know he has nothing of value to offer but bluster. This was a deliberate choice by producers to crank up the “controversy,” which was both irresponsible and a dereliction of duty. Just an absolute gods damned catastrophe. It’s not that we shouldn’t be talking about the threat of annexation or that Trump promises to wage economic warfare on us to turn us into a vassal state—it’s that we need to frame these discussions in a clear-eyed way, not whatever this bullshit that Hanomansing and company were doing.

The whole attempt was a sticky mixture of aggressive both-sidesing, trying to be controversial to make people angry for the engagement, and the arrogance of the host/producers that they could get away with it.That they brought in Kevin O'Leary was a *choice.*

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-02-24T01:56:56.438Z

To make matters worse, a bunch of people have decided to complain to the minister about this.

No. Absolutely not.

CBC may be a public broadcaster, but it is run arm’s-length from government, because it’s not a state broadcaster (regardless of what Conservative chuds like to claim). The minister has no say and should have no say in this. If you want to complain, talk to the CBC ombudsman, or the head of CBC news, but you DO NOT complain to the minister about it. That’s about as wrong as writing to the King to complain, and will get you the same form-letter response.

https://bsky.app/profile/senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social/post/3livb5f6oj22e

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched guided bomb attacks overnight Friday, killing one woman in Kostiantynivka, and then launched their largest drone attack yet overnight Saturday, with 267 drones fired, along with missiles. At least one person died as a result of a strike in Kryvyi Rih in that attack. North Korea is providing as much as half of Russia’s ammunition against Ukraine by this point. The US tried to force Ukraine to withdraw their UN resolution condemning Russia on the third anniversary of the invasion, in favour of an American resolution that soft-pedals the whole thing. (Ukraine would not). Zelenskyy said that he would be willing to step down if it meant a proper peace deal that includes NATO membership, and rejected Trump’s demands for $500 billion in “payback.”

Please share this fact sheet on Ukraine with anyone who needs itunderstandingwar.org/backgrounder…

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social) 2025-02-23T07:47:10.900Z

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau will be in Ukraine today to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, and to meet with other world leaders. This is his fourth visit (photos here).
  • Trudeau had a call with Trump on Saturday, ostensibly about Ukraine and the border, while the White House version of the readout of the call was…dubious.
  • MPs and Canadians gathered across the country to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
  • EU leaders will be meeting again on March 6th to determine next steps with Ukraine and continental defence as America upends support.
  • Nathaniel Erskine-Smith says he’s aware of the reality that a trade war could make housing even more expensive because of supply chains.
  • The military’s recruitment standards now allow applicants with manageable conditions like asthma, anxiety and ADHD.
  • It’s the French Liberal debate tonight, and Mark Carney has the most to prove.
  • Chrystia Freeland promises consultations on replacing the carbon levy, while all of the candidates have differing ideas about the future of the civil service.
  • Here’s an exploration of just how much trouble the NDP are in federally.
  • Charlie Angus is sponsoring a petition calling on the government to revoke Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship (his mother was born in Regina).
  • Kevin Carmichael muses about how we need to change the discussion around housing by challenging the myths around home ownership in this country.
  • Mike Moffatt explains the interlocking housing crises in Ontario that the Ford government has done little about.
  • Stephen Saideman walks through exactly why Trump’s purge of military leadership is a Very Bad Thing, and why civilian control of the military is damaged.
  • Dan Garner reminds us of the importance of Chesterton’s Fence as Musk and his band of online incels slash and burn the American civil service.
  • Althia Raj notes how Poilievre has started flailing as his poll numbers sink.
  • Susan Delacourt and Matt Gurney debate whether Ford called the election now to maximize the lack of attention that people have to provincial politics.

Odds and ends:

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: Don’t complain to the minister”

  1. I heard most of the cross country checkup program, though I didn’t listen diligently. For the most part, it wasn’t offensively frivolous, which the CBC has been. (There was a lot of giggling about it several weeks ago among panel members and hosts, for example). The criticisms were getting through, because Ian Hanomansing kept explaining it wasn’t their intention to minimize it.The US host kept saying it was so great to hear directly from people, instead of social media.

    Then Kevin O’Leary came on, who was described as a “prominent businessman”. That’s the second time I’ve heard a CBC host let that guy bulldoze them. (The first was the Frontburner host, who was shockingly sycophantic). O’Leary was saying things like 11 out of 10 Canadians would agree to trade in “Trudeau bucks” for adopting American currency. He was venomous about Justin Trudeau, to a highly neurotic degree. It was like listening to a convoy trucker. Hanomansing seemed helpless to counter him, or stem the flow of absolutely nonsensical invective.

    Honestly, I don’t know why they keep giving O’Leary air time. Someone called what he’s doing light treason. His promotion of adopting American currency seems insidious to me, but he doesn’t get pushback.

    There’s a professor from Carleton University who wrote an essay about how the threat to annex Canada would unfold in practice, because he got irked at the way people were talking about it, like it would be easy. I heard him once on my local CBC, but never again. Yet I have to hear O’Leary’s toxic diatribes regularly.

  2. The government subsidizes the CBC on the theory that it serves the public good. They don’t have to interfere at all, just cut off the funding and let them be what they want to be.

    • “They don’t have to interfere at all, just cut off the funding and let them be what they want to be.”

      Do you realize that the Government funds the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Societe Radio-Canada pursuant to the Broadcasting Act, and that the Corporation Board of Directors are appointed by the Governor General-in-Council.

      The Parliament of Canada ultimately sets the standards in the Broadcasting Act, and as long as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Societe Radio-Canada meets them, then the Government has absolutely NO business in interfering with the internal operations of the CBC/SRC.

      Therefore, it will take an Act of Parliament to cut off the funding and set up new arrangements.

      Pierre Poilievre’s idea to cut off the funding to the English Language operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Societe Radio-Canada, and retain funding for the French language Radio-Canada is a non-starter. Why should only the French speaking Canadians have a public broadcaster, and not the English speaking Canadians?

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