Was there a Republican debate last night? Canada doesn't care. The eastern half of the country is still delirious over their just-passed Thanksgiving weekend, which featured a delightful blast of Indian summer weather. But there are other matters occupying their minds, too. Here are just a few.
The Tory government of Stephen Harper has stepped in to block a now-cancelled strike by Air Canada flight attendants. While nobody wanted the strike to happen, we are vaguely discomfited about Ottawa's willingness to tell workers what they can and cannot do. Kind of reminds us of that vaguely cross-eyed guy from Wisconsin. In the meantime, on the off-chance that Harper ever flies commercial, we're sure he's going to get some hot coffee tossed in his lap.
Amnesty International has called upon Canada to arrest the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived when he travels to British Columbia for a conference on October 20. The charge: human rights violations (i.e., torture). “As the U.S. authorities have, so far, failed to bring former President Bush to justice, the international community must step in," Amnesty says. We cats love this. Have at it, Canada, have at it.
But the huge story here, and we mean huge, is the kerfuffle over some vicious comments made last Thursday night by an overdressed buffoon who used to coach the Boston Bruins. See, right now there's an important conversation going on as to whether the National Hockey League, in the wake of grievous head injuries and some deaths, should ban fighting from the game. Don Cherry of the CBC's "Coach's Corner" is completely against this — and on his show last week, called three former players who he thinks oppose him on the issue some un-family-friendly names.
The problem is, some of the players whom Cherry slandered are not campaigning for a fighting ban. Oops. So they're considering a defamation lawsuit. The Canadian sports blogosphere and the newspaper opinion pages are, as you can imagine, on fire.
We cats go back and forth on the fighting issue, but we find it amusing that Cherry's defenders always, without fail, cite his right to free speech. Not unlike the right-wing nutjobs who were outraged over ESPN's firing of Hank Williams, Jr. Once again, though, it's not a question of speech in the public square but, rather, the noxious words of a transgressing entertainer. If the market determines that Cherry's behavior, like Williams', is unacceptable — and we cats sense that sentiments could be moving that way — the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will have to make an economic decision and let Cherry go.
If that happens, let's just hope Don Cherry doesn't sing.
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