March 29, 2001
What a week that was - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- A few years ago, taking a course in high school called Career and Personal Planning, our dutiful teacher, Mrs. Jeffers assigned us a research project. The assignment was to research a career that interested us. The career grabbing my attention was that of radio talk show host. Not as prevalent as say a carpenter or an accountant, I was up for the challenge. I was in contact with some actual radio open liners. They provided me with answers found no where but their own personal experience. One radio host I wrote to was Peter Warren. Hosting the national open line show out of Vancouver’s CKNW, Warren got hold of my letter and rather than accommodating my request, went on the air and began ripping into my audacity in asking such questions regarding his profession.
I found no fault in asking such questions, as Rafe Mair and Bill Good answered the same without any trouble. Warren, on the other hand, went on the air and said that he would not answer my questions and that a kid like me shouldn’t ask questions on how to be a radio talk show host. Listeners began calling in and saying that he should help out with the kid’s paper and that such information would be found no where but him. Suffice to say, he had into me and I got no response from Peter Warren. I bear the scars to this day from the diatribe directed at your dependable scribbler.
Pundits across the nation have hailed last week as a most interesting week in the world of politics. And guess what, it started with one Peter Warren. On his program last Saturday, the guest was to have been Rahim Jaffer, Canadian Alliance MP for Edmonton-Strathcona. Well, “Jaffer” was on the air. Actually, it was his Executive Assistant Matthew Johnson, who was impersonating his boss on the radio, while the Honourable Member was opening a co-owned coffee joint in Edmonton. The fraud was exposed by an astute listener, as well as Warren’s producer Shannon Gunning. While pursuing the possible fraud, Jaffer lied saying that he did do the interview. When Gunning asked it be put into writing, Jaffer had no alternative but to ‘fess up. He did and to a tearful dissertation in the Commons, Jaffer was now sitting in the Alliance back bench. Should he have resigned? I think so, yet nothing would come from it. He is not the leader of his party, nor would the Alliance want to do away with a visible minority. His punishment and this very public ordeal shall, in my opinion suffice. If I were Rahim Jaffer, I’d brace myself for the fun to be made of this situation down the road. This thing will haunt him for years and that’s bloody well enough.
The other mess of last week was the Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry’s comment that crosses were being burned in Prince George.
During Question Period, there is an uncommon (yet tasteless) practice that in the heat of opposition rancour, some government backbenchers rise and ask an oh-so safe question of their cabinet member colleagues. The member for the Yukon, a Liberal, rose on Wednesday and asked the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women, what her ministry would be undertaking as that day was multiculturalism day, or something like that. Alas, the arrogant windbag that Fry is, she began spouting her trap that crosses were being burned in Prince George.
My utmost congratulations go to the Alliance members who spotted the remark and asked that she apologise forthwith. Having witnessed the spectacle on Wednesday live, as it happened, I was taken aback at the government house leader, Don Boudria’s unaccustomed humility when asked to respond to the point of order. He told the speaker that Fry was to be summoned to the House to respond to such allegations. She did, but gave a half-assed retraction to some of her remarks. The pressure mounting and the fib exposed, Fry was forced to rise on Thursday to apologise for her remarks. She continues to be hounded and rightfully so. Her arrogance is unbearable, but what is worse is that she is the multiculturalism minister and she talks like that? Come on, ministerial responsibility is paramount. Fry has abdicated that responsibility and she should go.
The two in question, Rahim Jaffer and Hedy Fry, have some serious problems keeping their behaviour in check. The ignorant will claim that situations like these prove that polticans are bastards. Sadly, one must realise it comes with the territory. These situations should not be representative of polticans in general. This was a junior mistake for Rahim Jaffer, and another bunch of flagellation from Hedy Fry, a sorry excuse for a minister in the federal government. Hedy Fry, instead of fighting racism, has instead, propagated equally dangerous drivel that has so exacerbated the tension in some parts of the country. Whatever happens, it was a hell of a week. Disconcerting, yet funny.
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