The CBC is coy about the controversy surrounding Prairie Giant – The Tommy Douglas Story. (Speaking of The Greatest Eugenicist, can anyone tell me if it mentioned these writings?)
The movie, which ran in two parts on CBC in March, got some good reviews but it also came under fire for alleged historical inaccuracies.
“Alleged inaccuracies” include a hard-drinkin’ Premier Gardiner giving a speech to striking coal miners in a year he wasn’t premier – or so “historians say”. The report goes out of its way to downplay the school division rejection.
Some school board trustees in Prince Albert think schools in the region shouldn’t show the recent made-for-TV movie about former premier and medicare founder Tommy Douglas.
Members of the Saskatchewan Rivers school board recently held a brief debate in response to a letter from Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall objecting to the way former Liberal premier Jimmy Gardiner was portrayed in the two-part movie Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story.
Some trustees were opposed to having the movie shown in schools, while at least one other raised concerns about censorship, director of education Bill Cooke said Thursday.
However, no action was taken and the letter was simply received and filed, Cooke said.
“Let’s face it, this is a letter from a politician,” he said. “We’re supposed to be above that.”
Compare the CBC report with this less “invested” one;
A majority of trustees in the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division are advising against schools showing the movie Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, saying it is based on fiction and not fact.
The CBC drama was broadcast in March as a two-part, four-hour miniseries chronicling the life of the former Saskatchewan premier who changed the face of health care in Canada.
But Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall recently wrote a letter to the school division, saying he objected to its portrayal of former Saskatchewan premier James Gardiner.
“The film does not accurately portray a very significant period of time in our province’s rich history,” said Wall. “The historical inaccuracies of the film have been cited by no less authorities than former premier Allan Blakeney, who stated that Gardiner was inappropriately depicted as a ‘simple-minded demon.’”
Saskatchewan Rivers trustee Barry Hollick said he supported the letter from Wall and suggested the rest of the board do the same.
“I view this film as political propaganda and I’d hope we wouldn’t use it in our schools,” said Hollick.
Trustee Rodney Thompson said he didn’t think the board should interfere with freedom of speech.
More here on how Gardiner was portrayed;
A blacker figure could scarcely be imagined. Mean, arrogant and selfish, the CBC’s Gardiner was the very antithesis of the saintly Tommy. In dramatic terms, the lifelong Liberal’s rendering provided a great nemesis for Douglas, an implacable foe for the CCF leader to prevail over.
It was wonderful television, but abysmal history.
David Smith, the Saskatchewan political scientist who co-authored the only Gardiner biography ever written, calls his subject’s treatment at the hands of the CBC “scandalous.”
“It’s not right to portray him like that. You might disagree with how he went about it, but Saskatchewan was very important to him.”
On almost every score, scriptwriter Bruce Smith got Gardiner wrong. Significant historical events were either twisted beyond recognition or worse, drawn out of thin air.
CBC lies
Truth Dies
The dumbest part of that movie was the depiction of Gardiner as “hard drinking”.
It is common knowledge that Gardiner an avowed non-drinker.
But let’s not let the truth stand in the way of cbc socialist/nationalist indoctrination.
As I never watch the CBC I didn’t see the ‘documentary’ so didn’t know how hard the CBC was working for the Sask NDPers. I guess we really shouldn’t be surprised at the CBC skewing everything to fit their agenda. Time to rid this country of this garbage–the sooner the better!
Actually, on second thought, this is a perfect opportunity to teach kids about CBC as a progaganda arm of the Canadian Socialist Movement.
So, teach a unit of history in school that lays out the truth – then show a clip form the CBC mockumentary that lies like a bad rug.
Get them to read TD’s master’s thesis and then get them to debate why this was left out of the CBC’s show. Ask them if they would have a different opinion of the movie had it been included.
Teacg them about the use of selective truth telling in history by socialists.
For a related activity, have them research the intellectual and political failures of Pierre Trudeau’s response to the greatest moral challenge of his generation by roaring around Montreal on a mototcycle and blaming Britian for starting WW2 while a million real Canadians answered the call and volunteered to fight for freedom
Ask the students what is going on, why the lies. Should they ever trust CBC again ?
Ya . . this could be very beneficial.
When i was a child my uncles wife (Olive Buck,daughter of Tim buck,the Canadian communist leader..)told us of the meetings that her father and Tommy Douglas had.Mr. Buck had the ear of Joseph Stalin in the 30’s as Canada had the largest communist part (and mayday celebrations) outside of Russia.
It was her assertion that Mr. Buck sr. was always trying to wrangle money and favours out of Douglas,and vise-versa
We know that money “raised” was used to send soviet flags and literature printed in Toronto during the numerous trips Mr.Buck took to see Stalin.
Our family was harrassed by the RCMP before,during and after the war due to these ties,even though our family was staunchly pro Canada and monarchists,with many members fighting overseas.
It has always been our belief that Mr.buck called in Favours from Tommy Douglas to obtain a Canadian passport that Ramon Mercader used to enter Mexico
illegally.Here,with the help of the NKVD (and with a Winnipeg tailored suit and pocket currency supplied by Canadian contacts..)buried an ice pick into the skull of Leon Trotsky..
this a novel waiting to happen i can assure you!
Think i will ever see that story on CBC?..:0
Only methinks,if i pay for it..oh wait..i already do..
kursk, the first link is a CBC story.
The depiction of Gardiner in that movie is not only false, it ignores Gardiner’s accomplishments and his bravery.
Shame on the NDP.
Though shouldn’t whitewash Gardiner wasn’t any saint when it came to politics either.
Hardball politico especially with John Diefenbaker.
Blamed for having a role in gerrymandering Dief’s riding and for putting a home for unwed mothers besides his in Prince Albert.
“Nothing protected Conservatives in Saskatchewan in the 1940’s but the hunting laws”.
Interesting about Buck though I wonder if Tommy had much pull in External Affairs in the late 1930’s.
The “fellow travellers” had infiltrated the civil service by the 1940’s.
j…It was in reference to the Buck/Douglas story…
There are many, many reports of Tommy Douglas being a womanizer and an abusive husband, he is alleged to of slapped Irma Douglas at a NDP convention in the 1970’s in front of 100’s of people, why was this not mentioned?