Last Thursday The National aired a report on the Conservative candidate who had said, in reference to certain incidents in a particular constituency in Calgary, “we’ve got people that have grown up in a different culture, and they…don’t have the same respect for authority.” Peter Mansbridge, introducing Paul Hunter’s report, paraphrased the candidate as having said “crime in (Calgary) is mostly carried out by immigrants.”
Hunter’s report opened with a lingering, full-screen shot of the words “Regrettable remarks,” in large red letters. Various sources were shown voicing their ample outrage. Dion: “This kind of intolerance, and we cannot tolerate that (sic).” Former cop: “It’s just disgusting that anyone would say that…It’s just a very racist, prejudicial and xenophobic comment.” Hunter opined in closing, “Richardson’s comments are particularly thorny for Stephen Harper, who’s been courting the immigrant vote hard for months. The questions for Conservatives is whether, come voting day, new Canadians remember Harper’s overtures, or Richardson’s remarks. Paul Hunter, CBC news, Edmonton.”
Now, compare that with The National’s coverage of Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes, who had merely suggested that Israeli Jews had foreknowledge of the upcoming attacks on the World Trade Center, and that they alerted other Jews who promptly scuttled off without bothering to, erm, alert the goyim:
“Dumped! Controversial comments get a Liberal candidate fired — and wait ’til you hear how she got the news!” said anchor Diana Swain, priming the story at the top of the hour. Later, introducing the report: “The Liberals fired one of their candidates today. The problem is, no one from the party TOLD Lesley Hughes she was dropped! At issue, comments Hughes once wrote about 9/11 that some interpreted as anti-Semitic.”
Overtop of an opening shot of a stricken Hughes on the street reading the bad news, Bonner began, in that peculiarly resentful tone of hers suggestive of an aggrieved divorcee arriving at her ex’s front door to pick up her stuff, “Here’s how Lesley Hughes found out she’d been dumped as a Liberal candidate in Manitoba.” Hughes: “It’s stunning.” Unidentified, sympathetic woman with microphone: “Did anyone CALL?” Hughes: “No. I’ve been working all morning…”
After dispensing with the obligatory background — “Hughes’ trouble began when an old internet posting of hers about 9/11 surfaced. She wrote that Israelis were warned to get out of the twin towers before the attack. Hughes denied the comments were in any way anti-semitic, and apologized if they left that impression” — Bonner got back to the real story: it’s all so unfair. Hughes again, on the street: “So…incredibly unjust. Incredibly unjust…”
Harper, Bonner noted, “stands by (Richardson),” whereas “..on the Liberal campaign it was Lesley Hughes’ political prospects that were blowing up, with Dion explaining he only stalled so he could consult with the Canadian Jewish Congress.” She concluded, “So, one candidate is fired, and one is not. The two campaigns made their own calculations about what needed to be done to avoid more political damage. Susan Bonner, CBC News, Belmont Ontario.”
So, just to recap: A Conservative’s remarks are restated, with unflattering inaccuracy, in the CBC’s own words. Various sources are shown expressing disgust with his disgusting remarks, and the report concludes with reporterly speculation that his remarks might well harm the Conservatives’ reputation with immigrant voters. The Liberal’s remarks, in stark contrast, are a sidebar to the real story, that the woman who made the remarks is the real victim; there’s no hint of a suggestion by the reporter that the remarks were inappropriate; no full-screen, “regrettable remarks”-type graphic; no statements of disgust from spokespersons, Jewish or otherwise; no speculation on how her remarks might hurt the Liberals. Yes, the candidate who’d suggested a Zionist conspiracy of some sort is an object of sympathy, someone who has been treated unfairly by her leader after he’d consulted with you-know-who.
It really doesn’t matter anymore whether the CBC is simply institutionally incapable of covering the other parties the same way they cover the Liberals, or if they’re just unwilling. It’s getting late, and if the plug gets pulled — and it should — the blame will have to fall squarely on the shoulders of CBC News’ producers and political reporters in Ottawa and Toronto.
The CBC is trying to cover “Canadian values” like conspiracy theories and simple theft via Adscam.
Maybe the LIEberals need to work on a conspiracy theory for Swissair, Air India, or Pan Am Flight 103.
In the tank for the LIEberal bank; account that is.
When they get out of adolescence, let me know.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Many thanks, EBD. This kind of CBC skulduggery needs to be exposed. But, it reminds me of why I long ago gave up watching CBC: its dirty, rotten tricks, on my dime, make my blood pressure go up quite dangerously.
As I said in a post earlier this week, the words “integrity” and “shame” have no meaning at the CBC. It’s a cesspool of (l)Liberal lackeys, who are willing to break all their own rules—and then deny doing so—to keep at the Liberal trough, which has now—big grin!—dried up.
The Liberals and CBC sycophants and toadies think the taxpayers’ hard earned cash is their own private bank account to plunder in order to live their parasitic lives high on the hog. My contempt for these pirates knows no bounds.
VOTE.OUT.AND.FIRE.THEM.ALL!!
So, one person says that ‘ some newcomers to Canada are coming from a culture that has no respect for official authority’. This cultural bias that they have, therefore affects how they respect the laws and lawkeepers of Canada.
But, that’s a fact. It can be empirically shown that many immigrants, from, eg, Jamaica and Haiti and Asian countries, do not respect governmental authority. Here or in their own countries. They are involved in crime here. It’s a fact.
It is biased, or prejudiced or racist to state facts? Only in Canada it is.
On the other hand, we have someone who is making an assertion with no empirical evidence. It is most certainly a biased and racist assertion because of that; it is claiming special rights and benefits for one religious group, ie, Jews, who were apparently ‘forwarned’ of 9/11 and therefore, weren’t in the Towers. No proof.
The CBC? Their agenda is clear. They are deeply biased and are working, on our taxpayer money, for the Liberals.
There would be nothing sweeter on election night than to hear Peter Mansbridge have to read the following off of the teleprompter:
“The CBC is calling a Conservative majority, again, it looks as though we are going to have a Conservative majority”.
After which, of course, there would be a spectacular explosion just above Peter’s shoulders….
Very good anaysis EBD. Time for more letters to Carlin?Not that any retractions will take place.
CTV’s 3 second sound bite last night portrayed Dion as being a real leader in making the decision on Hughes. Anyone following it more closely (IOW on the blogs) knew that Dion waffled, deferred decision until he spoke with CJC, and sat on it for a few days.
Rinaldo and Oliver stressed over how (poor)Dion was going to turn this election around. Rinaldo even had the sad,puppy eyes for poor Dion.
CBC also plays the tit for tat game in regards to Hughes being turfed, demanding that the Tories act in a reciprocating fashion by dumping one of their candidates, like some sort of carbon offset. Of course, when Tory Chris Reid was dumped mid week they made no such call reciprocating demand to Dion to do the same with Rebecca Finch and her extremist views.
Please file a complaint with Vince Carlin, CBC Ombudsman!
I like broccoli.
I beg to differ on the Hughes matter. I don’t think she should be fired because her remarks were “anti-Semitic”, which they weren’t, not in any meaningful sense. She should have been fired becuase she is a loon.
So, who did he mean exactly? Jamaicans?
Any Calgarians care to clarify?
Not a Calgarian, but close to it. The large number of murders in recent months have almost all been connected to Asian gang activity. This includes Chinese, Vietnamese, and Pakistani immigrants. Actually, a lot of the crimes are being commited by the children of immigrants. Some of it can be blamed on the fact these people work so hard they sometimes neglect their children, leaving them susceptible to gang influence.
Jamaicans gangs are more of an Edmonton problem.
A vote of thanks to EBD for risking his own sanity by continuing to closely monitor and report on the CBC’s tendentious election coverage.
I’ve tried to make myself watch, I really have, but it’s beyond Orwellian. Even reading tidy summaries like this of the latest outrage against fact and truth is sickening and disturbing.
What I just don’t get is how this seems to slip past other viewers, and that there aren’t riots in the streets about this stuff.
Are Canadians in general so lost to a sense of what Canada is fundamentally about as a country that this is acceptable? So desensitized by years of Liberal corruption and lies that this seems right and good? What’s happened to my Canada?
As I’ve said here before in other contexts – and I do believe it bears repeating in this one – it’s hard to believe that the values that motivated and were most revered by the greatest generation, the men who fought and died for freedom and decency in World War II and the women who sacrificed their sons and fathers and brothers to that noble effort, the very people whose blood and sweat and toil and tears made our present way of life even possible and to whom we owe an unaddressable debt of gratitude and respect, have been twisted and up-ended in the few short decades since that conflict to the extent that truth, honesty, fairness and “freedom of the press” could have come to be so little valued in this country.
All that is required is to check police information and it will be obvious that Richardson wasn’t BSing. When the killings happen there appears to be a reluctance on behalf of authorities and the MSM to release the ethnic background of those involved. In the case of the young Brazilian student bystander getting shot (now blind for life) the facts on the shooter weren’t released for several days. He was out on bail
Another wonderful remark by the board’s resident pseudo-intellectual.
“But, that’s a fact. It can be empirically shown that many immigrants, from, eg, Jamaica and Haiti and Asian countries, do not respect governmental authority. Here or in their own countries. They are involved in crime here. It’s a fact.”
Prove it. Cite a study or two. And feel free to distinguish between legitimate immigrant and refugee. And do feel free to let us know if European immigrants figure. It’s a pity people on this board don’t question such conjectural statements.
“It is biased, or prejudiced or racist to state facts? Only in Canada it is.”
Depends on whether the facts are unsubstantiated or not. Why should we take your word on it? And then theres that minor issue of methodology. And what does a lack of respect for governmental authority entail? Is criticism a lack of governmental authority? Or do you mean rule of law?
The drug trade in Calgary is controlled largely by Vietnamese gangs; that’s likely who Richardson was referring to.
yanna – I don’t have to provide you with statistics. Look up the data on gangs yourself. There are a lot of studies on the ethnic composition of gangs and criminal activities.
What’s your point of ‘legitimate immigrant’ vs ‘refugee’? That’s irrelevant to the study of crime.
What ‘minor issue of methodology’. Statistics describing the ethnic composition of gangs use a fairly simple method – it’s called ‘asking the individual’ and then, checking that statement.
Governmental authority = the rule of law. After all, my learned friend, the rule of law acts as the authority of the govt.
Now, how about some intelligent questions and debate?
What if its true? Let’s see the statistics. I suspect that some immigrant groups have a propensity to crime due certain cultural values. If its true, how can that be racist?
If there are immigrants groups that have a propensity for certain crimes … like wanting to behead the prime minister or blow up the CBC or shoot innocent people parked in SUV’s, then we should stop letting these groups in.
There are lots of immigrant groups that don’t usually commit crimes to a large degree. Often they are from the same part of the world as another crime-prone culture. It’s not about skin colour, its about some cultures being prone to turn to crime.
‘Looks like the folks at the CBC haven’t read John Cruikshank’s letter (see post above). I’ve been watching and commenting to the ombudsman and the CBC producers for 30 years and it simply becomes too tiresome.
It’s time for a huge change in how “news” is delivered to Canadians. We do not need a taxpayer-funded news channel with all of the other options open to us. We especially do not need a news network as biased and partisan as the CBC.
ENOUGH ALREADY.
I did not save the newspaper articles from a few years ago, but they stated that half, ie HALF, (or make that 50% for the numerically challenged proof wanters) of all the gun incidents in Toronto involved the tiny Jamaican community which at the time was comprised of about 20,000 people.
What’s that out of, 4 million people in Toronto.
Its easy to see why the Crooked Liberal Party du Canada never did anything about crime.
They were afraid of the truth contained in the police statistical data.
A Liberal a$$hole like Alan Rock squandered $2 billion on a useless gun registry chasing harmless duck hunters and farmers when the real gun violence problem was/is in Toronto and the big cities.
Bloc the CBC as a porn channel. Use the parental control on your TV and computer to protect the children from the harmful effects of the CBC.
The institutional bias of the CBC has been confirmed by the CBC Ombudsman in the Heather Malick/Palin Affair.
Not that that will matter – Heather still has the gig.
On Hughes I suspect the majority of the CBCer’s would find it impossible to actually argue with a Troother for fear of not being invited to the next party.
The CBC, like many of Canada’s institutions needs a root an branch cleaning. Start at the top with a new Board and a new President committed to a smaller, smarter and entirely non-partisan Mother Corp…or, and this would have much the same effect rather faster, move CBC headquarters to Moosejaw.
Call it “Little Broadcaster on the Prairie”.
There is no technological reason the MotherCorp could not be run from Moosejaw. And the sale of the Frum Center would provide more than ample funds for a state of the art facility in Moosejaw. But, let’s not wait until the facility is built – move it to a convenient barn and go for it.
The bonus being that Moosejaw is not all that far from Delisle so Kate could appear live from time to time.
I don’t see how bringing the hammer down on the CBC would help. This is something that can be fixed by one act, cut them off.
The cleansing effects of competition will cure all that is wrong with mothercorp.
And even if it doesn’t I’ll have the comfort of knowing tax dollars won’t be paying for this kind of drivel.
ET, you claimed it was a fact. Go look up the statistics myself? I am not the one who made the claim in the first place. You made the claim. You back it up. For a self-declared academic, you ought to know that the onus to prove is on the writer, not the reader. This is very similar to the teacup in space argument – you want me to prove that this evidence doesn’t exist and until I do so, we are expected to believe it exists for lack of any evidence suggesting otherwise. Problem is – you know as well as I do that your ‘facts’ are based on conjecture.
“What’s your point of ‘legitimate immigrant’ vs ‘refugee’? That’s irrelevant to the study of crime.”
Au contraire, it makes all the difference in the world. One comes voluntarily, accepting the institutions of the nation and arriving with some prior knowledge of what to expect, the other come involuntarily, and have to adapt to a set of societal rules that they know precious little about. Ignorance can manifest itself as lack of respect, but how often are they doing illegal things out of spite for the law?
“What ‘minor issue of methodology’. Statistics describing the ethnic composition of gangs use a fairly simple method – it’s called ‘asking the individual’ and then, checking that statement.”
Collecting the statistics has never been an issue. The contentious issue is the manner in which they are presented. Furthermore, are second-generation European immigrants classified as immigrants, or Canadian citizens? What about colored folk? When does an immigrant stop being an immigrant. If they are second-generation immigrants – ie born in Canada, then do they still qualify as immigrants? Should they? Or are they Canadian?
Is it because colored “immigrants” are more visible than white “immigrants”? Is that why Asians etc are earmarked, but their Russian counterparts ignored? Don’t be too smug.
stats on crime are schewed because the politicos wish to remain pc so they just say it’s crime and tend not to identify the race or country of orgin of those who commit the crime.
yanna – I repeat, go look up the statistics yourself. You are the one who rejects my conclusions. On what basis are you rejecting them? Therefore, provide the statistics to substantiate your own conclusion that rejects mine. Otherwise, as you are claiming that I am doing – your words are mere empty opinions.
I’m a ‘self-declared’ academic? What the heck is that? Oh, ah..the onus is on you to substantiate that, isn’t it?
Nonsense – you cannot prove that a refugee is always and only an ‘involuntary’ newcomer with no knowledge of this society’s rules (after all, why ask for refuge if this country is similar to the one you left?). How about some stats on that please.
And ignorance does not mean lack of respect. If you are in a gang burgling houses, then, your ignorance of the law isn’t a defense.
Equally, I’d like to see some stats that all immigrants are both aware of the rules and have every intention of obeying them. Heh.
What does skin colour have to do with crime or immigration? Stats please. Why are you bringing this new variable into the discussion? What does this have to do with Russian gangs/crime? Stats please.
Cheers and enjoy living in your Platonic Cave.
yanna- You’re twisting the story. He was accused of racism for suggesting immigrants are involved in a disproportionate number of violent crimes. To that, you respond that he ignored Russian and Europian immigrants when he made the statement.
Well, it seems to me that Russians immigrants are still immigrants. Calgary has its share of Russian and Bosnian gangs, but the last dozen or so murders were the result of south and southeast Asian gangs. Just read the paper.
ET, this is a pointless game we play. You state that it is a fact that certain named immigrant groups are engaged in crime. When I ask you for statistics toback that up, you tell me to go look for the statistics. Thats akin to telling someone who is looking for an information bureau to go to the information bureau to find out where it is.
Where are the statistics?
The rest of it sounds like you have never encountered the teacup in space argument. You make a claim. I ask you to prove it. You tell me to disprove it.
The ‘self-declared academic’ barb was probably unwarranted, but again, you claim to hold a host of degrees in various fields on other threads on this site. Of course, we just have to take your word on it, rendering you a bit ‘self-declared’.
On the refugee issue, there are a host of websites, particularly anti-imigration websites, that provide the relevant statistics. In addition to that there are literally hundreds of articles dealing with the twin issues of refugee and voluntary immigrant, particularly in Europe where EU citizens are claiming refuge in other countries. And its not just a theoretical divide. You really ought to read up on immigration. Its a big issue these days.
I only named the Russian gangs because the gouprs you named were distinctly ‘colored’. Another major issue when you conssider immigration is the issue between invisible and visible minorities- colored immigrants are perpetually labelled immigrants – despite being in Canada for 3 or 4 generations. White immigrants blend in easier, but only because they remain invisible. You seem guilty of making the same gaffe. As do you, dp.
Ah, typed that too fast and ended up detracting from its clarity. The first line should read “certain named immigrants are engaged in crime out of disresepct for the rule of law”. I don’t think it has anything to do with culture, nor do I think the proportion of “disrespect” is any higher in one group than another. ALl groups have their damaged goods.
The prevalance of such damaged goods is higher amongst refugees than it is among immigrants. So say the anti-immigraiton folk. Look them up – at Migration Watch etc.
yanna – again, I don’t have to provide statistics. You and I both have certain opinions about immigration and refugees and crime. You ask me for statistics to support your opinions; so, I equally ask you for statistics to support your opinions. And there we are. You haven’t provided any; neither have I. I’m saying – go look it up. Just as you have told me to do the same.
With regard to refugees vs immigrant crime – I stand by my claim. Fromwhat I can gather you seem to be stating that the predominant crime rate among newcomers to Canada is to be found amongst refugees. And your claim seems to because of ‘ignorance of the law’. I disagree with those views.
I have absolutely no intention of providing you with my name or the dates of my degrees. The fact that you don’t believe me is your opinion. However, after a while, such scepticism about what others say renders all debate and dialogue irrelevant.
I also don’t think that the proportion of crime committed by non-immigrants vs immigrants is equal, as you seem to suggest.
Am I anti-immigrant? Of course not; N. America is, by definition, an immigrant continent. But I do think that we have to move more towards the Australian immigration system, which stresses expertise and therefore, the capacity to be employed very rapidly – and – that important Document of Values they developed in 2007.
That is – our economy has to be such that the immigrant can rapidly move into employment. And the skills of the immigrant have to be such that such a fit is a reality. That isn’t the case now.
Furthermore, our balkanization of immigrants within the idiotic scheme of multiculturalism locks immigrants into isolate enclaves and prevents them from readily integrating with the rest of the population, socially and economically. That disastrous policy harms immigrants.
ET, I am only asking you to provide statistics that prove your claims. Not mine.
I agree that the Canadian economy is incapable of absorbing immigrants. Part of it, however, is based on the rather bizzare Catch twenty two situation imposed by Canadian employers who insist that a lack of “Canadian experience” is disadvantageous to immigrants. Whatever the merits of this stance, one is left to wonder how immigrants are expected to get Canadian experience if they are denied employment on the basis that they don’t have any. And when the apply for lower positions, they are quite happily dismissed as “overqualified”. Whatever that means. Furthermore, the Canadian economy seems to be Canada-centric insofar as it has no knowledge of the business world outside North America.
Reminds me of the IMD MBA, who was asked to provide a certified ranking of where IMD, a Swiss institution, stood in MBA rankings globally, because the recruiter had never heard of it. IMD, incidentally, generally falls in the top 5 Business schools globally(WSJ, FT). The recruiter wasn’t impressed. The gentleman, an I Banker, took up a quiet job as an Account Manager at one of the Big 5. Two weeks after getting his Canadian citizenship, he was on a plane to London. And Canada lost another one of its immigrants, selected because of his qualifications.
The Aussie Immigration system for its part has always been overrated. Literally a day after this wonderous post, the University of Western Sydney published a report compiled over ten years, that states that one in ten Australians believes that some ‘races’ are superior to others.
Look it up – it was published either yesterday or today.
Yanna: ET agreed with someone’s matter-of-fact statement that ‘some newcomers to Canada are coming from a culture that has no respect for official authority.” You said “prove it” and proceeded to attempt to talk yourself and everyone else out of something common-sense and undeniable, namely that different cultures inculcate different values.
In your following responses you seemed to want to attach the unreasonable arguments of those who conflate race with culture to ET without coming out and saying it. ET has spent countless hours here consistently, diligently going after commenters who assert that behaviour, intelligence, etc., is based on race. She’s the ultimate non-racist, so why, in the course of apparently refuting her, would you even bother to refer to a study showing one in ten Austrlians believe some races are superior to others?
Some people’s unfounded statements about immigrant crime, and their deliberate elision of their racism through the tactic of calling a fourth generation visible minority an “immigrant” just exposes their own racism and concomitant lack of reason, but those peoples’ views have *nothing* to do with ET’s points or with the fact that different cultures inculcate different views and attitudes and beliefs.
Would you at least agree that if you come from a place of longstanding poverty and violence where the so-called authorities are corrupt and violent and on-the-take, you’re more likely to be violent and to distrust authority? If you do, you’re not really disagreeing with ET. If you don’t, you’re being unreasonable and, in effect, asking someone else to prove you aren’t being unreasonable.
Wouldn’t you agree that if you took a bunch of pink babies from your local hospital and handed them over to be raised in Kingston or Managua or Da Nang and then brought them back here as twenty-year olds, they would be socialized differently than kids raised here? Would you agree that if you grew up in a ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica you’re less likely to respect authority?
Stats don’t obviate intelligence. A simply matter-of-fact, in-the-world observation made by someone living in the 107 ave area in Edmonton — and it could be made by a 60-year old, third-generation woman of Vietnamese origin — that young, male Vietnamese immigrants are grossly over-represented, in terms of their population, in firearm violence, or that they’re prone to be aggressive if you look at them the wrong way at the 7-11, isn’t even slightly obviated by someone like yourself saying “prove it, show me the stats.”
The key is place of origin — i.e. culture — gender, age and length of time in Canada. It’s not about race, or even “immigration” in the broad sense, it’s about culture.
Note that ET did NOT say “immigrants have no respect for authority”, so there’s no need to flog some point at length as if she did.
ET specifically named certain races, and I asked her (apparently) to back up her statement that it was Asians, Jamaicans and some other specific group. She boiled the statement down to certain ethnicities, not me.
The Aussie study was picked because its been picked up by the Australian media and a number of other international outlets. Coming so close to whatever initiated this thread, I figured it mightbe relevant.
Distrust towards authority is very different to a lack of respect towards authority. The latter suggests that they are doing it deliberately out of spite for the governing authority.
Yanna ~
“ET specifically named certain races…”
No, she did not, not once. Jamaican isn’t a race. It refers to a country of origin and a *culture,* not a race. If it was a race, we could call Trinidadians Jamaicans and vice versa. We don’t, because they’re different nations and different cultures.
“I asked her…to back up her her statement that it was Asians…”
She didn’t say that either. She said “Jamaica, Haiti, and Asian countries…”
Countries. She referred to those countries, and by extension, their cultures. Not to race.
And again, the racism of a percentage of Australians — or Koreans or Japanese — is a separate issue to the that of cultural values and the way those values might clash or blend with other cultures.
Very interesting post.
It’s nice to see CBC’s hypocrisy quoted…
The Israelis were warned, the story appeared in Ha’aretz, and many other leads make Israel the #1 suspect in the attacks of 911.