The Cancelling of Canadian White Men
And A Rebel Who Fights Back
In late 2019 through mid 2020, the Canadian media world saw cancellations and retractions involving such household names as Don Cherry and Rex Murphy. In both cases for expressing the types of views they were known for throughout careers spanning over thirty years.
This is not to say that the times don’t change and it’s not perfectly acceptable to expect people to update the ways in which they speak of one another, but what is different now is the speed at which things, that were once innocuous, have become unacceptable gross faux-paus. Such as, apparently, configuring the words “you” and “people” in this order, when referring to people that are not you, in other words - “other people” - is a crime so severe an apology will not suffice, it cannot erase the so called “harm” caused. If you say - “you people,” like Don Cherry did, you should expect to be shot into outer space where you will forever orbit the planet as a sad satellite outcast. From this ostracism, there is no return.
That they made an example of Don Cherry is clear. To be fair, it was also clear that Don Cherry’s use of “you people” referred to Canadian immigrants - apparently just the ones choosing not to wear poppies on Remembrance day. A circumstance like this, in my view, calls for some generosity of spirit. People of Don Cherry’s generation are understandably touchy about Remembrance Day. If Don Cherry thinks new Canadian’s ought to be as thankful for the service of veterans as everyone else, I assure you he is not alone in that sentiment. The use of “you people” was perhaps a little condescending, but considering the context, and the bigger point of the importance of showing due respect to veterans, ending a beloved Canadian hockey broadcasting legend in such a petty fashion seemed flat out wrong to me. I can’t imagine a group of white people being referred to as “you people” ever evoking this type of reaction.
In the case of Rex Murphy, the veteran cultural commentator had the gall to declare that Canada is not a racist country in a since-removed and apologised-for opinion piece in the National Post. Where Rex’s piece used to live on the National Post website you now instead find the following message:
“This column by Rex Murphy provoked a strong reaction from readers. Upon review, it was determined that there was a failure in the normal editing oversight that columns should be subjected to. This issue has been identified and policies changed to prevent a repeat. We apologize for the failure.”
They go on to recommend an article by Vanmala Subramaniam called Before you declare Canada is not a racist country, do your homework, that “offers a different perspective.” I read Vanmala’s article thinking the mention of “homework” meant there would be a history lesson, but I didn’t find any mention of history. Instead it sounded to me like a highly subjective lecture directed at Rex Murphy. Like Rex’s piece, her article is pure opinion. She thinks Canada is a racist country, and that Rex Murphy is a privileged white man who is ignorant to the realities of racism.
A common trend in the Woke West, if you are expressing reluctance in adopting any of the tenets of wokeism, is to be told to “do your homework” or “you haven’t done the work.” This is code for, you haven’t yet traded in your capacity to think objectively for the much better woke system of de-colonisation-think, so get back to work and don’t stop until you agree with our woke-ness. After you have been thoroughly re-educated into the woke order, the work continues as you endlessly reaffirm the necessary dogmatic principles and use them to “help” others see the true woke way.
So the National Post permits Vanmala Subramanaim to publish an opinion that Canada is racist, but Rex Murphy is not permitted to publish his opinion; Canada is not racist. Who is the National Post protecting from grumpy old Rex Murphy anyway? Again, who exactly are these people so fragile they can’t handle a diversity of views about racism in Canada? And perhaps most obviously, when did it become controversial to say Canada isn’t racist?
In June of 2020, Stockwell Day, a former conservative cabinet minister was forced to resign from both the Telus board of directors and a business law firm for comments he made on TV about racism in Canada. Apparently Stockwell committed the unthinkable when he opined on a CBC panel that “systemic racism is not an issue in Canada.”
That same month Michael Korenberg, chair of the University of British Columbia board of governors was forced to step down for “liking tweets” supporting Donald Trump and condemning Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement.
In a statement, the vice chair of UBC's board, Sandra Cawley, revealed that Korenberg’s decision to step down "comes after information that was published last week about his social media interactions that appeared to support regressive voices online and undermine legitimate protest. The Board of Governors and Mr. Korenberg would like to recognize that this has been deeply hurtful to members of our community and that UBC has zero tolerance for racism and recognizes that real harm is created from both overt and structural racism."
So the chair of a university board liking tweets was “deeply hurtful” to the community? Who are they kidding?
It's no wonder we are scared to speak out these days. The consequences can be dire. If you hold the views of “woke ideology” you are encouraged to be as loud and militant as possible in asserting them. But if your views contradict this new woke religion you can face serious career repercussions even cancellation, or like Chris Elston aka Billboard Chris; physical violence.
In October of 2019, Ezra Levant, conservative media personality and founder of Canada’s Western Standard and Rebel News, had two different theatres (same owner), one in Edmonton and the other in Calgary, cancel book signing events Ezra had planned for the launch of his newest book The Libranos: What The Media Won’t Tell You About Justin Trudeau’s Corruption.
In both cases a total of one protester showed up to the book signings, which were held on the street outside of the theatres (since the events were cancelled on the days they were scheduled to take place). It’s important to underline here that in both cases a single protester worried the theatre owner sufficiently enough for him to determine the event too dangerous and controversial to continue.
After an 18 month legal process, Ezra triumphantly accepted a written apology from the theatre owner in March of 2021. Explaining the details of his victory in a video published to Rebel News, Ezra notes that the woke mob knew they could not intimidate him (Ezra being no stranger to litigation, claims of libel, and canel culture in general), so instead went after the easier target of an immigrant small business owner, and “scared him half to death.”
In a bizarre twist, an investigation by the Elections Commissioner of Canada, into Ezra’s book was launched in January of 2020, claiming that his use of billboard space to advertise the book broke Election laws. Prompting Rex Murphy to ask in an opinion piece published in the National Post on January 31, 2020, “Can anybody give the name of any other book, ever, which has been the subject of an investigation by the Commissioner of Canada Elections?”
A year later Ezra posted the outcome, which resulted in convictions on two charges (carrying a $3000 fine), of the Elections Canada investigation. Ezra writes:
“The trial was done in secret. I was not invited to the trial, I did not know about it, I was not allowed to attend or to send a lawyer.”
Defiant and committed to appealing the ruling Ezra says:
“There were 24 books published about Trudeau in the 2019 election. Mine was the only one that criticized Trudeau. And mine is the only one that was investigated, prosecuted — and now convicted and punished.”
The Election Act in Canada states that books, and their promotion, are exempt from election censorship. Ezra is confident he has broken no laws. But as of this writing it remains to be seen what will become of Ezra’s appeal.
This is the Tenth installment of “The Woke West: The Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, Radical Activism And Forbidden Knowledge Dividing The West...And What You Can Do About It!” - A book by James Pew, published serially to The Turn Substack. Thanks for reading!