So this whole #DonCherry poppy debacle puts my Saturday in perspective. Our decision to get out of the city yesterday for a little drive and some leaf peeping went sideways when we encountered White Canada in Schomberg, Ontario. *thread* https://twitter.com/_eddierazo/status/1193335939700887552

Now, Schomberg is a quaint little place about an hour outside Toronto. There’s a cute pub ( @TheSchombergPub) with great pretzels. But just before we’d finished lunch, the conversation next to us between some older white men turned pretty randomly ugly.

One of them launched into a tirade about how #ArmisticeDay is not a provincial holiday in Ontario, and how the immigrants don’t respect how real Canadians died for the freedom and way of life they enjoy here, and how they unfairly get time off work to go into the corner and pray.

(I should note, the language was much uglier than this, with arm flailing & accent imitation.)

Of course, I couldn’t help but direct a sharply arched eyebrow at the man, who asks “are you from around here?”

“No, we live in Toronto”

“You like it here?”

“It’s cute, but there’s a lot more casual racism than we’re used to”

On the drive back we wondered what in the world #RemembranceDay had to do with immigrants; in other words, how does *even* a committed racist draw this link? Like, surely Doug Ford could remedy this ‘oversight,’ stat.

But watching #DonCherry I realized the “immigrants don’t respect #RemembranceDay ” line is a right-wing talking point.

Thing is, I also know #DonCherry is not enough of an independent thinker to come up with this drivel on his own.

So I checked Rebel Media. And sure enough...

Rebel has been peddling the “queers/immigrants/racialized folks don’t respect #RemembranceDay or the troops” line all week: https://www.rebelnews.com/protect-our-poppies-petition

They’re even running a #protectourpoppies campaign, currently with 24,674 signatures

What gets said on public television matters, and @CBCNews needs to be held to account when racist, right-wing content masquerades for some kind of Canadiana. Because this hateful content gets repeated in pubs and living rooms all over the country.

Perhaps the most insidious part of this line of “thought” is that it posits respect for veterans and troops as some kind of ideologically neutral position, when *in fact* one can wear a poppy (some years I do & some I don’t) and *still* be anti-war, anti-imperialist & pro-LGBTQ.

(Kudos to @CheriDiNovo for so elegantly putting this last point in her #RemembranceSunday sermon @trinitystpauls this morning)

Addendum: it’s been brought to my attention that @CBCNews contracts with @Sportsnet to provide airtime to @NHL games. Which raises an interesting question: is there a morality clause in the contract & what leverage does CBC have here re #DonCherry? https://twitter.com/sportsnetpr/status/1193563973158887431?s=21

For example, a lot of people who love #DonCherry hate paying taxes. I wonder if CBC were to implement a racism surcharge/bigot tax on Sportsnet whether his fans would be willing to pay even $5 to keep him. Doubt it.

Here’s the thing: social right-wingism + unaccountable corporate power = fascism

In sum: what we see here is a public-private partnership pushing a right-wing agenda with zero contractual accountability. This should be unacceptable in the social democracy we’ve built in Canada.

If the @CBCCanada— @RogersMediaPR contract doesn’t account for these very public concerns, this is at least as big a scandal as #SNCLavalin

Good on @CBCCanada @cbcsports for taking a firm stand that #DonCherry has no place in its programming, CBC-produced or otherwise #doncherryfired #ByeFelicia

And right on cue we have Rebel Media with a petition supporting now-fired #DonCherry https://twitter.com/rebelnewsonline/status/1193981272500125696?s=21