Juno News - November 06, 2023


Don Cherry was right about the poppy


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Transcript

00:00:00.000 If you happen to be one of the millions of Canadians who live in a big city, it's quite
00:00:11.080 likely that over the years you've noticed fewer Canadians wearing a poppy during this time of
00:00:14.920 year. Wearing a poppy from the last Friday of October to the 11th of November is a decades-old
00:00:19.860 tradition that Canadians have undertaken to show a respect and gratitude for those that sacrifice
00:00:24.840 their lives for our country. It was precisely the same observation made on a Remembrance Day
00:00:29.920 broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada that fewer Canadians are wearing the poppy in large cities
00:00:34.920 that got Canadian legend Don Cherry unceremoniously fired from his role the following day. He didn't
00:00:41.720 know it at the time, but he actually committed a crime that many of us are prone to unintentionally
00:00:46.880 committing. It's called the crime of noticing. You're just simply not allowed to say publicly
00:00:51.620 what so many Canadians are thinking privately but are too afraid to say it. And if you happen
00:00:56.280 to be like Don Cherry who has a massive platform and you dare to say what everyone else is thinking
00:01:01.380 privately, well you need to be made an example out of so everyone else keeps quiet. Grapes has been
00:01:06.020 one of the best spokesmen in this country for Remembrance Day and for the heroic service of so
00:01:10.880 many Canadians who have served this country. So it's no surprise that since his firing in 2019,
00:01:16.600 Hockey Night in Canada, led by the spineless Ron McClain, has been unwatchable ever since.
00:01:21.620 Drop a like in the video, help us out by subscribing to the True North YouTube channel.
00:01:25.400 The comment question for the episode is this, do you miss Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada?
00:01:32.280 Let me know in the comments and let's get into it. After 33 years of broadcasting Hockey Night in
00:01:37.800 Canada, one of the flagship programs on Canadian television, and of course carrying the entire
00:01:43.280 broadcast because he had Weasley Ron McClain sitting beside him, Don Cherry was fired from his role
00:01:49.280 for saying this on a Remembrance Day broadcast of that program.
00:01:55.060 You know, I was talking to a veteran. I said, I'm not going to run the poppy thing anymore because
00:01:59.200 what's the sense? I live in Mississauga. Nobody wears, very few people wear a poppy.
00:02:05.300 Downtown Toronto, forget it, downtown Toronto. Nobody wears a poppy. And I'm not going to win. He says,
00:02:09.860 wait a minute. How about running it for the people that buy them? Now you go to the small cities and,
00:02:15.560 you know, you know, those, the rows on rows, you people love you. They come here, whatever it is.
00:02:21.540 You love our way of life. You love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple of bucks for
00:02:27.140 poppies or something like that. These guys pay for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada.
00:02:32.960 These guys paid the biggest price. Anyhow, I'm going to run it again for you. Great people
00:02:38.240 and good Canadians that bought a poppy. I'm still going to run it. Anyhow.
00:02:43.500 The reality is every single word Don Cherry spoke in that segment was true. Fewer people in this
00:02:51.180 country, whether they are born here or they are immigrants, wear the poppy. Frankly, I think
00:02:55.940 we're all guilty at times of taking this country for granted. But as he said there, the least you
00:03:01.280 could do if you love this country so much is to pay a few bucks to wear a poppy. The least you could do.
00:03:07.520 But because Cherry said you people, the rest of what he had to say was completely overshadowed.
00:03:13.340 Rogers, CBC, and the entire left-wing media apparatus in this country descended on Cherry
00:03:18.880 and accused him of being a racist. And for what it's worth, Don Cherry did clarify his comment at
00:03:24.040 the time. He said that when he used the words you people, he wasn't referring to immigrants. But of
00:03:28.800 course, the CBC didn't care about that. They were simply looking for an opportunity to offload
00:03:33.460 Don Cherry, an unapologetically pro-Canadian voice who called out what he saw as disrespect to our
00:03:40.540 nation and all the other crap that he would call out on a regular basis. And unlike so many people
00:03:45.160 we see in sports media today, looking of course at Anthony Bass as an example, they always end up
00:03:50.820 apologizing, caving to the mob, and giving up more ground to the radical, nation-hating left.
00:03:57.180 Cherry never apologized, and I hope that he never does. Oh, and by the way, here's a taste of what
00:04:02.420 Hockey Night in Canada looks like today without Don Cherry.
00:04:05.600 I'll tell you a little story from my point of view that will probably lead you first,
00:04:09.820 and then Kwame. When we did an interview a year ago, Kwame and I, after Devante Smith-Helley
00:04:14.180 had to deal with racial agitation, and it was a nice conversation. But I said to Kwame,
00:04:19.000 you know, I don't see you as black. I don't see Tara as a woman. And then I realized there's
00:04:23.380 your white male privilege. You know what, Ron? You don't have to see that because you don't need
00:04:27.180 to see that. And you told me, Kwame, an amazing story about when the kids throw back to Hockey
00:04:32.220 Night in Canada, as a general rule, they're often all white. And if they're not all white,
00:04:36.700 the whites often have the speaking part. And it's the same with our Rogers Hometown Hockey.
00:04:40.820 We're so proud of being inclusive. But how many times do we get people of color to pick the three
00:04:46.160 stars? And it was just a real eye-opener that I don't recognize the structural racism or sexism.
00:04:53.020 Look at what they've taken from us as Canadians. It's hard to imagine that we actually had this guy
00:04:58.620 on the airwaves, let alone on CBC, by the way, for so many years. Here is a look back at Don
00:05:05.100 Cherry's best moments. How about when the late Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, had Don Cherry donning a
00:05:11.620 bright pink suit. Introduce him at Ford's swearing-in ceremony.
00:05:17.040 Well, actually, I'm wearing pinko for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything.
00:05:22.520 I thought I'd get it in. I wouldn't expect Ron McLean here to come here. But, you know, I am
00:05:31.680 befuddled because I thought I was just doing a good thing coming down with Ron and Rob. And I was
00:05:36.640 going to do this here. And it's going to be nice and the whole deal. I've been being ripped to shreds
00:05:41.160 by the left-wing pinko newspapers out there. It's unbelievable. One guy called me a pink,
00:05:48.760 a jerk in a pink suit. So I thought I'd wear that for him too today.
00:05:53.740 Here's the next one. Cherry not having any time for Ron McLean saying that some Canadians that
00:05:59.760 aren't white don't have a fair shake in hockey. Cherry wasn't having any of it.
00:06:04.580 I said you'd have to ask Chris, but why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't some kids feel like they haven't
00:06:08.560 been given a fair shake in life? Ask Davis. Fair shake in life. Go out and get your own fair shake
00:06:13.300 in life and work for it. Don't give me that stuff. My second favorite moment from Don Cherry was when
00:06:18.280 he gave this interview to the CBC. A CBC journalist accused him of being a nationalist and of being off
00:06:24.800 side with the public. And Cherry's response, in my opinion, was perfect. And the people that drink the
00:06:30.200 beer, pardon me, the people that drink the beer agree with me. What do you hear from them? Honest to
00:06:34.940 God. What are they thinking about these days? What are they thinking about? They're ticked off.
00:06:39.200 They're ticked off. And I try to tell you this, they're ticked off at the foreigners coming over
00:06:43.840 here earning the dough. This is what I hear it from. Are you a safety valve for people who are stewing
00:06:51.500 about all kinds of stuff? Or are you dangerous? I don't know whether I'm dangerous. I just say what I
00:06:57.320 think. And I, it's the way I think. You can say it's bigotry if you want. I don't think it is.
00:07:03.600 I'm pro-Canadian. More so than I'm anti-Soviet or anti-Sweet. I wish more Canadians were like me.
00:07:12.240 We let people come in and take our fish. And the people are starving down there. Then people come
00:07:17.460 in and wreck everything on us. They come in and it wouldn't happen if I was in Parliament. And foreign
00:07:22.880 aid, if you want to get into that, here we got people dying. Here we got people dying
00:07:27.240 for want of beds and we're giving money to the foreigners. No way. It'd be Canada first
00:07:32.260 and Canada only.
00:07:33.880 Last but not least, my favorite Don Cherry moment was when he called out what he calls
00:07:38.100 the Canadian syndrome. Not enough people in our country speak like this. And it's time
00:07:42.860 that we as Canadians had a bit more pride in ourselves and our nation. Take a listen to
00:07:47.200 what he has to say here.
00:07:48.020 They get thrown together to the job. But listen, you can't don't get caught in the Canadian
00:07:52.020 syndrome where if it's Canadian, it's got to be bad. We're the best. I've been telling
00:07:56.980 you the best. How about the guy that used to be on about four or five years ago? And
00:08:00.660 you know those other, the amazing upper body strength of the Russians. So amazing. They're
00:08:06.700 nothing. Just a minute. They're nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N. Had a finished touch, but only
00:08:12.820 wanted a touching finish. And that was overseas, according to Don Cherry and the coaches
00:08:16.040 Canada on CBC.
00:08:18.040 Remembrance Day, November 11th, is coming up this Saturday. At True North, we wanted to
00:08:22.680 do something special this Remembrance Day. Create something of immense historical value
00:08:27.180 that could live on for years to come. I had the great opportunity of being able to interview
00:08:32.160 Honorary Lieutenant General Richard Romer. One of Canada's most decorated citizens. A World
00:08:38.540 War II reconnaissance fighter pilot who served this country during D-Day, the Battle of Normandy,
00:08:44.720 and the Liberation of Holland. And here's a quick preview of our discussion.
00:08:47.460 It was scary, but there wasn't, I was never afraid. I was very confident of the airplane
00:08:55.840 and confident that I would never get hit. Never. And that's the way you had to approach
00:09:05.060 getting into the airplane, turning it on, going with the one or two other airplanes with you.
00:09:14.720 And you know you're going to get shot at. But it isn't a pure quotient. It's a, you have
00:09:23.960 to do it. Let's get it over with and do it. And that's the way I went with my 135 missions. I
00:09:30.880 had to do it that way.
00:09:31.940 We will be releasing my interview with Lieutenant General Richard Romer this Friday. All right,
00:09:37.240 everyone, that's going to do it for us today on the show. Thank you so much for tuning in.
00:09:40.220 Reminder to wear your poppy. My name is Harrison Faulkner, and this is Ratio.
00:09:45.360 We'll be right back.
00:09:58.600 We'll be right back.