Editorials - Sept. 2, 2022

A new brand of bully  

Despite decades of teaching children that the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing, threatening, abuse, aggressive domination or intimidation are not the ways to treat others, an increasing number of Canadians seem to think that it is alright to bully if it is a politician on the receiving end of the aggression.
   

Last week Deputy-Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was the latest target as she walked through Grande Prairie’s City Hall where she was verbally attacked by a man hurling insults and cursing at her. The attack has resulted in calls for increased security around politicians, but in a civilized country like Canada, our elected officials should be safe to interact with the public and move around freely without fear. 
   

Is our reputation of being nice and overly polite in trouble? It seems that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, disagreeing with our government has become a popular sport and with safety in numbers comes an increase in ramped-up rhetoric that is, quite frankly, unCanadian. You can disagree with a government or a politician or a party platform without resorting to threats and intimidation. Take your disagreement to the ballot box, write a letter to the editor or complain in your social media feed, but keep it respectful. 
   

Politicians, even the ones we disagree with, are working on our behalf and they deserve, if not our respect, at least to not be harassed and attacked. Let’s keep Canada’s reputation for politeness something to be admired. – DS

Shades of grey

Bell Media’s decision to part ways with CTV National News anchor Lisa LaFlamme after 35 years has sent shockwaves through the country and is easily one of the biggest stories about Canadian media in recent years. LaFlamme said she felt blindsided and many Canadians shared in that feeling, especially as early opinions formed around a sexist and ageist motive behind the decision, which Bell has described as being not personal, but strictly business to co-opt a line from The Godfather.     Subsequent reporting, much of it courtesy of The Globe and Mail’s Robyn Doolittle, who was instrumental in breaking the Rob Ford crack scandal and now focuses on sexual assault and gender equality stories, has suggested there is plenty below the surface bubbling at CTV. Vice-President of News Michael Melling has since taken leave and CTV is undertaking a third-party workplace review after accusations of discrimination and a toxic work environment.
   

Much of the blowback, however, has focused on credible reporting that suggests LaFlamme may have been considered expendable due to her age and gender, with anonymous sources even saying the decision could be tied to LaFlamme allowing her hair to naturally go grey. (The latter sparked many brands to “go grey” in solidarity, such as Dove, Wendy’s, Sports Illustrated and others.) This has also led to several open letters from other journalists and Canadian industry leaders.
   

Just months after being named the country’s best news anchor, LaFlamme was removed in what Bell Media called a business decision. In recent years, people have begun taking notice and they’re not letting unjustified decisions ruin the lives of those who don’t deserve to be terminated. If this fallout is any indication, more people care about the news than Bell Media first thought. – SL 

One small step for mankind 

While everything isn’t going according to plan for the North American Space Association (NASA), the pending launch of the Space Launch System under the Artemis program, which will hopefully take place Saturday, Sept. 3, could represent a chance for humanity to get back on track and remember that our differences pale in comparison to what we could achieve together.
   

The unmanned Artemis 1 was set to take flight on Monday, however problems discovered during the fueling of the rocket scrapped that launch, so the flight was postponed with the next possible launch being Saturday. Seeing that rocket sitting on the launch pad, representing the hope of humanity to once again visit the moon and look at goals beyond that, could prove nostalgic for a number of people. It could represent a time when humanity first took its step to the stars and the dreams it inspired in an entire generation. Even people who weren’t born when humanity first scurried across the face of our lunar companion can pine for the hope that one moment provided for all of humanity.
   

But pining and reminiscing isn’t enough. We all need to take advantage of this launch that, if successful, could see us return to the moon in two or three years. We need to remember that, for all the problems, all the divisive politics and all the injustices, we are all human and if we ever want to explore the farthest reaches of space, it will have to be together. So, look back fondly on the image of a family gathered around the television watching man’s first walk on the moon, but don’t forget that the hope it represents needs work to be worth anything. – JDS