The biggest feud in Canada’s culture wars, Don Cherry vs Ron MacLean, has blown up big time again. Read More
The biggest feud in Canada’s culture wars, Don Cherry vs Ron MacLean, has blown up big time again. lt might just keep doing so, with no resolution. Simply put the two warring factions don’t see the world in the same way. They don’t have the same values. They’ll never see eye-to-eye. The feud is now
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The biggest feud in Canada’s culture wars, Don Cherry vs Ron MacLean, has blown up big time again.
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lt might just keep doing so, with no resolution. Simply put the two warring factions don’t see the world in the same way. They don’t have the same values. They’ll never see eye-to-eye.
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The feud is now in its sixth year, pitting conservatives against progressives, patriots and traditionalists against woke radicals and the political left.
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But this latest episode in the feud at least puts into the clearest focus yet exactly what happened between Cherry and MacLean, exactly where MacLean himself stands.
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Headline News
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We can thank Gare Joyce of the Kingston-Whig Standard for this newfound clarity. In a profile on Cherry, he interviewed MacLean in detail about the matter.
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To refresh your memory, it all started November 11, 2019 when Cherry went on a rip about immigrants not wearing poppies and said he was thinking of no longer leading the poppy campaign.
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Here’s what Cherry said: “You know, I was talking to a veteran. I said, ‘I’m not going to run the poppy thing anymore, because what’s the sense?’ I live in Mississauga. Nobody wears, very few people wear a poppy. Downtown Toronto. Forget it. Downtown Toronto. Nobody wears a poppy… He says, ‘Wait a minute. How about running it for the people that buy them?’
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Cherry continued: “You people love, they come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life. You love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies, or something like that. These guys (the war dead) paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys paid the biggest price. Anyhow, I’m going to run it again for you great people and good Canadians that bought a poppy. I’m still going to run it anyhow.”
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On screen, MacLean can be nodding along to Cherry’s comments, then giving the thumbs up and saying in response to Cherry continuing on the poppy campaign, “Love you for it.”
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The next day, however, after controversy erupted over Cherry’s comments, MacLean issued a statement: “During last night’s broadcast, Don made comments that were hurtful and prejudiced and I wish I had handled myself differently. It was a divisive moment and I am truly upset with myself for allowing it. I have worked with Don for 30 years, and we both love hockey. But last night, I know we failed you.”
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The National Hockey League also criticized Cherry in a statement: “Hockey is at its best when it brings people together. The comments made last night were offensive and contrary to the values we believe in.”
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Cherry’s employer at Sportsnet fired him.
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Cherry has continued on as a podcaster on his Grapevine podcast, while MacLean has continued on at Sportsnet as a host.
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Cherry at the time was unapologetic about his push to get Canadians to wear poppies: “The part that they didn’t like was ‘you people’ and it could have been anybody, it could have been the Scotch, Irish, English, anything else but the people that took the offence when you say ‘you people,’ I don’t regret it. I really believe that everybody should wear a poppy, everybody should buy a poppy that’s living in Canada, and I said it and I mean every word of it.”
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In Joyce’s story, MacLean provided more of an explanation for his stance, saying that at the time Cherry was 85 and getting worn out by the travel of the Hockey Night in Canada job. He suggested Cherry was looking for an exit strategy and was plotting a way out. Cherry knew the reaction he’d get for the poppy comment, MacLean said. “Don needed out and the time was right. (Remembrance Day) was his last swing, taking a stance that’s unpopular, but that feels good in his world.”
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As for his own part, MacLean said, “The attack on immigrants was improper and I was not happy with it — it goes against my ethics. I was able to take my stand and he was able to take his, but I was also playing the game and that card allowed Don to gracefully get out — he could go out on what was for him a high, (saying stuff) that would get you elected President of the U.S. now.”
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Following MacLean’s comments, hockey legend Bobby Orr, who played for Cherry in Boston, said, “Suggesting Don Cherry used encouraging people to wear poppies on Remembrance Day as an exit strategy from Coach’s Corner, revealing he had pneumonia in 2019 and that he doesn’t have many friends, I have only one thing to say to you Ron MacLean: Shame on you.”
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My take
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1. In 2019, Don Cherry was not complaining about immigration. He was complaining about immigrants who come here for a better life, but don’t respect Canadian traditions, such as the poppy. That is how I heard it.
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But, evidently, that’s not how everyone heard it it. Some saw Cherry’s comments as racist. MacLean doesn’t go that far but he now frames Cherry’s comment as an attack on immigrants.
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This is where the two feuding factions will never see eye to eye.
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2. No doubt, Cherry would have been better off at the time if he had said he was upset with any Canadian, immigrant or non-immigrant, who refused to wear a poppy. He came off as reactionary for singling out immigrants. But he said nothing beyond the pale. It was due to a zealous and intolerant moment of peak wokeness in Canada that he got axed.
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We collectively lost our way in that moment, the radical left pushing too aggressively for cancellation, the conservative right too timid and defensive in standing up for free speech. We can now see that was a mistake, correct? And also that Cherry’s essential message was correct, right?
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All Canadians, immigrants included, should love and respect Canada. Together we’ve built one of the world’s most prosperous, tolerant and stable nations. That’s worth remembering and celebrating. And that newcomers who come to Canada and refuse to put behind violent, old world feuds, and who deplore what Canada stands for and decry our traditions, they aren’t above criticism, correct?
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The need to stand up for Canada has come into ever more clear focus since Cherry’s statement in 2019, with many Canadians hammering away at the country’s founding father John A. Macdonald, ripping down statues of him and taking his name off of public buildings. Local politicians have been loathe to celebrate Canada Day. They wanted to treat it as a some kind of day of self-loathing mourning. We’ve also seen rallies on our streets where radicals have chanted, “Death to Canada.”
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It was only with the rise of Trump and his perceived threat to Canada that many Canadians suddenly rediscovered their patriotism. Perhaps if many of the same people now wrapping themselves in the flag weren’t leading the charge to fire Cherry they’d have more credibility.
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3. The firing of Cherry remains an open wound in Canada. MacLean just gave it a good poke. He’s getting plenty of pushback on it just now, as seen by Bobby Orr’s comment.
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The latest turn comes from the Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington, him reporting that after Joyce’s story appeared, MacLean went over to Cherry’s house to apologize.
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I’ll leave the last word here to Warmington, who has done much to get out Cherry’s side of the story over the years.
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Writes the Sun columnist: “Cherry should be bestowed every hockey accolade there is and the Order of Canada, too — for his hockey contributions, but also for his avid support of Canada, its military, police, first responders and nationalism. There is nobody more about Canadian hockey or Canadian patriotism than him. On top of that, he should be reinstated by Sportsnet so he can retire with the honour he deserves after six decades as a player, coach and broadcaster. No one is saying Cherry should go back on air, but they could do it symbolically. They could do a special segment with Cherry and MacLean one last time on his porch, as I have done numerous times since they threw him under the bus.”
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At the Cult of Hockey
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