Did You Ever Wonder How Don Cherry Became the Mouthpiece for Neoconservatism?

Does it not seem odd to anyone that Don Cherry, who always played the average Joe, got so wrapped up in neoconservatism, the revolt of the rich against society?

I mean he's everywhere. Campaigning for Julian Fantino, endorsing Rob Ford. He'll probably be lending his blubber to Kingston's local conservative candidate.

Many are just calling him a senile old crank, trying to capture a bit of the limelight, and while that may be true, there is another reason. Stephen Harper and the boys made this man a lot of money. More money than I'll ever see in a lifetime. And now he owes them.

How you ask? Pull up a chair. I want to tell you a story.

The Backroom Deal of the Century

As you probably know Harper's boys are fascinated with hockey pucks. They even have their own hockey team, courtesy of Republican pollster Frank Luntz. I think they call themselves The Bought and Paid For Boys.


Well one day the Bought and Paid For Boys, were paid a special visit by Mr. Don Cherry. He brought a signed jersey for Stephen Harper and a box of a new "medicine" he was flogging. Cold-FX.

When COLD-fX maker CV Technologies visited Parliament Hill with their spokesman, hockey commentator Don Cherry, it was “a mistake” for Harper to accept gifts, including a signed Mark Messier hockey jersey and a case of the cold remedy, MacDermid noted. "Good heavens, it is so obvious. No representative of the people should be accepting gifts from companies that have the intention of lobbying. They didn’t even register. He should have said 'No, I can’t take that.’"

But that's not the story. Or at least not all of it.

Dr. Jacqueline Shan, president of CV Technologies, Inc. of Edmonton, accompanied by hockey commentator Don Cherry, a paid company spokesman, met with about 20 Tory MPs, including several cabinet ministers, in the exclusive Parliamentary Dining Room in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill. Shan and Cherry later met directly with Harper in his Parliament Hill office. The company hired Cherry in 2004, specifically to promote sales of the product. They were invited to the capital by James Rajotte, chairman of the Commons industry committee and Tory MP for the corporate president's Edmonton-Leduc riding.

Last week, the company received a critical regulatory ruling - worth untold millions - from Health Canada, allowing it to claim in advertising that COLD-fx reduces "the frequency, severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms by boosting the immune system."

This resulted in a one-day increase in total market value of $155,288,259. One hundred and fifty five million dollars in one day. That's nothing to sneeze at, pardon the pun. And all it cost them was a hockey jersey and a box of the stuff. I wonder how much of that Cherry walked away with.

We have a government that won't talk to us, except through carefully scripted press releases, that are now often published verbatim in our media, with no attempt to offer a balancing commentary. But Don Cherry, can sit down with 20 of them and even get a one on one with the big guy.

Who do you have to .... well never mind.

Cherry and the hockey pucks were cleared, but only because the ethics commissioner concluded that the meeting "did not constitute a sufficient amount of time to be considered a significant part of their duties." Huh? This isn't about how much of their valuable time that was wasted. It's about an unethical lobbying practice.

So Why Should We Care?

How important is it to Canadians that a little backroom scratch and sniff made a whole pile of money for a handful of people?

It matters a great deal, because that backroom deal allowed a company to make unvalidated claims about a medicinal product. Some tests concluded that it had potential, but all of those tests were performed by the company themselves. According to the Edmonton Journal: A pharmaceutical expert has raised questions about the scientific claims made by CV Technologies Inc. concerning its flagship product, Cold-fX, which has become Canada's most popular cold and flu remedy.

A pharmaceutical expert has raised questions about the scientific claims made by CV Technologies Inc. concerning its flagship product, Cold-fX, which has become Canada's most popular cold and flu remedy. James McCormack, a professor at the University of B.C. faculty of pharmaceutical sciences who specializes in evaluating and interpreting clinical drug trials, said in an interview that before the public buys into the company's motto, "trust the science," they need to look at the science.

And the Canadian Medical Association agrees. This is a case of Science vs Marketing:

At best, the results of this trial might support a claim that a person who takes two 200 mg Cold-FX capsules everyday for four months may have a 1-in-4 chance of not getting a second cold during that period and may knock a couple days and a few sniffles off the first cold. At a market price of $25 for 60 capsules, this preventative strategy would cost approximately $100 for the four months ... Yet, even this modest claim is questionable. This series of trials has produced inconsistent results, and so it is hard to see how the trials, taken collectively, could definitively support any specific claim.

But this isn't even about whether or not it works. It's about our government being star struck and allowing a product to be sold to Canadians, who mistakenly believe that it has gone through rigorous testing and passed all standards of safety. Another case of the market over the people. Do we even know what the long term effects could be?

And the company is in trouble again. No doubt emboldened by how easy it was to get the feds on their side, they overreached by suggesting in an ad that the Alberta Health Services board is working with them. At least Alberta put a stop to it. Maybe Cherry should have given them a jersey.

So next time he calls us "Left-wing pinkos", remember. He's just another Bought and Paid For Boy.

Kingston's Alicia Gordon is a Day Late and a Dollar Short

After Brian Abrams, our Conservative candidate in Kingston stepped down, the party never mentioned even a nominee.

Now local businesswoman and auctioneer, Alicia Gordon, is throwing her hat into the ring.

I like Gordon. I often attended her auctions. She is smart and funny and I know she would be a hard worker.

Unfortunately, she is running for the wrong party. If we still had our Tories, I would probably not only vote for her, but help out with her campaign. But that party is gone and I cannot with good conscience support neoconservatism in any fashion.

She stated that she was running on a campaign of social services and I actually laughed out loud. She might as well have said that she running on saving the gun registry, cancelling the malfunctioning F-35 contract and raising corporate taxes.

She doesn't have a chance.

I am curious though, how she will handle this new party. Her husband ran years ago, replacing Flora MacDonald. I actually voted for him.

But this party does not allow their representatives to have their own views. Everything is scripted. Alicia is pretty outspoken. Could be trouble.

Nice to know that Senator Hugh Segal is helping her out. It will give him something to do.

He was a no-show during the Prison Farm protests and completely abandoned the disabled on Nortel pensions. I was afraid he might get fat with all that sitting around. At least he'll be "earning" the $ 133,000.00 salary we're paying him.

He also mentions that some high-profile Kingstonians will be joining her campaign. How much 'ya wanna' bet Don Cherry will be leading a pink parade?

Sigh!

Will Don Cherry be Running for the Neocons in Kingston?

The Neoconservative candidate in Kingston, Brian Abrams, stepped down recently and his replacement has yet to be announced.

However, rumours are flying that Don Cherry will be running on the neocon ticket in his hometown, which suddenly makes everything he's been doing so far make sense.

Supporting Rob Ford's throwing public servants out of work and attacking immigrants.

Visiting Afghanistan, knowing that Kingston is a military town.

I don't know whether to feel nauseous or just cry. For 40 years we have been represented by the best of the Tories and Liberals in Flora MacDonald and Peter Milliken.

Now we will have the only politician with a lower IQ than Sarah Palin. But his name recognition will probably get him elected, and the neocons will tout him around to all the ridings, signing autographs, burping and butt scratching their way to victory.

Our once beautiful country is being handed over to idiots.

A Just Society? Really? For Whom?

There is an excellent column in the Star today by John Cartwright, President of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council: Corporate greed is eroding foundations of a just society

There has been a lot of discussion about income disparity recently, as we are recreating the conditions just prior to the Great Depression.

Cartwright reminds us of how this is affecting the working class, when 'corporate culture demands that pension plans be gutted, benefits weakened and jobs outsourced.'

Brian Topp wrote a piece yesterday on Don Cherry and his recent nonsense at the inauguration of Toronto's new mayor Rob Ford. One millionaire speaking up for another millionaire.

But as Cartwright points out: 'Rob Ford promises to outsource city cleaning services to contractors who pay poverty wages. And he claims to be “standing up for the little guy.”'

So while Topp rightfully suggests that the millionaire Cherry is pretending to speak for the "little guy", he is actually complicit in the demise of that "little guy."

All the more reason to contact CBC and complain.

There is a group of prominent and progressive Americans calling for action, demanding that Obama get back on track.

I mean tax cuts? Really? He should be talking tax increases for those who have benefited the most from a series of misguided tax cuts, that helped to create this enormous disparity.

Some of the wealthiest are pledging to give away their fortunes to charity, but the antagonism of that statement is "charity". They made their fortunes only because the working class was burdened with most of the taxes, yet the first to hurt when things got tough.

This is not "charity" but the paying back of a debt.

So if millionaires like Don Cherry really want to help, they might want to get off their high horse and look around them.

Because the only ones really speaking up for the "little guy" are us "left-wing Pinkos".

Dear Mr. Cherry. I am Not a Pinko. But You Sir Are an Ass!

I used to like Don Cherry, despite his views, but I think the old fart has gone senile.

Maybe he's just thrilled to find someone with a lower IQ than he, and still able to make a living.

His speech today was a little over the top.

“[This is] what you’re going to be facing Rob with these left-wing pinkos. They scrape the bottom of the barrel,” Mr. Cherry said. His sign off: “He’s going to be the greatest mayor this city has ever, ever seen as far I’m concerned. Put that in your pipes you left-wing kooks.”

Mr. Cherry’s speech was at odds with the light and friendly tone of the rest of the ceremony, which featured a rendition of the national anthem and each of Toronto’s 44 councillors taking a picture with a beaming Mayor Ford.

Bike riders are pinkos. The media are pinkos.

I'm ashamed to admit that we are both from Kingston. He is a disgrace.