By JOE WARMINGTON
There should be a special pin for those who don't seem to ever win the Order of Canada!
Marilyn Bell and Don Cherry are two of many tremendous Canadians who have been snubbed by the Order of Canada selection committee once again.
You start to get the idea they are being punished. How can those two people not get that thing? It's nuts.
Valerie Pringle, though, made it this time! Nothing wrong with perky and the seven-time Gemini winner has had a long run on Canadian TV. But really! Not too many lakes conquered and I have not found a story anywhere talking about millions being raised to build a hospice for terminally-ill children or unabashed support for our troops, either.
Cherry and Bell have made outstanding contributions to Canada and them being perennially left off the phony Order of Canada roll call each time is a national disgrace. There should be an investigation -- and not one headed by a Lib-lefty.
Now Pringle's a nice person for sure who has had as equally as nice a run of gigs at the CBC and at CTV. It seems to have been enough to get that snowflake! Perhaps a shot at governor general is next since the CBC has been the stepping stone for our last two.
If someone can show me some freedom she has championed or great Canadian achievement she's accomplished I'll write another column. I actually like her a lot but I am looking for something like former Miss World Canada Nazanin Ashfin-Jam, who led a campaign to save the life of a young Iranian girl who was sentenced to death for killing her rapist. The girl was released because of her efforts but the name Nazanin Afshin-Jam is not on that list! Imagine!
Perhaps next time -- right there with Grapes and Bell. Don't hold your breath. There doesn't seem to be a balance.
While I could not find any great humanitarian victories for Pringle, there was one story in the Sun archives by Alan Findlay which said her husband Andrew, despite being the chairman of the PC Ontario Fund, oddly sent Carolyn Bennett's Liberal leadership campaign a cheque for $5,400 -- the maximum allowed.
Findlay wrote: "Bennett's husband (TVO boss Peter O'Brian) and his wife, Canadian television host and producer Valerie Pringle, are cousins, he said."
Perhaps that played no role and whatever way you look at it Pringle is no less deserving than the other communicators to get it over the years. These include Dr. Sue Johanson, Jeffrey Simpson, Roy MacGregor, Hugh Winsor, William Johnson, Richard Gwyn, Denise Donlon, Haroon Siddiqui, Knowlton Nash, Joe Schlesinger and Mark Starowicz. None of them should have it.
But since they do, so should the Sun's Peter Worthington and George Gross -- two journalistic legends, both in their 80s, who are still at the top of their game and have a way better resume than any of those above.
Worthington fought for his country in both World War II and Korea and has covered the world for five decades and Gross, a journalist for 65 years who came here from then-Communist Czechoslovakia to become this country's most famous sports scribe and most ardent supporter of amateur athletics.
Give them the damned award, you bunch of leftist jerks.
Bell, Cherry, Lastman, Worthington and Gross may not be perky -- just great Canadians who are not necessarily in your political club.
Or is it just time to create a new award? • You can call Joe Warmington at (416) 947-2392 or e-mail at joe.warmington@tor.sunpub.com
• Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to editor@tor.sunpub.com
There should be a special pin for those who don't seem to ever win the Order of Canada!
Marilyn Bell and Don Cherry are two of many tremendous Canadians who have been snubbed by the Order of Canada selection committee once again.
You start to get the idea they are being punished. How can those two people not get that thing? It's nuts.
Valerie Pringle, though, made it this time! Nothing wrong with perky and the seven-time Gemini winner has had a long run on Canadian TV. But really! Not too many lakes conquered and I have not found a story anywhere talking about millions being raised to build a hospice for terminally-ill children or unabashed support for our troops, either.
Cherry and Bell have made outstanding contributions to Canada and them being perennially left off the phony Order of Canada roll call each time is a national disgrace. There should be an investigation -- and not one headed by a Lib-lefty.
If someone can show me some freedom she has championed or great Canadian achievement she's accomplished I'll write another column. I actually like her a lot but I am looking for something like former Miss World Canada Nazanin Ashfin-Jam, who led a campaign to save the life of a young Iranian girl who was sentenced to death for killing her rapist. The girl was released because of her efforts but the name Nazanin Afshin-Jam is not on that list! Imagine!
Perhaps next time -- right there with Grapes and Bell. Don't hold your breath. There doesn't seem to be a balance.
While I could not find any great humanitarian victories for Pringle, there was one story in the Sun archives by Alan Findlay which said her husband Andrew, despite being the chairman of the PC Ontario Fund, oddly sent Carolyn Bennett's Liberal leadership campaign a cheque for $5,400 -- the maximum allowed.
Findlay wrote: "Bennett's husband (TVO boss Peter O'Brian) and his wife, Canadian television host and producer Valerie Pringle, are cousins, he said."
Perhaps that played no role and whatever way you look at it Pringle is no less deserving than the other communicators to get it over the years. These include Dr. Sue Johanson, Jeffrey Simpson, Roy MacGregor, Hugh Winsor, William Johnson, Richard Gwyn, Denise Donlon, Haroon Siddiqui, Knowlton Nash, Joe Schlesinger and Mark Starowicz. None of them should have it.
But since they do, so should the Sun's Peter Worthington and George Gross -- two journalistic legends, both in their 80s, who are still at the top of their game and have a way better resume than any of those above.
Worthington fought for his country in both World War II and Korea and has covered the world for five decades and Gross, a journalist for 65 years who came here from then-Communist Czechoslovakia to become this country's most famous sports scribe and most ardent supporter of amateur athletics.
Give them the damned award, you bunch of leftist jerks.
Bell, Cherry, Lastman, Worthington and Gross may not be perky -- just great Canadians who are not necessarily in your political club.
Or is it just time to create a new award? • You can call Joe Warmington at (416) 947-2392 or e-mail at joe.warmington@tor.sunpub.com
• Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to editor@tor.sunpub.com
