Commander Cherry turns down his commission

Politics it seems crosses all boundaries in Canada, below a post we first delivered to our HockeyNation portal, outlining the latest controversy surrounding hockey commentator Don Cherry.

The timing of the announcement seemed most appropriate, heading into Remembrance Week in Canada, the Royal Military College in Kingston had announced that hometown boy Don Cherry was to be acknowledged with an honorary doctorate for his long time support of Canada's military.

Cherry, who frequently features vignettes of the troops that have passed while in the line of duty for Canada, is perhaps the military's biggest booster in Canada, clearly wearing his heart on his sleeve when it comes to all branches of the military, as well as for police, fire fighters and EMT personnel.

And while many might rage at the man over some of his thoughts on the state of the game of hockey today, we don't think many would take up a quarrel with him over his support for the troops.

But, there was one dissenting voice loud enough it seems to put the honours in doubt, Catherine Lord a french language professor at RMC voiced her concerns that Cherry's past pronouncements from his weekly pulpit highlighted a less than respectful opinion on segments of Canadian society, thus it seems in her mind making him an unfit candidate for the military honour.

The objections seemed more of a case of petty grandstanding (letters to the editor, media releases? Really?) than any particular true case of a quest for some kind of social justice.

And while it's said she has company on the protest train, we have a feeling that within the Forces and at RMC hers would be a decidedly minority opinion in dissent, not one that really should have had much sway in the determination of who is fit or unfit to be bestowed with honorary acknowledgment.

And to that point it didn't appear that her interjection would have much of an impact, RMC had brushed aside that bit of bombast, the honorary doctorate was still set to be bestowed on the man from coach's corner, until he, himself, pulled the plug on the project.

There's no indication from Cherry as to why he chose not to accept the RMC honours, though we imagine he didn't want to be the distraction to the week of Remembrance, with Remembrance Day observations to come on November 11th, we imagine he feared that the controversy would detract from the solemn nature of those observations.

And he's probably correct if that was his thought and by his actions he has once again put the memory of the Canadian Armed Forces first, as he always has it seems.

We've had our moments trying to dissect the Cherry logic on some hockey matters, we think he's wrong on a few of them and has been quick to make comments that perhaps could have used a second or third go over, but when it comes to supporting the Armed Forces we can't think of a better champion for those that wear a uniform.

The language instructor in our mind was wrong on this one and we imagine if she takes the time to chat with the majority of the members of the forces that have been battle tested in any of our nation's overseas commitments she'll find she's a bit out of touch with those that she instructs.

Perhaps the Administration at RMC can make contact with Mr. Cherry once again, after we pay our respects for those that served and continue to serve this Remembrance Day.

With the week of solemn reflection behind us perhaps Mr. Cherry would be more receptive to the honorary degree and acknowledgement of his work on behalf of the military.

We have a feeling that there would be little blow back on RMC if they choose to go full steam ahead with their plan, as for all his faults Cherry is if nothing else, a dedicated supporter of the troops.

Regardless as any soldier, sailor or airmen will tell you, honours are nice, but the respect of your compatriots is probably reward enough. And we suspect that across the Canadian military and on into the fire, police and ambulance services, the majority of those that serve have a fair amount of respect for Cherry's frequent efforts on their behalf.

We imagine there's not an Army mess hall, Navy mess deck or Air Force base in the country where Mr. Cherry couldn't drop in for a pop of his favourite beverage, an attentive audience ready to share some time at the bar with him.

Our guess is he'd never have to pick up a tab anywhere, but he probably would anyways.

Toronto Star-- Go ahead Don, reconsider that military degree

Kingston Whig Standard-- Cherry saga disappoints official

Kingston Whig Standard-- Cherry passes on honorary degree from RMC

Kingston Whig Standard-- RMC prof pans Cherry honour

Kingston Whig Standard-- Royal Military College faculty protest honorary degree for Cherry

National Post-- Don Cherry declines honorary degree from military college

Globe and Mail-- Don Cherry turns down RMC honorary degree

Toronto Sun-- Cherry repeats pledge to decline RMC honour

Sun News-- Criticism keeps Don Cherry from accepting honorary degree

Ottawa Citizen-- Royal Military College of Canada says Don Cherry has declined Honorary Degree

Vancouver Sun-- Don Cherry honorary degree sparks debate at Canada's Royal Military College

Business Week-- Hockey Commentator Cherry Declines Military College Degree

Toronto Star-- Whatever you think of him, Cherry's slow fall sad to watch

CTV-- Don Cherry declines military college honorary degree

CBC-- Don Cherry turns down honorary degree

CBC-- Don Cherry's honorary degree sparks

CBC-- Should Don Cherry have turned down the RMC's honorary degree?

The above item first appeared on our HockeyNation blog.

I'll be Batman, you be Robin, together we'll have Ms. Clark's head a throbbin'

More grist for the rest of Canada, that politics in British Columbia is just a little bit different than in the rest of the federation.

The rather mercurial political career (seemingly on a downward descent at the moment) of one time Solicitor General Kash Heed took another bizarre twist in British Columbia this week, as Mr. Heeds' one time number two disclosed that the province's former top law man had a wee bit of an unusual take on his place in the pursuit of justice and political pecking order.

Micahel Smyth of the Province paints a wonderful portrait for us of Heed and indeed of some of the drama behind the Liberal party these days, as larger than larger than life egos try to find their place in the wake of Gordon Campbell's departure to Jolly Old England.

And while Premier Christy Clark probably has many things to have her reach for the Tylenol these days (polling numbers perhaps?) nothing is probably causing her more discomfort than what may come next out of Camp Heed.

The revelations in the Smyth article are beyond baffling and probably will pretty well scupper any thoughts that the now back bench MLA may have for further political advancement.

The most intriguing of which is the idea that Heed thought of himself as Batman, his former campaign manager and loyal partner  Barinder Sall, apparently more than happy to be Robin.

And if Batman's political career is now yet one more entry in the book of British Columbian farce (a very thick tome we imagine) Batman can lay the blame squarely at the feet of Robin.

Robin, er, Sall is finding himself in a wee bit of trouble in the Pacific version of Gotham City these days, a 15,000 dollar fine for dirty tricks in the last election key among them and well Robin, hurt by the abandonment of his Batman,  isn't going under the bus by himself it seems.

Among the more interesting aspects of the piece, the collection of e mail messages that Sall kept, snippets of background into the relationship between the two.

Those missives offer up some fascinating views into how the Police Chief, Solicitor General and MLA conducted himself over the years from his days as a crime fighter to today's hours of semi anonymous toil in the Legislature.

From the Smyth article we learn of many tales from beyond the realm of reality.

Including the concept that Heed as Chief of Police in West Vancouver kept a special phone in his desk, which according to Sall was called the "bat phone", a secret number of which only those with the need to know seemingly had access to.



From the email files we discover that Batman perhaps wasn't a total team player, describing fellow Liberal John Les as a goof,  John Van Dongen as apparently clueless and Cabinet Minister Mary McNeil as a loser and dense.

In Smyth's compendium of e mails, we learn that Heed gave some thought to other political options other than the Liberals, apparently ruminating on the idea of jumping to the Green Party one day, the NDP the next.

With the smoking gun of Heed's thoughts on his fellow Liberals and his fanciful idea that he could swoop into the NDP and lead the good fight, it would appear that Premier Clark needs to address his standing as a Liberal MLA pretty quickly.

Smyth suggests that she's not inclined to turf him at the moment, lest the MLA's seat fall into the hands of the NDP, but with Heed in the Liberal tent with what seems like less than total dedication, she may want to rethink that whole plan.

We're not sure exactly what the Premier is going to do about all of this, but it would seem that she has no option but to don her Commissioner Gordon suit and shut off that Bat Light permanently...

More of the decline and fall of Batman can be found below:

Victoria TC-- Kash Heed's long fall
Victoria TC-- Emails, controversy leave Heed in limbo
Vancouver Province-- Kash Heed needs to resign as MLA
Vancouver Province-- If Heed won't quit, he ought to be kicked out of caucus
Vancouver Sun-- Liberals to discuss Heed's status
Vancouver Sun-- Chief electoral officer reviews new allegations in Heed affair
Vancouver Sun-- The rise and fall of Kash's political operative
North Shore News-- Heed faces new spending allegations
CBC-- New Heed overspending allegations under review
The Tyee-- NDP Wants New Probe into Heed Spending

Greeksmanship!

Another day, another twist in the Greek drama playing out across the world's stock exchanges and into the heart of the Euro Zone.

Today's instalment of Get it from the Greeks features the prospect of a government change, with the Greek Parliament expressing its confidence or lack thereof in the Prime Minister.

All sorts of subplots surround the deliberations of the Greek Parliament and where it all comes to a resting place is but the purview of the Gods of Olympus.

Since the rocks started rolling from the Greek hills, we've seen a planned referendum hailed and panned in the same breath,  the surprise moment from Greek Prime Minister  (for now) Papandreou a curious gambit that quickly got quashed after a summons to meet with Angela Merkel and Ncholas Sarkozy, the Euro tandem seemingly laying down the Euro law to their mischievous Greek ally.

From there we've seen any number os scenarios unfold, from a coalition government of unity (seemingly a non starter with the opposition) to a change in government with the Prime Minister to resign, in some quarters, even the whisper of a military coup wafted through the air, suggestive that the mess that is Greece may be beyond control now.

The EU has already advised that no further financial assistance will be provided to Greece until they have come to some kind of arrangement on the financial package originally arranged.

Add onto that the rumblings from the Euro partners that perhaps it's time to bid Greece avrio and let them count their own drachmas, while Europe tends to its own troubles and the scene seems set for a final showdown.

In the end, they may get pushed out or, the Greeks may take heart the words of Groucho Marx, with the declaration of "we wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have us".

As events move forward and quickly so, Greece may end up the afterthought of the drama unravelling in Europe, for most of Europe the Greek situation seems so much old history, with Italy now the new potential tipping point for the grand experiment of European Unity.

Considering the rather melodramatic nature of Silvio Berlusconi's rule, there may be even more drama to come, this one from the Italian stage.

Either way, it would seem that things are going to be quite interesting among the ruins from the continent for more than a few months to come.


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