And BTW: I’m a Finn & I came to Yellowknife.

CBC has a mandate to tell the stories of all Canadians.

We should definitely make sure all arts shows come out of Winnipeg. Never mind that, in fact, business demands that most touring artists of stature, for instance, come to Toronto and maybe Montreal.

We should do national shows in places where national people aren’t located and spend tons of money on satellite time. I’m sure with a little rejgging and spit and polish, it would make perfect sense, for instance, to have a show about national politics come from Saskatoon. Sure everyone you want to talk to is in Ottawa, but that’s a small price to pay to represent all regions.

If you’re actually serious about this frankly silly position — that resembles the way absolutely NO public broadcaster works anywhere in the world, then what you’re really saying is “kill the CBC.”

Because there’s not a government agency that exists that has equal amounts of office and work in each region. Every place has to have a central hub of some sort. You’re bitched out that place is Toronto? Fine. That I get. But to say that hosts shouldn’t move and if they do and get “promoted” to Toronto that that doesn’t represent the regions is an absolutely bald, plug idiotic misrepresentation of the way that broadcasting works.

From DNTO to the regional news shows to the Vancouver experiment they’re doing, the CBC is trying to restore regionalism, that was lost, by the way let’s remember due to a systematic cut of more than 15 percent of its budget.

You’re perfectly welcome to the contention that the pace is moving too slow — but when you get into the issue of who should stay where and not go elsewhere to be promoted? That’s not a business or a cultural argument. That’s strictly emotional, and it’s remarkably, almost breathtakingly naive about the needs of both a large organization like the CBC, and the broadcasting business in general.

A national public broadcaster doesn’t need to be monolithic anymore. We have the technology to produce quality programs in any city.

I do not mean to say that this should be applied across the board in all sectors (especially not to businesses), but as a broadcaster and a public agency, CBC has a responsibility to represent all regions.

That’s about as practical a suggestion as the one you’re making.

People being able to move – labor mobility – is exactly the thing that allows for building a shared vision of a nation. In the U.S., the flocking to New York for all over doesn’t just make that city stronger — it makes America stronger. Cross pollination of people makes a city stronger and better, and a vision more national, not provincial. It’s happening in Calgary right now.

The French from Burgundy or the country go to Paris, and nobody blinks.

London draws from Scotland and the UK and it’s entirely proper.

Finns go to Helsinki, Aussies to Sydney or Melbourne, Quebecois from the townships to Montreal and nobody blinks. But English Canada is different. English Canada has to nurse a grudge because an anchor moves to Toronto?

I’m sorry. That’s just stupid.

I would not aurgue that journalists should not travel, but getting a promotion should not be analogous to moving to Toronto.

Or should any national show built around a personality the network wants to feature be located in that person’s home town?
Is that practical? What if you have someone who’s from one place, like Vancouver, but really makes a splash as host of the Ottawa morning show? What happens then?

The issue of the cutting of regional programming goes back to 1990 and the first massive cuts of 1100 regional jobs. The CBC is consistently asked to do a lot, without being able to fulfill what it’s asked to do. It tries to struggle with still having regional programming while having to support a massive terrestrial apparatus. Something’s gotta give.

As I’ve said many times before — stronger regional presence would benefit the CBC a lot. But not if nobody can move from place to place because you’ll feel “slighted” if they move on, and not if it means that you have to entertain weirdo agendas like Toronto-hating David. Does no one see that that kind of shortsighted provincialism is exactly what makes the case for more regional representation more dismissable?

For example: In Winnipeg, there is very little local CBC programming. The 2-time Gemini Award-winning show It’s a living was cut and our last two news anchors Diana Swain and Krista Erickson were “promoted” to Toronto (Why do all the good people get “promoted” out of Winnipeg?).

But the central point is this: Nutty David insists — as part of his “Toronto Grr Bad” thesis, that there is a noticeable change from season one (or part of season one, he keeps moving the goalpost) — which employed glorious Regina and therefore had real Canadians doing it, and the inferior boo hiss second season (you know, the one that all the critics say is actually, um, funny) that was made in exactly the same place, exactly the same way.

He has locked himself into this ridiculous position where creative people supposedly can’t make anything decent if they come to Toronto. Because they lose their…I don’t know — Canada mojo.

If you transfer that argument to any other country in the world, you immedialely see how ridiculous is is. A BBC producer from Edinburgh works out of BBC London, but has a London Bias…an artist from the Midwest paints in SoHo in NYC, but is no longer defined or influenced by the dreams of where they’re from.

It’s a child’s argument, and he makes it childishly. To leave it unchallenged is to let the guy spread his crap. Of all the stuff the CBC needs to do — INCLUDING reflect the country better, listening to a bigot with an insane bias against the biggest city in the country isn’t the answer.

the last six of the first season were shot in toronto.

in season 2, the one that is airing now, there were a total of about 20 shooting days in regina, and 60 or so in toronto. i don’t know exactly, but i think there were about 80 shooting days total.

this is just my understanding; i didn’t work on the show.

mark

They were NOT doing principal photography for Little Mosque in Regina this year?

Could’ve sworn I’d heard that they were. I figured with all that other stuff going on in and around Regina these days, the logistics could fall into place for Little Mosque to do so as well. It would also be one more knife in the metaphorical back of the logic of the Taxpayers’ Federation’s argument against SaskFilm as well. Or the front of its logic. Take your pick.

It is a buzzword.

The way I use it is to explain that in my opinion we should spend less time defining ourselves by how we get content to people than the content and the people themselves. Hard to argue the fact the CBC for decades has been the national broadcaster. What does that mean online? Use it to distribute what we’re good at? Or can and should we be doing something else? What do people expect from us?

It’s an oversimplification, but personally it helps frame my thinking, and sometimes it helps you recognize when you’re trying to force something online that probably shouldn’t be there.

But wow, you’re persuasive. What could I have been thinking?

Oh, wait, I remember. I was probably thinking about when they filmed the first season of Mosque in the same building where I was writing and producing my own show. And all those visits I had with my good friend the script coordinator. As he put out the scripts. Which came from the writers. Working … in Toronto.

But you know what? It should be an easy matter to disprove me — you can just call Saskfilm and ask.

SaskFILM / Locations Saskatchewan
Mark Prasuhn – Film Commissioner
2445 13th Ave, # 340
Regina
Saskatchewan, S4P 0W1
Tel: (306) 347-3456

Mark’s a very decent guy. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to hear that they owe a lot more for locations, since the whole series was shot in Sask in season 1 … or … um…it moved halfway through season one or something. You’re not really that clear on which point you’re making.

I worked with Mark at TVO years ago, but don’t worry, David, he’s lived in Sask for more than three years so he’s probably clean.

As for the rest, well, you know, I actually do think that the Vancouver and Calgary CBC detatchments (which I’m most familiar with, and know the most people working in) are made stronger because of the diversity of voices and representation from all areas of Canada there — including people from Toronto who’ve settled in those places.

But when you define an enemy — Ie: “Toronto” as the root of everything evil, you do back yourself into a lot of corners. You want to disprove things I’ve seen with my own eyes, man, you better bring some heat and some fact.

Oh, so tired. If only there was some ready made thing somebody else said that perfectly encapsulated David’s brave, anonymous stand of rage. Oh, hang on a tic…Davey, you may find this one familiar!

“Does he just open his mouth and randomly start spewing things that he thinks will save him in the moment, or is he deliberately trying to mislead? You be the judge, but note that he does this in essentially every rant he makes.”

Couldn’t have said it better me own self. Say ‘Hi’ to Mark at Saskfilm — and do post those facts when you got’em. It’ll throw everybody off, you postin a few facts!

Peas out,

It would take forever to address all the false statements and misdirection Denis litters his posts with, and if you look back you’ll find that he does this in almost every long rant he makes, but it seems that here and on other CBC sites his posting style is pretty well known, so I don’t think I need to say very much, but here are a few points.

It was common knowledge to anyone who followed the show, but for someone who didn’t already know a simple internet search would show that LMOTP season 1 was “shot mainly in Regina”. (At the very least it seems clear that the first episodes were shot in Regina and somewhere midseason the shooting was shifted to Toronto.) Is it possible that he doesn’t know this? Does he just open his mouth and randomly start spewing things that he thinks will save him in the moment, or is he deliberately trying to mislead? You be the judge, but note that he does this in essentially every rant he makes.

Next let’s note the irony of someone who claims that “Toronto is Canada” suggesting that someone else who is arguing for true representation from all of Canada is “looking through a single prism”. (He MUST just blurt this stuff out without ever pausing to pass it through his brain first.) The argument that he made last time, and that he’s resurrecting here, is that there are a lot of people from all over Canada in Toronto, and therefore that Toronto is Canada, culturally speaking. This is obvious nonsense, of course. There is a HUGE number of people from all over Canada here in Calgary, so using Denis’ logic Calgary would be Canada, and Calgary would have to be the same as Toronto, culturally speaking, and the same could be said for Vancouver too. Anyone who thinks Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver are culturally the same please stand up! Denis, presumably, is standing alone at this point. And note that the CBC has recognized the need to have well rounded hosts for cultural programming for a very long time. Every host of a major national cultural show I can thing of, except Q and The Hour, has been hosted by someone who has spent a significant amount of time in very culturally different parts of Canada. Go down the list yourself, starting with Peter G.

Why would someone try to concoct an excuse as absurd as this? Is it true that he does a guest spot on Q every week? I think Denis’ job, and quite likely his past and any future jobs, have and will depend on his Toronto contacts and this ridiculous, and highly offensive, myth that “Toronto is Canada.” Q is hosted by someone who has never lived anywhere in Canada other than Toronto for any significant length of time, so it would appear that Jian’s job depends on this convenient myth too, and Denis’ job along with it. (And note that anyone who has actually lived in different parts of the country knows very well that it takes a couple of years, at the very lest, of meeting people and going to events and learning about local history and artists, to absorb and understand the new culture to any significant extent. The suggestion that you can breeze into town and play a gig or two and then know the culture of the place is preposterous. It could only be made by someone who has never made such a move, like Jian or George perhaps, or someone who is working another agenda and not being honest. I’ve lived in 3 different provinces for more than 3 years each, including Ontario, and my parents both come from a 4th province on the east coast, so I’m well aware of what I’m talking about. Further, the fact that Jian and George are very culturally narrow and regional is, frankly, plain to see for all those who have a broader understanding of Canada and Canadian culture than that of just one region. Maybe some people have mistakenly believed that, “that must be Canadian youth culture”, but it isn’t. I’m not sure it’s even Toronto youth culture anymore, but it’s certainly regional Toronto anyway, and not much broader than that at all.)

And of course throughout his posts Denis consistently relies heavily on the ad hominem argument. The national CBC is obviously hugely skewed toward Toronto content, and culturally Toronto content, and I’m pointing out that this is in violation of the CBC’s mandate and that major changes need to be made to make the CBC Canadian again and bring it back in line with its mandate, but he has no substantive response to this so he resorts to trying to label me as anti-Toronto. This is all very text book so I don’t need to go much farther than this on this point.

The fact that someone like Denis McGrath is employed by the CBC in Toronto in any capacity is, frankly, quite shocking, but it speaks volumes about the state of CBC Toronto in general, and it goes a long way towards explaining why the quality and relevance of the shows coming out of Toronto are what they are. It also seems pretty clear what kinds of forces are acting to maintain the status quo, or to give the appearance of making changes while really trying to protect their turf and privileges. So those concerned about reforming the CBC and making it Canadian again need to keep up the fight. Keep writing your MPs and the new CBC management and whoever else you can think of. Bookmark this thread and sent it to your MP and others. The CBC belongs to Canadians, so let’s be proactive and take back the CBC. Let’s free the CBC from the clutches of people like Denis McGrath make it Canadian again.

Maybe.

Not that it matters because you know, not on our network.

Actually, now that I think about it. I slightly misspoke. I think Mosque might have gone to Sask. twice — once in June and once at the end of shooting. None of that changes the fact that if you go out to Butterick Road, just off the QEW at Islington and Evans, voila, there’s the place they shot Mosque. In all its dirty, Toronto-standing-in-for-fictional SaskAltoba town Mercy.