John Robson: Rex Murphy Was a National Institution

Journalist Rex Murphy. The Canadian Press/HO, CBC, Dustin Rabin

Commentary

The death of Rex Murphy at age 77 leaves a hole in Canadian public life. We are all the poorer for it.

Rex, often known simply by his first name and certainly for his unruly hair and acerbic wit, was a fixture at least for people engaged in politics and our common life and of a certain age. Younger people may see him merely as a crusty National Post commentator infuriated by wokeness. But he was once a national institution who spent much of his career with the CBC, including hosting “Cross Country Checkup” on CBC Radio One for 21 years, back when the CBC too was a national institution.

Murphy was incongruous in that setting, and arguably in any, with his rumpled demeanor, sartorial oddities, and Newfoundland outport regular-guy ambiance and accent. Against political correctness before anyone was for it and after, anti-woke before and after the great awakening, defending common sense and pillorying nonsense with unmistakable, biting, and frequently hilarious clarity, Murphy was also… a Rhodes Scholar, something I confess came as a surprise to me in reading his obituaries.

He was both an intellectual and a man of the people into an era when the vast majority of commentators and politicians are neither. Public figures today know neither history nor literature and cannot restrain themselves from cussing in public. And in his later years, the culture wars made it impossible for him to appear in any mainstream outlet except the “conservative” National Post.

In contemplating Murphy and his legacy I was reminded of something Martin Amis said of another acerbic “conservative” commentator: “Mark Steyn is an oddity: his thoughts and themes are sane and serious – but he writes like a maniac.’” But was Murphy really a conservative?

Periodically he was drawn hypnotically into politics, though for obvious reasons he did not succeed. But he ran once for the Tories and twice for the Liberals, and in the CBC’s Greatest Canadian contest he backed Pierre Trudeau. He might with fairness have said with G.K. Chesterton that he did not leave his party, it left him. In many ways Murphy was a classical liberal with the common touch, devoted to knowledge, understanding, vigorous debate, and civil relations, even with those whose ideas his fiery wit had just reduced to a smoking ruin. Where shall we find his like again?

Of course, all men are mortal, and Murphy was 77 when he died of cancer. But he leaves a significant hole, not only because he has gone the way of all flesh after his three-score-and-ten and change. A healthy culture loses heroes every day in every field, but it nurtures and cultivates others to fill their shoes. Despite Murphy’s best efforts, ours is now too sick to do so.

If a Rex Murphy were today to apply for a CBC job, the guardians of DEI would bar the door and if he somehow got in, swiftly defenestrate him. Our “public” broadcaster no longer represents a diversity of views, but the exquisite intolerant sensibilities of postmodern urban radicals. Indeed, their largely positive obituary of Murphy contained the obligatory sneer, “Murphy’s work drew criticism, at times, including for accepting paid speaking engagements for the oil industry.”

It is characteristically fatuous comment. It would be a useless commentator whose work never drew criticism, and a fortunate or inhumanly gifted one whose work never deserved it. And what public figure does not receive some income, or hope to, from paid speaking engagements? Except, Murphy himself might say, a CBC executive wallowing in bonuses while the institution haemorrhages viewers.

Third, obviously, their real complaint is “the oil industry,” that pillar of Canada’s economy and way of life regarded by the smart set as destroying the climate from malevolent, pig-headed greed. And there is no longer room for dissent in official Canada, or charity toward intellectual adversaries.

The National Post headline on his obituary, “Rex Murphy, the sharp-witted intellectual who loved Canada, dies at 77,” encapsulates the problem. Murphy did love Canada, passionately, and that love prompted him to upbraid it for its failings. But our political and cultural leaders today scorn patriotism, deny our values, and despise our heritage including vigorous, intelligent, charitably withering debate.

Murphy fought for the Canada he loved literally to his dying day. And his last published piece, unless others are pending, was a fitting monument to this Canadian giant, a characteristically scorching and penetrating excoriation of Trudeau Jr. for failing to confront the sexually sadistic genocidal Hamas attack on Israel with anything resembling moral clarity, comprehension, or decency.

It would be sad to lose such a person under any circumstances. But when we also lose the kind of place he held in our national life, it is a tragedy.

Rest in peace, Rex. We will miss you.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.