There could have been no more clear signal in these troubled times that, when it comes to culture, large parts of English Canada are interoperable with America.
I refer, of course, to the decision by the man who would be Canada’s next Liberal Party leader and prime minister—Mark Carney—to pre-launch his campaign with an appearance on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, a U.S. cable channel.
It is rare, if not unheard of, for a politician to seek favour in his own country by appearing on a foreign television program, at least as the starting point for a campaign. Perhaps other well-connected, high-profile candidates will adopt a similar strategy.
It’s also a decision that clearly throws the CBC—in both languages—under the bus. Mr. Carney’s campaign surely chose “The Daily Show” for his pre-debut because it was the most likely program to draw a lot of the right kind of attention in Canada. The additional benefits would be a non-hostile interview from which useful social media clips could be taken. Or he was just following the example set by outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who, since his resignation announcement, has only done interviews with American media.
One might argue that, despite past efforts, there are no late night talk show alternatives on Canadian TV networks. But Mr. Carney could have easily offered himself to CBC News Network, CTV News Channel, or even CPAC. Some might speculate that he didn’t because the political risk of dealing with journalists as opposed to comedians is higher, and there could be merit to that suggestion. Chances are also good that the social cachet in Canada of a Jon Stewart interview is more significant than a heart-to-heart with Rosemary Barton or Vassy Kapelos.
We can draw a couple of impressions from this, the first of which is that Mr. Carney’s decision is really bad news for the CBC, which at the moment is about as high and dry as it gets. It is squarely in the “defund the CBC” crosshairs of a potential Conservative government. Its television ratings—in English anyway—are weak, and a hoped-for revitalization through a new mandate has been sidelined by the double whammy of Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s parental leave and Mr. Trudeau’s decision to resign once a new Liberal leader is chosen on March 9.
Now, the message from the man many believe will be the nation’s next prime minister is that the network formed to ensure Canadians could see their country through Canadian rather than American eyes is, if not irrelevant, definitely second choice.
The entire Canadian broadcasting system, regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), was, like the CBC, created to preserve the nation culturally and save it from being swamped by American programming. Despite years of efforts, Mr. Carney’s preference for “The Daily Show” confirms that it, too, has failed.
Canadian audiences, like Mr. Carney, prefer American programming. They watch it in prime time and they watch it online. When a U.S. network moves a popular program from a Tuesday to a Thursday night, the Canadian network that owns rights to that program follows suit. For all intents and purposes, the nation’s television schedules are programmed south of the border. The exception is the CBC, which offers Canadian shows in prime time that, overall, fail to draw large audiences.
When it comes to news, American channels such as CNN and MSNBC are regularly as, if not more, popular in Canada than CBC News Network or CTV News Channel. Little wonder we so frequently hear Canadians refer to district attorneys and Miranda rights while employing phrases such as “we, the people,” which is a straight lift from the U.S. Constitution. Television is a major cultural influencer, and in Canada that means that, despite decades of efforts by the CBC and the CRTC, American content dominates and has done so ever since cable networks were licensed to deliver it everywhere north of the border.
That pattern of behaviour will be reinforced in the weeks ahead when, beginning Jan. 20 with the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, all eyes turn to the United States and its promise to launch a trade war on Canada. If Mr. Trump is to be believed, tariffs could be the first step in a series of economic pressures applied by his administration to Canada in order to encourage its annexation. When it comes to coverage of these events, it will be interesting to see which TV news sources Canadians prefer.
As for the political impact of Mr. Carney’s appearance on “The Daily Show,” his rivals shouldn’t be too concerned. Far more Canadians were probably watching the Rams beat the Vikings on NFL Monday Night Football and don’t really care who becomes Canada’s next Liberal president, er, prime minister.
