Bruce Dowbiggin
C18 Circus: Trudeau Is Here To Help Make Everything Worse– Again

Breaking: CBC now says that following a review of its journalism, its sources could not confirm the existence of alleged emails between Danielle Smith’s office and prosecutors. Smith says she feels “vindicated” after CBC News previously claimed the Alberta premier’s office directly emailed Crown prosecutors about criminal cases against participants in the 2022 Coutts protests.
On a recent trip to PEI, we ended up at a beach party with a local farmer whose land rolls down to Northumberland Strait. He lives on a lovely property that has been in the family for seven generations. As he pointed out across the water we could see the tanned, powerful hands.
But John is also a retired, longtime CBC News reporter based in Charlottetown. When he was working CBC had people like John at all their regional and local stations. People who knew and understood the communities they covered. Who knew the names and histories of the politicians. Who looked upon their coverage area as a destination, not a stepping stone to greater personal glory.
When we arrived at CBC Toronto in 1983 it was a place of grownups. Almost none of the people we worked with— Peter Mansbridge, Hilary Brown, Joe Coté, Jim Curran, Bill Copps. Bill Harrington, Stu Patterson and many more— had PhDs in journalism. Many, like us, were university products but, outside of writing record reviews for the college paper, hadn’t studied for the job of reporting and conveying the news.
Many, like John, came to the job through other paths. We were men and women who came from somewhere, who’d worked at something else, who’d maybe spun records late at night at a private station, and that informed our work. It gave CBC an authenticity it badly lacks today.
Watching a recent Charlottetown six o’clock broadcast we saw veteran weather broadcaster Jay Scotland, who moved from the Big Smoke in Toronto to a simpler life on PEI. But the rest of the on-air employees were all under 35, the perky puppets of the current CBC’s regime. Judging by the accents they were CFA (come from away).
They see PEI as one step on the road to Toronto HQ. So what if the Corp loses its ears and eyes in the regions that it receives billions to reflect? Taking the company cheque and the top-down progressive company narratives comes first now. We can’t blame the reporters and hosts. In the words of Bruce Hornsby, that’s just the wait is.
But viewers have noticed. CBC has been hemorrhaging advertising money and viewers for a decade. Revenues have sunk like the Titanic (that met its icy doom northeast of John’s beach). Only about three percent of Canadians say CBC is their primary TV source, now— and much of that is for Hockey Night In Canada. In some major Canadian cities the supper-hour audience is measured in the hundreds. Requiring the government to counterintuitively pump more money— it’s promising $400 M for the drifting ship to make up for lost advertising.
Oh, and they renewed the contract of the executive director at the helm— the one who lives in NYC— for another five years.
CBC apologists will say all conventional networks are having the same problems. True. CTV is begging for permission to drop its local reporting requirements from CRTC. Ditto CITY TV and Global. They face a future that will see them merge to keep one or two alive.
This is why the geniuses of the Trudeau cabinet have passed C-18 that seeks to soak the large multinational tech outlets like Twitter and Meta operating in Canada for the dollars to prop up these disasters. Despite warnings from the tech sectors the Liberal/ NDP buddies shoved this potâge through Parliament, limiting debate and input from those who see this as yet another #TrudeauBlunder.
According to hapless Heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez the CRTC will now decide which Canadian outlets are pure enough in thought and deed to receive the government’s lucre. Naturally, these Big Tech operations told Trudeau Inc. to go have intercourse with its hat. Leaving the Liberal Choir to splutter about alt-right and disinformation. (They now say they’ll pull their unreadable advertising from the sites.)
Apparently the only ones who couldn’t see this outcome from shaking down Facebook and Meta were Trudeau and his faculty lounge of mediocrities like Rodriguez. They are left with an unworkable solution to a problem that the market should have been left to correct. Maybe Pierre Poilievre will follow through on his promise to end all this. Maybe not.
But if we are to be stuck with CBC and its bloated budgets perhaps fine-tuning the mandate is in order. TVO provides a focussed public-broadcaster model. Get CBC out of the news gathering and opinion business at the national level. Restore vibrancy to the regions. Make CBC radio stick to its knitting in its communities, following its general audience not leading them. Get out of making Hollywood entertainment clones that are as Canadian as Rodeo Drive.
And look outside the institutional journalism schools for talent. The factories that produce the wee willing workers are polluted by the insanity of the schools in which they reside. Hire someone who’s worked doing rebar, slung breakfast in a hash house or tilled the soil in the nation. You’ll be surprised by what you might learn.
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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
Collision Course: Boomers Love Canada. Millennials Want A Better Offer

Canada is a nation of fissures. East versus West. French versus English. White versus indigenous. For much of its 157-year history its has overridden those divides to stand as an independent nation. Its ability to do so has, however, made it a very complacent partner in security.
Donald Trump has now exposed a new fissure, and this one just might be the kill shot to Confederation. In his brazen attempts to exploit the many vulnerabilities imposed on Canada by the Justin Trudeau government Trump has asked a question that petrifies the Canadian establishment.
Would Canadians rather join the powerful U.S. and abandon a rickety Canadian union? Which future holds the greater attraction, being a state/ partner of America or continuing to go it alone in a world of ambitious nations like China, Russia and India? Uncle Sam or Sir John A.? (Wait, Canada has tossed aside the founder of Confederation. Who else is there? We’ll have to get back to you on that.)
The polling results are bracing. Companies setting out to answer Trump’s existential question have discovered that while Boomers and their sunset media still see Canada as a land of Terry Fox, Anne Murray and the 1972 Summit Series, under 50s see something different and dangerous. And they are willing to listen to offers. A stunning 43 percent from the 18-35 Millennial demographic say they are willing to join the U.S. if offered citizenship and asset conversion to USD. In the +55 bracket just 17 percent of Canadians would trade their citizenship.
In 18-35 polling, 65 percent say Trump’s demand that Canada shape up to keep doing business with America has made them doubt the future of the nation. (35 percent +55) When asked if it’s just a matter of time till the U.S. consumes Canada 31 percent say yes (11 percent +55). And 35 percent say Quebec or Alberta will leave Confederation within the decade (22 percent +55).
These polls hew closely to current voter preferences in the (maybe) upcoming federal election. In the Super Boomer category (65+) 48 percent will vote for for the Mark Carnivores. In the 50-64 demo that number is 41 percent. But flip the age demographic and it’s the opposite. Conservatives lead the 18-35 bracket with 45 percent support versus 21 percent for Liberals and NDP 20 percent. Young people are pissed.

It’s hard to look at these numbers and not believe that the romantic notion of Canada being proposed by PMJT is running out of runway. And, irony of ironies, the young fresh face from 2015 is a main culprit for the disillusionment now gripping younger Canadians. But ten hard years of watching Happy Ways become Hippy Ways have convinced many among Gen-X and Millenials that, barring an inheritance, there is little to attract them to staying in Canada.
While Boomers desperate to embrace Carney plaintively ask, “what was so bad about Trudeau?” the current children or grandchildren of Boomers have a long list of grievances from his chaotic time in the PMO. Inaccessible housing, escalating taxes, refusing to retire, self-absorbed culture appropriation (blackface), DEI/ ESG effect on white people, over-reliance on outdated government and hoarding healthcare facilities and doctors… the list is long.

American psychologist Lawrence R. Summers has heard Millennials in his practice. “Boomers hogged the economy and the world’s resources for their own financial gain and/or consumptive habits… They are often seen as greedy and wasteful, with no regard for what future generations will inherit.
“To put it another way, they’re frequently viewed as dinner guests who’ve eaten and drank pretty much everything set out on the table, leaving only scraps for those who came later to the party, even their own children.” A cursory look at inflated real estate prices— houses serving as cash boxes for Boomers— serves to illustrate this deep frustration.

Before you say, well, this disaffection with Boomers is the same everywhere, remember that 78-year-old Donald Trump swung the youth vote last November, moving it 20 percentage points in his direction. Going on alternative podcasts and social media that young people identify with blunted what had always been a Democratic party asset, exposing its fossilized leadership.
Boomers are cranky about Elon Musk employing teenaged whiz kids to ferret out corrupt USAID spending. Democrat geezers driven crazy by the Musk DOGE youngsters then are reminded of the ages of some of the Founding Fathers in 1776.
James Monroe, 18
Henry Lee III, 20
Aaron Burr, 20
John Marshall, 20
Nathan Hale, 21
Banastre Tarleton, 21
Alexander Hamilton, 21
Benjamin Tallmadge, 22
Robert Townsend, 22
Gouveneur Morris, 24
Betsy Ross, 24
James Madison, 25
Henry Knox, 25
Oops. The Canadians generation gap is hopelessly self inflicted. While America still retains a core culture, Trudeau has made sure Canada is seen more as a hotel than a nation. Bragging that Canada is a postmodern entity with no core culture (outside of hockey and equalization) he has demonized Canada’s founders as racist and genocidal by flying the Canadian flag at half mast for six months to assuage “settler guilt”. He has diluted the culture, importing millions who see Canada as a way stop to America or a place to launder money/ deal drugs.
He has glorified globalism through climate and gender agendas. He has continued his father’s alienation of the West and its energy industry. He has allowed the nation to be the world’s choice destination for laundering dirty money so that, now, few in the world trust the Canadian government on security and defence.
That’s seemingly okay with his aging core. Bu the question now is can 45-year-old CPC leader Pierre Poilievre ride the culture wave? Can he be bold and make its his own as Trump made 18-35 year olds his shock troops in 2024? Poilievre has done a sober, predictable rollout of policy. What he needs, however, is to emulate Trump, showing the Liberals as geezers, the NDP as enablers and the decrepit media as propagandists. It’ll take courage. He won’t get CBC/ CTV/ G&M to help him quit so what?
Donald Trump is going to crucify the Libs/ NDP. He wants to hear from a different partner in negotiations. Poilievre has to ignore the noise and negotiate a future that young Canadians can buy into.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. You can see all his books at brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Bruce Dowbiggin
All Bets Are Off: Why Prop Betting Scares Sports Leagues, Police

Sunday’s Super Bowl concluded another season of wagering on the sport made great by gambling. With billions wagered legally— and billions wagered illegally—the NFL is a Frankenstein of the betting industry. Everything is done to create parity while simultaneously promoting chaos. When other leagues talk about success they are talking about the NFL’s colossal gambling industry.
The penetration of betting has only increased with legalization in Canada (Ontario is the only “open” legal market at the moment) and the United States (38 states currently allow sports wagering). It has gotten to the point where sports bettors in Las Vegas, for decades the only legal spot for sports gambling, complain that Nevada is falling behind its neighbours. Some drive across state lines to wager on sports offerings not made in Vegas.
We could do a small book on all the new betting applications that have sprung up with sharps applying stock-market analytics and trading strategies to break down a football game. But for today we’ll concentrate on the device that has turbo-charged public betting in the past generation: Proposition bets. And the enormous risk they bring.
In the bad old days when gambling was underground, dominated by organized crime, football betting meant the money line (who will win), sides (by how many points) and totals (how many points would be scored in as game). The range of options within these parameters was limited. You could parlay (two bets), tease (two or more choices with alternate odds) or do future bets.
Then along came proposition bets (props). There are propositions on everything from how many yards player X will run for, how many interceptions Player Y will throw and how many touchdowns player Z will score. There are also team props. The range of props covers almost any result generated by a football game— and a few generated by halftime shows and coin flips.

When props first began to catch the public interest, they were a novelty. Snobs saw them as sucker bets for squares. In Vegas, books would stage a glitzy launch ten days before the game to announce their props. No more. The first props for SB LIX were out minutes after the conference final games were decided. The brushfire is now a conflagration.
The two weeks before SB LIX were saturated with experts breaking down the teams, their predilections and their models for predicting prop winners. In a game with no appreciable favourite this meant every microchip of data being examined. (We had at least a dozen props then added a couple more during the game to hedge against any losers.)
The great fallibility of prop betting is their individual nature. With totals and sides the results are determined by efforts of the 92 NFL players allowed to suit up each week. Outside of the QBs, kickers, coaches and perhaps the referees, no single person could determine a W or L. Not so with props.
A player can drop a pass or miss a tackle— affecting his prop— without anyone being the wiser. The NFL scrutinizes players for erratic patterns, but on a single basis anything is possible for a player who is being influenced by bettors. Integrity of the product is paramount for the NFL and its gambling partners. So a rogue player is like a communist in Joe McCarthy’s America.
There is also betting on non-football props concerning length of national anthem, colour of Gatorade used to douse the winning coach and clothing choices of the halftime performers. Here, bettors are truly on their own as the NFL has no control on Kendrick Lamar’s playlist. (Considering KL’s associates “in the hood” this a very Wild West way to lose money) own the colour of Gatorade used (yellow).
So far the NFL has avoided any public gambling scandal like the one that landed the personal translator for Dodgers’s star Hideki Ohtani in jail for tipping off gamblers. (So far MLB has managed to wall off Hideki from the crimes). But the possibilities are there in NFL and other sports where a player compromised by debts, drug issues or sexual activity can be leveraged for profit.

The league with the most visible prop problem is the NBA with its small rosters (15 players game day). For a reminder the NBA was forced to admit that there is a current police probe into player Terry Rozier, now of the Miami Heat. “In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman said. While the NBA has cleared Rozier police area not satisfied.
In the 2023 matchup between the Hornets and the New Orleans Rozier pulled himself from the game after just nine minutes. As a result Rozier finished well below his prop bet of 32.5 combined points, assists and rebounds. Bettors howled about the suspicious nature of Rozier’s exit with a foot problem.
What made cops suspicious was that the network of gamblers placing money on Rozier was the same network that had allegedly manipulated former Raptor Jontay Porter’s prop numbers. Porter has been banned for life over charges he shaved numbers for the nefarious characters cited in the rosier story. Police are still investigating him.
The NBA is still reverberating from the 2007 scandal of referee Tim Donaghy who used his knowledge of the NBA to bet on professional basketball games and tip off crimes figures. He was banned for life and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Now released from prison Donaghy continues to warn about the vulnerability of betting NBA games.
Then there is the risk associated with U.S. college athletics now that players are paid to attend a certain college. Money and temptation flow freely in the new portal system that allows players to transfer schools midway through their eligibility.
Sunday’s game produced a one-sided windfall for Eagles’ bettors and the usual controversial referee calls did not affect the outcome. But it should not be seen as a reason to be less vigilant, particularly with props.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. You can see all his books at brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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