Bruce Dowbiggin
Tale Of The Tape: Jerry Vs. Erin As Unifor Fights To Protect Media Slush Funds
After calling the federal election, Justin Trudeau says Canadians need to “counter the ‘she-cession’ and turn it into a ‘she-covery’.”
The writ has dropped and Canadians now have the head-to-head matchup they’ve wanted. Conservative Party of Canada leader Erin O’Toole versus Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private union that includes everything from auto workers to TV workers.
Oh, you thought we were going to say the matchup between O’Toole and Justin Trudeau, the sitting prime minister of this frozen shore? That’s what the Racing Form says, no?
Certainly Trudeau is the nominal figure flogging for votes. But with Gerry Butts now a pom-pom boy on the sidelines Trudeau’s most influential and powerful ally is Dias, who heads the merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions— a rabble 310,000 strong.
In the past Dias would have been safely in the camp of the NDP, the traditional home for labour in Canada. But since Jagmeet Singh turned the NDP into the Bernie Sanders Debate Club, a collection of fatuous socialists and Naomi Klein feminists, the NDP has no natural political home for Dias’ traditional hardball labour tactics.
Dias is unapologetic about his union’s desire to crush Conservatives of every stripe in Canada, describing himself as the “worst nightmare” of CPC leaders. Think Jean-Claude Parrot, the firebrand radical who used the Canadian Postal Workers Association as a cudgel to torture Canadians in the pre-digital world.
The union’s recent ad showing a rusted, decrepit pickup truck with O’Toole’s name covering Stephen Harper’s is a nasty piece of agitprop (made ridiculous because the disintegrating pickup is an American brand like the ones his auto members construct). “Canadian voters won’t be fooled by a new name on the bumper,” it promises while labelling the Tories as tools of big business and the filthy oil lobby. (Clearly he hasn’t checked Skippy’s dance card lately)
Unlike Parrot in the 60s and 70s Dias has the media oomf to effect the change he wants for the TV, radio and print journalists in Canada under Unifor’s banner. (CBC journos are represented by a separate but no less Woke union devoted to protecting its billion-dollar budget supplied by Trudeau.)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Unifor President Jerry Dias embrace during the Unifor convention in Ottawa on Wednesday, August 24, 2016. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood
While the CBC union kept its bias in-house in 2019 , Dias made no bones about using his medias might to get his puppet Justin Trudeau elected. Anyone expecting “balanced” Unifor journalists to go hard on Trudeau’s many failings (moral and ethical) was in for a shock. There was lots of dystopian Stephen Harper hyperbole about Tories enacting Handmaid’s Tale servitude on women and Simon Legree working conditions on the middle class. But calls for Trudeau bashing to quit? Get real.
Sadly for Trudeau and Dias it wasn’t enough to prevent the Liberals from losing their majority, and they have been forced to placate Singh and the self-destructing Greens to stay in power. They’ve complied, helping Trudeau escape a multitude of patronage, corruption, sexual assault, racial appropriation and Covid ineptitude. When that got too tight, he prorogued Parliament to still the baying hounds.
Happily for Dias in the wake of the minority, Trudeau’s Heritage Ministry has rewarded the yeoman service of Unifor’s journalists’ “resistance” in creating a slush fund for media outlets crying poor in Canada. Over $600 million was set aside over the five years for tax credits and other incentives aimed at propping up “struggling” news outlets. (This is addition to the approximate $1.5 billion shovelled into CBC/ Radio Canada to help it big-foot the digital news market in Canada by outspending private outlets.) Trudeau then appointed Unifor as one of eight groups who will help decide which media outlets will qualify for a government handout to journalistic outfits. The happy recipients of this baksheesh rarely explained why they were “struggling”, only that they deserved lotsa’ dough to ward off FOX News coming to Canada to do something something something.
Now, reports say that another payoff has been parcelled off to local journalists as the election takes off. Canadian Heritage was also refusing to disclose which media companies were awarded $61 million in subsidies billed as “emergency relief” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been mild plaints of concern from some. The head of the Canadian Association of Journalists, Karyn Pugliese, noted in 2019, ”You have people who are dead set against the government giving any kind of money to media.” But then she added, “We’ve got some people who feel that something is necessary, because it’s important to keep news going.” Translation: Like Buckley’s, we take it but we hate the taste. Right.
The optics are clear. The union for journalists at major media outlets is partisan. How is one supposed to think they can hold Unifor’s opinions yet deliver honest, balanced coverage to Canadians during an election? It’s a bind previous generations strove mightily to avoid. This tranche of journos seems impervious to the mess they’ve made of their credibility.
With so much lucre being spread around, Erin O’Toole certainly has his doubts about their objectivity. He announced this past week that, as part of a Conservative government, he would eliminate the pork currently being fed to media. While keeping Radio Canada and CBC Radio, he’d cut all funding to CBC’s English-language digital operations, slash the English TV budget by 50 per cent, and aim to privatize the English TV operation by the end of his first mandate in government.
“The world of broadcast media has changed dramatically, but our public broadcaster is stuck in the past,” O’Toole said in the video. He indicated he’d also eliminate the special top-up payments to the companies that employ Unifor members.That puts the ball in Dias’ corner. How hard should he go in protecting the perks of Canada’s fading media interests? He serves as a useful foil to Trudeau, whose word salads and pontifications have grown increasingly banal to voters. With his pit-bull attacking style he can savage newcomer O’Toole in the harshest terms (although the CPC ads with Trudeau as a Willy Wonka character in a dress singing for a majority were venomous, too).
But Dias is already facing a public that believes the government should be fighting Covid-19 and economic issues, not each other. Push his members’ biases too hard— as Trudeau is doing— and he risks losing a great deal of an electorate sour on media’s performance over Covid, the border, Afghanistan, WE Charity, climate reset and much more.
As the cocky Nova Scotia Liberals learned this week in blowing a big lead to the Conservatives just hours after the federal election was called, six weeks is a long time.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Personal Account with Tony Comper is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
In his memoir, former BMO CEO Tony Comper recalled the press conference to announce a merger between two Japanese automobile corporations. Everything was going swimmingly until someone at the presser asked how long would it be before the two corporate cultures fully merged?
One of the CEOs replied without hesitation. “Forty-three years.”
Forty-three years? Why forty-three years? he was asked.
“Because that’s how long it will be until the executives who made this deal are all dead.”
Yes, there are stubborn business cultures. But there are also political cultures that persist against all efforts to convince them they are deluded. People find it hard to change their ways— particularly when they’ve defended them publicly for years. The New Left’s ironclad resistance to reason and debate is a feature, not a glitch. How to reach them in a friendly, inclusive manner?
Good luck. The Right’s challenge is thinking these people will respond to shame or being corrected. Can’t be done. Won’t be done. They’re like Japanese soldiers fighting WW II on a deserted island 25 years after armistice. They’ll die repeating the Donald Trump Bleach meme to themselves.
Marines help a Japanese soldier from a dugout on Tinian Island during the Fall of Tinian in World War II. He holds a cigarette the Leathernecks used to coax him out. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
This Gallup poll sheds light on how American (and Canadian) cultures can be blissfully unaware of some huge stories and obsessed by other narratives that fit their mindset. It shows that from 1972-2022 that GOP trust of media has plummeted from 41 percent to under 10 percent, while independents have gone from 53 percent to under 36 percent trust. IOW, their former favourite news sources don’t jive with their everyday reality.
But Democrats in the poll have vaulted from 64 percent to 76 percent in trust of media. Why? One reason probably lies with being told the narratives that please them. That give them comfort. These consumers allow legacy media’s fact checkers to sort out what they should know from “disinformation” without getting their hands dirty with the original story.
How pervasive was the scrubbing? The recent Missouri v. Biden recognized that federal government officials had been interfering with social media companies that digressed from the “accepted” line. An appeals court ordered them to stop. In another case, FBI was bribing reporters and scientists to change their opinions on the origin of the Covid-19 virus, sanitizing stories before they are doled out to the Woke.
“The Science” is supposed to be an ongoing vigorous debate with few settled laws. Yet, most cult scientists refuse debate, preferring to dismiss opponents as conspiracy nuts or— as they did with vaccines— dangers to society. When Al Gore allows himself to be cornered by questions, he rolls his eyes, sighs theatrically and asks his followers how anyone could deny The Science.
Gore’s climate apocalypse culture has morphed within a generation from the few fighting pollution to a global dogma of CO2 poisoning nature . Attempts to talk sense on carbon emission obsession, plastics prohibitions, aversion to the nuclear option, Greta Thunberg beatification have all proven futile in the face of an End Oil Now cult that makes Scientology look like the Boy Scouts.
It was the same for the #RussiaHoax, #FinePeopleHoax, #BleachHoax and now Hillary Clinton’s “real war on truth, facts, and reason”. These liberal road-tested canards persists to this day. Here’s Biden on a rare cogent day this summer repeating the #FinePeople hoax that has been debunked years before. Even the Washington Post has had enough, listing Biden’s Top 100 fabulist claims since becoming POTUS.
The latest cult cleansing is Biden’s patently false denial of any contact with son Hunter Biden’s Shakedown scheme. The denial is awarded first position beside #climateemergency on search engines and nightly newscasts. Famously, 51 former security directors and officials claimed, without evidence, that Hunter’s infamous laptop was Russian disinformation. Case closed, said MSNBC. No wonder so many consumers of legacy media in this echo chamber can blithely claim there is no substance to any of the Hunter stories documented by the competition and chronicled on his own hard drive.
The Canadian equivalent of denial culture came with the magic “cure-all” vaccines. Rather than publicly confront the Truckers Convoy on their refusal to take Covid-19 vaccines (which are now accepted as being flawed ), Trudeau hid in the Rideau Cottage calling truckers “an insult to science”. To make sure they never got a chance to question him he sent the cops after them, arrested them, suspended their civil liberties and finances and subjected them to show trials.
And he was supported by the purchased Canadian media who vilified the protesters— for lack of armed insurrection or rioting— for staying too long in their protest. Many promoted false stories of arson and foreign financing of the convoy. This media Trudeau then tried to reward with Bill C-18— designed to make Meta, Google and other large tech sources pay to prop up failing Canadian media. In response, Meta has blocked all news links in Canada and cancelled existing deals with Canadian news outlets. The blocked links cover both Canadian and foreign news in light of Bill C-18.
And the same newspaper lobby that largely gave him a free pass on declaring a national emergency now wants the $595 million “temporary” bailout to be extended with double the subsidies (seeking government tax credits equal to 35% of labour costs.) The bailout meant to aid transition to digital is now instead a Trudeau lifeline in the Toronto Star’s bankruptcy. In the meantime, writes Michael Geist, “investment in the publishing sector has ground to a halt, Canadians have lost access to news on social media, and small and independent media are particularly hard hit. Avoiding the Canadian outcome is a now a top policy priority in other countries looking at media legislation.”
All this as the federal government prepares an online hate speech law— hate to be defined by themselves.
Many are just hoping that a Liberal loss in the next election will cease the encircling madness. That sanity will prevail. But the Japanese car manufacturers are telling us not to get our hopes too high. Trudeau Nation is quite prepared to got to its grave before ever admitting its copious mistakes.
Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent. https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5
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
In case you hadn’t noticed. Celebrity Sports Ownership is all the rage. When the Ottawa Senators were for sale Ryan Reynolds, Snoop and The Weeknd were all mentioned among the bidders (that eventually went to Montreal businessman Michael Andlauer). LeBron James now holds a minority position with Liverpool FC.
Jay-Z owns part of the Brooklyn Nets, Usher a piece of the Cleveland Cavaliers while Fergie of Black Eyed Peas fame also partly owns the Miami Dolphins. Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Marc Anthony, and tennis superstars Serena and Venus Williams are owners of pro sports teams. Famously, Elton John owned Watford FC, although he’s now just an honorary chairman.
And, of course, Reynolds and Rob McElhenney used a documentary TV series that showed their Welsh Wrexham soccer team promoted to the FA’s League Two. What’s the attraction?
Clearly a little PR is always a good thing. But sports team ownership has also become a lucrative equity play. As BMO reports, “The average compound annual growth rate since the last purchase price… is 15 percent, a meaningful outperformance to the TSX and S&P. Forbes estimates the Toronto Blue Jays are currently worth US$2.1 billion or roughly C$2.85 billion.
Based on recent sports franchise transactions, expansion fees and annual estimations of franchise values by Forbes Magazine, an $8 billion enterprise value is easily defendable for the Jays’ owners MLSE (who also own the Maple Leafs, Toronto FC and Argonauts).”
It’s the same across the major pro sports leagues. The estimated average franchise value in the NFL since 2013 is $5.1B with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 percent; in the NBA it is $2.9B with a CAGR of 18 percent. For MLB it is $2.3B with a CAGR of 12 percent; the NHL is $1.0B with a CAGR of 11 percent; while MLS is $0.6B with a CAGR 21%.
But, BMO cautions, owning a sports franchise is considered “an equity investment strategy rather than a cash flow or income play.” In other words, don’t think that ticket sales and hot dogs are going to make you rich. (Although the NHL’s salary cap, which guarantees owners’ profits is a sweet deal.) The key is sports media which is thriving despite the move to cord cutting..
Sports media rights contracts have grown in tandem with franchise valuations. Not to be ignored in the advertising growth and viewer interaction is the bear knowns as legalized sports betting. Betting companies are flooding the airwaves with commercials while bettors tune in to watch how their selections work out. The casinos and online shops have replaced lower-paying traditional advertisers who’ve dropped off.
In Canada, league or team ownership of broadcast properties is still common. For that reason the real value of those broadcast rights is often opaque. (We had some irritated pushback from Rogers and Bell for writing on this tidy arrangement in the mid 2010s, forcing some limited disclosures). Rogers Sportsnet and TSN own (via MLSE) own a stable of teams in MLB, NHL, CFL and MLS. Good luck finding out what they pay themselves for media rights.
It’s more open in the U.S. Since the New York Yankees pioneered the YES network in 2002— sparking multiple imitators in other markets—the move in the U.S. has been away from outright ownerships of regional sports networks. A number of RSNs in the U.S. are either in bankruptcy or nearing it. Digital and network sources are now absorbing these sources. ESPN, via its owner Disney, is looking to find partners for its many broadcast properties as their bottom line in general has suffered.
Still, ESPN’s legacy business generates revenue and operating income of approximately $12.5 billion and $4.0 billion in 2023. It remains to be seen what new model emerges in the U.S. to answer cord cutting and the death of conventional TV. The NFL’s experiment on Monday, having two MNF games compete on separate networks is one experiment.
In Canada’s monopolistic market, “TSN/RDS penetration rates have declined at a quicker pace than ESPN over the past 10 years. ESPN penetration has dropped from 81 percent of U.S. households in 2013 to 56 percent in 2022, while TSN/RDS penetration has decreased from 89% of Canadian households in 2013 to 49 percent in 2022.
In addition, BMO admits that cord cutting is a thing. “SportsNet subscribers have decreased -23 percent to 5.8 million over the same period. Subscriber and advertising revenues are 60 percent and 40 percent of total revenue, respectively. Since 2017, TSN revenues have increased 13 percent. TSN subscribers have decreased -29 percent to ~7.8 million over the same period.”
But! In the last five years, TSN and SN have increased advertising revenues by 13 percent and 15 percent respectively. The same figure for the top five Canadian non-sports channels (collectively) is six percent. Thank you legalized wagering in Ontario. So who wouldn’t want a piece of this action, especially in Canada?
The red flag in this surging equity market comes in the form of smaller Canadian NHL markets. The Senators sale for $950 suggests a healthy interest in owning, but the Sens sale was also tied into the new LeBreton Flats arena. Ownership or control of a Canadian arena means more than NHL games. It also includes revenue from concerts, rallies, monster-truck events etc.
Even with that can Andlauer produce a winner just two hours from the Montreal Canadiens market? Likewise, the Winnipeg Jets are desperately in need of a larger arena to replace the 15,321 Canada Life Centre. Having Canada’s richest man, David Thomson, as an owner is no guarantee of getting one. And should Thomson tire of being the saviour of a losing Jets hockey property, who in that market has C$1-2B lying around needed to fund the franchise properly?
Likewise, the Calgary Flames. Despite the political press conference this summer about as new agreement the arena that management promised by 2013 has still not seen a shovelful of dirt turned over. The latest gaffe was architect’s drawings for the rink being rejected by the NHL due to inadequate dressing-room space. Start again.
Should the rink not be available till 2025-26 will an evolving ownership group still be interested in shelling out the money to keep the Flames (and Stampeders, Roughnecks and Hitmen) operating in Calgary? And if they don’t, because losing sucks? While energy-rich Calgary has plenty of billionaires, few will want to risk the money needed to keep a competitive team in a small market.
Connor McDavid’s brilliance plasters over the same small-market crack in Edmonton. Yes, they have their new building, but can owner Darryl Katz fund the moves need to keep his stars and build a winner? Vancouver, owned by the Aqulini family, has a larger market base, but with Seattle Kraken just two hours away can they too write the cheques needed to create the first Stanley Cup winner since the Canucks entered the NHL in 1970.
If these Canadian markets do survive longterm it might have to be with foreign ownership. Certainly there is money to be made riding the equity train. But there also no guarantees that those carpetbagger owners might replicate the Montreal Expos and scoot to richer markets.
Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent. https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5
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
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