Does Bell really care about community?

Written by Ted Barris on February 15th, 2024February 15th, 2024. 2 Comments

CFQC Radio co-hosts Wally Stambuck (left) and Denny Carr pose in front of Unity, Saskatchewan, grain elevator on Canada Day 1977.

It was one of the first phone calls I made when I arrived at a new job in Saskatoon in 1976. I dialed city hall and asked for the mayor’s office. I explained that I was new in town and wanted to meet with the man to discuss a media opportunity with him. His assistant took down my name and number and said the mayor would get back to me. A day or so later he phoned me back.

“Mayor Cliff Wright here,” he said. “How can I help you?”

“Thanks for returning my call, Mr. Mayor …”

“You can call me Cliff,” he said.

I explained that as a new radio producer of CFQC Radio (part of Baton Broadcasting, owned at the time by CTV) I’d been asked to approach him and offer him a weekly spot on our morning radio show, hosted by Wally Stambuck and Denny Carr. It was part of the station’s initiative to connect with community. (more…)

Bigger’s not better

Written by Ted Barris on July 13th, 2023July 18th, 2023. Leave a comment

The first indications were the odd-coloured new signs. All of a sudden, the regular logo where we normally make our deposits, pay our bills and withdraw our cash, began disappearing in literature, pamphlets and, as I say, on the signage inside and outside the building. Then, we received email notification.

“We’re making changes so that you can experience the good in banking,” the email said. “We’re transitioning banking systems.”

As of the July 1 holiday weekend, the Credit Union, at which we have conducted the majority of our financial dealings since we arrived here in 1988, is no more. (more…)

A true victim of our times

Written by Ted Barris on November 17th, 2022November 22nd, 2022. Leave a comment

Waiting on every table in a restaurant these days is common.

My friend and I arrived at the hotel restaurant last Saturday morning at the same time as a large family did. The waitress – who was doubling as the hostess – asked how many in the family party. And one of the women in the group began counting out loud the people they expected to join the group for breakfast. First it was six, then eight, and finally a dozen people. I watched the waitress’s eyes roll. She wasn’t happy.

“I’d have thought the waitress would be delighted having to serve a large group,” I mentioned to my breakfast partner, and I added, “Bigger tip.” When the waitress came back to seat my friend and me in another booth, I mentioned that to her. “Doesn’t serving a bigger group make you happy?”

“Not when I’m the only one serving the entire restaurant,” she said. “They just can’t find people to fill service jobs.” (more…)

The black and white of grey

Written by Ted Barris on September 1st, 2022September 2nd, 2022. Leave a comment

CTV – where grey “business decisions” attempt to obliterate black and white.

First, I welcomed the opportunity. The CTV producer invited me on spec to come up with an idea for a show featuring prominent Canadians. At the time, back in the 1980s, as a freelance writer I made much of my living pitching ideas without payment on the chance if the broadcaster liked the idea, I’d win a contract to write the script. So, I massaged the prominent Canadians idea into an outline, presented it to the producer and asked for a contract to write the show.

“We’ll have to see what the budget is,” he warned.

“When will you let me know if I can write the show?” I asked.

“After we’ve budgeted for the guests and the paint for the set.” (more…)

The heart. Not the quick hit.

Written by Ted Barris on September 16th, 2021September 16th, 2021. Leave a comment

It is arguably the most difficult issue Canadians have had to face since Confederation. It has divided Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada since initial European contact. And it came into sharpest focus this spring when hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children were discovered around several former residential schools.

But when the issue of “Reconciliation with First Nations” was introduced last Thursday night during the Leaders’ Debate – after some introductory remarks from the five leaders, one of them, Justin Trudeau, got this curt instruction from the moderator.

“You have five seconds, Mr. Trudeau,” said Shachi Kurl, the moderator. “Five seconds, sir.”

“We have lots more to do,” Trudeau said. “And we are going to do it.” (more…)

Back to class with vision

Written by Ted Barris on September 5th, 2019September 18th, 2019. Leave a comment

Where my first elementary school teacher, Marjorie Watkins, helped me see the light.

I don’t remember my very first day at George P. Mackie Public School, just off Kingston Road in Scarborough. But my parents would probably have remembered. Soon after I entered Grade 1, my teacher, Ms. Watkins, sent a note home for my parents.

“Why is Ted squinting?” she asked in the note. “I moved him to the front of the class, but I don’t think that’s enough.” (more…)

As safe as … a game of hockey

Written by Ted Barris on April 11th, 2018April 11th, 2018. Leave a comment

In a hundred years of hockey in Canada, kids and skates and pucks belong together.

It didn’t matter how early on a Saturday, he still came with me. Even if he’d worked half the night getting his last newspaper column of the week finished at the Globe and Mail, and even if we played the first game of the day at 6 a.m., my dad was always there. He helped me tie my skates, made sure my Butch Goring helmet was in place, and sent me onto the ice to play house-league hockey. I felt secure too, seeing him at the end of the outdoor arena, through the chain-link fence, cheering us on.

“Go, Agincourt, go,” I heard him shout between puffs on his cigarette.

Having a parent take me to the rink felt supremely comforting. And, as I remember, we had a couple of coaches – volunteers – who made sure we had sticks, pucks and jerseys. It was always reassuring to have those familiar people there for us. A virtual security blanket. (more…)

Styles of father and son

Written by Ted Barris on November 5th, 2015November 10th, 2015. 1 Comment

That morning, about three and a half weeks ago, this political candidate was on the firing line. Two CTV journalists had fashioned their feature interview with him based on some hard-hitting questions. Then, the TV journalists invited questions from those in the audience. Several of my journalism students, invited to the studio, got their chance to ask questions. And the politician answered them thoughtfully. Then, with the broadcast over, the politician headed for his tour bus to dash to his next event. As we were leaving the studio, my students passed by the candidate’s tour bus.

“Hold it there,” I said to my students, suggesting they pose in front of the logo on the bus. I raised my cell phone to snap the picture, when…

“Wait a second,” the young politician shouted from just outside camera range. “Let me join you,” and he jumped into the shot next to the student journalists and thanked them for being part of a political selfie. (more…)

Changing the landscape

Written by Ted Barris on September 11th, 2012September 11th, 2012. Leave a comment

ELECTORAL DISTRICT_E — The federal government’s view of the proposed “Haliburton-Uxbridge” constituency, does **not** include Uxbridge in the southwest corner of the map.

Ottawa, I have learned, has the power to do many things. The federal government can influence the nation’s economy, with Bank of Canada interest rates, stimulus funding and, of course, taxation. It can choose to send the country’s armed forces to war. Ultimately, it has the power to draft, debate and generate the laws that change the lives of all Canadians. But this week, when I opened up one of the Toronto daily newspapers, a special federal government insert dropped out. And I discovered the feds have even greater power than I thought.

“Canada’s electoral map is changing,” the cover of the insert said. “Read about the proposed new electoral map for Ontario.”

(more…)

Trusted anchor

Written by Ted Barris on August 30th, 2011August 31st, 2011. Leave a comment

CTV News anchor Lloyd Robertson speaking at Centennial College in 2006.

It seems commonplace now, but for a long time those working in the media were not considered able, nor in some cases were they allowed, to do two things at the same time. Today it’s called multi-tasking. Thirty-five years ago, it was considered a violation of the working agreement between workers and managers in the media. The first person to break that barrier in Canadian news media will leave his revered spot on the air later this week.

“Unions were so powerful [when I worked] at the CBC,” Lloyd Robertson told a group of journalists a few years ago. “As an announcer there, all I was allowed to do was pick up news copy and read it on the air.”