Actually, according to the propaganda, the 90-minute biopic is about Jack Layton and the romance he shared with his wife, whom he called his “life partner,” Olivia Chow. Who sounds very much like a communist to me.
And yeah that’s what I really need to know more about: Jack Layton and Olivia Chow and their romantic life together.
The state-owned, socialism-reliant media in Canada, the dreadful failure CBC, which burns through at least $1.2 BILLION in direct taxpayer welfare every year, has decided to invest your taxpayer cash in a film about their late socialist hero, the NDP’s Jack Layton.
Because they know better than you how to spend your cash. And they have your cash.
They previously did a movie about the socialist leader Tommy Douglas.
While we’re here, let’s review, using our handy CBCwatch.ca CBC Waste-o-Meter, how much taxpayer cash the state-owned media has burned through, just this year alone. So far.
Well then. Apparently that’s not enough yet.
I’m quite sure, using the standard Canadian formula for any “arts” creation in Canada, not only will the state-owned, state-funded CBC 
blow a huge wad of cash on this, but the production company itself will receive who-knows-how-much in federal, provincial, municipal, and crown “corporation” grants and sponsorships and subsidies, or other such forms of government “investment” (–wink!) à la the former Soviet Union or present day Greece.
Here’s a news story about this latest example of idiocy and waste from QMI Agency, which is Sun News Network’s news-gathering agency.
Taxpayers bolster Layton legend
QMI AGENCY, July 18, 2012
Coming to a small screen near you, Smilin’ Jack: The Jack Layton Story.
Even if you wouldn’t shell out for it at the box office, you’ll certainly be paying for it through your taxes.
CBC has now officially confirmed its plans to make a TV movie about the life of former opposition leader Jack Layton.
The project is described as a lead-up to the 2011 election, focusing on the romance between Layton and wife Olivia Chow.
Sure, one could pick worse subjects for a Canadian TV movie. In a QMI Agency/Leger poll conducted in the run up the last federal election, Layton was most likeable. He was the leader Canadians would have most liked to have a beer with.
But we can’t help but wonder if the state broadcaster is going to tell Layton’s full story, warts and all, or if this will just be gushing praise. After all, their news department never shied away from showing their love for him.
Will they bring up some of the less shining moments in Layton’s career?
Will they bring up his opposition, while on Toronto council, to the creation of the SkyDome? To bringing the 1996 Olympics to Toronto? To the creation of a new subway line that would have been completed by 2011?
Will they bring up his time spent living with Chow and her mother in an affordable housing unit?
Will they bring up his visit to a massage parlour at the time of a police raid?
We’re not being unduly skeptical. We know taxpayer-funded political films aren’t always the most balanced.
After all, the last biopic of a major Canadian politician wasn’t balanced.
The 2011 film Mulroney: The Opera — which received tax dollars from Telefilm Canada — certainly put its subject through the wringer.
“It is at once a comedy and a tragedy,” explains Telefilm’s website. What about a serious drama? Or a historical account? Nope. Maybe that has something to do with Mulroney not being a left-winger. Or maybe we’re just paranoid.
We all know the state broadcaster is politically biased. We all know they have no qualms with how they spend the billion dollars of your money they receive annually.
Jack and his supporters may smile after seeing this film, but we doubt taxpayers will.
But even the National Post, which I’ve taken to calling the CBC/National Post News and Advertising Cooperative on account of their being “life partners” with the CBC, said this about it:
“…really, in announcing the biopic this week, the broadcaster left itself open to a bit of ridicule with a description of Mr. Layton that would not have been at all out of place at last spring’s NDP convention. It said Mr. Layton became “one of this country’s most treasured federal politicians” and it referred to him and his wife as “a beloved political power couple.”
“Above all,” the press release concluded, “‘SMILIN’ JACK’ is the touching story of a man who reached the hearts of many Canadians, and fought for rights that would ultimately change the face of this country.”
Whoosh. Perhaps it’s not worth quibbling with subjective terms, but “treasured” and “beloved”? …”
The above quotes from the same tools who incessantly describe the war on terror as the “so-called war on terror” (or when G.W. Bush was still president, “George Bush’s so-called war on terror”), and call terrorists “insurgents” and “militants” so as not to appear as though they “take sides.”
I’ll say it again, as I’ve been saying it for 12 years: State-owned media should be banned in this country, and that notion should be enshrined in our constitution.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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