John Doyle To Be Added to the Tremendous Hypocrites Walk of Shame

It seems arts funding is only for failures

According to Globe and Mail columnist John Doyle, Alex Trebek belongs in a game show host hall of fame, if there is one. Shania Twain belongs in a bare midriff hall of fame, if such a thing exists. Rich Little would be a shoo-in for an untalented comedian hall of fame.

Doyle himself would be a first ballot inductee into a hypocrite hall of shame. If such a thing existed. It doesn't, but it should.

Doyle recently attracted the attention of the Hollywood Reporter for his opposition to a grant from Heritage Canada to fund a festival inducting Trebek, Twain and Little onto Canada's Walk of Fame in the Toronto Theatre District.

"On the cusp of Canada Day, I put it to you that our taxes are collected and spent by a government that has contempt for us," Doyle fumed. "They must think we are airheads, as they dole out our money to fund the celebration of the already rich and famous."

Doyle goes on to infer that Trebek's success renders him unworthy of taxpayer money being spent to celebrate his success on the Walk of Fame.

Doyle, it seems, is like a lot of people: he dislikes a winner.

But it seems necessary to remember that he loves a loser. Consider his outrage that Sun News Network personality Krista Erickson would dare ask "iconic interpretive dancer" Margie Gillis some challenging questions about her arts funding.

During the interview, Gillis would complain that her renumeration as the top "professional" in her field is allegedly unfairly dwarfed by the pay received by other top professionals (who are actual professionals). In other words, she chose her career and when it turned out that it didn't pay what a top doctor or engineer pays, it's up to the government to step in and cover her losses.

Doyle tried to mask his outrage in smug yet spiteful contempt. But the irration and illogic of Doyle's screed was unmistakable. This was, after all, mere questions he was complaining about.

Now the government, instead of doling out $1.2 million over 13 years (1998-2011 was not a 35-year period, as Gillis comically insisted), the government is doling out a mere $500,000 to celebrate Canadians actually being successful on the international stage.

And not merely successful... wildly successful. In fact, Trebek and Twain (perhaps not necessarily Little) boast the kind of success stories that inspires many other Canadians to follow in their footsteps, following their dreams. And Doyle doesn't like it.

It's a bizarre look into the Canada that Doyle imagines for the rest of us to live in: one in which failure is celebrated as if it were success, and success is ignored as if it were failure.

Frankly, it's the kind of backwardness that could only be considered preferable in the mind of a consumate hypocrite; one of walk of shame calibre. Sadly, it seems John Doyle is up to the task.

The Far-Left's Bizarre Love of Mediocrity Strikes Again

Margie Gillis bumbles through interview, hailed as a hero for it

As the Brigette DePape episode has shown Canadians, there's nothing the far-left truly loves more than mediocrity, so long as it's ideologically-soothing mediocrity.

Little else could explain the far-left's sudden love of interpretive danger Margie Gillis, who recently was the quieter -- yet no more polite -- participant in a dust-up over arts grant with Krista Erickson on Sun TV.

Erickson outlined $1.2 million in grants Gillis had received from the Canada Arts Council over 13 years. Gillis accused Erickson of belittling the arts community. The Globe and Mail's John Doyle firmly took Gillis' side:

"Recently, the channel’s Krista Erickson accosted dancer Margie Gillis on air about arts funding and tried to beat her up, verbally. This was comedy of the raw sort. Erickson explained that Gillis is a very famous, award-winning dancer and choreographer. Gillis, who talks in a very soft voice, thanked her for the nice introduction and things proceeded. Erickson, aided by an onscreen crawl, pointed out that Gillis and her dance foundation have, over the past 13 years, received grants totalling $1.2-million. That’s $1.2-million spread over 13 years. She demanded to know why Gillis was costing taxpayers $1.2-million.

Gillis explained that all the money didn’t go into her pocket. It kept a lot of people going. Erickson then went wacky. She waved her arms around in a lame attempt to mimic dance movement. Not a wizard at the arm ballet is Krista, believe me. She looked like the Martin Short character Ed Grimley getting excited. 'This whole thing,' she barked, while frantically waved her arms, 'Why does it cost $1.2-million over 13 years?' Then she shouted at Gillis to try to drown out the response. "

As anyone who actually watches the interview would quickly realize, this actually bears very little resemblence to the interview itself.

Gillis may draw some sympathy from the far-left because of her soft-spoken demeanor, but that also requires them to overlook her own behaviour during the interview. She did her best to be slippery, refusing to answer Erickson's questions. Despite $1.2 million in grants over 13 years being outlined on the show, Gillis tried to insist that money was spread out over 39 years... despite the fact that the grants were listed year-by-year from 1998 onward. (There may well have been more grants, but they were not the ones Gillis was being asked about.)

Over and over again, Gillis declared that she had "sacrificed her life" to interpretive dance. Aside from this remark being a little bit creepty, it doesnt' strike a rational person as much of a sacrifice: Gillis "sacrificed" her life to be funded to the tune of millions of dollars in order to do what, presumably, she loves to do.

In fact, since 1998 Gillis has been funded by the federal government, through the Canada Arts Council, to the tune of nearly $100,000 a year. According to her remarks, she also uses that money to fund the salarty of at least one other individual.

But even $50,000 to travel the world spiraling her arms is a pretty sweet gig.

In reality, Margie Gillis hasn't made any discernable sacrifice. She isn't hard put upon.

Nor does her spiralling arms actually do anything toward the goal of world peace. A Canadian fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan does; Gillis does not.

If anyone expected that Gillis' experience yestearday would provoke even the slightest bit of self-exploration to determine whether her behaviour on Sun TV contributed to the argument or not, don't expect it. Gillis has posted a message on her Facebook page asking her followers to write the CRTC and complain about the "unilateral views" expressed on Sun TV.

(She did, to her credit, instruct her followers to stop posting hate messages on Erickson's Facebook page. However, readers of the Nexus are by now familiar with the hateful behaviour of the far-left. They probably won't listen to her.)

It's nothing new to Canada's far-left, who demand merit for every mediocre remark to tumble out of the mouth of their adopted icons. Fortunately for the rest of Canadians -- who are becoming increasingly conservative -- it works out to our advantage.