I don't get very involved directly in a lot of debates but this one is too much of a flashpoint issue for the country to not have strong feelings on.
I grew up watching Coach's Corner, accepted that sometimes the opinions that get tabled on it are often away from the grain but still bought into the whole idea of Cherry being up on a bit of a pedestal as a cultural icon in the country. I've gotten away from watching over the past number of years mainly for lack of interest but this put the final nail in the coffin of the cultural icon factor and I'm glad that the right outcome came out of it in the end.
At the same time I have a ton of concern over the USA-style divisiveness we're seeing both before and after the news today. Its so disappointing to see just how polarizing the reaction is to what took place when you read various opinions online. Way too many "he's right" rebuttals from folks who I'm not convinced have fully thought through what they're supporting. He is absolutely right that we could stand to have a higher prevalence of poppy usage in Canada. Its deplorable and the opposite of what Canada is supposed to stand for for him to make it an immigration problem. In anything I've seen so far I don't know I've seen one person describe to me how you can in going for a walk in Downtown Toronto identify who are newcomers to Canada and who are a 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation residents of the country without stopping long enough for a chat to learn each and every person's story... not that in the end that should matter where someone was born when you consider that people are people and we're all 99.9% genetically the same happiness seekers.
Its amplified that much more when its coming from someone that has (had) the podium to set the cultural tone for the country and despite the chance to understand its wrong and apologize he seems to stand by it. To protect us against the spread of hate we have hate speech laws in Canada... I would be interested to see how what took place would stack up against the standard set by that law.
I also really wish so many weren't making this into a left/right political issue. I come from the place of having voted for each of the three main political parties over the past decade at different levels of elections and my intent is to consider each of them again in other upcoming elections... though admittedly I watch politicians' reactions in these situations in deciding who I might support in the future. From this vantage point I've seen that folks on all sides of the political spectrum have so much in common when they don't get overly hyper-focused on dividing points.
If as a country we want higher poppy usage we have to identify the constraints and see how we can address them. I'll be honest that I didn't even have my poppy until yesterday because I almost never have change on me and only buy stuff with credit card. Maybe something as simple as including poppy sales at the tills at grocery stores, gas stations, etc to make it as easy as possible to pay?
If its factually identified that certain groups of folks whoever that might be haven't bought in, let's ask how we can involve and build bridges in stead of resorting to attacking, shaming and dividing. I was taught in school that Canada's better than that and I'm confident we can continue to be!