By: Bruce Wark
What would we do without the national news from Toronto? How would we know what's really going on, especially out here in the boonies?
It's Wednesday May 17th and I'm watching CBC's "The National". Big news: Interest rates are going up. The dollar is heading down. Reporter Raj Ahluwalia illustrates the story by showing workers hauling thousands of cases of Labatt's around a warehouse. Some of the suds will be shipped to the U.S. but Ahluwalia warns that a falling Canadian dollar is not necessarily good for Labatt's because "some of the ingredients in the beer and glass for the bottles plus the packaging materials are all imported from the U.S." Who would have thought? Seems some Canadian brew is not pure Canadian after all.
Ahluwalia goes on to shatter more illusions: "The Canadian economy is booming, growing by four and a half percent a year. With low inflation and a low unemployment rate. Economists say the dollar should be a lot higher."
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Booming economy? Low unemployment? Who would have thought? Sounds like great news for the 1,079,300 Canadians listed as officially unemployed last month. |
Booming economy? Low unemployment? Who would have thought? Sounds like great news for the 1,079,300 Canadians listed as officially unemployed last month. Great news in Newfoundland where the unemployment rate was 16.8 per cent or in P.E.I. where it was 11.6. Wonderful news for the 10.5 per cent of the labour force that was out of work in New Brunswick or in Quebec where the rate hit 8.8 per cent or Nova Scotia at 8.4. Very reassuring for faithful CBC viewers in Cape Breton where the jobless rate chronically hovers around 17.4 per cent or in Montreal, Northeastern Ontario and Northern B.C. where it's usually around 10. So Canadian beer's not necessarily all Canadian and a falling dollar makes life hard for Labatt's.
Well at least the economy's booming and unemployment is low. Thanks for the info Raj. It's much appreciated out here in the boonies. Yes, thank God (and CBC prez Bob Rabinovitch) for Toronto's National News!
Bruce Wark teaches History, Ethics and Foundations of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He worked for the CBC Radio News Service for nearly 19 years as an editor of national programs such as World at Six and Sunday Magazine. He also served as legislative reporter at Queen's Park in Toronto and as National Reporter for the Maritimes. His last CBC job was as producer of Media File, a national program on journalism and the media that was cancelled in August, 1991.
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