The Conservatives knew what they were doing – well, sort of – when they announced a petition to nominate former hockey commentator Don Cherry to the Order of Canada.
It’s a great cultural wedge issue: one that pits the millions of Canadians with fond memories of Coach’s Corner against the ostensibly smaller cohort of Canadians who still begrudge Mr. Cherry for his tactless comments that led to the segment’s cancellation in 2019. The Conservatives know that the Order of Canada, which was created back in 1967, has become something of a participation medal for a certain type of prominent Canadian – the kind who satisfies the palette of oyster-shucking Laurentian elites. Mr. Cherry, infamous for his rants about, for example, female reporters in locker rooms and immigrants not wearing poppies, upsets their stomachs. So by pushing them to accept Mr. Cherry into their club, the Conservatives put the elites on their back foot.
