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Editorial: Where is Diotte when you need him?
Commentary by Emily Plihal
for South Peace News
So, George W. Bush, do you think coming to Canada will be an easier feat for you to accomplish?
The former president of the United States of America will be speaking at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton Oct. 20, the second time the ex-president has ventured to Alberta since “retiring”.
The United States’ 43rd president will be conducting a two-hour speech, likely speaking about a broad range of topics from Iraq to the credit crisis.
To me, the comedy commenced when I heard who the moderator will be. Kelly Hrudey, best known as an NHL hockey player but now a CBC sportscaster, will be handling the question period.
Since when does a former hockey player have the opportunity to question a former president of the USA? I suppose it would make sense if the hockey player were at the White House showing the president the Stanley Cup, but how does politics relate to hockey?
Shouldn’t an Edmonton journalist have the opportunity to ask the questions to Bush?
I’m sorry, maybe it’s the cranky reporter in me coming out, but I think someone who’s trained to ask questions pertaining to global economy should be in Hrudey’s spot.
Don’t get me wrong, Hrudey was exciting to watch as a hockey player, and even some of his less than stellar questions directed at hockey players are interesting, but conducting an interview with a former president? This is not the president of a National Hockey League club!
Is the choice of “reporter” a reflection of what individuals in our country and around the world think about Bush?
I’ve covered a professional hockey game, and I can say the questions thrown at the hockey players wouldn’t be classified as profound.
Will the answers prompted by Hrudey’s questions really tell the spectators what they want to know? Highly unlikely.
Generally the questions asked by sportscasters are along the lines of: What did you think about the game? Who was the star of the game? What went wrong in the game?
How the heck will an ex-professional hockey player be able to ask interesting questions to a former president?
The cost of this conference is between $100-150. If I were to attend and spend all that money, I would want to hear some interesting responses to thoughtful political questions.
Best of luck to Hrudey, but I find it highly unlikely that he’d meet standards of a veteran reporter.
There are some stellar writers in Edmonton, were they even considered?
Perhaps someone like the Sun’s Kerry Diotte, who each week questions Edmonton city officials about their decisions, should have been chosen?
President Bush is someone who has run a country, made choices the rest of the population are not even capable of making, and he’s been criticized for the job he did. Shouldn’t we have a reporter asking critical questions, someone who understands politics and reporting?
So, is my disappointment with a former hockey player turned sportscaster covering an international conference relevant? I think so. Those of us who scratched our way through the fairly competitive limelight of J-school would die for this chance, but it was given to a hockey player.
Congratulations Edmonton! Wise choice!
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