CBC pulls Tommy Douglas movie over inaccuracy
REGINA (CP) – The CBC has pulled a movie about the life of medicare founder Tommy Douglas from its broadcast schedule, citing historical inaccuracies in the portrayal of an adversary in the film.
The corporation has also halted both home and educational sales of Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story while it tries to resolve concerns raised about how former Saskatchewan premier James (Jimmie) Gardiner comes off in the eyes of viewers.
CBC executive vice-president Richard Stursberg informed Gardiner’s family of the decision in an e-mail, which became public Monday.
“We engaged an outside, third-part historian with no ties to CBC, your family or the Douglas family to assess the way in which Mr. Gardiner was depicted,” Stursberg wrote.
“I regret to say that his conclusion was that the character created for the film does not reflect the accepted historical record.”
The movie was first broadcast in two parts on March 12 and 13. CBC spokesman Jeff Keay said it was scheduled to run again in late June.
The decision to abort that was welcomed by Gardiner’s family, who had fought to set the record straight.
“I am so relieved,” granddaughter Marg Gardiner said in an telephone interview from her Victoria home. “It was very shocking, very unsettling, to see this kind of a distortion.”
Douglas, a New Democrat, and Gardiner, a Liberal, both enjoyed distinguished political careers in Saskatchewan and Ottawa.
As leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Douglas was a five-term premier of the province before becoming the first federal leader of the NDP. He is best remembered as the father of publicly funded medicare.
Gardiner was elected twice as Saskatchewan premier, first in 1926 and again in 1934. Federally, he held the agriculture portfolio for a record 22 years. Saskatchewan’s Gardiner Dam on Lake Diefenbaker is named after him.
Historians say Gardiner was a passionate voice for the West and for agriculture.
He was hard-nosed and not always easy to get along with, but when he was portrayed as boorish, self-centred and vindictive, several prominent provincial politicians, including former NDP premier Allan Blakeney, rushed to his defence.
Historians pointed out that Gardiner was shown drinking in the movie, but in real life was a teetotaller.
Marg Gardiner said she was most upset by the way the character in the film seemed to be anti-immigrant, given that her grandfather grew up in a town made up of recent immigrants and was instrumental in fighting the Ku Klux Klan, which once tried to gain a foothold in the province.
“That was the most disturbing thing in the movie,” she said. “Here we have someone who is a pioneer in the recognition of multicultural Canada and it was a total role reversal.”
When reached by phone at the Banff Television Festival, the film’s producer Kevin DeWalt was reluctant to comment on what he called a CBC decision.
“Read the disclaimer – we were very clear from Day 1 that this was not a documentary,” DeWalt said. “It was a fictionalization and dramatization and it stated that quite clearly in the disclaimer and we stand by that disclaimer.”
Saskatchewan’s NDP government contributed $614,400 to the production of the movie as part of the province’s 2005 centennial celebrations.
Premier Lorne Calvert appeared agitated when faced with questions about the CBC’s decision Monday.
“This was a great centennial project, it honoured the greatest of Canadians,” Calvert said.
“It was drama and this government will never, on any occasion, interfere in the editorial decision-making around artistic production.”
Keay said it was too early to say how the movie might be changed so it could air again.
“In the context of the historical record we came to the conclusion that the way that Mr. Gardiner was portrayed was not consistent with the historical record,” Keay said.
“I think the point that I would make here is that we certainly regret any discomfort that the Gardiner family has with the characterization of the former premier.”
Categories