Ray Conlogue

[Denis Salter]

According to Yvan Peticlerc of Montreal, in a letter of opinion
published in the current issue of Cite Libre, "*Globe and
Mail* columnist Ray Conlogue argues that, unlike Quebec,
Canada has only a culture of the elite."
Peticlerc goes on to wonder out loud: "Could possession of a
popular culture be the thing that fundamentally distinguishes
Quebecers from other Canadians? On first consideration,
one might be tempted to think so. The success of a television
program like 'La Petite Vie' is an eloquent argument in
support of this thesis."

Phew. Where to begin? Just a few simple questions: did Conlogue
really argue this and if so, where and when? If he did say this,
what support/evidence could he possibly muster/marshall in support of
his 'argument.'?  Has he never been, just to cite one obvious
example, to, say, the Edmonton Fringe? Does he know anything
about the history of so-called 'pop culture' in Canada outside
of Quebec?  A quick read of *Mondo Canuck* would disabuse him
of the notion that Canada outside of Quebec [sic] "has only
a culture of the elite."  As for the opinion writer, M. Peticlerc,
has he watched many television programmes from Canada outside of
Quebec, programmes in which, again, so-called 'pop culture'
together with 'weapy so(a)ps, is omnipresent. Just consider
"Riverdale," (now gasping its way into a second year of
production), "This Hour Has Twenty Two Minutes," Rick Mercer
alone on the blue tube any day, any time, Rex Murphy alone on
the blue tube any day, any time, the "Royal Canadian Air
Farce," Rita McNeil before they axed her, Ann Murray until
she grew into a one-woman corporate stock machine, "Wayne 'n'
Schuster [sic]" if you are still capable of thinking back
that far, "La Famille Plouffe" [sp?] produced a century ago
played in BOTH anglais et francais, francais et anglais, and
the one-man-popular-goof-desperately politically incorrect
Don Cherry . . . . The list goes on and on I am sure.  Even
I know as much as I have cited and I don't watch TV. (Well,
I would walk a thousand miles over broken glass to see Rick
Mercer do one of his rants.)

I don't mean to disturb the pleasures of your Canada Day.
Alas, all this seems to confirm the continuing existence of a deep
faultline (and just one of many: French and English) that
seeks to swallow up more and more of the already fragile ideological
values that are  needed, whether we like them or not, to envision
a nation and then make it work---autonomously.

Denis Salter
4965, avenue Connaught
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Montreal (QC)
H4V 1X4
514 487 7309
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