聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 On Labour Day, news broke that Peter Mansbridge, CBC鈥檚 anchor and chief correspondent forever, will be retiring.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He鈥檒l anchor the 150th anniversary Canada Day celebrations, but after that, he鈥檚 done. 聽 The news has been leading my Facebook news feed for half a day now.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It鈥檚 about bloody time.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The man鈥檚 journalism career started in Churchill, Man. Now one of the lead stories is the closure of that sub-arctic port.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 CBC noted, 鈥淗e has covered 14 federal elections, hosted eight Olympic ceremonies, and conducted an estimated 15,000 interviews, sitting opposite countless Canadian and global leaders along with numerous personalities from the worlds of politics, sports and entertainment.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He took over The Nationalon May 2, 1988. If he retires on July 1, 2017, that will be over 29 years in the big chair. That鈥檚 a tremendous accomplishment for one man. Kudos to him. It鈥檚 a horrible statement for the rest of the journalism business, and CBC in particular.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 One of the big issues south of the 49th is the possibility that a woman can finally, finally break the 鈥済lass ceiling,鈥� which Merriam-Webster defines as 鈥渁n unfair system or set of attitudes that prevents some people (such as women or people of a certain race) from getting the most powerful jobs.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Peter Mansbridge was that glass ceiling, personified, for Canadian journalism.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 At least one and closer to two generations of journalists have grown up in Canada without ever having the opportunity to take the big chair at CBC full-time. Oh sure, some would fill in when Peter took a holiday or a day off. Wendy Mesley, his prior wife, has done that for years (which is certainly awkward).
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 CBC relied on Mansbridge so much that when power outages hit southern Ontario, they pulled him from his holidays, scruffy beard and all, to put him on air, lest the populace feel insecure about a fresher-faced anchor with some other DNA.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But no one, whether a woman, man, minority, majority, white, brown, black or purple, has had a shot at the permanent anchor spot for nearly three decades. That, I would say, is the definition of a glass ceiling. There was no point in the best and the brightest ever aspiring to the top job, because it was never going to happen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Mansbridge鈥檚 tenure has predated the World Wide Web! He was in the anchor position when the Berlin Wall fell down. The Oka crisis? It was handled by Mansbridge, too.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What would we say about other organizations if the pinnacle of their organization was so calcified? Did you know the military has a policy where most officers only serve in a post for three years, then they move on? We appoint a new chief of defence staff every three years. It gives younger officers a chance to work themselves up to the top job, because no matter what, that job will eventually become available.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 During Mansbridge鈥檚 tenure, Canada has had the following chiefs of defence staff: Gen. P.D. Manson, Gen. A.J.G.D. de Chastelain, Adm. J.R. Anderson, Gen. A.J.G.D. de Chastelain (on his second term, which is an extremely rare occurrence), Gen. J.E.J. Boyle, VAdm. L.E. Murray, Gen. J.M.G. Baril, Gen. R.R. Henault, Gen. R.J. Hillier, Gen. W. J. Natynczyk and, currently, Gen. J. Vance.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Hillier is widely regarded as the finest general we鈥檝e had in generations. He put a pride back in the military that we had not seen in a long time. But back in 1988, he was still in the middle of the officer ranks. Imagine if Manson or de Chastelain had held the CDS post all this time? What if Hillier had never even had a chance at the top job?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So it has been with CBC. No matter who you were, no matter how good you were or how hard you worked, you never had a chance at taking Mansbridge鈥檚 post until he decided to give it up. Accept that or move on to somewhere else.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For the network that makes such a big deal about everyone else鈥檚 failure to meet today鈥檚 politically correct social agendas, perhaps CBC should enact this policy: No more 29-year job postings, for anyone.
