06.10.2010 09:19 PM

The Kory story

A few years back, I had the pleasure to work for Kory Teneycke. He was an environmentalist back then, and I was working with a bunch of hardcore Conservatives.

It’s true. Kory was part of an outfit that was pushing green fuels – ethanol, specifically – and he hired me over the Conservatives I worked with (they didn’t like him, and he didn’t like them).

I can’t say anything about the campaign, but I will say that one of the best parts of it was working with this gangly, genial right-wing guy who looked young enough to be carded. Previously, he’d advised Preston Manning and Mike Harris. He was sharp as a tack. Still is. I trust him, and I think he trusts me.

We’ve been on opposite sides of the false political divide, in the intervening years, but we’ve tried to stay in touch. Often, I see him waging war with some of my 2,700 Facebook friends. Knowing Kory, he probably sees it as a unique opportunity to have some fun, and stir up 2,700 Liberals at once.

When I heard about his plans to set up an ersatz Fox TV thing in Canada, I smiled. (And I was a bit bewildered by some of the overreactions.) If there is anybody who could pull off such an ambitious venture, it’s this 36-year-old Conservative wunderkind.

He likely sees it as a unique opportunity to have some fun, and stir up many more thousands of Liberals at once.

UPDATE: BCL points out how Kory could be swimming in libel writs, if he’s not careful. Words worth heeding!

21 Comments

  1. gretschfan says:

    “They didn’t like him, and he didn’t like them” Might be a borrowed line from Knopfler’s “Song for Sonny Liston.” And if so, it’s appropriate vis. the angle on being up against an entrenched establishment. Quite right about the overreaction in some quarters. If people don’t like it then they won’t watch it.

  2. Sandra says:

    He’s a cocky jerk. Period. Do we really have to go as low as having a propoganda machine like Fox news in Canada?

    • Michael Harkov says:

      Well, why not? We all have a left-wing “propoganda machine” that we all pay for. At least “fox New North” wouldn’t be subsidized by tax payers.

      • Catherine says:

        Imagine giving viewers a true choice and the opportunity for them to vote with their remotes. What a nice democratic concept instead of choosing between a steady diet of same old, same old.

        There will be nothing at all stopping the left-leaning media from continuing as they are.

        Choice it seems is that operative word though….a very liberal concept no?

      • Dennis says:

        I always enjoy reading the comments on the CBC website from people who never read the CBC site because it’s nothing but left-wing propoganda. How those comments mysteriously appear, I don’t know.

        I’ve seen very few people realize that the reason our media tends to have a left-wing slant is that the majority of our citizenry holds the same values. (It’s why the National Post is dying a slow death and pulling out from certain markets.) This is why I’m all for the right-wing network; it would allow us to get past the “what-if?” question and move onto the “it doesn’t work” realisation.

  3. Robert K. says:

    Let ’em have at it. Maybe Fox North will inspire a new group of comedians to mock them along the lines of the Daily Show or what was this hour has 22 minutes. Either way folks will at least tune in for an occasional larf. I know I will, if of course I can get channel 672.

  4. e says:

    so there is 24 hours news from CBC, CTV, and numerous american and european sources… and a partisan Canadian channel 24×7 is going where? It is more noise in a saturated market in a shrinking environment

  5. Elizabeth says:

    He didn’t strike me as a wunderkind during interviews – nothing exceptional about him at all. Big Yawn. We shall see how he makes out, perhaps I’ll be proven wrong.

  6. Paul R. Martin says:

    There is a funny quote from Teneycke in today’s Globe. In response to a comment by NDP MP Pat Martin, he said “Ranting, done right, can be quite entertaining. Pat Martin is living proof of that.”

  7. serge robin says:

    What I have seen and heard about Kory is mostly on CBC Power and Politics. He seems like a dangerous right winged loose canon. He may be smart but how he uses it concerns me. The last thing that Canada needs is more US trojan horses making their way to our beautiful country. Keep the” foxes” out of Canada, please.

    • Catherine says:

      serge wrote “The last thing that Canada needs is more US trojan horses”

      Dude have you MET Michael Ignatieff???

      • serge robin says:

        Dudette,
        No I have not met Ignatieff, but if your question was do you like him as leader of the Liberal party my answer is NO. Indeed 35 years living in the US is not the best way to know grass root Canadians. This is part of the Liberal’s problem. They picked the wrong horse. So we Canadians don’t have much of a choice: Harper who once flew to Fox TV at the time of the Iraq invasion to tell Americans that as a PM he would have ganged up with them and Ignatieff who too thought then it would be a good idea…Now they both deny it…what else needs to be said?

        Serge

        • Elizabeth says:

          He didn’t live in the US for 35 years. As far as I know, after he got his degree at Harvard, it was 5 years. He lived 27 years in the UK, a lot of that time was spent working for the BBC. His ex-wife is English, and his children were both born in England. He did have a stint teaching at UBC during that period, I believe.

          I’ve no idea what you’re talking about with regard to Harper. Harper tried to get Chretien to send us to Iraq – but that was in Question Period.

  8. Barb says:

    I always thought Liberals were known for their tolerance and supporting choice and freedom. From these comments, not so much.

    • Elizabeth says:

      You don’t have to tolerate the ridiculous; there is an obligation to point out that something is completely stupid and/or harmful. Being tolerant and supporting choice doesn’t mean becoming deliberately blind and ignoring the truth. That’s what the Conservatives do.

      We all have an obligation to discuss things thoroughly, to debate issues. That’s what this is all about.

  9. Brian says:

    ” ? and he hired me over the Conservatives I worked with (they didn?t like him, and he didn?t like them).”

    Interesting to know. On that info alone, I’ll buy 200 Kory futures at 5 1/8th.

  10. Jim Smith says:

    It’s a free country. People can set up a right wing new station if they want. Or do they need permission from The Party? Sometimes liberals are so liberal.

  11. wilson says:

    This new network will be very successfull. CTV and CBC will be following, not leading.
    We have watched Lloyd Robertson, Bob Fife, Peter Mansbridge, Don Newman, Jim Travers, Craig Oliver, and Chretien for far far too long.
    Time for the old Liberal guard to retire.

  12. Tceh says:

    I like the idea of “more Clownservative all the time TV”. For 4 years we Canadians have been hearing and reading about Conservative wonderfulness thru 10%rs, Economic Action Plan signage and how many election campaigns now? Thru it all Harper cannot sustain 35-40% despite controlling the government agenda and the message. So I think Canadians will greet this new Fox News look-a-like with a shrug and a meh.

  13. Rick T. says:

    It is good that we will have a network with a Right Slant. What a breath of fresh air.

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