An open letter to Terry Evans:

For those of you who don't know Terry Evans is a radio pundit / journalist. Despite his ribald sayings and his over the top witticisms, which normally rely on fairly clever and quick witted innuendo, Terry comments on public issues of more import than the contest in BC to see which girl will win free implants. Terry talks about many issues of national importance as is his right, even his duty, and he speaks the language of the common man. For this he is to be commended.

But Terry Evans does not speak with the cadence of the common man. Terry's voice often arises out of a meanness that Bob Rae characterised as, "being born on third base and acting like you hit a triple." Leaving aside superficialities such as the fact that Terry seems to spend more time commuting than he does on the air and leaving aside the fact that anyone who lives an hour out of town has no right whatsoever complaining about the lowest gas prices in the developed world. Terry's on air persona can be summed up thusly: Despite the fact that I am a paid entertainer, I am being horribly exploited by: Utilities, government organisations, businesses that fail to meet my demands, other motorists, and anyone else I do not know personally. Also I am strong enough to kill a child molester with my bare hands. (To be fair he said that he would kill one with his bare hands given the opportunity, I assume the Molester is to be locked in a room with Mr. Evans. Otherwise, he expects the molester to be restrained or subdued in some manner, which to me does not seem sporting.)

The previous week, Terry Evans, in response to a Kerry Diotte column regarding a supposed promise by Paul Martin to eliminate the federal excise tax on gasoline, fulminated about the federal excise tax and the seven-percent rating of those taxes under the GST. The article was riddled with weak corrolations and glaring inaccuracies (See Previous Post). On Friday, the 22nd, I left a voice mail with Terry leaving my home telephone number in the hopes that he could reach me and we could resolve the issue. Three days later, with no response, I called in to the Terry, Bill, and Steve Morning show to discuss the matter further, hoping to extract a mia culpa from Mr. Evans. I was more than prepared for the fact that he might belly ache about the fact that I was splitting hairs and that he would unleash al sorts of ribald innuendo. Or perhaps he could have asked were it still necessary to have a gasoline tax given the state of the nation.

I called at 5:50. With no callers ahead of me I got on at 6:30 Here was the exchange:
(To be fair this is what I heard reconstructed from 6 1/2 hours of memory)

T: From the look on Holly's face I can see that Sean is on the line Hello Sean, How are you?

S: Fine Terry, did you read the blog entry I let you know about?

T: No...

S: Essentially, you know that Kerry Diotte article, which you repeated on the air, about Paul Martin's promise to eliminate the federal excise tax on gasoline.

T: Yippee.

S: Yes, I checked it out and the allegation is utterly false. In no way did Paul Martin promise to eliminate the federal excise tax on gasoline...

T: Well thanks Sean, Goodbu...

At this point the phone cut off. Those with their radios up heard Terry say goodbye. At least I hope they did.

I have no problem with Terry repeating an erronious article, which has not been exposed as such. But when someone calls you with the information, showing that when you called the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada a, "A liar lair pants on fire," erroniously, you should at least have the intestinal fortitude to say:

Yes, I was wrong. I screwed up and believed too readily the worst about our public figures. Sorry Edmonton and sorry Canada.

So Terry, I challenge you, be a man and say this. If only for all the people out there who revere your opinions and need a figure-head to rail irrationally against the very structures that hold this country together.

As always, I am a blow hard, but a blow hard with a cogent point.

With respect and without yielding.

Sean.