Lucky Sperm Club

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:

Hey kids! Is your daddy a former prime minister of Canada? Then maybe you too can land a place in the media spotlight, just like Ben and Alexandre and Justin.

All this to say that Catherine Clark, daughter of Joe and Maureen McTeer, is back with a regular TV gig, this time on CPAC. This is from the release:

CPAC's Sunday Sound Off gets a fresh new face this Fall! Catherine Clark will be in the driver's seat when the live, coast-to-coast, bilingual, phone-in public affairs program returns on September 17th in the CPAC studios across from Parliament Hill.

The fluently bilingual Ottawa native is no stranger to the public eye having hosted a live, daily talk show in Ottawa, and occasionally hosting Sunday Sound Off during the last election. "As a young, bilingual broadcast professional, Catherine is keenly aware of the changing world and the importance of engaged citizens," said Colette Watson, President and General Manager of CPAC. "She is very much in-synch with CPAC's ongoing commitment to open and fruitful debate."

"I'm looking forward to speaking with Canadians from one end of the country to the other on topics that concern them and providing a live forum for them to speak directly with key experts," added Ms. Clark. "I hope Sunday Sound Off will become the destination for Canadians who want to voice their opinions about public affairs."

Clark's last national TV job was on the moribund digital i-channel, as one of its inaugural season hosts.

Now I am not suggesting that these political ''kids'' aren't smart or talented. But isn't amazing how they all landed such interesting jobs, jobs that ordinary slugs like us have to kill for? I mean, what are the odds?

UPPITY DATE: Somebody in the comments mentioned Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper. A very very rich woman, most famous in modern times for designing tight jeans. I am amazed that nobody yet has brought up David and Linda Frum or Jonah Goldberg, son of Lucianne Goldberg.

Comments

[sooey]

grr. and they can always be palmed off on us as "young" and "fresh". yeah. sure. compared to their hoary old da... oh dear... sorry. i forgot to take my "canada, eh?" pill this morning. nevermind me. back to getting this filing done and making sure all the pencils are sharpened for work first thing tomorrow morning. i didn't graduate from university in the 80s to go back to waitressing.

[sanj]

I didn't know Pierre Trudeau had 3 kids. I didn't know he was divorced.

I didn't know Joe Clark was the PM for a year.

I know more about US presidents thanks to Daily Show with Jon .. then i do about our own
PM's .

There's a lot of teens who probably have no idea that Ben's dad was a PM .

Have the PM's in the last 25 years do anything to get worldwide attention as much
as any US president .

[vinb]

Not to discount the phenomenalness of prime ministerial sperm, but an alternative theory of Ben's origins is gaining some MSM respect (if I may):

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=cd9dbba7-f225-43cf-81f7-4d6a6592b3d1

[Glowbull]

I remember a friend of i-channel president Martha Fusca said she fired Kat Clark because she was as dumb as a doorknob.

[jiminy C at the other daughters]

Hey - don't go knocking the ol' sperm lottery.
Just think of it, without you drawing the right card in the lottery - you wouldn't be that nice Mr. Zerbisias' little angel!
So there!

[Allan Sorensen]

As usual, you offer up topics and views that most of us applaud and can't find elsewhere on the media landscape, and we become invested in encouraging and defending you, for our own sake as well.
In this one, your comments, of course, reflect my own perception. Can I remind you of the mileage Margaret Trudeau got with her own TV show in Ottawa, let alone 2 books? (oddly, with the recent events of her therapy, I want to hear from her more than I ever did before)
But I'll take a huge risk here, and take the sentiment a bit further.
If we resent someone for the privileges they've gotten as a result of being in a select sperm club, then it's only fair to include nepotism, which is less apparent to the public eye. And so too (here goes) with ethnicity.
Affirmative action in Canada is supported by most of us, albeit grudgingly.
Obvious as well, is that it all comes down to results.
Has Cooper Anderson really earned the favoured spotlight he enjoys?
Even then it can be argued that he appears so decent that it's hard to throw anything at him that will stick.
Ben's Mulroney's unmerited success is kind of a national joke, and his own albatross. And I readily confess my jealousy.
But the only time I grind my teeth is when I see a network (CTV) airing such tripe as the Trudeau boy's video from Baghdad during the early months of the war.
For a national broadcaster to put exploiting a revered surname above the quality and integrity of journalism is embarrassingly revealing. It confirms that network executives are no better, brighter or fairer than the rest of us.
And we can't let Avi Lewis slip by either, since he's apparently returning to the air this fall. Fortunately, his irritating lack of charm is more than compensated for by his fearless honesty.

[Randy]

So, the child of another former PM jumps onto the TV hosting bandwagon? Makes me hope Paul Martin's had a vasectomy!

[Spencerville Slim]

Sanj sez: "I didn't know Pierre Trudeau had 3 kids." Actually, Pierre had at least four, the three boys with Margaret and their little sister, Sarah(?), with Deborah Coyne. I believe that our studly old friend Pierre was summat like 71 when the little girl was born.

I was never a fan of the man but, my goodness, the poor fellow aged 20 years overnight when his son died. Without knowing anything about him or the family, I still can't help thinking that losing his boy killed him. I don't know how people find the strength to go on after the death of a child.

Rest well, old foe, rest well.

[stephen.reeves]

You man Naomi has let Avi out his cage??

i-Channel president Martha Fusca is telling people she fired someone for being "dumb as a doorknob"?

Guess she figured there was no room for two doorknobs in a money-losing company bankrolled by her husband.

[wonderdog]

I used to enjoy Alexandre Trudeau's articles in Maclean's -- you know, the stories accompanied by photos of Alexandre Trudeau Covering The Story. They were great articles for people who like to read about Alexandre Trudeau.

As a young puppy, I found them useful to pee on -- I soon found that if I peed on the Alexandre Trudeau stories in the corner, the Boss didn't get as upset as when I peed on the living room carpet. You can see how these early influences may have shaped my blogging.

The Grope & Flail, in particular, seems to love the children of Prime Ministers, and covers their weddings, etc., with breathless attention. It, too, is good for peeing on.

[dave]

Bendoon's comment about "Steve Harper" sounding like the $6 million dollar man rings truer to me. From the start of Harper's career I have been calling him Stepford. His handshake farewell to his son at school would do any android proud.

I expect Stepford's son to host a show in 10 years or so called The Sum of All Knowledge. He'd be perfect; how can a human compete with the beta model of Data?

[estragon]

Sanj, are you 15 years old, did you drop out of high school, or does the school system really not teach kids anything?

Maybe you should spend less time watching Jon Stewart and more time learning about your own country.

[Jacques Poitras]

Jeepers, Antonia, I'd kill for your interesting job, and I don't remember a Prime Minister Zerbisias!

[Blogette]

Nepotism makes my skin crawl too, but from that information you provided, it looks as though Ben and Catherine are actually working (connetions or not) while Alex and Justin are, well,not.

~B

[Laurie]

Catherine Clark is certainly not getting these jobs on talent or brains. I recall her (thankfully) brief gig doing columns for The Star a couple of years ago. She was incapable of analysis, and came up with staggeringly facile and uninformed takes on serious social issues. The Star must have thought so, too, as she was quietly dumped only a short time after her columns started to run.

[estragon]

Blogette, that's not entirely fair.

Ben and Catherine may be drawing a regular paycheque, but since when is independent filmmaking considered "not working"? Whatever one may think of the fruits of Sasha's labours, it takes a lot more balls to shoot a film in Iraq than to prance around a big stage and smile for the cameras.

As for Justin, perhaps his new career as an actor (http://www.galafilm.com/galafilm/e/news/34191970.php)
will pay off for him.

[sooey]

gawd. it's having them palmed off on the rest of us as "young" and "fresh" that burns my biscuits. yeah. sure. compared to their hoary old da... oh... wait... oops - i forgot to take my "canada, eh?" pill this morning. gosh. and look at all this filing i've let pile up. well, i'd better get to it. i didn't graduate from university in the 80s to waitress for a living.

[Joan Tintor]

As Catherine's father endorsed the Liberals in the 2004 election, I count her as having crossed the floor with him. Good riddance.

[Metroland slug]

Nah, I'm sure they all got their gig based on talent and talent alone. Those of us working at the Upper Armpit Times-Review know that we are only stuck making crap wages while writing about spelling bees and cute puppies because we just aren't good enough. After all, there is an absolute abundance of editorial jobs out there in the meritocracy that is the Canadian media industry.

[Blogette]

Hi Laurie,

I had read about Justin, and I found it hilarious that a) he would even compare his dad to Papineau and b) he found a job working at the CBC. Go figure!

As for Alex/Sacha, I was aware of his filmaking but my point was that at least Ben and Catherine draw regular paycheques. I WISH I could do someting as cool as independent filmaking, but no one is going to fund that kind of project with my no-name last name.

~B

[Eric H]

It would be too embarassing to have the children of former PM's on welfare. And by giving them pretend jobs in redunant media postions ensures that they can do any real harm.

[wonderdog]

I like stories about cute puppies, Slug.

All my cute puppies deserve to be the subjects of stories. Then they deserve to be hired to write newspaper columns and host television shows, because, well, they're my puppies.

[Elvid]

Dave, Just shows how nasty the left is when they feel free to attack someone because he shakes hands with his kid. Talk about a low blow mixing overblown moral superiority and pop psychology. Coulterism in its own form.

[Scotian]

I suppose one can make the argument that the children of political leaders/PMs would have a unique perspective to evaluate political issues and actions from growing up "on the inside" as it were. So I suppose there is some degree of merit based consideration in their potential employments, but still this does seem at heart more due to the old expression of "it's not what you know but who you know and/or are related to". Personally I can't speak to the ability of any of these children as I have had no real exposure to them outside of when they were living with their parents at 24 Sussex Drive. I have heard a lot about Ben Mulroney for example but aside from seeing him once some time back on a show that I do not recall what it was about I have no basis for having an opinion on his actual qualifications/abilities to do the job he has.

This sort of thing is as old as recorded history at the minimum so I do not find it at all surprising to see in this day and age. While I would prefer that people get their jobs based first on merit and qualifications I am not so foolish as to expect that I will ever see this be the case in my lifetime, indeed it would not surprise me if this is always with the human race.