Audio – Page 20 – Freedom Party of Ontario Archive

Marc Emery and Robert Metz versus Gord Hume and London’s 1991 Pan Am Games Bid Committee

Jun 071985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
Following Freedom Party’s successful effort to oppose taxpayer funding for London’s bid to host the 1991 Pan Am Games, the London Bid Committee met with the Mayor of London to canvas ways in which to save the bid. Among the options proposed by the Bid Committee was to have the federal government commit to contribute $37M after the end of the federal government’s five-year games-funding moratorium.

Wayne McLean, host of AM980’s show Hotline, asked his listeners if they want the Bid Committee to continue its efforts to host the 1991 Pan Am Games. McLean invited Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery for his view on the question. Thereafter, McLean had Bid Committee Chair Gord Hume in-studio to discuss the status of the Bid Committee’s effort and to field calls from listeners. One of those callers was Freedom Party president Robert Metz, who also was Chair of the No Tax for Pan Am Committee. After pointing out to Hume the large number of polls in London indicating that the taxpayer does not want to fund the games, Hume played the smear card, saying that Metz is president of a “radical right wing” political party, as though that were an answer to the public’s condemnation of the Bid Committee’s aims. Metz’s point was reinforced at the end of the show, when listeners were polled: 20 of the 29 people who called in said that the Bid Committee did not have their support. Ultimately, the Bid Committee failed to get the government money that it wanted.

Marc Emery Excerpt

Robert Metz Excerpt

Complete Recording

Marc Emery on the defeat of London’s 1991 Pan Am Games bid

All, FPO Featured

Jun 051985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
On June 5, 1985, the Canadian federal government announced that there would be no more federal funding of organized sports events until at least 1990. Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery and Robert Metz’s No Tax for Pan Am Committee (a committee formed by Freedom Party) had steadily opposed taxpayer funding for London’s bid to host the 1991 Pan Am Games. Flyers and newsletters had been distributed throughout London, and numerous radio and TV appearances of Emery, Metz, and other No Tax for Pan Am activists had tipped popular opinion against taxpayer funding for the games. The federal decision effectively killed the London Bid Committee’s bid to have London host the 1991 Pan Am Games (the London bid committee was comprised largely of local business owners and building contractors who hoped to make a lot of money as a result of taxpayer funding for such things as the building of sports arenas).

On the evening of June 5, 1985, AM980’s Sports Call program interviewed three pro-bid individuals (London East Member of Parliment Jim Jepson; Darwin Semotiuk of the London Bid Committee; and London City Controller Joe Fontana who later would be a London MP, and a London Mayor*), followed by Marc Emery. During their respective interviews, Fontana predicted that the federal government’s decision would be very unpopular, but Emery predicted it would be popular. Thereafter, the program asked listeners to call in and indicate whether they were for or against the federal government’s decision not to fund the games. Emery was right: 74% of callers supported the federal government’s decision not to fund the games with taxpayer money.

*NOTE: In 2014, Joe Fontana resigned as City Mayor after he was found guilty of three fraud-related offences for forging an expense document in 2005 that resulted in a $1,700 government fraud

Marc Emery Excerpt

Complete Recording

Freedom vs. Feminism: Marc Emery vs. Heidi Strasser

All, FPO Panelist

May 031985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:

In 1985, Heidi Strasser was a London area radical feminist and a representative of the London Status of Women Action Group (LSWAG). In the early eighties, LSWAG ran campaigns to ban or otherwise censor the wide range of things it considered “pornography”. As a result, in those years, pornography “dominated the news” in London (in the words of then talk radio host Wayne McLean).

On May 3, 1985, McLean dedicated two hours of his radio program to the issue of feminism versus individual freedom. His guests were Strasser, and then Freedom Party of Ontario Action Director Marc Emery, who opposed censorship.

NOTES: This recording – including the introduction by Freedom Party’s Murray Hopper, which was not part of the original broadcast but was added by Freedom Party – was featured at page four of Issue 5 of “Freedom Flyer”, Freedom Party of Ontario’s newsletter as one of Freedom Party’s “Hear the Voice of Freedom” audio cassette series. This recording was #3 in that series.

Ontario Election: London North candidates debate on Radio 98 (April, 1985)

All, FPO Featured

Apr 211985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
At least 2 Sundays prior to the May 2, 1985 polling date of the Ontario general election, radio station AM980 (London, Ontario) hosted a half-hour all candidates debate for candidates in the riding of London North, including Freedom Party candidate Rob Smeenk, and the PC, NDP, and Liberal candidates.

Listen to the entire debate:

Robert Metz and Marc Emery on London’s Taxpayer-funded 1991 Pan Am Games Bid

All, FPO Featured

Feb 041985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
On February 4, 1985, Darwin Semotiuk (member of London’s 1991 Pan Am Games Bid Committee) and Marc Emery (Freedom Party’s Action Director) were guests of the Wayne McLean Talk Show. The topic: taxpayer funding for London, Ontario’s bid for the 1991 Pan Am Games. McLean first interviews Semotiuk, who fields calls including a rather spirited call from Freedom Party president Robert Metz. Thereafter, Emery is interviewed and fields calls from various other London callers to the program.

Excerpt – Robert Metz vs. Darwin Semotiuk:

Complete Recording

Marc Emery on Sports Call re: London bid for the 1991 Pan Am Games

All, FPO Featured

Jan 241985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
On January 24, 1985, AM980’s Sports Call program interviewed Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery to understand the case against the London bid committee’s bid to host the 1991 Pan Am Games. After explaining that we oppose the bid because it sticks the taxpayer with a hefty bill for the games, the show interviewed Darwin Semotiuk of the London Bid Committee.

Complete Recording

Marc Emery and Gord Hume profiled in CHRW report on London’s bid for the 1991 Pan Am Games

All, FPO Featured

Jan 231985

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
On January 23, 1985, CHRW 94.7 FM’s “Forum” program interviewed Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery about the London bid committee’s bid for London to host the 1991 Pan Am Games at taxpayer expense. Emery and Freedom Party’s No Tax for Pan Am Games Committee opposed the bid on the ground that it would leave taxpayers footing the bill to host the games, and to pay for the white elephants left behind.

Also interviewed was bid booster Gord Hume.

Complete Recording

Radio 6X report on London’s bid for a taxpayer-funded Pan Am Games

All, FPO Featured

Dec 011984

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:

This news report on 6X radio in London canvassed the positions of various stakeholders favouring or opposing London’s Pan Am Bid Committee’s bid for London to host the 1991 Pan Am Games at taxpayer expense. Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery was one of the four individuals interviewed and was, of course, opposed to taxpayer funding for the games.

NOTE: In the report, Emery makes several references to “our group”. The group to which he is referring is Freedom Party and its No Tax for Pan Am Games Committee, which had its own newsletter.

Listen to the Report:

Marc Emery on the immorality of tax-funding for international sports events

All, FPO Call-in

Nov 291984

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
On November 29, 1984, Sportscall’s host, Gary Alan Price, invited two of London’s 1991 Pan Am Games Bid Committee members – Dr. Bert Taylor and Jim Hardy – to be his guests. The show fielded calls from listeners, including Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery. Emery called in to ask why the bid committee couldn’t finance the games with privately-contributed money, instead of with taxes. He condemns the Bid Committee’s activities and philosophy as immoral.

Marc Emery Excerpt

Complete Recording

Wake Up Western – Street Parties: Have they gone too far?

All, FPO Panelist

Nov 071984

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:

On October 19, 1984, in London, Ontario, revellers in the Gatewood Crescent area (most thought to be students of the University of Western Ontario) smashed beer bottles on the street and driveways, and urinated on lawns, gardens, and automobiles. Local residents found themselves virtually helpless against the collective onslaught of over 1000 party-goers. Despite police attempts to disburse the crowd by using tear-gas, verbal and physical onslaughts against residents continued into the hours of dawn. On a Wednesday (it’s not clear which Wednesday) in November of 1984, the radio station at the University of Western Ontario broadcasted a one-hour discussion about the Gatewood riot. Panelists included Freedom Party of Ontario’s Action Director, Marc Emery. Emery found himself having to pronounce explicit moral judgement against those who did not seem to have any regard for, or understanding of, the property rights of others.

NOTE: This recording was featured at pages 11 to 12 of Issue 4 of “Freedom Flyer”, the September to December 1984 issue of Freedom Party of Ontario’s official newsletter.

Older Entries Newer Entries