Politicians in Ontario have to be noticing the way celebrities from the world of entertainment are able to draw attention to causes they take up, wondering how they can cash in on it.
The entertainers getting serious are not necessarily as far off as American actor George Clooney protesting against atrocities in Darfur and talk show host Oprah Winfrey boosting Barack Obama for president – it already is happening on a smaller scale and with less known personalities here.
In the latest example, dishwashers and other low paid staff at a Toronto hotel last month won pay raises up to 18 percent over three years and credited it partly to American actor Danny Glover.
Glover, Mel Gibson’s cop sidekick in the Lethal Weapon movies, spoke at a rally in support of the hotel staff and other poorly paid workers in sports stadium concessions. All four major daily newspapers in Toronto reported it.
Three ran pictures of him at a microphone under headlines such as Actor goes to bat for workers. Newspapers do not run pictures of ordinary union spokespersons seeking higher wages.
Canadian character actor Eugene Levy, who has a young relative who is autistic, held a news conference here to ask for a national strategy to help autistic children.
His plea appeared in several newspapers and one ran a story and two pictures, more than some actors get when they win an Oscar.
The papers had headlines such as Funnyman makes serious pitch, and it could be asked whether they would have published this plea for autism sufferers if a celebrity had not made it.
Actress Bo Derek, noted for physical assets in trivial movies decades ago and in one described as a perfect 10 among women, called at the legislature to denounce trafficking in exotic animal parts.
Two papers reported her views, with pictures, and one headlined it The only time a Queen’s Park meeting rated a 10.
Singer and Juno Award winner Sarah Harmer was among residents of the scenic Niagara Escarpment who opposed expansion of a quarry there. A paper headlined its report, Singer’s group rocks plans of gravel kings, and began its story, “Sarah Harmer won’t need to sing the Escarpment Blues any time soon.”
It did not identify other opponents, indicating readers would be more interested in the entertainer involved. This was another protest that had some success.
When four Toronto women raised money to help cancer patients buy a drug the province does not offer, the media wrote about actress Cynthia Dale and three friends coming to the rescue. Again it could be asked whether they would have reported on it if a well known actress had not been a participant.
Actors held a news conference at the legislature seeking help for the many struggling members of their profession and sent well-known performers Fiona Reid and Sonja Smits to speak, not the poor, mostly young hopefuls who have to spend most of their time waiting on tables – and news media reported them.
Aboriginal leaders, to cite just one more example, got huge space in papers merely by asking Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio to come and oppose a new diamond mine in Northern Ontario, after he made a movie showing harm caused by the diamond trade in Africa.
One criticism often made when entertainers support political causes is they do not influence people as much as their ability to get their names in the media may suggest.
But the actors and singers are showing an ability to inform the public about their causes others do not have, which has to help them, even if it does not always bring a happy ending.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s Park press gallery.
