Prairie Giant

"Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story" is a CBC Television miniseries first aired in two consecutive parts on March 12 and March 13, 2006. It dramatizes and fictionalizes the life and career of Tommy Douglas, the Canadian politician who oversaw the legislation of Canada's first public healthcare program as Premier of Saskatchewan. The production is directed by John N. Smith and produced by Kevin DeWalt.

Cast

*Michael Therriault - Tommy Douglas
*Kristin Booth - Irma Douglas
*Graham Bell - Mr. Fortier
*Nicholas Campbell - Edward James Young
*Brent Carver - Secretary Balsam (fictional)
*Adrian Devine - M.J. Coldwell
*Paul Gross - John Diefenbaker
*Shannon Jardine - Lally
*Andy Jones - Mackenzie King
*Robert Maloney - Woodrow S. Lloyd
*Brian Markinson - Jimmy Gardiner
*Don McKellar - Clarence Fines
*Rob Roy - Weyburn Arena Moderator
*R.H. Thomson - Dr. Moulds (fictional)
*Ian Tracey - Charlie Lawson
*Kent Wolkowski - Danny Reeves
*Mackenzie Blaisdell - Shirley Douglas (childhood)
*Christine MacInnis - Shirley Douglas (adult)

Controversies

"Prairie Giant" has attracted a great deal of controversy. Although the CBC promoted "Prairie Giant" as a ‘real story about real people’, after the miniseries aired on the CBC in two parts on March 12 and 13, 2006, newspaper columnists, radio talk shows, internet blogs, and the Saskatchewan legislature commented on the fallacies present in the story line of the CBC – Minds Eye Productions mini-series. Historical fallacies and omissions concerning Canada's public healthcare system and its history, Douglas's personal life and career, and the mischaracterization of the Rt. Hon. James Garfield Gardiner were identified.

On March 16, 2006, Saskatoon StarPhoenix political columnist Randy Burton wrote [http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=b67c03b8-a560-4e20-bed2-a5f411ea8ea7 ] “…and the fall guy was Jimmy Gardiner. At least I think that’s who it was. By the time the Mother Corp was finished with him, the poor guy looked more like Jimmy Cagney.” “It was wonderful television but abysmal history”. “On almost every score, scriptwriter Bruce Smith got Gardiner wrong. Significant historical events were either twisted beyond recognition or worse, drawn out of thin air.” Burton identified specific instances of historical error and highlighted the Estevan coal miner’s strike as “probably the most egregious error in Prairie Giant… [Gardiner's] speech is broadcast live to the entire province and leaves the clear impression that Gardiner was the premier of the day… This whole scene is false… Worse, to suggest the Liberal Gardiner would publicly attack immigrants in such a manner belies his history of fighting the Ku Klux Klan… On the television show, Gardiner is almost always shown with a drink in his hand but, in real life, he was a teetotaler… to suggest that he was nothing but a thuggish strongman, who put political squabbles ahead of the welfare of his province’s interests, is nothing but character assassination.”

Burton quoted Saskatchewan political scientist David Smith as saying “it was really a travesty to do what they did”.

On March 17, 2006, Regina Leader-Post political columnist Murray Mandryk stated [http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/columnists/story.html?id=6517028b-771b-4a1c-bff9-7adf45a95b4c ] “But the third critical aspect for a project like this has to be some level of historical accuracy and it is in the script itself where the movie fails. The most egregious example of this was clearly the Estevan Riot, where any sense of historical accuracy began and ended with the death of the miners. Simply put, the bodies were not left in the street to rot for all to see. Gardiner was not the premier of the day and he didn’t give a province-wide radio address attacking the strikers as communists and undesitrable immigrants.” Mandryk states that former NDP Premier Allan Blakeney described the movie as “seriously flawed” and quotes Blakeney as saying “But he was not Saint Tommy and nor was Jimmy Gardiner the epitome of evil”.

On July 9, 2006, former CCF MP and well-known journalist Douglas Fisher described the film as “A Shoddy Portrait of another Prairie Giant” [http://www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/Fisher_Douglas/2006/07/09/1675355-sun.html ] . Fisher stated “I was taken aback… by the low sleazy way Jimmy Gardiner was depicted… He was a very moral, judgmental man, abstemious, work-absorbed and politically courageous.” Referring to 1957, Fisher adds “I soon realised that the CCF’s horror stories about Jimmy’s 'machine' and its vile patronage were an attempt to make a devil of him for what was, in fact, simply well-organised partisanship.”

The producers initially claimed that the film was well researched. On June 12, 2006, the CBC, through Executive Vice-President Richard Stursberg, stated "I regret the mischaracterization of James Garfield Gardiner in the mini-series 'Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story' that we aired earlier this season". He further stated "The criticisms… expressed about the credibility of this portrayal concerned us greatly even as we came to its defence. To help us address the criticisms, we engaged an outside third-party historian… to assess the way in which Mr. Gardiner was depicted. I regret to say that his conclusion was that the character created for the film does not reflect the accepted historical record… the characterization in the mini-series is significantly different from Mr. Gardiner's true personality and behaviour." The CBC pulled "Prairie Giant" from future scheduled broadcasts, stating that it would return if they find a solution to address the historical fallacies. [http://northernblue.ca/cblog/index.php?/archives/603-CBC-Pulls-Tommy-Douglas-Movie.html] . On 10 Sept 2007, it was announced that the controversial CBC mini-series would be rebroadcast with no changes on another channel, Vision TV, (on Sept. 25 and 27). [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/09/10/tommy-douglas-movie.html "Tommy Douglas mini-series returning to airwaves"] www.CBC.ca, (Monday, September 10, 2007 | 12:28 PM CT)] Several times, for instance in late 2007 and again in April 2008, the Hallmark Channel broadcasted the series in Asia.

Attention has also been drawn to the funding provided to the film by the Government of Saskatchewan. [Leader-Post: [http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=cf43c39d-d09c-4388-82ea-21494cd93db1 CBC yanks Douglas movie] . James Wood. Jun 13, 2006. pg. A.1.Fro] . [CBC Watch [http://www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=node/view/1820 NDP party $614,000 contribution] ]

Funding

Here is a general breakdown of the direct funding the film received: [Email with Janine Stener, Associate Producer, Mouseland Productions Inc. June 22nd, 2006.]

Awards

"Prairie Giant" was nominated for a total of nine Genie Awards, including:

*Best Dramatic Mini-Series -- Nomination (Kevin DeWalt, producer)
*Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series -- Nomination (Bruce M. Smith)
*Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Dramatic Program or Series -- Nomination (Kathy McCoy, Kim Wall)
*Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series -- Nomination (Michael Therriault)
*Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series -- Nomination (Don McKellar)
*Best Achievement in Casting -- Nomination (Carmen Kotyk)
*Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series -- Nomination (Pierre Letarte)
*Best Achievement in Make-Up -- Winner (Donald J. Mowat, Paula Fleet, Jane Meade)
*Best Sound in a Dramatic Program -- Nomination (Rob Bryanton, Steve Hasiak, Evan Rust, Al Sherbin, Warren St. Onge)

"Prairie Giant" received seven awards at the 2007 Accolade Television Competitions, including:

*Best of Show - Network Television (Kevin DeWalt, producer)
*Best of Show - Lead Actor (Michael Therriault)
*Award of Excellence - Direction (John N. Smith)
*Award of Excellence - Script/Writer (Bruce M. Smith)
*Award of Excellence - Art Direction (Kathy McCoy, Kim Wall)
*Honorable Mention - Editing (Jackie Dzuba)
*Honorable Mention - Sound: Overall Impact - (Rob Bryanton, Steve Hasiak, Evan Rust, Al Sherbin, Warren St. Onge)

The chaiperson of the of the Accolade Television Competition also released this commendation for the project: "First, I want you to know that we were very much taken with The Tommy Douglas Story. In fact it won the most awards of any program for the last Accolade deadline. It is unusual for us to grant that many honors. I'll have to check, but I don't recall ever having so many honors to go to one program. It is an absolutely excellent production and everyone involved should be very proud. ..."

References

*For the love of Tommy; Dave Margoshes. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: May 10, 2005. pg. R.3
*Moose Jaw Times Herald. Moose Jaw, Sask.: Mar 21, 2006. pg. 2

ee also

*Estevan Riot
*Father of Medicare
*The Greatest Canadian
*Cooperative Commonwealth Federation
*"Trudeau"
*Politics of Saskatchewan

External links

* [http://www.tommydouglas.tv/ Official site]
* [http://www.tommydouglas.tv/tommydouglas_trailer.html Trailer]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/tommydouglas/ CBC site for "Prairie Giant"]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439404/ Prairie Giant on IMDB]
* [http://www.talkingdogstudios.com Talking Dog Studios - audio post]