Well, CBC personality Rick Mercer certainly made waves in Campbell River during his visit here last week.
The country’s favourite political satirist and social commentator, dropped by for a swim with the salmon segment to be included in his show Rick Mercer Report. Mercer appeared, as he always does, to be having a blast during his day on – and in – the waters of the famous Campbell River.
The popularity of the man who brought Canadians such brilliant sketches as Talking to Americans and his poignant but funny video rants was evidenced by how many people were talking about his visit and how many tried to catch a glimpse of him on the water.
It’s too bad we couldn’t have had Mercer stick around for a few weeks to absorb Campbell River’s political culture and get him to expound on his particular take on the goings on in this community.
The Mirror could use him as a municipal columnist for a while. Wouldn’t that be fun? Of course, it may be impossible for even Mercer to improve on the hilarious goings on in this community. Truth is stranger than fiction, they say, and it’s often funnier than comedy.
In the meantime, it was a brilliant stroke of promotion to have Mercer here as his salmon swimming segment will undoubtedly be seen by thousands of Canadians and will do more in a few minutes of air time than thousands of dollars worth of tourism advertising ever could.
Maybe he could revive his Talking to Americans segment and get U.S. tourists to congratulate Campbell River for whittling away acres of land from a prime downtown waterfront lot and let the rest of it waste away like a sandy dust bowl for decades in the face of a beautiful seascape, passing cruise ships and frolicking whales.
Naw, forget it. Nobody would fall for that.
– Campbell River Mirror