NBC Showcases Martin Short Championing How Being 'Progressive' Makes Canada 'Very Hip'

People around the world view Canada as "very hip" because of its "progressive" health care and environmental policies, actor/impersonator Martin Short contended in a soundbite featured in a Thursday NBC Nightly News story looking at how, on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canadians perceive themselves.

In his story, NBC reporter Kevin Tibbles, a native of Canada, also aired a clip from Morton Weinfeld, of Montreal's McGill University, who asserted: "Canada is this peaceable kingdom. It's this decent place. Decency is not that exciting." Short (IMDb page), a Saturday Night Live veteran now starring on FX's Damages, declared:

As a Canadian, when I travel the world I find that people find being Canadian to be very hip because we have been progressive in health care, and we have been progressive in environmental issues. And I think that we now wear that with great pride.

- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center