McKenzie Porter

John McKenzie Porter (October 21, 1911 – October 21, 2006), known professionally as McKenzie Porter, was a British-born Canadian journalist, columnist, author and critic. After beginning his career on British newspapers during the 1930s, he served as an infantry officer during the Second World War and was awarded the Military Cross. He emigrated to Canada in 1948 and wrote for Maclean's before joining the Toronto Telegram in 1962. Following the Telegram s closure in 1971, he became one of the founding columnists of the Toronto Sun, where he remained until his retirement in 1990.

Porter was known for an ornate literary style, irreverent humour, and deliberately provocative opinions. His columns addressed politics, social customs, history, travel, food and the arts. Admirers regarded him as a gifted stylist and satirist, while critics objected to his views on race, immigration, feminism and other social issues.

After a disagreement with an editor, Porter moved to the Beaverbrook-owned Evening Standard as a film critic. His tenure there ended following a dispute over the newspaper's approach to film reviews and the tastes of its proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook. Porter afterwards wrote briefly for the Daily Sketch before the outbreak of the Second World War.

After the war, Porter worked as the Paris correspondent for Kemsley Newspapers from 1946 to 1948. During this period, he worked under Ian Fleming, whom Porter later assessed dismissively as a journalist.

Berton and members of the club's inner circle, including June Callwood, Farley Mowat, Charles Templeton, Lister Sinclair, Elsa Franklin and Fred Davis, closed ranks around the club, refusing to discuss it publicly while privately ridiculing Porter. Berton later described Porter as "an oddball Englishman ... the master of the low-profile character sketch ... a self-declared snob".

Porter's columns at the Sun combined social and political commentary with writing about food, travel, language, manners, history and British traditions. He cultivated the persona of an outspoken English traditionalist and frequently employed exaggeration and satire. His son Timothy described him as a verbal cartoonist who directed much of his ridicule at people he considered pretentious or powerful. The column generated enough reader response to fill the Sun'''s letters page for much of the following week. The newspaper also published a staged photograph of Porter, dressed in a suit and reading the Sun while seated on a toilet. National Lampoon later republished the column in its March 1977 issue. 1985 South Africa controversy

In July 1985, Porter published a column on political violence in South Africa in which he opposed extending voting rights to the country's Black majority and compared Black South Africans with Black Americans in terms of intelligence, emotional stability and cultural interests. He also criticized anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu. Historian Jamie Bradburn characterized the column as part of Porter's recurring defence of apartheid-era white rule.

The column, together with a related Toronto Sun editorial, prompted complaints from the Anti-Apartheid Coalition of Toronto and became part of a wider dispute between the newspaper, Toronto's mayor's committee on community and race relations and community organizations concerning racism, freedom of expression and a proposal that the City of Toronto withdraw its advertising from the newspaper.

1989 column on immigration and voting rights

In February 1989, Porter wrote a Toronto Sun column arguing that Italian Canadians were using methods "alien to British practice" to gain political power and that foreign-born Canadian citizens should therefore be barred from voting or standing for public office.

Metropolitan Toronto Council demanded apologies from Porter and the Sun and agreed to reconsider withholding its advertising if none was received. Councillors also discussed filing complaints with the Ontario Press Council and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Sun editor John Downing said that the newspaper did not agree with Porter's views but defended its columnists' freedom to publish provocative opinions.

By April, Metropolitan Toronto Council was considering withdrawing more than $40,000 in annual advertising unless the newspaper apologized. Godfrey continued to decline to apologize, although he said that he was "very upset" by the column. The proposed sanctions were criticized by the Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association as a threat to freedom of expression. Several Ontario municipalities declined to support Metro Toronto's proposed sanctions, while others endorsed them or called for an apology.

The City of Toronto's advertising ban remained in place for approximately two months before council reconsidered it amid criticism that the measure amounted to censorship. Porter was also criticized in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario over the column and retired from the Sun the following year.

Outside journalism, Porter was described as an enthusiastic gardener and cook.

Published works

To All Men: The Story of the Canadian Red Cross. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1960. Overture to Victoria. Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1961. A biography of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. Julie: The Royal Mistress''. Toronto: Gage Publishing, 1975.