The Bobbsey twins are getting harder and harder for Stephen Harper to manage. These kids are out of hand. With Foreign Minister John Baird (Bobbsey number one) and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenny (Bobbsey number two) running roughshod over Canada’s reputation abroad, they are now emboldened to screw up things at home as well.
Kenny is so bored with handing out Canadian flags at citizenship ceremonies that he offered to take part in the debate about when a fetus becomes human. This is a back door attempt to bring abortion back to parliament and there are even some Conservative members upset about it.
You need have no concern about any enlightenment that Kenny might bring to the discussion. He was educated at Roman Catholic institutions in Saskatchewan and went on to broaden his education at a Jesuit college in San Francisco.
Luckily the debate on this issue lost by about two to one. We can give this question a rest for a while. This will give Jason Kenney time to read a book on the subject—hopefully not one recommended by his parish priest.
John Baird brings a different set of problems to the Harper cabinet. His brand of conservative fervour is more in the Mike Harris mode. He made an appearance on Tom Clark’s West Block show last Sunday and the wife, who likes Tom‘s show most of the time, finally snorted and left the room. She figured she had better things to do with her time than listening to this guy.
And he does sound programmed. He sounds like he has the sound bites he wants to use stored on analogue tapes in his head and you seem to see him searching for the right bite—and they are all on the right politically.
But when you put all those sound bites together, they do not seem to make sense. His explanation of why the Iranian Embassy personnel were told to leave Ottawa makes little sense. He alludes to activities that he then says he cannot tell us about but when you think that through, you wonder if there are not a number of other embassies that should be kicked out of Ottawa.
And John Baird’s deal with his British counterpart is probably the most foolish step back to colonialism that the Harper government has ever made. The judgement of these two cabinet members is obviously amateur hour in Ottawa
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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