Taking a second look at that awful, overdone and trite Christmas message from the Prime Minister on Global was sad. Knowing that he was born and raised in Toronto did not allow him to use a down-east “Well look,” in every second sentence. He reminded you of the old joke about when you can tell an economist is lying: when his lips are moving.
And if you think Global reporter Jacques Bourbeau was not soft peddling the interview, you could not have been listening. It is the standard line in Conservative talking points to refer to the European Community trade discussions as a trade agreement. For a reporter to ask the Prime Minister about the “agreement” is ridiculous—and pandering. There is no trade agreement. There is only an agreement to negotiate. Canada and Europe are years away from any specific trade agreement.
In fact that entire interview was nothing but soft lobs. It was like skipping that perfectly flat rock on calm water. You left little ripples on the water but you achieved no depth until the last skip and the rock sank. That was when Bourbeau should have also sank.
It would have been far more interesting to discuss the ingenuous trip planned to Israel in the New Year. Other than panning for votes in Montreal and Toronto, what is the Hair going to do in Israel?
Why did Bourbeau not ask about the terrible shape the federal government is in? The only federal departments that have not been cut to the bone seem to be the Senate and the Prime Minister’s Office.
And there was no discussion of the passing of Nelson Mandela? If the Hair thought it was important enough to take some former prime ministers with him to South Africa for the funeral why was it not important to the interview? At least Mulroney and Chrétien came out of the inner sanctum on the government’s A310 and spoke to the reporters who were allowed to travel with the Hair. It is not a custom, the Hair encourages.
You could imagine Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair cringing as the reporter guilelessly played the Dr. Johnson to the Hair’s Boswell. Think of how Mulcair would have followed up those soft lobs about the Senate affair? The mind boggles. We already knew that the Hair was quite prepared to blame poor Nigel Wright for the entire year-long soap opera.
But as 2013 fades to a memory, the Hair will rewrite all the events to his advantage.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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