Pictured: “I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to try the veal.”
Having conclusively declared the deaths of six people and possibly nine others under investigation as a result of contaminated meat in the food supply a terrific “success,” it should come as little wonder that our sanguine Health Minister Tony Clement would be busying himself this week partying with powerful movers and shakers in the petroleum industry at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, promoting the limitless bounty of our secure, not-at-all-environmentally-harmful “foreign oil.” And why not? After all, it’s not like we have ministers in charge of briefs like Foreign Affairs & International Trade or Natural Resources to handle this tough assignment. Why poor little Gary Lunn would probably get trampled to death in that crowd! Besides, who wants to hang around crummy old Toronto being endlessly pestered by the media, disgruntled CFIA union representatives and millions of concerned citizens over some icky tainted meat recall?
And so, while grieving families in Ontario are planning the funerals of their loved ones like 89-year old Frances from Madoc, Ont., who died of listeria earlier in the week, Tony Clement is blithely schmoozing with political lobbyists and Washington celebs at swish receptions such as the luncheon sponsored by the Harper government at the Canadian consul-general’s Denver residence, where it’s reported that the food included bite-sized bits of beef, shrimp, tortellini and potatoes gratin. Seeking to assuage his patriciate guests of any apprehensions they may have had about tainted meat, Clement introduced himself with this bit of deathless hilarity: “I’m Health Minister Tony Clement, and I have to say I approved this food.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! What a comedian.
Red Tory v.3.0.3 
You can understand why Harper has to gag his caucus.
Oh yeah, that’s abundantly obvious.
If this is gonna be hardball, per ol’ Flanagan, I hope Tony’s words are the first advertisement in his riding. Didn’t he win by 2 dozen votes last time around?
If this is gonna be hardball, per ol’ Flanagan,…
Yeah…Roman Centurions attacking Carthage with their second-most powerful weapon….witless comments. Their most powerful weapon is, of course, juvenile taunting.
These old men and their Greco-Roman fantasies. There’s something a little off about all of it…
Is it the Conservatives that are the Romans? If so, you wonder why they’re not more friendly the whole SSM thing. Or at least SSS.
I believe that was more a Greek thing than a Roman trait. The Romans were ostensibly quite “manly” in a manly sort of way. 😉
Where is this article by Professor Flanagan anyway? I’d like to read it.
Where is this article by Professor Flanagan anyway? I’d like to read it.
Here.
Ah, yes….there is no cake so, “let them eat tainted meat”…yuk, yuk.
Madoc isn’t that far from Comedy Clements riding……hope the news gets out there.
Hmmm…..actually, it’s not far from my riding (where a couple of cases have been reported).
Actually, it’s part of Del Mastro’s riding, I think…time to write to the editors of their local papers???? Hmmm…..
Ti-Guy — Thanks for the link.
From pretending to be the salt of the earth to actually salting the earth. How sweet.
It’s a difficult approach to challenge. We all know “Conservatives” are anti-democratic, so narrowing political choices is something they’d consider sensible. Most of us don’t however, so responding in kind and wishing for the destruction of the Conservative Party of Canada would be disingenuous.
I want neoconservatism (which is really a manifestation of false consciousness) defeated and Harper removed from Canada’s politics, but I certainly don’t want to see the disappearance of a party for political conservatives.
Neither would I. In fact, it’s a fairly bizarre concept. I don’t think too many people were really happy about the PC party disastrously crashing and burning the way it did post-Mulroney. That wasn’t good for “democracy” at all. I think there was general agreement that the way Chrétien ran things for many years was perilously close to a de facto dictatorship (aided of course by years of internecine fighting amongst various stripes of so-called “conservatives” for power within their own ranks). But back to your original point, yes, the idea of wiping out the opposition altogether is strange indeed.
I haven’t read the article yet, but what (if anything) does Flanagan/Harper see as replacing the Liberals? The NDP is too far left for most people’s taste and the Conservatives (at least where Harper would really like to be ideologically speaking is probably too far right. The Libs have always been that tepid porridge in the middle.
I haven’t read the article yet, but what (if anything) does Flanagan/Harper see as replacing the Liberals?
They think half of Liberal supporters will go to the Conservatives and half will go the NDP. Neither of those parties should wish too hard for that; we could just end up with two Liberal parties.
And what of the Greens? Seems like more of a natural fit to me. I certainly wouldn’t have much of problem voting for them. I already do provincially.
I’m not supporting more marginal parties until we’ve got some kind of proportional representation or enforceable commitments for coalitions and that has to wait until neoconservatism is finally discredited and the earth from which it sprang is salted.
Gosh, all that grandiose tough talk is exhilarating. I don’t understand why Flanagan continues to sound so flaccid.
Why do these things always happend when Rick Mercer’s show is in hiatis?