Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Mr. Angry

In a very bizarre QP today, Paul Martin responded to a question by tabling the "South Beach Diet" and telling Stephen Harper he should take a look at it. I'm dead serious. The same person who called on Stephen Harper "to resume respectful dialogue" in the House called him fat in Question Period.

I'm not sure if this will get any media play but you can be sure that if the tables were reversed there would be comments that Harper is "too angry" to lead Canada, lots of media stories, and a call from the Prime Minister for "civility".

posted by calgarygrit at 2:38 p.m.

13 Comments:

  • I watched it. It appeared to be a good-natured suggestion of a defense for the "dangers of the BBQ circuit". Nothing in the remark sounded like calling him fat.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:32 p.m.  

  • Good natured or not, it still wasn't a response to the question, unless Steverino asked PMPM how he stayed so buff.

    By Blogger deaner, at 3:42 p.m.  

  • wasn't a response to the question?!? Have you ever watched question period? Like 5% of the questions asked actually get answered correctly in any house whether it be federal or provincial. That being said I wish Martin insulted Harper by showing everyone he's smarter than him (which he is) rather than calling him fat.

    That be said Steven Harper can throw a barbeque in my back yard, as long as he foots the bill. Then when I'm done eating I'll give him a wack with my vintage 1993 Jean Chretien lawn sign and boot him off my vastly-over-taxed-due-to-Conservative-deficits property.

    ;)

    By Blogger Hishighness, at 3:49 p.m.  

  • actually before anyone gets all jumpy on this - the prime ministers joke has a two good points

    1) he was poking fun at himeself and his struggle with weight

    2) he was warning that the political life and particularly the bbq/rubber chicken circuit is not good for ones health

    this wasn't paul martin calling stephen harper fat...cause really that'd be rich.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:06 p.m.  

  • A keen eye indeed CG...but I think Stephen's got it right on this one, Martin's far too fat himself to be taking serious swings at others about their waist lines. Martin attempts to joke quite frequently and I think this one's on par with the rest of them as far as comedic value goes, which is sadly quite low.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:43 p.m.  

  • I think it was more Mr. Martin warning Harper about the inadvertent consequences of the BBQ circuit. I personally thought it was quite funny though it seems it fell a tad flat.

    On another point, in regards to Mr. Martin not answering the question. Harper had asked the same question twice before with Mr. Martin answering. Personally, I find the tactics of the opposition (save the NDP), to continually ask the same question over and over again both frustrating an insult to parliament, and one of the key contributors to the undermining of QP. QP is supposed to be a time for the opposition to raise points and hold the government to account, but when they ask the same question 10-15 times, it ceases to be productive and becomes the equivalent of an elementary school at recess.

    Just think of Mr. Brison with the whole Gomery affair. He has probably answered the same questions well over two hundred times in the last three months. There comes a point in time when it just becomes ridiculous. The liberals could replace Mr. Brison with a cd of 9 or 10 various replies to similar questions and play that instead. It simply shows that QP has ceased to become productive.

    Anyway, that is just my rant for the day.

    By Blogger Progressive Maritimer, at 6:57 p.m.  

  • It was pretty harmless and was in no one akin to calling Harper fatty.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:01 p.m.  

  • Perhaps if Liberals actually answered questions once in a while rather than going into some rant about hidden agendas, the opposition wouldn't have to ask said questions again.

    By Blogger Michael Fox, at 7:20 p.m.  

  • OK, perhaps it was a just a good natured ribing that fell flat.

    I do however think that if the tables were reversed, there would be someone out there trying to blow this way out of proportion.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 7:21 p.m.  

  • well of course it would have been different!!!

    if layton had said that to harper, it would have been different.

    the reason it was "ok" (by some not others) in this context is that Martin himself is WAY BIGGER than Harper...Harper is a bit overweight, Martin is obese...Layton is fit.

    Fit man says it to fat guy = no good,
    Fat guy says it to obese guy = no good
    Obese guy says it to fat or fit guy = ok

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:31 p.m.  

  • My God, Martin is a bafoon. All of Parliament (well most) is an utter disgrace and, like most things in life, the tone is set from the top.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:31 p.m.  

  • Paul Wells correctly points out that Paul Martin failed to table the book in both official languages. This is required under Parliamentary rules.

    This is not surprising since the idea was most likely dreamed up by one of his political whiz kids who have demonstrated time and time again that they are stone deaf in matters related to Quebec.

    Can you imagine what the Liberals would have said about the CPC's lack of sensitivity towards Quebec if Harper had done that?

    Parliament takes these rules seriously. I remember one of my clients (a major multinational technology company)tried to distribute an untranslated leaflet during a Heritage Committee hearing. We were almost chased out of the Committee room for blasphemy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:35 a.m.  

  • I totally match with everything you've written.

    By Anonymous www.teruel-3d.com, at 8:54 a.m.  

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