Swallow like a man.
That’s my prediction.
Open thread on the throne speech.
I’m in a deliciously mean-spirited mood, so watching a CBC alumnus read this is sweet, though I swear I just saw her husband try to claw fabric off the arm of that chair.
Reaction from Liberal leader Stephane Dion:
Dion: “This is not fair.”
No huge surprises in the leak.
The GG’s “Piat D’Or” accent is fake.
You can hear her gag a bit speaking all those conservative words: “hard work”, “accountable”, etc.
i know its against the rules, but I can’t help feeling a little teeny weeny, weeny bit sorry for Steffi.
Despite his problems being the political equivalent of self-inflicted wounds.
See how he bleeds.
See how he bleeds.
The GG’s husband–I can’t remember his name–looks very uncomfortable indeed. And, yes, I’m sure that the accolades for the present, “clean government” must have been very difficult for her to read as well. But, hey, that’s the price of accepting a political appointment with loads of perqs.
But I’m sure the GG and “mari” will be heroes with all their leftie friends for making such a sacrifice, and they’ll be commiserated with for bravely condescending to be in such close proximity to C(c)onservative neanderthals.
On the other hand, I’m heartily enjoying every pin to the Liberal/NDP/Bloc/Green balloons.
You go, Stephen!
Phil Fontaine wears emo glasses.
Indeed:
Tax cuts — NOT FAIR!
Tough on crime — NOT FAIR!
Reasonable approach to global warming — NOT FAIR!
How much longer before Dion finally slits his wrists or does the honourable thing, like that Japanese agriculture minister several months ago, and hangs himself on a door hinge?
thank goodness this tripe only represents 36% of this great country…bring on the election.
Arg – I’m stuck without a radio or TV, and the firewall won’t let me watch live… Somebody please tell me what’s going on?
virtual – GG is reading how we can’t meet our Kyoto targets, beautiful stuff.
Steffi courtesy the Red Star. No autopsy required.
http://multimedia.thestar.com/images/assets/178289_3.JPG
As a teacher, I’ve also noted the GG’s extremely disrespectful posture.
If I were working with a student, I’d point out that leaning forward, with hunched shoulders, head down, legs leaning to one side–left, BTW!–and holding the book, resting on her knee, on one side–also the left!–is not an appropriate way to deliver a public message of this kind or importance. The GG also scratched her forehead at one point, while also looking quite bored.
Of course, all of this is quite deliberate on her part: she does want pats on the back from her ilk.
However, if she were open to coaching, I’d tell her to sit up straight with her shoulders aligned, back against the chair, legs facing straight ahead. I’d tell her to hold the book directly in front of her (get a rest for it if necessary), with her head held respectfully high. If possible, I’d suggest she look up at her audience on occasion and read with conviction and expression. I’d also counsel against scratching her face while reading.
Is this too much to expect from a person who’s Canada’s representative of the Queen and paid very large Canadian taxpayer bucks to do her job?
(The speech has just finished. Her haughty body language is a disgrace.)
What a wonderful picture of Dion hanging himself with his own scarf. A picture tells a thousand words.
Great images, all. Sorry I missed it.
I agree with lookout. After kicking Dion in the ass, then next person in line should be the GG. For heaven’s sake, look like a head of state for once.
My favourite part was half-way through the speech (before the mention of Kyoto) when CBC put on the screen something like “Jack Layton tells CBC the NDP will vote against the throne speech.” Well, duhhh.
If a Conservative throne speech said, “the grass is green, the sun is warm, and the sky is blue”, the NDP would refuse to support it.
Oh hum. Same-ole same-ole. Held my nose and voted Regressive Conservative last time will not do that again. No change. Same shit, different pile, same stink.
I can imagine how funny it must have been to see our left-wing GG reading a Conservative throne speech.
“Lookout” thanks for your very interesting comments.
Everyone new the truth of course from day one: our GG was appointed not because she was the best and brightest candidate for the job, but because she fit liberal ideology.
Bloc sitrep by Gilles
NDP sitrep by Jack
Liberal sitrep by Iggy?
Those critizing the throne speech must be off the deep end on the right or the left. It is definitely a conservative throne speech. It contains tax cuts, defense spending, returning of jurisdictions to the provinces, Senate reform, and law and order measures.
And of course watching this meant a great personal sacrifice, namely tuning into CBC…. have not done that in about 5 months
What a great throne speech by the Harper government.
Dion should bring down the government and then we can make sure all of Harper’s agenda is passed.
Kate ,
C’mon we need cake .
“Given the disarray in the party, one senior Grit said Dion’s preference for an election [sic] is “suicidal” …
ctv.ca
Two of Citoyen’s cabbages lost their heads today.
Will Citoyen now wear the scarf voluntarily and stef down?
Will he take the three steps forward as ordered by the hangmen of the Liberal Party?
The suspense ends here!
…-
Swallow like a man tho …… not bad .
Preston Manning for GG. Then, load up the next throne speech with the word Reforrrrm. Promise to reforrrrrm the CBC. The Senate. Federal-provincial relations.
The entire media-political complex — Liberals/CBC/NDP/Greens will blow a cyborg gasket.
the patronizing,blather & b.s.that came out of the ‘igster’was just a puke-fest! I cannot take listening to that self important prig.
I thought it was an excellent throne speech, specific and clear. None of that empty rhetoric of empty promises. Very specific.
It had a focus on development (the north is emphasized, applied research is emphasized, the economy); on enabling better economic productivity (interprovincial trade, lowered corporate, capital and consumer taxes); more power to the provinces – exactly as our original federation was set up to run. Honesty about Kyoto and instead, a clear agenda of dealing with emissions and pollution.
Again- an excellent, practical platform. Not utopian and vapid (as were the Liberal agendas).
The GG? I didn’t get that impression that lookout received. I certainly have never agreed with her as the GG; there were many people who have contributed to Canada who would have made a better choice, rather than a separatiste French citizen (and her husband is the same). But, I didn’t get the impression from her posture that she was undignified or disrespectful. I thought she carried out her role very well, and – read the paper well – except for the accent. [The majority of Canadians are anglophones; why do so many of our public figures have trouble speaking English????]
An excellent agenda, Mr. Harper. Layton opposes? Not because he cares about Canada, but he wants an election NOW, for partisan reasons. He’s after weak Liberal seats.
Duceppe? He wants an election for partisan reasons as well. He wants to get his Bloc re-elected before the Conservatives eat up more Bloc seats.
Dion? He’s like Chretien; a narcissist. And, he still thinks he’s in the seminar room, where what he says – it The Sole Truth. He actually thinks the Liberals can win an election.
But, the rest of the party are scared stiff of being reduced to nothing in the House. The only Liberals who want an election are those who would use it to get rid of Dion. And – can you imagine – but Duffy and Newman are actually saying this openly, publicly, as a Liberal tactic – to get rid of Dion.
I’m not sure of the roles of Rae and Ignatieff. Is Rae bonded to Dion – and is Ignatieff the Evil One? Would an election be set up so that Rae would effectively be the public persona, rather than Dion?
One word to describe the look on the faces of every single opposition member I’ve seen interviewed:
panick.
Jim, you’re right about the sacrifice of tuning in to CBC: my husband and I commented that nothing’s changed–the same talking heads taking ages to say NOTHING (but biased, left-wing nothing) worth listening to. The only reason we stayed tuned in afterwards was to see what the Conservative representative would say. WHAT Conservative? There wasn’t one.
I have to give Iggy credit though. When his interviewer opened with a nod to the NDP–gross unprofessionalism (and earlier, Keith Boag couldn’t get one sentence out coherently!)–he soundly put her, and the NDP, in their place.
lookout @ 7:46pm:
You’re bang-on. But what can you expect from an emotive appointment from dilettante Martin. He couldn’t see past that she was a ho-hum CBC journalist, female, minority – the perfect Lib combination. Credentials? Distinguished career? Service to the country? What the heck do those matter?
Harper should have bought out her term as soon as he took office and arranged an appointment to that office for someone who had the gravitas and the credentials to occupy it. Someone above suggested Preston Manning; that would have been a decent choice. Alternatively, just eliminate the office and briefly endure the disentitled screams of a generation of CBCers.
‘Course I shouldn’t be surprised: On the CBC, it’s all about the Liberals.
Liberals, Liberals, Liberals.
What will Dion’s reaction be? Libs lost their Quebec lieutenant. Blah, bloody, Librano, blah, blah, blah…
Except for Prime Minister Stephen Harper sitting beside the GG, you’d barely know that Canada had a sitting Conservative Government.
Thanks, lookout, for your perceptive analysis of the GG and her husband’s body language. I noticed it too. Michaelle Jean looked tired and bored; and you could almost hear the internal gag reflex every time she said something complimentary about the CPC achievements over the past two years.
LOL!!
And, mark peters, I’m with you about the GG looking vice-regal for a change. She looked more elegant as a two-bit, politically correct journalist. Jean’s and her husband’s obvious lack of respect for the office she holds is disconcerting, to say the least.
She needs to go.
SH’s first GG appt immediately after the CP gets a majority is a no-brainer – the most famous man in Canada – Don Cherry.
This carbon-emissions-trading thing better be a joke…hopefully it will be along the same timeline as the 2050 emissions targets.
Otherwise, a great speech. A terrific platform to run an election on, if the Liberals are stupid enough to pull the plug. If the Libs want an election over this, they’ll be running against crime fighting, another GST cut, broad income tax cuts, and a federalism policy that Quebecers love. It would be suicide.
Mickey I., when interviewed, gave the impression of a dauphin.
I thought the GG combined an outfit that was close to sexy with great dignified use of black and decoration. Couture at its best. Plus her English, if one listens closely, is much closer to received standard English as spoken by someone not from Britain (note her lack of “r”s) than anything like a Quebecois or French-French accent.
Mark
Ottawa
“I’m in a deliciously mean-spirited mood…”
I’m not sure that this is anything new. 😉
Beyond that, the throne speech was pretty moderate, hardly a win for conservatism in this country.
In fact I would submit that if you identify as a conservative and you’re jumping for joy over this speech, you have shown that you’re actually more of a party hack than a true conservative. It might be a win for Harper, but not a win conservatives, at least in the short term.
Watching Stephane Dion figurativly wetting his pants in public is entertaining…I’m actually going to miss him (after the next election).
Best quote I’ve seen this past week about Dion (by a columnist whose name I forget): “Stephane Dion makes Barney the Dinosaur look like a Navy Seal”.
Good thing my teacher was not there, she would have been after the GG with her yardstick, first a whack across the legs, then down her dress to make her sit up. I love it when lefties have to pretend to support PMSH.
Dion’s prayer, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray my party I can keep.
steve: Whether or not one agrees with the tactics, it’s the Flanagan strategy.
Mark
Ottawa
steve @ 8:54: “It might be a win for Harper, but not a win conservatives, at least in the short term.”
Isn’t this what it’s all about at this point: the short term? Until the CPC has a majority, politics in Canada is definitely the art of the possible…
Kate,
Why no MSM comment on this line in the speech.
It will again ask Parliament to repeal the wasteful long-gun registry.
Does anyone recall a time when the Leader of the Opposition (of any parliamentary democracy) ran and hid following a Throne Speech?
Might as well give the job to Iggy right now.
Harper says Dion’s Kyoto has no clothes… and the guy turtles in the shadows? Wow.
For anyone who didn’t already know that Dion is a dead man walking in terms of his current job… his abdication of his duties tonight put an exclamation mark on it.
I can see the Liberals triggering an election and taking their medicine… just to get rid of their boat anchor of a ‘leader.’
steve, look at the big picture. Reduced centralism, tax cuts, Senate reform, crime legislation – it’s all good stuff. But if you’re looking for a first-term minority PM to sound like Anne Coulter or Mark Steyn, you’re dreaming. Harper’s doing better than anyone could have predicted. Cut him some slack and enjoy the fact that some good things are happening – as opposed to nothing good happening in the previous, what, 100 years?
flaggman and batb, at this point, my sentiments re PMSH exactly.
Laytons on Tv now pontificating about how his party is going to act on principle.But Jack,do you want an election now? Jack says,in too many words”I am going to avoid that question”.Harper rocks,I haven’t felt this good about Canada’s future since the conservatives won thier minority.
Good point, Mark. That’s likely what’s annoying steve, he was hoping for something “extreme” to scare people.
Although, I’m sure we all appreciated his advice regarding the appropriate degree of joy we should be feeling. When it comes to identifying a “party hack” it’s tough to beat a liberal’s powers of perception.
Also,Marcel Proulx did not “resign”,he was asked to quit by Dion. Dion was hoping to save a little face and Marcel just stabbed him in the back. This is great.
A couple things I thought I heard on CBC’s “wrap-up”:
1. Boag actually spun “clean government” as a referral to environmental policy when he was speaking to Don Newman.
2. Susan (forgot-her-last-name), without any source or speculation, nor reaction from Newman, said twice that Dion is deciding whether he needs to go.
Did I misinterpret?
Great,moving Throne Speech! Opposition stumbling over each other trying to find fault. All negative comments were scripted many days ago and were identical from representatives on CTV and CBC.
By the way,the coverage by CTV (Mike Duffy) was much superior to the CBC. Biggest disappointment was no mention of privatizing the CBC, turfing the Board and firing all producers–when will the Conservatives have the balls!!
Go Stephen! Govern like you have a majority! Kill Kyoto. Kill the gun legislaltion (no pun intented). Force the vote. Canadians are finally getting it that you are not to be feared. Canadians are finally getting it that they have honest, responsible government.