Witnesses on the scene say moving lips ignited the blaze…
After telling reporters that a Liberal government would have sounder and more aggressive economic policies than the Conservative government, McCallum, who arrived at the gathering as a passenger in a VW Jetta, was asked what kind of car he drove.
McCallum stammered for several seconds before responding: “I drive a North American-made car.” Asked to be more specific, he responded: “I drive a General Motors car.” Asked again to be more specific, he said it was “a Chevrolet.”
McCallum phoned The Star about an hour later to retreat from those comments, offering this explanation in a voicemail: “I said the wrong thing without thinking. The fact of the matter is that I do not own a North American-made car.”
He followed with an e-mail sent from his Blackberry that said: “To confirm message I left on your voicemail, to clarify, I do not own a North American made vehicle.”
McCallum never divulged what kind of car he owns.
h/t Orville.
connect the dots……..
McCallum can’t remember the make of car he drives because…..he doesn’t drive or have a valid licence….
He was driven to this meeting in Windsor…
His wife drove him to the airport where he was too drunk to ride Air Canada……
What’s the odds?????
Tom Clark is going to have this story on Power Play on CTV Newsnet today at 4 P.M. DST
As I suspected when I saw 51 comments ahead of me, this idiot has already been drawn and quartered more thoroughly, and much more delightfully than I could have. He should have quit whilw he was behind the first time. But, there are just some folks who, finding themselves in a hole, just commence to diggin’.
And to think this guy would likely be finance minister in a Liberal government.
No shock from this corner, Liebral MP’s are hypocrites; it is a prerequisite to belonging to that political party, an organization that steals from their employers (us, the taxpayers). The nature of these people has been known and documented for many years…the real fools here are the people who vote for them, IMO.
All lieberals are scum. McCallum is at the top of the scum heap. I’m so sick of that bastard collecting a government paycheck. He’s one sick f*ck. When I see that face on my tv I want to throw a boot through the screen. If he was a dog he would be put down.
What kind of car does Iggy own? Does he own a car? Does he own a house now or ever ? If not who owns the condo he lives in in Yorkville?
This begs the question ‘what kind of car does iggy drive and forthat matter what does the harper family own?’ The nationality of the vehicle only matters if the owner professes that there is a moral difference between the options.
Which brings me to the most famous case: pat Buchanan ran for president (independent) on an isolationist platform. His chances were utterly destroyed when it was discovered that he owned a Mercedes.
As for the assertion above that every man knows what kind of car he owns/drives none other than the infamous former president of GM roger smith was asked when he was the head of the largest automaker in the world what kind of car he drove he replied “I don’t know, some kind of station wagon”. I can remember the day I read that in Car And Driver thinking that GM was doomed. and so it is.
Will Iggy act like a leader and reprimand his “expert” on economic matters or let the lying go and prove Liberals accept lying as part of their policy?
We all recall how Chretien told a whopper, he would scrap the GST, got a majority and he did no such thing. He LIED. Even Sheila Copps believed him and ran on it in her riding. She was forced to run again for her seat.
If this stuff is accepted by voters we had better be concerned for our country.
Shocked I tell ya, absolutely shocked.
A member of the Crooked Liberal Party du Ontario told a lie?
Shocked I tell ya!
Scarier still, this dickwad is Canada’s FINANCE critic.
Imagine a reporter asking him the location of his primary investment accounts … “Canada. Yup, all in Canada.”
Followed up with a Blackberry … “I said the wrong thing without thinking. The fact of the matter is that I do not own any Canadian investment accounts; they’re all in, er, Switzerland.”
Tom Clark gave good coverage to the story as it was a subject in a segment with Steve McKinnon and Tim Powers and also dealt with in the segment with Jane Taber and Craig Oliver.
Some of your readers may be able to get the story when Power Play repeats later today or it should be carried on ctv.ca web site in the Power Play segment.
Tom Clark was giving no quarter to John McCallum on this outright lie.
What a lying sack of excrement.
But on the plus side, at least he didn’t ask for a “do-over”.
Wait a minute! How come a Volkswagon isn’t considered a domestic? Didn’t we conquer Germany??
John McCallum’s vehicle runs on a patented blend of 100% alcohol. That’s why he was confused as to the make – its an experimental prototype under construction by a Russian distillery, with a hammer and sickle hood ornament.
Soccermom……I’m still laughing….but what the hell, let’s have another drink…….
“Does John McCallum not look like the evil Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) from Star Wars?”
After he’s downed a quart of rye with Jabba the Hut (leader of the Green Party) in some Ottawa bar?
Hey, give the guy a break! He’s a Liberal. He can’
t help himself.
All Liberals; all lies; all the time.
kakola at April 17, 2009 1:01 PM
The thinking that goes on in a KneeDipper’s brain is:
“It is a Not American car; it’s from a Socialist country; Canadians want to be like Swedes; therefore, it is a Canadian car.”
Thanks, Squiggy. But I really like the comment by Brent, “What a lying sack of excrement”. That fits as well.
Wherever McCullum goes, he should be dogged with shouts of “What’s your car?”
I have it on good authority that McCallum doesn’t drink n drive – he’s afraid he’ll spill his drink driving over the speed bumps.
“Wherever McCullum goes, he should be dogged with shouts of “What’s your car?””
Nah, the poor guy would think we were asking him “Where’s your bar”?
Power Play’s Tom asked Liberal strategist Steve McKinnon what kind of car he owned. The answer was “a European car”.
So, is this something like asking a Liberal if they love Canada?
Gollum McCallum. He looks like Gollum. He wants his Precious Power Back!!!
John McCain:
Working hard to keep the Liberal concept of democracy in Canada alive …and well lubed!
There is no reason the lie about the type of vehicle you drive … well … unless it’s a Dodge.
I believe him when he says he wasn’t thinking. Lying on auto-pilot … impressive.
Looks like McCallum is going to take a lie detecter test to prove he lied. Then every thing will be OK!
Here is a clip of one segment of Tom Clark’s Power Play show with Tim Powers and Steve Mackinnon discuss John McCallum’s big lie. The other clip where Taber and Oliver comment on John McCallum is not posted yet on ctv.ca
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/summit-of-the-americas/#clip162630
“Don’t drink and drive. Don’t even putt.”
— Dean Martin.
At least he told the truth about not thinking.
That’s the part of it all that’s believable.
After all, Liberals think seldom, if ever.
If and when they do think, it’s about how to get away with stuff, how to steal more money…
A couple years back McGollum was handling the Dingwall caper in the HofC. His behaviour in that matter was despicable. I don’t think McCallum said the same thing two days in a row about Mr.Entitlement’s status. He always has said whatever suits the situation at hand. I would not buy a used car from this man ,no matter where he said it was made.
Sorry Peter, Tom is up against The O’Rielly Factor, in this household, Tommy just can’t compete!
I will have a look at it later, maybe (I can’t look at that McKinnon creep without feeling my blood pressure shoot up in rage). CTV must be hard up for viewers if they do not spin the revolting Liberano/Dipper retoric on every topic, every day. It kind of makes me wonder if the whole media in Canada is on the Dipper/Blochead/Puffin cult wagon because they are not only brainwashed but also really stupid.
McCallum is the ignoramus who believed the D-Day invasion of Europe in WWII took place in Norway. God help us if he, now a proven liar, ever gets back into a government position of authority.
Bob – i believe it was Martin who said Canadians stormed the beaches of Norway. But McGollum was for ‘Vichy’ Ridge. Just as bad.
Those who don’t remember/learn from the past are doomed to be Liberals/Socialists, I guess.
“I said the wrong thing without thinking.” Translated from Drunken Liberal into English
“I forgot to concoct the lie in such a way that it would not be obvious before stating it.”
“They’re masterclasses of poor engineering – bad fuel efficiency, poor pick up, poor handling.”
Now I’ll admit that I’ve got some skin in the game, having recently purchased a chunk of Ford stock (up from $2.74 to $4.00!).
But the meme of ‘poor quality that no one wants’ is getting tiresome. Ford for example, is rated by J.D. Powers and Assoc. as being equal to Toyota and Honda for build quality and repair frequency. As for techology, the new hybrid Fusion, a full size 5 passenger sedan, gets 41 mpg – better than the current Prius.
And the new Chevy Malibu won the prestigious ‘Car of the Year’ award.
The problem is not in the cars, but rather the difference in labour costs between the big 3 and the North American plants of Toyota/Honda. That difference represents profitablity vs. no profitablity.
As for Mr. McCallum – he’s broke, having spent the last of his credibility quite some time ago.
I have yet to figure out what it is that causes sensible and intelligent people to lose their marbles when they go into politics. John McCallum is a prime example.
Meanwhile, after the Libranos kicked her out and she wrote a column for a while for the Sun chain, Sheila Copps seemed to have relocated some of hers. But she didn’t have nearly so many to begin with.
12 year RBC employee here. I thought McCallum was a twit when he was our chief economist. When he made his moves to politics, choosing the Liberal party, I no longer thought he was a twit….I knew he was a twit.
Watching him over these last few years in politics, and watching this recent ridiculous episode confirms it: McCallum is a complete moron. He’s a perfect fit for the LPC.
Colin:
What you say confirms what I’ve heard from someone who has advanced well up the corporate ladder within RBC, and he assures me it’s a common perception.
Colin:
What you say confirms what I’ve heard from someone who has advanced well up the corporate ladder within RBC, and he assures me it’s a common perception.
Colin: I 100% agree with you.
I beat its a Citroen….
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/John_McCallum
[b]He became widely known and criticized in 2002 when he admitted, while serving as the Minister of National Defence, that he had never heard of the 1942 Dieppe raid, a fateful and nationally significant operation for Canadian Forces during the Second World War. Ironically, he wrote a letter to the editor of the National Post in response, but committed a further gaffe, confusing Canadian participation in the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge in France with the Nazi-puppet state of Vichy France from 1940 to 1944. [/b]
Gord, I reluctantly agree after experiencing the same dismay upon reading a GM exec continually describe their vehicles as “units” during an auto rag interview. Even the most mindless, soulless liberal subconsciously describes themselves each time they make an auto purchase. Light vehicles are much more than “units” to the buying public, no matter what they themselves may think. That’s why I always wonder what the heck Prius “drivers” are thinking. Having said all that, the statement a VW makes about a politician’s self view can only be tragic and certainly pathetic.
And, No Guff, amen to that. I’ve been driving domestic products since I was 15. Never have they stranded or failed me. Except for the Chevy part installed in an Eldo years ago and the subsequent breakdown on the Bay Bridge on a Sunday afternoon [glad I survived that gauntlet], the cars are built to be driven. My vehicles receive quite the thrashing but even that driving style doesn’t inhibit reliability or performance.