74 Replies to “One Night Only! Try The Veal”

  1. I appreciate Steven Harper in a whole new way after seeing this performance. I have always admired him as a politician and thinker, and I am now, in addition, impressed with the remarkable degree to which he has refrained from exhibiting or exploiting for political gain such aspects of his personality as he considers private and not for public consumption.
    How very decent and quintessentially Canadian and shockingly un-politician-like to hide any of one’s light, let alone so accessible and appealing an aspect of one’s light, under a bushel, as Harper has traditionally done and will no doubt return to doing. One certainly can’t accuse him of cynically exploiting his personal charm – and he is charming, undeniably, as we see here – or using it to manipulate public perception for political gain.
    For him, the job is about the job, and he doesn’t insult Canadians by treating politics like a high school popularity contest. Focus is on the facts, and on what’s real, and on what’s relevant. I like that. It’s a spin-and-dissimulation-free approach. Old-school engineering versus marketing and PR. You can argue that a politician should fully leverage every possible edge and advantage at all times, but you’d be wrong. There will always be a place in public life for men of integrity, dignity, restraint and comportment.
    The fact that Harper stepped outside the frame to support his wife’s charity, and did so with a performance in which he displayed a singular combination of talent and wit and an enviable degree of unstudied personal cool, makes it all the more delightful. Serious entity, this guy. Actually, for real, more to him than meets the eye, rather than less.

  2. I’ll bet he practiced for this.
    Practice time paid for by the taxpayer!!!
    Time he could have spent leading trade missions to China or India.
    Or saving lives of abandoned children on reservations.
    Or trying to understand Quebec political culture.
    Instead he was practicing piano and ringing (singing like Ringo).
    Onya, Mate!

  5. Mr. PM, don’t give up your day job!
    I’ll bet he practiced for this.
    Practice time paid for by the taxpayer!!!
    Time he could have spent leading trade missions to China or India.
    Or saving lives of abandoned children on reservations.
    Or trying to understand Quebec political culture.
    Instead he was practicing piano and ringing (singing like Ringo).
    Onya, Mate!
    Weak .

  6. How many guys get Yo-Yo Mah to play bass in a pick up band? A good time had by all for a good cause. Sounds good to me.

  8. It’s a total waste of taxpayer money! Harper playing like a jackass and sucking up to the snobs. Why isn’t Harper busy saving Canada from GlobalWarming?

  9. Above..^ Why aren’t you?
    A touch pedantic perhaps but..it’s PM Stephen Harper, not ‘Steve’ ok?
    I liked the performance as well.

  10. ‘Why isn’t Harper busy saving Canada from GlobalWarming?’
    cuzz Santa Clause needs a second job due to this Liberal’s economy
    Nobody is going to save Canada or anywhere else from global warming not even David Suzuki. It’s here and it’s probably even queer.

  11. Look for this to appear on one or several of the American TV stations, and probably overseas too. The presence of Yo-Yo Ma on stage will encourage this, but news people outside of the country will be very surprised by the quality (relatively speaking) of the performance.

  12. P.M. Harper has gone and made me proud of him for a second time, this month. This was great. Maybe Jack Layton will play in his band for awhile as he purportedly plays guitar.

  13. The pre newcast blurbs on Global TO this afternoon really took the cake: “PM Stephen Harper, who drastically cut arts funding a little over a year ago, last night on the stage of the ……………………….” intoned the news dolly.
    I shall follow their bankruptcy soap opera with interest just to find out which fabulous members of their staff move to top positions elsewhere and which sink without a trace..

  14. THAT…just got Harper a majority government!
    I suspect Iggy will now show up playing a kazoo in downtown Calgary.

  16. Iggy or Rae on our TV’s playing music in 3, 2, ….
    Guaran-friken-teed.
    Go Prime Minister Steve !

  18. I read the G&M comments: they were surprisingly balanced. Hmmm, are leftists starting to like the man?

  20. The National Post coverage of the charity event does a fine job of demonstrating the exciting synergy of their new fusion with the CBC.
    Their headline & story look like they could have been authored in the cramped confines of a Liberal HQ men’s room stall.

  21. If I was PM Harper
    and allow nonMuslim with no justice
    torture Muslim and steal their busienss in Canada
    I will sing the song too
    that is his turn to be happy
    Harper govement and judges are all happy now
    as long as Loblaw steal Muslim owned company and they are not gain any profit they must happy
    put all Muslim Canadian to escape and leave Canada and back to thier home and where they come from as Harper fans keep telling Muslim now??!!
    Mr. Harper we want our stolen halal business back to us by Loblaw companies and Wendy Earle and Michael Kimber
    can you order to do that???
    http://rjjago.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/who-are-canadas-most-important-progressive-muslims/comment-page-1/#comment-11656

  22. what is difference between progressive and conservative ?
    find it by search engine in google
    How people see each group and problems and find solution
    This solution can come from different roads
    But they all meet the same goals
    I am mix of all reasonable class of politic
    This can be come time progressive and/ or conservative eyes to see the problems
    my main problems recently is that to how to address those issue is important for society to get fix and this is not personal attack to any individual unless the person did so much illegal and continue proudly doing so
    Some time politic can turn the problems in different language to respond it and resolve it as judge can not or regular public can not
    That is my voice
    So many smart people are working in Canada but do they all act with full wisdom and reaction of that action is also under question
    how much can buy some one or group can be money can be power can be what he wish for and can be sex and join of all or can be only fix their problem and they go away soon
    Muslim Canadian who live here so long since 2006 are facing so much trouble this must be stop immediately all is because of misinformed by mismanaged government and lack of justice allow some theft to do what they want freely
    Harper government must solve past issue soon

  23. Harper Government is only minority government who are fighting Muslim Canadian Minority since 2006 who only are less than 10% of population in Canada and /or allowed this happend “With a Little Help from My Friends” it means Loblaw conservative employees helped him and few jduge freind and copsss perhapss sorry this is gross!!
    when we suffer daily he be happy
    He is not able to stop discrimination open widly in Canada we can see may be he got bad advice from his wife from West of Canada never met Muslim women too????
    OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday he would stick to his day job after interrupting a charity gala starring acclaimed cellist Yo Yo Ma on the weekend with a piano and voice rendition of a Beatles song.
    In an apparent effort to soften his wooden image, Harper’s wife, Laureen, convinced the prime minister to participate in a fund-raiser for young artists at Ottawa’s National Arts Center, and persuaded organizers to let him appear as a surprise act.
    With a little help from Yo Yo Ma on the cello, he sang “With a Little Help from My Friends” while accompanying himself on the piano. He won a standing ovation.
    “Saturday night was my wife’s idea. Her advice now is, ‘Quit while you’re ahead,'” Harper said on Monday morning.
    There was some irony in Harper’s appearance in Saturday night’s event and in his choice of music. During his reelection campaign a year ago he had assailed red-carpet galas as events where elite artists complain that their federal subsidies are not high enough.
    And though he sang the line, “Ooh, I get high with a little help from my friends,” he has made a crackdown on drugs and crime a policy centerpiece. (Harper spokesman Andrew MacDougall said, tongue in cheek, that the prime minister must have meant “high on adrenaline.”)
    Also, the lyrics about getting “a little help” accurately, though perhaps inadvertently, reflect the fact that Harper’s minority Conservative government was kept alive in a parliamentary confidence vote last week by the unlikely support of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.
    (Reporting by Randall Palmer; editing by Peter Galloway)

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