Month: August 2008

Group Project: Should There Be Different Grades Of Sorry?

I have to admit I know so little about the background that I am somewhat unsure what tho think about the recent incident of the Prime Minister’s apology. But perhaps you have an opinion on what happened:

…Mr. Harper ignored their advice. He offered the apology and left the stage immediately afterward, without waiting to see if his host would deliver the pre-arranged thank you speech. Jaswinder Singh Toor, the grandson of a passenger on the Komagata Maru who was sent back to India, said he was shocked to hear Mr. Harper’s comments “It was unbelievable,” he said, adding that he did not understand why the Indo-Canadian community was not treated in the same fashion as Chinese and Japanese communities that have received apologies for historic wrongs. “Only the Indo-Canadians are being treated differently,” he said. “This is not right.”

It is often said that Mr. Harper does not suffer fools greatly but that I think is a bit of a euphemism. It certainly does not mean he has a license to be unkind and ungracious as he represents my nation as opposed to his personal opinion. Leaving abruptly would seem to be unkind and ungracious.

But has he been placed in an unfair spiral of expectation? The one man cannot be expected to wear the entire mantle of representation of the national government. He may have played a big part in creating the expectation that he is his own PR representative, the figurehead as well as the leader of the administration. For a person who wants to weaken and decentralize the land, he sure likes the strength of centralization of authority. Ought this outreach to communities and history be the job of the Governor General or even the next Royal visit? If it is left to a politician – any politician – is there not a risk of the consideration of an important historic matter becoming politicized?

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Things I Didn’t Know About Until Today

When you think about it, blogs really should be just Friday Bullets. No one really wants to know the half-baked opinions of strangers. No one really is interested in how many ways the unhappy and unintelligent drop-outs and dopes who post comments can insult. They want to know about the stuff that fills the internet that, frankly, anyone would get along fine without ever knowing. Stuff like:

  • The contribution of Alan Blumlein to the invention of stereo sound is only now starting to be appreciated.
  • The RCMP spied on Rita MacNeil.
  • The cops are also after an Olsen twin.
  • Someone at The Globe and Mail actually thinks “Canadian team invades Beijing” is a good headline.
  • People apparently think customers paying for cell phone spam is good business.
  • The Calgary Herald apparently believes that calling an argument a myth is enough to refute it in an partisan editorial written in the 1908-ish style…or one borrowed from bloggers.
  • A man in Bulgaria had the equivalent of 60 beer before driving and then blowing 0.851 – over ten times the Canadian limit.
  • Obama’s lead in the polls may have vanished and advising to keep your tires inflated likely won’t help.

There might be more. There always is. And if Obama is actually in the pocket of big tire gauge industry, expect that to be the thing that swings the presidential election more than anything else.

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I Am Confused About China

So do we like the Chinese government or not? Apparently, Mr. Harper may be suffering from some indecision on the matter, allowing a policy to be defined – imagine! – by someone else:

“We’ve got a trajectory of diplomatic and other kinds of activities that we are laying out in front of us and I look forward to starting to put that together,” Mr. Emerson said in his first lengthy television interview since taking over his new role [as Foreign Minister]. Mr. Emerson is known to be a proponent of a strong relationship with China. His view differs from some Harper cabinet ministers and caucus members who are focused on human rights and want to emphasize that over trade. His appointment was seen by some as an indication that Mr. Harper was trying to improve the China-Canada relationship. “I think that the relationship with China is one that we’ve been cultivating and improving for some time now and my appointment certainly does not get in the way of that, but I don’t think it’s a signal of any profound change in foreign policy,” he said.

I seem to recall that the China-Canada relationship was all tickity-boo prior to the election of 2006, what with all Chretien’s Pacific rim and trade mission policy focussy stuff. But Emerson would know that, being a former Liberal cabinet minister. And I seem to recall it was Mr. Harper who made things a wee bit “who left the fridge door open?”

So have we now confirmed that Canadian policy is to call placing human rights before trade ridiculous in all contexts? Or is this yet another reversion to Chretien era policy with the hope of a Chretien era majority?

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