This poses an important question: given we are all incredible stupid at exactly the wrong moments, should we hold public figures more accountable for being dopes? Consider the humour employed by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz leveraging the listeria crisis, a crisis which has occurred under his watch:
…The remarks were made in a conference call at the height of the crisis, between Mr. Ritz and members of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Mr. Ritz joked that the crisis was causing the government a death of a thousand cuts “or should I say the death of a thousand cold cuts.” When informed that one fatality had taken place in Prince Edward Island, Mr. Ritz is reported to have said, “please tell me it’s Wayne Easter.”
That last bit’s just a plain dumb political crack…Gerry’s a regular Ritz cracker. [Ed.: Rimshot!] I have had the pleasure of briefly knowing with Wayne Easter and talked with him a bunch of times back around 2000-2002. I can tell you that you’ll never meet a brighter politician who has his feet firmly on the ground and who works hard for the community…even if he used to call his US counterpart the “Sekkytary of Aggykulchur”. He’d take the joke just fine but still do the political duty of making a fuss…if the joke was just about Wayne.
But this is not about Wayne. It’s that other line: the “death of a thousand cold cuts.” On last count, 16 or 17 people are dead. This man is the Minister in charge of making sure meat plants produce listeria free food. He made fun of it. With his subordinates, the inspectors. A great leader. A sensitive public servant. Or is this a real human being, under great pressure – for the first time likely – blurting as we would all blurt in one way or another? Maybe his jokes are terrible whatever the situation and no one had the heart to tell him? A man with a foible like every one of us.
My verdict: time to go Gerry.
Other News for Day 12:
- Have the Tories peaked? Or is the Globe’s polling just too weird?
- Anticipatory thanks for 1.9 billion.
- The promises so far: All Tory spending costing less than just NDP or Grit child care.
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