I THINK NOT
Many of last week’s Little Richard eulogies portrayed him as “the architect” of Rock ’n Roll. Although he certainly had a major impact on the genre, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley were already established superstars when he arrived on the scene.
ASTONISHINGLY STUPID STATEMENTS
Green Party MP Elizabeth May and Parti Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet have declared that “oil is dead.” This would likely have come as a shock to Russia, Venezuela, and many Middle East countries except that they probably considered the sources. Blanchet’s goal is to break up Canada, and May is a carpet-bagging, one-trick-pony, former leader of a party with an insignificant 3 of 338 seats in parliament.
The stupidity factor arises from the context of their remarks, which was that the Canadian oil industry should be allowed to die, an event that would be the certain death of the entire Canadian economy.
Use of the derogatory adjective “carpet-bagging” is perfectly appropriate when describing Elizabeth May. She spent over half a decade running in three federal elections from coast to coast before finally getting elected in the B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. And she’s a proven one-trick-pony because the only issue she ever talks about, or has ever shown any interest in, is climate change.
As for Blanchet, he conveniently forgets that for decades the province of Alberta has been the main contributor to the equalization payments without which his province would be bankrupt, and that Alberta was able to do so because of oil revenues.
In the media coverage of these idiotic utterances that I saw there was no mention that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared in 2015 that the oil sands “should be phased out,” another astonishing statement, not just because of the devastating effect it would have on the economy, but also because owning a string of gas stations in Quebec was how Trudeau’s grandfather amassed the family fortune.
SO THAT’S THE REASON
Ever since Trudeau began his daily press conferences I’ve been bewildered by why journalists let him get away with his incessant evasiveness. An article in the Toronto Sun on May 11th provided the answer. The article revealed that during the period from March 13th to April 30th callers from the ultra left-wing CBC were granted 24% of the questions, more than twice as many as any other news organization. Another sampling of 708 calls revealed that four times as many calls were accepted from the Toronto Star, which is basically a Liberal house organ, than from the conservative-leaning National Post and Sun newspapers.
As disturbing as the foregoing is, of even more concern was the revelation that the calls are screened, and accepted or rejected, by Liberal staffers. These calls should be screened by an independent body such as the Privy Council or the Parliamentary Press Gallery, not by Liberal Party employees. On second thought, given the Privy Council’s role in aiding and abetting Trudeau’ s unethical behaviour during the SNC Lavelin scandal, it definitely should be the Press Gallery doing the screening.
A GLARING EXCEPTION
The Liberal government’s series of programs designed to help the millions who have lost jobs because of the pandemic, although sometimes rushed and not initially well thought through, have been generally laudable. But not this one.
Early in the week Prime Minister Trudeau announced that billions of dollars will be paid to seniors to help them overcome problems caused by Covid-19. The problem that seniors (of which I’m one) are having with Covid-19 is not that we’re out of work, it’s that it’s killing us.
Trudeau has either reached the point where he’s searching for ways to spend our money or is just pandering for votes; probably both. One thing for sure, he likes spending money more than he likes answering questions.
I REST MY CASE
I wrote last week that all politicians are, to some degree, hypocrites. At all levels of government our political leaders have stated that we shouldn’t travel to cottages, should self-isolate with no visitors (not even family), and shouldn’t congregate with more than four other people. But Prime Minister Trudeau joined his family at their Harrington Lake getaway over the Easter weekend; Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a quick trip to his cottage, and then had two of his daughters over for a visit to his home on Mother’s Day; and, Toronto Mayor John Tory attended a fairly large outdoor gathering honouring health care workers at which physical-distancing was largely ignored.