HAVE TRUDEAU AND ANAND LEARNED A LESSON?
It’s bad enough bragging after you’ve accomplished something, but to be bragging about something that you haven’t yet accomplished is worse. It was to be hoped that Justin Trudeau and his procurement minister, Anita Anand, might have learned this lesson. At the close of last year they were both smugly shooting off their mouths about having a better COVID-19 vaccine procurement program than any other country. Now that it’s proved to be anything but, have they learned there’s a big difference between a goal and an accomplishment? Apparently not. For over a week now Anand has been refusing to answer questions, and Justin Trudeau is more apt to shave his head than to ever admit he made a mistake.
WHICH BRINGS US TO JULIE PAYETTE
Even though his appointment of Julie Payette as Governor General was the biggest political mistake of his career, in a shamefully dishonest press conference performance on Friday morning Trudeau astonishingly refused to accept any responsibility whatsoever for this clearly inappropriate choice, even though by bypassing the committee set up by Stephen Harper to vet GG candidates, the choice was clearly his and his alone. Trudeau even went so far as to suggest that Payette resigned of her own volition. Former Conservative heritage minister James Moore summed up the Payette fiasco best when he said “Trudeau chose celebrity over character.”
Justin Trudeau’s deceit is exceeded only by his arrogance.
THE O’TOOLE/SLOAN SAGA
There were many reasons to kick Derek Sloan out of the Conservative party, but the white supremacist Paul Fromm’s $131 donation to his campaign was not one of them. Yet party leader Erin O’Toole used it to mount a caucus dismissal vote. The donation was made in the name of Frederik P. Fromm on the party’s website, so the party itself got to keep 10% of the piddling amount and apparently issued a membership card to Fromm. Sloan refunded the full amount as soon as he learned who the actual donor was. Because Sloan should have been turfed long ago, many Conservatives perceive O’Toole’s handling of the situation as still another misstep. Somewhere Peter MacKay must be silently smirking.
TIME FOR THE NHL TO ACT ON CROSS-CHECKING
Actually it’s well past time that the NHL crack down on the constant and vicious cross-checking in front of the net. The league cracked down on slashing when players started getting broken hands and wrists and lacerated fingers. So why are they waiting until a player’s career is ended by a serious spinal injury to clean up the cross-checking problem? Could it have anything to do with Commissioner Gary Bettman’s propensity to staff the inaptly-named Department of Player Safety with former goons? The current department head is former goon George Parros, and the dirtiest player in NHL history, Chris Pronger was once employed by Bettman.
SPOILING THREE-ON-THREE HOCKEY
When the NHL introduced three-on-three overtime play the result was up to five minutes of the most exciting hockey imaginable. However, the current practice of ragging the puck in a team’s own end until a clear offensive opportunity develops, with the opposing team hanging back rather than forechecking, has turned it into heretofore unimaginable boring hockey. As much as I dislike the gimmicky shootout, I’d prefer to see the league go directly to it than be bored for five minutes.
A TEXT BOOK SPEECH
There are four types of speeches: to inform; to convince; to get action; and the most difficult of all, the speech to entertain. Having taught public speaking for over fifty years, I have an incurable habit of critically evaluating every speech I hear.
Traditionally, the President of the United States gives the keynote speech at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner. But in 2005, rather than her husband George, First Lady Laura Bush gave the keynote speech. My former partner, Stephen Freedhoff, sent me a YouTube video of it. It is one of the best speeches to entertain I’ve ever heard. It’s well worth checking out.
A FOOLPROOF FORMULA FOR A SUCCESSFUL TALK
I always built my pubic speaking training around what I called the FEW formula. F stands for feeling strongly about your topic; E for having earned the right to talk about it, either through study or experience, preferably both; and, W for wanting to give the talk. I’ve never seen anyone who met all three criteria of the formula fail. Laura Bush certainly met them all, the proof being that she obviously had an enormously good time giving the speech. And poet Amanda Gorman’s outstanding performance at Biden’s inauguration was another shining example.