Patriotism Ain’t What it Used to be…Pot…Kettle…Black…

I caught this over at Calgary Grit this morning.  Yes, Baird the ever faithful pitbull to Master Stevie comes to the rescue yet again when Thomas Mulcair from the big bad opposition, well brings up the obvious about Flaherty travelling on a private jet for a photo op at Timmy’s while he presents a budget basically telling the majority working class to tighten up and get used to no services.

“This time, he (Flaherty) used a chartered plane for a photo-op at Tim Hortons to ‹ wait for it ‹ teach us a lesson about the importance of controlling government spending.”

Many Canadians, myself included don’t care; we just don’t understand the urgency to head off for a photo op, basically giving Timmy’s free advertising it doesn’t need.  Ottawa to London can be done by train or even bus.  Set an example and use cheaper ground transport, or is it unCanadian to ask her finance minister to set an example of financial restraint?

Silly us, it would seem that it’s not very patriotic when we express concern over hiddent torturegate documents while the Harpercons, themselves, ever so patriotically throw the troops under the bus. Hell, I bet they immediately even accused the family of the late young Jonathan Couturier of being radical Quebec Separatists  when they spoke to the media regarding young Jonathan’s last words expressing his views of how useless that Afghan war is before deploying.

We’re unpatriotic for boycotting the Vancouver Olympics, root for the underdog protesters and hope for the Canadian Team NHL not win the gold medal at the Olympic finals.

Some like Chuckles Adler would say that talking against the Alberta tar sands is very disloyal to Canada. Wanting to talk climate change it would seem is also a no no as it’s a dark spot.

Now, the latest from Stevie’s pitbull to Mulcair would seem to be that he’s unCanadian:

“against Tim Hortons,” which is a position Baird said is “un-Canadian.”

Yep, well, put me up there too, because I always thought Timmy’s coffee SUCKS!! However, that is beside the point. Baird like a good pitbull played Stevie’s game of deflect and distract, although it failed miserably.

And now, with a little help from an old post at  Buckdog, I will  remind  readers how  very ‘Canadian’ ol’ master Stevie is:

“Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States.”
- Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“Your country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.”
-Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status, led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task.”
- Stephen Harper in his article “It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada,” December 12th, 2000.

“In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don’t feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don’t feel bad about it themselves, as long as they’re receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.”
-Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care].”
- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.

“We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system.”
- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.

Also read some more from Buckdog, showing just how Stevie is ‘Canadian’. Many more details of Stevie’s all-Canadiana  here. Other reminders of why St-Stevie should never ever get that totalitarian regime he oh so desires.

Frankly, Baird, you’re going to have to come up with better material.