Nobody is going to mistake Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day for a major satirist, or even a minor humorist. He does, however, affect a breezy, chatty style when writing guest columns for his local newspaper; on this occasion poking a bit of fun at the brutally-cold last couple of weeks in Western Canada. (Full text here.)
Too much levity for media scolds like Greg Weston:
. . . a few days ago, Stock was back in print, this time in his hometown newspaper, making jokes about global warming, a subject about which his government might wish to at least appear serious.Day began his guest column in the Penticton Western News with this catchy lead: "Hey, who knows? Maybe Al Gore is right." (The former U.S. vice-president, of course, has become the horseman of the global warming apocalypse of melting icecaps and glaciers flooding the Earth.) "Maybe all my constituents living high up ... (in the hills) will soon be sitting on lakeside property as one of the many benefits of global warming," wrote Day, one of Stephen Harper's most senior ministers.
Cue the wailing Greek chorus:
"It reminds me of an episode of the Flintstones,'' said David McGuinty, Liberal MP for Ottawa South. ''Mr. Day clearly does not understand the science of climate change.[. . .]
Environmentalists said Day's latest views show the government is obsessed with conspiracy theories about Al Gore, the former U.S. vice-president who is touring the world to promote action against global warming. John Bennett, executive director of Climate Action Network, said the government should instead be educating people about climate change to encourage action.
''A federal minister should be taking the threat of climate change far more seriously than this,'' said Bennett, who is also a climate-change policy analyst for the Sierra Club of Canada.
On second thought, Day comes off as a veritable fountain of wit compared to these petty Savonarolas. My personal version of hell involves Weston and McGuinty and Bennett and a supply of booze too paltry to render me insensate.
Comments (1)
"It reminds me of an episode of the Flintstones," said David McGuinty, Liberal MP for Ottawa South.
Mr. McGuinty's profound musings invoke memories of another Flintstone character: the arrogant little green leprachonish know-it-all from another world who was relegated by his leader to serve the “dumb-dumbs”, but who always made a far bigger mess of everything he touched.
I am referring to “The Great Gazoo”, whose leader was “The Great Gazam” (rhymes with “Stéphane”).
Posted by anonymous | December 13, 2006 5:49 AM
Posted on December 13, 2006 05:49