"When Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff embraced it was hard to keep a dry eye. It was just an extraordinary moment. It was sincere . . . Everybody is united now" [1] Martha Hall Findlay
The title is an in-joke relating to one of Peter Gzowski’s journalistic adventures.
The circumstance is the Canadian establishment’s perception that we’re a near-orbit satellite of the American Empire, and our Prime Minister had better act as the President’s representative. Until 1945 this role was taken by the Governor General in the interest of England, and was official.
The idea that the PM will be Canada-oriented is almost unthinkable, except in connection with suppressing Quebec’s separatist ambitions. Diefenbaker and Pearson occasionally strove for some slight independence, but the results weren’t pretty. Harper’s efforts at conformity have been legendary, for example copying Bush policy statements word-for-word within hours, even when they didn’t exactly make sense. Our present PM, however, is a rank amateur compared with one of his predecessors.
The most famous event of the [Shamrock Summit] was when Reagan and Mulroney, who both had Irish heritage, engaged in a duet of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling." Commentator Eric Kierans observed that "The general impression you get, is that our prime minister invited his boss home for dinner."
That era was calm enough bi-laterally, but at times bloody embarrassing.
Trudeau managed to open significant distance on Vietnam, and more recently Chrétien did indulge in some stubborn behavior, excusing himself from attending the funeral of Jordan’s King Hussein, for example, but that’s about as much rope as our leaders allow themselves these days.
Pressures from the economic and financial crisis are bringing this painfully out into the open. Harper represents the viewpoints of a hard-right Republican Party ideologue, and Ignatieff now complements that with the soul of an ultra-liberal Democratic Party internationalist. The idea is to reproduce the bi-partisan consensus of our actual rulers, offering up a democratic choice of two dominant parties that disagree vehemently, but only at the margins.
The joke is that neither Harper nor Ignatieff enjoy popular support from their parties’ base voters. The Liberal’s long drawn out process was obviously non-democratic, and Harper’s rise consisted of a protracted knife-fight within a Western splinter party followed by a corporate buy-out mediated by the treachery of my own province’s Peter MacKay. Harper’s recent behavior towards Dion will result in his removal as leader within a few months. The killer is Mario Dumont getting obliterated on Monday.
Canada’s third (and fourth and fifth) parties are presently limiting our PMs from enacting the extreme policies they crave. And there’s another difficulty when Ignatieff becomes Prime Minister in a few weeks. America must always have full spectrum hegemony. We were taught this lesson in the course of the Avro Arrow Affair. They aren’t going to take kindly to our guy being a heavier hitter than your guy.[2] I find the talk of "a new Trudeau" pretty funny. Compared with the new guy, PET’s intellectual footprint was trivial (and Harper’s is microscopic).
That aspect is going to be one bit we will hold close to our hearts up here. Sort of like the sneaking gratitude we all still hold for Ben Johnson. I’ve started a new Doom category on this story. Perhaps there will be further occasions when I will try to interpret this somewhat alien country to our (mostly non-Commonwealth) readers.
[1]: "Tories to fall if budget falls short: Ignatieff", by Meagan Fitzpatrick and Juliet O’Neill, CanWest, National Post, December 10, 2008.
[2]: "Liberals — Michael Ignatieff: The new party leader", CBC, December 9, 2008.
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Hey John! I’ve got three things to whine about here:
The famous Canadian journalist’s name was Peter Gzowski with a “z” and certainly not Gnoski with an “n”.
I have seen nothing but enthusiastic support for PMSH within the party, so I don’t think that he will be removed as leader of the CPC for a long time. I’m afraid that this is just wishful thinking on your part, John, but I’m willing to bet a glass of something good that he’ll still be the CPC leader in six months time. Are you on?
Ignatieff becoming PM in a few of weeks? The Liberals can read polls better than anyone and that’s exactly why Iggy is going to remain as the leader of the Opposition until such time as the Liberals have found some money and the voters have forgotten about the “Coalition of the Swilling”. I’ll up that bet to a few glasses of something good and maybe even something to munch on, too. Are you up for it, John?
Greycap -
1) right you are.
2 & 3) betting’s against my religion (Presbyterian) unless perhaps you’re up for a Keith’s and something at Cousin’s.
Hard to imagine who’d replace Harper, come to that. Dryden would have been ideal about now, but he and his Red Tory colleagues are all Liberals (besides, he never learned French!).
Oh well, if the GG’s up for an election in January, maybe May can knock off MacKay. Methinks even Harper would applaud that result (at least in private).
Alas, I don’t participate there, I’m in Alexa’s old riding.