Saturday, August 27, 2005
Canada's Queen?
Okay, so the title is misleading, but so what? This is actually one for Mark. Briefly, Canada's new Governor General-designate had voiced support for Quebecois separatism in the past and the Prime Minister, Paul Martin, is getting killed in public opinion for it. I know, who cares, but whenever the politics of one of our neighbors gets thrown in a blender, I pay attention.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
This story drifted its way south before I came back to Canada for a few weeks, and since then, it's been hard to avoid. For the most part, it's largely been put to bed. Personally, I don't care much whether she and her husband hung around with separatists ten years ago, or even if she voted Yes in 1995. My problem with the choice is how it was apparently made. Instead of appointing someone who is most suitable for the job, Martin seems to have decided to appoint someone who is the most Politically Correct for the job. I can almost see the checklist the Prime Minister's Office used: Woman, check; minority, check; immigrant, check; bilingual Francophone, check; TV personality, check. I'm not saying that the GG shouldn't be these things, but that the qualifications should go beyond them, which they don't seem to have done here. Most likely, the choice won't turn out to be problematic for the country, and could actually be good in the long run. But with a minority Parliament about to return, with talk of more confidence votes in the fall, we'd better hope that Mme. Jean is a quick study on Canadian constitutional law and precedent.
Post a Comment