We owe a Thank You to Helena Guergis: with one hissy fit extraordinaire she showed ALL Canadians how hypocritical her boss Stephen Harper has become in power.
The Minister of State for the Status of Women went into a tantrum after security officials at Charlottetown airport asked her to do what ordinary mortals must do as they go through airport security: remove her coat and shoes etc. for examination.
This so incensed the political prima donna she unleashed a string of foul language and insulted security staff … and the whole security procedure … before boarding her Air Canada flight.
Just YOU try that at any Canadian airport ..and see if you get on your appointed flight.
But her biggest sin … the most unforgivable one politically, in my view … is she called Prince Edward Island a “hellhole”.
Ready, aim, fire!
She should lose her ministerial job just for that. A federal cabinet minister describing an entire province as a hellhole! And she wasn’t even drunk! (That alleged offence falls to her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer, now before the Courts on charges of drunk driving and cocaine posession.)
The Honorable Minister may indeed believe PEI is a hellhole. But she should NOT have declared so publicly. She apologized only after the details hit the fan, so is that enough?
Which brings me to the Prime Minister.
If Guergis had declared QUEBEC to be a “hellhole” … and expressed her ’Get me Out of Here’ feelings, say, in departing Chicoutimi … how long do YOU think she would keep her ministerial job?
I figure she’d be gone before the ink even dried on the ensuing story in La Presse or Le Devoir.
The outrage would be all over Quebec’s radio talk shows; the Societe St Jean Baptiste would have called for another referendum; and, my old friend, Lucien Bouchard, who was once a federalist, then a sovereigntist, then a referendum leader, then a non-referendum supporter, would again I suspect be a sovereigntist calling for a referendum.
Harper’s inaction in canning Guergis shows his double standard and his hypocrisy: remember how he used to speak about the “regions” (ie the West and the Maritimes) being just as important to the national fabric as the central Canada base in Ontario and Quebec?
Well, Harper’s handling of the Guergis matter clearly shows that just isn’t so.
Does anyone believe Guergis would still be a cabinet minister had she called Quebec “a hellhole”?
The truth is there is a double standard … and the provinces beyond Quebec and Ontario are all insultable yet survivable.
But the media and all the Opposition parties (despite their public utterances when they are here or in the Maritimes) see nothing wrong with that. Otherwise they would put the question of a double standard right out there …and use Quebec as the alternative example. But they wouldn’t dare, even though they KNOW it to be true.
So don’t hold your breath waiting for Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton to pontificate aloud whether Guergis would still be a Minister if she called Quebec a hellhole. Or ask that question in the House.
Harper’s failure to fire Guergis for insulting the peopel and province of P.E.I. shows the Prime Minister does NOT value or regard call provinces as equal. Most of us are clearly politically second class.
And thanks to Guergis, we can see clearly where we stand.
Harv Oberfeld
17 responses so far ↓
1 Eleanor G // Feb 28, 2010 at 2:42 am
PEI is no hellhole. Far from it. I love PEI and have been there twice. Beautiful beaches, cliffs, red soil and rolling farmland. Of course, I’ve always been a huge Anne of Green Gables fan so that probably has something to do with it.
(Response: It’s the only province I have not yet been to ..but my impression is it is actually quite beautiful and the people are very friendly. But really that’s not the point. She has the right to think it is a hellhole…but as a cabinet minister she should handle herself in a more civilized manner ..and my real problem is that Harper is letting her get away with it … where we all know if she said the same thing about Quebec and probably Ontario ..she’d have been gone in day. h.o.)
2 dan // Feb 28, 2010 at 2:43 am
Someone tell Harvey Oberfeld to start publishing his articles on facebook.
(Response: Shhh! No one tell him that. I hear he’s retired and is just doing this blog for fun and to provide a forum where real issues he’s interested in can be openly discussed without getting to be too much “work”. LOL! h.o.)
3 Lynn2 // Feb 28, 2010 at 4:18 am
Any person that behaves like Helena Guergis is not fit for public office.
She should be gone and is not good for the status of women or anything else anywhere in Canada
4 Dan R // Feb 28, 2010 at 5:43 am
Harper’s failure to fire Guergis for insulting the people and province of P.E.I. shows the Prime Minister does NOT value or regard all provinces as equal. Most of us are clearly politically second class.
And thanks to Guergis, we can see clearly where we stand.
================
Do you really think most people in Canada will care come election day? I don’t. Voters have extremely short memories when it comes to any political party in Canada but the NDP.
(Response: Well, it’s a funny thing about the Canadian public; we don’t think they are or are paying attention … but yet, they have repeatedly denied Harper a majority government, even though they are clearly not enthused with the Opposition either. Just maybe, stories like that involving Guergis, and all the blogs, talk show comments about it do register with people after all. h.o.)
5 Crankypants // Feb 28, 2010 at 6:41 am
This is the quality of representation one gets when people blindly vote for a party regardless of the abilities of the candidate. Our elections both federally and provincially are so focused on the leaders of each party that the individual candidates seem to be nothing more than a footnote.
Her actions were atrocious, and the lame excuses she uttered after being outed ring hollow at best. This lady is a representative of the government of Canada and as such should act with diplomacy in public. No ifs, ands or buts. If Harper is the leader he wants us to believe he is, he has no choice but to remove her from cabinet. She has not only slighted the people of PEI, but every Canadian as well. In her eyes, is the rest of Canada a hellhole as well? One has to wonder.
And Mr. Harper, if you want to be a leader, act like one.
6 Genuine // Feb 28, 2010 at 4:37 pm
harper and campbell are two that think as one,they should both be shunned,be fore warned if he gets a majority expect a clamp down of even more staged news releases when the hell has any media been invited to ask question of his imperial majesty I just thought it was their job to go to” our house”in Ottawa or Province and ask any question at all even if the answer embarrasses them or any non answer,tells us more than an answer.I for one am sick of news releases,isn’t it about time for real news instead of propaganda, stagnant minds are being produced to no ones benefit but theirs alone for the here and now,so I worry about the future, not mine but for the young,wake up!
(Response:A couple of daysago I was talkking to a friend in Ottawa, who works on Parliament Hill. He told me how Harper avoids the media or even being asked questions. Virtually all prime ministers used to come/go via the west door of the buildings, below the PM’s office. But news crews wait there…so Harper rarely does… preferring the side service door basement entrance (how classy for a PM!). And remember how we used to always see our PMs walking down the stairs from their ofifces to walk into.out of the Commons? Reporters shouting questions..and ccasionally getting answers. I’m told Harper usually avoids that … opting for a back corridor Commons entrance, where the media are not allowed. Sometimes I wish I was still there! Someone should do all kinds of stories on this ..it’s the type of stuff Canadians really should and want to know about ..not just press conferences and boring predictable House stories. Would be great for ratings. h..o)
7 Lynn // Feb 28, 2010 at 5:23 pm
This is a fine example of how the elite think and behave. Yes, Harvey, this why Harper and his reform party keeps securing a minority government.
Guergis is talented. To be able to insult every Canadian. Wow! We should send her to Afganistan. Maybe we could use her to scare off the Taliban.
(Response: Actually, i think if she did visit there and, quite accurately, called it a hellhole … Harper would probably dump her! LOL!! h.o.)
8 Morven // Feb 28, 2010 at 5:31 pm
The double standard is not the geographic disparity but the behavioural contrast between the Conservatives and publically traded corporations who, when negative facts emerge, have a duty not to materially affect the value of the corporation.
The Conservatives are seemingly as contemptuous of all voters as they are of PEI voters. Sad.
If Ms. Guergis was a senior official or director in a publically listed corporation and made similar remarks which materially affected the share price of the corporation, the reaction would not be the same.
Even the most indifferent corporation would have Ms. Guergis out the door with no golden parachute.
(Response: I mostly agree ..but if they ARE contemptuous of all voters, they sure don’t show it in La Belle Province … fawning all over them whenever they can. Yet, funny thing, that’s exactly the province that has repeatedly denied them their majority. Maybe we should say Merci. h.o.)
9 Henri Paul // Feb 28, 2010 at 7:00 pm
But her biggest sin … the most unforgivable one politically, in my view … is she called Prince Edward Island a “hellhole”.
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Come on Harv thats no sin, why you hammering on her , whats the big bloody deal?
Wailing in the house of Commons by fruit cake Hedy that “their burning crosses on their lawns in Prince George right now as we speak”
That’s is a sin. Her Liberal Bosses or any one from P.E.I. never said squat about that asinine remark.
Maybe the Airport there in PEI is a Hell hole.
Also ,as I recall, No one back in PEI raised any hackles when Pierre gave us the finger here in BC.
Pierre’s finger and Hedy’s remark where far more serious and grievous than this little swipe at the Airport.
(Response: As I said she has the right to believe it IS a hellhole; the airport only or the whole province. But as a federal cabinet minister she has no right to say that UNLESS she is prepared to pay the consequences. My point is …because it was not Ontario or Quebec …she can get away with it under Harper. But you and I both know if she had called Quebec a hellhole ..she WOULD be gone by now. That’s my concern…the duplicity of standards. Go Guergis Go! h.o.)
10 SB // Mar 1, 2010 at 10:49 am
The issue is simple a federal minister can and should not behave in such manner in fact any elected official for that matter it shows complete lack of respect and to see our PM allow such is a disgrace .
(Response: That’s it … plain and simple. And the fact that he is letting her stay on speaks volumes. h.o)
11 Henri Paul // Mar 1, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Harv said”If Guergis had declared QUEBEC to be a “hellhole” … and expressed her ’Get me Out of Here’ feelings, say, in departing Chicoutimi … how long do YOU think she would keep her ministerial job?”
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If, if, if, and” if” only cows could fly then there would be real crap, but, they don’t fly, and she never said said hellhole in Quebec.
(Response: You’re right. She’s too smart to say that in Quebec. Because she knows she would NEVER get away with it. h.o)
12 Genuine // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:06 am
If my grandmother had balls she’d be my grandfather!
(Response: These days … you never know!
h.o.
13 Henri Paul // Mar 2, 2010 at 2:48 am
Genuine // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:06 am
That is just to funny ,haven’t heard that expression for years , still chuckling.
And yes Harv, you are correct on that little quip.
14 kootcoot // Mar 3, 2010 at 6:25 pm
“Just YOU try that at any Canadian airport ..and see if you get on your appointed flight.”
If we did that we could wind up being renditioned or detained for a lengthy period in something more like a genuine hellhole in the basement for a few hours at least.
and Henri Paul, I don’t know where you hide out, but here in the sticks even, I’ve heard lots and lots, over and over about both Hedy Fry’s ill-considered remarks and Pierre’s finger (which happened how many decades ago now?). In fact I am typing not that far away from the site of the sight of the famous PET finger flashing.
BTW Harv, I can certainly understand your resort to the Capcha code. At least yours isn’t made up of innumerable indecipherable letters, like some I have run into and thus not too much trouble to deal with, but hopefully enough to filter out the mindless Viagra pushers and such that seem to be really bored these days.
(Response: Yah, the captcha code gets rid of HUNDREDS of spam I was geting each week offering all kinds of help for everything that had, could or might ever ail me .. not to mention promoting all kinds of websites from all over the world. And they weren’t Bloggers!
h.o.
15 Henri Paul // Mar 9, 2010 at 12:32 am
kootcoot (coyote), said, Mar 3, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I’ve heard lots and lots, over and over about both Hedy Fry’s ill-considered remarks and Pierre’s finger (which happened how many decades ago now?). In fact I am typing not that far away from the site of the sight of the famous PET finger flashing.
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First off the mark, Revelstoke, where your typing from is not exactly across the street from Salmon Arm ,where Pee-air displayed his finger.
Pee-air gave the finger on Aug 8/82 under 3 decades.
Hedy Fry’s outrages remark was March 21/01
Under a decade.
I suppose coyote, I should have taken into consideration ,that, in Revelstoke you measure years by dog years not human years.
(Response: You were making an interesting point .. until you descended to insult. Or is that Salmon Arm humour?
You’ll never make Leno! h.o.
16 Henri Paul // Mar 9, 2010 at 3:26 am
Its Similkameen Valley humor.
17 Spicy-News.com // Jun 9, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Guergis knows details of allegations: lawyer…
A Conservative Party lawyer has challenged MP Helena Guergis’s assertion that she still doesn’t know the substance of the allegations that led to her removal from the Tory caucus.Helena Guergis faces reporters’ questions after the annual general mee…
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