Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic A Fond Farewell

For those of you who aren't Canadian, we in Canada just had a coop - Canadian style, of course. Our prime minister was forced to step down (or, since we are Canadian, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he was politely asked to step down ) He agreed and will soon be replaced.

As I sit here, contemplating the change in leadership, I found myself becoming nostalgic, trying to decide what I will miss the most about our current prime minister. I decided that it was his poetic grasp of the English language.

So, in honor of his departure, I just wanted to share what is probably my favorite of his speeches:

'A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof it's because it's proofen.'

Sigh. How can you possibly argue with that kind of logic?

Politics will be much less amusing without him. And so I say:

ML (Who is rarely serious when the subject is politics)

OH yes. I shall miss that too.

Just thinking about that quote, and his many others, makes me giggle.

hey, cool! a recall election? good luck! hope it works out for you. who do you think will get into office? looking at the cast list of the movie predator i'm not seeing too many canadians. obviously arnold and jesse are already taken. some of the others don't look like particularly good prospects. heck, some of them don't even have photos up.

then again, this is canada. maybe things work differently there. perhaps your new elected official will be from another movie, or even... <gasp> the music industry.

well, whatever the case, best of luck.

Paul, who tries to take things even less seriously. thinking seriously about these things is just frustrating, aggrivating, and painful.

Paul, actually we already know who the new prime minister will be when our current prime mimister steps down. The next prime minister of Canada will be... (drum roll please) Paul Martin.

And, no, there was no election. There was also no recall. We have a different system in Canada. What happens is that we don't vote for the prime minister. We vote for who we want to be our representative in the house of commons. Then, the Queen of England, through her representative in Canada, then asks the leader of the party with the most seats in the house of commons to become the prime minister.

Now, over the course of the past number of years, the party with the most seats in the house of commons has been the Liberal Party (roughly equivalent to your Democrats). The leader of the liberal party has been Jean Chretien. Hence, our prime minister was/is Jean Chretien.

About a year ago, one of the most powerful men in the Liberal government of Jean Chretien, a man named Paul Martin, had a falling out with the leader. And a division developed in the Liberal party as Martin and Chretien battled for control of the party. Last week, the Liberal party elected a new leader. Paul Martin.

Now, since officially the prime minister of Canada is appointed by the Queen of England, the fact that Paul Martin is now the leader of the Liberal Party does not automatically make him the Prime Minister. However, it is anticipated that Jean Chretien will respect the decision of the party and resign as Prime Minister, making it possible for the Queen to ask Paul Martin to become Prime Minister.

So there was no election - just a change in leadership. An election will likely follow in about a year or so when Martin gets settled in the new job.

(Sound confusing enough? That's the wonder of having a constitutional monarchy )

ML (and people wonder why I was a card carrying member of the Rhinoceros Party - until the rhinocerous died, of course )

Maybe it's because I'm a clueless person, or maybe its because I hardly ever peep into politics but this is the first time I hear about that!

But then, or PM is pretty passive. I don't think I ever heard him speak in the 2 and a half years that I've been living in Canada, while I've seen Bush at least 10 times.

Julie

Really? You haven't seem Mr. C do a lot?

My fav moments:
Whenever he was on Real Cdn Air Farce
When the burglar came into his house and he was armed with a soap stone carving
riding a bike in China (wobbly)

There are just too many goofy quotes.

ML, the story in the media is that he resigned. He announced that he was going to resign about a year or more ago well before the leadership convention. Are you saying that there's more to that decision than appears? <- Not meant to sound confrontational, just curious.

Irene

I have no idea what the inside story is, Irene. But you have to admit, the coop makes a much better story than a voluntary resignation

ML

Dunno the 'hows' and 'whys' but, according to this AP dispatch, seems he'll

"(...) officially resign from his PM functions on dec, 12th thus retiring after 40 years spent on the political scene. this 'retirement' will also end monthes of internal wars in the Parti libéral , 'wars' initiated by the supporters of the futur prime minister Paul Martin, impatient to lead the country.
(...) In june 2002, Jean Chrétien dismissed his minister of finances, Paul Martin. Chrétien was at the time exasperated by Martin's dealings to drive him to retiring (...)"

I found other english quotes here ...though I must admit the one he did in french are...er...ROTF material (can be handy at a B-Day party) but also highly dangerous on the diplomatic scale...you can have some of his speeches there.

Is it the same family as in Trudeau corporation (kitchenware, tableware and wine accessories) whose head office's in Boucherville?

Carole ( just curious too )

Thanks for the links, Carole. LOL!! Some of those quotes are really priceless.

Ursie

you're more than welcome, Ursie!

Priceless's the word .

Carole