Careful, Steve, your colours are showing

Statement by the Prime Minister at Franco-Manitoban annual general meeting

Keep in mind as you read, this was an address made to a Franco-Manotiban general meeting. It’s easy to forget, since Steve seems to lose a sense of who he is addressing.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is one of the fundamental truths of Canada’s history: our great country was founded by Francophones.

There’s the kiss-up as Steve, who loves to wear a variety of hats, pretends this is his favourite one, forgetting that as he makes that pretense, other groups can see him and become offended, or at the very least, judge him to be insincere. He forgets his oft-used phrase, “two Founding Nations,” and completely ignores the existence of aboriginals.

Today, thanks to their – and your – determination, we have a country whose bilingualism is recognized the world over as one of Canada’s prized and distinctive characteristics.
My dear friends, I’ve learned to speak French – not fluently, I’ll grant you, but I’m working on it – because I recognized long ago that Francophones and the French language are at the very heart of our nation.

Whoops. There’s that little problem of your 1997 speech to a group of Americans, Steve.

So it's basically an English-speaking country, just as English-speaking as, I would guess, the northern part of the United States.
But the important point is that Canada is not a bilingual country. It is a country with two languages. And there is a big difference.
As you may know, historically and especially presently, there's been a lot of political tension between these two major language groups, and between Quebec and the rest of Canada

There's more?

Ladies and Gentlemen, our country, Canada, is more united today than at any point since its centenary 40 years ago.

Now you’re off on a tangent, Steve. Campaigning again, forgetting that this statement really doesn’t belong in an address to a Franco-Manitoban general meeting, especially without a decent transition. But since you brought up unity, there’s that little problem with Saskatchewan, the alienation of Newfoundland, and what’s this? Quebec?

Little by little we are regaining our rightful place on the world scene, thanks to our renewed military force and a foreign policy vision based on freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law.

Steve’s real hat
There it is, Steve. Your very favourite hat. The one glued to your head beneath the pretend ones. American Republican platitudes reflecting your obsession with shining on The World Stage and holding the Bush/Steve view that might is right and international recognition is given to those with the biggest, most active armies. Here you also mirror Bush’s sense of entitlement - “our rightful place.” What is our rightful place, and why are we entitled to it?

Oh, I see you added a jab at the Liberals by saying we are “regaining” that place, implying that somehow, we lost it. You missed a very important campaign point, though. You forgot to mention how we are leading internationally on environmental issues.

Because we want every Canadian man or woman, rural or urban, Francophone or Anglophone, to share in our country’s success.

Whoops. Forgot those immigrants and aboriginals again.

Thank you, and I hope to see you soon.

(WTF? Be sure to bring along the right hat.)