Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Game Seven, Sudden Death Overtime




RON MACLEAN

And it's me, Ron MacLean here with Don Cherry on House of Commons Night in Canada. Grapes, the Stanley Cup is finally over...

DON CHERRY

...yeah, the death of a thousand Luongos ...

RON MACLEAN

...and the Cup is safely in Chicago, but meanwhile the House of Commons is still trying to rise from its sitting position...

DON CHERRY

Tell me about it...

RON MACLEAN

...and there is as yet no consensus on the Afghan prisoner documents...

DON CHERRY

...as would be expected...

RON MACLEAN

...because...?

DON CHERRY

...because Harper is a weasel. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Harper is a weasel: you can't take your eye off him.

RON MACLEAN

But the Liberals and even the Bloc have signed off on this new agreement, which leaves the NDP as the principled, yet isolated - some would say intransigent - dissenters.

DON CHERRY

Yeah, well, so what? Intransigence is what wins the Stanley Cup.

RON MACLEAN

So how do you see this playing out?

DON CHERRY

So here's the thing. The Speaker's in a terrible position: he's desperate to get to his place in The Thousand Islands and have a few well-earned beers. On the other hand, we have a government completely oblivious to the history and traditions of Parliament, and thinks governing Canada is like BP in the Gulf of Mexico: deny everything, make up a story, suck up the spoils of war, and congratulate themselves as being the Strong, the True, and the Brave.

RON MACLEAN

So how do you see the Speaker playing this?

DON CHERRY

OK, so the NDP is the canary in the cage: they're saying to the Speaker, this deal is not in the spirit or the letter of your ruling. And the Speaker is going to have to listen to that. However much he wants to get out of Ottawa for the summer - and let's face it, there's a stampede for the exits - he's got an unalterable respect for the rule of law, and he's got Rob Walsh talking in his ear. This isn't going to go away in a nice tidy package for the G8. There's gonna be blood.

RON MACLEAN

So that's it for your somewhat exhausted team at House of Commons Night in Canada...

DON CHERRY

I'm indestructible now, Luongo can't kill me.

RON MACLEAN

Your suit is certainly indestructible.

DON CHERRY

You have a problem with the Magna Carta?

RON MACLEAN

Only printed on purple corduroy.

DON CHERRY

Hey, Fabricland had a special.