Harper takes dive in fake lake.
By Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service June 8, 2010 2:41 PM
Don smells a weasel....
By Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service June 8, 2010 2:41 PM
Don smells a weasel....
RON MACLEAN
So it's me, Ron MacLean, here with Don Cherry on House of Commons Night in Canada. Don, we're still in the thick of the Stanley Cup, and we're still in the thick of the House of Commons that has yet to rise for the summer, the outstanding issue being an agreement between the government and the opposition on the terms for reviewing documents about Afghan prisoners...
DON CHERRY
What'd I tell ya? What'd I tell ya? It ain't over till it's over and there's no way Harper was gonna acquiesce...
RON MACLEAN
...that's a long word...
DON CHERRY
...acquiesce on this deal, despite making nice in Parliament for the benefit of the Speaker, and let's face it, avoiding an election in the midst of the G8/G20 meetings where Harper wants to look good. I mean, that's his agenda anyway: he wants to look good. The opposition should pay attention to that because making him look bad is where they're going to score.
RON MACLEAN
..which brings us to the Fake Lake...
DON CHERRY
Don't get me started. If they wanted to have a lake in Toronto they should either bring in the Black Flies to make it realistic, and have the Youth Summit Global Vision kids pretend to swim in the lake, drink beer, have a barbeque, and get pregnant, or they should freeze the thing so the G20 can play pick-up hockey. I think you know my preference...
RON MACLEAN
...but let's go back to the Afghan prisoner deal, which seems to be falling apart while the press is worrying about outhouses in Muskoka...
DON CHERRY
Tell me about it. So here's how I see it. Nicholson's trying to wear two hats and make it look like there's one, it's a new kind of magic trick.
RON MACLEAN
...this is Rob Nicholson the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada...
DON CHERRY
...and like I said before, a Junior B lawyer from Niagara Falls...
RON MACLEAN
Aren't you afraid you're going to get in trouble again?
DON CHERRY
First of all he's representing the government making the case why it shouldn't release documents to the Afghanistan Committee under Section 38.01 and 38.02 of the Canada Evidence Act, documents that need to be seen by Parliament who want to know that Canadian soldiers and their civil and political bosses were in compliance with their obligations regarding prisoners taken in Afghanistan. That's what the whole thing was about with Speaker Milliken who was unequivocal. The government can't provide its own oversight, that's what the Magna Carta was about, and what the Bill of Rights of 1689 was about.
RON MACLEAN
You never cease to amaze me...
DON CHERRY
In addition to all that, the Attorney General is trying to pretend he's acting as lawyer for members of the Canadian Military Police, who need access to documents in proceedings before a tribunal, the Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission. Now the government is arguing that the relevant documents are in a container parked somewhere in central Asia, and it would be terribly inconvenient to get them.
RON MACLEAN
Well couldn't it...?
DON CHERRY
First thing is, we know that the government is going to pull this solictior-client wheeze because they did it before with Richard Colvin, and they were talking about it holding up the negotiations with Speaker Milliken's deal with the Afghan Committee. Then, when nobody's looking, everybody's at the cottage including the G20 bozos who are at the cottage in a concrete barn in Toronto, they're going to try to schlep this by the Speaker...
First thing is, we know that the government is going to pull this solictior-client wheeze because they did it before with Richard Colvin, and they were talking about it holding up the negotiations with Speaker Milliken's deal with the Afghan Committee. Then, when nobody's looking, everybody's at the cottage including the G20 bozos who are at the cottage in a concrete barn in Toronto, they're going to try to schlep this by the Speaker...
RON MACLEAN
You think it'll work?
DON CHERRY
Kids, don't do this, OK? It's a dive. I don't thing the Speaker will go for it, but he probably wants to be at his summer place in the Thousand Islands like any normal person would be.
RON MACLEAN
So we'll leave it there for now. It's me, Ron Maclean with Grapes here...
DON CHERRY
I heard Kenora's mayor has a bet with Winnipeg's about where they're gonna go finshing after the Stanley Cup.
RON MACLEAN
What's your preference?
DON CHERRY
It depends who's got the better gazebo.
RON MACLEAN
There's more to life than a gazebo.
DON CHERRY
I'm not so sure.
