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Darcy MacDonald Have you ever been watching television and laughed as a character puts his foot in his mouth? Then, no matter what he does or says, he just keep ramming it down farther. Of course, we all have. I just didn't think I'd see the day when the prime minister would be doing it. With the ongoing RCMP Complaints Commission hearings regarding the APEC summit and Jean Chretien's subsequent insensitive remarks, Canadians are seeing this Liberal government in a different light. With statements such as,"Pepper? I put it on my plate", and"Instead of taking a baseball bat or something else, now they are trying to use more civilized methods," he has done little to endear himself to the Canadian public. I find myself wondering why he would see fit, especially under the circumstances, to say such ridiculous things. Is all the pressure affecting his brain? If the prime minister thinks that he is going to win approval by poking fun at some of the people who very well may have put his government in power, I think he is sadly mistaken. Instead of standing up in the House of Commons and stating that yes, pepper spray was used, although it's not something he or his government is particularly proud of, Chretien chose to make light of the situation. Even totalitarian dictators (or at least any that I've heard of) don't gloat or make wise cracks about their actions. Maybe the little guy from Shawinigan is getting too complacent. Hell, he didn't deliver on his promise to abolish the GST, he pressured Quebec Liberal leader Jean Charest into going to Quebec to fight a battle he himself couldn't win and his finance minister is sitting on a nest egg of $20 billion in surplus EI funds which isn't his to spend. If Chretien did indeed order the RCMP to act as they did last November, it serves as another example of his apparent"my way or the highway" philosophy. Maybe Canadians should have seen this coming after the infamous Flag Day incident in February 1996. In the emotionally charged atmosphere of question period, it must sometimes be difficult to think clearly before one speaks. But for most people, that is usually the best option. In the future, when Chretien feels his mouth is about to run away with itself, he should do just that; run away or better yet, not respond at all. And as for outside Parliament, he can only help himself by refraining from reducing the incident to a humourous dinner table story.
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