George Bush for Canadian Idol?

Weekly Commentary By Stockwell Day, MP Okanagan-Coquihalla

Okay, Okay, I know the idea of George Bush for Canadian Idol sounds crazy, but think about it for a minute.

Last week, when the Canadian Idol winner was declared, she immediately got a call from Paul Martin who was at the UN at the time.

No problem, good politics and all that.

The irony is that we have been begging the PM from months to call President Bush on the softwood lumber debacle, but he won’t even send a fax, let alone make a call.

So I figure, let’s ask George “W” to run in the next Canadian Idol contest. You say he could never win? Wait a minute: the winner of that contest depends on who gets the most votes via the telephone, with no limits on the number of times any one person punches in on the dial.

So even if every Canadian voted ‘no’ for George, the Americans would outvote us ten to one and he would win.

Then guess what? Paul Martin would immediate call to congratulate him, and at the same time he just might muster up the courage to say “And by the way Mr. President, call off the dogs in Congress on the softwood stuff or things will get very ugly.”

Now for the two angry people who always send me a nasty e-mail whenever my column is not written in the somber and serious tone of an obituary, “lighten up.”

I am only using a sense of irony to make a point. The Prime Minister refuses to call the president on an issue which Canada wins clearly at every level of judicial process.

The softwood lumber issue, along with the destruction of our forests by the pine beetle, is having a serious effect on the BC (and Canadian) economy.

Is it because it’s mainly a western problem that it gets so little federal attention? As the Official Opposition, we have pledged an amount of assistance to affected communities which is exactly ten times greater than what the feds have pledged. And it’s all doable within the federal budget.

It’s just a matter of priorities.

Now, on another subject: the Prime Minister said some good stuff at the UN this week. He said the UN has to get its act together on reforming itself and on shaking off its apparent collective paralysis when it comes to disasters like Rawanda and Darfur.

Good comments by the PM on something that needed to be said.

There is a giant problem at the UN which people seem to be afraid to address.

The fact of the matter is that a huge percentage of the countries at the UN are vicious undemocratic regimes.

They deprive their own people of the most basic human rights and they vote as blocs at the UN to frustrate the wishes of civilized people around the world.

The problem is that so few countries want to speak up about that for fear of losing contracts with those growing economies.

In a similar way, before World War II, few were ready to stand up to the oppressive Third Reich. It was the same problem during the Cold War.

When democratic countries refuse to stand up at the UN to confront these despotic regimes for what they are, the tyrants sense weakness and continue their tyranny.

That is one of the reasons there is so little “United” action at the UN on everything from poverty to genocide.

History shows that freedom and prosperity can be achieved. But not unless the champions of democracy are willing to risk losing a contract here or there by standing up and telling the dictators to stand down.

We would all be better off in the long run.

Stockwell Day, MP
Okanagan-Coquihalla

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.