When Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won the January 23rd election that ended 12 years of Liberal rule, many of us thought that the gratuitous bashing of the United States that had become a mainstay under the Chrétien/Martin government had ended, at least as long as this minority Parliament lasts. It was an easy mistake to make--we forgot the Senate.
Except when its reformation or abolishment is being discussed, Canadians give about as much attention to the "chamber of sober second thought" as cyclists give to stop signs. But once in awhile something happens to remind us that the Senators do occasionally awake from their slumber to wreak havoc.
a family from Minnesota, in what has to be the greatest waste of cyberspace since al Gore invented the Internet, wrote a letter to all of the Senators informing them that the family would be cancelling a planned trip to Canada because of this country's "brutal" slaughter of baby seals.
Liberal Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette wrote back to the McLellan family and essentially told them that considering what country they lived in, they had no right to criticize Canada. Hervieux-Payette wrote in part:
"What I find ‘horrific' about your country is the daily killing of innocent people in Iraq, the execution of mainly black prisoners in the U.S., the massive sale of guns to U.S. citizens every day…" "The destabilization of the whole world by the aggressive foreign policy of U.S. government, etc. is also horrific."
The former Liberal MP, who was appointed to the upper chamber in 1995 by that great america-basher Jean Chrétien, can perhaps be forgiven for her idiotic comments; sitting in the Senate for over 10 years was certain to have atrophied her brain. If she had the ability to think things through she would realize that the right to comment, or not comment, works both ways. If ordinary american citizens like the McLellans are not allowed to criticize the Canadian seal hunt because the United States is such an awful country, what right does Hervieux-Payette to criticize the U.S. when she is nominally at least, a high profile government official in a country that clubs cute looking little baby seals to death? Then again, no one is appointed to the Canadian Senate because of some ability to be able to think things through.
For what it was worth, the Leader of the Official Opposition and soon-to-be interim leader of the Liberal Party attempted to distance the party from Hervieux-Payette's caustic remarks. Bill Graham issued a press release using the well worn argument that what the Senator said represents her personal views and not the views of the Liberal Party of Canada. at least that was more than Jean Chrétien or Paul Martin would have done under similar circumstances; they would have strained themselves giving high-fives to all of their Liberal Party buddies.
Former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish, once the poster girl for the Liberal Party's hatred of all things american has been outdone. Parrish's "Damn americans — I hate those bastards" comment and her stomping on a George W. Bush doll to the delight of CBC fans from sea to sea to sea, pale in comparison to Hervieux-Payette's charge that american forces go around Iraq looking for innocent civilians to kill on a daily basis.
Prime Minister Harper should forget about reforming the Senate and simply move to abolish it. Celine Hervieux-Payette has shown that that august body can go beyond simply being a place where friends and loyalists of the party in power can go to die. Hervieux-Payette's comments have travelled around the world and makes us all look like childish fools. For example, the headline in China's People's Daily Online read, " U.S. commits crimes by massacring Iraqis daily, says Canadian senator."
The really sad part of the whole episode is that others, especially americans, will see that Celine Hervieux-Payette is a Senator and think that she is somehow important. Which in reality she's not.
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