There is no doubt that former U.S. president Bill Clinton would garner more attention at the late Ted Kennedy’s funeral tomorrow than he will by making a speech to empty seats at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).
Clinton still collects his normal fee of $175,000--even though the CNE can’t make his tickets sell.
Only about 7,000 of the available 25,000 tickets have been sold and Ex officials are hoping for a last-minute rush on Saturday afternoon.
The situation is a public embarrassment.
But not much embarrasses Hillary’s husband, who will be heading out for Toronto right after genuflecting at Kennedy’s funeral mass in Boston.
According to the Toronto Star’s travel estimation: “Kennedy’s body will be flown from Boston to the Washington, D.C. area for a private 5 p.m. burial.” (thestar.com, August 27, 2009). “If Clinton is indeed to proceed with the 4 p.m. speech, entitled “Embracing Our Common Humanity” he could be en route to BMO Field at the same time the Kennedys are en route to the cemetery.”
File Clinton under `T’ for tacky on hurriedly paying his final respects to a long time Camelot colleague, and file him under `O’ for outrage that he’s accepting money that Canadian taxpayers are partly paying for tomorrow’s CNE’s non-event.
The whopping $175G speech fee is being partially covered by a portion of the Marquee Tourism Events program, a controversial federal stimulus fund that can deliver up to $3 million for a single event.
“A part of Clinton’s fee is being paid for by taxpayers, and a part of it is being paid for by ticket purchasers. What a great use of stimulus money,” David Bednar, general manager of the CNE, told CTV News.
As far as we know, Bednar is just another politically correct Canadian carny and not one of the Obama Czars of the north.
Comically, the far left Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is trying to blame the lack of interest in the Clinton appearance on “bad weather, a sputtering economy and job losses combined with a lengthy civic worker’s strike (which) have meant a tough summer for the city’s tourist attraction.”
“Lengthy civic worker’s strike” is CBC lingo for Toronto’s only recently ended, stinky six-week long garbage strike.
Included in the big sales pitch for neither Clinton nor the Ex having the grace to cancel the speech due to lack of public interest is Bednar’s statement: “His vision for the world is very much alive in Canada’s cultural mosaic,. As individuals and as a society, Canadians recognize that the interdependence of our communities is vital to living an enriched and rewarding life.”
But as far as some Canadians are concerned, the Clinton gig is up. Even though this is Clinton’s first Canadian appearance since helping negotiate the release of two American journalists that were being held in North Korea, Bill Clinton has been cancelled--due to lack of public interest.
Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
There is no doubt that former U.S. president Bill Clinton would garner more attention at the late Ted Kennedy’s funeral tomorrow than he will by making a speech to empty seats at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).
Clinton still collects his normal fee of $175,000--even though the CNE can’t make his tickets sell.
Only about 7,000 of the available 25,000 tickets have been sold and Ex officials are hoping for a last-minute rush on Saturday afternoon.
The situation is a public embarrassment.
But not much embarrasses Hillary’s husband, who will be heading out for Toronto right after genuflecting at Kennedy’s funeral mass in Boston.
