We are all getting screwed.....says the Prime Minister of Canada

Call me old-fashioned. I was really somewhat taken aback and surprised that the leader of our country, the Prime Minister of Canada would resort to vernacular slang and express himself in such a crude fashion. To me in and of itself it first seems harmless and inconsequential BUT....is it now the new normal and acceptable for daily interaction...in classrooms, churches, news broadcasts, etc.
I expect a higher level of discourse from the Prime Minister of Canada.


Dion's carbon tax would ‘screw everybody': PM
CAMPBELL CLARK

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

June 20, 2008 at 8:14 PM EDT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday the Liberals' so-called green shift would “screw everybody across the country,” comparing leader Stéphane Dion's carbon tax to the national energy program of the 1980s.

After previously labelling Mr. Dion's plan “insane” and “crazy,” Mr. Harper continued to firebomb the Liberal proposal with indelicate language.

Speaking to a small crowd in Saskatoon, the Prime Minister said the carbon tax “is like the national energy program in the sense that the national energy program was designed to screw the West and really damage the energy sector – and this will do those things.

“This is different in that this will actually screw everybody across the country.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080620.wharper21/BNStory/National/home

I kind of wonder how stupid Dion is it may be good but no one will believe him. We have been burned before

The Prime Minister's choice of language fits right in with the shenanigans and uproar that go on in the House of Commons every day!

When I taught the grade 5 Government unit, we used to watch clips from the CPAC channel....and it was difficult to explain how/why adults could behave in this way.

I think the behaviour in the House of Commons is embarrassing and unprofessional...considering we PAY these people and it sounds like a barroom brawl during question period! Shouting out, banging the table, making comments while someone is speaking to the point they cannot be heard. I don't know how/when this started??

Was this Trudeau's Charter or Rights and Freedoms speaking out loudly and clearly? Is that when it started?

No cking, it had nothing to do with the Charter.
Question Period has long been the parliamentary equivalent of elementary school recess. There are those who will insist that the biggest negative change in the tenor of Question Period was the introduction of television. Those idiots just can't resist hamming it up for the cameras.
Teachers should NEVER use question period a a teaching tool. Much better to use a series of committee hearings.
And now back to the original thread of this post.
Mr. Harper can say what he pleases, but sooner or later eveyone will start to realize that he has nothing to offer by way of an environmental counter-proposal. All he can do is produce empty criticisms. Just more of his school yard bullying tactics.

In this case it was not a part of Question Period which most people are quite familiar with, but a staged photo op speech held in an outdoor venue...up north...Peterborough?...Barrie?...Haliburton. I am glad that Dion has called him on it and challenged him to an "adult debate"...which Question Period sadly is not.