Thursday, June 12, 2008

Mr. Harper, do you agree with the remarks made by Pierre Poilievre yesterday?

That's the question I want my Liberal MP Omar Alghabra, to ask the government today.

I like many Canadians, I would assume, knew of the stories about the Indian residential schools. The stories had been reported for many years. But it was not until I saw the news reports on the various groups of native people gathering to hear the speech from Harper, did I start to fully understand what was done by our federal government and the effect that it has had on generations of native peoples.

As one native leader who had been sent to the residential schools said, this speech and the settlement will not restore our lives but at least now, Canadians might start to understand what was done to us in their name. I now get it.

But apparently Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative back bencher for Nepean does not.

Here's a transcript from Pollievre's radio interview:
And that gets to the heart of the problem on these reserves where there’s too much power concentrated in the hands of the leadership and it makes you wonder where all of this money is going.

We spent ten billion dollars, ten billion dollars in annual spending this year alone, the budget year 07-08. Now that is an exceptional amount of money. That is on top of all the resource revenue that goes to reserves that sit on petroleum products, that sit on uranium mines, other things where these companies have to pay them royalties. You know, and that’s on top of all the money they earn on their own reserves. That is an incredible amount of money. Now, along with this apology, comes another four billion dollars in compensation for those who partook in the residential schools over those years.

Now, some of us are starting to ask are we really getting value for all of this money and is more money really going to solve the problem. My view is that we need to engender the values of hard work, independence, and self-reliance. That’s the solution in the long run. More money will not solve it
There could only be two reasons for the interview and comments made by Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, yesterday morning, prior to Harper's speech. 

The first is that he is just, an immature, little idiot that continues to like to hear himself speak or as some have suggested, a spokesperson assigned by Harper to provide Harper's true thoughts about being forced to read the speech as part of the settlement.

You can hear Poilievre's interview here at Red Tory and read a much more eloquent synopsis of his interview here at Peterborough Politics. As well as a well timed Canadian Press article posted here at Macleans.

Harper, get your immature MP in line, this is not the first time that he has been an embarrassment to your party. Unfortunately yesterday he was an embarrassment to our country.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In order for Prime Minister Harper’s apology to have any meaning, he must fire Pierre Poilievre as Parliamentary Secretary. Poilievre’s comments relfected the same paternalism and racism that were behind the assimilation policies of the 19th and 20th centuries, attidudes that the Prime Minister rightfully denounced as having “no place in our country.” If this is the case, that Poilievre should have no place in our government!

Join the call to have Poilievre removed at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19933651970

Unknown said...

WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADIANS:

Conservative MP PIERRE POILIEVRE:

“On these reserves there is too much power concentrated in the hands of the leadership, and it makes you wonder where all of this money is going.

“We spend 10 billion dollars — 10 billion dollars — in annual spending this year alone now, that is an exceptional amount of money, and that is on top of all the resource revenue that goes to reserves that sit on petroleum products or sit on uranium mines, other things where companies have to pay them royalties.

“And that’s on top of all that money that they earn on their own reserves. That is an incredible amount of money.”

ANITA NEVILLE, Liberal aboriginal affairs critic:

“I invite him to take a tour of many of the First Nations communities in this country and see how people are living.”

NDP MP PAT MARTIN:

“Pierre sounded like the old redneck hillbillies we used to make fun of in the old days. I think Pierre has done himself a great disservice . . . I think he’s damaged his career.”



TRANSLATIONS into Plain Old English:

ANITA NEVILLE, Liberal aboriginal affairs critic:

“Indians are living like animals in dire poverty, which means that some evil bastards are pocketing all that crazy moolah”

NDP MP PAT MARTIN:

“Pierre sounded like the old poor dumb White folks who’d get red necks ‘cos they had to work out in the field all day like assholes; those morons we still make fun of ‘cos we’re racist and class-obsessed and hate all rural and working class White pigs.”

Unknown said...

Wow

This is incredible!

An Indian who complains that he wasn't one of the lucky kids on the reserve who got to go to a residential school!

He must be a racist like Pierre P.!

http://brianakira.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/survivors-phony-apology-scam-syndrome/

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