Perhaps we should do as the wag said.
Perhaps we should appoint a royal commission to find noob Bloc NDP member of parliament Ryan Cleary’s position on the seal hunt.
A couple of nights ago Cleary spoke frankly about the seal hunt.
Ordinarily, there’d be no nationalist symbol like the seal hunt that Cleary wouldn’t monger. There is no ethnic touchstone of its kind that Cleary would not grope, fondle or otherwise maul.
But this time he spoke frankly, as he had in 2008.
Brave thing to do in these parts where politicians seldom do genuinely brave things like have opinions of their own and voice them. Normally what you get is lots of pledges to be a strong voice for this cove or that tickle. They all claim they’ll speak loudly about this, that or the other.
Fight?
Sure if you listen to the crowd of local crackies either seeking office or safely on the public tit, they’ll fight any time, any place against anyone over any thing.
Have no doubt about just how untamed and untameable these ponies are, either.
They’ll be the first to tell you, even if all that they really do is stuff a bit of straw in the belt of their pants and clop a pair of cocoanut halves together for a good show.
So after Cleary spoke frankly on a touchy subject, two things happened.
For one, Cleary’s political opponents and a whole lot more besides scrambled to shit on him everywhere and anywhere they could. News releases from Connies in Ottawa, John Efford on the Open Line, Siobhan Coady on da facebook all tearing big strips off Cleary. A hundred jobs to be lost in Corner Brook was nothing in the news coverage compared to Cleary’s words, accurately reported by the local media..
For two, Cleary issued a news release in which he disowned his frank and brave words. He blamed the whole thing on the reporter who first raised the seal hunt issue and accused the media of misquoting him.
Cleary even felt up the touchstone - pledged his eternal, unquestioned and undying support for seal bashing - just so there could be no further about as to his true feelings.
But what are those true feelings?
Good question:
I will not shy away from any issue as a federal MP. I will continue to embrace all sides of every argument in the interest of healthy and reasoned decision making. There may be room to negotiate a better deal for our fish products generally.
Let me re-iterate, I am not proposing to ban the commercial seal hunt in any way.
If we don't do things differently, we will end up with the same result every time. We can't be afraid of the conversation.
Embrace all sides?
Yes friends, as he ran from the conversation, as he abandoned the debate, Cleary proudly clopped his cocoanuts that much harder and stuffed some extra straw in his belt to show how much of a maverick he really is.
- srbp -