In The Name of God, Go!

Having come to visit my eldest son and his family in Calgary for the Passover festival, I found myself busy with preparations for the holiday. What with shopping and spending time with the grandchildren, by early evening I found I was pooped. I turned on the TV to learn that Prime Minister Paul Martin would be addressing the nation in a few moments.

Too tired to thumb the remote, I decided to watch the telecast. Here are some random, brief thoughts on what transpired in the next 30 minutes.

Paul Martin looked well groomed, but not Prime-Ministerial. He failed to shake off the sobriquet, Mr. Dither. Indeed, by being the only one to appear in ‘canned’ format, rather than live, as did the other leaders, his weakness under fire was highlighted.

But what was truly sad was to see the Prime Minister of Canada, begging for clemency, or, at least, a delay before the imposition of sentence. Actually, his seven minute address was reminiscent of a defence lawyer making submissions to sentence.

Unfortunately, in this instance the accused was acting as his own counsel, and the litany of supposed mitigating factors which he cited merely added to the culpability.

I was also struck by the fact that while all opposition leaders spoke in both French and English, Mr. Martin spoke only in English. Perhaps he has already written off the Province of Quebec.

And as I listened and watched, I could not help but think of the words uttered by Oliver Cromwell in dismissing the rump parliament in 1653: “you have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of god, go!”