Each week, Kyle Muzyka sifts through what our PM has been up to in this column, The Radical Adventures of Stephen Harper, for your personal enjoyment.
With global uncertainty reaching a new height over the past few weeks, our prime minister has been busy attending things and talking among people, as he is the solver of most problems.
Instead of putting his NATO festivities on the forefront, we are greeted with Stephen Harper’s biggest accomplishment in his tenure as Prime Minister: the discovery of one-half of the sunken Franklin Expedition.
“[This is] a day of very good news,” Harper said, obviously too giddy to speak well. It was followed by 10 seconds of applause, which doesn’t sound like a long time, but go ahead and clap for 10 seconds and you’ll realize the length of the applause.
Jim Balsillie, a lead for the Arctic Research Foundation, spoke on the huge success they’ve had finding the ruins. Unfortunately, every time I hear Balsillie’s name, it gets associated with failure, considering his three futile attempts to buy a hockey team and move it to southern Ontario. It also might have something to do with Blackberry, but who knows?
Next, our leader showed proof that he did go to the NATO meeting, where they discussed ISIS, or ISIL, or IS, or whichever they prefer. They also spoke about Ukraine, and, after that, Stephen Harper did the unthinkable: he actually spoke to reporters.
Those reporters learned of Canada’s participation in joint-NATO operations, where “several dozen members of the Canadian Armed Forces” will join the mission to help combat ISIS. I’m certain that’s over 60% of our army.
Finally, on a lighter and less serious note, the video showed Laureen Harper, the PM’s wife, at a bar, sitting there “for a taste.” That’s political speak for getting drunk, I guess.
In other news, Harper weighed in on the decision left with the people of Scotland on whether they should become independent from the United Kingdom. He was with the “no campaign” and said that a united United Kingdom is the best United Kingdom. Though it seems like he doesn’t have a place to voice his opinion, his country has been in a similar situation.
Harper will also address the United Nations next week for the third time in his tenure as our leader. This is interesting, considering that he’s usually in favour of attending your local coffee shop rather than the UN.
Lastly, we watched as the PM released a positive advertisement this week. It’s much more positive than the “Justin Trudeau: he’s way in over his head” ads, but that’s boring. Let’s see ads about how Trudeau hates Tim Hortons, or something.
That would strike the heartstrings of a lot of Canadians.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
“Wow, you guys really can’t keep much of a beat, can you?”
Jason Ransom/PMO