Beyond The Commons

Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Paul Dewar, poetry lover

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 11:32pm - 2 Comments

The Citizen’s Joanne Chianello reports from the US Embassy.

The guests, largely Canadians invited by the embassy staff, burst into applause after every song and speech, and then the oath of office. Only Mr. Dewar, though, applauded the inaugural poem by Elizabeth Alexander.

In her liveblog, Kady reported that the NDP’s Dewar was “leading the applause.” Maybe she was being kind.

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  • Stephen

    I don’t think the poem was as bad as some are suggesting.

    Reading it over, I heard echoes of Whitman.

  • http://www.twitter.com/danielklotz Daniel Klotz

    I didn’t like the poem, but not clapping out of politeness does strike me as rude, in a context that is all about ceremonial appearances.

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