Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

When commemorative ceremonies get awkward…

by kadyomalley on Monday, October 5, 2009 10:35am - 56 Comments

… commemorating ministers get cryptic:

MINISTER CLEMENT MARKS SPACE MILESTONE

OTTAWA, October 5, 2009 — The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency, will be on Parliament Hill today to commemorate a significant space milestone for Canada. Canadian Space Agency President Dr. Steve MacLean will also participate in the announcement.

Date: Monday, October 5, 2009

Time: 3:30 p.m.

Location: Commonwealth Room

Centre Block (west wing)

Parliament Hill

Ottawa, Ontario

So, is there another “significant space milestone for Canada” that took place on this particular day in history? Because if there isn’t, it seems all but impossible to hold this event without eventually mentioning the name of the person whose accomplishment is ostensibly the source of celebration, even if he is now a Liberal MP and his party’s industry critic.

Then again, after what happened to those local Liberal MLAs at the Action! Plan announcement last week in Saint John, Garneau should probably consider himself fortunate if he makes it into the room without being stopped by security. (ITQ kids, of course: as a parliamentarian, any attempt to block him could be seen as a breach of personal privilege. Of course, that doesn’t mean they have to let him speak.)

Of course, it’s always possible that the minister actually plans to pay tribute to Canada’s first ‘space tourist’, although it’s not clear how Guy Laliberte’s sight-seeing trip can be considered a milestone for the Canadian space program, since he plunked down his own money for a ticket on a Russian spacecraft.

Tags: happy anniversary! now get out of the shot!, in space no one can hear you ask about infrastructure spending, marc garneau, Tony Clement

More by kadyomalley

http://intensedebate.com/people/WDM WDM

On the heels of the PM on Saturday, this presser will be nothing more than Clement singing "Rocket Man", it'll make us all forget about whathisname the astronaut guy,

Dave

Damn, I wanted to be first with a snappy song comment!
Old School Liberal

More like "Space Oddity"
tobyornottoby

I was thinking Ground Control to Major Tom

Dave

Maybe he'll sing Across the Universe?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

A space oddity.

Dave

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZCU974T0n4

http://intensedebate.com/people/M_A_N M_A_N

Will they announce the resurrection of the Avro Arrow?

Or just reannouncing that the current canuck on the space station will be the first "long-mission" guy?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Actually 2 Canucks on ISS right now The flamboyant Mr Laliberte and Bob Thirsk who is up for a six month mission ending in Nov.

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

It should be neither awkward nor impossible for a Minister to acknowledge, to congratulate, or even to name the pioneering Canadian astronaut for his prior accomplishments. "We may certainly disagree today on many areas of policy as we sit across the aisle from one another in the House of Commons, but I join all Canadians in pride and admiration as we mark the anniversary of monsieur Garneau's tremendous accomplishments." Or something like that. Not so hard.

Old School Liberal

hahahahahah.

You are soooo naive, if you think there is a gram of magnanimity anywhere in the "Harper government".

dan in van

"It is my honour to celebrate a great moment in Canadian history by the respected member for Westmount-Ville Marie… and to commemorate the event we're sending him back!"
http://intensedebate.com/people/novagardener novagardener

I think the operative word is "should"l However, I do agree with your comment OSL.

Dave

"We may certainly disagree today on many areas of policy as we sit across the aisle from one another in the House of Commons, but I join all Canadians in pride and admiration as we mark the anniversary of some guy doing something."
Foreigner

Of course, it’s always possible that the minister actually plans to pay tribute to Canada’s first ’space tourist’, although it’s not clear how Guy Laliberte’s sight-seeing trip can be considered a milestone for the Canadian space program, since he plunked down his own money for a ticket on a Russian spacecraft.

Given the reality of cultural memory among Canadians, especially the fringe Conservatives need to get a majority right now, I wouldn't put it past the Conservatives to do this. I bet most people don't even know what Garneau is famous for.
Ted

While American wear-your-patriotism-on-your-sleeve-at-all-times patriotism is not for me, I do think that Americans do "honouring public service and accomplishment" way better than us.

To wit:

Clinton with Republican and astronaut John Glenn who has honouring and being seen with the space hero.
Old School Liberal

While American wear-your-patriotism-on-your-sleeve-at-all-times patriotism is not for me, I do think that Americans do "honouring public service and accomplishment" way better than us.

To wit, here is Clinton with Republican and astronaut John Glenn who has no problem honouring and being seen with the space hero.

bryan

I agree about the Americans in general, but John Glenn is a Democrat. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn#Life_in_p…

knick

Has anyone asked Garneau if he's invited?
http://intensedebate.com/people/ottawasteph ottawasteph

I wonder how many Garneau acknowledgments Steve MacLean will be able to get away with. Perhaps the PMO crowd will insist on a max. of one mention.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

Please tell us, how many was it? Or is it unfair to ask when Garneau was the star of the show?

CAPS

Uh, … Ted and/or Old School Liberal, John Glenn was a Democrat Senator from Ohio.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Congratulations to Marc Garneau on the 25th anniversary of his Challenger space shuttle mission on October 5 – 14, 1984. On that date, Garneau became the first Canadian astronaut in space.

Garneau's mission marked the sixth flight of the space shuttle Challenger. Fifteen months later, the Challenger blew up 73 seconds into the launch of its tenth mission, killing all seven astronauts on board.

There are enormous risks involved in spaceflight and we should honour Garneau and his fellow astronauts for their bravery and professionalism.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Congratulations to Marc Garneau on the 25th anniversary of his Challenger space shuttle mission (October 5 – 14, 1984). On October 5, Garneau became the first Canadian astronaut in space.

Garneau's mission marked the sixth flight of the space shuttle Challenger. Fifteen months later, the Challenger blew up 73 seconds into the launch of its tenth mission, killing all seven astronauts on board.

There are enormous risks involved in spaceflight and we should honour Garneau and his fellow astronauts for their bravery and professionalism.
Foreigner

Good. All's well that ends well. Now that you've acknowledged Garneau's achievement, the Conservative don't have to.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Garneau if first a Canadian……..Harper should acknowledge his achievements.

Either Harper is a proud Canadian or he's not. You can't be selective.

knick

Didn't the Harper gov. ignore the 50th anniversary of Lester Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize a couple of years ago?

kcm

Yup. And i believe they passed on the 25th anniversary of the charter. Apparently they didn't sign it either. I think they honoured Dieff's bill of rights instead.
Old School Liberal

And the 25th anniversary of the Charter.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Harper also ignored one of our Canadian scientist on receiving a NOBEL prize for his work on climate change.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Who are you referring to? Canada hasn't had any Nobel Laureates in the last ten years, and the last three were all economists.

Tom A

I believe that was a reference to the Canadian climateologist highish-up within the IPCC that was in line for at least a modicum amount of domestic recognition when the IPCC collectively won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Harper et al. shunned him altogether.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

There's a big difference between winning a Nobel Prize personally, and being a member of a large organization that is jointly awarded a peace prize, along with Al Gore.

The IPCC has delegates from 194 countries. It's not like the leaders of each of these 194 countries said: "Hooray, some people from my country were part of a large international panel that won a Nobel!" Because that would be rather beside the point.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

There's a big difference between winning a Nobel Prize personally, and being a member of a large organization that is jointly awarded a peace prize along with Al Gore.

The IPCC has delegates from 194 countries. It's not like the leaders of each of these 194 countries said: "Hooray, some people from my country were part of a large international panel that won a Nobel!" Because that would be rather beside the point.

Ted

Don't count me as a climate denier, but what the hell is anyone getting a Peace Prize for environmental work for? And Al Gore getting it for an over-the-top, deeply flawed, full of mistakes "documentary"? Just because he's working for a good and just cause, doesn't mean you give him the accolades if he is just, basically, saying whatever he wants to "prove" his case. Celebrity endorsements are a very two edged sword kind of endorsement.

Terren

Conservatives are such chickens. They can't even put Marc Garneau's name in the press release. What a bunch of cooks
Ted

The tags. I always forget to read Kady's tags until later.

"happy anniversary! now get out of the shot!"

"in space no one can hear you ask about infrastructure spending"

So sad, but so true. I'm laughing and crying at the same time.
knick

On balance, I thought the commemoration went rather well, considering what might have taken place – not a big blue 'C' to be seen. But the announcement is still a puzzlement – why so cryptic? Surely adding Garneau's name wouldn't have compromised the non-partisan nature of the event.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

Was Garneau there?

knick

The star of the event. He recognized those involved in the space program who were also there.. Still don't get why his name doesn't appear on the announcement – he's a Canadian hero, IMHO.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

The Conservatives make a sitting Liberal MP the star of their event, and we get a load of bluster about event announcement? Methinks thou dost protest too much.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

In other words, Kady's whole blog post was much ado about nothing. Garneau was the star of the event, and Kady read way too much into a two-sentence announcement.

knick

I would say that what Kady read into a two-sentence announcement was that the announcement was an attempt to suggest that the 25th anniversary was much ado about nothing.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

Huh??? No, I seriously doubt that.

http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

The Conservatives make a sitting Liberal MP the star of their event, and we get a load of bluster about the event announcement? Methinks thou dost protest too much.

http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

Since I didn't get to attend the event — I had my hands full with Steyn and Levant over at Justice — I can't say whether or not he was, in fact, the "star", but this news release suggests that it wasn't the minister who made him the star.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

You can't have it both ways. You can't blame them for failing to mention Garneau in the announcement, and then not give them the credit when they make him their star.
Foreigner

Since those two events (the announcement and the subsequent commemoration) were separate in time two ways are the only way to have them. I'm sure Kady O'Malley's not clairvoyant.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

Your first sentence and your second sentence were separate in time. So I take it, by your logic, they are not related to one another?
knick

I may have misunderstood what I saw, but Clement presenting Garneau with a commemorative plaque and pin makes him the star of the show in my books. Clement's remarks seemed to studiously avoid mentioning the names of those involved in the Canadian space program, but when it was Garneau's turn, he made a point of naming those who were in attendance.
BTW, your link is 'no longer available'…go figger.
knick

Um, *their* event – not *our* event? Surely the first Canadian in space (aka a Liberal MP) merits some acknowledgement in the announcement – not protesting, just sayin'
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

I thought my point was obvious enough -if the Conservatives are to blame for the event announcement, then their are responsible for the event too.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

I thought my point was obvious enough -if the Conservatives are to blame for the event announcement, then they're responsible for the event too.

knick

Is it just me, or is the hype about Harper's musical debut just a little over the top, while the commemoration is barely on the radar? Media priorities continue to baffle me

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ed_Sweeney Ed_Sweeney

I'm not sure that Harper's musical debut was the best choice to make your point. It makes you look like a hack, but I fully agree that they do not give proper attention to commemorations such as this one.

http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Congratulations to Marc Garneau on the 25th anniversary of his Challenger space shuttle mission (October 5 – 14, 1984). On that date, Garneau became the first Canadian astronaut in space.

Garneau's mission marked the sixth flight of the space shuttle Challenger. Fifteen months later, the Challenger blew up 73 seconds into the launch of its tenth mission, killing all seven astronauts on board.

There are enormous risks involved in spaceflight and we should honour Garneau and his fellow astronauts for their bravery and professionalism.