Give Praise To Dion, Layton & Bouchard

The have their priorities and they seem to little to do with solving problems.....

Ottawa has no sense of priorities
By Geoff Matthews

Let's see. What's big in the news this week?

Oh yes, Canada's auditor general says vicious killers may be walking our streets because crime labs are taking too long to process DNA samples.

Our country's soldiers are still fighting in Afghanistan, where nearly four dozen of them have given up their lives.

The poisons we spew into the environment are affecting our health and threatening an entire way of life in the north.

Ordinary citizens can't find a family doctor to treat their everyday ailments and provide them with annual checkups.

Gas prices are nearing all-time highs, making it tough for hard-pressed taxpayers to keep their budgets in balance and for businesses to survive.

Plenty of stuff for our federal politicians to get their teeth into, right?

Sorry, no.

In what may go down as one of the biggest mass brain cramps in Canadian history, the men and women we send to represent us on Parliament Hill -- and pay handsomely to do so -- have turned their attention from all of the above to concentrate on a two-word phrase that an NHL player may or may not have uttered two years ago.

Got that? May or may not have uttered. Linesman Michel Cormier insists Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan referred to him as a "(expletive) Frenchman" at the end of an NHL game in 2005. Doan says he didn't and a league inquiry found no grounds to punish the player.

In today's world of political correctness run amok, however, facts never get in the way of a good rant. A Commons committee has demanded Hockey Canada officials explain their choice of Doan as captain of the national team currently playing at the World Hockey Championship.

"We (francophones) have a right to be respected," fumed Quebec MP Marcel Proulx in demanding the investigation.

Never one to be outdone, NDP leader Jack Layton said the Doan controversy was "taking away from the enthusiasm that everybody wants to have" for the tournament.

Incredibly, the all-party committee bought into the nonsense and summoned representatives from Hockey Canada to appear and explain the choice of captain.

Sleep easy, Canadians. They stand on guard for thee.