Can anyone parse this utter bullshit?
OTTAWA - Canada's immigration minister says he takes "full responsibility" for a citizenship study guide that had all references to gay rights removed.
Ah, so he did it, right? Oh, wait ...
But Jason Kenney's response to questions in the House of Commons on Thursday shed no light on who ordered the material cut from the document - whether it was the minister himself or an aide in his office.
Oh ... so we're not sure who did it. But wait ...
"I take full responsibility for the content of that document," Kenney said after the issue was raised by opposition MPs.
So he did it. Hold on ...
Records obtained by The Canadian Press show that an early draft of the guide, meant to prepare immigrants for citizenship tests starting March 15, contained sections citing milestones in gay rights, including decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969 and the same-sex marriage law of 2005.
But Kenney's office ordered those sections removed from the draft, and rebuffed an effort by bureaucrats to have them re-inserted last August. The new guide was released with fanfare in November.
So he didn't do it, but his office did it. Bad office. Baaaaaad office. Whoa ...
A spokesman for Kenney said last week the minister made the edit because the booklet, which reviews Canadian culture, politics and history, could not be "encyclopedic."
So he did it. Oh, for fuck's sake ...
On Wednesday, though, Kenney denied ordering the cut, providing no explanation of who in his office was responsible.
So he didn't do it. Wait ...
Kenney's acknowledgment of "full responsibility" Thursday was again without explanation, though he said the document was far more comprehensive than the previous version published in 1995.
So he did it, and he didn't do it, but he'll take full responsibility even though he didn't do it and didn't know anything about it.
Your Stephen Harper Party of Canada: Redefining "accountability" to mean, well, shit.
P.S. If that worthless, lying turd Kenney wants to pass the buck like that, someone should introduce him to the principle of "ministerial responsibility":
Definition: Ministerial responsibility in Canada means that as well as the individual responsibilities set out in Canadian legislation, cabinet ministers have a collective responsibility to carry out government policies decided by cabinet. Federal cabinet ministers are responsible to the House of Commons for their actions and the actions of officials in their departments.
Don't you just love it when people accept "full responsibility" when what they really mean is, you know, none whatsoever?
THE JOY OF HEADLINES: Heh, indeed:
I stopped reading after the "deeply disturbed" part. It seemed pointless to continue.
8 comments:
It's actually appropriate for Kenney to take responsibility for the changes, to say his office did it, and to refuse to name who did it and take the heat itself.
The reason it seems so off-kilter is that this government has previously been only too willing to throw junior staffers under the bus. Owen Lippert, anybody?
M@:
I will definitely have more to say about this later. Stay tooned ...
What he's trying to say is that he's responsible for all the changes that have the sycophants cheering and approving his homophobic move, but to the rest of us that are more, well not blithering idiots, it is someone else's fault....
Clearly, Jason Kenney is saying "the puck stops here". However, that's assuming you can _find_ the puck, which his department appears to have buried in the ice somewhere.
As someone who has worked in a Canadian federal bureaucracy, I can tell you that there is no greater trigger for action than the three-word phrase, "The Minister wants...". Likewise, there is nothing that will stop an action more effectively than its five-word opposite, "The Minister does not want...". Minister Kenney can skate all he wants after the fact, but when any of his department's public products are released, he approved them. If one -- either in its entirety or just a single element of its content -- never sees the light of day, it's because he stopped it.
He's our own little turdblossom.
Oh c'mon, I thought that the folks here understood such things...
...sometimes, when one discovers something about one's self (like being say, "responsible") and it doesn't jive with one's self-image, or the image that one deems is acceptable to one's peers (like taking responsibility as a Conservative cabinet minister), the reaction is denial of one's nature.
Jason Kenney is a typical closet case. He knows the truth about himself, but he keeps waffling because he finds it difficult emotionally to deal with his nature.
Not everyone finds it easy to admit it when they discover that they are, in fact, an asshole.
A little sympathy would be appropriate people! Not only is he an asshole, but he's a deeply disturbed asshole.
He needs love (rubbing against his prostate). Here, let me take my watch off!
This is not beating a dead horse.
Where was Michael with his "The Minister wants . . . " and "The Minister not want . . . " when we were arguing over the issue of putting reports of Afghans torturing POW's theretofore recruited by Canadian Forces?
I insisted no trooper is going to put that kind of stuff in writing if the bosses didn't want to see it. Youse guys said I was acting like a loony again.
Michael I love you.
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