Ottawa

It’s not your fault

Not to pick on Ted Menzies, who seems like a nice enough guy and is at least brave enough, if memory serves, to wear a pink tie in public, but he repeated on Monday an assessment of our current situation that never fails to seem at least debatable. 

Here is the relevant part of his response to a question from Liberal John McCallum.

“As much as members of the opposition would like to suggest that they knew what was coming, they knew nothing more about what was coming than anybody did. This was no fault of Canada, but we have been proactively getting Canadians prepared for these challenges.”

Set aside the question of who didn’t know what and when. Note the first six words that follow—”This was no fault of Canada.”

There are perhaps two possible responses to this statement.

(A) This is true. Canada, Canadians and our government bear no responsibility for the current state of our economic system and corresponding culture.
(B) This is not true. While obviously influenced by events elsewhere, Canada, Canadians and our government have contributed to the deterioration of our economic situation.

If B, how do we account for Mr. Menzies refusal to acknowledge as much publicly?

(A) He and the government to which he belongs wish to avoid blame.
(B) He and the government to which he belongs do not believe they can speak frankly with us about our individual responsibilities in situations such as this.

If B, who does this reflect most poorly upon?

(A) Him.
(B) Us.

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