Lunch with Stephen Harper II

ice tinkled in the glasses
a cosy diner in Osborne Village

he asked how I was doing with the cancer and everything
I said I was thankful for the Canadian medical system

he said that he had been instrumental in supporting the system the last five years
I said that’s not really true, if you would have had a majority
you would have moved towards a two-tier system
he didn’t reply

He said I’M HERE FOR CANADA

were you here for Canada when you hired a convicted fraud artist to work as a top advisor?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you wasted all that money in Clement’s riding for the G20?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to fire Bev Oda after she lied to Parliament?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to give Parliament financial details of how much the crime bill would cost?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to hand over Afghan detainee documents to Parliament when they were asked for?
He said no
were you here for Canada when you attacked Michael Ignatief in TV ads for months and then said you didn’t want an election?
he said no
are you here for Canada when you refuse to answer questions from the media?
he said no
are you here for Canada when you tell your candidates not to attend all-candidates meetings?
he said no
are you here for Canada when you take credit for the economic action plan when you were basically forced into putting it in place by the opposition parties?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you cut funding to organizations including the CBC because of petty political reasons?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to honour Canada’s commitment to climate change agreements?
he said no BUT I’M HERE FOR CANADA NOW
I asked him to pass the Ketchup