We Canadians are not only polite, but we’re very, very sensitive.
It’s OK for us to be rude to our own politicians, but heaven forbid an American TV network should do it.
CNN, those cads, referred to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland as a “Canadian official” in a headline this week about the U.S. tariffs on our steel and aluminum.
Well, Canadians are never so united as when we feel slighted. A social media storm instantly ignited in defence of our Foreign Affairs Minister, calling out CNN for being disrespectful. Freeland is, we quickly pointed out, an elected cabinet minister and should be referred to by her proper title.
It isn’t as if she’s some civil servant. She went to Harvard and Oxford, and is a Rhodes scholar.
“Get your facts straight,” we said. What if we called Donald Trump an “official”?
“Fire the unpaid intern that wrote that headline,” demanded one indignant tweet. “Apologize,” demanded others.
It’s good that we’re getting together on this. We should keep in mind, though, that the first sentence of the story began with “Canada’s minister of foreign affairs….”
It would be nice to think the CNN headline writer in question was immediately called upstairs for a talk with the big guy about the importance of calling Canadian politicians by their correct titles, and that this same headline writer is now looking for new employment.
Imagine it. “What were you thinking?” the editor demands. “Don’t mess with those crazy Canucks.”
No kidding, because we have a secret weapon. You’ve also heard no doubt that the president is very cheesed off with a late-night TV host named Samantha Bee for calling Ivanka an unkind name.
It so happens — and I’ll bet you didn’t know this, and I’m darn sure nobody in the White House knows it — Samantha Bee is a Canadian.
That’s right. You call our foreign minister an official, will you? Well, we’ll call your president’s daughter a feckless so-and-so.
Seems to me like we came out way ahead on that exchange.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
