The Harperites ignore the world stage

Because when things get really busy on that stage and the choreography goes beyond two basic steps and the music gets more complicated than what can be produced by a four note jug band, the Harperites are so outclassed that they don't even bother to show up.

Canada's agriculture minister came under fire in the House of Commons after he questioned the legitimacy of the emergency UN conference on the global food crisis.

Gerry Ritz was responding to Liberal MP Maria Minna, who asked why the minister was not in Rome representing the country at the summit called by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Ritz played down the conference's credibility after Minna noted that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, widely vilified for the oppression of his people, was attending the international meeting.

To which Ritz, with a single synapse firing as fast as it could, replied:

"I think the member just outlined the credibility of the conference when one of the keynote speakers is Robert Mugabe."

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. So the Harperites believe that one of the world's largest food producers should stay away from an international conference discussing a global food crisis and let some corrupt, tin-pot dictator occupy centre stage.... unchallenged.

Conservative Party thinking at its nexus.

Of course, had Ritz actually attended the conference there is a good chance he simply would have repeated previous embarrassing Conservative performances at international conferences and engaged in criticism of domestic political opposition a la Rona Ambrose and John Baird.

There are no senior Canadian officials at the UN conference. Instead, Canada is represented by the ambassador to Italy, Alex Himelfarb.

International Trade Minister David Emerson said he supported the decision.

"Canada is a big contributor to the FAO and Minister Ritz was tied up in other issues at the time. ... I don't think we have to apologize to anybody."

Right. David Emerson. A man whose political ethics are so poor that he couldn't win an election to a school board seat in his own riding... if he was running again.

What a bunch of fucking hillbillies.