Who invited Peter Mackay to the ECMAs anyway?
If you thought Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay put the proverbial foot in his mouth late last year when he referred to his ex-girlfriend and fellow Minister of Parliament, the notorious floor- crossing Belinda Stronach, as a “DOG” on the floor of the House of Commons during a question period wait until you hear this. It will go down in ECMA history as the infamous “Mackay Blooper”.
Peter Mackay probably made the biggest mistake of his domestic political career when he accidentally referred to “TORONTO” as the host city at tonight’s nationally televised live-air East Coast Music Awards show instead of its actual host city, HALIFAX! -MACKAY’S HOME TOWN!
Mackay wasn’t quite quick enough to make light of his own slip of the tongue or smart enough to even offer a feeble attempt at an apology. This guy is supposed to be our unflappable Minister of Foreign Affairs. A shrewd politician who debates, courts and entertains Foreign Head’s of State. The man’s job description demands him to be quick on his feat. He is Canada’s face around the world. The “go to guy” that represents our country abroad. Mackay’s “Deer in the Headlights” reaction to his own verbal blunder just goes to show he knew what a HUGE mistake he had just made and didn’t have the good sense to quickly rectify it. Granted, the audience wasn’t making it easy for him.
It’s hard to iterate what a major local faux pas this actually was for the Conservative Minister of Parliament. He could not have used a more inappropriate city’s name when he referred to Halifax as Toronto. It’s safe to say this kind of mistake could not have had a nastier reaction in any other city than Halifax.
It’s simple, for those of you who don’t know….small town Haligonians have nothing but contempt for big city Toronto and any politician from Ottawa that mentions it for no good reason.
The several thousand strong audience (as well as Mimi and myself sitting on the coach watching) booed him unmercifully until he finally finished his botched introduction and walked off stage with his stubby neo-con tail wagging between his legs.
After the deafening howling, whistling and booing died down to a modest level Canadian soprano phenom Measha Brueggergosman turned the mood and saved the show as she took the microphone away from Mackay in order to introduce the next guest artist and award. Her response to Mackay’s possibly career ending foible…
“Someone should tell THAT GUY he needs to stick to his tele-prompters.” The audience cheered and jeered with laughter at the soprano’s remarks.
As hilarious as it was, Brueggergosman’s comment and the crowd’s reaction to it were tepid in comparison to her co-announcer Mary Walsh’s reaction. Newfoundland native Mary Walsh of This Hour Has 22 Minutes fame let loose an impassioned and defensive reaction at the conservative Minister of Foreign Affairs and the rest of his Progressive Conservative cohorts with a 15 second-”national, live-air” rant.
Here is THE excerpt of what the comic said during the rant (with her Newfoundland accent bristling), and I quote,
“THEY” (referring to Mackay and the rest of the Progressive Conservatives)
“ARE ASS LICKERS OF SATAN”
And the crowd went WILD! Gotta love the East Coast baby!
(I’m awaiting youtube link, will be added here)
14 responses so far ↓
earthpal // February 19, 2007 at 6:51 am |
Lol. Good post.
Am I allowed to snigger?
Bloody neocons! Bet he won’t forget that slip of the tongue in a hurry then.
Jose // February 19, 2007 at 9:41 am |
They are throughout the world, in every country in every nook. The only important “asset” they have is their totalitarian mania. Something that may cause us a real string of problems, more than they have caused up to now.
Bryan // February 19, 2007 at 4:07 pm |
I would have hated to be him last night. The crowd boo’d for quite some time at his remark and small jokes were made by other presenters. I am not going to read too much in to this because it was a silly mistake and nothing more, I will continue to snicker though when I think of it.
1loneranger // February 19, 2007 at 10:01 pm |
A silly mistake – I think not. How complacent does one have to be to say something like that in one’s hometown. Unbelievable.
Some friends who were there last night said that the recording engineers had to turn down the E.Q. for the broadcast because the jeering’s level had reached such a high peak in the Metro Centre. I thought it sounded loud on the TV. Apparantly it was nothing compared to actually being there. It was literally deafening.
1loneranger // February 19, 2007 at 10:46 pm |
So, according to my ‘Stats Counter” this is officially the most frequented post I’ve ever written.
Who says people don’t care about LOCAL NEWS?
erin // February 19, 2007 at 11:09 pm |
B-man,
wow, hilarious.
eRin
mimi // February 20, 2007 at 12:45 am |
When I was driving to work this morning in the wee hours of nova scotian winter darkness, CBC radio was doing a re-cap of the ECMAs as part of the morning news. They played the MacKay blunder and I realized upon hearing it again that it went something like, “…happy to be here in Toronto, er, Detroi….,er, Ottawa, er, um Halifax”! It all happened so fast that the Detroi…./Ottawa part could have been my imagination eager to hear something even more unbelievable. I’ll have to give it a third listen to decide for sure. Anyway, HOW EMBARASSING!!!!! The only impressive bit was that he did manage to come back out to claim his seat in the front row after the fiasco. I would probably have grabbed the nearest boat and been half way across the Atlantic by the time Mary Hart got out there to further burn my ass.
mimi
Boldscot // February 20, 2007 at 2:35 am |
Loved it. Love to see the blue meanies getting a hit.
However, i know that we all put our collective foot in it at some point.
My ‘Sister-in-Law’ certainly did during her wedding ceremony. She was only sixteen, so no surprises.
(And not the brightest jewel in the box, either.)
She managed to say ‘ I do sodomly declare……’
No-one was sure whether to laugh or not.
Did they laugh?. hahahahahahah
Twenty five years later she does know what all the fuss was about. Not that day.
So, even though The Boldscot loves to get into the neocons, i have just a little bit of sympathy for MacKay. Just a little.
Must be getting soft in my old age.
1loneranger // February 20, 2007 at 3:00 am |
Boldscot-
Oh come on. You are getting soft. We’ve got to stick it to these pud-knockers when we get the chance.
“I do sodomly swear”…… I love it. How great that must have been. I could cut her some slack for sure. It was her wedding day and she was only sixteen. She must have been sweating bullets.
But Mackay, come on. No way can I cut that boy any slack. He should have his shit together. Maybe he was three sheets to the wind. Everybody else there was. It really wasn’t so much what he said that really irritates me. It’s what he didn’t say after what he did say.
Mimi-
Yeah. My lovely wife leaves her first comment on my blog. Wow, that only took four months! Glad to have you here Mimi. Stop by any time.
And Bryan (again)-
“and small jokes were made by other presenters”
Come on. I don’t think Mary Heart’s “Ass lickers of Satan” comment amid her national TV rant directed toward Mackay was any “small joke”. Were you watching at that point?
It doesn’t get any better than that people.
Boldscot // February 20, 2007 at 3:18 am |
At three times the age i can see her as sweating bullets, no probs – she was pregnant as well.
My ignorance of Canada excuses me in this instance.
Having lived in Poland for the better part of ten years i am more au fait with the arseholes who purport to rule them.
http://pirateslair.szwag1er.webd.pl/
Having said that, there are ‘feet in the shit’ in my Canadian family too.
My Russian Auntie, near Saskatoon, gave tea to her Polish husband’s Priest one afternoon.
Made small talk about children and careers.
‘And was your father a Priest too?’
Out of the mouths of….’
Everyone has done it.
Good to see your wife has joined in.
Mimi, don’t be scared, our bark is worse than our bite. Honest, injun.
1loneranger // February 20, 2007 at 3:49 am |
Boldscot-
Oh my God, I love it.
Thanks for the link. I’ll be reading.
Adam MacIsaac // February 21, 2007 at 10:47 pm |
Yeah I attended the Award Show Gala and was actually sitting directly across from where Peter MacKay made his presentation. Being a strong supporter of East Coast Music and a regular volunteer with the ECMA’s not to mention a Provincial Youth Engagement Corridinator here on Prince Edward Island it is no wonder why youth are not interested in politics when an elected representive cannot even remember what city he is in even when on national television
Tina MacKenzie // February 21, 2007 at 11:07 pm |
I caught that blunder and my distaste for the immature, misogynistic MacKay grows. What an ass. Your article needs correction though.
You said, “He could not have used a more inappropriate city’s name when he referred to Toronto as Halifax.”
MacKay referred to Halifax as Toronto, not the other way around.
Cheers.
1loneranger // February 22, 2007 at 12:58 am |
Tina-
Thanks, silly mistakes are my forte.
Cheers
Adam-
Thanks for stopping by. You have a good point. Not only do politicians have a habit of making jerks of themselves in the worst places at the worst times as the case was here but they also flat out refuse to engage with youth and their concerns.
Why should they, we don’t demand it of them.