“‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master - that’s all.’
Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
It appears that Stephen Humpty - err, HARPER - shares Mr. Dumpty’s views on the malleability of words.
So far he’s introduced bold new interpretations of the terms “transparency” (now defined as “to deny media access to cabinet”), “accountability” (now defined as “to water down the provisions of his showpiece legislation”), “elected Senate” (now defined as “Michael Fortier”), “elimination of patronage” (see “Elected Senate”), and a few dozen other phrases we thought we understood.
Here’s another one. “Strengthen Arctic Sovereignty”. Remember that one?
In yet another stunning feat of Newspeak, Beloved Leader Humpty Harper has moved decisively to strengthen Arctic Sovereignty by slashing the best known and most visible Canadian military presence in the Arctic: our base at Alert, downsizing our monitoring capacity in order to achieve his promise to enhance our monitoring capacity.
“”You don’t defend national sovereignty with flags, cheap election rhetoric and advertising campaigns,” Harper said. “You need forces on the ground, ships in the sea and proper surveillance.”
Indeed.
And those armoured icebreakers, and the unmanned drones, and the deep water port for Iqaluit, all promised during the campaign? Well, they weren’t one of the priorities, I guess. So instead, we get a cut at Alert.
Someone push him off the wall. Please.
It’s too bad Humpty blew 1.5 million dollars of the military’s budget with his trek around the Arctic stunt. That money could have been used to heat those building in Alert.