08.27.2016 06:46 AM

Mark Critch is an asshole

Seriously, he is. Even the Star seems to think so.

Here’s what he put up on the Internet. 

So, in his defence, Critch allegedly does comedy. I haven’t ever watched his show or whatever, but I would imagine trying to be funny is hard. (I guess.)

Anyway, on the day Stephen Harper packed it in as an MP, Critch posted the thing above. It’s apparently a joke about Harper hiding in a closet on the day a self-appointed jihadist murdered a Canadian soldier and stormed Parliament Hill, shooting at people. 

I’ve talked about that day with MPs from all parties. All of them say they are still a bit haunted by what happened, and they’ll never forget it. All of them were hiding on the Hill, that day, hoping to avoid getting killed. All of them. 

One said to me afterward: “The shots were really, really loud. They were happening right outside our caucus room door. We didn’t know what was happening, but we knew we could could get shot. We were all texting our families.”

Here’s the thing, Mark Critch comedian guy: if Stephen Harper was in a closet, it’s because the RCMP pushed him in there, you feckless moron. 

I’ve worked for a Prime Minister, and walked around with him on the Hill and off, and I can tell you that’s the RCMP’s  job. Just like that time a bunch of Secret Service agents threw themselves on top of Ronald Reagan to keep him from being shot again, remember? That’s the job. It didn’t look like John Wayne in the movies – all swagger and indifference to bullets flying – but it probably saved the President’s life. 

Stephen Harper, and now Justin Trudeau, didn’t sign up to get killed. They didn’t ever claim to be experts on personal security, either. Leaders and their families deserve every bit of the protection they get, and more. When there’s a real threat, the RCMP take over, not the politicians. 

And if that means the cops have to push the politicians into a fucking closet to protect them from an active shooter, that’s a good thing. They are being smart and brave. 

You, meanwhile, are being an asshole. 

78 Comments

  1. Steve T says:

    And you can bet he wouldn’t have pulled this stunt on the leader of the Libs or NDP (especially the NDP).

  2. The Doctor says:

    Well said, Warren. I’ve tried many times to rationally engage with left-lib partisan douchebags who persist with this “hiding in a closet” thing. It’s hopeless. These people are so hopelessly partisan, they would find fault with the way Harper goes to the bathroom or brushes his teeth. Apparently Harper was supposed to tell his RCMP security detail to fuck off, dash out into the hallway and challenge the shooter (or shooters, because no one knew yet) to a Kung fu fight, or something like that.

    It’s bizarre: there are so many real, substantive things that you can criticize Harper for — yet partisan douchebags like this manage to zero in on the most idiotic, petty things imaginable, like this, the missing wafer and shaking his son’s hand.

  3. Maps Onburt says:

    Right on. It’s about time that people started calling out those who criticize from the safety of their mother’s basement how PM Harper acted under fire knowing he was the number one target. Bravo Warren.

    • alain says:

      harper the number one target???
      I have never heard that theory.
      Can you provide reference for that bold statement?
      Thanks,

      A.

      • Maps Onburt says:

        If you have a room temperature IQ, you’d figure it out. Who has the RCMP security detail? If a terrorist keen on making a statement burts into a room with the PM … who do you think he’s going to shoot first????? Forget Harper… imagine if it were Trudeau… same thing. He’d be the number one target too just like Chrétien was with that pie.

  4. Oh, lighten up. this is satire.

  5. Elsie Marley says:

    I suspect the amount of contempt & derision it takes to mock Harper for being sheltered from a shooter is a corollary to the amount of contempt & derision exercised by the Harper regime towards most Canadian institutions, including Parliament, our electoral systems, and Canadians themselves during Harper’s tenure as PM.

    I am puzzled by the ongoing efforts to conflate the public & private personas of PM Harper in some doomed effort to retroactively sanitize the partisan & toxic affect of this PM and his contempt for Canada & Canadians. Harper could be the reincarnation of Mother Theresa in private. Who cares – like any Canadian citizen, he’s entitled to his private life free from public scrutiny or comment.

    It is the public face of PM Harper that still haunts Canada and the public face that was sheltered by the RCMP from the shooter. And it is the public face of the PM that is and always will be fair game for comment.

    I expect those who paid good tax dollars for front row seats at Harper’s theater of the absurd – including Critch – are apparently still getting their monies worth, even though Harper’s particular shit show is closing for good.

    Some believe Mark Critch is an asshole; others believe Stephen Harper is an asshole. Tomato – tomahto – let’s call the whole thing off!

    • Darren H says:

      I find it incredibly odd how people like you take the contempt of parliament issue so personally. Have you received adequate counselling? Harper allowed voters to judge him after and they punished him with a majority govt. Perhaps they viewed it as foiling the coup attempt that it was and preventing a political crisis.

      In regards to the closet thing, you and that comedian are absolute scum for making light of the deaths and terror for that day. Assholes.

      • Elsie Marley says:

        I find it incredibly odd how people still take the criticisms of PM Harper so personally – even going so far as to infer mental illness (HDS-Harper Derangement Syndrome) upon those who voice less-than-glowing opinions of Harper in public forums.

        Public criticism goes with a politician’s public office and public pay – while non-stop whining about public criticism doesn’t.

        Some people choose to remain oblivious to the fact that when you are in contempt of Parliament you are – by definition – in contempt of Canada and Canadians. Others choose to take it personal when those suckling from the public tit remove their lips only long enough to treat the public with contempt.

        In life and in politics, my dear departed granny’s saying still rings true: No matter how hard you polish a turd, it is still a turd.

    • e.a.f. says:

      Like Marley’s comments.

      Its humour. Critch isn’t an asshole for the comedy routine, at least not in my opinion. Harper in my opinion was a jerk and a lousy P.M. who took this country down a road it ought never to have gone down. The man was a mean nasty piece of business, as a P.M. He was sure anxious to send our military into battle to get themselves killed, but he himself, not so much. I wasn’t in the room when he went into the closet so I can’t really say if he went or was shoved, but really in a closet, a man who was happy to send thousands of Canadian military personnel into war and risk getting killed, didn’t want that to happen to himself. He wasn’t so precious he couldn’t have been replaced.

      • The Doctor says:

        So you would have been just as happy to have seen him killed. Classy.

        And I guess your position is, if a PM pursues a foreign policy that’s too militaristic for your liking, then if an active terrorist shooter storms the Parliament, said PM should disobey the instructions of his RCMP security detail, dash out into the hallway unarmed, and challenge the shooter to a Kung Fu fight or something.

      • Jeff says:

        Apparently, you didn’t read the post – in legitimate security situations, neither Harper or any other PM have a say in either what happens to them or the manner in which they’re protected.

        I gather from your post that you’re anti-war, which is fine — but I’m sure you can appreciate that we afford special protections to our national leaders. Such protections are common in virtually every country around the world and Canada is no different. Here, we have an armed gunman that shot and killed an honour guard before storming into Centre Block and shooting another RCMP officer — the life of the PM was at stake, and the RCMP didn’t really give a shit about what would “look good” politically or the dignity of his method of protection.

    • Vancouverois says:

      “It’s totally okay to be sneeringly hateful and nasty to him, because he was sneeringly hateful and nasty FIRST!”

      Spare me.

    • Penelope says:

      Somehow you miss the fact that Justin stormed across the floor of the HOC , grabbed an MP by the arm and elbowed a woman, stuck his tongue out in the HOC… all this is documented on film. Can you provide ANY evidence that Harper has been convicted of contempt?

  6. MgS says:

    While I agree that Critch’s humour here is offside, we shouldn’t overlook why that humour came to exist in the first place.

    It isn’t just partisanship at play here, it’s actually the culmination of a lot of different streams of Harper’s behaviour as Canada’s Prime Minister.

    On the world stage, Harper spent his time strutting about playing the “tough guy” routine. Whether that is having a “secret service style” protection detail that shielded him from the public, to the utter farce of spending millions of taxpayer dollars to ship the official vehicles to countries like India. His belligerent approach towards other countries didn’t help much either.

    At home, he played a mean-spirited political game which focused on attacking his rivals at every turn and being utterly contemptuous of anyone who dared disagree with him. Meanwhile, he did everything he could to be completely unavailable to the public he was supposedly serving. Some of that is “business as usual politics”, but Harper took things to new levels that many like myself found downright appalling. Frankly the descent into blatant racism in the election was the final nail in the coffin he had spent a decade building (and all PMs make enough mistakes that by the end of 10 years, they’ve built their own political coffin).

    So, when he “hid in the closet” on that fateful day, of course it became a running joke. Here’s a PM who has played the “tough guy” card at every turn, and when there is direct danger he disappears – of course people picked up on it and mocked him for it relentlessly. Given the actual situation, it is utterly inappropriate but far from incomprehensible.

    • Howard says:

      Harper is trying to be a tough guy for eschewing the “hug a dictator” foreign policy of Trudeau Sr and others? It must be fun living in your black and white world.

      Harper’s views on foreign policy were well-known and he was elected several times. They may differ with your own views but that does not make them any less legitimate or any more subject to caricature (“tough guy”).

      Oh and this particular howler: “utterly contemptuous of anyone who dared disagree with him”. You’ve never attempted to have a conversation with self-described progressives in which you took an opposing view, have you?

      • MgS says:

        Howard,

        (1) Anyone who has paid attention has long since realized that Harper’s pugilistic crap on the world stage was nothing more than pandering to his prairie base. Foreign affairs is not something where playing “tough guy” wins you points where it counts. That is not “hug a dictator” foreign policy, it’s reality.

        (2) I’m entitled to my opinion of Harper’s foreign policy – as far as I am concerned, it was terrible. I didn’t say it was “invalid”, I said it was terrible – and a lot of Canadians I know weren’t impressed by it.

        (3) Regarding contempt: Others have listed some of the obvious was he showed contempt for Canadians as a whole – including contempt for the institutions of our government. His policies very directly affected me, and when those issues were raised with him or his MPs, it was amazing the stony silence that we got in response.

        You can love Harper all you like. He made me and mine second class citizens and then told us to pound sand. I cannot, and will not, forgive that. Remember, not everybody had a wonderful “Old Stock Canadian” experience that government.

        • The Doctor says:

          Oh, I keep forgetting that the only people who supported Harper were on the prairies. Actually, I think it was only old, angry white male farmers from Alberta. I read that on progressive websites like rabble.ca, so it must be true.

        • Penelope says:

          Harper put Canada in the best light on the world stage, Canada was top of the world while other nations were struggling. The middle class were the best off in the world under Harper, Canada was the best country in the world to do business. We have fallen out of our enviable place since Trudeau came to power.

    • ROBERT R. GILLESPIE says:

      thank you.

    • The Doctor says:

      So, to parse the “logic” of your post: if a PM takes aggressive, non-pacifist stances in foreign policy, then, if a live terrorist shooter storms Parliament Hill, said PM must disobey the instructions of his RCMP security detail, dash out into the hallway (unarmed, btw) where the shooter is, and boldly challenge said shooter to a Kung fu fight. Or something like that. Otherwise, said PM is a contemptible coward. Have I got that right?

      • MgS says:

        @The Doctor:

        No – that isn’t what I said at all.

        I was merely pointing out that the mocking response is completely understandable when Harper’s approach to government (and therefore his public persona) was “tough guy”. In short, he got mocked for acting precisely the opposite of his public persona. Whether that had anything to do with the security detail or not is entirely immaterial. Frankly there was no “graceful” way out of that situation for him – and some of that is a direct result of his very black-and-white presentation of himself.

        Further, if you read my commentary carefully, you will see that I am not defending the jokes themselves but reflecting on why those jokes got such traction in the public.

        • The Doctor says:

          I notice that Democratic Party partisans didn’t mock Ronald Reagan for diving into that car and taking cover when John Hickley was shooting at him. I guess that’s because Democrats in the US aren’t assholes.

      • Tim Sullivan says:

        I find it hard to believe the RCMP was in the caucus room.

        Do you have any evidence that was the case? The public record, and WK’s comments to the contrary, is that the MPs were alone in the room, sans RCMP.

        Query: Did the RCMP VIP detail cover the PM in the Parliament Buildings anyway?

        I’ll go with what people who were there had to say, and Harper jumped into that closet of his own accord.

    • Sandra says:

      If you have to explain why it’s funny…. then it ain’t funny.

  7. Howard says:

    Canadian funny men (and women) worth a dime go south. We’re stuck with the leftovers like Rick Mercer, Mary Walsh, and this Mike Crutch or whatever his name is, who I’ve never heard of.

  8. reader says:

    Just one minor point, Critch didn’t put that up on twitter. He posted it to instagram and Michelle Rempel took a screen shot (like one you posted here, or perhaps that is a copy of her screenshot) and she posted that on twitter along with her reaction.

    Harper in the closet “jokes” have been around for a long time and have always made me cringe (and I have never liked Harper’s public persona or his politics) but I think the timing of this – the day Harper resigned his seat – combined with Critch’s high profile, made people that much angrier.

  9. Nicole says:

    The biggest asshole that day was Jason Kenney and his tweeting the news of the death of a soldier before all friends and family were notified. For a minister to behave so irresponsibly should have warranted his dismissal from cabinet. The lack of comprehension about the sensitivity of that news and greedy desire to be the first one to announce this demonstrated a major lack of judgment. He should never be in a position of power again. If Harper was a coward it was in not booting Kenney from the cabinet following this incident.

    • Howard says:

      Is it possible that it was an honest mistake, and Kenney thought the family had already been notified?

      • Ron says:

        Wouldn’t you confirm that before informing the twitterverse ?

        I sure would.

        • Lin says:

          Oh yes. Only if it’s a conservative that makes an error should they be booted. In the last week we have had liberals make very expensive errors and one clearly involved kickbacks but Mr Sunnyways just gives a pep talk and we should all just forget and go on our way.
          You liberals are priceless and possess not an ounce of class if you think this was a humorous way to give kudos to a man that dedicated years of his life to public office. I know you can’t stand or beleive it but he was democratically elected.
          Can’t wait for the month a head. It should be very telling about the incompetent and inexperienced fools elected to run our country.
          Yup it takes more than passing marijuana legislation to keep this country running and I say good luck with that.

      • Tim Sullivan says:

        It wasn’t Jason Kenny’s job to notify anyone or verify. It’s just poor judgment on the part of a Harper Cabinet Minister (not closet minister, mind you. There was only room for one).

        Critch’s error is simply it was not a funny bit. The sentiment that Harper’s cowardly gesture did not match the bravado he espoused advocating for war in Iraq, sending planes to the mid-east, backing Israel’s fight with anyone.

        I like the part where Michelle Remple said sorry, but said she didn’t apologize.

        Words have no meaning for some of these people.

        • The Doctor says:

          So following the instructions and training of your RCMP security detail is a “cowardly gesture”. I love the inverted logic of the Harper hating partisan.

          While we’re at it, why don’t you explain to us exactly what Harper should have done, aside from explicitly not following the instructions of his RCMP security detail?

          • Tim Sullivan says:

            What all other cabinet ministers and MPs did — wait it out with apparent courage. Someone was at the door with flags. He’s primus inter pares, he’s not the fucking Pope.

            If he was in such danger, where was his RCMP detail? If he’s so good at national security, how did someone get so far into the Parliament buildings?

            I don’t buy that BS about his “training”. “Listen, Prime Minister, if you find yourself in danger sometime, maybe with guns going off all around you, and we are no where close by …” said the RCMP VIP detail to no prime minister at any time.

            The guy’s a fake, a coward and a criminal.

          • The Doctor says:

            You know, you’re right. Harper should have stayed in the caucus room, and in fact should have stood right in front, so that he would have been the first person that the terrorist shooter (or shooters, because nobody knew at that point) would have seen had said shooter/shooters gotten into the room. That way, the shooter would have been more easily able to pick out the Prime Minister and shoot him dead or take him hostage. And that would have resulted in a much more attractive and juicy propaganda victory for the cause of radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, taking out the leader of a G7 country. Thanks so much for setting me straight about all of this.

  10. Kevin says:

    RCMP inside a caucus room? Have to admit that’s surprising to me. Possible but I never considered it.

    I thought Harper said he went into the closet as a result of “training” he had been given. That seems to me a lot more likely than RCMP inside a caucus meeting. If they were in fact there, though, that’s exactly what they would have done: grab the boss and move him out of the way, discussion to follow.

    Now, Mark Critch’s assholeness is an entirely different matter.

    • Michael Bluth says:

      RCMP are outside any meeting room with the Prime Minister inside. They would have been inside that room within seconds of the first shot being fired.

      All getting lost in a painful attempt to ignore that our politicians should not face physical danger for doing the job they were elected to do.

      That this Canadian D-lister posted it on Instagram? Any attention is better than being mired in anonymous medicority for some people.

  11. Mike Adamson says:

    I don’t see the post on Twitter now so perhaps he’s come to agree with you. I am surprised you’ve never seen 22 Minutes as the bits they did with Chretien were hilarious. To each his own.

  12. patrick says:

    “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.”

    Not really funny, but the joke reflects on his public coldness, his supposed hidden agenda for Canada, his secretiveness as well as the delusional nut bar terrorizing parliament.

    Maybe you should just stick with the 3 stooges.

  13. Mark says:

    They say in comedy that “timing is everything.”

    Some other people have noted that the general theme of Harper’s public stance and rabid avoidance of any form of public disagreement (and public engagement) is at the root of this attempt at satire. The fact that it left a good number of people (including those who would not normally step up to Harper’s defence) feeling raw and triggered suggests the Hill shooting is too recent, still painful, and has not yet been collectively processed.

    Or in other words, the answer to the question “too soon?” is probably yes.

  14. rumleyfips says:

    Harper was not pushed into the closet by the RCMP. This is just an alt-right meme.

  15. Don McKenzie says:

    Mr. Kinsella: Thank you for writing this. There were times, when writing for Sun Media, that you truly frightened me with some of, what I saw, as unabashed HATRED, for anything, and anyone, with a right-of-centre belief. It actually forced me to expand my reading, viewing, etc., of all things political, to find, to my horror, that many of your views of hatred, we’re commonplace, amongst those, who shared your views, about those, like myself. Recently, I have heard a few of your views, and while not sure if they are reflective of your core views, or are something that, has come about by the mellowing act of time, you seem to be more open to accepting people who do not reflect what you have espoused publicly, for many years. In particular, you seem to have mellowed on Prime Minister Harper. I thank you for that. I have read a few recent pieces that you have put up about the PM, and they come across as a decent, and honorable, goodbye to the man. Again, I thank you. Perhaps, if someone such as yourself, can step back, take a deep breath, and then say something, perhaps, I should as well. Thank you, Don McKenzie

  16. David Chambers says:

    Thank you Mr. Kinsella, I completely agree. This attack left an innocent young man dead and traumatized a great many others. It wasn’t funny for anyone except Mike Critch I guess.

  17. Brian says:

    Geezus, it’s humour.

    Three people, on average, die every week in my line of work and nobody gives a shit, so if someone pokes fun at a PM hiding in a closet, so be it. The government of Canada doesn’t give a damn about I die at work–I know because my douchebag MP in the Danforth and Woodbine area hasn’t even bothered to call me back after I paid a visit to his offices to discuss the fact that… 156 people per year, every year, year after year, die just doing our jobs and you all want to whine about a gag on TV?! You have some messed up sense of what’s really and truly offensive. Where are you when we get killed? Oh, wait… Right. Nowhere, because you’re all feigning offense at something non-offensive. Anybody who complains about this needs to give their head a shake and get their priorities straight.

    • e.a.f. says:

      Now Brian gives it all a nice reality check.

      He is correct. When other workers get killed on the job, we are frequently hard pressed to get WCB to even investigate. Lots of people have jobs which can get them killed and yes that includes a P.M. only he gets a lot of protection, a much bigger salary and perks, and his family would be much better taken care of than other workers in this country.

      In this century, you become a leader of a country, you can consider that at some time or other some one will want to kill you. Its just one of the things people need to consider these days. Now I doubt very much the shooter that day set out to specifically shoot and kill Harper. It is very unfortunate the young man standing on guard that day was killed and it was senseless. But the killer, in my opinion, was most likely mentally ill. How many other people in this country have been killed by people who were mentally ill? No one got that upset about it, so why in this instance.

      How many women are murdered in this country because of spousal abuse? No one seems to get too upset about that, because not much has been done about protecting women in these situations and that includes Harper. Safe/transition houses in B.C. still are not government funded. When people get out of sorts about that, perhaps I might consider getting “out of sorts” about Harper, but really, Canadian politicians don’t usually get killed.

      • Lin says:

        Yes workers die and most often it’s because they are fools and refuse to follow health and safety regulations. It’s a free country except when you are a supervisor that gave everyone training and they still do idiotic things. Then you are held accountable. In this Provence anyone that feels a situation is unsafe has the right of work refusal so spare me the sob story. Most workplace “accidents” are preventable if people follow rules and use their brains.
        This post lacked any decency or class but I have come to expect that from a certain crowd and it’s really telling that’s it’s the same crowd that pays lip service to the “stop bullying” campeign. Very telling indeed that they themselves are always the biggest bullies around.

        • Tim Sullivan says:

          “most often it’s because they are fools and refuse to follow heath and safety regulations”. Source? And pulling facts from your ass is not a legitimate source.

    • Kevin says:

      Not meaning to descend into assholeness myserlf, but have you looked into mindfulness courses? Much better than some other methods of stress management.

      • Brian says:

        Mindfulness courses?! Sure I’ve looked into them. And not to come off as a prick myself but… Have you or anyone here ever looked into the employment standards exemptions for people in construction? Migrant workers have more rights than a person/citizen that manages a multi million dollar construction project. Ever checked into how many studies have been conducted on construction workers and mental health? I have. None. Not one in North America. Zero. Worldwide? One. Sample size? 178. Where? UK. 17% of those in the sample were suffering from some sort of mental illness. Wanna know what happens when a guy gets killed on a construction site? Nothing. Nobody asks if you’re okay. Everyone scatters and guys like me are forced to defend ourselves against a malicious Ministry of Labour who want to crucify us at all costs. Wanna know what happens when you ask for help because you’re already working 60 hours a week with no overtime pay and your family life is crumbling because you’re never home? Your owner calls you to remind you that there is no limit to the hours they can make you work and tells you that if you don’t like it, you should go sit at home and insinuates that you’re an asshole for citing employment standards for something as simple as trying to get your vacation pay. I’m a construction superintendent in the ICI sector and there isn’t anyone that gives a shit about whether we live or die or how much we work without compensation. We’re management, (but not really, according to our superiors.) And a guy making a joke about a PM hiding in a closet is what’s important to all of you? Let me remind you all that without 156 men and women dying each year; without my taking a 30% risk everyday that I’m gonna die, you complainers wouldn’t have parliament from which to govern a country, you wouldn’t have a police department to keep you safe, you wouldn’t have jails to incarcerate criminals, you wouldn’t have your homes, apartments or cottages. There would be no auto plants, no bridges, no roads, no dams, no power plants, no hospitals, no schools to educate you and make you feel superior to people like me, so you can sit here and whine about, of all things, bad jokes by comedians that don’t matter.. You wanna make a difference? Look at what people like me have to go through everyday. If three cops, firefighters or soldiers died each week you’d all be up in arms but a construction worker? Who cares, right? Get your shit together people. And yes, I’m having a bad month. One of our guys had the privilege of watching a man jump in front of a subway a few weeks ago and nobody, not a soul asked if he was okay or took him aside and offered him counselling. Ever seen a human being, bleeding out, trapped between a subway car and the platform? Didn’t think so. But why would anyone care, you’re all too busy worrying about a dumb picture of a dumb comic portraying a dumb PM.

        So to finish answering your question about mindfulness therapy… I’d love to try it and so would most other superintendents but we’re too busy putting in our 60 to 100 hours a week. Up at 4:15a.m., home by 6pm and in bed by 9pm. Six days a week. As for Sundays… That’s just a day for worry. That’s the day I’m afraid to go to sleep because I know what’s gonna happen when I wake up. That’s the day when I lie down; I secretly hope I don’t wake up. So if you really want to complain about something unjust and stupid, read this: https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/srt/coverage_construction_employee.php

        Sorry folks but we’re literally dying so you can have your big houses and over priced condos, and we’re being worked to death and taken advantage of. There is no union for people like me. There is no help, no security. You wanna be mad at something, be mad at this kind of stuff.

        (And for the record… I’ve been an asshole on this site in the past and I know now that it’s not who I am. Maybe I’m just a guy looking to be heard.) Sorry, Warren. I’ve been a bit of a dick at times. When I see people railing for bullshit like a comic nobody cares about,… Well, today, I snapped just a little. Other than that folks… Get your priorities straight.

        • Kevin says:

          Sounds like something happened recently. I’m sorry about that. I can identify and sympathize.

          • Brian says:

            Kevin,

            Thank you. It’s getting worse and worse and I snapped a little today. I meant no offense with my reply on mindfulness therapy. There’s just no time, no protection and no willingness from construction companies to take mental health seriously in our industry. I think what got me riled or may have triggered my response is the fact that the incident on The Hill had to do with a mentally ill person and rather than focussing on the fact that mental illness was the catalyst in the murder of Nathan Cirillo, we’re going after a comedian for making fun of a half with PM. It was a half with making fun of a half wit. Poor taste? Sure. I get it.

            If nothing else, this whole exchange has made me realise that I have to re-focus and find me some people to change the laws and to take mental illness seriously in construction. I can’t be the only guy losing his shit. Thanks for not fanning my flames. Mad respect for your understanding, friend.

          • Nicole says:

            Brian, my dad worked in the auto industry and was in a trade so he would be there during changeover. He witnessed more than a few deaths and it wasn’t simply because people were acting foolish. Time is money and often workers, especially non unionized, do not have the protection to refuse an unsafe job.

            If we had a parade for every time a worker died in a factory or construction site like we do for cops then maybe people would be aware of how serious the problem is. As for Workers Comp? It covers the bare minimum and sometimes not even that.

        • John B. says:

          Other factors may contribute, but the cops and firefighters get the headlines, parades, bagpipes and wellness programs because they have a union of sorts and, more importantly, because they aren’t subject to our version of the employment-at-will principle. But in construction, whether unionized or not, the working slugs and their supervisors are accorded the right to quit any time they want and, of course, the right to remain silent. Period. I have an offer for the guy who figures that when workers die “most often it’s because they are fools and refuse to follow health and safety regulations”. I’ll tell him everything he obviously doesn’t know about that right to refuse unsafe work, but for a price. I won’t discuss it here.

          Vibrancy, dynamism and flexibility before all else – and just make sure somebody else has the job of sorting it all out. That’s how we manage the stress. By the time the system would deal with redress of some often very critical safety issues or performing the administrative functions required to set up therapy sessions, somebody else could have had the job done and been chased or sent on to the next one. I wouldn’t take any job from foreman through project manager even if I thought I was the smartest guy on earth.

          “Mindfulness” sounds like the cheapest ticket to the next layoff. I think we should leave the courses to the spa people.

          • Brian says:

            just a little update. I’ve contacted an employment lawyer, and will, at my expense, look into what we can do to enact some change. I’m a construction superintendent and we’re the least protected of all and have the highest amount of personal and professional liability. How can one man be responsible for 50 others and everything they do? It’s not like we work in an office and can just communicate through email. It’s not like we can meet at the water cooler. We walk miles in a day, over rebar and spikes and across ledges and girders and up ladders and down shafts, into confined spaces filled with poisonous gases, inhaling silica, getting burned with slag, in the heat, in the cold, in the rain and in fair weather. We don’t get anytime off and even when we go home and think we can sleep, we’re actually on call 24/7 and if someone gets onto my job and gets killed while I’m not there… Yeah, you guessed it… The MOL will go out of their way to fry me for doing something wrong.

            We’re not lawyers but I have a 2000 page contract that I have to administer along with the 20-30 sub-contracts I have to administer, and then I have the drawings, the Occupational Health and Safety Act for Construction Projects and of course The Ontario Building Code—-which is like 26,000 pages… So, riddle me this… Why are people like me unprotected, underpaid and abused when we tell our offices that we need help or that were drowning? Why won’t my MP call me back? This shouldn’t be about a provincial regulation or Act. To quote our PM: “It’s 2016,” for fuck-sakes. Why are being treated like it’s 1950?

            I’ll say this is my last post on this and thank all that were kind enough to participate. (Feels nice not to feel alone.)

            Mr. Kinsella: Thanks for letting us have this chat. It’s meant a great deal that you allowed it to continue. Perhaps you would consider joining a few of us construction types at a round table in the future along with some mental health professionals to hear about what we go through each day. I’ll keep you posted.

  18. Liam says:

    I think it’s perfectly fitting way to say goodbye to Stephen Harper.

  19. John B. says:

    I think that by now we can be fairly certain that no security people including those specifically assigned to protect Harper were in the caucus room when the shooting started and didn’t put him in the closet.

    From 17 Dec 2014: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-says-rcmp-training-prepared-him-for-oct-22-attack-1.2876904

    CBC News: “It is known Harper was put inside a storage closet in the caucus room for his own protection by some of his colleagues.”

    Harper: “At a time like that, my first responsibility, and as you know, I’ve told you, were – were, received some training to deal with these kinds of situations. My first responsibility is to extricate myself from such a situation so I can continue the normal functions of government and obviously extraordinary functions on a day like that.”

    I have no criticism of Harper’s actions or explanations. Of course, it would have been nice had his colleagues given some thought to the guy in the wheelchair. Let’s just give over with the “training” references and the images of official security personnel jumping into action and hustling Harper to the extrication site.

    • dave constable says:

      I never liked the Harper regime from the get go. However, the whole closet thing just seemed like cheap shots to me. If someone was against this government, they should get after the way they governed, their policies and the effects of their policies. I know the Conservatives made the ‘tough guy’ image a part of their pr, but it was the policies that mattered.
      Besides, I would have a whole lot of other questions about this ‘terrorist’ incident than about who took safety precautions.

  20. This Hour Has 22 Minutes stopped being funny about the same time Kurt Kobain shot himself. It should go the way of The Beachcombers and Rempel was absolutely justified in taking Critch to task. A gunman was on the loose. People got killed. Critch is a dick.

  21. Mark Waterhouse says:

    true, mark critch is a useless twat, just like the tv show he is on, bring back beachcombers, and north of 60 only good things on cbc besides hockey night in Canada,and that might soon be gone thanks to Rogers, cbc, your time is almost up

  22. Greg Longphee says:

    Hi Warren,

    While we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on things, you were bang-on with this one. Mark Critch is indeed an asshole, and, with luck, I will never hear his name again.

  23. Eric Weiss says:

    It’s actually illegal for the PM to not follow the direction of his security detail if there is a threat present. They could have and would have physically forced him to comply with their directions if he didn’t.

  24. Donald Mac Leod says:

    The point of the RCMP doing as they did was to put the Prime Minister of Canada in a position where he could be hidden and just as important, found on a moments notice as the RCMP made a contingency plan to protect our Prime Minister. For Harper, it took courage to stay where put & not make a run for it because he knew the RCMP were depending on him to do exactly that. Warren , full accolades to you for being fair in spite of the desire of your former team players to smear at every opportunity. You have grown over the years & I am learning new respect for you. 2VB2

  25. I disagree with Warren about 99.9% of the time. This post here, represents the 0.1% of the time that I don’t disagree with him. Thank you for posting this, Warren. It’s about time a long-time Liberal stood up and told the assholes how it really is and how the Prime Minister’s security thing really works.

  26. Vancouverois says:

    I wish I could be amazed at the shameless hypocrisy being displayed here – but it’s pretty much par for the course.

    It’s funny how those who most ostentatiously clutch their pearls, and most loudly accuse the Conservatives of single-handedly bringing horrific levels of toxicity into Canada’s political discourse, are actually the most toxic of all.

  27. Paul O says:

    Well said, Mr. K! And true of all who were on the Hill that day, whether they were in the room adjacent to where the shots were fired, or held elsewhere in the building in lockdown by the RCMP hours later.

  28. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    I wasn’t going to comment on this but what the Hell. If the RCMP was in the room you do what they bloody well tell you. And if they weren’t, you do what they taught you previously. No contest.

    Ex-Prezs now get only 10 years of Secret Service protection. It used to be for life. Ex-PMs, apparently zip. Given the Toronto 17, it shouldn’t be that way. That’s far too irresponsible.

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