You MUST do his reports where he is with Jann Arden, I believe 10 episodes with her, bungee jumping with Rock Hansen, interviewing and hanging out with prime ministers. 😂 He is a Canadian TREASURE LOVED BY ALL OF CANADA.
Canada really doesn't bother much with the queen(king now) unless you are one of those people that fans out about monarchy. Mostly the connection is symbolic. We post her face on our money and move on with our lives.
As others have said, what Rick Mercer described in this clip are actually just humourous details of a parliamentary democracy. All of those quirks generally apply to most British Commonwealth countries (former British dominions), such as Australia, New Zealand, a number of African countries and many Caribbean & Pacific island nations. Most of their residents are blissfully unaware of how it works in their country too. UK (England with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) would have something similar but probably more rigid because they are the foundation of the old Empire. The king is our head of state but our head of government is the prime minister. The head of state is pretty much a ceremonial role. The big democratic alternative form of government is a republic where the 2 roles are combined (like the US). Many Commonwealth countries have their shirts in a knot and want to become republics (most recently Barbados.) In Canada's case we are pragmatic... getting rid of the Governor General (i.e the King) just means we have to spend a pile of money dressing up the prime minister in a military costume to do the ceremonial stuff. And we don't need to give our prime minister a bigger ego. With the King, he only visits every few years and the British taxpayer pays for him when he's not here! The GG doesn't cost as much when he's not here. So why waste the money to become a republic??
Elizabeth II was in fact _not_ "The Queen of England" and it follows that Charles III is not "The King of England". Kings and Queens have _Kingdoms_ and England has not been a Kingdom since 1707 when it merged with the Kingdom of Scotland. The last "Queen of England" was Anne who was "Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland" from 8 March 1702 to 1 May 1707, after which she was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death in 1714.
I've been fortunate enough to have spent a few minutes chatting with him. He is genuine and, of course, hilarious with a great thinking mind. A Canadian treasure.
Everything that Rick Mercer says about Canada and it’s politics is true. Even though he looks for the funny side of an activity or incident it’s all true. The comedy is used to show people the problem with a particular issue that they might not have seen on their own.
His humour is only understood by those who understand the topic very well to begin with. His humour is missed by those who are trying to learn and as such he displays us as a banana republic. He is trying to get Canadians to laugh at ourselves which is a trait typically displayed in NewFoundLand which i 8:17 book about themselves. Here’s one for you: How do you get a one armed off a flag pole? Answer: “you wave to him”. Another one: what is an example of a lazy Newfoundlander? Answer: “He marries a pregnant woman”.
So I was a 4th year university student studying Political Science when this happened in late 2008 and early 2009. It was as chaotic as I've ever seen Canadian Politics. Nobody knew what was really going to happen. After the 2008 financial crash there was an election in Canada and the Conservative Party won the most seats, but not a majority of seats in Parliament. They formed a minority government, and the leader of the second largest party, the Liberal Party, announced his resignation once a new leader was chosen. Following a surprisingly optimistic budget plan, which included major cuts to funding for smaller political parties, the three smaller parties agreed to form a Coalition. The Liberal Party, and New Democratic Party (NDP) would form a government with support from the separatist Bloc Quebecois party. In order to avoid the House of Commons vote he would almost certainly lose the Prime Minister requested the Governor General to Prorogue Parliament, which she granted. Buying the Prime Minister a few months to come up with a new budget and a plan to break the coalition. During the Prorogation the Liberal Party selected a new leader, one who was disinclined to support the Coalition. When Parliament returned the Liberals supported the new budget, and the Prime Minister kept his job and the Conservative government.
That about sums it up. Of course, our current PM, Trudeau is famous for proroguing Parliament when it is politically expedient to do so, and he now has a coalition government of his own with the NDP. That NDP coalition has forced the Liberals to bring in the beginnings of Universal Day-care, Universal Pharmacare and Universal Dental. All programs that the NDP wanted to have brought in exchange for their support of the Trudeau Liberal government.
This is also the explanation for the "this dude" and "this dude" and "no, it couldn't be that dude" section. There was serious concern that if the Coalition formed, the Conservative party would need to find a new leader to replace Stephen Harper. I don't actually recognize "this dude" or "this dude" but I do recognize "no, it couldn't be that dude" as John Baird. At this time he was Harper's Environment Minister but later would server as Minister of Transport and also Foreign Affairs Minister. As Environment Minister, this guy was not very popular because during the financial crisis of 2008, he felt it wasn't a good time to be putting restrictions on Canadian industry to meet carbon requirements for the Kyoto Protocol. So even though Canada agreed to it, he did pretty much nothing to actually follow through. Also, he pretty much put anyone in the opposition or international community that supported it on blast.
Explained really well, yes his stories are true. Right now Rick is on tour with a friend of his, Jann Arden (who is a singer/actor from Calgary). They are hilarious together. Jann has been on Rick's show often and Jann had her own show at one time. That was very funny as well.
There's an important context to consider for this video: This clip comes from a political comedy show called "This Hour has 22 Minutes", which aired only in Canada, to Canadian audiences. It was by, for, and of Canadians. Baring that in mind... Rick is actually explaining how Canada's upper government functions TO Canadians, because it had become apparent that a pretty large percentage of Canadians WERE NOT AWARE of a lot of these facts. Ask most Canadians, and they'll tell you Canada is an independent sovereign nation that runs itself (and we do) However "officially" (as opposed to "in practical terms") the English monarch is our "Head of State". Considering the English monarchy doesn't really have any real ruling authority even in England, this title is 99.9% ceremonial and weightless (And Rick here is explaining that other 0.1% situation). Canada operates as it's own nation, however, we never had the falling out with Britain that the USA did, so we still honour our historical relationship to England, in the same way children grow up and move out of their mother's house, but will still mail her a Mother's Day card. The two most PRACTICAL ways in which we might still be considered a subservient British colony, would be if we paid taxes to England as tribute, or if England had the power to order our armies into war. We don't do either of those. In fact, in WW2, Canada purposefully delayed its entry into the war by one week after England joined, just to remind folks we don't jump when they say jump... and then after we'd made our point we grabbed our guns and started loading up into planes and ships to rush to England's aid (I mean come on, that's *our Mom's* house being air-bombed! OF COURSE we're coming to help!!!)
While Rick Mercer started off on "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", this segment aired in 2008 which would have been when he was doing "Rick Mercer Report". It's similar to how Stephen Colbert started off on "The Daily Show" before starting his own show "The Colbert Report".
1:21 Mert, you asked 'when was this?' Rick must have recorded the video between February 2006 (when Harper became PM) and September 2010 (when Michaëlle Jean left Governor General's office). And yes, Mercer didn't make up the stories, he just embellished them a bit, as a comedian will do.
He retired from TV sadly. Whenever we have a minority government, the ruling party has to strike deals with one of the other parties to get stuff passed and hold onto power. Some people prefer minority governments so compromise is a must vs majority governments who just do whatever they want even if a large portion of Canadians don't like it. We have HORRIBLE voter turn out, so the official ruling party often represents maybe 30% of the people that voted. Two of our Govenor Generals were TV personalities, Adrienne Clarkson and Michel Jean. Oh Canada. Hugs from 🇨🇦
As a Canadian, I am proud of our roots. I was in the Canadian Forces for twenty years and I was more than happy to serve (at the time) Queen and country. I love tradition. It's what binds families and communities together. Without it, you lose your identity. I won't accept any argument against it. You may as well argue with a brick wall if you do try to.
Yes, it was true. The 4th member he showed and said “not this guy” I believe it was Maxim Bernier. There’s not enough time to explain all of it but he once left top secret documents I think it was in a taxi while going to his girlfriend. The system of government is like the British form, like the slew of prime ministers you’ve had in the last few years but it was the conservatives who are leading. Mercer is fantastic. His video about Gord Downie still makes me so proud.
I like our British connection. I shook the Queens hand when I was 16 in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada and was interviewed by live at 5 by Nancy Reagan and Paul Menier. It was a great experience
No, by Justin Trudeau's hair, which is what silly, superficial, vapid Canadians who were enamoured with him were interested in. And whattaya think of him now..?
@@oilersridersbluejays Sadly Jack Layton passed away before 2015. I was back in university at the time and the phrase of the election was "anyone but Harper". If Jack were still around, I think we would have had a good chance at the first NDP prime minister instead of Trudeau.
Problem is there is a major flaw, so long as the Minority government party has an ally in one of the others, it is impossible to remove the PM even when the country is in uproar about their policies. Such as it is right now with Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party and the NDP. Even though many of their own voters are furious with the current direction they are going, the NDP are supporting the Liberals no matter what. Because if an election was called now the NDP would loose seats according to polling.
Yes it's true and Steven Harper was defeated so bad in the next election it was so embarrassing that he retreated from public life. Haven't seen or heard anything about him in many years
He's trying to run a world-wide right wing coup called the IDU. Spends time with all the great folks that Trump does. And he's funded by....you don't want to know.
Not true. This segment was aired in 2008 when Harper was the leader of a minority government. The next election was in 2011 and Harper won a majority government and was able to accomplish a lot more things that he couldn't have done before like repealing the long-gun registry, withdrawing Canada from the Kyoto Protocol and authorizing Operation Impact to combat ISIS. It was in the 2015 elections that he was defeated.
Rogers is one of the four big Telecommunications companies in Canada, actually one of the biggest companies in the country period. They control a large section of the media landscape. Including cable/satellite phone and internet connection, cell phone infrastructure and services, television channels, and they own the Toronto Blue Jays Canada's only remaining Major League Baseball team
That really did happen. I remember it well. Stephen asked the GG to prorogue Parliment,effectively wiping clean the Order Paper of old or existing business and to set a new legislative agenda. It let him remain in power when all indications were that he was about to be tarred and feathered. (Well, figuratively at least). It was regarded as a vey sleazy move.
Ran into Rick Mercer this past weekend... he was getting coffee in the mall. I said "Hey! You're Rick Mercer!" he replied "yeah sorry about that" We chatted about the weather and gave a fist bump. Great guy!
Since the death of Elizabeth ll and her son Charles has become King, it's time we cut the cord. Not emotionally, but politically. King Charles is an absolute twit and won't last long. Canada needs to find it's way and become more independent of both the UK and the USA.
@@billfarley9167Being tied to the Monarchy is literally the #1 thing that has prevented us from being completely absorbed by the US. Canada simply isn't a big enough country to truly stand on its own. If you want less US influence, ditching the Monarchy isn't a good place to start. It's kind of one sphere of influence or the other for us, and I'll take the Commonwealth Realms any day. The influence the Crown has in Canada is far more in our interest and involves much less interference than your average American president.
@@yjwrangler7819It doesn't include prescriptions, dental, or optical for most people, and it does come out of taxes, but it's still on average half as expensive as American health care and you can't be denied coverage.
I saw this segment when it was current news. It’s as funny now as it was then. As far as I know Rick is still making jokes about the news. He says Canadian politics are his baseball.
That does basically explain Canadian politics on a federal level. It's a bit rough and ready but its what works. Most if the time. The vote for confidence is essential. Its basically all of the people you work with doing an intervention.
The whole gov't needs a shake up. Yes, the economy is basically the same as it was in 2016. My cell service isn't any better & I'm not paying less on taxes or leveys or any of the clawbacks. The winner of the election hasn't made anything easier for a single Canadian.
Rick Mercer is a national treasure! Nobody does a better job defining Canada or Canadianisms. As for our loyalty to the British monarchy, in my opinion, more of us each year would like to dissolve it.
Yep, it seems that way with the polling over the last several years. When the inevitable polls of what makes us Canadian happen around Canada day, the connection to the monarchy rarely makes the top 10.
I personally like our association with Britain. My husband, on the other hand, emigrated from Scotland. He never did become a Canadian citizen (dual citizenship) because he would have had to swear allegiance to the Queen.
I wish he was still on T.V. He’d have a field day. The show he was on before the “Rick Mercer Report” was “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.” You can find recent clips from them here on UA-cam which will give a more recent picture of how politics are right now.
This is an old one. Justin Trudeau. is Prime Minster (for now)ours is something like the House of Lords.Rogers is ( Still) the cable ) but Bell has fibre opt.....we love fast things...I know I love our connection to Britain...even if they did sell us to Canada ..very underhanded I must add...NFLD wanted to become part of the USA...we thought the Canadians were much too arrogant.
"It could be this dude" - Preston Manning was leader of the Reform Party. It changed its name to Canadian Alliance for short and picked Stockwell Day as the new leader. The Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party of Canada. Stockwell Day - see video where Rick Mercer has petition to change his name to Doris. "This Hour Has 22 Minutes-Rick Mercer: Stockwell Doris Day" "No it couldn't be that dude." - John Baird was officially the workaholic that Harper let dance with his wife at functions. He was in a glass closet. He was accidentally outed on a radio show. The rabble short "Baird Bared" details his career right after politics. "Tory MP thinks Fartgate stinks | 22 Minutes" - exchange between Scott Brison and John Baird at end. Proroguing Parliament was a delay tactic which allowed a potential Coalition Government to fall apart. Canada tends not to have Coalition Governments and that was only the second attempt at one in our history. Canada tends towards "balance of power"
Yes, it's mostly true. Harper tried to balance the budget by utilizing Canada Pension funds. He went back to his Strip mall constituency office in Calgary.
It’s true the executive power in Canada is the British monarchy and his power is expressed via the cabinet of ministers. I would personally never want to break further apart from Britain. It’s even an outside possibility that I would physically fight someone who disagreed.
As Rick Mercer pointed out, if you're born in Canada you never actually attend a ceremony where you swear that oath. Only new immigrants to Canada have to swear that oath. Given the declining number of people who are religious these days swearing an oath is pretty much an anachronism. Ask your average Canadian to state/quote/repeat the oath and it would be a deafening silence.
As a Canadian I never had any problem with the Queen. Probably since she has just always been there. Now Charles I am a little iffy on and I am not at all thrilled with either of his kids.
The King is a good man with a great sense of duty as was his Mother. William the Prince of Wales is also a great man with an amazing sense of duty that will do us proud when he is our King. In my opinion.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat they don't reign over Canada, they are a symbolic head of state, they are a tie to the beginning of Canada, a tie to our past, a continuity to our future. And with the King in the position of head of state it prevents any politician from trying to turn our and any commonwealth country into a dictatorship, or any other resurrection.
Harper is still one of the best Prime Minister we ever had. Whatever he's done wrong, is nothing compared to the sap we have now. Canada spoke and voted in the worst Prime Minister which is Trudeau in Canadian history. To replace one of the best Prime Minister which was Harper. I don't know why but Canadians seem to always vote for the liberals
Rick has it going on. Every time we had a PC Prime Minister, the country went into a deep reception. The Liberals have gone rotten and I have no interest or faith in any of the current party leaders. Thank you for your interest in Canada. It's as beautiful as you've heard and seen.
I am still happy to have a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system of government. Look at the system of governance in the United States, it makes ours look really straight forward and easy to understand.
Rick is retired from TV now sadly, so we don’t have his weekly wisdoms 😢 he's one of my favourite Canadians. He has written a few books though, and tours live shows. Nope, I do not think we need the connection to the British monarchy anymore. Canadian politics are always messed up. I never liked Stephen Harper, but at the time I was living in the US, and that yahoo was even worse 😝 I don't like our current PM Trudeau either. I didn't vote for any of them.
In human beings the tailbone is essentially useless. It's what remains of a tail. It can occasionally be a bother, but it's just a natural part of evolution. All things considered at this point I just assumed be a republic, but I'm not ready to make any great effort and disruption and further elimination of Canadian history to do it.
The monarchy, like circuses and bear baiting, is something from our dark past that really has no place in a modern world. But then again neither do most celebrities and sports figures. À chacun son goût, as we Canadians say (do we?).
Basically, The Tories had a minority government, PM Harper had the largest number of seats but did not have more than 50% of the seats in the house of commons. All other parties threatened to hold a vote of no confidence and form a 3 party coalition if he did not release the raw data on the Budget and revenue to back up his claims of surpluses. He responded by locking the MP's out of parliament so they were unable to get the conservatives out of power. After 3 weeks(I think) he released an updated projection and it showed when everyone knew to be true, Canada would post deficits over the next 5 years with the conservative budget. Harper was voted out of office the following election and Trudeau took power with a strong Majority government.
Ha Ha, Rick's video is 14 years old and we're still on hold with Rogers.
😆
I'm now on Hold with Shaw.
@@SchreiX1 You're on hold while they try to transfer you to their back office/Rogers call centre.
For those who don’t know, Rogers is a phone and tech company.
16 years old. Pretty sure it was broadcast in 2008.
Rogers is a cell phone provider in Canada
Also cable and internet
@@TheDopekittyyup they took over Shaw too
Just one more of the stupid big business monopolies we have to endure .
originally a cable tv provider
You MUST do his reports where he is with Jann Arden, I believe 10 episodes with her, bungee jumping with Rock Hansen, interviewing and hanging out with prime ministers. 😂 He is a Canadian TREASURE LOVED BY ALL OF CANADA.
you can pay my share of the money we send them
_Oahh, it's Jehnn Errden, eh? Oahh yah._
Canada really doesn't bother much with the queen(king now) unless you are one of those people that fans out about monarchy. Mostly the connection is symbolic. We post her face on our money and move on with our lives.
As others have said, what Rick Mercer described in this clip are actually just humourous details of a parliamentary democracy. All of those quirks generally apply to most British Commonwealth countries (former British dominions), such as Australia, New Zealand, a number of African countries and many Caribbean & Pacific island nations. Most of their residents are blissfully unaware of how it works in their country too. UK (England with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) would have something similar but probably more rigid because they are the foundation of the old Empire. The king is our head of state but our head of government is the prime minister. The head of state is pretty much a ceremonial role. The big democratic alternative form of government is a republic where the 2 roles are combined (like the US). Many Commonwealth countries have their shirts in a knot and want to become republics (most recently Barbados.) In Canada's case we are pragmatic... getting rid of the Governor General (i.e the King) just means we have to spend a pile of money dressing up the prime minister in a military costume to do the ceremonial stuff. And we don't need to give our prime minister a bigger ego. With the King, he only visits every few years and the British taxpayer pays for him when he's not here! The GG doesn't cost as much when he's not here. So why waste the money to become a republic??
Elizabeth II was in fact _not_ "The Queen of England" and it follows that Charles III is not "The King of England". Kings and Queens have _Kingdoms_ and England has not been a Kingdom since 1707 when it merged with the Kingdom of Scotland. The last "Queen of England" was Anne who was "Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland" from 8 March 1702 to 1 May 1707, after which she was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death in 1714.
We have more fondness for Queen Victoria and her father Prince Edward, than any other monarch.
As a Canadian who's ancestors arrived here from Ireland in 1795, I disagree. Speak for yourself. We does not include me.
Well, you're definitely Irish!
SOooo, it's a fight you want, is it???@@billfarley9167
I actually like the connection to Britain.
Rick is a national treasure.
Rick is literally a Canadian gem. He’s awesome
Aahh the trending misuse of the word literally, strikes again. But I fully agree with your figurative statement. Rick is a gem. A definite favourite.
I've been fortunate enough to have spent a few minutes chatting with him. He is genuine and, of course, hilarious with a great thinking mind. A Canadian treasure.
I'm not surprised. He seems genuine & very funny. He always makes me laugh not an easy task.
My brother met him and said he's a great guy.
Everything that Rick Mercer says about Canada and it’s politics is true. Even though he looks for the funny side of an activity or incident it’s all true. The comedy is used to show people the problem with a particular issue that they might not have seen on their own.
His humour is only understood by those who understand the topic very well to begin with. His humour is missed by those who are trying to learn and as such he displays us as a banana republic. He is trying to get Canadians to laugh at ourselves which is a trait typically displayed in NewFoundLand which i 8:17 book about themselves. Here’s one for you: How do you get a one armed off a flag pole? Answer: “you wave to him”. Another one: what is an example of a lazy Newfoundlander? Answer: “He marries a pregnant woman”.
Make no mistake, Rick is spot on.
So I was a 4th year university student studying Political Science when this happened in late 2008 and early 2009. It was as chaotic as I've ever seen Canadian Politics. Nobody knew what was really going to happen. After the 2008 financial crash there was an election in Canada and the Conservative Party won the most seats, but not a majority of seats in Parliament. They formed a minority government, and the leader of the second largest party, the Liberal Party, announced his resignation once a new leader was chosen. Following a surprisingly optimistic budget plan, which included major cuts to funding for smaller political parties, the three smaller parties agreed to form a Coalition. The Liberal Party, and New Democratic Party (NDP) would form a government with support from the separatist Bloc Quebecois party.
In order to avoid the House of Commons vote he would almost certainly lose the Prime Minister requested the Governor General to Prorogue Parliament, which she granted. Buying the Prime Minister a few months to come up with a new budget and a plan to break the coalition. During the Prorogation the Liberal Party selected a new leader, one who was disinclined to support the Coalition. When Parliament returned the Liberals supported the new budget, and the Prime Minister kept his job and the Conservative government.
That about sums it up. Of course, our current PM, Trudeau is famous for proroguing Parliament when it is politically expedient to do so, and he now has a coalition government of his own with the NDP. That NDP coalition has forced the Liberals to bring in the beginnings of Universal Day-care, Universal Pharmacare and Universal Dental. All programs that the NDP wanted to have brought in exchange for their support of the Trudeau Liberal government.
I started working for Parliament in '07. The chaos was insane.
This is also the explanation for the "this dude" and "this dude" and "no, it couldn't be that dude" section. There was serious concern that if the Coalition formed, the Conservative party would need to find a new leader to replace Stephen Harper. I don't actually recognize "this dude" or "this dude" but I do recognize "no, it couldn't be that dude" as John Baird. At this time he was Harper's Environment Minister but later would server as Minister of Transport and also Foreign Affairs Minister. As Environment Minister, this guy was not very popular because during the financial crisis of 2008, he felt it wasn't a good time to be putting restrictions on Canadian industry to meet carbon requirements for the Kyoto Protocol. So even though Canada agreed to it, he did pretty much nothing to actually follow through. Also, he pretty much put anyone in the opposition or international community that supported it on blast.
Explained really well, yes his stories are true. Right now Rick is on tour with a friend of his, Jann Arden (who is a singer/actor from Calgary). They are hilarious together. Jann has been on Rick's show often and Jann had her own show at one time. That was very funny as well.
_Oahh Jehnn Errden, ya say, eh? Oahh yah._
I have tickets to their show in May. Looking forward to it!
Rick is a very astute political commentator.
Absolutely smart & funny. He should run for Prime Minister I'd vote for him. 😊
There's an important context to consider for this video: This clip comes from a political comedy show called "This Hour has 22 Minutes", which aired only in Canada, to Canadian audiences. It was by, for, and of Canadians. Baring that in mind... Rick is actually explaining how Canada's upper government functions TO Canadians, because it had become apparent that a pretty large percentage of Canadians WERE NOT AWARE of a lot of these facts. Ask most Canadians, and they'll tell you Canada is an independent sovereign nation that runs itself (and we do) However "officially" (as opposed to "in practical terms") the English monarch is our "Head of State". Considering the English monarchy doesn't really have any real ruling authority even in England, this title is 99.9% ceremonial and weightless (And Rick here is explaining that other 0.1% situation). Canada operates as it's own nation, however, we never had the falling out with Britain that the USA did, so we still honour our historical relationship to England, in the same way children grow up and move out of their mother's house, but will still mail her a Mother's Day card.
The two most PRACTICAL ways in which we might still be considered a subservient British colony, would be if we paid taxes to England as tribute, or if England had the power to order our armies into war. We don't do either of those. In fact, in WW2, Canada purposefully delayed its entry into the war by one week after England joined, just to remind folks we don't jump when they say jump... and then after we'd made our point we grabbed our guns and started loading up into planes and ships to rush to England's aid (I mean come on, that's *our Mom's* house being air-bombed! OF COURSE we're coming to help!!!)
I enjoyed your explanation! (Mom's house is in danger! To the boats!)
@@jessicazaytsoff1494 Many Canadians still had family connections in the UK at that point too so it made sense we jumped in to help.
While Rick Mercer started off on "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", this segment aired in 2008 which would have been when he was doing "Rick Mercer Report". It's similar to how Stephen Colbert started off on "The Daily Show" before starting his own show "The Colbert Report".
1:21 Mert, you asked 'when was this?' Rick must have recorded the video between February 2006 (when Harper became PM) and September 2010 (when Michaëlle Jean left Governor General's office). And yes, Mercer didn't make up the stories, he just embellished them a bit, as a comedian will do.
He retired from TV sadly.
Whenever we have a minority government, the ruling party has to strike deals with one of the other parties to get stuff passed and hold onto power. Some people prefer minority governments so compromise is a must vs majority governments who just do whatever they want even if a large portion of Canadians don't like it. We have HORRIBLE voter turn out, so the official ruling party often represents maybe 30% of the people that voted.
Two of our Govenor Generals were TV personalities, Adrienne Clarkson and Michel Jean.
Oh Canada.
Hugs from 🇨🇦
As a Canadian, I am proud of our roots. I was in the Canadian Forces for twenty years and I was more than happy to serve (at the time) Queen and country. I love tradition. It's what binds families and communities together. Without it, you lose your identity. I won't accept any argument against it. You may as well argue with a brick wall if you do try to.
Yes, it was true.
The 4th member he showed and said “not this guy” I believe it was Maxim Bernier. There’s not enough time to explain all of it but he once left top secret documents I think it was in a taxi while going to his girlfriend.
The system of government is like the British form, like the slew of prime ministers you’ve had in the last few years but it was the conservatives who are leading.
Mercer is fantastic. His video about Gord Downie still makes me so proud.
Actually that was John Baird.
@@ReggieWarrhol Who is equally terrible.
I like our British connection. I shook the Queens hand when I was 16 in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada and was interviewed by live at 5 by Nancy Reagan and Paul Menier. It was a great experience
This is actually pretty much how the UK parliament works as well... ;) Except your Conservatives are really trigger happy about their leaders lately.
We love Rick Mercer ❤️🇨🇦
Rogers is a mobile phone, cable, company.
The "dudes" are cabinet members.
CDN Parliament is a Westminster model, similar to GB
Steven Harper was eventually beaten by Justin Trudeau.
No, by Justin Trudeau's hair, which is what silly, superficial, vapid Canadians who were enamoured with him were interested in.
And whattaya think of him now..?
Unfortunately.
@@oilersridersbluejays Sadly Jack Layton passed away before 2015. I was back in university at the time and the phrase of the election was "anyone but Harper". If Jack were still around, I think we would have had a good chance at the first NDP prime minister instead of Trudeau.
Asking a Canadian if Rick Mercer is still on TV is like asking a Firefly fan what happened in season 2 :P
It really is. I learned more about my nation through him than I did in school... certainly explored more of our culture and nation with him too.
@@KMCA779 I really miss him and would love his commentary for today's events but I do understand why he finally left.
We like your channel ..cheers from British Columbia
got to love Rick
check out the royal canadian air farce. it was a political comedy show on tv here.
Haper used shenanigans to retain power when he shouldn't have been allowed to.
i'm at full volume and you are quiet ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
Mercer is on it. As a Canadian and American - the 'checks and balances' in Canada are FAR better than in the U.S.
Problem is there is a major flaw, so long as the Minority government party has an ally in one of the others, it is impossible to remove the PM even when the country is in uproar about their policies. Such as it is right now with Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party and the NDP. Even though many of their own voters are furious with the current direction they are going, the NDP are supporting the Liberals no matter what. Because if an election was called now the NDP would loose seats according to polling.
I Love Rick Mercer!
Yes it's true and Steven Harper was defeated so bad in the next election it was so embarrassing that he retreated from public life. Haven't seen or heard anything about him in many years
Stephen Harper runs the IDU and runs around the planet hob knobing with fascist governments.
He's trying to run a world-wide right wing coup called the IDU. Spends time with all the great folks that Trump does. And he's funded by....you don't want to know.
He wasn’t defeated that badly. Trudeau is going to face a massive collapse whenever the next election.
And I can’t wait.
Not true. This segment was aired in 2008 when Harper was the leader of a minority government. The next election was in 2011 and Harper won a majority government and was able to accomplish a lot more things that he couldn't have done before like repealing the long-gun registry, withdrawing Canada from the Kyoto Protocol and authorizing Operation Impact to combat ISIS. It was in the 2015 elections that he was defeated.
Fun little fact the governer general is appointed by the prime minister instead of the royal family
Rogers is one of the four big Telecommunications companies in Canada, actually one of the biggest companies in the country period. They control a large section of the media landscape. Including cable/satellite phone and internet connection, cell phone infrastructure and services, television channels, and they own the Toronto Blue Jays Canada's only remaining Major League Baseball team
And if you call them you end up on hold for half the day!
Yep, very true! That's a big part of why I don't use them. Lol
Rick Mercer is the greatest gift to Canada from the Comedy Gods.
That really did happen. I remember it well. Stephen asked the GG to prorogue Parliment,effectively wiping clean the Order Paper of old or existing business and to set a new legislative agenda. It let him remain in power when all indications were that he was about to be tarred and feathered. (Well, figuratively at least). It was regarded as a vey sleazy move.
Was it sleazy when Trudeau prorogue Parliament, or were you ok with that?
@@slake9727 Both were sleazy. Two sleazy guys. Two sleazy parties.
Prorogue is like Cntr+Alt+Del everything is rebooted in House of Commons and Senate. New speech from Thorne by Governor General.
@noseeyou I’ll take the Conservatives over any other party, any day. They aren’t perfect, but they are better than the rest.
I am the exact opposite.
You need to check out one of his rants. They were always some of his best segments.
at least Stephen Harper never blatantly got into blackface
Ran into Rick Mercer this past weekend... he was getting coffee in the mall. I said "Hey! You're Rick Mercer!" he replied "yeah sorry about that" We chatted about the weather and gave a fist bump. Great guy!
I love still being connected to England, as a Canadian we still get free health care of something happens while we are there!!🥰❤️🇨🇦
Don’t think about it much.
Since the death of Elizabeth ll and her son Charles has become King, it's time we cut the cord. Not emotionally, but politically. King Charles is an absolute twit and won't last long. Canada needs to find it's way and become more independent of both the UK and the USA.
It's. Not. FREE.
@@billfarley9167Being tied to the Monarchy is literally the #1 thing that has prevented us from being completely absorbed by the US. Canada simply isn't a big enough country to truly stand on its own. If you want less US influence, ditching the Monarchy isn't a good place to start. It's kind of one sphere of influence or the other for us, and I'll take the Commonwealth Realms any day. The influence the Crown has in Canada is far more in our interest and involves much less interference than your average American president.
@@yjwrangler7819It doesn't include prescriptions, dental, or optical for most people, and it does come out of taxes, but it's still on average half as expensive as American health care and you can't be denied coverage.
All true. For context, Rogers is a major cell phone/cable/internet provider rivalled directly by (read as colluding with) Bell.
I wish he still had a show I absolutely love him so funny
I saw this segment when it was current news. It’s as funny now as it was then. As far as I know Rick is still making jokes about the news. He says Canadian politics are his baseball.
I swore on an oath to Queen Victoria when I joined the Canadian army and didn't mind it as it is all in tradition.
I give you props for trying this one because it's very topical and you really need to know what was going on at the time to find it funny.
Rick Mercer is a comic genius.
16 years ago - The GG, RH Michaelle Jean left in 2010
I loved the late Queen! ❤
Maximun volume I cant hear Rick mercer much ((((( turn it aaaaall up you and vids ))
Can hardly hear it . . .
That does basically explain Canadian politics on a federal level.
It's a bit rough and ready but its what works. Most if the time.
The vote for confidence is essential. Its basically all of the people you work with doing an intervention.
The whole gov't needs a shake up. Yes, the economy is basically the same as it was in 2016. My cell service isn't any better & I'm not paying less on taxes or leveys or any of the clawbacks. The winner of the election hasn't made anything easier for a single Canadian.
Rick Mercer is a national treasure! Nobody does a better job defining Canada or Canadianisms. As for our loyalty to the British monarchy, in my opinion, more of us each year would like to dissolve it.
Yep, it seems that way with the polling over the last several years. When the inevitable polls of what makes us Canadian happen around Canada day, the connection to the monarchy rarely makes the top 10.
I personally like our association with Britain. My husband, on the other hand, emigrated from Scotland. He never did become a Canadian citizen (dual citizenship) because he would have had to swear allegiance to the Queen.
Technically it's a separate monarchy. Charles is King of Canada as a separate entity from King of the UK.
Rick is a national treasure. We love him 🇨🇦
Love Rick Mercer! God save the King!!
Rogers is a telephone company.known for poor service. Put on hold on the phone
Yes, Rick knows the inner workings of things, and I just love, love, his delivery 😅🥰.
I was proud to be one of Granny Liz's grandkids.....but was born into it. I don't care for Charles, and have no tie to William.
RIP Granny Liz
I wish he was still on T.V. He’d have a field day. The show he was on before the “Rick Mercer Report” was “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.” You can find recent clips from them here on UA-cam which will give a more recent picture of how politics are right now.
Have you ever seen Rick Mercer taking Rick Hansen bungie jumping? Strangely funny!
Rick Mercer, an absolute Canadian treasure. 🇨🇦
Can you hear our various Canadian accents? Rick Mercer is from Newfoundland and his accent is quite strong.
Truth, bless rick mercer
This is an old one. Justin Trudeau. is Prime Minster (for now)ours is something like the House of Lords.Rogers is ( Still) the cable ) but Bell has fibre opt.....we love fast things...I know I love our connection to Britain...even if they did sell us to Canada ..very underhanded I must add...NFLD wanted to become part of the USA...we thought the Canadians were much too arrogant.
"It could be this dude" - Preston Manning was leader of the Reform Party. It changed its name to Canadian Alliance for short and picked Stockwell Day as the new leader. The Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party of Canada.
Stockwell Day - see video where Rick Mercer has petition to change his name to Doris. "This Hour Has 22 Minutes-Rick Mercer: Stockwell Doris Day"
"No it couldn't be that dude." - John Baird was officially the workaholic that Harper let dance with his wife at functions. He was in a glass closet. He was accidentally outed on a radio show. The rabble short "Baird Bared" details his career right after politics. "Tory MP thinks Fartgate stinks | 22 Minutes" - exchange between Scott Brison and John Baird at end.
Proroguing Parliament was a delay tactic which allowed a potential Coalition Government to fall apart. Canada tends not to have Coalition Governments and that was only the second attempt at one in our history. Canada tends towards "balance of power"
I walked through Rick Mercers head at the Thamesville Corn Maze
Yes, it's mostly true. Harper tried to balance the budget by utilizing Canada Pension funds. He went back to his Strip mall constituency office in Calgary.
It’s true the executive power in Canada is the British monarchy and his power is expressed via the cabinet of ministers.
I would personally never want to break further apart from Britain. It’s even an outside possibility that I would physically fight someone who disagreed.
Most Canadians, including Rick Mercer, don realize that our monarch is a Canadian citizen. Fact.
The liberals left govt with a surplus but the conservative blew the surplus but now both parties haven't a clue how to balance the budget.
Thx Mert…. He is one of our best . 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
No biggie to swear allegiance to the British Monarch.
As Rick Mercer pointed out, if you're born in Canada you never actually attend a ceremony where you swear that oath. Only new immigrants to Canada have to swear that oath. Given the declining number of people who are religious these days swearing an oath is pretty much an anachronism. Ask your average Canadian to state/quote/repeat the oath and it would be a deafening silence.
Love the connection with UK. Thks for the start but it's time to go. We can stand proud all by ourselves.
As a Canadian I never had any problem with the Queen. Probably since she has just always been there. Now Charles I am a little iffy on and I am not at all thrilled with either of his kids.
The King is a good man with a great sense of duty as was his Mother. William the Prince of Wales is also a great man with an amazing sense of duty that will do us proud when he is our King. In my opinion.
@@garnetj69 That's fine opinions are like that. But exactly how does that entitle them to reign over Canada?
@@FakeSchrodingersCat they don't reign over Canada, they are a symbolic head of state, they are a tie to the beginning of Canada, a tie to our past, a continuity to our future. And with the King in the position of head of state it prevents any politician from trying to turn our and any commonwealth country into a dictatorship, or any other resurrection.
I think pledging to the King is ridiculous, very out dated. But, it keeps us part of the Commonwealth. This is very old, at least ten years.
The majority of us has shed that connection and feel no loyalty to where our forebearers came from. We're Canadian now.
The parliamentary monarchy is the best form of government.
Harper is still one of the best Prime Minister we ever had. Whatever he's done wrong, is nothing compared to the sap we have now. Canada spoke and voted in the worst Prime Minister which is Trudeau in Canadian history. To replace one of the best Prime Minister which was Harper. I don't know why but Canadians seem to always vote for the liberals
Love our connection to the Monarchy. Love Rick Mercer lol
Rick has it going on. Every time we had a PC Prime Minister, the country went into a deep reception. The Liberals have gone rotten and I have no interest or faith in any of the current party leaders.
Thank you for your interest in Canada. It's as beautiful as you've heard and seen.
What is being described, still exists. Funny what you can get used to.
I am still happy to have a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system of government. Look at the system of governance in the United States, it makes ours look really straight forward and easy to understand.
Rick is retired from TV now sadly, so we don’t have his weekly wisdoms 😢 he's one of my favourite Canadians. He has written a few books though, and tours live shows.
Nope, I do not think we need the connection to the British monarchy anymore.
Canadian politics are always messed up. I never liked Stephen Harper, but at the time I was living in the US, and that yahoo was even worse 😝 I don't like our current PM Trudeau either. I didn't vote for any of them.
In human beings the tailbone is essentially useless. It's what remains of a tail. It can occasionally be a bother, but it's just a natural part of evolution. All things considered at this point I just assumed be a republic, but I'm not ready to make any great effort and disruption and further elimination of Canadian history to do it.
Canada can’t detach from the crown. The Treaties are with the crown not with Canada.
Rogers = Cable, internet, mobile phone plans, etc.
Under duress, I once swore allegiance to the State of Ohio - after that, HM is easy.
As a once proud Canadian our relationship with Britain is a looooong outdated joke . Way past time to move on .
imagine canada with anything resembling a balanced economy.
The monarchy, like circuses and bear baiting, is something from our dark past that really has no place in a modern world.
But then again neither do most celebrities and sports figures. À chacun son goût, as we Canadians say (do we?).
Too much Unceded territory to make an accurate opinion..
Basically, The Tories had a minority government, PM Harper had the largest number of seats but did not have more than 50% of the seats in the house of commons. All other parties threatened to hold a vote of no confidence and form a 3 party coalition if he did not release the raw data on the Budget and revenue to back up his claims of surpluses. He responded by locking the MP's out of parliament so they were unable to get the conservatives out of power. After 3 weeks(I think) he released an updated projection and it showed when everyone knew to be true, Canada would post deficits over the next 5 years with the conservative budget. Harper was voted out of office the following election and Trudeau took power with a strong Majority government.
Yup. This was 2008 right as the great financial crisis was kicking off.
Rogers is a Telecommunications company
I still enjoy being connected to England. It doesn’t feel as strong of a connection as it was years ago.
He is so funny. At least we can laugh at ourselves.
Truly, watching the Canadian government in action is like watching an episode of The Muppet Show.
and we have a TV channel devoted to it.
ROGERS is our phone company