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| Great White North |
| They asked if I could drive a truck |
| 2011-11-05 |
| [Dawn] The lieutenant-governor of Canada's Newfoundland province, former cabinet minister John Crosbie, came under fire on Thursday for wisecracking about Pak jacket wallahs and other matters. Crosbie at the swearing-in of a new provincial cabinet last Friday had recounted an American friend's tale about the current US economic woes that earned him rebukes from a student association and the premier of Newfoundland. "This fellow said, 'I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, social security, retirement funds, etcetera, I called a suicide hotline and got a call centre in Pakistain. When I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck'," Crosbie quipped. The representative of Queen Elizabeth II for the eastern province also joked that the US economy was so bad that "ExxonMobil apparently laid off 25 congressmen," and that "a truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico". Wasiq Waqar, president of the Pak Students' Association at Memorial University in Saint John's, Newfoundland, told a local newspaper the joke was "shocking" and "insensitive", and "it embeds prejudice". "The premier of the province also issued a statement saying the comments were "inappropriate". Crosbie, 80, vowed to the daily Globe and Mail to be "more circumspect and more boring" in future speeches. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 It must be a good joke - I laughed. Some people need to lighten up. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-11-05 22:10 |
| #4 Crosbie is most famous for his "Tequila Sheila" wisecracks directed at a former female liberal politician back in 1990. Canada's answer to Joe Biden. |
| Posted by: manversgwtw 2011-11-05 19:04 |
| #3 If you can't laugh at yourself.... others will certainly, happily do the job for you. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2011-11-05 08:13 |
| #2 Truth hurts I suppose..... |
| Posted by: tipover 2011-11-05 03:12 |
| #1 Hard to take this seriously, the same jokes have been emailed to me by friends & relatives. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-05 00:34 |