Tony, Tony, Tony…

…. you should know better than to get into a Twitter mud-slinging match just because Ezra thinks it’s a good idea to bash former newspaper editors!

I thought you were a tad better than that! I mean, I’m not exactly your “fan” (though hey, I’ll be in your riding this weekend so wouldn’t decline a chat. Maybe you could win me over!), but I didn’t think you’d plunk yourself smack into the EzraZone!

Oh, yeah – for you other readers who are not named Tony Clement, you might have missed this. You know that unparalleled purveyor of windbag wisdom, Ezra Levant? Well, he huffed and puffed about former G & M editor Stephen Wicary following his wife (who works for Care Canada) to (urk!) CUBA! The noive! And to be with his wife! To Ezra this was PROOF that the G & M is indeed nothing more than a commie rag!

In the meantime, there was an article in the Globe referring to the celebration of Norman Bethune – Gravenhurst, Ontario’s fave son

The man Tony Clement will celebrate on Wednesday was a restless surgeon, a rowdy womanizer, a stubborn renegade and a passionate communist.

Norman Bethune, who died while tending Mao Zedong’s troops in 1939, is an unlikely Conservative hero. But Bethune’s ideological impurity is offset by his value to Ottawa’s strategy in China – where the colourful Canadian expatriate is a national hero, memorialized by Mao himself for his “spirit of absolute selflessness.”

So, Tweeting a link to his (now former) paper’s take on the issue, Wicary included a pointed comment to SunTV host Ezra Levant, who devoted two separate segments of his nightly television show last week to his — Wicary’s, that is — travel plans.

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Conservatives can be comfortable that there’s a message here broader than just his communism,’ @TonyclementCPC says. bit.ly/N1DDFJ

Stephen Wicary

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So yes, @ezralevant, do let me know when the two-part hit job on that dirty red @TonyclementCPC goes to air: bit.ly/N1DDFJ

Stephen Wicary

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“that dirty red @TonyclementCPC” – snicker…

This is where you got involved, Tony. And you really should have kept your BB in its pouch. Really.

As Kady O’Malley notes:

Given the sensitivity of the issues involved, one might think the minister might have chosen not to see that particular tweet, lest he be trapped into debating the parallels between his celebration of Bethune and the criticism of, and reason behind Wicary’s Cuban relocation plan. 

One would, however, have been wrong.

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@wicary @ezralevant My point was to celebrate things other than his communism. You chose to live in a communist country. Big difference.

Tony Clement

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@TonyclementCPC Joining the pile-on ill befits a minister of the crown.

Stephen Wicary

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@wicary Then stop baiting the bear.

And it went back and forth like this for a while before others in the Twitterverse chimed in.

So what are you saying, Mr. Minister? Am I and the tens of thousands of Canadians who travel to Cuba for work or pleasure being bad little Canucks? Is there a diff between Chinese Communism and Castro’s version? Is China’s less evil? Is there a GDP line in the sand?

I need some clarity here, sir.

And if you do care to explain, I’ll be at the Parry Sound town beach on Saturday. Meet you at 2 pm by the swings on top of the hill.

In the meantime, enjoy your summer and keep your BB holstered.

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