Jon Stewart lampoons Canada's parliamentary crisis
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 | 4:31 PM ET
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Comedian Jon Stewart, shown here at the Kennedy Center in Washington in November, tackled Canada's parliamentary crisis Monday night on his Comedy Central show, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)Canada's parliamentary crisis is now fodder for jokes south of the border.
On Monday night, comedian Jon Stewart addressed our current problems in Ottawa on his satirical news show, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, saying Canadians are facing the biggest political challenge since the "controversial decision to reshape bacon."
Stewart appeared incredulous that a coalition of opposition politicians tried to oust Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"Force him from office? You can do that?" he asked. "Because we've had no confidence in our guy for quite some time now, and he's taking forever to leave."
He also seemed puzzled by the crisis in light of Harper's numbers in political polls.
"I mean, this guy — his approval rating is 46 per cent and they're trying to kick him out," he said. "You know what we call a 46 per cent approval rating down here? President Clinton."
Canadian voters were also the butts of Stewart's jokes. He showed video footage of a protester shouting, "What are you afraid of, sir?" at Harper.
"Sir?" Stewart said. "You're heckling him. It's not a job interview! Do you Canadians save all your obnoxiousness for hockey games?"
And he wondered aloud why Americans should care about Canadian politics, noting that Canada isn't a nuclear state and our chief export is "jokes that they are the butt of."
Stewart has hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central since 1999.
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