Press Release: January 18, 2005
PM reads Arc
Lo, look who’s reading Arc! Did the PM get an Arc subscription for Christmas?
Hockey lockout. A blank sheet of ice. A vision of Zamboni Bliss. And then the words of Barbara Carey, first published in the Summer 2004 issue of Arc, spill amazingly on Christmas Day from the PM’s lips.
In admirable sync with Arc’s new issue on Poets on Ice, Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Christmas address aired as follows:
Let me begin today by extending from my family to yours the very best of the holiday season. May it bring you peace and contentment, may you share in its spirit of joy, fellowship and community.
There is a poem I like, it’s called Zamboni Bliss about the machine that cleans the ice at hockey arenas, it’s by Barbara Carey. She writes: “In its wake, flow is reborn for a few moments, the evening is a new surface.”
That’s a fitting, very Canadian image for a season of renewal, a glistening rink and the sense of possibility that it brings.
The holidays provide an end and a beginning, the opportunity for reflection and resolution for each of us, striving to do better to be better. As is the case with each of our lives, Canada is always evolving, always growing. As members of the Canadian community, we together seek to make our country better, more prosperous, with strong, enduring social foundations—a nation able to make a difference in a changing world.
As 2004 draws to a close, we can reflect with pride in our accomplishments. At the same time, we must resolve collectively to achieve even more in the coming year, to seize our potential. For that’s how lives are improved, people are lifted up and countries are made great. We have much to be thankful for in Canada. Ours is a free, respectful, generous and peaceable society. And yet, there is much we still aspire to. Let us pursue our goals together. Let us look back a year from now with great pride in our achievements and even greater love for Canada. A new year is upon us. A fresh sheet of ice awaits. Through 2005, may you and the words of Barbara Carey “skim home with a reverie of glide in your feet.”
Thank you.
December 25, 2004
Drown your hockey woes with this slice from Arc’s latest “Poets on Ice” iss’: this combination of ballet and murder.
Comments (1) show/hide
the PM's speechwriter obviously reads Arc, not the PM himself.
David Frum had George Bush quoting from all kinds of sources that you knew Bush had no idea what he was talking about -- come on, we're talking about a guy who can't pronounce 'nuclear'....
I want to know who Martin's speechwriter is now...
posted by Susan MacRae on March 5, 2005 04:21 PM ^