my chinese neighbour got his canadian citizenship a couple of weeks ago. he came back home one night after having sworn in front of a picture of the queen that he would be faithful to this country. he passed an exam, sang oh canada, shook a couple of hands and became a canadian. his wife asked him if he could sing the chinese national anthem for her.

he sang the first two lines (qing lai, qing lai...!) and realized he could no longer remember the rest.

now, though, he wants to join the PQ and hopes one day to run for them. of course, considering he's learnt quite a bit of his french by watching the late night debates of the provincial government on TV, he probably has what it takes and is used to that kind of circus.

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speaking of circus

the quote of the day goes to gilles duceppe, leader of bloc quebecois, during the english debate.

"when mr. martin is talking about a democratic deficit, i find it quite surprisingly, because quite frankly i think *he* is a democratic deficit."

thanks for the amusement gilles. you're funny, sometimes, but you still won't get my vote.

please tell me that my accent is not as bad as his.