The Path to Peace is Paved with Pie

Premier avoided being pied today at the annual Stampede breakfast in Calgary



Ed Stelmach's first Stampede breakfast as premier was a memorable one for many of the wrong reasons, as he narrowly averted an attempted pieing by one of a handful of protesters on hand.

A young woman carrying a pie, which appeared to be banana cream, lunged toward Stelmach while he was serving pancakes at the annual premier's breakfast at Calgary's McDougall Centre.

The woman and the unwelcome dessert were intercepted by security detail about five feet from Stelmach, with the pie landing on one of the his security officers before falling to the ground in front of the table the premier was standing over.


Alberta premier Ed Stelmach gets pulled away by his security guard when a woman tried to throw a pie at him during his annual Calgary Stampede breakfast in Calgary, protester appeared to hold the pie in the air and yelled out to Stelmach, "I've got this pie for you premier."

Provincial sheriffs quickly swarmed and arrested the young woman carrying the pie, leading her away in handcuffs.

A second woman who appeared to be a companion of the arrested woman fled the scene.

"They were ready for her," said Paul Stanway, Stelmach's communications director. "They were on high alert for pie throwers."

Indeed, the incident brought back memories of 2003, when former premier Ralph Klein was pied at the annual Stampede breakfast at McDougall Centre.

Seniors Minister Greg Melchin, who was in the serving line next to Stelmach on Monday morning and saw the incident unfold, said the protester held the pie up in the air and said "I've got a pie for you premier. It's just a pie," Melchin recalled.

The young woman who carried the pie, lashed out at security as they arrested her, complaining about global warming and housing issues.

"Why am I being arrested for trying to hold the premier accountable to the citizens of Alberta?" she screamed. "Pretty cosy for the premier to be eating breakfast when people are homeless on the streets."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=423d1add-1d63-4b32-9f96-f5a28ee5862d&k=49959

Oh, how I love Canadian politics. Imagine how much better the world would be if countries utilized this approach in foreign policy. North Korea shooting missles at Japan again? Launch an oversized banana cream pie at them. By the time Kim Jung-Il washes the whipped topping out of his hair he will have forgotten why he was so angry in the first place. This really could be the first step on the road to world peace.