At about 2:00PM today. The Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, arrived in Charlettown P.E.I. He was given a warm greeting until an activist walked up to him and threw a pie in his face. No damage was done, but that raises questions of the security of my countries leader.

The suspect, one Evan Wade Brown, said he was protesting for social reform on behalf of students and the poor. He had scrawled "P.I.E. Minister" on the bottom of the paper pie plate.

Unlike the infamous Shawinigan Strangler incident, Jean Chretien did not assault the protestor in turn.

Note: All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

The Quebec based pie-throwing group Les Entaristes has not claimed responsibility, instead fingering the sister organization the P.E.I. PIE Brigade. To learn more about Les Entaristes see http://www.entartistes.ca/

Lord Brawl: If the "suspect" said why he did it, he's confessed and has therefore proven himself guilty. And if you had spoken with him at the time (as I did, scant days after this shameful happening), you would have found him gloating.

The first time I met Mr. Brown, I guess I just wasn't impressed, because I promptly forgot who he was. The second time I met him, he chastised me for forgetting who he was. That didn't really impress me, either.

The third time I met him was after his face had been plastered on the national news for having assaulted the Prime Minister.

Guess what I thought of that.

Unfortunately, he's a friend of a friend -- a friend of several friends (and less-than-friends) actually. So for a few days after the event in question, I had to put up with people saying, "Well, I don't agree with what he did, but it was a good cause."

This from people who (if you watch the news footage) you can see in the background, cheering him on as he's led away by the police. Now, if you're there to protest the same thing that he is, and he does something totally juvenile (and highly illegal), and you cheer -- well, doesn't that mean that, in some small way, you are actually condoning and encouraging this behaviour which you say you don't agree with?

I, myself a student, do agree with what he was (supposedly) protesting. But asinine tricks bring "our" cause negative attention. I, for one, don't want negative attention.

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Noder's Note (November 14, 2000): Apparently, Evan was actually there with a bunch protesting the lack of labels for genetically modified foods. That's a cause which I find, in general, to be quite reactionary. So much of what I said above about agreeing with his cause wouldn't be true. That just makes me think of him as even more of a loser.