They come in peace.

November 25, 2005 3:22 PM

I, for one, welcome our... Oh, the hell with it. Canadians want to start diplomatic relations with aliens.
posted by mullingitover (26 comments total)

I'll start the opening critique with the article title:

"Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament Asked To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations"

They fucked up the article's title. That's a bad sign.
posted by mullingitover at 3:24 PM on November 25, 2005

Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."

And we Canucks were doing so well with the gay marriage, the pot laws, and the staying-out-of-Iraq....
posted by Robot Johnny at 3:35 PM on November 25, 2005

Oh dear. I like the idea from a theoretical / readiness standpoint as an interesting excersize in new ways of diplomatic thinking or whatever, but the excerpted parts of the speech look really crackpot-like.
posted by Firas at 3:40 PM on November 25, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

posted by Smart Dalek at 3:43 PM on November 25, 2005

He was a minister in the 60s guys, my guess is that he was unemployed and doing hard drugs in the 70s, and well, here he is today.
posted by tiamat at 3:43 PM on November 25, 2005

.... i was just about to post this. one of the links I was gonna use.
posted by trinarian at 3:44 PM on November 25, 2005

We should start diplomatic relations with Heaven, too-- just in case. Incurring God's wrath and that of all his winged minions would really, really suck. Problem is, how are politicians to know which extraterrestrial group we'll encounter first?
posted by mowglisambo at 3:44 PM on November 25, 2005

PolSci 452: Negotiating with Gabriel
posted by Firas at 3:49 PM on November 25, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

Hellyer is totally, 100% not involved in any form of Canadian government. He's been nuts for a long long time, and has written nutty nutty books and started nutty nutty political movements. Nothing he says should in any way be given any notice because of his past status in government. He makes me soooo mad.

Also, the news release is from PRweb, so you know what that means.
posted by loquax at 3:51 PM on November 25, 2005

Apparently it's idiotic extraterrestrial policy day.
posted by Mayor West at 3:51 PM on November 25, 2005

Metafilter: I'm NOT so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something
posted by blue_beetle at 3:58 PM on November 25, 2005

I'm quite tickled that an actual former government minister used the words "Intergalactic war" seriously.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:59 PM on November 25, 2005

But what about the Sylphs?
posted by empath at 4:23 PM on November 25, 2005

This Canada. Is it a planet to the north of the USA star system?
posted by stirfry at 4:59 PM on November 25, 2005

The New Yorker has a good feature article this week on the history of "Invasion literature", starting in the 1870s. Invasions of aliens are just metaphors for the more real fear of ones earthly neighbors. Canadas fear of invasion, and a diplomatic response instead of a military one, must run deep in its national psyche.
posted by stbalbach at 5:03 PM on November 25, 2005

Not without precedent..Reagan was supposedly somewhat obsessed with UFOs and questions of extraterrestrial life.
posted by tetsuo at 5:04 PM on November 25, 2005

The half past human folkes were making a claim of "relations with aliens changing/maturing".

How about Aliens about the sun?
posted by rough ashlar at 5:20 PM on November 25, 2005

Those Canucks are just so effin wacky...oh wait.
posted by sharpener at 5:35 PM on November 25, 2005

He makes me soooo mad.

How come? I think he's hilarious! Every country has their lunatics, why can't we have a few too? At least he seems completely harmless, it's not like he's the president prime minister.
posted by zarah at 5:47 PM on November 25, 2005

By “ETs,” Mr. Hellyer and these organizations mean ethical, advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.

But how will we know which ones are ethical?

We'd hate like hell to contact the unethical ones.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:52 PM on November 25, 2005

>>But how will we know which ones are ethical?

They vote NDP.
posted by login at 5:55 PM on November 25, 2005

The article was written by this man.
posted by ab'd al'Hazred at 6:09 PM on November 25, 2005

All your base are belong to us, eh?
posted by Zinger at 6:30 PM on November 25, 2005

The looney bins just aren't big enough anymore.
posted by caddis at 7:21 PM on November 25, 2005

Looks like some of that Icke rubbed off on him.
posted by Pseudonumb at 8:19 PM on November 25, 2005

My fellow Earthlings, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Andromeda forever. The bombing begins in 2,000,000 years.
posted by Sparx at 2:40 PM on November 27, 2005