Prime Minister Stephen Harper likely hopes Wednesday's throne speech can help change the channel on a number of damaging Conservative controversies.
But Rick Mercer wants Canadians to remember that a common thread in those scandals is Harper himself.
On Tuesday night, the CBC comedian reflected on how much things have changed since questions first surfaced about the housing claims of Senator Mike Duffy.
"Turns out his official residence is somewhere in the prime minister's lower colon," Mercer quipped.
Since then, Mercer said, Harper's universe has unraveled because of the people he promoted to key positions.
Senators Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau left the Tory caucus in scandal, Harper's chief of staff, Nigel Wright, resigned in disgrace, his former parliamentary secretary, Dean Del Mastro, was "charged with election fraud," and fresh questions about Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen's expenses were brought to light by HuffPost Canada.
"It should be statistically impossible to appoint that many train wrecks," Mercer said.
"Serious question: Has anyone checked the Prime Minister's Office for lead pipes because it's like everyone close to that man has brain damage. Their moral compass has been destroyed. I'm mostly worried that it could be contagious because if it is airborne, we are in serious trouble."
Mercer then pondered a question many Canadians ask whenever our politicians misbehave : What if average citizens acted that way?
"All hell would break loose. Suddenly people would start stealing from their employers and their churches, and they would become convinced that the normal rules do not apply to them," he said. "Red lights and green lights would be meaningless."
All this leads Mercer to conclude it could be time for some drastic measures.
"Normally, when a group of people start to exhibit bizarre symptoms in a cluster, health officials are called in. So never mind the RCMP — it's time for a quarantine," he said.
This is the second week in a row that Mercer has torn a strip off Harper. Last Tuesday, Mercer criticized the prime minister for proroguing Parliament and dodging questions from journalists.
"I looked into it and compared to other world leaders, Hugo Chavez has answered more questions from the press than Stephen Harper in the last six months and Chavez died seven months ago," he said.
While NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau are probably chomping at the bit to challenge Harper in question period again, it seems the toughest shots this fall could be coming from the guy ranting in the alley.
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