No Big Deal? All Right...

What's this? A Minister of the Crown preferring his business cards printed sans identification with the very country he represents? That should go over really big when the Minister of Foreign Affairs meets with his counterparts abroad, presenting them with his gold-embossed card stating his name and his position, but no country.

Counting on name recognition only, to stand out and identify him with the country he represents? He's not yet at that point in his career. Everyone might have known what nation pirouetting Pierre Elliot Trudeau represented, but we could be completely assured that he was modest enough not to discard the emblem for the ego.

A business card needn't be glitzy unless you're in show business. One doesn't automatically think "flamboyant" when considering the persona and the physical attributes of John Baird. And while it's perfectly true that he has been placed in an extremely high-profile, important Cabinet position, he's still new to that particular game.

Perhaps he's not quite as level-headed as we assumed, and perhaps the ascension to the role went to his head. A little bit of personal puffery, to order business cards out of their standard, acceptable departmental format. No big deal. But without the Canada-and-flag logo? What gives?

Someone close to Mr. Baird should quietly inform him that it isn't the inflated cost of these gold-embossed cards but the peculiar message they're imparting. That message seems to be that he's got carried away by some kind of odd enthusiasm that doesn't reflect well on his choice in this particular instance.