In bed with an elephant

Posted by David Cadogan on April 28, 2006

In Reply to: In bed with an elephant posted by Karen on April 26, 2006

: hey

: There is a Lecture coming up in edinburgh titled

: "In bed with an elephant. . ."

: It refers to Scotland's relationship with England.
: I am unclear as to what in particular about the elephant it refers to. I have used google and it has also been used to decribe the US and Canadian heath services. . . and there are a couple of books on Scotland that have this title.
: In the absence of the books and being able to go to the lecture -
: Could someone enlighten me?

: Karen

The Right Honourable Pierre Elliot Trudeau originated the phrase in a speech in 1969 when he said, speaking of the U.S., that Canada’s relationship with the United States is like that of "a mouse in bed with an elephant…no matter how friendly the beast…one is affected by every twitch and grunt."
I'm including one link in the Optional Link box. If you Google "in bed with an elephant" and "Trudeau," you will find dozens more.