Congress at Work

In Congress
Here, the Huffington Post has a great article about the amount of progress that the Democratically held Congress has made in its first 100 hours of sitting. Well let's just see how long it lasts.

In the House of Commons
Why is it that when Stephane Dion says that he will not defeat the Budget before seeing it, Canadian media accuse him of blinking?

In the New York House of Assembly
NY state Rep Aurelia Greene is proposing a bill that would prevent the sale of some video games to those under the age of 30. The bill would stop all violent games being sold to youngsters under the age of ...30.

Put aside for a moment that people are considered old enough to smoke, vote, join the army at 18, drink at 21 (in NY) and they can even rent a car at 25, but they cannot buy a video game. I don't know what is more pathetic: the prospect of a thirty year old buying the video game for an "under aged adult" or thirty-year-olds buying the games for themselves. This bill, if passed, may push the cartoon violence of video games onto the real streets. What a colossal waste of time!

5 Minutes to Midnight

In case people thought I was kidding about my fear of nuclear escalation in the Middle East post yesterday, the following is a quote from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock.

The clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction--the figurative midnight--and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences and nanotechnology that could inflict irrevocable harm.

"Board Statement
17 January 2007
We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth.
As in past deliberations, we have examined other human-made threats to civilization. We have concluded that the dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause drastic harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.
This deteriorating state of global affairs leads the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists--in consultation with a Board of Sponsors that includes 18 Nobel laureates--to move the minute hand of the “Doomsday Clock” from seven to five minutes to midnight."

Yes, this is some scary stuff. On the bright side, I guess this will result in an increased interest in the Smiths and Radiohead.

OBAMA Mania - Redux

Well people have been talking about Barrack Obama announcing his candidacy for months now. People find his commentary to be refreshing.

I for one am glad that he has decided to form a Presidential Exploratory Committee. Today's Globe and Mail points out that he is polling a strong second to Hilary Clinton and that he is generating some excitement. My only concern is that the American right wing is already using the "race card" by using his middle name "Hussein" extensively and by having pundits like Limbaugher refer to him as Osama. I for one believe in a place called Hope and think that Mr. Obama has excellent chances provided he has the right running mate.

Is this a game of chicken with Iran?

This is escalating at a dangerous pace.

Bush reportedly has been weighing his military options for bombing Iran's nuclear facilities since early 2006.

As Seymour Hersh wrote in The New Yorker, a number of senior U.S. military officers were troubled by administration war planners who believed "bunker-busting" tactical nuclear weapons, known as B61-11s, were the only way to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities buried deep underground.

A former senior intelligence official told Hersh that the White House refused to remove the nuclear option from the plans despite objections from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Whenever anybody tries to get it out, they're shouted down," the ex-official said. [New Yorker, April 17, 2006]

By late April 2006, however, the Joint Chiefs finally got the White House to agree that using nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz, less than 200 miles south of Tehran, was politically unacceptable, Hersh reported.

"Bush and Cheney were dead serious about the nuclear planning," one former senior intelligence official said. [New Yorker, July 10, 2006]

The Sunday Times reported on January 7, 2007, that a way to get around the opposition of the Joint Chiefs would be to delegate the bombing operation to the Israelis. The reasoning goes something like this: an Israeli-led attack might be more politically palatable with the Congress.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rightly called the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb an "existential threat" to Israel that cannot be tolerated.

Israel is reportedly stepping up preparations for air strikes against Iran, possibly including the use of tactical nuclear bombs, to destroy Natanz and other Iranian nuclear facilities.

The Sunday Times of London reported on Jan. 7 that two Israeli air squadrons are training for the mission and "if things go according to plan, a pilot will first launch a conventional laser-guided bomb to blow a shaft down through the layers of hardened concrete [at Natanz]. Other pilots will then be ready to drop low-yield one kiloton nuclear weapons into the hole."

The Sunday Times wrote that Israel would also hit two other facilities – at Isfahan and Arak – with conventional bombs. But the possible use of a nuclear bomb at Natanz would represent the first nuclear attack since the United States destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II.

The Israeli government denied that Israel has drawn up secret plans to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.

Some observers may believe that Israel or the Bush administration may be leaking details of the plans as a way to frighten Iran into accepting international controls on its nuclear program, I tend to take the possibility of nuclear war seriously and see these preparations for a wider Middle Eastern war as very serious.

Bush's actions in the past two months suggest that his future course is an escalation of the Middle East conflict and not some "graceful exit."

I'll have the Polonium cabbage rolls with a dioxin shake

Tomorrow, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko will be on a one day trip to Viktor Yanukovych's stomping ground in the Donetsk Basin.

Reports from Ukraine indicate that Yushchenko never eats in Donetsk.


According to the head of the Donetsk regional administration, Volodymyr Logvynenko, during his visits to Donetsk, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko has never eaten.

According to Logvynenko, the head of the State has visited Donetsk three times but has had only tea or coffee. Look at the pictures - can you blame him?

Khan just stepped into a big steaming pile of, Wajid?

From Today's National Post:

Khan's riding association delisted Registration revoked for not filing financial returns on time
Elections Canada revoked the legal registration of new Conservative MP Wajid Khan's former Liberal riding association in December because it failed to file financial returns for 2004 and 2005, the Ottawa Citizen has learned.

The returns, now available at Elections Canada, show that Mr. Khan, whose defection to the Conservative party was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper only 10 days ago, lent his old riding association a total of $179,946 through his Toronto car dealership during the two years covered by the late returns.
The riding association transferred $32,000 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election and a further $50,000 to his campaign for the January, 2006, election, the returns show.

Khan's former Liberal riding association has had its registration revoked by Elections Canada as of the end of 2006 for late filing of financial returns for 2004 and 2005. Mr. Khan's auto dealership, Dufferin Mazda, also lent $86,388 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election, his financial returns for that election show.
The returns list Mr. Khan as the guarantor for the campaign loans.

The transactions suggest Mr. Khan was using his car dealership as the primary source of funding for his election campaigns, said NDP MP Pat Martin.
"It's hard to count the serious problems here -- massive loans from a business in excess of donation limits that might not be repaid, enormous spending outside the election period. I wouldn't know where to start," Mr. Martin said.
Dufferin Mazda lent Mr. Khan's riding association $88,377 on Dec. 31, 2004, the same day the association transferred money to Mr. Khan as a candidate, and $91,569 on Dec. 31, 2005. The association had transferred $30,000 to Mr. Khan on Dec. 22 and another $20,000 on election day.
Corporate political contributions are banned under new election financing provisions that took effect with the Federal Accountability Act but were limited to $1,000 under previous political financing rules. Loans to candidates and riding associations are allowed, but must be declared as contributions if not repaid within 18 months.
Mr. Khan's campaign report for the 2004 election stated an expenditure of $75,887 on expenses that were subject to his spending limit, and a further $95,692 in costs that were not included as election expenses because the money was spent either before or after the campaign period.
For the end of 2005, Mr. Khan's riding association reported outstanding financial liabilities of $91,569 and a deficit of $47,327.
It was unknown outside the association whether the riding had paid back the loans by the end of 2006.
Mr. Khan could not be reached yesterday.

Apparently, he's working on a sanitized version of his report to Harper.

You mustn't follow, little shrub...

Well Dubbya's approval ratings are in the toilet following his new plan for Iraq. This provides me some fodder to examine steve's foreign policy approach.

Since his election as Canada's exalted and supreme leader of Canada's new government, Steve has charted a different international course from not only that set out by the previous Liberal Govwernment but also one that is different from the traditional role that Canada has played.

Steve's government has, to be sure, loaded up on military supplies for the forces. Defense lobbyist turned Defense Minister O'Connor has ploughed forward with several large procurements, using sole-source and non-competitive contracting as his preferred method of selection of vendors.

Harper has tried to use Afghanistan as a wedge issue during the Liberal leadership race. He has said that any discussion of the role of the mission demonstartes a lack of support for the troops. This is the same line that the Republicans have been using unsuccessfully with respect to Iraq for a couple of years with disastrous
results.

Canada has a rich history in international relations using the so-called 3D approach which favours equal attention to Defense, Diplomacy and Development. Think of Canada's historic role as a nation of peacekeeping. In fact, this year we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize.

As well, Canada fought successfully for the R2P (Right to Protect) doctrine at the United Naations, has served as an honest broker for years in many parts of the world, and used its clout and membership in many international bodies to make progress on issues such as land mines, AIDS funding and many others.

Finally, Canada has a tradition of building civil society through development assistance, be it in the form of education for girls in Afhanistan or training the judiciary in Ukraine or providing health and food assistance to African countries such as Malawi.

To date, the extent of his diplomacy on the world stage was to complain that other countries have not sent enough troops to Afghanistan, while on the Development side it was limited to a botched photo op with Josee Werner.

I use these examples to illustrate the point that Steve just doesn't get the complexities of the world in which we live. Sure he has done well for defense, but without the other 2 Ds - we run an even greater risk of being seen as Bush's little helper.

And my sense is that Canadians want a thoughful leader who will take a Canadian approach to International Affairs.

Never write a headline that ends with a Question Mark

The temptation for political mischief often gets political parties into trouble. Think of Ontario PCs asking whether Dalton McGuinty was an alien kitten eater or Harper's boys asking if Paul Martin supported Kiddy porn in the 2004 election.

It would be cheap and tasteless for someone to ask if Steven Harper is really the devil based on the attached photo(?) So I won't do it and will allow people to come up with there own explanations for the photo.

Pelletier wins another round in court

So how long will Steve continue to pursue Jean Pelletier in Court? Mr. Pelletier, a man whose integrity was never in question until former Olympian turned fugitive Myriam Bedard introduced her zany testimony in Committee, has won another round in his seemingly bottomless pit of legal actions for wrongful dismissal, and other things.

Bottom line - will Steve have the testicular fortitude to do the right thing and settle with Mr. Pelletier before Pelletier's reputation is damaged any further?

Fort Whoop-Up

Back from 3 days in Lethbridge and I can tell you that the weather there is just as crazy as anywhere in the country. When I arrived Tuesday it was +11 degrees celsius, and when I left this morning it was - 25 degrees celsius. Western amigos will remind me that it's a "dry cold".

2 Conservative provincial mini-scandals have popped up while I was out of blogging range:

1) The "mess in NS" - hat tip to GMAC for the moniker. This is the alleged tale of former human resources Minister Ernie Fage leaving an accident scene while liquored up and the subsequent cover up by the provincial premier's office. Fage has resigned and is/will be expelled from Caucus...the only thing left to figure out is the matter of possible criminal charges and whether the scandal has the legs to further tag the Premier. Stay tuned.

2) The second one involves a $5k per person fundraiser with Premier Ed Stelmach to clear up his campaign debt. Provincial leader Taft says this should be illegal. Last I checked there are plenty of former federal Liberal candidates with debts that need to be paid off. Perhaps Taft should think before opening mouth and inserting foot.

All for now. Lethbridge was cold and lovel...well it was cold for sure.

UPDATE: It appears that Stelmach has bowed to political pressure and cancelled the receptions.

Not exactly the Ukrainian Carol of the Bells

I was looking for a good version of a Ukrainian Christmas Carol to go with my traditional Ukrainian Christmas Greeting of Khrystos Narodyvsya, but alas I found this neat R&B version of a traditional folk song instead. Enjoy!

Putin must be getting nervous

News that Litvinienko's killers were high ranking military/KGB types is not surprising, but it is surprising that Scotland yard has tracked them this quickly. Polonium, polonium, where forth art thou...?

Hat tip to CyberCossack for the link.

Khan to Tories

Wajid Khan, MP for Mississauga-Streetsville crossed the floor to sit with the Conservatives. Somewhere, Gurmant Grewal can be seen crying in his drink.

As for Khan, I always found him to be a hard-working, industrious MP. Don't get me wrong - he could also be a pain in the ass and was always looking to be the centre of attention (aren't they all!) but his heart was in the right place.

I guess he got a chunk of his fifteen minutes of fame this week. He should savour it, his riding is solidly Liberal and he will be toast in the next election.

I found Stephane Dion's response both meek and weak. Chalk this one up to learning for the new Liberal leader.

Political truisms

Today Steve will shuffle his Cabinet for the second time in 2 months, approaching the 1st anniversary of his government. Clearly, when replacing an embattled, beleaguered, struggling and weak minister with borderline competence, it is time to drop the "Canada's New Government" moniker. It is only a matter of time before pundits start referring to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. But Liberals should not get too cocky and start referring to the Conservative government as desperately clinging to power and grasping for straws - it took the Liberals 12 years to get to that point and public opinion will not turn on that dime, this quickly.

To be honest, Steve would do well to say that his front bench was untested and he is getting rid of some folks who "are not ready for prime time." But he does not have that luxury in a minority government, so we will all have to wait and see what BS he tosses out.

What??!!!

How doed a 22 foot high statue weighing 4000 lbs go missing from a park in Oakville?

Happy New Year!

2007 will be an excellent year

Here are my 10 fearless predictions:

10) There will be a McCain-Giuliani ticket for the GOP
9) The price of molybdenum will skyrocket.
8) There will be another round of Parliamentary elections in Ukraine. Western aligned parties will win.
7) Jean Charest, Danny Williams and Dalton McGuinty will be re-elected.
6) Canadiens win Stanley Cup.
5) Stephane Dion wins federal election with smallest minority in Canadian political history.
4) Bears and Chargers meet in Super Bowl. Chargers win.
3) Pumpernickel cookbook is published and sells scores of copies.
2) Barrack Obama will be the Democratic Party's candidate with a Western Southerner as a running mate.
1) The situation in Iraq and in the broader Middle East will continue to deteriorate, with thousands of additional casualties and oil prices will soar.

I'm a kidnapper and my partner's a thief - stop persecuting me!!!

Another good reason to support gun control.

Myriam Bedard has access to firearms and custody of a child.

And she is a freaky lunatic who believes that her partner convinced Jean Chretien not to enter the war in Iraq.

Oh yeah, and she faces charges that she violated a custody agreement with her ex-husband Jean Paquet by taking their 12-year-old daughter Maude to the United States in early October.

Her partner Mazhari is scheduled to appear in a Quebec court in May on charges that he stole 20 paintings by Montreal artist Ghitta Caiserman worth C$100,000.

And her defense lawyer claims she is being persecuted here.

Jean Pelletier knew exactly what he was talking about when he made the comments about this "pitiful" single mother who was trying to draw attention to herself. This is the same woman who testified before a Parliamentary Committee that racing car driver Jacques Villeneuve was paid US$12 million to wear the Canada logo on his uniform and that the Groupaction advertising agency trafficked in drugs -claims that have been denied by the driver and the firm.

I'm glad her daughter was able to spend Christmas with her Dad.

And Jean Pelletier was fired because he felt sorry for her

The certifiable former gold medalist will spend Christmas in the slammer and for Christmas Mr. Pelletier will rightfully be vindicated and win his wrongful dismissal suit.

Christmas patronage king

PM Steve decided to spread the holiday cheer a little early this year. In a move of which Brian Mulroney would certainly approve, Steve appointed a truckload of cronies to patronage appointments, some on the same day as his much talked about FAA comes into force.

As Mulroney famously said to John Turner, "you had an option sir", but this move reminds me that he also said "There's no whore, like an old whore".

Merry Christmas Steve from the rest of us - we'll remember this.

Yes, Virginia

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus?Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

After this, the b-level appointments

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion today appointed Nancy Girard and Mark Marrissen to co-chair the election campaign. In other news, LPC National Director George Young has received some real bench strength with the appointment of Marc Lavigne as Deputy Director of LPC. While it is too bad to see Kim Doran go, Marc is extremely capable, hard-working, efficient and knows Quebec. Good luck Marc.

After this it will mostly be mopping up with second tier appointments.

Pumpernickel Recipe #11 - Hungarian Sausage and Lentil Soup

Hungarian Sausage and Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds csabai sausage, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup lentils
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons hungarian paprika (I use 1 tsp sweet and 1 tsp hot paprika. Feel free to adjust to taste.)
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups chard, chopped

Crusty pumpernickel bread
Butter, for bread

Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, then add sausage to pot and brown it. Then add garlic, onions and mushrooms. Cook a 3-4 minutes. Add carrots, lentils, potato, salt and pepper, paprika. Stir well.

Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Partially uncover pot and simmer soup for 30 minutes until lentils and potatoes are tender. Wilt in greens in small bunches. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls with bread and butter to mop up stoup.

A lump of coal for Johnny

For this nose-stretcher, Justice John Gommery will no doubt receive a lump of coal in his stocking this year:

As long as I remain a judge, I will not get into issues that are more political than related to the judiciary.

This from a judge who promised the greatest show on earth and selectively accepted testimony, while allowing his staff to write a book about the inquiry at taxpayers expense and hiring his daughter's firm. Rumour has it that Judge Johnny may be having lunch with Zack...

The Habs have won 5 in a row

New study shows that poverty among seniors is falling

A new study from the Caledon Institute of Social Policy by Ed Tamagno is out. It shows that our retirement income system is performing well under the strain of an ageing population. For example, in 1980, 21.3 percent of all seniors in Canada – more than one in five – had low incomes as measured by the low-income cut-offs after tax. By 2004, this had decreased to only 5.6 percent – about one in 18.

Tamagno also looks at trends in coverage betond OAS and CPP to private plans and compares defined benefit and defined contribution coverage in Canada. Surely not gossipy stuff, but important public policy work as we plan for retirement, individually and societally.

The study is available here. Probably some good suggested reading for Messrs. Rae and Brison as they prepare the new Red Book.

The new leader has been inclusive and decisive

New Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has reached out to all corners: Liberal Leadership candidates, prominant people from the previous regime, as well as former PM Jean Chrétien who is reported to giving advice to Marcel Massé, head of the Dion transition team.

The Globe is reporting that Mr. Massé may be principal secretary in the OLO and effectively run the Leader's office. Certain folks will want to joke about a need for adult supervision. Personally, I see this as a huge catch for Dion from both a
policy and symbolic perspective.

Now he needs to add a few more qualified women to his team.

Wasting away again...

The bottom-feeders at the Humane Society of the United States have struck again - this time ridiculously having Jimmy Buffet's chain threaten to ban Canadian Seafood.

Canada has a huge problem with its seal herd. Its size has exploded and natural predation of seals is down. We actually need a seal hunt. And not just for the $30-40 million dollars that it brings to the local economies of outports in Newfoundland and the Magdallen Islands where the average person can really use the bump up from $12k annually to $15 or $16k per year. And not for the $75 to $100 million that the hunt provides to environmental groups for their fundraising activities - based on dated photos of baby seals which Canada has stopped hunting some 20 years ago. These are the same groups who were busted last year for creating a fake horror story about the seal hunt and the visuals of blood stained snow, except for the fact that the start of the hunt had been delayed for weather reasons.

We need a cull on the east coast to help nudge the ecosystem - which has significantly gotten out of kilter - with the explosion of the seal population.

There are also potentially exciting new markets for Omega 3 fish oils, seal meat, not to mention the pelts. The environmentalists love the images of the hunt with the stark contrast of the blood on the snow - but this is not so different from the killing of any other animal for food as anyone who has ever visited an abattoir can attest to.

The Americans and Europeans don't like the Hakapik, arguably the most humane method to execute the hunt and would prefer that guns were used. Having seen how heated the discussions can be on the ice flows, I would strongly discourage expanding the firearm hunt beyond the area know as "The Front".

I hope Jimmy Buffet reads this, but I fear that he's just wasting away again in Margaritaville. Let's unite and BOYCOTT JIMMY BUFFETT!!!

Some elves have been naughty

Some elves have been naughty, but this one sure can dance.

Holiday oddity

And I thought all the weird news lately was coming out of Ukraine and 24 Sussex. Two stories from India:

Some articles speak for themselves, while others leave room for interpretation.

Harper's "Nation"alist grazing not working in Quebec

New polls in today's National Post shows that despite intense efforts to court the Quebec vote, the Conservatives have fallen out of favour in La Belle province.

The Saturday Ipsos Reid poll put the Conservatives at just 13% in Quebec, well behind the Liberals at 31% and the Bloc at 44%. Last week's Decima poll had the BQ at 45%, the Liberals at 27% and the Conservatives at 12%.

Clearly, the Conservatives did not get the bounce they expected from the Nov. 22 vote on the Quebecois nation in the House of Commons.

The reason for this is simple:

Why would the nationalists Harper hopes to win over support nationalism light, when they can have the real thing with the Bloc. He also disappointed them by informing them that it was a hollow, symbolic gesture.

The end result is that Steve's Conservatives have been relegated in Quebec by Stephane Dion's Liberals, to rump status. That was one pandorra's box you should have kept closed.

If the rumour is true, this is good news for Dion

The latest word is that Marcel Masse will be Stephane Dion's Principal Sectretary. If true, this is a huge catch for Dion...stay tuned.

Yanukovich must answer for disturbing news from Hospital Number 6

The BBC has reported that Kharkiv's hospital number 6 may have been involved in a Kuchma Era scheme involving the harvesting of stem cells from healthy babies. The then and current Prime Minister of Ukraine was none other than Yushchenko poisoner Viktor Yanukovich.

President Yushchenko must call an immediate investigation of these alleged heinous activities. I support tem cell research but have a problem with the infanticide of healthy babies.

Best wishes on a speedy recovery

Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota was showing weakness on his right side on Friday after surgery to relieve bleeding in his brain, his office said. He will remain in the hospital until the swelling in his brain goes down. “The surgery was considered a success,” the office said in a statement.

Surgeons removed the blood during a procedure Wednesday and stabilized the bleeding, relieving the pressure on the brain. Senator Johnson, 59, remains in intensive care at George Washington University Hospital in critical but stable condition.

“Considering his initial presentation, his progress is encouraging,” Dr. Anthony Caputy, the chairman of the hospital’s department of neurosurgery, said that Mr. Johnson continues to show “signs of responsiveness” to hospital staff and his family.

Mr. Johnson, a Democrat, began to stutter Wednesday while on a conference call with reporters, then walked back to his office, aides said. After being examined by the Capitol physician, he was admitted to George Washington University Hospital with what his office called “the symptoms of a stroke.”

His illness raised the possibility that the Democrats might lose the 51-to-49 majority they are expecting to assume in the Senate that convenes in early January. Should Senator Johnson no longer be able to perform his duties, South Dakota's Republican Governor would be asked to appoint a replacement.

Congratulations to Ed Stelmach

The voters in the Alberta PC party recently rejected the "establishment candidate" in Jim Dinning and the right wing nutjob - Hello Ted Morton and picked Ed Stelmach.

Here's some salt and braided bread Eddie. and may you never have to demolish a brand new hospital like your predecessor did.

I actually believe that Stelmach will be a good, pragmatic leader in the tradition of Lougheed and hope he concentrates on building and preparing Alberta for the future. Congratulations
Eddie!

I hope that solid ministers such as Clint Dunford remain in his new, smaller Cabinet when it is sworn in tomorrow.

Is that Senator Lord or candidate Lord?

So Shawn Graham kicks Bernie Lord's tush in the New Brunswick provincial election in September, and Bernie takes 3 months to quit his job.

Whaddaya bet Steve's got a nice juicie patronage job waiting for Bernie...?

News from the Liberal Caucus Christmas Party

The last time the Liberal Party was in Opposition for the annual Caucus Christmas Party was in 1992. If I remember correctly, the Christmas Party was held in the Hall of Honour of the House of Commonswith barely 4-500 people in attendance. In 1990 or 1991 it was even smaller and held buffet-style in Room 200 of the West Block.

Using those examples as a barometer, and given the fact that 10,000 Liberals converged on Montreal 2 weeks ago - it was pleasantly surprising to arrive at a nearly full Ottawa Congress Centre for a Christmas Party with 1500-1800 people.

The mood was upbeat. Everyone that I spoke with was coalescing around the new leader. He spoke well - although there was a problem with the audio that made it very difficult to hear him well. Technical glitches aside, the scuttlebutt was all about transition, with Mr. Dion joking that he wished that it were all completed by now. Mr. Dion is to be given full marks for calling and personally thanking the people who volunteered for him and worked on his campaign. We will see how well he does at the merit principle versus the reward principle in staffing the office and assigning critic responsibilities - but that is for another day.

There was another positive piece of news tonight, to follow-up on the appointments of George Young as LPC Natioanl Director (George says it is like the movie Ground Hogs Day) and Andrew Bevan as Deputy Chief of Staff: Eleni Bakopanos is being appointed as Caucus Liaison. Eleni is a bright, hard-working, multilingual allophone woman from Montreal who was an effective MP for the last decade and will do very well in that role. It remains to be seen whether she will be running again in teh Ahuntsic riding in the next election - personally, I think that she can win in a cakewalk under Stephane's leadership.

Another interesting tidbit is that the new leader will be hitting the hustings for the next couple of weeks to fundraise some cash to help the leadership contestants pay off their campaign debts.

The one piece of grumbling that I heard tonight, which is becoming louder is the lack of Francophones and women in key positions in the operation, this despite today's commitment to 1/3 of candidates to be women in the coming election. This will need to be addressed before it becomes the same problem that saddled Paul Martin's PMO.

A key battleground to test the one-third policy in operation will be in winnable seats like Ottawa-Centre, where Penny Collennette should have the best shot.

Finally, it will be interesting to see who is asked to run the Liberal Research Bureau...hopefully someone with good people skills...stay tuned.

1 Smart Move and one so-so move

New Liberal Leader Stephane Dion announced today that he will be protecting incumbent MPs who are seeking re-election and not forcing them to fight nomination battles. This move makes sense and has been the de facto policy of Liberal Leaders for as long as I can remember with the exception of Paul Martin (in some cases) during the run-up to the 2004 campaign. I applaud Dion for this move - it allows incumbents to worry about their work and not allow hostile riding takeovers such as the one that Joe Volpe launched on Roy Cullen during the leadership campaign result in incumbents getting kneecapped.

His second announcement was to name a women's candidate search director - in theory another good move. Unfortunately, where the rubber hits the road on this one is the less than stellar quality of his appointment, Linda Julien. A three-time defeated former Liberal candidate and patronage appointee. Hopefully, Nicole Foster-Woollatt and Belinda Stronach will bring some dynamism to the process.

OLO and LPC Staffing

This seems to be going very slowly, although George Young has been confirmed as National Director of the Liberal Party which is a good thing and Andrew Bevan is Deputy Chief of Staff in OLO. This leads me to believe that there will be a woman and a Francophone heading up heading up OLO and the research bureau.

I would assume that Don Boudria, Geoffroi Montpetit, Dahlia Stein and Marth Hall Finley should stay close to their phones.

Obama Announces

Barack Obama announces...

It's Official - Part I

Congratulations to George Young, the new National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada. George's appointment will ensure that the Liberal Party is battle ready whenever PM Stevie drops the writ. Isn't that transition team almost finished its work...hmmn...

Why visit Cleveland?

Finally, in this morning's New York Times an answer to that age old question, why would anyone want to visit Cleveland. I can see the new tourism campaign: "Come for the smelly brown water, stay for the surfing."

A prayer for the Gainey family

Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey's daughter was swept off the deck of a
tall ship travelling from Nova Scotia to Grenada. Our prayers for a safe rescue are with the Gainey family.

A little Vermont Chrsitmas Spirit

It's no wonder that Vermont is one of my favorite states: Bernie Sanders, cheese, beer, Patrick Leahy, Phish, Ben and Jerry's, Stowe and great spirit as evidenced by this story from the Rutland Herald here. Oh and did I mention the Hood and Cabot sour cream and dairy products...awesome.

Lindsay, Paris and Britney

I have often wondered how much traffic a blog can generate by talking about the recent paparazzi escapades of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton and their recent penchant for having their pictures taken while going commando...

Studio 60 renewed

Despite low ratings, NBC has renewed WestWing creator Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". To date the quality of the storylines has been uneven and certainly not up to par with his West Wing efforts, however, I think that the show could be a success if it let up on the Christian bashing. If the word Christian in many of the episodes were replaced with black (see Michael Richards), or Jew or muslim or whatever, people would be up in arms.

Like the addict jonesing for some good stuff, I will keep watching in hopes of a better tomorrow or next week's show, whatever.

Unsure how to feel

The House of Commons rejected a painfully obvious checkmark on Stephen Harper's election promise list tonight.

First, Harper's motion was transparent and by having a free vote, he ensured that the motion would not succeed, thereby trying to take-away the "He will try to remove rights, just imagine if he had a majority" argument in the next campaign.

I should be pleased that his motion was defeated, but I am somewhat depressed that there are about the same number of members of the Liberal Caucus who were duped and/or are knuckle-draggers as there are "progressives" in the Government Caucus.

In any event, Steve will need to wait until another day to attack gay rights, women's rights, the rights of the disabled, support for seniors and the illiterate. On this day when they light the Christmas lights on the Hill, it is nice to know that no matter how badly he wants to, Steve is in charge of a minority government and for the time being has to keep his hands off Canadians' Charter Rights.

Also on the Hill, the Liberals need to get their act together and kill BQ Bill C-257 (An Act to Amend the Labour Code) which would have severe and negative impacts on Northern, remote and Aboriginal Communities.

There's something very weird going on in Ukraine...

If one were to start from the fact that Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko appointed as his PM his rival who was responsible for his poisoning and horrible facial disfigurement, then the following news report will seem less bizarre.

Ukraine's Channel 5 news reports that despite the absence of PM Yanukovych (on trip to US where he is refusing to meet the diaspora community), the Ukrainian Cabinet met and refused to allow the Foreign Minister to attend.

And I was worried about gridlock following the mis-terms in the US - Ukraine has some serious political problems...

Will Cheney's Daughter Move to Indiana?

Congratulations to US VP Dick Cheney and to his daughter Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, who are expecting a baby in late spring according to CNN.

According to an official spokesperson "The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation" to the arrival of their sixth grandchild.

And yet this goofball sits by as numerous states move to restrict access of women to in vitro and other assisted reproductive technologies here and here.

Did you hear about who is going to OLO?

The Ottawa rumour mill is rampant about who will be Chief of staff in Mr. Dion's OLO, Chair the Liberal Election Campaign, head the Liberal Research Bureau, and be the new National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Names being circulated for any/all of these positions are:

Gerard Kennedy and Don Boudria
Mark Marrissen
Dahlia Stein and Geoffroi Montpetit
Doug Kirkpatrick, George Young or Andrew Bevan

I think that there may be some excellent surprises...

Off to a good start

Stephane Dion is off to a good start in naming Rod Bryden and Marcel Masse to head up his transition team. They met with Bill Graham's folks today and reports have been positive.

On another note, I wish Ezra Levant would uncork his head from his ass. So what if Stephane Dion has French Citizenship. His commitment to Canada is unassailable. This man is the architect of the Clarity Act and was the lead federalist in Jean Chretien's government for a decade. Ezra - not everyone's idea of international exposure is goin down to Montana to pick up some ammo.

Congratulations Mr. Dion!

Back from the Liberal Party Convention in Montreal.

Here are a few general observations:

Stephane Dion ran a clean and relatively flawless campaign. He had as the coasters his campaign was handing out said, "the least baggage" of the main candidates.

He is a bright man whose heart is in the right place and I hope that leadership will allow him to shed his prvious petulance, in the same way that parenting causes most people to grow up.

He has all the tools to rebuild the party and all the goodwill to succeed. Now he must roll up his sleeves and let's hope the 36 members of Caucus who were with Iggy put down their ice picks.

I hope that the talents of all the leadership contenders will be put to good use.

Finally, congratulations to Jason Cherniak and DC Grit for choosing the winner.

PS: This was the most exciting political convention in Canadian history. I and many other (except Belinda and that self-absorbed David McGuinty) are really glad that one-person/one-vote motion was defeated.

He shoots, he scores

well blogging from the convention from Mike Powell Fanclub's base...I think that the best speeches tonight were from Scott Brison, Ken Dryden and Bob Rae.

Stephane Dion went long and was not electrifying...which is too bad. Michael Ignatieff was flat, Joe Volpe bitter and Marta Hall Finlay...whatever.

The biggest surprise was that Kennedy was good, but not great...I think that Bob Rae has the most to gain from the evening.

Off to the hospitality suites...cheers.

PS

Karygiannis, Volpe, Lui Temelkovski, Wajid Khan, Massimo Pacetti, Reg Alcock, Andy Scott and Lorna Milne all endorsed Rae today.

Dion got an endorsemnet from King Midas, Alan Rock...

Who knew?

Howard Dean's speech was solid and his French is better than Frank McKenna's. He even did the self-deprecating "SCREAM" joke in French so Fox news couldn't use it.

"Nation" fallout begins

Separatist turned federalist turned separatist lawyer and windbag Guy Bertrand is unleashing the first test of the motion passed by the House of Commons. Pandora's box is open now and I am sure it will be a long time before there is Constitutional peace in our land.

Sometimes I wish that scholars who had been away from Canada for a quarter century would have bothered to pick up a newspaper, even once in a while, to see what Constitutional grief and anguish had done to our country over the late 1980s and early 1990s before opening big mouths and inserting feet.

I know, when reached for comment, Ignatieff said his comments were taken out of context, and besides "I lived there".

Experts confirm Conservatives fleecing seniors on Income Trusts and Income Splitting

The Caledon Institute of Social Policy released a scathing report assessing the fairness of Canada's New Government's recent income splitting decision. The report authored by world-reknowned social policy experts Ken Battle and Ed Tamagno concludes that the Harper Government's proposal is Robin Hood in reverse, with Jim Flaherty effectively taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

Here is the conclusion of the report:

The Conservative government has opted for tax breaks that will provide windfall benefits to some of the wealthiest seniors, only modest benefits to middle-income seniors, and nothing at all to the poorest of Canada’s elderly who are
most in need of assistance. As this commentary has shown, using data from the Finance
department, a well-to-do couple with $100,000 in income from private pensions and RRSPs would get a tax break of as much as $7,280 from the proposed splitting of pension income. This is 23 times more than the tax break of $310 for a couple with a modest pension income of $20,000 – which is close to the average pension income of
all senior couples in Canada with such income.
The federal government has characterized its proposed changes as ‘tax fairness’. Tax
unfairness is the real result. The cost of this manifest unfairness is very high – by the Finance department’s own estimates, $6 billion over the next six years. Not one cent of this $6 billion will go to seniors with the lowest incomes – those who already do not pay income tax because their income is so low. In addition, there will be significant costs for the provinces and territories.
There is an alternative which would cost the same or a bit less than the government’s
proposals and which we believe would be truly fair. That alternative, which Caledon has described in this commentary, would provide tax relief to middle-income seniors and allow them to keep a little more of their retirement savings for themselves. At the same time, it would give muchneeded additional financial assistance to the
poorest of seniors who are, at best, just getting by and who need all the help they can get.
Canadians need to have a discussion about what tax fairness really means.

So not only did the Conservatives break their promise and steal over $30 billion in Canadians' retirement savings with their income trust decision, but they have made matters worse for average seniors.

Parliament passes law to recognize famine-genocide

Ukraine's Parliament adopted a bill on Tuesday recognizing the Soviet-era forced famine as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in a victory for pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko and a kick in the head to apologists for Josef Stalin. See the AP story
here.

Big BC Momentum for Bob Rae

Today, Bob Rae picked up a second major endorsement, from Trudeau era and Paul Martin Minister Jack Austin. Austin is the fourth former BC Cabmin to publicly endorse Rae after Hedy Fry, Herb Dhaliwal and Ujjal Dossanjh. Given that David Emerson has crossed over to the dark side, that leaves only David Anderson and Ray Chan in the race as Liberal Cabmins from BC over the last 12 years not supporting Rae. Oops, almost forgot about that political powerhouse Steve Owen from Quadra.

In any event, with big endorsements from Saskatchewan and BC, the big endorsement that all the final 4 must be striving for is that of the former Deputy PM (no not Sheila Copps) Anne McLellan, the cornerstone of the Liberal Party in Alberta. It will be interesting to see if she comes out for Stephane Dion or Bob Rae...

So who's got the big Mo?

Today's Globe has a poll that highlights Stephane Dion being the second choice of the largest number of people surveyed and his team says that he has the big Mo.

Gerrard Kennedy came out against the Nation motion and his folks say that with Justin Trudeau he's got the big Mo.

I just received a release from the Bob Rae campaign indicating that Regina kingpin and Opposition House Leader Ralph Goodale is endorsing Bob Rae:

Ralph Goodale to Support Bob Rae
November 28, 2006 - Ottawa - Bob Rae today welcomed the endorsement of Ralph Goodale, MP for Wascana and former federal cabinet minister, in his campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

"Bob Rae has demonstrated throughout his career a commitment to finding the right public policy solutions to the priority issues we face as a country," said Mr. Goodale. "He brings experience, an ability to bring people together for the common good and is committed to seeing an inclusive, united Liberal party. Bob has also demonstrated a concern for issues of importance to Western Canadians. Whether it is trade, agriculture, transportation or innovation and skills training, Bob brings expertise, insight and a desire to work with Canadians to ensure all provinces can reach their potential, in partnership with the federal government."

"I am honoured to have Ralph Goodale's support," said Bob Rae. "He has served as a Cabinet minister and Member of Parliament with distinction and dedication on behalf of his constituents and all Canadians. He has a powerful reputation for integrity and for fiscal responsibility. Ralph and I both believe in a party that is united, and that unified we can and will defeat Stephen Harper. I am pleased that we will be working together to that end."

Goodale is a big catch and can deliver in Saskatchewan and elsewhere for Rae. So who's got the big Mo, it seems that it is everybody but Iggy.

Citizens force delay of Parc avenue Vote

CBC Montreal reports that Montreal city council has postponed the vote on the propsed name change of Parc Avenue to Robert Bourassa here.

Why doesn't the mayor's office just admit that they blew it like the federal Liberals did with the proposed renaming of Mount Logan after Pierre Elliott Trudeau and name something more appropriate after him...like a Metro station or something that "neo-Montrealers" won't complain about?

2 stories I'm following

Byelections

Steve Harper called 2 byelections that were held today and the results were the same as voters in London-North returned a Liberal and those in Repentigny sent a BQ MP to Ottawa. Just goes to show that the public still don't like Steve's too cute by half political machinations - trying to squeek a win out of the beyelection the week the Liberal Party is choosing a new leader. Quiz question: So who is the ex-officio for London: Joe Fontana or Glen Pearson?

Montreal City Council Vote

Montreal city council will vote Monday night on the mayor's unpopular idea to rename Parc Avenue after the late Quebec premier Robert Bourassa. I
still want to know what Parc Extention will be re-named.

Michael Chong: Looking for Cheech

I was in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill today when suddenly there was a frenzy. Garth Turner had passed the Liberals some information - Stephen Harper was about to lose his Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs over a motion fundamental to that Minister's (Michael Chong's) portfolio.

Next thing you know, questions in the House - a nervous Harper looking like he had a bit of indigestion after last week's cat who swallowed the canary grin - had he turfed his minister, or had Chong been "was quit" to use a Martinism? Not only are Liberal leadership candidates Dryden and Kennedy deep sixing Harper's plan, but his own Unity Minister, that is to say the Stephane Dion of Stephen Harper's government quit over worries about the Nation motion encouraging ethnic nationalism.

At Chong's newser, he indicated that he will be abstaining because he would be fired from Caucus for voting against the government on a three line whip item. So much for voting your conscience. To hell with constituents. In Steve Harper's Ottawa - resistance is futile and dissention is not tolerated. Kinda leaves a guy wanting to rent some 1980's movies to mellow out and relax...

Gerard Kennedy may have pushed himself into 3rd place on the first ballot

The following wire story seems to be good news for Gerard Kennedy at the convention - if it is true and if he is the only one willing to go after the folly of the nation notion. As someone whose family immigrated to Quebec over 75 years ago and who will never be pur laine, we need to put a stop to this motion that in the end supports ethnic nationalism at the expense of Canada.

Grit leadership hopeful Kennedy bucks tide, opposes Quebec nation resolution
By JOAN BRYDEN

OTTAWA (CP) - Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy has decided to buck the tide of political opinion, coming out against a parliamentary motion recognizing Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada.

The Canadian Press has learned that Kennedy will issue a statement Monday opposing the motion, just as the House of Commons prepares to debate the surprise resolution introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week.

In so doing, Kennedy will become the only Liberal leadership contender to reject the motion, which has been embraced with varying degrees of unease by his seven rival candidates, Harper's Conservatives, most Liberal MPs and the New Democrats. Even the separatist Bloc Quebecois has come on side.

A senior Kennedy source said the third-place contender believes the motion is irresponsible and wrong for Canada.

Kennedy believes the motion raises expectations of eventual constitutional entrenchment of Quebec nationhood without defining what is meant by the word nation. Moreover, he is worried that the motion will deepen divisions in the country, the source said.

Kennedy, a former Ontario education minister, does not have a seat in the Commons but is issuing his statement in advance of the vote on Harper's motion, expected late Monday.

As Calgary Grit notes here, the Harper Cabinet is using ethnic nationalism to defend this motion. By Lawrence Cannon's way of thinking, my family is excluded from the Quebecois nation and I guess we are just the "ethnics" Jacques Parizeau complained about after the 1995 referendum.

This tragedy needs to be recognized

My friend Willard, who never updates his blog, told me about the movement to have the famine officially recognized as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.

There were millions of deaths attributable to starvation in a man-made, artificial famine - and the Communists are opposing to save Stalin's reputation, I wonder if Alp Apps is advising them too.

Cartoon from today's Halifax Daily News

Fox has announced that the made for TV special with Kramer, Mel Gibson and OJ being dropped in a tank without oxygen in shark infested waters is going pay-per-view.

I'll see your Executive director for Canada at the World Bank and Raise you...

I was delighted to see earlier this week two intellectual heavyweights joining the fray of the Liberal Leadership race.

Donald Johnston, who was in charge of the OECD for the last decade, and is a former president of the Liberal Party of Canada and 1980's Cabinet Minister has endorsed Bob Rae.

Not to be outdone, Stephane Dion published on his website his endorsement by former Rhodes scholar, Clerk of the Privy Council, and Chretien era Minister and architect of the plan to balance Canada's books Marcel Masse straight back from his gig at the World Bank in Washington.

These two guys are smart, problem-solvers whose intellectual capacity would cause some rookie candidates to soil their pants.

All that to say that Dion and Rae have done very well this week, with the exception of the Dion campaign's exhuming of Pearson-era policy wonk Tom Kent...talk about someone whose ideas haven't changed since the war era. Well, at least Masse will lend Dion some credibility on economic issues.

Barbara Yaffe's excellent editorial

I don't often agree with Barbara Yaffe, but I think she has done a good job today of pointing out exactly what the dynamics of the Liberal Leadership race are in her Vancouver Sun column today:

Destiny in December narrows to two: Dion or Rae

As Liberal leadership delegates prepare to head to Montreal to pick the chap they hope will become Canada's next prime minister, the contest has narrowed and suspense is heightening.

The next Liberal leader, to be announced Dec. 2, almost surely will be either Stephane Dion or Bob Rae.

Both draw their main strengths neither from superb past political performance nor terrific charisma, but rather from the fact they've managed to preserve their positioning as good compromise candidates.

Neither has done anything through many months of campaigning to actively annoy delegates or their fellow competitors. They've also been careful not to insult past Liberal PMs, who more than deserved a few digs, or pick at the deteriorating party's scabs.

Both Rae, a Rhodes scholar, and Dion, a one-time university professor, are intellectuals and experienced politicos. They've played it cool on party hustings, issuing, in methodical fashion, a host of low-key policies that alienated few and took the party in no seriously divergent or controversial directions.

So now, barring unforeseen events, the duo are being viewed as favoured second choices for the many delegates committed to Michael Ignatieff on the first ballot.

The Etobicoke-Lakeshore Liberal newcomer is forecast to capture the most support on the first ballot, but his numbers will be insufficient to give him an absolute majority.

Ignatieff's Achilles' heel is that has nowhere to grow thereafter. Many delegates will be relieved to vacate his tent, nervous about the inappropriate commentary the lead contender has been giving for months.

As a Liberal newcomer who had been decades out of the country, Ignatieff's key task was to reassure and build inroads into the party, not to go off on controversial verbal tangents that made him appear an inexperienced rookie unfamiliar with domestic sensibilities.

Dion and Rae for the most part stood back and allowed Ignatieff to self-destruct, instead directing most of their invective toward Stephen Harper.

The two men philosophically are solidly on the left of the party, more interested in social than economic policy, although Dion has made more of a point than Rae of the absolute need for Canada to keep its fiscal house in order.

Both have a fair following in, and an excellent understanding of, the province Liberals always worry about most -- Quebec. (Lack of Quebec delegates support is a reason why many view Gerard Kennedy as a total long shot next week.)

Oddly, Dion has been criticized for his weak English. But personally, I've never found his second language wanting.

Rae is said to be the candidate privately favoured by Jean Chretien, while Dion hasn't any big-name party veterans champion his candidacy. Maybe not a bad thing.

Dion is in fact as much a Liberal outsider as Rae, Ontario's former New Democratic Party premier. Dion entered politics in 1996 and Paul Martin was apparently prepared a few years ago to send him packing, as ambassador to Spain.

Dion, an author and academic, is 51, born in Quebec City. Rae, trained as a lawyer, is 58, born in Ottawa. The two are well pedigreed, with Rae's dad, Saul, having had a distinguished career as a diplomat and Dion's father -- interestingly, a one-time separatist -- being a highly respected figure in Quebec academia.

Rae and Dion are eminently qualified for the job but probably wouldn't have got anywhere near the big prize had someone like former New Brunswick Liberal premier Frank McKenna opted to run.

The pertinent point to ponder is, no matter who prevails, he will preserve the Liberals as a party of the centre-left.

And this is a positive in that it inevitably will present Canadians with a clear choice between the right-of-centre Harperites and Liberals who will focus more on environmental concerns, post-secondary education financing, day-care funding and keeping a safe distance from U.S. military ventures.

The most intriguing aspect of this soon-to-conclude leadership race? From the start, this contest was golden boy-frontrunner Michael Ignatieff's to lose. When all voting is complete and ballots are counted on Dec. 2, party members will be shaking their heads at what an excellent job Iggy did of achieving just that.

Bouquets and Brickbats

Well, I don't often do this but I have kudos to pass out to the NDP and the Conservatives today:

1) To Immigration Minister Monte Solberg and HRSDC Minister Dianne Finlay for bringing forward a smart and badly needed enhancement to Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Policy here.

2) To NDP MP Peter Stoffer who initiated a motion passed unanymously by the House of Commons to have a state funeral for the last surviving WWI veteran as was championed by pumpernickel and the Dominion Institute.

After that non-partisan display, here is the brickbat for another mortifying stupid series of bizzarre acts by Rona the fossilizer.

1) Greg Weston shows just how far Canada's new and exalted government has gone in its propaganda and censorship war with Canadians here.

Morning smiles

The Toronto Star and Globe both nearly made me spit up coffee this morning. The Star for this editorial cartoon and the Globe for the picture of PM Steve as Geigha as first first mentioned by
Prairie Fire.

Cough, hack, uh, uh, choke...

Well, Anthony Calvillo will go down in history as being the greatest big game choker to ever play quarterback in the CFL, rivalling only Dan Fouts of the San Diego Chargers for the all time number one ranking.

Calvillo is great during the regular season, but does not have what it takes to win the big game. The Als head office should ditch Calvillo and find someone who can lead the team to victory. Until they do, Anthony Calvillo is dead to me and should try starting a career selling used cars...maybe not - you need to be able to close a deal in that line of work as well. I want to start a petition to send Calvillo back to Texas and get Doug Flutie out of retirement.

Congratulations Lions...

Do as I say...

The NY Times has an interesting story on how the moral majority's morallity police foisted Rev Ted Haggard on his own petard here.

Four ministers were assembled to decide the fate of Rev. Ted Haggard dismissed the Rev. Ted Haggard, the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

Mr. Haggard created outside oversight for his independent church and when it came time to decide whether the allegations by a male prostitute that Mr. Haggard, one of the nation’s most prominent evangelical ministers, had engaged in a three-year affair with him and of using drugs, Haggard confessed to his handpicked board of overseers that he had engaged in sexual immorality.

What actually did Haggard in was neither the sodomy or the drug use, but an interview Haggard had given to TV crews as he pulled out of his driveway where he denied having sex with the male prostitute, and said he had bought methamphetamine but never used it.

I used to refer glibly to the moral majority as neither. This morning I am pleased that at least the board of overseers had the cajones to do the right thing and take out this hypocrite - for lying...

Time to take the old beater in to the shop

So I am taking my car in to the shop for its 125,000 km check up this week and I am frankly petrified about what the bill will be. On top of that, I have to get it emissions tested as all vehicles above 4 years old in Ontario are (rightly) required to be tested. I was hoping to drive it for another couple years so it could qualify for Old Cars Monthly, but now it appears that I will have to start shopping for new car. I may be better off just getting a subscription to Consumer Reports rather than shelling out for the car. First I'll need to decide between an SAV and the Honda Accord hybrid...decisions, decisions...

Sacrifice for global peace

Are you willing to help build world peace on December 22 as part of Global Orgasm Day?

Sacrifice, I say why not...

Gold Medal Plates

I attended this fundraiser for Canada's Olympic athletes last night at the Hilton Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau (Hull sector) last night.

It was put on by Robert Zed and chaired by Gary Zed. The premise of the event was to get 350 to 400 people out to a fundraising event for Canada's Olympic athletes where we would be able to sample from among 8 of Ottawa's finest restaurants. The participating restaurants were:

Juniper - Chef Reichard Nigro served an oyster cocoanut broth with angus beef.
Social - Chef Stephen Mitton served duck confit with fois gras nougat.
Les Fougeres - Chef Charles Part served seared Scallop on kedgeree risotto.
NAC Restaurant - Chef Kurt Waldel served sea bass and pickerel.
Domus - Chef John Taylor served an Atlantic Lobster roll box lunch.
The Urban Pear - Chef Ben Baird seared scallops with a cranberry coulis.
The Hilton - Chef Hectopr Diaz served a wild game trio of dear, rabbit and morels.
Brookstreet - Chef Michael Blackie served lamb with apple ice wine, lobster claw and bay scallop with tuna foam.

The winner of the judging for best plate was Michael Blackie from Brookstreet whose dish was my favorite of all these phenomenal dishes.

There was also a live auction which raised over $120k and silent auctions and raffles to make for an extremely successful and great night out for all concerned. From a motivational point of view Katriona Lemay Doan and fellow Gold medalist athlete Paul Rosen were nothing short of spectacular.

All said, I think we are on the right track to have some of the most successful Olympic performances ever!

The ring of Jackboots...

Well, it was with some surprise to me that the good folks at Google who had been hassling me to sign up for their Ad service as a way to make some cash off the traffic on my site suspended my account. I had passed the fifty dollar mark in 3 months and was informed that my PIN number was being mailed to me.

At this rate I could expect my first cheque 10 months from now and was nowhere close to receiving any money. Anyways, a friend asks me why I posted ads for political candidates and parties that I am not endorsing, so I explained to her that I had signed on to googgle's ads program and that I had not seen any cash and how it works in theory is that you are supposed to get money for clicks on your ads. Needless to say she went through my sight and enjoyed the ads. Without warning (add Strauss music here) the mothership disqualified me and placed an ominous "You are not authorized to view this page" banner on the top of my blog.

Can anyone recommend another blog hosting operation that is less heavy handed in its pursuit of $500 per share stock valuations?

Democrats elect new House Leadership

Democrats have come togther to unanimously nominate Rep. Nancy Pelosi as their candidate for Speaker. I for one am glad that they left Rep. Murtha of Abscam fame behind in trying to set a new agenda of integrity for Congress. Congratulations to Rahm Emmanuel who will be the number 4 of the Majority House leadership. You can read more here.

Leaderless Liberals surge ahead of Tories

So, for the first time since the election the Liberal Party of Canada is ahead of the Cons according to a new
Decima Research poll conducted last week.

Despite not having a leader (sorry - Go Bill Graham!!!) the Liberals have taken a lead nationally. Well, the honeymoon is over, and Canadians are pissed at Stevie over his broken promises and the lies from Canada's new and exalted government.

Kyoto - Promise broken, promise broken
Kelowna - Promise broken, promise broken
Reduce Wait times - Promise broken, promise broken
We won't screw seniors on income trusts - Promise broken, promise broken
Integrity in government - Promise broken, promise broken

I think the Liberals should borrow a broom from Howard Dean when he speaks at the Convention at the end of the month because it looks like Steve has soiled the bed and Canadians may want to do a little spring cleaning.

How's that Ostrich Foreign Policy working out for ya Steve?

PM Steve is facing the consequences of his bury your head in the sand approach to foreign policy, having been snubbed by the world's largest country when he requested a meeting with China's president here and previously mentioned here by your humble narrator.

This is in addition to Canada getting pilloried for its position on climate change and the possibility of a Carbon tax being added to trade with Canada by the Europeans here.

After striking out at the World AIDS Conference in Toronto and now these global embarrassments, when will Stephen Harper learn that Canada's International Policy has always been a 3D approach that includes diplomacy and development as well as defense?

Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Belinda

Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Belinda Stronach have all drawn attention to development issues recently, with the latter 2 making a positive contribution. Too bad about Madonna

Madonna has reportedly outraged Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie by criticising their charity work.

The couple - who are currently in India filming 'A Mighty Heart' - have allegedly been left "shocked" after Madonna blasted their involvement in the building of an Indian orphanage.

A source told Britain's Star magazine: "Angelina is shocked. Madonna's remarks just sound nasty. Angelina thinks the worst part of it all is that Madonna could have used the opportunity to say something that could actually be of benefit to someone."

As well as reportedly criticising Brad and Angelina's work with orphanages, Madonna - who has sparked controversy after adopting a Malawian baby called David - also seemed to trivialise Angelina's role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

The 48-year-old pop superstar said: "I'm not interested in going in there like an idiot and going, 'OK, I'm going to build ten orphanages and I'll see you guys later'. I could've joined the UN and become an ambassador, visited various countries and just showed up and smiled and looked concerned. But that's not getting to the root of the problem. And neither is building orphan care centres."

But she didn't build orphan care centres and is not a UN ambassador. For every 10 people talking about doing development assistance work it is impressive to see one person actually doing something about it. So whether it's Angelina and Brad or Belinda Stronach I wish there was more of their doing and less of Madonna's whining.

Steve's Thought police are in da House

The amount of control that the current PMO exercises is in sharp contrast to the previous Paul Martin PMO. However, there are signs that it is bordering on the extreme.

This afternoon, according to canadian Press, ex-Tory MP Garth Turner promises to provide 'disturbing insights' into the workings of Steve's PMO.

Independent MP Garth Turner is threatening to expose what he terms "disturbing insights" into the workings of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
Conservative government.

The former Tory member of Parliament has scheduled a news conference for today, promising to reveal what's contained in correspondence between his staff and the Prime Minister's Office since he was ousted from caucus.

"The big issue right now is not me, but rather some disturbing insights into how the 'new' government is actually working," Mr. Turner wrote. "I think we should talk about it. This matters a lot more than the fate of one homeless MP."

This follows the decision of the Harper government to make the words "innovate", "competitiveness" and "Innovation" forbidden in government documents as reported in the Toronto Star.

Outlawing the word innovation hardly inspires confidence in Canada's new and exalted Conservative government.*

* Somehow my word processor replaced Tory with "new and exalted Conservative"...I'll have to look into that...

The Habs have gotta be worth more than the Maple Loafs

According to Forbes magazine's annual approximations of NHL franchise values, the values of Canadian NHL franchises has surged since the league penned a new deal with its players and the Canadian dollar strengthened.

Two of Canada's "Original Six" franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, each went up in value 18 per cent.

Here is what I don'y understand, how is it that a city that has not won a Stanley Cup in my lifetime has seen its franchise value go from $280 million to $332 million -- making it the league's most valuable -- while the Habs who have won Stanley Cups like the Liberal Party used to win elections is only valued at $230 million?

I mean, the Leafs didn't even make the playoffs last year (again) while the Habs were eliminated in the playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Ottawa Mayoral Race

Well, there's a new poll in that bastion of truth the Ottawa Citizen this morning. It places Larry O'Brien in a commanding lead with Alex Munter second and incumbent mayor Bob Chiarelli a distant third.

Here's a bit about the candidates:

Larry O'Brien: Former businessman from Silicon Valley North. He is running on a platform to freeze taxes, spend $450 million on new incinerators, spend more on roads, social services and child care. Generally seen as the fiscally conservative candidate.

Alex Munter is a former city councillor, NDP candidate, and U of O lecturer. Munter is campaigning on raising taxes at the rate of inflation, expand wi-fi access, close the Carp and Navan dumps and cut fees for parks and recs. He is calling for borough councils which have been a disaster in Montreal since it went to one city. Clearly, based on his record and campaign promises is the tax and spend candidate.

Bob Chiarelli: Incumbent mayor and former MPP. Chiarelli is running on his record, claiming that Ottawa is acknowledged as one of the best cities in the world in which to live. He points to decraesed crime, a strong economy, the vibrant arts community. He has the baggage of an incumbent and is running on the expanded light rail project. Chiarelli has the most functional LRT plan of all three candidates and I like the way he stood up to John Baird's meddling.

The Ottawa Citizen Editorial Board Endorsed Bob Chiarelli

While I have not followed this campaign as closely as I had the US mid-terms, I will defer in my analysis to Friday's Citizen editorial.

It attested to Chiarelli's leadership in moments of crisis: "Mr. Chiarelli rose to the occasion for the 1998 ice storm and the 2003 blackout.”

As for the other candidates, the Editorial Board stated: “former Kanata councillor has long been known as a powerful voice for the political left. The labour unions adore him, so much so that some in the PSAC had raised the idea of paying its members to work on his campaign.”

On Munter's policy platform, the Citizen wrote; “[w]e are wary of his instinctive attraction to big government. He's calling for borough councils, which seems a step backward from the whole premise of amalgamation, which was to reduce government.” On light rail, they say: "irrespective if you are for or against, Mr. Munter's program does not take the train downtown, which is where people want to go. And Mr. Munter backs a tunnel, which would be prohibitively expensive.”

The editorial board is critical of Larry O’Brien who they state lacks even a cursory knowledge of the key issues at the City. They sayMr. O’Brien refused to answer the Editorial Board's policy questions “…what city services would he eliminate to keep tax increases at zero? He wouldn't tell us. Why is there little business development in the east end? He wouldn't speculate. His position on light rail? Impossible to discern.”

Having seen all this, despite his low ranking in the polls, I will be casting my vote for incumbent mayor Bob Chiarelli.

Finally...Sheva's back

Andrei Shevchenko scored with a beautiful header as he returned from four games out through injury against Aston Villa the other night. Though the goal was largely helped by Villa's defensive weakness, it was nice to see the Ukrainian striker finally shifting into gear, as his play to date for Chelsea has bordered on very weak thus far since joining the team.

This is an effective Leader of the Opposition...

Canadians are sometimes regarded in international circles as being overly smug. We are international boyscouts (and girl scouts?) who like to occupy a helper/fixer role on the world stage. Sometimes we can learn from others.

Ukrainian Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko recently took the wood to Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko on live TV here as pointed out by LEvko from Foreign Notes.

Frankly, the Liberals could learn a thing or two from Tymoshenko and administer a "thumpin" (as Dubbya would say) to the Conservatives with this type of tenacity.

Steve's chickens are coming home to roost

People made a lot during the last election campaign of the fact that Stephen Harper wasn't scary and that he had in fact changed his spots from the driven idealogue who had previously worked for the controversial National Citizens Coalition to become a small c fiscal conservative. Well, this morning's Globe and Mail highlights the latest attack by Steve on the independence of the judiciary. None less than Beverley McLachlin, Canada's Chief Justice, along with a group of the country's top judges issued an unprecedented rebuke yesterday to Justice Minister Vic Toews for hatching a plan to arbitrarily change the way judges are chosen.

On the very same page, after the federal government has spent time and effort cultivating relations with China for the last fifteen years, the Chinese are not returning Steve's calls because he has ignored and insulted China and not sent over any high level delegations in his year in office. When he discovered that they are the economic powerhouse of the next decade, with no forward planning, they politely told him they would get back to him to see if there was time in the Chinese President's schedule at the next APEC meeting. No forward planning and ideologically driven policy - worked for Bush didn't it.

Imagine if he had a majority...scary.

We're number 6!

The United Nations Human Development index (HDI) today ranked Norway as the best place in the world in which to live. The UN HDI is based on criteria such as life expectancy, education and income.

Canada placed sixth on the index, after Iceland, Australia, Ireland and Sweden.

More striking than the differences among the top countries were the comparisons of those at the bottom of the index. As my friend DC Grit says
here, it seems strange that by mere happenstance and place of birth some people, say Norwegians can earn 40 times more than the study's lowest-ranked country, Niger, live almost twice as long, and have nearly five times the literacy rate.

Hmmn.

Will MacKay be forced to step down?

Well that classy MacKay clan is at it again, giving a whole new meaning to the expression "pimp my ride". Elmer was notorious for his support for the business dealings of accused fraudster Karlheinz Schreiber who is facing extradition over allegations and chargesd of bribery, fraud, breach of trust and tax evasion. Elmer MacKay has even acted as a surety for the disgraced businessman's bail applications.


But this is the type of integrity we can expect from MPs who sit in Steve's Cabinet. Both Peter MacKay and his father Elmer think nothing of using federal government resources to send faxes to defend the honour of Karlheinz Schreiber. Maybe he should have taken some cash out of one of the envelopes earmarked for Mulroney and gone to Staples/Business Depot to send the fax. Just a thought.

In other news, MacKay denied that he had lent a government thesaurus to former Mulroney Chief of Staff Norman Spector with the "dog" page highlighted. Spector still refuses to apologize for the completely inappropriate language. How about we all pitch in for a bar of soap to wash Normie's mouth out.

Well it's official, sort of

World News Australia has called the Senate race in Virginia for the Democrats. AP confirms that it is impossible for Allen to catch up. All this and Rumsfeld's resignation, now where do they sell lotto 6/49 tickets?

It's almost official

Tester has been declared the winner in the US Senate race in Montana here.

That leaves only Webb vs. Allen in Virginia. Gentlemen, start your attorneys.

The results are in, almost

Well, it looks like my fearless projections for seat counts for the Senate race will be 100% accurate. That is, if the good folks in Meagher County Montana prefer Democrat candidate Jon Tester to Republican incumbent Conrad Burns. Tester has a 1% lead (1800 votes) with 99% of precincts in. The holdout, Meagher county, has no returns in at all yet.

As well, in Viginia, with 99% of polls in, 3 precincts remain to be completed:

Fairfax City - 86% reported breaks 56-43 for Webb
Isle of Wight - 92% reported breaks 57-42 for Senator Allen
Loudon County - 99% reported breaks 50-49 for Webb

Jim Webb leads at present by approximately 10,000 votes. Given the above data, it looks like Webb will win this one although it will surely go to recount.

With 13 seats still up for grabs, the Democrats have been declared in 227 House races, with the GOP losing 27 seats (so far) at 195.

It will be interesting to see how the lame duck President responds at 1:00pm. This could be great for bi-partisanship or complete gridlock - think Toronto at rush hour.

UPDATE: Here is the most thorough explanation of Montana recount rules that I have found.

Too boring to visit?

The National Post this morning quotes a UN report as saying that international travellers find Canada too boring to visit.

UNITED NATIONS - More people around the world are visiting other countries -- but passing on Canada, according to a United Nations study released yesterday.

While the number of tourists travelling abroad is up 4.5% over the past year worldwide, Canada saw a 4.1% decline. Officials say we're seen as unexciting, increasingly expensive and a hassle to enter when arriving at the U.S. border.

Personally, I would think that the South Park movie and high loonie have something to do with it as well.

Lest we forget...

Two weeks ago I attended an event here in Ottawa sponsored by the Dominion Institute as part of Citizenship Week in support of a program that they have to valorize the contribution of immigrants to building Canada.

Today, I support the Dominion Institute in its latest campaign to ensure that Canada's last World War I Veteran receives a state funeral. I urge you all to sign the attached petition to honour our WWI veterans.

Fearless Mid-term predictions

Here are my predictions for tomorrow's mid-term elections. The democrats will control both Houses. My seat projections are as follows:

US SENATE

Democrats 49
Republicans 49
Independents: 2

I have previously indicated that I think Democrats will pick-up seats in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, with Connecticut and Vermont electing independents who I believe will Caucus with Democrats.

US House

Democrats 230
Republicans 205

My favorite races to watch are Texas 22, New Hampshire 2 and Florida 16. These will be good barometers of the publics tolerance for GOP scandal.

Best Slogans for the mid-terms

In a race that has seen plenty of Republican scandal, it is heartening to see that at least 2 candidates have not lost their sense of humour.

Independent Texas Gubernatorial candiate Kinky Friedman is running under the slogan "How hard can it be?", while Seattle area Democrat Deb Eddy has my absolute favorite slogan, "Debbie does Democracy" in Washington State (Hat tip to Sidorenko).

Readers feel free to send in other favorite slogans.

Bush more dangerous than Kim Jong il

A story appearing in today'sGuardian indicates that US president George Bush is thought by Britons to be more dangerous to world peace than Kim Jong-Il.

The story goes on to say that 62% of Canadians think that the world is less safe because of US policies under Bush. Not surprisingly, three quarters of Canadians believe that the invasion of Iraq was unjustified.

In other news, Michael Ignatieff claims that he was misquoted when he supported the Iraq war...wash, rinse, repeat.

Canada's Ambassador to US predicts Democrats to take congress

Canada's Ambassador to Washington, Michael Wilson, was speaking at the Association of Former Parliamentarians annual fundraising dinner at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa last night. In his speech he indicated that: a) the softwood deal he negotaited is great; b)Canada-US relations are better now that we understand Dubbya; and c) that the world's largest border is getting "thicker".

He also predicted Democrats will win the House, but the Senate will stay Rebublican. And he said that this would lead to...no, not gridlock, but a new era of bi-partisanship for the lame-duck President. On this one, I hope he is right, but something tells me he's not.

I am calling the Senate Race - the last 3

Three weeks ago I said that I thought that it would come down to these three Senate races to see if the Democrats could take back the Senate. With just a few days to go until folks head to the polls, I would like to make my fearless predeictions in the last 3 races which I thought were too close to call at the time.

Rhode Island: The primary battle combined with the implosion of the GOP on IRAQ and sex scandals will see this state flip from Chafee Red to Whitehouse Blue with the last 5 polls increasing the average margin to 6%. Democratiic pick-up.

Tennessee: The Republican Party's negative campaign ads are among the most racist and disgusting I have seen. Republican Bob Corker's support has been eroding, but I do not believe that the backlash will be enough to put this seat back in the hands of Harold Ford Jr. "Call me." I consider this one a Republican hold.

Virginia: Racist incumbent Senator, George "Macaca" Allen, whose exploits have been published previously by your humble narrator here and here, has now taken to having members of the public who ask tough questions roughed up and beaten. The Democrats pick this one up and Senator Allen can go back to shouting racist slurs from his pick-up truck. James Webb is ahead by 3 points in the last 3 polls.

This results in a 49-49 Senate and I predict that both independents Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders will caucus with the Democrats.