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.