'I don't think it's that much worse than it was'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:31 PM - 12 Comments

Peter Milliken, now the longest-standing speaker in Parliament’s history, reflects on the state of the House.

Although many complain that the House has become a bedlam in recent years, Milliken remembers sitting in the galleries as a student in the 1960s, when the boom of fists slammed on desk tops could be deafening. ”There was a lot of yelling and desk thumping. … It was so loud it drowned out anything,” he said. “You couldn’t hear a thing when people were pounding their desks and that’s exactly what they did. It would start in the middle of an answer or the middle of a question.”

Today, desk thumping is out of style on the House, replaced by booing or cheers and ovations. ”I don’t think it’s that much worse than it was,” Milliken says. “It’s bigger – then there were 265 (MPs) now it’s 308 – so it is bigger. … But I don’t think the noise is particularly worse.”

What has changed is that more people see the question period uproar. ”Because it’s on television, people see it more than they did before. I think they’re thinking: ‘Boy! Look at this.’ You can see what they’re doing and they are making a lot of noise.”

What's new at the public opinion research depository? So glad you asked!

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:19 PM - 68 Comments

Oh, PORRD. What would Hill journalists do during break weeks without you? And look — your latest offerings are downright serendipitously on topic.

Okay, so back in April, at the behest of PCO, Ipsos Reid held a series of focus groups on the economy, particularly the government’s response to the recession, otherwise known as the Economic Action! Plan*.  Although now somewhat dated — I mean, really, early April was so two probation reports ago, and isn’t that whole recession unpleasantness behind us now, barring the sudden eruption of The Election Nobody Wants? — the findings are still worth reading, especially when you consider what the Parliamentary Budget Office had to say last week about the update that the prime minister delivered last month:

Accountability loomed large in the discourse of many around the table. Most were aware that any Government efforts to stimulate the economy would likely result in significant government spending. Although few disagreed with this approach, most were of the view that sufficient checks and balances needed to be in place in order to prevent taxpayer money being squandered. In fact most agree that there is a need for the Government to be transparent, provide regular and timely updates on expenditures, inform Canadians on the intended results, and provide regular feedback on actual outcomes. [...]

Continue…

Mother can pass cancer to baby: study

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:13 PM - 1 Comment

A mother’s cancer cells can be passed along to an unborn child, a team of British researchers has shown. This goes against previously held beliefs that the child’s immune system should block a mother’s cancer, even though rare cases exist in which a mother and child appear to share the same cancer; indeed, there are records of 17 cases of a mother and baby apparently sharing the same cancer, usually melanoma or leukemia. The question of whether a mother can pass along cancer to a child has puzzled scientists for over 100 years, the BBC reports. In the latest study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers used an advanced genetic fingerprinting technique to show that the leukemia cells present in the baby came from the mother. They also looked at how the cancer cells could have neutralized the baby’s immune system, and found the cancer cells lacked some DNA that plays an important role in helping the immune system recognize cells as foreign. The immune system, then, wasn’t mobilized to attack them. “We are pleased to have resolved this longstanding puzzle. But we stress that such mother-to-offspring transfer of cancer is exceedingly rare and the chances of any pregnant woman with cancer passing it on to her child are remote,” said lead author Professor Mel Greaves from the Institute of Cancer Research.

BBC News

Harvey Milk Day signed into California Law

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:13 PM - 0 Comments

Just one year after he vetoed a bill to set aside a day to recognize the achievements of Harvey Milk, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has reversed his position, declaring May 22 Harvey Milk Day. Though it won’t be a state holiday, it will be an opportunity for schools to recognize the accomplishment of the gay San Francisco politician, who was assassinated in 1978. According to the governor’s spokesman, Schwarzenegger’s change of heart was prompted by Milk’s receipt of the presidential medal of freedom, and the Academy-award winning film about his life. The bill also recognizes the rights of same-sex couples married in other states. While cheered by many, Harvey Milk Day is being denounced by conservative groups who call it “the strongest impetus yet for loving parents to remove their children from anti-family public schools.”

The Guardian

Loonie on the rise

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:12 PM - 0 Comments

On Tuesday morning, the Loonie continued its rapid rise, reaching more than US97 cents. The dollar shot up roughly a cent on Thanksgiving Monday; as of 8 a.m. on Tuesday, it was trading at US97.18 cents. Some of that gain can be attributed to a weakened U.S. currency. But the Canadian dollar has also been strengthened, in recent weeks, by rising commodity prices. Canada’s abundance of natural resources makes the country particularly sensitive to changes in commodity pricing. The Canadian Loonie was last on par with the American dollar in September 2007; that marked the first time that the dollar’s reached parity in three decades. Some speculate that the U.S. dollar is losing its position as a worldwide reserve currency.

Vancouver Sun

CBC News

Will Russia support sanctions against a nuclear Iran?

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:11 PM - 1 Comment

In response to deepening concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, Russia’s foreign minister has dismissed possible new sanctions against Tehran as counterproductive. The timing is significant; U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Moscow, in an attempt to win support for tougher measures against Iran, in the case that Iran continues to expand its nuclear program. Clinton was careful, however, to portray new sanctions as a last-ditch measure: “At the same time that we are very vigorously pursuing this [diplomatic] track, we are aware that we might not be as successful as we need to be, so we have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event we are not successful and cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided not to pursue nuclear weapons,” Clinton announced at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The talks come at a sensitive time for US-Russia relations. The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) will expire in December, and no plans for a successor agreement have been nailed down. At the same time, U.S. President Barack Obama has promised to “reset” relations between the two countries, which have faltered in recent years. Iran is already subject to three sets of U.N. sanctions—Russia and China have expressed disapproval at the notion of imposing additional ones.

CBC News

“I didn’t like his moustache”

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:10 PM - 0 Comments

Sharing a stage at The Times Cheltenham Festival of Literature, Dame Ruth Rendell and Baroness P.D. James admitted that they did not care for the television adaptations of their books because producers took liberties with their source material. Dame Ruth, 79, said that Baroness James, 89, had not identified with Roy Marsden, the actor who played her Inspector Adam Dalgliesh for 15 years. “You never liked Roy Marsden much, did you?” she said. James responded: “I didn’t like his moustache. You don’t ever see senior detectives with a moustache.” A spokeswoman for Marsden said that he would not comment. Rendell added that she initially “didn’t like George Baker,” who played the role of Rendell’s Inspector Reginald Wexford, “but I got used to him. He didn’t look like Wexford. I said in an early book that he is very ugly and George was not.” Rendell, who has written 21 Wexford books, said that she had no creative control over television adaptations but that they were not important to her. “I think that people expect us to be far more concerned with our television productions than we are. You can say that television makes you famous and sells your books but you don’t care very much about it.” Baroness James said that she had given up trying to make sense of changes made to her stories when they were adapted for television. “I don’t read a script of adaptations because I know I’m not going to like it. They do things sometimes that are nonsensical.” Car chases in particular, Rendell chimed in. “They put one in all of mine. There’s no reason for a car chase but everyone likes one. In the end you don’t care.”

The Times of London

Juggling chainsaws (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:48 AM - 0 Comments

A reader points out that Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie first reassessed the readiness of Canada’s military in July.

This week's travel news

By Bruce Parkinson, Takeoffeh.com - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM - 1 Comment

This Week’s Take offers you a capsule summary of the high and low lights of TakeOffeh.com’s Daily Dispatches from the past seven days.

Slow Train Comin’; Tunnel Collapse:
Transit planners have been discussing a rail link between Toronto’s Union Station and Pearson International Airport for over 20 years. As the Globe reports, it will be at least another five years before it comes to fruition, but the project got a major step closer this week when the Ontario Ministry of the Environment approved a major rail expansion plan for the city’s west end. As with any Big Smoke mega-project, there has been plenty of opposition from environmentalists. The city’s medical officer of health made a strong case for the service to be electrified to eliminate diesel pollution. The end result is a compromise: approval came with strict conditions, including a requirement that locomotives be fuelled with low-sulphur diesel that is not yet commercially available but should be by the estimated 2015 start date. Cost for the project is estimated at $875-million and transit planning agency Metrolinx estimates that the Union-Pearson link will eliminate 1.2-million annual car trips from downtown to the airport. There was other news on the airport transportation front this week, as the Toronto Port Authority scrapped plans to build a tunnel to the Toronto City Centre Airport. The TPA ditched the plan because the timelines were too long to qualify for federal stimulus funding for the $38-million project. This story is far from over – you can bet the TPA will find another way to bridge the short gap from mainland to island.

Fixing A Hole: Original Conquest Vacations founder, Robbie Goldberg, is stepping back into the ring. He ran Conquest for 35 years before selling in 2007 – two years before the company went up in smoke. Goldberg says he sees a niche: “With changes in the marketplace of late, the supply and choices will become limited for consumers and prices will rise and a new tour company will offer more choices.” From an industry perspective that’s a highly debatable position, but for travellers it likely means the continuation of cheap packages. Goldberg released few details on the new company, other than it plans to offer vacations to sun destinations beginning in November, 2010.

Is That A Billion Dollars In Your Pocket? What’s WestJet up to? That’s been the subject of speculation ever since the airline successfully raised $172-million in equity, when it already had $732-million in its jeans. The airline says it’s just putting some change away for a rainy day, but analysts suspect WestJet is about to do what most of us do when we’re feeling flush – go shopping! Last week the speculation focused on Porter Airlines, that other aviation underdog that’s still flying high against most predictions. This week, the Financial Post reports predictions that WestJet might be seeking to swallow a tour operator to beef up its fledgling WestJet Vacations division. “The vacation travel market is fragmented and struggling with excess capacity that we believe will place significant pressure on margins and potentially provide acquisition opportunities for well capitalized players such as WestJet,” UBS analyst Fadi Chamoun told FP. Airline and travel industry consultant Robert Kokonis of AirTrav Inc. told TakeOffeh.com that the tour operator purchase scenario makes some sense. He sees a couple of potential targets – Sunquest Vacations, which is owned by international travel giant Thomas Cook, and Sunwing Travel Group, 49%-owned by another international travel colossus, TUI Travel. Kokonis believes both TUI and TCook are tired of the low-yield Canadian market, and wouldn’t mind a well-paid escape route. Meanwhile, Air Canada has announced an initiative to raise another $300-million on top of the $1-billion secured earlier in the year. For some reason, everyone believes AC when it says it needs the money to fund current operations.

Sort It Out Please: The average hotel guest creates about a kilogram of garbage every day, much of it comprised of materials they would likely sort into recycle bins at home. But according to The New York Times, the majority of hotels still don’t recycle, despite reams of PR puffery about ‘going green.’  Hotels are great at asking you to use your towels again or not change the sheets every day (although most of the time the housekeepers seem to do it anyway). They’re eager for you to ease up on the heat and air-conditioning, and turn off lights when you’re not using them. Those are all good things, of course, but the common denominator is that the hotels save money, which makes ‘going green’ a bit of a doddle. Recycling poses more trouble. Housekeeping carts need to be redesigned to accept sorted waste, workers have to learn new procedures and hotels have to store recyclable materials until they can be taken away. Sort of like what you and I had to adapt to, just on a larger scale. To be fair on this issue, Canada has some hospitality leaders when it comes to recycling. Both Fairmont Hotels and Delta Hotels and Resorts are international industry leaders in green hospitality efforts, and the Hotel Association of Canada is boosting efforts with its Green Key Eco-Rating Program.

Hey! You With The Light Fingers: As a kid growing up, it seemed like every house had ashtrays, and many of them featured the Holiday Inn logo. For some reason, having Holiday Inn-branded merchandise around the house made people feel ‘well-travelled.’ Towels were a frequent pinch too, of course, until Dear Abby weighed in on the issue by saying hotel towel-takers were no more than common thieves. This past August, however, Holiday Inn held a ‘towel amnesty day,’ forgiving all past terrycloth transgressions. Towels aren’t the only things people pilfer from hotel rooms. As Britain’s Telegraph recently reported, everything from grand pianos to wild boar heads, televisions to curtains check out along with greedy guests. Some people even steal the room number right off the door. But the worst, the absolute worst, was the guest at a British hotel who stole the owner’s pet dog. We hope the perp caught fleas.

Photo Credits: HooRoo Graphics, Steve Debenport

Bucking stereotypes. Or not.

By Martin Patriquin - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:41 AM - 6 Comments

Habs toughy Georges Laraque, we are told, isn’t like Habs toughies of yore. (Incidentally, my all-time favourite Hab proto-thug is this guy right here. True story: last summer, Nilan was found guilty of stealing a bathing suit from a swishy Massachusetts haberdashery. Nilan’s response to the cops: “I just wanted to save a few bucks.”)

Anyway, Laraque’s media narrative goes like this: 6-foot-3, 245-pound behemoth is actually a teddy bear at heart, a puppy-dog-adopting, tofu-chomping PETA member who lives for the penalty box (and who gets injured a lot, but that’s another story.) The “hitter with a heart of gold” thing has been kicking around Montreal for quite some time, and today the Gazette slobbered all over him for 20 inches.

Continue…

Fear factor

By Cathy Gulli - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:40 AM - 7 Comments

Despite signs that the global economy is recovering from the recession, many people are still afraid of losing their jobs. A recent study in the U.K. indicates that workers are so terrified about being fired, they’re eschewing sick days. Forty-three per cent of Brits say they haven’t once called in sick this year for fear of seeming like a slacker—that’s a 20 per cent increase over 2008. For some, no ailment is too severe, including a migraine, bad back or swine flu.

Canadians are feeling similarly insecure: two recent polls, one by Harris/Decima and another by Desjardins Financial Security, revealed that more than one third of Canadians still worry about being fired because of the economic downturn. And if they’re looking for hope, they won’t find it in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s assertion earlier this month that “we will have a persisting unemployment problem well into 2010.” It’s no wonder that across the country anxious workers have been skipping vacation or clocking overtime in an effort to appear dedicated, capable and indispensable to their bosses. Continue…

It’s like a curse

By Katie Engelhart - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:39 AM - 10 Comments

Red is the hair colour of the season. In fashion magazines worldwide, crimson clichés abound: Hollywood has succumbed to “scarlet fever” and starlets are “painting the town red.” Model Coco Rocha and actress Scarlett Johansson are two of the latest to turn red. But they are only following in the wake of faux-red trailblazers like Amy Adams, who swears there was “a definite shift in [her] life” the moment she “decided to go red.”

Hollywood stylist Robert Hallowell—whose latest gig involves keeping CSI star Marg Helgenberger’s copper hair shining on set—cautions that, of all the bottle-bought shades, red is the most finicky. “It’s so hard to get it right,” he bemoans. “It can be so I Love Lucy orange. Or it can go to the bluey, dark red that is sort of ’80s.” That, of course, is not a problem for the two per cent of the world that is genuinely red. But while Hollywood is turning more titian-friendly, another place appears increasingly threatening to redheads: the dentist’s chair. Continue…

Peter Milliken becomes Commons' longest-serving speaker

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:36 AM - 1 Comment

Canadian Press pays tribute to Peter Milliken, “the white-haired chap in the black robe” most often seen “trying to keep the exasperation from his voice as he tries to calm a raucous question period” as he heads into the parliamentary history books as the longest-serving speaker in Commons history. The job definitely has its perks—a cabinet minister’s salary, a car and driver, more screen time on CPAC than the prime minister and not one but two official residences, including a modest apartment in the heart of Centre Block—but, as CP points out, with the speaker’s power comes great responsibility, both inside and outside the Chamber. Not only is Milliken “the chief executive officer of Parliament, overseeing budgets and operations for the Commons and the various buildings that make up what’s called the parliamentary precinct,” but in a minority setting, he is also required to set aside the traditional neutrality of the post as the deciding vote in the event of a tie, something that has only happened 10 times since Confederation—and five times since he took over the chair in 2001, including a motion of non-confidence against Paul Martin’s government in 2005. (He voted against the motion.) Despite the pressure of keeping order in a fractious minority House, it sounds as though Milliken is still enjoying his work, telling CP that he’s “quite enjoyed the experience” and continues to do so.

The Canadian Press

"Abortion addict" pens memoirs

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:35 AM - 1 Comment

A book written by a Denver woman who had 15 abortions from the time she was 16 is threatening to reignite the abortion debate in the United States. Irene Vilar, the child of Puerto Rican parents, has described the bizarre set of circumstances that led her to seek abortion after abortion until the age of 33, when she turned the page on her life. She believes she fell into the cycle as the result of a paradox: coming from Puerto Rico, where population concerns had resulted in government programs in birth control and forced sterilization, she regarded motherhood as an empowering experience; yet she was married to a man who believed children were a limit on personal freedom and families were “nests of suffering.” Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict has lent fuel to critics who say abortions are used as first-line birth control. For abortion rights activists, the case is complicated by the fact Vilar, now 40, appears to be an otherwise intelligent, self-possessed woman—a successful literary agent with two young daughters.

Los Angeles Times

Was Obama's Nobel for "awesomeness" and positive thinking?

By Anne Kingston with Katie Engelhart - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:30 AM - 42 Comments

On the weekend, Australia’s former foreign minister Alexander Downer weighed into the reaction to Barack Obama’s surprise win of the Nobel Peace Prize, calling it a farce that has discredited the award. Like Kanye West storming the stage of the MTV Video awards to express his anger when Taylor Swift beat out Beyonce, Downer pronounced Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, ignored after years of struggling for human rights in his country, a more worthy selection.

He isn’t alone. Response to Obama’s win has become a watershed that signals the official end of Obamamania and suggests the world’s most esteemed award might also be overrated. Lech Walesa, ex-president of Poland who won in 1983 summed up the most common all splendid oratory-no action yet criticism of Obama: “Well, there’s hasn’t been any contribution to peace yet,” he said, apparently not impressed by his cancelling the U.S. missile-defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. “He’s proposing things, he’s initiating things, but he is yet to deliver.” Continue…

No Joke More Horrible

By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:09 AM - 13 Comments

While waiting for my fingers to get on the ball and start typing a real post, here is the most horrifying joke ever broadcast on a mainstream network television show. According to the Internet, this is from 1987 on ABC.

Again, this is why the ’80s were a strange, strange time. Even the audience (if that is is a real audience there) sounds uncomfortable in the long, “cute” pause after that line.

If you want to tie this into today, this is the sort of thing that the Gilly sketches on Saturday Night Live (there was another one in this last episode) are trying to parody — the idea that destructive, illegal and psychotic behaviour is actually mischievous and adorable. It’s not a bad idea; it’s just that 1) It consists of the same jokes repeated over and over in every sketch, and 2) Gilly’s behaviour is actually kind of bland what you could get away with at 8 p.m. on ABC in the ’80s.

A Harper Thanksgiving

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 10:28 AM - 33 Comments

The blue sweater is out and the burgundy one is in as Stephen Harper meets Phyllis Boyling at the Eau Claire retirement residence on Thanksgiving weekend in this official PMO photo by Deb Ransom.

Harper goes all in

By Andrew Potter - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 10:18 AM - 67 Comments

Is there any stage upon which this man is not completely at home?

Authenticity Watch: Obama

By Andrew Potter - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 8:54 AM - 5 Comments

Via Gawker, Lars von Trier explains why he thought there would never be a black president:

“President Obama seems very authentic… I wonder if there’s a white man inside of him.”

You’ll find lots more on Obama, blackness, authenticity, and politics here.

How we got from there to here

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 8:24 AM - 110 Comments

The Star sorts out how the federal books got the way they are.

Taking over the reins of government in early 2006, the Conservatives were bequeathed a $13.7 billion budget surplus by the Liberals. But by last January, the fiscal cupboard was nearly bare. Even before this year’s economic rescue package, Ottawa was poised to overspend its budget by $15.7 billion, according to Finance Canada documents …  This situation results from the Tories’ decisions to sharply reduce sales taxes and lower personal and corporate income taxes while simultaneously allowing a relentless upsurge in Ottawa’s spending. The Conservative budgets in 2006 and 2007 were notable for their largesse. The government committed to such large spending plans as $5.3 billion for defence, $39 billion for cash transfers to the provinces and $3.7 billion for a new baby bonus.

Beginning in 2006, the Conservatives cut the Goods and Services Tax, in two steps, to 5 per cent from 7 per cent, a move that now costs $11 billion annually in lost revenue … Besides lost GST revenue, the government as of this year is also foregoing $15.3 billion as a result of personal income tax cuts and $7.1 billion from corporate income tax reductions. In all, Conservative tax measures have trimmed Ottawa’s revenues this year by $33.9 billion…

Fearful Asymmetry

By Andrew Potter - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 8:18 AM - 14 Comments

In the House last week, the Bloc twice raised the issue of the government’s rumoured bill to increase representation for BC, Alta, and Ont in the House of Commons. The Bloc demanded to know why the Quebec members of cabinet were not doing more to protect Quebec’s power in the House of Commons; in reply, Steven Fletcher said “This government will ensure that the seat count in the House of Commons is protected for Quebec.” He also said, “I think all federalists in this House can stand up and agree to strong representation for Quebec in the House of Commons.”

I wrote Fletcher on Friday as follows:

I was hoping you can clarify that statement. Does it mean merely that Quebec will not lose seats, or does it mean something stronger? Will a proposed Bill include a clause preserving some fixed proportion of seats in the House of Commons for Quebec? Any clarification you could give would be most appreciated.

Here is the reply I received at the end of the day:

Hi Andrew,

I am responding to your media inquiry you sent today.

What the Minister said in the House of Commons is clear. We are committed to carrying through with the commitments we made in our 2008 platform.

Thank you

Jessica
Jessica Georgakopoulos
Issues Management and Communications Assistant,
Office of the Honourable Steven Fletcher

Here’s what the 2008 platform says:

A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will introduce legislation to move closer towards representation by population in the House of Commons for Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, while protecting the seat counts of other provinces.

A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will introduce legislation to

move closer towards representation by population in the House of Commons for Ontario,

British Columbia and Alberta, while protecting the seat counts of other provinces.A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will introduce legislation to move closer towards representation by population in the House of Commons for Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, while protecting the seat counts of other provinces.

My column about the issue is here.

Sell the Vatican

By Andrew Potter - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 8:09 AM - 3 Comments

Sarah Silverman has a new video, with a proposal to end world hunger. It’s ok, but it it’s no Great Shlep. Her authenticated Twitter feed, however, is great.

Juggling chainsaws

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 12, 2009 at 11:32 PM - 7 Comments

Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie, February 16. Canada’s army is being pushed to the limit by the strains of keeping a 2,700-strong military mission in Afghanistan and the force will need at least a year to recover once the troops return on schedule in 2011, the top army commander said on Monday … Leslie said men and equipment in Afghanistan were wearing out fast and likened his job to juggling a chain saw. ”We are at the limit … we are now sending senior noncommissioned officers and officers back for their fourth tour,” he told Reuters in an interview at Canada’s defense headquarters. ”Our equipment is going to have to be reset, just like our soldiers have to be reset at a certain time.” Leslie said that once the troops had returned, it would take between 12 and 16 months to restore the army’s full fighting capability.

Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie, October 13. The Canadian force is due to pull out in 2011. However, Gen-Leslie told The Independent that after spending £3bn on new equipment including armour and helicopters, and an upsurge in recruiting, his force would be ready to continue with the mission if ordered to do so by the government in Ottawa … The commander said that following losses inflicted by the Taliban, “we took a long, hard look at what needed to be done and I think we are now the best equipped of all Nato troops in Afghanistan”.

Nine lives

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 12, 2009 at 10:17 PM - 57 Comments

Elected by 12,000 votes in 1988 as a Progressive Conservative, ran for party leadership, sat as a cabinet minister, defeated by 4,000 votes in 1993, elected by 2,000 votes as a Conservative in 2006, kicked out of caucus less than a year later, sat as an independent for several months, welcomed into the Liberal caucus in 2007, defeated by 7,000 votes in 2008, declared as a candidate to be the Liberal candidate in a different riding in 2009, Garth Turner walks away.

After being recruited to run for MP in the Ontario riding of Dufferin-Caledon, and having my candidacy approved by the Liberal Party last July, today I informed the leader of my resignation.

My hope in returning to Parliament was to help clear the path to a viable economic future. Stephen Harper’s $56 billion deficit and profligate spending are massive threats. But also threatening is a lack of debate about viable options and an honest conversation with voters and citizens on the looming consequences.

Therefore it’s hard to see what the coming election will be about if we’re not prepared to discuss the options in the wake of the Harper fiscal disaster. Economic growth alone won’t wipe out an historic debt load or the need for spending cuts and tax hikes. The looming HST in Ontario and BC is likely but a taste of medicine to come. This is what Canadians need to understand.

See previously: Slap fight! Life in a swing riding