The Tucson tragedy

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 1:14 PM - 56 Comments

Was it the result of nasty political rhetoric — or not… of weak gun laws — or not…  or yet another failure of an educational institution to deal with someone who is mentally ill – or not?

Tories set sights on majority

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 1:09 PM - 56 Comments

In an effort to reach the 155 seats needed for a parliamentary majority, the Conservatives are focusing on 45 ridings across Canada where they came a close second to either the Liberals or the NDP in the 2008 election. Tim Powers, a Conservative strategist, says “there’s a whole confluence of different forces that make people think with the right approaches and right outreaches and so forth, you might be able to turn some of those seats.” The Tories are hoping to sway these ridings by hammering the electorate on wedge issues like the long-gun registry or the funding of the NHL arena in Quebec City, as well as by trotting out a number of star candidates, including former CFL commissioner Larry Smith in Lac-Saint-Louis and former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord in Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe. Liberals flatly reject any suggestion the Conservative strategy will work. Liberal MP Mark Holland says there’s a “zero per cent chance” that his riding of Ajax-Pickering, one of the ridings targeted by the Tories, is up for grabs.

The Hill Times

Canada ranked last for freedom of information laws

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 12:55 PM - 6 Comments

A study by two British researchers claims Canada has the least effective freedom-of-information laws of the five major parliamentary democracies in the Anglosphere. The study by Robert Hazell and Ben Worthy of University College in London compared the openness of governments in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Canada based official statistics on appeals, court decisions, delays and other factors affecting the release of government information to public requesters. New Zealand finished first while Canada took the bottom spot. “Canada comes last,” Hazell and Worthy wrote, “as it has continually suffered from a combination of low use, low political support and a weak Information Commissioner since its inception.” Among the most glaring weaknesses of the Canadian system are its inability to accept electronic requests and the requirement to send in a paper cheque to cover fees.

Toronto Star

Inquiry into Mayerthorpe shootings begins

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 12:14 PM - 0 Comments

A public inquiry into the killing of four RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta got underway on Monday. Constables Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann were killed by James Roszko in a shootout at Rosko’s farm, which had been found to contain marijuana plants, while investigating a vehicle theft. Roszko, who turned the gun on himself after shooting the officers, had a series of prior convictions, including sexual assault. Dennis Keegan Rodney Cheeseman, 23 and Shawn William Hennessey, 28, were initially charged with four counts of first-degree murder, and accused of aiding and abetting Roszko. Both men pleaded guilty to manslaughter, for which they received prison sentences of 12 and 15 years, respectively. The inquiry will be presided over by Chief Judge D.R. Pahl, who will hear from RCMP employees. Under the Alberta Fatality Inquiries Act, the judge may make recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents, but is prohibited from making any concluding recommendations the legal responsibility of the parties involved.

CBC News

We're number five

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 11:58 AM - 11 Comments

Canada finishes fifth in a ranking of freedom of information in five parliamentary democracies.

“Above all, an effective FOI regime requires strong government commitment and political will. Officials cannot do it on their own,” says the paper, published in the journal Government Information Quarterly. “Canada comes last as it has continually suffered from a combination of low use, low political support and a weak Information Commissioner since its inception.”

The good neighbours

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 11:20 AM - 2 Comments

Michigan’s Candice Miller has a wealth of experience dealing with cross-border issues. Commerce is one of her top concerns; Environmentalists fear the election of leaders like Shimkus doesn’t bode well | Photograph by Logan Mock-Bunting, Larry MacDougal/CP, Bill Clark/Getty Images

“People in Washington talk about going from Capitol Hill to Georgetown for lunch,” says Candice Miller, a Republican congresswoman whose Michigan district spans the shores of Lake Huron and borders Canada. “Well, I don’t think twice about going from my home to Windsor or Sarnia for lunch.”

As conservative Republicans this month take control of the House of Representatives, a chamber that has often been the source of cross-border irritants, the Canadian government is gaining a few powerful friends. Miller, whose district includes the second-busiest border crossing and its most trafficked rail crossing, will be the new lead lawmaker on border issues. The new chairman of the powerful House homeland security committee, congressman Peter King, a blustery security hawk who in the past has voiced concerns about Canadian immigration policies, could have been a source of trouble on border issues. But he told Maclean’s in an interview that he wants to have a “good working relationship” with Canada. “The tone is going to be very friendly and co-operative,” said King. To that end, he appointed Miller to chair the subcommittee on border and maritime security. “Candice Miller is from Michigan, so we are going to focus on northern border security not in an adversarial way,” said King.

Continue…

Arizona shooting raises questions about tone of U.S. politics

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 11:04 AM - 47 Comments

Americans were plunged into a state of national mourning this weekend when reports of a mass shooting outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona surfaced on Saturday. In the end, six people were killed, including a federal judge and a 9 year-old child born on September 11, 2001, and 14 were wounded. The target of the attack is believed to be U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head when the alleged shooter, 22 year-old Jared L. Loughner, went on a rampage that authorities are calling a premeditated assassination attempt. It has even been described as the worst instance of domestic terrorism since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

After being shot in the head at point-blank range, the Democratic congresswoman is in critical condition, but against all odds is currently expected to survive. According to Ms. Giffords’ neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole, the bullet avoided critical areas of the brain when it entered from the back of her skull, passed through the left side and exited through the front of her head.

Police say Loughner, described as a social outcast with ties to hate groups, has so far refused to cooperate with investigators. However, an envelope found in his home had the words “I planned ahead,” “my assassination,” and “Giffords” handwritten on it. He will appear in a Phoenix courthouse on Monday.

While it is believed that Loughner acted alone, the shooting rampage has set off a national debate about the vitriolic tone of U.S. politics. Ms. Giffords’ name had appeared on Sarah Palin’s list of 20 Democrats who had voted for health care reform with crosshairs appearing over their districts. Sherriff Clarence W. Dupnik sparked further partisan controversy when he called Arizona “the Tombstone of the United States of America,” and criticized the state’s firearms law during a press conference.

President Obama led the nation in a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House at 11 a.m. EST on Monday.

CNN

The New York Times

The Globe and Mail

'It's bait and switch'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:25 AM - 73 Comments

Steven Chase looks at the government’s rhetorical turn towards “ethical oil.”

Environmental activists say the Harper government is adopting a classic diversionary tactic to redirect attention away from the oil sands’ poor environmental record. “It’s a rhetorical device; it’s bait and switch,” said Ed Whittingham, executive director of the Pembina Institute. “It’s designed to make us forget about the negative environmental impacts we have in Canada because you are comparing to a completely lower standard in other countries.”

Laura Payton has more.

Why breastfeeding is overrated

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM - 330 Comments

"Telling a woman that the only feminist position is to breastfeed is antithetical to feminism" | Photography Brandon Thibodeaux/Getty Images

Joan B. Wolf is an assistant professor of women’s studies at Texas A&M University and the author of the controversial new book Is Breast Best? Taking on the Breastfeeding Experts and the New High Stakes of Motherhood.

Q: The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life. In your book, you argue that human breast milk is being falsely touted as a magical elixir.
A: The discourse surrounding breastfeeding is extraordinary. We’re told it can protect against everything from ear infections and diabetes to leukemia and heart disease, and can even improve social skills.

Continue…

Which country is right?

By Jason Kirby - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 9:40 AM - 6 Comments

Americans fight through the crowds to do their Black Friday shopping, while in the United Kingdom students take to the streets to protest steep cuts to education spending | Matthew Staver/Bloomberg/Getty Images, David Moir/Reuters

In late November crowds took to the streets in cities across the United States and Britain. As mobs rampaged and destroyed property, fights broke out and a number of victims were sent to hospital. By the time the ordeal was over, police had been called in to bring the unruly hordes under control, and two stunned nations were left to wonder how it had come to this. Mind you, those who rioted in the United Kingdom were students protesting deep government cuts to education spending. In America they were just Black Friday shoppers trampling each other to get to the discount bin at Toys “R” Us.

Since the Great Recession morphed into the Grudging Recovery last year, the U.S. and U.K. have taken radically different paths with their economic policies. In October, the coalition government of Tory Prime Minister David Cameron waged war on the country’s fiscal deficits with a vow to slash spending by $131 billion and raise taxes over the next four years. Meanwhile, across the pond, the Obama administration shook hands with Republicans last month to launch yet another round of stimulus in the form of temporary tax cuts and help for those out of work that will add US$892 billion to that country’s deficits over the next five years. While the British struggle to tighten their belts, American policy makers are doing everything they can to loosen theirs.

Continue…

What's a life worth?

By Michael Friscolanti - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 9:40 AM - 7 Comments

Compensation for an innocent’s death ‘is very appropriate’ in Afghanistan; A Canadian Forces vehicle | Rahmat Gul/AP, Master Corporal James Ross/Canadian Forces

From a strictly legal standpoint, the Canadian military is not responsible for Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire of war. Like every nation with boots on the ground, Canada signed an agreement with Afghanistan’s government that waives any liability for so-called “collateral damage,” including property destruction, injury, and even death. Simply put, the deal ensures that if soldiers in the heat of combat accidentally destroy a farmer’s field—or mistake that same farmer for a Taliban insurgent, and open fire—Ottawa is safe from lawsuits.

But that doesn’t mean the army ignores the innocent (and inevitable) victims of Canadian missions. Instead of “compensation,” a term that implies a certain acceptance of blame, the Forces provides ex-gratia awards—a one-time, no-strings-attached payment made “out of kindness,” not obligation. JAG lawyers in Kandahar can approve such claims up to $2,000 (anything higher requires a signature from the deputy minister of defence), and according to the latest figures, the handouts are growing larger and more common.

Continue…

Taking the Alps to China

By Kate Lunau - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 9:20 AM - 0 Comments

One new ski resort in China uses Whistler as its model | Guang Niu/Getty Images

In November, Club Med opened its first holiday village in China: a ski resort in the northeastern corner of the country, 180 km from the closest major city, Harbin. With 18 ski runs, Club Med Yabuli offers the all-inclusive perks for which the company is famous, like gourmet buffets, spa facilities and nightly entertainment. It’s just the first of several new Club Med resorts planned for China. With the country’s burgeoning middle class, and an anticipated tourism boom, the French tour operator is staking its fortunes there.

As Club Med spent last year climbing out of the recession—its net losses were $20 million in 2010, compared to $71 million in 2009—China was a bright spot. Sales increased by over 40 per cent in 2010, with 32,000 Chinese tourists vacationing at Club Med resorts. Club Med’s year-end report predicted a much stronger 2011, largely due to success in China. Last year, it partnered with Fosun, the country’s largest private conglomerate, and now a major shareholder; Club Med plans to open four more Chinese resorts by 2015.

Continue…

'The extent of angry rhetoric in the country can lead people to extreme actions'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 10, 2011 at 9:06 AM - 49 Comments

In a story about how MPs cope with potential threats to their personal security, the Toronto Star footnotes an observation former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark made in 1995, after an intruder made it into 24 Sussex.

“I think this is an increasingly dangerous time,” former prime minister Joe Clark said at the time. “I think people are very frustrated and the extent of angry rhetoric in the country can lead people to extreme actions. On the other hand, that is part of the risk one runs in a democracy. You can’t cordon yourself off.”

Crowdfunding Evolution: An Update

By Andrew Potter - Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 9:48 PM - 1 Comment

You’ll perhaps recall that Baba Brinkman is trying to raise money through Crowdfunder to make some kickass videos for his “Rap Guide to Evolution”. I posted details earlier.

Well, things are going well but they need a bit of a push to get them over the top. Here’s Baba’s latest letter:

***

Happy New Year!

It’s the final two weeks of the Rap Guide to Evolution DVD Crowdfunder drive and we’re only at 81%, which is much better than I had feared, but Crowdfunder’s rules are strict.  If we don’t meet or exceed the £10,000 target in the 60 day timeframe everyone gets their money back and we’re stuck with our original (highly stretched) budget.  We can’t let this happen!  There are 13 days left as of today, so this is a call to arms.  Please share this link on facebook, twitter, blogs, and emails, and if you’ve been thinking of contributing, now is the time!

And here’s a recent post on BoingBoing.net that has given the pitch a nice boost, literally a 6% increase in the past 48 hours, thanks in part perhaps to the heated debates raging in the comments section, including a spat between myself and a semi-famous transexual blank-slatist over the scientific validity of evolutionary psychology.

Also, I’m accepting bookings through the Crowdfunder drive, and so far two different venues have secured bookings by contributing £1,000.  Email me to check about possible dates and availability first, as this is currently the only way I’m booking events for 2011 due to the off-Broadway run that’s scheduled to start in New York in March.  So if you’ve been thinking of organizing a performance of the Rap Guide to Evolution or Rap Canterbury Tales this year, let’s do it through Crowdfunder and put the money towards the DVD post-production costs!

Speaking of the upcoming off-Broadway run, Sharon Levy of Dovetail Productions is currently organizing the venue, hiring the team, and raising the crucial funds to make this happen, mostly through private investment.  She needs to secure $300K (minimum $5-$10K units), standard for New York off-Broadway theatre, and she is open to investors from my network (that’s y’all).  Be warned that there is risk involved, but also possible financial reward (if you think I’m bankable prospect!)  Let me know if you’re seriously interested and I’ll connect you with Sharon, but first read her Executive Summary with the pitch.

In other news, we have now finished all of the live filming for the music videos and the footage we have is amazing!  We filmed a Galapagos beach party for “Worst Comes to Worst”, a grimy snarling fire-in-a-barrel rudeboy video for “Survival of the Fittest”, and a breakdance battle between Darwin, Sarah Palen, Michel Foucault, and *God* for “Survival of the Fittest”.  Check out the photos on the bottom of the Crowdfunder pitch page.

Next, crowdfunder willing, is the editing and post-production phase, and finally the release party, hopefully in early April to coincide with the off-Broadway run.  One final push to make it happen!

Thanks for your support and continued efforts,

Baba

On rhetoric

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 5:06 PM - 161 Comments

Jack Shafer defends angry rhetoric.

The great miracle of American politics is that although it can tend toward the cutthroat and thuggish, it is almost devoid of genuine violence outside of a few scuffles and busted lips now and again. With the exception of Saturday’s slaughter, I’d wager that in the last 30 years there have been more acts of physical violence in the stands at Philadelphia Eagles home games than in American politics.

Ed Morrissey has more.

It seems to me—admittedly still sorting through my thoughts—that there remains cause for reflection here. Not because there is any causational relationship between recent political rhetoric and yesterday’s events. As yet there is no real evidence of this. And even if there were it would be worth questioning any notion that our speech should be guarded for the sake of the imbalanced and violent amongst us. Continue…

'Undermine the safety of us all'

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 11:59 AM - 74 Comments

Lawrence Cannon’s office has issued a statement on yesterday’s shootings in Arizona.

“Canada stands with the people of the United States, our valued friend and neighbour, in this time of grief. Regardless of where they occur, attacks against democratically elected officials affect and undermine the safety of us all.”

Further thoughts and reflections from James Fallows, George Packer, Andrew Sullivan, David Frum, David Weigel and Alex Massie.

TV: First the Reagans, Now the Kennedys

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 10:46 PM - 15 Comments

Well, this is some strange news. The History Channel in the U.S. put a lot of money into The Kennedys, an eight-part miniseries that shot in Toronto last year. Now they’ve announced that they won’t air it. And the reason they’re giving — that it’s a “dramatic interpretation” of history and therefore “not a fit for the History brand” — seems to raise more questions than it answers. Like, how can they order a dramatized version of history and then be surprised that it is, in fact, a dramatized version of history?

The series is one of the first big post-24 projects for that show’s creator, Joel Surnow, and it was expected that his politics would influence the way the Kennedys were portrayed. But this isn’t The Reagans, where a major media campaign helped to call negative attention to the project and scare CBS out of airing it; this one was hardly on anyone’s radar, except for a few Kennedy people like the late Ted Sorensen, who criticized the portrayal of his former boss. I heard a few things about the series, but nothing incendiary.

Of course, even though we now know things about him that Vaughn Meader didn’t tell us about, Kennedy is still a genuine cult figure in the U.S., with a following among older liberals that matches the Reagan cult among younger, more conservative Americans. These cults don’t necessarily have much relationship to accomplishment — Lyndon Johnson accomplished the most liberal goals of any U.S. President after FDR, and he’s no cult favourite — but it might explain something. You can make a nasty movie about many political figures — like George W. Bush or Tony Blair or Jimmy Carter — without huge repercussions, but the Kennedys may still be considered sacrosanct.

Since, according to the article, History TV is still scheduled to air the show in Canada on March 6, we’ll get a chance to see for ourselves what in the final version could have spooked the U.S. network out of airing it; I have to admit that for the first time, I’m genuinely interested in seeing it, just to find out what happened.

How ethical is your oil?

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 5:32 PM - 188 Comments

The Environment Minister observed yesterday (around the 12-minute mark of that interview) that Canada is a supplier of ethical oil—a phrase recently employed by Ezra Levant—because the revenues derived from that oil are not used to “fund terrorism or the destabilization of other governments.” This may or may not beg questions about the origins of our own oil imports.

The latest release of Statistics Canada’s Energy Statistics Handbook lists our sources of crude oil and equivalents going back to 1989. Our noted individual sources in 2010 (through September) were, in order: Algeria, the United Kingdom, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Venezuela, Russia and the United States.

The value of the F-35

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 4:39 PM - 38 Comments

While the American joint strike fighter program continues to be a source of questions, Philippe Lagassé and Justin Massie figure we’ll end up buying the planes one way or the other.

While both sides have a case to make with respect to the procurement costs and industrial benefits, the sovereignty question sidesteps the larger issue behind this purchase. Although the F-35’s ability to defend Canadian airspace was surely taken into account, that is not what makes this plane especially attractive to the government and the air force. The value of the F-35 is that it will permit Canada to take part in multinational air operations overseas for decades to come. Put simply, in buying these aircraft, the government will ensure that Canada can play a visible role in future allied air campaigns across the world.

In fact, if the Liberals eventually form a government, it’s this aspect of the F-35 that is likely to persuade them to go through with the purchase, however grudgingly.

How to make a cabinet

By Andrew Coyne - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 4:00 PM - 12 Comments

Peter Kent, Diane Ablonczy, Ted Menzies and Julian Fantino were sworn in | Sean Kilpatrick/CP

Parliamentary traditions matter, and so what would a cabinet shuffle be without the ritual counting of the genitalia? Hardly had the Prime Minister had time to repeat his lengthy remarks of self-congratulation in English before the Liberals’ Marcel Proulx was lamenting the “missed opportunity” to appoint more women to the cabinet, there being just 10 in a cabinet of 38, or 26.3 per cent—although if you don’t count the Prime Minister (on the arguable grounds that he can’t help being a man) that’s 10 out of 37, or 27.0 per cent. Just so you know.

Mind you, the insult to women was nothing beside the shocking affront to Quebec, which was held to just five ministers (13.5 per cent). According to the NDP’s Thomas Mulcair, this showed the Prime Minister had not made the province a “priority.”

Continue…

Can't get enough of compulsive hoarders

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 3:40 PM - 3 Comments

On a CSI episode, a hoarder is a suspect after a body is found under heaps of trash; South Park mashed up hoarding with Inception | Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images; Comedy Central

Move over, drug addiction: compulsive hoarding is the most popular real-life disorder on television. After the success of two reality shows about people who compulsively save all kinds of junk—A&E’s Hoarders and TLC’s Buried Alive—many shows in the last year have done fictional stories about the issue. Experts don’t seem to know whether or not this is going to be a good thing for public awareness of the condition. Gail Steketee, a professor at Boston University and co-author of the book Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, told Maclean’s that a CSI episode called “House of Hoarders” offered “some accurate verbal information” about what hoarding is, but that “stepping on dead bodies amidst the clutter definitely overplays the problem.”

CSI wasn’t the first gruesome procedural to get to this topic. Earlier in 2010, Ann-Margret won an Emmy award for guest-starring on Law and Order: SVU as a woman who refused to throw away sheets that she bled on, and Bones dealt with the murder of a man who couldn’t bring himself to throw anything away in his smelly apartment. Hart Hanson, who created Bones and co-wrote the hoarding episode, told Maclean’s that his staff looks for timely topics to build murder mysteries around, and that hoarding provided a perfect arena for sleuths to investigate: “We liked the idea that the hoarder had something of great value hidden in amongst the crap—in our case, a radioactive gnome.” They were even able to tie the story into the previously established character traits of their hero, Booth (David Boreanaz), whose messiness “classified him as a ‘level one’ hoarder. He collected junk. And we put that in the story.”

Continue…

Should lawmakers sleep in their offices?

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 2:32 PM - 2 Comments

I posted earlier about Norm Ornstein’s lament that members of Congress spend less time in the capital, resist moving their families to Washington, have less opportunity to get to know their colleagues in a personal way, and his view that this contributes to the inability to work across party lines.

“The best way to encourage civil discourse is for people to get to know each other as people; it is very hard to call a colleague a treasonous pig if you have spent time with his or her family on the sidelines of a kid’s soccer game,” he wrote.

True, buying a house can be financially risky. But some newly minted House members won’t even rent an apartment (too expensive), get a roommate (too competitive),  or join one of those Capitol Hill grouphouses (too notorious). No thanks, they’d rather sleep in their offices with the rats.

From NYT: For House Members Looking to Save Money, a Day at the Office Never Ends.

There are logistical hurdles to consider. Every new member’s office comes equipped with basic furniture and a couch, but the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer said it did not provide futons, sleeper-sofas or air mattresses. Every office also includes a bathroom and sink, but when it comes to showers, members will find themselves heading to the members’ gym in the Rayburn House Office Building.

“A robe?” asked Mr. Walsh, who admitted that he is “not a real solid details guy” and that he had not yet puzzled out all the specifics of his living situation. “I’m a big sweats guy, so I imagine I’ll sneak down in my sweats and a T-shirt, because I’m going to want to work out.”

Dr. Naismith's invention

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 2:07 PM - 9 Comments

Michael Ignatieff’s brother apparently finds himself in the middle of a debate over the social implications of basketball.

Andrew Ignatieff, Park Renewal Team Chair and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s younger brother, said a few basketball nets shouldn’t be that difficult to install, monitor and maintain on the existing hard-surface play area. He believes the residents are reluctant to go ahead with the nets due to fear.

“This neighbourhood has the highest concentration of university academics, lawyers, doctors, accountants, professionals, right? So they’re not going to say ‘no.’ But what I find difficult in the dialogue is just how stereotyped people are despite that,” says Ignatieff. “The unspoken thing is the connection between a basketball court and drug-dealing. [People think] kids are immediately distributing ecstasy…and people can whip themselves up into a real lather very quickly,” he continues.

The longer he's prime minister

By Paul Wells - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 1:50 PM - 125 Comments

Readers are encouraged to check my math on this, but it seems accurate. On Sunday Stephen Harper will pass Alexander Mackenzie, that dour son of Sarnia, as the twelfth longest-serving prime minister of Canada. In February he’ll pass Lester Pearson and become the 11th longest-serving prime minister, and in April, barring a March surprise, he’ll pass R.B. Bennett to take the 10th spot. To pass Diefenbaker he would have to hang on until nearly the end of the year.

(UPDATE…) And no, I don’t know why comments on this and other blog posts are being deleted as soon as they’re posted. Hopefully WordPress will work out that bug soon. Sorry, folks.