The Veterans Affairs Minister announces his departure from cabinet and eventual departure from politics.

“I want to leave on my own terms and with a good record,” Thompson said as he sat is his small constituency office on Milltown Boulevard in St. Stephen. ”I’m one of the few members of Parliament who never had to take back a statement, who never had to apologize, and who never insulted individuals or groups in this country. I’ve always played by the rules that I believe elected politicians should play by, and I have been always very respectful of the political process.”

The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) held a reception to persuade MPs to create a federal Aquaculture Act. Gail Shea (left), Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, with the executive director of CAIA, Ruth Salmon. Yes, her last name really is Salmon.

Conservative commentator and Summa Strategies VP Tim Powers and Liberal MP Judy Foote.

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After Question Period yesterday, the House paused to mark Remembrance Day. Fine contributions from Greg Thompson, Rob Oliphant, Guy Andre and Peter Stoffer (shortly before he would be deemed a “faker” by the honourable senator on national television) can be read here.

Back to yesterday’s QP. Specifically this answer of the Prime Minister’s.

Mr. Speaker, the record of the Liberal Party is this: Liberals got this country into deficits when borrowing was at record levels, and then when recession came, they were cutting the unemployed and raising taxes right in the middle of a recession, something this party will never do.

For as long as the current Conservative government has been in power, it has found convenient excuse in the various failings of the “previous Liberal government.” But here is an entirely new standard for historical reference. Continue…

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella hosted a reception in honour of the Dominion Institute’s Passages to Canada, a program of speakers that highlight the Canadian immigration experience. Below is Kinsella (right) with Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs.

RCMP sergeant Baltej Singh Dhillon, who is one of the program’s speakers, told his tale about being the first RCMP officer to be able to wear his turban and keep his beard on the job.

NDP MP Peter Stoffer helped serve the food.

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The government has plenty of promises, if few explanations, for the mess in Afghanistan

The Scene. Stéphane Dion—not to mention Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and party whip Karen Redman—were not to be seen when Question Period began this day, the last Monday of this Parliamentary season. And perhaps there was some method in keeping him away.

With just a week left to tarnish this government’s reputation—or, rather, a week left to do so on business hours—the Liberals seem intent on leaving no alleged wrong unreferenced. Indeed, today offered a veritable buffet of the unappetizing—from Julie Couillard’s ambitious seductions to the Chuck Cadman tape to the in-and-out affair, NAFTAgate and the legal aspirations of Vic Toews.

So exhaustive and unrelenting was the opposition that Peter Van Loan, that solid champion of the public trust, was heard crying out for something more substantive. And if Mr. Dion is to announce this week the defining policy of his leadership—a boldly wistful plan that asks voters to put aside the individual needs of now for the sake of meeting a greater common good at some point in the unknown future—it is perhaps best at the moment to put some distance between him and this tawdry business of democracy.

Not, of course, that there weren’t legitimate issues to discuss this day. On the contrary. Just in time for summer, there are entirely new and serious questions to be asked about the country’s mission in Afghanistan. Continue…