Speech of the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Castlereagh, in the Irish House of Commons, Wednesday, February 5, 1800, on Offering to the House Certain ... Union between Great Britain and Ireland
Canadian Cynic (Free subscription) | 6 hours ago
Crap. It was only a couple of days ago that I read this : OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved Tuesday to calm the political storm surrounding the handover of Afghan prisoners, vowing to release all "legally available" documents related to the matter. And the instant I read that carefully-qualified promise, I said to myself, "All Harper's going to do now is frantically...
Vive le Canada (Free subscription) | yesterday
Canadian military's role in torture coverup in Afghanistan A scandal erupted last week in sleepy Ottawa with the revelations of Canada’s chief diplomat in Kandahar in 2006-07, Richard Colvin, who told a House of Commons committee on Afghanistan that Afghans arrested by Canadian military and handed over to Afghan authorities were knowingly tortured. His and others’ attempts to raise the...
Connecting the Dots in the New World Order (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
A scandal erupted last week in sleepy Ottawa with the revelations of Canada’s chief diplomat in Kandahar in 2006-07, Richard Colvin, who told a House of Commons committee on Afghanistan that Afghans arrested by Canadian military and handed over to Afghan authorities were knowingly tortured. His and others’ attempts to raise the alarm had been quashed by the ruling Conservative government...
Full Comment (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
After hearing his "professionalism" questioned by former subordinate Richard Colvin last week, David Mulroney sent a letter to the House of Commons Special Committee on the Mission in Afghanistan offering to testify to "set the record straight." That's no light offer from Mulroney as his current job is Ambassador to China. Mulroney, in fact, was en route, my sources tell me, from...
Choice for Childcare (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
CTV.ca News Staff Date: Tue. Nov. 24 2009 10:00 AM ET Twenty years after the House of Commons resolved to eliminate child poverty in Canada, almost one in 10 Canadian children still live in low-income families, according to a new report. "After a period of about 12 to 15 years of economic growth and prosperity, the poverty rate only came down a very small amount," Rothman told CTV's Canada...
Choice for Childcare (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
Ed Broadbent From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 6:13PM EST All nations have myths about themselves. Canadians are not exempt. Looking to the south, we regularly proclaim our moral superiority: While Americans are out for themselves, we share and care. Well, once upon a time, we did. But no longer. More rapidly than almost every other country among the wealthiest members...
atHome Top Story (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
Twenty-years ago today, Canada's politicians stood in the House of Commons and committed to ending child poverty by 2000. Nine years past that deadline, success is still nowhere in sight.
Climbing Out Of The Dark (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
From Dion's wife slagging the Liberals, to global warming emails exposing global warming supporters for what they really are, frauds, the lefties are taking hit after hit. Now Liberals are trying to out special interest group the Conservatives. Tory MP apologizes for erroneous flyer Good for him, but has the Toronto Liberal Star mentioned any of these Liberal 10 percenters that need to be apologized...
Impolitical (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
The elements thus far of the Conservative damage control strategy on the Afghan torture allegations and their lack of action appear to be: 1. Let Peter MacKay wear it . 2. Have the Prime Minister avoid it . 3. Manage the House of Commons Afghan Special Committee by attempting to disrupt the testimonial schedule, pushing for Conservative friendly witnesses to appear pronto . 4. Release government statements...
Full Comment (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
Lacrosse players call it an ‘unsettled situation' when their defence is out of position and a loose ball allows the enemy to score. There's also a maneuver called "face dodging", in which the player with the ball uses the stick to protect his eyes from being poked out. This may explain why Prime Minister Stephen Harper was posing for pictures in his Ottawa office with the Canadian...
Full Comment (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
The Prime Minister's relations (or lack thereof) with the Ottawa press gallery has once again got the gallery worked up. The Toronto Star got all exercised after Mr. Harper gave a speech on Saturday extolling press freedom, then failed to take questions from reporters. (Note to Star: "Freedom of the press" isn't synonymous with having regular press conferences with the prime minister. Freedom...
Impolitical (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Just a brief post here to pass along two items on the issue of the government's handling of Afghan torture allegations. This CP report makes news in that General Natynczyk, the Chief of Defence Staff, is disclosing for the first time that the transfers of detainees were halted more than once, in contrast to what the government has been telling us. This pokes at the credibility of the Harper government...
Impolitical (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
First up, Professor Errol Mendes powerfully sets out what is at stake for Canada as Richard Colvin's allegations of Afghan detainees handed over by Canada to a knowingly torturous regime have come to the fore. An important read for anyone wanting to understand the scope of the possible damage done here and the important implications for Canadian democracy and the rule of law that are embodied in the...
we move to canada (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
Bravo Rick Salutin! Our own little Abu Ghraib? The nauseating component in current claims and reactions about Canada's role in turning Afghan detainees over for torture does not lie in the betrayal of some mythic Canadian role as an idealistic actor on the world stage – as opposition questions implied in the House of Commons yesterday. We have always played an ambiguous, often duplicitous, role...
Canadian Cynic (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
Over at Spanky's Sandbox and Pillow Fort, The Politic 's Charles Anthony postulates about a public torture inquiry rather puzzlingly : That attitude is unsatisfactory. An inquiry is only as good as it satisfies the level of scrutiny of all the left-wing and right-wing wack-jobs involved. In other words, you will spend more of my taxes to subsidize professional arguers on both sides of the fences who...
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