Ignatieff has moved to change the people around him. Ian Davey has been replaced by Peter Donolo as Chief of Staff. Donolo is best known for shepherding former Prime Minister Jean Chretien through his dark days as an underdog Liberal leader.

I see the move as being smart on Ignatieff’s part. It is taking him some time to learn but he is learning how much he needs substance and experience over friendship and loyalty in the circle around him. It has been apparent for some time now that he has been floundering as he listened to those around him. Those around him were clearly drawing on their lack of experience.

Having said that, one task the Liberals have accomplished is they have truly started to be the Official Opposition instead of propping up the government at every turn. That job has fallen to the socialists (NDP) and the separatists (Bloc). Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Federation of Municipalities passed a resolution at its meeting in Whistler, BC to shut out US firms from their municipal contracts in response to the Americans doing the same. The resolution is not binding on all municipalities and I personally would have preferred to see a “Buy Canadian” resolution.

The resolution is a response to US municipalities taking on a Buy American approach to their local acquisitions. The Americans do so largely because they have enough confidence in their own abilities and independence to believe they can look inward and thrive. They likely can in reality look inward and manage to survive but not necessarily thrive.

In order for Americans to learn that lesson, other municipalities, especially where their policies have killed jobs and businesses, need to return the favour and refuse to allow American firms to tender on local projects.

Canada needs to have enough guts and confidence in our own business people to support them when they are being denied access to foreign markets.

A third nanny is claiming that Ruby Dhalla and her family hired her to work illegally and then proceeded to overwork her. Specifically, this one claims Dhalla’s mother did most of the overworking her. The same mother who while needing a nanny to care for her manages to use Dhalla’s flying privileges as an MP to travel to various places around the world.

Ruby Dhalla, having resigned her critics position, has now asked the Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner to examine her role and decide if she has done anything wrong. The Immigration Committee is calling her accusers to appear before them to testify about their alleged abuse. All very nice, good feed for the media but nothing of any substance. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to say at the outset, I’m a firm believer in a terminally ill person’s right to die with dignity. My personal standard is that the quality of life will have deteriorated to a point that the person is unlikely to enjoy any improvement in what will be an inevitable death. There is room to argue about what defines ‘quality of life’, that for the most part would have to be determined by the person suffering through the illness.

A Vancouver woman, who is otherwise in good health, wants to die alongside her husband. She says that her life would be unliveable without her husband. Her husband is dying from heart disease. I’ve been down that particular path, the spouse of a man dying of heart disease. Twenty years ago in August my husband succumbed. Read the rest of this entry »

The e-Justice Blog has posted a very interesting piece about Google and what they know about you. You may be very surprised to learn just how much of a profile they can put together about us.

The blog lists 25 pieces of information Google can access about us some without our knowledge. In these days of increasing concerns about online privacy, you need to be aware of as much as possible about who can find what about you. Read the rest of this entry »

After weeks of there being just a bit of a semblance that maybe the boys and girls on Parliament Hill were capable of playing nice and getting the business of government done — someone let the other Harper out of his cage. Mayhem threatens, again.

Is Harper completely clueless or does he just prefer to negotiate with a baseball bat? He gained the conditional support of the Liberals to get his budget through the House, a support that can be pulled at just about any time. One would think he’d move to show some respect for the Opposition and them doing their jobs by trying to reach out to get other things through.

He managed to do so when his government hung by a thread…. oh wait, first he ran to the Governor General to prorogue Parliament. The signs have been there in the last 2-3 weeks when his pet bulldog Flaherty was making demands of the Opposition to pass measures immediately, without further debate. The ‘tude showed up in all it’s glory yesterday when Harper demanded that MPs pass an interim supply bill which includes a $3billion fund to be passed out by departments as ’stimulous’ projects and bypass the usual approval process. Read the rest of this entry »

Barak Obama arrives in Ottawa today for his first foreign visit since taking office in January. Ottawa is the traditional stop for new presidents, although his predecessor chose to visit Mexico first. While the visit is for the most party barely registering on the American media, the Canadian media seems to be going gaga over the arrival.

Obama will be in the nation’s capital a mere 6 hours or so and is not expected to appear in public. Security will be massive, crowds are expected to be large on the hill as people gather in the hope of catching a glimpse of him.

He’ll be greeted at the airport by Governor-General Michaelle Jean with little pomp and ceremony. From there he’ll travel to the Hill for a private meeting with Harper, talks with various government officials, a working lunch in the Senate speakers suite before being returned to the airport where he’ll have a brief meeting with Ignatieff before boarding Air Force One to be back in Washington in time for supper with Michelle. Read the rest of this entry »

Ignatieff went after the Prime Minister’s absence from both the House and the public scene when it comes to the economy and the value of the economic stimulus contained in the budget. I watched Obama’s press conference last night and found it refreshing to see a politician speaking very frankly about the state of the economy and how he wanted to see it dealt with.

Yes, I know, he was trying to sell a stimulus package which is receiving largely partisan opposition. It was refreshing to hear that opposition being framed not just as partisan game playing but asking the questions and laying out guidelines for what he sees as necessary for the good of the people and the economy and where there is room for bipartisan cooperation and what wont gain traction with him.

The major difference between the leadership of the two countries is that in the US, the leaders recognized and faced the fact that the economy was sliding towards and over the edge while in Canada, the Opposition parties were sounding the alarm while the government was busy telling us that if a recession was going to happen, it would have already taken place. Read the rest of this entry »