This past week or so I’ve been laid low with a bad cold which appears to have gone to bronchitis. During the enforced rest time I’ve finally gotten around to reading all of the Harry Potter series of books. The Minister of Magic presides over the Ministry of Magic in this series. The Ministry’s job is to keep order in the wizardry world and to ensure that the Muggles (those who are not magical) don’t become aware of them.

The Ministry of Magic and in particular the Minister of Magic showed themselves to be seriously out of step with reality throughout this series. Most notably, their refusal to believe that the Dark Lord Voldemart had returned and was building his following. The Minister found it much more expedient to slam Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore as being liars, attention mongers and adled brained than to even begin to see the danger around them. By the time the proof was irrefutable, the Dark Lord had steamrolled right over the Ministry and started to take over the wizard world.

Last fall, during the election campaign that he foisted on the country, Harper first claimed that Canada wasn’t going to have a recession because if it was going to happen, it already would have. Then faced with a rapidly melting stock market, he suggested that the situation was creating great buying opportunities. He slammed the opposition parties as being doom and gloom mongers who would create an economic downturn with their fear mongering. 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 »