Filing tonight from The Prince Hotel in Lima Peru: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking here on the eve of the APEC leaders' summit, said markets "remain in a state of fear" and vowed to take "unprecedented fiscal actions if they are necessary" to stimulate economic growth and ease tightened credit conditions . . .

The PMO's chief spokesman Kory Teneycke on off-the-record stuff: "....The use of extensive use of unnamed sources is not the most flattering feature of journalism in Canada. However, this is not new or unique to this government, and has very little, if anything at all, to do with briefings held by our office. Macleans – or any other Canadian media outlet for that matter – would be virtually empty, if they were to remove stories quoting an unnamed source, or written on the basis of information provided on background...."

A month after the Liberal Party of Canada recorded their lowest popular vote percentage since George Brown lost to Sir John A. Macdonald in 1867, Liberal support is now within the margin of error of Conservative support, says pollster Nik Nanos.

"...The government also said it would not commit to balancing the budget next year, saying that trying to do that at any cost would hurt Canadians more than it might help them. A month ago on the campaign trail, though, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was unequivocal in saying his government would never go into deficit. . .But Jean, reading the throne speech with Harper at her side, said, "In a historic global downturn, it would be misguided to commit to a balanced budget in the short term at any cost."

CBC News North takes note of the achievements of Nunavut's new premier and Canada's new health minister: "With Eva Aariak set to be sworn in as Nunavut's second premier Wednesday, some in the territory are applauding a year that has seen two Inuit women assume prominent leadership roles at the territorial and federal level . . .

"Better positioning Canada to compete for investment and market opportunities will require action at home. A fragmented regulatory environment for internal trade and commerce has for too long restricted the flow of labour and investment across the country. Our Government will work with the provinces to remove barriers to internal trade, investment and labour mobility by 2010"

Michael Ignatieff has been notching some key 'wins' when it comes to support from his caucus colleagues but today, Nova Scotia MP Mike Savage declares for Iggy rival Bob Rae:

It's Peter Milliken, besting Andrew Scheer and Merv Tweed on the fifth ballot.

A big shock with the results of the fourth ballot: NDP MP Joe Comartin is out!

Apparently, Comartin's support was strong but largely confined to the Bloc Quebecois and NDP MPs. As a result, it hasn't grown much over the first rounds of balloting.

And so we're down to incumbent Peter Milliken and Conservatives Merv Tweed and Andrew Scheer.

Merv Tweed actually has a fully-stocked hospitality suite and, when I visited during fourth-ballot voting, it was packed and not just with Tory MPs. There were some Comartin supporters there as well. Perhaps recognizing that their man had no more room to grown, some NDP types are being wooed by the man from Brandon. Get ready for Speaker Tweed folks!

With three rounds of voting complete, MPs have yet to elect a speaker. The names of five MPs were on the second ballot: NDP MP Joe Comartin, Conservatives Barry Devolin, Andrew Scheer, and Merv Tweed and Liberal incumbent Peter Milliken. MPs will now now vote a fourth time. Because he finished last on the third ballot, Ontario Conservative MP Barry Devolin will not be on the fourth ballot.