Nice, I'm told, is a wonderful place to visit. Sadly, I won't get to see much of it. It's 5 a.m. here and raining. We are in a holding room at the airport while the Prime Minister's plane gets gassed up for the final 7-hour ride to Uganda and the Commonwealth Summit. The flight from Ottawa to Nice was an uneventful ride. No scrum on the plane with Harper nor is there likely to be one when we get back in the air to Uganda. Harper is travelling without his family on this trip but is accompanied by several aides and diplomats. Senator Mobina Jaffer (check spelling) (B.C.- Liberal) is also on board. She, like Conservative Edmonton MP Rahim Jaffer, was born in Uganda. Rahim Jaffer is also on board. On this leg of the flight, from Ottawa to Nice, the inflight movies included Transformers, Oceans 13, and Live Free or Die. Dinner was a choice of beef medallions with garlic or chicken. (Media, by the way, pay their own way on these trips.) In a few hours, the Commonwealth foreign ministers will convene in Uganda to decide if Pakistan ought to be suspended from the organization. Canada is represented at these meetings by Secretary of State Helena Guergis. Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier is busy at La Francophonie. Canada assumes the chairmanship of that organization next year. Harper will get a briefing on those meetings from Guergis when we land at about 3 pm local time. DAVID AKIN ------------- CTV NEWS ------------- Cell: +1 613 220 7935 http://www.davidakin.com