In the midst of a busy day here on some other stories I’m working on, I just noticed that Conservative blogger Stephen Taylor is reporting that Harper communications aide Dimitri Soudas is threatening to sue Liberal Leader Stephane Dion for defamation.

Soudas is the central character in the current flap ...   more »

A Washington-based think tank which assesses democratic good governance and anti-corruption practices in 55 countries has Canada tied for fourth among the top tier of countries with strong governance and strong anti-corruption practices.

That’s the good news. The bad news? Canada has lousy judicial accountability. Researchers gave low marks for judicial accountability because a) ...   more »

Between 1997 and 2007, net debt has now dropped $80–billion. Now the partisans among you might notice that Liberal governments lowered net debt by $74–billion in their last nine years in power – about $8–billion a year — and all the Tories could do in their first year was to lower it by a paltry $6–billion ...   more »

Meanwhile, in Parliament, Andrew Telegdi, the Liberal MP from Kitchener, Ont., wants the House to adopt his private members bill which would call for the flag on the Peace Tower to be lowered to honour each death in Afghanistan.... Harold Albrecht, a Conservative MP also from the Kitchener area, says Telegdi's bill is problematic simply because it would fail to honour others who also gave their lives in service of Canada and Canadians: "Is the member aware that this motion, as it is worded, would fail to give the same honour to Canadian Forces personnel killed while serving at home in Canada as it would to those abroad?

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More precisely, the Government accepts the panel’s specific recommendation of extending Canada’s mission in Afghanistan if – and I must emphasize if – certain conditions are met; that is, the securing of a partner or partners in Kandahar province with additional combat troops and equipment capabilities.... Over that same period - in advance of April's meeting of NATO Heads of Government in Bucharest - I will lead a diplomatic effort with our allies to secure specific commitments necessary to ensure that the next steps are consistent with the panel's recommendations.

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Keen appears as the recently fired president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and she is part of a what should be a very interesting three hours at this committee. Not only will Keen answer questions about her role and the Commission's role in the shutdown of the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratory, but the Committee will also hear from Auditor General Sheila Fraser about the overall shortcomings of AECL [PDF file of that report] and then will hear from Health Minister Tony Clement.

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Green Party Leader Elizabeth May discovered something while acting as a leader earlier this month for a model parliament for students: A wall of Stephen Harper photographs in the the “Government Lobby”, the lounge area reserved for government MPs that is behind the green curtains on their stide of the ...   more »

Other recent examples are: Canada's leadership in the creation of the UN-created International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, which the U.S. opposes due to fundamental flaws in the treaty that leave the ICC vulnerable to exploitation and politically motivated prosecutions; its decision in early 2005 not to participate directly in the U.S. missile defense program; and its strong support for the Ottawa Convention to ban anti-personnel mines.... Implementation and strengthening of regulations in Canada and increased U.S.-Canadian law enforcement cooperation have had a substantial impact in reducing trafficking of precursor chemicals and synthetic drugs, but cannabis cultivation, because of its profitability and relatively low risk of penalty, remains a thriving industry.

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...sometime around Christmas 1975, I walked up the stairs with a few dollars I'd earned delivering Toronto Stars, and walked out with Supertramp's Crime of the Century. I remember it was the Christmas season because I was supposed to be spending that money I'd earned on gifts for my family but I was just so nuts about the single off that record, "Bloody Well Right", that I had to have it.   more »

From the e-inbox this morning, this call-to-arms put out in the U.S. by those who dismiss the notion that climate change is happening and that it’s dangerous. You can find the original with more background on the blog American Daily. The author is apparently Chuck Cushman, executive director of ...   more »