I'd be inclined to give the bank and its golf sponsorship a bit of slack. But Mugabe? Not an inch.

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Last weekend, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day was the guest on a new feature that's being jointly produced by Canwest News Service and Global National. It's called In Person and, each week, Global Bureau Chief Jacques Bourbeau and Canwest News Service Politics Editor Mark Kennedy will grab a beat reporter for an in-depth interview with a top Ottawa official, usually a cabinet minister. You'll be able to watch a video excerpt of this interview and read a news story out of this interview at our Web sites or in one of newspapers.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan was this weekend's In Person subject. My colleague Janice Tibbetts is the beat reporter on the justice file so she joined Jacques and Mark to interview Van Loan. Day, as I mentioned, is part of my reporting responsibilities. Here's an edited transcript of that interview.

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I'm fiddling with the look, feel and content around here over the next day or so. Among other things you will likely notice are advertisements placed here by Google. A reminder to check out my disclaimer notice at the bottom of the left-hand column. As always, direct feedback welcome.

Elections Canada is out this afternoon with the reports on third-party advertising during the last election campaign. Under Elections Canada rules, any organization that is not a political party and that spends more than $500 during an election campaign has to file a report with Elections Canada, within four months of the election, spelling out how much they spent and where they got the money.

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Years ago, Parliamentary journalists formed a corporation -- The Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery -- and hired a full-time staff of about a dozen to administer the accreditation process and generally organize the affairs of journalists working on the Hill. Because it's a corporation, the Press Gallery must hold an annual meeting for its members and, at that meeting, elect its officers and directors. Today was that day and I was up for election ...

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The president of Canada's nuclear safety regulator said Tuesday he was surprised by public and media interest in what he described as minor, harmless leaks of water — including radioactive water — last December at the Chalk River, Ont., nuclear reactor operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL).

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"U.S. Navy Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, one of Khadr's military-appointed lawyers, said Tuesday that his supervisor had now barred him from visiting Khadr. In an emailed press release to reporters, Kuebler accused Guantanamo's Chief Defence lawyer, Col. Peter Masciola, of "ethical" violations."   more »

The NDP has voted against the budget at every step, saying that, first of all, it is not an effective cure for Canada's economic ills and second of all, is being used to advance ideological goals of the Conservatives, namely rolling back pay equity rights, short-circuiting environmental assessments, and cutting back on union and social justice rights. So the lone NDP MP on the Finance Committee, Thomas Mulcair, is doing everything he can to goad the Liberals into doing something -- anything! -- to vote for his party's amendments and against the Conservatives. . . .

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Debating the EFTA: Combined trade with these relatively small group of European countries totals $12.9 billion a year, making this our fifth largest trade relationship . . .   more »

As stock markets in the U.S. drooped to levels not seen in a decade and Canadian markets hit another low, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty pressed MPs to quickly pass his budget legislation which will spring billions of dollars in tax relief and spending aimed at helping Canada's economy . . . The NDP, however, continues to object to the budget, saying it sets back progress on pay equity and contains insufficient help for the unemployed.

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