Nova Scotia MP Bill Casey spoke his last words this afternoon in the House of Commons ending a career in Parliament that lasted 6,149 days.

"I want to say how proud I've been to be in Parliament," Casey said in the House after the conclusion of Question Period.

Just released by the PMO. You can read the back story here.

Auto analyst Dennis Desrosiers has spent "39 years and 7 months" studying the auto industry and his first reaction to the Chrysler news this afternoon is less than enthusiastic. Notably, he concludes that Chrysler/Fiat's success will depend on their ability to make a profit selling small cars to Americans. Two problems there: Americans have never bought small cars and no one, including the Japanese, have figured out how to make a profit on small cars. (The big profits for the Detroit 3 have always come from their pickups and SUVs)

For better or worse, Canadian taxpayers are about to get in the auto business: "...The United States will have 8 percent of the equity of the restructured Chrysler LLC, and Canada and Ontario will have 2 percent, and the United States will appoint four independent directors to the new Chrysler LLC board, while Canada will appoint one independent director."

Canada needs to sell stuff to the U.S. and Mexico in order to prosper so this is not good news, released a few minutes ago by the U.S. Department of Transportation: "Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 30.9 percent lower in February 2009 than in February 2008, dropping to $47.9 billion, the biggest year-to-year percentage decline on record."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper turned 50 today and his staff marked the occasion by planting a flock of pink flamingos on the lawn at 24 Sussex Drive. The staff organized a press pool to mark the event. The reporter assigned to the pool was the talented Canadian Press reporter Alex Panetta. Here is his report:

The Conservatives as, we all know now, were beaten silly when they decided to trim the $2 billion or more Ottawa spends every year to support the cultural work of the country. So, it's only fair that, just as we noted the cuts, we should also note some of the additions -- and there have been nearly $6 million worth of funding announcements made today. Similarly, I assume that those who decried the Tories for the cuts will now applaud their generosity. Pardon me? You think I'm a bit naive. Maybe so.

Turns out that the NDP had also pursued the broader issue of government spending related to the production of the budget through an access to information request. The records released to the NDP under that request indicated that, in addition to the $3 million for TFSA-related TV ads, the government also spent an additional $2 million for advertising in other media to promote the TFSA.

"Canada will never stop the fight against racism. We will never stop the fight against discrimination. We will never stop the fight against persecution and genocide. And we will never stop the fight for peace, liberty, democracy and human rights . .

At 1 pm, with the TSX trending up today, you would now be up $4.12 on your $1,000 investment from the Harper "Buy Call".