Why politics is just one step removed from Grade 3

An NDP blogger (use Firefox to view) has launched a leadership faceoff on Facebook, the social networking site. The goal is to amass supporters for Jack Layton and surpass the Facebook friends of Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. Or, as Ravijo the blogger says: "It's a game called 'let's embarass the Liberal party.'"

At the time of this posting, Layton has 10,159 friends on his Facebook site; Dion has 10,708. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, by the way, has 8,706.

Keep your friends close...

Spotted yesterday evening: Deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, walking amiably together on O'Connor St. in Ottawa, toward Parliament Hill. First they kissed, and now they've obviously made up.

Wells on Dion

I'd been waiting to read this article -- I did last week as soon as Maclean's hit the newstands and can commend it to all. Paul Wells  has followed Dion's career for a long time, more closely than most, and he's put a lot of work and thought into the question of what's gone wrong with his leadership. It's now available online.

Uncomfortable question for Mexico's president

The North American Leaders' Summit will be held next week in New Orleans — bringing together President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

In terms of actual news, these events can be a little light. The "three amigos," as they're called, usually issue a press release at the end of day-long meetings, restating their commitment to work together for the good of North America, and so on, and then everyone goes home.

The final press conference usually consists of VERY long statements by each leader and then six questions from the journalists — two from the Americans, two from the Mexicans, two from the Canadians. It's interesting to watch each country's scribes huddle before the event, putting aside competition, ego, etc., to come up with the two most pressing questions for their own nations. The Canadians, as a rule, usually use these occasions to get a rare chance to put a question directly to the U.S. President — and to the Mexican leader too, if there's an obvious Canada-Mexico issue on the horizon.

Picture this, then: Next week, with Bush and Harper standing beside him, and all the U.S. and Mexican networks airing the press conference live, Calderon will probably be asked about the case of Brenda Martin, the Canadian woman who's spent two years in a Guadalajara jail.

That probably explains why we're seeing some action on this issue this week. The judge hearing Martin's case today has promised a verdict by Friday. Just in time to prevent what could be some awkward questions next week.

 

 

Careful with that quote

It's one of those  intriguing  coincidences. Here, in one section of the Star today, is Liberal  deputy leader Michael Ignatieff making public amends for his "war crime" remarks during the heat of the 2006 Liberal leadership campaign.

And here is Samantha Power, a one-time adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, still feeling badly over her public misstep of calling Hillary Clinton a "monster" in an interview with the BBC.

Ignatieff and Power are old friends from their days at Harvard and they were due to see each other socially this weekend while Power was in Toronto.  What's the bet that they talked about the perils of publicly airing your opinions?

Clamouring for Clyde

A group has cropped up on Facebook to campaign for Clyde Wells, the former Newfoundland Premier, to fill the new vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada.

It's spearheaded by Ed Hollett, a former aide to Wells, who runs a well-read Liberal blog called the Sir Robert Bond Papers.

The Star's Tonda MacCharles (who is a Newfoundlander, and has noted that there's never been a Newfoundlander on the bench) speculated about this when she appeared on CTV's Mike Duffy Live to talk about the Supreme Court vacancy created this week by the retirement of Justice Michel Bastarache.

Wells is most remembered for his role in helping to unravel the Meech Lake constitutional accord in 1990 (though it died officially in Manitoba, at the hands of aboriginal MLA Elijah Harper).

That other Harper, Stephen, was also a foe of Meech Lake - a fact he doesn't broadcast too often to Quebec these days. 

Now that the Prime Minister seems fixated on the idea of getting more seats in Quebec in the next election, perhaps enough to form a majority, it seems doubtful he'd appoint a man who has come to symbolize rejection of Quebec's desire to be a distinct society in Canada. And a Liberal, at that.

Collective soul-searching

Charlotte Gray, author of several acclaimed historical biographies and probably one of Canada's best magazine writers,  will be receiving the Order of Canada today at Rideau Hall.

This morning, on Ottawa's local CBC morning radio show, Gray made a thought-provoking observation - Canada tends to see its history in terms of groups or collectives: the two solitudes, the Famous Five, the Group of Seven, the fathers of Confederation, the Rat Pack (okay, I threw that last one in there to be funny.)

The observation stretches to matters of historical redress too - groups getting retrospective compensation or apologies for Canada's past: residential-school victims; interned Canadians during the Second World War; the Chinese head tax.

Brampton-Springdale MP Ruby Dhalla is currently campaigning to get an official apology to Indo-Canadians for the 1914 incident of the Komagata Maru, a ship carrying nearly 400 Indian emigres who were blocked from entry to Canada. 

Dhalla has introduced this bid in the form of a motion to the House of Commons.

If there are Canadians out there trying to figure out an updated version of national purpose or identity, there's probably something significant in this idea of our historical attachment to groups instead of individuals.

Meanwhile, have a look at this story by David Akin of CanWest today, which should also have folks talking about the collective and groups and the minister responsible for them.

 

Harper loosens the leash

There is a link, of sorts, between various political news events this week -- ministerial discretion.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice is being applauded for using his discretion to block the sale of Radarsat-2 to an American firm.

But Immigration Minister Diane Finley is under fire for an attempt to gain more powers of discretion over who gets to stay in Canada.

And there was a star-studded event on Parliament Hill today, in which celebrities denounced plans to give the Heritage Minister more discretion over financing of Canadian films.

What do the three stories have in common? They're all about ministers using their power -- for good or ill, depending on your point of view.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has never been accused of leaving his ministers on a long leash. So this is an interesting, even ironic trend. And it corresponds with what seems to be a slight increase in cabinet ministers making public appearances.

One of the most notable was Defence Minister Peter MacKay,  doing a lengthy appearance on CBC TV's The National this week, taking and answering questions from the public.

Given how much this government has tried to give CBC the back of its hand, making clear its favouritism for CTV, this was definitely a break in the normal protocol. Does it all point to Harper trusting his cabinet more these days?

Update: Chantal Hébert sees ministers on the loose too, and calls it the "Bob Rae" effect - a bid to match the Liberals' team talk with a Conservative A-squad.

When show business & politics collide

Politics, it's been said, is show business for ugly  people. So when real show business collides with real politics, some people are starstruck.

Not Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, though. Oscar nominee Sarah Polley was on Parliament Hill today to protest against potential censorship in film-tax legislation.

Polley's name has been included in a wide array  of film credits over the years, but it was another appearance of her name that Poilievre seems to remember most vividly.

Here's the statement issued by Conservative media:

"Today, actress Sarah Polley held a press conference attacking the Conservative Government over Bill C-10.  While public debate in a democracy is essential, so is honesty.  During the 2004 Federal Election, Sarah Polley was an active member of the “Stop Harper” campaign, even attaching her name to a news release attacking the now Prime Minister. 

“Individuals with vested personal and political interests should be honest with Canadians on what their true intentions are,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre.

It should be said, Poilievre is not the first MP to tell a citizen that his or her views are suspect because they didn't vote the right way or support the right person.

Back in 2001, Liberal MP Tom Wappel wrote a letter to an 81-year-old constituent, saying:  "According to my records, you were a past supporter of mine, yet it seems that in this past election you supported the Canadian Alliance candidate....  How is it that you are writing me for help if you did not think enough of my abilities to justify voting for me?"

Greens see red over RCMP - are the other parties just yellow?

Does anyone else find it odd that of all the political parties, it's only the Greens who are crying foul over whether the RCMP meddled in the last election campaign?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper used to be quite vocal about his suspicions of political interference in the RCMP. For instance, here's what he said in November, 2005, weeks before the election, about how the RCMP had handled the investigation into the Liberal sponsorship affair.

"The police and the authorities have to do their job but I have a sneaking suspicion that this job would be done much more effectively and much more quickly if the Liberal party were not in power...  I'm perplexed, I'm disturbed and I think most Canadians are, that quite frankly the prosecutions have not proceeded farther along and have not been more successful."

These days, however, neither the Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats or Bloc Quebecois seem very interested in pursuing the fact that Guiliano Zaccardelli refused to assist in the probe into what happened in the 2005-06 election campaign - when he apparently specifically instructed staff to mention the name of Ralph Goodale in the bombshell news release.