New guy at the Star

We here at the Star learned this morning that we're gaining a new (old) colleague -- Pulitzer-Prize-winning Paul Watson, who most recently worked at the L.A. Times.  Paul, who worked at the Star when he took his prize-winning photo of the U.S. soldier being dragged through the street in Mogadishu, has been hired to do "a unique venture" for us, according to the memo we got this morning from editor-in-chief Michael Cooke.

 "Paul is coming back to launch a unique venture – the world’s first multimedia Arctic-Aboriginal beat."

Politically, Paul's other claim to fame is that he attended high school and was friends with none other than Stephen Harper. Last summer, Watson wrote a piece in The Walrus magazine about the Grade 13 camping trip that served a bit as a predestination exercise for both men. As he wrote:

Looking back now, there’s no mistaking it. I was perfectly positioned on the path to journalism. I could be an idiot one moment and pass as an expert the next. And Harper, hauling cargo alongside me, could suffer the fools all around — just keep smiling and see past them all the way to 24 Sussex Drive.

Hooray, part 2

Where was NDP leader Jack Layton while all this deal-making was going on? Having his priorities straight, Layton was in Toronto with his newborn granddaughter, Beatrice, who came into this world late last night, weighing 8 pounds.

The New Democrats, however, were quick to deliver their pronouncement on Ignatieff's deal with Harper. Reminding folks of the 2005 "Royal York" agreement with former prime minister Paul Martin, the NDP put out this release even before Ignatieff had come out to talk to reporters about his deal.  Titled "Let's Play," it boasts and poses a question:

What can you get to prop up a government!!

 

 

The NDP: 4.6 billion to invest in transit and housing to save Paul Martin’s government

 

Iggy:  A working group that won't help anyone this summer to rubber-stamp Harper's agenda.

 

Who wins?

Hooray

Twice this morning, while Michael Ignatieff was talking to reporters (four questions only, very transparent), we heard loud cheers erupting from the Conservative caucus room.

I tried to ask a few Conservative MPs later what the cheering was all about. They wouldn't say. But would it have anything to do with this, found in the Canadian Press story on the EI deal?

 In an internal memo circulated within Tory ranks, the Prime Minister’s Office appeared to be claiming victory over Ignatieff.

 “The Liberals have reversed themselves on EI reform (their 360-hour demand has been abandoned) and withdrawn the threat to force an unnecessary summer election,” the memo said.

 “Instead, the Liberals will vote for the next round of stimulus in our Economic Action Plan.”

Horserace stats

The Prime Minister's Office issued a brief statement to reporters at 7:55 pm last night about the Harper-Ignatieff meeting at 24 Sussex. The Official Opposition weighed in at 8:30 p.m.
This probably doesn't matter much to people outside the capital, but it does here. In a deadline-obsessed world, those who speak first, laugh last.

Groundhog day

Meanwhile, in other meetings on Parliament Hill....(thanks and h/t to Olivia Chow for posting the TwitPic.) 

Checkers or chess

We've been sitting around here in the office trying to speculate on the personal dynamics between Ignatieff and Harper -- having two meetings today.

And this story comes to mind -- written by my colleague Tonda MacCharles after a conversation with Ignatieff back in March. A couple of interesting   excerpts:  

In their couple of one-on-one meetings, said Ignatieff, Harper makes no effort to have a detailed discussion or do any horse-trading on issues that might make the minority government work better.

 "I feel like I’m playing chess with a chess player, and I don’t play chess, I used to play checkers with my son and he beat me," he jokes.

Harper is “100 per cent political animal and anyone underestimates him at their peril,” says Ignatieff.

**

For now, says Ignatieff, his challenge is to try to not rise to Harper’s bait.

His experience so far with the Conservative leader has demonstrated that "if you try to play partisan games with him, you lose."

The aim, he said, is to play a whole different game, on a higher ground. He doesn’t believe that Harper actually knows how to occupy that ground.

It's all about who?

Somehow, while we weren't looking, the Government of Canada became "the Harper Government" over the last little while.

Take a look here, at your own taxpayer-financed government website.  "Canada's New Government" has morphed into a government "all about him." And that's bad, right? It is very difficult to keep track in this contest over who's more self-absorbed in Ottawa.

  

Twitter-therapy

Psychoanalyis in 140 characters? A new little gadget called TweetPsych, created by a fellow named Dan Zarrella,  is fluttering around cyberspace this morning. Apparently you can learn a lot from people by what they put on Twitter.

Naturally, given the fact that they're meeting this afternoon, Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper have been tweet-analyzed already.  You can see the detailed results for Ignatieff here and for Harper, here.

But here's the rough comparison/analysis:

* Both men talk a lot about "physically upward movement."

* Harper scores 35.32 in narcissism, Ignatieff scores 23.05.

*  Ignatieff scores 38.32 in "glory," Harper scores 33.36 on that scale.

* Harper talks a lot about jobs, work, "physical characteristics of things", social behaviour  and school and learning.

* Ignatieff talks a lot about the future, god or spirituality, celebrities and the media and he expresses "plenty of positive emotions."

I guess what this means is that to break the ice today, Harper and Ignatieff should chat about climbing or some other kind of "upward movement."  Maybe they could meet in an elevator.  

Making a mess

"If you mess with me, I will mess with you until I'm done." --- Michael Ignatieff, Saturday, May 23, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009. National Press Theatre: Messing with Harper.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009. Meeting at Undisclosed Location: Done?

Harper-Ignatieff meeting

For those Canadians out there, dancing from foot to foot,  awaiting the outcome of the meeting today between Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff -- you are just going to have to be patient.

The word right now from Ignatieff's office is that nothing will be disclosed or discussed until Question Period time (2 p.m. EDT) or later.

So by all means, carry on with life as usual until then.