PAY ATTENTION AMERICA !

We Canadians, in a manner of smugness with which we're really not accustomed, thought we'd cornered the charisma market in the post Obama years after your bizarro President, Donald Trump, was elected and our sophisticated, charming, debonair, young, image obsessed Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, rose to the world's media attention.

Alas ! When the history of our 23rd Prime Minister is writ...pretty much all that may need mention is "That India Trip" to challenge our preconceived perception and to pinpoint that week in 2018 when the wheels came off the charisma wagon.

We're about to legalize Marijuana in Canada. I am assuming perhaps that it was the celebratory Indian Ganja shared onboard the Prime Minister and his entourage's flight from Ottawa to India a few days back that kiboshed their official mission. And, somehow and in some unimaginable way (For no particular worthwhile reason) allowed our government's leader to parade and blunder his way, family and retinue in tow, in overly inappropriate Indian outfits across a chunk of southern Asia. All of which, to say the least in just about less than 72 hours, turned a really important international sortie into a bad joke and an international embarrassment. What could they possibly have been thinking ?

Pundits have suggested that there had been recent hints that bats were slippin' out of the belfry. One of which was a recent overzealous suggestion that the term 'mankind' should really be changed to 'peoplekind' to reflect gender neutrality - A comment Mr. Trudeau subsequently characterized as a silly joke - Be that as it may, the current India brouhaha has likely left the world's media to revise or downgrade some earlier glossy front page adorable fawning over our photogenic Prime-Minister. Even former advisors to other Liberal Prime Ministers have weighed-in with the opinion that there seemed to be little purpose, and clearly no proper planning to this get together of Canadian official misfits on Indian soil. In a blunt editorial even the 'Toronto Star', certainly not a newspaper unsympathetic to Canada's National Liberal Party, calls the India misadventure "(perhaps) the least successful foray into that country since the repelled Mongol invasions of the 13th century." - Yikes !

Canada's trade mission to India may be one for the books, the bad books. But there has also been little if any progress on the sputtering NAFTA talks with the United-States and Mexico, the Trans-Pacific deal (TPP) though still in talks, minus the USA, is progressing at a snails pace and though concluded,  there's been little if any more mention of the European Free Trade accord. Later in the spring, Prime Minister Trudeau presides over the G-7 Summit of world leaders at La Malbaie, an idyllic resort on Quebec's lower St. Lawrence River. The conclave will involve Donald Trump's first foray into Canada as President of the United-States. The world has a fairly good take on what Mr. Trump is all about. But in the afterglow of this India imbroglio, we may have suddenly been jolted into a revised notion of Mr. Trudeau's competence playing at the world's leadership table. Let's hope it's not too late to reverse the damage suffered, and that the next time our PM comes to play, he shows up as who 'HE IS' and not as a Mr. Dressup - The clown shoes have already been claimed by someone else already.

HAWKS AND DOVES

It's inevitable, the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, will set foot on Canadian soil when Justin Trudeau hosts the 2018  'G-7 Summit of World Leaders' in the spring, on June 8 and 9.

The somewhat unorthodox President will join other world leaders from the United-Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan as Canadians welcome the most powerful politicians on the planet to our land for the 6th time since the inception of the world body in 1976 when Trudeau 'pere' was added. An informal group of world leaders had been created a couple of years earlier for the most part under the tutelage of Treasury Secretary George Schultz a member of Richard Nixon's Cabinet.

The setting for this year's 'tete a tete' is the sumptuous Fairmont Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie, on the lower north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec's Charlevoix Region. Mr. Trump should feel right at home: Built in 1899; for most of its first century, the manoir was a summer refuge of rich American patriarchs. Fact of the matter, it was the President of the United-States, William H. Taft (another Republican) who inaugurated the resort's 27 hole championship golf course in 1925. - Lest I digress about the setting, and to Prime Minister Trudeau's credit, at least no 'fake' Muskoka Lake setting will have to be built several miles away to accommodate the world's media as per the case of the 2010 event held (for the most part) secretly in Huntsville, Ontario.

As a sidebar it's none-the-less interesting to note the dynamics of a the 'Hawk / Dove' like relationships between previous Canadian P.M. and the U.S. President each previous time the G-7 has met on Canadian soil - In 1981 at Montebello, Quebec,  Ronald Reagan and Pierre Trudeau met (I sense the excitement). Though it was surely an altogether different atmosphere with the Reagan, Brian Mulroney 'kiss fest' at Quebec City in 1988 - Remember 'Danny Boy' ? ... Clinton faced Chretien at Halifax in 1995, Bush and Harper at Kananaskis, Alberta in 2002,  and as referenced already Obama and Harper in Ontario in 2010.


To the degree that it may be possible, the Americans have launched their own charm offensive to pave the way for their unpredictable President's June visit to the G-7 in Canada. Flanked by the  cannons, bombs and airplanes of Ottawa's War Museum, in just about her only public appearance since arriving in the nation's capital in October 2017,  Mr.Trump's envoy to Canada, U.S. Ambassador, Kelly Craft, told the annual gala of the MacDonald-Laurier Institute last week that "Trump has more in common with (Justin) Trudeau than most people might think" - Her comments were echoed by Texas Republican Congressman Peter Sessions, also in attendance, who was quick to add that it's in America's best interest to "make Canada stronger" ... Oh Dear ! - Lest you ask : Formed in 2010, the MacDonald-Laurier Institute which hosted this bun fest describes itself as a 'Public Policy Think Tank' - ("High Muck a Mucks" my late mother would have called them.) - Last week's $200 a plate dinner to hear Ambassador Craft was a sell-out...Somehow my invite must have been lost in the mail.

BUILDING WALLS AND BRIDGES....MAYBE !

Tensions along the North American borders, the 'de facto' stalled talks involving Mexico, Canada and the United States over the North American Free Trade Accord (NAFTA), and an increasingly, somewhat hostile, and surely dysfunctional American Administration; add these to a grid-locked Congress and Government, and none augur very favourably to support the construction of new international crossings and / or the infrastructures and facilities which they require and demand.

 Meantime, all of a sudden along the International Border between Northern Maine (USA) and the Province of New Brunswick (Canada) it seems that no one noticed, until recently that is, that the 100 year old 1,500 Ft steel-span bridge over the St. John River was falling apart. (Figures, eh ? - S'tie !)

Politicians are like High School students waiting until last minute to start cramming, in this case 'scrambling' for a quick fix - The Edmundston / Madawaska International Bridge is the life-link which joins the local economy. The American owned Twin Rivers Paper Company operates mills in both countries of the community and the busy bridge links the company's Pulp and Cardboard mills in Canada to its Paper and Packaging Labels manufacturing mills in the USA.  Alas...the international bridge's deteriorating span has forced a 5 Tons weight restriction on vehicles crossing since last October, and the bridge is too old to fix. - Wait ! - There's more : Since 9/11 Canadian Federal authorities have spent multi-millions of dollars to build new and crucial border inspection facilities at the bridge and there is absolutely no appetite to relocate them - In fact that has been made crystal clear to all concerned.  The opposite is true on the American side where the border post dates to near the end of World War 2 and needs to be replaced. Trouble is the current bridge approach on the USA side is way too small to accommodate the mandate from Homeland Security.

 

The "locals" have come-up with a 'made at home' proposal to build a new bridge on the Canadian side where the existing border infrastructure exists, and north up river about 1/2 mile where there would be room to build a new USA Border post. Accordingly the new bridge would be diagonal across the river, and about twice as long as the current 100 year old span...and somehow they expect to be granted authority to proceed and build between 2020 and 2022.  Well, wait until the upper levels of governments and echelons of the bureaucracy on both sides of the 'divide' get hold of this nose stretcher ! - May I digress ?

 

 

It's 14 years since the Government of Canada proposed building a new bridge across the Detroit River to link Ontario and Michigan and (essentially)  replace the (now) 87 year old privately owned 'Ambassador Bridge' over which $2-Billion of trade (The most anywhere in the world) crosses the International Border every day.  It's 6 years since, out of sheer frustration and no doubt hoping to score political capital, the Government of Stephen Harper created the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to manage the (fiction of the)  'Gordie Howe International Bridge' - So far that corporation has spent close to $ 1/2 Billion (Canadian Dollars) and there ain't no bridge ! - President Obama said OK to the bridge if Canada pays for the USA Border Post in Detroit ($250-Million) - We Canadian have also offered an Interest Free loan of $250-Million to Michigan so they can pay their share...The State Legislature said: Umm... No Thanks !

 

Wait ! There's more : American Billionaire Matty Maroun owns the Ambassador Bridge and he's been offering for at least a dozen years to build a new bridge AT HIS OWN EXPENSE - Guess what ? - Very quietly late last summer, Mr. Maroun's company outmanoeuvred the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and received a permit from the Trudeau Cabinet to plan and build a new bridge next to the 'Ambassador' as long as the Ambassador Bridge is torn-down within 5 years of the new one becoming operational . There's much speculation now on both sides of the border these days that 'Gordie Howe' will not see the light of day.

 

Perhaps the elected officials of my home town should give Mr. Moroun a call - He's in the Detroit Phone Book.

 

NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS IN OTTAWA AFTER 8 PM

The 'Me Too' movement triggered in the USA among Hollywood's 'star elite' really has little comparison in English Canada which does not have an American style Star system to speak of. (Alas ! They've all moved to the United States to become stars).

Lest I digress, French Canadians, primarily in the Province of Quebec, but in some segments  elsewhere as well, DO have a star system of their own, and (sadly) in the past 6 or so months some of their idols have also 'fallen' in the face of accusations of sexual impropriety of one form or another.

But essentially with the English speaking majority of Canadians, it is our politicians whom we cherish and value as 'stars'. - Which may go some distance in explaining the 'selfie' photo phenomenon, here and abroad, of our current Prime Minister. - To be fair, he didn't start it...His father, then bachelor Prime-Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was arguably responsible for the 1960's 'mania' which catapulted Canadian politicians to some unusual (almost un-Canadian) form of star struck 'stardom' -

Trudeau 'pere' in fact hung out with his fair share of Hollywood's elite, Barbara Streisand among those who come to top of mind, to advance the image. - He more than anyone else may be responsible for the notion that 'nothing good happens in Ottawa after 8:PM' - In reality, "Nothing" (at all) happened in the National Capital of Canada after 8:00 PM until Mr. Trudeau and his entourage arrived in the mid-1960's.

The concern and resulting upshot now of course is that Canada's Male, primarily English speaking, politicians are being accused, some perhaps tarred, with the same alleged sexual improprieties that America's Movie and Television icons have suffered since film mogul Harvey Weinstein couldn't keep his ... (whatever) ... zipped-up inside his pants.

As with everything else in life, politics, the movies and reality TV, the pendulum swings far and wide before it is to reach reasonable conclusions. Until then everyone may be vulnerable to allegations of one form or another which are far too frequently anonymous and some surely with little if any merit. Though Alas ! In the age of social media fuelled allegations and fake news as some may allege,  instant judgement is frequently rendered whether the allegations are true or false.  Many of those accused...perhaps too many, choose to abandon the noble notion of public service rather than mount a reasonable defence of their sullied reputation....One can only hope that somehow, someway, someday the pendulum does not swing too far not to return to sensibility.

PEACEKEEPING? NOT ANYMORE

Regardless of ones political affiliations, the conclusion is:  Ours is the country it is today because of the Liberal Party's dominance over both the political landscape and Canada's agenda for nearly 70 years of the last century.

The policies, the legislation, the vision advanced and practiced by the 'natural governing party' of the 20th Century defined Canadians as peace loving, tolerant, multicultural, bilingual, charitable, socially responsible people within a prosperous nation.

So why is the current government of Prime Minister Harper turning us away from our present and our future in what appears to be a truly transformative shift in character and value - A root-and-branch supplanting of one kind of country for another - as someone recently described the apparent transformation?

In a comment this weekend in 'The Globe And Mail,' political activist Gerald Caplan warns to be afraid of the "new" Canada being invented by Mr. Harper and his associates. Perhaps it's worth noting that Mr. Caplan in 1985 was appointed by another Conservative Prime-Minister, Brian Mulroney, to co-chair (with Florian Sauvageau) a Federal Task Force on Canadian Broadcasting Policy which ultimately led to the Broadcasting Act of 1988. (I digress!) - Of the current Conservative leader, Caplan concludes: "It's in the nature of true believers and ideologues to believe that any means to their sacred ends are justified...It's also typical of such people that they're often motivated by unfathomable resentment and anger, a compulsion not just to better but to destroy their adversaries."

From the session of Parliament just ended there's at least anecdotal evidence on several fronts of the government's efforts to create a Conservative mythology as opposed to a Liberal mythology - Instead of peacekeepers, we're now warriors; the "royal" prefix has been restored to the military; Canada's embassies must now feature portraits of The Queen; the list is long and growing but it seems to suggest a very deliberate and calculated attempt to re-shape Canadian symbolism, nationalism and values back to those cherished by the mid-war generation of which John Diefenbaker was a prominent member. And, more importantly to ignore Canada's evolution as an independent country with an identity of its own.

Some critics see the government's crime and justice initiatives, the changes at the Wheat Board and to the Long-Gun registry, our planned massive military spending and other recent legislated initiatives as borrowed elements of the "Tea Party" revolution from the United-States, and the hard right Republican "destroy the enemy politics" now so prevalent as the American Presidential campaign gets under way.

In the 2010 best seller "Harperland," author Lawrence Martin portrays a leader firmly in control of his political agenda, and a man..."who goes to extraordinary lengths to see it implemented." - In a new book due out next spring -"Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in a Fearful Age" co-authors Ian McKay and Jamie Swift of Queen's University take the notion several steps further arguing that: "The Harper government is operating very much like a regime mounting and ideological crusade to rebrand the country."  A crusade that Mr. Swift has told the 'National Post' involves the "dismantling" of institutions which interfere with values such as the Puritan work ethic and respect for authority.

Maybe Gerald Caplan is right: "Be very afraid: Stephen Harper is inventing a new Canada" - I don't like it!

RUMOURS OF ITS DEMISE GREATLY EXAGERATED?

America's Presidential re-election campaign is getting underway. So in politics this is just about ancient history: But four years ago, it was the young voters of the United-States who engaged the movement of hope and aspiration that swept Barack Obama into office.

Conversely, last May back home in Canada's national election more than half of the population under the age of 45 did not bother to vote, in very large measure because they felt ignored and treated as a nuisance by the mainstream parties. The median Canadian age was 26 years old when the message of optimism and his charisma swept Pierre Trudeau to power in 1968. Today's typical Canadian voter is in his early 60's.

Facing as it seems currently a 'live-or-die' moment in history,  pundits have been quick to flesh-out obituaries of the Liberal Party of Canada, for 69 years the country's natural governing party during the last century. The latest by way of author Peter C. Newman's who's Christmas bookstore offering is aptly titled: "When the Gods Changed. The Death of Liberal Canada."

There is a perfectly valid reason why young Canadian voters lost interest and disengaged from the last Federal election and the several previous others of the first decade of the 21st Century - Young voters have found little to interest them in the Harper Government's Conservative agenda of military boosterism, bigger prisons and border security,  while it scales down social policy and trims government's engagement into the lives of Canadians. And at least as author Newman sees it, the Liberals: mired in internal leadership dissension, a lack of fresh ideas, arrogance and scandal could not (or would not) capitalize on welcoming and engaging "young" Canada into the national conversation.

The net result; for the first time since Confederation the Liberals are the third party in the House of Commons and right now they can't even be sure if they'll ever return. I am reminded of course that the Progressive-Conservatives in the Federal Election of 1993 were virtually wiped-out, electing just 2 members to the Commons, Elsie Wayne in southern New Brunswick and Jean Charest in eastern Quebec, and ending-up fifth in House standings. The P-C's subsequent overhaul led to the eventual morphing of the right-of-centre Harper "Conservatives" steeped in the doctrine (perhaps dogma) of Reverend Ernest Manning (Preston's father) the Evangelical Radio Pastor who ruled as Alberta's Premier from 1943 to 1968.

Alas! Lest I digress: Manning advocated the polarization of political viewpoints in Canada. He argued that the country would be better off with two political parties, One on the Left - One on the Right. Sound familiar? Well beware, because that is precisely the scenario Canadians have witnessed with growing angst and anxiety playing-out in the bitter, divisive, angry bi-partisan struggles which have paralyzed both the Congress of the United-States and the Obama Administration. And, which predictably will only worsen as the next Presidential election is further engaged.

Over the course of the 20th Century the Liberal Party made Canada the country that it is today. In about a month, for 3 days in Ottawa, Liberals will gather for a convention of the faithful which may very well be its most important since the Party was founded on July 1, 1867.  Partisans will consider and adopt a "Road Map to Renewal" - They must get it right, the stakes are that high, and the country's future may depend on it. A key responsibility which must be exercised is to engage young Canadians into our national conversation. There now exists technology that was unimaginable just 10 years ago to do it, and an enormously savvy generation of its users just waiting to be asked.

HAWAII CALLS

Clearly the Prime Minister and his handlers have (somehow) managed to convince the President of the United-States to appear and appease Mr. Harper's long sought photo opportunity over the penning of "Perimeter Security" lite: Booyah! And so what, if that pesky Mexican guy must tag along.

Three Amigos - Not exactly as shown.

High-Fives at the PMO in Ottawa as the White House confirmed late on Friday that President Obama is convening the North American government leaders and NAFTA partners to a summit of the "Three Amigos" in Honolulu on Sunday, November 13. Really just a brief get together after Obama hosts the leaders of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation, nations over that weekend in his hometown.

Frankly it's just we Canadians who may be sufficiently gullible to be sold a contrived photo-op which the handlers of "your Harper government" will tout as a sure sign of equality of purpose with the large economic power south of our border.

Amidst the mess back home, as Obama struggles to re-rail his failing presidency the last thing he wants is to appear to be facilitating business with foreigners (us!)  - Even less in the same breath explain to Mexican Honcho Calderon that he's opening-up Canada's borders while building a massive fence along Mexico's.  Fact is the "Three Amigos" last met when George Bush was President in 2009 at the Chateau Montebello Resort just south of Ottawa. In this case Obama and I suspect Calderone are happy to schedule the meeting as an afterthought to APEC, late on a Sunday afternoon in a time-zone 7 hours beyond the east-coast, and far enough away as possible from the prying-eyes of the American News networks.

Lest we be fooled: It's just the spin-doctors at Harperland Inc. who will doing their damned best to make sure this moment in history leads the following Monday's news headlines back here in the frozen north. The "Perimeter Security" pact announced with great fanfare the better part of a year ago was to have been finalized last summer. Instead, as Mr. Obama's popularity has tanked in the USA the negotiations have become an irritant and an embarrassment to the Harper Government: A "Buy America" provision has been tacked-on to Obama's jobs creation legislation. A new trade deal with Central America has re-introduced the $5.50 (per person) Customs user fee on Canadian travellers entering the United States, and legislators in Washington are agitating for U.S. ports to be given preferential treatment for goods entering North America from abroad.

Ay, Caramba! If this wasn't such a farce; I'd be expecting Don Ho to break-out into the Hawaiian Wedding Song.

STAND ON GUARD FOR THEE

Actor Johnny Depp who stars in an autobiographical film about Hunter S. Thompson, "The Rum Diary" which opens this weekend, says the journalist/author committed suicide in 2005 because of his growing disillusionment over the collapse of the America dream. Depp says Thompson's faith in, and disappointment with, America resulted in a..."bubbling oozing rage especially during the Bush era."

Perhaps a lesson not too late to grasp for moderates growing rageful at the people who attempt to run our lives. - Oh, Canada! A country with a proud history of accommodation, peacekeeping and inclusion, in the grips of the new hawks of the western world who, in the name of their "War on Big Government" justify policies which make no sense, decisions that can't be justified and initiatives only understood by the few who may be privy to a hidden agenda.

Lest I digress: "War" is such a distasteful term that it should NEVER be utilized in the same sentence as government; and most certainly never to justify initiatives against the democratically constituted institutions of a peaceful society. I am disappointed at the orchestrated attacks against our cultural institutions primarily CBC/Radio-Canada, fronted by Sun Media and its parent company Quebecor and I fear, orchestrated within the deepest recesses of the corridors of elected power.

Canada has changed incrementally since the election of January 2006. So it is outrageous that on at least six separate occasions since the election last May of Mr. Harper's first majority Conservative government it's seen fit and appropriate to limit legitimate democratic debate in the House of Commons on important (some critical) matters such as the Omnibus Crime Bill and all of its ramifications, cutting subsidies to political parties, cutting the powers of the Wheat Board and the Gun Registry.

They claim, as the parliamentary weekly newspaper "The Hill Times" reports this week, to be simply cleaning-up the backlash from 5 years of minority stalemate in Parliament so that..."they have an opportunity to hit the reset button and some time in 2012 come with a new Throne Speech that sets (Mr. Harper's) longer-term agenda." May Heaven help us!

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercise in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

Canadian - American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)

THE GEORGE BUSH DECADE

Muted commemorations this weekend as the United-States marks the 10th anniversary of the start of hostilities in Afghanistan; a conflict which has cost thousands of lives and more than a trillion dollars. Sadly there is a growing list of experts who fear the country could be sliding back towards the kind of civil war which led to the radical Islamic regime of the Taliban after the Russian pull-out of a similar misadventure signalled the ultimate demise of the Soviet Union two decades ago.

It was all so predictable: In "The Daily Telegraph" of London this weekend Britain's former ambassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles, says it's a fantasy to think the war in Afghanistan is being won. He writes that military operations will not cure the underlying disease which has hobbled the region. It's pretty well clear that no one, least of all our American allies, have expectations of remaining for another decade, though that may be the stark reality they face. The 'Telegraph' quotes former United-States Commander in Afghanistan, Retired General Stanley McChrystal, who says that America and its allies are a "little better than" halfway towards their goals in the war. Even the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose despicably corrupt regime has been propped-up for years by the United-States and the NATO allies (including Canada), says the mission has done..."terribly badly in providing security to the Afghan people and this is the greatest shortcoming of our government and of our international partners." No wonder that in Afghanistan this weekend the morbid anniversary is passing without commemoration by neither the government nor NATO and saddest of all, nor by the 140,000 foreign ground troops who are still stationed on the front lines. In a published report, "Jane's" the internationally respected defence publisher notes clearly that the future of Afghanistan will still "hang in the balance" after the planned departure of allied combat forces by the end of 2014. That's in sharp contrast to President Obama who yesterday told a gathering at the Whitehouse that the United-States is "responsibly ending today's wars from a position of strength." He made the remarks while honouring the military who've made the ultimate sacrifice since President George W. Bush launched the war against the Taliban regime after the Al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.

In Providence, Rhode-Island meantime, researchers at Brown University say at least 33,877 people - foreign and Afghan troops, civilians, insurgents and others have died as a result of the conflict. The American Pentagon puts the cost of its own operations at $323.2 billion exclusive of costs borne by its NATO partners including Canada. Our Department of National Defence claims the cost so far has been $11.3 billion. Others have claimed that it's (in fact) closer to $22 billion. Canada engaged in the Afghan conflict in February 2002. It took on battle operations in August of 2003 with Operation Athena. History will show that it was a simplistic effort by the Liberal Government of Jean Chretien to abate American anger at our decision to stay out of President Bush's "coalition of the willing" in Iraq.

Buoyed by the initial success of the American military in routing the Taliban extremists from government in Afghanistan, the Bush Administration lost interest and quickly changed its focus to Iraq; leaving the hapless NATO allies (including Canada) to "clean-up" the Taliban's mess in Afghanistan. The problem is (and it continues to be): That while America's virtual carpet bombing of Kabul, Kandahar and other strategic targets in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks crumbled the Taliban regime - It scattered its supporters and fighters into the hills bordering Pakistan where in the decade since they've transformed from a rag-tag group of guerrilla fighters into a well disciplined and very patient militia. The irony is: That the United-States surreptitiously financed the Taliban insurgency against the Soviets two decades ago, and it continues to support (to the tune of billions of dollars each year) the Pakistani overlords who now protect them.

WHAT WOULD JESUS CUT?

It is increasingly apparent as the un-official campaigning for the 2012 run at the Presidency ramps-up in the United States that evangelical Protestantism and extreme fiscal conservatism have somehow become entangled. The front-runner in the current round of Republican Party candidates seeking the party's nomination, the Governor of Texas Rick Perry, has been focussing on politics, prayer and redemption from his one pulpit.

Pundits denounce this brand of  Christianity as focussed on fear, and in Governor Perry's case an abuse of power.  Harsh critics say this most fundamentalist of born-again credo seems so strict that if the alternative to raising taxes involves gutting services such as umemployment benefits in a time of severe joblessness, basic medical care, food stamps or shelter for the homeless - well, so be it!

Perhaps there were elements of truth; certainly an air of surrealism on Monday during the CNN/Tea Party Express debate in Tampa, Florida when the moderator, Wolf Blitzer, asked a hypothetical question about whether a man without health insurance should be provided medical care in the event of an accident - "Are you saying that society ahould just let him die?" Blitzer asked. - Before the candidate could reply several shouts of "yeah!" came from the audience.

Reporting on the Tea-Party sponsored Tampa debate, the Canadian Press  noted: "It was the second Republican debate in less than a week to feature such a show-stopper from the audience. Last week in California, Rick Perry got the most boisterous cheers of the night when he noted proudly that 234 people had been executed in Texas in the 11 years he's been governor."  Tongue set firmly in cheek, a liberal commentor Tweeted: "Given all the applause for death in the last two GOP debates, the Grim Reaper would be a very strong candidate.

The politics of the United States are clearly divided, poisoned and increasingly strident. A discord which doesn't bode well in dealing with the myriad of multiplying issues and problems the country is facing. Mobilizing a nation in prayer, quiet contemplation and reflection  to seek the legislative wisdom to make the right choices and decisions is one thing. - Throwing God into the middle of this poisoned debate is a whole other matter which (I am frankly not sure) even He in His infinite wisdom would approve.

Canada isn't immune to the creepism of extreme-right fundamentalism disguised as evangelical fervour. The divisions and debates south of the border in the name of, and which invoke Jesus and a singular interpretation of The Bible, can easily be imported into our own legislative process. For instance the "National House of Prayers" based in Ottawa claims that it has an on-going..."presence of praying people in the halls of our Federal Government." The group formed about 10 years ago now maintains an "Embassy of Prayer" in Ottawa from which it sends (it says) "intercessors" to attend Question Period, sit-in on sesssions of the Senate, position themselves in Committee meetings and make appointments with individual Parliamentarians.  It's founder, Rob Parker, claims to have received Divine direction to this mission after crying-out to God that Canada had become a "Godless Nation."

The precept of division of State and the worship and practice of religion is fundamental to the healthy process of democracy. Otherwise the danger is in getting the government you've been praying for.

EYES RIGHT! - ON THE GREAT WHITE NORTH

To digress: "The Night Watch Man" philosophy is a largely discredited 19th Century political concept which postulates that the State's only legitimate function is the protection of the liberty of its citizens. Two imperative manifestations of the theory are prison building, and massive military build-up and deployments.

The three-week long "Operation Nanook" which the Canadian Government by way of the Department of National Defence is launching this weekend,  is the largest display yet of Arctic military muscle. In fact it is not just the military: Peter MacKay, the Minister of Defence, calls it a "whole of government approach" which includes the Coast Guard, the RCMP, Transport Canada, Public Safety Canada, Environment Canada as well as Indian and Northern Affairs. It culminates near the end of the month when Stephen Harper travels North to be photographed amongst this silly display doubtless much to the amusement of our allies and foes alike. Ever the supportive good Tory soldier, MacKay descibes Harper as..."very engaged on this file, part of his strong commitment to the Arctic."

One of a couple of  key elements of this mutli-faceted "operation" involves a maritime search and rescue mission in international waters between Greenland and our northeastern Arctic coast. Three Danish Navy ships and a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker will share in the duties. Of course that comes just a couple of weeks after Mr. Harper's Government floated (pardon the pun) a trial balloon about putting the "Search and Rescue" capabilities of Canada's military into private hands, I digress.

In fact, a highlight of this largest ever military deployment in the far north will be the first ever use of  Boeing ScanEagle surveillance drones to aid in (among other things) the Greenland search mission. -  Just like the ones Canada's military was using until recently in Afghanistan these predator drones aren't really ours. The drones flown in Afghanistan and their operators were part of a $95-Million lease from/with west coast based mega-defence contractor MacDonald-Dettwiler (MDA). Guess it's somewhat evident the good folks at competitor Boeing want in on the action. This week Peter MacKay told journalist Matthew Fisher this deployment is "precedent setting (and) a harbinger of things to come." Er, Ah, Ahem...truth be told - Alas, like so many other of Mr. MacKay's pronouncements about the Canadian military, this project is years behind schedule - May not see the light of day.  In this case because the Forces don't have (Can't find - Can't afford) anyone to fly the drones. While they don't carry a pilot, each aircraft still requires operators on the ground to fly the plane on a typical 20-hour mission; experts to down-load and interpret its sophisticated photos data and images, and staff to maintain the equipment and prepare each drone for flight.

Dubbed JUSTAS (Joint un-manned aerial vehicle Surveillance and Target Acquisition System) it was an estimated $1.5 Billion venture scheduled for the government's approval back in 2009. Natch! It's backlogged by the Harper Government's "efficiency and effectiveness" review along with the Close Combat Vehicle program; the Buffalo aircraft replacement program; the Navy shipbuilding program...the list goes on.

Back to Arctic chest-thumping: Commenting on last spring's flurry of secret U.S. documents released via "Wikileaks," Journalist John Ibbitson of the Globe and Mail wrote about a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa - "Washington looks on all this with condescending amusement, noting that, though Mr. Harper is forever making announcements - An Arctic deep sea port! Armed patrol vessels! A new icebreaker! - his government rarely actually cuts a cheque."

Ultimately, it seems it's all just politics and photo-ops. I guess we should be grateful.

TEAM BUILIDNG / TEAM BUST

Enough time has elapsed since last week's Parliamentary filibuster to draw some objective conclusions about the effectiveness of the NDP's new found muscle in the House of Commons.

Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest the war-of-words waged in the House of Commons over about 80 hours should have been a boost to the New Democrats. Canadians care about the issues which affect their daily lives. Though they are no longer quite as critical; sending / receiving mail and the larger question of the long-term viability of Canada Post are of concern. A week after the NDP's filibuster we know nothing has really been changed. In essence issues of importance to Canadians can only be addressed by policy initiatives. A filibuster is playing the game politics.

In fact there's anecdotal evidence which suggests the NDP filibuster ended abruptly, and with neither fanfare nor whimper at mid-evening on Saturday (June 25) because the very union and union members the party claimed to be defending told the party leaders to quit the gig. Once the dust settled a Liberal party insider is said to have described the newbies over on the NDP bench in these words..."so these guys are kind of amateurs, posers frankly...you've got all these young, spunky new NDP members and they were able to last two days?" - Essentially, Members of Parliament barely out of high school playing high stakes politics in the House of Commons.

In fact team building with the party's young and inexperienced MP's who now sit across from the Harper Government as the Official Opposition may be the only positive from Mr. Layton's (at best) ill defined strategy over the CUPW strike and lock-out. But, at what cost?

Over a couple or three days in the latter part of last week, Mr. Layton both delayed the summer recess of the House of Commons, and in a tight-rope like walk poised the future of his party's fortunes perilously close to a dangerous fall on the wrong side of the political spectrum. Political analyst Angelo Persichilli says Mr. Layton and the NDP..."are living a magic moment in the history of the party, and they deserve it all. But they have to be very careful about how they live it, because their dream could easily turn into a nightmare."

To be kind, and assuming there was a strategy behind the New Democrats' decision to filibuster on the merits of Bill C-6, it was that it gave Mr. Layton a chance to play to the NDP's core values and support base; rally the party's freshly elected 101 Members of Parliament; and clearly define the party's ideological differences from the Harper Tories. Although therein lies a danger which even the union Mr. Layton's troops was defending (CUPW) may have realised before party strategists. The New Democrats folded on their filibuster because CUPW came to the merciful conclusion that it could not win, and that the longer its 48,000 members were locked-out, the more money they would lose. The abrupt end to the Parliamentary platitudes may have substantially mitigated the perception among "unconverted" electors that the NDP is a better opposition than it could ever be a government in waiting. Which (of course) is precisely what Mr. Harper's Conservatives want every Canadian to believe. Perhaps fortunately for Mr. Layton, he has four more years to alter this classic perception.

BY THE NUMBERS: With assistance from Hansard's someone actually took the time to count "words" in the filibuster.
Some examples: Total Number of words spoken by all MPs - 432,143
The phrase(s) "Mr. Speaker" - 1,087 times
"Canada Post" - 287 times
The word(s) "rights" - 548 times
"outrageous" - 21 times.

R-E-F-O-R-M

It is with both measures of respect and a certain reluctance that I weigh-in on Parliament's current debate over Senate reform appearing as it does in the waning days of the session.

Early on in my career I was taught by, employed and worked with three men who subsequently served in Canada's Upper Chamber. At least three former colleagues with whom I was associated at my latter career with the CBC are serving Senators.

To some degree I know thus of what I speak. Nonetheless, in the case of the first three, I defer to their age, competence and wisdom. My university professor, a knowledgeable academic, currently serves as "Speaker in the Senate" and the other two (since deceased) had been well respected and experienced politicians in the maritime provinces before ascending the Red Chamber.

But with my equals and work colleagues from the CBC who currently sit on either sides of the Chamber, though doubtless they've acquired a certain level of wisdom and experience from their time in the "house of sober second thought" (So described by the Fathers of our Confederation in 1867) at least some have suggested, they may be less "Senate-worthy." I respect the office and position of their uncompetitive appointment. Since I worked shoulder to shoulder with them and at least shared in their competence and knowledge, I feel secure...Ahem! Well at least confident, that my own ascension to membership to the Senate's sinecure is just a few months away; a year or two tops! Which thus explains my reluctance, Nay - my near resistance; to weighing into this reform debate.

A throwback to the British class system of the pre-Victorian era, the Fathers of Confederation in their own obliged wisdom enshrined the Upper House into the British North America Act of 1867. The Senate is antiquated and out of touch. It's doubtful that the purpose for which it serves the denizens of the 21st Century is worth the annual cost to taxpayers of about $150-million. But so is another product of the same era: The railroads, of which elements are also enshrined in the articles of Confederation. I digress.

Substantive change or reform to the Senate of Canada requires amending the country's Constitution. The backdoor method now tabled by Mr. Harper's government seems on "sober second thought" (pardon the pun) just frittering along the edges of the issue. In fact so concerned is the Federal Government of a revolt from both sides of the Senate aisle that the combined legislation on term limits and the election of senators has instead been introduced for a quick push-through in the(lower)House of Commons. Lest I digress once more: Which seems to speak volumes about the Prime Minister's confidence in the more than 30 senators he has personally appointed since 2008; let alone the other Tories appointed to the upper chamber by Brian Mulroney.

In fact Mr. Mulroney's own well intentioned package of reforms for the Senate were enshrined in the Constitutional amendments which would have resulted from the Meech Lake and subsequent Charlottetown Accords. Both of which failed following unprecedented wrangling from the provincial partners of Confederation and damned near split the country apart in the Quebec referendum of 1995. No politician since has dared crack open discussions to another Constitutional conference. It is a lesson Mr. Harper has learned well. In fact though, he may nonetheless have unwittingly swung open wide the doors to Constitutional discord just as half-a-dozen provinces are gearing-up for fall elections and the five original signatories of the British North America Act are threatening to sue over this Harper plan.

It could indeed be a hot summer. Regardless of the outcome, as was noted this week by Ottawa Citizen columnist Kelly Egan: "After singing O Canada, our honourable senators should begin every session by falling on their knees and thanking their lucky stars. The base salary is $132,000, they get nice offices, a staff, breaks galore on the Hill, opportunities to travel."

Prime Minister, I've been good. Call me!

H3!

Little by little, step by step, slowly the country is turned. Safely ensconced in a "majority" third mandate in the Canadian Parliament, The Conservatives of Mr. Harper some critics foretell, will lead the country along a corrosive path of divisive political polarization.

In Canada, just as with our neighbours south, what passes for national discourse and debate is a new emerging culture of gladiator politics where nothing less than the annihilation of the opposition by any means is an acceptable outcome. Techniques skillfully used by the minority H1 and H2 Governments to destroy two national party leaders (Dion & Ignatieff) and decimate the Liberal Party of Canada. Lest I digress pundits argue the very same methods honed and tested by Mr. Harper's western based Reform/Alliance supporters in eliminating the Progressive-Conservatives a decade ago.

With a comfortable 166 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, the Conservatives' long simmering right of centre agenda which includes abolishing the long-gun registry; sweeping reforms to crime and punishment; harsher prosecutions and longer jail terms; and a muscular foreign policy supported by increased militarization will unfold by Parliament's return in the fall.

For the most part those measures formed the base of the Conservative Party platform leading into the May 2nd Federal Election, and they were reiterated by the Governor General in the "Speech From The Throne" a couple or three weeks back. But in a recent and subsequent national convention held here in Ottawa the Party also reaffirmed its position that marriage is "the union of one man and one woman," as well as its opposition to euthanasia. Fringe elements within the party's core of supporters have never been shy about also adding the return of Capital Punishment and ending abortions to that list.

Very recent developments including intervention into, and the threat of forcing striking employees of Canada Post and at Air Canada to go back to work, have set clear precedents for this Federal Government. Particularly alarming for the future of the country's labour relations is Mr. Harper's swift reaction to the walkout of 3,800 service staff employees at Air Canada, a private corporation in a competitive environment. At first glance the government action seems to send an unequivocal message about the nation's collective bargaining process, one which in fact could void, well at least emasculate, elements of the Canada Labour Code.

Alas; conspiracy theorists could be forgiven if they believe the threat of bringing the labour movement to its knees is just one element of a coordinated plan of post election strategies rolling-out as the Parliamentary Session breaks for the summer. The centre-moderate Liberal Party of Canada having now been obliterated, the way is sufficiently cleared to set sight on another bastion of a Parliamentary democracy: The pesky journalists of the Ottawa based national press gallery. Veterans of the country's press corps have been both targeted and alarmed by recent attacks akin to Richard Nixon's rants about the "nattering nabobs of negativism" circa 1972.

Just before the Conservative National Convention in Ottawa held starting on June 10, the Party President John Walsh sent-out a letter to the faithful soliciting funds to fight against what he called..."the hailstorm of negative attacks from the media elite." His letter was subsequently followed-up with an outburst from the podium at the said convention by former Reform/Alliance Leader and past Treasury Board Chair Stockwell Day who blasted the country's media for engaging in personal attacks. Even more recently the Conservative Leader in the Senate, Senator Marjorie LeBreton, blasted the national media for spending too much time criticizing Stephen Harper during the election campaign. Her opinions were published in a national daily newspaper.

Along with the obligatory respect for, and the trust in, those we elect to represent us; our confidence in the elements and institutions of a vibrant healthy democracy are eroding at a steady, methodical and alarming pace. Canada's political culture has been stressed and its discourse is increasingly ignorant,cheap and coarse. That's our fault. And, unless Canadians demand change, "real" political leadership will continue to elude us. Pity!

TAPPING INTO VOTER ANGST

Alas; citing America's ceaseless Presidential campaigning as the prime example, I've ranted before about the downside of fixed calendar election dates.

Witness as we are to the media barrage from the United States; one could have assumed that informed Canadians would not be tempted to follow in the same footsteps. Indeed though, we have once more embraced the American way and as Canada tilts ever more to the political right of centre; our politicians have struck another blow for their vision of democracy. Thus increasingly at every level of Government we too move to fixing election dates in time...as with America, mostly in the fall of the year.

Though unlike in the United States, here in the Great White North, elections held in the fall mean that campaigning in all of its manifestations must carry through our pitifully short summer season. And, everyone well knows that engaging Canadians, especially over politics, during their precious summertime is about as arduous as smiling during deep root-canal surgery.

So it is that the shadowy politicos, the spin-doctors, and the pollsters who make-up the ever growing un-elected backroom manipulators of our political world have evolved their theories, and from there strategies, to engage this vexatious debate. They are tapping into our alleged "Voter Anger." - Damn! Five months to Ontario's October election...and I didn't even know I was angry. But, annoy me with political platitudes over an entire summer and I am bound to get pissed-off.

Lucky Ontarians are we; 12-million strong (on third of Canada's population) and being called to the polls on October 6 to pass judgement on eight years of the Liberal "Dalton McGuinty" Government which - as some would have us believe - is just short of the devil incarnate. Also which of course is the same line from 8 years ago about the then Progressive-Conservative Government of Mike Harris: Apparently we're either gullible and/or forgetful.

So precious is our short and beloved summer that politicians could take lessons from real estate agents who learned a long time ago that selling anything in Ontario (other than lake shore acreage and beer) is damned near impossible between the Victoria Day Weekend and September's Labour Day break. Rejecting the obvious, the (new) Progressive-Conservatives of Ontario tabled this week their platform for change, dubbed the "Changebook" that they will take to the campaign to unseat the "Daltonytes" come the first Thursday in October. The challenge issued; the gauntlet dropped!

The real problem for Ontario politicians of every stripe is that the province is broke and that, were it not for its sheer size and economic power within the Canadian Confederation, it teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. Maybe that's why Mr. McGuinty's Government countered the P.C.'s salvo by relaxing Ontario's antiquated liquor laws just this week in the immediate aftermath of the Victoria Day long weekend and the unofficial start of summer in Ontario. After all there is nothing quite like a boozy distraction from the problems that ail you.

Beware! This is the kick start of a very long summer of political campaigning that's bound to distract many; and by the end likely make most all of us a lot anxious and a little angry.

IT'S JUST LIKE A REAL ONE...

I was given to chuckle earlier in the week when the Minister of Defence unveiled an "interim" Cyclone Maritime Helicopter at CFB Shearwater in Nova Scotia.

As it's been with a growing number of Mr. MacKay's military procurement sales jobs; Thursday's effort in front of what at best can be described a loaner mock-up of a Sikorsky "Cyclone;"- the sales pitch is energetic; but unconvincing. It's the same near boring TV infomercial sales pitch we saw last July back here in Ottawa when Lockheed-Martin flew-in a shiny make believe mock-up of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for McKay to play with in front of the TV cameras.

Making War satiates the base of the newly-minted Conservative majority supporters primarily in western Canada. Alas! As our American neighbours south of the border have discovered since the end of their "neo-con" Bush Administration, it's damned expensive...and in that case (at least) has just about bankrupt the largest economy in the world.

Interesting that here in the Great White North as Minister MacKay ascended the podium at Shearwater on Thursday, he was forced to defend a leaked DND report that his department will be cutting as many as 2500 civilian public service jobs. The story (and he's sticking to it) is that..."We are going through a belt-tightening exercise to achieve efficiencies and Canadians would expect and respect that." Ahem; Er; well except perhaps of course the 2500 poor sods and their families who will be turfed-out of their jobs. For whom the belt-tightening may be damned suffocating. - I digress!

The once proud National Leader of the Progressive-Conservative Party of Canada; Peter MacKay is now relegated to playing second and most often third fiddle to Stephen Harper's neo-Conservative Reform-Alliance movement which ultimately in 2005, swallowed-up the P.C.'s and morphed into the Conservative Party of Canada. Little wonder that in the immediate aftermath of the May 2nd Federal Election, the now retired longest-serving Speaker of the House of Commons, Peter Milliken, lamented publicly Canada's erosion of democracy. Mr. Milliken who served 10 years as Speaker blamed the erosion on the increase in the power of party leaders: "The leader says you vote this way or else you're out, and bango, you have to do it, or else. I don't think that's the way democracy was intended to function." Enough rant.

Somewhat like the logic for buying the F-35 jet fighter the rearmament factor doesn't fly. Because increasingly it seems to be financed by belt-tightening and increased efficiencies...your "new" Conservative Government Buzz-Words for Public Service cut-backs and lay-offs.

Despite some wonky and frequently clumsy sales gimmicks; on just about every file of the military ramped-up procurement programs, the personable Mr. MacKay does his level best to blow-down critics. Even with the new Conservative majority in Parliament, the Minister's ultimate challenge remains to convince our cash poor nation that the jaw-dropping cost of the untested, unproven,(just may never-fly) Lockheed-Martin F-35 jet fighter is in the country's best interest. On that file his worst enemy may be the Congress of the United-States. Facing a $14-Trillion national debt, Washington's political elite on both sides of the aisle are becoming increasingly jittery over shiny new military toys which are gobbling-up the U.S. Treasury. As Presidential elections loom large in 2012; this crown jewel of "out-of-control" military expenditures is clearly in their sight.

If, as some suspect, the F-35 "joint Strike Fighter" turns-out a lemon. We may all drown in lemonade before they are ever delivered to Canada.

HECK! THE "FAT LADY" WAS JUST TUNING-UP

The election's flotsam, jetsam, entrails and campaign signs have yet to be fully picked-through...much less analyzed; but we're just starting. Increasingly in Canada, jurisdictions at all levels have moved to set predictable, stable, fixed election dates.

Of course the Federal Parliament has had a "set" election date since the winter of 2006 - A date which, for as many reasons as you may rattle-off, has been conveniently ignored by the government of the day on three separate occasions in the last 5 years: But I digress.

Provincially, Prince Edward Island and the North West Territories (okay, not a province) will go next (and first) on October 3, 2011; Manitoba the next day, October 4; then followed by Ontario on October 6; Newfoundland and Labrador, October 11; and lastly Saskatchewan on November 7. Yes, it sounds very much like a summer of perpetual electioneering from coast to coast. No doubt good for the print and advertising businesses which struggled through the recession but damned annoying - Nay! Expensive, for taxpayers assailed by the bickering, the partisan attacks, the advertising and the costs we ultimately all share.

Of course that's the very predictable product of fixed election dates: Perpetual campaigning because the politicians know exactly on which date the voters will turn out. There is not a more inauspicious and obvious example than down south of the border where the Presidential elections, coupled with the mid-term Congressional face-off, mean that the campaigning never stops. The next Presidential election is in November of 2012 but the contenders are already lined-up at the trough. Little wonder it's so damned difficult to get anything positive accomplished in the USA.

Clearly it's already started here: Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is playing down the potentially career shortening consequences of Monday's federal wipe-out of Liberals in Ontario and pretty much everywhere else. Mr. McGuinty told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper that..."No previous election has ever been a perfect predictor of a subsequent election." Though to be safe, in the next few weeks Ontario families will receive the third of the installment cheques, totalling just about $1000, in rebate for last July's HST implementation. A little summer spending booty of our own tax money as the election campaigning ramps up.

Newfoundland and Labrador, like Prince-Edward Island, bucked the trend in the Grits national humiliation. Newfoundland's provincial election follows Ontario on October 11. Though it didn't make much difference on Monday, Premier Kathy Dunderdale who was appointed last December has been much more conciliatory towards Prime Minister Stephen Harper than her predecessor Danny Williams. Williams had famously counselled Newfoundlanders in 2008 to vote A-B-C / Anyone but Conservative! In fact Mrs. Dunderdale's biggest issue may be the implosion of her own Progressive-Conservatives before October's provincial vote. An ominous sign noted when the former Premier, Mr. Williams, refused to attend his own farewell dinner organized by the Dunderdale troops a couple of weeks back.

Westward in Saskatchewan tensions were obvious last fall between Premier Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party supporters and their Federal Conservative brethren when the Harper Government kiboshed the sale of Potash Corporation to BHP Biliton an Anglo-Australian mining conglomerate. Mr. Wall's government though holds a massive majority in the Regina Legislative Assembly and the November 7 provincial election is unlikely to effect any groundswell change.

As in the case with the Harper Conservative breakthrough of 2008, and made the more succinct in Monday's "Orange Crush" courtesy of the New Democrats; Quebec's next provincial face-off is the most ambiguous. Though the province, like Alberta, doesn't have a "fixed" election date. - The current term of the Charest Government expires in 2012. I've speculated earlier that "Bloc" Leader Gilles Duceppe would jump to provincial politics after Monday's Federal Election. (See: "A Question Of Leadership" April 17/11). That's almost a "done deal" in the aftermath of the BQ's demise on Monday and Mr. Duceppe's sudden resignation. Facing a potential breakthrough of the "Parti Quebecois" with Gilles Duceppe as leader, the unpopular Premier Charest may pull the plug on the National Assembly before the former Federal BQ leader gets any home province traction. The light to illuminate Mr. Charest's ultimate decision could be a lucrative Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) deal with the Harper Government which would see Quebecois get "cheques in the mail" bigger than Ontarians'. Charest's plan B could always be to seek the Leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Oh the irony!

Then we can all make way for Alberta in 2012, and British-Columbia on May 14th, 2013...just 750 more days of campaigning left to go before that one.

THE "PRE" POST-MORTEM

One thing seems abundantly obvious on the eve of this 2011 Federal Election. It is that the tactics and practices of "the architect" as he's been affectionately called by George W, Bush, have no place in Canadian politics.

As was observed in publication this weekend; Canadians are neither infantile nor incapable of clear-headed thought; especially when it comes to elections. In this instance (perhaps) we have been fortunate to be side-line observers of the bitter, divisive, bi-partisan, non-compromising political tactics which have hobbled the United-States of America, diminished both its influence and respect around the world, and brought it to the edge of financial collapse.

"The architect," Karl Rove may be credited with a series of successful political campaigns, including those of the former President George W. Bush, across the United States; but his name has also come-up in respect with some political scandals and controversies down in Washington. The aftermath of both successes and failures is plainly obvious to Canadians who, because of our proximity, are exposed every day to news, commentaries and observations from south of the border.

In this most recent of our 4th Federal Election campaign in six year the politics of cynicism borrowed from Mr. Rove's "playbook" appear to have worked sufficiently to wound the Liberal Party beyond short-term recovery. The turbulent 2011 election campaign has been dominated by vacuous talk about coalitions; bickering politicians; and "stable" government designed more to disengage voters than engage them in honest discussion about ideas and visions for our future and the policies to implement them.

But to the embarrassment of just about every pundit, commentator and observer a week ago; when a record shattering 2,056,001 allegedly "disengaged" voters cast ballots in advance polling; they re-energized the election and threw the carefully planned and scripted scenarios of the campaign "war rooms" right into the nearest garbage receptacles. Lest I digress; calling them War Rooms is a major part of the problem. Election campaigns are not "wars" : They are the highest calling of the democratic process.

It seems that tomorrow's voter turn-out and much anticipated election night results may signal an historic shift which, at the very least, is poised to affirm and solidify the supremacy of Parliament and the elected members of the House of Commons, its rules, traditions and the Constitution, over the imperial or presidential aspirations of our party leaders.

A QUESTION OF LEADERSHIP

A couple of provincial political parties have come to grips publicly this weekend with matters of leadership.

Out on the west coast, British Columbia's New Democrats are struggling with a decision whether to shift their traditionally left-wing party into the Centre to challenge head-on the Liberal Government of Premier Christy Clark in the next provincial election. - Or take the party to a more traditional hard(er) left; in a counter effort against the Right of Center burgeoning B.C. Progressive-Conservative party which is being championed by their own former NDP Premier, Bill Vander Zalm, and former Newfoundland P.C. Premier, Brian Peckford.

Whilst in Quebec, Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois picked-up 94% support in a confidence motion at the party's annual conclave. As with British-Columbia, Quebec is gearing-up for a widely anticipated Provincial Election pitting 3-term scandal plagued Liberal Premier Jean Charest (scraping the bottom of the polling barrel) against all comers. Despite her astounding "vote o' confidence;" in Quebec's political backrooms, Mme Marois is disliked and not the PQ's first leadership choice to confront the Charest Liberals. Federal Bloc-Quebecois Leader, the charismatic Gilles Duceppe, is much more likely to lead (and win) the provincial Separatist movement in any upcoming Quebec Election. Duceppe you will recall threw-in his hat against Marois in the PQ's last leadership go-round to replace former Premier Bernard Landry; but in a move never adequately explained, he stepped-out just as fast as he'd stepped-in.

Be that as it may: Beyond Mr. Duceppe's anticipated transfer to the Quebec Provincial scene; the current May 2Nd Federal General Election will define the future political career of all 5 major Canadian Party leaders: From Stephen Harper on down to the Greens' Elizabeth May:

STEPHEN HARPER: Pundits, observers and pollsters share the opinion that Mr. Harper's Conservatives will be re-elected On May 2 once more with a "Minority" of seats in the House of Commons. Though the Conservative Party of Canada is said to be a one-man effort (Harper's), waiting in the wings for the right moment to swing into a leadership challenge is New Brunswick's former Premier Bernard Lord. The charismatic fluently bilingual young politician has been purposely staying-out of the current Federal tilt so as not to taint his own image with the Harper Brand. A 2011 version of a Harper Minority Government; the Prime Minister's 4Th attempt at a majority will sound the death knell of his leadership either with another eventual defeat in Parliament...or more likely with the call of a party leadership convention and Stephen Harper's retirement from active politics.

MICHAEL IGNATIEFF: For the Federal Party dubbed the 20Th Century's "natural governing party," only a win will do. And, as an astute observer noted this week..."that win is squarely on the shoulders of 64 year-old Ignatieff." From Wilfred Laurier; on down through MacKenzie-King, Louis St. Laurent, Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien: Liberals are expected to perform, and the performance criteria is winning elections. And; as even Nobel Laureat Lester B. Pearson learned after being elected in two historic Minority Parliaments, if a House majority doesn't materialize, there is no room at the party helm for that person anymore. Although the (very) young Justin Trudeau has aspirations to, and is clearly being groomed for an eventual leadership bid, party insiders know that he's not yet sufficiently seasoned to take over from Ignatieff when, - barring a "Coalition" of minority Parliamentarians of sorts later this spring, - he does not end-up Prime-Minister, and walks away. At that point; the Liberals may be looking for another short-term leader and Ignatieff's old college roommate and former Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae may be among the very few choices.

JACK LAYTON: Far less is at stake when you are the perennial third or fourth place finisher. His party aside, polls suggest Mr. Layton is best liked and integrates the leadership qualities Canadians demand. Someone observed in conversation just yesterday that had Layton stepped-on over to the Liberals (as did Bob Rae), he'd most likely be elected Prime Minister on May Second. Except for a limited number of strong New Democrat ridings, Mr. Layton "is" the NDP. One of those growing areas of support is in metropolitan urban Quebec. Based on decades of work by Phil Edmonston, picked-up much more recently by former provincial (Liberal) Cabinet Minister, and current NDP Deputy-Leader and Outremont MP Thomas Mulchair, the party may record significant gains in May taking votes away from both the Liberals and the Conservatives. In light of Mr. Layton's health issues, any significant breakthrough in the large urban ridings of the province of Quebec would bode well for a Mulchair leadership takeover and (perhaps like the NDP in British-Columbia) a significant makeover of the party philosophy.

GILLES DUCEPPE: The charismatic Mr. Duceppe is a consummate politicians and like many previous Quebec based fringe parties with national aspirations; Real Caouette and the "Socreds" for instance; I think he knows that the Quebec destiny (whatever it is) will be shaped at home. It's over for the "Separatist" movement as we've known it for 40 years. The new "Independantistes" are pragmatic and urbane and Mr. Duceppe is itching to be Premier of Quebec. A 21St Century Rene Levesque in white armour ready to tackle both domestic issues and "les anglais" of Canada. In the aftermath of the May 2Nd election (with a secure lifelong Federal Parliamentary pension in hand) he's about to be handed his chance. Despite her overwhelming "vote of confidence" this weekend, the machinations are already well greased in the Provincial Parti Quebecois to secure Duceppe's leadership so that he's poised to slay the pesky Jean Charest before year's end.

ELIZABETH MAY: A week in politics is an eternity. Never mind 3 years! Stephane Dion's cornerstone Liberal Party platform in 2008 was an omnibus "Green Plan." - Sadly, and despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, in this second decade of the 21St Century, If at all, "The Environment" is an insignificant blip on the political radar screen. Though Mrs. May and the "Greens" polled about one-million votes in 2008, no one was elected. No positive results either at a handful of noteworthy Federal by-elections in the 3 years hence, including one or two attempts by Mrs. May herself. In eliminating Mrs. May from last week's debate, the "Leaders' Television Consortium" was anticipating realistically the Federal vote results. There's just nothing for Mrs. May to hang-on for.

As they say on Election Night: If the trends are maintained; though the standings in the House won't change much: 2011 may be a seminal election which leads to a wholesale shake-up in Canadian party politics. - In Monte Carlo they'd say: "Les jeux sont faits!"

SHOWDOWN IN PARLIAMENT - REDUX

HARD NEWS, STRAIGHT TALK: Meet the new signature tag for Sun News Network which launches on Monday, April 18th just as the dust begins to settle over next week's televised leaders' debate(s); and 2 weeks to Federal Election day. Pundit, blogger and former Jean Chretien campaign chief Warren Kinsella will assume a starring role over at Sun News as the web's token Liberal. Let it not be said that Quebecor's foray into English language all-news television won't be "fair and balanced" just like America's Fox News on whose template it's being propped.

SCARY EVEN TO LITTLE CHILDREN: Pundit Kinsella opines that the Harper Conservative campaign is flawed from the git-go. Mr. Kinsella has suggested that the Tory attack ads against Michael Ignatieff have been built..."on too many exaggerations, too many out of context quotes and too many falsehoods." And; as electors become increasingly exposed to the reality of the Liberal Leader, the Conservative contradictions become painfully obvious. With the campaign now well under way, Canadians tuning-in have seen that Ignatieff,(perhaps) unlike his predecessor Stephane Dion, isn't nearly as bad as he's been made out to be.

HECK! THE SAME OLD SAME OLD: The "Harper Headed to Majority" headlines have the Prime Minister's handlers fretting that the campaign efforts may be peaking too soon. They've had Mr. Harper launch the week's campaigning assuring his audience in Welland that..."the Conservatives would govern the same with a majority as they have in a minority." Implying that there is no hidden socially conservative agenda. It's the unspoken fear that derailed Mr. Harper's three previous campaigns and eventually scared enough voters away to deny his party a ruling majority.

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING: The Prime Minister has successfully ignored his own suggestion of a "one-on-one" debate with the Liberal Leader. Neither politician is a scintillating spell-binder. Still there's a sense that (...here I hesitate) an American-style debate between the two front-runners would have injected considerable interest into a otherwise moribund campaign. Of course, the downside of a campaign debate moderated by Rick Mercer is that the CBC Comedian and current 'McLean's Magazine' pundit may himself have ended-up being elected Prime-Minister.

WHEN A MAJORITY IS NOT A MAJORITY: In the May 2nd election there are roughly 16-million eligible voters. If (as they say on election night coverage) the trend persists: Perhaps no more than 8-million people will be voting in this Federal Election. Regardless of which party wins on election night...if 40% of votes cast represent the magic majority of seats in Parliament: Under 4-million Canadians could elect the country's first majority government in eleven years. More than 40% of eligible Canadian adults did not bother to vote in 2008, the lowest turnout since Confederation, and there's little indication that next month's election will yield better results. I guess we'll get the government we deserve.