Washington was waking up Wednesday to a new Senate make-up, one featuring Republican Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown, who defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a victory few thought possible just a month ago.
The race for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy is a win that could grind President Obama's agenda to a halt and portend unexpected losses
for Democrats in the November midterms (h/t) Foxnation
Looks like this is just the beginning. The people of America are taking back their nation. Good for them! Indirectly it's good for us too because we are so closely intertwined with the United States.
Peter Donolo and his new crew running Michael Ignatieff’s office have, according to The Globe this morning, made over the Liberal Leader’s office.
Mr. Donolo, the new chief of staff, has staff members addressing the leader now as “Mr. Ignatieff” rather than the more informal “Michael” as his old crew used to. Staffers in the Opposition Leader’s Office are also being asked to dress up a little bit more.
What the team neglected to tell our reporter is that it seems a code of silence has been imposed along with that dress code. Indeed, they suggested to one of their new B.C. candidates, former Olympian Ross Rebagliati, that he not to talk to the news media.
The best approach for Harper to take
Mr. Harper seems to know that. He took special care during the election campaign to muzzle the fringe elements of his party. He must be careful now to make sure they do not take the election win as an endorsement of their views. When he is making his cabinet, he would be wise to give leading spots to moderate MPs from the old Progressive Conservative Party. He would be even wiser to put off for now his notion of holding a new vote on same-sex marriage. Courts across the country have made it legal and Parliament has already voted once to do the same. Risking a clash with the courts over rights and restarting a divisive debate on social values is not something Mr. Harper should contemplate if he wants to be a unifying centrist prime minister.
(Emphasis highlighted in red by me)
"Canada will host an emergency meeting in Montreal next Monday of countries that are leading the rescue effort in Haiti, as world leaders struggle to craft a longer-term plan for rebuilding the stricken nation.Lawrence Cannon, Canada's Foreign Minister, hosted a teleconference yesterday afternoon that included U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and their counterparts from several Latin American countries, along with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
As a key player in Friends of Haiti, an informal group of governments and organizations that has been working to improve the situation in Haiti since the early 1990s, Canada is playing a major role in co-ordinating the global response.'
OTTAWA -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says Canadians should not be concerned about treatment of Afghan detainees because rules and practices are in place to prevent and stop abuse.What ya got to say about that, Liberals and CBC, TorStar, G&M, CTV etc.?
In an interview Wednesday with Canwest News Service he was asked if Canadians should be concerned about a risk of torture of detainees transferred to Afghan authorities by Canadian Forces -- a topic that dominated the political debate before the government prorogued Parliament.
"Obviously it is a very important topic," he said. "But I don't think Canadians in general should be concerned about it because there are very clear rules regarding the handover of detainees."
He said the rules governing transfer of detainees from NATO forces to Afghan authorities provide for them to be handed over within 96 hours and to inform the Red Cross.
