Kudos to John Ibbitson for Kudos to the PM

John Ibbitson from the Globe, unusually gives the PM kudos this morning for accomplishments that were made at this weekend's G8/G20 summits.

While much of the chatter around the G20 summit has focused on fake lakes, billion-dollar budgets and burning police cars, the greater reality is that Stephen Harper guided the leaders of the world's largest and most influential economies to an accord – call it the Toronto Consensus – that surprised even the leaders themselves.

The leaders agreed on targets for deficit and debt reduction, maternal health initiative, and the best of all was killing the global bank tax.

Mr. Ibbitson then takes on the detractors.

Opposition politicians – and those who just don't like Mr. Harper very much – will continue to lament these blemishes. Otherwise, they would have to acknowledge what the Prime Minister has accomplished over the weekend, both at the G20 and at the G8, where Mr. Harper secured an agreement to increase funding for maternal and child health.

The way I see it, these back to back summits were a resounding success if you take out the thugs who caused all the chaos in downtown Toronto. We should count our blessings that we have PM Harper at the helm of our country.  PM Harper is a true statesman,works well with and is very well liked and respected by his counterparts.
 Thank you to Mr. Ibbitson for the unusually  positive  piece on PM Harper and his accomplishments.

Speaker Miliken to Step Down?

Rumors are floating around that Speaker of the House, Peter Miliken is going to step down..

Local Liberals are tight-lipped about whether Peter Milliken's traditional summer barbecue for his supporters is going to be his last. 
Milliken has called a news conference to follow the annual members-only barbecue at his house near Elginburg.

Milliken has not only never held a news conference after the annual garden party, but no Kingston reporter can recall him holding a news conference, ever.
Even when he chooses to run for re-election, he makes his announcement with a written statement.

Local federal Liberals have been selling party memberships for weeks and there is only one reason they would be doing that -- to elect a successor if Milliken has chosen to step aside.

He could announce that he will not stand in the next federal election, but that may not be until 2012

 Does the CPC have chance at winning that riding?  Possibly, I don't know.   Will he announce he's stepping down or he is going to say?  What is this mysterious newser going to be about? Stay tuned folks, it will  be interesting to see!

Wildrose Alliance Convention

This weekend is a major milestone for the Wildrose Alliance Party, a true conservative party in which policy will be set. It will be the first Annual General Meeting since Danielle Smith took over as leader late last fall. The party has been steadily growing in numbers, funds and popularity. So much so that it has become a real threat to Ed Stelmach's PCs.
  This weekend in Red Deer, policy will be debated and voted on as they get ready to gear up for a general election that is expected to be held in approx. 2yrs.
Members will also get a say in how Danielle Smith is doing as leader.  I know as a member but not able to attend the AGM, think she's doing a great job as leader and will make a fantastic Premier. I believe change is in the air and Albertans are going to throw the PCs out after 40yrs in power.

As the Wildrose Alliance's members decide what policies will guide it toward the next provincial election, Smith will have to navigate a balance between far-right and moderate voices and show the party is about more than oil royalty issues.

I  hope the policies that are decided on will lead us into the next election with a win in the end.  Good luck guys!  I'll be there in spirit.

Sidenote: Former PC MLA for Fort McMurray, Guy Boutilier has joined the Wildrose Alliance caucus.
Welcome aboard, Guy!

Heads Should Roll

Should it be CBC heads or CSIS Director Richard Fadden? Norman Spector points out that CBC sat on that interview for some time.

Here in Canada, on the other hand, we’ve just seen the worst in journalism, with the CBC’s broadcast of an interview in which CSIS Director Richard Fadden states that a number of Canadian politicians are influenced by foreign states. Now, politicians and pundits are criticizing Mr. Fadden for making this statement. And calls for his resignation are being heard across the land.
How does the broadcast of this interview reflect the worst in journalism, you ask?
Buried within Colin Freeze and Ian Bailey’s fine report of the interview fallout in Thursday’s Globe and Mail, we read: “The timing of the CBC interview was not Mr. Fadden’s choice. This spring, CBC approached him to repeat remarks he had made at a private, but videotaped, speech at the Royal Canadian Military Institute. The public broadcaster kept the interview in its back pocket until it broadcast the exclusive this week.”
In other words, CBC sat on the explosive interview for weeks, if not months. And it chose to make the interview public on the eve of a state visit to Canada by China’s President Hu, and on the eve of a summit to be attended both by him and by the Prime Minister of India.
Shame on the people who made that judgment. Heads should roll all right – heads at the CBC.

Even though CBC had sat on that interview, Fadden shouldn't have made a statement like that in public that he later backtracks on.
Makes you wonder why CBC waited to to air that interview on the eve of the G8 and G20 summits. Worst in journalism? Norman Spector is right on.
Heads roll? You bet! Again, Norman Spector's got it right, heads at CBC should roll. CSIS director Fadden? I think so. He's got some splainin' to do so does CBC for that matter as far as I'm concerned. Kudo's to Globe and Mail and Norman Spector for calling CBC out!

Update: Dave Rutherford talks about this on his show. It is a must listen. Starts about 9:00am goes to on after the bottom of the hour news.

PM Harper's One on One with David Akin

PM Harper had a one on one interview with the Sun's David Akin.  It's a prime example of how an interview should be conducted.  No gotcha's, no fluff, no frivolous topics.  It was professional, substantive, informative and respectful.  Here is just a sample:

AKIN: I wanted to begin with some broader foreign policy stuff. I had a chat with [former Foreign Affairs deputy minister] Peter Harder the other day and it was his impression - probably mine, too - that when you and the Conservatives took office, you might have been skeptical of the value of summits. And Peter actually found you - and this is his phrase - “incurious” about the world but, as he watched you, he found you engaged in summits and that you’d become a master of whatever happens at these summits and you now see a value about them.
HARPER: My observation would be that, generally, opposition parties are almost exclusively concerned with domestic policy. I think if you look around the globe, David, that’s what you’ll find. And then when you become government, foreign policy becomes a much bigger part of your reality. I would say the one thing that has really struck me in the last four years has been the degree to which everything is international. There are just so many important issues . Economy - the biggest one - climate change, you just go through the list, even sport with Canada hosting the Olympics. Everything now has such important international dimensions. The economy especially. There’s lots we’re doing in Canada to improve the relative performance of the Canadian economy. And we talk about how we’re doing better than the Americans or better than other Western developed economies but nevertheless the trajectory of our economy is still determined by what’s happening globally because we’re in a global economy.
So that would be my biggest observation. The military is another thing - Afghanistan, our defence and military policies are all part of an international system. So we really are in a global world. There’s not much that can’t be done without reference to foreign policy - especially in Canada - without reference to the United States because obviously we’re in a very integrated economy.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Kudos to Mr. Akin for showing how to conduct a respectful interview!   Other so called journalists should read this interview and take lessons.