Cabinet Minister at Public Trough

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
The Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has been using a private jet to travel from Ottawa to his riding of Jonquiere-Alma in Quebec. In order to hide his largesse, he’s been billing the flights to the Economic Development Agency of Canada which comes under his area of responsibility. The 14 flights he took between April and August 2006 cost a total of $68,000. Several of the flights originated in Ottawa on Friday and returned on Monday. -- read more

Canadian Woman First to Serve at Afghan Police Substation

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Increasingly the Taliban have taken to dressing up as women or forcing women to carry weapons for them through police checkpoints in Afghanistan. Afghani police, who are male, on the checkpoints are prohibited from searching women. The search would go against their cultural norms. Women are still largely clothed in burkas which hides their identities and are baggy enough that arms and explosives can be hidden underneath.This situation allows the Taliban free movement past checkpoints. -- read more

Growing Concerns Over Tasers

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
On October 14th RCMP in British Columbia hit a man twice with tasers to subdue him and instead killed him. Video of the incident showed the last 10 minutes of the man’s life. The man had spent several hours in a secured area of the airport, growing increasingly agitated. Four officers arrived on the scene and within moments of approaching him tasered him twice. -- read more

Mulroney Gets His Probe

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Prime Minister Harper has done what he really has been left with little choice to do, he’s called a full public inquiry into Mulroney, the Airbus affair and Schreiber’s dealings with him. It isn’t that Harper had any suggested involvement in the affair that likely led him to initially try to avoid any inquiry at all.

Harper isn’t stupid, he realizes the optics of a public inquiry into a Conservative Prime Minister is not going to strengthen his position as "Mr Clean". Even though Paul Martin was exonerated by Gomery of any involvement in the Liberal scandals, Harper rode the optics of a ‘corrupt party’ in government to gain himself a minority government. -- read more

Lying Brian Surfaces Again

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Brian Mulroney was probably one of the least popular Prime Ministers this country has ever had. Many of his critics, and there were many, referred to him as ‘lying Brian’. My late father, a to the core Conservative, was among those who reviled Mulroney. He would often say that the only time Mulroney told the truth was when his mouth was shut. During his final days in office and to this day questions have swirled about his honesty and integrity. -- read more

Dion Needs to Aim Higher Than His Foot

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
On Tuesday, Flaherty, the Minister of Finance announced some tax measure in what amounted to a mini-budget. He announced tax cuts, some of which we would have already been enjoying if the Liberals had been elected. He implemented the tax cut for lower income Canadians that the Liberals had set and the Conservatives canceled when they came to power. Flaherty also announced another 1% cut to the GST which fulfills a campaign promise the Conservatives had made and the measure where Dion is shooting himself in the foot. -- read more

Votes at Risk in Rural Canada

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
There are about 1 million Canadians who use a post office box as their primary mailing address. I happen to be one of them. Under the changes to the Elections Act passed last summer I have to either show up at the poll with photo ID or two pieces of identification, one of which shows my civic address. A post office box is not acceptable. -- read more

Afghan Poll Shows Foreign Troops Welcome

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
A public opinion poll was carried out in Afghanistan in September. Now, that is a pretty run of the mill matter in Canada, we get inundated with phone calls for polls for one thing or another on a regular basis. In Afghanistan there are no large scale databases to randomly survey the population and often no phones or lines to call people on if there was. Then there are the cultural issues, like women need to talk to women and men to men. One tribe wont always respond to another and so on. -- read more

The Truth About Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
A column in today’s Edmonton Sun is one of the best ones I’ve read about Afghanistan and Canada’s role there. The writer, Michael den Tandt, explores the non-combat roles that the combat forces enable in Afghanistan as well as why the Canadian public is not more aware of those roles. -- read more

Chretien Attacks Martin in His Book

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien has come out swinging at former Prime Minister Paul Martin in his newly released book, "My Years as Prime Minister". The two men at one time appeared to form a powerful pair in Ottawa during Chretien’s time in office. Martin as finance minister won international respect for making hard decisions which brought Canada’s soaring deficit under control and in recent years has produced surpluses. Chretien as Prime Minister backed his finance minister’s moves. -- read more

Harper Appoints Afghanistan Panel

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
In a shrewd, albeit calculating, move on Friday Harper appointed a five person panel to explore our future role in Afghanistan at the end of the current February 2009 mission mandate. The panel is to be headed up by John Manley, former deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs during Jean Chretien’s time in office. While not officially in political life anymore, Manley remains a staunch Liberal. -- read more

Ontario Elects Liberal Majority - MMP Defeated

Posted at: Out of the Shadows
Ontario has voted and returned the Liberals led by McGuinty to the Ontario Legislature. John Tory of the Conservatives went down to defeat not only from the position of Premier of the Province but failed to win in his own riding. One of the lowest voter turnout in Ontario’s history voted down the MMP referendum which I’m happy to see go down. I just wish that more Ontarians had felt the need to add their voice to the referendum. -- read more

Aid & Combat Interconnected in Afghanistan

Posted at: Out of the Shadows
In Afghanistan’s volatile south, where Canadian troops operate, aid and reconstruction can’t take place without the area being secured by troops who need to flush out and engage the Taliban. Ongoing security has to be provided before any aid groups can operate in these areas. The Taliban will infiltrate back to an area thought to be cleared and undertake a campaign of threats and harassment of aid workers, especially Afghani’s. -- read more

Afghanistan Debate

Posted at: Out of the Shadows
I’m going to say right at the outset here. I support our troops and their mission in Afghanistan. I grow weary and increasingly disgusted by the politicalization of the mission. Politicians hunting for votes and talking points to oppose another party rather than truly hunting down what is the right thing to do. -- read more

We Will Remember Him

They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them

In memory of our fallen Canadian:

Cpl. Nathan Hornburg -- Afghanistan September 25, 2007

Always Caring -- Always Canadian -- Never Defeated

Support Our Troops -- Wear Red on Fridays