We may have escaped a general election this fall, but four ridings are going to the polls November 9 for by-elections. The two Quebec ridings will likely remain BQ, but the other two ridings, one each in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, are in play, largely between the Conservatives and the NDP. The outcomes won’t shift the balance of power in Ottawa, but they could test Harper’s ability to win a majority. And for child, youth, and family advocates, they isolate and juxtapose these two parties’ family policies in a way that’s usually not possible.

In the BC riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam, there are four candidates, but it’s really a two-horse race between NDP Finn Donnelly and Conservative Diana Dilworth. This riding has swung between NDP and Conservative for years, both candidates have been municipal politicians for years, and both work for environmental non-profits. Donnelly, born and raised in the area, is a local hero for twice swimming the length of the Fraser River to bring attention to sustainability issues. Dilworth’s bio notes that, as a single parent of two adult children, she understands the stresses of raising a family. But she also understands business, having worked in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, and having run her own business.
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“Buy American” provisions in the U.S. stimulus package have become a hotly contested issue, perhaps nowhere more than here in Canada. Fears of protectionism have been sounded as “free-traders” prophesize dire consequences. Recall beggar-thy-neighbour, the Great Depression, World War Two: it will happen again, we are told. American protectionism will be the first step. This will be followed by retaliation. A trade war will be sparked and history will repeat itself. So what better time than Obama’s visit to Ottawa for our two leaders to deal with this impending doom. Indeed, solutions have been proposed: put the word “north” before the word “American”, scrap the phrase “buy American” altogether etc. But this is not a semantic debate. Or, if it is a semantic debate we are analyzing the wrong phrase.

Instead, we should be looking at the concept of “protectionism”. While protectionism is generally looked at purely in economic terms, we need to consider its broader meaning. In the abstract protectionism can refer to the overall protection of a state. While economics is certainly a major component of protectionism, it is not the whole story. Also, included are military protectionism, cultural protectionism, etc. Basically, these are means employed by the state to protect its self-interest.
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Stephen Harper announced today that he will be firing all of his cabinet except himself. “I was wondering what I could do to cut government spending and at the same time hold on to more power”, he said with a constant twitching of his left eye. “As of today, I will be taking over all of the ministerial jobs in Foreign Affairs, Justice, Finance, Revenue, Indian Affairs, Inter-Governmental, Fisheries, Environment and any other departments I can think of. I will be giving myself a healthy raise for taking on this extra workload but rest assured that the rest of the savings will be passed on to Canadians. My first order of business is with the department of Technology. I have ordered them to develop a new device that will transfer all the information of the various departments straight to my brain,” he confided. Harper’s move means that his Conservatives have completely been relegated to backbencher status.
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Testifying before Canada’s national defence committee on the Hill two days ago (Monday, 9 February), Defence Minister Peter Mackay claimed that progress was being made in Afghanistan, albeit at a slower pace than would be ideal. Coupled with this unfounded rosy assessment of slow Afghan progress, Mackay also acknowledged a $331 million increase in Afghan war costs for this year.

Mackay’s insistence that progress is being made in Afghanistan goes against substantiated reports made by the British foreign ministry and President Obama’s new civilian proconsul for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The British now acknowledge that NATO forces are in a stalemate with Afghan insurgents. The new American administration prefers the term ‘mess’ in describing the situation. Both statements are true, unlike Mackay’s, but ultimately fail in describing the real problem in Afghanistan. The fact of the matter is that a majority of the Pushtan, a pro-Taliban ethnic group straddling the Afghan-Pakistan border that makes up about a third of Afghanistan’s population, will not stop fighting the established Afghan government until the Taliban is recognized as a legitimate force in Afghanistan politics. At least one British general has stated that progress cannot be made without making peace with the Taliban. The Taliban insurgency, which made more attacks against Western forces in the last year then in any other year of the war, has repeatedly shown that it cannot be stopped by military means.
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Speaking at a Chinese New Year festival near Toronto this weekend, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he hopes that the Year of the Ox will also be the year of the return of the bull market. Our major banks would have to disagree with this statement. Both TD Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia predict our economy will continue to shrink and will loses hundreds of thousands jobs (in addition to the hundreds of thousands already lost) by year end. US analysts predict the economy will not recover until 2010 at best.
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President Barack Obama & Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Speaking About Executive Compensation

Although Obama’s term as president is only in its infancy, he’s already impressed me in many ways. First was his ability to quickly put together an extensive stimulus plan (which took far too long for Canada to do) and then his plan to close Guantanamo Bay within a year. Now, it’s his idea to impose a salary cap for many U.S. business executives.

Obama’s plan is to place a $500,000 salary cap on executives at troubled U.S. financial institutions that accept federal bailout funds. And it’s a brilliant idea.

Here’s an excerpt from Obama’s announcement:
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It all started when Barack Obama included “Buy American” language in his economic stimulus plan coming out of congress. That built tension worldwide after an $825-billion stimulus plan was passed last week by the House of Representatives requiring the sole use of U.S. made iron and steel in public projects. The protectionist messages being relayed by the US are especially a concern for Canadians, given that the US is our largest trading partner.

In a panicked response, the governments of both the European Union and Canada sent letters to Congress urging that the provision must be dropped.

But Canadians nervous about a trade war with the US heard reassuring words from Obama after he realized the extent to which nations worldwide were panicking. “I think it would be a mistake … at a time when worldwide trade is declining for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade,” Obama stated. He also assured the world he did not want to send a protectionist message.
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The budget was approved today by a 211 – 91 vote. As anticipated, the NDP and Bloc both voted against the budget. As well, the 6 Liberal MPs from Newfoundland and Labrador voted against the budget. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff allowed these 6 MPs to vote against their own party as a one time protest vote to bring attention to the fact that the new budget is cutting out $1.6 billion in federal transfer payments to their province.

As decided upon yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be required to provide updates and reports on the budget’s progress in March, June and December. At any of these points, if the opposition expresses non confidence in the government, Canada will have another election.

MPs voted 214 to 84 in favour of the Liberal budget amendments today. As expected, the NDP and Bloc voted against these changes.

Michael Ignatieff must be jumping for joy.
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Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff announced today that he would support the Conservative Party’s budget only if they agreed to certain Liberal-proposed amendments. Ignatieff said he wanted regular budget updates (Mar, June, Dec 2009) that would determine whether or not the Conservatives are successfully implementing a budget that is helping Canada and its citizens. At each update, a confidence vote would be held so that if the opposition parties are not happy with the Conservatives’ progress, they could take down the government.
This “probation” that Ignatieff is proposing has been met with mixed feelings.
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