Death of Canadian soldiers concerns us all

THE TORONTO SUN

EDITORIAL: Soldier's deaths concern us all

In his first four months as Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has left no doubt about two things: 1) He strongly supports our military in its dangerous anti-terror, pro-democracy mission in Afghanistan; and 2) he has little patience with the media.

Regrettably, a misstep on the latter front -- his government's bizarre decision, apparently without consulting military families, to ban media from covering the return of soldiers' remains -- threatens to undermine his fine example on the former.

Like many Canadians, we have applauded Harper's leadership on the military file; his visit to Kandahar, his keen grasp of the importance of this mission. We also support his decision to return to tradition and scrap the practice, begun under the Liberals in 2002, of lowering federal flags to half-staff whenever a soldier is killed in combat.

That decision has historical precedent and is seemly and logical, given the grim expectation of more casualties to come. The media ban is anything but.

Media coverage of fallen soldiers to date has been respectful. Relatives told the Canadian Press they greatly appreciated it. At previous repatriation ceremonies, reporters have not interfered with them.

It's impossible to compare today's media or the situation to the last time Canadians were regularly being killed in combat 50 or 60 years ago. Those soldiers were generally buried where they fell. Recent peackeepers' deaths have been mostly ignored.

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has said the media are still welcome to cover soldiers' deaths from the base in Kandahar, although he well knows how restricted the media are from doing that. "It is a private and solemn event between the families and the Canadian Forces," he said of yesterday's ceremony at CFB Trenton. No, minister -- it is an event that concerns all Canadians, and one they want to share.

Worst of all, this ban feeds the ugly, anti-American criticism from the left that Harper is trying to imitate U.S. President George Bush -- from the way he wants to run press conferences to the way he ends his speeches with "God Bless Canada."

Those issues are trivial and so far seem to have helped Harper more than they've hurt. But this is different. This is about the relationship between our military, our government and all Canadians.

This is about democratic freedom -- the very thing we are asking our soldiers to fight and die for overseas. Lest we forget.

MICHAEL McCAFFERTY COMMENTS:

Prime Minister Harper this is about democratic freedom and a nation honoring those soldiers who die overseas. I do not agree with your decision to ban the media from covering the return of dead Canadian soldiers.

New respect for Prime Minister Harper in Quebec

'Open federalism' well received

Graeme Hamilton, National PostPublished: Friday, April 21, 2006

MONTREAL - Just over a year ago, Stephen Harper came to Montreal's Palais des congres on what seemed a noble but doomed mission to sell his new Conservative party to Quebecers. The antagonism was palpable during the party's inaugural policy convention here in March, 2005, and that was coming from the party's own Quebec delegates.

"Quite clearly, the Conservative party has a lot of catching up to do before it will be presentable in Quebec," Chantal Hebert concluded in Le Devoir.
Yesterday, Mr. Harper was back in the same building, and not only was he presentable, leading Quebecers were tripping over themselves to sing his praises.

Benoit Pelletier, Quebec's Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, was overjoyed by Mr. Harper's proposal of an "open federalism" that would keep Ottawa's nose out of the province's jurisdiction.

"What is new and what is fresh is that there is a real will to accommodate Quebec's specificity within Canada," Mr. Pelletier told reporters after the speech.

Mario Dumont, the leader of the Action Democratique du Quebec, who was given a seat at the head table yesterday, welcomed Mr. Harper's call for a stronger Quebec in a better Canada. "With his strength of character, his desire to do things differently, Mr. Harper is opening the door wide for Quebecers," he said.

Getting elected prime minister tends to increase public interest in one's pronouncements, but yesterday's speech before the Montreal Board of Trade drew far more than the curious. A Board of Trade official said the 1,900 tickets sold were the most for a Board event since Pierre Trudeau visited in 1980.

The size of the crowd and the ovation they gave him suggests Mr. Harper is onto something when he says Quebecers thirst for a new age in politics. "They want to turn the page and leave the era of political polarization," he said.
As he did during the recent election campaign, he positioned his Conservatives as the party that can break the impasse between the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the "centralizing" federal Liberals, who until recently had a stranglehold on federalist votes in the province.

Quebec complains of a fiscal imbalance that gives Ottawa too much spending power at the provinces' expense? The Conservatives feel its pain and will tackle the problem. "Fiscal imbalance impacts almost all Canadian provinces and municipalities, and it is a threat to the proper functioning of the Canadian federation," Mr. Harper said. At a news conference, he specified that he expects to make progress on fiscal imbalance before the end of the year.

Quebec feels its interests are not being adequately defended in international forums? Mr. Harper said "common sense" dictates that Quebec should have an enhanced role in UNESCO, "an organization where its unique linguistic and cultural concerns may be at stake."

"That is what open federalism is all about -- a stronger Quebec in a better Canada, and that is what this new national government intends to deliver."
The speech was Mr. Harper's first major public event in Quebec since the Jan. 23 election, but he has hardly been neglecting the province. He has already met three times with Jean Charest, the Premier. He named five Quebecers to his Cabinet, even taking the political risk of naming unelected party organizer Michael Fortier to the Senate so he could be sworn in as Minister of Public Works and give Montreal Cabinet representation.

The attention lavished on Quebec has ruffled feathers in other provinces, and Mr. Harper made a point of saying he is not playing favourites. "The time has come to establish new relations with the provinces, open, honest and respectful relations," he said.

Still, the partisan attacks on the Liberals and Bloc peppered through yesterday's speech indicate that Mr. Harper has more than nation-building in mind. He described the Conservative breakthrough in the election, winning 10 Quebec seats, as "the biggest story of the evening on Jan. 23." He knows his best hope of transforming his minority government into a majority lies here in Quebec. For that reason, he made a point of introducing the nine Quebec MPs and Cabinet ministers on hand for the speech, in-the-flesh evidence that the Conservatives have caught up in a hurry.

© National Post 2006

Michael McCafferty comments:
It is wonderful that Prime Minister Harper has earned the respect and trust that he has in the Province of Quebec. It is absolutely wonderful.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a major speech on law and order in Winnipeg.

Prime MinisterHarper promises crime crackdown

WINNIPEG - Canada’s streets are under threat and it’s time to do battle with criminals, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday, promising to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs.

Harper outlined his government’s get-tough scheme in Winnipeg, focusing on three key initiatives - mandatory minimum prison sentences, an end to conditional sentences and house arrests, and an increase of the age of sexual consent to 16 from 14.

“Times … have been changing,” Harper said at a luncheon sponsored by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, “and the safe streets and safe neighbourhoods that Canadians have come to expect as part of the Canadian way of life are threatened by rising levels of gun, gang and drug crime.”

Harper cited this month’s mass-murder of eight people associated with the Bandidos motorcycle gang near London, Ont., as a clear indication organized crime is a growing problem throughout Canada.

He said the federal and provincial governments, along with local authorities, would need to work together to fight the “plague.”

Mandatory minimum sentences would be enforced against violent and repeat offenders who commit drug- and gun-related crimes, he said.The end to conditional sentences and house arrests will keep criminals in jail for the duration of their sentences, he said.“The current practice of allowing some criminals who have been convicted of serious violent, sexual, weapons or drug offences to serve out their sentence at home is unconscionable.”

Harper also said the increased age of consent will bring Canada more in line with the rest of the world. The age of consent is now 16 in the U.K, Australia and in most American states.

As well, the prime minister issued a stern warning to drug and gun traffickers, saying his new Tory government would take stronger measures against crime than the Liberal gun registry, which he called a “useless, billion-dollar file of the property of duck hunters.”“We will empower the police and prosecutors with the tools they need to discover your enterprises, shut them down and put you behind bars,” he said before 1,200 Winnipeg business people.

Each of the three measures is to be introduced in a separate bill, Harper said, as a test of opposition parties’ commitments to cracking down on violent crime.Speaking with reporters, Harper did not provide details on the cost of the new policies, but said it would not have a significant impact on the government’s budget.

Harper also spoke of the establishment of a “national drug strategy,”

Michael McCafferty comments:

I agree with Prime Minister Harper. Now is the time for 'law and order' in Canada.

Prime Minister Harper would go to the polls over child care allowance

CBC NEWS

Tuesday 18 Apr 2006
CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's willing to risk bringing down his minority government if opposition legislators vote against his plan to give money to parents for child care.
Speaking Tuesday at a community centre in Burnaby, B.C., Harper said he will follow through on his election pledge to give parents $1,200 a year per child under age 6 – even if it means triggering another federal election.
He promised to include it in his Tory government's first federal budget, expected to come in late April or early May.

Michael McCafferty comments:
Let's face it folks. The Liberals for 12 long years talked up a big storm about day care in Canada and did asolutely nothing. I congratulate the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in giving Canada a plan to give money to parents for child care.

Canada vigourously condemns Iran's President

April 15, 2006

Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued the following statement following remarks made by the President of Iran:"Canada vigorously condemns the recent call by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the annihilation of Israel, and his continued denial of the holocaust. The Canadian people reject the hatred that underlies such appalling and irresponsible statements."It is particularly disturbing that these remarks are being made at a time when Iran is in serious violation of its international obligations with respect to nuclear non-proliferation. "Canada continues to believe that these outrageous comments by the President of Iran do not reflect the traditions and values of the Iranian people."

Michael McCafferty comments:

The President of iran is like a modern day Adolph Hitler. The Iran President is a dangerous person and I respect and admire Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper for condemning the anti-Israel remarks of Iran's president.

Canada, the USA and the United Nations must stand on guard against the tyranny of Iran.

Pope Benadict speaks out on world peace.

Pope calls for world peace

Pope's Easter message

Sun, 16 Apr 2006
CBC News

Thousands of people cheered loudly after Pope Benedict XVI blessed the crowd at St. Peter's Square on Sunday and delivered a message of peace as he celebrated his first Easter mass as Pope.

INDEPTH: The Pope

Pope Benedict stressed the importance of finding an 'honourable solution' for the Iran nuclear crisis.

Speaking from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican City, Pope Benedict called on faithful Roman Catholics to pray for peace in Iraq and a solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

He called for dialogue to overcome the obstacles between Israelis and the Palestinians. He defended Israel's right to exist, but called firmly for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Pope Benedict also spoke of the importance of finding a negotiated and "honourable solution" for the Iran nuclear crisis.

The Pope urged that peace would "finally prevail" in Iraq, where he said violence "continues mercilessly to claim victims."

He also spoke of the hardships in Latin America and Africa, particularly Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

At the end of the mass, he addressed the crowd from the terrace of St. Peter's Basilica to give the traditional Urbi et Orbi address (Latin for "to the city and to the world").

The mass coincided with the Pope's 79th birthday and was broadcast to 65 countries.

Easter is the most joyous day on the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar and is believed to mark the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion on Good Friday.

Michael McCafferty comments:
There is nothing more important to the world than peace and I very much admire The Pope for speaking out on world peace.

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior

 

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John McCain and Straight Talk America

Copyright Politics1.com

US Senator John McCain's Straight Talk America PAC. A great-looking site that is clearly appears to be a forerunner of McCain's 2008 White House run.

Be sure to visit Senator McCain's STRAIGHT TALK AMERICA. Click here.

Michael McCafferty comments:
John McCain is truly a genuine American hero and patriot.

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OTTAWA, - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government today introduced the proposed Federal Accountability Act to restore Canadians' trust in government.

"With the Federal Accountability Act, we are creating a new culture of accountability that will change forever the way business is done in Ottawa," Prime Minister Harper said.

Treasury Board President John Baird introduced the Act in Parliament. An Action Plan was also released, which includes additional measures the Harper government will undertake in order to deliver on all its campaign commitments to clean up government.

"People who work hard, pay their taxes, and play by the rules want accountability from their government," said Minister Baird. "Today is about putting the legacy of political scandal behind us and restoring Canadians' trust in government."

The Federal Accountability Act and Action Plan would:

reduce the opportunity to exert influence with money by banning corporate, union, and large personal political donations;

give Canadians confidence that lobbying is done ethically with a five-year lobbying ban on former ministers, their aides, and senior public servants;
ensure people who see problems in government know they can speak up by providing real protection for whistleblowers;
and
ensure Canadians know how their money is spent by enhancing the power for the Auditor General to follow the money.

"These measures will strengthen and streamline government so it can function more efficiently," Prime Minister Harper said. "We are following through on our commitment to deliver good, clean government to Canadians."

Mr. Baird added that the Government will work with Parliament to move this important legislation forward. The Government will also immediately begin to implement the non-legislative elements of the Action Plan.

The Action Plan, draft legislation, fact sheets, and other materials are available at www.accountability.gc.ca

Michael McCafferty comments:
The Accountability Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation introduced in Parliament in modern Canadian history. I admire Prime Minister Harper for his leadership in bringing forth the Accountability Action plan.

OTTAWA, - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government today introduced the proposed Federal Accountability Act to restore Canadians' trust in government.

"With the Federal Accountability Act, we are creating a new culture of accountability that will change forever the way business is done in Ottawa," Prime Minister Harper said.

Treasury Board President John Baird introduced the Act in Parliament. An Action Plan was also released, which includes additional measures the Harper government will undertake in order to deliver on all its campaign commitments to clean up government.

"People who work hard, pay their taxes, and play by the rules want accountability from their government," said Minister Baird. "Today is about putting the legacy of political scandal behind us and restoring Canadians' trust in government."

The Federal Accountability Act and Action Plan would:

reduce the opportunity to exert influence with money by banning corporate, union, and large personal political donations;

give Canadians confidence that lobbying is done ethically with a five-year lobbying ban on former ministers, their aides, and senior public servants;
ensure people who see problems in government know they can speak up by providing real protection for whistleblowers;
and
ensure Canadians know how their money is spent by enhancing the power for the Auditor General to follow the money.

"These measures will strengthen and streamline government so it can function more efficiently," Prime Minister Harper said. "We are following through on our commitment to deliver good, clean government to Canadians."

Mr. Baird added that the Government will work with Parliament to move this important legislation forward. The Government will also immediately begin to implement the non-legislative elements of the Action Plan.

The Action Plan, draft legislation, fact sheets, and other materials are available at www.accountability.gc.ca

Michael McCafferty comments:
The Accountability Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation introduced in Parliament in modern Canadian history. I admire Prime Minister Harper for his leadership in bringing forth the Accountability Action plan.

Queen Elizabeth II turns 80

 

TIME magazine

80 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Queen Elizabeth II

To mark the British monarch's 80th birthday, Buckingham Palace released a list of lesser-known facts — one for each year of her life.

Click here to see to see Queen Elizabeth at 80.

Michael McCafferty comments:
God bless Queen Elizabeth II. I very much admire Queen Elizabeth.

Conservative William F. Buckley speaks out.

Conservative William F Buckley speaks out on Iraq and other issues

William F. Buckley Jr., the longtime conservative writer and leader, said George W. Bush's presidency will be judged entirely by the outcome of a war in Iraq that is now a failure.

Mr. Bush is in the hands of a fortune that will be unremitting on the point of Iraq," Buckley said in a recent interview on Bloomberg Television. "If he'd invented the Bill of Rights it wouldn't get him out of his jam."

Buckley said one of the primary faults of the Iraq war strategy was that that the United States "anticipated almost immediate success." He said "that punishes us as days go by."

Buckley also criticized the so-called neo-conservatives who enthusiastically embraced the Iraq invasion and the spreading of U.S. values around the world.
"The neoconservative hubris, which sort of assigns to America some kind of geo-strategic responsibility for maximizing democracy, overstretches the resources of a free country," Buckley said.

Looking ahead to the 2008 presidential election, Buckley said a strong Republican candidate for the race has yet to emerge. "I don't find a commanding presence sort of knocking on the door" for the next presidential campaign, he said, while expressing little enthusiasm for the current front-runner, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

"I don't think that his name comes to mind automatically as somebody who over a period of years has addressed problems with fruitful thinking, let alone with consistent thinking," Buckley said.

And, somewhat surprising, he had a few compliments for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, a favorite target of many conservatives. Clinton is "a very consequential woman with an extraordinary background," he said. "Her thought is kind of woozy left, not in my judgment threatening."

She is "a phenomenon, a woman candidate who might easily be president," Buckley said.

Buckley, often called the father of contemporary conservatism in America, long articulated his beliefs in National Review magazine, which he founded in 1955. His conservatism calls for small government, low taxes and a strong defense. Both Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater said they got their inspiration from the magazine.

While praising Bush as "really a conservative," he was critical of the president for allowing expansion of the federal government and never vetoing a spending bill.

The president's "concern has been so completely on the international scope that he can be said to have neglected conservatism on the fiscal level, Buckley said.
Buckley said he doesn't have a formula for getting out of Iraq, though he said "it's important that we acknowledge in the inner councils of state that it (the war) has failed, so that we should look for opportunities to cope with that failure."

The 80-year-old Buckley is among a handful of prominent conservatives who are criticizing the war. Asked who is to blame for what he deems a failure, Buckley said, "the president," adding that "he doesn't hesitate to accept responsibility."

Buckley called Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a longtime friend, "a failed executor"' of the war. And Vice President Dick Cheney "was flatly misled," Buckley said. "He believed the business about the weapons of mass destruction."

Buckley exalted in what he sees as the conservative success stemming from his call a half century ago in the National Review to "stand athwart history and yell stop."

That, he remembered, was when Marxism was widely considered "an absolute irreversible call of history." The folly of that notion was demonstrated by the demise of communism a decade and a half ago, he said.

Buckley said he had a few regrets, most notably his magazine's opposition to civil rights legislation in the 1960s. "I think that the impact of that bill should have been welcomed by us,"' he said.

Buckley also said he found the business community's contribution to society during most of the period from the 1950s to 1970s "disappointing" because of "their refusal to encourage an intellectual light. Now, that has changed."

"There are a number of foundations and colleges that take seriously the teaching of liberalism and libertarian life" with the assistance of business leaders, he said. "But I don't think a historian looking back on the last 50 years of the 20th century will have any reason to speak with convincing pride about the role of the American businessmen in public policy."

Buckley offered his perspectives on recent presidents:

Richard Nixon "was one of the brightest people who ever occupied the White House," he said, "but he suffered from basic derangements," which precipitated his own downfall.

Ronald Reagan "confounded the intellectual class, which disdained him." Every year though, Buckley said, "there is more and more evidence of his ingenuity, of his historical intelligence."

Bill Clinton "is the most gifted politician of, certainly my time," Buckley said. "He generates a kind of a vibrant goodwill with a capacity for mischief which is very, very American." He doubted that "anyone could begin to write a textbook that explicates his (Clinton's) political philosophy because he doesn't really have one."

Heidi Przybyla and Judy Woodruff write for Bloomberg News.
© 1998-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Michael McCafferty comments -
I have always admired William F. Buckley. He is the elder statesman of conservatives.

Preston Manning for Premier of Alberta

Visit the Preston Manning for Premier of Alberta website and urge this great Canadian to seek the job.

CLICK HERE
to visit the Preston Manning for Premier website.

Billy Graham TV special biography

Harper hits a home run at opener - NATIONAL POST editorial

Harper hits a home run at opener
Once-mighty Liberals strike out

Click here to read excellent NATIONAL POST editorial by Don Martin about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's first major speech in Parliament as prime minister.

Preston Manning for Premier of Alberta

Preston Manning would be an outstanding and truly great Premier of Alberta.

It is my heartfelt hope that Preston Manning seeks the leadership of the Alberta PC Party because Mr. Manning has great leadership ability and political vision and wisdom.

My friend Preston Manning is truly a great Canadian statesman and leader --
a man who would bring greatness to the office of Premier of Alberta.

Prime Minister Harper has made a strong commitment to law and order.

Police Cheer Prime Minister Harper's tough stand on crime

copyright TORONTO STAR
Monday April 3

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is winning plaudits from police for promising to lock up violent criminals and throw away the key.

Harper, in a speech Monday to the Canadian Professional Police Association, reiterated Conservative campaign vows to bring in tougher sentences for gun crime and drug offences.

He also won prolonged applause for his campaign promises to crack down on parole and do away with mandatory supervision, the practice of releasing most convicts after two-thirds of their sentences.

"We are going to hold criminals to account," said Harper.

"This government will send a strong message to criminals: if you do a serious crime, you're going to start doing serious time."

In his speech, Harper summarized most of the Conservative law-and-order pledges from the last election, including promises to get tough on child pornography and improve the national databank of DNA samples of convicted criminals.

He also won warm applause for reiterating that the Tories will not reintroduce Liberal legislation to decriminalize marijuana. That measure died on the Commons order paper with the last election.

Michael McCafferty comments:
Canadian expect the new Conservative Government to be strong on the law and order issues. Prime Minister Harper has made a solid commitment to law and order.

I believe Canadians will be pleased by the commitment made by Prime Minister
to law and order.

Pope John Paul II

World remembers Pope John Paul II

BBC News

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Rome to mark the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II with an evening prayer vigil.

Pope Benedict XVI blessed the candlelit event in St Peter's Square at 2137 local time (1937 GMT), the exact time of his predecessor's death.

Click here for BBC News report on the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.

Michael McCafferty comments:

I loved and adored Pope John Paul II. It is my heartfelt prayer that he will be named as a Saint.

God bless the memory of Pope John Paul II.