Star Phoenix:
Yet, there was Mr. Ignatieff on Tuesday, apparently unwilling to push the envelope on the issue even though he reportedly was uttering vague threats just hours before the vote.
...
Under the hapless Stéphane Dion, Canadians got accustomed to seeing too much bluster and empty threats emanating from the Liberal camp, and Mr. Ignatieff runs the risk of eroding the gains the party has made since he took the party's helm if he's perceived to be taking the same tack.
Lawrence Martin:
The Conservatives are in the midst of slashing the foreign affairs budget by $639-million from 2007 levels, while increasing spending on the military by $2.4-billion. If their creed is that guns trump diplomacy, it is being well-heeded.
Criticism comes not only from opposition parties but from the likes of a former Conservative foreign minister, David Emerson, who cites our failures to appreciate and exploit Canada's place in the world. While other Conservative governments, particularly that of Brian Mulroney, showed a more open-minded side, today's government keeps its eyes wide shut.
On fiscal matters, it may be that our PM has become more moderate. But as for world affairs, there's clearly no need for his party's hard-liners to be rolling over in their caves.
Steve Janke on what appears to be Iggy attempting to circumvent election finance law to get double donations.
The message is clear. There is a moribund leadership campaign in which Michael Ignatieff is the only candidate. There won't even be a vote at the convention, just an acclamation.
In effect, there is no campaign. But the legal fiction of a campaign allows people to donate to the leadership fund. Money will be parked there until the campaign is finished, and then the surplus will be moved to the party.
Greg Weston is playing mr.happy when it comes to the economy.
The road to recovery, the experts are saying, is anything but around the corner. Think at least three to five years away.
The iconic David Dodge, former Bank of Canada governor and a federal deputy minister of finance for years before that, told the ballroom full of corporate execs that the economy is toast this year, and going to get worse before it gets any better.
"The year 2009 is going to be a very dark page in economic history," Dodge told the pinstripe crowd that became decidedly downcast as the day progressed.
Dodge agrees with the need for major deficit spending to keep the economy moving in the wake of both business and consumer spending going to the bottom.
James Travers believes Harper will do anything as long as the Cons get to stay in power.
Harper's counter-argument – the one made most clearly behind closed doors at Preston Manning's think tank – is that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Gamely trying to square the circle between what he and his party believe and his government is doing, Harper said; "As Conservatives we pursue policies that reflect the underlying wisdom of our values while adapting them to the reality of our circumstances."
Darwin might nod, but not every Canadian shares the Prime Minister's confidence that his defining values of freedom, family and faith are enough to see the country through this crisis. Whatever the merits of his three F's, there's another case to be made for the three I's of innovation, investment and inspiration.
T. Ryan Gregory continues the neverending fight for science against superstition.
David Crane doesn't understand the concept of using our tax dollars to buy products from us. Efficiency is the only thing that matters. Let's send our money to China, they'll lend it back, really. [Note: Protectionism is tariffs or trade barriers, demanding the government buy the first line of goods from the same people they took money from is not protectionism.]
Lorrie Goldstein makes a good point about the Galloway fuss.
Would you not think that in all of the media hysteria over Canada's barring of British MP George Galloway, a relevant fact is that Galloway led a campaign to bar uber-right-wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen from the U.K. in 2004?
Galloway argued, without success, that for the British government to allow in Le Pen would be "siding with the neo-Nazi far-right against multicultural Britain."
He added: "Le Pen should not be allowed to set foot onto British soil at any time."
Feel free to suggest videos and pundits in the comments. The more sources I have the better.