Asked and answered: Trudeau's Iraq questions and Harper's answers

PMIraq

On Wednesday, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party distributed a list of what it called the “Prime Minister’s Unanswered Questions On Iraq.”  Let’s look at those questions and see if any were answered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper today in the House of Commons. (Short answer:  Answers were provided for most) Continue reading Asked and answered: Trudeau's Iraq questions and Harper's answers

Grilling a Presidential Candidate (Who Also Happens to be My Son)

My son, Henry, an 11-year-old in Grade 6, wants to be Student Council President. So, as my job is to cover elections large and small, I wanted to grill the candidate about his intentions. And Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall had some sage political advice for my son. It involved candy.

UPDATE: The election was held last Friday Oct 17 — and Henry came out on top to win the job of student council president!

The motion to commit Canadian Forces to combat against Islamic State

Here is the motion tabled in the House of Commons today that will be debated on and voted on Monday:

The Minister of Foreign Affairs

That this House

(i) recognise that the leadership of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has called on its members to target

Continue reading The motion to commit Canadian Forces to combat against Islamic State

A prime minister sends Canadians overseas to fight terrorists

Chretien
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, seen here during an interview in 2011, began Canada’s decade-long war in Afghanistan with nary a word to Parliament. (Blair Gable/REUTERS)

A Canadian prime minister determines that the activities of terrorists operating in a Muslim nation far from Canada’s shores is such a threat to Canada’s security, that he dispatches Canadian Forces on a combat mission. There is no debate or discussion in Parliament let alone a vote. There seems not to have even been a full cabinet discussion before the prime minister makes his decision. Simply a request from an American president.

That was all it took for Jean Chrétien to to begin what would become Canada’s decade-long war against terrorism in Afghanistan. Here’s some of what he said on Oct. 8, 2001 about that mission: Continue reading A prime minister sends Canadians overseas to fight terrorists