VIDEO: Stephen Harper & Joe Lonsdale on over-reaction to the "pandemic and economic crisis" and the illiberalism of "wokeness"

When I began this blog in 2009, The Prez was (supposedly) running the Excited States of America, and Stephen Harper was Prime Minister of Canuckistan. The former was and is an extreme liberal. The latter held himself out as a conservative, but only just. I disliked both of them intensely, and started WWW to let my feelings be known to anyone who cared to read.

In retrospect, I was too hard on Mr Harper, whose general nastiness led me to call him "Steve Harpoon". Compared with his successor -- Blackie McBlackface, PM of Canuckistan -- I recognize that Mr Harpoon was an exemplar of good judgment [What about the appointment of Mike Puffy to the Senate? Ed.] whose thoughts on the current "pandemic and economic crisis" (his phrase) deserve to be listened to by both Canadians and Americans.

In this 39-minute episode of Joe Lonsdale's American Optimist podcast, Mr Harper accuses the Canadian government of spending irresponsibly in its attempt to fend off the economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. "It's not a good reaction, it's been overkill. This is bad macroeconomic policy on an enormous scale." 

He touches on a wide range of topics, including Canada's response to the pandemic, the rise of "woke" culture and the dangers of an emboldened China on the world stage. Give a listen. 

 

If you skipped over the video link to keep reading, I urge you to go back and listen, especially to the part of the interview in which Mr Harper takes aim at the "woke university crowd" for its attempts to tear down American and Western values. "I'm just fascinated by this notion that is just everywhere now, the so-called woke notion that America is a fundamentally racist country. And yet what I see is all of these supposedly repressed races trying desperately to become Americans and to join the United States.  

"It's not that there aren't problems, historical and present, that are real, but the core of our countries are great, they have great futures and there is no alternative," said Mr Harper, explaining that the modern political left has become "entirely nihilist" and appears more interested in tearing down existing systems than in upholding and improving upon traditional democratic values. "There are elements in our own countries," he said, "which do not want us to succeed!"

Disclaimer: We should point out that Joe Lonsdale is the founder of 8VC, a venture capital firm of which Mr Harper has been a director since 2017.

VIDEO: Frank Vaughan: I was wrong about Max Bernier and the People's Party of Canada!

Just stumbled across a great video posted back in February by Frank Vaughan, a farmer (so he says) from somewhere in Canada. I'll have to check him out, see what else he's said, but in this video "Why I Was Wrong About Maxime Bernier And The PPC" he sounds as if he's got his head screwed on right... and I do mean RIGHT! Mr Vaughan talks about the People's Party of Canada, Mad Max Bernier and all the disinformation, lies and slurs that have been directed at him since he started making Canadian conservatives uncomfortable. Running time: 22:18.

Mysterious meeting between WH bigshots and former Canadian PM

Here's the lead of a story which appeared this afternoon on the CBC News website, headed: "Stephen Harper expected to meet Trump's top economic adviser in Washington amid trade tensions".

Former prime minister Stephen Harper is poised to meet with two top Trump administration officials in Washington against a backdrop of fractious talk over tariffs.... Harper is expected to travel to Washington on Monday, July 2, and has scheduled meetings with Larry Kudlow — the director of the National Economic Council and Trump's go-to economic adviser — and John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, according to multiple sources who spoke to CBC News on the condition of anonymity.

Walt's innocent question: Why do "two top Trump administration officials" suddenly want to talk with Mr Harpoon, who, since his defeat in October of 2015, has been merely a private citizen of Canuckistan? Could it be that the Americans have had enough of Just In Trudeau and his angry little woman sidekick Chrystia Freeland? Have they let it be known that if Canada wants to bug out of the upcoming trade war and salvage some kind of free trade deal with the US of A, they need to send someone to the table who can talk common sense, not gender ideology/global warming/"fair trade" nonsense?

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "Ehhhhh... could be!" Stay tuned.

Senator Duffy found not guilty, but is he "Honourable"?

It took over a year to do it, but a thick coat of whitewash has now been applied to the "Honourable" Michael Dennis Duffy, the Senator from Kanata [Prince Edward Island, according to the judge. Ed.], following his acquittal yesterday on 31 -- count `em, 31! -- charges of claiming expenses as a senator from Prince Edward Island on "travel status" in the national capital region, where he's actually lived for decades; claiming travel expenses as a parliamentarian while gallivanting around the country on personal or partisan business; funneling Senate money through private companies owned by a friend, and thereby avoiding Senate scrutiny in his dispersals; and accepting a bribe to repay his bad expenses once they came to light.

Mr. Justice Charles Vaillancourt astounded millions of Canadians yesterday by calling Senator Puffy an "honest man" whose conduct was "honest and reasonable". In a 308-page ruling which took the judge nearly six hours to read out, he gave the porcine solon as complete and thorough an exoneration as the Ol' Duff could have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Canucks sick of unelected party hacks gorging themselves at the Senate trough can be forgiven for wondering if the Duffy they came to know and despise was the same one Judge Vaillancourt saw in the courtroom, the one he described as a credible, hard-working senator (as former Prime Minister Steve Harper wrote on a photo introduced as an exhibit) who never padded expense claims, never ran away from questions about his residency, and sought the advice of Senate leaders and PM Harpoon himself, who all told him he was doing no wrong.

The judge's characterization of the obese sycophant was, in the words of Agent 17, enough to gag a maggot. The 31 charges were stripped of all credibility and dismissed in a complete (and sometime mocking) deconstruction of an incomplete and inept Crown case. The Senator broke no rules, Judge Vaillancourt said, because there were not rules to be broken. Some of his contracts were "unorthodox" and perhaps some of his travel could raise eyebrows, but the judge could not find Mr. Duffy was evading Senate oversight because there was no oversight in the first place.

If public money was spent foolishly or carelessly or on travel and other benefits of a personal nature, that was OK as long as Mr. Duffy included a bit of "Senate work" -- like fundraising for his party -- on his junkets. Besides, he never received any of the money personally. And, bottom line, Senator Duffy was (and still is) entitled to his entitlements.

Speaking on CBC-TV's "At Issue" panel last night, Chantal Hébert said that just because someone is not a criminal doesn't mean he is an ethical or honourable person. Just so. Having been convicted of exactly nothing, Mr. Duffy is entitled to take his extra-wide seat in the Senate once again, and be called -- or call himself -- "Honourable". But that doesn't mean anyone has to believe he is any of those nice things the judge called him. The honourable thing for him to do would be to retire to his "principal residence" in PEI. But will Mr. Duffy, who has the nerve of a canal horse, give up his place at the trough? Hah!

Note from Ed.: Full credit and a tip of the hat for the cartoon to Malcolm Mayes, whose fine work can be found in the Edmonton Journal.

Canucks heave Steve, elect the Hair Apparent

It was a dark and stormy night. [This is not the Bulwer-Lytton contest. Start again. Ed.] Seriously, then, I'm using toothpicks to keep my eyes open after a loooong night following the Canadian federal election results on the idiot's lantern. It was a night to remember. [No movie titles, please. Ed.]

No analysis this morning, just the numbers and a couple of comments. Fear and loathing of Stephen Harper, impelled Canadians to show him the exit/sortie. That this would happen was apparent for weeks. The question was who would replace him, with some wondering if the opposition NDP and Liberals would split the anti-Harper vote, allowing the Dear Leader to rise from the coffin he built for himself.

Turns out Canucks are smarter than that.There was an organized push for strategic voting. ABH (Anybody But Harper) voters were asked to mark their ballots for the candidate with the best chance of beating the Tories in their riding, and most decided that would be the Liberal. That caused the NDP vote to collapse, even in long-time strongholds like central Toronto.

The NDP lost big in Québec, where the aberrant "orange crush" of 2011 turned into an "orange crash". Québécois are great bandwagon jumpers too, and, once they saw which was the wind was blowing, turned around to get it at their backs. It must be said too that the niqab issue hurt the NDP in la Belle Province, which, interestingly, seems more committed to Canadian values than TROC.

In the end, Mr. Harpoon's Conservatives didn't do that badly, hanging on to 99 seats in the 338-seat House of Commons. It was the NDP collapse -- they finished with 44 seats compared with over 100 before -- that propelled Justin Trudeau's Liberals into government, with a comfortable majority -- 184 seats.

There is much rejoicing in the urban liberal parts of Canada. In his acceptance speech this morning (Montréal time), Trudeau II spoke of "sunny ways", inclusive politics, celebrating diversity (especially if it wears a Sikh or Muslim head covering), yada yada yada. He channelled Obama 2008, with lots of talk about hope and change, concluding with "For Canadians, better is always possible."

Well... yeah... Canucks are glad to see the back of a prime minister even more despised than Brian Baloney. In the euphoria of the moment, nobody's talking much about what happens next. Expectations of M Trudeau are high, very high, and it will be interesting to see to what extent he can rise to meet them.

Further reading:
"Justin Trudeau's turn to face the weight of expectations" - Neil Macdonald (no relation to Sir John Eh), CBC News
"Stephen Harper's legacy: Good, bad and a dose of ugly" - the estimable Terry Milewski, also on the CBC News site.

"Harperman" VIDEO lands Canuck public servant in deep doodoo

Two of Walt's agents -- Two [Long time, no hear! Ed.] and Six -- have (independently) alerted us to the cautionary tale of how a scientist with Environment Canada has been put on administrative leave (with pay, fortunately for him) for the sin of creating a politically charged protest song calling for the ousting of Canada's Dear Leader, Steve Harpoon. Definitely a CLM -- Career-Limiting Move.

Tony Turner, a physical scientist at Environment Canada and longtime singer-songwriter in Ottawa's folk music scene, wrote the controversial tune "Harperman". He was sent home a couple of weeks ago, his union says, over concerns that his song "breached Environment Canada's value and ethics code".

The song touches on the trial (for bribery, fraud and being an asshole) of Senator Mike Puffy trial, as well as Harper's too-public feud Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. It includes lyrics like "Who muzzles the poor scientist?" and "Won't buy into climate change until it's sold on the stock exchange." The chorus ends with the blunt line, "Harperman, it's time for you to go!" EVERYBODY SING ALONG!!!



Footnote: In case you didn't see it, here's the welcome message posted on YouTube along with the video. We appreciate all the attention we are receiving since the story broke in the national media on August 21. Comments are welcome but please keep it as positive as possible. The Harperman song and video are about optimism, about joyful protest, about looking forward to the coming federal election and the chance to send Harperman on his way.

VIDEO: The anti-Harper ad Canucks aren't being allowed to see

According to "The Nation's Report Card" -- the results of standardized tests given to US students -- 33% of Grade 8 students believe that Canada is a dictatorship.. Some may think that shows how poorly educated American kids are, but to Walt, it shows something positive -- that they have learned the truth about Canada's Dear Leader, Prime Minister Steve "Stephen" Harper.

Mr. Harpoon, often accused of being a control freak, has done many things to prove his many detractors right. Among them is the effective muzzling of the Canadian Broadcorping Castration [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, surely! Ed.], aka the CBC. Although funded by Canuck taxpayers and nominally controlled by the government, the Corpse was able for about seven decades to maintain a reasonable semblance of journalistic independence and integrity. Then, along came Steve.

The Dear Leader hates the CBC, and its news and public affairs producers in particular, for daring to call attention to the list of scandals, oversights, muzzlings, and mysterious cash losses that are fast becoming the hallmarks of his tenure as prime minister. He is plainly intent on killing it by steadily reducing the subsidies it receives -- a death of 1000 spending cuts.

In protest, a non-profit group called Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (headed by an old classmate of Agent 3!) has produced a TV ad that pokes fun at Mr. Harpoon's "hostile agenda" for the CBC. So far the ad hasn't been seen by denizens of the Great Not-so-white North because the CBC has refused to air it. So have all the major Canadian TV networks and station owners -- Bell, Corus, Québécor, Rogers, and Shaw. Why? Certainly not because they're all subject to regulation by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which is controlled by... wait for it... the government of Steve Harper.

So, as a service to our Canadian readers (and because WWW is beyond the reach of the CRTC!), we present "The Man Behind The Desk" -- the ad Harper doesn't want you to see. Many thanks to Agent 34 for sending us the URL.

Obama names queers to represent him at Olympics; what will Canada do?

There won't be any Obamas or Bidens at the Sochi Olympics, two months hence. Nosiree! In yet another instance of pandering to the powerful LGBT lobby, the Prez has declared that he finds Russia's laws against promoting homosexuality "offensive". And, in a gesture of being offended, he has decided to poke the bear by sending, in his stead, some gay athletes and athletic supporters.

Billie Jean King -- role model for Ontario's Premier Kathleen Wynne -- has been asked to head the US delegation. She says she is "deeply honoured". Lesbian hockey player Caitlin Cahow is the other openly gay representative to the delegation. She'll attend the closing ceremony. And Janet Napolitano gets to go too.

What, Walt asks, will Canada do? Steve "Stephen" Harper is well known for kissing Obama's ass and telling him it smells like chocolate ice cream. And Canada's foreign minister, John "John" Baird threw a monstrous hissy fit when the Russian laws were announced, accusing the Russkis of homophobia, hate crime, yada yada yada.

Agent 3 suggests that since the US is sending two queers, it would be only fitting for Canada to send Baird and his confirmed bachelor buddy, Jason Kenney. But my sub, Poor Len Canayen, says it won't happen because to do so would be tantamount to admitting that Baird and Kenney are as gay as 18 balloons. As of this morning, they are still not just in the cabinet, but in the closet.

Canada to lecture ROTW on religious freedom (especially for the non-religious)

In a bout of holier-than-thou hypocrisy rare even for him, Canadian Prime Minister "Call me Steve" Harper yesterday announced the establishment of Canada's brand new, ultra-PC Office of Religious Freedom.

With a staff of five and a budget of C$5,000,000 -- that would be about a million per head -- the ORF is about "building awareness about the issue of religious freedom abroad," according to its head, Dr. Andrew Bennett. And not just abroad! "It's [also] about interacting with the various communities here in Canada who are in the diaspora from these areas where religious freedom is not respected."

And who might they be? Well, errr, Muslims for example. And Tibetan Buddhists. And Sikhs. And did we mention Muslims? Immigrants (legal and illegal), refugees and asylum-seekers -- all potential voters. (If you think illegal immigrants don't get to vote in Canada, Walt has some land in Nunavut he'd like to talk to you about.)

Nothing was said about protecting the freedom of Canadian Christians to preach and practise their religion, free from government interference (as in the so-called Catholic schools) and attacks by secular humanists (in the lamestream media, particularly the CBC).

But noooo, says Mr. Harpoon. "This is not an office to promote any particular religion. It is an office to promote religious diversity and religious tolerance around the world." Ah yes. Diversity and tolerance.

And pluralism. Don't forget "pluralism", another PC buzzword of the day. "People who choose not to believe, that's a valid religious and democratic perspective that we all must also accept and promote," said the PM. "We're not trying to oppose, we're trying to respect people's own religions, their own faith choices, or non-faith choices, and not impose those choices on others. Just as it is important that religion be respected in a pluralistic and democratic society by those who don't share religion, it is likewise expected in a very religious society that those who don't share faith will be respected." (Walt's italics.)

So you see, it's just another part of the Canadian Conservatives' initiative to Draw All Faiths Together (DAFT). Yes...ORF is DAFT. No doubt about it. But will Canadians tell Harper to bugger ORF? Not likely. (Lifetime pct .990)

Big Brother wants to look into your computer... really!

Warning to Canadians! Any Canuck who uses the Internet to download, upload, share, look at, or even search for anything which is incorrect -- legally, morally, politically, or otherwise -- should be very, very afraid. The Conservative government of "Call me Steve" Harpoon has reintroduced the "Investigative Powers for the 21st Century" bill.

If enacted -- and given the Tory majority in Canada's Parliament this is almost a certainty -- the ultimate "snoop and spy" law will require Internet service providers to install surveillance technology on their networks. They, and such portals and search engines as Google and Yahoo!, will be obliged to tell the police and other "authorities" what you're viewing and what you're doing. All the storm troopers have to do is ask. No warrant will be required.

A firestorm erupted in the House of Commons on Tuesday, as opposition MPs charged the Tories are bent on turning Canada the Great White North into a "surveillance society", along the lines foreseen by George Orwell in 1984. Walt says Orwell was only out by a generation or so, and you could get an argument that he didn't miss by even that much.

Time doesn't permit further comment today, but I have to share with you the editorial cartoon by Brian Gable in today's Globe and Mail.

Warning to non-Canucks: Don't think for even a minute that your government -- American, British, whatever -- doesn't want to control your computer and your mind. An Internet lobotomy is being planned for you even as you read this.

Leaders to settle fate of Arctic in hockey shoot-out

The Toronto Star's Rick Westhead reports today that the leaders of the two biggest countries in the world are making plans to play on teams that will oppose each other in two exhibition games to be played in September.

The two leaders referred to are Russia's Vlad "the Impaler" Poutine and Canada's Steve "Harpoon" Harper. (Sorry, the USA is only the world's third-biggest country.) The games are being played as part of a month-long event to mark the 40th anniversary of the eight-game Canada-U.S.S.R. Summit Series of 1972. Canada lost three of the first five games of that series, but went on to win.

To make things interesting, Canada and Russia are putting up a pretty impressive prize -- nothing less than control of the Arctic Ocean! Or so Walt's source reports. Winner gets to drill for oil, take home all the ice, then water-ski at will. So we're talking "high-sticks diplomacy" here! (I wish I'd written that, but it's Westhead's line.)

Who will win the gold ... and silver, and bronze, and ice? And who will be left eating the yellow snow? The Star's photo tells you all you need to know.

Someone needs to tell Mr. Harpoon that hockey is played on ice. On skates. You don't wear your Sunday-go-to-meeting pants. And Steve... both hands on your stick, eh! Walt's prediction? No contest. Lifetime pct .981.

Harper's Canada

For Walt's Canadian readers, Agent 26 passes on a summary of "Call me Steve" Harper's vision for Canada...in words and lots of pix.

Is it really that bad? In a word... YES!

Iraqi army trainees kill US trainers -- FAIL!

With all the controversy over Afghanistan, many have forgotten that the USA still has troops in Iraq. Just as the Canadians are going to do in Afghanistan, the Americans are teaching the Iraqis how to be soldiers.

In a scene straight out of The Man Who Would Be King (starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine -- one of Walt's All-time Top Ten) two American soldiers were killed and a third injured when two Iraqi soldiers opened fire on... errr... US troops, during training in the northern city of Mosul today.

"According to available information, two American soldiers were killed today during a shooting at a training session inside al-Ghazlani military camp. Two Iraqi soldiers suddenly opened fire at the American soldiers," said an Iraqi colonel who, for some reason, declined to be named.

A senior police official confirmed, "Until now, we don't have any information on why the two Iraqi soldiers opened fire." Presumably more information will be forthcoming after an exercise in waterboarding. The Iraqi soldiers have been arrested, although by whom remains unclear.

In Ottawa, a spokesthingy for Canadian Prime Minister "Call Me Steve" Harpoon said, "Nothing like that will happen to the Canadian trainers in Afghanistan. First of all... errr... it's Iraq, not Afghanistan which everyone knows is more peaceful. And they shot Americans. They only shoot Americans, not Canadians. They know the difference, eh."

Abortion on decree -- the reality

We don't hear much about Zero Population Growth these days. That's because Malthus' gloomy predictions of mass starvation due to overpopulation were wrong. And birth rates have fallen dramatically in the "civilized" first world because of the widespread availability of cheap and reliable birth control. People in Europe and North America are choosing not to have as many children.

But what about the rest of the world? Besides promoting "planned parenthood", some countries have taken more drastic measures to reduce the number of births. India has used forced sterilization. And China persists in its notorious and widely reviled "one child policy". Forced sterilization is part of that. So is forced abortion -- "retroactive birth control" by order of the godless communist state.

What follows is a dialogue* between Tim Ward, an American traveller and writer, and a Shanghai medical student whose name is only given as "Zhou".

"At least the one-child-per-family policy is one thing that really works," [I said].

"You say so?" Zhou shot me a hard glance. "You know the main method of Chinese birth control?... Abortion is the number-one method in China. As a student-doctor, I am required to perform ten abortions every day. We have no choice."

He looked down at his stubby fingers. "The first time I was frightened. When they brought in the woman, I jumped back."

"Jumped back? Why?"

"Because of the screaming. They had to drag her in, kicking and twisting, and tie her down. Now it's not so bad. You get used to it, when you do it ten times every day."

"My God, Zhou -- you mean some women are foced to have abortions? That's inhuman!"

"Some? About ninety-five percent! They are treated like animals. It is our policy. Many women hide their pregnancies. But eventually they are discovered. They have broken the law, not reporting it, and so they are treated like criminals.

"But it's worse for unmarried women. These women are especially afraid of being caught because they have already broken the law by having sex. For them, the government has a special torture. We are forbidden to waste anesthetic on them. 'Teach them a lesson,' the state orders us. 'Then next time they will learn to push the man away.' Tell me, do you think this is an admirable policy?"

"Do many women come back?" I asked numbly. My stomach had gone cold.

"Yes, I see many unmarried women back a second or third time, screaming and howling.... This is what it is to be a doctor in China."

Some readers may recall a rather large fuss being made about seven months ago, at a "women's health summit" held in Washington, by the progressive and correct-thinking Hellery Clinton. She was upset with Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, for suggesting cutting funding for aid groups that include abortion in their "services" to women.

Here's the reality. If a government or a state-sponsored organization or an NGO (like Planned Parenthood) is made aware that the amount of money it will get from well-meaning donors (including western governments) depends on reducing the number of births, they would be more than stupid to not "encourage" women to have their tubes tied or undergo abortions. For the good of society, of course. Just like China.

* Quoted in "Buddha's Sex Change?" by Tim Ward, in Travelers' Tales China, San Francisco, 2004, p. 267.

Harper lied, Canadians staying in Afghanistan

Let me try to be dispassionate about this. 152 Canadians have died needlessly in Afghanistan. (I said "dispassionate", not "unopinionated".) Now Prime Minister Harper proposes, off his own bat, to keep about 1000 Canadian soldiers in that wretched cesspit of a country for another three years past the promised withdrawal date of July 2011.

First the timeline. Following 9/11, the Americans -- more accurately, the Bushmen -- decided to take revenge on Al Qaeda by attacking them in their homeland, which they thought was Afghanistan. Once again the profound American ignorance of geography and geopolitics came into play, as it turned out there were no Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, only the Taliban.

No Afghani ever attacked the USA. The perps of the 9/11 horror came from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. But no matter. Afghanistan was in the neighbourhood so...send in the Marines! Unfortunately, even though the UN refused to support the American mission, NATO went along with it, so NATO member countries were asked to participate in the "coalition of the willing".

About this time, the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien felt maybe Canada kind of owed the US one, having bailed out on the invasion of Iraq, so M. Crouton said OK, we'll send some of our guys for a couple of years, maybe until 2003 or 2005.

Well, 2003 came and went. So did 2005. The sound of wheels spinning and a mission going nowhere was loud in the land. So the mission got extended to 2007, then to 2009. By 2008 the mission was not just going nowhere, it was going in reverse.

By this time "Call me Steve" Harper was in charge, but, having only a minority government, didn't want to have to carry the can for a dubious decision to prolong the ill-advised and ill-fated war any further. So he did what Canadian governments always do, and appointed a commission.

Setting up a commission or an enquiry is a lot like hiring a consultant: you usually get the answer you want. Sure enough, the advice of John "The Man from Glad" Manley -- who conveniently had been a member of the Chrétien government -- was to give it another two years, max.

Harper brought the unManley report before the House of Commons, saying that Parliament must decide. In reality this was a clever ploy to make the Liberals take the blame. Not only had they committed Canada to the mission in the first place, but were going through a vicious internecine fight of their own, so they were hardly in a position to vote "no" and throw the country into yet another election.

Besides, Harper assured everyone, this is the ABF, the Absolutely Bloody Final extension. All the troops would come home in 2011, for sure, except maybe for a handful required to guard the Canadian embassy in Kabul. Really. Scout's Honour.

And so it came to pass...another two years in hell.

Now, with no exit strategy or plans in sight, nor any end to the war, Mr. Harpoon has had a sudden epiphany. It was wrong to promise to withdraw in 2011! We might be needed -- one wonders by whom -- for a little while longer.

On Remembrance Day, the day when we honour our fallen soldiers, Harper announced that, yes, Canada would leave some troops in Afghanistan after all. Say 1000 or so and this time for not two, but three years. On Remembrance Day! The cynicism and hypocrisy boggles the mind! 152 have died so for their sake some more will have to die.

But noooooo... Harper says Canadians will be there only in a training role, not a combat role. They will help the Afghan National Army and the corrupt and discredited Afghan National Police to develop their capacity to bring peace and order to their ravaged country. It will be "strictly inside the wire", in the peaceful and safe confines of Kabul, where explosions are less frequent than in Kandahar. Yeah, right.

Walt is old enough to remember Vietnam. For those who don't, let it be recalled that the Americans first went to Vietnam as advisors, to help the ARVN develop its capacity to defeat the dreaded Vietminh and bring peace and order etc. etc.

Tens of thousands of lives later, the Americans discovered that you can't very well train people to wage war without going into battle with them. What would make a training role in Afghanistan any different?

The fact is that if you are wearing a uniform -- any uniform -- you're fair game for the Taliban. Trainers or combat troops, it makes no difference. They all have targets painted on their backs.

Hell, the Taliban don't even see our soldiers. They just plant IEDs on the roads in the dead of night, then hide behind the nearest hill and wait for the big bang. Any "foren" venturing outside the camp is fair game, trainer or not.

This would be a great point to raise in a debate in Parliament, if there were going to be a debate in Parliament. But there won't be any such debate. Harper calmly announced, with a straight face, that since our troops will be teachers, not fighters, the decision to leave them there is an executive decision, which he, acting alone -- for it appears all this took his Defence Minister by surprise -- is entitled to make. Just like the president of the USA.

So much for the Canadian constitutional monarchy. So much for the supremacy of parliament. And so much for the lives of scores or possibly hundreds of Canadian men and women who will die in the dust on the other side of the world...for nothing.

Book review: Why Valerie Chu won't win the next Canadian election

What's wrong with Canada? Especially in comparison with the U.S.A.? How come America got Barack Obama and Canada is stuck with Stephen Harper? These are questions that John Ibbitson attempts quite successfully to answer in his new (and commendably short) book, Open and Shut.

As the title suggests, Ibbitson argues that the U.S.A. is an open society, whereas Canadian society is closed. He argues, and Walt agrees, that a Barack Obama could never be nominated as leader of a major Canadian party let alone elected. Why? Because both the Conservative and Liberal parties are dominated by small, closed groups of old, white guys.

Ibbotson illustrates by constructing a fictional character, Valerie Chu, who he says would make an ideal prime minister, but who decides not to put herself forward because she couldn't possibly win. She might, though, have a shot after one or two more minority governments, if one or other of the parties opens up its processes and, more important, its thinking.

I particularly like Mr. Ibbotson's analysis of why "the quality of leadership [in Canada] is so laclustre that fewer and fewer Canadians are even bothering to vote". One of three reasons he gives is that Canadian political parties are broken, because "with each new government, fewer people have more power".

Canada went from Jean Chrétien's friendly dictatorship (Jeffrey Simpson's phrase) to Steve's not-so-friendly dictatorship. Ah yes, Stephen Harper, the "overweight economist who couldn't offer an honest smile to save his life" who managed to beat Stephane Dion, "a backpacking political scientist whose English made your ears bleed".

Ibbotson is similarly scathing about almost all the tin gods of Canadian politics with the possible exception of Michael Ignatieff, possibly because he doesn't know Iggy very well yet.

Open and Shut should be read immediately by any and every Canadian concerned with saving his or her country from its politicians. It's published by McClelland & Stewart (2009) and has a cover price of C$18.99 or US$14.95. If you can't find it in your library, go to Bellingham or Buffalo to buy it!