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As the kids display symptoms of post-Halloween MSIH (Massive Sugar Intake High) on this first night of November, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get a head start on this years Christmas list.

Memo found in dumpster behind the Toronto offices of Davey Apps and Brock, Liberal brain trust: Foolproof plan for returning Natural Governing Party to rightful place in Ottawa: 1. Blame Conservatives for causing worldwide meltdown. (Ignore overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Canadians don't pay close attention to complex issues like this) 2. Support budget but put government on probation, demanding quarterly report cards on which continued Liberal support will be contingent. (The financial situation is sure to continue deteriorating, ensuring decline on Conservative support and giving us the opportunity to highlight the failure of their efforts on a regular basis....

OTTAWA -- The recession in Canada is only over in a technical sense because the recovery is extremely fragile and there are still problems in the job market, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday. "We've got (Federal Reserve) Chairman (Ben) Bernanke and others saying the recession is over but I think that's only in a technical sense," Mr. Harper told a televised news conference in Guelph, Ont. "As long as we continue to have challenges in the labor market that affect Canadian families on the ground, then I don't think we can truly say the recession is over. So...

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a new program to help fight crime in the Americas as he arrived in Mexico on Sunday for a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Through the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program, Canada will invest as much as $15-million a year in projects across the Americas that combat the illicit drug trade, corruption, human-trafficking and other regional problems. Roughly half a million dollars of the program's annual total will go to Mexico to assist in its drug war. Drug-related violence has spiked in the country as rival cartels...

With President Obama expected tomorrow for the North American Leaders' Summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, a coalition of American legislators and activists took a message to the Mexican media, denouncing economic partnerships that would undermine national sovereignty and blasting Obama's failure to keep his promises on transparency and the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Howard Phillips, chairman of The Conservative Caucus and head of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, spoke to Mexican print, television and radio media about the summit, which was known in previous years as the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership, or...

A New Brunswick newspaper that ran a front-page apology Tuesday for a story that claimed Prime Minister Stephen Harper had pocketed a communion wafer has also announced that its publisher and editor-in-chief are no longer with the paper. Saint John Telegraph-Journal publisher Jamie Irving and editor Shawna Richer were no longer at their posts, effective immediately, said Annie Smith, a spokeswoman for the New Brunswick News Inc., the company that owns the daily paper. "She is no longer editor, and (he) is no longer the publisher," she said. "I don't have any information other than that." Ms. Smith would not...

Here's my Op-Ed from today's Toronto Star: At its convention this Sunday, the Canadian Jewish Congress will honour Prime Minister Stephen Harper with its Saul Hayes Award. It's unusual for the CJC, many of whose members have long favoured the Liberals, to give an award to a Conservative Prime Minister. But in Harper's case, it's well-deserved. No world leader has been as clear as Harper has been in his support for Israel's right to defend itself. Just weeks after becoming Prime Minister, Harper single-handedly stopped a surprise resolution at the Francophonie summit that would have scapegoated Israel for its war...

PM travels to Afghanistan Announces additional support to help 18,000 children in Kandahar 7 May 2009 KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN Prime Minister Stephen Harper today travelled to Afghanistan, where he visited with Canadian Forces and civilian personnel stationed in Kandahar. “From the very first day of the Afghan mission the men and women of the Canadian Forces and civilian officials, have served courageously and selflessly to help the people of Afghanistan build a better future,” said the Prime Minister. “Over the course of this mission our men and women in Afghanistan have made incredible sacrifices to defend our values and our interests....

The federal industry minister insists his government will not use taxpayer money allowing Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. to continue building cars in Canada unless the Canadian Auto Workers makes significant pay concessions the union has already rejected. Tony Clement delivered the ultimatum Thursday, telling a news conference in Toronto that Canada's largest private sector union has to agree to slash worker compensation deeply because without it the automakers' Canadian arms would not have the cost base to be viable in the long-term. It doesn't make sense to pump public money to fund companies without a future, he said....

The following is a rush transcript of the March 29, 2009, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace." This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: This week, world leaders gather in London for the G20 summit, discussing how best to fight the global financial crisis. Joining us now is one of those leaders, the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. And, Prime Minister, welcome to "FOX News Sunday ...

A crowd of roughly 200 noisy protesters gathered outside the Telus Convention Centre in downtown Calgary Tuesday to demonstrate against a noon speech by former U.S. president George W. Bush. Blowing whistles and chanting "war criminal," demonstrators carried signs and shouted "shame on you" at people attending the luncheon event at a cost of $400 each. One man was taken into police custody shortly before noon, apparently when he tried to enter the convention centre without a ticket. Security personnel are checking each guest individually at the event. Any public appearance by Bush, reviled in some circles for launching the...

Buying into the belief that we need to spend our way out, the Conservatives presented a spending-spree work of art that would make any socialist giggle with glee. Fiscal conservatives, meanwhile, are wondering where their party went. Gone is any semblance of restraint, lost is the concept of fiscal responsibility. We now find ourselves in that darkest of places – into deficit with a growing debt. Fiscal conservatives are feeling abandoned.

On the surface, one wonders how our two leaders could possibly build a rapport. Canada’s Stephen Harper portrays a straight-forward thinker, high on substance but sorely lacking in style. His stiff demeanor is in great contrast to Obama’s stylish and suave image. The first meeting will qualify as good fly-on-the-wall material, for sure.

They seem to go by faster and faster, don’t they? It’s the Christmas season and with it comes the final chapter on yet another spin around the calendar. As you take a break from the shopping maul…er, mall, grab a nog take five. Here are the 2008 Year end rant bouquets:

On Oct. 14 Stephen Harper won re-election as Canada's prime minister. In most modern liberal democracies that would be interpreted as a voter preference for Mr. Harper's leadership to continue. But soon after election day, Canada's hard-left New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois Party began plotting to overthrow the PM in Parliament. And last week, with the help of the Liberal Party, they tried to schedule a vote of no-confidence to carry out their plan. A demonstrator in Vancouver, Dec. 6. Mr. Harper fought back by appealing to the governor general for permission to suspend Parliament until Jan....

Canadian politicians got an early start on the Christmas break when Governor General Michaelle Jean Thursday agreed to a request from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament. Harper emerged from a two-and-a-half hour meeting with the Governor General, telling reporters that the House of Commons will not resume sitting until Jan. 26. The House had been scheduled to sit until Dec. 12. The first item on the parliamentary agenda in January will be a new budget setting out the stimulus that the Canadian economy needs in the face of the continuing global financial crisis, Harper said. He urged members...

The Economic recession has hit one and all, salary cuts and pink slips have taken their toll on the common man. Presidents, Prime Ministers are no exception. Most of the heads have cut down on their salaries or are planning to do so in the near future. Lets take a look at what the heads of top nations are earning. Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore (Country GDP: $235.6 billion - 2008) Politicians in Singapore are amongst the most highly paid government officials in the world. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore earns five times more than the American President. Lee...

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday called for a North America-wide plan to curb CO2 emissions linked to warming, while jumbling his new cabinet's economic and environmental duties. "We want to work with the Americans on regulatory systems relating to greenhouse gas emissions in order that we can work toward the same goals," said Harper. "We want to work with the next US administration and we hope that there will be a continental approach in the future," he told reporters.

Conservatism may be a busted flush south of the border (as the experts assure us), but up north Stephen Harper has survived as Prime Minister and modestly improved his position by some 20 or so seats. He was on course for a Tory majority government until the global financial Armageddon hijacked the news cycle halfway through the campaign. Still, he's an incrementalist and he'll be reasonably satisfied not just with the Conservative gains but also with the vote-splitting among the opposition. After all, one unstated goal of his campaign was to weaken Canadians' assumption that the Liberals are the country's...

CBC projects Conservative government Last Updated: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | 10:10 PM ET CBC News Canadians have re-elected Stephen Harper's Conservatives, but it is still unclear whether the party will gain enough seats across the country to form a majority government, CBC News projects. The Tories' fortunes were buoyed early in the evening by surprising gains in Atlantic Canada, especially in New Brunswick, despite the party being shut out in Newfoundland and Labrador. Meanwhile in Ontario, early returns suggested vote-splitting was cutting into Liberal support in the party's traditional heartland. For Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and NDP Leader Jack...

By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadians voted on Tuesday in an election likely to give a renewed mandate to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the first Western leader to face the electorate since the financial market meltdown. Since the financial crisis erupted, the focus of the 37-day campaign has narrowed to who would be the best manager in increasingly troubled economic times. Polls showed enough voters sticking with Harper, although his support came off the highs it reached a few weeks ago. The election was expected to produce Canada's third minority government in four years. The last poll of...

<p> Canada Votes 2008 Welcome to the vote to decide the 40th Parliament of Canada We do not have exit polls in Canada. Official results are expected at 10 p.m., EST. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Latest Polls: cp: Con 35% Libs 26% Ndp 18% Bloc 10% Grn 9% cpac: Con 34% Libs 27% Ndp 21% Bloc 10% Grn 8% Ctv/g&m: Con 33% Libs 28% NDP 18% Grn 11% Bloc 10% Ang/Reid: Con 38% Libs 28% NDP 19% Bloc 9%, Grn 6%

Noses out of joint because the Prime Minister says most people don’t really care about the arts? He was just being nice. Let me put it more directly: get a job and stop sucking off the collective teat.

OTTAWA, October 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper went on a verbal rampage against the right to life of unborn children last week, promising not only that a Conservative government would not open the abortion issue, but that it would prevent anyone else from raising it. Asked by a reporter if Harper could give assurances to pro-abortion groups, who are accusing the Conservatives of engineering a stealth pro-life campaign, Harper said that he could. "The answer is yes. This government will not open, will not permit anyone to open the abortion debate. Our position is clear," he...

TORONTO, October 2, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's disturbing statements to the media that he will undemocratically not permit anyone to reopen the debate on abortion are a stark betrayal of conservative principles and should prompt his electoral defeat in Calgary Southwest in the coming federal election, says the editor of Canada's national Catholic magazine of news, analysis and opinion. In addition, Father Alphonse de Valk, editor of Catholic Insight magazine, is calling for the removal of Harper as Conservative party leader. "For Mr. Harper to state that he would not personally support a law limiting abortion is...

…….If I was running for office and the likes of Pam Anderson, Matt Damon, and George Clooney publicly supported me, it would be all the evidence I would need to be convinced I didn’t belong there and would drop out……

OTTAWA, September 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In his strongest statements in support of unlimited abortion on demand in Canada, Prime Minister Harper today told reporters that his government would not only not open the abortion issue itself, but would prevent anyone else from raising it. Asked by a reporter if Harper could give assurances to pro-abortion groups who are accusing the Conservatives of engineering a stealth pro-life campaign, Harper said he could give such groups assurances. "The answer is yes. This government will not open, will not permit anyone to open the abortion debate. Our position is clear," he said,...

After holding the Prime Minister spot in the longest-running minority government in Canadian history, the Conservative leader is displaying evidence of an understanding of the political system. Put bluntly, Harper has learned how to play the game.

Talk about a rare situation for the average political observer. First, the American campaign takes us through the Obama/Clinton soap opera and pro-Bama media propaganda machine, and then continues its exciting storyline with the addition of Sarah Palin to balance the scales of popularity and make it a very close race. Now, Canadians get to enjoy a twofer.

But deep down we are forced to admit that there is a terrorist threat to our nation, and it is inevitable that we fight them, be they al-Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, including home-grown cells. As anti-American as we as a culture identify ourselves as being, we cannot refute the reality of 9/11 and the truth that it was as much an attack on Canada as it was on the United States. Harper’s Conservatives are the only party that understands that, and many will use this as reason to give the Tories their vote.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued the following statement on the occasion of the XXIX Olympic Games taking place from August 8 to 24 in Beijing: "I am joined by all Canadians in wishing our athletes and their coaches the very best during their upcoming competitions. You are an enormous source of pride and inspiration for all Canadians and we salute your perseverance and dedication in your quest for excellence. Canadians recognize and admire the years of effort involved in preparing for Olympic Games. From the playground to the podium, the values we learn from sport – teamwork, discipline,...

The travelling summer fair was already here when the political circus rolled into this town that time forgot, just west of Quebec City. But there were 1,500 people waiting at the local arena for Stephen Harper, a show of strength arranged Wednesday evening by Jacques Gourde, the sitting Conservative MP for the riding of Lotbinière-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, 30 km west of South Shore Levis, where the party’s national caucus met over the last two days. The former Bloc Québécois member, Odina Desrochers, whom Gourd defeated in 2006, was among the friendly faces in the rural crowd. The road to a Conservative majority...

James Corey Glass, apprentice mortician and United States Army deserter, was keeping an unusually close eye on the text messages coming into his cellphone. He was hoping to hear that a court had blocked the Canadian government’s attempt to send him back to the United States. On Wednesday afternoon, the message came: Mr. Glass, 25, could remain in Canada while he appealed his removal order by the country’s Immigration Department. It was a welcome reprieve, he said, but well short of a guarantee that he and other deserters could make Canada their new home. The Canadian government’s effort to remove...

OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper says global efforts to fight climate change are likely to go more smoothly once U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office early next year. Referring to the U.S., he said, "I think, if you don't see a change this year, you're certainly going to see a change on that front next year."

Canada says sorry to aborigines From correspondents in Ottawa June 12, 2008 06:24amArticle from: Agence France-PresseFont size: + - CANADA'S prime minister today officially apologised to natives for more than a century of abuses at residential schools set up to assimilate indigenous peoples. --snip-- "On behalf of the government of Canada and all Canadians, I stand before you in this chamber so central to our life as a country to apologise to aboriginal peoples for Canada's role in the Indian Residential Schools system," he said. Sorry ...Native Canadians received an apology from PM Stephen Harper for more than a century...

OTTAWA -The looming choice for Ottawa's Liberals remains lousy: laughingstock Opposition or campaign roadkill. But as a policy cornerstone for the party lurches toward election-triggering votes, starting with an amendment to kill the Conservatives' contentious immigration law, the consequences confronting leader Stephane Dion are getting uglier. Worse than their Throne Speech rollover and more squirm-worthy than the party's passage of the budget, the immigration poison pill was designed to hand the Liberals their most difficult test as an Official Opposition in absentia. For six Question Periods in a row, Liberal MPs have demonized legislation designed to clear up six-year immigration...

In a million years, we never thought we'd be saying this, but here it is: Hooray for Thomas Walkom, the voice of reason at The Toronto Star. Mr. Walkom is one of Canada's most left-wing columnists. In the past, he's whimsically compared George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler, and defended violent anti-poverty protestors. But in his Sunday column Mr. Walkom said something his Star colleagues (particularly the newspaper's editorialists and front-page headline writers) need to hear: "Stephen Harper is not Satan ... He is not George W. Bush ... He is not a religious fanatic. He does not hate cities."...

Canadians often grumble about the outsized influence of Quebec in national politics. The province doesn’t even make up a quarter of the country’s population anymore, and yet it seems able to determine the limits of what governments in Ottawa can do on everything, from taxes and spending, to Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, and even Canada’s position on global warming. Americans frequently are told that Canada cannot be more helpful on a particular issue, “…because of Quebec." The Conservative minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper made several direct appeals to Quebec voters in its Throne Speech that officially opened a...

Ottawa, ON – With the political battlefield of Parliament returning and with weapons drawn it would appear the largest number of Canadians (63%) believe that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has the ‘right stuff’ of leadership qualities and skills compared to all other federal party leaders. This compares with NDP Leader Jack Layton at 57% and BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe at 63% in his province of Québec (15% nationally), and Opposition and Liberal leader Stephan Dion with the lowest ratings of all of the Federal leaders at 36%. Canadians were asked to rate the leadership qualities and skills of each of...

Honourable senators, Members of the House of Commons, Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to address the first words in this chamber to the members of the Canadian Forces, some of whom are present here today. Their commitment and courage in the name of justice, equality and freedom -- whose benefits are not accorded to all peoples in the world -- are worthy of our utmost respect. The speech from the throne is an important moment in our country's democratic life. Through the speech from the throne, the government shares its vision with Canadians. And it is thus that we...

If Fred Thompson is lazy, he sure didn't act it preparing for his first debate. Over two weeks, the former Tennessee senator and his aides held more than half a dozen question-and-answer sessions. Bush's first economic adviser, Larry Lindsey, was involved, as were Vice President Cheney's daughter Liz Cheney and GOP veteran Mary Matalin. There were also two full-blown rehearsals in which Liz Cheney's husband played John McCain, Rep. Adam Putnam stood in for Mitt Romney, and former New York Sen. Al D'Amato played Rudy Giuliani. To add verisimilitude to his character, D'Amato pretended to take a phone call in...

It's now leaking out that there was more going on than met the eye at the Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit in Montebello, Canada, in August. The three amigos - President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon - finalized and released the "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza." The "Plan" - that's what they call it, with a capital P - is to use the excuse of a major flu epidemic to shift powers from U.S. legislatures to unelected, unaccountable "North American" bureaucrats. This idea was launched on Sept. 14, 2005,...

...It was after Stephen Harper was sworn in as Prime Minister that the media began trying to turn Afghanistan into another Iraq. With the prediction of increased casualties coming true, the media demanded to be allowed to film the repatriation of fallen soldiers, an event more likely to produce images provoking grief and hopelessness than the patriotic ramp ceremonies they filmed when the coffin was sent home. They criticized the government for not lowering the flag on Parliament Hill even though that was not part of flag protocol or historical practice; they attempted to turn the handing of prisoners over...

MONTEBELLO, Quebec – President Bush today sidestepped a direct question about whether he'd be willing to categorically deny there is a plan to create the North American Union. Instead, he ridiculed those who believe that is taking place as conspiracy theorists. The exchange came at a news conference held by Bush, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who met at a resort in the rural woods outside of Ottawa, Quebec, to discuss their latest work on the Security and Prosperity Partnership. After the trio presented their prepared statement about the SPP, several reporters who had been...

OTTAWA — It's a threat that has left-wing Canadian nationalists and right-wing U.S. congressmen in rare and dismayed agreement: a freeway, four football fields wide, stretching from Mexico to northern Manitoba. Groups on both sides of the political spectrum say the corridor - dubbed the NAFTA superhighway - is a primary goal of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America established two years ago by the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico. At separate press conferences in Ottawa yesterday, the road was held out as an example of the potentially repugnant effects of the trilateral partnership....

Lawmakers in Canada appear to be paving the way for "deep integration" with the U.S. and Mexico with a proposed measure that advances the controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America promoted by the Bush administration, notes WND columnist Jerome Corsi. It's an issue Corsi has fully investigated for his newest book, "The Late Great USA." The conservative minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is pressing for "The Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement", which would enable a Canadian company to challenge laws in provinces that block the North American Free Trade Agreement. Murray Dobbin, a Vancouver author...

Iran's leader a target at Ottawa Holocaust event CTV.ca News Staff Apr. 15 2007 Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday said the world must stand up to terrorists and fanatics who advocate the destruction of Israel, as he honoured those who lost their lives during the Holocaust. Speaking at a ceremony on Parliament Hill on Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Day, Harper spoke of how the hatred that gave rise to the "awful, incontrovertible truth" of the Holocaust lives on today. He said the world must resist the mistake of viewing the Holocaust as a strictly historical event, because: "There are still...

Militaristic zeal appears to be sweeping the Stephen Harper Minority government. This militarism is just part of an apparent adopted agenda of 'Americanization' by this government. By the way, thanks so much Mr. Harper, for introducing Canadians to American-style reviews of Supreme Court Judge nominees. You and your associates in CanWest Global, and elsewhere in Canada's 'corporatized' mass-media, appear to be trying to "prepare" us for their apparently desired U.S. take-over of Canada. While Harper stipulates that this initiative was about "accountability", he reportedly shirks the kind of ethics review on which he had campaigned. The spectre of Americanization against...

Harper warns China against economic threats Prime Minister says he won't apologize for standing up for the rights of Canadians abroad, including Huseyin Celil By Jeff Sallot Globe and Mail February 9, 2007 HALIFAX — Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned China today not to threaten Canada on economic issues in the hope of getting his government to back off on human rights criticisms, including the case of Huseyin Celil. Speaking with reporters in Halifax, Mr. Harper suggested China has more to lose if the economic relationship between the two countries becomes fractured."I would point out to any Chinese official that...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper once called the Kyoto accord a "socialist scheme" designed to suck money out of rich countries, according to a letter leaked Tuesday by the Liberals. The letter, posted on the federal Liberal party website, was apparently written by Harper in 2002, when he was leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance party. He was writing to party supporters, asking for money as he prepared to fight then-prime minister Jean Chrétien on the proposed Kyoto accord. "We're gearing up now for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership," Harper's letter says....