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Prime Minister Stephen Harper got it right in his speech to the Israeli Knesset on Monday. In his first trip to the region, Harper described Israel and Canada as "the greatest of friends." This is not simply because there are almost 350,000 Jewish Canadians. It's not just, as Harper noted, because of our longstanding free trade agreement. It's because of "shared values." As the prime minister said, "Israel is the only country in the Middle East, which has long anchored itself in the ideals of freedom, democracy and the rule of law." They are quite simply the only country like...

Canadian Prime Minister Harper's speech to the Israeli Knesset

JERUSALEM — In a historic speech here, Prime Minister Stephen Harper rolled out a new definition of anti-Semitism — name-calling that will be controversial at home and on the global diplomatic circuit but which will make him into a mega-star in Israel. Two Arab-Israeli members of the 120-seat Knesset thought Harper's speech was objectionable enough even before he got around to this controversial re-definition. They walked out on his speech, loudly hollering at the Canadian prime minister about injustices to their communities. Harper's speech was historic because it was the first ever by a Canadian prime minister to the Knesset....

A particularly nasty debate broke out Monday evening between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Arab MK Ahmed Tibi – as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was visiting the Knesset, looked on. Tibi screamed at Netanyahu, who spoke in praise of Israeli democracy, and later walked out when Harper himself did the same when he spoke to MKs. Speaking in Harper's presence, Netanyahu said he hoped the Arab world, including Syria, “would be able to have real parliaments, like that in Israel. In our parliament, anyone can say anything they want,” Netanyahu said. In Israel, MKs are free to scream...

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper hasn’t even started packing for his first visit to the Middle East, but the trip already has its first controversy. A Canadian Muslim group wants Harper’s officials to boot a Toronto rabbi out of the official delegation that will travel with the prime minister. In a letter sent to Harper on Tuesday, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said it objected to the presence of Toronto Rabbi Daniel Korobkin as part of Harper’s official delegation. Korobkin declined to comment, but Jason MacDonald, the prime minister’s director of communications, slammed the NCCM — formerly known...

Stephen Harper will announce plans to visit Israel for the first time at a high profile dinner in his honour in Toronto being hosted by the Jewish National Fund Sunday, sources said. Mr. Harper is considered by many to be Israel’s staunchest ally but he has never visited the Holy Land.

The Langevin Block, the building across from Parliament Hill that houses the Prime Minister’s Office, was evacuated Wednesday morning amid reports of a suspicious person and package in the area. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not in the building. Police also closed Wellington Street, the street in front of the Parliament Buildings, for two blocks, and taped off roads in the area. RCMP officers were questioning a man who was put into a police cruiser. A joint RCMP-Ottawa police team that deals with potentially hazardous materials was called to the scene. The Conservative government’s throne speech was to be delivered...

A man was in custody Wednesday after scuffling with security and leaving a suspicious package in the building that houses the Prime Minister’s office, Canadian police said. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not in the Langevin Building at the time, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Lucy Shorey said. Ottawa Police Const. Chuck Benoit said there was commotion and a package was left after the suspect said he would do something. …

OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told U.S. President Barack Obama that he's ready to work on joint plan between the two countries to reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector in an effort to secure approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday. The CBC, citing unnamed sources, said Mr. Harper wrote to Mr. Obama in late August, signaling he is ready to accept carbon-reduction targets proposed by the U.S. and prepared to work with the White House to address concerns raised about Keystone and its impact on greenhouse-gas emissions. A spokesman for Mr....

...when the Conservatives won a majority in 2011, Canada’s left entered full panic mode. There was no minority anymore. There was nothing to stop Stephen Harper from fulfilling his destiny of turning Canada into America’s 51st state (a refrain heard from progressives about conservatives decades before Harper).

LONDON, Ont. — Plans for the new Detroit-Windsor bridge cleared another hurdle Friday when it got a much-anticipated presidential permit. “A lot of people are very excited. We’ve been in this region waiting for some time for this announcement,” said Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis. “We all knew the presidential permit wasn’t a question of if, it was a question of when.” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder made the announcement in Detroit with politicians on both sides of the border in attendance. But trouble could be brewing as Ambassador Bridge owner and billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun filed a civil lawsuit this year...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper Will Never Let Canada Become A Safe Haven For Zombies Says John Baird The NDP’s Pat Martin raised the question Tuesday about how the government was prepared for an attack from zombies and he actually got an answer. “I rise today to salute the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the province of Quebec for putting in place emergency measures to deal with the possibility of an invasion of zombies,” Martin said. “I do not need to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that zombies do not recognize borders and that a zombie invasion in the United...

When thinking of Canada, I strongly doubt that the first thing to pop into most people's heads would be "bastion of political conservatism". Yet in this liberal country, prime minister Stephen Harper has carved out an impressive reputation as one of the world's most successful centre-right leaders. Through two minority Tory governments (2006 and 2008), and since May 2011 at the head of a majority government, Harper has balanced strong leadership with a confident domestic and foreign policy agenda. Canada may be a middle power, but our prime minister will accept nothing less than a seat at the top table.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to pick up the slack left by an absent American president who has abandoned freedom across the world. Nothing makes Obama look so small as a real leader. "[W]hen Israel, the only country in the world whose very existence is under attack, is consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand," Harper said last year. The Canadian prime minister further affirmed that "as long as I am prime minister… Canada will take not that stand, whatever the cost." "Canadian PM Personally Intervened to Stop PA...

"A Conservative Party staffer made a horrifying discovery late Tuesday morning, partially opening a package that contained what police say appeared to be a human foot. The overwhelming stench from the package sent a staffer running to call police. "Upon arrival, officers noted that the package possibly had blood stains on it," police said in a statement." --- Update: A seoond package addressed the federal Conservative party H.Q. was intercepted at Canada Post. It has been confirmed that the second package contained a human hand. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2012/05/20120529-154734.html

American mainstream media astroturfing notwithstanding, Monday’s one-day summit meeting in Washington with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon is the classic: “A picture is worth a Thousand Words” lesson. The American media presented the meeting as a run-of-the-mill get together of the three North American amigos.... Look at the expression on Barack Obama’s face from pictures taken during the event. The malevolent expression on Obama’s face as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was speaking tells a different story. The picture is right up there with Michelle’s countenance while looking at France’s Carla Bruni. President Barry Soetoro...

When Canadians finally granted Stephen Harper and his Conservatives the majority election victory they had long sought following two consecutive minority Tory governments, it was more than just the fulfillment of an arduous journey for the nation’s right-wing. History could show that it was a vital and fortuitous turn of events. Canada experienced years of Jean Chretien/Paul Martin Liberal rule, due in large part to the lack of coherent opposition. Conservatives were busy rebuilding, reforming into a single entity. That, combined with an effective program of personal attacks by the Liberals on both the party leader and the conservative party...

While on his way to Washington Benjamin Netanyahu stopped in Ottawa to confer with his patriot in arms, Stephen Harper. Following their morning meetings, of which we know little, the two held a very brief 'press conference' that simply highlighted the double standards under which the two operate, especially Netanyahu. Harper began with a brief statement in French and English. The French comments included advice directed towards Assad in Syria, that he should "cesse tue leur proper citoyens" - he should stop killing his own citizens. He ended his French statements hoping for a solution for Israel that would be...

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted he is not preparing the Canadian public for war with Iran but, in his starkest warning yet, he said he fears the regime in Tehran is prepared to use nuclear weapons, if it manages to produce them. In an interview with the National Post and Postmedia News, Mr. Harper said Iran’s quest to develop weapons of mass destruction is “a grave threat to peace and security.” “For the first time in history, we are facing a regime that not only wants to attain nuclear weapons but a regime that has, compared to virtually...

If Canada’s “green” media — especially in the Parliamentary Press Gallery — demanded the same standards of accountability of themselves as they do of politicians, they would be killing entire forests right now apologizing to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Why? Because in sidestepping the economically suicidal stampede onto the green energy bandwagon which they relentlessly shilled for, Harper was right and they — along with the Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens — were wrong. Today, so-called “green” energy is in retreat all over the developed world, as taxpayers and consumers in countries that blindly raced into it are in open...