The Black Rod

It was in the middle of the race to elect a new leader for the Liberal Party of Canada, and Yves Malo , the president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery could hardly restrain his joy. "We are very happy," Malo, a reporter with the French news network TVA, told the reporter for the Halifax Chronicle Herald. "I think that it's good news that the one who may be the next prime minister won't hold a list." In fact, he said, the press gallery had "received similar assurances from NDP leader Jack Layton, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe and interim Liberal leader Bill Graham." Maybe it was because he was speaking to a fellow member of the press gallery ( reporter Stephen Maher ) or maybe he just didn't think many people would read the story in Halifax, but Malo was quite open about making common cause with the Opposition. "Mr. Malo said the Conservative government's approach to media management flies in the face of Canadian political trad...

They say dogs can smell fear. In that case, the hounds must be baying around Gary Doer because he's obviously one scared puppy. Behind all the sturm und drang at the NDP convention this weekend, was an ugly, inescapable image--a Premier who has resorted to slur, smear and scare to lead his troops into an election. This is the image of someone who's scared stiff and whistling past the graveyard. It's said Doer is the most-liked politician in the province, but Saturday he came across as the epitome of what people hate about politicos. We saw someone who can't simply disagree with those who have different ideas, someone who can't debate honestly his differences with people, someone who refuses to accept that others may have a legitimate belief that there's a better way of doing things. Instead we saw someone whose first instinct is to demonize his opponents, to dehumanize them, to villify them. On Saturday Gary Doer attacked Conservatives with all the vehemence he ...

What can we say but "We told you so." What was looking like a relatively uneventful week in Afghanistan turned on a dime at week's end as the peace deal that was becoming the model for NATO collapsed faster than you can say "sham." An estimated 300 Taliban insurgents took over the village of Musa Qala (pop. 2000) Thursday, brushing aside the elders and local police who were supposed to be keeping combatants out. Back in October, the British withdrew their troops from Musa Qala, claiming they had a deal with the local villagers who would take over security duties once NATO and Taliban forces stopped fighting and withdrew from the region. Taliban fighters were banned from living within 5 kilometres of the town. NATO troops could monitor the area but could not enter the district. "The idea was that it would be the elders that would try to negotiate, if you like, with the Taliban and say, 'No, we're in charge here, we're in control, we will run the ...

Somebody play the theme from Deliverance. The Liberals got caught with their pants down and they're squealing like pigs. Weeeee. What kind of crazy world is this when the federal Conservatives launch attack ads, then admit they did it?Amateurs. It's not like the good old days when the Liberals could launch a smear against Stephen Harper without leaving any fingerprints, then watch it unfold as "news." Oh, what fun that was. It was mid-December, 2005, in the midst of the last federal election campaign, when a Canadian Press reporter travelling with Conservative leader Stephen Harper was approached by -- how did they describe him -- "an opponent of his social policies." It was the day before the first leaders debate on T.V. and just after the Liberal communications director had said parents getting monthly child care payments would just spend it on beer and popcorn. Psst, said the tipster. ( Okay, we made that up for dramatic effect - ed.) The "opponent ...

A NATO official has dropped a bombshell about Canadian policy in Afghanistan which may have deadly implications for the troops in the field. Mark Laity, the senior civilian NATO spokesman in Kabul, told the Greek news agency AKI that the Canadian forces administering Kandahar Province are following the example of British forces and signing controversial peace deals. Under the deals, known as the Helmand Protocol, the International Security Assistance Forces surrender control of provincial districts to councils consisting of local clerics and tribal elders. Nato troops and Taliban fighters are supposed to withdraw from the districts. The councils chose their own police chiefs and pledge loyalty to the central government. They are in charge of keeping Taliban insurgents out. Yeah, sure. The first such deal was signed last October in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, which the Brits administer. The British are expanding the idea to the Sangin and Nawzad districts of Helmand. A...

With the mainstream media in the country obsessing on the Pickton trial, the biggest story out of Afghanistan has gone unreported. The Taliban announced last Sunday that they have decided to open their own schools! The first classes start in March. The significance of this can't be overstated. It's a clear signal of defeat. This is bigger than the military thumping they got from NATO forces during Operation Medusa last September. Three weeks ago, The Black Rod noted that Mullah Omar, in his first interview in five years, talked about the Taliban's purported concern for the education of girls. And we red-flagged the significance of this surprising declaration. http://blackrod.blogspot.com/2007/01/war-in-afghanistan-2007-week-one.html "Girls schools were either too few or were nonexistent before we took over," he said. "We were preparing a strategy for girls' education in accordance with the Sharia." The mere fact he's claiming that the Taliba...

With the Sundance Film Festival ongoing and the Oscar nominations announced Tuesday, everyone is talking movies. Why should we be different? Early last week (on the coldest days of the winter so far, wouldn't you know it) the advance team from the independent thriller The Horsemen was expected in town to do the prep work before shooting starts at the end of the month. Director Jonas Akerlund has to brave the wind chill in Winnipeg for two and a half weeks before the stars arrive, Dennis Quaid and Ziyi Zhang. Well, you knew it was a dangerous job when you took it. The one saving feature is that the movie is sure at least to break even. Ziyi Zhang--- yes, she of Hidden Tiger Hidden Dragon, Flying Daggers, and Memoirs of a Geisha---is such a star in the East that she'll carry the flick by her lonesome over there. Zhang, it's said, plays Kristin, "a dangerous and manipulative young teenager" who forms a small gang with four boys to avenge the victims of injustice. D...

Just when you think the Winnipeg Free Press can't sink any further --- it sinks further. This week we learned that henceforth at the venerable daily newspaper, facts are optional. Columnist Gordon Sinclair wrote a blistering attack Thursday on Mayor Sam Katz (no surprise there) based on an Executive Policy Committee vote to close Elmwood Community Centre. "... the mayor and his chosen councillors voted to close Elmwood Community Centre ." Why? " The real reason appears to be that Elmwood...is an easy target ." If only Manitoba Public Insurance funded community centres it could reduce car theft, he bleats . " Places like Elmwood ." ... " Next week city council will vote on the closure of Elmwood Community Centre ." Except that city council isn't voting on the closure of Elmwood Community Centre. Mayor Sam Katz "and his chosen councillors" have never voted to close Elmwood Community Centre. And who knows if Elmwood Community Centr...

There was more exciting action, more intrigue and more twists in Afghanistan this week than in a full season of 24. It's still too early to start cheering, but there are indications of major developments that favour the NATO mission to stamp out the Taliban insurgency and bring peace to the beleagured country. A brief sampling of what happened during week three of the War in Afghanistan, 2007: * NATO troops are abuzz with the story of the most daring rescue mission of the war, one that will be celebrated in British military books for generations * Six Pakistani nuclear scientists were kidnapped and their captors said they were taking the men to a Taliban commander on Afghanistan's border * And the governor of an Afghan province next to Pakistan said a Taliban spokesman was captured in a house containing packets of anthrax. Have you read any of these stories in your local newspaper or seen them on any national television newscast? Early Monday morning in Helmand province a Briti...