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O Canada! Canada's Harper to Putin: 'I guess I'll shake your hand, but you need to get out of Ukraine' Quite the contrast from when Obama ran into him in China last week, Canada’s Stephen Harper apparently has no hesitation about letting it be known what he and his country think of Vladimir Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine: Harper spokesman Jason MacDonald told Canadian reporters Harper had been chatting with a handful of other leaders when Putin entered the room. Putin approached Harper and stuck out his hand to shake the Canadian prime minister’s, said MacDonald.

BRISBANE, Australia - Stephen Harper had a showdown with Vladimir Putin on Saturday, telling the Russian leader to "get out of Ukraine" in a dustup at the Group of 20 summit in Australia. Harper's spokesman, Jason MacDonald, said the prime minister was speaking to a group of G20 leaders at a private leaders' retreat on Saturday morning when Putin approached and extended his hand. MacDonald said Harper told Putin: "I guess I'll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine." According to MacDonald, Putin did not respond positively....

Richard "Dick" Schaal, a pioneer at the Second City comedy theater in Chicago, the former husband of the actress Valerie Harper and a familiar face from a plethora of character roles on movies and television, including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Rhoda," died Tuesday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, Calif., said his only daughter, the actress Wendy Schaal. He was 86..

Too bad part of Trudeau’s being “authentic” and “being yourself” includes his hanging out at Mosques. Any day now Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be blamed by the lib-left and their running dog media hacks for this week’s terrorist attacks in Ottawa and Quebec. That’s because the lib-left, who always throw politics rather than effective stopgap measures at Islamic terrorism—which they refuse even to name—will move quickly to blame the terrorist attacks on Canada’s participation in the current combat mission in Iraq. The lib-left will do this even though there is documented proof on the books that terrorists in droves...

Canadians can at least take pride in the assurance that their prime minister doesn’t hide behind other names conjured by politicians and terrorists alike for terrorism South of our border, the current occupier of the White House calls jaw-dropping citizen slaughter by members of the so-called Religion of Peace “Workplace violence”. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls the attack on Parliament Hill that took the life of War Memorial Honour Guard Cpl. Nathan Cirillo exactly what it is: TERRORISM. Terrorism is terrorism and no other name comes close to describing it. Those who call terrorism anything else, for reasons that...

Speaking for the first time since a gunman attacked parliament earlier today, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the week’s multiple assaults “a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world.” Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, a reservist serving in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was shot and killed while guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Minutes later, a gunman opened fire inside the halls of parliament before he was shot to death by House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vicker. The CBC reported that police confirmed a photo...

Stephen Harper expected to speak at 7:45pm

Ottawa shooting kills Canadian soldier at War Memorial A soldier was shot and killed at the National War Memorial Wednesday morning before a single suspect was shot dead at Parliament. The chaotic situation is ongoing as police seek multiple suspects in the attack. “One shooting victim succumbed to injuries. He was a member of the Canadian Forces. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his loved ones,” Ottawa police said in a statement. The soldier will not be identified until his family is notified, police added. The soldier is believed to be a reservist from Hamilton, Ontario. “One male...

The government has begun invalidating the passports of Canadians who have left to join extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander revealed in an interview on Friday. The minister told the National Post his department had also revoked the passports of several Canadians who had not yet left the country but who had intended to travel to the volatile region to enlist as foreign fighters. He would not disclose the number of passports...

OTTAWA - Stephen Harper has been one of the toughest-talking leaders throughout the Ukraine crisis, yet newly released figures show National Defence is expected to face an even deeper budget hole in the coming year than previously anticipated. The ongoing reductions come as the prime minister is expected to resist pressure from allies at this week's NATO summit to spend substantially more on the military. Annual spending on the military, when compared with 2011, is slated to shrink by a total of $2.7-billion in 2015, according to a briefing note prepared for the deputy defence minister. That would be almost...

After Russia orchestrated the absorption of Crimea into the Soviet Union – oops – into Russia, the Prime Minister told a German audience that Mr. Putin was a “throwback” to the USSR. “Unfortunate as it sounds,” Mr. Harper observed, “it’s increasingly apparent to me that the Cold War has never left Vladimir Putin’s mind.” Then the Prime Minister added, “we simply … cannot afford the risk of Europe going back to being a continent where people seize territory … where the bigger military powers are prepared to invade their neighbours or carve off pieces.” The economy was important, he went...

Thought it would be interesting to see what one of the actual leaders of the free world had to say about the shootdown of MH17 while the bozo in our White House was off eating burgers in Delaware and fundraising in NYC. Note, like a true leader, Harper actually makes a point in his statement: "“While we do not yet know who is responsible for this attack, we continue to condemn Russia’s military aggression and illegal occupation of Ukraine, which is at the root of the ongoing conflict in the region."

As the U.S. debates ways to replace or improve Obamacare, Canada may offer a blueprint for reform. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has moved to transfer control from the federal government to the provinces and is opening up the socialized system to private clinics and doctors. “What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options within the public system. ... that experimentation should occur at the provincial level,” Harper said a decade before winning a government majority in 2011. Now he's acting on his vision. This is relevant to the debate over health policy in America...

During a press conference with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an Israeli reporter asked visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, “Is Canada paying a price for being so supportive of Israel? Is it possible to support Israel and still have ties to the Arab world?” This question goes to the heart of what is generally perceived as Israel’s greatest weakness. The Arab boycott of Israel and of companies doing business with Israel has served as one of the most potent weapons in the anti-Israel arsenal for over a generation. Indeed, since the OPEC oil embargo in 1974, it has...

During a press conference with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an Israeli reporter asked visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, "Is Canada paying a price for being so supportive of Israel? Is it possible to support Israel and still have ties to the Arab world?" This question goes to the heart of what is generally perceived as Israel's greatest weakness. The Arab boycott of Israel and of companies doing business with Israel has served as one of the most potent weapons in the anti-Israel arsenal for over a generation. Indeed, since the OPEC oil embargo in 1974, it has...

Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is heaping praise on Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his "exemplary" support of Israel and scolding the media for not paying more attention. Palin, whose public comments on various issues often attract attention, wrote a message on her Facebook page that linked to an article on the website of Breaking Christian News about Harper's visit to Israel and his support for the country since he became prime minister in 2006. "Thank you to our good neighbours led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for their exemplary support of our friend Israel," she wrote....

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday that there will be no official Israeli presence in the future Palestinian state, reported the Ma’an news agency. "We want an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital that includes all the lands that were occupied in 1967 and that lives side by side with Israel in security and stability," Abbas said in a joint press conference with Harper in Ramallah. "Anything else said or interpreted on our behalf matters only to those who interpret it," he added, according to Ma’an, dismissing rumors that he...

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...

he full text of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s address to the Knesset, January 20, 2014 Monsieur le Premier Ministre, Monsieur le Président de la Knesset, Monsieur le Président de la Cour Suprême, Monsieur le Chef de l’Opposition, Mesdames et Messieurs les Ministres, Et les Députes, Distingués Invités, Mesdames et Messieurs, Shalom. And thank you for inviting me to visit this remarkable country, and especially for this opportunity to address the Knesset. It is truly a great honour. And if I may, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my wife Laureen and the entire Canadian delegation, let me begin by thanking...

When Stephen Harper touches down at Tel Aviv’s David Ben Gurion airport on Sunday, he will receive a hero’s welcome on the tarmac from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Harper’s four-day trip to Israel will see him acclaimed across the Jewish state. “Stephen Harper has been very important because the fact is, he takes a clear moral stand and it’s appreciated,” Mr. Netanyahu told CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme in an interview aired Thursday. It will be the first visit to Israel by a Canadian prime minister since Jean Chrétien stumbled into the Middle East quagmire by backing the late Yasser...