Free Republic

Stéphane Dion, who came from fourth-place standing to win the leadership of Canada's Liberal Party early this month, declared immediate war on the minority Conservative government last week, and made it clear he is determined to force a late-winter election. Implicitly, he made something else clear. He will attack the government on two principal issues, both of them integral to Canadian-American relations. One is the Kyoto Treaty, the other the Canadian role in Afghanistan. If he wins the election, therefore, America's northern neighbor will once again become vaguely hostile territory, as it was under the last Liberal government. On Kyoto,...

Montreal — Eradicating child poverty and controlling guns are high priorities for Liberal party activists. Lowering the age of consent for anal sex between teens and legalizing marijuana may be good ideas, but not high priorities, delegates indicated Wednesday at the opening of the Liberal convention. Liberals did not swerve too far from the centre of the road in a sparsely attended social policy workshop debate. Youth delegates grumbled that they could not get out the vote for the marijuana resolution because many young Liberal activists are still taking school exams and can't get here until the weekend's main event,...

TORONTO – U.S. President George W. Bush ought to be addressing a joint session of the Canadian Senate and House of Commons during his first official state visit next week. In much the same way that the Iraq war has served to pull every terrorist in the world into the region, a prominent appearance by Bush in the nation’s capital would draw the loony lefties of the world into a single place, where they can prominently display their special brand of class, tact and diplomacy. It would be great for liberals, and far better for conservatives. Bush needs to make...

Media has Reagan myopia ANTONIA ZERBISIAS On Monday, only one "Canadian" network provided extended live coverage of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan's casket being moved into the Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. That network, deprived of its usual afternoon delivery of U.S. soaps, was, of course, CanWest's Global. On the same day, only one of the papers which thump on my doorstep completely ignored Sunday's moving D-Day 60th anniversary commemoration on its front page. While both the Globe and Mail and the Star published a poignant photo of a Canadian vet wiping away a tear on the beach where...