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originally appeared in The Ottawa Citizen Sunday, January 29, 2006 Ottawa Spring David Warren It is not yet spring, only an exceptionally mild winter (the Europeans seem to be paying for our sins), so when I use the expression “Ottawa Spring”, I do not refer to a meteorological phenomenon. Instead, my phrase is meant in analogy to the “Prague Spring” -- the tentative revolution after Alexander Dubcek came to power in then-Czechoslovakia, back in 1968. We may hope our little Canadian political event of this past week may blossom directly into the full “Velvet Revolution”; that the Big Red Machine...

Toronto Sun Sat, January 28, 2006 The great divide ... By MICHAEL COREN Now that the spin has evaporated, we can perhaps state the truth about what happened this week. Canada found itself stuck in political mud. Ignore the nonsense about "wanting" minority governments and Canadians being a middle-of-the-road people. Individuals don't vote for grand schemes but simply for whom they want to win. The fact that an election results in a minority government is pure chance. In fact, this nation is arguably more divided now than at any time in its history. East and west, urban and rural, secular...

Harper's approach different in every way Toronto red Star Jan. 27, 2006 CHANTAL HÉBERT Canada may be about to get its second minority government in as many years but if Stephen Harper has his way, the similarities between his regime and that of Paul Martin will apparently stop there, and not just because their policies are different. If there was one element missing from the prime minister-designate's first news conference yesterday, it was an air of deja vu. Instead, everything from format to pace spoke of a desire to approach the business of steering a minority government differently. Start...

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has accused the oil industry of financially backing the Tories and their "ultra-conservative leader" to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands. Canadians, Gore said, should vigilantly keep watch over prime minister-designate Stephen Harper because he has a pro-oil agenda and wants to pull out of the Kyoto accord -- an international agreement to combat climate change. "The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta," Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. "And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money...

Conservatives deal setback to Bloc By Gilbert Le Gras Reuters via Yahoo! Tue Jan 24, 12:37 PM ET A Conservative resurgence in Quebec pushed support for the separatist Bloc Quebecois below the key 50 percent mark in Monday's federal election, cutting the odds of a new vote on breaking up Canada. The Conservatives, unable to elect a single candidate in Quebec in 2004, won 10 of the province's 75 seats in Parliament and had some 25 percent of the vote in the province. The Bloc, which once boasted it could steal 50 percent of the Quebec vote, won 51...

Friday, January 20th, 2006 Michael Moore Statement on Canadian Election Michael Moore is currently in production on his next movie. As an avid lover of all things Canadian, he has issued the following statement regarding Canada's upcoming election on Monday: Oh, Canada -- you're not really going to elect a Conservative majority on Monday, are you? That's a joke, right? I know you have a great sense of humor, and certainly a well-developed sense of irony, but this is no longer funny. Maybe it's a new form of Canadian irony -- reverse irony! OK, now I get it. First, you...

Canadian political leaders on Sunday made one last cross-country dash on the eve of an election expected to oust the ruling Liberals, move Canada to the right and improve ties with the United States. With polls showing a steady lead of 7 to 12 percentage points, the Conservatives sounded increasingly confident, though it looked like they would fall short of a majority in Parliament and have to depend on other parties. "After 13 years and four failed mandates, the era of Liberal arrogance is ending," local candidate Michael Smith told a Winnipeg rally as he introduced Conservative leader Stephen Harper,...

January 22, 2006 Toronto Sun Harper targets key ridings Hops on press bus to soothe media By KATHLEEN HARRIS GUELPH -- Tomorrow's election will see a Liberal wipeout in rural Canada and a big Conservative breakthrough in urban centres, a confident Stephen Harper predicted yesterday as he made a final push to rally the masses. Beginning his day in downtown Toronto, Harper strutted across southwestern Ontario in a bold bid to snatch long-time Liberal seats. Sweeping through the vote-rich region, Harper appealed to Canadians to ditch the corrupt Grits and embrace a new government and fresh promise. Any riding across...

Tory lead firm: poll Harper's party ahead by 12 points, NDP poised to boost seats Norma Greenaway CanWest News Service Saturday, January 21, 2006 OTTAWA - The Conservative party is poised to form a minority government, while the NDP is likely to significantly increase its representation in the House of Commons, according to a new national survey. The Ipsos Reid survey, conducted for the National Post, CanWest News Service and Global National, also says the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois are in a tight race to become the Official Opposition. Darrell Bricker, president of the polling firm, says the...

U.S. conservatives told to stay mum on election ctv.ca Updated Fri. Jan. 20 2006 7:24 PM ET Canadian Press WASHINGTON — There's an e-mail making the rounds of U.S. conservative groups, warning them not to talk to Canadian journalists before Monday's election for fear of scaring off voters and hurting Stephen Harper's chances. And while right-wing commentator Paul Weyrich says he didn't actually write it, he agrees with the sentiments. The message, obtained by the New York Observer, says Weyrich received a call from a prominent Tory, Calgary lawyer Gerald Chipeur, who asked him to avoid interviews with Liberal-friendly...

In a last-minute blow to high-profile Liberal candidate Michael Ignatieff, the president of the party’s riding association in Etobicoke-Lakeshore swung his support today to Conservative rival John Capobianco in Monday’s federal election. The controversial process by which Ignatieff was acclaimed the candidate over local hopefuls ruled ineligible by the party was a major factor in the decision, said Ron Chyczij, who had hoped to contest the nomination himself. "I can no longer in good conscience support the Liberal candidate in this riding," he said in a statement released this afternoon. "After the nomination fiasco, I’ve purposely waited on the sidelines...

On Jan. 23 voters in Canada will go to the polls to choose a prime minister, after liberal leader Paul Martin was ousted from that position by a vote of no confidence in parliament last November. The architect of that maneuver is also the frontrunner to win Monday's election: Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper. A recent New York Times article describes Harper as an American-style conservative whose beliefs range from opposition to gay marriage and the Kyoto global warming treaty, to support for the U.S.-led Iraq war. Harper is reportedly keeping those more controversial views under wraps, instead running his...

Lead Editorial: The choice for Canada (II) The Montreal Gazette Friday, January 20, 2006 The Liberals, we said yesterday, must go. Each new opinion poll suggests Canadians agree. By all the portents Canada is in line after Monday's election for a Conservative government led by Stephen Harper. This is a healthy prospect for Canada, and particularly for Quebec. The change in Conservative fortunes, these last two years, has been dramatic. Harper is now widely seen as a charisma-challenged policy wonk with a bias toward lower taxes and respect for provincial jurisdiction. This is not exactly Harper-mania, but it's an...

cnews.canoe.ca January 19, 2006 False allegations from Liberal office mar Sask. televised candidates' forum SASKATOON (CP) - An already tense race in the riding of Saskatoon-Wanuskewin has taken a downright nasty turn. Liberal candidate Chris Axworthy has apologized to Conservative incumbent Maurice Vellacott after someone used a phone in Axworthy's campaign office to falsely accuse Vellacott of sexual assault on a live televised candidates' forum earlier this week. Axworthy concedes the call came from his office but believes someone not connected to his campaign sneaked in and made the call. But Vellacott insists that it was an Liberal supporter because...

Tory support recedes slightly Martin O'Hanlon Global National with files from Canadian Press Tuesday, January 17, 2006 OTTAWA (CP) - The polls they are a-changin' but not enough to make a dispirited Liberal sing. Three new public-opinion surveys suggest the recent Conservative wave of momentum may have crested or even receded a bit just days ahead of Monday's election. A Decima Research poll, conducted Jan. 12-15 for The Canadian Press, put the Conservatives at 37 per cent support compared with 27 per cent for the Liberals. The NDP stood at 18 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois at 11....

Voters of British Columbia, a contentious lot, have thrown out of office a prime minister of Canada as well as three provincial premiers in the past 30 years. The minor course changes for Congress dictated by American voters pale before the electoral tsunamis that occasionally sweep across the "Great White North." Here, a governing party can find itself reduced overnight to a tiny minority in Parliament. Beset by scandals and infected with what an investigating judge called a "culture of entitlement," the long- ruling Liberal Party is tumbling in the polls as Canada prepares for a national election Jan. 23....

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper faced questions over past remarks he made to an American conservative movement, comments the Liberals claim prove his allegiance to a radical right-wing agenda. The comment is quoted in one of a series of controversial ads the Liberals released earlier this week. One quotes a speech Harper made eight years ago to a conservative American think-tank. "America, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world," the ad quotes Harper as saying. Liberal Leader Paul Martin said Harper for years has "been courting and wooing...

Is he a changed man? The packaging of the Conservative leader is certainly different this time and some positions appear to have softened. But, in essence, he's the same old Stephen Harper Has Stephen Harper really changed? Toronto (red) Star Jan. 7, 2006. 09:53 AM by THOMAS WALKOM The Conservatives don't like to put it that way. They would prefer to say that Liberal attempts to demonize their leader are no longer working and that, finally, Canadians are beginning to see the real Harper. Nonetheless, the overarching theme of the increasingly successful Conservative election campaign is one of reassurance....

Edmonton Sun Wed, December 7, 2005 EDITORIAL: Anne on the attack There's a part of the Liberal mantra that goes, when in doubt invoke the spectre of the National Rifle Association - or some other American institution that's poised to impose its unsavoury doctrines on caring and sharing Canadians. And if they can be linked to Stephen Harper and his federal Conservatives, then all the better. That was clearly the intent of an attack by Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan this week, claiming that NRA operatives were helping Conservative candidates. McLellan used the anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique murders as...

Harper gets it right By SHEILA COPPS Sun Media via Toronto Sun December 7, 2005 OTTAWA -- As a one-time single mom who always worked outside the home, I have had personal experience with the trials and tribulations of Canada's patchwork child care system. Unlike most parents, I was wealthy enough to pay the full cost of care for my daughter, Danelle. As a government employee, I was also one of the lucky minority of parents whose children have access to workplace daycare. Almost every parent who works outside the home still struggles with the challenge of child care....