Weekend Notes

In the print edition this week there are two pages under this byline on the enigmatic Peter Van Loan, thus marking the 376th time I’ve referred to the government House leader in print in my short time with this magazine. This time though there’s further commentary from Ralph Goodale, Michael Ignatieff, historian Ned Franks (who confesses he can’t watch QP anymore) and Senator David Smith.

In response to this week’s open challenge, a reader raises an interesting point about the in-and-out controversy: if all the component parts are legal on their own, how can the scheme in its entirely be illegal? 

After the Globe reported this week that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were reaching out to members of the Taliban, Defence Minister Peter MacKay moved quickly to clarify for the nation that we were not, in actual fact, speaking with the evildoers. 

When Parliament was last in session (after a week off, it returns on Monday), Ken Dryden made a valiant, if clumsy, attempt at invoking Richard Nixon and Watergate to Stephen Harper and the Chuck Cadman affair. Dryden tends to overplay his hand. To use another sports analogy, he’s comparable to a strike-out prone slugger in baseball (Rob Deer, perhaps). When he connects, it’s mesmerizing to behold. But a lot of times he’s going to swing hard and miss wildly, embarrassing himself in the process.

Spent last Saturday traipsing around north Toronto in a snowstorm with the Martha Hall Findlay campaign. That resulted in both a week’s worth of fever and chills and this story. Judge for yourself whether the latter was worth the suffering.The apartment canvassing was mildly instructional. Granted, the sample size was very small and taken from a Liberal-friendly riding, but consider that only a couple voters made a point of complaining about Stephane Dion. Another explicitly lamented the leadership of Stephen Harper. And not a single mention was made of the Liberal voting record in the House.So good news Ottawa insiders: no one’s paying attention. They’re far more concerned with the increase in cigarette butts found on their neighbourhood sidewalks. Adjust your policy and political projections as you see fit.