Summit of the Americas

She likely did not appreciate the response, but Elizabeth May did get the Prime Minister on his feet with this question at the very end of QP yesterday.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister recently said in Colombia that it was a matter of principle that Cuba should be excluded from the Summit of the Americas. As Communist China keeps buying up Canada, I am wondering where the principle is. While Cuba has a long way to go, it recently held an open mass where the Pope invited Cuban Catholics to worship. There is no such freedom of religion in China’s persecution of Tibetan monks, Falun Gong and Christians, which goes unimpeded.

With some Latin American leaders looking at an end to the War on Drugs, Stephen Harper departs the latest Summit of the Americas with an acknowledgement that some kind of change might be in order.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper surprised reporters at the Summit of the Americas in Colombia Sunday when he admitted that the drug war may be flawed. From the CBC’s Terry Milewski:

Central American leaders are looking to legalization, to America’s chagrin

A growing divide between north and south on the drug war is promising to be a major, and majorly contentious, issue as the Summit of the Americas kicks off Friday in Colombia. South and Central American leaders, their countries ravaged by drug violence, have been increasingly vocal about the need for new strategies in the decades old battle. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to reject outright any calls to legalize or otherwise liberalize drug trafficking and use.