Caught in the Web
A look around the net…
-I’ve updated my blogroll. One of the new blogs in the Alberta Politics section is Daveberta who has a great letter to Paul Jackson. Unfortunately, it’s well thought out and logical so it’ll pass right over Jackson’s head.
-Scott Tribe, who I’ve always felt is the best blogger in Canada without a blog, has moved from the comments section to the E-Group.
While I usually agree with Scott, I think he’s a bit off-base in his criticism of John Manley’s Task Force report on North American defense.
A lot of people get upset whenever anyone suggests closer relations with the Americans but, to be honest, there are times we need to work with them. I think free trade has been very beneficial to Canada and anything we can do to strengthen and improve the FTA is a step in the right direction. As for defense, I was against missile defense, mainly because it will never work in a million years. But border and port security is a very real concern and it makes sense to work with the United States and Mexico to keep North America safe. Doing so would hopefully make border crossings from Canada to the US a lot smoother.
Scott is right that this report will re-enforce the notion that Manley is more right-wing than a lot of Liberals. But I tend to take issue with that. Manley was the first of the three leadership candidates to speak out in favour of gay marriage (even before Sheila) and has always been left on social issues. His one budget as finance minister was perceived as a very left-leaning budget with lots of spending. Admittedly, he favours closer ties to the Americans, but at least he’s doing so from well thought out arguments, rather than being anti-American solely for the need to win votes in Quebec. As is so often the case, Manley gets in trouble for speaking the truth, albeit the unpopular truth.
–James Bow sticks up for my favourite provincial premier, Dalton McGuinty.
–Adam Radwanski and Paul Wells both defend Jean Lapierre. Wow. To complete this introduction to the opposite sketches, I’ll stick up for the guy too. It’s a free market system and there’s nothing the government could do to prevent the demise of Jetsgo. Besides, if Lapierre resigned, we’d all lose a great source of entertainment.