Ryan Hastman interview

Ryan Hastman is the Conservative candidate for the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona. A former staffer in the offices of Minister Stockwell Day and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ryan recently moved back to Edmonton where he will run to replace NDP MP Linda Duncan in the next election.

 

Michael Ignatieff appeals for expat dollars

I’ve received this letter addressed to expat friends and readers from America to Africa. The letter is written by Michael Ignatieff and appeals to expats for dollars, dinars, and drachmas and tries to draw a link between the Liberal leader’s 34 year absence from Canada and the career paths of other expats.

(Click the pages to enlarge)

Ignatieff can’t seem to help himself as he boasts of his own experiences in a closing paragraph of the letter,

“My own path has taken me across the airwaves of the BBC to the pages of the New York Times, from the remote villages in Afghanistan into the lecture halls of Paris, Vancouver and Boston. And now that path has brought me here — to the country that has always been my home, as Leader of the one party that can set Canada back on its own path.”

Remember that Michael Ignatieff, when he wasn’t running to be Prime Minister said that the only thing he missed about Canada was Algonquin Park. When asked by a British interviewer after the Quebec referendum if Ignatieff was actually suggesting that Canada, as a concept, has failed, Ignatieff said that he can’t see what sort of future we have [as Canadians]. And, there is of course, this:

Michael Ignatieff left Canada in 1969 only to return to become Prime Minister. If these expats have the same sort of attachment to Canada, it’s doubtful that they will donate any money. Yet, if they not only miss Algonquin park, but also Flin Flon, Oakville, Grand Falls or wherever else in this country they call home, they’ll recognize that, unlike them, Ignatieff as a man without a deep sense of attachment to this country but rather a profound sense of entitlement to it.

Stockwell Day interview

It’s been a summer of swine and seals in the office of the International Trade Minister, Stockwell Day. Colloquially, H1N1 is called swine flu and it’s been causing some trade sniffles for Canada as we’ve been affected by cases in almost every region, while other countries are taking it as an excuse for trade protectionism. Another file on Day’s desk is the EU decision to ban the marketing of seal goods. I had a chance to chat with the Trade Minister on these topics and briefly on the topic of free trade.