Political Wisdom

My son is running for his high school student council.

So based on what's going on in federal politics, I have offered him this sage advice: Don't offer anybody million dollar life insurance policies, have nothing to do with Elections Canada and stay away from large-busted biker chicks.

Next I will tell him how to put together effective attack ads.

Short Termism

The good folks at the Work Research Foundation invited me to attend a lecture last night, and since I never say no to a freebie I went.

The speaker was Jonathan Wellum, CEO of AIC Ltd. and the topic was "Short termism" and the market.

To be honest I expected it would be a dry boring lecture about hedge funds or something.

But it was actually a fascinating talk about the challenges we face in the years ahead from high oil prices to an aging population to misallocation of scare resources.

Wellum's main point was that an inordinate amount of the world's wealth is being concentrated in the hands of people -- Hugo Chavez, the Chinese, Oil emirates -- who are squandering capital it took centuries to accumulate.

He also says that we here in the West are forgetting that to create wealth we need to respect the right to private property, reduce the size of government and save more money.

Finally -- and this point really hit home to me -- he says the Western world needs leaders who instead of "pandering" stick to their principles.

Amen to that.

Leave it to Cleavage

Check out a column I wrote for the Toronto Sun where, in the name of political journalism, I take a long look at Julie Couillard's cleavage and explain what it means for the future of our beloved Confederation.

Rise and Fall of Bernier

Sorry to see that Maxime Bernier's cabinet career has flamed out.

Back in the days when he was Industry Minister, I thought he was one of the few bright lights in the Harper cabinet.

But then he got shifted to Foreign Affairs, a post I didn't think suited him.

Too bad.

I hope one day he can bounce back.

Thompson on conservatism

Former Republican senator Fred Thompson has an interesting op ed in the Wall Street Journal offering advice to American conservatives.

First off, Thompson says conservatives should not give into pessimism.

Secondly, he laments how, "some conservatives try to avoid philosophical confrontation with liberals, often urging solutions that would expand the government while rationalizing that the expansion would be at a slightly slower rate."

To be successful, Thompson says conservatives must remain true to their principles.

That's good advice for Canadian conservatives too.

Good riddance to Brodie

It seems Ian Brodie is out as Prime Minister Harper's Chief of Staff and Guy Giorno is in.

Hallelujah!

Let's face it, Brodie -- an academic -- was out of his league in the rough and tumble world of federal politics.

And while his "NAFTA-gate" gaffe was what probably did him in, he could just as easily been canned both for his general incompetence and for his disdain for true conservatives.

It's also good to see that his replacement will be Giorno, a former Mike Harris staffer. Will things change dramatically in the Harper government because Brodie is gone?

Probably not.

But at least, this is a step in the right direction.

The CBC and Me

OK was on Politics today to talk about the possibility of Premier Ed Stelmach imposing an election gag law. You can watch it here. You will have to fast forward to about the 36:46 mark.

Media Alert

On Friday I posted that I was going to appear on the CBC Newsworld program Politics to talk about election gag laws.

Unfortunately, I got bumped at the last minute.

The good news, however, is that I have been rescheduled to appear on the show today at approximately 5:10 PM EST.

So I will definitely be on today --- unless I'm bumped.

Republicans and their message

It looks like the Republican Party in the United States is heading for disaster this fall.

And American historian Victor Davis Hanson says US Republicans deserve to lose ---unless he says "they craft clear positions that won’t be compromised and then offer them as alternative choices to the voters this fall."

Here are some of Hanson's suggested policies.

Hint: They involve acting more like real conservatives.

Media Alert

I am tentatively scheduled to be on the Newsworld program Politics this afternoon at approx. 5:15 EST to talk about the possibility of Alberta imposing an election gag law.

Media Updates

Here's a couple of media bits I did recently.

First, from the World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge, is a debate between myself and Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch.

We tangled on the the question of election gag laws.

And you can hear an interview I did yesterday on the Al and Mike Show here. We talked about free speech, conservatism.

I hope everybody has a great long weekend!

Media Alert

I will be a guest on the Al and Mike Show tonight at 8:00 PM.

I the jury

I recently got called for jury duty.

Like any other civic-minded, patriotic Canadian my first thought was: "How do I get out of this?"

But then, I realized going through this process might be a learning experience.

And it was.

I learned courthouse was a long drive from my home; I learned the steel benches me and other potential jurors had to sit on for two hours are really hard; and I learned there are all sorts of excuses people use to get excused from jury duty.

Anyway, to make a long, boring story a short boring story, all of us potential jurors got released when the accused changed his plea at the last minute.

So that's it, I did my duty and won't get called again for years.

I just hope next time they get more comfortable benches.

Minesweeper: The Movie

For anyone who has ever played Minesweeper.

Media Alert II -- Gag Law Debate

I will be debating Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch tonight on The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge at 10:00 PM EST.

Topic: Gag laws.

Conacher will argue we need gag laws to muzzle Canadians and deny them their right to free political speech and I will argue in favour of freedom.

Should be an interesting contest.

Media Alert

I will be on the radio program Calgary Today with Mike Blanchard, (CHQR) this afternoon at 5:00 PM EST to discuss my Herald column on why Alberta doesn't need an election gag law.

Say it aint so Ed

I have a column in today's Calgary Herald mourning the fact that Premier Ed Stelmach may soon impose an election gag law on Alberta.

When it comes to election speech, Alberta has always been one of the freest jurisdictions in Canada.

I'd hate to see that change.

Tories and section 13

Anyone who thinks the Conservative Party isn't abandoning its principles please check out this posting on Ezra Levant's blog.

It turns out the Conservative government favours laws which limit free speech -- more specifically it favours the notorious section 13 of the Human Rights Act.

It's all in a legal memo issued by the Justice Department. I won't go into details because Levant does a masterful job of dissecting the government's weak arguments.

But let's just say the government comes across sounding like a left wing version of the NDP.

What's your evidence Mr. Dion?

Liberal leader Stephane Dion is accusing Prime Minister Harper of harboring a secret libertarian agenda:

"He wants to dismantle the main elements of what he calls the interventionist state," says Dion.

If only that were true!

An Idea for David Suzuki

Here's a little contraption my son made for a school science project.

It's a mousetrap propelled car. And it really works!

This got me to thinking. Maybe the government should mandate auto companies to make all cars mousetrap powered.

It would help save the planet; but believe me, you would have to watch your fingers!