Prime Minister Tony Blair will be one of the first interviewees on the English-language version of Arab news channel al-Jazeera, it was reported. He will be interviewed by veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost on his show, Frost Over The World on Friday.
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After the Chinese leadership asked Harper for a meeting to ease rising tensions between the two countries, the Prime Minister insisted human rights would be on the formal agenda and no mere superpower could decree otherwise.No one in the PMO can explain why Harper waited for the Chinese to extend the invite, what made Harper think he could dictate the agenda and why this rookie Prime Minister failed to grasp the protocol for dealing delicately with concerns that rankle notoriously prickly Chinese leaders.
Business leaders don't like what they're hearing because warm government relations are essential to smooth Chinese trade relations. Experts say it was a mistake because Harper denied the Chinese a face-saving escape. Even friendly government forces in Alberta think Harper's heavy-handed tactics are off base.Some observers see Calgary MP Jason Kenney, the Prime Minister's sidekick and notorious mainland nose-thumber, as the China clipper.
He defiantly met the Dalai Lama, a Tibetan holy man viewed as a separatist agitator by the Chinese, and was the cheerleader for giving him an honorary Canadian citizenship.
But it's more than just Kenney freelancing on the file. Stockwell Day wrote a paper in favour of recognizing Taiwan while he was Conservative foreign affairs critic. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, after attacking China for industrial espionage, turned his political back on meeting the Chinese ambassador for too long. And if that wasn't enough evidence of chilling China relations, a Chinese human rights discussion process and a strategic partnership group set up by the Liberals are being mothballed.
Besides, if Harper insists on riding the high white horse to defend human rights, he'd better watch where he gallops. Violations are not exclusively a made-in-China concept.
Russia has been caught allegedly spying in Canada and been red-flagged by Amnesty International for deteriorating human rights protection. Funny how Harper went to Moscow in July and neglected to raise either concern with President Vladmir Putin.
And what about Dubya? The United States has been fingered for holding "thousands" of prisoners without charge or trial in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Will Harper scold George Bush? Doubt it.
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Canadian officials later told reporters that during the private portion of the meeting, Harper tied in human rights concerns with Vietnam's expanding trade file. He told Nguyen that economic openness went hand in hand with social and political freedoms. Harper also raised several individual cases of political dissidents imprisoned by the Vietnamese government, including one man who landed behind bars after providing testimony to the U.S. Congress on human rights in his country. Vietnam has been criticized by observers for religious persecution, particularly of Buddhists and Christians, and also for cracking down on journalists and publishers critical of the communist regime.
Of course Canada needs to lecture the rest of the world on Human Rights our record is so pure. Let's see our secret police arrest and keep folks in secret detention and deport folks to be tortured abroad. They raid journalists offices and throw them in jail. The PMO refuses to meet with press critical of the government. The government wants to remove human rights legislation passed by the previous government. And we have a one party state in Alberta.Yep a clear case of kettle calling the pot black.
The patients start to queue at Chacaltaya hospital at 3.30am. By the time the doctors arrive, at 8am, the line stretches all the way round Plaza German Busch. This grubby square is in Alto Lima, the poorest area of El Alto, a city of 850,000 that sits above La Paz, Bolivia.
Chacaltaya is the first medical facility in South America’s poorest country to treat patients for free. Its staff are part of a contingent of 1,200 doctors from Cuba who have treated more than 2.2m Bolivians so far this year, or 25 per cent of the population.
The hospital, which is widely believed to be funded by Venezuela, highlights the relationship that Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president, has built with allies in Caracas and Havana.
Yet in recent months La Paz appears to have been seeking greater independence from Venezuela and this radical Latin American axis.
Mr Morales, flush with energy revenues and a sense of importance from his position in the region, has shown signs of moving closer to more moderate regimes in the region, such as Brazil and Argentina, and of reaching out to long-time foes including Chile and the US.
One of the reasons for the shift is that the strength of the Bolivian economy gives Mr Morales much greater room for manoeuvre than his predecessors enjoyed.
Revenues from higher gas prices and gas tax increases imposed last year mean that the government is no longer strapped for cash. Debt payments have been reduced as the result of a debt forgiveness deal agreed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The fiscal deficit, which peaked at 8.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2002, fell to 1.6 per cent of GDP last year and this year is on course to run a fiscal surplus for the first time in three decades.
policy which placed a greater priority on Canada’s relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. This led to the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1970. In 1973, Pierre Trudeau became the first Canadian Prime Minister to visit China.
The Employment Insurance Commission this week announced a small cut to EI premiums effective Jan. 1, 2007.
You'll save a whole seven cents per $100 of insurable earnings come the new year. That means someone earning $30,000 a year will save about $1.75 a month.
If you're an employer, the premiums you pay for your workers will fall 10 cents per $100 of insurable earnings.
Wow.
What the EIC doesn't tell you, however, is that despite the small premium cut the massive EI surplus -- pegged at $48 billion last year -- is projected to grow by another $1.5 billion this year, even though the federal government claims EI is now operated on a break-even basis.
According to Human Resources Development Canada's own 2005-2006 estimates, the EI surplus is expected to grow to $49.5 billion in 2006.
