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Welcome to Wednesday Night #1346 Dec 5, 2007
PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN BE WITH US - IT MAKES THE CHAIRMAN'S JOB EASIER
the account of the Wednesday Night #1339 . 1340 soocome
Do see last week #1345 - a wonderful evening with Marc Garneau ; - good conversation and great photos by
Robert Galbraith
If two weeks ago our theme was Let it Snow, this week should likely be Winter Wonderland. However, we confess that after digging ourselves out of the house (resisting the temptation to hi-bear-nate), aching muscles preclude flights of poetic fantasy.
We do, however, note a remarkable relationship between our not-quite blizzard (apparently, according to Environment Canada the temperature didn’t justify the designation ‘blizzard’ - thank you, Bert) and a blanket of snowy silence that has fallen over the topics that have been on Canadians’ radar for the last few weeks. Bali is over and the last of the attendees have limped home through the storm. Mercifully, Mr Baird seems to have disappeared into a snow bank - may he remain there until Spring Thaw!.
Messrs Schreiber and Mulroney have been heard by the Ethics Committee and have lapsed into unfamiliar and welcome silence for the holiday season (have they too been blanketed with white stuff?) while poor David Johnston is using the last days of 2007 to complete his recommendations regarding the Inquiry. (Could the taxpayers unite to urge the government to Just Say No to spending $50 million on this exercise?)
Also, mercifully, the Bouchard-Taylor hearings are now wrapped up, and we won’t have the findings under our Christmas trees.
Conrad Black is spending the holiday with his family, contemplating his sojourn in jail and no doubt preparing the files for his next magnificent book.
So, perhaps like some northern species of Meerkat, we can poke our collective head above the snow - periscopes are acceptable - and look around at events in the rest of the world, especially those leading up to the early caucuses (cauci?), starting with Iowa on Jan 3 and continuing ad nauseum (calendar). There are some fascinating developments that bear watching, including the surge of the Huckabee campaign ( “Just one month ago, Mitt Romney’s supporters thought that they had Iowa fairly well in hand. But there was Mr. Romney last week, telling several hundred people at a high school cafeteria in Marion that he was the underdog and pleading for their help to keep him from being derailed at the caucuses by the rise of Mike Huckabee” more). We confess that Mr. Huckabee sounds like a character that Fred Thompson should be playing in a southwestern soap, but as a candidate, we need to take him seriously). And guess what the chief issue is – immigration! But let’s not go there in an attempt to insert Canadian content.
Then there’s the “stuttering” Hillary Clinton campaign, with Obama and John Edwards hot on her heels in Iowa.
More interesting are the predictions from Chris Weigant on the Huffington Post: ” I think the Democratic race will be closer than expected in the early states, with John Edwards surprising the media by doing much better than predicted in Iowa. But I think the Democrats’ race will essentially be over on February 6th, the day after mega-super-duper-tsunami-Tuesday (when almost half of the state primaries will take place). One candidate will emerge as the frontrunner in a big way, and although they may not formally “win” the nomination until later in the primary schedule, I think at this point Democratic voters will line up behind their apparent nominee.” And on the Republican side ” I predict that two (or even three) GOP candidates come out of February 5th still in competition. This leads to a reversal of the media’s expectations, and suddenly the later states become the big and important primaries. While I won’t go so far as predicting a convention fight, I will predict that the Republicans won’t know who their nominee is until late in the spring. This will have the effect of making the “money race” extremely important, as everyone still in the race will have to come up with a lot of dough in such a long campaign. This will help weaken the eventual GOP candidate for the general election race (since they’ll start the general election with no money in the bank).”
The rest of this post , with its predictions for the coming political year is also well worth reading.
Elsewhere: The haj is in full swing (if one is allowed to say that); Pakistan’s Musharraf is trying to make nice with the Commonwealth ; [always described as] Ailing Fidel Castro is making noises about stepping down - at last. ; turbulence in the ANC over the choice of a leader to replace M’Beki; reports from Sudan indicate rebels forces are targetting a Chinese-run oil field ; President Putin’s announcement that he will accept to be Prime Minister after stepping down from the presidency (the better to control the President) ; Russia’s delivery of the first shipment of enriched-uranium fuel rods to Iran; and last, but definitely not least, President Sarkozy’s new romance (why couldn’t he have made yet one more unpredictable move and gone after Ségolène?) - at least this last piece of news is sufficiently glitzy to adorn our Christmas Tree of Knowledge.
So Come All Ye Faithful, … to Wednesday Night and we will be joyful in your company ….
To those who are already in flight ahead of Rudolph, we send our fond wishes to you and yours for the happiest of holidays - whatever your choice, Peace on Earth and continued good fellowship (how do we make that politically correct?) throughout the coming year.
Editor
We look forward to your company.
Diana & David Nicholson
dtnicholson@wednesdaynight.net
Tel: +1 (514) 934-0023
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Several of you have remarked on Jacques' unusually prolonged absence from Wednesday Night and we thought you would want to know that, thanks to the efforts of his friend Colette Birks, we have learned that Jacques was suffering very severe headaches and was in a state of "confusion". We are not sure exactly when this occurred. He was hospitalized, but is now in recovery at an undisclosed location. Colette was assured by a member of his family that he is "bien entouré" and recovering slowly, but is not yet up to talking on the telephone. At this stage we have no way of communicating with him, but as soon as we have further news, we will let you know. We know that your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery will be with him.
Diana & David
Thursday 20 December 2007 WASHINGTON: IMF SEES SLOWDOWN FOR CANADA
The International Monetary Fund has revised downward its economic growth forecast for Canada. The IMF says the economy will grow at less than its forecast of October of 2.3 per cent, without giving a second figure. Its report says that after five years of strong growth, the economy will slow because of the weakening U.S. economy which could fall into recession, the appreciating Canadian dollar also being a factor. The IMF also expects a slower domestic demand to "moderate" as financial conditions tighten. The IMF praised the Bank of Canada's decision on Dec. 4 to cut its lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 per cent, reversing its quarter-of-a-point increase in July.
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