Category: Other

Here’s Iraq’s new flag. It was approved by the Iraq Interim Governing Council on April 26th. The most striking features of the flag are its colours and its crescent. The crescent obviously represents Islam, but I don’t understand the blue colour. The two blue bands at the bottom are said to represent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, so the overall blue colour may represent water and thus life as the Iraqi region is often labeled the ‘cradle of civilization’. However, many Iraqi’s are complaining that the blue and white flag looks like the Israeli flag and less like the flags of its Arab neighbours. The white colour, as it does in the flags of many other countries, may represent peace.

Here’s hoping…

The latest rumours and indications do show that the Liberal party is gearing-up for a late-spring election. I believe that the writ will be dropped on May 9th as Paul Martin returns for a week of extensive coverage after his visit with US President George W Bush this Wednesday (update: actually this Friday). Canadians have placed Canadian-American relations high on the concerns list and whatever Mr. Martin accomplishes in Washington (not Crawford) will be translated into an instant boost into the polls.

Two international also take place in the 36 days between May 9th and an election on June 14th. Paul Martin will visit Normandy (not Norway) on June 6th and the G8 summit in Georgia from June 8th through June 10th. These two events should keep Mr. Martin in the news for international (look I’m doing my job) type of events.

So, Mr. Martin, in his short time in office, has/will become the Prime Minister visible on the international scene while he will be seen as dismal on domestic policies.

Let’s just remember why Canadian-American relations are at a recent all-time low, remember why Canadians were able to liberate France 60 years ago, and contemplate whether the Liberals are setting, or being led by, the trend of globalization.

The Conservative Party of Canada released television ads yesterday. The spots feature a casual-looking Stephen Harper leaning against his desk. Harper mentions that it’s time for accountability in Ottawa and doesn’t mention the sponsorship scandal directly. The ads run will run after the liberal party advertising campaign, which occurred a few weeks ago and featured an adlib Martin talking about how there needs to be accountability in Ottawa. Accountability is a good concept, however, I’ll vote for the party that takes it on as a policy issue and not as an afterthought.

Here are the ads:

Accountable Government 1

Accountable Government 2

Accountable Government 3 (French)