Desi In Toronto

Looks like the prospect of me voting Liberal in the fall election (if Stephen “firm election date” Harper has the guts to call) are increasing day by day. I like this.

Stephane Dion has challenged the prime minister to clarify his view on abortion, threatening to reignite the debate as Canada careens towards an election.

The Liberal leader threw down the gauntlet while answering a question at a town-hall meeting on Wednesday night in Oakville, Ont.

The event was billed as a discussion of the Liberals’ carbon tax plan, but a member of the audience instead asked Dion’s views on the Unborn Victims of Crime Act. The private member’s bill would make it a criminal offence to harm an unborn child during an attack on its mother.

Dion said he opposed the proposed legislation because it might infringe on women’s access to abortion.

“We need to protect everyone against crime but, at the same time, it happens that I believe in the rights of women to choose and I have a lot of respect for the people who have a different view,” he told the crowd.

Dion then called upon Stephen Harper to state his own position on abortion.

“I think all Canadians have the right to know what the party leader thinks,” he said. “I gave my opinion. I want to hear the opinion of Stephen Harper.”

Now that’s a smack down!! We will eagerly wait for Stephen “yes there will be fall election/no there will not be any elections in the fall season” Harper to respond.

And so it continues…….

An explosion that killed three troops and wounded another west of Kandahar marked a devastating strike against the Canadian Forces by insurgents whose recent attacks have come in rapid succession.

Sergeant Shawn Eades, Corporal Dustin Wasden and Sapper Stephan Stock died in the attack on Wednesday.

It was the worst one-day toll for the Canadians since July 4 of last year when six soldiers were lost in a single explosion. And it occurred in the same week that 10 French troops were killed in an ambush near Kabul and three Polish troops were killed when a bomb struck their vehicle in the central part of the country.

Let these young kids keep on dying for an objective that is ill defined and ill served by our “esteemed” politicians. Fine, for what ever reason these soldiers are still out there. I hope that they are lead by sharp and responsible leaders.

But Brigadier-General Denis Thompson, the commander of Task Force Kandahar, said he does not believe the spate of coalition deaths means the Taliban are getting stronger.

“What I’d say is they are much more aggressive this fighting season than they have been in the past,” Gen. Thompson told an evening news conference held to announce the deaths.

“The difference is they are not holding any of the ground that they attack us on. So in the case of an IED [improvised explosive device] strike, they will inflict some casualties but they don’t control the road that they inflicted the casualties on. So really the net effect is zero.”

There are areas of Afghanistan that are under Taliban control.

But “not here in Kandahar province,” he said, “and I am only concerned with Kandahar province.”

This is about the dumbest statement made by a ranking official. Does he not have people telling him that he is sounding like a complete idiot?

“The net effect is zero”? What the hell do you mean by that? 3 soldiers died and you have the gall to say that the net effect is zero? I think even the village idiot would have recognised by now that Taliban modus operandi is to disrupt everyday life and not to “hold land” like this moronic Brigadier General is saying. I think he needs to be given a dictionary so that he can look up the meaning of “Insurgency”.