Northman's Fury

If you want to outlive your fellow-Canadians, maybe you should pack for Prince Edward Island.

And, Alberta would be a place you'd want to avoid.

According to Statistics Canada figures for 2005, residents of the island province lived the longest in Canada -- to an average age of 75.6 years.

Alberta, meanwhile, has an average life expectancy of just 71.6 years, the lowest among provinces and third lowest when including the territories.

The Northwest Territories stood at 61.1 years and Nunavut had the lowest by an Arctic mile, at an average of 47.8 years.

47.8 years! If Nunavut were a country, we'd rank somewhere between Somalia and Nigeria, with very few countries, all but Afghanistan in sub-Saharan Africa, ranking below us.

That's almost unbelievably bad for a section of what is supposed to be a First-World country. It's unfortunate that I don't have to look too far to see the conditions that make it believable.

You know, the Conservatives have repeatedly blocked any members of the opposition from visiting Afghanistan, saying that their presence would put the troops at risk. (Visits by the Conservatives themselves apparently being far less risky.) What they failed to tell everyone, is that the reason opposition visits would be so risky, is because the Conservatives would blab to everyone about their itinerary.

The two politicians also toured a forward operating base in the Zhari region, where Canadian Forces soldiers are training their Afghan counterparts to fight the Taliban.

It was known they had travelled to Kabul, but the details of their trip to southern Afghanistan and their visit to the base were kept secret to protect them from attack.

But Helena Guergis, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Trade, revealed in a Saturday statement criticizing Dion that he would be visiting the Canadian unit called the provincial reconstruction team, or PRT.

"I think he should apologize to our troops while he is touring the PRT in safety," she said.

And I'm not sure this is the best excuse:

A Guergis spokesperson said the minister didn't actually know Dion would visit the base, but that she assumed he would because his visit to Afghanistan wouldn't be complete unless he did.

Saying that some high value targets will be traveling to a certain location because you assume they will rather than actually knowing they will doesn't change the fact that you put that location, and the soldiers stationed there, high up on the enemies hit list. No change in intent or the possible consequences.

Get her the hell out.

It appears the Canadian government is continuing its push to follow in Bush's footsteps.

Canada does not tolerate torture, but must sometimes work with countries that have questionable human rights records in its efforts to protect the public, a federal lawyer told an inquiry looking into torture claims by three Arab-Canadians.

. . .

Peirce began his inquiry submission with the strong declaration: "Canada does not countenance torture."

But then he went on to say that the risk of mistreatment abroad is just one factor that determines whether the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service should share suspect-related information with foreign governments.

And even if Ottawa did facilitate the men's arrests, he argued, that would not violate the UN International Convention on Torture, saying the agreement obliges Ottawa only from preventing torture on its own soil not in foreign countries.

We promise we won't torture you. We'll just have you picked up by somebody who will, feed them the questions we want confessions tortured out of you for, and then walk away whistling. And when they come back with the information we want . . . well, who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth?

Unfortunately, none of this is a surprise. It is entirely consistent with many of the other positions this government has taken.

Hand off prisoners taken on the battlefields of Afghanistan to people who may torture them? Not our problem. Just get us some new boots so we don't mess our own up walking through the blood and shit.

Our government won't lift a finger to ensure Canadians in Gitmo get a fair trail, and don't mind if other governments want to kill you.

In light of all that, sending some of us out to be tortured in the name of "security" is just par for the course.