'Take Note' Jack Layton (en francais)

As my fellow BT Blogger Stephen Taylor put it (in much nicer terms than I would have):

Today, with a conciliatory gesture, the PMO announced that there will be a Take Note debate on Afghanistan on April 10th. Both the Liberal Party and NDP have been asking to 'discuss' the current Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

In the CTV News report, we see Jack sticking with his most recent concerns - length of mission and cost.

Yet the CBC report sees a return to the practice of deliberately misleading statements:

"This is very important because things have changed," he said, referring to the mission.

"We were of course supposed to be operating under a NATO command. That has not happened. We are still a part of [U.S. President] George Bush's Operation Enduring Freedom.

"This is not what Canadians had imagined taking place. There are many issues to be discussed in the debate and we're glad it's taking place."

For those who haven't been following along, you might want to read through my last several posts on this issue.

Jack Layton misleads Canadians...

Jack Layton and the NDP exposed

Enough is enough

Layton spins yet again

Monday morning, the 10th, I'll post a comprehensive blog on all the publically available information from May of 2005 to present. Over the last several days I have been compiling a significant amount of information, some of which I have included in the posts above. I've drawn on a wide variety of public sources including Hansard, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Defence, NATO, United Nations, CTV news, CBC news and CIDA. I'll provide links in Monday's blog to all the various sources that I've drawn upon.

For those interested in watching the debate, keep a copy of Monday's blog post available. I'm curious to see how much information is and has been available versus what may come up in the debate.

Oh - for anyone who's interested. One question from the NDP on Afghanistan in today's Question Period, regarding the Prisoner Transfer Agreement. Apparently the NDP was under the impression that the Netherlands had negotiated a 'superior' transfer agreement. Minister of National Defence Gordon O'Connor promptly and clearly answered the question. (yet another unique Question Period quirk shown by the Conservatives today - they actually answered questions!)