March 7, 2008 This week, join Martin Stringer and his journalist guests: John Geddes , Ottawa Bureau Chief for Maclean's Magazine, and Susan Lunn , Parliamentary Reporter with CBC Radio. They'll discuss: The Cadman Allegations : The Liberals and the Bloc Québécois continued their attacks on Prime Minister Stephen Harper over allegations that Conservative party officials offered a dying independent MP Chuck Cadman a million dollar life insurance policy to vote against the Liberal government in 2005. Cadman's widow, daughter and son-in-law are standing by their account of the offer. The Prime Minister is on audio tape saying "financial considerations" were offered, but he says they were only to help Cadman re-join the party and run again as a Conservative candidate. Where does this whole affair go from here? The Prime Minister has threatened to sue Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and other senior Liberals for defamation: what effect has that had? " NAFTA-gate ": The Prime Minister is being accused of interfering in American presidential politics because of leaks to the media suggesting Democratic Presidential candidate Barak Obama's comments concerning re-negotiating NAFTA were political posturing. The leaks were widely reported in the U.S. and have had a direct negative impact on the Obama campaign. The Prime Minister has launched an internal inquiry into the leak of a foreign affairs document describing a conversation between Canadian officials and a senior Obama advisor. But there are also indications a first leak may have come from his own chief of staff. How serious is this matter? How damaging is it politically? The Afghan mission vote : Next week, the House of Commons will hold extended debates on the government's motion to extend the Canadian mission in Afghanistan until 2011. The final vote will come on Thursday. The Liberals say they have serious questions about the issues of: prisoner transfers to Afghan authorities, the exact timing of the end of the mission, and the "rotation" of additional NATO troops into southern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, detainee transfers have resumed, contrary to the Liberals' stated position. Will the Liberals vote for the motion, ensuring the extension of the mission? Political dynamics : On a week which was expected to be politically difficult for the Liberals, as they allowed the federal budget to pass, the difficulties also piled up on the government's side. How did things play out? Also, Martin discusses the week's events with his panel of MPs.
