Thanks for clarifying that. The church model the young American state wished to separate from was that of the British monarch, who remains to this day Supreme Governor of the Church of England. This convenient arrangement dates from the 1534 Act of Supremacy. The title of the law gives you the general upshot, but, just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, the text proclaims “the King’s Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England.” That’s to say, the sovereign is “the only supreme head on earth of the Church” and he shall enjoy “all honors, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits and commodities to the said dignity,” not to mention His Majesty “shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts and enormities, whatsoever they be.”

Welcome to Obamacare.

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Afternoon Updates:

1:16 pm EST, February 11th, 2012 — Murphy: When the Church struck back

1:21 pm EST, February 11th, 2012 – Groups rail against contraceptive coverage ‘mandate’ despite rule change

1:24 pm EST, February 11th, 2012 — Statement by religious scholars on contraceptive coverage policy change

1:27 pm EST, February 11th, 2012 — Obama overreaches, again

Entitled, “Census shows a fading Ontario? Don’t count on it,” the editorial makes the argument that it is “too simplistic” to claim “Ontario’s day is over.”

No one is making the case that Ontario can be dismissed as an afterthought. That is a concern without a cause.

To back up its contention that “those rushing to write this province’s obituary are misguided,” the Star offers up a series of underwhelming statistics. Ontario is still the biggest province by population, the paper explains. And while Saskatchewan may have grown at a faster rate than Ontario since 2006, that province added just 65,000 residents in the past five years, while “Ontario grew by 692,000.” What’s more, “Ontario’s population growth alone almost equals that of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined.”

What the Star fails to mention is that on a per capita basis, Saskatchewan’s growth was 20% faster than Ontario’s. Alberta’s was 108% faster.

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Beyond the Caterpillar story, however, a much bigger development seems to be unfolding. The squeeze on Canadian manufacturing in Ontario and elsewhere is being offset by reports of a resurgence in the United States. A Wall Street Journal story Wednesday lists a score of U.S. corporations that are boosting investments at home. Emerson Electric, Cummins, automakers and other companies are expanding operations and hiring workers in manufacturing.

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Oliver no longer talks so freely about the environmental critics of the Keystone pipeline; all of Harper’s ministers have been instructed to stop making comments that might be construed as interfering in the American presidential election.  But there are other, more diplomatic, ways to send messages.  Like going to China with your cabinet members and cutting energy deals with a country that has, as The Globe and Mail in Toronto put it recently, a “thirst for Canadian oil.”  Oil, I might add, that may be a little dirtier than the crude that pours forth from the Saudi Arabian desert — that is one of the main reasons environmentalists say they oppose Keystone — but is hardly the environmental disaster many suppose.

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Remember when the United Nations was going to be the new global venue for “collective security”? The place where the Obama Administration’s faith in diplomacy and willingness to lead from behind would pay off in world solidarity against dictators and thugs?

So much for that. On Saturday, Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-backed Security Council resolution supporting an Arab League plan to ease Syria’s Bashar Assad from power.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice now says she’s “disgusted.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the veto “a travesty,” and struck a note of unilateralism that would make Dick Cheney proud: “Faced with a neutered Security Council, we have to redouble our efforts outside of the United Nations with those allies and partners who support the Syrian people’s right to have a better future.” She added that “Assad must go.”

Coalition of the willing, anyone?

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His suggestion, since retracted, was technically flawed because it’s illegal to counsel suicide in this country. It’s apparently OK to say if people aren’t as sharp, limber, sexy and healthy as they used to be they should be allowed to off themselves. Just not Paul Bernardo, Clifford Olson or Mohammad Shafia. But clearly most of the beautiful people’s objections weren’t on this narrow ground. Rather, they found the suggestion too, too shocking.

Potty-mouthed NDP MP Pat Martin went so far as to hurl an obscenity at the Senator, and refused to retract it when told the Senator’s own daughter had been kidnapped, raped and murdered… by a repeat offender. I don’t know where the left’s famous compassion went on that issue. But I’m even more puzzled by where their commitment to democracy went.

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During October’s provincial election campaign, they were repeatedly told that the province faces five years of deficits, but that Liberal Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has a plan to eliminate it, and that Premier Dalton McGuinty was determined to make the “tough decisions” to make that plan a success.

On Thursday they learned that the situation was far worse than the government let on. A new report from the Conference Board of Canada suggests the chances of Ontario balancing its books by 2016-17 as promised are slim to none. Only by projecting unrealistic levels of growth could Messrs. Duncan and McGuinty make that claim, the Conference Board says. The reality is that growth is likely to be much slower, and for an extended period of time, due to the aging population, a slowing manufacturing sector and a shaky U.S. economy.

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Tory Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu is a long-time champion of crime victims’ rights in Quebec. He founded the Murdered or Missing Persons’ Families’ Association.

In 2002, his daughter was kidnapped, raped and killed by a repeat offender. (Another daughter died in a car accident in 2005.)

A member of the Senate committee that deals with justice legislation, including the Tories’ omnibus crime bill, Boisvenu was asked by the media Wednesday whether he believed in capital punishment. (In other words, he wasn’t giving a speech, making a presentation to the committee, or even raising the idea in a question or observation at the committee.)

According to a CBC translation of his response, which was in French, he replied: “No, I’m not in favour of the death penalty. I think people need to be given a chance. But other cases should be reconsidered.”

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Some objectives can be achieved in the shorter term. Some are for the long game.

With the Obama administration’s rejection of Keystone XL pipeline, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have shown resolve in speeding up the Asian energy market-diversification process. China is a key component of this effort, so Harper is under pressure to take home tangible results from his meetings with the Chinese leaders.

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This motion won’t pass in a majority Tory House, of course, and even if it did, it would have as much chance of success as former NDP leader Ed Broadbent’s 1989 motion to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. These kinds of pronouncements may make politicians look like they care, but give the false impression that they can “cure” social conditions by throwing public money at them.

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Afternoon Updates:

12:36 pm EST, February 2nd, 2012 — Wente: The war against the young

And for years – perhaps because those who will be most affected by this truth were too young to make retirement a priority worry, or be-cause unsustainable health care was a more immediate concern – not much was ever done.

The Canada Pension Plan has been put on a sounder footing, it’s true, but CPP is based on an individual’s own contributions, rather than on the taxes others will pay. By fixing his eye on Old Age Security, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is sailing into new and more perilous waters.

Should he? The guessing here is a majority of Canadians remain to be convinced. Further, we’ll speculate that older Canadians will be more likely to be uncomfortable about a reminder that what Ottawa giveth to a person’s retirement comfort it can taketh away.

But an honest look at the numbers shows us a responsible prime minister has no alternative but to act.

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