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What was a poorly kept secret is now leaking all over Ottawa.

When John Diefenbaker was elected he used to fulminate about "the Pearsonalities" in the East Block, then the offices of the old Department of External Affairs. Ironically Dief's Minister Howard Green came to get along famously with his civil servants and realized that a long war with the public service was thoroughly counter-productive.

Watching the debate in the US about health care has been a fascinating, if depressing experience. And the fact that a Canadian woman has played into the hands of the Republican lobby because of her understandable anxiety about her medical condition doesn't make me mad, if just makes me sad.

I am in Vancouver to attend a memorial service for my dear friend Jim Fulton, a larger than life figure who served with me in Parliament thirty years ago. A wonderful man who received a wonderful tribute from many friends and family.

Tonight I was invited to speak at a vigil in front of the Art Gallery attended by hundreds of people brought together by a common event, the election in Iran and its aftermath. Most of the crowd are Iranians - the ten night vigil seems to be organized by young people, all polite, hard working, deeply committed, and the numbers have been constantly over a

These are the words on the Air India monument in Ireland, now found as well on the monuments in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

This early morning in Vancouver, Arlene and I spent some quiet time at the Vancouver monument in Stanley Park, touching the names of the families we came to know through our association with the remarkable families of the Air India bombing.

We were joined by Taleeb Noormohamed, the remarkable public servant who worked with me on the Air India review.

On the evening of June 9, 2009, I arrived on a flight from Delhi to Colombo, Sri Lanka. I had successfully applied to the Sri Lankan High Commission for a visa and had discussed my visit with the Sri Lankan Commissioner, the Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, and with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

When I arrived at immigration in the company of two Canadian High Commission officials I was, after some delay, told that I was being refused entry "on the grounds of national intelligence."

We are told that celebrations have broken out in the Sinhala community in Colombo. That is understandable, but it should be a celebration marked with sadness as well.

First thing in the morning these days I find the BBC website on my blackberry to find the latest on the tragic events in Sri Lanka. On a thin, 5 square mile strip of land on the northeast coast of the country the UN estimates that at least 50,000 civilians are huddled together, out of food, water, many sick, injured, wounded. About 500 or a thousand LTTE fighters are holding out against the surrounding Sri Lankan army. Their offer of a ceasefire was described by the Minister of Defence as "a joke". At least 6000 civilians have been killed in the last few weeks. Some joke.

I lived here fifty years ago (!) when Eisenhower was President, the Senators were in the last place in the American League and the kids in my third grade class made fun of me (among other reasons) because I wouldn't sing the national anthem or put my hand over my heart when everyone else was pledging allegiance to the flag.

The news that the government of Sri Lanka has declared a two day pause in the fighting in northeastern Sri Lanka should lead to increased efforts for an extended ceasefire.

The situation is now desperate - with rebel forces and the civilians under their control being pushed into a tiny corner on the coast of northeastern Sri Lanka. Many wounded civilians are still without food and water.

The focus everywhere is on "the economy," but it is ironic that conservatives are outdoing each other by promising to spend money on "shovel ready" projects, with Stephen Harper seen getting on to a ski-doo after bringing a cheque for a new winter trail. Trouble is this is all missing the point about the real problem facing the economy: credit. People and businesses can't borrow, banks aren't lending and so the real economy, where people buy and sell things from each other, is grinding down.