Signs that the Red Green Coalition is Finally Dead

So what's the Joe Volpe campaign up to?

In the past, Volpe has been a paragon of questionable campaign tactics. When he ran for the Liberal Party leadership in 2006, Volpe endured embarrassing episodes in which the children of pharmaceutical company executives were donating to his campaign, and in which people who were sold Liberal Party memberships through his campaign turned out to be deceased.

Weeks into the 2011 campaign, Volpe complained to Elections Canada that people in his riding had been receiving phone calls from a number based in the US.

Nobody seems to know who is actually behind those calls. But what is the Volpe campaign up to? That turns out to be a much more interesting story.

According to a campaign staffer for Paul Baker, Green Party candidate in Volpe's riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, the Volpe campaign has been removing their literature from voters' mailboxes in the riding and disposing of them.

And it isn't as if this is something happening far away from Volpe's attention.

Photos taken show a Volpe volunteer approach the mailbox in question. What appears to be a Green Party leaflet can be seen sticking out of the mailbox.

In the next photo, the leaflet disappears.

It seems fair to wonder what happened to it...

In the final photo, the Green leaflet is now "magically" red.

Abracadabra! It seems Joe Volpe has some truly talented people campaigning with him.

The fact that Volpe himself can be seen in these photos seems to lay waste to any semblence of plausible deniability.

As for where these disappearing flyers are winding up? That's the best part:

It's not quite the kind of decorum that Canadians expect out of their politicians, that's for certain.

Joe Volpe owes his constituents -- and possibly Elections Canada -- an explanation for this kind of behaviour.

Greenpeace Activist Deported from China

Hudema's Chinese adventure may instill some respect for Canadian-style "good governance and the rule of law"

For the past year, Mike Hudema has proven to be a royal headache for anyone even remotely associated with the oilsands developments in Fort MacMurray, Alberta.

Participating in a number of well-orchestrated stunts both in Fort MacMurray and across Alberta, Hudema's protest methods have gotten him arrested before -- mostly for trespassing.

But when Hudema and four other activists -- Steve Anderson, Padma-Dolma Fieltz, Paul Baker and Denise Ogonoski -- tried to unveil a banner and a flag in Tiananmen Square, Chinese security officials weren't about to have any of that.

They were promptly arrested, and have been deported back to Canada.

In retrospect, the unprecedented level of security in Beijing for the Olympic games -- more money has reportedly been spent securing the 2008 Olympic Games than any other event in human history -- may have been more than Hudema, who has previously banked on the notoriously lax security of oilsands sites, bargained for.

"The security is beyond anything I've seen before," Hudema told the Edmonton Journal. "There are military officials on every street corner."

Hudema reported that he and his group had seemingly been targeted by undercover officials very shortly after arriving in China. In fact, Chinese police paid the quintet a visit. The apartment they had rented was searched, and they were taken into police custody and questioned for allegedly breaking an unstated Chinese law.

"You're in a room with one to five interrogators who are firing questions at you, yelling at you," Hudema said, describing the experience.

Hudema and company were eventually released, only to be rearrested following their attempt to protest.

Hudema has most assuredly found his ordeal in Beijing far more trying than anything he's encountered in his career protesting against the oilsands. "To just unfold a flag, and not even get it open halfway before you're tackled to the ground," Hudema mused. "A lot of us are emotionally shaken from this."

Not to mention that Hudema attempted to do this in public, as opposed to on private property or at a private function.

There is no question that the security climate in China surrounding these games is unprecedentedly intense. Comparing it to that which surrounds the oilsands is like comparing two entirely different worlds.

While Hudema's been allowed to more or less have free run of the Fort MacMurray oilsands, it's very different when contending with "a very brutal military dictatorship whose tactics have not changed."

The Chinese will to harness the Beijing Olympics as an opportunity to show off to the rest of the world, with as little controversy as possible, has led to some very extreme measures.

While one not need always agree with Hudema or his methods, one still has to respect the passion with which he pursues his cause. Likewise, still has to be concerned with the Orwellian efficiency with which the Chinese state has trailed, corralled and deported a group of Canadian citizens -- especially considering ease with which Chinese intelligence services have gathered information on our citizens.

For Mike Hudema's part, maybe his ordeal has taught him to appreciate the comparatively gentle embrace of an oilsands security guard to the spear tackle of a Chinese police officer.