Tuesday Afternoon Links

- Brian Topp nicely describes the effect of talk about a possible coalition:

The truth of it is that Harper does not like talk about coalitions because he has no friends in the House of Commons, and is therefore not in a position to form one.

That is a permanent vulnerability. The issue is whether his opponents will have the collective wit to exploit it.

And with the Libs now seeming to have figured out that they're better off not letting Harper trap them in a two-party confrontation (and the public onside), it's obvious why the Cons are reversing course themselves rather than upping the ante.

- Peter Julian rightly notes that there's been far too little coverage of the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement. And hopefully he's right in believing that the issue isn't going to go away:

The lies of the Colombian government are widespread—denying the abuses of their secret police, excusing the military killings of African Colombians and aboriginal Colombians, and pretending that labour organizers are killed in so called "love feuds." The lies are constant, unerring, and slick; yet the lies haven't been able to convince members of the US Congress that this new government in Colombia has any respect for human rights. Apparently, The Harper government and Ignatieff's Liberals are much more pliable.

There is more to the Canada-Colombia FTA than meets the eye. It will continue to be a part of public debate for some time to come, despite Conservative and Liberal attempts to cut off debate and to shut out the public.

- For all the problems surrounding the G8/G20 summit, it's particularly noteworthy that the Cons seem to have abandoned what was supposed to be their good-news story from the meetings.

- And unfortunately, Greg is right to point out the latest Afghan detainee document deadline that's passed. And particularly with the Libs still pretending that the Cons have the slightest interest in reaching agreement rather than stonewalling at every turn, there's effectively no reason to think the Cons' efforts to drag out the Afghan detainee document negotiations will be anything but completely successful in keeping the truth hidden from opposition MPs.