Algeria

OTTAWA – Canada was making little headway Wednesday in firmly establishing whether any of its nationals were part of a group of terrorists linked to al-Qaida who mounted a deadly siege at an isolated Algerian energy plant.

The Algerian government confirmed Monday that at two Canadians were among those involved in a hostage taking at a foreign-owned gas plant in southeast Algeria last week.

Anti-government protests planned for Feb. 12

First, a correction. The list of oil sources posted here should have read: Algeria, the United Kingdom, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Angola, Iraq, Mexico, Venezuela, Russia and the United States. You’ll note that, in the original post, Iran was listed where Angola should have been. My apologies to to the good people of Angola.

The Environment Minister observed yesterday (around the 12-minute mark of that interview) that Canada is a supplier of ethical oil—a phrase recently employed by Ezra Levant—because the revenues derived from that oil are not used to “fund terrorism or the destabilization of other governments.” This may or may not beg questions about the origins of our own oil imports.

With confirmation that four al-Qaeda prisoners and several million dollars were exchanged for Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, here again is the transcript from the Prime Minister’s press conference on the afternoon of April 22, announcing Fowler and Guay’s release.

“It looks like Stephen Harper is going to be the last defender of Guantanamo Bay.”