Glen Pearson goes to Italy with Bev Oda.

These aren’t easy days politically in Ottawa; the constant sabre rattling does no real service to our country, nor to the world in which we are supposed to be an example. But in Bev Oda, Canada has a decent and capable public servant who refuses to let partisanship trump principle. I’ve always known that, but here in Italy she proves it repeatedly. The fate of the world’s poor could rest in the hands of someone much less capable or compassionate. Our differences are likely to remain, that’s fair enough. But in a political world of parry and thrust, she stands apart in a quiet humility that I think represents the best that’s in politics.