This weekend on The House

It's hard to tell if the story was meant to roll out the way it did, but it now looks like there will be Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan past 2011. They will be there to train Afghan forces... We asked Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae and Laurie Hawn, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Defence Minister, to tell us more about the next phase of Canada's mission.

Before he left for South Korea this week, the Prime Minister gave a speech in Ottawa at a conference to combat anti-semitism. Stephen Harper reiterated his strong support for Israel. That, combined with our recent conflict with the United Arab Emirates, which lead to Canada getting kicked out of Camp Mirage, made us want to look into Canada's strategy in the Middle East. Janice Stein from the Munk School of Global Affairs was more than happy to provide some insight.

Potash makes an appearance on the show again this week. The Australian High Commissioner to Canada tells us officials were "a little surprised" by Tony Clement's decision to reject BHP's bid, but that Canadians should not expect any kind of retaliation.

Finally, our parliamentary reporter James Cudmore has an interesting story about Canada's Chief Herald. Canada's what? I know, that was my first reaction too. Let's just say the whole thing got started when we were trying to figure what all those ones and zeros on the new Governor General's coat of arms meant. Well, James found out and brings us that story in a way only he can.

Hope you enjoy the show!