Satire
It's Thursday, January 31st.
John Edwards has pulled out of the Democratic presidential primary race.
Currently, so much for that dream of seeing a white male democrat from the south as President.
This is The Current.
Peter Lougheed
A provincial election is rumoured to be fast approaching in Alberta, and while no one expects the Conservatives' 37-year-reign to come to an end in Wild Rose Country, the vote will come at a delicate time for the province.
Alberta's economic boom has become a juggernaut. But there are costs associated with it: crumbling infrastructure, soaring inflation, sky-high real estate prices, and increasing pressure to rein in the environmental damage caused by the oil sands that are fueling it all.
The last time Alberta had to deal with the double-edged sword that is an oil boom, Peter Lougheed was in charge. He was Premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985 and he joined us in Toronto.
Listen to The Current: Part 1
The Current: Part 2
Kenya Conflict - Update
After the slaughter of an estimated 850 people in riots, attacks and counter-attacks in parts of Kenya, a second opposition Member of Parliament was murdered.
Mediation talks were postponed. Even before that, Mwai Kibaki was on a plane to Ethiopia and a summit meeting of the African Union. He had left his officials to continue to negotiate with those of Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement.
Former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan showed up to help, but any bid to mediate Kenya back from the brink faces some daunting challenges.
In late December 2007, Mwai Kibaki claimed victory in what the opposition says was a rigged election. In the days that followed, groups of outraged opposition supporters began targeting and killing people of Kikuyu descent -- the ethnic group to which President Kibaki belongs. Police and Kibaki supporters retaliated and the death toll climbed, with tens of thousands of refugees entering the equation.
The violence was especially pronounced in the Rift Valley, but it hit the capital Nairobi as well.
On January 30, 2008, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa described the fighting in the Rift Valley as "ethnic cleansing" and held open the possibility of cutting aid to Kenya if the fighting continued.
For the latest on the situation, we were joined by Michael Kaloki, a freelance journalist in Nairobi.
Kenya Violence - Human Rights Watch
Throughout the crisis, Kenya's opposition maintained that President Kibaki stole the election, and that this is the reason for the violence. According to Human Rights Watch, the election may very well have been stolen, but the opposition Orange Democratic Movement still has blood on its hands.
Chris Albin-Lackey is a Senior Researcher with the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. He spoke to us from Washington just after returning from two weeks in Kenya.
Kenya Violence - Opposition
Salim Lone is a spokesperson with the opposition Orange Democratic Movement and joined us from Nairobi.
Listen to The Current:Part 2
The Current: Part 3
Letters
We looked at some audience feedback, with Friday host
Maureen Taylor.
We also spoke to Staff Sergeant Mike Maloney, a police officer with the Ottawa Police Tactical and Explosive Unit, about tasers. For more on tasers we also heard from Andy Buxton, the Chair of Amnesty International Toronto.
Last Word - Peter Lougheed on Schreiber
With Parliament once more hearing from Karlheinz Schreiber about his alleged business dealings with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, we were reminded that long before Mr. Schreiber wheeled and dealed his way through Ottawa, he spent some time in Edmonton. And he crossed paths with then Alberta Premier, Peter Lougheed. Earlier in the program, Mr. Lougheed gave us his thoughts on his province's spectacular economic boom and the consequences that have come with it. And we'll leave you today with Mr. Lougheed's recollection of the one and only time he met Mr. Schreiber.
Listen to The Current:Part 3
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