Ed Gorn's Movember 'stache

Hi folks,

It's Movember and time to make a difference. So I am going growing an amazing  'stache to support this worthy cause. You can make a difference by donating to me at mobro.co/1378404
Men's health is a cause I am passionate about but in order to make a difference I need your help. My commitment is to grow a moustache for the month of November and in doing so, raise vital awareness and funds for prostate cancer and male mental health.

I am asking you to help support my personal journey by making a donation. The size of which isn't important, every little bit helps Movember to continue its funding of world class programs.  If you want to know more about what you'll be helping to fund, you can visit http://ca.movember.com/about/funding-overview/.

To highlight the importance of what I am doing, take a look at these statistics:

  --  1 in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
  --  This year 26,500 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed
  --  1 in 5 men will experience a mental illness this year

If you'd like to help change these statistics, please donate to me here: http://mobro.co/1378404

If you're interested in the work being done take a look at the Programs We Fund section on the Movember website:http://ca.movember.com/about/funding-overview/

Thank you in advance for supporting my efforts to change the face of men's health.

Ed Gorn

Diplomatic Appointments

October 15, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today announced the following diplomatic appointments:

Jon Allen becomes Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, with concurrent accreditation to the Principality of Andorra.

Philip Calvert becomes Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, with concurrent accreditation to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Pierre Giroux becomes Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador.

Michael Grant becomes Ambassador to Libya.

Richard Hanley becomes High Commissioner in Barbados, with concurrent accreditation in the Commonwealth of Dominica, in Grenada, in Antigua and Barbuda, and in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and becomes Consul General in the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat.

Alexandre Lévêque becomes High Commissioner in the United Republic of Tanzania, with concurrent accreditation in the Republic of Seychelles, and becomes Ambassador to the Union of the Comoros.

Ross Miller becomes Consul General in Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

Surprise! Photo Ops Come First

Jonathan Kay in the NP suggests why our $1.5 billion aid effort in Afghanistan has been judged a complete failure.

Foreign Affairs [unlike CIDA] doesn’t much care about poor people. They want Canadian aid to support whatever the current political game plan may be. So if Afghanistan is the hot topic of the day, they want a visible Canadian aid presence on the ground, new school buildings and medical centres with Canadian flags flying from them, perfect backdrops for the PM or Ministers’ photo-ops when they fly in to inspect this, that, or the other thing.”

DFAIT to Open Religious Freedom Office

What could possibly go wrong?

"... Canada is within days of opening a federal Office of Religious Freedom (within the Department of Foreign Affairs), and it’s becoming apparent that this isn’t a good idea for our country or the world. In fact, it’s very likely to contribute to the very problems we hope it might help solve."

Doug Saunders in the Globe, here.