March 26, 2007

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NATIONAL

MICHAEL BARNEWALL

(clockwise from top middle) deployed to Afghanistan in August 2006; at a Windsor restaurant after a rehab session, wearing a sheath cover another wound; at a fitting with Brock Loewen, his prosthetist; back at the battalion headquarters in Petawawa on Feb. By MONDAYS ARE MIKE29 min

THE THAWING OF STEPEN HARPER

The cold, calculating leader’s new intuitive side is giving the Tories a pre-election makeover BY JOHN GEDDES • There are two ways to think about election timing. One has to do mostly with polling numbers, the other mainly with political instincts. For years Stephen Harper looked like a man of icy calculation, very much the sort who would go with the numbers. If that were still the case, the chances of the Prime Minister triggering an election this spring, even with his lead in the polls and his recent dominance of the federal agenda, would have to be reckoned at no better than 50/50.

INTERVIEW

'When you go out, you can't enjoy It. Maybe the car won't start. I’m always thinking: can I make it home in time?’ MOHAMED HARKAT TALKS TO KATE FILLION ABOUT HOUSE ARREST, FAMILY WASHROOMS, HIS FAVOURITE MALL AND LIFE WITH HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW Mohamed Harkat came to Canada in 1995He claimed refugee status—which was granted in 1997—arguing that if returned to his native Algeria, he woidd be persecuted because of his political affiliations. In December 2002, the pizza delivery man and gas station attendant was taken into custody on a security certificate; the federal government believed him to be an al-Qaeda sleeper agent, though no charges were brought against him.

MAIL BAG

‘Despite the chattering and tittering of most of the Canadian press, Conrad Black is innocent until proven guilty’ BASIC BLACK MY BOSS once told me that the difference between Canadians and Americans was Americans admire entrepreneurs and wish to emulate their success, while Canadians hate wealthy elites and take pleasure when a business leader stumbles (“Conrad Black: The trial of the century,” Cover, March 12). By Mike Dixon,, Douglas L. Martin,, Terry Smith, Janet Money,, Kathleen Hughes, Elizabeth Vannan, Debby Kellner7 min

NEWSMAKERS

GULBUDDIN HEKMATYAR WHAT’S HE WANT NOW? Erratic, wily, treacherous and a survivor, Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been a menacing fixture in his country for decades. The leader of the CIA-backed Hezb-e Islami, a faction that served as one of the strongest resistance forces against Soviet occupation in the 1980s, he became prime minister of Afghanistan in the early 1990s before being pushed out by the Taliban.