Orange You Glad?

In one respect, the results of an Angus Reid poll to be released on Monday are not surprising — the Conservatives are at 35 per cent, the Liberals at 27 and the NDP are at 19 per cent; in Quebec, the Bloc leads with 37 per cent.

However, the poll also asked Canadians how they would vote if the Liberals and NDP went to the polls offering Canadians a coalition government, and here things get interesting.

According to the results published in Monday’s edition of La Presse, the Conservatives led by Stephen Harper would defeat a coalition led by Michael Ignatieff 40-34 per cent.

With Bob Rae as Liberal leader, the coalition and Conservatives would be tied.

However, if the coalition were to propose Jack Layton as prime minister, according to the Reid poll, it could defeat the Conservatives by 43-37 per cent.

— "Prime Minister Layton?", The Globe and Mail

Via james_nicoll.

Corruption in Haiti

A former official of Haiti's state-owned national telecommunications company was sentenced to 48 months in prison for his role in a money-laundering conspiracy in connection with a foreign bribery scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors said Robert Antoine, 62, of Miami and Haiti, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez to serve three years of supervised release after he leaves prison. Martinez ordered Antoine to pay $1,852,209 in restitution and to forfeit $1,580,771. Antoine pleaded guilty on March 12 to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to his indictment, Antoine was director of international affairs for Haiti's state-owned Telecommunications D'Haiti, also known as Haiti Teleco, from May 2001 to April 2003. Antoine previously admitted that he accepted bribes from three U.S. telecommunications companies and thereby defrauded Haiti Teleco.

— Haiti Telecom exec sentenced to 4 years, Miami Herald

It's very common to make the charge that officials in Haiti are "corrupt". Why does no one ask, "who is doing the corrupting?"