The Star: Even before he had to fend off rumours of an imminent departure from federal politics on Wednesday, Peter MacKay already had some key attributes of a lame duck minister. On a week when the top file in his department has been front and centre at home and abroad, the defence minister spent more time denying that he would soon follow Jim Prentice out of politics than manning the frontline in the debate over the follow-up to the Canadian combat mission in Afghanistan. By all accounts, MacKay was not so much missing in action as kept out of it.
full story