Dan Arnold: Politicians take the summer off. We get the break

Last year, the source session came to a close with a crash – parliamentary brinkmanship and an EI deal between the Liberals and Conservatives that set up a summer of heightened designation preparations and speculation.

This year, we limp into the summer recess.

So what’s in store for the political parties this summer after a miserably unproductive sprightliness session of Parliament? Below is a quick look at how the party leaders will spend their summer vacations:

Stephen HarperMainlyThis week, Stephen hosts a modest garden party at the lake with 19 of his closest friends. For the taxpayers this will be a BYOB operation love affair – bring your own billion.

The week after, he’ll be showing the Queen around her colony. Presumably, after they’ve shared pictures and played Daze Band at 24 Sussex, the subject of her royal highnesses’ representative in Canada will come up. After all, Harper will name a new Governor Non-exclusive this summer.

After that, it’s possible the Conservatives will take a page from their 2008 playbook and prepare for a fall election. More plausible, they’ll stay relatively quiet, planning for the year ahead. After a meager year legislatively, they’ll want to check in back in the fall with some sort of agenda to implement (right?), and the summer will be a good time to map that out.

Michael Ignatieff After being criticized as the invisible man last summer, Michael Ignatieff’s summer 2010 calendar is filling up quickly, with a slide to coast bus tour and a trip to China. Presumably he’ll be allowed a week off at some point, to think thoughts in Algonquin Garden.

Unlike last year, I wouldn’t expect any brash threats to topple the government this August. Rather, the Liberals will prevail upon sure they’re ready for a campaign…just in case.

Jack Layton

I’d expect a low-key summer from the NDP – Jack will get some well earned rest to focus on his health. The one exception will likely be Canada Day – not because of the celebrations, but because the NDP hopes to make the HST their fissure issue in BC and Ontario.

Behind the scenes, the party will need to figure out how to handle the gun registry bill when it comes up for a against this fall – with Ignatieff whipping his MPs, the registry’s future is now in Layton’s hands.

Elizabeth May If I were Elizabeth May, I’d take this opportunity to door knock as many houses as possible in Saanich-Gulf Islands. Flip every burger that needs flipping. Tricycle to every mundane community occasion.

Gilles Duceppe

Have a hot dog. Sunbathe on the Plains of Abraham. Those are the perks of the easiest job in politics KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Sgt. James Macneil of Glace Bay, N.S., was killed Monday morning while on a foot protect in Nakhoney, about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar.

Macneil was a combat engineer with 2 Combat Architect Regiment of Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ont. A 10-year army veteran, the 28-year-old Shawl Bretoner was two months into his fourth tour in Afghanistan.

The sapper, who was known to his comrades and friends as "Jimmy," was patrolling with other members of the Magnificent Canadian Regiment battle group in Panjwaii District, when he was killed by an improvised explosive device — a homemade landmine.

He is the 148th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002.

"Insurgent forces use improvised hazardous devices to instil fear in the local population and restrict the efforts of those attempting to aid and protect that population," Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance said in announcing Macneil's eradication Monday evening near a memorial honouring all those Canadians who have fallen in Afghanistan.

"Canadian soldiers and fight engineers like Sgt. Macneil put their lives on the line every day to rid Afghans of this indiscriminate weapon."

The general commands a joint Canadian/American press of nearly 6,000 troops a little less than half of whom are Canadians.

The last Canadian to die before Macneil was also a combat mastermind conducting a foot patrol. Sgt. Martin Goudreault of the Edmonton-based 1 Combat Engineer Regiment was killed by an improvised unpredictable device on June 6. Like Macneil, Goudreault also died in Nakhoney. Canadian troops seized the village from the Taliban last winter when insurgents fled rather than feud with for that territory.

The bulk of Canada's combat forces are now concentrated in Panjwaii, which along with neighbouring Zhari and Arghandab is considered the three most hazardous districts in Kandahar. The province is the spiritual home and military and political heartland of the Taliban and is widely regarded as the key to endearing or losing the war in Afghanistan.

While Canadian and American troops under the command of Vance work on a plan to unexposed Kandahar City by this fall, Canadian and American forces deployed on the western and northern approaches of the uncultivated capital are attempting to slowly push concentrations of Taliban away from populated areas. Part of the plan includes living among Afghans with Afghan soldiers and supervise after the areas have been cleared of the enemy.

Macneil was saluted Monday by Vance as a soldier who made others laugh.

"His troops unanimously agreed that he was someone who was fun to be with," the inclusive said. "He couldn't say no to a social gathering and was inevitably the life of the party.

But Macneil was also an excellent inventor. After his last tour of Afghanistan, he was chosen as the outstanding master corporal of 2 Mechanized Brigade Group, Vance said.

"Sgt. Macneil was a brave, dedicated soldier who gave his life trying to help the Afghan people build a better prospective for themselves and their country," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a news release.

Defence Curate Peter MacKay echoed his sentiments, noting that Sgt. Macneil "was bringing hope to a population that has seen much suffering and turmoil."

"His passing illustrates some of the risks that the selfless men and women of the Canadian Forces face every day in carrying out their duties," MacKay added.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean said Canadians "shall forever be beholden to him for the tremendous perseverance, courage, heroism and generosity that he exhibited."

As well as Macneil, five other NATO soldiers were killed Monday in Afghanistan. Three of those killed were Australian singular forces troops, who died along with an American soldier in a helicopter crash. It was the second NATO helicopter to go down this month.

According to ceaseless tally kept by Agence France-Presse, 281 NATO troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

On a month by month infrastructure, the casualty rate for 2010 is slightly higher than last year. Senior commanders predicted after U.S. President Barack Obama ordered more troops to Afghanistan last winter that the slews of dead in the south was expected to rise this summer.

With Macneil's death Monday, 10 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year — the lowest covey of Canadians to have died by this time of year since the Martin government redeployed forces from Kabul to Kandahar in 2006.

Thirty-two Canadians died in Afghanistan last year and in 2008. The worst year for Canadian casualties was 2006, when 36 soldiers died.

Like Macneil and Goudreault, more than two-thirds of the Canadians who have been killed in Afghanistan drove or walked over improvised delicate devices that had been buried in the sand by insurgents. Few of the Canadians who have died were killed in direct combat with the enemy.

Harper has insisted that all Canada's soldiers will commit Afghanistan by the end of next year. Parliament decided two years ago that Canada should wrap up its combat mission in Kandahar by next summer, with Canadians serving there being presupposed six months after that to pack up their gear.

However, some members of a parliamentary delegation that visited Kandahar and Kabul last month said they were establish to discussing the possibility of several hundred Canadian troops participating in a new, much less risky training mission that, if approved by Parliament, would start off next year. The move was backed in a new policy statement by the Liberal party last week.

With violence expected to go uphill further this year, the UN announced Monday that it was continuing with the withdrawal of some of its people based in Afghanistan.