The Election:Day 16

Today the debate over the "intervention" by the U.S. Ambassador in the campaign intensified. Martin cranked up the rhetoric."I am not going to be dictated to as to the subjects I should raise," Martin said at a lumber mill in B.C.

"When it comes to defending Canadian values, when it comes to standing up for Canadian interests, I'm going to call it as I see it," Martin said. Trumpeting the "modest" progress that has been made recently in the softwood lumber dispute, Martin said those results came from insisting that the United States live up to the North American Free Trade Agreement. "The progress we have made has been made because we have, in fact, stood up for Canadian rights," he said.

Also in B.C. getting ready for the debates,NDP Leader Jack Layton said that Canada's reputation on the world stage has been damaged by Prime Minister Paul Martin's "shameless posturing.''Martin has nothing to show for all his bluster about softwood duties, said Layton, who favours recovering the money by slapping an export tax on Canadian gas and oil shipped to the United States.

Layton also accused Martin of electioneering by calling on the U.S. to join the Kyoto accord on climate change when the Americans have actually done a better job of reducing greenhouse gases than Canada.

"He thinks he can stand up and wag his finger at George Bush and somehow impress somebody,'' Layton said. "It's time he started delivering results. That would allow Canadians to be able to speak to the world.''

Meanwhile Stephen Harper today announced the CPC's democratic reform package.Harper laid out his electoral reform platform plank, the main component of which is reforming the Senate. "We need a ballot with senators' names and seats with senators that have been elected." The appointed Senate, he said, is a "relic of the 19th century."

Another key element of the CPC electoral reform package is setting fixed election dates four years apart.