Diane Francis sends word that Brent Fullard of the Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors has formalized the anonymous-tough-guy-Tory talk quoted in Ottawa’s political daily The Hill Times in April: Fullard has challenged Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to a debate, offering him 90 minutes to defend the Tax Fairness Plan. Fullard will rebut; he’s also pledged to underwrite a CAD50,000 minimum donation to charity to provide a little motivation for Flaherty.

Don’t stop reading; you’ve heard this all before, but now it seems both combatants and, more importantly, their audience, are prepared for battle.

Expedition officials compared the act to Neil Armstrong’s planting of the American flag on the moon, and the US Geological Survey determined, to a degree that should satisfy United Nations Convention on the Land of the Sea requirements (should the US eventually ratify it), that there’s not much ground for resource disputes in the area.

Predicting the price of oil next week, next month or next year is about as Quixotic a venture as can be undertaken by even the most diligent expert. And engaging in such forecasts is even more counterproductive for individual investors focused on the long term; you don’t enjoy the romance of headline-grabbing statements or electric cable TV shout-fest appearances, and, most important, it’s an impractical exercise.

The raw numbers are impressive: A report by the US Geological Survey (USGS) found that 25 areas inside the Arctic Circle contain about a fifth of the world’s undiscovered but recoverable oil and natural gas reserves.

Trinidad Drilling (TSX: TDG, OTC: TDGCF) wasted little time putting part of the USD54 million from its sale of a barge rig project in Indonesia to good purpose, inking a deal with two unnamed parties for the construction of seven more drilling rigs for use in Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale, an unconventional natural gas play that’s shaping up as one of the key such resources in the US. 

The Canadian economy is struggling to overcome the slowdown afflicting the US and other developed nations. More than 70 percent of its exports come south, and it’s not as productive as other members of the Group of Eight (G-8). But in broader fundamental terms, Canada is in good health.

The Bank of Canada (BoC) surprised many observers June 10 by holding interest rates steady rather than cutting in the face of slowing US and global economic conditions.

Markets north of the border are closed Tuesday in observance of Canada Day, a federal holiday marking the joining of the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.

Once upon a time, BCE reluctantly assumed the lead role in the largest potential income trust conversion ever. Now, in a demonstration of ubiquity redolent of Woody Allen’s Zelig, it’s the star of the biggest potential leveraged buyout (LBO) in history.