April 18, 2008 PrimeTime Politics Weekend Join Martin Stringer and his journalist guests: Bruce Campion-Smith , Ottawa Bureau Chief for The Toronto Star, Louise Elliott , reporter and contributor to CBC Radio's " The House ", and John Geddes , Ottawa Bureau Chief for Maclean's magazine. They'll discuss: Bernier's Blunder : Last weekend during a visit to Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier suggested that Afghan President Hamid Karzai might want to replace the governor of Kandahar province, who has been accused of corruption and torture. Monsieur Bernier later "clarified" his statement, stating that Aghanistan is a sovereign nation and that Canada way was not dictating what course its government should take. The opposition parties have called for Monsieur Bernier to step aside or be fired as minister. How serious a blunder was this, and how much damage might it have caused? The Detainee Inquiry : This week, lawyers for the federal government launched a court challenge to try to stop a public inquiry by the Military Police Complaints Commission into the transfer of detainees from Canadian custody to afghan authorities, amid allegations of torture by the Afghans. How should we interpret this move by the federal government? " Au Revoir, Mon Général " This week, General Rick Hillier announced he will retire as Canada's Chief of Defence Staff, effective June 30. We'll have reactions to his retirement, the timing of the announcement, and discuss the choice of his successor. "In and Out" Election financing : This week, the RCMP conducted a search of the Conservative Party of Canada's Ottawa headquarters, at the request of Canada's Election Commissioner. It is assumed the search was in connection with Elections Canada's decision to refuse claims for election expenses from 67 Conservative candidates in the 2006 election. Elections Canada has ruled that expenses claimed by those candidates for local television advertising constituted part of the national campaign. According to Elections Canada, that would mean that the Tories overspent their legal election limit by $1.3 million. Elections Canada has asked its enforcement arm, under Elections Commissioner William Elliott, to further investigate to see if criminal charges should be laid. The Conservative Party of Canada iis challenging the ruling in court and is trying to recover the money. What should we make of this whole affair? How damaging are these developments to the Conservative Party's reputation and in the public eye? Martin talks with Phil Fontaine , National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations about the upcoming second Nation Action Day on native issues, set for May 29 th . They'll also discuss a number of outstanding issues between the Harper government and Canada's largest native peoples' organisation. Martin will speak with David Stewart-Patterson , Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, about his group's participation in next week's meetings of the Trilateral Commission to discus world economic trends and issues. And Martin speaks with his panel of MPs from the different parties about this week's events in federal politics.