I Am Skooter  So here's us, on the raggedy edge.
Been down a thousand highways and they're all the same / Another empty place where I can hide my shame Harper's Magazine Advocates a Protectionist Economy

I really can’t find any other way to read this month’s editorial at Harpers as advocating anything other than a return to good old fashion protectionism. It all just seems a bit weird.

Notebook: Up from Globalism
by Alan Tonelson

“…the full potential of the Buy American approach has been limited by U.S. treaty obligations under NAFTA, and by our membership in the World Trade Organization. Hence, at the very least, the United States should declare these obligations suspended until the economic crisis has been vanquished.” Harpers, January 2010, pp. 9

Oddly, they go on to argue against consumption taxes arguing that they give other countries a competitive advantage.

“Another gigantic but barely recognized barrier to balancing America’s manufacturing dominated trade flows is the use of value-added taxes (VATs) by virtually all U.S. trade partners. VATs are applied only to goods consumed domestically, and since the United States lacks such measures, foreign VATs clandestinely subsidize exports to the United States by subtracting the cost of foreign governments for everything that is not consumed locally.” ibid.

On the first point, it seems clear that there’s nothing inherently wrong with a globalized economy. In theory it promotes a level playing field amongst the world’s citizens and is responsible for the rising (albeit slowly) quality of life of many citizens of traditionally third world nations.

The notion that the United States can create a walled community in which all of its needs are met seems just patently ridiculous. The American economy can’t even provide its own food. As Harpers itself has pointed out

America’s biggest crop, grain corn, is completely unpalatable. It is raw material for an industry that manufactures food substitutes. Likewise, you can’t eat unprocessed wheat. You certainly can’t eat hay. You can eat unprocessed soybeans, but mostly we don’t. These four crops cover 82 percent of American cropland.

On the second I have difficulty seeing consumption taxes as a bad thing. As with any method of taxation the taxes need to be allocated and used effectively by governments. At heart a consumption tax means that those who consume more pay more tax, and its quite difficult to hide from them. Put simply: the guy who buys a BMW pays more taxes than the guy who buys a Honda Civic.

Given the sheer size of the U.S. deficit, and the enormous levels of household debt involved it seems clear that the current strategy of American taxation isn’t sustainable.

Something has to give, and perhaps a consumption tax would help to balance the equation a bit.

Take That Alberta

H2oil animated sequences from Dale Hayward on Vimeo.

Otherwise known as why the tar sands are not a truly viable source of oil.

Follow the Leader

Both Barak Obama and Stephen Harper announced they weren’t going to attend the Copenhagen environmental summit, demonstrating a shortsightedness that one would hope world leaders would not exhibit.

A couple of days ago Barak Obama announced that he would attend after all.

Today Stephen Harper announced he would attend after all.

It seems as if Canada is, these days, playing follow the leader to such an extent that we’re not even willing to play in the sandbox until our friends ask us too.

That’s not leadership.

When Insurance Companies Face No Risk

The latest issue or Harpers has an article called Too Big Too Burn: AIG Plays God in a Man-Made Firestorm on the rise of insurance companies operating private fire fighting companies for their own clients’ use. Leaving aside the fact that it seems offensive to view people in times of desperation purely in terms of profit and loss, the article offers up some interesting statistics on the American insurance industry.

In 1992, after category 5 Hurricane Andrew struck Florida and Louisiana, insurers paid out more than $23 billion in claims—$1.27 for every dollar of premium collected that year…In 2005 After Hurricane Katrina the first category 5 storm of the new climate era, they paid out more than $40 billion—but only 71.5 cents per dollar collected.

When regulators decline rate hikes in excess of 40% (that’s a single year hike) the insurance companies responded by dropping “tens of thousands of policies.”

A cynic might point out that insurance companies are supposed to defray localized risks across a broad policy base, and that the nature of the business would suggest that there will inevitably be years in which money is lost. Rate hikes of 40% do nothing to defray the rish, they simply punish localized policy holders for what are—ultimately—acts of god.

My favourite line was this:

Libeery Mutual’s Private Advantage Company Combo is the first policy to protect corporate executives from global-warming lawsuits.

Yes, even global warming is now just a problem to be solved by complex instruments of voodoo economics. Ridiculous.

Between Euphoria & Fear

Janice Gross Stein is more commonly a foreign affairs correspondent, but has an interesting article in the Literary Review of Canada titled Between Euphoria and Fear that looks at the financial meltdown and the role that emotion played in perpetuating it. Essentially, basic economic theory should have suggested that the market would “correct” itself as investors behaved rationally. This didn’t seem to happen, and behaviour was far from rational.

To complicate matters further, pioneering new research in neuroscience in the last 15 years by Antonio Damasio and Joseph LeDoux, among others, demonstrates that emotion is primary and plays a dominant role in choice because it is automatic and fast. Damasio was able to observe closely patients who had suffered injury to those parts of the brain that process emotions, and, to his surprise, his patients were unable to make even simple rational choices even though their cognitive systems were fully intact. Rationality, he demonstrated in his clinical research, requires emotion.

The problematic behaviour happened, basically, when people lost money and feared losing more money. The money that was then withdrawn created a market contraction. Rationally, people should have taken the long view and left their money in there. There was a problem with this though:

Mainstream economics treats risk as judgements about variation over outcomes, judgements that are informed by probability theory. Psychologists see it differently. The propensity to take risk is in part determined by whether people have gained or lost in relation to some reference point.

People didn’t care if they had more money than they’d invested a few years ago: the face that they were still “up” didn’t matter—they were “down” relative to their mental reference point.

The Myth of National Healthcare

National healthcare is a myth in Canada. A convenient fiction. The reality is that healthcare is run by the provinces, leading to widely disparate policies and application. I’ve seen no better evidence of this in the recent past than the idea that British Columbia’s financially strapped healthcare system is considering “selling” surgeries to Saskatchewan. Somehow the claim is that all these healthcare professionals will be able to provide British Columbians with faster service…despite the fact that they’ll be busy working on the citizens of Saskatchewan.

In a true national healthcare system, the provinces wouldn’t be looking to each other as a revenue source.

Province Wants to Sell Surgeries to Saskatchewan
Parties spar over whether the plan will allow BCers to get operations faster.
By Andrew MacLeod, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca

People from Saskatchewan may soon be coming to British Columbia for surgery, if negotiations between the two provincial governments are successful.

B.C.’s health minister, Kevin Falcon, said selling surgeries will bring money into B.C.’s system and help British Columbians get care sooner. But New Democratic Party health critic, Adrian Dix, said the plan makes no sense when health authorities are already cancelling surgeries for British Columbians.

Return of the Star Candidate

I’m not sure the Liberal Party of Canada ever actually learns.A pot smoking snowboarder into a riding seems like a pretty dubious star candidate to start with, and Ross Rebagliati isn’t exactly the sharpest pencil in the box.

They don’t think anybody actually fell for that “second hand smoke” line do they?

Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati to take on Stockwell Day
Posted: October 23, 2009, 7:45 AM by Jeremy Barker
Canwest News Service

KEWLONA, B.C. — Canadian snowboarder and Olympic medal winner Ross Rebagliati plans to beat a new opponent: Stockwell Day.

Mr. Rebagliati will seek the federal Liberal nomination on Monday in the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding of central B.C.

Commuting to Work for your Health

The first sentence of the article makes the key point here: even a minor increase in cycling as a mode of transportation can result in enormous gains in personal health. These personal health gains consequently lead to an economic reward for society as a whole through reduced health care and road infrastructure costs.

Research tells commuters: On your bike to lose weight
4:00AM Monday Oct 12, 2009
By Martin Johnston

If New Zealanders increased their cycling to the modest levels of the 1980s, they would burn off annually the amount of energy contained in 40 million cans of Coke.

And this is just commuter and local cycling at a relaxed pace - not a Hayden Roulston-style medal-winning sprint in lycra. Commuter cycling has collapsed since the 1980s and less than 2 per cent of people bike to work.

It's Probably "the fact that I'm Albertan"

There are things I’m not fond of about Vancouver, and amongst the worst of them is the smug air of superiority people here have about the rest of the country. Whistler is worse.

I could be wrong, of course. It could be that some Whistler locals aren’t looking forward to the massive disruption to their lives that’s going to happen from February 1st to the middle of March next year. Honest though, I suspect it’s a combination of smugness and annoyance that Regan Lauscher is feeling.

Whistler lacks ‘Olympic fever,’ and she’s sick of it
‘Why the hate?’ athlete asks in controversial blog alleging resort town has been an unwelcoming place for Albertan athletes like her
ROD MICKLEBURGH
Last updated on Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009 03:09AM EDT

“My biggest challenge at the moment is surviving life in British Columbia,” Ms. Lauscher wrote after training for less than a week in Whistler, site of the Olympic luge competition.

“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what the people in Whistler dislike more, the fact that I’m Albertan, or that I’m a participant in their perceived ‘Olympic abomination.’ “

Ms. Lauscher, a native of Red Deer, stressed that most Whistler residents are giving her “tons of encouragement.” But there was a “distinct group of people who haven’t caught that metaphorical ‘Olympic’ fever.”

Wildrose Alliance wins Calgary-Glenmore byelection

This probably doesn’t mean much nationally: it’s neither a comment on the Harper Tories nor an implied endorsement of the federal LIberal party under Michael Ignatieff but this quote from the CBC’s article covering the Wildrose Alliance’s victory just made me laugh. The emphasis is mine.

“I’ve been a strong Conservative all my life like any normal Albertan,” voter Ellie Lucille Scott told CBC News. “But I think that people do need to be put on their toes a little bit and I think that’s the message I would like to see them get at this time.”

Alan Turing: Father of Modern Computer Science

“Alan Turing” is the father of modern computer science, and a pioneer in thinking on the concept of artificial intelligence. He was also famously gay, at a time when such a thing was not allowed.

Great Britan has finally chosen to apologize to one of its most notable citizens.

“Treatment of Alan Turing was “appalling” - PM”:http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571

Number 10 door: PA copyrightThe Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the “appalling” way he was treated for being gay.

Alan Turing, a mathematician most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes, was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in 1952 and sentenced to chemical castration.

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, the Lion Sleeps Tonight

Senator Edward Kennedy’s earlier passing has ended one of America’s great political dynasties. A true Democrat has passed.

About Damn Time

The Harper government’s handling of the Omar Khadr affair has been nothing short of a disgrace:

Ottawa must seek Khadr’s return, court rules

OTTAWA—The Canadian Press Last updated on Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 12:27PM EDT

The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling ordering the government to seek the return of Omar Khadr from a U.S. military prison.

In a 2-1 judgment released Friday , the court dismissed an appeal by the Harper government, which did not want to ask that Mr. Khadr be sent home.

Of course Michael Ignatief’s calls for Khadr’s return seem a little hollow, given his past support for the use of torture as a tool in democracies.

Barak Obama Gets It

It’s called being a person not a politician, and the Democrats probably just got two votes for life.

I can’t help but think that Stephen Harper’s response to the father’s comment in that video would have been to criticize him for not having his daughter in school.

Even the National Post thinks the Conservatives are dead.

The Harper Government Is Dead

Healthcare is always the top polling issue in elections. Well, it’s always one of the top three. Healthcare and the Economy (otherwise known as jobs usually flip the top two positions.) This will kill the already dead Harper government at the next election.

Canada was relatively self sufficient, and a significant player in the world market for medical isotopes. The Harper government has just killed it, and abandoned our health care security in the process (not too mention increased costs over the long term, in all likelihood.)

Canada to get out of isotopes game: Harper
David Akin, Canwest News Service, Published: Wednesday, June 10, 2009

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada plans to leave the production of medical isotopes to other countries — despite the fact that for a time last year, this country was producing nearly all such isotopes in the world.

Big Oil's Guilty Conscience

Shell has settled a lawsuit in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, issuing the standard claim that the settlement is not an admission of guilt and claiming that it had no role in Saro-Wiwa’s death.

Nonsense. Just nonsense.

Shell to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Case
By JAD MOUAWAD, Published: June 8, 2009

The announcement caps a protracted legal battle that began shortly after the death of the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995. Mr. Saro-Wiwa, Shell’s most prominent critic at the time in Nigeria, was hanged by that country’s military regime after protesting the company’s environmental practices in the oil-rich delta, especially in his native Ogoni region.

Shell continued Monday to deny any role in the death. It called the settlement a “humanitarian gesture” meant to compensate the plaintiffs, including Mr. Saro-Wiwa’s family, for their loss and to cover a portion of their legal fees and costs. Some of the money will go into an educational and social trust fund intended to benefit the Ogoni people.

LIke Father, Like Son

Quite at random, both Brian and Ben Mulroney made the front page of the Globe and Mail. It’s not often that the worlds of politics and entertainment clash with such vigor.

Brian must be so proud of his son (though I always thought Brian was Canada’s Ryan Seacrest…though I have very little idea of who Ryan Seacrest is.)

Vancouver's Olympic Loan Problem

When information about Vancouver’s Olympic village loan leaked, there was quite a bit of debate over how it happened. The documents were apparently identified by a unique number and rumour at the time said that it was Peter Ladner’s copy that had been leaked.

Then mayor Sam Sullivan called for an investigation. The results are in and the crack investigators at the Vancouver Police Department have come up…empty. It just makes me laugh.

Vancouver police quit probe into leaked Olympic documents
BY JEFF LEE, VANCOUVER SUN, MAY 12, 2009
 
Vancouver police have halted an investigation into who leaked confidential information from city hall regarding a $100-million Olympic village financing deal.

Saying they were unable to convince everyone who had access to a confidential document to take polygraph tests, police said they have no choice but to recommend not proceeding with charges.

“After a thorough and detailed investigation involving interviews with numerous city councillors and staff, and a review of any existing evidence, we have decided there is insufficient evidence to recommend charges in this incident,” said Insp. Les Yeo.

The Mayor of Sudbury...

Makes some very good points, and takes Heritage Minister James Moore to task.

Sudbury shows anger at CBC over nickel-and-diming in regions

An already cut-to-the-bone regional CBC outlet - so poor it has already lost most of its ability to travel in the north - is scheduled to lose eight of a very small staff in the cuts being ordered up to meet the broadcaster’s financial shortfall.

Toronto’s regional outlet, says the mayor, loses nothing by comparison.

“There’s no sharing of the pain,” Rodriquez says, “if that’s what they have to do.

“Toronto is well served by radio stations, but up here it’s what connects people from Timmins to Espanola. If there’s any place in Canada that CBC is getting value for its money, it’s Northern Ontario.

“But here they are, chipping away, chipping away…”

The irony has not been lost in this regional CBC operation, nor in others across the country, that the CBC is being forced to cut back services at precisely the same time that the private sector is bailing out of smaller commitments.

“And that,” says Rodriguez, “is the whole point. You can’t rely on the private sector. You have to have the government involved. Top management of the CBC is taking the first steps toward destroying all that the Broadcast Act stands for.”

A Crack in the Armour

There’s not much doubt that the B.C. Liberals will win the next election, but John van Dongen’s essentially forced resignation shows a lapse in judgement on the part of Gordon Campbell and his team.

B.C. solicitor general resigns over speeding tickets
Delayed resignation reflects poorly on premier, says NDP leader
Last Updated: Monday, April 27, 2009 | 1:00 PM PT

British Columbia’s top law enforcement official has resigned from the provincial cabinet following revelations that his driver’s licence has been suspended for excessive speeding, adding a new twist to the provincial election campaign.

Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety John van Dongen announced his cabinet resignation in a statement released Monday morning, but said he will continue to run as the B.C. Liberal Party candidate for Abbotsford South in the May 12 election.

The problem here is that van Dongen’s infractions related to his responsibilities. As the minister responsible for ICBC and driving safety, he should have resigned by choice the moment a court of law took away his driver’s licence. If he’d been (for example) the Environment minister…well, that would show terrible judgement but not create a conflict with his responsibilities and a resignation might be an option.

Too much Photoshop?

Photography: the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (as film or a CCD chip)

For years submitting photos to magazines meant submitting slides. Why slides? Quite simply, the slide is the picture. A print from a negative can be manipulated, and negatives aren’t really viewable (although in black and white it’s doable.) Slides were, generally speaking, unmodified (though you could get them duplicated easily.)

In the digital age (to which I do not yet belong in a photographic sense) it’s far easier to manipulate things. Digital cameras with white balance and easy exposure bracketing settings make it easier and cheaper to shoot more, which is what most people wind up doing. I know photographers with great eyes for composition who know nothing of basic concepts such as depth of field. Take the shot, put it on the computer, edit it in Photoshop and print it…somewhere.

There’s nothing wrong with it, but at some point an excess of manipulation makes it not a photograph anymore. It may not decrease an image’s relevance, or impact, or cultural significance…but it’s not a photograph anymore.

The international press is confronting the issue of how much manipulation is too much manipulation in its annual awards presentations.

Too much Photoshop? Judge for yourself

Three photographers were told to deliver their RAW-files for closer inspection, when the three judges in January were assembled to select the winners in Picture of The Year in Denmark. This is the first time in the competition’s 35-year history that it has happened. One of the photographers, Klavs Bo Christensen, has accepted to show his RAW-files for the readers of pressefotografforbundet.dk. You can also hear a recording of the conversion between the judges about the photographer’s story.

Photo journalist Klavs Bo Christensen just landed at Kastrup Airport after a long travel abroad, when his cell phone rang. It was a representative from the Danish photo contest Picture of The Year, who asked him to submit his RAW-files from his Haiti story to the judges.

Isn't Religion Supposed to be About Compassion?

If there was a single argument for the absolute separation of church and state, this fits.

Amid Abuse of Girls in Brazil, Abortion Debate Flares

The doctors’ actions set off a swirl of controversy. A Brazilian archbishop summarily excommunicated everyone involved — the doctors for performing the abortion and the girl’s mother for allowing it — except for the stepfather, who stands accused of raping the girl over a number of years.

“The law of God is above any human law,” said José Cardoso Sobrinho, the archbishop, who argued that while rape was bad, abortion was even worse.
…
In more than 80 percent of the cases, fathers or stepfathers committed the sexual abuse, doctors at the clinic said.

On the List of Things Not Likely to Help...

An agreement to share information seems unlikely to stop people from shooting each other in the streets of Vancouver. Presumably, the information to be shared was relevant several months ago.

Oppal and Mexican officials join forces to fight gangs
DIRK MEISSNER, The Canadian Press, March 24, 2009 at 3:52 AM EDT

VICTORIA — Criminal gangs don’t pay attention to international borders, a fact that spurred a meeting yesterday between the attorneys-general of British Columbia and the northern Mexican state of Baja California looking for ways to fight the transnational gang network.

Baja California’s Rommel Moreno Manjarrez and B.C.’s Wally Oppal signed a statement of intent pledging to share information to fight drug-trafficking gangs who kill to protect their turf.

The information-sharing statement could ultimately lead to B.C. justice officials working in Mexico to help catch and jail gang members, they said.

The Phrase "Swedish Rocket" Becomes Less Confusing

Every once in a while when I refer to my car as the Swedish Rocket people ask me if I have a Saab. Another reaction I get on rare occasions is that it sounds like a foreign exchange girlfriend.

The most common reaction, of course, is just one of confusion. I’m used to that though (and frankly, it’s not only when talking about my car…)

Sweden is somewhat wisely deciding not to bail Saab out. This may result in a bankruptcy, but it does seems more rational than the American strategy of propping up businesses that have a failing history.

I do hope Volvo doesn’t die. I like that new XC60.

Sweden Says No to Saving Saab, a National Icon
By SARAH LYALL, Published: March 22, 2009

TROLLHATTAN, Sweden — Saab Automobile may be just another crisis-ridden car company in an industry full of them. But just as the fortunes of Flint, Mich., are permanently entangled with General Motors, so it is impossible to find anyone in this city in southwest Sweden who is not somehow connected to Saab.

Which makes it all the more wrenching that the Swedish government has responded to Saab’s desperate financial situation by saying, essentially, tough luck. Or, as the enterprise minister, Maud Olofsson, put it recently, “The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories.”

If the Chair of the Republican National Committee Say So, It Must Be True...

Nerts. The sad thing is this guy is part of the Republican leadership. People actually look up to this guy. I’m especially fond of his warming being part of the cooling process logic. That’s just brilliant.

Michael Steele: ‘We Are Not Warming’
March 20, 2009, 11:39 am, By Kate Galbraith

The Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael Steele, has weighed in on climate change.

In a March 6 radio appearance that is only now percolating through the blogosphere, Mr. Steele apparently fielded a skeptic’s question about global warming. As transcribed by the liberal blog, the Huffington Post, Mr. Steele thanked the questioner and replied this way:

“We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long.”

Vancouver's Loss, Delta's Gain

This move makes sense. It’s always better when politicians represent the ridings they live in, or as close as possible. It’s a loss for Vancouver though. Wally was a good MLA.

Oppal to run in new riding in May
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | 7:03 AM PT, CBC News

Attorney General Wally Oppal made it official Tuesday night that he would be running as a Liberal candidate in the Delta South riding during the May 12 provincial election.

Oppal’s move from his current riding had been anticipated, since Delta South’s current MLA Val Roddick said she would not seek re-election.

Stephen Harper Moves to Cement his Control

Lost in the wilderness for years, the Conservative Party of Canada’s success can be largely attributed to the grass roots populist Reform movement started by Preston Manning (with a young Stephen Harper serving as the party’s first formal director of policy.)

Part of this populism meant putting a lot of power into the hands of riding associations. These associations did fund raising, community activism and had virtual carte blanche to choose candidates.

Candidate races are good for attention, sometimes. They also provide an incentive for people to get involved. They also, over the years, became not much more than popularity contests: basically the candidate with the most friends would convince them all to sign up for a modest commitment of $10 or so, and in return he’d lock up the race. Great for fund raising, but not great for true involvement.

Everyone was subjected to this, current status notwithstanding. It meant that anti-choice candidates like Russ Hiebert could launch campaigns to unseat sitting MPs. These were ugly fights, and caused fissures in the party. They gave opposition candidates great fodder for critique.

It appears that Stephen Harper has abandoned his populist beliefs, and these ugly fights are no more. From now on, sitting MPs won’t have to justify their seat to the local membership.

Conservative Party’s plan to acclaim incumbent MPs draws criticism
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | 4:15 PM ET, CBC News

The federal Conservative Party is moving ahead with reforms to its process of nominating candidates for elections that will mean incumbent MPs won’t have to fight for nominations in their ridings.

The proposal would declare incumbent MPs acclaimed as candidates in the next election unless two-thirds of members in their ridings ask for an open nomination contest.

I don’t think this is a bad idea, but as a fundamental shift it’s interesting. I suspect that the motivation pretty standard fare: tighten the circle, keep the people you know and trust already close by, make it a bit harder for new people to get in so the boat can’t be rocked. Pretty much every Prime Minister has done it: Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, Brian Mulroney and (perhaps most obviously and poorly) Paul Martin.

It’s exactly what dictators do too. It avoids dissent from within, and erects significant barriers to entry for new voices. It ensures that the guy in charge stays the guy in charge, at least until the opposition wins.

I suspect that’s going to happen in the next election. I suspect that Stephen Harper is nervous after having failed to achieve a majority government after four elections and that Michael Ignatief shows a lot of promise as a Liberal leader. This is a bit of a Hail Mary on Stephen Harper’s part.

I suspect it’s going to fail.

Richard Florida in the Atlantic Monthly

The March 2009 cover of the Atlantic Monthly featured a series of “regional” covers highlighting an article by Richard Florida called How the Crash Will Reshape America. Apparently, the Atlantic considers Canada one region as the Vancouver area edition featured not Vancouver (mentioned in the article) and not even Seattle (the economic hub of our region) but Toronto. Yes…Toronto. 4000km away.

Although my feelings on Florida are mixed, the article isn’t bad. He addresses some good points and every time a hole in his logical circle poked up he managed to plug it like a good little dutch boy. Some excerpts.

How the Crash Will Reshape America
Richard Florida, The Atlantic Monthly, March 2009

“The world’s 40 largest mega-regions, which are home to some 18 percent of the world’s population, produce two-thirds of global economic output and nearly 9 in 10 new patented inventions…Cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Raleigh, and Boston now have two or three times the concentration of college graduates of Akron or Buffalo…as globalization has increased the financial return on innovation by widening the consumer market, the pull of innovative places, already dense with highly talented workers, has only grown stronger, created a snowball effect…successful cities, unlike biological organisms, actually get faster as they grow older.”

“Perhaps no major city in the U.S. today looks more beleaguered than Detroit, where in October the average home price was $18,513, and some 45,000 properties were in some form of foreclosure.”

“In Chicago, for instance, the country’s 50 biggest law firms grew by 2,130 lawyers from 1984 to 2006…Throughout the the rest of the Midwest, these firms added a total of just 169 attorneys.”

“Bank of America has taken to the banking like a shopaholic with a new credit card; it has been bargain-hunting and cutting some astonishing deals. Bank of America will come out the other side far better than in any fantasy it might have entertained previously.”

“To an uncommon degree, the economic boom in these cities was propelled by housing appreciation: as prices rose, more people moved in, seeking inexpensive lifestyles and the opportunity to get in on the real-estate market where it was rising…Local homeowners pumped more and more capital out of their houses as well, taking out home-equity loans and injecting money into the local economy in the form of home improvements and demand for retail goods and low-level services.”

Going Meekly Into the Good Night

John Tory is a man who hasn’t found an office he wasn’t willing to run for yet, has hopefully for for his last office. I’m kind of surprised he’s waiting “…until Friday…” to discuss his future, although it’s only a day. After losing the general election and failing to win his seat in that election, it’s pretty clear what has to happen here.

Tory defeated in by-election
KAREN HOWLETT
From Friday’s Globe and Mail, March 6, 2009 at 12:13 AM EST

LINDSAY, ONT. — Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory was defeated in a by-election race Thursday night, leaving his political career in tatters.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed by the results today, but the voters can never be wrong in what they decide and I respect their decision,” Mr. Tory said in conceding defeat.

The sense of disappointment was palpable among his supporters, who had gathered in a Lindsay restaurant for what was to be a victory party. Mr. Tory, 54, was counting on a victory in the Lindsay-area riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock to pave the way for what was to be his triumphant return to the Ontario Legislature. With those hopes now dashed, he will have little choice but to bow out, marking a bitter end to his 41/2-year reign as leader of the party.

After delivering his speech, Mr. Tory abruptly left the podium without answering questions from the media. He plans to discuss his future at a news conference Friday.

The Same Old Conservative Story

I’m not sure when the Harper government is going to figure out that they need to have ideas instead of just taking everyone else down. This strategy—the only one Harper’s strategist Doug Findlay officially opens up a clear path for Michael Ignatieff to walk to “24 Sussex Drive:google.

Ignatieff to be target of Conservative attack ads
Last Updated: Monday, March 2, 2009 | 11:29 AM ET

It appears Michael Ignatieff’s brief honeymoon with the Tories is over.

The Conservatives are preparing a series of attack ads targeting the Liberal leader by going through hundreds of hours of video clips of his speeches and interviews, according to the Canadian Press.

They hope to glean more fodder for their campaign by mining a lifetime of Ignatieff’s musings from his career as a public intellectual.

Faces of the Dead

The New York Times has created one of the most compelling memorials to American soldiers who have died in Iraq I can imagine. This is reminiscent of Life Magazine’s One Day Dead feature published in 1969, but the update uses current technology in an effective way.

The Battle on the Plains of Abraham

I understand the sentiment behind why this was cancelled, but I can’t help but perceive this as political correctness winning over history. I had actually considered going to see this.

At this point, I’d like to see a modern day recreation with Rene Levesque leading the French & Pierre Trudeau leading the English side. These modern day warriors are deserving of a tribute, and I can’t help but think that rather than complaining about it happening Levesque would have had the event go forward, thumbing his nose at it the whole time and using it as a tool to remind the Québécois of their oppression by the English majority.

Plains of Abraham re-enactment cancelled
Safety, security concerns spur National Battlefields Commission to pull plug on controversial replay of 1759 France-Britain battle
RHÉAL SÉGUIN, Globe and Mail Update, February 17, 2009 at 2:18 PM EST

QUEBEC — A slugfest of insults between federalists and separatists that threatened to turn to violence led to cancellation of the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham marking the 250th anniversary of the British conquest of New France.

For weeks a war of words erupted in newspapers, on the web and on open line radio shows where extremists on both sides threatened to use violence to either stop next summer’s re-enactment from taking place or protect it against disruptions.

It appeared as though a modern version of the Plains of Abrahams battle was in the making, which led the head of the federal agency known as the National Battlefields Commission André Juneau to back down from his idea to re-enact the 1759 French defeat at the hands of the British.

“Given the excessive language in the past few days and the threats mad through the media, we could not as responsible agency compromise the security of families and children who could attend the event,” Mr. Juneau said in cancelling the event. “It was odious and unreasonable to have suggested that the Commission planned to celebrate a military defeat.”

Well, Duh!

One would think this would have been self evident by now. I’m just glad they didn’t create a Royal Commission to study this. The emphasis is mine.

Tasers potentially lethal, RCMP head tells MPs
Commissioner says stun guns ‘far, far less lethal’ than conventional firearms
Last Updated: Thursday, February 12, 2009
CBC News

A revised RCMP policy that restricts how officers can use Tasers recognizes the stun guns can cause death, especially when fired on “acutely agitated” individuals, the head of the Mounties said Thursday.

“The RCMP’s revised CEW policy underscores that there are risks associated with the deployment of the device and emphasizes that those risks include the risk of death, particularly for acutely agitated individuals,” Elliott told the committee.

Vancouver Cuts Downtown Ambassador Funding

Vancouver’s had these red clad Downtown Ambassadors wandering around, seemingly aimlessly, for a few years now. I can’t remember when I first started noticing them, but it was about three years ago that they started becoming more common.

I could never figure out what they were and who they were for. I sort of thought they were a summer tourist season thing, and presumably volunteer or summer students. I always thought it seemed like a decent way to create some employment at low cost.

It turns out I was wrong, and they were intended to be actual security guards, working on behalf of the business. As with any number of private security guards, the look of most of these ambassadors didn’t really inspire…confidence. It also turns out that the NPA led city was funding these security guards: your tax dollars going to work to create a private police force on behalf of the businesses downtown. Not police, mind you. A private force, not accountable the way police are. (Whether police are properly accountable is another discussion.)

Not anymore. The city’s cut funding in what seems like a rational, sensible move.

Of course with six shootings in Vancouver in the last six days, I hope they invest in policing.

I.D. Interview with Majora Carter

My first exposure to Majora Carter was after viewing her presentation at T.E.D. just after they went online. She’s phenomenal.

I.D. magazine interviews her this month and the interview is available online.

The Ants Go Marching 10 by 10

Ten lanes. Sheesh.

There’s an upside to this, if you want to look at it that way. Two lanes will be dedicated bus lanes. These aren’t HOV lanes these are bus lanes. I’m not sure if there’s going to be an HOV lane as well. There should be.

That’s the upside. The current Port Mann bridge is too narrow to provided dedicated transit. It’s three lanes each way. The new bridge at five lanes each way could actually be defined as adding HOV and Transit capacity only: three lanes for all traffice, one 24 hour HOV only lane and one bus lane only. The new bridge creates the ability to finally provide mass transit with dedicated road space to the Fraser Valley.

But sheesh. 10 lanes, with a budget that’s just growing and growing. I hope this goes well.

New 10-lane bridge to replace Port Mann
BY KELLY SINOSKI, VANCOUVER SUN, FEBRUARY 4, 2009

_METRO VANCOUVER—_The provincial government has scrapped its plan to twin the Port Mann Bridge in favour of building a new 10-lane crossing over the Fraser River, at a cost of $3.3 billion.

Premier Gordon Campbell said the new bridge, which will be built to accommodate rapid bus service, expanded cycling and pedestrian lanes and a possible light rail line, will ease congestion clogging the crossing and commuter delays by about one-third.

The Slippery Slope

I kind of liked living in one of the only cities that didn’t have a Wal-Mart. Having taken over an old Costco location, Vancouver now joins that slippery slope.

Wal-Mart conquers Bastion Vancouver
By Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun, January 21, 2009
 
Just inside the front doors, there was a bin of navel oranges going for 44 cents a pound. Dozens of shoppers swarmed around the big pile, attacking it when they could, reaching in when they found an opening, then backing away, like a pack of sharks in a feeding frenzy. Only a fool would have waded into the middle of it.

Obamicons

I’ve avoided Obamicon until now. I can’t see how. A great way to kill 15 minutes at the end of my day.

Hope

What To Do With Israel

Naomi Klein outlines a controversial, but eminently reasonable, view on what to do with Israel. The South Africa comparison is not going to win her any friends, but is accurate.

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction
By Naomi Klein - January 8th, 2009
It’s time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

15 Days and Counting

On January 20th, 2009 Barak Obama will be sworn in as the President of the United States of America, the 43rd such man to hold the office.

Perhaps more significantly, it ends the tenure of George W. Bush, a conservative Republican who promised lower taxes and smaller government. So much for the concept of small government.

The result of deficit spending is debt. When President Bush took office, the national debt was $5.7 trillion. Now it is $10.6 trillion—and Congress voted in October to raise the debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion, the seventh such hike since President Bush took office and the second since last July. If, as is quite likely, we reach the new ceiling by January 20, the outgoing president will have managed to amass more debt than all of his predecessors combined.

And even that number may be too small. When the federal government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it also assumed their $5.4 trillion debt. The accounting procedures used by the International Monetary Fund,
and endorsed by the [Congressional Budget Office], normally require that such debt also be taken into account…
- Harper’s, January 2009, pp. 33

History will not be kind. The emphasis was added by me.

A Modest Proposal (for Cycling)

It’s unfortunate, I think, that this article is not written in the sarcastic spirit of Jonathan Swift. A pitch for a $25 per year cycling registration fee in Seattle seems just ridiculous.

For starters, there’s not a jurisdiction in North America that funds road infrastructure purely from taxes paid by cars. Virtually every jurisdiction uses a portion of their general revenue to pay for automotive infrastructure, and in many cases various property taxes are applied as well. By extenstion cyclists—even those that don’t own cars—are paying for a road infrastructure that they’re not using as frequently as others.

Velonews’ Bob Mionske looks at other reasons in some depth.

I hope this is just a newspaper columnist trying to stir up some noise, because if it’s a serious proposal opposition needs to be built now.

Impose license fee on King County cyclists
By James F. Vesely
Times editorial page editor

Local government finances are so dire, it is time to consider — and enact — an annual fee on bicyclists.

A $25 annual fee for owning a bike is a natural outgrowth of the enormous amounts of trails, lanes and accommodations the region has made to cyclists. Those funds would be useful for local cities and King County. It would also make cyclists true members of the world of transportation, rather than free riders on the tax rolls.

Special licenses are not new. We license dogs, our cars, our boats, our motorcycles, our pleasures in hunting and fishing, as well as many other outdoor activities. Cyclists, known for their community spirit and exalted senses of self, should welcome this opportunity to help government support their activities.

Commuter Rail on Vancouver Island but not the Lower Mainland?

It seems strange to hear about the Provincial Government considering a commuter rail service on Vancouver Island and not in the Lower Mainland, stretching out towards the Fraser Valley. Twinning the Port Mann is all well and good, but without an investment in transit all it’s going to do is increase the amount of traffic.

In any case, one of the keys to success of mass transit if volume: you need to have enough riders to make it worthwhile. The population of the Lower Mainland is significantly higher than the Island. Of course we have the West Coast Express but it falls short of providing full service (and provides none at all south of the Fraser River.) An upgraded West Coast Express could be the equal of Ontario’s GO Transit system and could significantly reduce traffic all day long between the Valley and Vancouver.

B.C. considers southern Vancouver Island commuter rail service
Last Updated: Friday, November 28, 2008
CBC News

The B.C. government says it is considering upgrading the old E&N railway to create a new commuter rail service for southern Vancouver Island.

On Thursday, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon announced he will commission a half-million-dollar study to look at the options for commuter rail and freight on the historic route.

Currently a VIA rail passenger train makes one daily run along the old north to south line between Victoria and Courtenay on the island’s east coast.

Emerson snags plum Crown position

Wherever David Emerson lands you can be sure that he’ll look after his friends and not the public interest. He privatized B.C. Ferries (leaving me wondering why the Premier of the province announced a ‘rate cut’) and the Vancouver Airport Authority. During his tenure at Canfor David did very well, but the stock didn’t.

Emerson snags plum Crown position
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 | 11:00 AM ET CBC News

Former federal cabinet minister David Emerson, who decided not to run in the October federal election, has a new job.

The B.C. Liberal government has appointed Emerson as CEO and board chair of the BC Transmission Corporation, a Crown corporation that works with BC Hydro to supply electricity across the province. He will replace chair Bob Reid and CEO Jane Peverett.

I’m willing to bet that despite evidence that a lack of government regulation is a big part of the current Economic meltdown of the world economy, David pitches a privatization plan for B.C. Transmission within two years. I’ll be glad if I’m wrong.

Toronto's Bike Routes

A long long time ago, Bicycling Magazine voted Toronto the best city for cycling in North America. It slipped in the rankings quit a bit following that, but moves like this are a good way of getting that rating back.

I used to ride the Martin Goodman Trail in the snow quite a bit, and have fond memories of pedaling along the lakeshore while snow gently wafted around me illuminated by only the lights long the trail and the headlight on my bike. It was glorious.

Toronto plans to clear snow off major cycling routes Sidewalks also to get special attention in pro-active strategy
JEFF GRAY
November 19, 2008 at 4:50 AM EST

With up to four centimetres of snow expected to hit Toronto tomorrow morning, city officials - mindful of last season’s near-record snowfall - were quick to say yesterday that they are ready for winter and are even pledging to keep a pair of key cycling routes clear this year.

Councillors on the city’s parks committee will discuss a plan today to make special efforts to clear two east-west bike routes into the downtown, one along the “multi-use path” along Lake Shore Boulevard and Queens Quay from the east, and the other on the Queensway and King Street West.

The plan also calls for a study of how much it would cost to clear the waterfront Martin Goodman Trail for use by well-bundled cyclists all winter.

Parks committee chairwoman Paula Fletcher acknowledged that some residents of her downtown ward whose streets were left clogged with ice and snow last year might scratch their heads at the idea, but she said it is important to encourage all-season cycling.

Vancouver, incidentally, ignores cycling routes when it snows here. It doesn’t happen that often, and side streets in general seem to be ignored not just bike routes.

A Vision for Vancouver?

Ok, sorry. That’s about the most obvious and worst pun of a headline ever. I can’t come up with much else though.

Election results give Gregor Robertson the Mayor’s job in Vancouver, and every single one of his candidates was elected.

That’s the good news. Andrea Reimer made council, and it’s my sincere hope that she becomes mayor one of these days. Since living in Vancouver, there are few other people I’ve met who I’ve felt would be more capable of doing the job.

But what about our new Mayor, and the now unelected Peter Ladner?

Vision didn’t so much win this election as Ladner lost it. Generally speaking, the theory is that someone inside the NPA with nothing to lose from Ladner’s failure leaked Ladner’s copy of the Olympic loan documents to the media. Naturally, it couldn’t have been Sam Sullivan. Of course not. Citizen Sam showed Sam as a Machiavellian take no prisoners politician. Draw your own conclusions.

That $100 Million loan was the campaign’s killer issue, and it’s almost killed the NPA. With one councillor—the deliriously incompetent Suzanne Anton—the NPA will have a struggle ahead to remain relevant. Old habits die hard however, and I suspect they’ll be back for the next election (and shortly after adopt a policy of not allowing incumbents to be challenged.)

Gregor says he’s going to open up the talks about that Olympic loan. As I’ve said before, it would mean more if the four incumbent Vision councillors hadn’t voted with the council on the issue. It seems a bit hypocritical.

Hypocrisy is nothing new to Gregor. His sustainable juice business trucks tropical juices for untold miles to package them in Tetra Paks, which aren’t nearly as eco-friendly as the industry would have you believe in Vancouver. They’re shipped to China for recycling, the hyrdo-pulping recycling process is incredibly water intensive and much of the byproduct of that process goes to landfill. That one little hybrid company car driving around Vancouver doesn’t do much to make it sustainable (at least not in my books.)

Much has been made about Gregor’s lack of experience, a major concern of mine. A man who runs for provincial office and resigns before the end of his first term lacks both credibility and experience in my view. Some argue that Gregor saw the writing on the wall with no possibility of the NDP winning under Carole James, but Gregor ran with Carole James as his leader so that argument just shows a lack of loyalty. So he doesn’t have much experience, he lied to his constituents (by promising to stick around for a term) and he’s not loyal. Quite a guy.

Senator Larry Campbell was on CBC Radio One last night arguing that the days of requiring experience to sit as mayor were long gone, and citing his own bitter tenure as an example. Sure Larry: great example. You sat one term, had a divisive relationship with your own members which split the party into two, chaired meetings in an abrasive and aggressive manner, and then resigned saying you weren’t a political animal. Mere months later you accepted a political patronage appointment to the Senate—so much for not being a political animal.

You might want to come up with a better example to defend the lack of experience, Larry. That’s just my advice though. Take it with a grain of salt.

So, here we are in Vancouver with a new team at 12th & Cambie. I voted for Gregor, despite the fact that I’m doubtful the city will be better off in three years when we vote again. The thing is, I maybe be skeptical of Gregor’s ability to do any good for Vancouver, but I know that a Peter Ladner led NPA would just screw this city up more.

In this case, better the devil you don’t know than the one you do.

Good luck Gregor. You’re going to need it.

One and a Half Years

It was on May 14, 2007 that Cerberus Capital bought Chrysler Corporation from Daimler. That’s about one and a half years ago: only a moment in the lifetime of an investment of that magnitude; a brief interlude in the lifetime of a corporation.

What’s changed so dramatically in that scant 20 months that Cerberus capital wasn’t prepared to deal with? A recession? Decreased demand for products? The latter, at least, was already happening when the purchase when through.

Apparently now American tax payers are being asked to bail them out of their deal. Hardly seems fair does it. If America does this, Canada will inevitably get on board, or risk losing all those jobs.

Chrysler adds its voice to calls for U.S. bailout
GREG KEENAN
November 13, 2008 at 7:59 PM EST

A government rescue package and alliances with competitors are essential if Chrysler LLC is to ride out the storm battering the auto industry, the company’s chief executive officer said Thursday, shifting the focus of the Detroit crisis away from General Motors Corp. for at least part of the day.
…
Chrysler posted a video on its website late Thursday urging Americans to contact federal politicians and urge them to support assistance from the U.S. government for auto makers.

Those Crazy Markets

Why it seems like only yesterday that CIBC promised us that markets had found their bottom, and would be more stable.

It makes me wonder how they’ll explain that big dip in the graph for today’s markets followed by the huge climb, gaining back yesterday’s losses and more.

Rock, Meet Hard Place

Having participated, if not led, the nationalization of the financial services industry, it’s interesting to see what will happen with the automotive one.

Democrats Seek Help for Automakers
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and CARL HULSE
Published: November 11, 2008
WASHINGTON — Democratic Congressional leaders said Tuesday that they were ready to push emergency legislation to aid the imperiled auto industry when lawmakers return to Washington next week for the first time after the election, setting the stage for one last showdown with President Bush.

It’s a tough choice, to be sure. The automotive industry is a massive part of North America’s economic well being. It employs tens of thousands of people, with the associated multiplier effect of those dollars in local communities. It is the heart of many communities, and devastates them when hard times hit and plants close.

So what to do?

The Democratic house leader is advocating for a bailout:

Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi have urged the Bush administration to help the major automakers, especially General Motors, which is fast depleting its cash reserves and seems to be hurtling toward bankruptcy. G.M. shares, pummeled for weeks, fell an additional 13 percent on Tuesday to $2.92, its lowest point since 1943. G.M. on Monday warned shareholders that it might not be able to continue as a “going concern.”

But I personally find it hard to see that as a good option. The fall of the North American automotive industry has been a long time coming: more of a gentle slide than a sudden thud. Bailing out General Motors at this point would certainly be good for votes (blue collar, union sponsored votes no less) but it would be bad for the long term health of the economy.

Capitalism thrives on risk: the same risk that creates the potential for failure also creates the potential for wealth. Bailing out General Motors sends a message that risk only applies to the small: get big enough, and the government will effectively eliminate your financial risk.

Many would argue that GM is too big too allow to fail. The simply fact is, if you’re too big too fail you’re just too big. The government has anti-trust powers, and they probably should have been used a long time ago in the automotive industry. Unfortunately, the automotive industry successfully lobbied against it.

I personal fall, I think, on the side of letting GM fall. It will lead to a stronger economy over the long run. If there’s room for an American automotive manufacturer, one will rise again.

Advance Polls: Again

Remember what I said about advance voting? Turnout in Vancouver has been high, which likely means our next mayor will be the mega-watt smile.

Controversial loan boosts turnout at advance polls
ROBERT MATAS AND FRANCES BULA
Globe and Mail Update
November 10, 2008 at 5:10 AM EST
VANCOUVER — Vancouver voters are flocking to advance polls, with some saying they were inspired to cast a ballot by the controversy over the current city council’s decision to provide up to a $100-million loan to the developer of the Olympic athletes village.

Many surveyed at the city’s advance polls on Saturday said the controversy didn’t sway them from views they already had. Instead, it made them more determined to vote.

But some acknowledged that the news made them actually switch their vote, which could make the loan a deciding factor in what had been predicted to be a tight election.

Here’s the thing that bugs me. Gregor Robertson has been viciously critical of the NPA over this loan and the secret vote that made it possible, but four Vision Vancouver councillors voted in favour of the loan. His argument would hold a great deal more credibility if they’d voted against it.

I voted for Gregor, but I held my nose while I did it. I think it’s going to be close, and I desperately don’t want to see an NPA council with Peter Ladner in the mayor’s chair.

Europe's Bike-Sharing Programs

The New York Times discusses the rise of bike sharing programs in Europe.

Among the most notable comments:

Copenhagen and Amsterdam have had devoted bicycling commuters for many years. But the new programs have created the greatest transportation revolution in central and southern Europe, where warmer climates allow riders to ride comfortably year-round. The shared bicycles in Barcelona, Lyon and Paris are heavily used, logging about 10 rides a day, according to officials in these cities.

I’m hopeful we’ll see a program like this in Vancouver sometime in the next few years.

Youssou N'Dour: Retour a Gorée

Playing in a limited engagement at the Vancouver International Film Centre, the film Youssou N’Dour: Retour a Gorée is well worth seeing. It shows one of the world’s greatest singers in his homeland, and a view of the history of the legacy of colonialism that is educational.

I had never heard of Gorée or its Door of No Return. They seem to have skipped over it in my history education. I’m not surprised.

Stocking Up: Would You Prefer a Gun Fairy?

I suspect that Gun Snatcher isn’t the worst name that will be used to describe Barak Obama. In my mind, it’s kind of a compliment actually.

I hope there’s finally a chance for reasonable gun control laws in the United States, but I suspect enough Democrats support the NRA that it won’t happen.

On Concerns Over Gun Control, Gun Sales Are Up
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: November 6, 2008

DENVER — Sales of handguns, rifles and ammunition have surged in the last week, according to gun store owners around the nation who describe a wave of buyers concerned that an Obama administration will curtail their right to bear arms.

“He’s a gun-snatcher,” said Jim Pruett, owner of Jim Pruett’s Guns and Ammo in northwest Houston, which was packed with shoppers on Thursday.

“He wants to take our guns from us and create a socialist society policed by his own police force,” added Mr. Pruett, a former radio personality, of President-elect Barack Obama.

Think About This the Next Time You're Pumping

From VeloNews

The price of gas, which was running $11/gallon in Italy in September, even with a favorable Euro vs. dollar exchange rate, has produced a heightened interest in bicycle commuting.

11 Euros is CDN$16.63 according to the Bank of Canada. With 3.8 litres per gallon that translates to CDN$4.38 per litre. It might be time to stop complaining (though I wish we had Europe’s rail system.)

Gregor's Misstep

It was a stupid issue, but it was even dumber of Gregor Robertson to let this issue blow up the way it did. If he’d paid the fine earlier, the story would have been dead. I’ve called Gregor a hypocrite before for claiming his business is sustainable while packaging his juices in tetra paks that are shipped to China and only partially recycled. This is just another example that supports my argument.

Sadly, he might be our best candidate.

Robertson drops fare fight, pays up
Transportation minister has some choice words for mayoral candidate
Chad Skelton and Tim Lai, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, November 06, 2008

Would-be Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson said Wednesday he has paid the SkyTrain fare-violation fine that has been embarrassing him this week.
By paying the fine, he avoids a traffic court hearing in December.

He may also be able to escape more of the enthusiastic tongue-lashings Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has been sending his way.

Hope

A lot is going to be written about this day, for many years to come. Barak Obama has, of course, proven that he is more than capable of speaking for himself.

“I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.
…
If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.
…
I’m not talking about blind optimism here - the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores. The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. The hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.”

- Barak Obama, July 27, 2004, Democratic National Convention

John McCain & Tina Fey on SNL

Tina Fey truly does have that little Sarah Palin wink nailed. I’m gonna miss that after Tuesday (at least until 2012.)

It’s also nice to see John McCain displaying a seemingly good sense of humour about his current status:

I’m impressed, incidentally, with a Starbucks advertisement that ran before my viewing of the clip. On November 4th visit any Starbucks in the United States, tell them you voted and they’ll give you a tall cup of coffee. Cynics will point out that the actual cost on that cup of coffee is minimal, and the promotion will get written off as marketing: it doesn’t matter. They don’t need to do this, and if it encourages just one more person to vote—no matter who they vote for—it will be worthwhile.

Early Voting is Usually a Good Thing

It’s a trueism of campaigning, that a high turnout at advance polls is a sign of impending change. Vancouver’s early voting set a record when voters roundly turfed Philip Owen from office in favour of that political maverick now known as Senator Larry Campbell.

The logic is simple: if people are happy with the status quo, they are complacent about voting and don’t rush out to do it before they are reminded by every media outlet they can find.

It makes me happy, therefore, to read this article in the New York Times:

The Decided Go in Droves to Vote Early
…
Among some of the 32 states that allow their residents to vote early without an excuse, either by mail or in person, the verdict is already in from a full quarter of registered voters — well into the millions. In some counties across the nation, the percentages are far higher. The early voting will continue for several days in most of the states, but in Louisiana it is already closed, and it will end on Friday or Saturday elsewhere to give time to update the books to prevent people from voting twice.
…

Change, in this case, would indicate electoral success for Barak Obama and that seems to be a good thing.

I never cease to be amazed at how easy it is to find a commentator ignorant enough to say something stupid like this:

Mr. Schuetz said he voted for Mr. McCain, a Republican, with enthusiasm. His wife, Linda, called the choice the “lesser of two evils.”

The article, of course, doesn’t go on to outline the ways in which an Obama administration could be evil. You can use your own imagination.

If BC Ferries is a Private Corporation...

it might be prudent to ask why the premier of the province is announcing a reduction in fares. (It’s possible that this Globe & Mail story is factually inaccurate.)

B.C. to accelerate income tax cuts
PATRICK BRETHOUR
October 22, 2008 at 9:32 PM EDT

VANCOUVER — British Columbia will accelerate income tax cuts to cushion the blow from the economic slowdown, Premier Gordon Campbell announced minutes ago in a province-wide televised address.

Income tax cuts slated to take effect this coming January will come into effect immediately - and be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008 - handing B.C. residents an unexpected windfall as the holiday retail season approaches.

The announcement was part of a 10-point plan announced by Mr. Campbell last night, which also include accelerated tax cuts for businesses and a temporary cut in ferry fares.

Possibly for the Last Time: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

But we can hope for more, perhaps on this week’s Thursday update.

The sketch itself was followed by more.

A Weekend Update segment with Sarah Palin is most notable for Governor Palin’s use of Tina Fey’s sign off line “Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.” The line was originally used by Chevy Chase in the 70s, but the tribute here is obvious.

It’s at least nice to see Governor Palin being self-deprecating. The moment where the moose gets shot was pretty funny.

Whither Majority?

One loss followed by two Minority parliaments doesn’t seem promising for Stephen Harper, but he’s got the central machine wound so tight that I doubt anyone will seriously stage an uprising. I’m willing to bet that only a loss to the Liberals will prompt a new Conservative leader. Only that drunken Scotsman Doug Finlay knows.

The thing is, especially when you consider that Harper called this election in defiance of his own law mandating a four year term it doesn’t look good. Presumably, they called this thing because their polling said they’d win, and win a majority. When you create an optimal situation for yourself and fail, it seems disingenuous to play it as a win.

That being the case, I can’t imagine whey they’d hang onto this guy.

I, for one, am hoping for either Michael Ignatieff as a Prime Ministerial candidate next time, or a resurgence of Gerard Kennedy who has won his riding. Those are two men I could support. I suspect I’m not going to have to wait four years to find out.

Canadian, and Ready to Vote

A good reminder in the Vancouver Sun of the significance of voting.

“Canadian, and ready to vote”: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a4337f9c-1d62-4006-9031-51a034b13d05&k=97491
Darah Hansen and Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Burnaby resident Madan Lal Bassi has accomplished many things in his 63 years of life.

He is a husband and father, a veteran of the Indian Air Force, a speaker of at least four languages, a globetrotter, and proud new Canadian citizen.

Today, he will add “voter” to that list as he casts a ballot in the federal election for the very first time.

Congratulations Barak Obama

Barak Obama just won November’s election (as if the debates weren’t pushing it in that direction already.)

Alaska Inquiry Concludes Palin Abused Powers
By SERGE F. KOVALESKI
Published: October 10, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired, a investigation by the Alaska Legislature has concluded.

You know, I always said Chrysler would be the first to go. Not that it was a hard call: they’re the smallest American car maker, after being dumped by Daimler. Either way…this is not a merger, this is a takeover. GM is large, Chrysler is small.

G.M. and Chrysler Explore Merger
By BILL VLASIC and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Published: October 10, 2008
DETROIT — General Motors is in preliminary talks about a possible merger with Chrysler, a deal that could drastically remake the landscape of the auto industry by reducing the Big Three of Detroit automakers to the Big Two.

The talks between G.M. and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns Chrysler, began more than a month ago, and the negotiations are not certain to produce a deal. Two people close to the process said the chances of a merger were “50-50” as of Friday and would most likely still take weeks to work out.

It's Almost Predictable Now

Once again, Tina Fey opens Saturday Night Live as Sarah Palin. What’s interesting is that I think that’s Queen Latifah playing the moderator, and she was neither the host nor the musical guest of the episode.

It’s a bit sad that these little moments will end on November 4th, 2008. It’s looking strongly like McCain no longer stands a chance.

I’m not sure if this is the best line:

“You know, we’re gonna take every aspect of the crisis and look at it and then we’re gonna ask ourselves, ‘What would a maverick do in this situation?’ And then, you know, we’ll do that.”

or this one:

Moderator: Governor Palin, would you like to respond to Senator Biden’s comments about Senator McCain
Sarah Palin: No thank you, but I would like to talk about being an outsider.

The first got more laughs, but personally I think the second was sharper.

Disconnected from Reality

Apparently a few years of watching from the political wilderness haven’t taught Paul Martin any more about political realities.

‘We will elect a Liberal government’: Paul Martin tells Calgary crowd
Last Updated: Friday, October 3, 2008 | 6:09 PM E

Former Liberal leader Paul Martin gestures at a heckler during a Calgary speech. (CBC)
Former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin raised some eyebrows in the oilpatch when he predicted the Liberals will form the next federal government.
…
“When we took office in 1993, the Conservatives left us with a $43 billion deficit. Four years later, that deficit was gone, and when we left office 2.5 years ago, there was a $12 billion surplus and no other country in the world can match that record,” he continued.

“Let me simply say, on Oct. 14, we will elect a Liberal government.”

The emphasis on that last paragraph was added by me.

I Swear I Thought I Was Dreaming

Having fallen asleep in front of the TV, I thought I was dreaming when I woke up to see Tina Fey on my TV. Happily I wasn’t.

The moment, about four minutes in, when she starts to explain about the economic bail out plan is just beautiful, and hits the nail a little too close to the head. “…and having a dollar value meal at restaurants…” Priceless.

More on those Tolls

Missed, in my reading of the initial coverage of the toll situation on Highway 1, was Gordon Campbell’s announcement that tolls on the Port Mann would be imposed for 35 years.

This is, of course, a meaningless announcement. By the time that 35 year agreement is up, the average person voting in today’s election will be in their seventies, and the promise will be long forgotten. Gordon Campbell will be 95, and won’t have to answer for an changes to that decision.

I recall seeing a documentary about the Lion’s Gate Bridge which talked about Vancouver City Council providing a 60 year timeline for the removal of the road through Stanley Park. I wish I could find the reference, but even if I did I wouldn’t fall for it.

I’m not opposed to tolls, incidentally. I think the Port Mann should be tolled. I’m not a fan of artificial promises, and I’m somewhat amazed that the news media has been letting this one slide.

The Great Debaters

Sigh. Another reminder of how much I miss Jim Henson and the Muppets.

The Bartlett White House Was Fictional...

but it was also idealistic in the best way. Maureen Dowd is possessed of a sharp wit and a sharp pen, and whether she actually talked to Aaron Sorkin or not, she’s written a pretty funny article called Aaron Sorkin Conjures a Meeting of Obama and Bartlet

One of my favourite excerpts:

OBAMA I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself.

BARTLET I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story, so let’s call it even.

and another (I’ve added the emphasis):

BARTLET Well … let me think. …We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know … I’m a little angry.

OBAMA What would you do?

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back.

The article drops a sly reference to 30 Rock as well. I swear that didn’t influence my opinion.

News That Contradicts Itself

What I love about this article:

Gas shortages reportedly critical in western N.C.
BY STEVE LYTTLE, The Charlotte Observer

Hundreds of cars lined streets this morning as motorists in the Charlotte metro region tried to cope with an ever-worsening gasoline shortage situation.
Some motorists waited up to five hours, and fights were reported as people accused other customers of cutting in line.

Some gas stations that opened this morning with what they thought were ample supplies ran out within a few hours.

Police were called out several times to break up fights among angry customers.

which is both surreal and entirely unsurprising, is not so much the article itself as it is these ads which appeared on the same web page.

Every single ad is for an SUV.

I Don't Think I Can Wait That Long

I’m a bit impatient sometimes, so I’ve got some old Lego, some AA batteries and a bunch of old hard drive magnets I’m going to put to work:

Collider Operations on Hold Until Next Year
By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: September 23, 2008

The world’s newest and largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, will not begin operations again until April, officials at the European Center for Nuclear Research said Tues
…
But last Friday the machine was shut down after an electrical connection between two of the superconducting electromagnets that steer the protons suffered a so-called quench, heating up, melting and leaking helium into the collider tunnel. Liquid helium is used to cool the magnets to superconducting temperatures of only about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero. Stray heat can cause the magnets to lose their superconductivity with potentially disastrous consequences.

Some Things Never Change

The question is, will Barak Obama be any different?

From the New York Times

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.
… [McCain adviser Rick] Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of his close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.

When Capitalists Become Communists

That least Liberal of publications, Forbes magazine advocates for an even greater level of government intervention. At least they mention Marbury vs. Madison

$700 billion is not enough. It also doesn’t include the hundreds of billions of dollars that the government has already committed in earlier actions to stem the tsunami flooding the markets. The bill for American International Group could consume a significant amount of the new request, and the balance sheets of other financial institutions are sitting on trillions of dollars of mortgage detritus.
The Bush administration’s request that the Treasury’s actions be immune from judicial oversight is unconstitutional. Unless Marbury v. Madison has been overruled while HCM’s attention was diverted elsewhere, all actions of the executive branch in this country are subject to judicial review. This request rings with the same troubling echoes of the most abusive aspects of the Patriot Act.

Wrong, Forbes. $700 billion is too much. Wall Street tied its own noose under the free market doctrine of conservatism, and now they’re asking someone else to untie it. Yet another example of changing the rules midway through the game.

Read some Naomi Klein instead. She’s thought the problem through more thoroughly than George Bush has.

Sometimes You Can Judge People by Who They Associate With

You can draw your own conclusions:

PMO pressure contractor to remove ‘xenophobic’ jokes
Military equipment supplier’s website mocked Muslims, women, bilingualism
JOAN BRYDEN, The Canadian Press
September 22, 2008 at 4:49 AM EDT

OTTAWA — A company that supplies knives, flashlights and other equipment to the Canadian Forces referred to Muslims as “rag-headed, heathen, bastards” on its website as recently as yesterday when the federal government complained.

Gear Up Motors’ website was replete with other jabs at women and Liberals and mocked official bilingualism and concerns about global warming.

But with Canadian troops risking their lives in Afghanistan, the passage about Muslims was the most likely to raise alarm.

“Jihad? I’ll give you a Jihad you miserable, rag-headed, heathen, bastard!” said a caption posted over a photograph of a rifle-toting John Wayne.

It's Not Like They Didn't Know

The NDP absolutely knew about Kirk Tousaw’s past. I’d have more respect for them if they kept him running, frankly. Sort of a stand by your man situation.

It wouldn’t even be that hard to pitch the guy as a hopeless candidate (there’s no way they’re going to wind Quadra in this century) and argue that they want him in the race in order to prompt the discussion.

This being Quadra — with an average household income significantly above the national — the economic argument for legalization might even fly, or at least be interesting. Essentially I’ve always viewed this as an economic argument: a tonne of money is spent prosecuting relatively minor infractions. All of that money would now be saved. Add to that the potential for taxation of an illegal crop, and the NDP could argue that they’d fund social programs with the savings and revenue.

I’m not personally pro-legalization, but I do see the viewpoint.

Ah well, Kirk. Sometimes your past comes back to bite you. It’s not like you were going to win anyway.

Another NDP candidate quits in B.C.
Last Updated: Friday, September 19, 2008, 7:19 PM ET

The federal New Democrats lost another B.C. candidate Friday, the second to quit in a matter of days.

Vancouver-Quadra candidate Kirk Tousaw, a civil liberties lawyer and former campaign manager for the B.C. Marijuana Party, resigned Friday afternoon.

Tousaw has been a long-time advocate for the legalization of marijuanna and once appeared on Pot TV, a website run by party leader Marc Emery. He is also chair of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s drug policy committee.

Oh Tina, How Much You're Missed

Yet one more reminder of how the funniest woman on television once made Saturday Night Live a very funny show.

No PST on Bicycles and Parts in British Columbia

The things you learn when you pay attention.

It was time for the annual chain change on my daily commuter bike, and when I wondered why the bill seemed smaller than I thought it should be, I learned that in British Columbia:

You do not charge your customer PST when you sell replacement parts. 

which means I’m going to be paying closer attention to bills in the future. A nice little incentive provided by the Campbell government.

Rwanda

My end of summer reading was a book I stumbled across in a used book stor called We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. I’d read bits and pieces about the Rwandan genocide, but this book provides an in depth look at a situation that demonstrates how utterly completely the world ignores the African problem.

Of course, in North America the African problems doesn’t exist because we just ignore it.

Over 800,000 Rwandan Tutsi’s were slaughtered in 90 days by their Hutu neighbours. The world’s response wasn’t to do nothing, which is the popular view, but instead to send troops and pretend a genocide wasn’t happening.

Until it ended, and then what did we do? We set up refugee camps to shelter the Hutu’s who had killed the Tutsi’s, and then asked them all to live next to each other again.

In the aftermath of World War II, the nations of the west supported the creation of the state of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish population that had been methodically massacred.

In Europe, the vulnerable were given their own country. In Africa, the vulnerable were asked to live next door to the very people who’d killed them and just forget everything that happened. They were expected to just get along.

Sometimes, the world doesn’t make any sense at all.

October / And the trees are stripped bare / of all they wear / what do I care

Stephen Harper went for a walk this morning, and came back with a writ of election from the figurehead Governor General.

Scott Shipway won’t be voting for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and it’s my suspicion that fewer Canadians than he suspects will.

Another Conservative majority government, a new Liberal leader (hopefully Michael Ignatieff,) a Conservative party in disarray due to a fear of choosing a new leader after what can only be called an electoral failure, Jack Layton remaining in place, if only because of the NDP’s acceptance of failure.

That’s what I think October 15th is going to look like, but I’m sitting this one out anyway.

David Emerson: End of a Career

When the Vancouver-Quadra electoral association of the Conservative Party of Canada refused to grant David Emerson a nomination, it was no surprise that this news was next.

Emerson won’t run again: sources
STEVEN CHASE
Globe and Mail Update
September 2, 2008 at 11:19 PM EDT
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, who defected to the Harper Conservatives 2½ years ago, will retire from politics instead of running again in the looming federal election, sources say.

Mr. Emerson’s departure will be a blow for the party.

I’m not so sure about the blow. A bright, but extremely arrogant man, Emerson could hardly be called a team player. With no hope of winning, he has taken the safe option and jumped out of the pool.

Smelling an Election in the Air

It’s well known, by now, that the media smells an election in the air. Stephen Harper is making his wish to go the polls the worst kept secret in Canada.

Another sure sign is the sheer number of email messages I’m getting from people who haven’t contacted me in four years. It happens every season. It’s not a good smell.

Don’t let Harper fool you, by the way. He promised fixed election dates, and passed the legislation. That he’s now weaseling out of a date he committed to is tantamount to a lie. If he hadn’t made the commitment, it wouldn’t be an issue.

Beijing 2008

With David Emerson and his Conservative government afraid to rock the boat on issues that truly matter, it’s nice to see Irwin Cotler speaking his mind about the China issue.

I only wish I weren’t cynical enough to believe that if the Conservatives were speaking out about China’s human rights record, the Liberals would be telling Canadians that the Olympics were not a political event, but a sporting one.

Cotler blasts China’s human rights record
Last Updated: Thursday, August 7, 2008
CBC News

On the eve of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler sharply criticized China’s human rights record and called the awarding of the Games to Beijing a betrayal of the Olympic Charter.

The MP made the comments Thursday at a press conference in Ottawa flanked by journalist Beryl Wajsman, human rights activist and former Miss World Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam and former Liberal MP David Kilgour.

New York Cop Smokes Cyclist and Loses his Badge

I have some political objections to Critical Mass (most notably, I’ve seen the flagrant breaking of traffic laws) but the New York City police department’s recent response to the event is just disgusting, and might be enough to make me start riding every month.

Coming Soon: The Federal Royal Commission

Given the history of Vancouver politics, I’m completely unsurprised by yet another delay. Paul Martin could make a decision faster than our civic government.

I’m expecting a Royal Commission followed by a judicial inquiry into it’s findings. After that, no doubt, the First Nations will launch a protest.

Stanley Park’s hollow tree gets reprieve
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 | 1:35 AM ET CBC News

The Vancouver Park Board has decided to study options to keep Stanley Park’s famous hollow tree instead of axing it this week as planned.

Board commissioners voted in a regular meeting Monday night to give a 150-day reprieve to one of Vancouver’s oldest treasures. Park board engineers will study options to possibly keep the dead cedar.

A Special Moment in History - The Atlantic Monthly

In May of 1998 the Atlantic Monthy print an article called A Special Moment in History

It beings with a caution to:

BEWARE of people preaching that we live in special times. People have preached that message before, and those who listened sold their furniture and climbed up on rooftops to await ascension

and then goes on:

And yet, for all that, we may live in a special time.

The rest of the article goes on to make several points with society, in general, has yet to fully aware of. The article’s well worth reading, and should lead to some careful reflection on the values of our world.

“…William Catton, who was a sociologist at Washington State University before his retirement, once tried to calculate the amount of energy human beings use each day. In hunter-gatherer times is was about 2,500 calories, all of it food. That is the daily energy intake of a common dolphin. A modern human being uses 31,000 calories a day, most of it in the form of fossil fuel. That is the intake of a pilot whale. And the average American uses six times that—as much as a sperm whale.”

The emphasis is mine.

This is closely followed by another good point, particularly salient to my life.

“…Some scientists in Vancouver tried to calculate one such ‘footprint’ and found that although 1.7 million people lived on a million acres surrounding their city, those people required 21.5 million acres of land to support them—wheat fields in Alberta, oil fields in Saudi Arabia, tomato fields in California. People in Manhattan are as dependent on faraway resources as people on the Mir space station.”

Play It Again, Sam

…or not, as the case may be.

Sam Sullivan is out as the NPA candidate for Mayor of Vancouver, leaving him in office as a lame duck until November. Effectively, Peter Ladner is the mayor starting today.

Don’t believe me? Vancouver’s electoral system is not like those of most Canadian cities. There are no wards: all councillors are elected on a city wide basis, as is the Mayor. This makes the Mayor’s chair one of first among equals: every chair in that room has the same mandate. With Sam not running in the next election, he’s the worst kind of lame duck at the moment.

I’ve never been a fan of Sam, but I’m not convinced that Ladner’s going to be a huge improvement. He’s been lackluster as a councillor, and I see no reason to think this will change.

This city needs leadership from it’s Mayor, and that will only come with an overhaul of the structure of the city’s government. The appetite for that, unfortunately, appears to be a long time coming.

Tetra-Pak Recycling

The Toronto Star asks a very important question today.

How green is wine in a box?
Experts disagree on how much of a Tetra Pak can really be recycled
May 28, 2008 04:30 AM NANCY J. WHITE

While shoppers at Ontario’s liquor stores may soon be toting their own reusable bags, they still have an eco-dilemma: is it greener to buy wine in a glass bottle or in a Tetra Pak carton?

Most disappointingly, I also learned this;

Returned Tetra Pak cartons are sent by container ship to mills in China and Korea.
(A Michigan mill recently closed, and the Tetra Pak company is looking for recycling options in Canada, says Koel.)

That Michigan mill used to handle Vancouver’s recycling of Tetra-Paks, a fact that caused me to stop purchasing items when I had a choice. (Orange Juice and soup stocks are packed in little else these days.) That it’s now closed means, no doubt, that Vancouver’s Tetra-Paks now embark on the same worldwide journey.

It’s my view that the government should pass legislation requiring local recycling for manufacturers who choose packaging to provide a local recycling option where one is not available.

Refillable glass bottles. That’s a better way to go. Avalon Milk does it in Vancouver, and it’s the only milk I buy.

Tetra Paks are horrible, and I’m offended by the fact that wines like French Rabbit wrap themselves in an environmental flag without a second thought to the real impact of their products.

Bernier quits cabinet post over security breach

Is anybody falling for this?

Bernier quits cabinet post over security breach
Foreign affairs minister departs ahead of ex-girlfriend’s TV interview
Last Updated: Monday, May 26, 2008 | 11:04 PM ET CBC News

Embattled Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has resigned from cabinet over a security breach involving classified documents, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters on Monday.

The Problem with Cap & Trade

is that you’re just hiding from the reality of the situation. Everybody needs to pay their way on carbon emissions, not just the rich ones. A sliding scale for necessities makes sense (charge more for automotive fuel, less for home heating) but cap and trade doesn’t address this either.

Layton raises carbon-tax alarm
BILL CURRY From Friday’s Globe and Mail
May 23, 2008 at 4:56 AM EDT
OTTAWA— NDP Leader Jack Layton launched a vehement campaign against carbon taxes yesterday and was quickly accused of alarmist pandering by prominent Canadian environmentalists.

Speaking to a fundraiser for an Ottawa homeless shelter, Mr. Layton said carbon taxes would raise home heating costs and hurt Canadians living on the margins. He said big corporations should bear the lion’s share of Canada’s climate-change tab and a federal ombudsman should ensure those costs aren’t passed on to consumers.

“With energy costs soaring in Canada, we’ve got to ensure that the solutions to climate change don’t aggravate an already dire situation for those who struggle to make ends meet,” Mr. Layton said.

Eight New Universities in a Week

In what appears to be an attempt to remove all meaning whatsoever from the term university, the Campbell government has announced the eight university in just over a week.

Emily Carr to become university
Name change recognizes what the Vancouver art institute is already, president says
MARSHA LEDERMAN, April 29, 2008 at 4:26 AM EDT
VANCOUVER — From the comic strip sensation For Better or For Worse to Generation X to First Nations masks made out of Nikes, graduates of the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design have made significant contributions to popular culture - not to mention serious art.

Now the school can boast an achievement of its own: It will be granted university status to become the Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECUAD)
…
Last week, the B.C. government announced it would grant university status to Capilano College, Kwantlen University College, Malaspina University-College and the University College of the Fraser Valley.

My personal favourite announcement was Capilano College. The Premier’s own commissioned report recommended against this change, based on the fact that both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia were too closely situated. Despite this recommendation, Premier Campbell designated Capilano a university.

The Premier’s sister is on the board of the college. Think that had anything to do with it?

Pretty soon, there won’t be any colleges left, and there sure won’t be any value in a university degree earned in British Columbia.

Surprising, But Rational

I think the surprising thing here is that this decision came from a supposedly pro-business free market Conservative government. It’s a pretty rational decision though.

Federal government blocks sale of MDA space division
Last Updated: Thursday, April 10, 2008 | 8:24 AM ET CBC News

The federal government on Thursday blocked the $1.3 billion sale of the space technology division of Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to a U.S. firm.

In a letter this week to Alliant Techsystems Inc., Industry Minister Jim Prentice said he is not satisfied the sale will be a net benefit for Canada, the minister confirmed Thursday.

Tibet & The Olympics

I’ve been mulling over the issue of Tibet, the Olympics and a potential boycott for a bit now. I don’t buy the argument that “the games aren’t political…” or that “the last boycott wasn’t effective, so why bother this time…” but it seems as if there’s no appetite for a boycott, so such is life. Welcome to the modern politician: no backbone.

So here’s a thought…why wouldn’t the Canadian Olympic Team give every Canadian athlete a Tibetan flag. When the team entered the stadium the athletes could raise them in support.

If every nation considering a boycott did this instead, this would be a massive show of public support broadcast into every corner of the world.

No discussion of boycotting Olympics’ opening ceremonies: MacKay
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 | 5:24 AM ET
CBC News

The federal government hasn’t considered the possibility of boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games, according to the defence minister.

Repeating comments made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week, Peter MacKay told reporters Monday the issue has not been addressed by the federal cabinet.

“Without having the discussion, we can’t rule anything out, so we’re not at that point,” MacKay said.

Early Morning, April 4 / A Shot Rings Out / In the Memphis Sky

40 years ago today Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.

This Is Not News

Let’s not pretend the Liberals and the NDP haven’t been doing this for years. Why it’s suddenly news because the Harper Conservatives are is a mystery to me.

Conservative headquarters scripting calls to radio shows
ALEXANDER PANETTA
The Canadian Press
March 25, 2008 at 6:15 PM EDT
OTTAWA — Next time you’re listening to your favourite radio phone-in show, those pro-Conservative opinions you hear from callers might not be as spontaneous as they sound.

Some of those apparently ad-libbed musings are actually being choreographed at the Conservative Party of Canada’s national headquarters.

The governing party has produced talking points for grassroots supporters on a variety of issues, feeding them lines on everything from climate change to child care.

The technology angle is nice though. In the past, these types of talking points have gone out by email, usually by back room organizers.

The Two Canadas

From Foreign Policy, Number 81, Winter 1990—1991 published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Written by Jeffrey Simpson. It’s interesting how much this post-Meech pre-Charlottetown paranoia has simply evaporated from the political system, despite the fact that Quebe politics continues to be dominated by le Bloc Québébois

Twenty-five years ago, a royal commission investigating relations between English and French-speaking Canadians warned that “Canada, without being fully conscious of the fact, is passing through the greatest crisis in its history.”…

Today, despite myriad institutional and policy changes over the past two and a half decades designed to smooth relations between French and English-speaking Canadians, the commission’s words still aptly describe Canadian reality…in the aftermath of the June 1990 collapse of a constitutional accord desired by the French-speaking province of Quebec.

The failure of the so-called Meech Lake accord…and especially the bitter debate outside Quebec has pushed support for Quebec independence, or at least increased sovereignty, to its highest levels ever.

…today many Canadians—and certainly a majority of the English-seaking ones—have not fully grasped how and why the Meech Lake trauma left Canada so badly shaken.

…Quebec is slightly over-represented in the Conservative party government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, himself a Quebecker. No policies of the national government are considered so iniquitous or injurious in Quebec that the province should leave the country on their account.

And yet the threat to Canadian unity has never been more severe than in the aftermath of the collapse of Meech Lake…It is a crisis that envenoms further what the French observer André Siefgried…called in 1907 the “fears and jealousies” between English- and French-speaking Canadians. it is a crisis of confidence about whether Canada, after 123 years as a federal state, is still worth the effort.

The Meech Lake Accord was both cause and victim of these “fears and jealousies.”….

Meech Lake…crystallized a debate between two fundamentally incompatible views of Canadian federalism that Canadian politicians of every stripe had frequently attempted to fudge: the view in Quebec that the province deserved special recognition and particular powers because of its French-speaking identity; and the view elsewhere that all provinces must be constitutionally equal…This outdated idea left behind both multicultural Canadians, who now represent nearly a third of the population, and Canada’s aboriginal peoples, who felt excluded from the debate.

A poll by the Globe and Mail or Toronto and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation taken four months before the collapse of Meech Lake showed that 71 per cent of respondents knew little or nothing about the accord, yet a similar number professed strong or very strong views about it. A poll by the same organizations just after the accord’s demise showed that, despite months of media saturation, 62 per cent still knew little or nothing about the accord but a similar number had strong or very strong views about it.

Meech Lake had its political roots in a 1984 campaign speech given by [Brian] Mulroney…He promised to bring Quebeckers into the Canadian constitution with “honor and enthusiasm,”…

…For more than 20 years before the referendum Quebeckers had been debating their role in Canada; the referendum seemed to clinch their adherence to federalism. Mulroney perceived that if certain modest constitutional changes were made, moderate French-Canadian nationalists, including many who had campaigned for sovereignty-association, could be reconciled to federalism for a very long time.

…By promising to offer Quebec constitutional changes, he made the conservatives the preferred party for almost all French-Canadian nationalists.

Quebec presented five basic demands…Meech Lake was duly signed by the prime minister and the ten provincial premiers in the early spring of 1987….When Quebec’s National Assembly became the first legislature to approve Meech Lake on June 23, 1987, the three-year time clock began ticking.

At the time of Meech Lake’s negotiation and for some time thereafter, the accord scarcely touched the nation’s consciousness.

The first blow against Meech Lake was delivered by the father of the 1982 constitutional changes, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In a series of scathing public criticisms, he tore into the accord, claiming it would eventually grant Quebec special status…

Subsequent provincial elections in Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland brought to power premiers who had not signed the original Meech Lake accord…Attempts were made for a year to find a solution to the impasse through public debate and federal provincial meetings culminating in a marathon six-day, closed-door meeting in June 1990.

…Nothing was more damaging in English-speaking Canada than a decision by the Quebec government in December 1988 to ban outdoor signs with advertising in both English and French…the Supreme court hinted that a law that gave French a predominant position on outdoor signs with another language less-prominently displayed, was acceptable.

…[Quebec Premier] Bourassa, worried about an upsurge of nationalist sentiment, invoked the “notwithstanding clause”…

The premier’s decision brought about the resignation of three respected English-speaking cabinet ministers…To [moderate English-speaking Canadians] the decision signaled Quebec’s apparent indifference to attitudes elsewhere in Canada, an indifference that hardened attitudes against what Quebec was seeking: the Meech Lake accord.

With Meech Lake the focus of Canadian attention, old grievances toward Quebec where aroused. In Manitoba citizens bitterly recalled a decision of the Mulroney government to grant aircraft maintenance contract to a Montreal company, despite a less costly and technically superior bid from a Winnipeg firm. In Newfoundland, citizens remembered a reprehensible hydroelectric deal by which Hydro Quebec took power from the rivers of Labrador for a pittance then resold it at a huge profit to the United States…

Since 1968, with two very brief exceptions, prime ministers have come from Quebec…The next election will also be between parties led by Quebeckers: Mulroney and Jean Chrétien, the new leader of the opposition Liberal party. Some of the popular resentment in English Canada can be explained by imagining the reaction in America if every president since 1968 had come from the northeastern part of the country.

…the more interesting and difficult question is, What does English Canada want?

The mutual misunderstanding that often bedevils relations between French- and English- speaking Canadians reflects the traditional, and quite erroneous, view in Quebec that the rest of Canada…resembles Quebec: a relatively homogeneous bloc of people that can easily come to a national consensus…English-speaking Canada is nothing of the sort…Approximately 50 per cent of the children in the Vancouver elementary school system are of Asian descent; in Toronto white Angl-Saxon Protestants are now a minority.

…Canadians face three concerns that have plunged English-speaking Canada into a crisis of identity…First, the Mulroney government has pursued an agenda of deficit-reduction, privatization and trimming of social programs….

Second, the free-trade agreement with the United States severely divided English-speaking Canadians…A slim majority of English-speaking Canadians opposed free trade, many of the bitterly and passionately…the French-speaking population harbored no fears of cultural assimilation or loss of political sovereignty…

Third, Meech Lake once again forced English Canadians…to accomodate themselves to proposed constitutional changes beneficial to a province whose chronic restlessness and indifference toward the rest of Canada made it a source of profound irritation…If Meech Lake passed, many English Canadians concluded, Quebec would simply use the accord to demand even more powers and gradually achieve soverignty-association.

…In Manitoba…One politician—Elijah Harper, the only aboriginal politician in the legislature—used procedural tactics to prevent debate…

The defeat of Meech Lake has changed Canada’s future. The constitutional status quo is finished, though no one knows what will take its place…

In Quebec…Eight members of parliament—six Conservatives and two Liberals—resigned from their parties to for le Block Québécois in the House of Commons and a candidate from the new block trounced the old-line parties in a summer by-election in Quebec…

A year may pass before the political battle lines are formed in Quebec…During the referendum campaign of 1980, the overwhelming majority of business leaders in Quebe were hostile to sovereignty. Many are now willing to accept whatever political option Quebec chooses…

The free-trade agreement has encouraged Quebeckers to believe they are no longer dependent on the existing Canadian federal system for economic prosperity….Quebeckers assume that if they opt for independence, they could easily negotiate a similar deal with Washington…

…After nearly 15 years of deficit-financing, the country’s national debt consumes about one-third of every tax dollar sent to Ottawa…

Canada’s prospects after Meech Lake are complicated by the erosion of the national arties’ ability to build bridges between the two major language groups and among far-flung regions…as le Bloc Québécois is grabbing natinoalist votes in Quebec, a new formation called the Reform party is making important gains in Alberta and British Columbia…

Canada, in its own modest way, has represented a noble political experiment that a country could be formed in defiance of the enormous economic and cultural pull of the United States…

At the core of that distinctiveness lay an accommodation between French- and English- speaking Canadians and a mixed economy in which government plays a more interventionist role in society than it does in the United States…the Meech Lake accord shattered, probably irrevocably, the possibility of a harmonious accommodation between French- and English-speaking Canadians.

For An Independent Quebec

For An Independent Quebec appeared in Volume 54 of Foreign Affairs in 1976. It was authored by René Lévésque.

Launced in 1967—68, the Parti Québécois, whose platform is based on political sovereignty, now fills the role of Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition in the National Assembly—as we nostalgically designate our provincial legislature.

The next election might come any time now; this year in the fall, just after the Montréal Olympics, or at the latest in the fall of 1977…The present provincial government, a branch of the same Liberal Party which also holds power at the federal level under Pierre Elliott Trudeau, is obviously on the way out. It has been in power for six years, and ever since its send and Pyrrhic victor in 1973 (102 seats) it has been doing steadily downhill.

Throughout the next hundred years…French Québec…held on obstinately, according to its lights and as much as its humble means made it possible, to those two major ingredients of national identity—land and language.

Small and impotent though it was, French Québec never quite forgot the potential nation it had once been…Now and then, there were stirrings: a writer here, a small political coterie there; a great upsurge of nationalist emotions, in the 1880s around the Riel affair…

Inevitably there had to be a spillover into politics. More than half of our public revenue and most of the decisions that count were and are in outside hands, in a federal establishment which was basically instituted not by or for us…about 80 percent of Québec savings and potential investment capital ends up in banks and insurance companies whose operations are none of our business.

…while this dialogue of the deaf was going on and on, the idea of political independence reappeared as it had to. Not as a dream this time, but as a project, and very quickly as a serious one…and finally to a full-fledged national party in 1967-68. These were the same two years during which, by pure coincidence, Mr. Trudeau was just as rapidly being elevated to the heights as a new federalist champion from Québec.

…Our aim is simply full equality by the only means through which a smaller nation can reasonably expect to achieve it with a large one: self-government.

We do not accept the simplistic domino there, where Québec’s departure is presented as the beginning of a fatal dislocation…

Either-Ottawa-or is very simply inspired by prejudice, the origin of this nonsense mostly to be found inspired by prejudice, the origin of this nonsense mostly to be found in the tragic month of October 1970 and the great “crises” which our political establishments, under the astutely calculating Mr. Trudeau, managed to make out of a couple of dozen young terrorists, whose ideology was a hopeless hodgepodge of anarcho-nationalism and kindergarten Marxism, which ad no chance of having any kind of serious impact…A great spectacle produce in order to terrorize the Québécois forever back into unquestioning submissiveness, and, outside, to feed the mill of scary propaganda about how dangerous this tame animal could nevertheless be!

In brief Québec’s most privileged links, aside from its most essential relationship with the Canadian partner, would be first with the United States—where there is no imaginable reason to frown on such a tardy but natural and healthy development…The Québec would look to other Francophone or “Latin” countries as cultural respondents, and to France herself—who would certainly not be indifferent to the fact that this new nation would constitute the second most important French-speaking country in the world. In brief, such is the peaceful and, we confidently hope, fruitfully progressive state which may very well appear on the map of North America before the end of the decade.

Canada Votes for Separatism

No…not now, but back to 1978 again. From The Economist, October 21, 1978, Vol 269.

Canada Votes for Separatism
If Quebec still rejects the tories while the rest of Canada turns sour on Mr. Trudeau, the coming general election may break the country

Canada now stands poised for a fateful choice: a choice that will determine whether it continues to exist. Monday’s mini-election…revealed the perilous weaknesses both of Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal government and of the opposition Progressive Conservatives… [Mr. Joe Clark’s] own party, while triumphantly capturing no less than five Ontario seats formerly held by Liberal minister, failed once again to penetrate Quebec.

…the separatist tide that had swept Mr. Lévesque into office came up against a formidable barrier: the existence in Ottawa of a strong Liberal government. headed by a Québécois, committed to righting French Canadians’ ancient grievances….They held four fifths of the Quebec seats in the house of commons; his party held only three fifths of the provincial assembly seats, and it had won them on a minority (41%) vote.

…this is no time for Mr. Lévesque to beat the big drum. it is a long time since he has used such words as “independence” or “separation.” His party’s formula is “sovereignty-association,” and when he expounded this in the Quebec assembly on October 10th he emphasised that “We do not want to break our union with the rest of Canada, but rather to transform it radically.”

Looming TTC Strike

I bet this doesn’t last four months

TTC workers vote 99.2% to reject offer
AARON HARRIS/TORONTO STAR
Transit union chief had urged members to reject company’s bid for concessions on benefits
Mar 13, 2008 04:30 AM

Toronto Transit Commission workers voted overwhelmingly yesterday to reject a contract offer, less than three weeks before reaching a legal strike position.

Quebec Separatism circa 1977

From The Economist’s February 12, 1977 edition (Vol. 262) a survey of the country prepared by Roland Bird, on the eve of that great referendum that fired passions as few political events have since.

Must the Unthinkable Happen?

Canada can never be the same after November, 15th….

Before Quebecers are consulted on whether they want to stay in Canada, the Lévesque government has a stupendous job to put Quebec’s finances straight, to get its economy moving, and to deal effectively with labour movement…

[Mr. Lévesque’s team] conceivably represents the best in ability that has ever been installed in provincial government throughout Canada’s history….he deals in an endless stream of political philosophy and of equivocal French concepts, rather than administrative practicalities.

He sees himself…as having some sort of “national mandate”, independent of any English vote or of any big business support.

…Now a country still largely governed by latitude rather than longitude is threatened by a possible economic and political breach that could—and almost certainly would—destroy it. It is really inconceivable that Canada could survive as three chunks…A sovereign Quebec would almost certainly be a protectionist Quebec.

…Bullying Quebec will serve no purpose except to encourage the separatists.

Canada is not a unitary country and never has been; it is Mr. Trudeau’s tragedy that he has failed to make it one…But he is the best prime minister Canada has got. There is no greater Canadian and no leader of greater intellectual ability, and he could grasp the country and its people and bring them into a new mood of greater self-confidence.

If Quebec Goes it Alone

René Lévesque did not sweep the Parti Québecois into power on November 15th by concentrating on separatism…_[he]_ went on to slaughter the Liberals with charges of bad government and scarcely another word about separatism.

…The Pequistes are committed to secession and will seek a mandate for it two years from now. Meantime they will show Canada and the world how much better they can run Quebec than the “corrupt” Liberals…Separatism is no longer the subject matter for some exciting romantic seminar…It is touch verismo policy, and if he were to show the slightest sign of backing off from it (which he will not) there are determined assocates in the part who would quickly get rid of [Lévesque] and do the job themselves.

…there is a crisis of decision, not just for Quebec, but for the whole of Canada…Would the Parti Québécois be acting illegally, as the prime minister has asserted, if it took Quebec out of confederation?

At a stroke, the Parti Québécois has mauled Mr. Trudeau’s power base, which is Quebec itself.
…
Before the Quebec election turned Canadian politics upside down, it was assumed that Mr. Trudeau might wait until the autumn of 1978 before calling a federal election. That timetable is by no means so certain now…For the time being, Mr Lévesque has a fistful of trumps and it is difficult to see Mr. Trudeau ruffling many of them.

The anti-Quebec feeling west of Ottawa was epitomised in the resignation of Mr. James Richardson last October from the ministry of defence…for many Canadians his was a voice registered against Mr. Trudeau for giving Quebec too much.

…_[Quebec]_ is as prosperous as it is, as self-confident as it is, as able to get so hideously close to deserting the rest of Canada and so destroying it, because of what Canada has done for it…Mr. Lévesque’s line has always been that independent status for Quebec would not mean total separation so much as a common association between two “countries”…

The Unhappy Trudeau

The opinion polls in September gave Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal government a mere 29% support…Mr. Trudeau has always been a fascinating mixture. His arrogance can be crushing. His intelligence is unmatched among Canadian prime ministers, with the possible exception of Louis St. Laurent…Yet he can be humble too, as he was after being re-elected by a gnat’s whisker in 1972.

…When he lost John Turner early last year, a wave of apprehension swept the country. Finance ministers do not resign lightly…There is noboy to match him as a potential rival for the prime minister’s office, nobody whom the party caucus would rather choose as a future leader of the Liberal party, if Mr. Trudeau were to go.

…Liberals do not go in for public assassinations, and certainly not of a Quebecer whose knifing would imperil the party’s standing in Quebec.

…After all Ottawa’s efforts to suppress the instinct for separatism in Quebec, the Bourassa government…has been swept out of office, and a government pledged to offering separatism installed with 70 our of 110 seats.

It must be tempting, when federal help on such a scale has manifestly failed in its political purpose, to withdraw it with the idea of chastening separatist aspirations…smacking a child when all that it has said is that it might be naughty would be an act of heavy handedness as silly as it would be ineffective…Either line would seem to be more helpful to Mr. Lévesque than to Mr. Trudeau: if he is bullied by Ottawa, he would convert more Quebecers to separatism; if he had more of the federal assistance that did not prevent his election, Quebec could take it and still go separatist.

…Other provinces may not love Quebec fr its ability to get its own way with ottawa, but they are in the same business themselves and would not see Quebec put down by Ottawa for the simple reason that it might happen to them next…separatism is a long way short of a burning commitment in the popular mind. It is no longer a revolutionary call, as it undoubtedly seemed in 1970, at a time when it had a hideous by-product of violence…

More practical notions are abroad today…a redistribution of power…If [Mr. Trudeau] asks Canadians for a mandate to fight separatism before it has been clearly defined by Mr. Lévesque and endorsed by the Quebec electorate, he would be taking on a constitutional cockshy. And conceivably worst of all must be the possibility that referendum and federal election will fall almost simultaneously in the autumn of 1978. Could he resign in order to lead the Quebec Liberals (he once said he would, if Mr. Lévesque ever got in) leaving Mr. Turner to take over?

America in Isolation

In a world where America seems increasingly isolated and alone, it’s hard to imagine this advancing the economic cause:

Clinton and Obama vow to reopen NAFTA
Both Democrats make commitment in final debate before next week’s crucial primaries
JOHN IBBITSON
February 27, 2008 at 12:15 AM EST

WASHINGTON—Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would withdraw the United States from the North American free trade agreement with six months notice after becoming president, unless the deal were completely renegotiated.

Blame Canada

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: The hotter it gets, the larger the water crisis is going to become. When you ask people who are promoting development how we can go on, they think we’ll end up getting water from Canada, that these huge engineering projects are going to rescue us. That just isn’t realistic. If you had to go to Las Vegas and place a bet that we can rely on the Canadians to save us—well, it’s not a good bet.
—“Outside Magazine”:http://www.outsidemag.com/, March 2008, pp. 107

Kennedy’s right that there’s not going to be an engineered solution to the water problems of the American south (at least not one that involves transferring water, as opposed to preserving it) but at some point, sometime in the near future some senior American elected official will blame Canada for this, and push for a NAFTA related water transfer requirement.

Count on it.

Lessons for Translink?

Could a regional (as opposed to municipal) transportation strategy for the TTC work? Could an increase in service levels increase ridership by creating a better experience?

Maybe. Could it work for Translink? It seems worth a try.

Premier backs TTC takeover
McGuinty’s vision: A regional authority operating ‘seamless’ transit across GTA.
Feb 15, 2008 04:30 AM
ROBERT BENZIE , TESS KALINOWSKI, STAFF REPORTERS

The TTC should be taken over eventually by the province’s new transportation authority to provide “seamless” public transit in the Greater Toronto Area, says Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Yes We Can

Beautifully executed. I still think Hillary Clinton is the right choice for a democratic nominee, but moments like thist are rare in modern politics. Will.I.Am’s notes on the video are worth reading.

Whatever happens today, and in the next year, the Democratic Party will be making a historic choice: forging a new path forward. I only hope that all of my American friends vote, no matter who they vote for.

Like a Child in a Cookie Jar

Yet another long time Liberal with a culture of entitlement. It’s embarassing, frankly, and reflects badly on the party, the Senate and the legal community of which Mobina Jaffer is a part.

Law society opens investigation into Liberal senator’s accounts
Last Updated: Monday, January 21, 2008 | 9:24 PM ET

Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer is under investigation by the Law Society of British Columbia for allegedly overbilling one of her legal clients, including charging for 30 hours of work in a single day, CBC News has learned.

Jaffer has been called before the law society to account for more than $6 million in legal bills charged to her former client, a Catholic missionary order known as the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
…
CBC News has obtained forensic accounting reports filed during the lawsuit showing that Jaffer, on one occasion, billed 30 hours on a single day. Twenty-seven of those hours were for “finalizing accounts” — which means preparing bills.

The emphasis is mine.

Win South Carolina, Win the Nomination

So goes the Republican maxim, and John McCain looks to be winning South Carolina, according to Campaigns & Elections

McCain Wins S.C. Primary

Sen. John McCain is the projected winner of the South Carolina Republican primary besting rivals Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson. With 82 percent of precincts reporting, McCain has 33 percent of the vote, Huckabee 30 percent, and Thompson 16 percent.

The win holds the potential to put McCain on a serious roll heading into Florida Jan. 29 and then on to the 20 plus states voting Feb. 5

There’s a great line from an old episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon says:

“There is an 80% chance in the next election that I will tell all my friends that I’m voting for Barack Obama but I will secretly vote for John McCain”

and therein lies the problem. McCain gives left leaning republicans a home, and has a lot of appeal to right leaning democrats. He trumps Obama on experience, is certainly seen as a man who speaks his own mind and is probably the only real threat to a Democratic win in 2008.

It’s a good choice: if you’re a Republican.

"Because It's There"

Sir Edmund Hillary passed away yesterday, a loss to the mountaineering community and the world of exploration.

Hillary was one of the first two men to stand atop Everest, never revealing whether it was himself of Tenzing Norgay who achieved the summit first. True class.

A long time ago—not one, but two lifetimes ago—I went to see Hillary speak on a first date. Hillary was asked about the famous “Because it’s there” quote at the event: he never said those words, and it’s one of the great misquotes of history…the truth hardly matters anymore.

Spending time in the mountains this weekend seems like a great way to remember the man.

Decaying Infrastructure

Remember this the next time your government (federal, provincial or municipal) tells you that privatizing assets such as highways or bridges will help to maintain infrastructure better.

Streets closed after sign blows off Toronto skyscraper
Last Updated: Thursday, January 10, 2008 | 7:24 AM ET
CBC News

Sections of downtown Toronto were closed to traffic early Thursday morning after high winds blew parts of a sign from a highrise building.

Portions of a sign near the top of the CIBC building blew off during the wind gusts, falling 58 storeys onto Bay Street on Wednesday evening.

No one was injured.

Hillary in New Hampshire

Were it not for California, New Hampshire would be my favourite state. What little time I’ve spent there has always been somewhat charmed by nature. Its mountains are granite, tall, spiky and snow covered (by contrast, Vermont’s mountains are rolling in nature.) Fall is beautiful and alive with the colours of leaves, winters are cold and crisp, spring offers the luxury of watching the world come to life again and summer presents hardwood forests to explore.

If that’s not enough, there’s those licence plates with that great Live Free or Die slogan, so at odds with the cliche image of New England liberalism.

And they appear to be voting for Hillary.

Results are still early, so we’ll have to wait and see. I’m hopeful on this one though: it’s an issue of electability, ultimately. Left leaning Republicans are more likely to go to Hillary, in my view, than Obama. The whole game changes if the Republicans choose McCain, who will give them the home they’re so badly looking for anyway.

Is Obama Electable?

Iowa results are in, with the New York Times reporting the following results with 91% or polls in.

Election Results—Iowa

Democrats	Vote	%
Obama	821	37%
668	30
Clinton	659	30
Richardson	48	2
Biden	20	1
Dodd	1
Others	2

91% reporting

Clinton in third is very very bad: she will probably start to shed support slowly, although a solid performance in the next primaries could reverse it. Things don’t look good.

The main question with Obama in first (by a wide margin, it should be noted) is will the broader American public vote for him? Riding a wave of hype including the Oprah endorsement, the surge in votes is no surprise: I’m not convinced that anybody who voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 election will change their mind and vote for Barack Obama as much because of his lack of experience (a legitimate complaint) as the colour of his skin (which should be irrelevant, but unfortunately will not be.)

The world needs a Democratic victory, not another Republican one.

Red Mountain

Off to Rossland, BC tomorrow to snowboard at Red Mountain: my first outing of the season. It should be fun, although there’s no new snow forecast.

Pakistan continues to be a frustrating situation: that a woman who fought to advance the cause of democracy felt it necessary to appoint her son as a successor is a contradiction worth noting.

Politicians, of course, are noted for being hypocritical and contradictory. Benazir Bhutto is no exception, as evidenced by past and present actions. That she was Washington’s most recent choice is little cause to celbrate either.

That she was better than the current regime is the real problem.

Canada Loses in Hockey: Al Qaeda Blamed

The Swedes have ended our unbeaten streak: it had to end for one team—both were unbeaten.

Blaming Al Qaeda for the death of Benazir Bhutto is convenient, to be sure, and American media have dutifully repeated the story with not much in the way of questioning. While newspapers seem happy to question the account of how Bhutto died, there’s not much debate over who set the bomb.

Blaming Al Qaeda, of course, gives Pervez Mushareff a perfect excuse for canceling elections (civil unrest is assured with the World’s Greatest Terrorists™ responsible) and the U.S. government the perfect excuse for extending its mission in Afghanistan.

Surely, the theory goes, no one will withdraw from the Coalition of the Willing in the face of this latest blow against democracy.

Yeah, right.

Just make sure you still vote Democratic, Americans. Don’t be fooled by this.

Of Pakistan and Vancouver Traffic

I joke, sometimes (often if you must) about Vancouver’s Radio Moscow. The truth is I love the CBC, and hate that the CRTC forces me to continue to listen on AM radio in the city itself. Ridiculous. Shades of the 70s, but without Venus Flytrap or Dr. Johnny Fever.

There’s something surreal, however, about leaving Kelowna and hearing about accidents in Burnaby on the traffic report. It’s not hard to avoid them from there, a five hour drive away. I’m not sure if this is regular schedule or a holiday thing. It’s the 27th: I’d think we’d be back to regular schedule.

Travelling snow covered, damp, icy highways in the Swedish Rocket is always a bit of a pleasure, but today’s trip was dominated by the news of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, sure to destabilize the region.

My money is that Pervez Musharraf, thug that he is, cancels the scheduled elections for January 8th and declares martial law, again. The chaos resulting from the assassination will be the facade: that Musharraf encouraged (and likely caused) the chaos will be ignored.

I’ve just finished reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. This is as good an example of its central thesis as any.

Perhaps the best example: stock markets around the world reacted with a shrug, nary a concern for those dead or the potential for one of the world’s nuclear powers to become a deeply unstable country, held together by the thinnest of threads and a madman.

Yes, friends, never let it be forgotten: Pakistan has nuclear weapons. It should also not be lost that Musharraf was an American ally first, before it was a world pariah. This is, sadly, a pattern that we have seen before.

On What Basis?

The entire article from the Globe and Mail, copyright be damned.

Latimer should be pardoned, civil liberties group says
The Canadian Press
December 6, 2007 at 5:21 PM EST
Regina — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says Robert Latimer’s continued imprisonment is nothing short of a “national disgrace.”

Association lawyer Allan Borovoy says it’s time for the federal government to step in and grant the Saskatchewan farmer clemency.

Mr. Latimer, who is currently serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of his severely disabled daughter, was denied a chance at day parole Wednesday.

The National Parole Board said he has not shown remorse for his actions.

Mr. Borovoy calls that ruling sanctimonious and says the parole board should be focused on risk assessment, not contrition.

The civil liberties association has used Mr. Latimer’s case as an example of how mandatory minimum sentences don’t work.

On what basis should a pardon—the ultimate in forgiveness—be granted?

Regardless of his motive. Robert Latimer took a life. Arguments for compassion aside, you can’t run a civil society where people are allowed to walk around killing other people. The right to life is the most basic of human rights: a society that doesn’t protect this as an absolute can’t be called a just society.

Early parole I might be convinced to agree with: the parole board acknowledged, apparently, that Latimer was an extremely low risk to reoffend. On this basis an early parole would seem reasonable.

But a pardon? That would reduce the meaning of Tracy Latimer’s life to nothing…less than zero…less than human.

Surely no one wants to live in that society?

Chocolate? What about gas!

A sure sign that the government has it’s priorities a little skewed: the chocolate industry gets investigated by the competition bureau while the automotive gas industry…doesn’t.

Chocolate bar makers probed over prices
PAUL WALDIE
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
November 28, 2007 at 12:00 AM EST

Is there something underhanded going on with the price of Kit Kat, Snickers and Caramilk bars?

Federal regulators have launched an investigation into allegations the Canadian divisions of Nestlé, Cadbury, Hershey, Mars and others have teamed up in a price-fixing scheme in the multibillion-dollar Canadian business of chocolate bars.

The Competition Bureau served search warrants on several major bar makers this week requiring them to turn over reams of documents on their pricing arrangements.

Here’s the puzzling question of the month on gas: gas prices went up as oil prices rose. Oil is priced in American dollars. The Canadian dollar is up 30% against the American dollar. Why haven’t gas prices in Canada gone down?

Gas is typically more expensive in Vancouver than Toronto due to a lack of refineries, but the rising dollar should still have benefited consumers here.

Censorship in School Libraries

Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass has been pulled from school shelves in some Ontario catholic schools.

School board pulls ‘anti-God’ book
RON BULL/TORONTO STAR
Philip Pullman’s works have often been criticized by the Catholic church.
Halton’s Catholic trustees and staff to review fantasy that is `apparently written by an atheist’
Nov 22, 2007 04:30 AM, Kristin Rushowy, Education Reporter

Halton’s Catholic board has pulled The Golden Compass fantasy book—soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman—off school library shelves because of a complaint.

Bylaw City: Vancouver

This is my new favourite sign in the city of Vancouver. It’s better than that dog one out in Deep Cove, and it’s better than the other silly camel and moose crossing ones they have along the Seymour Highway.

The sign says (in case the flash makes it hard to read):

[No Parking] Except Residents of 1900 Blk. W. 47th Ave.

Why do I like this sign so much?

There is precisely one house in the 1900 block of West 47th Ave. It’s opposite Maple Grove school. There are in fact two residences, but one has an address on Cypress Ave. the corner, and the exit doesn’t front on 47th.

So there’s one house, but city council has somehow passed a bylaw that reserves this entire block for a single house.

That house, by the way, has a two car garage.

Pakistan Attempts to Crush Protests by Lawyers

That Shakespeare was no fan of lawyers does nothing to legitimize Pervez Musharraf’s actions

In all, about 2,000 people have been rounded up since the imposition of emergency rule on Saturday night, lawyers and legal and political analysts said. General Musharraf said in his emergency edict that he was taking the action as chief of the Pakistani Army, not as president, a fact that made his move akin to martial law, said Daniel Markey, senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington

Millions of Canadian Taxpayer Dollars

Millions of taxpayer dollars go to Bombardier every year…you’d think they could building landing gear that would stay on a plane.

Scandinavian Airlines drops Bombardier Q400 turboprops
It’s ‘very safe,’ Montreal-based Bombardier says of aircraft assembled in Toronto
Last Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2007 | 4:38 PM ET
CBC News
Scandinavian Airlines System has decided to permanently stop flying Canadian-made Bombardier Q400 turboprops after a string of crash landings blamed on landing gear malfunctions, the airline’s chief executive said Sunday.

“I’m just a photographer; I don’t know anything”

Twice this week, I’ve mentioned the killing fields. I have a friend who’s visiting Cambodia as part of a long period of traveling.

A chilling reminder of what happened there in today’s New York Times.

“‘Look straight ahead. Don’t lean your head to the left or the right.’ That’s all I said,” he recalled. “I had to say that so the picture would turn out well. Then they were taken to the interrogation center. The duty of the photographer was just to take the picture.”

The New York Times Review: Rendition

The New York Times somehow has managed to review the new film Rendition without mentioning the name Maher Arar.

This seems just…strange. You can read the review here

Recipe for Political...Success???

1. Criticize your opponents for offering tax cuts and jeopardizing Canada’s social safety net.
2. Promise to staunchly defend that safety net if elected
3. Promise tax cuts if you’re elected

I’m not quite sure what Stéphane Dion is smoking these days, but this just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Dion says he’d cut corporate tax rate
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
Globe and Mail Update
October 12, 2007 at 6:39 PM EDT

TORONTO—Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is offering deeper tax breaks to Corporate Canada to maintain the country’s global competitiveness, but won’t say how much until the next election campaign.

Is This Even a Question?

John Tory didn’t win a seat in yesterday’s election.

John Tory didn’t win the mayor’s job in T-dot, despite spending quite a bit of money trying to do it.

John Tory considered running for the federal Conservative party’s leadership, but didn’t when he figured out that Stephen Harper was pretty much guaranteed to win.

John Tory has nothing left to run for.

Tory’s defeat ‘a tough blow’ to party
KAREN HOWLETT and PAUL WALDIE AND SIRI AGRELL
Globe and Mail Update
October 11, 2007 at 11:11 PM EDT

OTTAWA, TORONTO, FORT FRANCES, ONT. — Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory’s bitter election defeat this week leaves him facing an uncertain future as the soul-searching begins over how he squandered an opportunity to thwart a Liberal majority.

Is There No Shame?

I can understand manufacturers cutting costs by using the cheapest components possible when making toys for kids, but this time they’ve crossed the line. Don’t mess with the monkey!

Marvel testing Curious George dolls for lead

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 | 4:27 PM ET

Marvel Entertainment Group Inc. said Wednesday it was testing Curious George dolls after a consumer advocacy group warned that the dolls contained unsafe levels of lead.

Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize for his efforts to help some of the poorest people on the planet. His book is well worth reading.

Yunus points out what should be obvious, in my opinion: money need not be the only motivation for business. Businesses can be driven by social consciousness and impact as well.

1% For The Planet was started by Yvon Chouinard for this reason: to give Patagonia a social conscience.

The Mountain Equipment Co-Op is a member, and often trumpeted as a socially responsible business. Of course, their co-operative status means they don’t make the same business tax contributions to the Canadian economy as conventional businesses.

Do the positives cancel out the negatives in this case? Yunus might not agree: by skirting around corporate taxes, the Co-Op is undermining Canada’s network of social services.

A social conscience is a complicated thing, and there are no easy answers.

Michael Ignatieff Speaks Like a Dodo

Michael Ignatieff was hand chosen by Paul Martin, one of the most forgettable Prime Ministers in the history of the nation. Mr. Martin led a Liberal minority government that was ridiculously ineffective, short-lived and turned the Liberal Party of Canada into a shell of its former self.

This makes Mr. Ignatieff’s comments here all the more surprising:

Harper doesn’t want minority to work, says Ignatieff
Canadian Press
October 7, 2007 at 3:32 PM EDT

OTTAWA—Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says he doesn’t believe Prime Minister Stephen Harper really wants the minority Parliament to work.

Mr. Ignatieff told CTV’s Question Period Sunday that if Mr. Harper was prepared to make Parliament work, it would be easy—just work with the Opposition to get Conservative legislation passed.

“All he has to do is pick up the phone and call the leader of our party and say, ‘Look I’ve got a number of bills, I’ve got a number of measures. How far will you come with me?’” Mr. Ignatieff said.

The Martin government was uncooperative and arrogant to the extreme, eventually leading to its downfall. Leveling these criticisms at the Harper regime seems disingenuous at best.

Wasn't This Entirely Predictable?

The government encourages farmers to grow a new crop, with the promise of a more stable future. Farmers plant that crop en masse. One year later, so many farmers have planted the crop that an oversupply problem means prices are low and that many farmers who moved to that new crop will be unable to recoup their investment.

Let’s not forget about the rapid rise in corn prices this particular boom caused and the hardship that resulted in Mexico, where corn is as much a staple of the diet as wheat is here.

Governments are supposed to learn from past mistakes, not repeeat them until they finally work.

Ethanol’s Boom Stalling as Glut Depresses Price
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: September 30, 2007

NEVADA, Iowa, Sept. 24 — The ethanol boom of recent years — which spurred a frenzy of distillery construction, record corn prices, rising food prices and hopes of a new future for rural America — may be fading.

Only last year, farmers here spoke of a biofuel gold rush, and they rejoiced as prices for ethanol and the corn used to produce it set records.

But companies and farm cooperatives have built so many distilleries so quickly that the ethanol market is suddenly plagued by a glut, in part because the means to distribute it have not kept pace. The average national ethanol price on the spot market has plunged 30 percent since May, with the decline escalating sharply in the last few weeks.

Naomi Klein and Capitalism

Is our economic model fundamentally flawed? Some food for thought in the new book by Naomi Klein

The average growth rate [in South Africa] has been a disappointing 5 percent (much lower than in countries in East Asia, which followed a different route); unemployment for the black majority is 48 percent; and the number of people living on less than $1 a day has doubled to four million from two million since 1994, the year the A.N.C. took over.

The Man with the Horn

Whoever said music couldn’t change history never heard a man with a horn.

Miles Davis always had a reputation for being more abrasive. Louis Armstrong picked his moments more carefully.

Three Elections and not a Liberal In Sight

If I were betting I’d still say the next election is going to be a Conservative minority, but this week’s results might lend some credence to a majority instead.

They certainly aren’t lending an credence to Stephane Dion, who I maintain was the wrong choice. Bob Rae would have been better, and that’s slim pickings.

Stephen Biko

One of the great joys of listening to BBC World News is the awareness that the rest of the world exists…that is, the portion that is not North America.

30 years ago today Stephen Biko died in police custody in South Africa, the victim of a terrorist state that used violence and economic oppression to entrench racism so deeply into an outdated colonial system that it wasn’t until 1994 that the majority of South Africans were allowed to vote for their own government.

It never fails to surprise me that people younger than me are unaware of a time when Africa was run by a white minority, and when racism was not just accepted but actively promoted by modern democratic governments.

You’d think that humanity would learn from its collective past, but apparently this is not true. At the very least, we shouldn’t forget it.

Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s one of the most powerful documents in the world, although most governments choose to ignore it.

If you were a God, would you create John Tory?

John Tory just demonstrated exactly how much of an idiot he is. God help our children if Ontario elects this man:

Creationism raised as Ont. election issue
CAROLINE ALPHONSO AND TENILLE BONOGUORE
September 5, 2007 at 3:56 PM EDT

TORONTO — Publicly-funded religious schools would be allowed to teach creationism and other theories, says Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.

Tory has managed to perform one miracle though: he’s left his former supporter Warren Kinsella speechless.

Ottawa considers electronic leash on truckers

From today’s Globe and Mail comes a store about Ottawa considering national legislation to limit the speed of trucks to 105 km/h.

The excerpt:

“I see that as a great opportunity for accidents,” said Barry Prentice, a professor and head of the Transport Institute at the University of Manitoba. “We’ll have all these other yahoos trying to pass trucks left, right and centre, especially on two-lane roads.”

The federal and provincial governments are jointly studying the idea of requiring all large trucks to have their engine microchips permanently programmed not to exceed 105 km/h. One study, to be launched this fall, will look at whether these “speed limiters” would put Canada at an economic disadvantage with the United States, which has no plans to slow down trucks.

I’d like to ask Professor Barry Prentice one question: can you find me a two lane road where the speed limit is higher than 100 km/h. Since the limit on most of these roads would be 80 km/h, it would seem that the 105 km/h limit would be more than enough.

Heartbroken Bush Runs After Departing Rove's Car

The Onion is one of the funniest reads on the web on a consistent basis.

Heartbroken Bush Runs After Departing Rove’s Car

WASHINGTON, DC—A confused President Bush broke free from the restraint of Secret Service agents this morning and ran in pursuit of departing deputy chief of staff Karl Rove’s car for several blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue before being outdistanced by the vehicle

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Resigns

This has been far too long in coming

WACO, Tex., Aug. 27 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, announced his resignation in Washington today, declaring that he had “lived the American dream” by being able to lead the Justice Department.

Gonzales typified the Bush presidency. This is presidency characterized by an utter disregard for the people it’s intended to serve. I once heard the Nixon presidency described as paranoid. It was that paranoia that led to Nixon and Kissinger’s propensity for keeping secrets.

The Bush administration doesn’t even have that excuse: instead, it appears to act out of pure selfishness and disrespect for those who both did and did not vote for them.

Thank god 2008 is coming soon…the only question is which Democrat will be president at this point.

Moderne Burger

Moderne Burger is to the hamburger what Pablo Picasso was the world of art: a work of genius, so different from all else that it needs to be savoured in person to absorb the true impact. Once you’ve done that, you won’t be able to look at anything else in quite the same way.

It’s been closed for almost six months now, undergoing some renovations and doubling in size at the current location at Broadway and Larch. I haven’t had a burger in six months. (I discount fast food as “not a burger” and it’s not like I’ve eaten that many anyway!)

On Friday, I had the good fortune of bumping itnto Peter and Kathy who own the place while they were walking around Granvile Island. My excitement was obvious, and they assured me that they’d be open before the end of September. This is good since The Craving was getting so desperate that I swore I was going to go to the vastly inferior Vera’s Burger Shack chain on September 1^st if they weren’t open. Now that I know, I can hold out until the end of September.

The holdup, by the way? City council and the permit process. Vancouver takes permitting to an absurd level, and I can only say that this is the one thing that I would consider more important than getting the garbage strike settled: Sam Sullivan, for the good of humanity get Moderne Burger open again!

Despite the liability that is Stephane Dion

Now if only the Liberals had elected Michael Ignatief, they’d be ahead.

Harper failing to win country over
BRIAN LAGHI
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
July 19, 2007 at 1:05 AM EDT

OTTAWA — Discomfort with Stephen Harper’s Conservatives is deepening among women, francophones and wealthier Canadians, according to a new poll that puts the government in a dead heat with the Liberals in popular support.

Will The Real Skooter Please Stand Up?

The president’s power of clemency and pardon was granted by the constitution, and the constitution does not grant power lightly. Despite this, President George W. Bush the lightest president in American history—has adopted that power.

I spent the morning in a dental chair watching Tony Snow obfuscate and confuse reality in an attempt to justify an obvious act of political favouritism. It didn’t work very well. It was, in fact, a rather sad moment in the history of western civilization.

All I can say is no one…not once…has granted this Skooter clemency and I’m never going to ask.

This is a Very Good Thing

Every once in a while somebody has the political will to do something that might be unpopular with business. This is one of them.

Ontario moves to curb speeding truckers
Canadian Press
July 2, 2007 at 11:00 AM EDT

TORONTO — Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield says big rigs will soon be travelling slower along Ontario highways.

Ms. Cansfield said the Ontario government is making it mandatory for large commercial vehicles to use speed limiters.

She said speed limiters would cap the speed of transport trucks and other large vehicles at 105 kilometres an hour.

State of the (Media) Nation

To say I am not fond of CNN is to understate the problem: I actually blame CNN directly for the demise of quality news reporting. An article on Slate by the editor of US Weekly provides the best explanation of why I can imagine.

The editor of Us Weekly explains why she banned Paris Hilton from its pages. - By Janice Min - Slate Magazine

What I was unprepared for, however, was the apparent banning of Bush coverage from CNN. That day, as the Senate judiciary committee issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, the Justice Department, and the National Security Council in its investigation of the wiretapping scandal, the cable news network that bills itself as “the most trusted name in news” chose instead to devote two prime-time hours to the woman widely credited for inspiring Britney Spears to not wear underpants.

The emphasis above is my own.

I regret that the Canadian news cycle has been deeply affected as well, and while I do love CBC Radio One I find NPR and the BBC a better news organization.

Lack of Civic Identity

An interesting article on the Canada West Foudation’s compares the booms in Calgary and Dublin.

To my eyes, the most interesting part was this:

The rich cultural identity of Dublin is steeped with names that have impacted the world — Yeats, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde — giving the city a confidence and maturity in dealing with social change.

The boom there has spawned a healthy public debate about the pros and cons of the new socio-economic reality.
…
The slightest whiff of economic prosperity has a tendency to give Calgary tunnel vision, often resulting in intoxicating booms and painful busts. Unlike Dublin’s open discussions over the new socio-economic reality, Calgary has pushed forth a dogmatic sense of boosterism, making critical comments appear unpatriotic.
…
A local geologist stated: “In Calgary, you are what you own. All anyone talks about is owning real estate, their job, cars and stuff. People are becoming very selfish.”

Vancouver, of course, suffers from a similar tunnel vision—perhaps worse, given the derision with which people in live in “Vancouver Vancouver” regard the more suburban areas such as North Vancouver or Surrey. By virtue of not being, simply, Vancouver they are regarded with disdain.

In general, I think Vancouver has not yet defined itself. More accurately, perhaps, this most “livable” of cities has defined itself primarily by what it is not rather than by what it is. Vancouver is not Toronto and it is not American…but what is it?

A friend said last week that Vancouver was becoming like a resort town, where only those who don’t need to but choose to can afford to live in the city while those who must can’t afford it.

I’m not sure this is a healthy future.

The NDP's Environmental Disconnect

The NDP consistently tries to portray itself as the party of the environment, which makes headings like this, from the latest e-newsletter, all the more astonishing:

Canadians pumping profits into big oil’s pockets

A new study this week confirms the NDP’s charge that ordinary Canadians are getting hosed at the pumps. For every litre of gas Canadians buy, 15 to 27 cents is being pumped right into the pockets of big oil and gas. The NDP is challenging Stephen Harper to stand up to his big oil buddies, set up a monitoring agency and launch a public inquiry to ensure fairness at the pumps.

Doesn’t this contradict the NDP’s environmental platform?

Cars are a favourite target of the environmental movement, sometimes unjustly. I own a car—it hasn’t moved in….six days, or maybe seven. I can’t remember, but it’s getting nice here so I’m cycling everywhere every day. Still, I haven’t given it up. At least I’m not buying gas needlessly.

Everybody knows fuel in North America costs dramatically less (even now) than it does in Europe. Historical prices of US$2.50 per gallon in the US fuelled demand for large, fuel hungry vehicles that are completely unnecessary. Fuel prices rise in the summer and fall in the winter and sometimes, although not always, they’re higher on weekends and lower during the week.

All of this is a perfect illustration of one of the most basic of economic realities: supply and demand. Quite simply, when demand is high prices rise. This is particularly true in the case of a finite resource such as oil: supply is constantly diminishing.

The problem is that to date, at least in North America, demand for fuel has remained fairly elastic. People love to complain about prices, but they keep buying more fuel.

There’s a really simple answer, and it doesn’t mean giving up your car: it just means driving only when you need too. Of course the word need has a slippery definition for some people, but the point is simple: if North America stopped driving so much, we wouldn’t be eating into our supply as quickly.

Walking doesn’t consume any fuel. Neither does cycling.

Fixed Election Dates in Canada

Fixed election dates are not compatible with the Westminster Parliamentary system on which Canada’s government is built. They simply are not.

Why Stephen Harper has chosen to pass a bill—a meaningless, hollow bill—to implement them remains a shock to me. why the rest of parliament chose to help him in this agenda is equally surprising.

Simply put, the government can fall on a non confidence vote at any time. Fixed terms therefore don’t exist. Our constitution already defines a five yer maximum: the Harper government has, here, passed a bill which simply shortens that to four years without going through the process of a constitutional amendment.

Whether this is because the Harper government doesn’t respect the constitution, or because they felt that this was an issue not deserving of an amendment doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s invalid.

Unfortunately, i think it’s the former: I think the Conservative Party of Canada believes that parliament is supreme in all matters, and i only wonder at what point they’ll stop.

Our Constitution is supreme, our Parliament is fickle.

Life, Death and the Charter of Rights

The Supreme Court of the United States of America today upheld a ban on partial birth abortions and furthered the highly conservative agenda of the Bush government.

A similar conservative agenda supports ownership of hand guns by indivduals in the United States of America and funds the National Rifle Association. Two days ago a mental ill individual put a pair of handguns to their only intended use in Virginia, and hunted and succesfully killed 32 people on the campus of Virgina Tech.

Both of these rights — the right of the government to restrict women’s control over her body, and the right to own a weapon deigned to hunt other human beings are drawn from the Bill of Rights in the American constitution.

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a document that transformed our nation at its core and guarantees individual rights to the citizens of Canada, something that most parliamentary democracies do not have. The supremacy of an unelected judiciary over the laws of an elected parliament isn’t uniquely Canadian, but it’s quite rare.

It’s days like today that I’m reminded of why I’m glad to live in a kindler, gentler nation than our neighbours to the south. It’s days like today that I’m glad to live in a just society.

On Partial Birth Abortions

You’ll note that if you follow that link on partial birth abortions the lack of medical information is quite startling: there is no strict defition of the term, according to most of the literature that I’ve read through the years. I’ve never heard a medical doctor admit to having seen one, and certainly never to performing one.

As so many political arguments are these days, the abortion argument is framed is absolutes and sound bites. This is not an argument that has blacks and whites, or one that should be discussed in thirty second sound bites. The term partial birth aborition is a term used by lobbyists in order to sound provocative. Pro Life is a similarly provocative term: what’s the alternative…Anti Life? In reality these groups are Anti Choice but they would never dare call themselves by that most honest of names.

It’s also not an issue that should be decided either by a legislative body run by grey haired old men who are afraid to lose a single vote, or a court of similarly grey haired (but supposedly learned) old men sitting on a bench.

Put simply, grey haired old men have no business telling women what they can do with their bodies, and it’s offensive to use the Bill of Rights as a ruse to doing so is offensive and appaling to the core.

On Hand Guns and Gun Control

The hand gun has one sole purpose:to hunt and kill humans. An old marketing slogan, apparently, says:

God created men, but Colt made them equal

I once hear a story about on of Samuel Colt’s children (or grand children) who lived in a mansion of some size, paid for by the family fortune. Staircase after staircase was added to the mansion, all leading nowhere. The purpose, apparently, was to mislead the ghosts that haunted the house. She believed the soul of every person killed by a Colt handgun wandered the hallways, and the fake hallways were a way of misdirecting them.

There are a lot of souls in those hallways, and using the language of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to justify owing these killing machines has no place in a reasonable conversation.

32 people paid the price in one day, in one place. The appalling thing is not that these students died, but that their deaths hardly matter to the total. 30,242 people were killed by guns in the United States in 2002. 82 people on every day.

82 people.

On a day when 32 people were shot in a single day, 50 people were shot somewhere else in the United States.

50 people.

The hand gun has one sole purpose, and it has no business being in the hands of the average person.

A Boeing 737-400 seats 168 people. If a 737-400 fell out of the sky killing everyone on board the Boeing corporation would be out of business. Why handgun manufacturers are allowed to do the same thing remains a mystery to me.

But remember, planes don’t kill people…people kill people.

On the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

I knew a lawyer once who, when I expressed my affection for the Charter and it’s father—Pierre Elliot Trudeau—said “Let me tell you how hard it’s made my job.”

Good, I said. Your job should be hard. The state should have the burden of proof, and every person should be guaranteed certain rights. These rights might be inconvenient, and they might create a financial burden on the state and its taxpayers. This doesn’t make these rights any less important.

There are any number of countries in the world that exist without them: Chile, Cuba, China, Afghanistan…the list goes on. Citizens don’t speak out against their government, and they don’t have any protection against the state. People are arrested without being told what the charges against them are; people disappear without their family even knowing what happened; people are killed in the name of the state.

These things may seem farfeteched to most Canadians, but they happen every day in some part of the world. It may not happen in Toronto or Halifax, but it happens in other places.

Fundamental human rights are violated every day in Guantanamo Bay, under the guise of “national security.”

It happens despite the fact that the United States is a leading signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the rights of every Canadian young or old, male or female, native born or immigrant.

This is an important document, and one whose anniversary deserves to be remembered. This is the foundation of a just society, and it’s a much better document than what the American Bill of Rights has become.

The Charter gives me hope for a future, despite events like this week’s. Like the American bill of rights, it’s a living breathing document subject to the interpretation of the courts. Judicial decisions frame the specifics of the application of the charter, but the core will likely live for some time thanks to an extremely difficult amendment process.

This is as it should be, and it’s my sincere hope that our Charter doesn’t become subject to the kinds of political whims demonstrated by the events of the past few days in America.

It’s my sincere hope that Canada will always remain just, and fair.

Public / Private Health Care

From today’s New York Times

The effort, which lawmakers emphasize is still in its early stages, would exempt millions of people from the tax but would have to come up with a way to offset an enormous loss of revenue in the next decade. Measured in dollars, it would be far bigger than Democratic initiatives to provide money for children’s health care, education or any other spending program.

The emphasis is mine, and the health care issue is particularly pertinent in Vancouver today.

The False Creek Medical clinic has opened (again) and is offering pay for service medical care. The clinic was shut down once but has made changes intended to bring it in line with the Canada Health Act, the federal legislation that defines Canada’s public health reginmen.

Lost in the extremely polarized debate over health care in Canada is the distinction between children’s health care and adult health care.

I would never advocate for a purely private system, even if it were only applicable to adults. I do think it’s critical to recognize that we need a different strategy to deal with adults than kids.

This, of course, presumes that one recognizes that the health care system as it currently operates in Canada is not sustainable. There are still people who don’t…people who think the only option is a fully funded public health care regime.

Private care has a role in the system. More accurately, user fees have a role in the system. I have a genetic disposition to require eyewear that isn’t funded by the Canada Health Act. Extreme sports participants who repeatedly injure themselves are, however. This isn’t a great system.

I sincerely hope the Democratic party is succesful, if only becuase it will give Canadians another model and one that recognizes the importance of protecting children at all costs.

Putting Life in Perspective

From Stephanie Nolen’s column in today’s Globe and Mail:

“There are over 40 murders each day in South Africa, a country of 45 million people, three times as many reported rapes and 350 violent robberies or assualts. The daily death toll often equals that in Iraq.”

Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of how good life is in Canada.

Death of the Gladiators

They are classic images, these ones, painted with the cold weather and blowing snows of the bitter Quebec winter. Thes images of men wrapped in wool overcoats steeled against whatever nature may bring their way.

These images form the backbone of a political generation. Donald Brittain’s The Champions documented the era on film. Enless numbers of books have been written on the topic, and many more will continue to be.

Rene Levesque and Pierre Elliot Trudeau were the great intellectual gladiators of a generation (or more.) That generation may be coming to an end today.

Quebec has elected it’s first minority government in 130 years, and Jean Charest is the first premier of Quebec who has failed to win back to back majorities in over 20 years. None of this matters in comparison to the truly significant event of the night: the Parti Quebecois has placed third.

Rene Levesque surged to power as the leader of the PQ in 1976. This cemented a relationship with the people of Quebec that has lasted until today—Quebec’s government has always see-sawed between Liberals and the PQ. Separatism was the fundamental dividing point and it had no greater champion then Levesque, lost to his people in 1987. Canadian Federalism lost its greatest leader later in life with the death of Pierre Trudeau in the year 2000.

These two titans were both great men, and true leaders. I say this though I disagree with one bitterly. The Parti Quebecois under the leadership of Rene Levesque seized the hearts of Quebecers—French speakers and English speakers alike—who wanted nothing less than a nation. The arena of politics at its best is this…a battle for the hearts of people fought with passion, strength and will. These two fought it better than any have in the years since in this country.

They were both building nations, and both included Quebec. One exclusively, the other inclusively.

Today, the voters of Quebec passed that mantle to Mario Dumont’s Action démocratique du Québec. The ADQ defeated the PQ today, and for the first time since the days of Levesque the PQ appears to be a limp political force lacking direction, and lacking a place in the hearts of les Quebecois.

Today is the begining of the end of the Parti Quebecois. A party founded by one of the greatest gladiators of our time. Only time will tell what the long term effect of the ADQ is, but one thing is certain: today is a sad day, and the rules under which we have played for so many of the past years has changed fundamentally.

Conservatives are Polling

The Conservatives are polling, which probably means they expect to get defeated on the budget.

I have never been a member of the Conservative Party. I only appear on their lists as a volunteer from a couple of campaigns. If they’re mining volunteer lists (from Ottawa, no less) you can bet that the election readiness team is in full swing.

Let the games begin! My prediction: another Harper minority. My vote: well, that’s a whole different story.

Turing Police

In Neuromancer William Gibson envisions a future Turing Police. Minority Report had the Future Crimes division.

This is not a movie, or a book — this is how a good portion the world’s population suffers from censorship, oppression and a culture of fear when it gets its information.

Welcome to China. Our partners in commerce.

Wired News: ‘Yahoo Betrayed My Husband’
By Luke O’Brien
12:00 PM Mar, 15, 2007

FAIRFAX, Virginia — Early one Sunday morning in 2002, a phone rings in Yu Ling’s Beijing duplex. She’s cleaning upstairs; her son is asleep, while downstairs, her husband, Wang Xiaoning, is on the computer. Wang writes about politics, anonymously e-mailing his online e-journals to a group of Yahoo users. He’s been having problems with his Yahoo service recently. He thinks it’s a technical issue. This is the day he learns he’s wrong.

Wang picks up the phone: “Yes?”

“Are you home?” asks the unfamiliar voice on the other end.

“Yes.”

The line goes dead.

Moments later, government agents swarm through the front door — 10 of them, some in uniform, some not. They take Wang away. They take his computers and disks. They shove an official notice into Yu’s hands, tell her to keep quiet, and leave. This is how it’s done in China. This is how the internet police grab you.

Political Sleight of Hand

Slate has a great article about a bit of sleight of hand played the Edwards campaign.

John Edwards’ Bad Edit

…when Edwards sent out a campaign video to 70,000 Iowa voters earlier this week, something caught our eye—a bit of video-editing trickery that made Edwards appear to be talking about medical care when he was really talking about Iraq.

The Case for Liberalism, George McGovern

Written before the commencement of the Iraq War (or, as some prefer to think of it, Gulf War 2.0) this article by George McGovern appeared in Harpers Magazine in December of 2002. It’s been kicking around my house ever since. If you haven’t read it, you need to—especially if you live in the United States of America.

Some points I like.

“[As] William F. Buckley puts it in his book Up from Liberalism,

‘Conservatism is the tacit acknowledgment that all that is finally important in human experience is behind us; that the crucial explorations have been undertaken, and that it is given to man to know what are the great truths that emerged from them. Whatever is to come cannot outweigh the importance to man of what has gone before.’

The business of conservatism is, in other words, to cling tightly to the past…”
pp. 39

“With the cold War behind us, the U.N. is now free to become the great international organ for peace, development, justice and freedome that Franklin Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, and others intended it to be. As the host nation, America should take the lead in calling for a strengthened U.N., a stronger World Court, and a modern, well-equipped international police force directed by the Secretary General of the U.N. and the U.N. Security Council rather than view such ideals as obstacles.”
pp. 41

“Most of today’s liberals are too intimidated for my taste. When I look back on my twenty-two years in the U.S. Congress, I don’t regret the questions I directed at policymakers; I regret the times that I didn’t ask questions when I should have. the way of a public critic is uncertain and difficult, especially when flags are flying and drums are rolling, but patriotism includes the responsibility, when the nation is following an unwise course, to call it to a higher standard.”
pp. 42

One of these points is a reminder of something that I’m constantly surprised by: the that United States remains home to the United Nations and yet continues to so blatantly undermine its role on the world stage is shocking.

Is it time for the United Nations to move?

Very Good Questions About CBC

A Globe & Mail article about Groupe Videotron caught my eye.

Videotron pulls plug on Canadian Television Fund payments

…
“We fail to understand why the public broadcaster CBC/SRC should, in addition, receive a significant contribution and guarantee from the Canadian Television Fund, which is funded primarily by the private sector,” Quebecor added in a release.

Videotron is suspending its payments immediately, the company said. It was not known whether Shaw has done the same.

These are very good questions, and ones that need to be asked. The sheer volume of methods the CBC uses to receive public money is astonishing.

Pickton Trial

Tomorrow is the first day of the Pickton trial.

If the Gulf War(s) were the first wars with theme songs, and the O.J. trial was the first American trial with one, then this surely ranks as Canada’s first trial with one. It’s being sold as an event five years in the making on CTV, the trial of Canada’s worst serial killer everywhere else.

It’s going to be very interesting to see what the evidence brings to light, given that the mass media in Vancouver appears to have already come to its conclusion.

Perspective on Obama

Slate Magaze puts some perspective on Barack Obama’s announcement and current status.

Barack (Almost) Jumps In
Dissecting Obama’s campaign biography.
By Andy Bowers and John Dickerson
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007, at 7:28 PM ET

Sen. Barack Obama has launched his presidential exploratory committee…

He’s exploring. He’s not in the race yet.

I still say Hillary with Obama as VP. Obama has time to wait.

An Inconvenient Apocalypse

Tragically, this is not a joke. The emphasis is mine.

Anybody who thinks the separation of church and state still exists in the United States clearly hasn’t experienced enough fire and brimstone.

Federal Way schools restrict Gore film
‘Inconvenient Truth’ called too controversial
By ROBERT McCLURE AND LISA STIFFLERP-I REPORTER

This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert “An Inconvenient Truth.”

After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film. The movie consists largely of a PowerPoint presentation by former Vice President Al Gore recounting scientists’ findings.

“Condoms don’t belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He’s not a schoolteacher,” said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. “The information that’s being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. … The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn’t in the DVD.”

Al Gore’s speech at the TED conference is well worth watching.

What shocks (but doesn’t surprise) me about this is the criteria they’ve placed on showing the film. According to the article these are:

teachers who want to show the movie must ensure that a “credible, legitimate opposing view will be presented,”

I was completely unaware that the bible was either credible or legitimate. As I recall Jesus turned water into wine, walked on water, was resurrected from the dead. In addition to this Moses parted the red sea and turned his staff into a snake.

None of these things are possible according to the laws science, and yet the whole book is apparently credible and legitimate.

Fred Bass for Mayor

According to the Georgia Straight

Former Vancouver city councillor Fred Bass says he wants to become the next mayor of Vancouver. In an exclusive interview with the Georgia Straight in a West Side coffee shop, Bass, a physician, revealed his intention to seek the 2008 mayoral endorsement of the Coalition of Progressive Electors and the Vancouver Greens. Bass, a keen environmentalist, ran as a Green candidate for city council in 1996, and was elected in 1999 and 2002 under the COPE banner. In 2005, he came 12th in the race for 10 council seats

Fred Bass would make a better mayoral candidate than Jim Green was.

Bass still won’t be able to defeat Peter Ladner, the likely NPA candidate.

Raymond Louie seems likely to get the nod from the Vision Vancouver folks, although his lack of experience and name recognition work against him.

Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss

Congratulations are due to Stephane Dion but even greater congratulations are due to Stephen Harper who seems destined, now, to form a majority government in the next federal election.

Several months ago, I said that Michael Ignatieff was the only hope for a Liberal majority government in 2007. Ignatieff was different enough to shake up the election, and the possiblity that Canadians would open up to it was real. Slight, but real.

Stephane Dion is a Liberal from the past, not a Liberal for a new future.

Gerard Kennedy did, indeed, play the role of kingmaker although he did so in way that I don’t think anyone predicted. Dropping off the ballot when he was so close to third—a hair separating him from Mr. Dion—was the shock of the day. Given the result, expect Mr. Kennedy to play a significant role in the next Liberal government, whether they win or not.

Sure Frank, but it Doesn't Mean Anything

I love when things like this start to happen.

Thursday Frank McKenna, the former Liberal premier of New Brunswick and Canadian ambassador to Washington, said he was supporting Scott Brison on the first ballot in the race for leader of the federal party.

Of course, this show of support from McKenna means nothing beyond regional loyalty. Because Scott Brison doesn’t have a hope on the first ballot, McKenna can publicly support Brison without alienating the person he’s truly loyal too.

It’s a dirty game.

Advice From Howard Dean

Howard Dean addressed the Liberal Leadership Convention last night.

Grits get pep talk from Howard Dean
JEFF SALLOT
Globe and Mail Update

MONTREAL — The most wide-open Liberal leadership convention in a generation opened Wednesday, with a pep-rally style speech in the evening by U.S. politician Howard Dean.

He told about 2,500 delegates at the Palais de Congres in Montreal that opposition political parties — such as his in the United States and theirs in Canada — can win elections by going after every vote.

“Whether it is the Liberal Party or the Democratic Party, we should never cede a single region or province, never cede a single state or city. Nor should we ever cede a single voter. Not a single one,” Dr. Dean said.

Amongst the permanently cynical, there’s a great deal of catty talk about Dean’s advice. Dean’s personal campaign is probably one of the most famous acts of self destruction in recent political memory.

Paul Martin’s pales in comparison. Noboby even knows where Canada is compared to the U.S.

Dean is the current chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and as such is basking in the glow of seizing both the House and Congress in the recent mid-term elections.

It’s important not to forget a key reality of politics: there are two ways to win.

The first is winning the honest way: getting out there and talking to people; shaking hands; kissing babies; engaging in a disussion of ideas; not resting on laurels, but really making a difference.

That’s winning. In the current context of a Liberal Leadership race I’ll call this the Pierre Trudeau Style of Winning. It’s a wonderful thing to watch happen, and fairly rare.

The other way to win happens because the other guy loses. There’s a big difference. I’ve recently begun calling this the Stephen Harper Style of Winning. Make no mistake, the Harper government is a result of the failings of the Martin government, not any sense of Conservative idealism.

The Democratic victory in the U.S. mid-term results, I suspect, fall into the second category. It occured in a political environment created by George W. Bush’s astonishing lack of popularity. The Democrats did nothing to create a culture of success: they scrambled in a culture of failure.

The Liberals, like the Democrats, currently lack focus and—figuratively speaking—leadership. It remains to be seen if the Democrats will coalesce into a coherent whole now that they’ve achieved power.

I certainly wouldn’t take Mr. Dean’s advice with a grain of salt until we’ve seen evidence that they can, and that this wasn’t an accidental victory.

Doing so could be a sure recipe for another Conservative led minority government.

Canada's Gay Marriage Laws in the New York Times

It’s not often that Canada makes the New York Times, so it’s always worth noting when it does.

Gay Marriage Galvanizes Canada’s Religious Right

OTTAWA — It was a lonely time here in the capital for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in the early days of the gay marriage debate in 2003.

Of the scattered conservative Christian groups opposed to extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, it was the only one with a full-time office in Ottawa to lobby politicians. “We were the only ones here,” said Janet Epp Buckingham, who was the group’s public policy director then.

But that was before the legislation passed in 2005 allowing gay marriage in Canada. And before the election early this year of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative and an evangelical Christian who frequently caps his speeches with “God bless Canada.”

Today across the country, the gay marriage issue and Mr. Harper’s election have galvanized conservative Christian groups to enter politics like never before.

Before now, the Christian right was not a political force in this mostly secular, liberal country. But it is coalescing with new clout and credibility, similar to the evangelical Christian movement in the United States in the 1980s, though not nearly on the same scale.

Not only is this a contentious issue, the article is a wonderful demonstration of stereotyping.

The idea of Canada as a “mostly secular, liberal country” is somewhat disingenous and even misleading. While it may be true that Canada’s major cities are secular (and that most Canadians live in these urban centres,) our wide open spaces in between are strongly religious places. It’s easy to forget how recently Quebec’s quiet revolution transformed the face of that province and the Roman Catholic church’s role in it.

Canada is, by and large, not much different than the United States when it comes to religion. The existence of publicly funded Catholic schools could actually be used to shape an argument that Canada is less secular than our southern neighbours.

The article does make a statement with respect to the Harper government that creates a fairly realistic portrait of the left/right balance that has been struck in the current minority parliament.

Mr. Harper’s government has not introduced an avalanche of socially conservative measures, but has instead shifted subtly to the right, one policy at a time.

The article nicely reminds people that it’s not the Reform Pary that’s causing a shift to the social right—we’ve seen this before with a supposedly gentler, kinder Conservative government.

In 1989, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney introduced legislation banning abortions in cases where the health of the mother was not at risk but the bill failed in the Senate and never became law.

An interesting ommission from the article which could have been made is the fact that the United States has a constitutional separation of church and state, while Canada does not. There is a de facto separation that exists (with some notable exceptions) but it is not a matter of law.

National Film Board of Canada

Anybody who was raised in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s cannot help but have been exposed to the National Film Board of Canada and its productions. They were a staple of the classroom—those reels of film turning through overheaded projector bulbs across the country were a pretty special sound.

A huge archive of materials is available online, and I stumbled upon two classics.

The Sweater explains hockey and its role in Canada in a way that lives on forever.

The Legend of the Flying Canoe is an ancient Québec folk tale. The same tale inspired the label of La Maudite which remains the best beer produced in this country to this day, at least since Sleeman bought the Upper Canada brewery.

Enjoy, and I sincerely hope these tales are available for a very long time.

Congratulations America

A Democratic congress is a good thing, assuming that the Democratic party can forge and pursue a focused agenda rather than the scattered one its members have been lobbying for over the past 12 years. It’s easier to be in opposition than it is to be in control.

Those who are applauding the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld and the Republican defeat at the voting booths as a sure sign of change in Iraq should be more subdued: the executive branch controls foreign policy, not congress; the President of the United States is the Commander in Chief, not congress.

Iraq will not change much as a result of this. That will take a very brave Democratic President.

Death by Hanging

While procrastinating on some work, I found an interesting article about death by hanging over at Slate Magazine. The topic is in the news lately as a result of Saddam Hussein’s death sentence received only a couple of days ago.

I’m vigorously oppposed to the death penalty, and have been since my teens. There is no such thing as a humane death sentence—the chemical concoction used in most modern executions is no better than more brutish methods such as hanging or the electric chair.

What I find most surprising, is the fact that even in modern American jurisprudence hangings have been allowed to proceed.

The Army even has its own drop table. According to its guidelines, the last man to hang in America—220-pound Billy Bailey—would have required 5 feet of loose rope. On a windy night in 1996, the Delaware guards removed Bailey’s dentures, placed a black hood over his head, and then dropped the noose around his neck.

Nicaragua's Elections

I will admit to having not followed the Nicaraguan election campaign all that closely. There’s not much news in Vancouver about it.

This article at the BBC is interesting for a lot of reasons. The one I find most notable is the fact that so many of the comments made by Nicaraguans echo those made by Americans in the run up to their elections.

Politicians make promises, but the results are very different.

…

I don’t know who I am going to vote for, or if I’m going to vote at all, because I still don’t have my ID card.

…

Rich people have become richer, and poor people have less opportunities and basic services available to them.

Still the Smartest Guy in the Room

Jeff Skilling has just been sentenced to 24 years in jail, a fact which should be entirely unsurprising given the earlier fate of Kenneth Lay.

Skilling and his friends used to refer to themselves as the smartest guys in the room according to rumour. Now that the room only holds one person, the distinction is substantially less significent.

Lessons in Leadership

I’m disappointed in the Ignatieff campaign team’s tactics which smack of trying to rig a fight rather than going through the battle fairly.

The Liberal Party has already ruled in the matter of the memberships being questioned. The Ignatieff campaign is trying to revise an existing decision.

Any change will have no effect on the progression of the race — lacking a single candidate with more than 50% of selected delgates, the party goes to a convention. Disqualifying these delegates does nothing to move Ignatieff to 50%, thus the ploy is largely academic in nature.

I’m eqally shocked by B.C. campaign workers clams to have been in a celbratory mood in face of a rather poor showing in British Columbia:

In B.C., Mr. Rae took the largest share of delegates — almost 30 per cent. By contrast, Mr. Ignatieff had one of his weakest showings in the province, where he ran fourth with 17 per cent.

That last 20% is going to be very difficult to get, Mr. Ignatieff, and this protest isn’t going to bring it any closer.

Congratulations Bob Rae

Although I admire Michael Ignatieff in part because he speaks his mind, it’s things like this that will make Bob Rae the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and give Stephen Harper a majority government.

Furor costs Ignatieff key backer
CAMPBELL CLARK

OTTAWA — Michael Ignatieff’s comment that Israel committed a “war crime” in Lebanon cost him the support of a Toronto MP Wednesday and sent the Liberal leadership front-runner scurrying to deflect charges that he is gaffe-prone.

North Korea, Japan and Nuclear Warfare

Japan has united with the United States in protest over North Korea’s planned test of nuclear arms.

CTV News tonight broadcast a brief report which does as good a job as any of outlining part of the problem with the news networks today: the report speculated, explicitly, that such a test could lead to a new nuclear arms race with Japan building a nuclear arsenal.

Japan will never, of course, build a nuclear arsenal. The political will simply does not exist amongst the citiznes.

Japan occcupies a unique place in history: it is the only nation to ever be attacked with Nuclear weapons.

Another unique place exists for the United States: the only nation to deploy nuclear weapons in a hostile field of combat; every other detonation has been performed under the guise of test. The United States has detonated their weapons with the intent to kill.

North Korea arming itself with this type of power is undoubtedly scary, but a return to the Reagan era strategy of mutually assured destruction as a defence strategy scares me even more.

Seattle Terrorist Scare

An article in the Post-Intelligencer has an interesting comment…

Seattle-bound Ferry Gets Scare

“This is not the time in which you make any kinds of comments, or suggestions, about bombs,” said ferry system spokeswoman Susan Harris. “Especially on a ferry.”

I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to be making comments or suggestions about bombs, but it’s been five years since 9/11, and I’m wondering when it will be time to stop refering to this as “the time.”

Storyeum's Five Week Reprieve

Storyeum has been granted a five week reprieve.

Why?

Is five weeks going to be enough to turn around a business that’s considered “not viable.”

This is just silly.

It’s interesting though — one of the things that seems to happen consistently in Vancouver is these short term businesses. Would a museum sized attraction open in Toronto and close within a year? The Victoria based B.C. Experience also failed in a matter of months, around the same time. Retail outlets open regularly here and close weeks later — in prominent, high profile locations.

It just doesn’t make sense that the capital to do this exists without proper planning for longevity.

Storyeum will die, and arguably it should.

Meet the New Boss / Same as the Old Boss

This past weekend was Super Weekend — at least it was if you’re one of the few remaining dedicated hardcore members of the Liberal Party of Canada.

The great party of Pierre Elliot Trudeau started the process of electing a new leader this weekend.

A long time ago — before he was a candidate — I went to see Michael Ignatieff speak and called him for next Liberal leader. If I were a card carrying voting member, that’s where my vote would go.

Ignatieff leads coming out of the first round about 10% ahead of Bob Rae, the former NDP premier of Ontario.

With a major push to stop Ignatieff, I now believe it likely that Rae will, in fact, eventually become the Liberal leader. Rae, Dion and Kennedy will unite with Rae as the leading candidate. It’s possible — although I think this is questionable reasoning — that Rae as Liberal leader will bring NDP voters in in Ontario. It’s certain that he will create a kinder, gentler Liberal party and after the fiscal conservatism of the governments in which Paul Martin played a key role, this is what the Liberal rank and file appear to be leaning towards.

Those NDP voters, by the way…where else were they going to go? You could vote Ken Dryden in as leader, and that soft-NDP support is equally likely to go to the Liberals. They’re certainly not going to go to the Harper led Conservatives or the increasingly marginalized Greens. It’s not the leader that brings those votes — it’s the overall tone of the election.

There an entertaining book by Po Bronson called The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest. Michael Ignatieff is about to find out that that first 30 percent was easy — it’s the next 20 percent that’s going to be tough.

The Political Process

The funny thing about the current situation with Storyeum in Vancouver (an excerpt from the article is below) is that the city is now saying the business is “not viable.”

Vancouver seeks to shut down Gastown tourist attraction
Tuesday, Sep 26, 2006
(CBC) — The City of Vancouver revealed in court Tuesday it wants a downtown tourist attraction that owes taxpayers $5 million shut down.

The owners of Storyeum, an entertainment complex located five storeys beneath the cobbled streets of Gastown, are in B.C. Supreme Court asking for an extension of protection from their creditors.

The company was granted a brief period of protection last month and Storyeum’s owners want to extend that to Oct. 28.

Storyeum owes the city nearly $5 million in back rent, loans and construction costs, in addition to $1 million the city says it has already written off.

When it opened, Storyeum boasted that it was a unique experience - a combination of live theatre and a museum where history came to life.

But a lawyer for the City of Vancouver said that Storyeum isn’t a viable business.

Of course, four years ago when the city was evicting long standing tenants from the Gastown neighbourhood to fast track the construction of Storyeum they seemed to consider it a viable business. The NPA bent over backwards to get this thing opened.

This is why politicians should stay out of business decisions.

First Amendment

“There are some people who say you shouldn’t mix politics and music, sports and politics. Well… I think that’s kinda bullshit!”
Adam Clayon, Rattle and Hum

Music and politics have been inexorably intertwined for centuries — from Shostakovich to Bob Dylan to Live Aid the link has been undeniable.

Religion and politics have been linked for even longer, with the notion of a separation of church and state being a relatively recent invention (and not an exclusively American one either.) It’s a powerful ideal, and most modern democracies subscribe to it on some level.

These comments, reported in last weekend’s National Post are even more appaling as a result.

Bush says he sees evidence of Third Awakening
Sheldon Alberts, National Post, Saturday September 16, 2006

George W. Bush, the U.S. President, said yesterday he believes the United States may be experiencing a Third Great Awakening of religious fervour
…
“It seems like to me something is happening in the religious life of America,” Mr. Bush Said.

“I’m able to see a lot of people, and from my perspective, people are coming to say, ‘I’m praying for you.’ And it’s an uplifting part of being the President. It inspires me.”

There’s nothing wrong with a president subscribing and celbrating his personal religious beliefs, but he shouldn’t be trying to convert others to them.