Progress Is Measured In Small Increments

 A decades-old pro-asbestos lobby group, currently funded by the Quebec government, will be shutting its doors after notifying the federal government of its plan to dissolve.

...but it can be measured.  A couple of years back the Feds were also funding these guys.

Thank You Link Byfield

...one of the Wildrose party's "trouble" candidates:

As a personal note, Joanne and I are thrilled to have met so many fine new friends. Together we can all be proud that we fought a clean campaign, we almost won, and we will win next time.

And I'm sure Alison Redford also thanks you.  And those of us who first discovered your Alberta Report this time out, but didn't have near time to extract and publicize all the crazy shit in it,we thank you too.

Gruending On The One Year Anniversary Of The Harper Majority

Its all good, but I'll just highlight a bit that seems especially pertinent:

It is worth noting, however, that Conservative backbenchers continued to bring forward private member’s bills that could curtail a woman’s right to abortion. We can expect religious conservatives to keep applying pressure, even as they continue to support Harper as their preferred alternative.

I received, by way of example, an automated telephone call late in the campaign from Jim Hughes, chairman of the Campaign Life Coalition, asking me to support the Conservative candidate in an Ottawa riding. Shortly after the election in May, a National March for Life event drew about 10,000 people to Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Their clear message to the Harper government was that the abortion debate is on again.

Note that the message was to the Harper government and not the nation at large.  That's because in the suddenly reopened abortion debate competing factions with the Canadian Right are arguing with one another more so than with the rest of us.  And this cannot help but damage the gov.: while the PM and party  brass encourage their people against the Woodworth person-hood motion, the grass roots vow to struggle on.  So while I suppose its a hassle to have to retread old ground, its always good to get into a gunfight with opponents who are using half their ammo on one another.  Pro-Lifers wanted to reopen this argument; now they get to lose it over and over again until Woodworth's motion is finally killed off in a vote this summer.  And they get to blame the federal conservatives for their ongoing humiliation.

NDP Liberal Merger Odds Now 0

The poll done by Toronto-based Forum Research Inc. this week shows the NDP was the choice of 36 per cent of decided and leaning respondents, with the Conservatives close behind at 33 per cent.


If you were an NDP MP/head of a local riding association/rank-&-filer why would you not want to see if the party couldn't win the big prize on its own?  After all, I don't think the Liberals ever did this well under either Dion or Ignatieff.


As a side note, the quality of Forum's work aside, their PR strategy seems quite clever.  Fling cheap robopolls out on every topic conceivable and bask in the MSM coverage you get as a result.  Run a google search: Forum returns 8 pages of results filtered to news ; Nanos--who also have a poll out this morning showing the two parties tied--just two.


And what these polls also indicate, to me anyway, is that the future of the LPoC is probably not with Bob Rae, who has easily been eclipsed by Mulcair this past month or so.  His statesmanlike demeanor seems more and more like a relic of the olden days.  The party should not be making it easier for him to run for permanent leader, and I am starting think they should putting impediments in his way so as not to scare off other potentials.

Whip It Good

Stephen Woodworth's  person-hood motion will not be defeated by Bob Rae's whipping or not whipping his caucus against the measure.  It will be defeated because Stephen Harper needs it to be defeated or he will see his real agenda--deregulation, rolling back environmental protections--go up in flames as he panders to the CPoC right wing.  Nevertheless,  Mulcair's move to whip his own people, despite their already unanimous opposition to the measure, was a pretty clever trick.  Since he's become NDP leader, opposition politics has become more about broad rhetorical gestures that project "strength" and "leadership" and less about the kind of nuance, statesmanship, and appeal to democratic principles that  Mr. Rae would like  to offer.  But that's tough.  In today's Ottawa, Rae's equivocation looks like weakness or collaboration, and if he can't play the new game he should retire from it.

Krista Erickson Looks Like Ann Coulter, And Other Things We Learned About Mark Steyn's Toronto Appearance Without Actually Going

Last night, Mark Steyn--the U.S. author whose writings served as the inspiration for Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik--performed in Toronto for a small crowd of mostly white geezers:

A good time was had by all, and several people laughed so hard their dentures flew out.

Randy Hillier showed up:

And I must say I'd never noticed that gap in his teeth before.  Looks like he got it pulling the cork out of a bottle of moonshine.  And, as noted in the header, Krista Erickson from Sun TV was there:

Every day she looks more and more like a brunette Ann Coulter.

Iggy, Still A Dick...

...forgotten but not gone, relevant in the UK, apparently.  Wanking it re the possibility of Que. separatism.  Kind of like a more pretentious Al Apps, but even more embarrassing.

They're Cute When They're Disgruntled

And of all the Blogging Tories,  this guy seems most disgruntled at the frankly shocking Alberta election result from last night.  It's cruel to kick a person at their lowest point, but at least consider it.  Alternatively, you can "concern troll" over in his comment section: "Oh I'm so sorry for your abject failure!"  That kind of thing.  Also fun is Stephen Taylor's twitter feed; you can actually sense the precise moment when his soul dies.  As an aside, I got a look at him beardless at the NDP convention.  Quite a handsome young man.  I thought it was there to hide a lack of chin, but no!  And here Ezra spontaneously shits himself!  And again!  Meanwhile, at 3am Colby Cosh realized that he was going to have to take off his werewolf suit and learn to use a fork again, so he honked out this column.  Sadly, no, we love you Alberta, but you still can't have that pipeline.

PS. For extra fun, here's the FreeD thread devoted to the topic, where they blame "Toronto fear-mongering" for the Wildrose loss, so thank's for the shout-out guys glad I could help.  In any case, I'm pretty sure somewhere Ed Kennedy threatens to drive out to Calgary and kill everyone.

Ontario Budget 2012: Winners, Losers, And Mega-Losers

 1) Let's start with the mega-loser in all of this: Tim Hudak and the PCPO.  Tim could have got something from  the government in exchange for seeing this budget through.  Instead he removed himself from the process 39 minutes in and got nothing.  The other two parties walked  away with tangibles.  Tim walked away with dick.

2) Let's move on to the second biggest loser: Tim Hudak and the 1%.  Are you of the 1%: rich, indigent, a follower of Ayn Rand that thinks the proles should go fuck themselves?  Tim Hudak and the PCPO betrayed you.  Tim was off in the corner somewhere wanking it two-fisted while the NDP and McGuinty Liberals did the hard work of compromise to make this province work.  No reason to blame McGuinty; he's trying to govern.  No reason to blame Horwath; the NDP is about what the NDP is about.  Yo rich dude, its Hudak that let you down!  That 2% surtax could have been 1% if Tim had just been in the room, negotiating on your behalf.  Hate the dorky capitalist before you hate the clever socialist.

3) Let's move on to the smallest winner:  Andrea Horwath.  She got  compromises.  Yada yada yada.

4) But let's conclude with the biggest, most awesome winner:  Dalton McGuinty.  He buys himself a year of free governing.  The economy continues to improve.  His position solidifies.  Hudak and co. go from opposing him on the basis of grand economic philosophies to stalling anti-bullying legislation so as to pander to Catholic radicals and homophobes from their own back-bench.  Tim tried winning on that issue last time, and it flopped.  McGuinty, should he choose to run again at the head of the Ontario Liberals, can probably start looking to rent another hall for his victory banquet.

Another Day, Another Wildrose Kook

In a news release, the Buddhist Society says [Wildrose candidate John] Oplanich then violated its tranquility "through bullying, intimidation and threats."

As well as directly criticizing the Buddhist faith, threatening to call the RCMP, and warning about funding the Society receives through the government.

Looks like they're still going to win, though the size of the victory may be in question.  They better learn some manners, though: those pipelines have to go somewhere.

Go For It, Andrea Horwath

Conducted by Public Polling Inc., the survey found that "over two thirds of respondents would like to see corporations pay their fair share to help reduce the provincial deficit, with 19% opposed and 13% uncertain. Almost as strongly, 58% of Ontarians supported returning corporate tax rates to 14% and 74% said they support raising taxes for individuals earning over $250,000 a year."


 It also showed that 58% of Ontarians "support taking the issue of fair taxation to a provincial election.

Any support you might have would  disappear in a day as the people of Ontario came to realize they would have to go through all this bullshit again.  Although I suspect Ms. Horwath knows this.

Finally, Someone Has Noticed

...that the Wildrose Human Rights platform goes a wee bit beyond repealing the hate speech section of the.  From WK's Sun column today:

Wildrose’s platform wants to kill a section of the Alberta Human Rights Act that prohibits posting of signs like “no blacks” and “no Jews” for employment or lodging or service.

It sounds kooky, but its true.  I've written about it here, but Jennifer Koshan at Canadian Lawyer Magazine spotted it first.  The Wildrose platform does not only seek to eliminate the prohibition against publications, notices, signs, symbols, emblems or other representations that might likely to "expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt", but also would eliminate the prohibition against publications and etc. that indicate an intention to discriminate against a person or a class of persons.  Which really does mean that you would be allowed to post "only Whites need apply" signs.

What Was Harper Doing Meeting With Chinese Communist Propaganda Chief ?

 Rumour has it that the Chinese guy was asking for advise.

Tory MP Brent Rathgeber On Peter MacKay and F-35s

From his blog:

As I watched Bob Rae’s admittedly thoughtful question of Privilege tabled earlier today in the House of Commons alleging Ministerial impropriety regarding the F-35 Fighter Jet (non) procurement, I was reminded of the British sitcom/mocumentary “Yes Minister”.   In it, a rather hapless politician is routinely “managed” by his more intelligent Deputy Minister.  

[...]

 According to the former, Ministers are responsible to the House of Commons for the operations of their respective departments.   Something as significant as a $10B underestimate in Canada’s then largest military procurement would theoretically call for a Minister’s resignation.   However, given the highly technical and unique market regarding military procurement, is it realistic to expect politicians to have the requisite technical expertise regarding said purchase??

Well, you can see where this is going.  Peter MacKay = the hapless Minister manipulated by clever bureaucrats.  Rathgerber's conclusion makes this clear:

Parliament’s prerogative is to hold Ministers to account.  In turn, Responsible Government mandates that Ministers are responsible to Parliament for their respective departments.  Mr. Rae’s Point of Privilege raises a pivotal question for our Parliamentary Democracy.  Is Parliament entitled to accurate information to hold the Government to account and assure the public purse is spent wisely?  Or can a bureaucracy with superior technical expertise “manage” Ministers and in turn Parliament with impunity??

Rathgeber is quite literally arguing that Peter MacKay is not smart enough to control his department, and therefore not smart enough to be responsible for the F-35 budgeting cock-up.  Apparently, it isn't a disqualifying mark for a government minister to be ignorant of his file.  A curious defense to say the least.  But my favorite bit from the blog post is this gem:

Thankfully, little public money has actually been spent on this file; that is if you consider $200M little public money!!  It is, however, less than 1% of $25B (whewwww!!)

Yeah well, $1,000,000,000 here, $1,000,000,000 there and pretty soon you're talking real money.

Link Byfield Going Down?

 Westlock County Councillor Maureen Kubinec placed highest among our poll takers with 41.43 per cent of the vote. Kubinec was followed by former Alberta Report publisher Link Byfield with 30 per cent of the poll vote.

An "informal" poll, unfortunately, so it doesn't tell us much.  More links on Link here and here.

Goodbye Levon

Rock legend Levon Helm has finally passed.  There will be alot of blogosphere tributes over the next little while, and if you read them you will hear him sing on the admittedly awesome Last Waltz versions of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and The Weight many, many times.  However, Levon shares the stage with very few 60s/70s rock stars vets--Robert Plant, and  maybe Neil Young (although his newer material is pretty weak)--in that he did some of his best work within the past decade.  Here's a great song from 2007's Dirt Farmer

Levon fought throat cancer before this last bout of lung cancer finally took him home, and the recovery from it turned his voice into something even more special than the gravelly Southern thing it had always been.  From Levon Helm to Levon Helm crossed with Papa Simpson .  You can get this from listening to his live cover of the Grateful Dead's Tennesee Jed on Letterman:

Here's another of my late favorites:

The lyrics to it are haunting (although it looks like Steve Earle wrote them):

I was young on this mountain but now I am old
And I knew every holler, every cool swimmin' hole
Til a one night I lay down and I woke up to find
That my childhood was over I went back down in the mine

There's a hole in this mountain it's dark and it's deep
And God only knows all the secrets that it keeps
There's a chill in the air only miners can feel
There're ghosts in the tunnels that the company sealed

So goodbye, Levon, you were an inspiration to a bunch of middle-aged white guys that are getting older much faster than seems reasonable and would still like to think its possible to remain vital and creative a decade or two hence. Or at least you inspired this middle-aged white guy.

Elsevier Pranked

Elsevier is a very large publisher of scientific and medical journals.  It has been boycotted recently by a number of high-profile scientists due to its high subscription prices for individual journals, bundling subscriptions to journals of different value and importance, and Elsevier's support for SOPA, PIPA, and the Research Works Act.^{[44][45][46]  A couple of years back, this paper  appeared in one of its journals.}

Note the emails of the corresponding authors:

Now the paper has been retracted because it “contains no scientific content".   Obviously something the editors should have picked up, though some see a deeper significance to the debate over Elsevier's business model in the fact that Elsevier is charging $39.95 to let you read the retraction notice to a paper that it has acknowledged to be worthless.

WildRose Party's Human Rights Platform Part I: WildRose Would Allow "No Blacks Allowed" Signs

 A few notes on this piece from Canadian Lawyer Magazine on the party's human rights platform.  One thing jumped right out at me:


First, the Wildrose states that it would repeal s. 3 of the AHRA. This section currently prohibits the publication or display of any statement, notice, sign, symbol, etc. that either indicates discrimination or is likely to expose to hatred or contempt a person or a class of persons protected under the AHRA (subject to a couple of caveats, including the guarantee in s. 3(2) that “Nothing in this section shall be deemed to interfere with the free expression of opinion on any subject”). The Wildrose says that the revised legislation “will maintain the Criminal Code standard of banning speech that advocates for acts of violence or genocide against any individual or identifiable group.” Presumably, this change is in response to the “attacks against freedom of speech” alleged by the Wildrose.

There are a few issues with this proposal. Although the Wildrose refers to the repeal of s. 3 in its entirety, its proposal to replace it with a different standard for hate speech makes it unclear whether it plans to repeal only the hate speech portion of s. 3 (s. 3(1)(b)), or also the prohibition on discriminatory publications (s. 3(1)(a)). If it repeals the latter prohibition, that would leave a gap in the legislation that would fail to cover publications that are discriminatory but do not reach the level of promoting hatred.

 (s. 3(1)(a) is the equivalent to section 13 of the Ontario Human Rights Code, which I have written about here. It basically means that, since you can't deny housing, for example, to a person on the basis of their ethnicity, you can't post a "statement, publication, notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation"saying you are going to.  Like this one:

h/t

And while the folks at Canadian Lawyer suggest it is unclear whether allowing such signs is Wildrose's intent, the wording in their platform is quite clear.  They will:

• Strengthen Alberta’s human rights legislation to unequivocally protect the freedom of speech of all Albertans. This will include the repeal of section 3 in Alberta’s current human rights legislation. 

Now, while we might argue about the limits to free speech all day and all night, I don't think any of us want to allow folks to post "No Dogs Or Irish" signs outside their restaurants.  But that would  be the effect of WildRose's proposed changes.

Fox News North: Hard News, Hard Numbers

 ...no audience:

CBC News Network drew 1.4 per cent of viewers, U.S. news network CNN took 0.9 per cent, CTV News Channel attracted 0.8 per cent and Sun News brought in 0.1 per cent.

Happy birthday, luzers.

Wildrose Candidate Ron Leech: I Can Speak For All Because I'm White

During the interview, Leech said, "I think, as a caucasian, I have an advantage. When different community leaders such as a Sikh leader or a Muslin leader speaks they really speak to their own people in many ways. As a caucasian I believe that I can speak to all the community."

Even better is party leader Danielle Smith's response:

"I'm not concerned about [his remarks]. I think every candidate puts forward their best argument for why they should be the person the way represent the community....

Apparently that's the best Ron could come up with.

Glad Somebody Noticed

 Ms. Smith’s [firewall]  language may prove attractive to voters, but it means Alberta will likely be pursuing a more aggressive strategy at a time when it most needs the co-operation of other provinces, said David Taras, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.

“Just as we need more and more help to get our pipelines through,” he noted.

The odds that Northern Gateway will ever get anywhere near Kitimat are low enough as it is.  Send in the knuckle-walkers, and it will fall to zero.

Which I suppose is one reason to cheer for a Wildrose victory.

On April 26th, The Abortion Debate Gets Briefly Re-Opened

Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s motion M-312 calling upon Parliament to debate whether an unborn child is a human being and the human rights implications of those findings, is scheduled for debate on April 26.

As Kady O'Malley notes through the link, I can't see the Harper gov. letting this one pass, even if the only result would be the striking of committees.  Presumably this whole exercise is to allow his SoCon wing to blow off a little steam.  The trick will be how he manages to engineer the motion's defeat without making it look too obvious.

Let Them Eat Internet

 Tory MP Colin Mayes responds to cuts to government CAP programs, which allows libraries and missions around the Okanagan to provide free computer time to disadvantaged youth so they can print resumes and access government forms:

“There are Internet cafes, it’s not that expensive (to get Internet capability). You have to set priorities with the limited dollars you have.”


Helluva guy.

Wildrose Candidate Allan Hunsperger: Gays And Gaga Will Burn In Lake Of Fire

Might be preferrable to living in an Alberta run by Wildrose.

PS.  No word on his opinion of dwarf tossing

Canadian Greenhouse Emissions Thrown Off By Bugs

Simon Donner has  a couple of posts on Canadian Green House Gas emissions and the government's spin on them.  In the first, he notes that:

GHG emissions grew by only 2 Mt CO2e (that includes CO2 plus other GHGs converted to "units" of CO2) despite the fact that the economy was rebounding from the recession. This was viewed by some, including the Environment Minister, as good climate news, because it suggests that  the economy is decoupling from greenhouse gas emissions.

While casting a skeptical eye on the alleged decoupling--after all, our current federal government's economic strategy relies on Canadians returning to their roots as resource extractors (hewers of wood and bearers of bitumen)--he notes in the second post that, in any case, this apparent progress has been undermined by other circumstances:

...if you include land cover, land use change and forestry, GHG emissions grew by 86 Mt from 2009 to 2010 [rather than the reported 2 Mt]. 

Why such a large change? According to the Canadian government model, forests went from a net sink of 17 Mt in 2009 to a net source of 72 Mt in 2010 (see Table 7-1 in NIR). If you break the GHG balance of forests up by region, the driver of this change was the "Montane Cordillera", or #14 on the map to the left. These forests of western BC were a net source of 100 Mt. The only other net sources regions in 2010 were the "Boreal Shield West" (#9 at 22 Mt), the "Pacific Maritime" (#15 at 5.7 Mt) and the "Taiga Shield East" (#4 at 1.7 Mt).

He's got a nice chart showing these regions:

So what's up with the forests of western B.C., which have gone from a carbon sink to a carbon source?  The answer comes from the government's National Inventory Report itself:

The upward trend in dead organic matter (DOM) decay since the year 2000 reflects the long-term, growing effect of past disturbances, especially insect epidemics that have left substantial quantities of decaying DOM. Over the last decade, insect epidemics have affected a total of over 56 Mha3 of managed forests, with 72% being located in the Montane Cordillera reporting zone and corresponding to the epidemics of Mountain Pine Beetle. In contrast, much of the interannual variability of the GHG budget of managed forests hinges on the occurrence and severity of fires.

This result is something that has been predicted for awhile, and will presumably get worse now that the beetle has jumped the Rocky Mountains and been found able to tolerate Alberta's cold winters.  And, as an interesting side note, last year's Alberta wildfires, which shut down enough tar-sands production to lop a few tenths off our national GDP, can at least be partially attributed to beetle infested trees, which burn to a savage intensity

Attack Ads That Must Go Unwritten

 B.C's Conservative Party took a step towards reswpectability today by refusing the membership application of one Dean Skoreyko.  Dean, who blogs as B.C. Blue, is best known as the BC Con spokesperson who, when confronted with potential floor crosser MLA Blair Lekstrom, said:

It's too late for Lekstrom to reverse his HST position.... "You can't stand up in the house when 85 per cent of B.C. is against it according to the polls and support it, then stand up a few weeks later and say you're against it," he said. "A rat is a rat is a rat."

In other words, the B.C. Tories know teh krazy when they see it.  But their gain is the B.C. Liberal Party's loss; someone in Christy Clark's war-room is crying tonight.

YO! MSM Morons

The Sun Media and Global National Stories about David Suzuki stepping down from the Board of the David Suzuki foundation are reporting news that is GETTING ON A YEAR OLD AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY NEW MEASURES IN THE 2012 BUDGET!!!  In fact you might even say it was a proactive move to shield the foundation from the kind of shenanigans Harper and Co. have tried to play in said budget. Its all based on a G&M story that's already undergone a title change so as to come across as less misleading, to

David Suzuki laments Tory-imposed ‘chill’ on green groups 

...from:

Seeking to blunt Conservative attacks, Suzuki quits board of environmental foundation

But a few have been fooled. OH! How many times must I yell at you, MSM?

If Its A New Group of 7 Picture

...then, yeah, you know its going to feature a bunch of goddamn trees. But they're off in the distance in this one, just to keep things fresh.  Honestly, the way these guys obsessed over trees, if I was a Canadian tree back the early 20th century I would have thought I was being stalked by a gang of freaky tree perverts.

Note, you can read my entire collection of critical essays re the Group of 7 here.

Clarification On David Suzuki: The Globe Misleads

 The Globe has sown confusion in the blogosphere this morning with this story, which begins:

Seeking to blunt Conservative attacks, Suzuki quits board of environmental foundation

Canada’s most famous environmentalist, David Suzuki, says he left the board of his charitable foundation to avoid being a lightning rod for criticism and government attacks that would undermine its work.

Still, Peter Robinson, who is the head of the David Suzuki Foundation, said the group is facing a “chill” that is leading it to pull back from important environmental debates lest it be accused by the federal government of exceeding its charitable mandate.

In fact, Suzuki's departure from the foundation that bears his name had nothing to do with the federal government's latest attack on charities opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline.  How do I know this?  It happened during the summer of 2011.  Now, the larger point--that Suzuki's move was to ensure that his personal actions didn't draw conservative attacks upon his foundation--is fair enough.  And the fact that it is still being attacked for such personal remarks demonstrates the mendacity of the Harper government's allies in this fight.  But no, Joe Oliver's latest efforts against the enviro movement had nothing, nothing to do with Mr. Suzuki's decision.  The Globe is seeking a story where there isn't one.

On Uniting The Left

It's not Chretien's fault; he was too busy uniting the whole country against Quebec Separatists and Alberta Firsters.  But--and you know I have the little red LPoC card now and am seriously thinking of emailing them another fiver to support their efforts--if you look at Canadian history (esp. provincially) you see that the most common way in which parties "unite" is that one party's vote collapses and goes en masse to the other and all the infrastructure and support groups and organization that the first party has built up over the decades disintegrate and Zalmoids become B.C. Libs, and P.C.s become CPoCs, for example, and so on and so forth. 

If I were Mr. Mulcair and looking at a poll like this, that's the result I would be gunning for.

Why Folks Think Wildrosers Are Hard Right Kooks

Rob Harvie, a fairly decent fellow who blogs at Searching For Liberty, wonders why many non-Albertans and, according to this latest poll, at least some Albertans, look at the Wildrose Party as being a haven to Far Right Lunatics.  WK answers that question in two words: Richard Evans.  I would add two more: Peter Csillag,Vice-President of the Wildrose Campus Club at the University of Calgary campus club.  It isn't that he was found guilty of "non-academic misconduct" for refusing to pull down a graphic pro-life display.  Its that, a few years back, he was advocating for the reinstatement of Alberta sexual sterilization Act to help bring down the province's crime rate.

Polar Bear Potpourri

 Recently, the Nunavut government sponsored an aerial survey of the Hudson Bay polar population in which they concluded that:

“[T]he bear population is not in crisis as people believed,” said Drikus Gissing, Nunavut’s director of wildlife management. “There is no doom and gloom.”


Mr. Gissing added that the government isn’t dismissing concerns about climate change, but he said Nunavut wants to base bear-management practices on current information “and not predictions about what might happen.”


This was hailed in all the usual quarters as definitive prove that the global warming alarmists etc. etc.  Now two of Canada's most prominent researchers on the topic have shot back, essentially accusing the Nunavut government of engaging in "science by press conference" in order to get their bear-hunt quota bumped up:

"The Nunavut aerial survey estimated the population to be between 717 and 1,430. This aerial survey-based estimate is not significantly different from the 2004 estimate of 934 bears we did, which was based on more reliable mark-recapture studies in Manitoba."

[...]

Progress in polar bear conservation can only occur if everyone works together, using information from all possible sources, scientific and traditional, says Stirling."Making such inaccurate, incomplete, and misleading statements in a news release, ahead of the completion of a final report that is based on all the information available, is harmful to the collaboration required for successful polar bear conservation and reflects poorly on Canada in the international arena."

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Margaret Wente wrote a column on the topic.  I was just going to assume it was crap, but the gal at Media Culpa decided to go ahead and prove it.

I Did Not Have A Relationship With That Giant Chicken

I have a feeling this picture will come back to haunt Mayor Ford...

Pic from here.  If I were going to run for Mayor in 2014, I would secure all rights to it.

Savvy Move By Mulcair; Dumb One By LPoC

 While the bill to end the controversial registry received royal assent in Ottawa last Thursday, the NDP's newly minted leader vows to bring it back if he becomes Prime Minister.

Speaking on the Radio Canada show Tout le Monde en Parle Sunday, Thomas Mulcair said the solution is to fix the irritants in the long gun registry — not scrap it.

[...]

Meanwhile, the Liberals, who introduced the controversial registry in 2001, say they would not re-introduce it if they were to form government after the 2015 election.

"Liberals would not bring back the registry," Liberal spokesperson Daniel Lauzon told Yahoo! Canada News in an email exchange, Monday.

"But we strongly support maintaining the data so Provinces can maintain their own if they wish to do so."

Two thirds of the nation support the gun registry; one third does not.  The Mulcair NDP has just signalled that it intends to seek its parliamentary majority by attracting that national majority.  Meanwhile the LPoC is in the process of running away from its own policies, and at the same time wondering what there is left for it to believe in.  Other than legalizing weed, which is fine, but trivial.

Ezra's Replacement?

MONTREAL - Sun Media has started using drone technology to enhance the quality of its reporting.

"Live journalists simply aren't cutting it anymore," noted a QMI spoksperson.  "A flying robot  can flee any attempt to serve them with defamation notices.  So fuck you George Soros.  In fact the only resemblance to our live staff is that the drones also require tar-sands oil to operate."

"It's easily deployable, simple to use and can move around really quickly," the spokesperson said.  "It doesn't need to be referred to as "Mr. Wonderful", and doesn't worry about its hair.  Furthermore, with only four functioning propellers, it is less noisy than any of QMI's current roster of pundits."

On Mulcair's Hair

Hair to a politician is like a ninja's sword, the essence of their very being.  OF COURSE the MSM should be debating Mulcair's beard.  I would be worried for our democracy if they didn't.  Personally, I'm not sold on it yet.  I'm also a little surprised no one has mentioned the man's rumbly baritone.  It gives me the shivers.

WildRose Candidate Once Ran Afoul Of Human Rights Commision

After posting this on the 1999 meetup of Wildrose candidate Link Byfield and White Nationalist Paul Fromm, I got to thinking of an old on-line document I stumbled over once while doing something else.  This one in particular.  It pertains to a 2002 Alberta HRCC (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) complaint brought by Harvey Kane of the Jewish Defense League against The Alberta Report and several of its employees, including Link Byfield and his brother Michael.  It concerns an article, A Canmore mall project ends in a bitter feud, which ran in The Report on October 13th of 1997, during which time Link Byfield served as the publication's editor.  Kane felt that the content of the article was anti-Semitic.  One can see his point; it concludes thusly:

One professional planner comments on the failed project: "North American commercial real estate is dominated by firms that often happen to be Jewish-owned [e.g., Oshawa and Canmore Development]. The retail sector is much the same. Like cliques everywhere, some of these people tend to deal with each other, and Mr. Schickedanz is an outsider."

Mr. Kane's complaint bounced around the Alberta legal system for awhile: if I am reconstructing the time-line correctly, it was dismissed, appealed, won by Mr. Kane, overturned, and I believe was due to be heard again before the trail of on-line documents goes dead.  In any case, during the to and fro, Mr. Byfield penned a classic of spittle-flecked fury to the chief commissioner of the AHRC:

...you have thus raised yourselves to a position of unprecedented power over social discussion. No one may now publicly offend the feelings of those whom you decide to see as "vulnerable": Natives, single moms, gays, drag queens, wiccans, immigrants, nerds, feminists, Muslim extremists, abortionists, overly emotional teachers, violent black rap singers, incompetent soldierettes, the overweight, anorexics, drug addicts, welfare recipients and vagrants, victims of transsexual mutilation...but rather than making us all guess, perhaps you could send us a list of stereotypical victims whose feelings may never be hurt.

Nor were these necessarily the weirdest things that made it into the The Report during Byfield's time at the helm.  In  its May 2000 B.C. edition Kevin Michael Grace penned "Is It Kosher?" (see page 116 through link), which contains a number of quotes from "an oddball Ukrainian Nationalist" named Lubomyr Prytulak.  For example:

Kosher labels, which are arcane and various, are authorized by various Jewish organizations. The costs to producers and consumers is largely secret, although a 1975 New York Times article cited by Mr. Prytulak claims that costs levied at that time ranged "from $250 for 'mom-and-pop' operations to $40,000 for a multi-plant corporation." Given that non-Jews consume most kosher food, Mr. Prytulak characterizes kosher labelling as a "Jewish tax." He adds, "I've got to admit that the kosher tax is unlike other taxes in more ways than one. For example, if the government levies a tax, then at least the consumer knows how large it is and can pretty much see what the tax revenue is being spent on, whereas he knows neither of these in the case of the kosher tax."

And:

Mr. Prytulak would be happy with what he calls "truth in labelling": "I simply advocate that the presently meaningless kosher labels be accompanied by the word 'KOSHER' and the Magen David or six-pointed star. Package labelling should inform all consumers, and not send a secret message to a small group."

This latter piece triggered a complaint by, of all people, Ezra Levant:

At first, the magazine stonewalled him. But in the end, he got his way. The editor printed a rebuttal, and even admitted publicly that publishing the Jew-tax article had been dumb.

So there you have it.

Budget Lands With Thud

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,060 Canadian adults, 30 per cent of respondents expect the federal budget to have a positive impact on the country, while 33 per cent believe it will have a negative effect.

However, 41 per cent of Canadians think the federal budget will have a negative impact on their province, including 43 per cent of Ontarians, 47 per cent of Atlantic Canadians and 56 per cent of Quebecers.

Your Daily Nazi: When You Shine A Bright Light You Are Bound To Attract A Few Flies

 ...or something.

WildRose candidate forBarrhead-Westlock-Morinville Link Byfield shaking hands with White Supremacist Paul Fromm back in 1999.  Something, I think, that Mr. Byfield should be called upon to explain.

h/t

Make It Five

 In a surprise move, Whistler council introduced and passed a motion officially declaring its opposition to the Northern Gateway oil pipeline project on Tuesday (April 3).

Note their reasoning:

“Any kind of catastrophe in the inside passage would have a serious effect on tourism (in Whistler),” said Coun. Roger McCarthy. “A big piece of the business that gets on that ship to Vancouver gets off those ships and come up here. So there’s an impact from a business standpoint as well as an impact environmentally.”


Northern Gateway: bad for business, unless you're in the oil business.


PS.  You can read about the other four municipal government's that have come out against the project here.

Breaking Bourque! MacKay Tossed From Helicopter! Paradis meets Paradise! Toews phased out! Fantino Basically Fucked! Bernier Back In, Cleared To Date Bikers!

BREAKING: Bourque insiders are reporting late this afternoon that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may soon shuffle his Cabinet. It remains unclear at this time if the move will be a major re-jig involving several known political figures or if it will be a more modest housecleaning to address certain deficiencies. Cabinet ministers said to be targeted include embattled Defense Minister Peter MacKay and his sidekick Associate-Defence Minister Julian Fantino, hapless ethics-challenged Industry Minister Christian Paradis, and the aging Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, currently suffering from a stressful portfolio that sent him to hospital earlier this week. MacKay may well be on his way out of Cabinet, Fantino may be going to Public Safety, Toews may defibrillate at Industry, and Paradis may be demoted to a 'Minister-without-portfolio' status for the time being. Should the shuffle be of a larger nature, names being whispered for promotion and re-jig include the rehabilitated Maxime Bernier (currently Minister of State for Small Business), the PM's Parliamentary Secretary Dean Del Mastro (said to have impressed many both in the House and in media settings), and affable journeyman Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, of all people. It is thought that the blood-letting will both address growing Conservative caucus discontent at its frontbench performance, while mitigating Opposition outrage at Ministerial actions (or lack thereof), which have dominated headlines in recent weeks. The Prime Minister is also poised to fill a handful of Senate vacancies in the coming months and at that time may replace Mulroney-era Senate leader Marjorie LeBreton with Doug Finley, which would not only bring the amiable one-malt kilt-man into Cabinet, but would also create the first husband-wife Cabinet tandem in the history of Canada. Raise a finger or two of 25-year-old GlenDronach to that ! Developing ..

Psst! Blogger Scaramouche = Mindy Alter

Surf over to Richard Warman's site and you find this:

Note to Mindy Alter (aka blogger Scaramouche) of North York. Launching anonymous harangues against people is bad karma.

I don't know how Warman fingered Ms. Alter; maybe through typical on-line sleuthery, maybe through the  weird powers he exercises over the Internet itself.  In any case, Ms. Alter's Linked-In profile is here; she appears to be some kind of PR person.

And what would be the point of exposing Mindy?  Well, Scaramouche runs with the Shaidle's and their gang of hate-mongers, and some of the stuff she's written seems to come pretty close to defamation.  So, if anyone feels wronged, and more specifically that a lawsuit is in order, they now have a real person to serve.

Meanwhile, on a topic only slightly related to the above, you might say that Canuck white nationalist Paul Fromm is too easy to make fun of.  Nevertheless, this is state-of-the-art mockery.

Sun TV Ratings: The Shorter Story

 The only way anyone will watch is if they put a Liberal on.

The Calgary Herald Editorial Writers Tell Lies

...when they write:

That said, environmental organizations only have themselves to blame for the crackdown on their activities, as spelled out in last week's federal budget. By organizing interveners from Brazil, who were signed up apparently without their knowledge, as we reported on some time ago, it was inevitable that the Harper Tories would react.

The story mentioned above was written by Licia Corbella back in January, and concerned two environmentally active Brazilian citizens named Elano Ferraz and Ines Gudic.  The story was so poorly researched a lowly blogger, myself, was swiftly able to debunk the claims made re Elano Ferraz.  Two weeks later, the claims made against Ines Gudic were picked to pieces by the Globe ( a little more background here), which made a point of noting that the actual facts "contradicted" the original reporting.

Yet, months later, the false claims reappear. I would just point out to the folks at the Herald that, within the journalistic profession LYING IS SUPPOSED TO BE WRONG.  Not that they'll listen.

Dennis Gruending On The Sale Of The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool

Farmers fought long and hard to create the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1924, but 88 years later the company, now known as Viterra, is being sold to a Swiss-based multinational called Glencore for $6.1 billion. This is a sad story, a kind of morality tale about the gradual destruction of self-help, local initiative, community control and co-operation. With a few exceptions, there has been virtually no critical media analysis of this event that looks at it from the bottom up. So, as someone who grew up in a small prairie village where the Wheat Pool elevator and the local Pool committee were fixtures, let me offer some observations. I’ll begin with an anecdote.

A slightly less militantly Capitalist view.

Coming Soon To Sun TV

...this: Menzoid Mornings.  And soon to be leaving the air shortly thereafter, I imagine. If you've never heard of him, and I'm sure you haven't, David Menzies appears to have made a journalistic niche out of getting stopped by police and then writing about it.

Tides Canada Responds To Attempted Federal Kneecapping

“Tides Canada welcomes the provisions in the 2012 federal budget concerning transparency and accountability in the charitable sector. Tides Canada operates well within the Income Tax Act threshold for allowable “political activity.” The organization’s grant-making is, and will continue to be, fully compliant with the Income Tax Act and Canada Revenue Agency guidelines and policies.

In a healthy democracy, environmental and social justice charities play important roles as watchdogs, raising public awareness and advocating for balance. Tides Canada remains committed to supporting charitable initiatives across the country that are working to ensure that we have safe drinking water, clean air, healthy communities and a just society.”

Note that the 2012 budget does not change any laws pertaining to the Income Tax Act, it merely includes new money to help Canada Revenue Agency clamp down on overly political charities, and recommends that charities report the foreign funding they get for political activities.  But since Tides Canada, and other similar groups, surely have lawyers and accountants whose job it is to ensure that they remain in compliance with the relevant legislation, it is difficult to see why the new changes should have much effect of their operations.  They are innocent, so they have nothing to fear.  A year or two down the road, on the other hand, but long after people have ceased to care, Ethical Oil , like the Friends of Science and The Natural Resources Stewardship Project before them, will almost certainly be found guilty of something.