A Song For Toronto

Inspired by.

The Problem With The HST

...is, as I once suggested, that a province has to get federal approval to change the rate.  They have, in essence, handed over a piece of their autonomy to the feds.  The feds can then sandbag them with asshole moves like this.

Kathleen Wynne Is The Only Adult In The Room

@andreahorwath @rmarchesempp your unwillingness to have #AdultConversation re #UserFees 4 roads led me to cancel my @ontariondp mmbrshp :0(
— Trevor Haché (@trevorhache) May 30, 2013

From The Liberal Scarf:

Hache twice ran for the NDP in Ottawa-Vanier, and as Policy Director for Ecology Ottawa, a major Ottawa-area environmental organization which he was also a founding member of. (In the interest of full disclosure, I also worked for Ecology Ottawa for several months as a fundraising canvasser.)

Horwath moved the ONDP away from promoting public transit and sound environmental policy in the last election when the ONDP platform included a plank to use your tax dollars to subsidize gas prices for big gas guzzling cars. The ONDP's latest move to shows they continue to reject real models for public transit funding, and it'll be interesting to see how the rump environmental wing of the ONDP handles Horwath embracing the Rob Ford position on public transit.

Wynne's  call for "enhanced revenue tools" can be pretty easily mocked as code for higher taxes.  But at the moment she is the only provincial leader who seems to be offering a real solution to what everyone agrees is a real Ontario problem (gridlock around the GTA). The others want to pay for transit by summoning the magic pony.   And down here in T.O. Rob Ford's entire plan for expanding the TTC has been to wait for the magic pony to show up carrying bags full of money.  Mr. Hache's resignation is encouraging in that it suggests that a few politicians out there not named Wynne have realized there is no magic pony.

Andrew Coyne's Letter To Ezra: The Secret First Draft

Andrew Coyne, in response to a query from Ezra Levant, has written a short letter outlining his position with respect to the CRTC's granting CBC special distribution rights. I have been able to acquire (through secret sources at the National Post) an early draft of this letter, which I think more clearly reveals Andrew's state of mind during these hard times in the newspaper business:

So there you have it.

Star Front Page?

The story's not on-line yet.  Source of image is their editor:

#robford #mayorford says he knew where the video was hidden, Star is told. Front page Thursday. yfrog.com/gy51fipnj
— Michael Cooke (@TorStarEditor) May 30, 2013

PS.   Here is the story.  From its contents, I would guess that the staffers who were sacked or who quit and were then described afterwards as "useless" by those still in Rob Ford's office have decided to strike back.

You Can Now Sue A Pseud

Former Canuck's GM Brian Burke has been cleared to serve the people who allegedly defamed him over the Internet, over the Internet.  The defamation was spread through a number of on-line message boards, so here's what Burke's lawyers will do (the full court docs are here):

The document goes onto to say that, given the way these boards are typically structured, the recipient will "probably" see the private message, and respond to it or not.  In addition, Burke will (from The Province  story linked above):

...be required to advertise in a national newspaper requesting the individuals respond to the lawsuit.

I see several shortcomings with this approach.

For example, the defendants could, upon reading about Burke's successful court application, abandon their forum accounts to avoid the private message.  And who reads the papers these days anyway?

And of course, even if it can be confirmed that the defendant received the message, Burke's lawyers still don't know who they are.  But if  they still haven't been ID'd at the end of the day, collecting damages is impossible.

And of course, even if you do attach a real person to a forum account, they can still use the identity theft defense (ie "someone else hacked my account" ).  To this end, it might be better to employ a public message.  These were hockey forums, so for example Burke's lawyer could drop a link to the legal documents into the middle of a discussion in which a particular defendant was a participant.  If, in thus participating, the defendant was engaged in his typical forum behavior, the identity theft defense would be less plausible, especially if they responded publicly to the message containing the link.

PS.  This post updates this post.

Hudak Caught: PCPO Made Ilegal Robocalls

OTTAWA – The CRTC will soon announce it is fining both Alberta’s Wildrose Party and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives for automated polling calls that failed to identify the pollster.

The hapless PCPO leader has some explaining to do---$85,000s worth.  And, perhaps not surprisingly, RackNine is involved again.  They are these guys.

Developments In On-Line Defamation Law

From Colby Cosh, the hirsute one himself:

Early commentary on Burke’s lawsuit over claims he had an affair with a broadcaster was focused on the difficulty of tracking down internet anonymice and serving them with the right papers. The established pathway is to go through internet service providers to get them to disclose the identities behind IP addresses—but privacy-conscious tech firms don’t like to give up that info without a court order, and if Johnny Flapgums did not happen to post from home or work, a plaintiff is more or less out of luck anyway. In an unforeseen development, Burke is now asking the court to let him sue internet usernames as usernames, notifying the users of the action through the personal-messaging apparatus of the sites on which they posted their allegedly scurrilous comments.

If Burke succeeds with today’s motion, defendants such as “CamBarkerFan” and “Slobberface” will be forced into a tricky choice between fighting the lawsuit, and thus exposing themselves to a verdict, or laying low and allowing a default judgment to be entered against them, thus exposing themselves to the risk of being identified and penalized later without any chance of a defence.

If this kind of thing had been allowed a few years back, the whole slow process of serving anonymous posters involved in theFreeD vs. Richard Warman case would have been made alot easier.  To quote myself, tracking them over the Net at the time involved:

...going from blogs to the comments section of online newspapers to flickr and elsewhere. 

Essentially, you are hoping that the defamer behind the pseud got lazy and at some point wrote something that connected the handle they used to produce the defamation with a separate profile employing their real name.  Then you pore over their on-line traces looking for that link.  So, for example, Droid1963 wrote a blog under his real name, and linked to a photo-bucket album.  He was eventually forced to settle.

There is Another Copy Of The Rob Ford Tape

So says Star Reporter Robyn Doolittle.  Maybe more than one.  And the copy (or one of them) is on a device located somewhere away from the city.  And its going around.  More people have seen it.  Not only that: Gawker's got their 200 Gs.  Good times are comin', folks, I can smell it.  

Today In T.O. Turmoil

A senior member of Rob Ford’s office was interviewed by police last week about a tip linking a video allegedly showing the mayor smoking illicit drugs to a recent Toronto homicide, two separate sources have confirmed.

At a certain point it stops being funny.  Like, when the first body turns up in Lake Ontario.

T.O Star Reporter Still In Contact With Folks Close To Rob Ford Video

The most important bits are from 1:20 minutes and forward; I can't embed it on BCLSB, I don't think, but you can find it here.  Short version: not everyone associated with the tape has gone to ground, and the folks who have gone to ground do that kind of thing fairly frequently.  It would seem the  tape is STILL IN PLAY.

PS.  There may be  less to this than I imagined.  Gawker's most recent statement says they've been in relatively constant contact with the tipster, but not the owner of the tapes.  I'm pretty sure an earlier version of the statement said they'd lost contact with both.  Kevin Donovan is clearly still in touch with the tipster, but that may not put him much further ahead than the folks at Gawker.

Canada In The News! Canada Long Form Census Makes New York Times

Canada recently replaced its mandatory long-form census with a voluntary survey — and now lives with the sorry results. To try to get an adequate level of response, the voluntary survey was sent to one in three Canadians instead of one in five, which increased costs. The response rate plunged anyway, from 94 percent to 68 percent. In a staggering one-fourth of Canadian communities, not enough people responded to make the data usable

More stuff I've written on the long form census scandal here.

Freelance Filmmaker Christoper Di Armani Wins The Internet

You can no more outlaw “hate” than you can outlaw murder, rape, theft or lying politicians.

Pride of the speechys, this guy.

They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab I Said No! No! No!

Who Funds Ontario Anti-Wind Groups?

An interesting ad from the Scarborough Mirror:

I've sent them the stuff I did a couple years ago about possible connections between the group  Wind Concerns Ontario and the Power Workers Union (PWU).  In chronological order, this one, this one, and this one.  There's the email if anyone has more.

h/t

Looking For Rob Ford Imposter

An ad that appeared on Canadalisted in January, 2012:

Do you look like Mayor Rob Ford? I need someone who looks like Rob Ford to play the mayor in my film. It's a short shot of the mayor smoking a cigar and chuckling into the camera.

Presumably unrelated.  But why not inflame the minds of Ford-Nation conspiracy theorists?

PS.  I've fired off an email response to the ad asking if there is any connection.  Will post if I get an answer.

Justin Gives West/East Pipeline Yellow Light

After the B.C. election there was some speculation that Adrian Dix's sudden thumbs-down to the Trans Mountain Pipeline after a year or so of fence-sitting cost him votes.  I think that's wrong, but since the B.C. polls all turned out to crap, they can't tell us anything one way or another and we are therefore free to speculate as we please.  My opinion, FWIW, is based on the behavior of the B.C. Liberal campaign, which toughened its own anti-pipeline rhetoric in the last week of the race with Christy Clark's "we don't need Alberta, we don't need Canada" speech. In other words, the BC Libs worked to narrow the distance between the Liberal and NDP positions, not increase it.

Nevertheless some people seem to feel that a softer line on Alberta pipelines has become the politically expedient move.  Thankfully, Justin Trudeau is not among them:

The federal Liberal leader told the CBC’s Information Morning Fredericton on Thursday he has specific questions about potential toxins that may be used in the pipeline.

“I think it is a proposal that is extremely interesting. We are waiting to look at how they are going to deal with both the community, local, aboriginal concerns and the environmental concerns,” Trudeau said.

“The [substance] that they put to make that thick crude, thick bitumen run through those pipes can be very toxic. I want to see the plan for being environmentally responsible on it because it won’t go ahead if it will cost us on pollution, in degradation and in inefficiencies in the coming years.”

Now Trudeau is hardly going so far as to suggest that he will kill the proposal when he becomes PM (and its starting to look like he may).  He might simply be commenting on the general lay of the political landscape. Moreover, I think the line nine reversal will ultimately fail due to market disinterest rather than political machinations.  But its good to see that Justin is not simply abandoning the field to the pro-oil-patch forces on environmental issues.  He's showing a little bit of sand on the topic, and that's a good thing.

New Tory Turmoil--The Beginning Of Something?

Two days ago anti-abortion activists began distributing graphic postcards in Harper’s Calgary riding; today they targeted Calgary Centre-North MP Michelle Rempel:

Rempel is the second of five politicians at the heart of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform’s (CCBR) controversial “Face the Children” campaign.  The announcement that CCBR is targeting Rempel follows on the heels of a sweeping postcard distribution last week in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Riding.

CCBR’s postcard show Rempel’s face next to a 6-month aborted fetus.  It highlights the fact that Rempel was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network, and that she has been listed as “pro-choice” by Canada’s most radical abortion “rights” group, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.

This doesn't seem closely connected with the various Senate scandals engulfing the government. These particular activists have been agitatin' since last year.  But for whatever reason, several elements of the Tory base seem to be coming unglued all at once.  Luckily for Harper and co., 2015 is still a ways away.  But I suspect these zealot eruptions will grow louder between now and then.

Rob Ford: 300 Lbs of Funeral

— Katie Simpson (@KatieSimpson24) May 22, 2013

You gotta be shittin' me, right?

PS.  Worthing, if you don't know, refers to Peter Worthington.

Oil Spilling, Redux

From Jansen, Sask.:

The oil industry suggests they will move their product by train if their pipelines don't get approved.  They should really be made to use safe rail cars.

Jacques Demers Won't Quit CPC Senate Caucus

Yeah, he was thinking of it:

Ex-Habs coach-turned-Conservative Senator Jacques Demers is hinting he may quit the Senate, telling reporters that he's disgusted with the events of the past week, and believes that Canadians are tarring all senators with the same brush.

But then he thought better of it (Google-translated from the French):

The message from Prime Minister Stephen Harper before the caucus Tuesday morning.... convinced him to stay.

Ah well.  The guy's still my favorite Harper Senate appointment.  In fact I think the guy is a saint. Definitely what he did back in the 80's with the St. Louis Blues was a miracle.

Ethical Oil: Its Purpose Served?

The site has been inactive (other than intermittent messages to twitter) since October of last year.  Now the its gone down entirely.  For good?

Update:  Its back.

Officer Bubbles Now Working For Rob Ford!

David is one of the notorious lawyerin' Shiller brothers (the one that looks like Eugene Levy) .  Officer Bubbles is  Const. Adam Joseph,  one of the  reasons the Toronto 2010 G-20 summit went so badly South.  Dave's been defending the people that Bubble's has sued in the aftermath of that event, so he knows what he's talking about.  His Facebook page is here.

CPC Back-Benchers Say The Darnedest Things

Our govt has the highest ethical standards demonstrated by 3 resignations: 2 from Senate caucus & the PM chief of staff.@patbolland #cpc
— Joan Crockatt MP (@Crockatteer) May 20, 2013

On The Modern Day Electric Dishwasher

When I was growing up back in the late 70s and early 1980s,  my family owned an electric dishwasher.  A good thing, obviously, though gross in that if a piece of food was  missed it would dry into a tiny bit of black on the plate, fork, or etc.  And as soon as you re-hydrated it, would balloon into a chunk big enough to make you gag. And dishwasher soap would dry on your glass, and whatever you poured into the glass would  then taste like soap.

So for the past 20 years I've been hand-washing  dishes in my rental apartment.  Because the wife refuses.  Not her end of the marital bargain, she insists. Naturally, when we finally bought our new place I was thrilled to know that an electric dishwasher came with it.  My travails were over, I thought!

But NOT SO!  Its like our 21st Century, ultra-efficient capitalist society has made NO PROGRESS FUCKING WHATSOEVER  in building a better electric dishwasher!  THERE'S STILL LITTLE DRIED BITS OF CRUD STUCK TO EVERYTHING I WASH!  AND IT ALL BLOATS UP INTO HIDEOUS PUSTULES OF FILTH WHENEVER I ADD WATER AGAIN!!

WHAT Is Wrong with Our fucking stupid world?  We're still selling people the same  SHITTY DISHWASHING TECH OUR parents HAD?  WHY HASN'T SOMETHING BEEN DONE ABOUT THIS?  WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS, OUR SCIENTISTS?  AND WHERE IS THE PUBLIC OUTCRY?  HAVE THE PEOPLE LOST THEIR REVOLUTIONARY FERVOR???  

Evidence That Stephen Harper Is Stepping Down..

...and Port Moody-Westwood MP James Moore is stepping up, is here.

PS.  That suit makes him look thinnish.  He is not.  Might be an issue.  You see him at televised sports events sometimes and its like he never stops eating.  Popcorn buckets, hot-dogs, whatever.

Canada Leading The Way On Climate Change!

When it comes to making the seas rise, our glaciers are kicking ass!

The new research found that all glacial regions lost mass from 2003 to 2009, with the biggest ice losses occurring in Arctic Canada, Alaska, coastal Greenland, the southern Andes and the Himalayas. The glaciers outside of the Greenland and Antarctic sheets lost an average of roughly 260 billion metric tons of ice annually during the study period, causing the oceans to rise 0.03 inches, or about 0.7 millimeters per year.

Nice to know this country is doing something.

Bernie Farber

...poses with: Conservative Party organizer Georgeanne Burke, PCPO riding association president for Thornhill (MPP Peter Shurman's riding) Gila Martow, and York U professor Merle Jacobs.  Also in the picture is officer Ricky Veerappan, the fellow that got Pam Geller turfed from her Thornhill gig.  Kathy Shaidle thinks there's something scandalous going on here on Bernie's part.  I don't see it myself, but what's weird is how it doesn't seem to bother Shaidle that a couple of known Tories are also "in deep", as it were, with Veerappan.  Also doesn't seem to bother her that, according to Geller herself,  Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, was involved in the conspiracy to keep her from her Thornhill appearance.  Apparently there's lots of freedom hatin', Jihadi lovin' types playing for the blue team as well.

Two Ontario Polls

Abacus has the Hudak Tories and Wynne's OLP at 34% apiece with NDP at 25%; Innovative Research--who, you ask?--has Wynne up 7 points 37% to 30% for PCPO with NDP at 25%.  Oh.  And there will be no strike at the Elsie.  Have a nice, relaxing, Ontario-Election-free summer.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid Banned At York University

...for being too noisy. Which sounds like a way of getting rid of them while circumventing the free speech issues a more direct approach might  entail.  Although this comment from the SAIA York Facebook page gives some credence to the York Admin's stated rationale:

Again, it looks better when you click on the image.

Rhyme Of The Duffster

Let's hear it for Senator Duff/Whose salary wasn't enuff/He took 90 grand/And when caught redhanded/Just grabbed 90 more from the trough
— Trevor Strong (@Trevstrong) May 15, 2013

WTF Happened In B.C.?

You are asking me?  One thing I'll say is that this did not remind me of last year's Alberta polling cock-up.  The B.C. NDP are not an untried bunch, and the charges of radicalism that were flung at them are par for the course in a B.C. election, so  I can't see them having had much effect.   If I were to guess, I would say the turning point came when Christy Clark came out against the Trans-Mountain pipeline, essentially mirroring the NDP "no-pipeline" stand and taking away their most important policy contrast.  But I'm not even going to try to guess.

PS.  Congrats to Andrew Weaver, the first Green Party MLA ever elected to the B.C. Legislature.

The Tide Has Turned

It has begun.  Labrador 2013.  General Election 2015.  PM Trudeau appoints me to Senate, 2016.  He also appoints my wife, and gives us two seats near the aisle for bathroom breaks.  We eat free at the Senate cafeteria (when you're a Senator you get a card), and sleep in the upper chamber like everyone else.  We never have to work again.  Life is sweet.

Toronto Rabbis Denounce Pam Geller

Excerpts from Toronto Board of Rabbis statement:

The Toronto Board of Rabbis (TBR) expresses its profound disappointment that a local Jewish organization has extended an invitation to Pamela Geller, a blogger who is known for her extreme criticism of Muslims in language that is intended to shock and ridicule.

The TBR is a strong supporter of freedom of speech for all,including Ms. Geller. Ms. Geller’s voice and message are already well known here in Canada and beyond. There was no sense in inviting her here to Toronto to speak before a Jewish audience.Sadly the only sure result of this event will be increasing tensions within the Jewish community and between Jews and Muslims in Toronto.

The rest is through the link.  Contains a mild shot at a "radical fringe Jewish group" that is presumably the Jewish Defense League.

Stephen Harper's Mother's Day Greeting: The Secret First Draft

You've probably heard about this.  Yesterday Stephen Harper asked Canada to wish Laureen Harper, his wife and the mother of his two kids, a happy Mother's Day.  Many people noted oddity of the little episode.  Through my secret sources, I have obtained a first draft of Harper's letter, before his PR people got hold of it.  I think it explains a lot.

It reads better if you click on the image.

The Census And Your Privacy: The Courts Speak

When Sandra Finely received her long-form census papers in 2006, she refused to fill it out because she felt that the requirement violated her right to privacy, and was therefore unconstitutional   She was taken to court for violating the Statistics Act, lost, and requested an appeal.

Her arguments were heard by the Saskatchewan Court of appeals and last week they issued their ruling.  She lost again.  To get a flavor of the court's decision, a fairly representative passage:

[39]   Thus, the question is not whether Ms. Finley had an expectation of privacy or even a reasonable expectation of privacy in dictionary terms.   The question must be linked to the overall context of the case.   In this case, the question must be cast in these terms:  whether a reasonable person would expect to have privacy in the information requested by the 2006 Long Form Census, which the government wishes to collect exclusively for statistical purposes to aid it in implementing sound and effective public policy, with no criminal or quasi-criminal repercussions flowing from the disclosure of such information, and with the specific information collected being ultimately generalized and “delinked” from the individuals being required to so disclose.  The trial judge answered this critical question negatively and the summary conviction appeal court judge found no error of law, mixed fact and law or fact in her conclusion.

Sandra Finley was the poster girl for that tiny minority of Canadians who support the federal government's elimination of the long-form census.  I think the court ruling makes clear why their concerns, where not driven by simple paranoia, are off-track.  We are supposed to be living in a knowledge-based economy, and it is essential that the government gather accurately and disseminate widely/cheaply such data as is necessary for that economy to function.  Period.  End of story.  If it takes an hour of Ms. Finley's day every few years...well, that's the price we pay for living in the modern world.

A Spin-Able Victory

Upshot:  the anti-Justin Trudeau attack ads, which debuted in the Maritimes so as to get Peter Penashue his seat back, did not work.  In fact, given that this is a Forum poll, they probably didn't work even worse than their top line number suggests.

Whither Bill C-304?

With Senator Doug Finley's passing, Bill C-304, the Harper government's attempt to repeal Canada's hate speech legislation, has lost its Senate champion.  The bill was already stalled in the upper chamber.  I wonder if these latest sad events will further impede its progress.

Keystone XL--Not Coming Soon

This (story through link) just confirms what I've argued for awhile.  The Obama administration will take its own sweet time over the Keystone XL decision, especially if they are leaning towards approval.  You don't want angry enviros arguing before a judge that you short-circuited the process.  I'm betting on nothing out of the Whitehouse until 2014.

Community Level (Census Tract/Dissemination Area) Data In NHS--There Or Not: UPDATE UPDATED

*Sigh*.  A 2nd call to Stats-Can makes the quote below seem somewhat plausible

Today’s first release of the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) data confirmed what we had previously written. It appears the data quality was so poor that Statscan decided to release neither data at the dissemination area (DA) nor the census tract (CT) levels. These are more commonly referred to as ‘community-level’ data.

At the moment Stats-Can is offering community level materials from the census as custom requests; they plan to release the data more widely later on, though have not given a precise date for this.  Stats-Can staff have also informed me that  census tract/dissemination level data from the the NHS is not yet available, and they have not been given a date upon which it will be made available.

Stats Canada NHS Survey: The First Big OOPS

I spent months arguing that the changes to Canada's long form census would degrade the data from it.  Today we are starting to see proof.  Although most of the damage will come at the lower geographic levels, there appears to be evidence that some of the head-line numbers will be effected as well. From the analytic document "Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity in Canada"

Top source countries for newcomers

 The NHS results showed that the Philippines was the leading country of birth among people who immigrated to Canada between 2006 and 2011.(3) 

However, go to footnote (3).  It reads:

(3) This result was not in line with administrative data from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada which provides the number of recent immigrants by their country of birth settling in Canada each year. A number of factors could explain this difference, such as the effects of sampling, response patterns, and under or over estimation of certain groups of recent immigrants in the NHS.

So in effect Stats Canada is saying that they cannot reliably tell us which country provided Canada the largest share of immigrats during the 2006/2011 period.  A rather glaring flaw, if you ask  me.

Ezra Levant's Freedom Cruise Update: Tips For Travelers

As you know, last year Ezra Levant and the Sun News Network arranged a "Freedom Weekend" up in Muskoka for big-C Conservative zealots.  Since nobody who signed up for that trip has ever spoken ill of it, or even been seen again, Ezra and the gang have decided to try again with a 7-day excursion up the West Coast to Alaska.  A "Freedom Cruise", as they are calling it.  Ezra and co. have even provided a nice FAQ for potential cruise-goers.  I shall reproduce a few of the Q/As below, along with my comments and interpretations:

What to wear

[...]

For this cruise, you will want very casual and comfortable wear during the day. This means slacks, shorts, T-shirts and sweatshirts as well as comfortable walking/hiking shoes. In general you should dress moderately on shore and save the dressy clothes for the ship.

Translation: no fashion showboating in front of the locals.  In  Alaska its dark half the year, and they need a human sacrifice to prepare for sunrise  Also, some of the oil rig workers up there haven't seen female flesh in a yonks.  If you don't want to get yourself killed, gang-raped, and eaten, pretend you're in Saudi Arabia.  This applies to the guys too.  Maybe especially.

Correspondence

All future correspondence will go to the address on your confirmation. Address changes must be received in writing. There is a booking number on your confirmation. Please write this number on all certified checks. It is helpful to include your ship and sail date on any correspondence. A good daytime phone number and email address is important if we need to reach you about your booking. Any changes in your reservation including category, number of people in cabin, names in cabin, additions & deletions to cabin, etc, MUST be received in WRITING.

Translation:  WE will call You.  Don't YOU call US.  And when you are speaking to our guy, Raoul, you may hear street noises.  That's because our booking office is at ground level, not because our agent  moon-lights as a cab drive.

General Cruise Notes

If you consider your cruise ship a floating resort that transports you from one port to another as an added bonus, everything will be placed in proper perspective. If you feel naked without your diamonds and emeralds, or a lot of cash on hand, then bring them along. 

Translation: We've got a poker game, and you are invited!  The big boss Kory's telling us that  $17,000,000 a year in losses can be made back right quick with a ship full of suckahs.  That's plan B if the CRTC doesn't come through.

BC Election Takes Me Back

Hendrix.  Magic mushrooms.  NDP candidates denounced as Chinese commies.  Man it brings back the old days....   Except that when I was coming of age the whole "NDPer is a commie!" ploy had already gone stale.  The Vander Zalm SoCreds had already retired  it from their playbook.  But wait!  This isn't the early 70s anymore, starchild,  its 2013 and its the B.C. Liberals  throwing down that card.  Does that mean that the more things change the more they remain the same, or that the more things remain the same the more they remain the same?  Anyway, stay classy Christy Clark.

The Cost Of Solar Power

A nice chart, from here:

The graph above compares the price history of solar energy to conventional energy sources. This is what a disruptive technology looks like. While conventional energy prices remained pretty flat in inflation adjusted terms, the cost of solar is dropping,fast, and is likely to continue doing so as technology and manufacturing processes improve.

That is all.

Faker Than Ezra?

So far, I've unable to find anyone with a higher percentage of fake twitter followers than Ezra Levant.  In fact nobody even comes close.  The wannabes include some notable names, however, including...

...Stephen  Harper, leader of our great nation.  A quarter of his followers are fake, and less than half are "good".  Sounds like his approval numbers these days.  Also, Mark Steyn has a pretty high quotient of non-existent pals.

And Don Cherry, which is a major disappointment I tell you, because the guy  himself is so damn genuine.

My Wife On Justin In His Shorts

This is a kind of a guest post from my better half, adapted from a conversation we had earlier upon seeing the LPC message from Justin Trudeau in his khaki T and cargo shorts:

You want to counter the whole idea that Justin is the son of wealth.  So you put him in his backyard or someone else's back yard dressed like a common person. You want him to look like the guy you could invite over to a BBQ, and contrast him with Stephen Harper in an ugly suit.  That way you pull in NDP votes and the votes of guys who want the PM to look like "someone normal".  

Just to add to the dear wife's comments, I'd say Justin looked like half the guys in Ontario this weekend, including me, and its easy to imagine having him over for a few beers.  This guy...not so much.

Ezra Levant And All His Friends

From the Twitter "fake follower" check, which tells you how many of your twitter followers are real:

So it looks like someone has been buying Ezra bulk followers.  Anyway, compare this with the report you get for a real journalist--Canada's sweetest little angel, Kady O'Malley:

Or even Hairface, from Lethbridge:

So the upshot is Ezra's fans are mostly among the non-existent.  That bodes ill for his "freedom cruise" .  Fake people use fake credit.

Pam Geller Implicates Jason Kenney

The Queen of the Wingnuts has weighed in on getting turfed by the York Region Cops from her speaking engagement at  the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue.  Naturally, she is unhappy about it.  She says, among other things, this:

The police also told the rabbi that Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, has been asked to keep me out of Canada.

Its probably bullshit.  But somebody out there in, like, the media--the people who are  paid to ask  tough questions--should ask of Mr. Kenny whether he indeed was petitioned by police  to keep Pam Geller out of Canada, and whether he has agreed to do it.  Just for clarity's sake,

Pam Geller/Rabbi Kaplan Update

Something that has gone unmentioned in the T.O. Sun story on the matter is that Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue has been in trouble with York Regional Police before.  A little over two years ago Kaplan, the force's "in-house rabbi", was the subject of an internal investigation over a sermon in which he instructed his followers to not support Kulanu or the Pride parade and referred to gays as "an abomination".  Interestingly enough, the officer handling the earlier investigation--Ricky Veerappan--is the same fellow that told Kaplan yesterday that the rabbi would be jeopardizing his volunteer position with the YRP if he hosted Pam Geller at his synagogue.

Kaplan's gay-bashing sermon was eventually  cleared due to the fact that it was expressed "in the context of a religious text", was a sincerely held religious belief, and etc.   No such justification can be given for this latest controversy.  Clearly the YRP had to act; they can't have a fellow interested in importing hate-mongers wearing their uniform.

Federal Government To Dump MERX

MERX is the MERX Canadian Public Tenders service.  Its where the federal and provincial governments put their RFQs and RFPs and the like, asking private companies to bid on contracts for various goods and services.  Except no more  This notice appeared recently on (ironically enough) MERX:

The Government of Canada is moving its electronic tendering service from MERX to Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders on June 1, 2013.

Starting June 1, 2013, federal government tenders (tender notices and bid solicitation documents) will be published and available free of charge on a Government of Canada Web site on Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders.

As noted, billions of dollars change hands through MERX.  I wonder how viable the service will be without the federal government on board.   And actually, this is a story that has some small news value.  Since MERX is where Cdn governments go to buy stuff from the private sector, it is often the first place where you can get an idea of what they are really up to.

News For Jews: Save The Canadian Jewish News And Pam Geller Gets Boot From Thornhill Synagogue

Bernie Farber writes of  the on-line petition to rescue the Canadian Jewish News, which will otherwise cease publication come June 20th:

Today for perhaps the first time in our young history as a Jewish community in Canada we may be without a trusted journalistic Jewish voice.

To be sure voices are being raised. To my utter delight and surprise the strongest of these voices seem to be emanating from a new younger generation of readers. Twenty-something folks like Rachel Singer and Alana Kayfetz (ironically the niece of one of Canada's most prolific Jewish journalists and community professionals from a day gone by, Ben Kayfetz Z"L) are putting words into action. Utilizing a 21st century communications device, the internet, they have developed a "Save the CJN" campaign" which has to date gathered more than 3000 digital signatures and close to 50,000 page views.

Playwright Arthur Miller once intoned "A good newspaper is a Nation talking to itself", indeed the CJN talked to a nation of Canadian Jews for over 40 years. To let it die without a bang would be a disservice to who we are as a people. Perhaps if we stood up this time and as my late father use to intone "open a mouth" we can save us from ourselves.

They are asking for electronic signatures and ideas.  I hope at some point somebody asks for money.

Meanwhile, Pam Geller will not be speaking at the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue in Thornhill:

Insp. Ricky Veerappan, of the force’s diversity, equity and inclusion bureau, confirmed he and officers from the service’s hate crimes unit met with Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue on Tuesday.

[...]

Subsequent to his meeting with police, Kaplan cancelled Geller’s May 13 talk, which was sponsored by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) — a hard-line advocacy group that had rented space in Kaplan’s synagogue for the event.

Luckily for anyone who would still like to hear the "Queen of the Wingnuts", she will be appearing instead at the Toronto Zionist Center, protected by a security detail from the Jewish Defense League.

The Most Interesting Thing About The Latest Harris-Decima Poll

...is how it shows that JT is stealing from the CPoC as well as the NDP.  For the conventional wisdom has 30% of the CDN population rock solid in Harper's corner, yet this poll puts them below that threshold. 

Am Not Dead

Am just working off-site way across town.  Things should return to normal tomorrow.  Try and get by without me.