The Funniest Thing I Ever Said On The Internet

Apparently, according to the likes and re-tweets I got:

@RandPaul @CarlyFiorina @HillaryClinton @mtmdiamond Good line.  Guess you really schlonged her.

— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) December 23, 2015

It was supposed to be ironic, but even totally non-ironic Trump fans seem to dig it, for presumably the wrong reasons.

On PCPO Leader Patrick Brown: A Brief Note

If this whole "Premier of Ontario" gig fails to materialize he could do gay porn.  Because he's in bang-up shape, and this seems to matter far more in gay porn.  Whereas a lot of guys on the straight side of the biz show cellulite.

A Few Developments Re Wind Energy In Ontario

Now that's an exciting lede.

But  a couple of interesting things have happened lately. First up is the fact that the Settlers Landing Wind Park project has been curtailed by an appeal to the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal that went against the developer.  Here is a good summa. The reasoning behind the decision can be found here.  Essentially, several of the planned turbines were to go in a protected wood-lot, which would have entailed clearing some of the trees in the lot.  Given that everyone involved agreed that the site was environmentally "significant", the tribunal gave a thumbs down to these particular turbines:

One interesting argument arose during the hearing.  From the ERT transcripts:

[145] In a similar vein, the Tribunal rejects the approach of Dr. Kerlinger [who testified in favour of the development] to assessingthe legal definition of “serious harm” to animal life. The Tribunal finds that s.145.2.1(2)(b) of the EPA cannot be read such that a species-wide viability analysis is
the appropriate scale for the assessment of serious harm. Dr. Kerlinger’s analysis
would render the Environment Test almost meaningless at the scale of local impacts by
requiring the Appellant to prove that the Project has an impact that results in a material
change to the population of a species overall, before any modification to it could be
ordered. This is clearly not the intention of the EPA, which includes the purpose at s. 3
of “the protection and conservation of the natural environment”, and at s. 47.2 (the
Renewable Energy section of the Act) “to provide for the protection and conservation of
the environment.”

I think this repeats an something I said re the project at Ostrander point:

"On the other hand, the most clearly stated MOE counter-argument (assuming this is an accurate account of it) strikes me as bizarre:

The proponents now say that the serious and irreversible harm test applies province wide and that it was the responsibility of PECFN [Prince Edward County Field Naturalists] to prove that the project would cause serious and irreversible harm to the turtle population province wide.

If the province's stock of endangered turtles is parceled out into discrete sub-populations, of which only one or two would be effected by a particular development, how could you stop any development?"

The ERT seems to have seen it the same way.

Finally, not many people have defended the Ontario government from last week's Auditor General's report, and admittedly the report contains evidence of alotta bad decision-making.  I am not as concerned about the criticisms directed against Ottawa's renewable energy push as some, however, mostly for reasons given here:

Ms.Lysyk gives extensive attention to the impact of new renewable energy sources on electricity costs, but completely ignores the single largest driver of the Global Adjustment to electricity costs - the refurbishment province's aging fleet of nuclear power plants. The enormous economic and technical risks associated with proposed refurbishments of the Bruce and Darlington nuclear facilities are also completely overlooked.

I also don't buy the notion that an energy surplus is a bad thing to have.  Presumably, expansion of the electrical supply is predicated on growth in the Ontario economy: more manufacturing jobs meaning more plants meaning more power needed for those plants.  Since 2008, the "more jobs" bit hasn't really panned out.  Hence the current surplus.  But if you were to work to eliminate the surplus, isn't that essentially betting on continued economic stagnation?

In Praise Of Longos

Or as I call it, Samples.

Today, for example, they were giving out Fuya Fruit*, Turkey Sausage, Kobasa, Blue Cheese, Prosciutto Pizza, and Gouda Cheese on a cracker.  Something from every food group!  I figure I sucked back about 2,400 absolutely free calories.

I do this trick where I walk in wearing my glasses and hit all the sample booths two or three times in the first ten minutes. Then when they start wondering what's with the guy with the glasses? I take them off and carry my coat over my arm.  The staff don't recognize me right away, and I can get in another circuit or two!

Because when you have a mortgage to pay every free cracker counts.

* Looks kind of like a small tomato but is a sugary delight.

The Alberta Climate Plan: Is Ezra Levant Right?

Not when he says the oil companies don't represent the oil companies, but in his generally negative attitude towards the whole thing?  Well, let's play Devil's advocate for a minute.  What does Alberta get from the rest of the planet for imposing on itself an economy-wide carbon tax?  We know what it wants: pipelines West and South so it can sell its oil to Asia.   Nobody really cares about Energy East.

But Keystone is dead.  So we're down to Northern Gateway and Transmountain.   Does the plan buy them either?  Well, the Trudeau government is going to formally ban oil tankers along B.C.'s North coast, so Northern Gateway is still dead.  What about Transmountain?  Well, a lot of the opposition to this line has nothing to with climate change, and of course there is a faction in the enviro community who would like the oil-sands shut down regardless of any commitments to better behavior the province and the oil companies might make.  They won't be swayed.  So maybe Transmountain goes through, or maybe not, but even if so it will be years down the line and billions spent along the proposed route to grease the skids before its open.  And who knows whether the market will need it by then.

And that's the only prize Alberta gets...potentially...from the whole endeavor.  So: good for the planet, good for Canada, but arguably not so great for Alberta.

On Adele: A Brief Note

Finally connected that singer called "Adele" with an actual tune, on a radio station I wouldn't normally listen to.  Gawd she sucks.  The Youth Of Today...The YOTS...The Millennials...listen to royally shitty music.  Its like they took every electric guitar that ever existed and buried them in a field somewhere and replaced them  with a lot of overproduced bloopy sounding synthesizer noises.

As a result I, as a near-senior, an old x-hippy from the 70s, am starting to feel less guilty about exploiting them, if they're going to listen to crap like this.  When I'm 90 and they're 50 I'll fly into McDs on my jewel encrusted walker with a jet-pack attached and demand my free coffee and throw dimes on the floor when they look at me sad-eyed for a tip.

I blame cell-phones for the YOT's dissolute nature.  They give off magnetic fields (the cell phones, not the YOTs, although maybe they do too), and kids carry them around in their pants all the time and irradiate their nads.

This kind of thing could cure them:

...but I doubt they'll listen.

No, Donald Trump Didn't Say Muslims Should Be Issued Special Badges.

What he said is he wouldn't rule out giving them some form of special identification that noted their religion.  This could be a badge, but it might also be a chip-card, or an arm-band, or maybe a tattoo.  Get it right, Liberal Media Party.

Kirsty Duncan: The Science Minister And Science

So Kirsty Duncan once supported a "largely disproven MS treatment" known as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI.  And indeed it seems like the treatment is not particularly effective, and the theory behind it hasn't been borne out.  But it might have been.  It takes time to determine such things; they can't usually be shown a priori. And most of her statements in regards to CCSVI are several years old; the Motherboard (who?) thing refers to the presentation of a parliamentary petition, which usually does not signify commitment from the MP doing the presenting (although I admit I once mercilessly hounded CPC MP Mike Lake over this).  And in Science its OK to get things wrong; the problem is persisting in folly when your wrongness has been demonstrated.  We shall see how Ms. Duncan conducts herself in future re this issue.  That's the proof in the pudding.

PS.  The remainder of the NP article reads like a gossip column, so I didn't bother addressing the claims in it.

PPS.  This is genuinely douchy.  Sure its just another junk email in your inbox, and I'm sure Kent Hehr's original sentiments were genuine.  But its still using Remembrance Day to harvest email addresses so as to hit people up for donations a few months down the line.  Tut Tut! Justin Trudeau. Tut Tut! 

The Death Of Keystone: A Brief Analysis

There will be celebrations, but it strikes me as anti-climactic.  Lucky timing for the new government, though; its way too soon for it to have to wear any of the failure.   Whereas this decision will be the big fat fucking failing cap-stone to the too-long-but-now-ending political career of Stephen Harper. And I think Justin's nominal pro-Keystone stance was quite clever.  It was a bit like supporting the continued existence of the sun and the moon.  It ain't up to you, so why not?  But why not go the other way a la Mulcair?  Well, there were potential votes out West to be harvested for being a least a little "pro-pipeline", and support for Keystone could be used as a vote-harvesting carrot, even if it was a carrot made of smoke and mirrors.  Mulcair refused to wave the fake carrot, and lost.  Not that this was the sole reason he lost.  There was also that increasingly tattered looking beard. 

Anyway, going forward, I'm betting against Northern Gateway; I am inclined against Trans Mountain; and I suspect Energy East will pipe oil (or whatever) one day.  

Tom Mulcair Prepares To Leave?

Listing the highlights of your political career is like picking the tunes for your Greatest Hits album, right?  Its what you do when you are done.  And, weirdly enough, Gary Doer is coming back home.

Coincidence?

Ezra Gets His Date

Ezra Levant

Type: Hearing First Date of Hearing: Feb 29, 2016 Last Date of Hearing: Mar 02, 2016 Date/Status Details: Calgary Hearing Detail:         CO20142249 / HE20150107 It is alleged that you were publicly discourteous or disrespectful to a Commissioner or Tribunal Chair of the Alberta Human Rights Commission and that such conduct is deserving of sanction. It is alleged that your public comments regarding the Alberta Human Rights Commission were inappropriate and unbecoming and that such conduct is deserving of sanction. CO20140632 / HE20150107 It is alleged your public comments regarding the Alberta Human Rights Commission were inappropriate and unbecoming and that such conduct is deserving of sanction.

Some background.  The road to this hearing has been long and winding, passing through Alberta Law Society Appeal Panel.  Their decision was pretty damning:

Bit more background here.  FWIW, the law society website now has Ezra's status as "non-practicing".  Given how often he screws up, you'd  think he would want as much practice as he could get.  He's obviously not very good with this law talking thing.

A Modest Proposal: A Trudeau Government Should Restore Section 13 Of The Canadian Human Rights Act

That's the hate speech provision, which I've written about it at numerous occasions in the past.  The CPC ditched it after a years long smear campaign engineered by white supremacists, Ezra Levant, various scribblers in the press, and a few easily gulled artsy farts.  But the point is--and this should be obvious when you considered the ill-favoured crowd that pushed it--the repeal was never popular. The deed was accomplished via a private member's bill in the dead of night and pundits who had howled for repeal for years suddenly found something else to ruminate over.  And while we may argue over the philosophical underpinnings of any hate-speech law, its worth noting that the concrete misdeeds ascribed to various government agencies in enforcing S13 were fabrications. Furthermore, some of the real weaknesses in the Human Rights Commision/Tribunal system pointed out during the ongoing debate (the possibility of forum shopping among federal and provincial bodies) were fixed at the adiministrative level by the bodies themselves.  So these issues will not likely come up again.

The CPC just ran one of the ugliest campaigns in living memory, and the repeal of S13 gave them a little more rhetorical space to propogate their various hate messages during this campaign.  I would love to watch them try to frame their opposition to a reinstatement; however, I suspect those of those left will cave out of pure embarrassment.  And I would love to watch the punditorcracy shit themselves in blind fury.  Remember, all they've got now are philosophical arguments against, and a few obviously self-serving economic ones like "If we have to live up to standards, we won't be able to publish as much."

Fun times ahead, hopefully.

Federal Election: Thanksgiving Dinner Edition

At the in-laws last evening, dinner never really deteriorated into a discussion of federal politics. However, it appears that the choices have been whittled down to CPC vs. LPC, with the NDP falling out of the equation. They're all longtime liberal-leaners, so I suspect when the final decisions are made it will go that way.  More interesting is the fact that one of father in-law's McDonald's friends says he'll bring PCPO leader Patrick Brown down to a local McDs one day for a chat.  I've put in a call to the Premier's office, to see if Kathleen is willing to come around and clean father in-law's eaves-troughs.  Or at least send around a minister or two to rake his back yard.  You gotta work for folks, or they'll turn on you.

Why Is Kathleen Wynne Running So Hard For LPC?

Because the Ontario Pension Plan is dead otherwise.  Harper has already said he won't cooperate. That means Ontario can't piggy-back everything onto the CPC, then pay the feds a cut to use their infrastructure and manage the money.  Ontario would have to start from scratch, to build a whole parallel bureaucracy.  Expensive and inefficient.  Wynne's most significant campaign commitment depends on a Liberal government taking power in Ottawa.

Harper Hanging With Crazies (ie Andrew Lawton)

Prime Minister Harper went on Andrew Lawton's show?  To bash dark skinned foreigners and liberals? That's a pretty low move, even for this campaign.  Andrew's history of Muzzie baiting can be seen here, for example.  So it looks like Harper is using the Niqab thing to reconnect with his lunatic base. But its interesting that he thinks they need to be given such personal attention at this point in the campaign.  As I've said occasionally in the past, Harper and Co. have made efforts to distance himself from these people in order to be seen as fit to govern  Now suddenly he thinks he needs them all on-side.

The Munk Debate: A Quickie Review

Jt looked fine.  Got in a few zingers, gave quite a good answer when asked about the LPC position on our ISIS mission. In fact he seemed to echo my position, so you know he's thought about it deeply.  Harper did fine.  Or rather, he did what he always does.  To me it's starting to sound like mumbling in bureaucratize; others might see it as evidence of competence.  Mulcair did poor.  His beard looks awful; he sounds oily and arrogant, passive aggressive; hiding an essential unlikableness via vigilant self-medication.  But, though the debate was about as entertaining as it is possible for such things to be, nobody except hardcore polinerds watched.  So it won't matter but to the the extent some of the "zingers" become headlines.  And in that regard our boy did good.

Trudeau Vs. Suzuki: A Brief Note

During the course of a campaign, its always good to prove your center right creds by kicking a few hippies https://t.co/Wdw5WNH7Ts

— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 27, 2015

The Problem With Hosting Trolls

As you can see, The Sun chain of newspapers (now part of Post Media) have decided to kill off the comments section to most of their stories.  But all is not lost!

...we will continue to post our stories, columns and editorials on social media, including Twitter and Facebook, and you will be able to comment on them there as you always have.

In other words, the trolls can still have the cheap seats.   But there may be a problem.  They've apparently tried this before:

Not a surprise, since the non-Sun PM sites did this awhile ago. That said, a few years ago, a similar ban on comments was attempted by the Suns. PKP was all for it. Then the web traffic just cratered.... and comments were allowed again. So it will be interesting to see what occurs since, these days, clicks are all that count.

In other words, while you and I may call them the scum of the Earth,  the sun chain calls them readers and they need 'em to to convince advertisers to place banner ads on their various websites.  So, a conundrum.

Cannibalized From Within: The Fate Of Postmedia?

From The Toronto Sun Family blog:

If you want to glimpse the future, consider LaPresse, which will no longer be publishing weekdays. One paper a week on Saturdays - otherwise, it's all on their tablet app.

Expect similar things in PM along with the merging of various products. Several sections of the Post, for example, are now going to be running within copies of the Edmonton Journal and other PM broadsheets.

The Leap Manifesto: Naomi Klein, Communism, and The Hollywood Hippys

CBC says:

"This is a document that was written collectively," [author Naomi] Klein said, flanked by national indigenous Anglican bishop Mark MacDonald and environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki.  Actor Tantoo Cardinal, author Joseph Boyden and newly crowned Mrs.Universe Ashley Callingbull were also at the press conference.

...which is good to know, because the IQ emenating from this document surely reflects some lowest common mental denominator.  And its fucking out there.  Among other things, it proposes a kind of Universal Law of NIMBYISM with respect to energy projects.  In technical language, Klein's bunch are BANANAs.  They write:

The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn’t want it in your backyard, then it doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard.

...which dictum, if ever followed, would pretty clearly result in no clean energy projects ever being built in Ontario ever again.  Because its not just wind people hate; they bitch about solar, too.  In fact, people will bitch about anything.  Deciding a priori that all their bitches are worthy is ridiculous. The iron law also borders on rejecting the notion that a man, within a certain regulatory framework,should be able to use his property as he sees fit.  That the fate of what was previously considered private land is determined...communally.  Lets just put it that way: communally.

You can't really blame Tom Mulcair for this stink-bomb, though people will anyway, and he has a couple options for dealing with it.  One is silence.  This whole bag of silliness is  an elaborate stunt by Naomi Klein on behalf of her hubby's new film at TIFF.  The controversy will leave town with her and the Hollywood crowd.  Or Mulcair could emulate Bill Clinton when he repudiated Sister Souljah; ie during one of his appearances Mulcair could do the rhetorical equivalent of dragging a hippy on stage and kicking them to death.

Life In Scarborough: A Lost Generation Of Scarborough Youth

Was on the bus today, and listening to a couple of young kids talk about rock music.  One of them wore a Motley Crue t-shirt, out of teenage irony.  Another one thought Alice Cooper was a girl.

These kids are doomed.  You can't get through life with this low degree of cultural knowledge. There's no hope for them other than gangsterism.

In The Internet Age You Have To Watch Your Fringe Candidates

Nothing wrong with this piece.  Candidate fuck-ups are stories finished in a day.  But of course, as Tim Powers notes, you lose that day's news-cycle. There's a way to think of it in economic terms; the money you spent that day to get your message out has gone up the flue.  So when someone like Jago greases a Tory, you can measure what it cost the campaign in cold hard cash.  "Winning the debate" is nice.  Making them bleed money is better.

The Story Of Gerry Bance

From Canadian Cincinnatus, some background:

I attended the Conservative nomination meeting, which was held this spring, in order to support my favoured candidate, Paul Egli, a retired and distinguished businessman. In the contested nomination flight, Egli sold about three hundred memberships and felt pretty good about himself. In contrast, Bance sold over a thousand memberships and most of them showed up that night to vote for him. Egli was buried. The attendance at nomination meeting was bigger than at any nomination meeting I have ever attended – by an order of magnitude.

Gerry Bance, you see, is that character that should be familiar to anybody who has ever been involved in riding-level politics: the ethnic fixer, somebody who wields mysterious power over the people in his own ethnic community. In a democracy where the guiding principle is one man, one vote, somebody who can mobilize a thousand voters out to a nomination meeting is a powerful man indeed. Gerry Bance is (or was) such a man in the Tamil community.

More through the link.

Another Day Spent Off-Message

Conservative candidate Jerry Bance was caught on CBC-TV's Marketplace in 2012 urinating in a homeowner's coffee mug and dumping the contents into the sink.

I'm betting the guy gets sacked by dawn and Harper takes no questions during tomorrow's GTA visit.

PS.  This guy apparently ran for CPC previously.  They've been in power 9 years and this is the kind of talent they attract in T.O.

Life In Scarborough: Scarborough Monday Nights

Stuck waiting for my wife t'other night, I hung around the Markham/Eglinton bus stop. The parking lot of our local Metro turns into the neighborhood meeting spot after dark.  Guys toting Goodlife bags get on and off the bus in steady streams, coming and going from the nearby gym and saying hello to one another as they pass at the stop.  There's a long bench against a big stone planter between the stop and the Beer Store where old Sri Lankan men gather on hot afternoons to drink tall-cans under  planted shrubs.  Now they have been joined by rough local kids of various racial persuasions, and an old hippy in the wheel chair who keeps his beer in the side-pocket, and a scrawny old rocker chick who is passed out on the grass when I get there, but who wakes  20 minutes later, sits up, and is welcomed back to consciousness with cheerful hellos from the gathered rummies. This is a Monday night before 9 pm, mind you.

Quote Of The Day

Not about polls or the lousy economy, but newsworthy nevertheless:

“...as  Christian business owners, our personal beliefs will not allow our conscience the freedom to work with a labour union, as we are required by scripture to ‘live peaceably with all men’ and not to use force to gain what we want or for what is required to succeed.”

First a union, then armed conflict...

On The Theory Of The "Sleeping Electorate"

From ONW's Susanna Kelly:

Most people take two, perhaps three weeks vacation a year.

That means that for all the other summer weeks, they're back at work, starting the day as usual by listening to newscasts in their car during commutes, spending lots of time on their computers and Internet-rigged up (CHANGE) devices and chatting around the water cooler - just like they do the rest of the year.

On top of that, even if they are at the cottage, many of those same cottages have now been equipped with the Internet.

And there are fewer and fewer people who live in rural Canada, making their living by working the soil in relative isolation.

So the idea that many people haven't heard of, or heard much of, the Duffy trial is pretty unlikely.

It was the lead story on Internet, television and radio newscasts as well as on newspapers' front pages for many days.

And even if, as is the case with many in the electorate, they only remember the headlines, those very headlines have been very damaging.

I'm about half-ready to buy this.  Today's Forum poll suggest's that the Duffy trial has had a major negative effect on CPC numbers, though these are supposed to be the dog days.  But of course that's only Forum.  There will, however, be an EKOS poll tomorrow and Frank Graves is hinting at some pretty interesting results:

@Mikercorcoran @coreydahl nope. And some real movement. Duffy definitely registering.

— Frank Graves (@VoiceOfFranky) August 26, 2015

So there you have it.

Robert Jago Soldiers On

I think Robert and I were the first two bloggers in Canadian history to force a candidate to step down for things they'd said  on the Internet.  But in '08 Robert only scored one Green (for anti-Semitic comments, I think); whereas I nailed a Tory, a Dipper, and a Tory campaign official.  That's why I've got part of an exhibit devoted to me in the Museum of Civilization and Robert doesn't.

As usual, the Yankees were ahead of us by a decade.  In 1996 one of Bob Dole's campaign staffers had to step down when he and his wife were found to have participated in a listserv for swingers, if I remember it correctly.  Anyway, I've not got time to put the detective work in these days, but Jago is still at it.  He's greased one or two Tories already this cycle, and is promising that there's more to come.

 This is his latest.  Keep an eye on his blog.   By the end of election 2015, someone might owe Robert a Senate appointment.

Coming To An Attack Near You

To go with this.  Not a good day for the CPC campaign.

Not A Communist: Tom & Maggie

Actually this doesn't look bad on him.  Equivalent to finding out that Harper once played drums in a Hendrix cover band (he didn't).  Not sure there was any reason for the campaign to even formally address a clip that old unless they figured it worked in their favor.  And it does; if Tom secretly dug Thatcher  he can't be that bad, some might think. I imagine any real problem will come from the party base.  Mulcair has the delicate task of convincing the nation that the NDP's not  communist anymore while assuring the faithful that it still is.

The Union Pearson Express (UPX)

Have no fear, #Toronto. There are plenty of open seats available on my #UPX train to Pearson Airport. #onpoli #topoli pic.twitter.com/Fruam7LjaQ

— Mark McQueen (@markrmcqueen) August 18, 2015

$27 per trip.  Who knows how many $1,000,000s  to build.  

This means, officially, that every transit line they've built in this town since 1986 when I moved here has been a boondoggle.

(Mind you, maybe its packed during the rush-hour.  But I doubt it.)

Leger Poll Puts Tories in 3rd

The NDP has 33 percent of the vote, up one point since last month, while the Conservatives are polling at 27 percent, down five points, the Leger research group said.

The Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, are polling in second with 28 percent of the vote, up three points.

Leger is a solid pollster, though I don't think they work the ROC very often.  Anyway, they confirm one thing that everyone knows; Justin helped himself in the first debate.  You can also infer that the Duffy Trial is beginning to take its toll on CPC numbers.  Sure nobody but the poli-nerds are paying attention, but its kind of like an ugly buzz in the air that you hear whenever the news comes on, whether you're listening or not.

Gruending On Rinks

Because I haven't been writing much lately, yet still like to keep a hand in, here's Dennis Gruending with a nice piece on subsidizing sports teams:

The National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators want to abandon the club’s 20-year-old arena in the suburb of Kanata and rebuild near the city's downtown. Although the team says that fans don’t want to travel to the edge of town to watch their team, the arena actually draws an average of 96 percent of its capacity for home games. Still, the club's president, Cyril Leeder, says that the Senators would need support from the city before proceeding with their plan. Almost certainly, that's coded language foreshadowing a request for tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to build an arena. There, millionaire players employed by multi-millionaire owners would play before people who can afford to pay $7,700 for a season’s ticket in a good seat. 

Indeed.

1st Debate: So How'd They Do?

Justin Trudeau Our guy did good.  Articulate.  Didn't stumble (though I missed his closing remarks, which I hear weren't so great).  Scored points in the one-on-ones, got off a few good lines:  "And then they were 9.  And so shall that number be 9." and etc.

Stephen Harper  Played defense all night, for the most part well.  Some shots got through on the economy; he admitted we're on the verge of a recession.  And he stumbled re the issue of all of his Senate appointments who are prison bound.  He was weirdly articulate on environmental issues & pipelines, displaying detailed knowledge re Alberta's carbon pricing system.  So, perhaps, a weak point well covered.  Not that I liked his answers on these questions, just that they were relatively well delivered.

Elizabeth May Did well, although at times to me she sounded like she had stumbled in from a wonkfest.  She actually forgave Harper for some of his past-policies.  But if I was in the "throw them all out and vote Green" mood and I stumbled onto the debate and watched her, I would be favorably impressed.

Tom Mulcair had weird body language issues.  I don't think he blinked once the whole debate, and he tried so hard to avoid the "Angry Tom" persona that he wound up sounding sedated.  He took a few hits from Trudeau on Que. Separatism and the SCC (Trudeau's "And Lo!  Nine Judges appeared in the East" line), but later on spoke forcefully (although still in an oddly subdued tone) on the Senate.

The Debate Format Nobody expects CDN political debates to be exciting, but this one was probably as entertaining as it was possible to make it.  The format forced interaction between the candidates, which I think actually worked against Stephen Harper.  He appeared diminished.  A mere mortal among mortals.

Pre-Debate Good News Poll, And That Thing With The Tits

Albeit from a company I've never heard of (or not heard much of):

@RJMcClelland Never heard of those guys.

— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) August 6, 2015

@Bigcitylib2 They don't poll very often but have been around for at least a few years

— Robert McClelland (@RJMcClelland) August 6, 2015

Might write more about the Trudeau boobs thing later or not.  My first response is this:

@a_picazo Good argument for progressive pols to avoid pride parades, if you ask me. #cdnpoli

— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) August 6, 2015

Are pride parades safe for LPC candidates anymore or have they been taken over by the NDP?  If so I'd say skip 'em.  Stay away from them queers.

PS. I may tweet the debate tonight, or not.  I may go out and eat chicken wings with my wife and watch old UFC clips on Sportsnet 5.  It doesn't matter.  Its boring and the after-analysis is all about bubble-dwellers trying to guess what folks outside the bubble are thinking, when for the most part they are thinking about the baseball game.

Smart Or Stupid? (Mulcair And The Debates)

Mulcair is threatening to pull out of any debate that Harper ain't at.  Already, a tide of outrage is rising on twitter.  Democracy is being defiled!!! and so forth.  Mulcair would be wise to ignore it. Catering to that tiny sliver of the nation's citizenry  who are immersed in its federal politics is profitless.  Its like trying to service a few thousand high maintenance girlfriends. Exhausting, and a money sucker.  So how will this play to the wider audience of the unwashed and apathetic?   That is, the target audience?  Well, probably not badly.  Mulcair wants to be Prime Minister, not one of the also-rans.  So why waste time arguing with losers over scraps? Fight the guy you're out to replace!  That's the thinking behind the move, as far as I can figure it.  So: smart or stupid?  Right now I'd file it as dirty but effective. As for the LPC response, well I hope it doesn't involve whining about how unfair life is. 

A Short Note On A Long Election

This has risks for all parties.  The risks for the 2nd and 3rd parties are obvious.  They might run out of dough.  But it also has a downside for the CPC.  More is not always better when it comes to bombarding the airwaves with attack ads.  Once you've reached the saturation point you're just wasting money  And, remember, these guys are terrible when they don't have a script.  Now they have twice as much script to write, and airheads like Kory Teneycke are going to be the auteurs.  

Of Sufficient Magnitude: More Excerpts From Ezra Levant Vs. Arman Chak Law Society Of Alberta Appeal Hearing

Ezra argues:

There are tens of thousands of inactive lawyers like me in Canada. They include politicians like Peter MacKay and Thomas Mulcair. Sometimes these politician-lawyers are polite. Sometimes they aren’t. Two years ago, my fellow member of the Law Society of Alberta, an opposition politician named Rachel Notley, compared the Alberta Energy Regulator to a “banana republic”. It’s a quasi-judicial tribunal, like the human rights commission. But it’s unthinkable that the Law Society would have prosecuted her for being “discourteous” to a government agency. Because we live in a democracy and value public debate.

A rebuttal from the proceeding transcripts:

And on Ezra's various misrepresentations:

For example Ezra claimed that Mr. Chak was a "Muslim immigrant ":

And finally, my favorite bit from the decision:

If I can I will upload the entire document later.

And later is now now.

Ezra Meets The Truth, Lies To Its Face

Ezra's back in Dutch with the Alberta Law Society for an alleged breach of their professional standards.  He writes in his own defense:

To my knowledge the decision to prosecute me is unprecedented. ...I’m not even a practicing lawyer. I’m a journalist who happens to be trained in the law. 

Well, no, this is not the case.  From the proceedings of his appeal, some words from R. Sharma on behalf of the complaintant:

I think he's referring to Lund V. Boissoin, which wound up in 2012.

The Golden Age Of Rock & Roll

The world should have ended the next morning.  There was really nothing left to say, rock & roll wise.

It Begins...(The Death Of Rebel Media)

@TheRebelTV @ezralevant @MarissaSemkiw First rat to leave the sinking ship.

— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) July 19, 2015

Life In Scarborough: The Great Scarborough Storm Of July, 2015--An Eye Witness Account!!

I was sitting in my favorite workin' man's pub in The Scar when it hit!  Sideways rain, hail, patio umbrellas falling over!  The works! Total fuckin' Apocalypse!

Later, making my way South down Markham road through the wreckage, I saw this!

This isn't the tree that fell at Lawrence and Scarborough Golf Club Road that everyone's talking about.  No!  This is ANOTHER TREE!  In a POORER PART OF SCARBOROUGH that the Media Party pays no attention to.  BUT TREES STILL FALL HERE!  whether the CBC or anyone else cares or not!

And I actually sat down at the bus shelter that this tree had fallen on top of, and I could hear ominous creeking and cracking noises.  This sucker could give way any time!  And its laying across live wires, so innocent bus riders underneath could get crushed and electrocuted all at once!  OMG!!!  OMG!!!  OMG!!!

But we're tough out here in The Scar, which we also call The Bro (for reasons I won't elucidate at the moment).  We'll come back from this!  We will rise again!!!

PS.   That's me in the picture.  I've got a few shots without, but it provides scale (my head is about nine inches wide) and my wife said I looked sexxxy.

Your Ward News Update

I wrote about this back in May.  I said:

So there's an T.O. East End Newspaper called Your Ward News.  From what I gather its mostly a direct mail affair; the publisher, a guy named Leroy St. Germaine, has Canada Post deliver it to folks down in Ward 31 (The Beaches).  It has apparently always been a bit flaky/racist, but the last couple of issues have seen a guy named James Sears gradually taking over, until recently he was appointed "Editor in Chief". And he has taken the publication "Full Nazi": articles promoting holocaust denial by old Heritage Front members; articles praising Adolf Hitler; articles promoting "white pride". The works.

Your Ward has published a few more issues since then, and it remains nasty stuff.  You can go look through the links above if you want; or you can read this post by WK, which shows a few of the worst bits.  One thing that's changed, though, is the space devoted to ads.  May had over two pages of color ads and two more pages of classifieds.  This issue is down to one page of color ads and no classifieds.  So the campaign a number of people have undertaken to contact advertisers and inform them of the paper's contents seems to have paid off.  In fact it appears that some of the remaining advertisers are there against their will:

Some progress at least, then, even if Canada Post is still carrying the thing.  I find it hard to believe that lawyers have told them it doesn't contain hate-speech. 

Does Mother Canada Monument Run Afoul Of Aboriginal Title?

A stub of a story here:

A report by a Mi’kmaq scholar denounces the controversial Mother Canada statue.
The statue is part of a war memorial proposed for a national part in Cape Breton, N.S.
Critics say the statue will pave over a pristine part of the Cape Breton Highlands.
The Mi’kmaq say it will also pave over Aboriginal rights and title.

The full study here.  From it:

 If the proposed Mother Canada development were to proceed, any future use of the area and any future exercise of any Aboriginal and Treaty Rights by the L’nu would be extinguished. This would have a tremendous impact on the aboriginal and treaty right of the L’nu to hunting, fishing, gathering of medicines and practicing their culture in a place that is clearly significant both culturally and spiritually for the L’nuk.

And my favorite bit:

• If the project is to proceed, a starting point in accommodating the concerns of the L’nuk people would be to change the design of the Mother Canada statue. Most L’nuk would see the current design as an image of an oversize, dominant Catholic nun. Given the recent release of the Truth & Reconciliation report, the design needs to be reexamined so as not to remind L’nu’s of the cultural genocide and rampant abuse practiced at the Shubenacadie Residential School.

I find Ms. Young's level of expertise hard to assess, but if there really are legal issues with local FNs to be settled before this thing can proceed, I would think that its future is not bright.

Countdown To Her Grovelling Apology

Its' your time, CPC MP Wai Young.  5...4...3...2...

Toronto's Pan-Am Games: First Impressions

Was hanging around downtown today, and I will say that South American women really really know how to stuff a tight t-shirt.  That is all.

The CPoC War Room, or: Did Kory Teneycke Strike Again?

Mother Canada Monument In Perspective

I think this graphic (which looks much better when you click on it) puts the whole "Mother Canada" statue debate in its proper perspective.

Chris Selley is right!

Funny How Things Go: Reflections On Fallen Heroes

No word of a lie, two of my biggest child-hood heroes were Bill Cosby and Woody Allen.  In grade four my teacher played an  LP of Cosby's stand-up routine on the last day before summer break because  he had nothing more to teach us and it kept us quiet.  That's what got me into him; I think it was The Chickenheart story.  So I bought a copy of "To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With" a week later (I was nine), and within a year I had collected all his LPs. Woody Allen of course I knew from his early movies, and later his New Yorker pieces.  He did stand-up a  bit as well, and I collected one or two of his albums, but it was never his thing.

They were, I thought at the time, the two funniest men who ever lived.  I still think that.  And Cosby's racial philosophy was intriguing.  And Allen once wrote the truest thing anyone has ever said about the world of post-secondary education: "Don't take anything where they make you read Beowulf."

But of course over the years it's been revealed that both of these men are monsters.  This is a little harder to process with Woody.  Cosby hasn't done anything in decades.  All the best bits of The Cosby Show were recycled from his stand-up routines.  The show's ideology didn't bother me so much as the fact that I could see most of the jokes coming.  But Woody still produces the occasional masterpiece.  Boycotting him would mean not watching Blue Jasmine, and everyone should watch that movie.

Funny, though, how afterwards you keep running into things that make you think you should have suspected.  Here's Bill Cosby from 1969:

PS. Something  I forgot in the post is that, due to those records being played in school, Millstream Elementary's official game when I was in grade five and six became Buck Buck. We had several teams. And though there was no Fat Albert, we did have "Big Ben".  This is a little school on Vancouver Island back in 1973 or something.  Buncha little white kids, playing a game Bill Cosby had told us about playing during in the 40s and 50s in the Projects of Philadelphia.

Thar She Blows? Greece Seems To Be Voting No

If Greece says no, then expect negative growth in Canada for the remainder of 2015.  If Greece says yes, expect zero to negative growth in Canada for the remainder of 2015.

If either Greece says no or Greece says yes, and Chinese stocks continue to tumble, expect negative to really negative growth for the remainder of 2015 and into 2016. Get out the old shot-gun, and be prepared to eat your boots for the extra calories.

QuAIA At Pride?

They said they that this year they were going to throw in the leather trunks and the feather tickler, as it were.

But old Meir says they're there today:

@JohnTory @TorontoPFLAG @PrideToronto You made a promise that if the antisemitic gang QAIA marched that you would not support Pride Parade

— Meir Weinstein (@MeirWeinstein) June 28, 2015

So I  asked:

@Bigcitylib2 We have pictures and video

— Meir Weinstein (@MeirWeinstein) June 28, 2015

And he points here, among other places, which does look like them.

Rather poor form on their part, if so.

You're Not Helping, Kory Teneycke

From Global, earlier today:

He's got to be someone's useless cousin, right?  "Please, sir, if he can't get a job with the party he'll either end up in jail or in real estate."  Right?  Here's the full Kory file on BCLSB, for kicks.  And my favorite bit from it.

Titus Andronicus Is Back

This one should be a mega hit:

And this one, combined with one above, makes me think there might be a bit of drug-type influence on the album.

Still pretty good, though.  But  Patrick Stickles is the best candidate for boy genius out there these days.  Stay well , kid.  The world needs you.

Short Musical Quiz: Chimp Vs. Sumerian Zither

A Midi recording of the oldest known musical composition (from 1400 BC), which originally would have been played on some kind of dorky harp instrument:

The first known drum solo by a chimp:

Which do you like better?  So far I'm leaning chimp.  He reminds me a bit of Mickey Waller, who played for Rod Stewart back in the day.

Actually, if you have the chimp drum along to the zither it isn't bad either.

The Fourniers Will Fight On!!!

Update (21 June 2015) – Connie Fournier and Mark Fournier, the only remaining defendants in this action have rejected an offer to settle of $1 in damages plus $2,500 costs each that I would donate to charity (outlined below). I suggest people remember this next time they ask for $.

Everyone else surrendered last week.  The Fourniers, however, want to throw away even more money. Because they're royal fuck-heads who think losing a string of legal decisions will secure them a place in history.  And, by the way, if you wonder why I wonder at all the panic over C-51: why I suspect resistance to it might be spearheaded by a coalition of gassed-out but unfortunately not yet overdosed hippies and white supremacists getting too old for their leathers...its because C-51 is The Fourniers latest windmill to charge at.  Read the gist of their opposition to it here: its nutz.  But The Left has embraced it.  So maybe they're nutz too.  That's my line of reasoning.

The Media Should Be Talking About This

It was in Frank, apparently the one day last month when I was not on the Internet.  It's seedy, a sex scandal, although everything between the two parties appears to have been consensual.  And the Minister is a "nice guy", and anyway it turns out he's leaving politics.  For the time being. Nevertheless, it seems an important Conservative  has been caught violating the moral code he and his ilk would like to impose on the rest of us.  We don't really know because nobody, nobody has demanded a response from Mr. Moore. And I don't like the idea of the MSM just turning a blind eye, which appears to be what has happened.  It reeks of being trapped in the same Ottawa bubble for too long with the people you are supposed to be covering, of Stockholm Syndrome, of  mistaking prey items for friends. In any case just think of what the coverage would have been if it had been  someone like Justin caught out this way.  It would have been a feeding frenzy. 

You Are Not Above The Law, Tom Mulcair

The NDP should pay its bills just like anyone else.  Until they form government, and then we all ride free until the banks kill the party.  But seriously.  Complying with Law would show folks that the New Democrats knows how to pay off debts like responsible people, rather than just racking them up like a union negotiator handed the company credit card for a night by a half cracked manager as a gesture of good will. Right now the impression you get is that the NDP has done as official opposition what it took the LPC and CPC years in power to achieve: they've become arrogant,  and out of touch.

Ezra Levant: The Final Failure?

After years of stalling, Ezra Levant, KKKate, and Five Foot have all thrown in the legal towel and issued grovelling apologies to Richard Warman over the infamous Cools Post.  No word on costs and etc., but in Ezra's case they will likely be huge, for he insisted  that a ton of forensic work be done on Warman's various computers in a vain attempt to find evidence Richard had even used them on the relevant day. Ezra found nothing, not surprising as  his claim was bullshit on the face of it. As a result he, or more likely his dad, will have some rather large bills to pay.

As to the timing, well, Ezra's work situation becomes more tenuous with each passing day.  There are already rumours of The Rebel's impending demise.  Staffers fighting over used tea bags and half eaten muffins, for example.  And remember that picture behind Ezra in the network's early videos?

I hear its sitting in a pawn shop on Queen East.

So Ezra needed the thing wrapped up quick. And the two gals who followed him were just moons of his, swept up in his death spiral towards the black hole of debt and humiliation, and now crashing and burning in the wake of his smokey demise.

But is this really Ezra's final failure?  Well, possible downward moves in his journalistic career are limited by the fact that, at The Rebel, he is  pounding his head on the bottom.  But no fear: other lawsuits are still due to be settled!  And when Ezra goes to court, he loses.

BCLSB EXCLUSIVE: Taped Secret Convo of Evan Solomon With Art Client

The following is a transcript of secretly taped phone conversation between Ex-CBCer Evan Solomon and one of the art collecting guys he was doing deals with.   Gives an exclusive look at the whole "high-end" art community and the shit they get up to.

ES: This one here is a Jan Weenix, from the Dutch Golden Age.   "Still Life With Dead Parrot", they call it.  Note the bright colours. Almost to Group of 7 levels, and they claim the  bird stands for Jesus.  Whatcha say? Guy's contemporary with Rembrandt, but Rembrandt commands major scratch. This I can get you for 20 large, with a 5% off if you buy a second Weenix, maybe "Still Life With Dead Snake".

JB: It's a bit dark for my pool room; do you have something that will go with puce?

ES:  I can get a version of it where the parrot is yellow.

JB: Fair enough.  And...do I get points?

ES: Bring your card and we can swipe  it on delivery.

JB:  OK.  What else you got?

ES:  Looted Aztec death masque.  From wherever it was they were from.  $2,000 apiece, 6 for 10 cubed.  Hang 'em in places you don't want the wife to go.

JB: I need to look.  Send me a .jpg.

ES: See attachment.

JB:  Oh yuck.  Reminds me too much of The War Pig.

ES: Who?

JB: My sister-in-law.  No thanks.  Anything else?

ES: Folk crafts from the Ukraine.  A plinkerino.

JB: Of fuck one of their ancient 3 string guitars? Sounds like a busted Uke?  No chance.  

ES:  Well, I got nothing.  

JB: We're done then.

Ezra's Calgary Anti-Tims Protest: The Money Shot

24 heads clearly visible; one other soul, maybe, holding up the sign next to "#Boycott Tim's" sign. Ezra has claimed 50 attendees, but he must be seeing double.  Get those glasses checked, Ez!

PS: Here's another shot.  I count 23 people in this one:

NDP On A Roll

They deserve this result:

The EKOS poll: @ThomasMulcair picking up all the marbles as @JustinTrudeau fades http://t.co/g8KcxAgEJo #cdnpoli #NDP pic.twitter.com/2bLoHWFDUE

— Chris Markevich (@cmarkevich) June 5, 2015

 They've done a few smart things, and had some good luck.  And of course, they are the only party not getting caught in the spatter of the Senate scandal.  The deal breaker for me with the NDP has always been environmental policy (and incompetence in office, but leave that aside for now).  They've always dumped their green wing when their brown wing (unionistas) complained.  BCers will remember the sell-out at Clayoquot Sound.  So they would have to assure me they won't go all pragmatic if elected.

As for the LPC, some might advocate panic.  My own opinion is that the "sunny ways" thing has gotten old and Justin and Co. need to show a few teeth.  Angry Tom is catching on because people think there are legitimate causes for anger out there.   I would forgo the communist beard and the pop-eyes and the gritting teeth, obviously.  But something has to be done.

And for those people wondering about the solidity of the CPC base.  Nobody pre-2011 figured the Libs would ever fall under 30%, then 25%, and then...  Of course Iggy was like King Midas in reverse...But still.

Sackings At The Sun today

Or Postmedia, or whatever it is.  Details here.

Life In Scarborough: The Gangs Of Scarborough

When I moved out here my car insurance went up about thirty bucks a month.  As one of my co-workers said at the time: "They're worried someone is going to pop a cap in your ride!"  So, in the past couple of days there's been this, and this. And today driving by Cougar Court there were squad cars out front; they had a guy bent over the trunk, hand-cuffed behind his back.  Young black male. Who knows if he had anything to do with anything?  But it's starting to look like I'm living at the edge of an incipient gang war.  And I've found a really nice  Halal pizza place just across Eglinton. They actually have sun dried tomatoes as a topping.  I love those.  I look forward to the summer.

Life In Scarborough: The Barflies Of Scarborough

So I was sitting in a "Workin' Man's" pub in Scarborough.  The old East Indian guy by the window was a regular; he occupied my favorite table the whole time he was there, the only table in the place where you could plug in your netbook.  After having Vivian the bar-girl (not her real name) call him a cab, and just as the cab pulled up outside, he pissed himself and staggered away and buggered off in it. Later the owner came by with some paper towels and rubber gloves and cleaned up, but nevertheless I was not ready to claim my usual spot.  I exited the place unhappy, my computer uncharged.

And it reminded me of years gone by, when I lived in a ritzier part of Scarborough (Central Scarborough, by the car dealership), and would hang out in the Workin' Man's pubs in that part of town.  My favorite place had this old German guy.  He would spend the whole evening grabbing ass off the various waitresses, and when it came time to go he would piss down his stool and leave a lousy tip.    According to Vivian, the old East Indian also tips poorly.  So the problem appears to be endemic to "The Scar", as we locals call it, or "The Bro", as we also call it for reasons I won't go into.

The barflies of Scarborough really must up their game.

On Such Issues Are Elections Won And Lost

Canada’s economy shrank between January and March, the first contraction in four years and the largest since the 2009 recession as collapsing energy prices prompted a plunge in business investment.

The other stuff is trivia.  Although this sparked quite a bit of water-cooler talk yesterday afternoon.

Public Enemy In The Morning

A fine way to start the day.  Love the fact they're using a live band.

New Poll Suggests Ignoring Hippies On Bill C-51

That's my takeaway, at least.  All the raging away on twitter is merely the caterwaul of elderly scenesters trying to relive that golden time when they flipped the bird at a traffic cop and ran away, freak flags lifted in the wind.

Also, Scott says this.

When You've Lost The Prison Guards...

...or at least their union....well. I don't know what happens.  But this surely can't be good news for the Harper gov.:

KITCHENER, ON, May 22, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Dozens of correctional officers working in Ontario penitentiaries who are affiliated with the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN) will be going door to door in the riding of Kitchener-Centre on Saturday, May 23, to urge voters not to support the Conservative Party of Canada in the next election. 

My favorite bit:

"The Conservative government claims it's tough on crime. This tough on crime agenda is nothing but smoke and mirrors aimed at reassuring voters," said Robert Finucan, UCCO-SACC-CSN's Ontario regional president.

The Conservative government cut $355 million from the Correctional Service's budget. Hardest hit by these cuts is the inmate training program. One of the consequences of this decision is that penitentiaries have become more dangerous for correctional officers.

That's Stephen Woodworth's riding.  An NDP win might be a stretch, but it used to be LPC...

Rachel Notley Does A Smart Thing

No real budget until fall.  Until after the federal election, Alberta treads water.  And the federal NDP takes no heat for any unpopular measures said budget might contain.  The politics of it can be criticized.  Nevertheless its pretty clever.

Sunday Morning Thought

The Real World also drips. https://t.co/zBAEFSfP47

— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) May 17, 2015

That is all.

NDP Governments Are Always Fun!

Gawd! This gal from the new  Alberta provincial NDP government is giving me flashbacks to Rae Days. Although I don't think Bob Rae had a death-metal chick in caucus, just some guy that posed topless.   Anyway, six months from now her federal counterpart might be Finance Minister. Who knows?  Life is like a box of chocolates, or assorted nuts, when the Orange Wave washes into town.

Your Daily Nazi: PCPO MPP Monte McNaughton In Nazi Leaning Local Newspaper?

So there's an T.O. East End Newspaper called Your Ward News.  From what I gather its mostly a direct mail affair; the publisher, a guy named Leroy St. Germaine, has Canada Post deliver it to folks down in Ward 31 (The Beaches).  It has apparently always been a bit flaky/racist, but the last couple of issues have seen a guy named James Sears gradually taking over, until recently he was appointed "Editor in Chief". And he has taken the publication "Full Nazi": articles promoting holocaust denial by old Heritage Front members; articles praising Adolf Hitler; articles promoting "white pride". The works.

Back in March several mail carriers complained to Canada Post about having to deliver the publication, but company lawyers told them it was legal.  Since then the language in Your Ward News has grown more extreme, the Nazi references more obvious.  CP might want to revisit their decision.

In any case the thing is full of ads.  If the post office doesn't reconsider, a move against the publication would surely involve trying to convince some of the people behind these ads to discontinue them in future.

What interests me in particular is their February issue.  At this point they hadn't gone entirely mad yet, but for example Sears' Neo-Nazi New Constitution Party has already taken out a full page ad (back page), and there's an article about the perils of "uncontrolled mass immigration" which concludes:

A peak at their website tells you these folks are crazy.  Apparently, they're the people who recently distributed racist pamphlets up in Brampton.

And then there's this, an anti-wind piece from MPP Monte McNaughton, MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex and one time contender for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario:

So, a question that one might put to Mr. McNaughton, or indeed to his new boss PCPO leader Patrick Brown, is: what the hell? McNaughton's campaign was all about catering to the hard right, but this is crazy.  Did he actually pay money to have campaign lit appear in this rag?

I should note that yesterday evening I sent Mr. McNaughton a tweet asking about his relationship to Your Ward News. As of this morning I have not heard back from him.