Live Coverage Of Doug Ford Scarborough Focused Virtual Town-Hall: Dofo Might Remove Bicycle Lanes

Via my twitter feed.  A bit of real news contained therein, perhaps.

Whoa. Doug Ford live call. He's telling me Chow/Tory going to put street cars down middle of road in Scarborough. #TOpoli
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 24, 2014

9 bil for transit, says Ford. . BUILD TO 45 mil sales over 5 years for subway. P3s. Sale of Air Rights above stations.
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 24, 2014

Raj asks about congestion. Complains re bikes. Rob will coordinate traffic lights. Trashes Eg Connects. May remove bike lanes. #topoli
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 24, 2014

100 miles of bike paths to be removed if elected, did he say? #topoli
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 24, 2014

Doug, who I refer to a Rob once in the tweets above, definitely said he will remove bike lanes.  I'm no longer quite sure he said 100 miles worth, or kms, or whatever.  But he definitely committed to removing them in the 416 suburbs.

In any case, for a little background: I got a call from the Doug Ford campaign inviting me to a Scarborough-Centric conference call with, apparently, 1,000s of other Scarberians.  There were live questions from screened participants (one mildly critical question regarding Rofo's drug use), and occasional survey questions.  The twitter feed is my best attempt to communicate the drift of it.  Some stuff might be worth following up on, like:

Volunteering stuff. Dofo coaches basketball at TCHC building. SOunds like he says he coaches baseball in Scar.
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 24, 2014

...and:

Dofo tells stories of getting a kid off the streets in Scar because of coaching baseball. #topoli
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) September 24, 2014

Justin Vs. Ezra

An interesting bit of tactics.

In fact, it would be just swell if Canadians thought of you as the typical, modern conservative, @ezralevant. Anything we can do to help?
— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts) September 20, 2014

Provoke The Ez into further ranting; hang  his words on the CPC government.  Interesting in that team Trudeau thinks they can pick a fight with someone who "buys ink by the barrel", as they used to say, and win.  It tells you something about the fallen state of today's MSM that this calculation actually makes sense.  

If you haven't followed the whole "photo-bomb" story, don't worry about it.  Or you can go through some of the links above.  To me the most interesting thing about it is the willingness of  the LPC to play rough with these idiots.   It used to be that representatives of the print media carried a bit of gravitas with them.  Now, given the industry's declining state, being criticized by a scribbler is akin to getting yelled at in the street by a homeless guy.  Why not give 'em a kick?  

In any case, the father of the groom has made a statement on his facebook page:

...as per usual, Ezra mucked up his facts.

Guilty Plea in Rehtaeh Parsons Case

The news, which as far as I can tell Canadas's major news organizations have yet to mention , is here.

As to the controversy around Anonymous' efforts to keep this case open and whether it amounted to on-line vigilantism,, I wrote at the time:

One thing that seems to have been overlooked is that much of the bullying took place over Facebook and other on-line forums.  Presumably Anon has IDed the four by digging through their on-line traces, and presumably, should they reveal their identities, they will do this on the basis of the material they have found, perhaps by re-publishing it.  If so, they will merely be regurgitating public statements made by the four suspects. I see nothing wrong with that.  I certainly don't see how it qualifies as vigilantism.

In fact, I think Selley and co. are ignoring the free speech angle in all of this.  They are essentially telling Anonymous (or whoever might identity the four males, as apparently there is more that one group looking for them) to self-censor the results of their on-line investigative work.  This is particularly hypocritical in Selley's case; he has always ready to go to the wall for the right to spew hate speech.  He is now asking that folks who may be in a position to forward the cause of Justice to keep their mouths shut.  That's hypocrisy of the worst sort.

Can't see anything wrong with that today.  Anon just did what the nation's journalist community should have done, if they hadn't been doing whatever it is they do nowadays, and call a job.

Die Media Die: Quebecor Ready To Dump T.O. Sun

...and other Sun Media media products:

“To be honest, if somebody was to call me [with an offer], I would certainly listen,” he said. “We understand that it is a declining business.”

And an interesting comment from T.O. Sun Family:

Who in their right mind would buy one of these papers? They are interconnected with publishers/sales managers, shared editorial service and here's the big non-selling point no damn presses! Remember when they thought it was a good idea to share services? Now it has made these papers almost worthless. Great call Stun Media. this would be akin to buying an ice company with no freezers.

Have a pleasant Sunday.

dEAR yOUTH o' scCOTLAND!!!!

iT is AS I FEARED!  Your elders HAVe bETRayed YOU!!!

You tRIED to coNvince THEM WITH SWEET REASONB@!!!  BUT THEY DIDN"T LISTEN!!!  tHEY fLUE off TO THE CASINO In their jewel encrusted walker with A JET PACK On the back, then took the way of all cowards with A NOVOTE!!!   The time FOR REASON!!!! is past!   ALl that REMAINS is violent  Uprising!!  kILL THEM, EAT them, take there stuff, and rip your OWN STATE from their dying hands!

xxx from Cdns

Ford's Prognosis

From the wiki for Liposarcoma:

Prognosis[edit]

The prognosis varies depending on the site of origin, the type of cancer cell, the tumor size, the depth, and proximity to lymph nodes. Well-differentiated liposarcomas treated with surgery and radiation have a low recurrence rate (about 10%) and rarely metastasize.^[3] Five-year survival rates vary from 56% to 100% based on histological subtype.^[3]

Best wishes to the mayor going forward.

John Tory's Statement Withdrawing From Upcoming Debates

"With Doug Ford entering the race and less than six weeks to go until election day, we have entered a new phase of the campaign. John has extraordinary demands on his time and, unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate every event and request." 

Team Tory elaborates further at the other end of  the link.  Short version: the man's running out of time.

From The Farmers Forum Survey: Wind Farms On Wolfe Island

I don't think the survey is on-line yet--at least I couldn't find it here--but WCO has
posted some of the highlights:

Farmers Forum surveyed a big chunk of Wolfe Island residents and found that 75 per cent approve of or are indifferent toward the 86 wind turbines they’ve been living with for five years.

There are also some hard numbers on what hosting a turbine on your property means $-wise:

We found that money makes a difference. Those landowners (many of them farmers) hosting one or more turbines, are delighted with the $10,000 to $14,000 they earn each year per turbine just to look at them. The wind turbine company hands over another $100,000 to the island annually. Improvements to the local outdoor rink are one of the many benefits. It’s like getting paid twice for having the good luck of living at the right place on the right island at the right 

$10,000 to $14,000 is actually on the low end of the figures I've heard (the largest been $50,000 per turbine).

The folks at Wind Concerns note some issues with the methodology: it appears to have been conducted entirely at the island's ferry dock and in a nearby coffee-shop.  But the result nevertheless backs up what more rigorous studies have shown, which is that most people in the neighborhood of wind farms are not particularly upset by their presence.

LPoC on Abortion Rights: Thumbs Up Or Down?

I dunno.  But at least I can see the reasoning behind this one (whereas the sense of holding open nominations continues to elude me.  Because nobody cares about process issues and the only news stories it will generate is when a nomination goes to heck).  Anyway, the reasoning is that the LPoC thinks there are votes for the taking in the NPD pond, and is willing to move towards that party a bit on a 2nd tier issue to grab them.  I'm not saying it will work; I'm just saying it was probably a calculated move, not Justin getting out of the shower one morning and telling the first reporter he met about this great new idea he had. 

After all, something similar did work for Kathleen Wynne.

Sun Sued Again!

Here is the grovelling apology:

“A column published in The Sun on November 14, 2012, and an interview that same day on Sun News expressed opinions of Tarek Fatah about a demonstration by the two of you during the November 11, 2012 Remembrance Day Service at Old City Hall, Toronto.

“We acknowledge that your shouts of protest did not occur during the Service’s two-minutes of silence honouring the deaths of members of Canada’s military but only after the police took your banner. As well, you have represented to us that neither of you are Taliban supporters, Islamists or Jihadis, and we accept your word on this.”

Read the rest through the link.

Tory MP Cheryl Gallant: My Last Marble Just Bounced Away Into The Fucking Abyss

From her website:

In 2005, the liberal government in Ontario passed legislation called the “Places to Grow Act” to align its land use/planning codes and government policies to United Nations Agenda 21. 

[...]

In a nutshell, [Agenda 21]  calls for government to eventually take control of all land use removing decision making from the hands of private property owners.  It is assumed people are not good stewards of their land and “the government” will do a better job if it is in total control.  Individual rights in general are to give way to the needs of communities as determined by the governing body.

[...]

U.N. Agenda 21 proponents cite the affluence of North Americans as being a major problem which needs to be corrected. The document calls for a redistribution of wealth, lowering the standard of living for Canadians so that maybe the people in poorer countries will have more.  Although people around the world aspire to achieve the levels of prosperity we have in our country, and will risk their lives to get here, North Americans are cast in a very negative light for our energy consumption. Agenda 21 aims to reduce Canadians to a condition closer to average in the world.  Only then, say the promoters of Agenda 21, will there be their social justice which is the so-called cornerstone of the U.N. Agenda 21 plan.

On her website she's taking a poll asking if opposing Agenda 21 should be made a CPC election issue.   Be sure to vote yes.

Toronto Set To Elect Henry Blake

Amiable, sort of clueless.  The kind of guy who wanders around saying "the world is a square, the world is a square" until someone tells him its a rhomboid, after which he goes around saying "the world is a rhomboid, the world is a rhomboid." Hopefully somebody tells him the Sheppard Subway is one big pander to the East end, which it won't serve as well as other transit options on the table.  But our beloved city could do worse, and at least our long, fat municipal nightmare will be over.

As for Olivia, I'm not sure what went wrong.  Her transit plan is by far the most reasonable, the most likely to get done sometime in the near future.  But maybe "more buses" isn't the stuff of big city dreams.  I'll probably still wind up voting for her, but that's mostly because I believe losing builds character

Arctic Gateway Route Relies On Global Warming To Thin The Ice

Stymied by opposition on the West Coast, the Alberta government has prepared a technical report outlining the possibility of an "arctic gateway" as an alternative means of getting their bitumen to market.

The entire report can be found here.  And below is a graphic showing some of the proposed routes out. (Note: click on the images for larger versions)

Contrary to news reports about it, the report authors seem to realize that their plan is a bit of a "hail Mary".  For example, it is "conceivable" that the plan could attract support among the local population "...if it can be done without undue risk to the environment..."  The text is filled with this kind of heavily qualified language.

 Furthermore, there is a handy chart which provides an economic benefits vs. environmental risk vs. "aboriginal subsistence value" ...

...which makes me think that it will be difficult to convince most of the First Nations in the area to sign on to the scheme.

And, ironically enough, the whole plan relies on global warning making the shipping season longer and therefore "... lessen required icebreaker escort/support, decrease transit times, and require much less ice-reinforcement of vessel hulls."  The entire eighth chapter is given over to discussing how the changes in the ice environment should enable increased tanker traffic in the area.

On the other hand, the passages relating to the effects of an arctic bitumen spill (possibly catastrophic), and the nation's preparedness for such a likelihood (0) make for some grim reading:

So there you have it.  Not really a serious alternative as far as I can tell.

In An Information-Based Economy When You Provide Crap Information You Hurt The Economy

From here.  Original stats-can report is here.

Away On Vaca

A period of light blogging will become even lighter as I head back to the Left Coast for a week and change with the family.  Although I will try and get a few posts in here and there.  But for now I leave you with:

Who Will Be Mark Steyn's Witnesses?

Just noticed another piece on Steyn's website re the defamation case climatologist Mike Mann has brought against him.  Its largely the same old same old, but then there is this bit towards the end:

I have a great legal team headed by Dan Kornstein, the man behind the most consequential piece of free-speech legislation enacted this century, and we've been interviewing prominent scientific witnesses tired of the climate of fear that Mann and his Clime Syndicate have imposed on their field.

Be interesting to see who he finds who can pass muster as an expert witness.  We are talking a very, very short list of possibles.  Also, Steyn references a recent post by Steve McI at Climate Audit.

Steve quotes par 2 of Mann's statement of claim:

And comments thusly:

But, needless to say, Mann had nothing to do with the development of the instrumental temperature data showing 20th century temperature increases.... 

And thusly:

Mann’s (false) claim to have been “one of the first” to document 20th century temperature increase was apparently based on MBH98 and MBH99, which he described later in the pleadings (paragraph 15) as “two research papers showing a steady rise in surface temperature during the 20th Century and a steep increase in measured temperatures since the 1950s”. Needless to say, these papers showed 20th century temperature data in key graphics, but the papers themselves were obviously about the proxy reconstructions, not the instrumental record.

Well, note the qualifier "apparently".  Maybe the claim is not based on these two papers.  Maybe its based on this 1994 publication, for example, in which Mann and his co-author write thusly:

 ...and conclude thusly:

Or maybe not, but its clear that Mann's work from the early 1990s (pre hockey-stick graph) dealt with the instrumental record.   At least so says his wiki entry:

Mann then joined the Yale Department of Geology and Geophysics, obtaining an MPhil in geology and geophysics in 1993. His research focused on natural variability and climate oscillations. He worked with the seismologist Jeffrey Park, and their joint research adapted a statistical method developed for identifying seismological oscillations to find various periodicities in the instrumental temperature record, the longest being about 60 to 80 years.

So his claim seems sound.  Steyn is flailing.  And McI....god his stuff is boring these days.  He needs to find another hobby.

A Wee Design Flaw

The BrightSource Energy plant, a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert, works on the principal of focusing sunlight on a bunch of towers full of water until the water boils and drives a series of steam powered generators.  Unfortunately, the reflected sunlight also focuses on the areas around the towers, and when flying animals like insects, bats and birds pass through that area, they spontaneously ignite into "streamers", to use the industry jargon.  Possibly as many as two a minute, or 120 an hour, or 2,880 a day, or 1,051,200 per year. So something's gone all fucked up.

And, if anyone has followed the story of this particular plant, they will know that California abused and/or ignored any number of its own enviro laws to get it up and running.

This is something that must be fixed.  The U.S. media coverage, thus far, can be seen here: Green Power Plant Sends Flaming Avians Falling From Skies!!!  And it will continue, and expand, if for no other reason than interests opposed to renewable energy projects will make sure it does.

That is all.

Clean Coal Does Not Exist

...or at least is a deceptive term, according to the UK Advertising Standards Authority:

The ASA understood that the phrase "clean coal" was the term given to a branch of research and innovation aimed at reducing the environmental impact of using coal, such as filtering out particulates and preventing or neutralising the emission of waste gases. However, we also understood that this technology was not able to prevent CO2 from being emitted during the use of coal, relying instead on carbon capture and storage, and that although emissions such as sulphur dioxide were reduced, they were still produced. We also noted that the line immediately following this claim stated "We call it Advanced Energy for Life. Because clean, modern energy is the solution for better, longer and healthier lives" and considered that consumers were likely to assume that this referred to Peabody Energy's 'solution' of "clean coal". Although we noted that the ad stated "clean coal" technologies would "improve emissions", we considered that this was not sufficient to make clear the nature of this technology, particularly in the context of the word ”clean”. Notwithstanding the fact that "clean coal" had a meaning within the energy sector, we considered that without further information, and particularly when followed by another reference to "clean, modern energy", consumers were likely to interpret the word ”clean” as an absolute claim meaning that "clean coal" processes did not produce CO2 or other emissions. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading Advertising), and 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3 (Environmental Claims).

...which is interesting in light of the fact that "clean coal" has not been ruled out as a possible source of green energy here in Ontario.  Although you might argue that while the province might hypothetically approve some form of coal-with-carbon-capture facility, it isn't terribly likely.

The Canadian Environment: Who Can Speak?

News of this paper  arrived on my twitter feed last evening, and one of the author's was kind enough to email me the entire thing.  It takes a look at the practical effect of the Candian  government's attempts to narrow who gets to participate in environmental assessments.  The results are profoundly unsurprising:

So, guess who typically benefits these narrowed criteria:

Of course, not everything has gone the government's way:

So there you have it.

On King Horton's

Dear Mr. Horton,

Although I never drink the plonk that mascarades as regular joe at your outlets, and though your specialty donuts are nothing but sub-standard attempts to cash in on whatever aspect of "Canadianness" seems most exploitable at the moment, and though your iced-coffee is a caffeinated abortion,  and though the youth of today refer to your product as "Tim Horkin's" for very good reasons that I will not go into here, and though giving somebody a "flavour shot" is about as appetiszing as it sounds (please note: a blob of caramel dropped into lukewarm coffee in only technically a flavour), and though the plebian dorks that frequent your restaurant engage in conversations that consist entirely of Boy!  Look at all that snow, eh?, and though I know nothing about your new business partner other than that they are not the guys who make the rectangular burgers, I nevertheless wish you well in this new phase of your corporate existance.  May your coffee, in particular, out perform McD's one day.  And to all you folks relocating from Miami, Florida, Oakville is so called for its trees. Next to it is Milton (forming "Oakville-Milton") and it is named after some guy named Milton, who founded it.  Not John Milton, the guy who wrote Paradise Lost.  Just some other guy.  And no more beaches for you; in winter, the women of Oakville-Milton dress like sofas at a funeral home.

I hope you like  it there.

Sincerely,
BCL

Wind Farms In Court: Ontario Leads The Pack

Condensed from Mike Barnard's report:


Interestingly, Canada is by far the most litigious, and Ontario had almost 30% of the cases by itself. Belief in health impacts varies substantially by geography; where anti-wind groups are strongly pushing the idea, people get afraid and try to prevent wind farms based on their health fears. They fail.

This is just in regards to cases involving alleged harm to health.  Harm to property values has been another area of complaint. So far cases that have pressed that concern have also, generally speaking, failed.

Ethical Oil Complaint To Canadian Judicial Council Fails: Judge Ducharme Off Hook For For Participating In David Suzuki Mock Trial

Ezra and Co. (young Amanda) try to soften their defeat by marking up the document with snarky liner notes

  CJC Response to Complaint Against Justice Todd Ducharme

...but if they had really won they would have been singing the decision to the high heavens for the past week.  And they haven't.

Tory MP Ryan Leef Has Tons Of Class: All Of It 3rd

Ya Wanna read something really funny, though?  Here's Ryan's MMA record.  And his legal one.

Sometimes Scarborough Makes Me Proud

For example today,  nursing a beer in a pub in the heart of Ford Nation, I overheard several working-class types discussing the CPP.  They quite rightly observed that the current government's plan to raise the retirement age to 67 was really just a way of giving you a few more years to die before they had to pay you. Surprisingly enough, this was something they were OK with.  In fact, one fellow suggested that Canadian old people should have their walkers armed with .30 mm cannons and be parachuted into Iraq where they could fight ISIS and also thin out the herd of Canadian old people, thus freeing up ill-gotten loot so it might be distributed to the Millenial Generation, who might otherwise spend their entire adult lives flipping burgers at McDs.

Their reasoned discourse  brought a tear to my eye.

PS.  Actually, they didn't explicitly draw a connection between dropping old people on Iraq & helping the youth of today.  They just seemed to like the idea of throwing old people out of planes.  But, whether they realized or not, their views were objectively progressive.

Gruending On The CRA Audits

From his latest:

The government, however, has sent unmistakable signals that it wants a crackdown. Recent federal budgets have provided the CRA with an additional $13 million in special funding to undertake such audits at a time when the government was slashing the CRA’s budget by $250 million over three years, forcing the layoff of hundreds of auditors. Jim Flaherty, the former finance minister, issued a warning to charities in 2013. “If I were an environmental charity using federal money, tax-receipted money for political purposes, I would be cautious.” Others went considerably farther in their criticism and warnings. Joe Oliver, the natural resources minister, warned about the “radical agenda” of environmental groups, and former minister Peter Kent said the groups were “laundering” offshore funds to promote foreign interests.

As a side-note, a number folks including me got on Matt Guerney of The National Post for an error in one of his recent columns.  Matt claimed that several environmental groups had already been found guilty of abusing their charitable status but, if you note the last line, he was later driven to admit that this is not the case.  Of course, even when shown that he make a bugger-up on the facts, Matt's opinion of the issue (which might best be summarized as: Go CRA!  Kick them hippies!) remained unchanged.  As I noted below:

@Bigcitylib2 Life's funny sometimes.
— Matt Gurney (@mattgurney) August 13, 2014

It Must Be Sad To Be A Part Of The Sad Sad Dying Media In The Hot Hazy Days Of Summer

...having to hack out words when you'd rather be boozing it up pool-side, being forced into sad sad stunts like this, or being forced to respond to them like they're at the same level as the discovery that Canada is secretly parachuting troops into Namibia, all the time sweating it out in an un-airconditioned newsroom while waiting for the Internet to come take your job.

It all just seems very sad.

Criminal Complaint Filed Against Ron Banerjee

...for acting up at Ford Fest.  Don't have details as yet, other than its been filed with 41 Division, but it is more than a rumour.  Will update when I hear more.

Ezra And The Duffster

Straight from Frank; Mike Duffy apparently paid him to write speeches:

Oddly enough, this makes me think better of Ezra; I always assumed that his money came entirely from dad.

Oldest Existing Map Of Britain, Dating From 1360, Resembles Giant Penis!

I'm not joking.  It does.  Fact of history.  Roughly the same color, too.

The Big Sh*t: What Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson Have Taken

The vaunted Big Shift is indiscernible, with all evidence pointing in the opposite direction. It appears that the Canadian public are now moving to the centre and left and this may arguably be a response to increasing fatigue to being governed from the right when Canadians are actually moving in a more progressive direction.  Far from there being any apparent ascendance of the Conservatives as the new natural governing party, their reign appears to be closing and the recent surprising (though not to us) election of majority Liberal governments in Canada’s two largest provinces, may well be a harbinger of the end of the period of conservative political dominance in Canada.

Meanwhile, the triumphant Ontario Conservative Party, whose resounding election victory last June only Darrel Bricker's Ipsos Public Affairs predicted, will soon...Oh wait! They got their asses handed to them and are  making plans to elect a new loser...I mean leader...  

Anyway, we shouldn't get cocky, just like that guy says in Pacific Rim before he gets eaten by the giant Kaiju.

Rob Anders New Gig: Smitin' The Infidel For YOU, Bow River Alberta!

@Bigcitylib2 @paulisci @colbycosh Brooks Medieval Faire a short while ago. Anders was introduced as "MP for this area."
— Chris Turner (@theturner) August 9, 2014

Some background on Rob's latest adventures here.

An Ominous Sign

@Justin_Ling Dragging it into the fifth year was the one thing his fixed term law thingy was actually supposed to make illegal.
— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) August 8, 2014

Bit more here.

Justin At The Mosque

The CPC's new plan is to bash JT for being soft on terror; they've been on him for visiting, back in 2011, the  Sunnah Al-Nabawiah mosque, which had been flagged waaaayyy back in the 1990s as being possible incubator of Islamicist terror.  Their plan is very likely to backfire on them.

But all the muck stirring has kicked up a few interesting items.  For example, the government's conduit for the smear job was, no surprise, The Sun News Network.  That fact inspired Paul McLeod, Ottawa Bureau Chief for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, to draw a few connections between the network and the gov. that even I wasn't aware of:

The Sun brain trust is apparently made up by three key people. They are:

Kory Teneycke - This is the name everyone knows. Teneycke is a former director of communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Sun TV is said to be his brainchild. He’s the big boss there.

Matt Wolf - Sun’s executive producer of primetime programming. From 2008 to 2010 he served as issues advisor in the office of… Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Dennis Matthews - The director of marketing and brand development at Sun. From 2006 to 2010 he served as manager of advertising and staff director for, you guessed it, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Before that he worked for Conservative MP Rona Ambrose and Harper again during his opposition days.

Now, when the smear first emerged folks were quick to recall Jason Kenney's visit to Jaffari Centre in 2013. But if we are looking for cheap-shots, we could also mention the CPC's dalliance with the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement), a Pakistani political organization with a "reputation for violence, extortion and other criminal acts such as murder." What's interesting is that Harper continued to  court MQM-Canada until at least 2012.  He even addressed a delegation from the group back in 2011.

Wind Turbines And Groundwater Contamination In Ontario

Last week this warning appeared on Reddit Ontario, and later got picked up at Ontario Wind Resistance:

You notice that it names one G.W. Tomlinson, who's Senior Environmental Officer in the Guelph district office of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.  I emailed him, and he was kind enough to provide a somewhat less inflammatory account of the problem referenced.

I've reproduced it below, but its long and a bit technical and if you don't want to read it all then: 1) there has been no contamination yet but there IS a pretty small but not zero chance that flooding, for example, could wash contaminated water down the sides of the utility poles used on the sites mentioned and get into the bedrock aquifer, and; 2) it should all be fixed by next month.

For the longer version, over to Mr. Tomlinson:

As for the posted “warning” you are referencing from reddit.com I can confirm that:

 Relatively short answer:

MOECC has a concern relative to the construction methods for the utility poles on this particular project, and has had the proponent for the project, (Dufferin Wind Power), (DWP), modify the construction methods for a substantial number of the poles in the project to prevent surface water from potentially using the caissons, (in this case a 1 m diameter steel casing), that the poles are mounted in, (in the ground), from becoming a conduit into the relatively shallow limestone bedrock that contains the potable water aquifer for the area. In fairness to everyone involved I have a hard time calling the instillation of the various poles as incorrect as neither DWP, or DWP’s consultants or this Ministry, (MOEE), or the Ontario Energy Board, (OEB) who actually gave the approval for the utility pole line picked up that it could become a potential pathway for surface water entering a bedrock aquifer. This type of potential pathway is just not something that is on anybody’s radar until you actually see the instillation and understand the engineering of the system. Having said all that this could be considered as just splitting hairs as MOECC feels that remedial work is necessary.  

In short is there a possibility that if the right circumstances come together at the same time that there could be a contamination pathway present? Yes, in some of the locations. Based on that MOECC has asked that remedial work be completed on what has become a substantial number of the poles in the project to prevent them from becoming a potential conduit. Is there, in the opinion of the Guelph District Office of the MOECC, an immediate potential for the contamination of all local wells in the area? No, however based on an abundance of caution it appears prudent to take action to prevent the utility poles in question from becoming a potential source of contamination for a limited number of nearby wells. The proponent, (DWP), was approached to take remedial action, proposed a plan which after some modification is currently being implemented with a target date for completion of 15 September, 2014.

 Slightly longer answer with more of the technical issues addressed:

1) Possible conduit:

In order to keep the utility poles standing with the anticipated loads they will be taking the various contractors constructing them in Melancthon Township and to a lesser extent in Amaranth Township have been forced to put down caissons into the relatively shallow limestone bedrock - the caissons are backfilled outside and inside with crushed rock with the pole is inside the caisson. Given that the caissons are in most cases in Melancthon Township bedded into the relatively shallow bedrock, and that a variable number of the sites are subject to the accumulation of surface water in and around the bases of the poles; and this is an agricultural area there is a small but nonetheless actual potential for surface water to travel to and possibly into the fractured limestone bedrock. That scenario is certainly concerning to MOECC.



2) Likelihood:

Once accepting that the potential is there for surface water to travel down the potential conduits, the issue is then will it cause a problem with, in this case, groundwater quality, (remembering that that primary source of potable water in that area is the aquifer contained in the relatively shallow limestone bedrock)? Once looking at the volumes of water involved, the amount of surface water that would be needed to travel down the caisson(s) would have to be extremely large to be able to adversely impact the quantities of water likely to be in the area in the aquifer. Having said all that, it is possible that it can happen, however looking at the construction details of the caissons, they are not particularly efficient pathways for large quantities of water.



3) What is being done:

After assessing the construction methodology of the utility pole bases and concluding that in a limited number of circumstances that the pole bases could cause a conduit for surface water down to or into the relatively shallow fractured limestone bedrock Dufferin Wind Power was approached by MOECC and asked to come up with a methodology and implementation plan to prevent the transmission of surface water down to and\or into the limestone bedrock formation in those potentially vulnerable locations. Dufferin Wind via it’s consultants Dillon Consulting proposed a plan whereby pole bases with a direct connection to or into the limestone bedrock, as well as those that have bases terminating within 2.5 m of the limestone bedrock will be sealed to prevent the transmission of surface water either through the caisson or along the outside of the caisson between it and the hole bored for it.


After discussions and modifications of the plan it has been accepted by MOECC and is now in the process of being implemented by Dufferin Wind and it’s contractors, (at this point none of the actual physical work has been started, however once the work commences it should be completed within a roughly 2 week period). The sealing program consists of the placement of a bentonite clay seal around the outside of the steel caisson to prevent surface water from traveling down the space between the outside of the hole and the caisson, as well as a bentonite clay seal being placed similarly inside the caisson to prevent surface water running down the inside of the caisson to the bedrock. Additionally the vulnerable pole locations will also have the local area around it sloped\landscaped such as to prevent the accumulation of surface water around the immediate area of the pole. All of the 216 poles in the project north of 89 Highway, (Melancthon Township), and 85 of the remaining 174 poles in the project south of 89 Highway, (Amaranth Township), (where the aquifer containing bedrock is deeper and protected by more overburden), will be sealed as described above. The sealing program is slated to be completed by 15 September, 2014.

 MOECC’s intention is to, as resources allow, monitor the implementation of the sealing program such that any delays and problems needing MOECC’s attention are addressed as quickly as possible and the program meets it’s stated completion date. It is MOECC’s understanding that the County of Dufferin will have consulting engineers acting for it also observing the implementation of the sealing program.


Please feel free to reproduce and circulate my response.

Chief Blair...Unchained

Seen at the bottom of Sue-Ann Levy's latest:

I posed a question while on a media panel at the last mayoral debate which stated Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has of late spent considerable money on lawsuits trying to muzzle members of the Police Services Board. This was incorrect and I apologize to the chief.

This, plus the dust-up with the dumber brother, suggests to me that the chief  is in the official "fuck you I'm retiring" phase of his personal PR strategy.  Let us hope he spends the next six or eight months cutting chunks out of the butt of everyone on council and in the newspapers who ever looked at him funny.  Keep things exciting.

Wind Energy In Ontario: The State Of Play

The controversy around Ontario's Green Energy Act has faded since the OLP won their majority.  Konrad Yakabuski can whine as much (and as inaccurately) as he wants, but Ontario anti-wind activists are basically left to pound sand for the next couple of years, losing in court and before the Ontario ERT and handing lawyer Eric Gillespie their hard-earned money for leading them into folly over and over again.  Furthermore, given that repealing the act was placed front and center of the Hudak Tories' disastrous election platform, I wouldn't be surprised if the next leader of that party doesn't just quietly file the whole issue away as "not helpful".

But there are still a few new twists to be added to the saga.  For example,  I've written about the various Ostrander Point decisions on numerous occasions. Originally, the wind farm there was shot down because its attendant road network might threaten the local population of Blanding's turtle.  This decision was later overturned, and that decision was in turn appealed.

While the appeal has not yet been heard, nevertheless  the bill for legal actions to date has come due for the appellants.  The Prince Edward County Field Naturalists and the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County, who have led the charge against the project, have been ordered to pay the wind development company $50,000 all told.  Some of the factors considered in this decision:

1 Nature of the unsuccessful litigant – The PECFN and APPEC are not public advocacy groups pursuing a broad public policy mandate. As residents of Prince Edward County, they have a "direct and personal interest" in the outcome of the litigation.

[...]

5 Final consequences to the parties – While Ostrander is better suited to absorb costs associated with the litigation, that alone is not a reason to deny costs. One function of awarding costs is to ensure that all parties "consider the wisdom of pursuing litigation and understand that there are consequences for doing so".

It will be interesting to see what next steps are taken by the province's various anti-wind groups. Given that the court/ERT decisions have been going against them for years, and that political salvation in the form of a PCPO government ready to repeal the GEA is years away, if ever,  I wouldn't be surprised to see some fall-off in activity.

Libloggers Ascendant: Danielle Takacs For LPC Nominee

I should note that Danielle Takacs is running for the Liberal Party of Canada nomination up in Brant.  Danielle used to blog at  galloping around the golden horseshoe before deciding to jump into the political ring rather than merely snarking about it.  She is to be commended for that, as are the others of our ilk who have taken the same plunge.  Its a tough job, and there is no guarantee of success. Danielle certainly has my support.

PS.  I hear that Danielle is the only LPC potential in Brant, but that the party has been dragging its feet on a nomination meeting.  While nobody can doubt  the value of a star candidate, sometimes its better to go with the soldiers who are willing to fight for you today.

Might As Well Go Home Right Now

Target Canada's new price-matching promises are, like the shelves of their stores, empty.   That is all.

Is That Ron Banerjee Choking The Gay Protester At Ford Fest?

Sure looks like it, and the folks at ARC Canada have a clearer shot, and links to video of the guy in the picture yelling anti-gay slurs.

Ron Banerjee, if you don't know, is both the leader and a large portion of the membership of Canadian Hindu Advocaacy (CHA), a hard right group of at least one Hindu (Ron) and maybe one or two other guys, also presumably Hindu.  He's done some pro-Ford proselytizing before.

Now, the guy really, really looks like Ron...here's another shot:

And even a few of his usual allies think its him:

And I hear a few reporter-types have been trying to get hold of Ron.  But it hasn't yet been confirmed as far as I know.  For my part, I've emailed one of CHA's contact email for a response, and received none.

PS.  Here's a few undisputed shots of  Ron for comparison..

Sure Its Only Forum

...from a week ago, no less.  But that's majority territory, as the poll suggests.  As for the pollsters, well, can't find where he wrote it but 308's Eric Grenier has been taking Forum a bit more seriously lately, after they called NS and Que. roughly correct, and Eric is a smart fellow.  A long way to go, and many a slip between cup and lip, but decent news, which for me, would suggest that the Tories are likely to drag out an election call rather than go in Spring 2015.

NHL & Global Warming: A Development Of Some Note

The NHL says that climate change is real, and announces measures the league will take to fight it. They're worried that the gradual disappearance of outdoor rinks might be detrimental to the game.  And it probably will be.  Less access to free ice-time means, down the road, a smaller pool of skilled skaters to draw from  The economic argument is simple and compelling: the more you charge for something the less of it you get.

Five Foot's Hubby Booted Off Blogger?

These Israeli-Palestinian set-tos always Put Arnie over the moon, so I imagine someone reported some kind of hate-speech/policy/terms-of-service violation thingy to Blogger Central and they yanked his site.  But no matter, looks like Ms. Shaidle will have work with a new John Tory administration.

PS.  Pic can be made bigger by clicking on it.

Lorne Gunter: Whatever The Facts Are, They're Bad

The Sun's Lorne Gunter objects to a PBO report claiming public sector sick day costs are not a burden on the taxpayer because  "...most departments do not call in replacements when an employee takes a sick day, [and therefore] there are no incremental costs.”  Lorne doesn't like that: whatever the costs are, they're unwarranted.  He apparently thinks that there are just too many federal public servants, however many of them there actually are and whatever they cost, and presumably if he was in charge goddammnit he would cut them to the point where the next employee taking a sick day did have an negative effect on service levels.  Apparently, Lorne thinks this is what happens in the private sector: your business owner fires everyone but his last administrator, and when they come down with the flu calls go unanswered and business goes undone. I expect this does happen occasionally, especially when times are tough, but its hardly what you would call good business practice.  And imagine how this strategy would work if applied to, for example, your local fire department.  You sack enough fellows that when the next guy sprains his ankle, the next fire gets maybe half a truck.  A guy in a VW Beetle with a can of spritzer water, maybe. In fact, in Ontario you barely have to imagine. Hudanomics, that math challenged theory propounded by ex-PCPO leader Tim Hudak, suggested firing public servants, fire men included, and redistributing the money saved to folks like chiropractors and the people who operate nail salons.  Ontarians decided that he was nuts.

Life In Scarborough: Guy On Bus, Muttering Obscenities

So I'm riding a bus home through Eastern Scarborough, and I hear this guy behind me talking shit. Weird, obscene stuff.  And it goes on and on and on, the whole bus ride, in halting English, and it keeps circling back to the same few phrases again and again: "This young girl, she let me squeeze her _____ and her ____".  But he always got mumbling when he was about to specify the precise bits of female anatomy being squeezed, so I never  heard which ones he was referencing.  For awhile I thought he might be a new immigrant learning English from an x-rated phrase book.  But when I exited the bus I got a good look at him, and he was just some middle aged white guy with a  mesh-back cap and dark glasses, and he was just talking to himself as he stared out the window.  Other than the fact that he was picking his nose shamelessly--right index finger, jammed right up--he could have been anybody.  Maybe even a pharmacist.

Rob Ford: Rage Against The Latrine

Rob Ford thinks $600,000 is too much to spend on a bathroom.  After all, the bathroom is in a field, and there are trees in the field, thus rendering the bathroom redundant.

Randy Hillier On PCPO Reform: Still Crazy After All These Years

Randy, like many PCPO mpps lately, has been advocatin' democratic reform for the Ontario Progessive Conservative party.  No concrete new policies on offer yet, unless you count ditching all the old policies.  I took to twitter, and noted how, as part of this repositioning, Randy seems to have softened his views on union bashing and other issues since June 12th's inglorious defeat.

Debate ensued:

For old times sake (but not that old--it's from 2004), here's Randy arguing that rural Ontario has to get out from under T.O.s socialist nanny state booty.

The Onion On Movies

Presented without comment.

Maybe They Were Already Dead

Paul Wells thinks the Harper government should be given credit for slaying Quebec separatism.  I'd suggest its been deceased since 1995 and Harper has merely presided over the last twitchings of the body.  I would further suggest that Harper's uncritical trumpeting of tar-sands development threatens to awake a far more dangerous beast...a British Columbia independence movement.  The more Harper pushes for projects like Northern Gateway (and perhaps, who knows, Kinder Morgan) the more he risks a sovereigntist flare-up on our Left Coast.  Those people went ape-shit when outsiders attempted to harmonize the federal and provincial sales tax; just think how they'll react when the first crew of tar-miners from Calgary show up in their gold-plated cowboy hats. (hint: it will be bad)

News From Heartland Institute Climate Conference: Barre Seid Is HI's Anonymous Donor

It's official - @wattsupwiththat finally 100% confirmed billionaire Barre Seid is @HeartlandInst #climate denial "anonymous donor" #iccc9
— Polluter Watch (@PolluterWatch) July 9, 2014

@Bigcitylib2 @wattsupwiththat @HeartlandInst in conversation, video footage coming. Jim Lakely filmed it--ask him!
— Polluter Watch (@PolluterWatch) July 10, 2014

This has long been suspected, but apparently has been confirmed.  Barre is this guy, a reclusive billionaire known for funding right-wing causes. It will be interesting now to see if any pressure is brought to bear upon him and his holdings.  General Motors, for example, was eventually convinced to end their funding of HI.

LPC Ads On Youtube

The last couple of days I've been running across the following ad every time I go looking for clips of this or that on youtube.  Below is what I got last evening.

Its Justin reading a Private Member's statement on Eugenie Bouchard, from June 4, but recycled again after her latest run.  Here's the original:

 I suppose this kind of thing is not terribly remarkable these days but its nice to see the party being creative. FWIW this is the tune I was looking for when I found the ad:

The Great Toronto Storm, A Year Later

These words seem to have held up pretty well.  May they cheer any fellow Torontonians who suffered a loss during that horrible day.  Like having their Lamborghini flooded.

Justin's Star Ascendant In Fort Mc!!!

Liberals would have won Fort McMurray #byelxn41 if held on the new boundaries, poll-by-poll results show. #YMM #LPC pic.twitter.com/JOWtfsE2ux
— Pundits' Guide (@punditsguide) July 6, 2014

Look at that top-line.

Die Media Die: National Post On Its New Summer Print Schedule

National Post is on its summer print schedule. No more Monday papers until after Labour Day.
— Steve Faguy (@fagstein) July 6, 2014

I haven't seen the official  NP statement announcing their summer schedule, but someone on the inside has emailed me a secret first draft, before the despairing tone of it was softened to something more resembling "down but not out".

Dear National Post Readers, Should There Be Any Of You Left Out There:

Between now and Labour Day we will not be printing our Monday edition.  Since it was going entirely unsold, management felt the energy expended in its production might be better directed towards heating our tents and running the coffee machines on a restricted basis.  Also, it was discovered that some of the glue used to bind our glossy inserts could be boiled down to its starch and sugar components, and smeared over bread for its calories.  Or over boiled belt and running shoe, maybe, when the time comes.  

For, as our readers may know already (assuming you are out there somewhere, not surfing the Internet for your news and entertainment), we were recently forced to sell our building on Don Mills Road and relocate to an yurt village along the Don River itself, for budgetary reasons (we're broke). We use the wifi at a nearby Tim Horton's to file our stories, and pee in the bush.  Unfortunately a nearby encampment of homeless cannibals has contested our right to this space, and they seem more numerous and better fed than we.  We may have more urgent tasks ahead of us soon than cranking out our Monday paper.

And, as for that edition, and in fact all of our editions: despite our many, many efforts to "do more with less", it still isn't happening.  Our product (The National Post) still goes over like a bus full of Vietnamese orphans off a ravine road North of Ho Chi Minh City.  

Nevertheless, we can do naught but pray for a brighter future, or at least a swift death.

The Editors
National Post

Never Ever Promise Open Nominations

Because you're not being sincere.  And because the people don't give a crap until they hear all the bad-news stories generated when you break your promise.  

This bit of advise applies to parties of all political stripes.

Centre For Israel And Jewish Affairs Censors Holocaust Survivers

Bernie Farber's new column for the CJN is now on-line.  Its about the crummy manner in which the Canadian government has treated the Pusemas, a family of Hungarian refugees which includes a six year old girl named Lulu.  What I'm particularly interested in is this bit:

Lets be clear: CIJA is financially muscling a group of holocaust survivors for protesting the behavior of the current government.  Why?  Well:

Of course this is only speculation.  But if so, CIJA and these other organizations have transformed themselves into a single issue advocacy groups, trading their ability to speak out generally for a single paltry policy stance from the current government.

Since the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors wrote their letter regardless, it appears that all CIJA et al have managed to accomplish is to muzzle themselves.

Life In Scarborough: I Think I Saw A Mink

They're all around T.O. apparently, but I was here:

...which is a fair distance from water (although there's a creek a few hundred yards North, if you look at the map). It came out of the bush to the left of the tracks, and slowly loped forward towards me standing on the bridge.  Like a fat ferret, or a scrawny ground-hog that had been stretched on the rack.   It took a good half hour, sniffing about on the gravel between the two sets of tracks pictured center-left, and it paused when it saw me standing about in the middle of this pic watching it.

And eventually it spied something in the bush stage right (South) and buggered off.  Here's what a mink looks like:

...which more or less fits what I saw, esp. the coloration.  Any other weaselly type creatures it might have been in T.O.?