Jacques Demers Won't Quit CPC Senate Caucus

Yeah, he was thinking of it:

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

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

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

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

Ethical Oil: Its Purpose Served?

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

Update:  Its back.

Officer Bubbles Now Working For Rob Ford!

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

CPC Back-Benchers Say The Darnedest Things

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

On The Modern Day Electric Dishwasher

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

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

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

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

Evidence That Stephen Harper Is Stepping Down..

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

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

Canada Leading The Way On Climate Change!

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

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

Nice to know this country is doing something.

Bernie Farber

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

Two Ontario Polls

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

Students Against Israeli Apartheid Banned At York University

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

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

Rhyme Of The Duffster

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

WTF Happened In B.C.?

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

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

The Tide Has Turned

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

Toronto Rabbis Denounce Pam Geller

Excerpts from Toronto Board of Rabbis statement:

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

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

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

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

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

It reads better if you click on the image.

The Census And Your Privacy: The Courts Speak

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

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

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

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

A Spin-Able Victory

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

Whither Bill C-304?

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

Keystone XL--Not Coming Soon

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

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

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

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

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

Stats Canada NHS Survey: The First Big OOPS

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

Top source countries for newcomers

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

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

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

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

Ezra Levant's Freedom Cruise Update: Tips For Travelers

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

What to wear

[...]

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

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

Correspondence

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

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

General Cruise Notes

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

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

BC Election Takes Me Back

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

The Cost Of Solar Power

A nice chart, from here:

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

That is all.

Faker Than Ezra?

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

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

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

My Wife On Justin In His Shorts

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

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

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

Ezra Levant And All His Friends

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

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

Or even Hairface, from Lethbridge:

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

Pam Geller Implicates Jason Kenney

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

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

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

Pam Geller/Rabbi Kaplan Update

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

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

Federal Government To Dump MERX

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[...]

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

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

The Most Interesting Thing About The Latest Harris-Decima Poll

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

Am Not Dead

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

What Does Paying For A Look Behind The Globe Pay-Wall Get You?

According to Media culpa, a three year old article that first appeared in The National Post...on the subject of kilts.

Your Daily Nazi: Help Save Canada's Hate Speech Law!

If you missed reading through one the links in my last post, the Harper Tories are trying to force Bill C-304 (which would repeal the hate-speech provision in the Canadian Human Rights Act) through the Senate before their late June convention so they can toss some red meat to the mouth breathers and prorogue parliament.  It is imperative that the Liberal Senators not allow this, even if it means sitting into July or later.  A prorogation could push back the bill's passage another year or two.  It would be interesting to have the gov's "soft on hate crimes"  record available  for the 2015 election.

Your Daily Nazi: Late Coda To Hechme Case

Richard Warman is still having to tell people it's lies:

The "Hechme allegation" was one of the stranger incidents in The Speechy Wars--the epic political battle over section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act  that began in 2008 and still grinds on in the Senate.  Two  Neo-Nazis managed to convince a good portion of the Canadian media establishment that government employees hijacked the wifi network of one Nelly Hechme in order to spy on said Neo-Nazis.  it was a lunatic assertion, for many reasons, and the various investigations that followed cleared everyone involved.  More than once, in fact.

But here's the interesting thing. At the time Macleans Magazine was one of the prime media suckers.  They let Mark Steyn defame one of the government employees in question on their website; they let Steyn accuse this man by name (not Richard, incidentally) of criminal acts that he did not commit.  The story still appears on the Macleans website!   Now, the fellow didn't sue them because, I am told, he doesn't do that kind of thing.  But Macleans has been asked many times by bloggers like myself and, I think, Dr. Dawg, to pull down the defamatory piece, for decency's sake.  Clearly that kind of plea cuts no ice with the crew over there.

Dean Skoreyko Is A Kook

Here's his political resume.  Note that it ends in 2010.  That's because the B.C. Tories ditched him for being a kook, a line of thinking they might have applied fruitfully to some of their candidates for the current B.C.  provincial election.  But now Dean's angry at me--sweet, innocent little bunny BCL--for "spamming" his website.  Which is really only half true.  I do make a point of sending a brief comment to every one  of his posts--that comment is "Kook", sometimes with punctuation, sometimes without. Just so he knows he's a kook.  And Dean's right, I  do crave attention; so thanks for it, SUCKAH!

Wind Energy And Property Values In Ontario, Part Whatever...

An interesting decision came down this week re wind energy and property values in Ontario.  Before getting to the actual contents of it, though, lets see how the thing is being spun.  This piece from Farms.com  is fairly typical:

An Ontario Superior Court of Justice has determined that landowners living near industrial wind turbine projects do suffer from diminished property values. The court accepts that 22% to 55% loss of property values is occurring today. 


It also gets things terribly wrong,  misreading the meaning of accepts in the relevant context.

What actually happened is that the wind developer, wpd. Canada Corporation, and the farm that has agreed to host the nascent project--Fairview Wind has not been built or even approved yet--moved a motion that the claims against them by nearby property owners be "dismissed in their entirety". They won, hands down.  However, as part of their legal strategy (all these screen shots are easier read if you click on them, by the way):

In other words, wpd. Canada said; "Lets conditionally accept the plaintiff's evidence of diminuation for the purpose of the motion so we can  get on to the legal issues that would arise even if they were true."  The judge said OK, and  found that even if the plaintiffs had suffered the diminuation of value  claimed, there was no case:

Even accepting the plaintiffs' claims, which the Judge did provisionally, the plaintiffs can't sue wpd. Canada just for announcing the publication of a Notice of Draft Site Plan, which is as far as Fairview Wind had ever got.  You can't sue somebody over environmental/health risks that do not yet exist.

So the judge handed a win to the wpd. Canada and invited the plaintiffs to come back when if ever the project had been taken further along in the approvals process.  At that point their evidence will be tested, challenged, and evaluated.  Contrary to the various newspaper stories, this has not happened yet.

Just a final note as to why wpd. Canada chose to go this route.  This is speculating, but I imagine challenging the plaintiff's evidence would have involved wading through tons of crap science and eventually hiring expert witnesses to go up against the other side's expert witnesses.  Fairview Wind is pretty early along in the approvals process to lay out that kind of money when a cheaper route to victory is available.

Canadians Abroad

Apr. 25, 2013 — The rediscovery of a mystery animal in a museum's underground storeroom proves that a non-native 'big cat' prowled the British countryside at the turn of the last century.

The animal's skeleton and mounted skin was analysed by a multi-disciplinary team of Durham University scientists and fellow researchers at Bristol, Southampton and Aberystwyth universities and found to be a Canadian lynx -- a carnivorous predator more than twice the size of a domestic cat.

A neat little discovery, and a good intro to Darren Naish, one of my favorite science bloggers, who has a much more detailed piece on the discovery here.  Darren's into crytozoology, among other things.  I've written about him before.

Ian Tootill And Libertarianism: A Final Note

The problem with being a Libertarian is that you live your life according a set of simple principles, and the logical implications of these principles.  Logic and principles can lead you to some pretty strange places in our moral universe.  And Libertarians never seem to understand how strange these places are  until they've got an angry mob on their ass.  Tootill's comments re Hitler were in service of an argument poo-pooing bullying and hate speech.

Ian Tootill...

...is toast., as I predicted he would be.  Why?  Because the B.C. Conservatives may grab a handful of seats this time out and don't want their best shot at respectability in ages queered by weirdos.

PS.  I am totally enjoying the B.C. election right now.  We're up to, what four candidates who've had to step down for dumb shit they've said on the Internet?  I'm flashing back to the 2008 federal, where BCLSB alone forced two candidates and one campaign manager to resign.  That was the golden age of CDN political blogging, as far as I'm concerned.

Will The LPoC Counter-Attack Ad Work?

How the heck am I supposed to know?  I will say one thing: you can watch this ad and not feel unclean at the end.  That in itself is in strong contrast to its Conservative counterparts.

Ian Tootill, Your Political Career Will Implode Now

“Who’s really to blame? Hitler or the people who acted on his words?”

“ ... We men love sluts ...”

And yes, that is his real name.

Edgar Schmidt Update

Schmidt is the federal government lawyer who revealed that his department has been told not to inform the government or opposition MPs when upcoming legislation is likely to fail subsequent legal scrutiny, and who has been suspended without pay as a result.  As Dennis Gruending notes, there have been a few new developments in the case.  Schmidt has also created a website for updates and where people can contribute to the cause.

Adrian Dix On Trans Mountain (Kinder Morgan) Pipeline

Announcing his environmental platform, Dix said he does "not expect Vancouver to become a major export oil port" as he said appears to be contemplated in the Kinder Morgan proposal.

Dix would not definitively rule out the project, saying the company has yet to submit a formal proposal.

But he said he it appears the company is looking to increase by "five or six fold" the amount of oil going through Vancouver, which he said an NDP government would not support.

Assuming Dix wins in B.C.--a pretty safe wager at this point--no pipeline to the West Coast will ever get built.  Meanwhile, Enbridge is trying to grease the skids for a Line 9 reversal to bring its product East, and running up against suspicious locals.  If Keystone XL is approved by the Obama administration, as seems increasingly likely, then I suspect the Harper government's support for all three other projects will soften.  They will fight for them, but not really.  2015 is too close by and B.C. has too many CPC seats for them to press for the first two; Quebec opposition, and the fact that it isn't a particularly profitable option in the first place, will take care of the third.

PS.  Dix has also apparently promised to expand the scope of B.C.'s carbon tax, thus burying once and for all memories of 2009 when the NDP's threat to repeal the tax blew the wheels of their campaign bus in week one of that election.

The End Of The Canadian Jewish News

With great sadness, I have to announce that The Canadian Jewish News will cease publishing its printed newspaper with its June 20 edition.

I never dreamed that I would be writing this. No nightmare of mine envisioned it.

For some time, we have known of the ravages that printed newspapers and magazines have been experiencing across the world. The digital age, in which news and commentary are retrieved instantly on smartphones, on computers and on all kinds of new devices, has overtaken the printed word. For the most part, the attractions of printed paper are welcome experiences only for an older generation and appear to be destined to be things of the past. Added to this that much of the world believes that news and commentary should be free.   

Newspapers depend for their existence on advertising. It is their lifeblood. Growing numbers of advertisers are no longer convinced that they will get responses to what they pay for in printed publications. Add to that the economic situation in effect over the past few years has left little monies for advertising.

While we were alert to what was happening around us, we hoped that The CJN, with its “niche” attraction, would not be like others, and that our print edition would survive and flourish. We made substantial operating changes, which we thought would assist. After careful analysis, we have concluded that they do not.  

 I feel worse when one of these niche/community papers goes down than when its something closer to the MSM.  Apparently, the CJN may try to go forward as a digital news service.

FreeD Makes The Big Leagues: Norton Software Dubs It A "Hate" Site

So I was checking out the wifi at my new place by downloading a few software updates and got something from Norton that I didn't want (and have since uninstalled).  I find out about it when I cruise over to FreeD to wallow in teh crazy and see this (looks better when you click on it):

Now, FreeD's been pretty tame lately, especially since they kicked out Ed Kennedy.  And really, even at its worst, it was 95% lunatic conservatism, only 15% actual hate.  But whatever.  The folks at Norton have them on their official shit-list.  Whether they are deserving or not, I would be interesting in knowing how this list is compiled.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark Is Hot

I would still vote NDP if I were out there.  Nevertheless, she is hot.  Very, very hot. That is all.

PS.   Actually, no it isn't quite all.  I am standing inside my new condo; the sectional just arrived.  I am officially a Scarberian now.  Where are my subways?

Next Time Someone Chides Anonymous

...for their allegedly reckless approach to the Rehtaeh Parsons case,  remind them how professional news organizations like the NY Post and CNN covered the Boston bombings.  Then tell them to get bent.

PS.  Haven't been writing much lately.  Am in the middle of a move.  Hopefully things will be a bit more active around here come May.

Boreal Forest Agreement Not Working?

Announced several years back as a game changing industry/NGO partnership, the  Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) lost a key supporter today as conservation group Canopy pulled out of the agreement:

"This collaboration with the logging industry was supposed to be a game-changer for the protection of species and conservation in Canada's threatened Boreal forest," said Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy. "The disappointing reality is that not one hectare of forest has been protected and species and ecosystems are still at risk."

Unfortunately, I am not in a position to judge the wisdom of Canopy's response here.  I've been operating on the assumption that if guys like Terence Corcoran and Peter Foster hated the CBFA, it must have at least a few redeeming qualities.

More Sun Media Layoffs Coming?

Its starting to sound like it.  Toronto Sun Family has a new layoff forum up.  From it:

Web hits are down since the paywall went up, while social media "experts" are telling journalists to tweet more, post more often on Facebook, engage in every social media outlet out there, on top of writing 3-4 stories a day. 

Dear Americans: Don't Approve Keystone XL Because Of US

Because, try as they might, our government has failed to convince the majority of Canadians outside Alberta that we need a pipeline to the Gulf (or to the West Coast, for that matter):

Astounding, really, most polls of Americans show a mirror image of this result.  Mind you, their pipeline boosters are probably a little more talented than ours.

Damian Goddard's Case Dismissed

Nearly two years after sportscaster Damian Goddard was fired by Rogers Communications, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed his complaint in which he alleged that he was fired because he had publicly voiced support for the traditional definition of marriage.

On May 10, 2011, the former Connected star tweeted that he “completely and wholeheartedly” supports “the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage.” Rogers immediately distanced themselves from the tweet, and then fired him within 24 hours.

When someone tells you that "the right" stays clear of the Canadian human rights apparatus, you can point to Goddard even if his case was thrown out (Rogers claims his dismissal had nothing to do with his opposition to SSM).  And, mind you, Pro-Life Hamilton fared much better with the OHRC; their ads ran in the end.

Are The New Anti-Trudeau Ads Effective?

How the heck should I know?  You can see 'em here and make up your own mind.  A couple of things; Trudeau was stripping down and wearing the stash for charity.  And the Quebec quote was a paraphrase of his dad.  Interesting too that they are first being launched down East, obviously in context of the upcoming Labrador byelection where the Liberals are way, way up at the moment.  If this doesn't change significantly, they can be spun as failures.  And, as for the "turning the other cheek" stuff, well, presumably Justin won't do his own rhetorical knifings a la the early Stephen Harper.  He will stay positive, and let others draw blood.  That would be my advice, anyway.

PS.  A Trudeau insider responds:

We expected attacks, but we didn’t expect even them to attack @justintrudeau for raising money for cancer research. #cdnpoli #judgement
— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts) April 15, 2013

The Canadian Catholic Church, Then And Now

From Dennis Gruending on the 30th anniversary of the Canada’s Catholic bishops' report Ethical Reflections on the Economic Crisis:

“We are losing the tension between the church and the state in Canada. The government has seduced the hierarchy to provide a blessing for their policies. The leadership has been silenced and refuses to challenge the established order.”

This is in reference to stuff like this.

The Cost Of Wind In Ontario

And concerning recent increases to the monthly energy bill:


The total cost of wind generation also increased from 2009 to 2012. This was due primarily to more wind generation coming into service. In all, the increased cost of wind generation accounted for about 5% of the increase in the total customer bill, or about 10% of the increase in the cost of electricity supply.

The report's author, mind you, is the Canadian Wind Energy Association, which is a trade association for wind power developers.  Mind you, they are writing in response to a Fraser Institute report (Environmental and Economic Consequences of Ontario’s Green Energy Act) authored by Ross McKitrick, so you might as well stamp "loony" on the cover of that baby.  And the math is pretty simple: the effect of wind energy on Ontario hydro bills is pretty small.

LPoC Leadership Vote

Frankly, I was disappointed in Joyce Murray's speech at the LPoC showcase, and I have severe doubts as to whether her  plan for cooperation (A runoff???  A RUNOFF???) with the NDP and Greens has any hope of success.  But the concept of cooperation is an important one, even if the details haven't been satisfactorily worked out yet.  And she is the bearer of that concept within the LPoC.  Hence the rankings you see above.

Anon Makes Its Case

...and they have handed the evidence over to the police.  One day the press will catch up on this one.

Justin Won't Cross

From the Don't Fly Porter website:

Porter Strikers visited Justin Trudeau at the liberal leadership showcase today and spoke with him about the strike.  

Justin said he did not know there was a strike on at Porter when he travelled Halifax to Ottawa. 

He did not see a picket line he said, or he would not have crossed.  Justin committed that he would not fly Porter Airlines until the strike is resolved. 

Apparently Justin has committed to fly Air Canada.  Talk about sacrificing for the cause.

NDP Divided Over WWI!

The Frenchy thinks it was bad; the Anglo thinks it was good.  Sun News digs up a few geezers old enough to give a shit.  Federal Liberals stand to reap benefits.  LPoC leader-in-waiting Justin Trudeau rumoured ready to declare ancient conflict a "harshing of the national mellow but, like, I refuse to take a postion until I've had a conversation with the  grass roots." 

Should Anonymous Identify Rehtaeh Parsons' Tormentors?

WK ignited a crap storm yesterday when he tasked the hackivist group Anonymous with finding the identity of  four male teens who allegedly assaulted Miss. Parsons. Anon now claims to have done just that.  Furthermore, they have threatened to name names should it become apparent that the Nova Scotia authorities intend to do nothing further in what appears on the face of it to have been a case of gang-rape and subsequent cyber-bullying of the rape victim.

Some writers, like Chris Selley, have suggested that Kinsella and others are engaged in dangerous vigilantism.  I don't think so.

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.

PS. Dawg has a good post on this.

Love Letters To Dalton McGuinty

These two pieces overlap a bit, but together they are probably the best account's I've read of Ontario's long journey away from coal under Dalton McGuinty, something he doesn't get much credit for up here in Canada.  An excerpt from the first:


A decade ago, Ontario’s coal-fired power plants were responsible for the province’s largest water withdrawals, accounting for 1.8 billion cubic meters (475 billion gallons) of water taken annually for cooling and steam generation from rivers and Lake Ontario. The province’s coal-fired plants were built with once-through cooling systems, meaning that, after passing through the plants, most of that moisture was returned to the environment as hot water.

Next year, though, Canada’s most populous and industrialized province is scheduled to complete a 21st-century environmental clean-up project that distinguishes it among North American jurisdictions.

After a decade of work by the Liberal Party government, Ontario is scheduled to close the last of its big coal-fired generators at the end of this year, leaving a single small coal-fired unit available during periods of peak electrical demand until it closes next year. In shutting down the province’s 19 boilers fueled by coal, Ontario will no longer need fresh water to operate a coal-fired generating sector that provided one-quarter of its electricity, and the province will become the first industrial region on the continent to eliminate coal-fired generation.

I might have said this before, but when I first moved to T.O. big smog clouds would blow in every summer and hang over the city for days at a time, so thick that you could taste the chemicals in your sweat.  Not good for asthmatics, or anyone really.  You don't see them anymore, and some of the thanks has to go to McGuinty era policies.

A Future Without Cheese...

Spent all morning in Emerge at North York General.  Turns out my wife has gallstones.  Not the immediately dangerous kind, thank goodness, but surgery down the road.  Also, a low fat diet forever,  for my wife and, since I live with her, for me too I suppose.  Alas.

TREASONOUS NDP BASTARDS OPPOSE FIRST WORLD WAR!!!

THOSE TREASONOUS NDP BASTARDS!!!!  HOW DEEP DOES THEIR BASTARDLY NDP TREASONOUSNESS GO????   I HEAR...I CANNOT CONFIRM OF COURSE...THAT THOMAS MULCAIR HAS EXPRESSED DOUBTS IN REGARDS TO CANADA'S TROOP DEPLOYMENT IN THE BOER WAR!!!  I HEAR HE'S SOFT ON THE CRUSADES AND HAS EVEN EXPRESSED SYMPATHY FOR THAT CREEPING SHARIAIST ISLAMY BASTARD Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb!!!   THIS CANNOT STAND!!!!  THE NDP MUST NEVER ACHIEVE HEGEMONY IN THE PROUD NATION OF CANADA!  LOYAL WE REMAIN, OR BUST!!!

Remembering All Of The Victims

Yesterday, to mark both  Holocaust Remembrance Day and International Roma Day, Bernie Farber and Gina Csanyi-Robah of  the Toronto Roma Community Center penned this story about the Porajmos (Devouring), the genocide of Europe's Roma population under the Nazis.  It is not an easy thing to read, but remembrance is a duty we owe the past.

The Guy Who Said Of Child Pornography

...it's just pictures, is back in The Globe.  And Margaret Wente remains there.  Globe is all but invisible behind its firewall these days.  I'm not sure its worth boycotting.

The New Angus Reid Premier Numbers

Dan Arnold (Calgary Grit) says the most important thing about the Ontario Premier`s number (36% approval) is:

3. A lot of Ontarians still haven’t made up their minds about Kathleen Wynne.

But I think the real story is its noticeably better than the previous Ontario Premier's number (32%). And since the budget will almost certainly pass, our gal`s got clear sailing until 2014.

And, incidentally, here's a picture with both Dan and me in it (as well as Deb Coyne, Omar, Kyle, Scott Tribe, Jennifer Smith, and Bryan Crockett ).

Dan likes to stand in the middle of these pics because he's always the thinnest guy in the room.  That`s me seated far left.

The shot is from here. 

Tommy Douglas...Commie?

Probably not, but according to Dennis Gruending the RCMP spied on the guy for decades without coming to any firm conclusion.  Didn't they have some kind of test?  Like tie Tommy Douglas up with rope and throw him in the river and if he sinks he's innocent?

Murray, Trudeau, And Showcase Wrap-Up

My computer's battery died before I could finish this yesterday.  But onward!

Joyce Murray gave a strong, substantive speech.  You can watch it here.  And  it went over fairly well, generally speaking, though the showcase crowd gave fairly muted responses to all of the speakers other than Justin.  However, when Murray  got into a discussion of how her "one time" cooperative deal with the NDP and Green Party would actually work, she seemed to lose people. And no wonder: you get your nomination and you have to engage in a "run-off" with the Green and NDP candidate for a chance to take on the local Tory.  That's almost like having to win a nomination twice; and two campaigns sound twice as expensive.

Certainly, Murray's promoting cooperation got nowhere the applause that Justin's denunciation of the same idea did.  And, say what you will about Justin Trudeau, he has learned how to give a speech, his presentation being head and shoulders above the other potentials.  Although, this morning, I am still struggling to recall the details of any policy proposals he might have mentioned: he's for Keystone, against Northern Gateway. respects the West, and yada yada yada.

As to the others, Martha Hall Findlay  was surprisingly non-abrasive.  And while Martin Cauchon, the last of the candidates up, spoke on I was reminded of that scene in Woodstock where Jimmy Hendrix plays to an empty field.  Cauchon must have looked out at the room as the crowd trickled away and thought "There's $75,000 I won't see again."

Overall I'd note that this leadership go round has been fought pretty cleanly, especially when compared to 2006. I can't see the same kind of divisions going forward,  though there were plenty of jokes told about "anonymous liberals" around the showcase floor.  In fact, Jeff Jedras (with the Coyne campaign) told a funny story about how he was quoted anonymously in a media piece when he had not requested it.  I guess its more fun for the media to pretend its all about back-stabbing in the LPC.  Thankfully, it isn't.

Bob Rae And First Notes

So,  a quick technical note: the convention centre had wifi but no power for bloggers; Hoops (the pub I went to) had power but no wifi network.  This was scratched out in word and popped into blogger, as I wanted my battery power for the Murray/Trudeau speeches.  But then wifi access crapped out at the Metro center.  So I am listening to Justin Now.  That post will come a bit later.

Bob Rae is effortlessly charming, and can hold forth into triple overtime without notes.  His speech was, as Kady O'Malley noted, a gentle lecture in party unity.  The best bit: "I wanted to be LPC leader in the worst way, and it looks like I got my wish."  Folks who are old enough to remember, will remember that he used an almost identical line back in 1990 when his NDP won power in Ontario at the beginning of  what turned out to be a vicious recession: "I wanted to be premier in the worst way..." and etc.  Like the line Dief used throughout his career, in variations:  "The honourable Member thinks he is being witty; he is only half right."

And speaking of  Bob's years as NDP Premier, the tribute to him skipped those entirely.  It was as though Bob slipped into a coma the whole half decade.

In other notes, after all the complaining about slow ticket sales, it looks like standing room only in Hall E.  I'd be pissed, in fact, if I had forked out for a ticket.

Travels In LiberalLand

I have been granted the honor of blogging the LPoC showcase downtown today.  I take these things seriously, so I will probably try to write a quick post about each of the candidates pitch speeches, though this ambition may get scaled back to Joyce and Justin's.  Maybe MHF's if I'm in a bad mood and want to hurl abuse.  Physically, I will be there for at least part of the show so as to absorb the triumphant vibe that surely must emanate from such a transplendant coagulation of Liberalness, but  may skip out the boring bits (ie any musical tributes).  Again, I'm not sure what I'll do when Ms. Findlay speaks; I may stick around  to observe how quickly the room turns against her.  I'm bringing one of those fancy digital stop-watches that can measure to the 1/100th of a second.

Otherwise I will be splitting time among ancillary events, particularly the Progblogs do at Omar's place.

As to the issue of slow ticket sales, I'm told this problem has been overblown.  Its also been rumored that the LPoC has tasked ex MP Joe Volpe with scaring up a few extra bodies.  So we'll see if my dead grandma is in attendance.

I will also be on twitter for the event. where I write as @Bigcitylib2.  At some point soon, though not necessarily today, I will endorse one of the candidates.  Not that anyone cares.  But I will.

Justin Trudeau Comes Out In In Favor Of Trans Mountain Pipeline

Justin Trudeau today told the Toronto Star's editorial board he's pro-Keystone and a West Coast pipeline is "a priority". #cdnpoli
— Kai Nagata (@kainagata) April 5, 2013

At least I think that is what this means, as Justin has given a pretty clear "no" to Northern Gateway.  Trans Mountain  has been flying mostly under the radar, and has a somewhat better chance of getting built than NG, for reasons I examine here.

Thomas Nagel, Darwin, God, And Other Boring Shit

Dr. Dawg has a post up where he discusses Thomas Nagel's new book, Mind And Cosmos, and the alleged persecution of Nagel over his "heretical" views re Science, Darwin, God, and other such weighty matters. Don't be ashamed if you haven't heard of the man or his book.  In fact in this post I will argue that you can feel secure in your ignorance.  The guy's a philosopher and he's engaged in a  philosophical debate; these things typically don't amount to much.

And as I write this I admit that I have not read Mr. Nagel's book, and do not intend to.

In any case, Dawg says that Nagel's book has triggered "shrieks of outrage" from the "scientific community".  Well, to start with I think that's an overstatement.  Nagel has written a work of anglo-american-analytic philosophy; other anglo-american-analytic philosophers have given it a pan.  I suspect that 99.99999% of the scientists on this planet will not read Nagel's book, and wouldn't give a flyer even if they knew what was in it.

But I think the more important point here is that Dawg and most others who've written  about Nagel seem surprised by the amount of venom that's getting slung about; they seem to think its unusual for academe, or perhaps for philosophy in particular.  It's not.

I remember, for example, a weekend conference I attended back in the early 1980's.    On day one Keith Donnellan  got into it with David Lewis.  They were arguing trans-world identity conditions--how can we tell if Nixon is Nixon in some possible world that is not our own.  Donnellan had drawn a little stick figure of Nixon on the black-board behind his lectern.  He'd even drawn a little hat on Nixon to highlight some point or another, and circled the hat with a quick flourish.  Lewis got up, walked over the the blackboard...and erased Nixon's hat!  Nervous laughter rippled through the crowd!

But that wasn't even the highlight of the weekend.   Day two featured a debate between a philosopher of biology and another kind of philosopher of biology.  The two men were arguing over whether it was best to employ the notion of species or the notion of population.  Lewis, who was clearly feeling his oats after the previous day's encounter, had already declared their whole discussion to be without philosophical content which got everyone quite excited.  But then some fellow in the audience got up and began aggressively questioning the two guys on stage.  He, it turned out, was some kind of neo-catastrophist.  A real heretic! Our two biology guys started firing back and, well, lets just say that hair almost got pulled that day, specs almost got busted!

So its important to realize that the stir over Nagel's book is just that.  A stir.  These things happen all the time.  Think mixed  martial arts for nerds.

As to the actual arguments in the book, well whatever.  They seem to be the same old dualist vs. physicalist stuff that philosophers have been bumping heads over for centuries, to no avail.  Any concept of God that's likely to emerge won't get you  close to Jesus riding in on a dinosaur 6,000 years ago, so it is politically without consequence.

Bomb Girls

Wife made me watch this the other night.  It is a show that is quintessentially Canadian, in that only Canuck screenwriters are capable of penning dialogue this wooden.  That is all.

Order Of Speeches At LPoC Showcase

#lpcldr showcase this weekend presentation order: Coyne, McCrimmon, Murray, Trudeau, Hall Findlay, Cauchon (party chose order)
— David Akin (@davidakin) April 3, 2013

Useful if you are one of us registered bloggers at the event and you are wondering how to split your time between the live show and other happenings.

CIBC: Keystone XL Not Enough

"...it's increasingly important that Canada move on one or more of the alternative pipelines to get our product headed Asia's way. Canada's own central and eastern oil markets are another option, but longer term demand growth there is also likely to be lackluster."

Its worth noting TransCanada Corps. stock price after yesterday's announcement that they would push forward with an West-East line.

A few twitches.  So the market is unimpressed. That leaves The Harper Gov. trying to ram Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain down B.C.s throat.  Still.

Enbridge Springs Another Leak

I mentioned this a week or so ago; it was the fourth leak since February, and it looks like there will finally be some consequences:

The National Energy Board has ordered Enbridge Pipeline Inc. to perform an engineering assessment on the Wrigley to Mackenzie section of the Norman Wells pipeline.

[...]

NEB spokesperson Rebecca Taylor said the assessment is part of a special order issued by the board.

“The board remains concerned about the recent discoveries of small leak sites on Line 21,” she said. “That’s why the board has issued the amending order to Enbridge and required them to take additional action.”

The order requires an engineering assessment, due by June 30, and an assessment of the company’s leak detection methods, which is due on April 5. The assessment will evaluate “the fitness-for-service of the line Section from a leak-dependent perspective,” the order stated

The bigger issue is whether the leaks signify a large scale deterioration in the pipeline as a whole, which might mean having to replace segments rather than merely patch them.  The article doesn't mention Enbridge's reaction to this possibility.  Their past practices, however, suggest the company's most probable response.

Ethical Oil--Still Dead?

Back in December 2012, former Executive Director of the Ethical Oil Institute Jamie Ellerton wrote:

I remain with Ethical Oil as the part-time spokesperson. Stay tuned for what's to come in the new year.

Four months into the new year, and the stench of death still envelopes their website.  E-mails to Jamie (last one sent in February) have gone unanswered.  Halloo?   Haaalllooooo?

A Few Days To Spill, Part II

More on that Canadian oil wrecking what looks to be a pretty little residential street in the Arkansas Town of  Mayflower.  Don't worry, American friends, there's plenty more where that stuff came from.

Its Ethical...

 
...its from Canada, and its come to town with a few days to spill.

Having Trouble Using Google With Chrome?

Getting err socket not connected error in Chrome?  Delete browsing history, close and then reopen browser, and that seems to work.

That is all.