Chess

I last saw Chess a musical by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice in London in 1988. Mirvish has put on a UK production which is a totally new staging of this classic musical. It was decidedly more risqué and openly sexually than I remember it. The staging was interesting with the orchestra as totally on stage and in interesting chess costumes. Chess is a bit dated given it has cold war themes, but the new staging makes it seem somewhat current. You either love this staging or hate it. I thought the staging was way to busy. The orchestra often blocked views of the main action. The singing was good, but it was impossible to follow the plot line. Overall this production needs work before going to London's west end.

The Top 1%

I am from India, a place where there is real poverty. India's poor aspire to the levels of wealth of the Western poor. The owe should be celebrating the fact that port people in North America are doing better than 99% of the world


But things always need to be kept in perspective. Only in America, I thought to myself after reading the article, can someone be driving a Jaguar and portrayed as living in an impoverished underclass. Context is crucial with these issues.
The recent Occupy Wall Street protests have aimed their message at the income disparity between the 1% richest Americans and the rest of the country. But what happens when you expand that and look at the 1% richest of the entire world? Some really interesting numbers emerge. If there were a global Occupy Wall Street protest, people as well off as Linda Frakes might actually be the target.
In America, the top 1% earn more than $380,000 per year. We are, however, among the richest nations on Earth. How much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world?
$34,000.
That was the finding World Bank economist Branko Milanovic presented in his 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Going down the distribution ladder may be just as surprising. To be in the top half of the globe, you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it's $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000.

Bharati

I recently had the pleasure of see http://www.ticketmaster.ca/Bharati-tickets/artist/1550219?tm_link=edp_Artist_Name>Bharati at the Sony Centre in Toronto.The Sony Cener became an Indian market place with henna artists, bangle sellers and Indian food a the concessions. You could download the program from the net.It was a spectacular two and one half hours of music, dancing and India! The cast was huge and extremely talented. There were even acrobats. There were amazing singers and musicians and even some humour. The colours and sets were wonderful. It was a tour of India . Malayalam was mentioned and photos of the Chinese fishing nets of Cochin were shown.This was an immensely entertaining show. I even bought the CD and DVD. You really should see this show if you have a chance.

Wow the warmists just can't stop lying

A recent study was touted as the end of climate realism. Wrong! One of his own colleagues has accused him of lying. Peer review?



Scientist who said climate change sceptics had been proved wrong accused of hiding truth by colleague
By DAVID ROSE
Last updated at 6:11 PM on 30th October 2011


It was hailed as the scientific study that ended the global warming debate once and for all – the research that, in the words of its director, ‘proved you should not be a sceptic, at least not any longer’.
Professor Richard Muller, of Berkeley University in California, and his colleagues from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team (BEST) claimed to have shown that the planet has warmed by almost a degree centigrade since 1950 and is warming continually.
Published last week ahead of a major United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, next month, their work was cited around the world as irrefutable evidence that only the most stringent measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can save civilisation as we know it.

Hot topic: The plight of polar bears captures the hearts of many, but are the ice caps still shrinking?
It was cited uncritically by, among others, reporters and commentators from the BBC, The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist and numerous media outlets in America.
The Washington Post said the BEST study had ‘settled the climate change debate’ and showed that anyone who remained a sceptic was committing a ‘cynical fraud’.

But today The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped.
Prof Judith Curry, who chairs the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at America’s prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology, said that Prof Muller’s claim that he has proven global warming sceptics wrong was also a ‘huge mistake’, with no scientific basis.
Prof Curry is a distinguished climate researcher with more than 30 years experience and the second named co-author of the BEST project’s four research papers.

Taxing the rich?

An interesting article on taxing the rich. It doesn't actually work. Even jeffy simpson understands that.


People who want to tax millionaires aggressively can let their imaginations run wild. A 1-per-cent wealth tax, levied in 2020, could theoretically yield $70-billion, or enough to take care of whatever federal and provincial deficits might still exist. A 4-per-cent wealth tax could theoretically yield $270-billion – or enough to pay the entire cost of operating the federal government this year.

It looks so easy – which is why a “millionaire’s tax” is all the rage these days. But it’s not as easy to execute as it looks. Franklin Roosevelt’s Revenue Act of 1935, known alternatively as the Wealth Tax Act or the Soak the Rich Act, raised top marginal tax rates to 75 per cent on the incomes of millionaires. Predictably, the tax never raised the revenue that the New Dealers anticipated. People simply reported less income – effectively cancelling the tax increase. FDR proved that a wealth tax can work only through ruthless prosecution – and high risk of imprisonment – of the rich.

The Little Prince

I have supported the Geordie Theater for many years. It is a theatre company dedicated to bringing theatre to children and they do a brilliant job. It is a very worthy cause. I recently saw the Geordie production of The Little Prince.  Le Petit Prince was a favourite of mine and this production was utterly charming. The production was only an hour long and perfect for kids and their parents. The actors were wonderful and the staging quite imaginative.  Another great Geordie play.

R.I.P. Cpl Byron Greff

My deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Cpl Byron Greff. He died helping to bring freedom to the people of Afghanistan.
He loved playing hockey

Greff, who was based in Edmonton with the reconnaissance platoon of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was described by a senior officer as an "extremely fit" soldier who loved hunting and playing hockey in his free time.

"To say that he was highly respected by his fellow soldiers would be an understatement," Colonel Peter Dawe, deputy commander for the Canadian training mission, told reporters in Kabul.

"We will mourn the loss of our brother Byron but we will continue with the mission," he added. "This is a difficult time. The members of the task force remain steadfast in their focus and determination as they continue to help the people of Afghanistan work towards a safer and more peaceful future."

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Oct 29, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, issued the following statement today on the death of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan:

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of Master Corporal Byron Garth Greff. MCpl Greff died in Afghanistan today when insurgents attacked the vehicle in which he was traveling.

My heartfelt condolences and prayers go to his family, friends and comrades. The Defence family mourns with you during this difficult time.

Canada is in Afghanistan at the request of the democratically elected Afghan government and is a partner in a United Nations-mandated, NATO-led mission to bring peace and stability to the Afghan people. We remain committed to training the Afghan National Security Forces so that Afghans can provide the security needed to build a better and brighter future for Afghans.

MCpl Greff gave his life while proudly serving Canada and bringing hope to a population that has seen hardship and turmoil. We are all saddened by this loss and will remain forever grateful for his service.

Another Africa

I recently saw the CanStage production of Another Africa. It was basically two plays in one evening. The first about Nigerian con men and the second about doctors who return to the west after trying to help in Africa.
I enjoyed the second play, which critics also very much enjoyed. The two plays are staged in totally different ways. One takes place in Africa with an all black cast. The other in the west with an all white cast. The second play reminded me of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf.
It is basically two plays on the relationship between the West and Africa. It is actually quite a depressing view of that relationship. It was a very thought provoking evening, though I left somewhat saddened. I did enjoy the evening.

Quebec politics still confuses me

I don't want francois legault as Quebec premer. He is an empty suit devoid of ideas except those that increase the power of the state. He wants to use the Quebec pension plan as a piggy bank to nationalize Quebec's commodity industries. It now seems that the pq ( now in third place in the polls) with loser separatist gilles duceppe could beat the crypto separatist legault. duceppe who lost his own seat and whose party was almost wiped out, in the May 2, 2011 election. The ADQ is the only real alternative but is languishing in the polls. It's all confusing and sad.


Seul Gilles Duceppe pourrait empêcher François Legault de prendre le pouvoir. Personne ne pourrait faire mieux. Pauline Marois et Jean Charest seraient littéralement taillés en pièces par l’ex-chef du Bloc québécois.

Aux commandes du PQ, Gilles Duceppe battrait un parti dirigé par François Legault avec 37 % des intentions de vote et deviendrait le prochain premier ministre du Québec, indique un sondage Léger Marketing/Agence QMI réalisé pour le compte de l’émission Larocque-Lapierre.

Less intervention in the economy a great thing

I am not a fan of stimulus. It is a tremendous waste of money and it doesn't work. I have not enjoyed watch Canada's economic action plan, but I understand it was thrust upon us by the dippers and grits, who actually wanted more stimulus then and more stimulus now. I am glad HM PM Harper is steering away from such madness. Now its time to cut government spending even more!!


OTTAWA — Stephen Harper is a student of laissez-faire economics, and after five years of what some observers believe was iron-fist intervention, the prime minister appears to be returning to his instincts of letting an invisible hand guide the economy.

Harper's first six months with a majority in the House of Commons have been far less interventionist on economic matters than during his half-decade of minority rule, as the Conservative government rejects calls for more stimulus spending and maintains its stay-the-course approach despite increasing global turmoil.

At the same time, Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty — emboldened by positive reviews about Canada from credit rating agencies and major economic institutions — have spent the first half year with a majority lecturing European leaders about the need to act decisively to rein in crippling deficit and debt levels in the eurozone.

Nuclear Subs

I agree with Lorne Gunter. The recent grit history seems to be one of trying to destroy our military. No wonder General Hillier called the 90's a decade of darkness for the military. We need working subs and thats what the Royal canadian Navy should have.


Lorne Gunter: Mothball ‘dud subs,’ buy nukes


The HMCS Chicoutimi has been in service for two whole days of the 13 years it's been in Canadian

Lorne Gunter Oct 28, 2011 – 1:25 PM ET | Last Updated: Oct 28, 2011 2:04 PM ET

Boy did the Brits ever see us coming in 1998 when the Chretien Liberals pulled up to Honest Nigel’s Used Submarine Shop looking to buy four underwater patrol boats. The quartet they sold us for the unbelievably low price of just $750 million have been up on blocks in our front yard almost ever since, with weeds growing out the portholes. I expect Canadian Pickers to come along anytime now and offer us $2,000 for the set, take it or leave it.

The Act of Settlement

I guess I will have to accept changes to the Act of Settlement. I can't say I like them. Others are ambivalent. I am always see these kind of changes as openings to republicans to unravel the Monarchy. The Monarchy is strong these days so perhaps it is the time to make these changes.. Watch the huge crowds in Oz.

New Rules on Giving

 I believe that we all have to help the poor ourselves, not just say the government should do it. I give to a wide variety of charities. I think everyone should. I don't think the government should be funding charities. I also think the tax write off for charities should be the same as for political parties. It's time for the government to be smaller and we as citizens do more to support good causes.


Ottawa looks at rewriting rules on charitable giving
BILL CURRY
OTTAWA— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 4:30AM EDT

Print/LicenseDecrease text sizeIncrease text size
This is part of The Globe and Mail's in-depth look at the evolution of philanthropy that launches Saturday at tgam.ca/giving.

Ottawa is conducting a sweeping overhaul of the way it finances charities and non-profit organizations, pledging a new era of accountability in which businesses and citizens shoulder more of the cost of giving.

The government’s lead minister for the changes said financing will come with more strings attached in an effort to ensure that organizations deliver promised social gains.

While the first steps will be small, the government’s ultimate goal is a shift in public expectations as to the role of government in assisting social causes.


This is of course an excellent charity to honour HM the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

R.I.P. Sergeant Janick Gilbert

My deepest sympathies to the families and friends of a brave soldier,  Sergeant Janick Gilbert.  He died a hero, saving lives.


A soldier has died after jumping into icy, stormy waters in an attempt to save a pair of stranded boaters in Nunavut.

Sergeant Janick Gilbert was a search and rescue technician based at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario.

Captain Pierre Bolduc said Sgt. Gilbert and two other rescue technicians jumped into the Hecla Strait from a military aircraft Thursday.

The C-130 Hercules had flown north to Nunavut after two men in an open boat ran into trouble about 25 kilometres east of Igloolik.

The men were in the boat, battling strong winds and high waves. Community residents in two other boats tried to rescue the men, but couldn't reach them.

Capt. Bolduc said after the three soldiers jumped in, all five waited three hours for a Cormorant helicopter to arrive from CFB Gander in Newfoundland and pick them up.



Death of Sergeant Janick Gilbert
October 28, 2011

Message from His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, on the Death of Sergeant Janick Gilbert


OTTAWA— Sharon and I have just received the tragic news of the death of Sergeant Janick Gilbert, a member of 8 Wing Trenton of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Sergeant Gilbert, a search and rescue technician, was taking part in a rescue operation near Igloolik (Hall Beach), Nunavut. Unfortunately, in the course of this dangerous mission, he lost his life. The operation itself resulted in the rescue of two local citizens.

He has demonstrated tremendous courage in circumstances of great peril. His sacrifice will not be in vain; we will be forever grateful to him.

On behalf of all Canadians, we offer our sincerest condolences to the family, loved ones and colleagues of Sergeant Gilbert. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

David Johnston

More hrc news

This is good. The federal court has overturned an award from the hrc to cop killer.
And this decision that arcs can't award court costs. Those persecuted by these arcs should get legal costs if they are found not guilty. Those who bring hrc complaints should not get any costs.
My preference would be to get rid of the entire several hundred million dollar h&c industry

mope and mail wants to limit free speech

A truly foolish and dangerous editorial in the mop and pail. The writer has no understanding of free speech and slags Ezra and Mark Steyn. She seems to thing that Canadians can't handle free speech. She seems to say that THe US should have more laws like us. It is more nanny statism by someone who can't handle the fact that Freedom of Speech is our first freedom. We must be loathe to abridge that freedom in any way. I suspect this writer is eyeing a h&c thought police gig. The h&c industry employs lots of people of limited intelligence and limited imagination. Its time to rid ourselves of the censors


The Supreme Court of Canada is currently pondering whether to jettison provisions in the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code that restrict free speech in the interests of protecting a vulnerable minority from publicly proclaimed hatred. The case in question concerns the rights of homosexuals, but the issue is broader: The court’s judgment will have a ripple effect on anti-hate laws and the rights of minorities everywhere.

Given its multicultural fabric, contemporary Canada is vulnerable to the potential rise of ethnic hatreds, and it is naive, not to mention ahistorical, to assume that our mythologized consensus over tolerance cannot easily be eroded.

occupy Montreal takes food out of the mouths of babies

So it seems the free loaders are also taking food donations that should be going to food banks.
These people should clean up their mess and go get jobs.
Protest diverts food: critics
 
'Not needy people'; Groups divided over donations to activists
 
THE GAZETTE OCTOBER 26, 2011

 
As students and others protest at the Occupy Montreal site in Victoria Square, an on-site kitchen is serving three meals a day and snacks to 500 people, using food that some say should be donated to food banks.
Photograph by: JOHN KENNEY THE GAZETTE, The Gazette
Diverting goods that could help local food banks to the Occupy Montreal kitchen has some aid agencies at odds with one another.

"I think a lot of those activists are not needy people," Cyril Morgan of the Welcome Hall Mission said of the campers in Victoria Square. "If you are needy, you don't have food on your table to eat."
Unable to assess the level of their need, Morgan said he's hesitant about giving food - especially when excess food at the mission can be distributed to homeless shelters and food banks.

The Welcome Hall Mission operates one of Montreal's largest food banks, servicing 1,200 families every week. The mission also delivers 70 tonnes of food per month.

"Delivering food, I guess, would be a nice thing to do, but so would the city of Montreal supplying electricity so they could plug themselves in and listen to music, have heaters in their tents, and have a great time," said Morgan, executive director at the mission.

Then there's this.

The pq is in very bad shape

And that makes me smile. The separatists are separating onto multiple factions. I have lost count how many new parties on the separatist left have formed lately. As a federalist that makes me very happy. It would make me happier if the ADQ was doing better in the polls and legault would go away, but I can't have everything.


With most of the attention on the controversy surrounding Premier Jean Charest's construction pseudo-inquiry last week, an extraordinary development concerning the Parti Québécois went relatively unnoticed.

On Wednesday evening, shortly after Charest unveiled his "contraption" inquiry, a PQ member of the National Assembly, Stéphane Bergeron, skipped out of a meeting of the caucus of PQ MNAs to attend a public meeting of Québec solidaire.

Another PQ MNA, Sylvain Pagé, showed up later at the meeting, which was also attended by three of the five MNAs who resigned from the PQ caucus last June.

It's almost unheard of for prominent members of one party to attend a partisan event held by another, except as official observers at a party convention.

What's more, one of the speakers at the meeting was Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Françoise David, who will be a serious challenger to PQ MNA Nicolas Girard in the east-central Montreal riding of Gouin in the next election.

The presence of the MNAs fed into speculation that the PQ is on the verge of disintegrating, losing support to the sovereignist left-wing Québec solidaire as well as the new party about to be launched by former PQ minister François Legault.

And it showed that PQ leader Pauline Marois's authority over her party remains tenuous.

HM the Queen : Wizard of Oz?

Apparently the occupy Melbourne crazies voted to leave the square they were sleeping so as not to inconvenience HM. Anotherbig crowd in Melbourne. A very successful trip.

Truce
Even more remarkable, perhaps, has been the behaviour of Melbourne’s ‘Occupy’ protesters.
This is the same anti-capitalist movement currently camping outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London. But whereas the ‘Occupy London’ crowd won’t budge for anyone, the ‘Occupy Melbourne’ brigade yesterday agreed to suspend their protest in the city centre. Organisers decided it would be counter-productive and ‘belligerent’ to spoil the Queen’s day. So they called a truce.
Extraordinary stuff.
As for the royal couple, they have not betrayed a flicker of fatigue from the moment they landed in Canberra last week and embarked on a full schedule without so much as a rest day. 

Committing political suicide?

I have met Frank Klees a few times , but don't really know him. His latest move strikes me as political suicide. If he wins he will be eventually gone form the Tories and if he loses the same will probably be true. He obviously didn't discuss this with anyone. He says he's not leaving the Ontario Tories. I suspect the party will be leaving Frank.

VPT: As Time Goes By

John King, President VPT

Ann Curan VPT Philip Bretherton Moira Brooker

I love a lot of the Brit Coms. As Time Goes By is a favorite. I love Dame Judy Dench. I am a supporter of Vermont Public television. I think the CBC should try the PBS model and get their viewers to pay if they watch. I had the pleasure of meeting Alistair(Philip Bretherton) and Judith (Moira Brooker) in Montreal at a VPT event.
 They were absolutely lovely people. They told us about  behind the scenes of the show and about their experiences on the series.  Then they answered questions.  It was interesting to here how nervous Dame Judy was with a live studio audience. How the characters and relationships changed and grew. It was nice to hear that they all still meet once a year, though some have died. It was a mixed audience of Canadians, including French Canadians and Vermonters who were brought in by bus. It was an adoring crowd. The series was tilde over 15 years with exactly the same staff and actors. It made Dame Judy famous.

Here is the wedding episode. Enjoy.

Huge Crowds greet HM the Queen in Oz

A great greeting for HM the Queen!

larry martin, economic illiterate

larry's latest column is breathtakingly silly. He seems to think that high Canadian wage earners don't pay enough tax. I guess he doesn't realize that high income earners already pay a large proportion of all income tax. (top 10% of wage erners pay 40% of all income tax) He doesn't understand that high income earners are very mobile. Iguess liberal larry has decided his beloved grits are dead and now is the time to become a full blown socialist.


One of the big successes of the Conservatives has been their demonization of taxation.

Old-time Progressive Conservatives weren’t so inclined, but the Stephen Harper breed learned the art from Republicans south of the border. The neo-cons’ anti-tax campaign spooked the opposition parties. When Michael Ignatieff once hinted he might raise the GST, they practically billy-clubbed him to death.

left wing bullies

Chris Selley agrees with me that the behavior of of the left in this situation is classical bullying. Guess bullying is OK if it attacks people the left don't like. What a good example by the hateful dan savage and his leftist friends for children.

Chris Selley: Pettiness makes nothing better

Chris Selley Oct 25, 2011 – 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Oct 24, 2011 9:36 PM ET

The “It Gets Better” campaign, launched by American sex-advice columnist and gay-rights activist Dan Savage, promotes a brilliantly simple, practical message-cum-plea to young gay people: We understand adolescence is war, and we don’t know how to fix it. But you’ll be glad you suffered through it. Serenity, self-confidence and friends you can trust await.

Several Conservative MPs, including Cabinet ministers Vic Toews, John Baird and Rona Ambrose, appeared in an “It Gets Better” video released last week. It was dedicated to the memory of Jamie Hubley, an Ottawa teenager who knew exactly how much longer he was going to have to put up with his tormentors, and who chose to end his life. For their efforts, these MPs have been widely pilloried, because they belong to a party that — by Canadian standards — hasn’t championed gay rights.
Liberal MP Scott Brison sneered at the gesture in Question Period on Friday. Toronto Star columnist Tim Harper wrote that they “had to know they would face charges of hypocrisy.” Egale’s Helen Kennedy called it “vapid,” “late” and “a little disingenuous.” “You can’t do these [videos] if you’re not an out, gay person,” NDP MP Randall Garrison — who is simply incorrect — told Postmedia News.

Mike Harris in Montreal: RLQ discount

Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris will be speaking in Montreal on the labour reforms he accomplished during his tenure. Unions are very much in the news in Quebec. The Quebec labour minister has received threats of violence over a minor union reform. I wonder from whom?
If you are a member of the RLQ ( Quebec Freedom Network) or you want to join, now is the perfect time. You can get a substantial discount when registering for this event. The regular price is $150, the discount RLQ price is 87.50. Join the RLQ and use your number to get this discount. Thank you to the Montreal Economic Institute and Michel Kelly Gagnon for this amazing timely event!

Série de conférences George Lengvari Sr.
16 novembre 2011
Les réformes du droit du travail en Ontario

L'IEDM vous invite à un dîner en compagnie de Mike Harris, premier ministre de l'Ontario de 1995 à 2002.

Michael D. Harris a été premier ministre de l'Ontario de 1995 à 2002 et agit actuellement en tant que conseiller d'affaires principal chez Cassels Brock.

Au cours de ses deux mandats, il a mis en oeuvre des réformes importantes pour moderniser les lois du travail de sa province et ainsi permettre une meilleure protection des travailleurs par rapport aux syndicats. Sa présentation portera sur certaines de ces réformes adoptées dans le cadre de son programme bien connu sous le nom de la « Révolution du bon sens ».

Date : Le mercredi 16 novembre 2011 • cocktail : 18 h - dîner : 19 h
Lieu : Fairmont Le Reine Elizabeth (Salon Saint-François), 900 boul. René-Lévesque Ouest, Montréal
Coût : 175 $ / place • 1200 $ / table de 8
Réservation obligatoire

• Pour réserver, prière d'utiliser notre formulaire électronique

• Vous pouvez aussi faire une réservation en utilisant ce feuillet promotionnel

• Pour toute autre information, veuillez contacter Éliane Crête
   au 514 273-0969 (poste 2222) ou à ecrete@iedm.org

There will be a vote in the UK today about an EU referendum. I am decidedly a Euro Sceptic. The interests of the UK do not lie with the bloated super statist EU. HM UK governments under both Tories and labour promised referendums on the eu, but no one has followed through. There is full scale rebellion among Tory ranks. HM PM Cameron needs to embrace the rebellion. Free trade with Europe is fine, political integration is a terrible idea. The UK should open up free trade talks with all Commonwealth countries and the US. The UK's future is with the Anglosphere and the Commonwealth.

update: the vote is lost 483 to 111.
80 Tory MPs rebelled. HM Pm Cameron better watch out. The modd among tory voters is decidedly anti eu. Ignore your base at your peril.

Jon Kay on more red star silliness

Tim Harper has another juvenile article about the Tory ad supporting troubled teens. Jonathan Kay cuts him down to size.

Jonathan Kay: Meet Tim Harper, The Toronto Star correspondent for 2004


Jonathan Kay  Oct 24, 2011 – 10:54 AM ET | Last Updated: Oct 24, 2011 2:05 PM ET

Remember 2004? The federal Liberals do — with some fondness. It marked the last time that they could fight an election with the lazy claim that Stephen Harper had some sort of “hidden agenda.” The phrase was trotted out late in the campaign, when Paul Martin was growing desperate; but it was effective, because many voters truly did believe that Harper had some kind of radical agenda to roll back abortion rights, gay marriage, bilingualism, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms more generally.

Three Conservative victories later, that’s ancient history. Whether or not Canadians agree with Tory policies, they know that the “hidden agenda” stuff is yesterday’s news. The Tories have been in majority government for almost six months, yet Canada has yet to be rolled back to the social stone age. Our commitment to gay rights and feminism might even be said to be stronger now than it was under the Liberals — because the government has taken such a firm line against the socially retrograde practices of unassimilated immigrant communities, which (as every honor killing shows) are the main threat to gays and women in this country.

More on the sad state of the humanities at uni

More on the waste that is our universities these days. Very sad. These are the people teaching our kids.

In my line of work, it’s good to stay humble. After all, the insights I had today are destined to line somebody’s cat-litter box tomorrow. The online world makes my precious prose seem even less important. If it’s not on newsprint, it's not even worth peeing on.

But once in a while, people really care. Sometimes, my work lives on in a way I could never have imagined.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a light-hearted column for Canada Day. I described how I’d come to Canada at an early age and gradually embraced the values of my adopted land. I quoted that grand old icon Pierre Berton, who (perhaps apocryphally) declared that “a Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe,” and I confessed that, inspired by his words, I, too, had once tried this hazardous and uncomfortable feat. Whimsically, I wondered whether any of today’s immigrants would choose to express their patriotism as I had.

It wasn’t my best work. But I never dreamed it would live on in infamy.

My feeble effort at weekend humour is now Exhibit No. 1 in a scholarly new book called Rethinking the Great White North: Race, Nature, and the Historical Geographies of Whiteness in Canada (published by UBC Press). According to the introduction, my column is insidiously racist. “The implication is that somehow Canada might become less Canadian unless measures are taken to ensure that immigrants are taught the j-stroke,” the authors warn. “Against a backdrop of imagined wilderness, it [the love-in-a-canoe comment] privileges the universality of Canadian canoe culture, marginalizes dark-skinned bodies as peripheral to national origins, and positions white heterosexual procreation in a canoe as the highest achievement of national identity.”

Surprise? craig oliver is a liberal hack

It's no surprise to most conservatives that craig oliver is a lefty hack. This is ok totally ok with the other leftist grit hacks. So at least at CTV is not doing it with government money like the cbc.

The opposite of diversity...

university. A wise saying from Kate at Small Dead Animals. A Canadian conference on the subject.
Canadian universities are increasingly leftist indoctrination centres. Turning out vast numbers of kids who are virtually unemployable from the arts and humanities faculties. In the Us student debt has reached $1 trillion.


CALGARY — Freedom of expression is under attack on Canada's university campuses, according to speakers Saturday at a national civil liberties conference at the University of Calgary.

The RightsWatch conference, now in its third year, brought together academics, activists and legal professionals for two days of debate and discussion.

Former University of Calgary Students’ Union president Charlotte Kingston said she’s seen disputes on several university campuses — ranging from Memorial University of Newfoundland’s decision to deny club status to a pro-life group in 2007 to the uproar over the cancellation of a speech by American right-wing politician Ann Coulter during a visit to the University of Ottawa in 2010.

“We’ve seen several campuses misunderstand their role as representatives by asserting policy of which views they consider tolerable and views which they don’t,” Kingston said.

HM the Queen in Oz

The Sovereign is in Oz. Support for a republic is dropping like a rock. Good!

Prof Mansur on Libya

prof Mansur sees the future of Libya as not very bright. Let's hope tribal wars don't break out. Restoring the Monarchy with an heir of King Idris would help unify the country.

The brutal end of Moammar Gadhafi was foretold.

It is an end that despots want to cheat, and some do, as Stalin and Mao did.

But Gadhafi became a hunted man, and it was only a matter of time when the hunt for him was over.

It was Gadhafi’s misfortune to fall into the hands of his tribal foes, unlike the Iraqi despot.

Saddam Hussein was, ironically, lucky to be found by American soldiers instead of being trapped like a hunted animal, and his life extinguished as mercilessly as he had killed his opponents.

There is none despised more in the Arab culture than a loser, and Gadhafi turned out to be a loser.

In a culture of tribal loyalties and vendettas, a strong man is feared, and a despot — Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak, Bashar al-Assad of Syria — puts fear into the hearts of people over whom he rules.

Sad

The usual leftists seem unhappy that Tory MPs have spoken out against bullying. The leftist bullies seem to think they can bully Tories. The usual grit bloggers spew forth their anti Tory hate. The hateful Dan Savage, who said he wanted to see republicans killed, also seems to be denouncing the Tory effort. I congratulate Tory MPs for their efforts. They should ignore the left wing anti Tory bigots and bullies, who apparently allow for no viewpoints except their own.
Tory anti-bullying video draws fierce criticism


Thandi Fletcher, Postmedia News · Oct. 22, 2011 | Last Updated: Oct. 22, 2011 5:05 AM ET

OTTAWA . A video by a group of Conservative MPs aimed at supporting gay youths who are bullied had drawn more than 6,000 viewers by Friday - and no shortage of reaction.

On Thursday, the Tory politicians posted an It Gets Better video online after the suicide of Jamie Hubley, an Ottawa teen, whose funeral was held that day.

In it, several MPs, ranging from John Baird, the Foreign Affairs Minister, to Vic Toews, the Public Safety Minister, repeat the maxim "it gets better" in a bid to reassure youths they have support and can seek help if they are ostracized or bullied over their sexuality.

The Truth about the ipcc

I long ago stopped paying attention to the ipcc. It is certainly has nothing to do with science. Now an author chronicles the truth about the propaganda wing of the hoax. You can buy the kindle version.

‘The Delinquent Teenager’ shows IPCC far from objective science

Despite the collapse of the Kyoto process and the decline in public concern, professional environmental alarmists and eco-activists — who are now concentrating their venom on stopping the Keystone XL pipeline — continue to thunder that climate science is “settled.” Their authority for this claim is the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. Anybody wishing to gauge the reliability of such science, or the true nature of the IPCC, should read Donna Laframboise’s compelling, indeed at times jaw-dropping, The Delinquent Teenager Who was Mistaken for the World’s Top Climate Expert.

In a meticulously referenced and deservedly praised page-turner, Ms. Laframboise, an accomplished journalist who turned to the skeptical blogosphere, demonstrates how the IPCC is a thoroughly political organization. Far from objectively weighing the best available science, it cherry-picks egregiously to support its main objective: to serve its government masters. Its lead authors are not the world’s leading scientists but frequently wet-behind-the-ears graduates, and/or ardent activists. They are also selected on the basis of gender and country “diversity” rather than expertise. The organization, Ms. Laframboise demonstrates, has also been thoroughly infiltrated by environmental NGOs, in particular the World Wildlife Fund.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on multiculturalism

An interesting piece on Ayaan Hirsi Ali who also understands the threat of toxic multiculturalism. She understands that in Western societies have asked to overcome clan loyalties to become citizens. I promised to send her Professor Mansur's book a few weeks ago.


Calgary — The concept of citizenship is a curious one for a nomad — at least that’s the word Ayaan Hirsi Ali used to describe herself in the title of her latest memoir. Ms. Hirsi Ali spent her childhood shuttling between Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Kenya, before fleeing an arranged marriage that would have brought her to Canada, settling instead in the Netherlands. There, after attending university and becoming a member of parliament—speaking out against radical Islam and its threat to Dutch culture—she stepped down from politics and nearly had her citizenship revoked (she had used false information on her refugee claim 14 years earlier). After appealing to France to grant her citizenship, she ended up in 2006 in the United States.


Perhaps a life spent without a permanent link to any one country, though, has at least given Ms. Hirsi Ali a perspective rare among prominent Western intellectuals. Arriving in Holland for the first time, she recalls first encountering the expectation that she would curb her ethnic loyalties in favour of a nation state, and finding it nothing less than bizarre.

Steve Jobs on obama

Steve Jobs was a den but he understood that obama is a failure.



Steve Jobs told President Barack Obama he was “headed for a one-term presidency,” citing the U.S.’s competitive disadvantages with China and a “crippled” education system, a new biography of the former Apple CEO indicates.

“You’re headed for a one-term presidency,” Jobs told Obama in a meeting last year where he asserted that the White House needed to be more friendly toward business, according to the Huffington Post, which obtained a copy of Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming book, “Steve Jobs.”

Tax the rich?

The top 10% of Canadian income earners pay %0% of all income tax. The "rich"already pay. They are also pretty mobile. Mr Topp represents a clear choice for working Canadians. High taxes are bad for the economy and bad for Canada.

OTTAWA - Brian Topp is boldly going where most Canadian politicians fear to tread: promising to make the wealthy pay more in taxes.
The perceived frontrunner in the NDP leadership race wants his party to make higher income taxes for high-income earners a key plank in its next election campaign platform.
He told The Canadian Press he intends to unveil a detailed proposal in the weeks to come.
"I will be talking about income taxes and I think it's time for our party to step up to that plate and to be pretty clear about that because then we'll have a mandate to act if we're elected," Topp said in a wide-ranging interview.
He also called for a hike in corporate taxes and did not rule out a sales tax increase "at some point," once the fragile economy is on surer footing.
Calling for higher corporate taxes is a staple of NDP election platforms and is relatively safe ground politically. Even the Liberals, during last spring's federal campaign, promised to roll back a 1.5-percentage point reduction in the corporate tax rate, which took effect last Jan. 1, and to defer another 1.5-point reduction planned for next year.
But it's been decades since any Canadian politician dared talk about raising income taxes. Indeed, since the 1990s, taxes have been steadily reduced and parties have competed for the title of biggest tax slasher.

A good response from HM Minister of Finance.

Dishonor killings

This is truly horrifying. A monstrous evil perpetrated by evil people.


KINGSTON, Ont. — It’s the Canadian Maple Leaf that flies high over the picturesque locks at Kingston Mills near this historic city, but on the night of June 30, 2009, it might just as well have been the black-red-and-green flag of Afghanistan, with its sacred line proclaiming the greatness of Allah.


What happened at the locks that night, Crown prosecutors alleged in Ontario Superior Court Thursday, was a so-called “honour killing,” the culmination of a violent misogynist Afghan culture that had been transplanted holus-bolus years earlier into the heart of central Canada.

“May the devil s— on their graves,” Mohammad Shafia told his second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 20 days after the bodies of the couple’s three teenage daughters and Mr. Shafia’s first wife were recovered from a car in the water at the locks.

Found dead by drowning in a black Nissan Mr. Shafia had bought just eight days earlier – the suggestion implicit that he got it for that very purpose — were Rona Amir Mohammad, the barren wife who had been presented to the children and outsiders both as an “auntie,” and rebellious daughters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and 13-year-old Geeti.

Charged with four counts each of first-degree murder are Mr. Shafia, Ms. Yahya and their oldest son Hamid, who was 18 at the time. All are pleading not guilty.

The ghastly conversation was captured on a Kingston Police wiretap, prosecutor Laurie Lacelle told Judge Robert Maranger and a jury.

It Gets Better

I did experience some bullying when I was a kid. It did get better. I have been a long time supporter of Kids Help Phone. They are a great charity. Please donate to them.

death of a usurper

gaddafi is apparently dead. he overthrew King Idris and brutalized his people for decades. I am not particularly sad this usurper is dead, but I worry that those who replace him could be worse. A Constitutional Monarchy with an heir of King Idris would be a good model for Libya. Hopefully the islamists wont seize control, but I am afraid that is exactly what will happen

A Good Supreme Court Ruling

Our supremes have made an excellent ruling. Just linking to something doesn't mean you endorse it. This is very good for bloggers and for free speech. I'm sure catsmeat,
warman , dawg etc are sad and that is also good news.


Internet linking to defamatory posts not libel, court rules October 19, 2011.
Posted by:
Gillian Shaw

For Vancouver Island’s Jon Newton, the court decision Wednesday that ruled he couldn’t be sued for hyperlinks on his website — said to be linked to defamatory material — marked the end of a legal battle that began with a 2006 post on Newton’s site entitled Free Speech in Canada.

Lots of scholars of late have been calling for codifying some of the unwritten rules of our Canadian version of the Westminster system.
Dan Gardner suggested in his column feltthat codifying constitutional conventions in a cabinet manual would be "a Proper Tribute to Layton. But the cabinet manuals in the United Kingdom and Zealand were about the entire political system and parliament as a whole, not one man. My friend James Bowden and his colleague Nick MacDonald, graduate students in Ottawa, have uncovered that Canada already has a cabinet manual, called the Manual of Official Procedure, from 1968. This should become part of the discussion."



The Manual of Official Procedure of the Government of Canada
Posted on 2011/10/18 by James W.J. Bowden

Three consecutive minority parliaments from 2004 to 2011 renewed interest in the creation of a cabinet manual describing the unwritten rules, or constitutional conventions, that underpin Westminster parliamentarism. The United Kingdom just established its Draft Cabinet Manual in 2010, with a final version to follow soon, and New Zealand has long relied on its Cabinet Manual, now on its 8th edition as of 2008. In 2011, the Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, the Public Policy Forum, and the Canadian Bar Association produced reports recommending that constitutional conventions be codified in a Canadian cabinet manual. They focused on conventions relating to the formation of governments, the governor general’s reserve powers (particularly on prorogation and dissolution), and the principle of restraint (as known as the caretaker convention).

Rep by Pop

The new bill proposed by Hm Pm Harper will bring us back closer to the fundamental representation by population. 25 seats for BC, Alberta and Ontario and 2 seats for Quebec. It is fair and it should give many more Tory MP's in upcoming elections:)
Government sources report that, in legislation soon to be introduced by Tim Uppal, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Ontario’s seat count will increase by 13 seats from its current allotment of 106. This is down from the 18 seats it was to have received in previous legislation that died with the last Parliament.

British Columbia would receive five seats, down from its original allotment of seven, while Alberta would actually increase its count by six, up from its original five. Quebec would receive two seats, to keep its representation in the House from dropping below its share of the population.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty acknowledged Tuesday the province might end up with fewer new seats in the new bill. The difference, he said, would be tied to figures from Statistics Canada that show that the population of the province has declined.

Do the grits have a future?

 Maybe not according to this cbc poll. I'm not so sure. Listen to the clip . I think cats meat is dreaming.

cbc bias

There aren't many things I like about the CBC. Kevin O'Leary is one of them. The cbc is a hopeless bastion of the left funded by the citizens of Canada. I find it funny that the thin skinned unions have launched a complaint against O'leary. There has already been one complaint upheld. It is fascinating that the cbc and its union friends, wants to stiffle its one more conservative voice. It is yet another reason to defund or sell the cbc. Maybe Mr O'Leary will buy the cbc and rename it the Kevin O'Leary network.

More amusement from larry martin

Über Grit larry martin plaintive cries are actually quite amusing. He talks about dry den's values. ken dryden couldn't even even achieve the top 3 of grit leadership. His appeal to even grits was so low that he still has leadership debt from 2006. larry's desperate bleating for the grit a comeback and his new embrace of the dippers show the desperation of the grit media machine.
larry is becoming as irrelevant as his grit political masters and that makes me smile.

Under the Conservatives, Canada is a country that venerates the military, boasts a hardened law-and-order and penal system, is anti-union and less green. It’s a government that extols, without qualms of colonial linkage, the monarchy, that has a more restrictive entry policy, that takes a narrower view of multiculturalism, that pursues an adversarial approach to the United Nations. In a historical first, Canada’s foreign policy, its strident partisanship in the Middle East being a foremost example, can be said to be to the right of the United States.

In a nutshell, the cliché about Canada’s being a kinder, gentler nation is being turned on its head. In hockey parlance – the preferred Canadian way of communication – we’re shifting, with voter approval, from a country of Ken Dryden values to one closer to those of Don Cherry.

My friend James Bowden has an article in the National Post. This young man is a rising star and will be one of our recognized constitutional scholars. An excellent article on the holding the dippers to account for their positions.


Favouring Quebec in Parliament is illegal
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James W.J. Bowden, National Post · Oct. 17, 2011 | Last Updated: Oct. 17, 2011 2:05 AM ET

In the last Parliament, the Harper government introduced legislation to expand the House of Commons by about 30 seats, in order to accommodate the growing populations of Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario - all of which are currently under-represented. The New Democrats opposed giving these three provinces more seats, unless Quebec retains a fixed proportion of the new total (and does so in perpetuity). This proposal is unconstitutional. Yet so far, neither the Harper government itself nor the media have criticized the New Democrats' proposal, or their seeming ignorance as to Canada's foundational law.

Two New Supremes

It's always hard to know how supreme court picks will turn out ( both Harper appointed supremes upheld inside) , but these two sound good to me. Revamping the judiciary and righting its leftist liberal bias would be a great legacy for HM Pm Harper.

Harper appoints two Ontario justices to Supreme Court

Postmedia News Oct 17, 2011 – 8:13 AM ET | Last Updated: Oct 17, 2011 8:36 AM ET

OTTAWA — Justices Andromache Karakatsanis and Michael J. Moldaver are the federal government’s nominees for vacancies at the Supreme Court of Canada, the prime minister has announced.

The two justices currently sit on the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Both nominees will appear at a parliamentary committee to answer questions from MPs on Oct. 19, the prime minister’s office said Monday in a release.

The neo bloquiste mulcair

mulcair and the dippers are not averse to further suppressing the anglophone and allophone minorities in Quebec. mulcair and the dippers are the new bloc.

Jack Layton and Mr. Mulcair worked together to supplant the Bloc Québécois by appropriating most of its policies. They recognized Quebec’s unconditional right to secede on a bare majority vote, they opposed equal rights for English in Quebec, and they opposed the Supreme Court of Canada’s recognition of a right to English public schooling after sufficient years of English private schooling.

Interviewed by Alex Castonguay in L’Actualité on May 19, Mr. Mulcair revealed that, in the 1980s, he demanded that Quebec not permit English on road signs: “He insisted that signs along the highways should be in French only, even in the West Island. ‘The metropolis must maintain its French face everywhere, that’s very important,’ he said.”

The Harper Doctrine?

An interesting article praisinf HM Canadian Government's foreign policy and seeing it as a continuation of the Macdonald Laurier way.


Like its predecessors, the Harper government is also actively pursuing opportunities with other partners. Since 2006 it has concluded free-trade agreements with nine countries, including Honduras, Colombia, Peru and Panama and opened the door to closer partnership with Brazil. We are a nation of the Americas and they deserve more attention, beginning with Mexico, our mostlyignored, other NAFTA partner.

Negotiations on expanded trade are underway with close to 50 others, importantly with the European Union, Korea and India. All are incrementally important, especially with the Doha Round of international trade talks on life support. Priority should be placed on gaining a seat within the Trans Pacific Partnership, with its entrée into Asia Pacific.

Free Speech

I don't particularly like what bill whatnot has to say. Indeed I find him offensive, but I absolutely defend his right to free speech. We need to rid Canada of the h&c thought police and I hope the Supreme Court will full that this fundamental right should not be abridged.

Bill Whatcott doesn’t like homosexuality.

A few years ago, that point of view would be called “mainstream.” In fact, until the 1960s, homosexuality was a crime in the Criminal Code. That’s been amended.

But there is another book out there, called the Holy Bible, that is equally critical of homosexuality.

It hasn’t been amended yet, and some people still believe in it.

That’s called freedom of religion.

Whatcott doesn’t quietly believe homosexuality is wrong.

He’s noisy about it. He hands out literature on the subject.

He’s not diplomatic; some of his flyers are downright rude.

But he’s always peaceful. Whatcott has never called for or committed violence.

What Bill Whatcott is doing is expressing himself.

He’s upset about things — about a sexual practice he disagrees with, and the political acceptance of it.

But he’s going about his disagreement in a very Canadian way — peacefully protesting about it.

But that’s illegal in Saskatchewan, under section 14 of their human rights law, which reads in part:...

More from John Robson.

Occupy Toronto silliness

My friend BCF has a great video on the commies and their friends demonstrating for who knows what. Enjoy and have a good laugh.

A Crime against Humanity

Heartbreaking article by a physician of Egyptian origin. Will the west watch and have people like this made are university professors while another genocide occurs?


Last May, I wrote a long Opinion article for The Gazette on the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution. The headline, "Still waiting for an Egyptian revolution" expressed my disappointment at its results and my concern for the Islamic radicalism it had let loose on society, particularly on the Christian minority. Describing the surge in Islamic violence, I wrote: "The Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and the tens of millions of their supporters smell an Islamic state in the making. Only one barrier stands in their way: 10 million indigenous Egyptian Christians who have preserved their faith intact despite 14 centuries of uninterrupted suffering. And so the Islamists are accelerating their attacks that led to last week's bloodshed, and whose end no one dares to imagine."

This last weekend, we were forced to imagine it. A week before, a mob had burned down a Christian church in a small southern village - the fourth incident of its kind in less than a year. The church was 60 years old, had all the valid permits from the government, and had already agreed not to hang a cross or ring its bells. Yet that still wasn't enough. In yet another sign of lawlessness and a drive for hegemony by radical Islamists, the governor of the province condoned the church's destruction and refused to bring the perpetrators, who in the meantime had also destroyed several Christian homes in the village, to justice.

That was finally enough for the Christians. On Sunday, they marched peacefully in Cairo to protest and stage a sit-in in front of the national television building, whose news anchors had waged a campaign against Christians for the last several months. What followed was statesponsored terrorism directed at the state's own people, a crime against humanity. The army fired live ammunition into the crowds, and used its armoured personnel carriers to mow down protesters. Thirty people were killed, and more are dying every day of serious injuries. More than 100 Christians have lost their lives to violence in Egypt since the beginning of this year alone.

On Sunday, Egyptian army soldiers were killing their own countrypeople indiscriminately, yelling "Allah Akbar." They were encouraging marauding gangs with clubs, machetes, and swords to capture and kill Christians. Victims were mutilated, and many corpses were riddled with bullets. Egyptian state television, now slave to a new master - Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the supreme commander of the armed forces - incited the people to come out and defend the army against the Coptic Christians. It aired interviews with soldiers and others describing Christians as "sons of dogs" and "not worthy of living." The next morning, anchors were rationalizing this behaviour by claiming that there are more churches than mosques in Egypt.

Salim Mansur: roll back multiculturalism

Canada is a multi-ethnic land, but it shouldn't be a multicultural one. It's time to roll back this failed and discredited policy.



Time to undo multiculturalism mistake 156
BY SALIM MANSUR ,QMI AGENCY

Forty years ago, in October 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau introduced multiculturalism as an official policy for Canada.

Seventeen years later, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives turned Trudeau’s policy into the Multiculturalism Act of 1988.

In other words, it was not merely Trudeau but Canada’s political elite, supported by the intellectual and media elites of the country, who adopted without much questioning a policy that was, at best, dubious and deeply flawed as the law of the land.

Canada was the first of the advanced liberal democracies in the West to turn multiculturalism — an idea without philosophical substance — into official policy.

Four decades later, some of those democracies — Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands — have openly expressed regrets as their elected leaders publicly admitted the failure of official multiculturalism in securing social harmony, or advancing national interest.

In my recently published book — Delectable Lie: A liberal repudiation of multiculturalism — I discuss at some length why this policy reflected an act of bad faith on the part of Trudeau and company, and how it continues to be detrimental to the vitality of a liberal democracy.

Come See Dr Mansur in Montreal on Monday:

ACT! For Canada, Conservative McGill,
International Free Press Society-Canada,
Le Réseau Liberté-Québec and
The Prince Arthur Herald

Invite you to a special evening at McGill University with

DR. SALIM MANSUR
He will be discussing his recent book “Delectable Lie:
a liberal repudiation of multiculturalism” and the future of
Canadian immigration and the impact on our society.

A QUESTION & ANSWER PERIOD WILL FOLLOW

Date: Monday, October 17th, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: McGill University
McConnell Engineering Building – Room 204
Cost: $10 for non-students and free for students


INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO GET TO THE MCCONNELL ENGINEERING BUILDING – ROOM 204

BY METRO

Get off at the McGill station on the Green Line.
Walk North on University St. to Milton St. (2-3 blocks)
Turn left at the corner and walk into the McGill campus
It is the first building on your left (20 metres from the street corner.

BY BUS

Take the 24 bus and get off at the corner of University and Sherbrooke
Walk North to the corner of University St. and Milton St.
Turn left at the corner and walk into the McGill campus
It is the first building on the left (20m from street corner)

BY CAR

You can find parking on University St, Sherbrooke St. or Dr Penfield.
If you walk in from Roddick Gates (main entrance) walk straight.
Once you reach the Arts building (nice building with flag) turn right
Walk toward street corner with University and Milton
20m before corner, turn left and that is the McConnell Engineering building

If you get lost, you can call Alexandre Meterissian at 514-972-0539

le petit dauphin won't run...

for now. It looks to me that bob are will be running the party and I doubt there will be anything but another grit coronation. Dominic Leblanc has all but disappeared and really the only face of the grits is bob are. le petit dauphin knows the grits will not be back in power any time soon. He knows he has little chance of defeating rae. I suspect the martin/ chretien feud is still going on underneath all this. Lovely to watch others tear themselves apart for a change.


The Liberals are in need of a new leader, but Quebec MP Justin Trudeau says it won't be him, at least for now.

Trudeau, one of the few household names left in the Liberal party, told CTV's National Affairs he won't be running for party leader at the next convention, expected in 2013.

The father of two children, aged two and four, said he wants to focus on the grassroots of his party and not on leadership.

"We've spent too much time talking about leadership, too much time over the past decade focused on finding that right person who is going to bring us back to the promised land as Liberals," Trudeau, 39, said. "We need to start doing the hard work on the ground."

Canada is second most happy country on Earth

Another poll showing how lucky Canadians are. I again note that 6 of the top 7 happiest places on Earth are Constitutional Monarchies! Though I note I am not altogether happy with the idea of changing the Act of Settlement.( Before you call me anti Catholic.)

In the "How's Life?" initiative, the results of which were published online Oct. 12, the OECD used data from 2010 Gallup world polls to calculate the happiness and well-being of people in 40 different countries, and investigated which factors have the strongest influence on people's happiness.

On a scale of 0 to 10, citizens of Denmark rated their life satisfaction at 7.8, on average. Citizens of Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Australia, Israel and Finland were next most satisfied, followed by people in Ireland, Austria, and the United States, where people rated their life satisfaction at 7.2. Chinese and Hungarian people reported the lowest overall life satisfaction, both at 4.7.

heroin addiction is sexier than smoking?

An interesting piece by Kevin Libin. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Kevin Libin: Doctors favour junkies over smokers
Kevin Libin Oct 14, 2011 – 8:21 AM ET |
Smokers should be so lucky as to have the political influence that heroin junkies clearly enjoy. When the Canadian government was pursuing its court challenge against Vancouver’s Insite safe injection clinic for heroin users—which it recently lost at the Supreme Court—dozens of doctors and scientists rose up to protest. Stephen Hwang, a top researcher at the University of Toronto, called the government’s hostility to Insite “an alarming example of a recent trend towards the increased politicization of science.”

Lowest Deficit of the G7

HM Canadian Government is reporting a 40% lower deficit. Canada has the lowest debt to GDP ratio in the G 7. We need to reduce this deficit to zero, but this shows we are going in the right direction.

Canada Federal Deficit FY 2010-11 40% Below Year Before
By Courtney Tower


OTTAWA (MNI) - Canada Wednesday reported a federal deficit of C$33.4 billion (US$33.9 billion) for Fiscal Year 2010-2011, down by 40% from the $55.6 billion deficit in 2009-2010.

The department of finance in its annual financial report for the federal government said that, for the year ended last March 31, the federal debt-to-GDP ratio was 33.9%, down .01% from the year earlier and lowest of the G-7 countries.

Total government net debt-to-GDP was 30.4% for calendar 2010. Total government net debt includes the federal government and governments of the provinces, territories and municipalities.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, on the eve of departing for Paris to attend the G-20 meetings on risks to the global economy, said in an accompanying statement to the report that "we are making solid progress to our goal of returning to budget balance" in 2015. He said Canada was urging other countries to demonstrate similar fiscal discipline.

Happy Birthday Baroness Thatcher

Happy Birthday Baroness Thatcher, you are an inspiration to conservatives around the world. I hope you have a wonderful day!!

The grit tipping point

An interesting analysis of fading grit fortunes. Dalton's arrogance masks that the grits are in lreefal in much of Canada.


Hébert: Have Liberals reached the point of no return?
October 12, 2011

Chantal Hébert

MONTREAL

Anyone who has ever glanced at surrounding traffic in the side mirror of an automobile is familiar with the warning that objects are closer than they appear.

It may be time for the Liberals to affix that message to their party’s windshield.

Notwithstanding the party’s victories in Ontario and Prince Edward Island, the decline of the Liberal brand in Canada has continued unabated this fall.

With only one provincial election left to go in 2011, the NDP is closer to its goal of overtaking the Liberals as Canada’s dominant progressive party than the latter’s two recent provincial victories make it appear.

The Saskatchewan vote, set for Nov. 7, is unlikely to alter the NDP/Liberal picture. The Liberals were absent from the previous Legislature and the battle for power in Regina is between outgoing premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan party and the New Democrats.

So far, the NDP has made gains in every vote it has competed in this year.

That includes Manitoba, where Premier Greg Selinger is the only incumbent to have added a seat to his take rather than shed part of his caucus on the way to another mandate.

On Tuesday the NDP quintupled its seat score in Newfoundland and Labrador and doubled it in the Yukon.

In Ontario last Thursday, the party almost doubled its seats, moving from 10 to 17 MPPs.

Gilad Shalit to be free!!

I am very , very happy that this young man will be returned to his family. Hams has held him for 5 years and not even allowed Red Cross visits. Hamas that is trying to ethnically cleanse their terrotories and routinely breaks international law. why don't we have Palestinian apartheid weeks?
I thank God for bringing this young man home. May he and his family finally find some peace.

In a deal that may signal future co-operation between enemies, Israel and the militant Palestinian movement Hamas have agreed to an exchange of prisoners in which a young soldier, Gilad Shalit, virtually adopted by his entire nation, will be coming home after more than five years captivity as a hostage in Gaza.



“Gilad will return to Israel in the coming days,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proudly declared in a nationally televised address before entering a meeting of his cabinet Tuesday evening to ratify the deal.

Mr. Netanyahu had reason to be happy: After five years of staring each other down, it was Hamas that blinked.

This is bad?

The market has decided this carbon credits are worthless. No wonder Europe is in crisis. The green hoax is costing billions and yielding nothing.


Green Europe Imperiled as Crisis Triggers Carbon Collapse
October 10, 2011, 12:45 PM EDT



UN May Seek Kyoto Extension Without Canada, Japan, Russia
By Kari Lundgren and Stefan Nicola


Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The European sovereign debt crisis that’s spread from Greece to Italy and is roiling the region’s banks now has another potential victim: energy policy.

European Union emission permits, needed by polluters from utilities to cement makers for each ton of the carbon dioxide they put in the atmosphere, slumped to their lowest price in 2 1/2 years on Oct 4. An auction of permits by Greece, trying to avoid the euro area’s first default, worsened a glut of the allowances, UBS AG analyst Per Lekander said last week.

Lower carbon prices discourage European utilities including EON AG and GDF Suez SA from investing in wind farms and solar plants that don’t need permits. The industry needs to spend as much as 900 billion euros ($1.3 trillion) by 2020 to meet a target of getting 20 percent of power from renewable sources, Citigroup Inc. estimates. The economic slowdown is adding to carbon-permit supply as manufacturers and generators sell allowances not needed by idle factories and power plants.

The second Petit trial

The second monster that raped and murdered Michaela Petit, Hayley Petit and Jennifer HawkE-Petit is being tried. Dr Petit, an endocrinologist from Connecticut testified about the abomination. This crime particularly upset me. Dr Petit and are both members of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology. I hope this animal rots in prison with his partner for eternity.

Prosecutor: Man is Playing Blame Game in Connecticut Home Invasion Trial
Published October 11, 2011 | Associated Press
 

NEW HAVEN, CONN. –  The trial of a Connecticut man charged with killing a woman and her two daughters during a gruesome home invasion headed to jury deliberations after his attorneys on Tuesday blamed a co-defendant and prosecutors argued it took two men to commit the crime and that he was the leader whose motive was an 11-year-old girl he molested.

Jurors were expected to begin deliberations Wednesday in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, who faces a possible death sentence if convicted of the attack in Cheshire in 2007.

Authorities say Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes broke into the Cheshire home, beat Dr. William Petit with a bat, tied him and his family up and forced his wife to withdraw money from a bank. The house was doused in gas and set on fire, leading to the girls' deaths from smoke inhalation.

Hayes was convicted last year of raping and strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit and killing her daughters. He is on death row.

Prosecutor Gary Nicholson said in his closing argument Tuesday that Komisarjevsky was motivated not just by money but by his interest in 11-year-old Michaela Petit, whom he spotted with her mother earlier at a supermarket. He's charged with sexually assaulting her.

"Michaela Petit, he was interested in her from the moment he saw her," Nicholson said.

Grit kevin page?

This is quite odd. Apparently kevin page, the parliamentary budget officer was going to speak at a grit fundraiser. The optics of this are bad for page and the grits. This would have happened except somebody found out. Perhaps I can ask why Tories keep appointing liberals to important positions? I didn't pay much attention to page before, now his credibility is pretty much gone. Resign mr page.


A federal Young Liberal organization is scrapping plans to receive political donations at an event Tuesday evening featuring Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page.

Just hours before the event in Nanaimo, B.C., the lead organizer told The Globe and Mail money raised at the door would go the Vancouver Island University Young Liberals. The organizer also said receipts would be offered to those wishing to claim a political donation for tax purposes.

Premier Tim Hudak?

I have met Tim Hudak a number of times and I like him. I have no doubt that he will one day be Premier of Ontario. Here is good advice from Paul Tuns and Tim Powers for the Ont Tory Party and Tim Hudak, The Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition I agree that Tim should stay leads of the Ontario Tories. This is only the first battle in a long war.
The Ont Tories need to be bolder and make the contrast with the tax and spend grits even more evident. The Ontario grits are now really only elected in the cities, next time it is time to storm that fortress as well. Slow and steady will ultimately win this race as well.

RLQ cosponsors Event with Prof Salim Mansur in Montreal

The Reseau Liberte Quebec ( The Quebec Freedom Network) is co sponsoring an event with Prof Salim Mansur next week. Prof Mansur will be discussing his great new book. I am sure it will be an amazing event!! See you all there!

Dr. Salim Mansur at/à McGill University
Time
Monday, October 17 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Location
Mcgill university (McConnell Engineering building - room 204)

The Prince Arthur Herald, ACT! for Canada, The International Free Press Society, Le Réseau Liberté Québec and Conservative McGill are pleased to have Dr. Salim Mansur come discuss his recent book: "Delectable Lie: a Liberal repudiation of multiculturalism".

Dr. Mansur will discuss his book, multiculturalism and the future of Canadian immigration & society. There will be a question & answer period following his speech. His book will be available at the event, for those who wish to purchase it.

Salim Mansur is currently a professor at the University of Western Ontario and is a columnist at the Toronto Sun and London Free Press.

Cost;
FOR STUDENTS: FREE
FOR NON-STUDENTS: 10$


DIRECTIONS; (North = towards the Mount-Royal)
For exact location please follow this link;
http://maps.google.ca/maps?pq=advertising+mcgill&hl=en&cp=17&gs_id=2p&xhr=t&q=mcconnell+engineering+building+montreal+qc&rlz=1C1DVCB_enCA335CA338&gs_sm&gs_upl&bav=on.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.%2Ccf.osb&biw=1280&bih=737&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

1- By Métro:
- Get off at the McGill station on the Green Line.
- Walk North on University St. to Milton St. (2-3 blocks)
- Turn left at the corner and walk into the McGill campus
- It is the first building on your left (20 metres from the street corner)

2- By Bus:
- Take the 24 bus and get off at the corner of University and Sherbrooke
- Walk North to the corner of University st. and Milton st.
- Turn left at the corner and walk into the McGill campus
- It is the first building on the left (20m from street corner)

3- By Car:
- You can find parking on University St, Sherbrooke St. or Dr Penfield
- If you walk in from Roddick Gates (main entrance) walk straight.
- Once you reach the Arts building (nice building with flag) turn right
- walk toward street corner with University and Milton
- 20m before corner, turn left that is the McConnell Engineering building

If ever you are lost, you can call Alexandre Meterissian at 514-972-0539

**********************************

Le Prince Arthur Herald, ACT! for Canada, The International Free Press Society, Le Réseau Liberté Québec and Conservateurs de McGill sont heureux de recevoir le Dr Salim Mansour afin qu’il puisse discuter de son récent livre "Delectable Lie: a Liberal repudiation of multiculturalism".

Le Dr Mansour discutera de son ouvrage, du multiculturalisme et de l’avenir de l’immigration et de la société canadienne. Une période de questions et réponses suivra son allocution. Son livre sera disponible lors de l’événement pour ceux et celles qui désirent se le procurer.

Salim Mansour est présentement professeur à l’Université de Western Ontario et est chroniqueur pour les quotidiens Toronto Sun et London Free Press.

Prix :
ÉTUDIANTS : GRATUIT
NON-ÉTUDIANTS : $10

Comment s’y rendre :
Pour l'endroit exact veuillez suivre ce lien;
http://maps.google.ca/maps?daddr=McConnell+Engineering+Bldg%2C+Montr%C3%A9al%2C+QC+H3A+2A7&hl=fr&ie=UTF8&ll=45.505926%2C-73.584216&spn=0.010271%2C0.026157&sll=45.505926%2C-73.576364&sspn=0.010271%2C0.026157&geocode=FYZdtgIdVFCd-ym1NH_yRxrJTDGu7YTr_1wUEA&vpsrc=6&dirflg=r&ttype=now&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=def&mra=ltm&t=m&z=16&start=0

1-En métro:
-Sortir à la station McGill sur la ligne verte.
-Marcher vers le Nord sur la rue University jusqu’à la rue Milton
-Tourner à gauche au coin et marcher dans le campus de McGill
-C’est le premier édifice à votre gauche (à 20 mètres du coin de rue)

2-En autobus :
-Prendre l’autobus 24 et descendre au coin des rues University et Sherbrooke
-Marcher vers le Nord jusqu’au coin des rues University et Milton
-Tourner à gauche au coin et marcher dans le campus de McGill
-C’est le premier édifice à votre gauche (à 20 mètres du coin de rue)

3-En voiture : Roddick
-Vous pouvez trouver des places de stationnement sur les rues University, Sherbrooke et Dr Penfield
-Si vous marchez via les portes (entrée principale du campus McGill), allez tout droit.
-Quand vous atteignez l’édifice des Arts (le bel édifice avec un drapeau), tournez à droite
-Marchez vers le coin des rues University et Milton
- 20 mètres avant le coin de ces deux rues, tournez à gauche, et le McConnell Engeneering Building sera devant vous.


Si vous vous perdez en chemin, n’hésitez pas à appeler Alexandre Meterissian au 514-972-0539