Too many soloists in 'The Soloist'
By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 1 Comment
Jamie Foxx (left) and Robert Downey Jr. in 'The Soloist'
It’s a good week, with two films I can recommend, hailing from opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum. One is The Soloist, which offers a virtuoso acting duet by Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. in the real-life story of a homeless, schizophrenic musician and the journalist who tries to rescue him from Skid Row. It’s a Hollywood movie based on the best-selling book of the same name by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, and though marred by some fictional flights of fancy, it’s worth a look. The other film is Three Monkeys, an exquisitely crafted noir drama from Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won Best Director at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, along with lavish critical acclaim. Imagine Hitchcock through Antonioni’s lens.
I have have a habit of trying to tie reviews together, at least for the sake of a headline. But these pictures have virtually nothing in common, in style or theme, aside from one spurious connection: they’re both about benefactors who offer patronage with strings attached to a man who’s in no position to say no. In the case of The Soloist, the godfather is a good man—a cynical journalist with a heart of gold who redeems himself, and his protégé, in the process. In Three Monkeys, he’s a corrupt politician who exploits his chauffeur and his family with a galling venality that takes on Shakespearean proportions.
The Soloist
Despite the looming extinction of newsprint, the noble newspaperman remains one of Hollywood’s most enduring heroes. And the shaky status of his profession seems to have enhanced his mythical aura. Last week in this space, I wrote about the crusty stereotype of the crusading journalist played by Russell Crowe in State of Play, a preposterous piece of conspiratorial fiction, which I relished as a guilty pleasure. The Soloist is a better movie, and the journalist is a more credible hero. But it’s curious to see how the balance of truth has been tilted in the move from the page to the screen. Although Steve Lopez retains his real name in the film, his character has received a fictional make-over, turning a family man into in a jaded, hard-bitten journalist with a ruined marriage—more in line with the Hollywood stereotype of the self-destructive newspaperman. And the story’s centre of narrative gravity has been displaced from the subject to the storyteller. Lopez was not primarily writing about himself, even though his life and personality inevitably worked their way into his columns and the book on which the movie based. But screenwriter Susannah Grant, best known for transforming Erin Brockovich into a movie heroine, has deliberately shifted the movie’s focus to Lopez’s character. (For more on this, and an interview with Soloist director Joe Wright, go to my piece in last week’s magazine, Writer discovers homeless virtuoso). And the fictional make-over is a mixed blessing. Continue…
-
Maclean's Interview: Susie Orbach
By Anne Kingston - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 3:20 PM - 2 Comments
Author Susie Orbach talks to Anne Kingston about the retouching of kids’ school pics, the overhyped weight epidemic—and the Obamas
Q: You wrote Fat is a Feminist Issue in 1978. Now, in Bodies, you discuss how the thin, Westernized body is such a global brand, women in South Korea routinely undergo surgery to make their eyes appear more Caucasian. What surprised you most?A: I find it quite interesting what goes on under the hijab. Throughout Saudi Arabia and the Middle East there’s an external view that is one thing and then an internal view around lingerie and fashion, which is a representation of the Western body, worn under the hijab.
Q: What do you see fuelling our body and size obsession?
-
Redefining the Presidency: Obama’s first 100 Days
By John Parisella - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 3:10 PM - 14 Comments
Ever since FDR, new presidents face the scrutiny of how well they begin their mandate. While a good or a bad start is hardly indicative of how the presidency will turn out, it does set a tone. FDR is considered the standard. He took office amid an economic depression with deflation, about 25 per cent unemployment, banks going bankrupt, families losing their homes. President Roosevelt didn’t instantly transform the economy. But he created a sense of hope. He conversed with his electorate, he educated his voters, and he listened to them. There was a flurry of policy initiatives and while many were later declared unconstitutional, he was a leader.
Other notable first 100 days include JFK, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Kennedy started strong but capped off the first 100 days with the Bay of Pigs disaster. Reagan was able to liberate the hostages in Iran soon after the Inauguration but was also the victim of an assassination attempt. Clinton had a shaky start with the divisive issue of gays in the military and low-approval numbers by the end of the first 100 days. Bush started slow, prompting many to predict he would be a one-term president like his father, but then 9/11 happened. Continue…
-
What’s a Muslim teenager to do?
By Julia McKinnell - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 3:00 PM - 0 Comments
A handbook offers advice on dating, fasting, and misinformed classmates and teachers
If being a teenager is hard, try being a teen Muslim in North America post-9/11. That’s why a mother and her two kids have come up with The Muslim Teenager’s Handbook. The authors are Dilara Hafiz, her daughter Yasmine, 19, a freshman at Yale, and her son Imran, 17. Their book offers advice on topics such as how to strike up a conversation with Jews and Christians, and how to explain to classmates that when you skip lunch for a month, it’s not a diet, you’re on a spiritual fast for Ramadan.“Ninety-nine per cent of the hateful comments we’ve heard since 9/11,” writes Dilara in an email, “are based on misconceptions about the basics of Islam. Some people still think that Muslims worship a different god called Allah—incorrect. Allah is the Arabic word for God. Muslims worship the God of Abraham, Jesus and Moses.” For small talk, the book suggests, “You can’t go wrong if you start a conversation about Noah—everyone loves boats, right?”
-
B.C. tries to stop Lions Gate suicides
By Ken MacQueen - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:40 PM - 13 Comments
Lions Gate is getting phones; the Golden Gate is getting a net
Vancouver’s Lions Gate and San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridges—Depression-era, art deco masterpieces of form and function—have much in common. The 2.7-km-long Golden Gate opened in 1937 and the 1.8-km Lions Gate, a year later. Both civic icons are crucial commuter links for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. Both have cable-suspended decks high above busy waterways—and therein lies their tragic allure. Both bridges are magnets for the suicidal.A fall from either bridge is almost always fatal. The Lions Gate has 61 m of clearance above Burrard Inlet, the Golden Gate has 63 m—time enough for a jumper to hit the water at 138 km/h. Preventing such suicides has been a much-studied challenge for both communities. This month, after years of muddling and debate, the B.C. government activated six “crisis hotline phones” on the Lions Gate. The yellow phone boxes connect to a general assistance number to report accidents and to a crisis line. Transport Minister Kevin Falcon calls the phones “an important tool for suicide prevention.”
-
Our mistake
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:39 PM - 0 Comments
A correction to the print edition, which landed on newsstands today
Due to an editing error, a pull quote in the story “What Canadians think of Sikhs, Jews, Christians and Muslims…” gave too high a figure for the percentage of Canadians who said in an Angus Reid Strategies poll that they would find it unacceptable for their child to marry a person of the Jewish faith.
In fact, 56 per cent said it would be acceptable for one of their children to marry a Jewish person, 13 per cent said it would be unacceptable, and the remaining sizeable minority did not commit to either answer.
On a related point of clarification, the story states that “most” Canadians would find it unacceptable for one of their children to marry a Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu.
The poll actually found that 39 per cent said it would be acceptable for a child to marry a Muslim, 46 per cent for a child to marry a Hindu, and 39 per cent for a child to marry a Sikh. Another 29 per cent said one of their children marrying a Muslim would be unacceptable, 20 per cent a Hindu, and 25 per cent a Sikh. The rest did not commit to either answer.
-
What the Mounties told me
By Andrew Potter - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:33 PM - 28 Comments
Reading about the solid block of lies the RCMP has admitted they dropped on…
Reading about the solid block of lies the RCMP has admitted they dropped on the country after some of their finest tasered Robert Dziekanski to death twigged something I meant to blog a while ago.
A few weeks ago, the RCMP police dog training centre in Alberta released the names of the winners of their annual “name the puppy contest.” Kids across the country are invited to submit suggestions for names for the new German Shepherd puppies that will grow up to be police dogs. The names had to start with the letter “B”, and the winners included Bailey, Badge, Blaze, and Bullet. And — oh yeah — Barack, suggested by Marc Richard, age 6, East Royalty, Prince Edward Island.
When the press release came out, I thought it was interesting they had named one of their new police dogs after the president of the USA. I wondered if Obama would see it as an insult, or perhaps an homage (remember the dog in Due South was named “Diefenbaker”). At any rate, I thought it might be worth a little story. So I phoned the RCMP flack listed at the bottom of the press release, and put my question to her.
She hemmed and hawed a bit, and said “Hang on a second.” A few minutes later, she came back and told me that the spelling of “Barack” in the press release (appended below) was a spelling mistake, and in fact it was supposed to have two “r”s. As in “Barrack”.
“As in army barracks?” I asked.
That’s right she said.
Hookay, I thought…
-
Week in Pictures: Apr. 15th – Apr. 21st, 2009
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:31 PM - 0 Comments
The best pics of the last seven days
-
Why our EI program isn’t so bad
By Peter Shawn Taylor - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:20 PM - 5 Comments
It may be flawed, but EI has a coverage rate of 82 per cent
Canada’s Employment Insurance program is flawed in many ways. A regional bias means workers in some parts of the country get quicker access and receive benefits longer, which strikes many as unfair. Past surpluses of the EI Fund were never put aside for times of high unemployment, but were spent long ago by Ottawa. And while it’s designed to insure against unexpected job loss, it bizarrely includes maternity and parental benefits. Still, recent criticisms of EI seem misplaced.Politicians and social activists have complained that only half of all Canadian workers are eligible to receive EI benefits. In an angry exchange between NDP Leader Jack Layton and Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons recently, Layton cited 1.3 million unemployed in Canada but only 560,000 recipients of EI. While the statistics are factually correct, it’s not proof EI is failing workers.
-
Come And Get Me, Copper!
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:12 PM - 0 Comments
Flashpoint really was the start of something; ABC has just become the third network to pick up a Canadian-made procedural series. This one is Copper (from one of the Flashpoint writer-producers), about five rookie cops learning about the dangers of police work in “the Big City.” It remains to be seen whether this Big City will be explicitly identified as Toronto, but at least the director and crew won’t actually have to disguise Toronto to make it look like some other city. Bill Brioux has more on the pickup and what it means.
And no, my selection of the clip at the top of this post does not mean I think Copper is going to be the same as that or any other show about young cops; but since Copper hasn’t been produced yet (production begins in June), it’s the only clip available to illustrate what the show might be like. I would, however, expect Copper‘s theme song to be somewhat less funky.
-
Did Sir Lancelot wear a cowboy hat?
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:04 PM - 0 Comments
Alberta’s $25-million re-branding ad campaign features kids running along a pristine beach in, er, the north of England
A beach near the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland, a ways north of Newcastle-on-Tyne in the U.K. and not far from Bamburgh Castle, purportedly the home of Sir Lancelot, has somehow made its way into Alberta’s new $25-million ad campaign re-branding the province. That’s not all that funny–stock pictures and footage are the lifeblood of the advertising industry, after all. What is funny is the explanation provided by Tom Olsen, Premier Ed Stelmach’s director of media relations, an excuse the Edmonton Journal’s Paula Simons calls “without a doubt, the lamest explanation I’ve ever heard the Public Affairs Bureau come up with for anything.” Says Olsen: “There’s no attempt to make people think that this is Alberta … There’s no attempt to mislead. That picture just fit the mood and tone of what we were trying to do … The children are a symbol of the future. They symbolize that Albertans are a worldly people.”
-
'Sideways' guy goes Barney
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:02 PM - 0 Comments
Paul Giamatti to lead in adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s last novel
Variety reports that Mordecai Richler’s final novel before his death in 2001, Barney’s Version–a masterpiece of Montreal vernacular and the shattered recollections of old age–will now be made into a film with Paul Giamatti, of Sideways fame (though some may choose to remember him from the underrated Howard Stern vehicle Private Parts and as Andy Kaufman’s sidekick in Man on the Moon). Canada’s own Robert Lantos produces, with principal photography beginning in August in Rome, Montreal, New York and the Laurentians. An interesting side note: the film is a co-production of Serendipity Point Films (the Lantos outfit) and Italy’s Fandango, with a producing credit also going to Domenico Procacci, who was behind the hardscrabble Italian gangster epic Gomorrah. Why Italian backing for a film adaptation of Barney’s Version? Richler’s novel was a runaway success in Italy, selling 70,000 copies and inspiring a Barney’s Version column in Il Foglio, a right-wing newspaper.
-
Those Dastardly Bloggers Ruined Everything For Peter Bart
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:00 PM - 2 Comments
The New York Observer has an item on the collapse of Variety, once the definitive source of Hollywood insider info. What happened was the internet, where there is no “definitive” source of anything and where having a big online presence doesn’t actually help a trade paper make money. It may be even worse for entertainment trade papers than for non-niche papers. Whereas the internet can’t compete with the New York Times for reporting, and bloggers/twitterers wind up linking to or quoting from newspaper reporting, the information that Variety or The Hollywood Reporter offer is often accessible to anyone who has an inside source or two. News about executive firings, movie projects and TV cancellations therefore winds up being “broken” all over the place. So all Variety has left is its brand name, and it’s a brand name that’s increasingly associated with boredom and, during the writers’ strike, a pro-producers slant that didn’t set well with a lot of its readership.
The piece, or the people quoted in it, seem a bit too convinced that traditional entertainment journalism is completely different from online gossip. One person is quoted as saying: “And Continue…
-
A win for the sex offender registry
By Michael Friscolanti - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 2:00 PM - 9 Comments
The courts ruled twice that registering isn’t ‘punishment’
Canada’s sex offender registry is notoriously incomplete. According to the RCMP’s own calculations, only 58 per cent of all rapists, pedophiles and child pornographers are ordered to sign up after they’re convicted. The rest—up to four a day, at last count—are spared the hassle of telling the cops where they live.It could be worse, though. If a judge in Alberta had his way, our list of registered sex offenders would be a whole lot shorter.
-
The Economist on Iggy
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:55 PM - 3 Comments
“The new leader has yet to set out where he and the party stand on many issues”
The Economist is hailing the arrival of a credible opposition leader in Ottawa, even if they’re not yet sure what he’s about. “More than five months after the Liberals, the main opposition, dumped Stéphane Dion and replaced him with Mr Ignatieff, the new leader has yet to set out where he and the party stand on many issues,” the respected journal writes. The magazine acknowledges that opposition parties are often punished for outlining their plans too far in advance of an election and outlines what Ignatieff has said so far. Looking ahead, they warn of an election that may be “closely contested and dirty.”
-
Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and the late Heath Ledger to light up Cannes
By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:47 PM - 0 Comments
The Cannes film festival has just announced its official program today. And it looks like a strong line-up, heaving on established auteurs, and with the requisite spash of Hollywood glamour. The main competition is heavy with work from master filmmakers, includings Pedro Almodóvar, Ang Lee, Lars Von Trier, Ken Loach, Michael Haneke, Alain Renais—and Jane Campion, who premieres her first feature in six years. Ang Lee will unveil Taking Woodstock, which stars Canada’s Eugene Levy as Max Yasgur, the farmer whose patch of land hosted the world’s legendary rock festival. Bratt Pitt should provide some celebrity wattage as the star of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. And Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell may show up to celebrate their work in filling out the late Heath Ledger’s unfinished role in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassass, which is screening out of competition. The festival will open with Up, a 3D animated feature from Pixar.
There appear to be no Canadian features in official selection, although I still have to double check the French-language titles. Here’s the complete list from Cannes, and more details can be found on the official Cannes site.
THE COMPÉTITION :
Opening Film : Peter DOCTER – UP – Out of Comp.- 1h44
***Pedro ALMODÓVAR – LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Broken Embraces) – 2h09
Andrea ARNOLD – FISH TANK - 2h02
Jacques AUDIARD – UN PROPHÈTE – 2h35
Marco BELLOCCHIO – VINCERE – 2h08
Jane CAMPION - BRIGHT STAR – 2h00
Isabel COIXET – MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO -1h44
Xavier GIANNOLI – A L’ORIGINE – 2h30
Michael HANEKE – DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon) – 2h24
Ang LEE – TAKING WOODSTOCK -1h50
Ken LOACH – LOOKING FOR ERIC – 1h59
LOU Ye – CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN (Spring Fever) – 1h55
Brillante MENDOZA – KINATAY - 1h45
Gaspar NOE – ENTER THE VOID – 2h30
PARK Chan-Wook - BAK-JWI – (Thirst) – 2h13
Alain RESNAIS – LES HERBES FOLLES - 1h36
Elia SULEIMAN – THE TIME THAT REMAINS – 1h45
Quentin TARANTINO – INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS - 2h40
Johnnie TO – VENGEANCE – 1h48
TSAI Ming-liang – VISAGE (face)- 2h18
Lars VON TRIER – ANTICHRIST – 1h44
***
Closing Film : Jan KOUNEN – COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY – Out of Comp. – 2h00 Continue… -
Omar Ahmed Khadr v. Prime Minister of Canada
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:44 PM - 53 Comments
Federal court judge rules Canada must advocate for his repatriation.
“Canada had a duty to protect Mr. Khadr from being subjected to any torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, from being unlawfully detained, and from being locked up for a duration exceeding the shortest appropriate period of time. In Mr. Khadr’s case, while Canada did make representations regarding his possible mistreatment, it also participated directly in conduct that failed to respect Mr. Khadr’s rights, and failed to take steps to remove him from an extended period of unlawful detention among adult prisoners, without contact with his family … Mr. Khadr has very clearly been deprived of his liberty and Canadian agents are involved in that deprivation.”
Full ruling here.
-
New national dreams
By Kenneth Whyte - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:40 PM - 6 Comments
Michael Ignatieff talks with Kenneth Whyte about how personal history fuelled his political vision
Q: Your new book, True Patriot Love, is in part an exploration of Canada, but also an exploration of your family and your family’s past in Canada. What led you to these subjects?A: I previously wrote a book about the Russian side of my family, the Ignatieffs, but my mother’s people, who were Grants and Parkins originally from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, had an interesting story to tell, starting with a great-grandfather who helped to lay out the line for the transcontinental railroad, a grandfather who fought at the Somme, and my uncle who wrote Lament for a Nation. So when I began the book I thought I’m just going to write about that great-grandfather and his trip across the country. Before I knew it, I was writing a history of Canada seen through the eyes of one family.
-
No, Please, Please, No CLUELESS Sequel
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:33 PM - 5 Comments
Clueless is one of my favourite movies, and I can get very boring and strident explaining why it is the best Jane Austen adaptation ever (even the Zombies thing hasn’t surpassed it), and I even liked the first season of the TV adaptation, but this is going too far. Alicia Silverstone and Amy Heckerling have apparently been spotted discussing a script for a Clueless sequel. Okay, it’s just a tabloid rumour at this point, but I need to post something so I’m going to treat it as if it’s happening.
Now, I don’t say that they could never get this made. If Heckerling could get some of the original cast members, particularly Paul Rudd — who was in Heckerling’s last movie, I Could Never Be Your Woman — then sure, they could get it made. But apart from the obvious points about how this could wind up being Cher Horowitz and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, there are two immense problems:1) The success of the movie was to some degree a fluke based on one good, late-breaking idea: looking for a way to expand her TV-show idea into a feature film, Heckerling hit on the idea of taking this character she’d created and writing her into the plot of Jane Austen’s Emma. There is no sequel to Emma, so a sequel would have to have a semi-original plot — not a good sign.
2) There’s already been a sequel to Clueless in all but name, and it was called Miss Match. What was Silverstone playing in that show except Cher, grown up, working at her dad’s business Continue…
-
Q&A: Jason Kenney on George Galloway and free speech
By Kenneth Whyte - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:28 PM - 39 Comments
‘The prime minister presses ministers, not the other way around’
Q: Why is a self-described free speech hawk banning George Galloway from Canada?
A: He’s not. I reject the premise of your question. Mr. Galloway received a preliminary notice of determination by the Canadian Border Services Agency that he might be inadmissible to Canada, I gather based in large part on his public admission that he provided funds to Hamas, a banned illegal terrorist organization, which would seem–on the face of it–to constitute grounds for inadmissibility under Section 34(1)f of the Immigration Refugee Protection Act. He was invited to provide submissions to the CBSA to inform their consideration of his potential application to enter Canada. He never provided them with any such submissions and he never presented himself to a point of entry where he would have had, at that point, a final decision on his admissibility, and had he been determined to be inadmissible by an officer at a port of entry he would have been able to apply for an inadmissibility hearing. So there’s a whole process that we have under our law to make determinations independently of politicians about admissibility. I simply said publicly that I would not use my extraordinary ministerial power to effectively overrule a decision of a CBSA officer on his admissibility. Why? Because I didn’t see any compelling reason. And by the way, this had nothing to do with freedom of speech, he exercised his speech in Canada, volubly, as he does everywhere. That was never the issue. The issue was not about what he might do or say in Canada, it’s what he did in making financial contributions to an organization that uses money to buy explosives and strap them to teenagers and send them into school buses and discos.Q: Do you agree with the prime minister’s decision not to seek elimination of free speech prohibitions under the Human Rights Act?
A: Well, the prime minister is a well-known advocate of freedom of speech, he led by example as president of a national citizen’s coalition in that respect, and I have no reason to believe that’s changed. It’s a matter of record that our party convention adopted essentially unanimously a motion on this matter, and that the Canadian Human Rights Commission commissioned a report of their operations in this respect, which I believe actually recommended elimination of Section 13. My understanding is the prime minister has said the government doesn’t have any intention to act on that at this point, but obviously our government takes note of those facts.Q: But when the party is 98 per cent in favour of it doesn’t the government feel an obligation to act? Don’t you?
A: My job is to act in my areas, like immigration and citizenship and multiculturalism.Q: But you’re an influential party member, and you speak out on a variety of issues.
A: I was at the convention, I voted for the resolution–I think along with everyone in our caucus–and I understand the prime minister has said that at this time we don’t have any decision to make, any legislative changes. Obviously it’s a subject of ongoing interest and debate.Q: So you’re going to press him, then, to change his mind on this?
A: The prime minister presses ministers, not the other way around.Q: So you don’t plan to push the issue at all?
A: My views on this are on the public record.Q: But you don’t plan to do anything about it.
A: I bought Ezra’s book.Q: Well okay!
A (Kenney Aide): He got it for free.
A: No, I went and bought one too, just to support him!For the full interview with Jason Kenney—on citizenship, terrorism and what we owe newcomers—buy the latest issue of Maclean’s, on newsstands now.
-
Obama’s next test: immigration
By Luiza Ch. Savage - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:20 PM - 1 Comment
Can he overhaul the system in the middle of a recession?
If reviving the economy, reforming health care, and passing a climate change policy were not difficult enough, last week the Obama administration signalled it might be ready to take on another uphill political battle: overhauling America’s immigration system. It’s been tried before: two years ago, George W. Bush attempted to create a “pathway to citizenship” for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The plan was supported by business groups and immigration advocacy groups, but it went down in the flames of a populist backlash. Instead of adopting a more liberal immigration policy, Congress started building a fence on the border with Mexico.Can Obama succeed? Few people expect legislation to be ready this year, but the President plans to test the waters with working groups and discussions. The recession and growing unemployment mean any immigration reform would have to look a bit different than Bush’s, says Noah Pickus, co-director of the Immigration Policy Roundtable, a joint project of Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, and the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “In a recession, the conflict between native-born and immigrant workers is plainer to see,” says Pickus, whose round table includes an Obama official. “It makes it possible to have a more honest conversation about where the trade-offs are.” But any plan would have to acknowledge that bringing millions of illegal immigrants into the workforce would hurt some native-born workers. “That is the hardest nut to crack,” Pickus says.
-
Ottawa residents “should demand better”
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:16 PM - 0 Comments
Force’s clearance rate ranked last in urban Ontario
When it comes to solving crimes, Ottawa’s police force ranks dead last in urban Ontario—prompting the local police chief to say city residents “should demand better.” In 2007, Ottawa police clearance rates (the percentage of crimes “solved”) stood at 31 per cent, putting it last among 17 Ontario forces with populations of 100,000 or more. Residents “should be saying, ‘We want to see every year that you’re improving on these numbers and nothing less,” Chief Vern White told the Ottawa Citizen. “On top of that, (they) should demand that crime go down.” Even so, Statistics Canada has placed Ottawa seventh of nine major Canadian cities for severity of crime, showing the crime that does occur there tends to be less severe. In terms of clearance rates in urban Ontario, Thunder Bay police ranked first in 2007, with an overall clearance rate of 48 per cent, followed by greater Sudbury at 47 per cent and Waterloo at 43.The provincial average was 39. Ottawa’s 2008 clearance rates will be revealed next week.
-
Reefer madness
By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:14 PM - 2 Comments
Justice minister pushes prison sentences for single-plant pot heads
In what is possibly the most controversial justice bill proposed by the Conservatives, pot dealers could face mandatory jail time in a bid to quell what they say is being used as “currency” to import hard drugs. The new legislation would impose one-year sentences for marijuana dealers when the activity is tied to organized crime or involves a weapon, and two-year sentences for dealing drugs like methamphetamines, heroin cocaine, heroin to young people. Those who grow pot would also face jail time; six months for sprouting one to 200 plants, and two years for harvesting 500 plants or more. Critics argue the bill would land drug addicts—rather than big-time dealers—in jail, without access to treatment programs.
-
Mary Conception McCarthy Gomez Cueto 1900-2009
By Nicholas Köhler - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:00 PM - 1 Comment
She refused to leave Cuba, even after the revolution and U.S. embargo had deprived her of her wealth
Mary Conception McCarthy Gomez Cueto was born on April 27, 1900, to a prosperous Irish Catholic family in St. John’s, Nfld., where her father Thomas ran a lucrative Water Street grocery and with his wife, Ann, raised two daughters, Mary and Rose, in a home not far from the bustling harbour. As a girl, Mary slid down snowy Prescott Street when St. John’s was still small and quiet enough to permit it, and attended the best convent schools. Well-to-do and cultured, the McCarthys were at the centre of St. John’s musical life. Mary’s uncle, a noted pianist, accompanied the silent films at the Nickel Theatre, and Mary herself was often cast as the ingenue in local theatre productions.Such were Mary’s gifts that her father soon sent her to study at the Boston Conservatory of Music. Tall and blond, with a sultry beauty, she there attracted the attentions of Pedro Gomez Cueto, a homely Spaniard a dozen years her senior with business interests in Boston and Havana. The pair were soon intent on marriage; Mary’s father insisted they wait a year. It did little good, and they married on May 21, 1922, with Thomas finding solace only in Pedro’s assurance they would settle in Boston. The promise did not hold and after a lengthy European honeymoon—in Lourdes, Pedro bought her a golden rosary—they set up house in Havana. There, behind a gate with her name filigreed in wrought iron—Villa Mary, it reads—Mary, in a signature strapless gown, found herself ensconced in a sumptious home of marble floors, neo-classical sculpture and Napoleon III furniture, surrounded by a garden of palm and mango trees. While Pedro hoarded Havana property, imported leather and ran a shoe factory supplying the Cuban army, Mary helped found the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra and, perhaps because she could not have children, an orphanage. Mary, who spoke St. John’s English but Castilian Spanish, knew the cultural elite in Havana’s headiest days; Frank Sinatra was a neighbour. Though marriage otherwise ended her musical career, she still performed during visits to St. John’s. “She came out on stage wearing a black lace gown to the floor and a black mantilla and a black fan in her hand and sang the Habanera from Carmen,” says historian and poet Paul O’Neill.
-
Layton and Chow at the movies
By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 12:50 PM - 1 Comment
NDP leader Jack Layton and his MP wife Olivia Chow organized a screening of the documentary Downstream. The film, which was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, chronicles the deteriorating health of Aboriginal communities living downstream from Alberta’s tar sands.
Chow with the film’s producer Philip Alberstat.
The film was screened at Toronto rep theatre the Bloor Cinema, along with Steven Soderbergh’s Che.
