ParliamentaryCrisisWatch Update: Least dramatic standoff ever refuses to just end already

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 8:54 PM - 36 Comments

Colleague Wherry has the details, such as they are — basically, blah blah productive blah blah meeting again tomorrow. Thank goodness ITQ didn’t spend the last three hours hanging around the Hot Room for that. While we wait for the inevitably anti-climatic conclusion, let’s play a game, shall we? Let’s imagine that, rather than Harper and Ignatieff facing off over a stack of spreadsheets on a coffee table, it was Harper and — Bob Rae! Would the last week and a half have gone any differently? Would we be in the same place now? Discuss.  (Feel free to substitute any other leadership candidate, or noteworthy non-candidate, for Rae.)

Round III

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 8:03 PM - 6 Comments

Meeting at Sussex has wrapped up. The Prime Minister and Mr. Ignatieff will talk again in the morning. No word on whether a sleepover is involved.

The official statement from the Liberal side confirms that this second meeting was also “productive.” The Prime Minister’s spokesman seconds this adjective.

Never mind Langevin

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:49 PM - 4 Comments

Globe says Michael Ignatieff arrived at 24 Sussex a short time ago. Transfer of power no doubt underway.

While you wait for word from Langevin

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:59 PM - 10 Comments

Here is a picture of Jack Layton attempting to enter into coalition talks with a groundhog.

The Commons: Private peace, public war

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:35 PM - 8 Comments

The Scene. In the sandstone bunker named for John A. Macdonald’s public works minister, a man one biography describes as having left politics in “utter disgrace,” Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper honoured their forefathers with a meeting. According to one account, Mr. Ignatieff entered the building, home to the Prime Minister’s Office, around 2pm and exited about five minutes after three. A Canadian Press reporter on the scene claims the Liberal leader left through the Elgin Street exit, skillfully avoiding said reporter’s attempt to question him.

Requests for details of the proceedings would not go completely ignored though. Indeed, in short order there were identical statements from those assigned to speak on behalf of both men. The meeting was described as “productive”—a word that would seem to indicate there was a minimum of swearing and likely a complete lack of physical violence. There are vague promises, as of this writing, that the two will meet again later today. The adjective used to describe those discussions will surely be the subject of intense negotiation.

Across the street and up the hill, the business of Parliament was compelled to proceed without them. And not yet sure of how “productive” the negotiations would be, the parties of Messrs. Ignatieff and Harper were compelled to loudly and forcefully make their claims. Continue…

'I used to play checkers with my son and he beat me'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:25 PM - 10 Comments

Susan Delacourt recalls the last time Messrs. Ignatieff and Harper were locked in a room together.

"We don't need that kind of pessimism and crap coming out of your mouth"

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:16 PM - 35 Comments

Danny Williams is angry at a VOCM call-in host.

Looking at Iran

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:14 PM - 11 Comments

George Packer wonders why right-wing observers seem to welcome the corrupt Ahmadinejad re-election, and leftish observers demand that Westerners accept it. He concludes:

It’s remarkable how difficult it’s been for writers of many different ideological persuasions to say that scenes like this… are shameful. The reason, of course, has everything to do with the wars of the Bush years, at home and abroad, which have left so many thoughtful people incapable of holding onto the most basic thought. But it’s a mistake to let your attitude toward historic events be shaped and deformed by the desire not to sound like a neo-con, or to sound like a neo-con reborn. Trust the evidence of your eyes.

Welcome To My Show, Famous Person Who Owes Me a Favour!

By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 5:36 PM - 3 Comments

Kristen Bell was excellent on the season finale of Party Down. She is also one of several people who have appeared on this very good but relatively obscure cable show — which, however, will be back for another season — after previously working with the show’s co-creator, Rob Thomas. Her Veronica Mars dad, Enrico Colantoni, guest starred in the Party Down pilot; Jason “Logan” Dohring appeared as a college Republican type, and other Mars actors have guested on the show, even apart from the fact that most of the regular cast was drafted from people Thomas had worked with on that show.

I like when a creator corrals people from his old show into appearing on his new one. I guess sometimes it can seem a little needy, which is why it actually works better if the previous show wasn’t a gigantic hit (which Veronica Mars certainly wasn’t). That way it’s a nice shout-out to fans of the older show, as well as a publicity boost. It’s like Bill Lawrence’s frequent use of Spin City cast members on Scrubs (and his animated show Clone High): they’re good guest stars, but they also create a fun sense of continuity between the creator’s different shows. It’s interesting to watch to see whether their new character is like the one they played on the old show, or a complete change of pace, or something in-between.

The flip side of this practice is, of course, a showrunner bringing in the cast members of his flop show for guest roles on his long-running hit, e.g. Nathan Fillion turning up in a multi-episode guest part on Buffy.

The comments section will hopefully provide other examples of the first kind of guest shot, the famous actor turning up as a favour to the creator of his/her old show. The highest-profile example of this is probably Tom Hanks, having just won two consecutive Oscars, playing himself in the pilot of the Tea Leoni sitcom The Naked Truth. The creator of that show, Chris Thompson, created and ran Hanks’ show Bosom Buddies (and went on to create Action; he’s a bitter, bitter guy), and Hanks did the first episode as a favour to the guy who launched his career.

Here’s the clip; the setup is that Leoni is a sleazy tabloid photographer who is in talks to go over to a respectable publication, but can’t resist her urge to photograph celebrities in compromising situations.

Iran's election results set off alarm bells

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 5:31 PM - 1 Comment

Juan Cole, the author of Engaging the Muslim World and a professor of history at the University of Michigan, argues there are at least six reasons to doubt the official narrative that has Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emerging as the winner of Iran’s presidential election. According to the certified results, Ahmadinejad won in Tabriz, the capital of Azerbeijan province, from which Mir Hossein Mousavi hails and where he is popular. Ahmadinejad is also said to have won in Tehran, where opposition to his rule is thought to be widespread. Furthermore, Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist candidate, received less than one per cent of the popular vote after getting 17 per cent in 2005, while Mohsen Rezaie, a less popular candidate, got nearly twice as many votes. Ahmadinejad’s support was also strong across the country, even though there were strong ethnic and provincial variations in the past. And, finally, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was suprisingly anxious to certify the results, eschewing the normal three-day waiting period to adjudicate any irregularities.

Informed Comment

The ways Harper and Ignatieff talk

By John Geddes - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:59 PM - 13 Comments

Today’s meetings between Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff have the potential to define their rivalry in a new way. One way to think about it is to consider the sorts of rhetoric they tend to employ.

Each has two main modes of public expression. Harper is either attacking or he’s claiming to speak common sense. Ignatieff is either striving to elevate the discourse or he’s appealing for calm.
Continue…

On June 24, raise your Labatt 50 (tablette) to the Anglos

By Philippe Gohier - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:20 PM - 11 Comments

So, Bloodshot Bill and Lake of Stew are back on the (surprisingly good) lineup for this year’s L’Autre St-Jean party in Montreal. But while the attempt to exclude them is being cast in both the Francophone and Anglophone press as yet another example of the province’s insipid language debates (see: McCartney, Paul AND Quebec City), there’s actually a semblance of substance to this one.

As Fagstein points out, there’s reason to be confused about just what June 24 represents. La St-Jean is originally a celebration of Francophone culture, inside and outside Quebec. Taken that way, inviting Anglo acts to the party doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Would Canadians go for a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Canada Day festivities? I doubt it. (Watching Plume Latraverse phone in a half-baked version of Bobépine for a Canada Day shindig in Montreal a few years back is a another matter entirely.)  But, of course, la St-Jean hasn’t been called that in a long time—it’s la Fête nationale now. Which suggests Quebecers of any stripe—even you, Marty—should be welcome.

I’m not sure which of the two—Quebec or Francophone culture—June 24 should celebrate. But it seems safe to say one no longer assumes the other.

U.S. Energy Secretary: Oil sands to remain part of U.S. energy portfolio

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:05 PM - 2 Comments

Acknowledging that America’s appetite for energy will require all that’s on hand—from coal-fired power plants to nuclear energy—U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday said Alberta’s controversial oil sands will stay part of the mix too. He cautioned that the sands must be cleaned up, however. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, who met with Chu as part of the Western Governors’ Association meeting in Park City, Utah, later spoke hopefully of the energy secretary’s curiosity about the province’s carbon capture and storage initiatives, for which the province has committed $2 billion. Chu has for some time signalled he is a great believer in technology. Still, as Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told the Calgary Herald: “There’s a lot of concern, frankly, about the environmental footprint associated with the oil sands.”

Calgary Herald

Isotope shortage prompts use of less effective methods

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:04 PM - 1 Comment

The shortage of medical isotopes due to of the shutdown of the Chalk River reactor is making doctors across the country desperate. The Society of Nuclear Medicine is meeting in Toronto to discuss methods for testing patients with cancer, heart disease and other conditions without using isotopes. But doctors warn that these alternatives are costly, invasive, use a lot radiation, and don’t always provide useful information. However, there is some good news. Isotopes from an Australian reactor have been approved for medical use by Health Canada, and a Russian reactor could begin producing isotopes within the next year. However, those reactors will not be able to match worldwide demand, meaning the shortage will continue for some time.

CBC News

Mexico to take to the polls . . . but not to vote

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:03 PM - 1 Comment

Next month, Mexicans will be heading to the polls when the country holds its midterm congressional elections. But that doesn’t mean they will be voting. In the lead-up to the elections, protestors have begun broadcasting word of a new campaign: voto nulo, or, the null vote drive. Meant to convey Mexicans’ widespread dissatisfaction with the political system, the voto nulo campaign encourages citizens to deliberately deface their ballots instead of casting votes for legitimate candidates. Word of the movement has largely been spread by blogs and Internet chat sites. Discouraged voters say that politicians have not done enough to address issues of public corruption, crime, poverty, and economic stagnation. Voto nulo, they hope, will make their disenchantment clear to officials. But critics charge that the drive is irresponsible and counterproductive, and that it threatens Mexico’s evolving democracy.

Los Angeles Times

‘Ulysses’ gets Twitter treatment

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:02 PM - 0 Comments

It’s June 16, Bloomsday—the day Irish modernist author James Joyce went on his first date with Nora Barnacle, later his wife—she’d never leave him, predicted his father–and the day in 1904 on which the “action” of his masterpiece, Ulysses, unfolds. To commemorate, people the world over, but particularly in Dublin, get together, drink alcohol, and eat heavy breakfasts, with much offal. Also today, for the third year in a row, Twitterers Ian Bogost, a Georgia Tech professor, and a friend, Ian McCarthy, have adapted a chapter of the book to suit the social networking site’s 140-character-per-post format. But why not just read this passage, from Ulysses’s Cyclops chapter, and call it a day: “Love loves to love love. Nurse loves the new chemist. Constable 14A loves Mary Kelly. Gerty MacDowell loves the boy that has the bicycle. M. B. loves a fair gentleman. Li Chi Han lovey up kissy Cha Pu Chow. Jumbo, the elephant, loves Alice, the elephant. Old Mr. Verschoyle with the ear trumpet loves old Mrs. Verschoyle with the turnedin eye. The man in the brown macintosh loves a lady who is dead. His Majesty the King loves Her Majesty the Queen. Mrs. Norman W. Tupper loves officer Taylor. You love a certain person. And this person loves that other person because everybody loves somebody but God loves everybody.”

Associated Press

Agence France-Presse

It's a date (III)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 3:48 PM - 15 Comments

Confirming Kady’s account, a few official words from Mr. Ignatieff’s office.

They met for about an hour. It was a productive meeting. There will be another meeting later today.

Lost in translation

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 3:37 PM - 15 Comments

Michael Ignatieff, yesterday. “If you’ll allow me to conclude on one note. My stake in this is actually proving to Canadians, who are very skeptical about politics and our political system, that we can make this system work for them. That we can hold a government to account, get them to improve their performance, get good government for Canadians. That’s the big prize here actually. Make Canadians feel we got a pretty good system here and it works for Canadians and it delivers results for them. We get that, good result.” 

Adam Radwanski, today. “He may be better than Harper at playing the game, and that may put him in the Prime Minister’s Office before too long. But he’s squandering the opportunity to make it more than a game – to make it something relevant to Canadians who’ve never set foot within Hy’s and don’t plan their summers around the prospect of an election. If anything, he’s turning more of them off by adding to noise that they find increasingly indecipherable.”

Flaherty blames the economy

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 3:12 PM - 2 Comments

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the unexpectedly large economic crisis, and government spending to correct it, are to blame for his underestimated deficit projection. His prediction for this year’s deficit climbed from $33.7 billion to $50.2 billion, an increase the Liberals say he should have seen coming. Flaherty called the Liberals hypocrites for criticizing him while calling for more spending, and has also stressed that the government will end its deficit-financing in 2013. The Liberals call this completely unrealistic.

Toronto Star

Anyone else getting an eerie sense of deja vu?

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 3:02 PM - 89 Comments

ITQ will be roaming the halls for the rest of the afternoon, searching for someone  — anyone, really – who knows what’s going on here -  or, at the very least, can at least convincingly fake it. Check back for updates — not sure how regular, that depends on how the rest of the afternoon unfolds — but in the meantime, feel free to use this as a semi-open thread to boggle over the latest developments and trade conspiracy theories. Wish me luck!
3:14:27 PM
Well, the meeting has reportedly concluded – at least, *someone* is reporting that, so let’s go with it – but nobody knows what happens next — will there be back to back press conferences? A joint press conference? A fauxterview with Senator Mike Duffy? Who knows! Welcome to the souldraining nexus of misheard rumour and speculation known as the Foyer.

3:24:21 PM
We have a semi-official bulletin, courtesy of RDI: According to PMO spokestierack Dimitri Soudas, the two had a “productive, courteous meeting”, and have agreed to meet *further* this afternoon.

Translation: The offer(s) and/or demand(s) have been proferred/received, and now the two sides are heading back to their respective corners to come up with a reply. Which means we’re going to be here for a while, and no, at this point, there’s just no way for us to know — say it with me now — what’s going on.
3:50:02 PM

Continue…

Was Jimmy Carter the target of assassins in Gaza?

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 2:31 PM - 0 Comments

Palestinian sources are claiming an assassination attempt against former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was foiled by Hamas on Tuesday. According to the sources, a group linked to al Qaeda planted several IEDs along the route Carter’s convoy was going to travel on inside Gaza. Israeli security sources claim the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) were the ones who passed on the information about an attack to Carter’s security team. However, the official statement from a Hamas government spokesperson flatly denied that there were any plans to target Carter, and that no explosives had been found.

The Jerusalem Post

Bawk Balk

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 1:52 PM - 12 Comments

Andrew Steele walks us through the game theory of chicken. And laments for our democracy.

Minority government has been tried and proven wanting. At a time of fierce global competition for resources, a financial collapse, severe recession, flu pandemic, and six score dead in Afghanistan, we spent the last two weeks yammering about lost binders and misplaced recorders. Seeking constant electoral advantage has completely overtaken the hard work of government, and Canadians can no longer afford their elected officials neglecting their duty.

It's a date (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 12:48 PM - 13 Comments

So you’re clear on where we’re at, the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition are to meet today to discuss the immediate future of the country, but neither side will say when or where that meeting is occurring. Feel free to fill in the gaps with wild-eyed speculation. I’m told, for instance, that Dick Cheney is moderating the discussion in the salon of his personal undisclosed location. 

Update. Oh, nevermind. Though neither side will say so out loud, CP reports they’re meeting during QP.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Lawsuits

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 12:33 PM - 0 Comments

For the second time, the estate of a British author who died penniless in a hospice in 1997—the year J.K. Rowling released her first Potter novel—has claimed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, fourth in Rowling’s series, copies “substantial parts” of a book by Adrian Jacobs. A similar claim by Jacobs’ son in 2004 went nowhere; this time the estate has started proceeding for copyright infringement at London’s High Court against Rowling’s publisher Bloomsbury. The suit says “the Estate is also seeking a court order against J.K. Rowling herself for pre-action disclosure in order to determine whether to join her as a defendant to the … action,” and claims the plagiarized book is The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: No. 1 Livid Land, written by Jacobs in 1987. From it, the suit alleges, Rowling adopted plot elements that included a wizard contest, and the idea of wizards traveling on trains.” Both Willy and Harry are required to work out the exact nature of the main task of the contest which they both achieve in a bathroom assisted by clues from helpers, in order to discover how to rescue human hostages imprisoned by a community of half-human, half-animal fantasy creatures,” the estate statement said. “It is alleged that all of these are concepts first created by Adrian Jacobs in Willy the Wizard, some 10 years before J.K. Rowling first published any of the Harry Potter novels and 13 years before Goblet of Fire was published.” In its response, Bloomsbury said Rowling “had never heard of Adrian Jacobs nor seen, read or heard of his book Willy the Wizard until this claim was first made in 2004, almost seven years after the publication of the first book in the highly publicized Harry Potter series. Willy the Wizard is a very insubstantial booklet running to 36 pages which had very limited distribution.” Goblet of Fire runs to 636 pages in the hardcover edition.

Reuters