One Way That Jay Leno Was Lucky

By Jaime Weinman - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 6:54 PM - 3 Comments

Just a very quick observation, a coda to the LeBrien (CoJay?) frenzy: Jay Leno has been a lucky man in a lot of ways, but one of the luckiest breaks he ever had was that the recent Late Night wars may be obliterating the story of his failure at 10 p.m. Yes, The Jay Leno Show has been atop Entertainment Weekly’s list of “TV’s Biggest Bombs” and so on. But normally when a show tanks that badly, it becomes the number-one story in TV and does serious damage to the creator’s career. But owing to a combination of factors — the high price of just cancelling Leno outright, the fact that the network was clearly having second thoughts about Conan and wanted to hit the reset button (it seems like even if Leno had turned down Tonight, O’Brien’s job would be in trouble) — the story has been much more about O’Brien than Leno. And to those who aren’t letting this story rule their lives, it might seem like O’Brien was the one who bombed, not Leno. After all, Conan’s gone, and Jay replaced him. Leno has been feeding this impression by talking to his audience as if he’s magnanimously stepping in to compensate for Conan’s failure (“if you don’t get the ratings…”).

I think that within a year, if that, the failure of The Jay Leno Show will effectively be written out of history. It will be a matter of record that the show was killing the affiliates and they threatened not to show it, forcing NBC to abandon its failed experiment; but there’s a difference between something being on the record and being generally understood. The optics of the situation look good for Leno; it really does look, from a distance, as if he was simply shifted to an earlier time slot and then shifted back again when the new guy didn’t work out. He’ll continue to give this impression, as will the network, and in the end, his participation in one of TV’s great flops will be forgotten. Look at Mark Evanier’s otherwise very good defense of Leno; it talks about his great “ratings track record” even though he no longer has an unblemished ratings track record (and even though it was never unblemished if you count the early ratings struggles of his Tonight Show). By next year, expect it to be routinely said that Leno has always gotten the numbers — all the time.

Rebuilding Haiti will take a decade, PM tells conference

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 5:46 PM - 0 Comments

“10 years of hard work awaits the world in Haiti,” said prime minister Stephen Harper in Montreal today, where international leaders have gathered to plan a post-earthquake reconstruction plan. Harper also said that, although aid continues to pour in from all corners of the globe, the new challenge will be ensuring that aid gets put to the best possible use. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive announced that Haiti is able to take the lead in the rebuilding effort. He also said that public institutions will have to be decentralized to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians forced to relocate to rural areas.

CTV News

The Guardian

"From Osama to Obama"

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 5:17 PM - 2 Comments

Osama bin Laden endorsed the failed bombing of the Detroit-bound U.S. airliner of Christmas Day, and threatened new attacks against the U.S. in a one-minute audio message released on Sunday, aired by Al Jazeera. However, U.S. officials and researchers say there is no reason to believe that bin Laden—or his top officials—were involved in or knew about the plot by a Yemen-based Al Qaeda faction. “America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” said bin Laden.

Toronto Star

Al Jazeera English

Russia, U.S. “close to nuclear deal”

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 4:57 PM - 0 Comments

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that he is optimistic the U.S. and Russia will reach a new pact to reduce their Cold War nuclear weapon arsenals. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed in 1991 expired last month, but both nations have pledged to honour its main provisions until a new deal can be hammered out. The original treaty led to deep cuts in the Russian and American nuclear arsenals, and a new one is said to aim at reducing the number of deployed warheads below the current 1,700 – 2,200 allowed under START. Despite the progress, Moscow is still concerned with U.S. plans to develop and deploy a missile defence system in Europe, a plan pushed by former President George W. Bush.

Al Jazeera English

Rights and Democracy: Everybody had a busy weekend

By Paul Wells - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 4:35 PM - 122 Comments

On Saturday friends and associates gathered for the Ottawa funeral of Rémy Beauregard, who was the president of Rights and Democracy, whose internal conflict I chronicled here. Already word was spreading among them that the organization’s board had met on Friday to choose a new interim replacement for Beauregard. The board chose Jacques Gauthier, who already serves as the board’s vice-chairman.

Careful observers of this story will recognize Gauthier as one of three board members, with chairman Aurel Braun and Elliot Tepper, whose resignation or replacement has been demanded by the centre’s staff in the wake of Beauregard’s death. That’s right: All 47 staffers (a figure Braun and his board allies dispute) call for these three to be removed from the board, and instead one of them becomes their boss. (Here’s Gauthier’s impressive bio.) (UPDATE: Turns out he published a doctoral thesis two years ago arguing that “Jerusalem belongs to the Jews by international law.”)

So we have the ingredients of a stand-off. If the staff wants Gauthier gone and he becomes their boss, and they meant what they said in that letter, then I don’t see a lot of different ways they can respond. Either the departure of Braun, Gauthier and Tepper was a condition of the employees’ continued service at Rights and Democracy, or they were bluffing and the new board faction has now called their bluff. (I am now hearing that at least one staff member has already handed in a resignation; I will try to get more information soon. UPDATE: I’m told this resignation predates Gauthier’s appointment. I apologize for the confusion.)

Meanwhile, David Matas has written an analysis of all this. He’s a Rights and Democracy board member too, and has been an ally of Braun’s, though he is not one of the ones the staff wants to see gone. Matas is the executive legal counsel for B’Nai Brith Canada. Since I stuck my nose into this mess, I’ve also heard Matas referred to, here and there, as a “Liberal” or a “two-time Liberal candidate.” I’ve only just learned he ran for the Liberals during the federal elections of… 1979 and 1980. By some definitions, that does indeed make him a Liberal. (UPPERDATE: A reader is concerned that I omit to mention Matas’s previous term on the Rights and Democracy board, when Jean Chrétien was prime minister. So now I’m not omitting it.)

Anyway, in a thoughtful analysis of events that took place before he rejoined the board, Matas takes issue with a staff allegation I repeat in my own column, which is that a small group on the board, led by Braun, had sent an evaluation of Beauregard to the Privy Council Office in Ottawa without letting Beauregard see it. Matas writes: Continue…

Yet another tainted milk scare in China

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 4:20 PM - 0 Comments

Chinese authorities have found more milk products contaminated with the toxic industrial chemical melamine. Of the three companies whose products were found containing the deadly chemical, one was linked to an earlier milk scandal in which six children died and hundreds of thousands were made ill. Most of the sick were affected by drinking baby formula milk powder. Over a dozen stores were found to be selling the contaminated milk, and officials say some of the milk may have been recalled by the earlier scandal, yet found its way back onto store shelves. Melamine, which can cause kidney failure if ingested by humans, is normally used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer. It is used to disguise milk that has been watered-down by making the diluted milk appear to contain more protein than it actually does in quality control tests. Dozens of officials were punished following the 2008 tainted milk scandal; two were sentenced to death.

Al Jazeera English

On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate Barack Obama’s performance in his first year in office?

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 4:03 PM - 66 Comments

How to stop the seal hunt?

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 3:47 PM - 1 Comment

A seal hunt protester got her point across to Fisheries and Oceans Minster Gail Shea this morning by throwing a tofu pie in her face. Shea was opening the new Aquatic Life Research Facility in Burlington, Ont., when the attack occurred. According to a statement by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the protester was motivated by Shea’s support of the “indefensible slaughter in an apparent attempt to curry favour with the commercial fishing industry.” PETA went on to say that “A little tofu pie on her face is hardly comparable to the blood on Ms. Shea’s hands.” The protester was hauled off by police, though no charges have been laid yet. Shea, who wasn’t hurt, took the attack in stride—likening the tofu filling to shaving cream, and admitting that this wasn’t her first pie in the face. Her first was pre-politics, “but it was friendly, and it was at a hockey game.” Hopefully this one is her last.

Toronto Star

Bombs hit three Baghdad hotels

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 3:35 PM - 0 Comments

Workers are carrying severed limbs through streets covered in broken glass following a coordinated suicide attack that reduced houses to rubble, killed at least 36 people and wounded 71 others in Baghdad today. Three bombs exploded near landmark hotels popular with journalists and other westerners in the city. The strike comes as part of a campaign to undercut faith in the country’s security forces, political regime and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in the lead up to parliamentary elections. Many Iraqis blame the security forces for their inability to protect the capital—their checkpoints are visible on almost every street, but their bomb detection equipment has been labeled useless by the U.S. and Britain. Similar bombings took place in August, October and December and have destroyed government ministries, a provincial headquarters, a courthouse, colleges and a bank. Those earlier attacks were blamed on a branch of Al Qaeda and former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, but there is little evidence that the two groups are working together.

Rush Limbaugh confesses his existential malaise

By Philippe Gohier - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 3:29 PM - 14 Comments

I really wish I had a good reason to post this. I don’t, but here it is anyway.

Rush Limbaugh, raw and unplugged, courtesy of The Onion:

I’ve imagined my death a thousand times over, and it’s always the same. In my mind’s eye, a serene setting comes into view. I see a funeral procession driving down some small-town Main Street in Nowheresville, U.S.A. On one side of the street, a collection of sycophants and morons are paying their respects in subliterate, sanctimonious tones. Meanwhile, on the other side of the street, I can just make out the faint image of a young boy, his brow furrowed in confusion, clutching the hand of his father. “Who is that man, Daddy?” he asks as the hearse containing my bloated, lifeless body rolls by. “Who is that person they speak of?” The father will then lower his head and say, “There, my son, go the remains of Rush Hudson Limbaugh, the most abominable lump of festering dog shit in the history of American broadcasting. May the likes of him never again soil or tarnish the greatness of our fair country.”

The perils of keyless entry

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 3:28 PM - 0 Comments

As old-fashioned keys are being replaced with wireless systems that open doors and turn on the car, questions are being asked about their safety. It turns out that many drivers don’t understand how the system works. In complaints to American regulators, motorists have reported that they were unable to shut down engines during highway emergencies, including sudden acceleration events. Making matters worse, automakers have adopted different procedures for using the keyless ignition systems. As a result, owners may not know how to operate their own cars in an emergency, let alone a rented or borrowed car. “Where you have a second to make an emergency maneuver, you shouldn’t have to search around for the right procedure to use on a switch,” said Henry Jasny, general counsel at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C. that pushes for laws to make roads safer.

Los Angeles Times

It pretty much melts in your mouth

By Pamela Cuthbert - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 2:46 PM - 2 Comments

Chocolate and mushrooms. The combination doesn’t immediately ring true, like old-school blends of the elixir with mints, peanut butter or hot pepper. But lately, amid a whirlwind of experimentation in which pioneering chocolatiers are successfully marrying the polygamous partner with bacon and cheese, the earthy offerings of fungi are also proving to be a suitable match.

“I agree, it’s not obvious,” says Odile Chatelain of Toronto’s Odile Chocolat. The idea first came to her when she was developing new flavours for her Canadiana line of chocolate truffles, which includes infusions of ice wine, wild-rose syrup and raspberry vinegar. She makes a truffle with wild, black trumpets—characterized as robust and woodsy. It wasn’t easy, she recalls. “The flavour was too mild or too much. It took quite a few tries to get it right.”

Continue…

Joe’s Fresh Take

By John Intini - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 2:45 PM - 9 Comments

Although it’s just a construction site right now, the southwest corner of Toronto’s Queen Street West and Portland Street holds great promise for fans of fast fashion. That’s because here, on the edge of one of Canada’s busiest shopping strips, and just a few blocks from H&M, Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, Joe Fresh plans next year to swing open the doors of a shiny new 8,000-sq.-foot store. Loblaws’ cheap ’n’ cheerful clothing line has been in the fashion war for a few years, but this is the first time it has decided to do battle on its competitors’ turf.

For the most part, the brand, which is available across Canada in more than 340 Real Canadian Superstores and Loblaws stores, has gone after a slice of Canada’s $19-billion apparel market from the friendly—and some would say unlikely—confines of suburban grocery stores. And though a Loblaws will occupy the second floor of the future condo tower at Queen and Portland (a Winners will take the third floor), Joe Fresh’s simple yet stylish basics will be responsible for catching the eyes of shoppers at street level. This is, arguably, the biggest test of the brand since it launched in 2006. But retail experts think it’s up for the challenge. “They’re really poised for some explosive growth,” says David Ian Gray, principal of Vancouver-based DIG360 Consulting. “I have clients, in specialty chain retail, that are concerned about them.”

Continue…

Have Brangelina broken up?

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 2:35 PM - 0 Comments

Hollywood megastars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have successful film careers, six kids, untold numbers of homes on virtually every continent in the world, yet the couple might not have a future. After some tense public outings together and apart, rumours are swirling that the genetic lottery winners are calling an end to their relationship. And even more scuttlebutt is circulating that Brad Pitt is thinking of reaching out to his ex, Jennifer Aniston.

Daily Mail

Chemical Ali Executed

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 2:16 PM - 3 Comments

Ali Hassan al-Majid, or “Chemical Ali” as he was commonly known, was executed today in Iraq, one week after being convicted for the murder of more than 5,000 Kurds in a 1988 gas attack on the town of Halabja. Majid was Saddam Hussein’s cousin, confidant and one of his top henchman. He was the dictator’s pro-consul for northern Iraq—tasked with repressing the Shia uprising that followed the liberation of Kuwait during the Gulf war. The attack on Halabja, carried out by aircraft that dropped nerve and mustard gas on the town, was the worst gas attack ever carried out on civilians, and represented the most disturbing point of Majid’s ruthless career, which saw up to 100,000 civilians killed because of his refusal to differentiate between fighters and non-combatants. His death brought no peace to the war torn country—just before it was announced, a co-ordinated suicide attack on three hotels in Baghdad killed at least 36 people.

The Telegraph

A grand total (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 1:39 PM - 48 Comments

Vancouver Sun, Dec. 7, 2008. A self-described non-political person, Kathleen Chafe didn’t vote for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in the last federal election — but that didn’t stop her from saying she was Tory yesterday. The 23-year-old Vancouver corporate headhunter was one of about 250 people who braved yesterday’s rain to show support for the Conservatives at the Rally for Canada at Library Square — one of several similar rallies held nationwide … Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day said the message is clear. ”Canadians want to send a strong message that they don’t want to see a coalition,” said the Okanagan-Coquihalla MP, clad in a Team Canada hockey jersey and Vancouver 2010 scarf. “We’re saying that is enough. Canadians are responding by saying we love Canada — they are rising up.”

Barrie Examiner, Jan. 25, 2010. Getting an idle House of Commons back to work was on the minds of protesters who gathered around Memorial Square downtown, Saturday. About 150 or 300 people — depending upon who you ask — braved cold winter breezes to share their contempt for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s proroguing of Parliament last month until after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver … Conservative MP Patrick Brown did not attend the rally due to other commitments on Saturday, but did send a representative. He suggested there were “151 people” from across the region at the event. ”Out of a catchment area of half a million people, I don’t think 150 people speaks to a great rally,” he said, Sunday. “I think most residents believe this is just a partisan ploy.”

(The Sun story is not available online and was pulled from the archives via Infomart.)

Borders donates leftover books to charity

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:43 PM - 0 Comments

Online activists have protested over the last month about what American bookselling giant Borders planned to do with all the unsold books left over when it finishes closing its 200-store Waldenbooks chain—trash them. Even Borders employees spoke up. Attempting to shame their corporate masters, they formed—in the contemporary way— a Facebook group to support the donation of the books to local libraries and nonprofit organizations instead. The chorus grew loud enough that Borders made some concessions by announcing a new partnership with Gifts In Kind International, announcing “We’ve partnered with leading charitable organization Gifts In Kind International to help donate items that have not sold in Borders and Waldenbooks stores nationwide and cannot be returned to our suppliers—including more than 50,000 individual items.” The news didn’t quiet the critics, who say Borders is only planning to donate “non-returnable” goods, a category that doesn’t include most unsold mass-market books. Thus, a hefty number of books will still be discarded daily.

Huffington Post

Dessert as protest

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:34 PM - 40 Comments

PETA has apparently pied Fisheries Minister Gail Shea.

A PETA protester hit Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea in the face with a tofu cream pie this morning as she arrived at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters… ”A little tofu pie on her face is hardly comparable to the blood on Ms Shea’s hands,” says PETA executive vice-president Tracy Reiman.

Shea differed on the flavour. She said it was more like shaving cream.

Cormier suspended for remainder of season

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:24 PM - 0 Comments

Patrice Cormier’s hockey season is over. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League forward was suspended by the league for the rest of the year for his elbow to the head of Quebec City’s Mikael Tam. Tam went into convulsions after Cormier’s cheap shot and was admitted to hospital with brain trauma. (He has since been released.) A second-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, the 19-year-old Cormier remains eligible to return to his junior squad next year.

CTV News

Colvin a victim of government “reprisal”?

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:13 PM - 5 Comments

In a letter to the Military Police Complaints Commission, Richard Colvin’s lawyer says his client has been the target of retaliation by the government. Colvin, whose testimony before a Parliamentary committee looking into allegations Afghan detainees was sharply critical of the government, claims Ottawa has stopped paying his legal bills, which could prevent him from offering further testimony into the matter. Colvin’s Toronto lawyer, Owen Rees, writes that his client has been left with the “reasonable belief that the denial of legal indemnification is a reprisal for his participation before the committee and the commission.” As a federal employee, Colvin is entitled to legal representation for having been summoned before a Commons committee. However, the Conservatives have yet to agree to any additional funding for the legal fees related to Colvin’s testimony before the Military Police Complaints Commission. “The government of Canada’s inaction in this regard,” Rees writes, “is impeding our client’s ability to participate as a witness before the commission with the assistance of legal counsel, which is appropriate and necessary given the complexity of the legal issues raised, including the government’s claims of national security confidentiality.”

Canadian Press

Ambidextrous kids more likely to have ADHD

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:09 PM - 0 Comments

Children who write with both hands are twice as likely to have difficulty in school, suffering from hyperactivity disorder syndromes and struggling with language, according to a new report. This might be caused by differences in the brain’s wiring, experts say, although more research on the ambidextrous is needed. In the study of 8,000 children in Finland, 87 of whom were ambidextrous, those who could use both hands at 7 or 8 were twice as likely as right-handed peers to have difficulties with language, and perform badly in school. By age 15 or 16, they were at twice the risk of symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and their symptoms appeared to be more severe. Other studies have linked it to dyslexia. Around one in 100 people are ambidextrous, reports the BBC, and which hand a person uses is linked to the brain’s left and right hemispheres: those who use their right hands have a more dominant left hemisphere.

BBC News

How to cut $20-billion from spending without really trying

By Andrew Coyne - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 11:52 AM - 178 Comments

My colleague John Geddes has written a sensible, sobering article explaining just how difficult it will be for the government to balance the books solely by cutting spending, ie without raising taxes.

Yet the notion that layers of glistening blubber are just waiting to be hacked off is only a comforting delusion. There must be fat, sure, but the federal books are well marbled—the less-than-unassailable spending tends to be finely integrated into essential programs. No use pretending that finding savings huge enough on their own to balance the books again is merely a matter of will.

In fact, some of those most experienced on the subject think the task impossible.

Impossible? Impossible is nothing. It’s true, as John suggests, that it can’t be done just by cutting “waste, fraud and duplication”: not because it isn’t there, but because governments aren’t very good at getting at it. Another round of “expenditure review” isn’t going to do the trick, any more than the last several rounds did. But make some fundamental choices about what government should and should not be doing, be prepared to tackle a few entrenched interests, and the task looks quite achievable.

Suppose we were to try to erase the deficit in four years, that is by fiscal 2014. The timetable seems reasonable, as that is the period over which the Parliamentary Budget Officer reckons the cyclical component of the deficit would have been retired by economic growth, leaving only the structural component, which he estimates at $19-billion. So to wipe that out without raising taxes, the government would need to cut about $20-billion out of spending — not from this year’s projected total of $273-billion, but from spending in 2014, projected to be $296-billion. (Where did I get that number from? See page 22 of the September fiscal update, where the government’s five-year spending track is laid out.)

For simplicity’s sake, assume there is nothing we can do about the government’s biggest single spending program, interest payments on the debt — forecast to explode from just under $31-billion this year to $42-billion in 2014. So that means we have to cut $20-billion out of $254-billion in program spending. The $234-billion target that implies is $8-billion less than we’re on track to spend this year. Sounds tough. But this year’s figure is inflated by the enormous surge in one-time spending rushed out the door in the name of stimulating the economy. A better comparison would be with last year’s total of $208-billion. The 12.5% increase in spending this implies between 2009 and 2014 is just slightly more than the combined increase in prices (6.1%) and population (5.3%) projected over the same period.

So the task, in other words, is to hold spending more or less level in real per capita terms, that is after adjusting for inflation and population growth, with where it was last year. That’s hardly savage: In 2014, the government would still be spending the same amount of inflation-adjusted dollars per citizen as it spent in 2009 — which was 25% more inflation-adjusted dollars per citizen than it spent in 2000.

Can it be done? Start with Transfers to other levels of government. The Harper government has promised not to cut these, or not to cut them much. Yet these have been among the fastest growing items of federal spending in recent years, rising from $29-billion in 2004 to $46.5-billion in 2009. By 2014, they are projected to rise to nearly $60-billion, a 28% increase. Suppose instead these were held to the same inflation-plus-population escalator I’ve suggested for the rest of federal spending. On its own, that would shave $8-billion off federal spending, without reducing the real value of per capita transfers by a nickel.

Still, the provinces would squawk. So let’s go easy on them. Let’s just hold transfers level as a percentage of GDP. Instead of growing by 12.5%, as under the inflation-plus-population rule, they’d be allowed to grow 16%, in line with projected GDP (from $1.609 trillion in calendar 2008, my proxy for fiscal 2009, to $1.862 trillion in calendar 2013). They wouldn’t actually be cut, you understand. They just wouldn’t grow quite as fast as planned. That still yields $6-billion in annual savings four years out.

Continue…

Canadian soldier faces murder charge

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 11:48 AM - 0 Comments

Capt. Robert Semrau is in court today facing court martial proceedings. Semrau is charged with second degree murder, attempting to commit murder, behaving in a disgraceful manner, and negligently performing a military duty. The charges refer to Oct. 19, 2008, when Semrau and his troops were ambushed by Taliban insurgents in the Helmand region of Afghanistan. They managed to fight off the ambush, and found two insurgents: one dead, the other wounded. According to a joint statement, the insurgent was wounded too severely for treatment, and when Semrau was left alone with the injured man, two shots were heard. An unnamed witness will testify he saw Semrau shoot the man. The body was left behind and not recovered.

CBC News

'We need clear rules'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 25, 2010 at 11:08 AM - 130 Comments

The Liberal leader is presently explaining what his side hopes to do to limit the Prime Minister’s power to request prorogation. Here would seem to be the gist.

To prevent future abuses of prorogation, the Liberal Party of Canada will seek to amend the Standing Orders of the House of Commons to:

•  Require at least 10 days written notice from the Prime Minister of his intention to seek to prorogue, together with his specific reasons for doing so;
•  Require the Prime Minister to bring the issue of prorogation before the House of Commons for a full debate;
•  Prevent a request for prorogation within the first year after a Speech from the Throne, unless the House consents;
•  Prevent a prorogation longer than one calendar month without the consent of the House;
•  Prevent a request for prorogation if a matter of confidence has been scheduled in the House unless the House consents; and,
•  Allow Parliamentary Committees to continue to function during the period when Parliament is prorogued until the start of the new session.