Idea alert

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 1:33 PM - 122 Comments

Michael Bliss says tax the richest.

Suppose we adjust for inflation and create new tax brackets in which our marginal rates are substantially more than the current 50 per cent. Why not levy a 60-per-cent tax on income after anyone’s first million, and 90 per cent on everything more than $2-million? There would be serious avoidance problems, to be sure, but governments are gradually becoming ruthless at closing loopholes.

In Canada, for example, it might be good tax and social policy simply to abolish entertainment as an allowable business expense. Or we might consider making the income-tax returns of everyone in the highest brackets public documents. While we’re at it, we might also revisit the possibility of levying significant death or succession duties to limit the accumulation of unearned fortunes.

Lobster deaths investigated

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 1:32 PM - 0 Comments

There’s something fishy in the Bay of Fundy. In the wake of hundreds of unexplained lobster deaths, Environment Canada has found that the crustaceans had been exposed to a pesticide that’s illegal to use in marine environments. Officials are now investigating the lobster kills in Grand Manan and Deer Island, during which fisherman pulled up hundreds of dead or weak lobsters. It’s still unknown how Cypermethrin, which is usually used in agriculture, wound up in the Bay of Fundy, as there are few—if any—nearby farms.

CBC

It was a dark and stormy night… on Pandora

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 1:24 PM - 1 Comment

James Cameron probably sat up in bed one night and thought: “How can I ramp up the already off-the-charts hype surrounding my biggest blockbuster ever, Avatar? I know: a book!” Yes, it’s true. Cameron confirms that he is writing an Avatar novel. “There are things you can do in books that you can’t do with films,” he explained. Cameron says the book will follow the plot of the movie “quite closely,” but that it will include extra details and “interior monologues.” He hopes that, like the movie, the Avatar novel will help bring attention to environmental causes. The film has already grossed more than $666 million domestically.

Wall Street Journal

How this works

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 1:18 PM - 30 Comments

Be careful what you say in public.

Here’s how the Tory memo quotes him on marijuana: “I am a big fan of decriminalizing marijuana.” Young people tell me we should make it legal and “take the money and do something with it. I understand that.”

Here’s what he said when asked about legalizing marijuana: “Yeah, I’m not a big fan of that. I am a big fan of decriminalizing marijuana. I understand the argument. And I tell you . . . this has been raised at schools like Auburn and Dartmouth High, the kids are saying, look, why don’t you make this legal, take the money and do something with it? I understand that. I just don’t know that we are at a place where we need to be legalizing more things that are dangerous.”

How ‘The Beaver’ lost its name

By Martin Patriquin - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 1:00 PM - 4 Comments

The Beaver is no longer, killed off on its 90th birthday. As of its April issue, the name of Canada’s second oldest magazine has been scrubbed from the masthead, replaced with Canada’s History. Though its staff says the name change is necessary to reflect its evolution—“We’ve become a multi-platform magazine,” says editor Mark Reid—the main reason was to put an end to the snickering, once and for all.

Call it death by double entendre. Rarely has the title evoked only the industrious, slick-haired rodent. The term’s other, more carnal meaning, a slang term for a specific part of the female anatomy, has been a distraction for years, cheapening this earnest, wholesome publication, clogging subscriber spam filters and ultimately hurting its bottom line. “Yes, I like beavers, the animals, just as much as anybody else,” Reid said recently.

“It’s a historic creature, it’s on our nickel, it’s a proud part of the fur trade. But in the 21st century, if you are going to rebrand your entire organization, including all that you do, ‘beaver’ is probably not going to be the word that best speaks to what you do, if you know what I mean.”

Continue…

Alexandre Bilodeau’s coming out party

By Anne Kingston - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 12:12 PM - 9 Comments

Some 48 hours after winning Canada’s first gold medal on home soil, Alexandre Bilodeau has become part of the national narrative, a reminder of the Olympic’s role as platform for myth-making. That was evident last night as the sweet, humble 23-year-old skier was celebrated at a swish reception thrown in the offices of Teck Corp, the outfit that mines the metal that goes into Olympic medals. The company had dibbs on tossing a party for the first Canadian athlete to bring home gold. And they did it up big at a gathering crammed with IOC and VANOC people and politicos Gary Lunn and Hedy Fry. Also present was Bilodeau’s entire family, who seem quite understandably overwhelmed by the sudden klieg-light glare—which has also served to shine a needed light on cerebral palsy after the skier named his older brother Frédéric, who is afflicted with the condition, his inspiration and hero.

After a series of speeches by Teck execs, the nation’s newest heartthrob was handed a maple leaf medal made from the same pool as the Olympic medals. He captivated the crowd with a short speech in which he recalled standing at the top of the mountain before his run: “I smile and say, ‘I’m so glad to be Canadian,’” he said, adding: “I didn’t say that to say that; the mountain was shaking.”

The crowd, busy capturing his image in their cell phones was enchanted with the young man from Rosemère, Que., relieved someone so level-headed, so modest, so apparently intelligent in his priorities, had nabbed the historic gold. “I’m glad it was him and not someone else,” one man told me. Another woman said: “He’s so nice, not arrogant at all. I really hope that lasts.”

Then it was over. On the way out waiters stood like sentries by the elevators, holding platters of gold-leaf dipped chocolate truffles. So by the time guests walked into the Vancouver night they too were dusted with traces of glittering gold.

Emergency motion from Khadr's lawyers

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 11:40 AM - 2 Comments

Lawyers for accused terrorist Omar Khadr are going to federal court to try and reverse a government decision asking the U.S. to refrain from using evidence gathered by Canadian officials in the prosecution of their client. The decision comes after the Supreme Court ruled that the government was violating Khadr’s rights by participating in his U.S. detention, but did not go so far as to demand his repatriation to Canada. Khadr’s legal team say the government has ignored their requests to make submissions about how to interpret the Court’s ruling, and that it should have advised them of the move. Alex Neve, Secretary General for Amnesty International in Canada, says the government is trying to do as little as possible to help Khadr. “This government will remain defiant about Omar Khadr’s plight until the very end,” he said. “They will do nothing if they can get away with it.”

CBC

Luger arrives home

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 11:31 AM - 0 Comments

“Why have I survived you?” The chilling cry of a mother who must soon bury her young son. On Wednesday, the body of Nodar Kumaritashvili—the 21-year-old Georgian luger who died during a practice run in Vancouver—arrived in his hometown of Bakuriani. His coffin was draped in a Georgian flag. One of the mourners who came to greet the coffin was Levan Gureshidze, another Bakuriani luger who dropped out of the Olympics after his friend’s accident. “How could I take part in competition after that?” he said to reporters. Olympic officials have blamed the accident on Kumaritashvili himself—amidst growing concern that Vancouver’s $100-million-plus venue is too fast and too technically demanding.

CBC

Hells Angels unhappy with prison life

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 11:20 AM - 33 Comments

The Hells Angels aren’t happy with their new prison digs. A number of the bikers rounded up en masse during Operation SharQc last spring say they have had it with the cramped quarters and lack of visitation hours provided to them. According to a motion filed in Superior Court by lawyer Sylvie Bordelais–she represented Karla Homolka upon her release in 2005–many of the bikers, holed up in Montreal’s Bordeau Jail awaiting trial on a plethora of gang-related and murder charges, are suffering health-related problems, and they must remain behind glass during family visits, save for twice a year. “How can you justify this rupture with a family?” Bordelais asked. “How do you explain that their children are restricted from contact with their fathers?”

La Presse

James Cameron has no clothes

By Robert Fulford - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 10:50 AM - 18 Comments

No less an eminence than Roger Ebert has identified the special status of Avatar, the most ambitious film by the most celebrated Canadian filmmaker in history, James Cameron. “It is an Event,” Ebert wrote, “one of those films you feel you must see to keep up with the conversation.”

No one will deny that it’s currently the subject of several million conversations, but the meaning of the Event deserves scrutiny. Is Avatar, as Cameron’s publicity implies, a gateway to the movies of the future and an affirmation of elevated spiritual values in a coarse, commercial world? Or is it the sign of an art form in grave danger of losing its heart to technique, proof of a public addiction to worn-out storytelling—and fresh evidence that North America is the first society in history that willingly pays good money to see itself depicted as essentially evil?

When a work of science fiction runs dry it becomes a minor footnote to contemporary fashions in opinion. Avatar, more than most films, drives itself into this narrative dead end. It comes across as a commercial for the Green party, a New Age hymn to pure nature, and a florid work of anti-war propaganda, a simple-minded story of an army dedicated to evil purposes fighting a nation of innocent victims.

Continue…

The best thing to happen to the Liberals

By Andrew Potter - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 10:49 AM - 83 Comments

Looking for a Liberal in Ottawa last fall was like a trip into the heart of darkness. You would eventually find a crew of them, hunched over the latest polling data in some dark corner of the Centre Block, where they’d give you the 1,000-yard stare and mutter quietly about the party lacking leadership and direction. The whole miserable session culminated in the legendary Night of the Long Faces, when a group of Liberals repaired to a bar at the Chateau Laurier for a bitch session that the Toronto Star breathlessly reported as a nascent coup being mounted by Bob Rae to topple Michael Ignatieff.

Everything is relative, more so in politics, but in the early months of 2010 it is suddenly a good time to be a Liberal. It’s easy to find Liberals on the Hill these days; with the government off “recalibrating” its agenda, they are striding around like they own the place. And why not? Ever since Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament over the Christmas holidays, the polling gap between the Conservatives and the Liberals has vanished, and for the past three weeks, Ekos tracking polls have had the two parties in a dead heat.

The received wisdom is that the Tory lead (which before Christmas one pollster called “entrenched”) vanished because of public anger over the prorogation, and many pundits have suggested that Harper’s inability to pass up an opportunity to show how clever he is has backfired once again. And there certainly appears to be something to that. Most people are genuinely annoyed that Parliament is not sitting, probably for the simple reason that most people don’t get to simply decide not to go to work for two months, least of all in the dead of winter.

Continue…

More than nukes: European Parliament calls for sanctions on Iranians "responsible for the repression and curtailment of freedom."

By Michael Petrou - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 10:44 AM - 2 Comments

The resolution is here.

An article I wrote making a similar argument is here.

Winter Olympics: Whistler Photo Album No. 3

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 10:38 AM - 18 Comments

An American child touches the Canadian Buddha. Quick: We need a Canadian kid to go touch the American Jesus!

So far as I can tell, this man spends his entire day walking around Whistler and having his photo taken with various passersby. Often he is swigging beer from a plastic cup. Santa Claus, I beg of you: reach out to Continue…

How utterly, charmingly, quaintly, sickeningly Canadian

By Martin Patriquin - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 9:45 AM - 40 Comments

So, we import an Aussie from that ‘other’ enlightened former colony to pretty up the opening ceremonies. Said Aussie includes a handful of French talent almost as an afterthought, illuminating what we all know to be true: only on paper is Canada an officially bilingual country. Quebec media freaks out, English Canada freaks out at this freak out. This guy, this guy, these guys and, wow, this guy all find themselves saying roughly the same thing, albeit with varying degrees of rhetoric. As a result, French is quickly backloaded into the closing ceremonies, likely prompting more of the above.

Canada: kingdom of the mutually aggrieved.

Hard v. soft

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 9:06 AM - 24 Comments

Glen Pearson responds to the Prime Minister’s assessment of Canadian power in Haiti and the perceived implication contained therein.

Canada’s investment in Haiti goes back to 1963, when the government of day moved in quickly to defend Canadian citizens trapped on the island in the face of political tensions.That was soft power. In 1993, under a Liberal government, Canada was part of a multinational force that was called to Haiti after then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown. Canada along with the U.S, Argentina, France and the Netherlands sent warships to enforce an embargo on Haiti’s oil, arms and foreign funds. That was hard power, and Stephen Harper knows it.

If these Games be the worst…

By Colby Cosh - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 7:52 AM - 112 Comments

British journalists are not the only ones raising awkward questions about the multitudinous stumbles that have characterized the beginning of the Winter Olympics. They merely attract the most attention, for reasons that have nothing much to do with the truth or falsehood of their criticisms. These reasons include:

1. Cultural cringe: the inherent Canadian awareness of inferiority, and suspicion of condescension, provoked by anything British-accented. No beast is feebler than the Canadian journalist who wraps himself in the flag and rushes tearfully to his typewriter or microphone upon the first hint of perceived sneering at the colonials. Don’t get me wrong: it’s good copy. I saw the technique, used cynically, work like a charm at the ’01 Athletics Worlds here in Edmonton when a couple of old Fleet Street soaks spoke unlacquered truth about the city’s broad streak of Soviet shabbiness. But to engage on that level is to perpetuate the cringe, and besides, there’s reason 2:

2. Criticisms naturally hit harder when they’re written with great force. British writers are vigorous, direct, unflinching, entertainment-minded, and, in general, better at their trade than ours. (Rest assured—they’ll be, if anything, much harder on their own 2012 Summer Games.) Their newspapers are more fun than ours, pay good writers much more, and are doing better as businesses. They are also rank with ethical failings and obnoxious practices, to be sure, but almost all of those arise from trying too hard to get the story, intruding too far into private matters, competing too viciously, overreacting to perceived injustice. The failings of Canada’s press are all, as a rule, on the other side—the side of compromise, laziness, and political correctness. For instance, look no further than reason 3:

3. Canadian journalists covering the Games have, virtually to a man, accepted the premise that the Games provide an accurate moral, artistic, and technical reflection on Canada as a whole. I don’t remember signing that contract, and if I were going to sign one with a city and its business and volunteer communities, I wouldn’t have chosen Vancouver. Are you kidding? Place is screwy! As it happens, Alberta already staked its international reputation on a Winter Olympics, thanks, and did fine. The rest of you are quite welcome to let yourselves be judged on the basis of this fiasco, but as far as I can see, you haven’t been asked.

I hasten to add that the relative success of the 1988 Games—painfully emphasized by the Great Calgary Zamboni Airlift—is not entirely to Alberta’s credit. After all, Beijing put on a heck of an Olympics, but I wouldn’t want to live there. It put on an outstanding show partly for the reasons I wouldn’t want to live there: crushing social homogeneity, one-party government, lack of civil liberties, central economic planning. If the Games needed a row of shacks in Beijing knocked down, they got knocked down, without a lot of paperwork or argument. If industrial pollution was a problem, mills and factories could be shut down arbitrarily for as long as needed to render the air breathable by gweilo weaklings. Protesters delaying VIP access to the Opening Ceremonies? In China? Forget about it. (Literally: forget about it or you’ll be sent to the laogai for re-education.)

I don’t mean to equate Calgary to Beijing, but the factors that allowed Calgary to succeed as an Olympic host probably did include weak political opposition on the municipal and provincial levels; a small, dominant social-financial elite; a certain degree of cultural homogeneity; and a borderline-inappropriate degree of coziness between legislators, regulators, and judges. What you want in an ideal Olympic city is that it be quite rich, very conformist, and a teensy bit crooked. Calgary wouldn’t be as good a host in 2010 as it was in 1988; it’s a more interesting place now.

And Vancouver may have bitten off slightly more than it can chew, precisely because it’s about the most interesting place in the country, in good respects and bad. It’s not a well-oiled machine, it’s a self-sufficient permanent riot. I have always understood its disorder to be part of its glory. I would have put an Olympics on the moon before I’d have put one there.

Oh, Patrick! Canadian boy wonder Patrick Chan out of podium picture

By Nancy Macdonald - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 6:41 AM - 5 Comments

Patrick Chan, Canada’s great hope in the men’s figure skating field, stumbled early in front of a loud and adoring crowd in Vancouver last night; it was the first of three costly errors that pushed the 19-year-old into seventh place—and out of medal contention ahead of Thursday’s free skate (Chan also stumbled in a step sequence, and took a one-point deduction for finishing behind his music in the 2 1/2-minute program).

“I don’t have an answer for it,” Chan said when asked about the early mistake. “I don’t know what happened,” he added—valiantly flashing that trademark, wide-eyed smile. “I’ve been playing it over in my mind.”

All, however, is not lost. Chan, the 2009 world silver medalist, will be a more mature 23 at Sochi. And hey—we’ve got us a great race for gold, come Thursday. The top three—Turin gold-medallist Russian Evgeni Plushenko, U.S. reigning world champ, Evan Lysacek, and Japan’s Daisuke Takahashit—are so close, they’re virtually tied.

Already, some have begun hyping the event as the most riveting figure skating final since the “Battle of the Brians,” at Calgary ’88.

Plushenko, who came out of a three-year retirement at the behest of his new wife rocketed to the top spot early with a 90.85 score (and a stunning, trademark quad). Lysacek, dressed in a raven-inspired (I think), skin-tight black unitard finished just .55 points behind him. Neither he, nor Takahashit—who came just .05 points behind him—attempted a quad.

“Without quadruples, I don’t know, sorry, but it’s not men. It’s not men’s figure skating,” Plushenko has said, taunting his competitors.

Retirement, clearly, has neither dulled Plushenko’s edge, nor his pizazz. He flirted shamelessly with the adoring crowd, the cameras, even some of the judges. Before leaving the ice, the blond, 27-year-old kissed his gloved knuckles then mimed brandishing a sword high in the air, sheathing it at his left.

Once untouchable, however, he’s facing tough competition for gold tomorrow.

Lysacek—the U.S.’s best hope for a gold since Brian Boitano took it from Canada’s Brian Orser at Calgary—was uncharacteristically emotional following his dazzling short program, pumping his fists, dropping to his knees and burying his head in his hands; as his scores appeared, he fought back tears. He later admitted that he’d been feeling pressure as the reigning world champion, and that he’d had a “little bit of a monkey” on his back, thinking back to his last Olympics, where he “blew” his short program, and had the “worst night” of his life.

The trio will have a day to prepare for the free skate; Plushenko, known as the “Quad King,” will try to become the first man to win repeat gold medals since 1952 with a jump-heavy program tomorrow.

“It’s the Olympic Games, so I will be nervous,” Plushenko said. “But I have a gold Olympic medal and I have a silver Olympic medal. I don’t care about the result.”

On the run

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 12:30 AM - 1 Comment

Included among the hundreds of films now online from the National Film Board is History on the Run, an entirely fascinating documentary about the media and the 1979 federal election that climaxes with a technical explanation of how best to light Joe Clark’s chin.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.922584&w=425&h=350&fv=mID%3DIDOBJ13393%26bufferTime%3D15%E2%8C%A9%3Den%E2%84%91%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.nfb.ca%2Fmedias%2Fnfb_tube%2Fthumbs_large%2F2010%2FHistory-on-the-Run_BIG.jpg%26width%3D516%26height%3D337%26bookmarksURL%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfb.ca%2Fremote%2Fget_bookmarks%2Fhistory_on_the_run%2F%26getPlaylistOnEnd%3Dtrue%26playlist_id%3DREL13393%26showWarningMessages%3Dfalse%26enableJavascriptAPI%3Dtrue]

Aside from the fashions, technologies and attitudes toward indoor smoking, I’m not sure much has changed.

We have lift-off

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 12:29 AM - 0 Comments

Even from their bubble in the athletes’ village, members of the Canadian men’s hockey team could see it—a gathering tide of red flags and banners and No. 87 jerseys, slowly filling the streets of Vancouver.

Scott Niedermayer’s spirits lifted.

“We’re pretty locked down, you know, behind gates the whole way,” he says. “But yeah, we could see the fans, and it was great. The town’s having a lot of fun right now. That’s the way it should be.”

But there’s a downside to all that expectation. A quickened pulse, a tighter grip on the stick, an urge to move too quickly. “Puckering up,” as Canadian coach Mike Babcock vividly described it.

And for 23 minutes tonight, the Canadian men were about as clenched as a team can be, bobbling passes, overshooting their checks and generally playing at the level of the Norwegian team they were supposed to grind under their skates. In the dressing room after the first period, with the score 0-0, they went over the basics, reassuring themselves that everything would be okay.

They were right. After Jarome Iginla scored at 2:30 of the second period, one-timing a perfect pass from Sidney Crosby on the power play, they were off to an 8-0 win in their first game of a tournament their own coach suggests could be the best international meet ever. Norway just couldn’t cope when the rugged Canadian forwards began jamming the front of the net and cycling in the offensive zone, executing crisp passes.

Iginla finished with a hat trick that official scorers will acknowledge after watching a replay of a third-period goal credited to Rick Nash. Dany Heatley got two, while Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Mike Richards each scored once.

“It was a pretty tough game for us, of course,” said Norwegian coach Roy Johansen. “We didn’t have the strength in the third period to keep up.”

In retrospect, Canada’s slow start was predictable. Nothing less than gold will do for this team, the first bona fide, top-drawer squad to ever compete in an Olympics on Canadian soil. Or so we keep hearing from the foreign press (just in case you thought psych-warfare is restricted to the ice surface).

The question was how they would cope. As Babcock pointed out, a flukey power-play goal by Norway earlier on could have worsened the, uh, pucker, leading the Scandinavians to believe in their capacity to kill giants.

For the Canadian players, the key was simplification. Three of their five goals in the third period came thanks to goal-mouth traffic; they used their size to get pucks in deep, and shot when the shooting was good. Babcock’s task was a little more complicated. His pivotal move was to re-unite a line he tried at a summer selection camp with mixed results: Crosby, Iginla and Rick Nash.

The result? The trio finished the game with a combined eight points. “It’s pretty exciting to play with Sid. Every pass is in your wheelhouse,” Iginla said later. “On that first goal, I was just backing up, hoping to get open. He gave one fake and gives me a wide-open shot.”

And Patrice Bergeron, who lost his spot on the Crosby line, made a better fit on an energy trio with Mike Richards and Jonathan Toews. He collected a hard-won assist on Richards’s goal, carrying the puck behind the Norwegian net shorthanded, and leaving it for Richards to score on a wrap-around.

At that point, everyone on the Canadian bench seemed to relax, and their confidence was most evident on the power-play, which loosened into a puck-moving dynamo after a couple of squandered opportunities late in the first. The team finished up 2-6 with the man-advantage.

Roberto Luongo, playing before his NHL home crowd, was the one Canadian who seemed immune from nerves, stoning the Norwegians on the few good opportunities their 15 shots on goal afforded—twice early in the game. Canada fired 34 on Pal Grotnes and Andre Lysenstoen (Grotnes, who looked sharp despite giving up the first four goals, left with a leg cramp early in the third).

What conclusions can be drawn from the win?

Not many. At ice level, Norway’s players looked conspicuously smaller and weaker than the Canadians—especially the towering presences of Nash, Staal and Pronger. Canada will face much tougher competition later in the week against Switzerland (Thursday) and the U.S. (Sunday).

But if pressure is Canada’s unseen enemy in this tournament, well, they slew the foe tonight with extreme prejudice.

Pucker be gone.

8:0 Should men’s hockey be an Olympic sport?

By Nancy Macdonald - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 10:02 PM - 2 Comments

Canada women’s coach Mel Davidson—who’s gone to lengths to try to explain that lopsided scores in early tournament play aren’t unique to the women’s game—should be happy with Canada’s lopsided win over Norway tonight.

Davidson says she’s received emails calling Canada—who beat Switzerland by a nine-goal differential last night—“classless,” and “disrespectful.”

Olympic photos: Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 8:41 PM - 0 Comments

Amid the stench of cronyism, Charest strikes a lousy deal with Jewish schools

By Philippe Gohier - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 8:26 PM - 14 Comments

The cynical side of Jean Charest has to be loving this controversy about the presence of French at the Olympics. It’s such an easy play for someone in his position: weigh in just enough to look concerned, but not enough to look like a grouch. Leave the heavy lifting to people like Réjean Tremblay, who was annoyed at the lack of French even before the Olympics started and who has since cranked up the outrage-o-meter to eleventy-billion, and Pauline Marois, who somehow imagines joining a three-day-old pile-on that’s doing perfectly fine without her is good politics.

But make no mistake—Charest needs this controversy more than anyone else, if only for the distraction it provides. The past two weeks have exposed a potentially devastating fact about his government: it is incapable of learning from crises. Nowhere is this more evident than in the special rules the Quebec government recently implemented to make life easier for ultra-religious private Jewish schools that openly flout the province’s education guidelines.

Continue…

Men's hockey: Canada 8 Norway 0 (F)

By Charlie Gillis - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 7:18 PM - 8 Comments

3rd Period

There’s your emphatic finish!

Size, strength and talent took over in the third period, as Iginla scored twice, completing his hat trick, Getzlaf scored twice and Heatley once. Canada finished up the game with a series of looonggg cycles in the Norwegian zone. Final score: 8-0 Canada. Shots on goal: 45-15.

Shutout for hometown hero Roberto Luongo.

*Memo to Andre Lysenstoen, the Norwegian goaltender who replaced starter Pal Grotnes: do not—repeat not—tease Dany Heatley a with quarter-acre of net on the short side.

Ever.

2nd Period

All right everyone. You can exhale.

Canada’s first goal of the Olympics could not have been more emphatic—a pretty little feed from Crosby straight into Jarome Iginla’s wheelhouse. That broke the dam, and man, could you feel the surge of excitement in the building. Everyone on the Canadian bench looked relieved.

Canada did make some adjustments between periods. Clearly run-and-gun isn’t going to work against this hardworking Norwegian team—not until they get tired, and stop busting up passes through the middle. So Canada simplified its game, trying to generate chances by working the puck deep and getting in Grotnes’s face. Corey Perry ran him down. Bergeron did too, and got tagged with a penalty. But the message got sent. No more Mr. Nice Canuck.

Babcock is also working the lines to greater advantage. After Iginla’s goal, he sent the two out together and they generated a couple of more chances alongside Rick Nash. The three had played on the same line during a summer prep camp, but the coaches hadn’t like the result and subbed Iginla with Patrice Bergeron. They look all right now.

Meantime, the coaches have made an effective grind line of Bergeron, Toews and Richards (did I just call those guys a grind line? wow). Bergeron and Richards thanked them by combining on a goal that for intents and purposes was shorthanded, as Eric Staal was just opening the gate on the penalty box.

Babcock is clearly still experimenting. Staal, Perry and Getzlaf don’t look like much of a power-play unit. But how do you know until you try?

Stay tuned. Shots are 30-10, but they’ll want a convincing finish.

1st Period

Do you think these guys might be just a little nervous?

How else to describe the plague of missed passes, wide shots and over-shot bodychecks that characterized Canada’s first period in this (what was it, Mike?) the best hockey event all time? When Crosby wheels across the crease, sending Norwegian goaltender Pal Grotnes into a pratfall, but misses the yawning cage; when Ryan Getzlaf forgets about no-touch icing and sends an end-boards pass to a streaking Eric Staal, well, there’s not much you can say. The pressure must be crushing.

The seemed to settle a bit on two late power-plays, especially when the San Jose Sharks troika of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau got rolling.

Still, you’d have to consider this period a national triumph for Norway, even though they surrendered 14 shots and got just four on Roberto Luongo. Grotnes, a rangy 32-year-old who plays for Stjernen Fredrikstad of the I-dunno-what league, made some terrific saves, including a glove-side robbery on Crosby at the 17:32 mark.

Canada has played Norway three times in Olympic competition, winning all three times by a combined score of 29-3. Someone’s been teaching them.

*******

“I think this could be the best hockey event of all time.”

—Canadian coach Mike Babcock, yesterday

We doubt Babcock was talking about Canada v. Norway.

But you’d think so if you were standing in Canada Hockey Place. The rumble when Team Canada took the ice for the warm-up would have put a freight train to shame—and that’s with only two thirds of the seats full. The lower half of the building is a crimson mixing bowl, plastered with folks wearing Luongo, Crosby and Niedermayer jerseys.

The Killers are playing on the sound system. They’re cheering for the horn that ended the warm-up.

Get ready, Norway. This ain’t gonna to be easy.

LIVE BLOG: Canada v. Norway, men's hockey

By Yoni Goldstein - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 7:18 PM - 5 Comments

7:20 p.m.
This is it: the moment we’ve been waiting for. It’s gold or bust in hockey.

7:30 p.m.
First off, let me say this: I’m pumped for Olympic hockey. I’m as nervous-excited, at this moment, as I was for the gold medal game in Salt Lake City.

7:31 p.m.
That said, I’ve got a feeling we won’t be winning men’s hockey gold. Russians are super-good; Americans are better than expected. I’d guess we’re looking at silver or bronze.

7:33 p.m. Why Luongo’s starting, I have no idea.

7:35 p.m. Wow. Crowd is crazy!

7:36 p.m. Pronger’s playing in his fourth Olympics. ‘Nuff said. He shouldn’t be on this team.

7:39 p.m. They should have scored by now. I’m disappointed.

7:41 p.m. This dump and cycle play is awful. Reason #1 why they should not be playing on NHL-size ice.

7:42 p.m. I’d say chances are about even thus far. Bad sign.

7:44 p.m. First break thoughts: This looks like an NHL game, which is bad. The bigger ice would have been a major improvement.

7:48 p.m. Two things the NHL can learn from the IIHF: 1) a high stick is always a penalty in the IIHF — no matter whether it was a follow-through or not; 2) no-touch icing makes so much sense.

7:53 p.m. Useless fact about Norway: There are 37 ice rinks in the country. Thanks, consortium.

7:54 p.m. Fun fact: Pierre McGuire’s first name?

7:56 p.m. Answer: Regis!

7:58 p.m. Is it just me, or you also expecting Canada to score every time down the ice … and then you get disappointed when they don’t?

8:00 p.m. Ice doesn’t look to solid. Lots of bouncing pucks.

8:02 p.m. Best shift so far for Canada: Good hit by Bergeron; nice shot by Crosby.

8:05 p.m. McGuire thinks Canada’s playing well so far. No goals against a team with no NHLers (and only 37 rinks IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY) = not playing well

8:07 p.m. End of period: Canada 0 , Norway 0.

8:10 p.m. I said it earlier, and I’ll say it again: The first period played out like a typical NHL game. Much slower than an international game; less skill; less speed; less fun for viewers.

8:25 p.m. Ooooh! Goal review!

8:26 p.m. On the board! 1-0 Canada. Iginla on the one-timer. Nice pass from Crosby.

8:26 p.m. And the youngster Doughty gets his first point.

8:31 p.m. 2-0 Canada. Pronger from the point. Uh, forget what I said earlier about Prong not being right for this team.

8:33 p.m. Whatever Babcock said in the dressing room between periods must have got through.

8:33 p.m. Should be 3-0. Mike Richards just missed an open net.

8:38 p.m. Luongo just made his first real stop of the night.

8:40 p.m. Information about Team Canada I didn’t need to know: Chris Pronger and Drew Doughty are roomies for the Games.

8:43 p.m. 3-0. Heckuva play by Mike Richards.

8:45 p.m. Much better period for Canada. Goals aside, they look far more alive and less tentative.

8:47 p.m. Norway’s Mats Zuccarello Aasen: best name in the tourney.

8: 49 p.m. They just played “My Sharona” in the arena. RIP, Doug Fieger.

8:54 p.m. Canadian team looks a bit tired. Wonder if the NHLers are feeling the effects after a few days off and just one practice.

8:56 p.m. Heatley takes a dumb penalty. That won’t fly — even against Norway.

8:58 p.m. End of second period. Canada 3 , Norway 0.
Boys looked much in the second 20, little bit tired in the last 5 minutes.
Babcock switched up the lines — subbed Iginla for Bergeron on the top line. You get the feeling this is still a work in progress.
Expect a quiet third period.

9:04 p.m. Boy, this is weak intermission stuff. One of the bad things (or perhaps the only bad thing) about the Ceeb not broadcasting the Olympics: no Don Cherry. Heck, I’d even take Satellite Hot Stove right now.

9:14 p.m. Crosby takes a bad penalty. He’s been playing with an edge all game. Went a bit over there.

9:16 p.m. As Jim Hughson would say: Great save Luongo!

9:19 p.m. 4-0. Getzlaf missed an open net, then picks up the rebound from a point shot.

9:20 p.m. Norway switches goalies. The extent of information known about goalie #2: According to Pierre McGuire, “he’s a big person.”

9:23 p.m. Real question now: Will Luongo get the shutout?

9:25 p.m. 5-0 Canada. Heatley with a bullet.

9:26 p.m. McGuire just described Canada’s play as a “full-frontal assault.” Earlier, he termed Canada’s strategy as “H-A-R-D HARD.” Hmm …

9:27 p.m. Well, that was pretty. Nash to Crosby to Iginla. 6-0 Canada.