LIVE BLOG Men’s hockey: Canada 3, Slovakia 2 (F)

By Scott Feschuk - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 5:41 PM - 18 Comments

Did you catch the very end of the U.S.-Finland game? I’m a little worried – not so much by the American victory, which was impressive, as by what I saw afterward.

When the buzzer sounded, the broadcast cut to the suite from which U.S. GM Brian Burke and his gang were watching – and we saw Burke and company exchange a series of double fist bumps. Both fists, tight together directly in front the body, touch the other guy’s two fists, boom!

Does Steve Yzerman have an equally manly victory ritual of his own that he shares with his underlings? Could this be our Achilles heel? Quick, send someone out to the team bus to teach Yzerman a jive handsake!

The day’s second semi-final in men’s hockey, pitting Canada against Slovakia, gets underway at 6:30 PT. See you then.

5:09 p.m. PT They’re showing the gold medal match in women’s curling on the scoreboard screen at Canada Hockey Place. A win for the home side would be historic, in that Continue…

Why American Idol needs Haeley Vaughn

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 4:42 PM - 3 Comments

Could Hillary Clinton win American Idol? This is not an entirely facetious question.

As Idol debuted its Top 24 this week, the women’s half of the competition breaks down like a Democratic presidential primary: one obvious and seemingly inevitable front-runner (think Hillary), several intriguing prospects who could be brilliant or disastrous (Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Bill Clinton, Bill Bradley, Paul Tsongas or Barack Obama) and a few unremarkable candidates who will soon be forgotten (Dick Gephardt).

The last group is not particularly worth dwelling upon. Two—Janell and Ashley—were eliminated in the competition’s first viewer vote. The rest (Lacey, Michelle Paige and Didi) will probably be gone in short order.

The middle group is both the most interesting, albeit least likely to succeed. Of this year’s 12 final girls, at least five qualify here. Lilly is a punky former busker with platinum blond bangs who sang a relatively obscure Beatles song (Fixing a Hole) this week. Katelyn is this season’s temptress, all big eyes and curly hair, who performed the Beatles’ Oh! Darling this week, while wearing a black leather skirt and bright red lipstick. Siobhan is a glass-blowing apprentice from Cape Cod who sang Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game in an surprisingly deep voice. Crystal is a dreadlocked mum with one of those chin piercings who sang an Alanis Morrisette song while playing guitar and harmonica.

Most intriguing is Haeley Vaughn, a 16-year-old, black, female country singer and guitarist with a way of singing that can only be described as odd-sounding. She turned I Want To Hold Your Hand into something almost reggae. Kara said she was “very pure,” Ellen said she shone, Simon said she was “a complete and utter mess.” Ellen countered that if she was a mess, she was a “hot mess.” It is difficult to express just how wildly divergent the possibilities are here. Haeley could be one of the most intriguing and unique performers in Idol history. She could end up being responsible for one of most excruciating performances in the history of American television. She could be Bill Clinton, she might be Howard Dean.

The clear and unquestionable favourite is Katie Stevens, a savvy 17-year-old who swaggered her way through a Michael Buble song this week. She is pretty and cute and blessed of a big voice. She has an endearing story: her quest for stardom set up as a race against the time and memory of her ailing grandmother. She seems somehow descended from the most successful Idols: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks, pleasingly and unostentatiously talented and attractive.

If a woman is to win this year’s Idol—Simon Cowell is on record as saying this year’s winner is most likely to be female—it should be Katie Stevens. And maybe that’s a problem.

It is, for one thing, harder to impress when you’re expected to be great. Katie was more or less fine this week, but she was scolded for seeming too contrived and not acting her age. For another, it is harder to be motivated if unchallenged. The unrivalled front-runner tempts doom (see Al Gore or John Kerry).

Cowell has said he wants to find the next Taylor Swift, someone “relevant.” That, right now, isn’t Katie Stevens. And that’s why Idol might need Haeley Vaughn.

Sorry, so sorry

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 4:23 PM - 4 Comments

A Danish newspaper, Politiken, is being heavily criticized for apologizing for republishing a cartoon in 2008 that critics claims was blasphemous. The cartoon, which depicted the Prophet Muhammad  wearing a bomb-shaped turban, was initially published by the Jyllands-Posten in 2006 and led to riots by Muslims around the world. Politiken, which reprinted the cartoon along with other media after police uncovered an alleged plot to murder the cartoonist, said its apology was part of a settlement with Muslim groups in the Middle East and Australia. On Friday, the Danish Union of Journalists described Politiken as “kneeling before opponents of the freedom of press.”

BBC

Federal budget deficit hits $39.4-billion

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 4:18 PM - 14 Comments

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will have some explaining to do as he announces the budget on March 4. Canada’s deficit numbers from April through December 2009 have hit $39.4 billion, compared with a surplus of $0.4 billion in the same nine month period in the last fiscal year. The Department of Finance’s monthly Fiscal Monitor report attributes the deficit to lower tax revenues, an aging population and higher program expenses. 16 billion can be attributed to Canada’s Economic Action Plan. So far, the deficit numbers are in line with Flaherty’s prediction of a $56 billion deficit for the year, although his initial 2009-2010 budget called for a deficit of $33.7 billion. Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page suggested last week that taxes will need to be raised to balance the budget, despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledge not to do so.

CTV News

Which Intro Is Cheesier? A Partial TGIF Flashback

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 4:16 PM - 2 Comments

There are some things that are never going to come back. One of those things is the Miller-Boyett main title, a minute and a half of newly-filmed (no clips) footage of the cast mugging, playing, running, and above all, doing a big awkward smile-and-shrug when it’s time for their credit. The only network that has that kind of time for a main title is HBO, and there has been no word of plans to hire Jesse Frederick or take their casts out to a grassy field for some on-camera frolicking.

Anyway, we all know the Miller-Boyett biggies – Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, The Hogan Family – and some of us even know a few of the lesser-known ones like Joanie Loves Chachi and Angie. But then there are the shows nobody remembers or should remember. But the main titles live on; so of their two flop shows from 1990, which one has the more epically cheesy intro?

Was it the TGIF bomb Going Places, whose Jesse Frederick theme I previously used for my “30 Rock Re-tooled by Miller-Boyett” video?

Or was it the Gregory Harrison star vehicle The Family Man, one of the team’s few CBS productions? Note that, in a revolutionary change, the Jesse Frederick/Bennett Salvay theme song is an instrumental. I can’t listen to it without thinking that Mr. Frederick must be longing to put lyrics to it and croak out a vocal.

The lack of lyrics and volleyball-playing Heather Locklear makes the Family Man intro far duller, but I think the weakish special effects on the model airplane, plus the scene of Gregory doing his job as a fireman, may give the CBS show the edge in cheesiness. Though when it comes to the final epic shot of the cast enjoying the sheer awesomeness of their lives — an M-B staple — I think Going Places‘ sailboat may even beat out Larry and Balki going to the theatre. I mean, they probably weren’t going to see anything good.

China's man in Canada

By Michael Friscolanti - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 4:14 PM - 1 Comment

The Chinese women’s curling team (yes, China has a women’s curling team) captured an Olympic bronze medal this morning, whipping Switzerland 12-6. Watching it all unfold from the first row—and shedding a few tears afterwards—was a big bear of a man dressed in a red China jacket: Dan Rafael, their Canadian coach.

“I’m a little emotional,” said the Montrealer, who has helped transform the Communist state into a curling powerhouse. “It’s been two-and-a-half years of my life. What can I say? It’s worth it.”

Although the image still generates giggles, those who follow curling understand just how good the Chinese rink has become. In a country with 1.3 billion people—including 1.299999999 billion who have absolutely no idea what a double take-out is—four women with brooms have emerged into much more than a worthy challenger. They are a dynasty in the making.

Led by skip Bingyu Wang, the so-called “Wang Gang” qualified for their first world championship in 2005. Three years later, they captured their first medal, a silver. And last year—less than a decade after the team was assembled from scratch—China won its first world title in women’s curling. Today’s Olympic bronze was also a first.

After the win, each player enjoyed a tearful embrace with Coach Rafael.

Under his leadership, the Chinese team has become famous for ten-hour practices and late-night strategy sessions. Unlike, say, Canadian skip Cheryl Bernard—who is busy owning an insurance company when she isn’t drawing to the house—the Chinese squad does nothing but curl. They are constantly traveling from tournament to tournament, including long stints in Alberta, and rarely see their families. Even Rafael admitted today that such a rigorous regime wouldn’t fly with the curlers in his home country. “I doubt it,” he said. “Different culture. Different system. How many Canadians can you tell: ‘You won’t be home for six months. All you’re going to do is curl and do what we tell you.’ That’s just the way it is.”

When asked if the grueling schedule has taken a toll on his own life, Rafael answered this way: “I think the person you should be asking is my wife.” (It’s Sue, by the way. And he says he’s going to call you.)

Rafael also coaches the Chinese men’s team, but they’re not as good as the gals, finishing a distant 8^th at the Vancouver Games. Whether he’s back next season is still unclear. His contract is up at the end of June, and although he would like to keep his current gig, he said he’s willing to listen to other offers before making a choice. “Sometimes you’ve got to think about being home.”

He does know one thing, though: he’ll be in the arena for this afternoon’s gold medal match-up between Bernard and the Swedes. “I can’t predict that game,” he said. “Canada is Canada, and you can’t take that away from them. They can beat anybody. But we’re talking about Annette Norberg—defending Olympic champion, three-time world champion. We’re talking about one of the best teams of all time. They showed us yesterday, if you’re not on your game you’re out the door.”

The same is true if you’re up against China.

The boozing, smoking victory celebration of the Canadian women's hockey team

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 3:35 PM - 16 Comments

Sex and performance anxiety

By Andrew Coyne - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 3:19 PM - 51 Comments

As absolutely everyone has noted, 80% of the medals for Canada thus far in the games have been won by women – a pattern seen in previous games as well. How to explain this? Canadian Olympic Committee chief Chris Rudge, no fool he, gives the safe, media-friendly answer:

Chris Rudge, chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee, said there was no simple answer to the question of why women do better at the Games – although he suggested that women could have an inherent advantage in dealing with high-pressure elite athletics.

He said the organization plans to study the issue of the gender split in medals after the Vancouver Olympics.

“The best explanation is that women did better,” he said. “We haven’t sort of done the post-game analysis yet. So when we do, maybe we’ll have an explanation as to were the women better prepared? Were they genetically better-wired to handle pressure? I don’t have those answers, but we’ll do that after the Games.”

I am trying to imagine the fate of the official who speculated that men were “genetically better-wired to handle pressure,” or anything else for that matter. More to the point, it’s a completely idiotic explanation. The Canadian women who “handled pressure” better weren’t competing with men: they beat other women from other countries, who presumably weren’t so well-wired, pressure-handlingwise.

For a contrasting view, we go to Clara Hughes, multiple medal-winner in both Summer and Winter Games, perhaps Canada’s greatest Olympian ever. Also a woman, and therefore not so inclined to dive into the nearest politically-correct foxhole when the subject of gender comes up:

Clara Hughes, Canada’s best-known female athlete, said Thursday that the success of Canadian women should be celebrated, but that direct comparisons between men and women’s events are problematic.

“Sport at this level is unfathomably hard, but it’s different,” said Ms. Hughes, who won her sixth Olympic medal, a bronze, on Wednesday.

She said the field of play is typically more crowded for men, making it tougher for them to get enough resources to compete properly. “It takes a lot more resources to be able to develop men to the level as women in many sports.”

Ms. Hughes, who has won medals in the Winter and Summer Olympics, said men’s fields are often deeper in sports like cycling, speed skating and cross-country skiing.

“When you get a top 10 result as a male, it’s unbelievable. It’s out of this world,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s easier to win as a female. But in terms of depth, it’s different.”

… Hughes said religion, culture and custom in many countries limit opportunities for women in sports.

“There are countries in this world that do not allow their females to even participate in sports let alone be supported,” she said. “I’ve never been in a country and felt the support that I’ve felt in Canada. It’s just unconditional and I’ve always felt that Canadians celebrate success whether it’s a guy or a girl.”

We should note that although female athletes made up 43% of the Olympic team, they received fully half the funding. In other words, although it costs less, according to Hughes, to produce a world-class female athlete than a male, we give them more funding per capita.

Which poses a conundrum. If winning medals is the sole objective, then perhaps we should give even more of the funding to women: that would be the most efficient allocation, after all, in terms of dollars per medal. But if gender parity is the goal, that would argue in favour of giving a greater share of the funding to the men, since it costs more to produce a male athlete of comparable competitiveness: men have, as it were, special needs.

Cat, meet pigeons.

The Olympics worst-dressed list (UPDATED)

By Patricia Treble - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 3:00 PM - 17 Comments

LIVE BLOG men's hockey: U.S. 6, Finland 1 (F)

By Scott Feschuk - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:45 PM - 22 Comments

I met a Finnish guy last night at the bar at the Hotel Vancouver (I’m not staying there; I just like to stop by every now and then to stare at cashmere). The Finnish guy predicted a win for Finland in today’s men’s hockey semi-final. I’d had a few drinks so, what the hell, I agreed Finland was a mortal lock – and you don’t go back on that kind of a solemn commitment. I’m calling it: a Finland victory.

The game, assuming they decided to play it out anyway, begins at noon PT.

Twenty minutes til puck drop: Finland will be skating from left to right on your computer screen. Finland is in white, the U.S. is in blue and the crowd is in… red.

Breaking news: There are six players on the U.S. team named Ryan, and another with the surname Ryan. Seven Ryans. The best the Finns can do is two Jarkkos, two Samis, one Miikka and one Mikko. Not a good omen, Finland.

First Period

20:00 Canada Hockey Place is still filling up as the puck drops. Not especially raucous, but the bulk of the crowd is rooting for the United States – especially scalpers holding gold medal tickets and Continue…

Leaking shark tank forces evacuation

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:38 PM - 1 Comment

The Middle East’s biggest shopping centre was partially evacuated yesterday as maintenance crews scrambled to contain a leak, captured on video, springing from a shark-filled aquarium. The footage posted on the website of a Dubai newspaper showed the water from the 11-million-litre tank pouring on to the mall’s polished floors. The Dubai Mall opened in November 2008. The shark, stingray and fish-filled aquarium is on the ground floor and boasts the world’s largest acrylic viewing panel. “They told me that the aquarium exploded,” an employee of an affected shop said on condition of anonymity. It is the latest building safety problem for Emaar—the company that owns the mall and the world’s largest building, the Burj Khalifa. Less than a month ago the firm barred the public from Burj Khalifa after an elevator got stuck near the 124th-floor observation deck.

The Guardian

The ladies party too hardy

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:32 PM - 21 Comments

After winning its gold medal in a 2-0 win over the United States, the Canadian women’s hockey team were so ecstatic that they forewent the traditional dressing room celebration, grabbed champagne and beer, passed around a cigar, and began cheering and boozing right on centre ice at Canada Hockey Place. The impromptu party has caused controversy for showing a lack of decorum, and for the participation of Marie-Philip Poulin, who is only 18 and thus under British Columbia’s legal drinking age. “In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn’t have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment,” said a statement from Hockey Canada. “Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view this situation as a learning experience.” On its part, the International Olympic Committee has announced that it will investigate the celebration.

CBC

CTV

Now Karzai moves against women in Afghan politics

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:28 PM - 9 Comments

News that Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a decree changing his country’s election laws has stirred controversy over his removal of independent foreign members from the Electoral Complaints Commission—the watchdog agency that uncovered cheating by Karzai’s own campaign in last year’s presidential elections. Now, another dubious element in the decree is
coming to light. Karzai is giving his operatives the authority to reduce the number of women in the Afghan parliament. Up to now, women were guaranteed two seats per province in the lower house of parliament, a mechanism designed to promote women’s rights in a country where they have often been under siege. It’s been a bragging point for countries, like Canada, touting
the emergence of Afghan democracy. But Karzai’s decree would apparently waive the two-per-province quota where not enough women were on the ballot.

The Times

Wall Street Traders can't stop watching Olympic curling

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 12:49 PM - 1 Comment

When the closing bell rings on Wall Street, many traders have discovered a new way to wind down after a hectic day: watching Olympic curling. “It is like drinking merlot,” Douglas Kass, the president of Seabreeze Partners, tells the New York Times. Curling has picked up its new fans thanks to CNBC, the business news channel that plays on most trading room floors during the day. In the evening, it switches from its regular programming to coverage of curling at the Vancouver Games. And Wall Street is obsessed. Some curling terms (like kizzle kazzle) have even begun to creep into trading lexicon. A big part of the appeal is the game’s slow pace—it’s easy to watch in the background at work—and the chess-like strategy involved. But will Wall Streeters be picking up brooms and hitting the ice anytime soon? Doubtful. This is more of a temporary diversion. “Let’s face it: if baseball and football were in the winter, nobody would be watching,” says one executive.

New York Times

Let us now debate the difference between user fees and taxes (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 12:38 PM - 56 Comments

Officially it is called the Airport Travellers Security Charge. Introduced in 2002, it was reduced from $24 to $14 in the Liberal government’s budget for 2003. Hansard shows two references to the charge from Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance leader and leader of the opposition at the time, during the session of Parliament when that budget was tabled, the first of which links to this speech, delivered in response to that budget.

That speech makes four references to an “air tax.”

Hey look: prorogation becomes Ignatieff

By Paul Wells - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 11:58 AM - 21 Comments

From the magazine’s print edition, my new column offers very modest amounts of praise for Michael Ignatieff’s behaviour since Christmas.

Cavemen who walk among us

By Katie Engelhart - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 74 Comments

We’re used to seeing the potato as a focal point of conflict and discord, the clichéd casualty of the carbohydrate wars. But hoopla over green beans, that healthiest of vegetables? There are lots of reasons why Loren Cordain wouldn’t touch a green bean. If you ask him, he might talk about how legumes can render a healthy gut “leaky.” Or he might rant about their “anti-nutrient” properties. But it would come down to this: green beans weren’t around tens of thousands of years ago, when our prehistoric ancestors ushered in the Paleolithic era with the first tools made of stone. And so we shouldn’t eat them today.

“It’s not rocket science,” Cordain insists. His book, The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat, now a bible to a small but growing subculture, is built around a simple premise: humans evolved over millions of years. Modern agriculture has been around for just 10,000, a blip on the evolutionary timeline. Because of this, humans are healthiest when eating as they did before agriculture came along—in other words, like cavemen.

The diet boils down to meat (lots of it), seafood, eggs, vegetables and fruits: anything you could hunt or forage for in the wild bush, and wouldn’t need to cook. All of which sounds generally inoffensive. “Nobody’s going to argue with fruits and veggies,” says Cordain. But the repertoire excludes so-called super-foods: green beans (and other legumes, like lentils), tomatoes (and other nightshades), dairy products and whole grains. Most oils are also out; today’s cavemen opt for lard.

Continue…

Tiger's a lot of things, but he’s not sick

By Colby Cosh - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 10:50 AM - 79 Comments

Even as Tiger Woods’s sex scandal costs him billions in earnings as a commercial endorser, he is serving as a walking billboard for the sex-addiction treatment business. In his stilted Feb. 19 television address, Woods admitted, “For 45 days, from the end of December to early February, I was in in-patient therapy receiving guidance for the issues I’m facing.” Those issues, we were left to assume, relate to Woods’s serial infidelities with a parade of surgically enhanced party girls.

In his speech, Woods interrupted his grovelling several times to lash out at the media—accusing it of irresponsible speculation about the events surrounding his Nov. 25 auto accident, even though he hasn’t provided an alternate account that makes any sense, refuses to be questioned about it, and cannot reasonably characterize a car crash on a neighbour’s property as a purely private matter.

Woods expressed anger that “some people have speculated that [my wife] Elin somehow hurt or attacked me.” For all the supposed soul-searching he has done, he doesn’t seem to have worked out that nobody would think the less of his wife for being enraged at him. Or that if she wasn’t chasing him, there is no exculpating pretext for the crash.

Continue…

Cheering for our athletes and ourselves

By Andrew Coyne - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 10:40 AM - 15 Comments

People are talking about a wave of patriotism washing across the country as Canadians cheer on their Olympic athletes. I’m sure this is true, but why? What is it based on? Why exactly should we get excited because a Canadian athlete wins a medal—because our guy slid on a piece of wood down a snowy incline faster than their guys did? It’s clear why the athlete himself might be excited. But how is that a measure of our collective self-worth?

These are more than philosophical questions. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent, including $117 million targeted at elite athletes through the “Own the Podium” program, on the premise that we should get excited about our athletes’ achievements. Of course that implicates us in a simplistic sense: our dollars, we hope, will buy more medals than theirs will. But—leaving aside whether that’s the highest and best use of scarce public dollars—is there anything more to it than that? Why should we care whether “we” win any medals? What’s it got to do with us?

The answer, I think, is that the success of any one individual, in sports as in other fields, is not wholly attributable to that individual. It is also a collective endeavour. It emerges from a culture, and while the talent and effort of each individual are plainly of supreme importance to their success, the likelihood of such individual successes, on average and in the aggregate, will be the greater or lesser depending on the culture that surrounds them, and the cultural attributes with which they are imbued.

Continue…

Signs of life for Michael Ignatieff

By Paul Wells - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 116 Comments

So where were we? Ah yes. “It being 8:03 p.m.,” acting speaker Barry Devolin told the Commons on Dec. 10, “pursuant to an order made earlier today, the House stands adjourned until Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, at 11 a.m., pursuant to Standing Orders 28(2) and 24(1).

Devolin believed that to be true when he spoke. But 20 days later the Governor General prorogued the second session of the 40th Parliament, so your MPs are going to try it all over again when they return for the third session on March 3.

A lot has happened since then. It’s been a while since I threw a bunch of polling numbers at you, so maybe you’ll indulge me today. Before Christmas I interviewed one of Michael Ignatieff’s new helpers who had moved into the Office of the Leader of the Opposition along with the Liberal boss’s new chief of staff, Peter Donolo. This person said the Liberals’ immediate goal was to move to within a point or two of the Conservatives by spring. I nodded politely. Good luck with that.

Continue…

Mitchel Raphael on senator Frum, princess Di’s lawyer and new lyrics for ‘o canada’

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 19 Comments

A Senator’s busy retirement

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

Tory Sen. Linda Frum held a book launch in her home for Anthony Julius’s new book Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England. Julius, a lawyer and professor, famously represented Diana, Princess of Wales in her divorce from Prince Charles. Diana knew Julius because he had helped her sue a newspaper after its photographer invaded her privacy by snapping photos of her working out.

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

When Diana asked Julius to represent her for her divorce, he had never done that kind of legal work: “This would be my first divorce,” he told her. Diana quickly said, “It will be mine, too,” and said they would figure it out together. Attendees at the book launch included Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and recently retired senator Jerry Grafstein, who is part of a group of investors interested in buying the National Post, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette, and who will soon launch the Wellington Street Post, an online paper named after the famous street that runs in front of Parliament Hill. The website plans to cover politics from a federal perspective.

Bev Oda’s hair fascinates

Photographs by Mitchel Raphael

Three years ago, Liberal MP Glen Pearson, known for his humanitarian work in Sudan, asked the government for aid for Sudan, and $3 million was approved. The money went to such projects as women’s centres that helped on the educational and micro-enterprise front. When Pearson was in Sudan this year, he took with him pictures of International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda to show the Sudanese the minister who had approved the funds. They were surprised to learn it was a woman who had approved the money, and also that she was not white. But the most fascinating thing for them was Oda’s short blunt haircut. Sudanese women are known for their elaborate hairstyles.

Continue…

Jacques goes Rogge

By Colby Cosh - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 6:52 AM - 44 Comments

As Canadians we all selfishly want women’s hockey to remain part of the Winter Olympics, but can we all agree that we’re going to have to come up with arguments for doing so that aren’t crapola? When Jacques Rogge dared to mention yesterday that the tournament had been just a teeny tiny bit lopsided, Monique Lamoureux, a U.S. forward, observed that “If you look back 30 to 40 years ago, Canada and Russia were blowing men’s hockey out of the water, but other countries came around.”

It’s rather bad luck for her that some of us can remember almost 30, nay, 40 years back, isn’t it? Split the difference pretty much down the middle and you find yourself with a seat at the 1976 Canada Cup, where Canada had a hard struggle to win the final on home ice—not against the all-conquering Russians, who finished tied for third with Sweden in the round robin, but against the Czechs. It’s simply not true that women’s hockey has arrived at the state of maturity that men’s hockey stood at “30 or 40 years ago”. The correct figure would surely be more like 60 or 70. And there is no evidence of any progress toward parity whatsoever.

The National Post‘s Scott Stinson argues in defence of women’s hockey that the IOC’s decision-making about what sports belong at the Winter Games is incomprehensible and silly, which it is, and that it is compromised by politics and money, which it is, and that some of these sports are sheer cold-weather tomfoolery, as some of them surely are. But the parity problem is the only one that Rogge raised, and it is distinct from all these considerations. The biathlon may seem ridiculous—though, frankly, nothing much that Canadians do is as important to the existence of Canada as practical skill at skiing-and-shooting may be to the northern neighbours of Russia or Germany. What counts in addressing Rogge’s argument is that the biathlon is legitimately competitive. The historic medals in the sport are distributed fairly widely; gold and silver aren’t the exclusive preserve of anybody.

Should the IOC bring back women’s hockey in 2014? The strongest argument in favour is not the argument that the sport is racing headlong toward some hypothetical future of genuine international competitiveness. It’s the argument from gender equity—if we let the men play, the women should be entitled to—but everybody knows that one won’t get you very far with the IOC. The wisest counsel for fans of the women’s game is probably to be prepared for life outside the Olympics. If your dignity depends on being involved with the International Olympic Committee, that’s a problem in itself: it means you’re looking for dignity in a very inappropriate place.

Consider baseball. It didn’t feel threatened when the IOC cast it into outer darkness; millions consider it a thing worth doing, watching, and enjoying for its own sake. (And if those millions were mere thousands, that would be all right too.) Its mythology and popularity stand apart from and above the lust for gold medals. In fact, baseball doesn’t have any physical trophies of real significance; the number of people who can name the last 10 Cy Young Award winners in each league is at least a hundred times greater than the number who can tell you what the damn thing looks like.

Hockey, as Canadians traditionally conceive of it, isn’t like this; it’s the product of a monarchical culture where silverware has denoted heritage, survival, and memory for several thousand years. So it’s hard for us to see past the shinies. But I suspect the lady hockeyists will have to learn to. Starting right about now.

'The very opposite of intellectual totalitarianism'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:09 AM - 168 Comments

Maxime Bernier considers the reaction to his comments on climate change and rallies his supporters.

This is why it is so important to have an open and balanced public debate. This is the very opposite of the intellectual totalitarianism of those who would like to stamp out every dissident voice.

As I said in my Calgary speech some weeks ago, we should be the lobby of the silent majority, this majority which is not represented by the interest groups that we hear about all the time in public debates, but who will pay for the policies being adopted in the end. I encourage all those who feel concerned by this question to make themselves heard, either by leaving a comment on this blog, writing to your elected officials or to newspapers. Thank you to those who’ve done it. I can assure you that you are having an impact.

Ladies' figure skating: Rochette wins the bronze

By Scott Feschuk - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:01 AM - 14 Comments

The gold medal in ladies’ figure skating belongs, wholly and authoritatively, to Kim Yu-Na of South Korea – but at the Pacific Coliseum tonight, the crowd belonged to Joannie Rochette. Completing her program to thunderous applause, Rochette skated a small circle and blew a kiss to the sky as flowers fell to the ice from above.

On Sunday, Thérèse Rochette died from a heart attack at 55. Tonight, her daughter Joannie won bronze at the Winter Games. “I’m so proud,” Rochette said later, touching the medal around her neck. “I know this: My Mom was with me every step of the way tonight.”

Fifith in Turin, Rochette had been waiting four years for tonight’s four minutes. Competing to Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns, the Canadian skater took to the ice attired in something blue, skimpy and sparkly – basically, what a girl would wear in a rap video had rap been invented by Liberace. Rochette wasn’t flawless, but her athletic and casually energetic performance gave her Continue…