'No substance'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 4:10 PM - 0 Comments

Helena Guergis’ lawyer says the RCMP has effectively cleared his client.

At last report, the ethics commissioner was still investigating “a letter of support for a private company that the Honourable Helena Guergis, Member of Parliament for Simcoe-Grey, wrote to municipal officials.”

Guergis cleared by RCMP: lawyer

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 4:06 PM - 0 Comments

A statement released by Helena Guergis’s office says the former Conservative minister has been cleared by the RCMP. “Helena Guergis’ counsel, Howard Rubel confirmed today that the RCMP has concluded its inquiries into Ms. Guergis and that he has been informed that the RCMP will be taking no further action,” the statement reads, adding “the RCMP has concluded that there was no substance to any of the issues forwarded to them by the Prime Minister’s Office.” The former junior minister was turfed from the cabinet and the Conservative caucus last April after the publication of several damaging news stories about her husband Rahim Jaffer’s business dealings.

CBC Inside Politics Blog

Justin Bieber on Oprah, Kobe Bryant and his own fame

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:00 PM - 0 Comments

Dana Romanoff/GETTY IMAGES/ KC Armstrong/ Lucas Jackson/Reuters

The sign on the door says “Mozart,” but it’s a safe bet that Wolfgang Amadeus never had a dressing room equipped with leather recliners, a super-sized flat-screen TV and an Xbox console. Nor, presumably, did his tour rider call for loaves of Wonder Bread, Cool Ranch Doritos, Fruit Roll-Ups and candy Swedish Fish.

Still, something is missing. Justin Bieber’s mom, Pattie Mallette, looks at the choice of Pop Tarts—strawberry and apple strudel—and clucks, “Where are the grape ones?” before scurrying off down the hall. The day has enough complications already. Pop’s reigning prodigy is suffering greatly from Denver’s thin mountain air. Dizzy with a splitting headache, the Stratford, Ont., teen has been snarling at anyone brave enough to enter his darkened tour bus, pull back the Spider-Man bedsheets, and try to wake him for a scheduled 2:30 p.m. interview.

Continue…

American Millionaire's Club coming to Canada

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:40 PM - 0 Comments

The problems of the rich: millionaires say it’s difficult to get good financial advice because professional financial planners are often not motivated enough to offer dissenting viewpoints about the investment decisions of very rich clients. So an American group of investors with at least $10-million in the bank have been meeting since 1999 to get around this problem. Now, Tiger 21 is coming to Canada. The group said it plans to open four Canadian clubs (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal) and is searching for 56 members willing to pay $30,000 a year in membership fees. In return, members get to attend monthly meetings with portfolio critiques and guest speakers. Membership will be exclusive, as there is a lot of competition in Canada: more than 30,000 Canadians have more than $10-million in assets.

Globe and Mail

Free Franz Kafka

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:35 PM - 0 Comments

An Israeli judge overseeing a battle over papers once belonging to Franz Kafka has ruled that details of the documents should be made public, overruling the late author’s wish that his papers be destroyed after his death. This means that previously unpublished works—manuscripts, letters, journals, and at least one handwritten short story—will be made public. The decision is a victory for Israel’s national library and for Kafka scholars around the world.

Guardian

Gigantic star found

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:24 PM - 0 Comments

Scientists at Sheffield University in the UK have combined data from the Very Large Telescope facility in Chile and the Hubble Space telescope to identify R136, a cluster of very young and super-massive stars. They’re believed to have been created by thick clouds of space gas and dust, which collapse into even denser clumps, making enormous, bright burning stars that rapidly explode into supernovas. The scientists managed to find several stars that burn at more then 40,000 degrees, seven times hotter then the sun, and one star, named R136a1, that has a mass about 265 times that of the sun, which is almost double the size to which researchers previously thought stars could grow.

BBC News

Lesbian student wins $35,000 settlement over prom dispute

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:20 PM - 0 Comments

A school district in rural Mississippi has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of a lesbian student after it cancelled its prom rather than allow Constance McMillen, 18, to wear a tuxedo and attend the prom with her girlfriend. The school district also agreed to follow a nondiscrimination policy as part of the settlement, though it argues such a policy was already in place. The battle started in March when McMillen challenged the Itawamba County School District’s rules banning prom dates of the same gender and allowing only male students to wear tuxedos. The district responded by canceling its prom. The district later announced parents would sponsor another prom chaperoned by school officials. But ACLU lawyers claimed the event was a “sham prom” attended by only about 10 students, while most of McMillen’s classmates went to a private event elsewhere, a claim the school denied. The school district has also continually maintained that they did not violate McMillen’s rights. McMillen eventually withdrew from Itawamba Agricultural High School and finished her senior year at a school in Jackson, Miss. She has since move to Memphis, Tenn. to attend college in the fall.

NPR

Director Bruce LaBruce delighted by Australian festival ban

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:17 PM - 0 Comments

Canadian director Bruce LaBruce’s gay zombie porn film L.A. Zombie has been banned from the Melbourne International Film Festival—and he couldn’t be happier. Rolling with the age-old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, LaBruce told the Sydney Morning Herald he will never understand how censors don’t see that the more they try to suppress a film, the more people will want to see it. The head of Australia’s Film Classification Board told The Melbourne International Film Festival that L.A. Zombie could not be screened as it would be refused classification. LaBruce has already started a Twitter and Facebook campaign urging Australians to protest the board’s decision. The film was made for less than US$100,000 in Los Angeles last year and is what LaBruce calls “a reaction against torture porn.”

Toronto Star

Playboy launches work-safe website

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:12 PM - 0 Comments

People who say they read Playboy for the articles will now have the chance to prove it with the launch of the company’s new work-safe website, TheSmokingJacket.com. Named after one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s favourite items of clothing, the website will be decidedly unserious and won’t feature any feature-length articles or NSFW nude photos of Playboy.com. Instead, the site will feature original content, such as signs a man has given up trying to attract women (such as Velcro sneakers and pants with elastic waistbands) and funny television clips that men are already e-mailing each other at work throughout the day. The website’s lead producer says the goal of the site it to be a go-to place for men who are bored at work, and the site will be continually updated to keep men coming back throughout the day.

Associated Press

BP's Tony Hayward to step down?

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:08 PM - 0 Comments

BP has announced CEO Tony Hayward is planning to step down before October 1 and that it plans to sell $7 billion of gas assets for its Gulf of Mexico clean up fund according to The Times of London. The new strategy was conceived by a group called Future BP. Hayward’s departure is a defense against a buyout by ExxonMobil or Royal Dutch Shell. An American running BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation, Robert Dudley, is rumoured to take Hayward’s position. However, despite the report, a BP spokesperson has said that Hayward “has full support from the board and will remain in place”.

Guardian

Pause for reflection

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 1:36 PM - 0 Comments

The chief statistician is apparently in need of mulling.

The head of Statistics Canada says he’s “reflecting on his future” at the agency, the latest twist in the crisis over the government’s decision to scrub the mandatory long-form census.

Munir Sheikh issued an email to all agency staff today cancelling a planned town-hall meeting and saying he would comment soon — sparking speculation from insiders that he might resign. He added that he would get back to employees soon with a decision on his position and that of Statistics Canada.

By the authority of wire service headline writers, this census situation has now officially been elevated to “crisis.” Tony Clement had told the Globe that Mr. Sheikh would be issuing a statement today “to assure Canadians that Statscan is going to do its job,” and that that would be followed by a statement from the minister’s office expressing confidence in Statistics Canada.

The collection of numbers by the numbers

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 1:03 PM - 0 Comments

According to Mr. Clement’s office, the 2006 census cost $567 million, while the 2011 census is expected to cost $660 million.

The 2001 census was sent to 11.8 million households—roughly 9.4 million receiving the short form, 2.4 million receiving the long form—and resulted in 52 cases of non-compliance being referred to the Department of Justice. According to a National Post report in 2006, “44 were resolved before trial, three pleaded guilty and four were found guilty, while one was given an absolute discharge.” A Statistics Canada official at the time told the Post that fines typically ranged between $50 and $100.

The 2006 census was sent to 13.6 million households—roughly 10.9 million receiving the short form, 2.7 receiving the long form—and resulted in 64 cases of non-compliance. A July 2008 report from Canadian Press cited a Statistics Canada official as saying most of those people had, by then, complied. A Kingston man, who objected to the use of software purchased from arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin to process the census, was found guilty and fined $300. The case of a Saskatchewan woman, who also boycotted the census because of Lockheed Martin’s involvement, is still before the court.

Restrepo

By Andrew Potter - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:18 PM - 0 Comments

At one point in Restrepo, a new documentary about a US platoon holding a small outpost in the Korengal valley in Afghanistan, one  soldier talks about how, when it comes to the ultimate buzz, nothing beats getting shot at. Forget about bungee jumping, skydiving, rock climbing, or any of that civilian stuff, combat is where the real rush is.

It reminded me of the scene in Generation Kill when Trombley sits out in the open as they’re taking fire from a heavy gun, and afterward tells Colbert that deep down, he really wanted to know what it is like to be shot. Continue…

The long, slow ride from NYC to Montréal

By John Parisella - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:08 PM - 0 Comments

8:15am – Penn Station, New York City
If you believe in high speed rail (HSR), you have to have explored the alternatives. Traveling by plane after 9/11 is not a joy ride. Having to arrive two or three hours early on an international flight, going through security checks and hoping there are no delays has become the routine for air travel. Car travel gives us more flexibility, but aside from observing the scenery and watching out for less scrupulous drivers, there is not much more you can do with the time it takes to get to your destination.

The next 11 hours will be my story. I am traveling on the Adirondack, the daily train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Montréal. It covers a distance of approximately 381 miles. I am expecting outstanding scenery through the scenic Hudson Valley and Adirondack Mountains, and to catch up on my reading. All aboard? Continue…

'For me that time is now'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments

Government House Leader Jay Hill won’t seek re-election.

“I’ve always felt that for politicians the time to go is when things are still going well … when you’ve reached the crest of the hill, but before starting down the other side.  For me that time is now,” said Hill.

“I must ensure that those to whom I owe my greatest loyalty and immense gratitude, and who have always been there to support me through seven federal elections and all the years in between, have sufficient time to select the next Conservative candidate for our great constituency.”

“I could not have done this without the tremendous support of constituents, my dedicated staff and my family.  I would also like to thank Prime Minister Stephen Harper, my fellow Cabinet members and my caucus colleagues.  It has been a privilege to work with these distinguished individuals who are committed to serving Canada and our democracy.”

Le memory hole de Champlain

By Paul Wells - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:53 AM - 0 Comments

This is damned strange.

Spurred on by Colleague Coyne’s recent column about David Johnston’s evocation of Samuel de Champlain as the predecessor of all Governors General, I’ve been doing some research. The moderately interesting stuff will follow below. The really interesting stuff is on the Heritage Canada website. Was on the Heritage Canada website. Is and was. Was and is no longer. Perhaps I should explain.

Here’s what the website looked like on Tuesday, July 12, on the page where the history of the Governor General’s office is (was) discussed (emphases added):

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. The Queen is our head of state. The Queen in Canada is represented at the national level by the Governor General and at the provincial level by a Lieutenant Governor.

The office of the Governor General dates back nearly 400 years to 1608, when Samuel de Champlain acted as the Governor of New France. Until 1952, Governors General were British. The 1952 installation of Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the office, reflected Canada’s new sense of autonomy and identity in the post-war era.

And here’s what it looked like last night, when I tried to call up the page as Google showed it.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. The Queen is our head of state. The Queen in Canada is represented at the national level by the Governor General and at the provincial level by a Lieutenant Governor.

‘A Governor in all but name, Samuel de Champlain fulfilled 400 years ago several duties and responsibilities that would later be carried out by the Governors of New France and after Confederation, by the Governors General of Canada.’

The office of the Governor General dates back to 1867. Until 1952, Governors General were British. The 1952 installation of Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the office, reflected Canada’s new sense of autonomy and identity in the post-war era.

I know of no other explanation for this change than that somebody, somewhere in the department at Heritage, or at the minister’s office, or at Langevin, did not like the attention Johnston kicked up with his remarks (which Andrew discusses here.) Continue…

First Nations want a gaming body

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:51 AM - 0 Comments

Native-run casinos are generating such a massive amount of revenue that First Nations leaders are now planning to set up a national commission on gaming to oversee their cash flow. The leaders are in talks at the annual meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Winnipeg, where some representatives say they’re tired of battling with government authorities over jurisdiction and revenue sharing. “It’s all about sovereignty and jurisdiction and exerting that and occupying the field so that we can in turn have our own First Nations gaming act,” said Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Little Black Bear First Nation in Saskatchewan.

CBC News

Clinton announces new sanctions against North Korea

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:34 AM - 0 Comments

During a visit to South Korea, Hillary Clinton announced new U.S. sanctions against Korea. The new measures aim to “discourage further provocative actions” following North Korea’s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 people—an act which Pyongyang denies. The new measures will affect the sale and purchase of North Korea’s arms and luxury goods and is intended to curb nuclear trade. Clinton said that she expects North Korea would “take certain steps that would acknowledge their responsibility” for the sunken warship.

BBC News

Toronto Gay Pride—politics, drag and dancing

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:28 AM - 0 Comments

Politicos and celebrities marched with drag queens in this year’s Pride parade in Toronto. Some were armed with water guns. Below, Rick Mercer and Belinda Stronach.

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Proud Liberals carry the Liberal banner, while Bob Rae carries the Canadian flag.

Continue…

South Africa wants to roll out HIV-fighting gel

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:10 AM - 0 Comments

South Africa is considering introducing a vaginal gel that offers protection against HIV for women, although it has yet to be officially approved by drug regulators, Reuters reports. In South Africa, 1,000 people die from AIDS-related illnesses every day, and the health ministry declared its intention to act on the gel’s early success. A microbicide, it contains a prescription drug that can sharply reduce HIV infections in women when used before and after sex. No product is available yet, but making the gel and applicators is expected to be cheap and easy. In the trial, the gel reduced HIV infections in women by 39 per cent over two and a half years.

Reuters

Picking sides

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:08 AM - 0 Comments

At last count, the Industry Minister had identified 10 people on Twitter who support his decision on the census.

Those who oppose the change now include the governments in at least four provinces.

HIV rises among those over 50

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:03 AM - 0 Comments

Of the 7,382 new diagnoses of HIV in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2008, eight per cent were among people aged 50 and over, the BBC reports. This marks a significant increase—the group has more than doubled in under a decade. Other sexually transmitted infections are also doubling in the same age group, rising faster than in the young. Experts say this highlights the importance of safer sex practices and HIV testing at every age, as well as a need to raise awareness in that age group.

BBC

Conrad Black freed on $2 million bond

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 10:35 AM - 0 Comments

Conrad Black was released on a $2 million bond and ordered to remain in the continental United States by Chicago judge Amy St. Eve Wednesday morning. Black had earlier requested he be allowed to return home to Toronto, but prosecutors objected, pointing out Black has access to a residence in Florida. Black must still appear before St. Eve for the final conditions of his bail will be set, and his lawyer indicated that may happen as early as Friday.

National Post

The meaning of citizenship

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:56 AM - 0 Comments

Alex Himelfarb ties together disparate strands.

What do the Omar Khadr case, the census controversy and taxes all have in common?  All, I think, in one way or another, tell us something about the value of our common citizenship. With citizenship, as with most things, we get what we pay for.  It seems today we are being asked to pay less and, no surprise, we are being offered less.  Is that what we really want?