Why DVR Won't Save Our Favourite Shows
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, October 14, 2010 - 0 Comments
I’m on record as being a skeptic of the idea that DVR numbers — and online numbers, and all the other people not watching TV shows when they air — will save low-rated shows from being canceled. And here’s a piece of news that helps explain why I’m skeptical: the show that benefits the most from DVR recording is Hawaii Five-0. It turns out that many of the male viewers who are the new show’s target audience are choosing to watch Monday Night Football instead, and recording the adventures of Not-Jack-Lord and his Elite Team™ to watch later. Shows that get DVR’d a lot are often the older-skewing shows — The Mentalist, Blue Bloods — because they often conflict with sporting events or other things that its core audience prefers to watch first. There are some “younger” shows that have great DVR totals, like the genuine juggernaut that Modern Family has become, and there’s at least one show that may genuinely be kept on the air by the DVR: Fringe, which looks like a failure in the ratings but looks better when you factor in its abnormally high DVR viewership. But overall, I don’t think we’re going to see the new world a lot of people are hoping for, where New Media calls the dinosaur Nielsen ratings into question and elevates seemingly little-watched shows into big hits. The more likely impact is at the margins: Hawaii Five-0, which is a bit of a disappointment considering how heavily the network has hyped it (in my opinion, because the lead is a bore), looks better when the high DVR viewership is factored in.
Even there, though, you have to ask what the monetary value of DVR or online viewing is, and there I don’t have an answer. As this article explains, networks and advertisers are trying to figure out how to factor in all the non-traditional viewership. But the question for advertisers is never just how many people watch a show, but how many people watch who are likely to see their commercials and buy their stuff? That is, after all, why people under 18 and over 50 don’t count; and if advertisers are right to place less value on people outside of a certain age range, they may also be right to place less value on people who don’t watch “live.” (You could even envision a time when advertisers worry less about the age of the viewers and more about the groups that are most likely to watch live, or watch the commercials when they do DVR a show — these categories may not break down as neatly as the 18-49 or 25-54 categories.) In other words, an advertiser could quite plausibly say that he or she doesn’t want to pay extra for people who aren’t watching their ads. Though of course many people record a program and still watch the ads — and why not? the shows were made to be viewed with commercial interruptions, and they often work better that way — and people who theoretically watch commercials may actually be just going to the fridge, as per tradition. Nothing’s clear-cut when it comes to figuring out the ability of TV to sell us stuff we don’t really need.
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Wal-Mart to buy more locally grown produce
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 4:01 PM - 0 Comments
New focus on sustainable agriculture among suppliers
The giant retail chain Wal-Mart anounced a new plan to focus on sustainable agriculture in an effort to improve environmental efficiency among suppliers, putting more locally grown food in its US stores, the New York Times reports. The program will also invest in training and infrastructure for small and medium-size farmers, especially in emerging markets, and measure the efficiency of large suppliers as they grow their produce and get it to store shelves. The world’s largest grocer, Wal-Mart also has one of the biggest supply chains so its changes will have a large effect. Five years ago, when the company set a goal to increase reliance on renewable energy and reduce packaging waste, others quickly followed suit. Wal-Mart expects to meet its goals by late 2015, hoping to double the percentage of locally grown produce (defined here as what’s grown and sold in the same state) to 9 per cent. In Canada, the company expects to buy 30 per cent of produce locally by late 203, and by the end of 2013, when available, 100 per cent.
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Escaping the straitjacket
By Jonathon Gatehouse - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 4:00 PM - 0 Comments
A Harvard-trained M.D. talks about going ‘crazy’ and the struggle to stay sane
Max Whittaker/Getty Images
When Mark Vonnegut sat on the Harvard Medical School admissions committee, he used to ask the congenital overachievers who came before him a simple question: what is being a doctor going to do for you? Conditioned to talk about saving lives, advancing science, or just making the world a better place, the candidates frequently struggled to articulate what the more selfish gains from their chosen profession might be. But after more than three decades of practice as a Boston pediatrician, Vonnegut has a ready response when the query is turned back on him—stability. “Being a doctor has been enormously grounding,” he says.
“Having to go to work and deal with a rash or a 102-degree fever snaps me out of my own head. It allows me to be in the world in a useful way.”
Maintaining a daily presence in the here and now is no trifling concern for the 63-year-old son of the late author Kurt Vonnegut. In 1971, at the age of 23, he suffered three major mental breakdowns while living on a hippie commune in British Columbia. Diagnosed a schizophrenic, he found himself locked in a Vancouver psychiatric hospital while he conversed with Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain and Fyodor Dostoevsky, painted with Van Gogh, and played sax with John Coltrane. Four years, and much medication later, he wrote The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity.
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Clint Eastwood honours a Canadian in Carmel
By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:42 PM - 0 Comments
Penelope Buitenhaus with Clint Eastwood (and unidentified rat) in Carmel
For an 80-year-old, Clint Eastwood is one busy dude. But just before jetting off to the premiere of his latest movie, Hereafter, which closed the New York Film Festival, he found the time to honour a Canadian filmmaker at a much smaller festival, in his home town of Carmel, California. Last week Eastwood was on hand at the Carmel Art and Film Festival to present Penelope Buitenhuis, the director of A Wake, the prize for best dramatic feature. Starring Martha Burns, Graham Abbey and Nicholas Campbell, the movie is a darkly comic improvised drama about former theatre colleagues who reunite for the funeral wake of their infamous director. “Everybody warned me that Clint never talks,” Buitenhuis told me. “Even when he directs, he doesn’t say much.” But as she struck up a conversation with him backstage at the Carmel awards, he became positively chatty. “I was shocked at how incredibly young he is in life,” she said. “You’d never know he was 80 years old. He’s really fit and strong. And very approachable in a stoic kind of cowboy way. We laughed about directing and why we got into it, and he said he thought he had more to say than just with his poker face in front of the camera.” Eastwood is legendary for his efficiency on the set. So when it came time to pose for a photo with Buitenhuis, his director discipline soon kicked in. As the camera flashed, he said, “How many shots do you need? I get mine in three takes.”
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He's the one with the bag on his head
By Mike Doherty - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:40 PM - 0 Comments
‘Super-paranoid’ Taylor Kirk is the antithesis of the soul-baring introspective Drake
Photograph by James Leighton Bur
It was a banner summer for Canadian musicians: Arcade Fire, Justin Bieber, Drake and K’naan planted our flag proudly atop global charts. But if purveyors of anthems to arenas overwhelm you, may we suggest Timber Timbre. Their self-titled third album is a stark, eerie collection of off-centre blues and folk that sneaks up on listeners like a “night crawler crawlin’ out in the yard”—a typical image from one of singer Taylor Kirk’s songs. With European festivals ahead and a new album in the works, Timber Timbre are ready to bring their music to the world—in as self-effacing a way as possible.
“I’ve always been really shy,” says Kirk, over brunch at a quirky Montreal diner. “That’s amplified by doing something so revealing.” Having learned to play guitar as a child in a church basement in the hamlet of Myrtle, Ont., Kirk made his first recordings alone, while living in a timber-framed cabin in Bobcaygeon, in 2005. In the “scary” isolation, with crickets and the ghostly noises of rural Ontario bleeding into the microphones, he says he felt “uninhibited—totally at liberty to try whatever comes to mind.”
He overdubbed himself on guitar, piano, harmonica and hand-clap percussion, and packaged the crackly, lo-fi results as Timber Timbre’s debut, Cedar Shakes, selling the homemade CDs at Toronto’s indie oasis Soundscapes—the only store that would take them. In Toronto, where he’d found a job delivering kegs of beer, Kirk began to play shows and slowly attracted a cult following.
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Canada’s most dangerous cities: Robbery
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
These include anything from bank hold-ups to purse snatchings
The Canadian rate is 96 robberies per 100,000 population, with robberies including anything from bank hold-ups to purse snatchings.
RANKCITIESPERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL RATE1 Winnipeg, Man. 249.03% 2 Saskatoon, Sask. 151.80 3 Regina, Sask. 144.16 4 Montréal, Que. 130.03 5 Victoria, B.C. 115.49 6 Vancouver, B.C. 112.14 7 Edmonton, Alta. 112.03 8 Burnaby, B.C. 109.42 9 Surrey, B.C. 106.90 10 Toronto, Ont. 103.35 11 New Westminster, B.C. 83.57 12 Thunder Bay, Ont. 38.98 13 Hamilton, Ont. 35.53 14 Maple Ridge, B.C. 33.54 15 Kelowna, B.C. 30.30 16 Chilliwack, B.C. 29.04 17 Coquitlam, B.C. 28.52 18 Calgary, Alta. 28.41 19 Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont. 25.69 20 Prince George, B.C. 25.69 21 Halifax Region, N.S. 24.85 22 Laval, Que. 23.39 23 Nanaimo, B.C. 21.50 24 Port Coquitlam, B.C. 20.04 25 Ottawa, Ont. 18.78 26 Abbotsford, B.C. 17.11 27 Windsor, Ont. 14.91 28 Saint John, N.B. 13.66 29 Lethbridge, Alta. 11.88 30 North Vancouver, B.C. 11.56 31 Longueuil, Que. 10.62 32 Red Deer, Alta. 9.89 33 London, Ont. 7.27 34 Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont. 3.19 35 Langley Township, B.C. 0.68 36 Sudbury, Ont. 0.26 37 Delta, B.C. -8.53 38 Peterborough, Ont. -9.26 39 N. Vancouver District, B.C. -11.57 40 Kamloops, B.C. -11.67 41 Grande Prairie, Alta. -17.53 42 Fort McMurray, Alta. -18.16 43 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. -19.31 44 Gatineau, Que. -27.68 45 Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc. -29.36 46 St. Catharines, Ont. -31.03 47 Saint-Jérôme, Que. -33.54 48 Brantford, Ont. -34.07 49 St-Eustache, Que. -34.17 50 Cornwall, Ont. -35.43 51 Québec, Que. -35.85 52 Belleville, Ont. -36.06 53 Terrebonne, Que. -37.31 54 Richmond, B.C. -38.25 55 Barrie, Ont. -39.93 56 Kingston, Ont. -41.71 57 Moncton, N.B. -42.13 58 Kitchener, Ont. -44.01 59 Châteauguay, Que. -44.53 60 York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont. -47.36 61 Sarnia, Ont. -47.99 62 Guelph, Ont. -48.09 63 Fredericton, N.B. -48.40 64 St. John’s, Nfld. -51.44 65 Granby, Que. -51.54 66 Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que. -51.54 67 Medicine Hat, Alta. -52.17 68 Joliette, Que. -53.85 69 St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. -54.06 70 Sherbrooke, Que. -55.00 71 North Bay, Ont. -55.42 72 Trois-Rivières, Que. -55.52 73 Chatham-Kent, Ont. -58.03 74 Drummondville, Que. -61.07 75 Roussillon, Que. -61.28 76 Repentigny, Que. -61.59 77 Sorel-Tracy, Que. -62.53 78 Saanich, B.C. -65.36 79 West Vancouver, B.C. -67.87 80 Blainville, Que. -69.44 81 Maskoutains, Que. -69.55 82 St. Albert, Alta. -70.49 83 Sherwood Park, Alta. -71.32 84 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. -73.10 85 Oakville, Ont. -73.84 86 Shawinigan, Que. -73.94 87 Saguenay, Que. -74.78 88 Rimouski, Que. -76.77 89 Victoriaville, Que. -78.55 90 Nottawasaga, Ont. -79.17 91 Cape Breton, N.S. -80.53 92 Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que. -81.06 93 Lévis, Que. -82.31 94 Innisfil, Ont. -84.09 95 Brome-Missisquoi, Que. -86.71 96 Mirabel, Que. -87.34 97 Norfolk, Ont. (Opp) -90.27 98 Caledon, Ont. -95.08 99 Wellington County, Ont. -96.55 100 Alma, Que. -98.01 -
Canada’s most dangerous cities: Breaking and entering
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
Fifty-three of the top 100 cities have rates worse than the national average
The Canadian rate is 610 properties broken into per 100,000 population, but an astonishing 53 of the top 100 cities have rates worse than the national average.
RANKCITIESPERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL RATE1 Chilliwack, B.C. 104.28% 2 Brome-Missisquoi, Que. 89.70 3 Burnaby, B.C. 70.46 4 Prince George, B.C. 66.62 5 Victoriaville, Que. 63.70 6 Granby, Que. 61.70 7 Drummondville, Que. 61.31 8 Chatham-Kent, Ont. 58.70 9 New Westminster, B.C. 58.11 10 Joliette, Que. 57.11 11 Saskatoon, Sask. 52.55 12 Langley Township, B.C. 50.94 13 Surrey, B.C. 50.12 14 Shawinigan, Que. 49.12 15 Kelowna, B.C. 48.11 16 Maple Ridge, B.C. 47.34 17 Regina, Sask. 44.76 18 Trois-Rivières, Que. 44.45 19 Saint-Jérôme, Que. 43.42 20 Maskoutains, Que. 40.60 21 Montréal, Que. 39.82 22 Belleville, Ont. 39.25 23 Winnipeg, Man. 37.91 24 Vancouver, B.C. 36.90 25 Sorel-Tracy, Que. 35.33 26 Nanaimo, B.C. 35.12 27 Victoria, B.C. 34.79 28 St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. 30.95 29 Edmonton, Alta. 30.82 30 Brantford, Ont. 29.44 31 Red Deer, Alta. 26.19 32 St. John’s, Nfld. 25.70 33 Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que. 24.93 34 North Vancouver, B.C. 24.72 35 Mirabel, Que. 20.63 36 Québec, Que. 19.31 37 Gatineau, Que. 18.55 38 Thunder Bay, Ont. 18.14 39 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 16.40 40 St-Eustache, Que. 14.53 41 London, Ont. 14.40 42 Abbotsford, B.C. 13.84 43 St. Catharines, Ont. 13.83 44 Alma, Que. 13.24 45 Lethbridge, Alta. 13.01 46 Terrebonne, Que. 11.63 47 Grande Prairie, Alta. 8.40 48 Sarnia, Ont. 6.40 49 Windsor, Ont. 5.76 50 Saint John, N.B. 5.00 51 Cornwall, Ont. 4.97 52 Longueuil, Que. 3.51 53 Fort McMurray, Alta. 1.58 54 Saguenay, Que. -1.79 55 Richmond, B.C. -5.99 56 Peterborough, Ont. -6.40 57 Coquitlam, B.C. -7.10 58 Sudbury, Ont. -7.20 59 Sherbrooke, Que. -7.30 60 Medicine Hat, Alta. -8.22 61 Moncton, N.B. -9.46 62 Halifax Region, N.S. -9.64 63 Laval, Que. -9.86 64 Kamloops, B.C. -12.53 65 Roussillon, Que. -13.22 66 Port Coquitlam, B.C. -14.47 67 Hamilton, Ont. -16.20 68 Kitchener, Ont. -17.01 69 Calgary, Alta. -17.78 70 Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc. -17.96 71 Cape Breton, N.S. -19.01 72 Delta, B.C. -19.07 73 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. -22.09 74 Châteauguay, Que. -22.93 75 West Vancouver, B.C. -23.04 76 Blainville, Que. -24.50 77 Kingston, Ont. -26.93 78 Barrie, Ont. -27.87 79 Fredericton, N.B. -28.16 80 North Bay, Ont. -28.52 81 Guelph, Ont. -29.39 82 Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que. -31.06 83 Lévis, Que. -34.07 84 Norfolk, Ont. (Opp) -37.00 85 N. Vancouver District, B.C. -37.48 86 Rimouski, Que. -38.59 87 Wellington County, Ont. -38.92 88 Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont. -39.28 89 St. Albert, Alta. -39.30 90 Ottawa, Ont. -40.77 91 Toronto, Ont. -41.74 92 Nottawasaga, Ont. -44.12 93 Repentigny, Que. -44.45 94 Sherwood Park, Alta. -44.76 95 Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont. -48.20 96 Innisfil, Ont. -51.98 97 Saanich, B.C. -52.01 98 Oakville, Ont. -56.78 99 York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont. -60.08 100 Caledon, Ont. -73.77 -
Canada's shame
By Cathy Gulli with Patricia Treble - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
Maclean’s third annual crime surveys shows an epidemic of violence in the North. Forget Arctic sovereignty. This is the problem that needs attention.
Chris Windeyer/Nunatsiaq News
Talk to people living in the North about why the violent crime rate is so high compared to the rest of Canada and you’ll hear about the “complex” or “unique” problems “up here.” But it’s not until you listen to Peter J. Harte, a lawyer in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, tell the unimaginable story of a young woman he knows that you can begin to understand what that means.
At 13, the girl was sexually abused by her brother. This only came to the attention of police when they questioned her about why she was trying to put her little sister into hiding. Her brother wound up in jail, and the teen was placed with a foster family in another community.
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Canada’s most dangerous cities: Auto theft
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
Something must be working—the Canadian rate is down 40 per cent in the past decade
The Canadian rate is 321 vehicles stolen per 100,000 population, and in the past decade, it fell 40 per cent, which suggests all those safety features must be working.
RANKCITIESPERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL RATE1 Fort McMurray, Alta. 208.95% 2 Joliette, Que. 200.84 3 Surrey, B.C. 175.98 4 Kelowna, B.C. 140.17 5 Brantford, Ont. 132.40 6 Edmonton, Alta. 122.05 7 Grande Prairie, Alta. 117.53 8 Winnipeg, Man. 108.85 9 Langley Township, B.C. 107.05 10 Saskatoon, Sask. 106.83 11 New Westminster, B.C. 102.87 12 Chilliwack, B.C. 100.65 13 Regina, Sask. 90.89 14 Prince George, B.C. 87.68 15 Red Deer, Alta. 83.59 16 Abbotsford, B.C. 81.38 17 Maple Ridge, B.C. 74.08 18 Maskoutains, Que. 71.92 19 Hamilton, Ont. 66.40 20 Drummondville, Que. 62.88 21 Burnaby, B.C. 61.66 22 Granby, Que. 55.99 23 Victoriaville, Que. 52.90 24 Terrebonne, Que. 46.69 25 Laval, Que. 43.73 26 Trois-Rivières, Que. 42.51 27 Montréal, Que. 41.70 28 Saint-Jérôme, Que. 40.42 29 Nanaimo, B.C. 39.89 30 Calgary, Alta. 33.81 31 Victoria, B.C. 32.12 32 St-Eustache, Que. 30.25 33 Shawinigan, Que. 24.08 34 Longueuil, Que. 24.05 35 Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc. 22.86 36 Port Coquitlam, B.C. 19.27 37 Repentigny, Que. 17.43 38 Kamloops, B.C. 14.38 39 London, Ont. 10.45 40 Coquitlam, B.C. 7.98 41 St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. 0.03 42 Brome-Missisquoi, Que. -0.41 43 Delta, B.C. -3.84 44 Mirabel, Que. -5.09 45 Sorel-Tracy, Que. -5.12 46 Lethbridge, Alta. -10.08 47 Vancouver, B.C. -10.36 48 Belleville, Ont. -10.92 49 Alma, Que. -13.76 50 Richmond, B.C. -13.79 51 Cornwall, Ont. -15.75 52 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. -19.59 53 St. Catharines, Ont. -20.84 54 Sherwood Park, Alta. -21.09 55 Saguenay, Que. -23.15 56 Toronto, Ont. -25.95 57 North Vancouver, B.C. -27.20 58 Windsor, Ont. -28.01 59 Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont. -30.76 60 St. Albert, Alta. -31.04 61 Sudbury, Ont. -32.66 62 Kitchener, Ont. -33.56 63 Norfolk, Ont. (Opp) -33.81 64 Sherbrooke, Que. -34.53 65 Chatham-Kent, Ont. -35.28 66 Gatineau, Que. -35.62 67 Ottawa, Ont. -37.52 68 Moncton, N.B. -37.74 69 Québec, Que. -37.96 70 Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que. -38.40 71 Roussillon, Que. -38.46 72 Medicine Hat, Alta. -39.52 73 Blainville, Que. -41.52 74 Saint John, N.B. -44.73 75 Thunder Bay, Ont. -46.57 76 Halifax Region, N.S. -48.29 77 Saanich, B.C. -48.94 78 Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que. -49.78 79 N. Vancouver District, B.C. -50.09 80 Barrie, Ont. -51.03 81 Lévis, Que. -53.46 82 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. -53.46 83 Sarnia, Ont. -56.86 84 Guelph, Ont. -57.42 85 York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont. -57.80 86 Fredericton, N.B. -57.86 87 Kingston, Ont. -58.20 88 Wellington County, Ont. -58.67 89 Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont. -60.01 90 Peterborough, Ont. -60.61 91 Innisfil, Ont. -60.95 92 Châteauguay, Que. -61.45 93 Cape Breton, N.S. -61.48 94 St. John’s, Nfld. -61.92 95 West Vancouver, B.C. -66.13 96 Oakville, Ont. -66.34 97 Nottawasaga, Ont. -67.78 98 Caledon, Ont. -69.00 99 Rimouski, Que. -72.24 100 North Bay, Ont. -75.05 -
The worst of the west
By Ken MacQueen with Colby Cosh and Patricia Treble - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 81 Comments
Drugs plus gangs equal the top crime cities in Canada
In Prince George, B.C., the most crime-ridden city in Canada, almost all violence is connected to drugs and the gangs who sell them; Prince George RCMP
Darren Munch was shot multiple times in the middle of an August Saturday afternoon, in Prince George, B.C. The 25-year-old staggered to the middle of residential Oak Street where he collapsed and died, as children played in the sunshine and stunned residents tried to process the scene. Munch’s Facebook photo, which still lives on the Internet, shows a handsome young man in a black patterned T-shirt. He glares from behind dark sunglasses and under a billed cap, striking a don’t-mess-with-me kind of pose. But someone did.
Munch, whose death local RCMP say was “gang-related,” was the fifth of seven murder victims in Prince George so far this year, a disturbing body count in a community of just 74,000. Six of those murders are tied to gangs or drugs, says RCMP detachment commander Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr. Yet, the greatest outrage in the community seemed reserved for the Prince George Citizen, for running a front page picture of Munch’s body, sprawled on the pavement in a pool of blood. The next day the Citizen ran a gutsy, unapologetic editorial under the headline: “Take a look in the mirror.” This is a city in trouble, it warned. “It’s only a matter of time, if left unchecked, before the bullets fly across your lawn, before it is your child prone on the pavement, before someone you know goes to jail, or hooks up with a gang.”
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Canada’s most dangerous cities: The rankings
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
The top 100, from the most dangerous to the safest
Click here to view a Canada wide map of the National crime rankings.
RANK CITIES PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL CRIME SCORE 1 Prince George, B.C. 90.41% 2 Victoria, B.C. 80.65 3 Regina, Sask. 73.35 4 Saskatoon, Sask. 68.85 5 Fort McMurray, Alta. 68.08 6 Kelowna, B.C. 64.95 7 Grande Prairie, Alta. 63.50 8 Surrey, B.C. 60.34 9 Chilliwack, B.C. 58.32 10 Winnipeg, Man. 57.08 11 Red Deer, Alta. 53.57 12 Nanaimo, B.C. 48.34 13 Edmonton, Alta. 48.00 14 New Westminster, B.C. 45.97 15 Belleville, Ont. 45.40 16 Saint John, N.B. 44.95 17 Burnaby, B.C. 39.04 18 Vancouver, B.C. 37.40 19 Lethbridge, Alta. 31.95 20 Kamloops, B.C. 31.62 21 Maple Ridge, B.C. 31.32 22 Brantford, Ont. 30.93 23 Thunder Bay, Ont. 29.05 24 Montréal, Que. 28.54 25 Langley Township, B.C. 23.97 26 Abbotsford, B.C. 22.18 27 Cornwall, Ont. 21.46 28 Joliette, Que. 19.34 29 Saint-Jérôme, Que. 18.76 30 North Vancouver, B.C. 15.47 31 London, Ont. 12.33 32 Halifax Region, N.S. 11.45 33 Mirabel, Que. 7.94 34 Shawinigan, Que. 6.20 35 Windsor, Ont. 5.02 36 Drummondville, Que. 4.67 37 St. John’s, Nfld. 3.87 38 Chatham-Kent, Ont. 3.33 39 Sarnia, Ont. -1.33 40 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. -1.50 41 Hamilton, Ont. -1.77 42 Brome-Missisquoi, Que. -2.31 43 Fredericton, N.B. -2.79 44 Richmond, B.C. -3.53 45 Longueuil, Que. -4.71 46 Moncton, N.B. -4.99 47 Medicine Hat, Alta. -5.02 48 Trois-Rivières, Que. -5.20 49 Cape Breton, N.S. -5.40 50 Sudbury, Ont. -7.18 51 St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. -7.49 52 Maskoutains, Que. -7.73 53 Coquitlam, B.C. -7.89 54 Victoriaville, Que. -8.04 55 Calgary, Alta. -8.50 56 Peterborough, Ont. -8.68 57 Toronto, Ont. -9.03 58 Granby, Que. -9.61 59 Gatineau, Que. -10.17 60 Delta, B.C. -11.60 61 Saguenay, Que. -12.07 62 St-Eustache, Que. -12.56 63 St. Catharines, Ont. -13.30 64 Sorel-Tracy, Que. -15.87 65 Kitchener, Ont. -15.88 66 Port Coquitlam, B.C. -16.06 67 Kingston, Ont. -16.15 68 Laval, Que. -16.44 69 St. Albert, Alta. -17.77 70 Barrie, Ont. -18.47 71 Sherbrooke, Que. -18.95 72 Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc. -19.82 73 Ottawa, Ont. -21.68 74 Québec, Que. -22.46 75 Terrebonne, Que. -22.47 76 North Bay, Ont. -23.18 77 Sherwood Park, Alta. -25.23 78 Alma, Que. -25.92 79 West Vancouver, B.C. -27.41 80 Châteauguay, Que. -28.02 81 Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont. -30.89 82 Guelph, Ont. -32.15 83 Saanich, B.C. -33.96 84 Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont. -35.18 85 Norfolk, Ont. (Opp) -36.05 86 N. Vancouver District, B.C. -38.30 87 Repentigny, Que. -38.33 88 Rimouski, Que. -40.27 89 Roussillon, Que. -40.50 90 Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que. -41.09 91 Blainville, Que. -41.58 92 Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que. -44.26 93 Innisfil, Ont. -44.40 94 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. -47.72 95 York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont. -49.10 96 Nottawasaga, Ont. -49.68 97 Lévis, Que. -51.10 98 Oakville, Ont. -57.55 99 Wellington County, Ont. -57.79 100 Caledon, Ont. -69.73 -
Canada’s most dangerous cities
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
See where your city ranks in terms of homicide, sexual assault, and other crimes
The West claimed the worst top 10 slots, as it did 10 years ago, when seven B.C. cities and three in Saskatchewan came in worst. Ontario and Quebec dominate the good list.
WORST CITIES PERCENTAGE ABOVE THE NATIONAL CRIME SCORE Prince George, B.C. +90% Victoria, B.C. 81 Regina, Sask. 73 Saskatoon, Sask. 69 Fort McMurray, Alta. 68 Kelowna, B.C. 65 Grande Prairie, Alta. 64 Surrey, B.C. 60 Chilliwack, B.C. 58 Winnipeg, Man. 57 BEST CITIES PERCENTAGE BELOW THE NATIONAL CRIME SCORE Caledon, Ont. -70% Wellington County, Ont. 58 Halton Region, Ont. 58 Lévis, Que. 51 Nottawasaga, Ont. 50 York Region, Ont. 49 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. 48 South Simcoe, Ont. 44 Vaudreuil-Soulange MRC, Que. 44 Blainville, Que. 42 Sources: 2009 and 1999 Crime Severity Index data from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Maclean’s
See where your city ranks
Features
Canada’s shame
Maclean’s third annual crime surveys shows an epidemic of violence in the North. Forget Arctic sovereignty. This is the problem that needs attention.Safety in numbers?
Why do Canada’s most populous provinces—Quebec and Ontario—boast so many of its safest cities?The worst of the West
Drugs plus gangs equal the top crime cities in CanadaMETHODOLOGY: Maclean’s obtained annual crime data from Statistics Canada for municipal police services serving the nation’s 100 largest populations, each encompassing a city or town of at least 10,000 people. Using 2009 rates per 100,000 people for six crimes—homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault, vehicle theft, robbery plus breaking and entering—in each area, Maclean’s calculated the percentage difference from the national rate. The overall crime score ranking for the 100 communities was created in consultation with StatsCan, using its Crime Severity Index (CSI) score and calculating the percentage difference from the national CSI score.
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Canada’s most dangerous cities: Sexual assault
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments
None of the worst cities have populations of more than one million
The Canadian rate is 62 assaults per 100,000 population. Of the 38 large areas that scored above that national average, none have populations of more than one million.
RANKCITIESPERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL RATE1Cornwall, Ont.153.72%2Saint John, N.B.86.503Fredericton, N.B.85.374Belleville, Ont.74.575Brantford, Ont.72.486Prince George, B.C.71.837Saint-Jérôme, Que.69.748Winnipeg, Man.58.949Saskatoon, Sask.56.0410Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.53.3011Cape Breton, N.S.51.6912Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que.42.9813Saguenay, Que.38.6314Lethbridge, Alta.34.6015Shawinigan, Que.34.6016Chatham-Kent, Ont.32.0217Kamloops, B.C.30.5718Regina, Sask.25.8919Peterborough, Ont.25.7320Halifax Region, N.S.25.0921Thunder Bay, Ont.21.5422Victoria, B.C.21.2223Windsor, Ont.19.6124Drummondville, Que.18.1625Grande Prairie, Alta.17.6726Moncton, N.B.13.3227Sudbury, Ont.13.3228Vancouver, B.C.13.0029Fort McMurray, Alta.12.6830Red Deer, Alta.8.1631Norfolk, Ont. (Opp)7.3632Kelowna, B.C.6.5533Châteauguay, Que.5.1034Sarnia, Ont.3.9735Kitchener, Ont.3.6536Kingston, Ont.2.8437Maskoutains, Que.1.7138Innisfil, Ont.0.9139St. John’s, Nfld.-0.7040Medicine Hat, Alta.-0.8641Surrey, B.C.-0.8642North Bay, Ont.-3.9343Gatineau, Que.-4.4144Edmonton, Alta.-4.8945Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont.-5.2246Nanaimo, B.C.-5.5447Barrie, Ont.-6.1848St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que.-6.1849Chilliwack, B.C.-6.8350London, Ont.-7.4751Hamilton, Ont.-8.2852Toronto, Ont.-9.7353Sherbrooke, Que.-11.6654Montréal, Que.-11.9955Nottawasaga, Ont.-12.3156Granby, Que.-12.4757Longueuil, Que.-12.7958New Westminster, B.C.-14.8959Mirabel, Que.-15.5360Québec, Que.-16.0261Guelph, Ont.-18.7662Trois-Rivières, Que.-20.3763Joliette, Que.-21.0164Blainville, Que.-22.7965St. Catharines, Ont.-23.5966Terrebonne, Que.-23.7567Brome-Missisquoi, Que.-25.0468Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc.-25.3769Calgary, Alta.-25.6970Burnaby, B.C.-26.3371Alma, Que.-28.2772Rimouski, Que.-34.2373Saanich, B.C.-35.3674Maple Ridge, B.C.-35.6875Langley Township, B.C.-35.8476Victoriaville, Que.-38.7577Abbotsford, B.C.-40.3678Laval, Que.-41.6579Repentigny, Que.-42.6180Sherwood Park, Alta.-42.7881North Vancouver, B.C.-44.8782Delta, B.C.-45.5283Ottawa, Ont.-46.3284Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont.-48.2685Wellington County, Ont.-48.7486St. Albert, Alta.-49.3887West Vancouver, B.C.-50.5188Roussillon, Que.-51.9689Lévis, Que.-56.1590Richmond, B.C.-56.1591Caledon, Ont.-57.4492York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont.-58.4193Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que.-60.9994Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que.-61.1595St-Eustache, Que.-63.7396Oakville, Ont.-65.0297Coquitlam, B.C.-66.6398Port Coquitlam, B.C.-69.2199Sorel-Tracy, Que.-71.15100N. Vancouver District, B.C.-80.33 -
Safety in numbers?
By Nicholas Köhler with Patricia Treble - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 54 Comments
Why do Canada’s most populous provinces—Quebec and Ontario—boast so many of its safest cities?
A woman outside a crime scene; Ontario’s low rates may in part be because crime reporting levels are dropping; Tara Walton/Toronto Star
Of the largest 100 cities or regions in Canada, the 10 safest are in Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s two most populous provinces. The Ontario city with the highest crime score is Belleville, population 51,000 and ranked 15th worst (cities in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba flesh out all the positions above it). The first Quebec city to show up is Montreal, ranked 24th, despite the fact it’s the third biggest city in Canada. Toronto is a sleepy 57th, while Peel, York and Halton regions—Toronto’s populous, sprawling suburban ring—have among the lowest crime scores in the country. So what gives?
Criminologists are divided on the question of why Central Canada sees the least amount of crime—and in particular violent crime—and why police-reported crime rates climb as you head west. One popular theory focuses on where crimes are more likely to be reported—for example, that western Canadians “have a tendency to be more law-and-order, and so therefore report more crimes,” as Mount Royal University criminologist Doug King puts it.
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Canada’s most dangerous cities: Homicide
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 49 Comments
Abbotsford, B.C., with almost three times the national rate, tops the list
Canada’s national rate is 1.8 murders per 100,000 population. Abbotsford, B.C., with almost three times that rate, tops the list of the 100 most populous cities.
RANK CITIES PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE WITH THE NATIONAL RATE 1 Abbotsford, B.C. 270.59% 2 Thunder Bay, Ont. 182.08 3 Medicine Hat, Alta. 159.96 4 Surrey, B.C. 154.43 5 Winnipeg, Man. 143.37 6 Brome-Missisquoi, Que. 132.31 7 Prince George, B.C. 121.24 8 Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que. 121.24 9 Grande Prairie, Alta. 110.18 10 Saguenay, Que. 88.06 11 Edmonton, Alta. 77.00 12 Kingston, Ont. 77.00 13 Sherwood Park, Alta. 77.00 14 Burnaby, B.C. 71.46 15 Halifax Region, N.S. 65.93 16 Langley Township, B.C. 60.40 17 Victoria, B.C. 60.40 18 Vancouver, B.C. 54.87 19 Sarnia, Ont. 49.34 20 Saskatoon, Sask. 49.34 21 Richmond, B.C. 43.81 22 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 43.81 23 Kelowna, B.C. 38.27 24 Sudbury, Ont. 32.75 25 Toronto, Ont. 32.75 26 Trois-Rivières, Que. 27.22 27 Red Deer, Alta. 21.68 28 St-Eustache, Que. 21.68 29 Windsor, Ont. 21.68 30 Brantford, Ont. 16.15 31 Calgary, Alta. 16.15 32 Regina, Sask. 16.15 33 Belleville, Ont. 10.62 34 West Vancouver, B.C. 10.62 35 Moncton, N.B. 5.09 36 Fredericton, N.B. -0.44 37 Laval, Que. -0.44 38 Fort McMurray, Alta. -5.97 39 Peel Region (Mississauga/Brampton), Ont. -5.97 40 Coquitlam, B.C. -11.50 41 Joliette, Que. -11.50 42 Montréal, Que. -11.50 43 Hamilton, Ont. -17.03 44 Châteauguay, Que. -22.53 45 Chilliwack, B.C. -28.10 46 Maple Ridge, B.C. -28.10 47 Kamloops, B.C. -33.63 48 Peterborough, Ont. -33.63 49 Lethbridge, Alta. -39.16 50 N. Vancouver District, B.C. -39.16 51 Ottawa, Ont. -39.16 52 St. Catharines, Ont. -39.16 53 Cape Breton, N.S. -44.69 54 Drummondville, Que. -44.69 55 Durham Region (Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax), Ont. -44.69 56 Delta, B.C. -50.22 57 Gatineau, Que. -55.75 58 Guelph, Ont. -55.75 59 Kitchener, Ont. -55.75 60 London, Ont. -55.75 61 Longueuil, Que. -55.75 62 Terrebonne, Que. -55.75 63 Vaudreuil-Soulange, Que. -55.75 64 Barrie, Ont. -61.28 65 Sherbrooke, Que. -61.28 66 Québec, Que. -77.88 67 Oakville, Ont. -88.94 68 York Region (Markham/Vaughn), Ont. -88.94 69 Alma, Que. -100.00 70 Blainville, Que. -100.00 71 Caledon, Ont. -100.00 72 Chatham-Kent, Ont. -100.00 73 Cornwall, Ont. -100.00 74 Granby, Que. -100.00 75 Innisfil, Ont. -100.00 76 Lévis, Que. -100.00 77 Maskoutains, Que. -100.00 78 Mirabel, Que. -100.00 79 Nanaimo, B.C. -100.00 80 New Westminster, B.C. -100.00 81 Norfolk, Ont. (Opp) -100.00 82 North Bay, Ont. -100.00 83 North Vancouver, B.C. -100.00 84 Nottawasaga, Ont. -100.00 85 Port Coquitlam, B.C. -100.00 86 Repentigny, Que. -100.00 87 Richelieu Saint-Laurent, Que. -100.00 88 Rimouski, Que. -100.00 89 Roussillon, Que. -100.00 90 Saanich, B.C. -100.00 91 Saint John, N.B. -100.00 92 Saint-Jérôme, Que. -100.00 93 Shawinigan, Que. -100.00 94 Sorel-Tracy, Que. -100.00 95 St. Albert, Alta. -100.00 96 St. John’s, Nfld. -100.00 97 St.Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. -100.00 98 Thérèse-De-Blainville, Qc. -100.00 99 Victoriaville, Que. -100.00 100 Wellington County, Ont. -100.00 -
What Oscar likes in a woman
By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:00 PM - 0 Comments
Best Actors play psychos, but Best Actress winners have to be noble crusaders
In Conviction, Hilary Swank plays another working-class warrior—a dropout who gets a law degree to exonerate her brother; George Pimentel/Getty Images
Meryl Streep used to routinely complain about the dearth of strong female roles. Those days are long gone. In fact, Hollywood seems to have adopted a new double standard, by which women have a monopoly on outsized heroic virtue. Over the past decade, the Best Actor winners have included two psychopaths (Training Day, There Will Be Blood), a mass murderer (The Last King of Scotland), a prima donna journalist (Capote), a philandering junkie (Ray), and a shambling alcoholic (Crazy Heart). Only one actor was awarded for playing a righteous crusader: Sean Penn in Milk. With the women, it’s another story. Of the past 10 Best Actress winners, just one played a psycho: Monster’s Charlize Theron. Among the other roles are a beloved queen, a string of noble martyrs, and two stubborn crusaders—Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich and Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side.
Real-life heroines tend to dominate Oscar-pedigree roles. And though it’s early to start handicapping the awards, the trend seems stronger than ever—with the notable exception of Natalie Portman’s sensational tour de force as a ballerina in the melodrama Black Swan. Lately I’ve seen a glut of powerhouse performances by actresses cast in true stories of underdog crusaders triumphing over long odds—Diane Lane in Secretariat (opening Oct. 8), Hilary Swank in Conviction (Oct. 15), Naomi Watts in Fair Game (Nov. 5), and Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower (release date pending). Each of these roles fits a particular mould: a working mother who tests her family’s patience by taking the world by storm.
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Blame it on those DVD commentaries
By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 2:40 PM - 0 Comments
Once obscure, head writers of TV shows are becoming stars in their own right
Getty Images; NBC; Photo Illustration by Bradley Reinhardt
Who’s starring in this fall’s TV series? Who cares? The real stars are the “show runners”: head writers who, according to The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, “have final say over the hiring of writers, actors and directors.”
Two new shows with unknown actors, Undercovers and Mike & Molly, have tried to build ratings by publicizing their high-profile writers, J.J. Abrams of Lost and Chuck Lorre of Two and a Half Men. Today, the creator of a show has to be prepared to be its public face: Dan Harmon, creator of the comedy Community (whose second season recently started on Citytv), says he’s not getting stopped in supermarkets yet, but “the group of people who know who I am has gotten larger.”
This kind of fame for writers is unknown in Canada, where TV writers have much less control over shows (which has been suggested as one reason why our TV isn’t as good). But for many years, it was also unknown in the U.S. Shows would become huge hits without anyone but insiders knowing the creators’ names. “I grew up in the ’80s when you thought you were watching the Dukes of Hazzard make the decision to drive around in the car,” Harmon says. “You never knew or cared that anything was written.” The fact that Star Trek fans knew about the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, was seen as a sign of how geeky those fans were. But when Lost went off the air, Jimmy Kimmel Live did segments with the show’s co-creators, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and the jokes assumed that the audience knew who they were. We’re all geeks now.
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Master of his domain
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 2:12 PM - 0 Comments
The book of the moment in deepest Ottawa is Lawrence Martin’s Harperland. My short contribution to the discussion appeared in the magazine last week.
And as the title might suggest, the Prime Minister here is nothing less than a relentless and merciless force who dominates everything and everyone in the capital. Often not in a good way. Some—many for partisan reasons—may have already decided as much. Some—many for partisan reasons—will quibble. But what’s here is a record that should have to be reconciled. And perhaps all sides could agree that, however you view that record, the nature and extent of Harper’s tenure is often misunderstood and wildly underestimated in the rush to the next headline.
Peter C. Newman and Susan Riley have penned full reviews. Bob Plamondon has attempted to rationalize from a conservative perspective.
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Peace talks underway between Afghanistan and the Taliban
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 2:04 PM - 0 Comments
Taliban “want talks to take place,” as U.S. keeps a close eye
Senior NATO and Obama administration officials say that United States-led forces are allowing the movement of senior Taliban leaders to attend early peace talks in Kabul, even though U.S. officials won’t be sitting at the table. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any reconciliation between Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government and Taliban insurgents has to be led by Afghans. But he also said the U.S. is offering advice and keeping an ear on the initial talks. This is the clearest indication yet of American support for high-level but preliminary discussions aimed at ending the war. The Taliban “want talks to take place,” said peace council leader Burhanuddin Rabbani. “Today there is a special agenda that exists here. Today the government and the international community are here with us.”
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A good deal, but what about the drugs?
By Cameron Ainsworth-Vincze - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 0 Comments
Free trade with the EU could hurt the sick and ailing in the Third World
Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos
India’s dream of becoming an economic powerhouse will take a giant leap forward later this year with the scheduled signing of a bilateral free trade agreement with the European Union. The goal of the agreement is to triple the existing $74-billion trade flow between the two regions over the course of the next five years. Yet one outstanding issue is drawing considerable backlash, at home and abroad.
The agreement, according to a new study in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, could significantly harm India’s generic drug industry, which supplies 80 per cent of the cheap, anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) that are sold to low- and middle-income countries. The study, which contains data from more than 17,000 donor-funded purchases of ARVs by 115 countries, suggests that negotiations between India and the EU have included measures that could delay, or in some cases restrict, generic medicines from reaching certain regions due to product patent restrictions, data requirements and tighter border rules. Such a move could significantly increase the cost of India’s ARVs, in addition to limiting dosage availability and delaying access to newer and more advanced drugs, the study argued.
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Leaving for greener pastures
By Stephanie Findlay - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:40 PM - 0 Comments
Better opportunities are luring Turkish ‘guest workers’ back home
Ralph Orlowski/ Getty Images
Germany used to be the most popular destination for Turkish immigrants. The Deutsch-Türken (German Turks) first came to Germany as gastarbeiter (guest workers) in the 1960s, when the construction of the Berlin Wall effectively cut off the flow of immigrants from East Germany. Since then, the Turkish population has grown to 3.5 million. But now, more ethnic Turks are moving out of Germany than in. According to the latest data from 2008, from the Futureorg Institute, a private research institute, 4,609 Turks left compared to just 2,569 who moved in. “The new phenomenom here is that people who are comparatively well educated, who weren’t born in Turkey, not raised in Turkey, they’re going back,” says David Bosold, head of the International Forum on Strategic Thinking in Berlin. Bosold says that many of his ethnically Turkish friends who were born in Germany have moved ‘‘back” to Turkey to work for German businesses like Mercedes or Deutsche Bank. He says it’s a question of opportunity: “They simply can have a better life.”
Despite calls for reform, Germany remains inhospitable toward its Turks. Last February, researchers at the University of Konstanz published a study that found highly skilled job candidates with Turkish names like “Fatih” and “Serkan” received 14 per cent less positive responses than those with the same qualifications but with German names. In smaller businesses, it was 24 per cent more likely that a person with a German name would be called back. Says Büro Memet Kilic, an ethnic Turk and MP for the Green party in Germany: “Young immigrants of the second and third generations who have degrees from German universities are condemned to earn their living as cab drivers. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that people emigrate from Germany.”
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A deal?
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:25 PM - 0 Comments
The Star, Globe and CBC all now report the possibility of a plea deal in the case of Omar Khadr. Postmedia says he’ll be moved to Canadian custody.
Mr. Khadr rejected a deal earlier last spring—later saying openly that he would not plead guilty. The Harper government, which has long refused to intervene in Mr. Khadr’s case, distanced itself from any talk of a plea bargain when one was last rumoured (and, indeed, seems to be doing so this time as well), while other sources said a deal was unlikely so long as the White House remained silent.
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Canada's lousy mayors
By Nancy Macdonald - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:20 PM - 0 Comments
When municipal politics matter more than ever, why do so many cities end up with bad mayors?
O’Brien, Ottawa; McCallion, Mississauga; Robertson, Vancouver; Sean Kilpatrick/CP/ Vince Talotta/Toronto Star/ Jonathan Hayward/CP
In a sign of the season, in Ottawa this week, incumbent Mayor Larry O’Brien apologized for his first two years in office—a “complete disaster,” the mayor bluntly admitted. “I probably made every single major political mistake that was possible—I even made quite a few mistakes that, quite frankly, were impossible to replicate,” he continued. O’Brien couldn’t say whether he was Ottawa’s worst-ever mayor because, as he explained, he doesn’t know all of them. But the gaffe-prone mayor did want Ottawans to know how “sincerely sorry” he was for the way he’d run city hall.
What was remarkable was that this was not an exit speech, but a campaign speech. A year ago, the pugnacious ex-businessman was unsure voters would ever forgive him his bribery and influence-peddling charges. O’Brien was found not guilty, but the legal sideshow nevertheless garnered embarrassing headlines all over the country. Now, here he was again, having launched a re-election bid last month, complete with a recycled promise not to increase taxes. This notwithstanding the fact that taxes have jumped fully 14 per cent since he took office on a “zero-means-zero” tax increase pledge in 2006.
O’Brien does have competition. A record 20 Ottawans have paid $200 to run for mayor on Oct. 25, including O’Brien’s main contender: ex-MPP Jim Watson. But Watson, a former Ottawa mayor himself, has failed to excite Ottawans; although he’s leading in the polls, the race is such a dog’s breakfast that a disgraced mayor no one thought would show his face now stands a fighting chance come Oct. 25.
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Porn film actor tested positive for HIV
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:19 PM - 0 Comments
Two production companies shut down while performers are tested
Two well-known adult film production companies in Los Angeles have shut down after a performer tested HIV-positive on Tuesday. Individuals exposed to the active performer—whose name and gender are undisclosed—are being tested and quarantined, according to a spokesperson for the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation. The infection is the first known local case in over a year and has renewed calls by AIDS activists for increased regulation and state-mandated condom use on porn sets. Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment have suspended operations as a precaution.
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Plea deal could finally send Omar Khadr home
By macleans.ca - Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:19 PM - 0 Comments
Negotiations are underway to transfer the accused terrorist to a Canadian jail cell
More than eight years after being shot and captured on an Afghanistan battlefield—at the age of 15—Omar Khadr could be on his way out of a Guantanamo Bay prison cell. His lawyer confirmed today that a deal is in the works that would see Khadr plead guilty to terrorism offences in exchange for serving the remainder of his sentence in a Canadian jail. Exactly how much longer he will spend behind bars—or what specific crime he will confess to—has yet to be determined, and Nathan Whitling, one of his Edmonton-based lawyers, would only say “that there is a potential deal in the works.” Now 24, Khadr is charged with five military commission offences, including “murder in violation of the laws of war,” in connection with the death of U.S. Delta Force soldier Christopher Speer. According to prosecutors, the teenaged Khadr was among a group of insurgents engaged in a firefight with American soldiers in July 2002, and tossed a grenade that fatally wounded Sgt. Speer. Omar is the third son of the late Ahmed Said Khadr, a Canadian citizen and reputed al-Qaeda financier who once lived with Osama bin Laden.
