Suddenly a new national institution

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 11:55 PM - 0 Comments

On a busy day, nobody will notice that the federal government and the Government of Alberta today each gave $25 million to a new National Music Centre in Calgary. And yet more people should notice. Added to $25 million from the City of Calgary, that’s $75 million toward a projected $120 million (or so) for the new institution. The rest will come from private fundraising, apparently. In Calgary that’s hardly an unrealistic expectation.

I’ve chronicled the development of this project for more than a year. In July of 2009 I wrote about the short-listed candidates for the centre’s architectural competition. A few months later I wrote about the winner, Portland up-and-comer Brad Cloepfil, whose design looks like this:

Here’s who should care about this announcement:

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Foreign Affairs Clue

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 9:45 PM - 0 Comments

While the Harper government blames Michael Ignatieff, ambassadors interviewed by Canadian Press don’t mention the opposition leader. Instead, African ambassadors tell Canadian Press it was the Harper government’s positions on debt relief and the UN Relief and Works Agency.

But “senior African officials” tell Postmedia Africa does not feel negatively. Instead, “officials based at the UN” say it was the Harper government’s position on Israel that upset members of the Organization of Islamic Conference, while one “senior Islamic official” says the OIC felt snubbed when Canada didn’t address the conference like Portugal did. Don Martin says “some” say the United Arab Emirates lobbied other Arab counties to vote against Canada after the Harper government refused to open runways in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, but a “senior government official” says Canada got a “good chunk” of the Arab vote.

Meanwhile, “government insiders” were preemptively guessing it might be Peter Van Loan, in Israel, with the new trade deal.

Discovering Sexsmith, Escobar, Zanzibar and Uzbek art at VIFF

By Brian D. Johnson - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 9:02 PM - 0 Comments

Ron Sexsmith in 'Love Shines' (photo by Pattie Gower)

It was a busman’s holiday. I spent Thanksgiving weekend at the 29^th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF)—not as a film critic, but as a filmmaker invited by the festival. VIFF was showing Yesno, a short film that I’d produced and directed, and which premiered at TIFF last month. This was my first visit to VIFF, which rhymes with TIFF, but bears little resemblance to its Toronto counterpart.  Simply put, TIFF is an industry juggernaut, second only to Cannes, and serves as the fall launch pad for awards-season films, with all the media gridlock and celebrity razzmatazz that entails, especially on the front-loaded opening weekend. VIFF is primarily a public festival for local audiences. It’s more relaxed and more affordable, with a large program (365 films from 80 countries) that’s stretched over 16 days.  Vancouver folks get tired of seeing media stories on their festival that inevitably begin with comparisons to TIFF, and I suppose this counts as another one. But I’m really in no position to compare the two events, because my roles at them were so different. Conquering TIFF as a film critic is an exhausting ordeal that requires almost military planning.  As a filmmaker at VIFF, I was under no obligation to cover the festival. I didn’t have to see anything, so the movies I chose to see were simply ones that intrigued me, or that I’d heard filmmakers chatting about over breakfast. So I was reintroduced to the pleasure of discovering films at a festival, as opposed to consuming them at an industrial rate. Among those that caught my eye were four documentaries that had not been shown at TIFF, or anywhere else in the country—Love Shines, The Desert of Forbidden Art, The Two Escobars, and Zanzibar Musical Club. They span the worlds of music, art and soccer, but they are all, coincidentally, tales of thwarted talent or buried brilliance,

Love Shines, which received its world premiere at VIFF, is an intimate portrait of the Canadian music scene’s most under-appreciated artist, singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith.  The film finds him at a crisis point in his career. This guy is a musician’s musician, and has a cult following that includes Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Steve Earle, Daniel Lanois and Feist.  But faced with disappointing album sales and a music industry in freefall, Sexsmith frets about his future. He desperately needs a hit, and some commercial ballast to match his critical acclaim. So he takes radical action. To record his 12th studio album, Late Bloomer Long Player, he hires Bob Rock, the legendary American producer known for his work with bands that favour power chords and umlauts, such as Metallica, Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe. That makes for an odd-couple partnership rich with irony. Director, Doug Arrowsmith takes the camera into the studio sessions, an intrusion that seems to leave Rock unfazed—and no wonder, given that the producer endured several years on camera during the recording/therapy marathon captured in the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

The studio sessions with Rock anchor the Arrowsmith’s narrative, which draws on eight years of filming by the director. The result is a time lapse portrait of Sexsmith, and of Arrowsmith’s filmmaking, which has evolved from amateur to professional by the time he’d done. The footage ranges from cute home video glimpses of the singer’s childhood to a momentous concert at Massey Hall, where the guests include one of Sexsmith’s early idols, Gordon Lightfoot. The film also dips into its subject’s personal life, notably his self-professed shortcomings as a father to his two children, now both in their 20s. And woven throughout is reverent and insightful commentary from the  Lanois, Earle, Costello and Feist. Costello is especially astute, describing Sexsmith as once-in-a-blue-moon talent akin to McCartney, but who has the misfortune of being born too late. Feist, who recorded Sexsmith’s Secret Heart, is wonderfully articulate and charismatic. And Sexsmith, who reflects on his music and career with wry self-deprecation, wins us over with a candid mix of vulnerability and charm. After a dozen albums, and widespread acclaim, he is still almost famous, still looking for the big breakthrough, and the big payday, now that the money in the music business has all but dried up. His second wife, singer Colleen Hixenbaugh, spells out the ultimate irony: when excited fans spot Ron in the laundromat, they first ask for his autograph, then say, “What are you doing in laundromat?!”

Arrowsmith keeps his story focused on that quintessentially Canadian predicament of the insecure artist gazing up at the star-maker machine. Fame is something Sexsmith clearly craves—how else can a musician making a living?—yet, as  Rock (the producer/therapist) gently suggests to him, perhaps he’s also afraid of it. Afraid of greatness. In fact, we get the sense that the same shy vulnerability that may be thwarting the singer’s success is exactly what makes his art so special.

Although Love Shines is the portrait of tortured artist, it’s not a downer. In fact, Sexsmith’s melancholy can be downright amusing, especially when framed by his own disarming self-awareness. And the ultimate tonic is the uplifting music that emerges from the sessions, notably the song Love Shines, which offers tangible hope that the long-awaited breakthrough may finally be at hand.

Love Shines screens again at VIFF Oct. 15. Continue…

Lawrence Cannon: consistent

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 7:38 PM - 0 Comments

“Several ambassadors who emerged from the vote made no mention of Ignatieff’s remarks; one had never even heard of him.

“Instead, African ambassadors, in particular, pointed to a series of Canadian stances on issues ranging from African debt relief to the Conservative government cutting funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and accusing it of having terrorist links.

“‘In my discussions with African ambassadors … that issue has not been brought to my attention, nor have the other issues been brought to my attention,’ Cannon said when asked about those concerns.”

link

The upside down us

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 6:56 PM - 0 Comments

Emboldened by Canada’s defeat, Australia now seems well-placed to win a seat on the UN security council. Alas, their bid is almost certainly doomed by a disloyal opposition.

Tony Abbott—leader of a conservative coalition—delivered a speech on the matter last April. Two years ahead of the vote, the government has preemptively accused Mr. Abbott of harming their campaign for a seat.

Insecure counsel

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 5:28 PM - 0 Comments

I actually don’t think it is overwhelmingly important whether Canada has a seat on the Security Council. The big stories in the world these days are not, as a rule, United Nations stories; the United States — not just Bush in Iraq, but Clinton in Kosovo, and probably Obama in who-knows-where soon enough — pays little heed to inconvenient Security Council decisions. One measure of how little any of this matters is this: Conrad Black wrote an entire column about Canada’s application for a temporary seat that betrayed complete confusion about what the Harper government was applying for, repeatedly calling it a “permanent” seat and comparing Canada to permanent-seat aspirants like China and Brazil. And nobody in the comments to Conrad’s column even noticed his mistake.

But I digress. But while it’s fair to minimize the importance of a Security Council seat, it’s also fair to note that however little Canada could have accomplished with one, it will accomplish less without it.

It is also fair to lay all credit or blame for this state of affairs at the feet of Stephen Harper. Continue…

The Legend of the Iggy

By Scott Feschuk - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 4:37 PM - 0 Comments

Never laid eyes on it myself, you understand. But I heard the tales.

We all heard the tales.

Twenty-foot tall if it was a foot. Voice like thunder. Glowed from the inside, some say.

From the inside.

Them creatures of the forest – your squirrels and deer and such – they’d sense its presence. They could feel it a-comin’. Feel it in their bones, right? And, well, heh heh – you ain’t never seen Continue…

Ottawa unveils record-breaking deficit

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 3:41 PM - 0 Comments

Ottawa’s record-breaking deficit of $55.6 billion last year won’t stop the government from balancing its books by 2016, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Tuesday in the federal government’s fiscal update. The shortfall was $1.8 billion more than had been anticipated when the budget was unveiled in March and surpassed the previous record by about $10 billion. Flaherty’s announcement included no new spending, nor did it outline any budget cuts. “Our government’s commitment to return to balanced budgets stems from our fundamental belief that the private sector…. must be Canada’s economic engine of growth, not government,” Flaherty said.

Canadian Press

The blame game (IV)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 3:20 PM - 0 Comments

Michael Ignatieff’s statement on today’s defeat at the United Nations.

“Today, the international community sent a message that we cannot ignore. Our task is now clearer than ever: restore Canada’s proud standing in the world.

“After more than four years of a Harper Conservative government, the sad reality is that too many countries have lost faith in the way Canada conducts its international relations. The absence of leadership is noticeable, from blocking any progress on climate change, to freezing foreign aid and abandoning Africa, to largely ignoring the UN itself.

“We know of our potential because of our history. For decades, under both Liberals and Progressive Conservatives, Canada has led proudly on the world stage.

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The blame game (III)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 3:10 PM - 0 Comments

The Harper government cites its own principles and Mr. Ignatieff’s massive global influence for today’s vote result.

“I do not in any way see this as a repudiation of Canada’s foreign policy,” he said. “The principles underlying our foreign policy, such as freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law, were the basis of all our decisions. ”Some would even say that because of our attachment to those values that we lost a seat on the council. If that’s case, then so be it.”

The blame game (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 2:51 PM - 0 Comments

NDP leader Jack Layton’s statement on the UN security council vote.

“For the first time since the creation of the United Nations, Canada has failed in its bid to serve as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. The result of today’s vote is deeply disappointing.

“Instead of trying to shift the blame, Stephen Harper’s government must accept responsibility for the loss of Canada’s reputation on the global stage. Every decade for the past 60 years, the world community trusted Canada with the grave responsibility of serving on the UN Security Council. Canada earned the confidence of the global community by conducting a responsible foreign policy which reflected a Canadian consensus on commitments to peace, justice and sustainable development.

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Netanyahu’s moves stoke debate on intentions

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 2:48 PM - 0 Comments

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to freeze the development of Jewish settlements in the West Bank in exchange for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. The offer was instantly rejected but has sparked debate about Netanyahu’s intentions. Israeli analysts and former diplomats disagree about what the prime minister was hoping to achieve by raising the issue in parliament’s opening day of winter session Monday. So far, it is believed that the offer was aimed either at keeping talks with the Palestinians alive and his coalition partners in check, or at trying to push the burden of failure to the Palestinians and escape blame if the talks fail. This has also stoked uncertainty about his sincerity in negotiating a two-state solution. “[Netanyahu] knows it’s a non-starter,” says Yossi Alpher, a former peace process adviser to the Israeli government. “[The Palestinians] are prepared to end the conflict, but for them to accept Israel as a Jewish state is for them to negate their whole narrative.”

Christian Science Monitor

The vote trade

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 2:39 PM - 0 Comments

From Siri Agrell’s interview with Sichan Siv, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

We’re running against Germany and Portugal. How do you like our odds?

These three countries have very good credentials. Canada, you’ve been involved in peacekeeping operations from the beginning. One benefit for Canada is that it’s not a European country. Although it belongs to Europe in terms of voting, people can argue that you have the U.K. and France already as permanent members and you should not have two more Europeans on the council. That would work in your favour. I’m sure the Canadian delegation would use that. Probably most people will go with Germany because Germany has been a huge benefactor to the UN and also because they have a very international aid program. That doesn’t mean that you are buying votes, but for poorer countries, that is a factor.

Our government has suggested that if we lose, it will be the fault of our Official Opposition. Do voting members look at the internal politics of the country? Do they care about our domestic issues?

No. Developing countries will look at what we call the neutral agreements, who supports each other on the UN level. If I vote for you, would you vote for me? On that note, I want to mention that the United States is the only country that does not trade votes.

Conservatives tap Ontario Provincial Police commissioner for by-election

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 2:04 PM - 0 Comments

Julian Fantino, Ontario’s provincial police commissioner, announced this morning that he will run for the federal Conservatives in his home riding in Vaughan, Ontario. The seat was recently vacated by Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua, who is running for mayor of the suburban Toronto city. Fantino praised Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s commitment to security and justice in his speech this morning. Julian Fantino recently faced a lawsuit related to his handling of a native land dispute in Caledonia, Ontario, but the private charges were dropped earlier this year. Fantino has also served as police chief of London, Ont., York Region, and Toronto.

National Post

How do you feel about Canada's failure to land a seat on the UN Security Council?

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 2:02 PM - 0 Comments

Promises, guarantees and projections

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 1:51 PM - 0 Comments

Stephen Harper, October 14, 2008. Our election platform is not full of grandiose, costly promises. It’s a prudent approach. We can afford it. We’ll never go back into deficit.

Jim Flaherty, November 27, 2008. No government at any level can guarantee the future. In fact, given so much uncertainty, no one could unconditionally guarantee the fiscal projections contained in today’s statement … Today’s statement lays out a plan that keeps our budget balanced for now. However, in the weeks ahead we will determine the extent to which we will inject additional stimulus to our economy, joining the efforts of our international partners.

Jim Flaherty, January 27, 2009. Our government projects a budget deficit of $34 billion for the next fiscal year; and $30 billion the year after that … By 2011 we project the deficit will fall to $13 billion; by 2012 it will fall to $7.3 billion. By 2013 we project a return to surplus, and for that year, a surplus of $700 million.

Jim Flaherty, today. By winding down the Action Plan as the economy recovers and implementing the savings measures announced in Budget 2010, the deficit is projected to decline from $55.6 billion in 2009–10 to $29.8 billion in 2011–12, and to a small deficit of $1.7 billion in 2014–15. By 2015–16, the federal budget is projected to record a small surplus of $2.6 billion.

Canada pulls out of race for UN Security Council seat

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 1:16 PM - 0 Comments

Canada has dropped its bid for the final seat on the United Nations Security Council after placing behind Portugal in the second round of voting. Canada’s UN Ambassador John McNee made the unexpected announcement after Portugal secured 113 votes to Canada’s 78. A two-thirds majority is required to win a seat. Initially, Germany, Portugal and Canada were competing for two non-permanent seats and Germany secured its seat by winning two-thirds in the first round. This is first time since the UN was launched in 1945 that the Canadian government has failed in a bid for a Security Council seat.

CTV News

The blame game

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 1:08 PM - 0 Comments

Canada has failed in its bid for a seat around the UN security council table.

For those keen fans of finger-pointing, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is due to address reporters in New York at 1:15pm (viewable here). The Prime Minister’s Office has summoned Ottawa bureau chiefs for a briefing at 2pm. NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar will speak with reporters in the House foyer at 2:30pm. And the Liberals have called a news conference with Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Scott Brison for 3:30pm in the National Press Theatre.

Trapped Chilean miners get media training in advance of rescue

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 12:05 PM - 0 Comments

There are an estimated 2,000 journalists waiting for the 33 trapped Chilean miners to surface on Tuesday. To prepare for their emergence from the depths of the earth, they have asked for media training. A former journalist was provided to teach them how to deal with interviews and deflect questions. “To prepare, I asked everything imaginable,” their instructor, Alejandro Pino, told the local La Tercera. “And sometimes, they learned to reject the question politely.” Apparently, the miners have taken a vow of silence, so we may never know exactly what went on during their period of isolation. But what’s for sure is that the TV, publishing and endorsement deals will roll in for whatever story they chose to tell. A TV deal alone could net each of “Los 33” as much as $400,000.

Toronto Star

First patient to participate in stem-cell trial

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 11:54 AM - 0 Comments

Researchers at the University of California-Irivine have begun testing an embryonic stem-cell treatment on a patient in Georgia with spinal cord injuries, the first time stem-cells have been used to treat a human. The patient, who is enrolled at Shepherd Center, will be the subject of a study on the safety of the treatment, and how it is tolerated by humans. “Regenerative” medicine, which uses the super-cells to give back movement to people with spinal-cord injuries, is one of the most promising applications of stem-cell treatment. These cells are believed to have the ability to transform into any other type of cell in the body, which means they may be able to regenerate damaged or diseased tissue. While a milestone in the technology, the treatment is still a long way from being proven in humans and reaching the market.

National Post

UAE turns back plane carrying Defense Minister Peter MacKay

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 11:50 AM - 0 Comments

The United Arab Emirates forced a plane carrying Defense Minister Peter MacKay to divert to Italy on Monday. The move is seen as an indication of new diplomatic hostility between the two nations after diplomatic talks broke down last week. Dubai has been lobbying Ottawa for years to allow the country’s two airlines, Etihad and Emirates, to land more flights in Canada. The airlines are currently allowed to land only six flights per week in Toronto. Canada has stated that more flights aren’t necessary, but the UAE maintains that more flights to Toronto, plus flights to Calgary and Vancouver, should be allowed. Air Canada also flies to the UAE, where over 27,000 Canadians currently live. Canada announced last week that it would remove its formerly-secret air base, Camp Mirage, from the country’s soil. Bilateral trade between the two nations is worth $1.5-billion annually.

CTV News

"Alarming" levels of hunger in 29 countries, report says

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 11:48 AM - 0 Comments

According to a new report on global hunger from the International Food Policy Research Institute and other aid groups, 29 countries have alarming levels of hunger, while over one billion people were hungry last year. The situation is characterized as “serious,” notes the Global Hunger Index, and most countries with “alarming” scores are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 1990, world leaders set the goal of halving the number of hungry people by 2015, but that goal is far from accomplished, and children are especially vulnerable. The percentage of undernourished people went from 20 per cent in 1990-92 to 16 per cent in 2004-06, a sign of some improvement, and the United Nations thinks the number of hungry people might have fallen from one billion in 2009 to 925 million in 2010. But progress varies by region and country. The ten countries with the worst levels of hunger were the Democratic Republic of Congo (the worst off), Burundi, Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Comoros, Madagascar and the Central African Republic.

Reuters

They're all out to get us (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 10:04 AM - 0 Comments

The Prime Minister is now customizing his fear and paranoia for individual opposition backbenchers.

“The first thing the new NDP MP did when she got to Ottawa was to sign onto a coalition deal with the Bloc Quebecois,” he said during the speech. “The next election is going to be a choice…When the next election does come the entire future of this country is at stake… Let’s be blunt: A far left coalition’s only priority seems to be shutting down Alberta energy industry and putting thousands of Albertans out of work.”

On the perils of prorogation

By Andrew Coyne - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Chris Wattie/Reuters

When is it legitimate for a prime minister to prorogue Parliament, and when is it not? At what point can we say a government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons? Suppose it has: what happens then?
These were just some of the questions at issue in the great prorogation crisis of December 2008. And at the heart, perhaps the most fundamental question of all: must a governor general always follow the advice of her prime minister?

The honest answer in every case is: don’t know. Or at best, it depends. For all its undoubted strengths, much of our Constitution remains unexplored territory, uncharted by law and untamed by precedent or jurisprudence.

For what it’s worth, my own answers to those questions would be as follows. It is ordinarily a perfectly legitimate exercise of his authority for a prime minister to prorogue, but the circumstances in which Stephen Harper sought to do so then—so soon after the House had returned, and in the shadow of an approaching confidence vote he seemed sure to lose—were far from ordinary.

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