Week in Pictures: April 18th – 24th 2011

By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 3:52 PM - 0 Comments

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Week in Pictures: April 18th – 24th 2011

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Tornado flattens the South

A tornado flattened most of this home in the LaGrange subdivision in Fayetteville, N.C. on April 16, 2011 . Homes and businesses were badly damaged Saturday by a severe storm system that whipped across North Carolina, bringing flash floods, hail and reports of tornadoes from the western hills to the streets of Raleigh. (AP Photo/James Robinson)

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PMO spokesman denies corruption allegations

By Philippe Gohier - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 3:50 PM - 19 Comments

Dimitri Soudas, a longtime aide and chief spokesperson to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, denied on Thursday he’d received kickbacks in exchange for his alleged lobbying of Montreal’s Port Authority in 2007, in a bid to to have the agency name Robert Abdallah as its chief executive. Several audio recordings—purportedly conversations between Tony Accurso and Bernard Poulin, both prominent players in Quebec’s construction industry—were posted to YouTube on Thursday morning.

The voice, alleged to be that of Poulin, says he intended to ask Conservative Senator Leo Housakos to bring Soudas onboard with their plans to have Abdallah, a former executive director of the city and employee of Accurso’s, named CEO of the port. They discuss “compensation” for Soudas if he can “deliver something” for them on the appointment process. “What do you see him being able to do, Soudas?” the voice identified as Accurso says. “He’s the boss of Quebec, the real boss of Quebec,” explains the voice identified as Poulin.

Soudas flatly denied the allegations, saying he’d “never” spoken to Acccurso or Poulin about the appointment and was never paid for lobbying on Abdallah’s behalf.

The Toronto Star

Youtube (1)

Youtube (2)

Youtube (3)

Searching for a higher education strategy

By Andrew Potter - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 3:24 PM - 10 Comments

Today, the good folks over at Higher Education Strategy Associates released their long-awaited analysis of the party platforms regarding post-secondary education. They were clearly rejigging parts of the analysis right up to the end – the document is larded with pictures of the party leaders taken from VintageVoter.ca.

The analysis looks at federal education policy proposals under main headings: Student Aid, Transfers to Provinces and Institutions, Research, and Apprenticeships. The section on student aid takes up over half the analysis, largely because – as the report points out:

Looking across all party platforms, one is struck by how much the cost of postsecondary education dominates all other issues. Indeed, one might be forgiven for thinking this was the only issue that mattered to federal parties.

Details on education transfers are notable for their absence in the Conservative and Liberal platforms and for their incoherence in the New Democrat one. Apart from a Conservative regurgitation of last month’s budget, policies on scientific research are essentially absent. And everyone apparently thinks Apprenticeships are a Good Thing but not so good as to actually require policy. Apart from these topics, only the New Democrats have shown any ambition at all in the area, with their promises on childcare and Aboriginal Education. Within PSE itself, the lack of vision and ideas is palpable.

The upshot is that federal approaches to higher education amount to this: The Conservatives are offering slight tweaks to the existing student aid system, while the NDP are proposing to just throw more cash at it. The HESA analysis credits the Liberals with having “the most intriguing and certainly the best thought-out” platform regarding student aid; the Learning Passport idea is the only one that hints at re-imagining the way student aid works, and the only one that promises to inject even a modicum of progressivity into the system.

But overall, the analysis is pretty depressing. Jean Chretien was the last prime minister to make a serious effort at providing federal leadership in higher education and to have a vision for the role higher education can play in a modern economy, but that was fifteen years ago. Since then, federal policy has been a wasteland of boutique tax breaks and minor tweaks to student aid. Any grander conviction that a country’s universities are among its most crucial institutions, and that supporting those institutions is in the national interest, is completely absent.

Expect Republicans to get serious

By John Parisella - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 3:10 PM - 8 Comments

Over the past six months, an array of Republican hopefuls have shown interest in the party’s nomination, but outside of a couple of exploratory committees, none have declared. As a result, celebrity candidates such as Michele Bachmann and Donald Trump have filled the vacuum and are currently dominating the headlines, pushing more serious candidates into the background and making otherwise promising potential candidates hesitate about their prospects.

Bachmann is the leading social conservative and Tea Party candidate, and is raking in the donations. As a result, she is a leading candidate in the all-important Iowa caucus and should be very competitive in the South Carolina primary. But the Republican leadership in Congress is growing uncomfortable with her prospects. Her controversial statements have made her a serious contender within the party base, but not with electorate outside the GOP.

Trump, on the other hand, is commanding national attention and has chosen the birth certificate issue as his means to confront Obama. In a short matter of weeks, Trump has taken the lead among Republican primary voters at 19 per cent. His pomposity, high profile, and penchant for publicity have made him a formidable challenger and one who will continue to capture headlines until he decides whether or not he’ll make a real run at the nomination.

The Republican establishment is obviously upset and concerned at the prospect of a Trump candidacy. Former George W. Bush operative Karl Rove, a leading fundraiser for the party, has shifted his criticism of Sarah Palin to Donald Trump calling him a “joke candidate.” Influential columnist George Will has also be very critical. Republicans who feel Obama is vulnerable and the White House is within reach are concerned by this turn of events.

But serious candidates such as Mitt Romney seem unable to break through the clutter. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels seems interested, but cannot compete against the Trump publicity juggernaut. Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s former governor, looks like a serious potential candidate but cannot make inroads in the media. Meantime, Trump is able to make it onto the news shows anytime he wishes and still has his weekly reality show.

The Obama campaign has benefited from what has become a political sideshow. Even though he may not be a candidate in the end, Trump is putting a damper on everyone else’s campaign. The GOP did well in 2010 at the mid-terms, but a presidential campaign must appeal to a wider range of the electorate. The angry rhetoric of Bachmann and the perceived silliness of Trump are distractions. If the Republicans hope to be competitive in 2012, they will have to get serious.

'We have defunded it'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 3:00 PM - 42 Comments

Though the Prime Minister’s Office has suggested that Brad Trost doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Mr. Trost continues to talk about Planned Parenthood.

jenkew @bradtrostCPC answers. “I am very proud of the work I’ve done to defund Planned Parenthood Intl.” “We have defunded it for last 16 months.”

jenkew @bradtrostCPC ”I don’t see how anything I have said contradicts anything he [Stephen Harper] says.

Frontdoor Backdoor Pilots

By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 2:55 PM - 5 Comments

Tonight’s episode of Bones is a “backdoor pilot,” an episode where the main characters team up with a new guy. This guy is better than anyone else at something specific (in this case, finding people), so you know he’s meant to be a TV hero. There’s a new location, and a corresponding shift in focus to people we haven’t seen before. So many people would probably guess, as the show went on, that it was meant to set up a potential new series. What’s different from the way backdoor pilots used to be done: no one is disguising it. Items have been planted about the coming spinoff pilot, creator Hart Hanson has talked about it, warning fans that “when this goes on the air, there’s going to be a loud group of people who hate” the new characters, and the star of the pilot, Geoff Stults, did a long interview where he teases the fact that this episode will upset the ‘shippers:

There definitely is [tension between Brennan and his character] and ‘Bones’ fans are probably like “Oh my God! Please don’t let them hook up! It’s got to be Booth and Bones!” I’m going to get killed here!

All these elements are familiar from decades of backdoor or “stealth” pilots (including the possibility that one of your leads might be attracted to the new character; if that’s not possible, at least have the established characters admire the new character a lot). But networks and producers used to disguise the fact that that was what they were doing, because it might drive viewers away if they knew they were going to be watching a new hero. The usual spot to put this kind of episode was in the last episode of the season, which before the Season Finale concept took hold was often used for filler episodes: hence, Star Trek‘s Assignment Earth was the last episode of the second season, and Mary Tyler Moore ended its second season with a failed attempt to create a new show for Bill Daily.

Today, though, viewers are more familiar with Tropes(tm), there are more TV critics who can point these things out online, and it’s all going to come out anyway; it would be hard to disguise a planted spinoff until that magic moment, 10-20 minutes in, when we realize we’re spending an awful lot of time with somebody new. So it probably makes sense to just be up front about it and present it as a change-of-pace episode, a chance to see our regular heroes against a new backdrop and in new surroundings. And at the very least, testing a pilot on millions of people probably means a little bit more than testing it on focus groups. I said “a little bit,” not a lot.

Here’s the introduction of a show that was introduced as a backdoor pilot, and actually went to series (and the star, Dennis “Adam Sandler’s Director Buddy” Dugan got to make a return appearance on the parent show after this one was canceled). As a bonus, it features a song that is blatantly imitation Beach Boys even by Mike Post’s standards.

Genetically modified mosquitoes could combat malaria

By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 2:20 PM - 19 Comments

Scientists say they will soon be able to change the DNA of wild mosquitoes to help curb malaria, an illness that caused nearly one million deaths worldwide in 2008 according to the World Health Organization. The BBC reports that researchers are getting closer to finding a gene that they could spread through most of the wild mosquito population in just a few years. Scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Washington have inserted a gene into mosquitoes that creates an enzyme to cut their DNA in two. The cell uses the gene as a template to fix itself , and the male mosquito’s sperm carries the gene on to its offspring. The gene was used in lab experiments to half of caged mosquitoes within 12 generations.

BBC News

Australian parking meters call cops when time is up

By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 1:51 PM - 5 Comments

Melbourne City Council expects to gain about $3 million more a year in parking fines thanks to newly approved in-ground sensors that will alert parking inspectors when drivers overstay their meters, The Age reports. The technology will be rolled out starting in July and should earn council almost $12 million over four years, even after the $5.48 million price tag for the new technology. A sensor records when a vehicle moves in and out of a spot and sends a message to the nearest inspector when a motorist stays more than five minutes too long. License plate recognition technology will also be introduced in residential areas.

The Age

Policy alert

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 1:48 PM - 25 Comments

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami sent a questionnaire to the five major political parties.

Four of the five have now responded.

Steep fines for posting election results early

By macleans.ca - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 1:33 PM - 10 Comments

The first social media election is having some of the wind sucked out of its sails by a 73-year-old law that prohibits a person from disclosing election results before polls close across the country. The Canada Elections Act provision comes with fines of up to $25,000, and despite its antiquity, it’s being defended by Elections Canada. “As long as the law is on the books, like any other law, it has to be obeyed,” said Elections Canada spokesman James Hale. In 2000, blogger Paul Bryan was charged under the law and fined $1,000 for publishing results from Atlantic Canada, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court. But many experts and political insiders are calling the regulation absurd. “It’s an archaic law and in the Internet age it’s pretty much unenforceable. It’s ridiculous,” said Chima Nkemdirim, chief of staff to Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, an avid Twitter user.

The Calgary Herald

Policy alert

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 1:09 PM - 10 Comments

Jack Layton promises a fine for any MP who misses more than half the votes in the House of Commons in a year without providing a reasonable excuse.

The Globe tries to sort out whether this would amount to anything.

TV's return to Normalcy

By Colby Cosh - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 12:44 PM - 12 Comments

Norm Macdonald has, after what amounts to a decade-long absence, returned to television as the star of his own show. I know many of you will greet this news with a “Who cares?” Macdonald is almost as polarizing and distinctive a comedian as Andy Kaufman, though it is easy to overlook this because of the pathological purity of his approach. He’s an intelligent man who would seemingly rather die than make a joke that was even slightly “inside”, and a fairly gifted mimic who wheels out an impression maybe once every three or four years.

The ultimate Norm Macdonald punchline is a simple statement of the obvious, delivered in a spondaic sort of way; the O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson jokes that defined his tenure as host of SNL‘s “Weekend Update” segment largely consisted of these, and if you appreciate the approach, you will probably love his Comedy Central Sports Show. (It turns out that Tiger Woods’ “sex addiction” is very, very amenable to this sort of treatment.)

Though Macdonald has a sizable cult, his continuing recognizability has relied, to an unusually large degree, on the reverence of comedy peers like Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien. A person turning 18 today would have been four years old when Norm was fired from Saturday Night Live, and only 12 when he put out his lone comedy album, Ridiculous. There is a natural temptation to blame Macdonald—because of his diffident way of speaking and his love of gambling—for his own low profile. He doesn’t like letting evidence of special effort show in his comedy, so one assumes he doesn’t like to work very hard. Well, it’s more than an assumption: he has joked that he got into comedy because it seemed like the most congenial “of the unskilled labours”.

I find myself wondering whether Macdonald pushed himself back into a higher gear because of his friend Artie Lange’s bloody suicide attempt, which deprived us of a fast-improving talent in its prime. The fact is, though, that Macdonald has already taken several runs at creating TV and web projects where he sits behind a desk and cracks wise à la “Weekend Update”. Based on hints he has dropped about the conditions of his release from SNL, he probably has to be careful not to just do a straightforward “Weekend Update” clone. The sports theme of his new show seems like a Solomon-like solution, and if it succeeds, it could fill a nice little three-of-a-kind with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central franchises.

I hope Canadians are pulling for Norm. Of all the Canucks who have gone south to seek fame and fortune in the entertainment business, Macdonald is in many ways one of the most Canadian. I still remember hearing his vertiginously raised vowels for the first time on SNL and experiencing a rare shock of recognition. He carries one passport, a Canadian one. And he has one of the stronger theories out there about why Canadian comics enjoy disproportionate success in Hollywood.

Ignatieff's pitch

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 11:55 AM - 29 Comments

I have a story in this week’s print edition about Michael Ignatieff’s position going into the last two weeks of this campaign and the complicated electoral math with which he is presently faced.

On Monday, somewhere between Yellowknife and Winnipeg, we sat for a chat. Some of what Mr. Ignatieff had to say made it into that story, but for your enlightenment—and as a demonstration of what a few days of travel does to my ability to form coherent questions—here is the transcript. Continue…

'The government's parameters'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 10:48 AM - 87 Comments

The Conservative party has issued a statement from Bev Oda.

The Canada-led Muskoka Initiative, introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper is about making a difference in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Our goal is simple and straightforward:  saving the lives of mothers, newborns and children in developing countries.  We will do this by expanding life-saving services and programs such as better nutrition, treatment and prevention of diseases, proper medication, clean water and sanitation.

Canada’s generous contribution is part of a $7.3 billion overall commitment announced by G-8 leaders in Muskoka last June.  Eighty per cent of the Canadian contribution will flow to sub-Saharan Africa which has the greatest incidence of maternal and child mortality.  If Planned Parenthood submits an application that falls within the government’s parameters for the G8 Muskoka Initiative, there will be funding.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper our Conservative government is focused on issues that matter to Canadians such as completing our economic recovery and providing Canadians greater financial security and a stable government.

Paul’s read is that this confirms Brad Trost’s version. My read is that it sidesteps the question of the funding application that Planned Parenthood submitted nearly two years ago and that the government was, at least as recently as last night, “still reviewing.”

Quebec's Orange not-quite-yet-Revolution

By Martin Patriquin - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 10:14 AM - 22 Comments

YGRECK, Journal de Montréal

A moderately big surprise here in Quebec: Jack Layton is the most popular leader in Quebec. You’ll note the lack of the usual ‘federalist’ leader caveat here, because ol’ Jack has pulled ahead of even Gilles Duceppe in the province for the first time in recorded history. Now for the caveats: this is one poll, polls are fleeting, and the NDP’s support is still very much in the ‘spoiler’ (not ‘winner’) category, as its support is spread thin across the province. Also, the party doesn’t have the vote-harvesting machinery of the other parties that translates support into results.

But still. Jack Layton! The Bloc has long benefited from Quebec’s progressive but non-sovereignist vote, simply because there was no other viable lefty party in the province. Much as it may like Duceppe personally, this demographic has always been orphaned somewhat, especially when Duceppe very publicly reminds everyone that the Bloc will work with the Parti Québécois.

It seems Layton is managing to steal away at least some of this not-inconsiderable wedge. No wonder Duceppe is suddenly commenting on polls—even though he has sworn up and down for years that he doesn’t comment on polls. (Memo to Gilles: it smells a little of desperation when you use a column from the more-federalist-than-thou André Pratte to back up your argument…)

And no wonder the Bloc attack (lap?) dogs have suddenly woken up.

Direct appeal

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 9:35 AM - 34 Comments

The Liberals will air a half-hour program on Sunday afternoon showcasing Mr. Ignatieff and the Liberal platform. From the official release:

“Michael Ignatieff’s Town Hall for Canada” will feature candid interviews with Mr. Ignatieff, and exclusive footage of him on the campaign trail in this election as he brings his message of hope to Canadians … “Michael Ignatieff’s Town Hall for Canada” will make the case directly to Canadians why the Liberal Party is the only choice in this election that can protect Canada’s universal public health care system and bring a new level of economic stability to Canadian families through the Liberal Family Pack.

'Still reviewing'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 9:08 AM - 127 Comments

Conservative incumbent Brad Trost boasts that anti-abortion advocates convinced the government to defund Planned Parenthood.

The Prime Minister’s Office says it can’t comment on specific applications. A spokesman for International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda says Planned Parenthood’s application is still being reviewed.

That application was submitted in June 2009.

For the rather long history of this government’s dancing around the question of Planned Parenthood, see here.

Bestsellers

By Brian Bethune - Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Top-selling fiction and non-fiction titles (week of April 25th, 2011)

Fiction

Non-fiction

LAST WEEK (WEEKS ON LIST)

Hey look: Harper's hidden-in-plain-sight agenda

By Paul Wells - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 9:57 PM - 21 Comments

From the magazine, and posted here a little ahead of its newsstand début, my latest column. Not as long as my campaign articles often are, but I hope it says something significant. If you add up all of the Conservatives’ plans, you get a federal government that will play an ever-dwindling role in the life of the nation. I think this election is about Harper finally making his big fiscal-conservative play. A lot of voters will think this is excellent. A lot would disagree. But it’s a great big debate we could be having if we were not distracted by small potatoes, and it’s a big decision we will make whether we have the debate or not.

Blogging, as many readers have noted in the comments, has been sporadic and will pick up only a little between now and the election. Sorry in advance: I’m distracted by a big assignment.

The Greens? Care about the environment?

By Andrew Potter - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 7:00 PM - 46 Comments

Frank Gunn/CP

Getting banned from the leaders’ debates was probably the best thing that could have happened to Green party Leader Elizabeth May. It gave her serious national media attention for the first time since the writ was dropped and earned her the support and sympathy of pundits across the political spectrum. It also allowed May to strike her favourite pose as the innocent victim of our first-past-the-post electoral system—which, face it, is the issue May and her party care most about, certainly more than they care about the environment.

There are basically two ways you can influence the way policy gets made in this country. The first, and most direct, is by working within a large political party to gain political power so you can make policy yourself. The second is by lobbying politicians to implement the policies you want. Since it was formed in 1983, the Green party has been an ineffective hybrid—a single-issue lobby group that also happened to run candidates in federal elections, finding no great success by either measure.

Elizabeth May’s victory in the 2006 leadership race was supposed to change all of that. Electing the popular and charismatic May was the party’s attempt at becoming a serious political party, with the overarching goal of an environmentally sustainable economy served by a broad electoral platform promoting smart jobs, green energy and fair trade.

Continue…

Too racy

By Josh Dehaas - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 7:00 PM - 17 Comments

Pictures of a bikini-clad woman posing next to a race car were splashed on auto blogs as far away as Italy last week, but not for the usual reason. The woman was, in fact, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Waterloo who had worked on the chassis design for the student-built car, and the dust-up was over the fact that the 20-year-old, and her entire team, had been reprimanded for the “unauthorized photo shoot” in U of W’s lab.

Some students commend the decision. But many say the punishment was unfair and sends the wrong message to female engineering students. (At Waterloo, women make up 17 per cent of the engineering class.)

The full-length bikini shot was a requirement for a charity calendar the student hoped to be selected for, according to Michael Seliske, who took the pictures last month. “She wanted to show that she’s both feminine and capable of working on cars,” says Seliske, a third-year computer engineering student, who uploaded the photos to his blog. (The student in the pictures declined to be interviewed.)

Continue…

What Harper has planned for Ottawa

By Paul Wells - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 6:40 PM - 215 Comments

Frank Gunn/CP

What if this election were about something big? What if it were a fundamental debate about the role of government in a modern society? Maybe it is and you just have to scratch a bit to find it.

With their backs to the wall, Michael Ignatieff’s stalled Liberals have finally begun broadcasting the sort of attack ads that always feature in the later stages of Liberal campaigns. “Stephen Harper is demanding more time in power,” this year’s ads say, over pictures of the Conservative leader in an unphotogenic moment of repose. “Can you trust him with your health care?”

Well, why wouldn’t you? In reply, the Liberal ad rehashes some scare quotes from 2000 and 2001, when Harper was beating the right-wing drums at the National Citizens’ Coalition. Then the breathless voice-over adds: “Last year, Harper’s finance minister called for massive cuts to increases in health spending. Now Harper has a risky plan to cut $11 billion from government spending. Where would Harper’s cuts leave your family’s health?”

Continue…

'It'll either be me or the other guy'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 6:40 PM - 5 Comments

Photograph by Cole Garside

“They’ve got to make a choice,” Michael Ignatieff says, “about where does the progressive vote go in the next two weeks.”

Fourteen days ahead of the vote, aboard a plane bound for Winnipeg, the Liberal leader has an answer, or at least a proposal. “I really do feel that people are understanding, and it’s not an easy thing to come to, that you’re either going to have a Liberal government on May 2 or you’re going to have a Harper government on May 2,” he says. “And if you look at what you care about: action on the environment, child care, help with education, health care you can count on, the Liberal choice is the better choice.”

The preceding three weeks have been about making this clear. But the public’s general conversion remains elusive. Ignatieff would seem to be improving upon the Liberal run of 2008. The leader is more eloquent, the platform is more practical, the campaign has been relatively smooth. His town hall meetings and rallies are well-attended. On nearly a daily basis, meanwhile, Stephen Harper has had to deal with some controversy or another: from the tears of Helena Guergis to the sordid tale of Bruce Carson. But the gap—the 10-point polling margin that separates the Conservatives from the Liberals—persists.

Continue…

The odds are against the Grits

By Andrew Coyne - Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 6:30 PM - 143 Comments

You say you’re bored by this campaign? Nothing seems to happen, nothing much will change? Be not downhearted. Dull the election may be, but the aftermath promises to be fascinating.

It’s true the polls have barely budged—not during this campaign, not for much of the last five years. On current form, we might well elect a Parliament that looked a whole lot like the last one. But just because we get the same result doesn’t mean we get the same result. Unless, in an ironic twist, we do.

To take an obvious example: throughout the campaign, the Conservatives have told voters that if their party does not win a majority, the result would be certain disast—no, a coalit—er, a Liberal minority government, propped up by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois. A Tory minority, that is, would swiftly be defeated in the House, with the Governor General then calling upon Michael Ignatieff to form a government—a possibility Ignatieff himself has lately acknowledged.

Continue…