Lingua Franca

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 8:10 PM - 0 Comments

Bunga bunga: The nickname for wild sex parties hosted by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at his villa.

CarmagedDon: A traffic jam of Biblical proportions predicted for Los Angeles when a crucial stretch of the 405 highway closed for roadwork.

Clouds: Where IT is parking its applications and storing data and backup files. Now software, like Word, isn’t loaded onto each computer but is accessible to all via the Internet. Lovely, until the connection goes down.

Glitter bombing: Protesters like throwing glitter on GOP candidates such as Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann because it’s a snap to conceal, easy to handle and difficult to remove.

SlutWalk: After a Toronto cop said “women should avoid dressing like sluts” in order not to be attacked, rallies sprang up around the world protesting the “blame the victim” message.

Tiger mom: Yale law professor and author Amy Chua’s term for her strict parenting style: no complaints, no grades less than A, no TV, no play dates.

Comebacks: the Winnipeg Jets

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 8:00 PM - 0 Comments

Bill Wippert/Getty Images

There is discreet, and then there is Mark Chipman: zipped tight. A sealed vault. Sphinx-like. Cat got his tongue and buried it in an undisclosed location. It’s not that the 51-year-old chairman and co-owner of the reborn Winnipeg Jets is unfriendly, or even uncommunicative. It’s just that he can keep a secret. Even a really big one.

Virtually from the moment the original Jets decamped to Phoenix in the spring of 1996, Chipman was working on a plan to bring the NHL back. First, he brought in a minor-league franchise, the Moose, to fill the hockey void. Then, he and his colleagues at True North Sports and Entertainment succeeded where so many others had failed—partnering with David Thomson, the country’s richest man, to build a new downtown arena, the MTS Centre. They ran their team with class and efficiency and turned the venue into a cash box. All the while scarcely breathing a word of their larger ambitions.

Chipman had started quietly lobbying NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about a return to Winnipeg as far back as 1999. It was a topic of conversation when they met at the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. As the new, 15,000-seat building went up in 2004, he kept the league in the loop. After the NHL’s 2005 lockout and salary cap changed the economics of the game, Chipman and his team went to Edmonton and Ottawa to research how to make a small Canadian hockey market work. All involved were sworn to secrecy.

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The stieg effect

By Brian Bethune - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 6:40 PM - 0 Comments

Getty Images; Photo Illustration by Taylor Shute

Blame it on Stieg Larsson. The Swedish crime novelist died virtually penniless from a massive heart attack in 2004, but since then his Millennium series (beginning with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) has made him one of the world’s bestselling authors. In 2011, posthumous publishing filled the bookstores.

David Foster Wallace

The acclaimed author of Infinite Jest(1996) left behind pages and notes for a novel at his suicide in September 2008. From them Wallace’s friend and editor Michael Pietsch crafted The Pale King,a darkly funny tale of a group of IRS employees that was praised by critics after its April release.

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Baby talk

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 6:00 PM - 0 Comments

South Sudan

It all started with one badly named Apple. After Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin gave their daughter that juicy moniker, celebs have found themselves in a perpetual game of spawn-naming one-upmanship. While this year’s crop yields no fruit, it does have a Bear Blu, a Canadian prime minister and three names inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Bear Blu

Alicia Silverstone

Spike

Mike Myers

Xander

January Jones

Willow

Pink

Haven

Jessica Alba

Arlo

Toni Colette

Indiana

Ethan Hawke

Cree

Tia Mowry

Clover

Neal McDonough

Monroe and Moroccan

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

Kannon

Kevin James

Bingham

Kate Hudson

Kase

Jewel

Harper

David and Victoria Beckham

The tail end of the news

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 5:40 PM - 0 Comments

Neil Sands/AFP/Getty Images

The scenic route

An emperor penguin with a serious lack of direction ended up 3,000 km off course in New Zealand. After recovering from eating beach sand—mistaken for snow—Happy Feet was returned to the ocean 700 km south of New Zealand. “Once he hit the water,” vet Lisa Argilla said, “he spared no time in diving off away from the boat and all those ‘aliens’ who have been looking after him.”

Unbearably cute

A month after Knut died in a German zoo, the “adorable polar bear” title was awarded to a three-month-old found wandering alone by Alaskan oil workers. After gaining weight and a cute name—Qannik, which means “snowflake” in the local Inupiat language—the bear was flown to a zoo in Louisville, Ky., for a future of fish and photo ops.

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A brain injury library online

By Cathy Gulli - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 5:33 PM - 0 Comments

http://www.sportconcussionlibrary.com/

After all the attention paid to Sidney Crosby and his concussion this year, countless questions remain about the injury, and countless more athletes will succumb to it yet. For these reasons, Dr. Paul Echlin, a sports physician and concussion researcher in London, Ont., has just launched a website devoted to sharing information about the injury.

The Sport Concussion Library, launched today, features a collection of scientific studies, documentaries, as well as federal and provincial legislation pertaining to brain injuries. General information is tailored to parents, coaches, players, teachers and first responders, while education modules allow users to gauge and improve their knowledge of concussions. Even the SCAT2, the diagnostic test used by medical professionals to diagnose concussions, is explained, and first responders and health workers can register to use it online.

Perhaps most interesting of all on the website are the various lengthy and candid testimonials from individuals who have experienced concussion firsthand, including hockey and football players, cyclists, and a wrestler, plus parents of injured athletes.

“I know how easy it is to tell yourself you don’t have a concussion when you really do; I told myself that a few times,” says one former hockey player in his testimonial. “Doing serious damage to your brain is not worth playing that extra game or those few extra shifts. Concussions can lead to so many other serious problems that I personally experienced and would not wish upon anybody. A concussion is a very serious injury and should be treated that way.”

This is one more step towards making that happen.

The three who lived

By Michael Friscolanti - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 5:00 PM - 0 Comments

Crown Exhibit

Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Yahya were blessed with seven healthy children. Three are now dead, allegedly drowned by mom and dad. One is in shackles, his parents’ accused accomplice. And the other three—alive, but not necessarily well—are at an undisclosed location, removed from the family home for their own safety.

For weeks now, a jury in Kingston, Ont., has listened to the heartbreaking story of three Afghan daughters who immigrated to Canada, but were never allowed to be Canadian. Mother, father and brother dumped them in the Rideau Canal, prosecutors say, because they weren’t behaving like good Muslim girls should. Two even had boyfriends. “Whores,” as dad called them, oblivious to the police wiretap recording his rant.

Those same wiretaps, like so much of the evidence in this twisted case, also include the voices of the other three Shafia children—the ones who weren’t at water’s edge that night, either as victims or alleged perpetrators. But because of a sweeping publication ban, nothing about their identities (name, age or gender) can be repeated outside the courtroom. It’s as if they, too, no longer exist.

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Why Gingrich is unlikely to make Romney a better candidate

By John Parisella - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 4:48 PM - 0 Comments

One general conclusion that can be drawn from the 2008 Democratic primaries is that Hilary Clinton made Barack Obama a stronger candidate going into the presidential election. Just prior to the primaries in 2008, Clinton had a double-digit lead over Obama, just like the one Newt Gingrich now has over Mitt Romney in some key states. But by the end of January of 2008, Obama had split the early primaries and was leading Hillary in delegate count. The rest, of course, is history.

Is it possible that scenario could repeat itself in this year’s Republican race, with Romney getting a second wind thanks to a long, drawn out struggle with a formidable rival? Romney’s people are starting to spin it that way, as Romney is suddenly becoming more aggressive and more accessible; the hope remains that Gingrich will implode over the course of a protracted race. (The Republicans have changed their rules about winning delegates since 2008 and it is likely that the GOP race will be a drawn out contest similar to the one the Democrats had in 2008. In fact, some are still holding out hope a new candidate will emerge later.) Continue…

Things you can’t do at Niagara Falls

By Charlie Gillis - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 4:08 PM - 0 Comments

The Niagara Parks Commission surprised no one yesterday when it denied high-wire artist Nik Wallenda clearance to walk a cable strung across Niagara Falls. The 10-member panel appeared to have made up its mind long before Wallenda, an enterprising 32-year-old, and heir to the Flying Wallendas circus legacy, got a measly 10 minutes to make his case.

The 126-year-old panel has long prohibited what it calls “stunting.” Evidently there can be no exceptions. If we understand chair Janice Thomson correctly, indulging Wallenda is the first step onto a slippery slope that leads to requests from other tightrope walkers, balloonists, river swimmers, kayakers and assorted thrill-seekers seeking a taste of notoriety. Continue…

The top books of 2011

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 3:25 PM - 0 Comments

NON-FICTION

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS
Erik Larson

The first U.S. ambassador to Hitler’s Germany is bewildered and appalled by the Nazis, while his daughter has affairs with the Gestapo’s first head and a Soviet spy.

1493
Charles C. Mann

The story of the chaotic—and often lethal—collision of peoples, flora, fauna and diseases that began after Columbus linked the Old World with the New.

WHEN I AM PLAYING WITH MY CAT HOW DO I KNOW SHE IS NOT PLAYING WITH ME?
Saul Frampton

An engaging study of Michel de Montaigne shows why interest in the skeptical thinker always spikes when the times echo his own fanaticism-haunted society.

LOSING IT
William Ian Miller

A blackly funny and thought-provoking take on old age through the ages that offers a bracing response to contemporary society’s rosy views.

INTO THE SILENCE
Wade Davis

A gracefully written evocation of the effects of the Great War on a group of British climbers who decide to ascend Mount Everest, entirely “because it’s there.”

HOW THE END BEGINS
Ron Rosenbaum

This lucid survey of the dangerous state of the world’s nuclear balance argues that the only moral stance possible is to refuse to fire back, even if nuked first.

A WIDOW’S STORY
Joyce Carol Oates

A raw, unflinching and transfixing chronicle of the year following the death of Oates’s husband of 46 years.

BOSSYPANTS
Tina Fey

Part hilarious life stories, part tips for girls from the smartest grown-up girl in the room, this is a must-read for Fey fanatics—and aspiring improv actors.

WILLFUL BLINDNESS
Margaret Heffernan

An intriguing investigation of how we see only what we want to see and disregard the rest—from a straying spouse to genocide—and why it’s at our peril.

MORDECAI
Charles Foran

All the facts and psyche-probing insights an academic could want, but literary in aim and execution, this is a biography worthy of CanLit’s iconic contrarian.

NATION MAKER
Richard Gwyn

The second volume of Gwyn’s masterful biography shows Sir John A. Macdonald’s private side even as it shows why his political wiles are still relevant today.

THE ORCHARD
Theresa Weir

A gripping account of divided loyalties, the real cost of farming, and the shattered people on the front lines.

FICTION

THE SISTERS BROTHERS
Patrick deWitt

Killers for hire Charlie and Eli Sisters undertake a quixotic road trip during the California Gold Rush; a beguiling story narrated by younger brother Eli, as sweetly engaging a psychopath as literature has to offer.

1Q84
Haruki Murakami

A beautifully written look beneath the surface, literal and figurative, of Japan during George Orwell’s iconic year that also ponders time’s devouring maw.

HALF-BLOOD BLUES
Esi Edugyan

Half a century after the Nazis catch up with African-German trumpet player Hiero Falk in Paris, his old companions probe old wounds in a story of blood and belonging captured in exquisite, musical prose.

THE CAT’S TABLE
Michael Ondaatje

This picaresque tale is as close as Ondaatje has ever come to a page-turner, told with all the fantastical detail of magic realism.

THE PARIS WIFE
Paula McLain

The fictional voice of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, weaves life and literature into a nuanced account of the couple’s unravelling love in Jazz Age Paris.

STATE OF WONDER
Ann Patchett

Patchett skilfully transports the reader into an exotic, fully articulated universe, then writes passages so breathtaking they demand rereading.

ON CANAAN’S SIDE
Sebastian Barry

An 89-year-old Irish exile in America reflects on her quiet yet shockingly eventful life with lyrical precision.

FAITH
Jennifer Haigh

The sister of a Boston priest caught in a sexual abuse scandal pieces together the story of their tragic family in this suspenseful, elegant, sharply observed novel.

Making sausages

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 2:41 PM - 0 Comments

Andrew Potter questions our stated distaste for politics.

These may be descriptions of actual experiences, but they are also threadbare cultural clichés. This is what Orwell denounced as the corruption of thought by language, “gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else.” Is it possible that when it comes to political engagement, most Canadians are in a position somewhat similar to Schrödinger’s cat: they are neither alienated nor engaged until they are asked by a social scientist, at which point they just fall back on the default public vocabulary of a broken machinery of government manipulated by knavish politicians … Everyone loves justice, but everyone hates lawyers. Or how about lamb chops versus abattoirs? Politics is the process of democracy, law is the process of justice, and the abattoir is the process of getting to lamb chops. It isn’t clear that any big conclusions can or should be drawn from this, apart from a variation on Bismarck’s famous line: democracy is like sausages. It’s better not to see it being made.

High-wire artist denied access to Niagara Falls

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 2:25 PM - 0 Comments

Nothing can be done, it seems, to persuade Canada’s Niagara Parks Commission that a high-wire walk across Niagara Falls is anything but a crass stunt. Presented with an intriguing proposal by Nik Wallenda for a walk across the gorge that would emphasize artistry and spectacle, the commission quashed the idea by voting not to change its policy on daredevil acts on its side of the river. The decision is a blow to Wallenda, who spoke to Maclean’s last summer of his lifelong dream to cross the falls, and outlined plans that would have neither affected the environment around the river, nor required the services of local emergency workers should something have gone wrong. Wallenda later presented a study to the commission predicting 125,000 spectators would come to view the walk from the Canadian side, while a stunning 411 million would tune in on television—fully 320 million of them overseas. Yet the notion of deriving such commercial benefit from a one-off event seemed, if anything, to rankle the commission. “The value of the preservation of Niagara Falls without stunting is greater than the economic impact of an event,” chair Janice Thomson said tartly. Wallenda said he plans to appeal to Michael Chan, Ontario’s tourism minister, for a review of the decision.

Niagara Falls Review

New Canada-U.S. border deal

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 2:15 PM - 0 Comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama have reached a new border deal aiming at expediting border-crossing for people and goods. Canadians travelling south of the border should see physical improvements at road crossings, increased promotion of NEXUS passes to non-business travellers, and their luggage checked through to a connecting flight without the current re-checking before boarding connections in the United States. A key feature of the deal is the recording and sharing of travellers’ entry and exit dates between U.S. and Canadian customs, which may affect day trippers and cross-border shoppers. For businesses, the deal will raise the exemption of the NAFTA certificate of origin to $2,500, expand programs aimed at speeding up border-crossing for qualifying trusted traders and their cargo, and reduce redundant checks performed by both customs agencies at the border.

CBC

Kent shifts position in climate talks

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:19 PM - 0 Comments

Environment Minister Peter Kent pulled a U-turn at the global climate talks in Durban, South Africa, calling for negotiations on a new legally binding climate treaty by 2015. Two days earlier he had called the Kyoto Protocol a thing of the past for Canada. On Thursday, the minister also said a new treaty should include the United States, which did not join Kyoto. He rejected a suggested three-year pause in negotiations to allow the UN to review progress made by various countries on greenhouse-gas reductions.

The Globe and Mail

China discovers massive shale gas reserves

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:12 PM - 0 Comments

China–the world’s biggest energy consumer–has discovered vast amounts of shale gas in its southern province of Sichuan, The Financial Times reports. The discovery is expected to transform China’s energy industry and will provide the country with a “cheap and plentiful” source of fuel for up to the next 300 years, based on amount estimates and current consumption analyses. This unconventional type of gas is extracted from shale rock using highly pressurized water and chemicals–a technique known as “fracking.” It has become an increasingly popular method in energy production, revolutionizing markets around the world, including the United States, the world’s biggest shale gas producer.

The Financial Times

Spending money to sort out the money

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:11 PM - 0 Comments

The third-party auditor will cost Attawapiskat about $1,300 per day.

Aboriginal Affairs officials told The Canadian Press they have an agreement to pay Jacques Marion of BDO Canada LLP a total of $180,000 to look after the reserve’s accounts from now until June 30. The money comes from the Attawapiskat First Nation’s budget. That rate over the course of a year would run up to $300,000 and easily pay for at least one nice, solid house, notes Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit.

Conveying a request from the community, the NDP says the military should be used to help get supplies to Attawapiskat. John Duncan is raising the possibility of evacuating those who do not have adequate housing.

Putin blames U.S. for protests

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:05 PM - 0 Comments

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of instigating the demonstrations that have roiled the country after flawed parliamentary elections last Sunday. Putin’s ruling party, United Russia, received 49.54 per cent of the vote in the election, enough to preserve its majority of seats in the lower house, but far below previous results. The vote was also mired in fraud allegations. After thousands of people took to the streets in protest, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed “well-founded” concerns about the conduct of the voting process. Putin retorted by saying that Clinton’s comments amounted to a signal that set the tone for more opposition.

BBC

US ambassador: border deal more baseball than football

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:00 PM - 0 Comments

This morning, I spoke with US Ambassador David Jacobson about the border deal.

First off, for the record, let me say that the ambassador rejects the football analogy – “game of inches” – used in my previous post to describe the incremental progress on border issues that this agreement represents.

Jacobson, a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan, says it’s better to think about progress on the border in terms of baseball:

“For years the Cubs tried to success by getting home-run hitters,” said Jacobson. “But the way you win pennants and – or so they tell me – the World Series, is getting a lot of guys who can hit singles and doubles. This [border agreement] is a collection of singles and doubles and when you add them up you get a Championship. I think this is a more apt analogy.”

I asked him to respond to a few of the other issues:

Q: Who will be in charge of implementing the agreement and ensuring that the deadlines are met? Will there be someone at the White House?

Jacobson: There are different people in charge of the regulatory side and the “Beyond the Border” part. On the regulatory side, it’s Cass Sunstein, head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. On the border side, it is the people who have managed the process so far: Dan Restrepo [Special Assistant to the President and a Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council] and Peggy Cogswell [who heads the Screening Coordination Office at the Department of Homeland Security]. Ultimately, they are acting on behalf of the president of the United States.

This is a process. I flew home last night from Washington and crossed the border and it looked the same as when I flew down to Washington. Nothing changed at the border. But over the next several months and the next several years there will be changes – but only if we follow up on what we committed to yesterday. The Canadian and American people need to hold our feet to the fire.

A: The agreement mentions a May 30, 2012 deadline for coming up with joint privacy protection principles to guide the work under the action plan. Who will be in charge and what kind of input will they seek from the public?

Jacobson: We are already putting out Federal Register notices for the regulatory cooperation piece and the border vision piece. We are informally reaching out and I have already gotten God-knows-how-many telephone calls about this. We are reaching out for input not just on privacy but on everything.

With regard to privacy specifically, I personally feel very strongly about this. There are people who have expressed concerns — both in Canada and in the US – about the need for us to respect privacy. I agree that people should be concerned – and they are concerned on both sides of the border that privacy is honored and respected on both sides of border.

I have spent my whole life defending these issues – the first job I ever had was at ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union]. The president taught on these issues. Americas value these issues as much as Canadians.

Right now every agency in the US that will get access to this information has its own privacy officer. Every agency has an inspector general who is responsible for monitoring these issues and reporting to the president and to Congress. Personal information can only be accessed on a strict need-to-know basis and it is a felony for members of US government to use personal information for improper purposes. These are things we are concerned about.

We protect privacy in different ways – but our values are very much in synch. We want to make sure we give comfort on both sides of the border that privacy and individual rights will be respected in both countries.

There is a person in the White House responsible for this. Canada has a Privacy Commissioner and they will be involved, and privacy officers at each agency will be responsible for working with their counterparts to come up with [the joint statement on privacy protection]. These issues are really important to all of us.

The agreement includes many items that will require funding – from new computer systems to new infrastructure at the border. What can you say about the prospects for funding these items given the fiscal situation in the US and the desire of Congress to cut federal government spending?

Jacobson: Obviously at the moment there are budget issues in the US. What the agreement does is say the expenditures will be handled as part of budget processes in each country on a case by case basis. There is not a lot money to throw around. But some of these things will save money and some of them will cost money. We have to make sure we will implement them on the basis that both countries can afford. One of the things we need to do on both sides is to invest in things that will create jobs and this [agreement] is one of those things that will create jobs. The president spoke quite eloquently about that yesterday. There are some things we need to spend money on. I can’t tell you how much any one thing will cost or how the Congress will allocate the money.

What kind of assurances can you give to Canadians that the effort on regulatory cooperation will not lead to a watering down of health and safety standards, or a movement away from government regulation to self-regulation by industry?

Jacobson:  This is not a process of a “race to the bottom” or “we’ll take whichever is the least restrictive” or un-regulating or de-regulating. That is not our intention. People on both sides of the border understand that.

Government to proceed with Wheat Board despite ruling

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 12:29 PM - 0 Comments

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says the Conservative government will pass legislation dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly, even though a Federal Court ruling on Wednesday found that he broke the law by not consulting grain farmers first. Ritz said the government is “disappointed with the decision,” adding that it will appeal the ruling. “This declaration will have no effect on continuing to move forward for freedom for western Canadian farmers,” he told the Winnipeg Free Press. Opposition MPs and senators are slamming the government for pushing through Bill C-18, despite the ruling. “The Government of Canada can’t say ‘I’m disappointed in the decision, but I’m going to barrel on anyway,’” Liberal Senator James Cowan told Postmedia news. “Even this government isn’t above the law and the court decision.” The Conservative legislation, which has long been part of the party’s platform, will end the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly over the foreign sale of wheat and barley by Prairie farmers. On Wednesday, Ritz pledged to push the bill through before the end of the year.

Winnipeg Free Press

Gender equality and democracy

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 12:19 PM - 0 Comments

Paul Dewar wants to restore the per vote subsidy, but link it to gender equality.

Under Dewar’s plan only parties running a slate of at least 50% women candidates would be eligible for the full $2 per vote financing. Parties running 40-49.9% women candidates will receive $1.75/vote and parties running 30-39.9% would receive only $1.50/vote. Parties that are unable to run at least 30% women candidates on their slate would not qualify for public financing.

By Alice Funke’s numbers, the NDP led all parties with 40.3% of nominees being women in the last election. Under Mr. Dewar’s system, they would’ve been the only party to qualify for the $1.75 rebate. The Greens, at 32.8%, would’ve qualified for the $1.50 rebate. The Liberals (29.2%) and Conservatives (22.1%) would’ve failed to qualify for anything.

Japanese apologize to Canadian POWs

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 11:24 AM - 0 Comments

The Japanese government has apologized to former Canadian prisoners of war who it tortured and starved in work camps during World War II. About 1600 Canadian soldiers were captured by the Japanese in Hong Kong on Christmas Day, 1941, after weeks of battle. More than 250 of them died in captivity over the next three and half years. Hundreds of others were left ill or permanently disabled. Japanese POW camps were considered particularly savage during the war. Survival rates for captured soldiers hovered between 50 and 60 per cent, compared to over 90 per cent for those captured by the Germans.

Globe and Mail

No rush

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 10:36 AM - 0 Comments

While the omnibus crime bill was rushed through the House so fast even the Public Safety Minister couldn’t keep up, the Conservative-controlled Senate will now take its time before passing it.

“The commitment that the government made was to pass the crime bill within 100 sitting days,” LeBreton said. “It’s sometime in mid-March. ”We fully expect it will be debated in the Senate, and will go to committee, legal and constitutional affairs, and it will be there I expect for quite some time.”

Breakups: Sayonara!

By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 9:31 AM - 0 Comments

Farewell, goodbye: Dorais and Harper; Berry and Aubry; Lopez and Anthony; Clooney and Canalis

GORDON CAMPBELL AND B.C.

He ran B.C. during the triumphant Olympic Games, but a year later was nothing but the butt of jokes. The premier stepped down amid controversy over his support of a 12 per cent harmonized sales tax, which divided the province. When he was announced as one of the recipients of the Order of British Columbia, resentment ran so high that an online petition opposing it was launched.

MICHEL DORAIS AND THE TORIES

The bilingual Dorais toiled at various government jobs starting in 1976, and nothing could make him stop loving public service—until the Harper government came along. The former deputy minister told the Ottawa Citizen that Conservatives “lack respect for civil servants,” but the final straw came when the Tories appointed a unilingual auditor general. “For all my professional life I worked at ensuring bilingualism would take hold in the Canadian public service,” he lamented as he resigned.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MACLEANS’ OTHER NEWSMAKERS OF 2011

Continue…

Peter Kent versus the world

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

The Environment Minister spreads the good word.

Environment Minister Peter Kent repeated his sharp criticism of Kyoto at a high-level session of the Durban talks. “Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past,” Mr. Kent told a large audience of delegates and climate negotiators on Wednesday. “For Canada, the Kyoto Protocol is not where the solution lies,” he said. “It is an agreement that covers fewer than 30 per cent of global emissions.”

As he spoke, six Canadian activists stood up and silently protested by turning their backs on him, wearing T-shirts that said: “Turn your back on Canada.” Security guards quickly rushed over and escorted them away, leading them through a narrow corridor at the back of the room and then evicting them from the conference. But the protesters won louder applause than Mr. Kent, whose speech was greeted by a smattering of polite applause from delegates.

Earlier this week, Mr. Kent promised the Harper government wouldn’t withdraw from Kyoto during the Durban conference, but wouldn’t comment on what might happen after the talks. Officials from Brazil, Germany, India and South Africa are unimpressed.