Baird urges Canadians to leave Syria

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:40 AM - 0 Comments

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is urging Canadians in Syria to leave the violence-ridden country. Speaking in Ottawa on Thursday, Baird told reporters that Arab League sanctions will soon restrict commercial air travel out of the country. The government estimates there are 5,000 Canadians in Syria. “It’s time for Canadians to leave and to leave now,” Baird said. As well, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency are expediting the visa application process for the family members of Canadian citizens who wish to leave, the CBC reported. The Foreign Affairs Department also has extra staff working the phones to handle increased call volumes and help register Canadians in Syria with the government. Roughly 1,500 are registered so far, the CBC reports. Since the uprising in Syria began nine months ago, the UN estimated more than 5,000 people have been killed as the government of Bashar al-Assad cracks down on civilian protesters. Violence has been escalating recently as defecting soldiers have been taking up arms against Assad’s security forces.

CBC

Poll: NDP support shrinking in Quebec

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:31 AM - 0 Comments

A recent Harris-Decima poll conducted for the Canadian Press indicates support for the New Democratic Party in Quebec has shrunk to 26 per cent, down to levels registered by the Bloc Québécois. It is the first time since May that the NDP fails to show a distinct lead in a Harris-Decima poll. It was in Quebec that the NDP orange wave surged in the last federal election, capturing 59 seats in the province, to lift the party into official opposition for the first time. According to Harris-Decima’s chairman Allan Greg, the drop in NDP support has accelerated in the last few weeks, raising the stakes in the party’s leadership campaign.

The Globe and Mail

Trudeau apologizes to Kent

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:25 AM - 0 Comments

Justin Trudeau, the Liberal MP most famous for being his father’s son, made headlines Wednesday when he channeled the ire of the green world and called Conservative Environment Minister Peter Kent a “piece of s–t.” The outburst came during Question Period. After Kent chided the NDP’s Megan Leslie for not attending a climate summit in Durban, Trudeau shot back “Oh, you piece of shit.” (Kent’s Conservatives explicitly prevented opposition MPs from joining the Canadian delegation.) Trudeau unreservedly apologized for the profanity after QP was done.

CBC

Taking better care

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:17 AM - 0 Comments

Paul Dewar talks to the Tyee.

Poverty is best fought by making sure people get the money and support they need, he said. He suggests taking all the benefits that are already provided for seniors, children and families and bundling them into one program. ”It would have an impact immediately,” he said, noting it would require coordination with the provinces.

Asked if that amounts to a “guaranteed annual income,” he said calling it that and presenting it as a new program would scare people. Reorganizing programs that already exist would be more likely to find support, he said.

Choices, choices

By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 11:14 AM - 0 Comments

I was reading this piece on the future of TV distribution, and who will be the first to really blow up the old model and give us “a cloud-based ecosystem.”

I’m not exactly sure what a cloud-based ecosystem is, but I agree that the integration of TV with the internet, and the availability of on-demand programming, is only going to grow. This is the type of thing that people have been talking about as an ideal literally since TV was invented. This is what John Culshaw, a record producer about to become head of music for the BBC, wrote about the future of TV in 1967:

The listener, or viewer, or whatever one calls him, will either be able to play his own tapes or records over such a system to produce sound and vision, or he will be able to command such a performance to take place by dialing some code through which a computer will channel the performance to him. Nobody has yet quite worked out how he will pay for this, but history has shown that once a demanded facility becomes technically possible, it takes no time at all to find out how to charge for it. Continue…

Goodbye to the NDS?

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 10:18 AM - 0 Comments

An interesting exchange—and perhaps even a straight answer—from Question Period yesterday.

Hélène Laverdière. Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Can the minister confirm that none of the Afghan detainees transferred by Canada are still in the hands of the national directorate of security—the NDS—an organization known for abusing detainees?

Peter MacKay. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that is the case.

How Louis CK won the Internet

By Jesse Brown - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 10:08 AM - 0 Comments

Carlo Allegri/AP Photo

This is the week where everyone wants to be Louis CK.

In case you missed it, here’s the story so far: Louis CK, the vulgar, brilliant, humanist comedian, has just circumvented the entertainment industry completely by independently producing, promoting, distributing, and (here’s the tricky part) monetizing his latest comedy special. Louis CK: Live at the Beacon Theater is available only through the comedian’s personal website, for a fee of $5. After four days online it sold over 110,000 copies. That’s a hit by any standard: Had he moved that many copies through DVD sales and iTunes, he would still have one of the top comedy videos of the year. But he did it on his own, without having to split a dime of the proceeds with anyone (well, anyone but PayPal).

Is there a comedian, filmmaker, author or band out there that isn’t enviously taking notes on how he did it?

It was easy: He just did it. Anyone can sell content this way. His website, though well designed, is technically simple. It sells you a video download for a small fee, handled by Paypal. It’s a business model developed years ago by the porn industry, and you can easily find “turnkey” templates that’ll let you plug your own video and branding into a pre-built site.

That explains distribution. Now, how about promotion? It was similarly easy, and cheap. Actually, it was free. Louis CK used Twitter and Youtube to get the word out, release “outtake” teasers and mobilize his fans to help build a viral hype.

So there you have it, a complete disruption of the content industry, available for anyone to duplicate. There’s just one more thing to consider, however, before you try: You have to be Louis CK for it to work.

It’s true, as CNN has put it, that it took Louis CK just four days to make $200,000 ($550K minus production expenses). On the other hand, it also took him 27 years. That’s how long he’s been a stand-up comedian. He spent decades in crappy comedy clubs and casinos, facing hostile crowds and honing his craft. He’s blown a shot at a network sitcom and at an HBO series. It’s only in the last five or six years–a period of time during which he’s toured rigorously, writing a new act each year, and using social media–that he’s built a critical mass of dedicated fans (over 800,000 of them on Twitter alone).

His relationship with his audience is so tight that it allowed him to do something that Hollywood and the music industry have spent fortunes trying and failing to accomplish: He has beaten piracy. He’s beaten it without threatening his fans with lawsuits and without putting digital locks on his content. He beat it by simply asking his fans, very nicely, to please not steal his stuff.

Almost all of them complied. When Louis CK: Live at the Beacon Theater came out, the pirate who uploaded it as a Bittorrent file actually apologized in the release note:

” honestly louis i know ur here and i know u mite be mad at me but u gotta realize not everyone has paypal, not everyone has credit cards….sorry!”.

As the entertainment industry struggles to comprehend just what has happened here, they will call Louis CK an outlier, a special case, an exception. And they will be right.

But of course, all celebrities are exceptional. Whether it’s on the Internet or on MTV, there will always be many artists struggling for every one of them who makes a living. Up to now, though, we’ve had millions of artists earning close to nothing for every one who made millions. Soon, there will be thousands making hundreds for every one who makes hundreds of thousands.

It’s a better deal for creators, and a better deal for fans. A download of Louis CK’s old special sells on Amazon for $14.99.

Jesse Brown is the host of TVO.org’s Search Engine podcast. He is on Twitter @jessebrown

‘An honest reaction’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Megan Leslie, asked yesterday about Mr. Trudeau’s shouted profanities.

I think it was an honest reaction from him in some ways. I certainly have bit my tongue so hard sometimes it bleeds in that House. I think he recognized that it wasn’t Parliamentary. Sometimes though the Conservatives and their games do get the better of us and we react. I think it was an honest reaction. He apologized for it. I just wish that the Conservatives would actually talk about issues and stop with the name calling and these kinds of dirty tricks. It’s really shameful.

Conservative MPs Kyle Seeback, Laurie Hawn, Blake Richards, Mike Allen, Rick Dykstra and Bob Zimmer were all profoundly saddened.

‘I tend to react a little strongly’

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

Justin Trudeau, asked after QP yesterday what his father would say about his outburst.

He would say that he was disappointed that I had to stoop to language that was unparliamentary, but I know that he would have probably been pleased that I was sticking up for someone else, it wasn’t something that I was attacked on myself. It was something that I can take an awful lot directed at myself. When someone attacks someone else in a way that is decidedly unfair and disrespectful, I tend to react a little strongly.

Here, for the record, is his explanation (and apology) for what happened. Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous cities: the good news

By Ken MacQueen, Patricia Treble and Alex Ballingall - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

Longest without a murder: Lévis, Que.

The last time anyone was murdered in this city of 137,000, which sits just across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, was 2002. That’s the longest stretch of any big metropolitan area. Fortunately, there are many other places in Canada where homicide detectives are also as underemployed as the proverbial Maytag repairman. Some 38 of Canada’s 100 largest cities—from Windsor, Ont. (pop. 221,000) to West Vancouver (pop. 50,000)—recorded a homicide-free year. Canada even has a homicide-free province. In 2010, Prince Edward Island recorded not a single murder among its 142, 000 residents, for the second year in a row. Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous city: Prince George

By Ken MacQueen and Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

Most days, after Doug Leslie is back from work at the molybdenum mine in tiny Fraser Lake, B.C., he sits at his computer and writes a chatty little note to his 15-year-old daughter Loren. It’s a catch-up on the day, and maybe a bleat about those times he pulls the night shift, or about the cold of a northern B.C. winter, or about how quickly days fly by now that he shoulders the destiny Loren has inspired. “Loren, can you do anything about this weather?” he asked her recently. “It’s snowing and I hate winter, it’s cold and damp, and you are not here to warm up the room.” Invariably, he tells Loren how much he misses her, before signing off, “Love Dad.”

The notes grew increasingly plaintive as Nov. 27 approached. The pills weren’t helping him sleep, and the gulf separating father from daughter seemed impossibly wide, although he’d like to believe she reads every one of his messages. “That has been my sanity,” he says of his missives to a daughter who will forever be 15. Nov. 27 was the first anniversary of her murder.

Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous cities: Newfoundland’s other boom

By Ken MacQueen - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

One would love to have been a fly on the wall in November 2009, when 21-year-old Bradley Kavanagh landed at Vancouver airport after a cross-country flight from St. John’s, Nfld. He’d left the island province with $195,000 cash in vacuum-sealed bags in his checked-in luggage. When he landed in B.C., the airline said the luggage was lost, which just had to ruin his day. The money, quietly seized by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) before it left St. John’s, was part of a major drug and money laundering ring operating in Newfoundland, but largely run by criminals from Victoria.

The boom in offshore oil and construction is drawing Newfoundlanders and come-from-aways to the provincial capital, but the prosperity is also a magnet for criminals. “When you have economic growth you attract legitimate business and you also attract illegal business,” says RNC Chief Robert Johnston. “Supply and demand.”

Continue…

Canada’s most dangerous cities: Vancouver’s crackdown on crime is paying off

By Ken MacQueen - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:58 AM - 0 Comments

For all of Vancouver’s über-green, laid-back urban vibe, it has a Wild West attitude toward crime. Gangs, drugs and troublemakers from the East account for the occasional shootouts and alcohol-fuelled riots, and they certainly explain why the city’s violent crime score last year was 55 per cent above the national average. That said, Vancouver is actually a crime-fighting success story. It has gone in the span of a decade from having some of the worst violent and non-violent crime scores in Canada to become one of its most improved. Its overall crime score plunged 49 per cent in 10 years, more than twice the rate of improvement of the country as a whole. Only the historically peaceful communities of Kawartha Lakes, Ont., Quebec City, and Roussillon, Que., south of Montreal, fared better or as well. Among the keys to Vancouver’s success are a series of crime-busting initiatives. Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu was happy to explain:

ConAir

Think of “Get outta Dodge” taken to the jet age. Fugitives with outstanding warrants in other provinces or cities have a habit of fleeing west to start their criminal careers afresh. Unless the warrant is for murder or other major mayhem, their home jurisdictions are often happy to saddle Vancouver with the problem. A plan was hatched to give cons with outstanding warrants an all-expenses-paid, escorted flight back to the scene of their crimes to face justice. Some of the cost of airfare comes, appropriately enough, from provincial funds forfeited from proceeds of crime.

To date, 96 people have been transported out of province: 37 to Ontario, 33 to Alberta, 11 to Manitoba, seven to Nova Scotia, four to Saskatchewan, three to Quebec and one to the Yukon. As an example of the payoff, Chu cites a con with a drug habit of about $300 a day. Assume he gets 10 cents on the dollar for the goods he steals to support his habit, says Chu. “So, 15 grand a week is not out of the question for the kinds of crimes that guy had to commit.”

Ganging up on gangsters

When hunting high-value gangbangers, it often pays to aim lower than charges for murder or drug importation. Sometimes the entry point into a gang bust is turning their source of guns, or their customers for drugs, or, in one case, promising an abused girlfriend protection in exchange for co-operation. “We would get them for any crime we could,” says Chu. New provincial anti-gang laws are another tool. One prohibits retrofitting vehicles with hidden compartments, armour and bullet-proof glass. Another law requires health care facilities to report gun and stab wounds. Civil forfeiture laws have streamlined seizure of proceeds of crime. And Bar and Restaurant Watch programs use bouncers, backed by a police squad, to keep gang members out of the hot night spots and high-end restaurants they favour. “It’s making it less fun to be a gang member, which is good,” says Chu.

Crime analysis and public flogging

Chu remembers when crime analysts were “really old cops who put pins on maps.” Today those in the department have advanced degrees. They do real-time analysis, adding statistical performance measures for investigators, redeploying resources to hot spots and even predicting where crimes may occur. The bottom-line performances of commanders and patrol team leaders are compared against other districts at regular meetings, he says. “It’s not completely a public flogging but it’s powerful accountability.” He credits crime analysts mining data for playing a huge role in the arrest in December 2010 of Ibata Noric Hexamer, a Vancouver political organizer charged with a string of violent sexual assaults against girls as young as six.

Try a little tenderness

Property crime, much of it fuelled by addiction, has been a plague in Vancouver. Surveilling chronic offenders and gathering evidence of “the full nature of their offences” to present to judges is the first step to gaining longer sentences. The next move is more social worker than beat cop. Detectives visit offenders in jail and discuss the needs for their release, whether it be detox, housing or other social support to stop their cycle of crime. “We’ve got some very creative, compassionate detectives who build up a rapport with these guys. I’ve gotten emails and letters saying, ‘Hey chief, detective so-and-so was just great with me. First guy that cared about me in years. I’m doing better now because of what he did for me.’ ”

Bridge building

Vancouver police launched SisterWatch with groups representing vulnerable women in the Downtown Eastside. Improved relations are gradually overcoming a belief among women there—born of tragedies like the missing women’s case—that predators operate with near impunity. More women report assaults or provide tips now that they have evidence their claims are taken seriously. “It’s the legacy of Robert Pickton,” Chu says of SisterWatch.

Wanted Posters

It worked in the Old West, it works today. On a wet November day, Vancouver police and a corps of volunteers distributed 35,000 posters with photos of 104 unidentified people wanted in connection with the Stanley Cup riot last June. “Of 104 we got good tips on pretty much half of them,” says Chu. (His determination to see hundreds of rioters face charges will likely boost Vancouver’s 2011 crime rate.) The department also reaped a harvest with the latest ConAir 10 Most Wanted poster displayed on its website and elsewhere. Nine have been arrested. As for No. 10? Harold Richard Lambert, wanted for uttering death threats and other breaches, your ticket to Ottawa awaits.

Canada’s most dangerous cities: robbery

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Winnipeg, Manitoba

In 2010 Winnipeggers endured 2,000 robberies. Consider the holdups of just one night in February. Two men skulked into a business on Notre Dame Avenue and confronted the 22-year-old girl working behind the counter. They grabbed a fistful of cash and ran. An hour later, two others burst into a Westminster Avenue store wielding a gun and stole money. Just after midnight, another business was robbed at gunpoint. Then at 1:10 a.m., several men attempted to rob a Manitoba Avenue home.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Winnipeg (228%)

2. Saskatoon (164%)

3. Montreal (153%)

4. Regina (141%)

5. Victoria (137%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. Rimouski, Que. (100%)

2. Stormont/Dundas/Glengarry, Ont (97%)

3. Lac-Saint-Jean-Est, Que. (96%)

4. Arthabaska Region, Que. (90%)

5. St. Clair, Ont. (89%)

Canada’s most dangerous cities: homicide

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Prince George, British Columbia

Seven murders gave the city top spot in 2010, well above the national rate. Prince George, B.C., consistently has a high homicide rate: in 2009, its rate was 121 per cent above the national rate, exactly where it was in 2000.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Prince George, B.C. (486%)

2. Wood Buffalo, Alta (202%)

3. Saskatoon (168%)

4. Thunder Bay, Ont. (163%)

5. Regina (148%)

Best cities* (% lower than national average)

1. Joliette, Que. (100%)

2. Sarnia, Ont. (100%)

3. Windsor, Ont. (100%)

4. Red Deer, Alta. (100%)

5. Richmond, B.C. (100%)

*38 cities reported zero murders in 2010

Canada’s most dangerous cities: aggravated assault

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Saskatoon

Aggravated assault is as bad as it gets before the charge is attempted murder. The Criminal Code charge of aggravated assault is laid against anyone who “wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant.” It’s a world of hurt that’s best avoided, so eschew dingy bars, dark alleys, harsh words, and all jokes about Saskatchewan. Yes, Saskatoon and Regina top the list, while Edmonton is right behind. In fact, seven of the 10 worst cities for aggravated assault are in Manitoba or points west. Not that we’re picking a fight or anything.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

Saskatoon (258%)

Regina (187%)

Edmonton (185%)

Kamloops, B.C. (156%)

Winnipeg (147%)

Best cities* (% lower than national average)

Châteauguay, Que. (100%

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. (100%)

Montcalm MRC, Que. (100%)

Caledon, Ont. (100%)

South Simcoe, Ont. (100%)

*38 cities reported zero aggravated assaults in 2010

Canada’s most dangerous cities: auto theft

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Joliette, Quebec

Nowhere in Canada are you more likely to have your car jacked than in Joliette, Que., a region of roughly 60,000 just outside Montreal. Boomerang, a company that sells tracking devices to pinpoint stolen vehicles, recovered its 5,000th car there a few years ago. “It is known as a place where you recover stolen vehicles,” says Michael Lendick, Boomerang’s national security director. “You’re going to find some chop shops; you’re going to find places where they sell car parts that are stolen.”

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Joliette, Que. (184%)

2. Langley Township, B.C. (177%)

3. Surrey, B.C. (154%)

4. Wood Buffalo, Alta. (147%)

5. Montcalm MRC, Que. (138%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. St. Clair, Ont. (75%)

2. Nottawasaga, Ont. (73%)

3. City of Kawartha Lakes, Ont. (70%)

4. South Simcoe, Ont. (69%)

5. Caledon, Ont. (68%)

Canada’s most dangerous cities: sexual assault

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Saint John, New Brunswick

There is some progress on this front. Last year, about 65 Canadians out of every 100,000 suffered a sexual assault—down from more than 78 victims per 100,000 in 2000. Of course, these are police-reported incidents, and few doubt this remains a much under-reported crime. Based on what was reported to police in 2010, Saint John, N.B., tops the list. North of the 60th parallel, however, the rates of sexual assault are particularly horrific. In the Yukon, one person in every 515 was sexually assaulted last year. In Nunavut, there was one for every 164 people.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Saint John, N.B. (132%)

2. Belleville, Ont. (122%)

3. Fredericton (88%)

4. Prince George, B.C. (84%)

5. Shawinigan Region, Que. (65%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. Caledon, Ont. (72%)

2. West Vancouver (69%)

3. Vaudreuil-Soulanges Region, Que. (65%)

4. North Vancouver (64%)

5. Richmond, B.C. (59%)

Canada’s most dangerous cities: breaking and entering

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:55 AM - 0 Comments

Belleville, Ontario

The lakeside city of Belleville, Ont.—population 50,000—had the highest rate of breaking and entering in Canada for 2010. Given the horrid crime spree of theft and murder by former colonel Russell Williams, one might suspect the city experienced a statistical blip. But while Williams committed more than 80 break-ins, only two of them were handled by Belleville police. That means break-ins were already a severe problem. To tackle such crimes, police created the Project Recover task force late last year, says Sgt. Julie Forestell. Since then, she says, the rate of break-ins has declined. “We’ve done something right,” she says. “The response was appropriate and ongoing.” The evidence of that, of course, will be in 2011’s statistics.

Worst cities (% higher than national average)

1. Belleville, Ont. (102%)

2. Prince George, B.C. (89%)

3. Langley Township, B.C. (76%)

4. Chilliwack, B.C. (72%)

5. Kelowna, B.C. (68%)

Best cities (% lower than national average)

1. South Simcoe, Ont. (66%)

2. Caledon, Ont. (65%)

3. York Region, Ont. (58%)

4. Halton Region, Ont. (57%)

5. Durham Region, Ont. (51%)

Quebec’s not making it easier for the NDP to pick a leader

By Paul Wells - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 10:15 PM - 0 Comments

Oh, this poll is not helpful at all. At 26% in Quebec, the NDP would lose most of its MPs in that province.

(I know, I know: polls between elections do not predict the outcome of elections. Every number can shift wildly and will certainly do so before the next vote, unimaginably far in the future. And polls of disengaged voters about hypothetical choices may not measure much of anything. But try getting New Democrats to ignore the polls as they pick their next leader.)

The choice facing New Democrats is, roughly: Do they try to nail down their 2011 windfall in Quebec, and grow in other provinces — or do they try to find a “national (read: pan-Canadian) leader” and hope Quebecers will like that person?

The good news is that, if they’re super-lucky, they might be able to hold Quebec and grow outside. The bad news is, if they are only moderately unlucky, they may find it’s impossible to do either. Continue…

The Commons: That’s enough

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 6:32 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. It has been a long year. (Granted, no longer than any other year, but still, 365 days—or however many we’re at now—is an awful lot.) So you’ll forgive the Prime Minister if he didn’t seem all that interested this afternoon.

As Nycole Turmel hectored him about the latest problems to afflict the fabled F-35s, Mr. Harper fiddled with his mail, a particularly well-sealed envelope seeming to resist his attempts to open it. Apparently figuring he couldn’t get it open in the time allotted to Ms. Turmel to state her question, he put it aside long enough to get the gist of her complaint. He then stood and repeated his platitudes from memory.

“Mr. Speaker, I know very well that every time the government provides our men and women in uniform with the equipment they need, the NDP loudly opposes that and votes against it,” he sighed. “We are working on the best advice of the Canadian industry, including the Quebec industry, including our men and women in uniform in the air force, and we will continue to move forward and make sure that they have the best aircraft that are available when we have to replace the current fleet.”

So Support the Troops, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. Continue…

Someone said a bad word

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 3:37 PM - 0 Comments

During QP, Justin Trudeau shouted the phrase “you piece of shit” in the general direction of Peter Kent. Afterwards, he stood and apologized. And then Peter Kent stood and demanded that he apologize. And then the Speaker stood and informed Mr. Kent that Mr. Trudeau had done just that.

More later.

Small world

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 1:53 PM - 0 Comments

The polling firm implicated in the campaign against Irwin Cotler did work for at least 39 Conservative candidates in the last election, including Andrew Scheer.

A Citizen analysis of Elections Canada records shows that Campaign Research was involved in at least 39 candidate campaigns during the spring election, and was paid nearly $400,000 for the work.  Not all Conservative candidate returns have been filed so the figure could be slightly higher still.

As @kady notes, one of the campaigns that used Campaign Research was that of the same Andrew Scheer who found no breach of privilege. His campaign paid more than $8,000 for their services in aid of his run for the roses in Regina – Qu’Appelle, before he was elected Speaker. Scheer does not appear to have mentioned this in his ruling or, uh, anywhere else.

Chairman of Russia’s ruling party steps down

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 1:38 PM - 0 Comments

The chairman of Russia’s ruling party United Russia has unexpectedly given up his seat in Parliament, the New York Times reports. Until today, Boris V. Gryzlov was the speaker of the lower house and commonly viewed as President Valdimir Putin’s right-hand man. He is considered the highest ranking official within the party after Putin. Gryzlov’s resignation comes after tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Moscow to protest against what they believe were election results doctored to keep United Russia in power. In a statement on his website, Gryslov wrote that it would be “inappropriate to remain speaker of the chamber for more than two years in a row.” Although he is giving up his role as speaker, he will remain chairman of the party.

The New York Times