How Geeti Shafia’s tombstone came to be engraved with a mistaken date
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 0 Comments
The correction may be slated for spring, two years after her murder
Crown Exhibit
For Ali Altaie, the warm spring weather can’t come soon enough. The co-director of the Hamza Cemetery, an Islamic burial ground in Laval, Que., has been fielding frequent phone calls in the wake of the Shafia “honour killing” trial that saw Mohammad Shafia, his wife, Tooba Yahya, and son Hamed convicted on four counts of first-degree murder. Their victims, Rona Amir Mohammad and sisters Zainab, Sahar and Geeti are buried in a neat row in Altaie’s cemetery. And people keep calling to tell him about a disconcerting mistake on one of their graves that the family doesn’t appear to care enough about to correct.
At 13, Geeti was the youngest of those killed and dumped into the Rideau Canal at Kingston, Ont. But her date of birth, barely visible above the snow on the grounds of the cemetery, is erroneously chiselled on her tombstone as “22-10-1991”—the same date inscribed on the grave of her beloved, 17-year-old big sister Sahar, which sits beside hers. “We’ll fix it,” Altaie tells Maclean’s, clearly frustrated with the attention brought by the mistake.
But any alterations will have to wait. The company that provides tombstones for the cemetery won’t make repairs to them during the winter because the ground is frozen. “They’re supposed to go and fix it as soon as the weather is good,” says Altaie.
-
The ups and downs of Bill Vander Zalm and Gordon Campbell
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, February 20, 2012 at 11:30 AM - 0 Comments
The former B.C. premiers’ have an uncanny history
Campbell
For much of their respective political careers, former premiers Bill Vander Zalm and Gordon Campbell—two lions of B.C.’s political scene—have been like two kids on a see-saw: just as one’s star rises, the other’s crashes and burns. “It’s more than ironic,” says David Mitchell, a B.C. historian and president of the Public Policy Forum. “It verges on the bizarre.”
Campbell, Canada’s high commissioner to Britain, got a raucous welcome last week in B.C., where he made his first public appearance since being hounded from office in the face of record-low public approval ratings. Coincidentally, just one day before Campbell’s cheery re-emergence, Vander Zalm’s star suddenly dive-bombed.
For two years, Vander Zalm had been riding high in B.C. His “Fight HST” campaign managed both to bring Campbell’s decade in the premier’s chair to an abrupt end, and kill the harmonized sales tax.
-
No search, no rescue, for Labrador’s Burton Winter
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, February 20, 2012 at 11:10 AM - 0 Comments
Locals expect more from the military, who says poor weather conditions kept their helicopters grounded
As Burton Winters took his last breaths of frigid Atlantic air, marooned on an ice sheet off the Labrador coast, he must have scanned the sky for some sign that help might come. It didn’t. And the 14-year-old boy, a Junior Canadian Ranger from Makkovik, Labrador, froze to death in the snow.
Winters had been reported missing on Jan. 29, when he failed to return home on his snowmobile after dropping his cousin at their grandmother’s house. It was fully 48 hours before the Canadian Forces dispatched a helicopter. Three days later, his body was found; Winters had managed to trudge 19 km through the shifting ice and snow before finally collapsing.
The military claims poor weather in Makkovik kept them from sending a helicopter, but the response has been questioned by Winters’s family, local politicians and the public. Even if weather had allowed it, neither of the two helicopters stationed in Goose Bay, Labrador, could have made the flight due to maintenance issues, the Department of National Defence acknowledged last week. And private helicopters were able to launch a search, despite the weather.
-
The decentralization of partying
By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 8:40 AM - 0 Comments
Gary Lachance takes his boom boxes and banana suits on the road
Lebeastsphotos.carbonmade.com
Gary Lachance sounds exhausted when he answers his cellphone. “My brain’s a little slow in the morning,” he says in a flat, expressionless voice, neglecting to acknowledge that it’s 4 p.m. “I’m more of a night person.” It becomes clear that’s an understatement as Lachance explains how, the night before, he led hundreds of people on a roving dance party through the streets of Phoenix, Ariz. The next night, the Vancouver filmmaker drove more than 1,600 km so he could do it again in Austin, Texas.
Such is the life of the self-described “twentysomething” who declines to name his suburban Ontario hometown and instead claims to have travelled from the future to change the world, one decentralized dance party at a time. “Our goal with these parties is to create something that’s novel and revolutionary and unique,” says Lachance. And he’s pledged to bring one to every country on Earth—even North Korea.
Lachance and his partner “Tom” came up with the idea to remove the dance party from the confines of a single location while “decentralizing” the source of music by dispersing hundreds of boom boxes to the crowd. Each stereo is dialled to the same radio frequency, which receives audio from a portable FM transmitter connected to Lachance’s iPod. His playlist is loaded with “booty bass,” ’90s dance tunes, and crowd-pleasers like Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ and I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith. The result, says Lachance, is a “really cool, distributed sound effect” amid a party atmosphere that’s spontaneous and mobile.
-
Investor idol
By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 8:35 AM - 0 Comments
American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has a knack for making money with schlocky reality TV
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
In 2008, before the U.S. credit crash, the investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital paid nearly $20 billion to buy the radio and billboard company Clear Channel. It was a disaster from the get-go. With a money-losing radio business and $4 billion in debt due in 2014, Clear Channel needs a saviour, and quick. Enter American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. The private equity firms last week invested $300 million in Seacrest’s production company to acquire new media companies and to create TV content in collaboration with Clear Channel, which will also take a small stake in Seacrest’s firm. Seacrest has a knack for knowing what Americans want. His production company created the massively successful Keeping Up with the Kardashians and several spinoffs. With Seacrest’s help, Bain and THL are betting Clear Channel can still be more than a money-losing radio company—perhaps a new media venture offering Americans what they really want: schlocky reality TV.
-
What to do with the Maoists in Nepal?
By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments
Reintegrating the former guerrillas after a decade-long civil war remains a divisive issue
Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images
Disagreements over the implementation of an agreement to release thousands of former Maoist fighters from enclosed camps in Nepal are threatening to snuff out hopes that an ongoing political stalemate can give way to the country’s long-awaited rebirth.
In early November, the coalition government of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai—himself the face of the former Maoist insurgency—struck a long-sought accord with opposition parties to release 19,000 Maoist soldiers from UN-monitored camps. Under the agreement, 6,500 of those soldiers would be integrated into the Nepalese army; the rest would be given roughly 800,000 rupees ($10,000) to start a new life. The accord promised to bring some closure to a decade-long civil war that killed more than 16,000 people. A further 100,000 were uprooted from their homes in the conflict, which featured jungle shootouts, extrajudicial executions, bombings and assassinations as Maoist rebels tried to overthrow the government in Kathmandu and replace the existing constitutional monarchy with a federal republic.
After the fighting ended in 2006, the question of what to do with the Maoist soldiers was deeply divisive for the political parties jockeying for influence in Kathmandu. In a 2009 report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote that the issue “is one important indication of the wider tensions between the political parties, which could imperil the completion of the peace process.” Indeed, since Nepal’s last elections in 2008, political infighting has resulted in five different coalition governments. Now, many contend this agreement may be the last chance for the currently elected politicians to draft and implement the long-promised constitution that would complete the country’s transformation to a republic after the abolition of the monarchy more than three years ago.
-
Police blotter: landlord with a gun and milk-truck bandits
By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments
A roundup of odd police reports from across the country
British Columbia: An apparently lovestruck Washington man snuck into Canada eight times over the past 12 years so that he could be with his Vancouver girlfriend. During his visits he also racked up a criminal record for break-ins and assaults. After being arrested once again last April, the man—who is addicted to crystal meth—will spend the next 11 months in prison. In Canada.
Alberta: A man carrying a knife and wearing a balaclava was fleeing the pharmacy he robbed in an Okotoks grocery store when he was “linebacker” tackled by a man shopping for milk and eggs. Several patrons dog-piled on top of the thief and held him down until police arrived. There were no injuries, except for those incurred by the robber’s street cred.
Saskatchewan: A dispute over the terms of a rental contract for a home in Swift Current turned dangerous when the 65-year-old landlord drew a gun on the 29-year-old woman renting the house. No shots were fired. The landlord was charged with breaking and entering, careless use of a firearm and unsafe storage of a firearm. The tenant is likely looking for new digs.
Ontario: A man in London faces theft charges after posing as a buyer of a diamond ring, then making off with the jewellery. The 23-year-old alleged thief responded to an online ad offering to sell the ring for $5,000, and asked the seller to meet him in a parking lot. When the two met, he then grabbed the ring and ran. He was later caught, but the ring is still missing.
Nova Scotia: Police in Cape Breton are investigating a bizarre bank theft that was carried out using a stolen dairy truck. Thieves made off with the milk truck from a local creamery. Then, at around 3 a.m. on Jan. 9, police believe the thieves hooked a long firehose or rope to the truck and wrenched a bank machine from the foyer of a Co-op store in Margaree Forks. No arrests have been made.
-
Romney takes Florida, sets sights on Obama
By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:46 AM - 0 Comments
Gingrich declines to congratulate Romney on victory
Mitt Romney won an unsurprising, albeit decisive, victory in Florida’s Republican primary on Tuesday, taking more than 46 per cent of the vote and routing his main rival Newt Gingrich by 14.5 per cent. Way back in third place, social conservative Rick Santorum garnered just 13.34 per cent of the vote.
Romney took his deep wallet to Florida with him, where his campaign outspent Gingrich’s by at least US$12 million. Much of that went towards attack ads, which painted Gingrich as a hot-headed hypocrite with a history of flip-flopping on key conservative policies.
In his victory speech in Tampa on Tuesday night, Romney tried to distance himself from the Republican race, employing rhetoric that assumes he will be the one to face President Barack Obama in November’s U.S. presidential election. He also worked to hit all the right notes that resonate with the small-government, low tax mind-set of the Republican base. “President Obama wants to grow government and continue to amass trillion dollar deficits. I will not just slow the growth of government, I will cut it. I will not just freeze the government’s share of the total economy, I will reduce it. And without raising taxes, I will finally balance the budget,” Romney said.
Now, as the primaries roll on to Nevada, the key battle for Romney will be winning support from the Tea Party movement and those social conservatives that support Gingrich. The contest is a bitter one. As the Washington Post reported, Gingrich was the only candidate not to place a congratulations call to Romney after his Florida win.
-
Cop tells inquiry Pickton could have been caught earlier
By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments
Investigator suspected Pickton as early as 1998
New testimony at the Pickton inquiry suggests police organizations bungled the investigations that eventually led to the arrest and convictions of serial killer Robert Pickton. Detective Constable Lori Shenher of the Vancouver Police broke down at the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry as she recounted how her suspicions about Pickton went unheeded by her superiors. Shenher had worked for the VPD on its missing women file between 1998 and 2000, a period in which Pickton went from being a “person of interest” to a “prime suspect.” Thirteen more women went missing between 1999 and 2002, when Pickton was finally arrested. Investigators found DNA belonging to 11 of them on his farm.
Shenher told the inquiry that, between 1998 and 2000, she was the only person assigned to missing people during at the VPD, and worked mostly alone. But she still managed to ascertain that a serial killer could be stalking downtown Vancouver streets, and that it might be Pickton. “I thought ‘Bingo, this is the guy we’re looking for,’ ” she said.
When officers finally went after Pickton in 2002, Shenher said her guilt made her hope he wasn’t responsible. “If it had been someone really tricky or skilled, I could have handled that, but … it was this person that was so in my sights the whole time,” she said.
In December 2007, Pickton was convicted of six counts of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years .
-
Chinese exports slump for second month in a row
By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:29 AM - 0 Comments
Shrivelling demand from the E.U. and U.S. to blame for the decline
For the second month in a row, Chinese exports have slumped in the face of declining demand in key markets such as Europe and the United States. Data from the Chinese government shows the country’s export index has dropped to 46.9 from 48.6 in the previous month.
China’s massive economic growth in recent years has been propelled by robust exports to Europe, U.S. and Canada, with many manufacturing facilities setting up shop near the country’s eastern port cities. But this latest data shows China is not immune to economic uncertainty. Leaders in the country are preparing to handle this changes, mainly by working to encourage domestic demand to make up for the fall in exports. Hong Kong, for instance, has promised its residents and small, corporate and businesses tax rebates, property subsidies, and two months free rent for public housing. In the last three months of 2011, Hong Kong’s economic growth failed to meet economic forecasts when it slowed to 3 per cent, the smallest expansion in two years.
-
Canadian mining company stops Argentine project in face of protests
By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:26 AM - 0 Comments
Osisko’s Famatina mega-mine project put on hold
In the face of intense local opposition, Canadian gold mining company Osisko has suspended a proposed project in Argentina’s western La Rioja province. The “Famatina project,” which the company insists is still in its speculative phase, had met with resistance from environmentalists who complained it woud require millions of liters of water per day and the use of cyanide to access and extract precious metals.
On Jan. 2, protesters blockaded a dirt road leading into the mountainous Famatina area, stopping anyone affiliated with Osisko, but allowing tourists and locals to freely pass by. They were joined by hundreds of people who held solidarity protests outside the Canadian embassy against the project in Buenos Aires. Osisko shouldn’t have been surprised by the local reaction; Barrick Gold, another Canadian mining giant, pulled out of La Rioja five years ago, when it was pursuing a project in the same mountain range.
-
Yale students discover plastic-eating fungus
By Alex Ballingall - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments
Pestalotiopsis microspora can survive on plastic alone in an anaerobic environment
Polyurethane—widely known as plastic—is one of most versatile and resilient materials on the planet. You can find it in the pen you write with, the toys your kids play with and the garden hose you water the plants with. But for years, discarded plastics have been filling landfills, refusing to degenerate or waste away like most other garbage. It’s been a problem without a realistic solution—until now.
A bunch of biology students from Yale traveled into the Ecuadorian jungle with their professor Scott Strobel to examine plants in a rainforest expedition. They came back with an undiscovered fungus that has the amazing ability to not only eat plastic, but survive on nothing other than plastic. That makes the fungus—Pestalotiopsis microspora—the first known to survive on plastic alone in an anaerobic environment, meaning without oxygen.
The group recently published their research on the fungus and the process of decomposing plastics. The great promise is that these fungi might one day be able to grow at the bottom of garbage dumps, where they can munch down on plastic all day and all night.
-
Romney expected to take Florida
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 12:23 PM - 0 Comments
But Gingrich promises long fight for Republican nomination
After more than a week of vitriolic stump speeches, “Super PAC”-funded attack ads and televised debates, voters in Florida are finally casting ballots in the state’s Republican primary. Mitt Romney is widely expected to take the day, heading into the vote with polls showing a double-digit lead over his chief rival, the fiery Newt Gingrich.
But that doesn’t mean Gingrich, the unexpected winner of the South Carolina primary earlier in January, is backing down. Speaking at a Baptist church in the city of Lutz, the former House speaker said his party “will not nominate a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate from Massachusetts,” predicting instead that “this is going to be a straight out contest for the next four or five months.”
That may indeed be the case, thanks in no small part to new rules governing Republican primaries this year. In order to win the nomination, a candidate needs support from 1,144 delegates at the Republican convention later this year. But, for the first time, Republican primary votes held before April aren’t operating on a winner-take-all basis. Instead, losing candidates can take a percentage of a state’s delegates. As the New York Times wrote Tuesday, “under that system, finishing second can be nearly as fruitful as winning.”
That means Gingrich, who is vying for support from the Tea Party and Christian evangelical wing of the party, may well be able to have enough support to take the Republican fight all the way to the convention floor.
-
Canada to Palestine: forget UN statehood bid
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments
Baird urges Palestinian leaders to restart direct talks with Israel
As one Palestinian official noted Monday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird can be a frank, straight talking man. “There’s no mistaking where he stands,” he told the Globe and Mail.
No kidding. Baird and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty are currently touring Israel and the West Bank. On Monday, the duo met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and other senior Palestinian officials, where they expressed Canada’s opposition to their bid for recognition as a sovereign state by the UN. Baird reportedly called it “profoundly wrong.”
The foreign minister also lined up in support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling the Palestinian leadership he believes they should return to peace negotiations with Israel without any preconditions. For months, Palestinian leaders have refused to hold direct talks, pointing to the construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. According to the organization Peace Now Israel, the rate of settlement construction in the West Bank jumped 20 per cent in 2011.
Baird added Monday that, “whether it is rockets raining down on Israeli schools, or the constant barrage of rhetorical demonization, double standards and delegitimization, Israel is under attack.” He went on to frame Canada’s unequivocal support for Israel as a brave move that flies in the face of dominant anti-Israeli sentiment amongst the international community. Clearly, Baird is working to entrench Canada as one of the world’s most unbending supporters of the Israeli government.
-
The NFL links arms with BCE in CRTC rumble
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:53 AM - 0 Comments
League claims broadcasts can’t be shared with company’s wireless competitors
The National Football League has suited up and joined forces with BCE Inc. in its rumble with the Canadian Radio and Television Commission.
The CRTC ruled in December that BCE—which owns Bell Mobility, CTV and TSN—would not be allowed to restrict its hockey and football broadcasts to its own wireless subscribers.
The NFL, evidently, begs to differ. As reported in the Globe and Mail, the football league is arguing that no wireless providers except BCE can offer its content.
If you’re worried about how this is going to affect your Super Bowl party, don’t be. The NFL’s beef with the CRTC is only for content delivered on mobile devices like smart phones. (The league is refusing to allow Bell to share its NFL broadcasting rights with competitors like Telus, Inc.)
Now, it’s up to the CRTC to decide what to do. The commission can either let it slide, or set up a mad-dog blitz for a federal court ruling. Game on.
-
Who’s in charge in Attawapiskat?
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:37 AM - 0 Comments
Band leaders are asking a judge to overturn Ottawa’s decision to send in an outside manager
Even though the issue has somewhat faded from view—what’s all this about an “honour killing” trial?—poverty and substandard housing remain in the northern Ontario First Nations community of Attawapiskat. Community leaders are in court today to fight the federal government’s decision to send a “third party manager” to take control of the First Nation’s finances. The band wants Chief Theresa Spence to regain that power, and accuses the government of trying to redirect attention away from the impoverishment of the community towards the band’s management of the community, which announced a state of emergency last year.
“Never did we think that one party would come to us and say, ‘You cannot deal with this yourself. We are the government here, and step aside, we’re coming in,’ ” said grand chief of northern Ontario Stan Loutitt, quoted by the CBC. “To me, that is morally and legally wrong.”
The decision to send in an outside manager is currently under judicial review. The result isn’t expected until late April.
Meanwhile, the government has promised to deliver 22 new modular homes to Attawapiskat. But their delivery has been delayed as officials wait for the solidification of an ice road, the only land route into the community.
-
Julian Assange hacks his way into pop culture
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:24 AM - 0 Comments
WikiLeaks founder will be featured in an episode of The Simpsons and has a Russian TV show in the works
Between staining his teeth with another cup of English Breakfast tea and twiddling away the hours under house arrest in Britain, Julian Assange managed to record his lines for an upcoming episode of The Simpsons. That’s right. The controversial founder and figurehead of Wikileaks is playing himself on an episode set to air Feb. 19, which just so happens to be the show’s 500th episode. Known details of the plot are few, but one can imagine the possibilities for humour: poking fun at Assange’s cold intensity, swollen ego and status as a thorn in the hide of the American political establishment.
Voicing his character on The Simpsons isn’t the only thing Assange has been up to as he awaits the possibility of extradition to Sweden on charges of sexual misconduct. He’s also been filming a new talk show, funded by the Kremlin, to appear on English language Russia Today. (Assange is the host.) According to Reuters, Assange will lead talks with 10 “key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries.” It’s called “The World Tomorrow” and it’s slated to air in March.
-
Economic boom brings a labour shortage to Newfoundland
By Alex Ballingall - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments
The archetypal “have not” province is bringing in foreign workers to help fill jobs
Vale Archive
There may be no more surefire sign of an economic boom in Canada than a shortage of staff at the local Tim Hortons. It happened in northern Alberta when Fort McMurray exploded with oil sands-related activity. And now it’s happening in Deer Lake, in western Newfoundland. “We’re in the midst of a period of poor availability,” says local Tim Hortons’ owner Oral Clarke. He plans to bring in foreign workers from the Philippines to fill out his staff.
For a town of 5,000 that sits at a highway interchange near the entrance to Gros Morne National Park—never mind in a province with the highest unemployment rate in the country at 13.1 per cent—this may seem like a strange conundrum. But it’s indicative of a growing problem on the Rock. After decades of being Canada’s archetypal “have not” province, Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing an unprecedented economic boom. And the record expansion brings an unfamiliar problem: an acute shortage of labour. “For years we’ve had people leaving the province because of too few jobs,” says Richard Alexander, executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers’ Council. “All of a sudden there’s been a switch and we’re entering an area where we have excess jobs and too few people to fill those jobs.”
More than $43 billion is pouring into major development projects across the province. Among the most prominent are the $8.3-billion Hebron offshore oil platform, the $3-billion Long Harbour nickel processing plant, and the $6.2-billion Muskrat Falls Lower Churchill hydroelectric project. The government surplus—once a rare figure on provincial balance sheets—climbed far beyond expectations to $755 million last year, thanks mostly to oil revenues, says Memorial University economist Wade Locke. In a report titled “ Outlook 2020,” the province estimated that 77,000 job vacancies will open up over the next eight years (with more projects announced since the report, that estimate is widely perceived to be conservative).
-
Shafias expected to appeal guilty verdict
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 11:05 AM - 0 Comments
“We are not criminal. We are not murderers. We didn’t commit the murders and this is unjust.”
Their guilty verdicts have sparked vigorous conversations about the difficulties of existing at a junction of cultures in a pluralist society. Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed were each found guilty of four counts of first degree murder in the conclusion of the high-profile “honour killing” trial for the murders of Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, Geeti, 13—sisters killed by their parents and brother —and Rona Amir Mohammad, Shafia’s first wife in a polygamous marriage.
“It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime,” said Justice Robert Maranger as he handed out three automatic life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years to the three Shafias found guilty of drowning the four women and dumping them and their Nissan into the Rideau Canal.
But news broke Monday morning that lawyers representing the Montreal family will appeal the guilty verdict. At the time of sentencing, given the opportunity to speak, all three convicts insisted on their innocence. Mohammad Shafia, speaking through an interpreter, said: “We are not criminal. We are not murderers. We didn’t commit the murders and this is unjust.”
As word of the guilty verdict spread across the country on Sunday, many reflected on lessons that can be learned from the trial, which detailed how the Shafias, ashamed of the behaviour of their three daughters, plotted and carried out their murders. The story has been taken as an horrific exemplum of the complications of divergent values in a country such as Canada, especially for the children of traditionalist parents holding on to patriarchal power dynamics at odds with the norms of family life in Canadian society. Writing Sunday in the Toronto Star, columnist Rosie DiManno put it eloquently: “If there’s anything that should be learned from this trial, any warning we should heed, it’s to be alert, as a society to the secret lives of girls in gilded cages, ethnic daughters held hostage in their own homes by chauvinism and misogyny. Sadly, that is not uncommon.”
At least, thankfully, killing children in the name of family honour is uncommon.
-
Federal budget, NDP leadership are the stories to watch as Parliament resumes
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 11:01 AM - 0 Comments
Conservatives hinting at deep spending cuts
They’re back. Let the disheartening heckling and petty partisan games recommence.
Parliamentarians return from the holidays today, holding their first session in the House of Commons in six weeks. The big story on the Hill over the next several weeks will likely be the budget, the first for the Conservative government since they won a majority in the last federal election.
Although details are scant, Stephen Harper and members of his cabinet have indicated cuts are on the way. Last week, Treasury Board President Tony Clement told the Toronto Empire Club that program spending for all federal departments could be twice as deep as previously advertised—totalling $8 billion rather than $4 billion per year.
Harper also signaled big changes in his keynote address to the World Econmic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last Thursday, singling out Old Age Security as an area where government spending will be reigned in. On Sunday, NDP leadership hopefuls debating in Halifax—it was really more like a friendly policy discussion, according to the Chronicle-Herald—attacked Harper and pledged to vehemently oppose his agenda of government cut backs.
Speaking of the NDP leadership contest, that will be another story to watch over the coming weeks. Interim Leader Nicole Turmel is set to step down as head of the Official Opposition on March 24, when a new leader will be chosen to try and emulate the triumphs of the late Jack Layton. According to the politics blog ThreeHundredEight.com, Brian Topp is the current front runner. He has clinched the endorsement of former leader Ed Broadbent, and represents a good portion of Layton’s team. His main adversaries appear to be Thomas Mulcair—for his fiery debating style and Quebec appeal—Peggy Nash and Paul Dewar, who have each received endorsements from caucus colleagues.
-
EU leaders aim for ‘fiscal compact’
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:45 AM - 0 Comments
German oversight proposal irks Greece
The politics of budgetary control are slowing negotiations between Greece and its international creditors aimed at getting the next chunk of bailout cash into the beleaguered Mediterranean country’s hands. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos “angrily rejected” a German proposal to implement European oversight of Greece’s budgetary decision-making, according to the Financial Times. The proposal would allow the EU overseer to veto Greek tax and spending decisions, effectively giving the country’s creditors budgetary control. Venizelos was offended by the implication that his country would have to choose between “national dignity” and financial aid.
The tiff over fiscal sovereignty is the latest in the seemingly never-ending effort to avoid a Greek debt default. Greek bond holders are being pressured to give up profits on their investments, while the EU and IMF are asking for deeper austerity measures in return for their bailout cash.
“If the process is not completed successfully, we will be faced with the spectre of bankruptcy that would have great consequences for society, and especially for the poor,” Lucas Papademos, the Greek prime minister said.
But as the wrangling over the Greek bailout continues, a summit of euro zone countries is kicking off in Brussels, where member nations are discussing the creation of a “fiscal compact” that will coordinate spending policies among the countries using the common currency. Worries over the downside of austerity—that too much spending cuts can derail the possibility of economic growth—are fueling a vision of “smart” budget discipline for the euro zone.
These worries are especially relevant for countries like Spain, which has an unemployment rate of 22.8 per cent, the highest in the European Union. Alarmingly, more than half of Spanish youth — aged 16 to 24 — are jobless. Cuts to social programs that support such people could foster widespread anger and instability, which would deter investment and perpetuate economic stagnation.
-
Syrian violence intensifies as fighting reaches the suburbs of the capital
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:38 AM - 0 Comments
Russia threatens to veto UN resolution calling for an end to violence
Syria’s bloody crackdown on dissident militants and protestors raged through the weekend, when some of the fiercest fighting of the 10-month conflict was waged in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. The presence of rebel fighters in the loosely organized Free Syria Army in these areas may be an indication that Syria could descend into an even deadlier, drawn out civil war.
On Monday morning, Syrian state television reported that a gas pipeline was bombednear the Lebanon border. And on Sunday, at least 62 people were killed as the military shelled the Damascus neighbourhoods and launched raids to push back rebel forces from the seat President Bashar al-Assad’s power, the Associated Press reported.
In the face of escalating violence, Arab League observers announced the suspension of their mission in Syria. Despite the criticism that their presence was having little effect on the situation, the observers were among the only outside sources that were able to witness and report on the violence in Syria.
As if all this isn’t grim enough, any substantive action from the international community is notably absent. In a bid to change this perception, foreign ministers from France and Britain are traveling to the UN in New York to press the Security Council to draft a resolution aimed at halting violence in Syria, which has killed an estimated 5,400 people.
But Russia—one of the Syrian regime’s biggest boosters—has threatened to use its veto power to block any such move. The Kremlin’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, called any resolution seeking to ouster Assad from power “absolutely unforgivable.”
The intensity of violence in Syria is on the rise. And there’s no end in sight.
-
No one bids on ‘world’s largest emerald’ at Kelowna auction
By Alex Ballingall - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:36 AM - 0 Comments
The owner of the jewel was arrested by RCMP the day before it went up for sale
Teodora was literally billed as a gift from God. Said to be the world’s largest cut emerald, Teodora was put up for sale on Saturday at the Kelowna, B.C. auction house, Western Star Auctions. Regan Reaney, the man who brought it in, claimed the 11.5 kilogram watermelon-sized, 56,500-carat emerald “is 100-per-cent real” and worth at least $1.15 million. Reaney told media that the gem’s worth was in the “priceless zone.”
But on Saturday, no one bid on Teodora.
That’s because Reaney was arrested Friday by Kelowna RCMP. He faces multiple fraud accusations in Ontario, and there were outstanding warrants for his arrest, The Globe and Mail reported Sunday.
One would assume, based on this alone, that the emerald is nothing more than the crown jewel in some kid’s worthless rock collection. But there’s more. In order to be fully certified, emeralds must have pieces chipped off for internal analysis. Reaney refused to do this. And then there was the appraiser from Calgary, Jeff Nechka, who reportedly took a look at Reaney’s rock. He said it was likely “enhanced green beryl,” meaning that it was dyed green, a tell-tale sign of emerald fakery (emeralds are a rare form of beryl; white beryl is essentially worthless).
As if all this weren’t weird enough—why would Reaney take his prized gem to Kelowna?—the owner of Western Star Auctions, Mike Odenbach, wanted to leverage the emerald sale into something bigger for his business: a reality TV show. On this point, it’s hard to say whether Reaney’s emerald fiasco will be a help or a hindrance.
-
Kaya Turski on big jumps, adrenaline, the Olympics and Sarah Burke
By Alex Ballingall - Friday, January 27, 2012 at 6:17 PM - 0 Comments
‘Jumping 80-foot kickers is fun to me, whereas for other people it might be a little crazy’
Montreal’s Kaya Turski won her third consecutive gold medal in Women’s Slopestyle at the Winter X Games on Thursday in Aspen, Colo. Turski is one of the shining stars of her sport, in which skiers navigate a terrain park while grinding on rails, going off jumps and performing acrobatic tricks in the air. Following her big win in Aspen, the 23-year-old spoke with Maclean’s about her love of adrenaline, the inclusion of Slopestyle in the 2014 Olympics, and the recent passing of her friend and co-freeskier, Sarah Burke.Q: First off, congratulations. Winning your third consecutive X Games gold medal—that’s quite the accomplishment.
A: Thank you very much.
Q: I understand you did so by landing what’s called a switch 1080, the first one ever by a woman in X Games history. For people who may be less knowledgeable about your sport, what is a switch 1080, and how did it feel to stick that trick and win the competition? Continue…
-
Cuts, cuts, more cuts
By Alex Ballingall - Friday, January 27, 2012 at 11:50 AM - 0 Comments
Tony Clement and Stephen Harper offer a preview of the reforms the Conservatives have in store
The winds of change are blowing from the chambers of power in Ottawa, carrying the call for austerity to all corners of the country.
Speaking Thursday, Treasury Board President Tony Clement announced the Conservative government is planning to introduce deeper spending cuts than the ones detailed in the 2011 budget, when a 5 per cent program spending cut was touted as a means to shave $4 billion a year from the federal budget. Now, Clement says the Tories are aiming for as much as double that target.
“I have led a cabinet committee to review the plans of federal departments and agencies to achieve savings of between 5 and 10 per cent in their program budgets; in other words, reductions of anywhere between $4 and $8 billion,” said Clement.
Meanwhile, a hop skip and a jump away in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was outlining his visions for the Canadian future. And it was a future of skinnier government programs and the accommodation of business interests. Citing the demographic realities of the country—an aging population expected to strain the public purse with social security and old age pensions—Harper told the gathering that Canada will reform its pension system to cut costs.
“In the months to come, our government will undertake major transformations to position Canada for growth over the next generation,” the CBC quoted him as saying on Thursday.
With its major campaign promises out of the way and passed by Parliament last year—scrapping the long gun registry, instituting mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent crimes, and dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board—the Conservatives appear intent on forging ahead with a wholesale re-tooling of the way the government spends money. And with their coveted majority in Parliament, not to mention an Opposition in disarray, who’s going to stop them?
