What do you get when you mate a Leaf with a Lion?

By Dave Bidini - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 4:01 PM - 0 Comments

Never mind the wins and losses—well, at least for a moment—and consider the most significant news to come out of bluebloodland last week: the deal between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Zurich Lions of the Swiss League. In the 1970s, Peter Ustinov said Toronto was like “New York run by the Swiss,” and while things are a lot more lively these days, much of the city still operates like the reliable and steady gearworks of a Geneva pocket watch. Partnerships with teams in Lisbon, Barcelona, Assiago, and Paris would have been more alluring, but these are still your father’s Leafs. Few are allowed either in or out of the room with the velvet rope.

I’ve been wondering what might have precipitated this engagement and why this was celebrated as a significant event in Leaf media land. Was it to distract fans from that which has been rumoured over the past few weeks: James Reimer’s brain injury. Another thought: I think if we started calling concussions “brain injuries,” it might get people wising-up to the seriousness of this business. It’s easier to conjure notions of dementia and madness out of brain injuries. Calling them concussions is like calling them pulled hamstrings or separated shoulders. “Brain injury” is a more frightening term. And if the bluebloods aren’t already frightened by Reimer’s, they should be. Continue…

A cooling on the right

By Richard Warnica - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 8:10 AM - 0 Comments

In the lead-up to last month’s Swiss elections, most observers expected two long-term trends to continue. On the one hand, support for the anti-immigrant Swiss People’s Party, or SVP, was projected to climb, as it had for more than 20 years. On the other, the traditional power brokers in the Swiss centre were expected to again lose ground, continuing a steady erosion of their support. But a funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box: Swiss voters didn’t reject the SVP, but they did cool to its message. The party lost more than three per cent of its popular vote from 2007, shedding eight parliamentary seats in the process. A cluster of new centrist parties, including a group of breakaway moderates from the SVP, picked up much of the slack.

The Swiss vote “is part of a larger trend,” believes Mario Canseco, vice-president at Angus Reid Public Opinion. Support for anti-immigrant parties soared in Europe following the economic crash in 2008. Much of that ardour has now cooled, Canseco says. Europe’s extreme right is far from dead—the SVP remains Switzerland’s largest single party, for example. But if the Swiss vote does reflect a move away from the European instinct to tar outsiders for internal problems, it could be a very good sign indeed.

On the need to restart the debate on assisted suicide

By Ken MacQueen - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 9:33 AM - 4 Comments

Photographs by Simon Hayter

On Jab. 15, 2010, Kathleen (Kay) Carter of North Vancouver had a date with death, an event she’d been seeking for months. She was 89 years old and nearly paralyzed by spinal stenosis. She made a last journey to Dignitas, a Swiss clinic devoted to assisted dying, accompanied by her daughter Lee Carter, Lee’s husband, Hollis Johnson, and other family. There, she drank a lethal drug, nibbled on a Swiss chocolate and drifted off to death. Her legacy is a renewed debate on the right to die. Carter and Johnson are now part of a challenge to the law prohibiting assisted suicide. It will be heard in the B.C. Supreme Court in November.

Q: Lee, tell me about Kay Carter, your mother.

LC: She was a fiercely independent person. She was well-read. She was interested in politics, social issues. She went to university and spent one year teaching elementary school in White Rock, B.C. And then she started having children, and had seven. There was no room for a job. She was married to my dad, Ron Carter, until he died in his mid-60s.

Q: In 2008, she was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. What did it mean to her quality of life?

LC: Basically, it’s to do with the [degenerating] spinal cord. You begin to lose your extremities, the ability to use your hands, your feet and eventually your legs. When she was diagnosed, it was hard to use her arms. She knew something was wrong. She would have been around 86 or 87.
HJ: I think the prognosis was particularly horrifying for her. The doctor said at some point, “You’ll be completely paralyzed, and just be on a gurney, and all of your needs will have to be attended to by others.” For her to lose that mobility was really terrifying.

Q: At what point did she decide she wanted to end her life?

LC: She woke up in the middle of the night [in July 2009] and said, “I’ve got it. I know what I want to do. I want to go overseas. Over there they can allow me to die with dignity.”
Continue…

Swiss freeze $1 billion worth of dictators' assets

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 2:51 PM - 3 Comments

Switzerland has frozen more than $1 billion in assets linked to current and former North African dictators. More than $450-million of the assets are believed to have been illegally obtained by former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his acolytes. Another $398 million was linked to Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Some $66 million was controlled by Tunisia’s former dictator, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Switzerland agreed to freeze suspect funds in February, but only announced the figure today. A government official told the BBC that no alternate regime has provided enough evidence for the money to be returned.

BBC News

Nice tie, buddy

By Chris Sorensen - Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 12:08 PM - 0 Comments

Laser-like precision is an admirable trait when it comes to Swiss timekeeping—but maybe not so much when you’re telling employees what to wear. Amid much ridicule, Switzerland-based banking giant UBS has decided to overhaul a painfully detailed employee dress code that was recently leaked online. The 44-page guide ventured into such personal territory as what colour underwear women should wear (flesh-toned) and how often men should cut their hair (monthly). It also suggested wristwatches (to convey trustworthiness and punctuality) and cautioned about the dangers of failing to trim and file toenails (shortens the life of stockings). UBS has said its original guide was “misunderstood.” But while the bank has pledged to focus on the basics in its revised code—dark suits, white shirts and red ties for men—it’s doubtful its 65,000 global employees will enjoy sartorial freedom any time soon.

Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 1, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

A big week for Hillary’s hair
“Oh Hillary, that hairstyle just doesn’t cut it,” carped the U.K.’s Daily Mail, bemoaning U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “lanky locks.” “Hillary Clinton wears hair clip to the UN: ‘Do or don’t?” asked the Huffington Post. Hill’s hair, object of fascination throughout Bill’s presidency, had the fashion police on high alert at the UN. Meanwhile, its owner quietly intensified U.S. efforts in the fledgling Mideast peace process.

Not so big in Iran, then
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stirs trouble abroad, it’s a safe bet he faces problems back home. This week, the Iranian president was in full diversionary mode, suggesting the U.S. played a role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, then mocking Western media for spotlighting cases like that of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery. (Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian blogger, also faces the death sentence for creating online forums Tehran considered a political threat; a similar campaign is building in his favour.) The uproar over Ashtiani, complained Ahmadinejad, is far greater than that over the plight of Teresa Lewis, a borderline mentally challenged woman executed in Virginia on Thursday. His remarks didn’t stop U.S. media from looking past the bluster to the real story: growing divisions among Iran’s conservatives over the election 15 months ago that gave Ahmadinejad his second term. No wonder he wants to change the channel.

C’aan the man do no wrong?
What does K’naan have to do to be criticized? After organizers of a Vancouver-area charity concert fell short of his $40,000 fee, the Somali-Canadian musician refused to take the stage, leaving fans and the charity in the lurch; Simon Fraser University, where the benefit was being held, reportedly offered to pay the difference, to no avail. Yet event organizers, including charity chief Clement Apaak, fell on their swords, accepting full blame, and offering refunds. The Teflon star’s cred is unblemished by even a summer spent touring for Coke, to whom he sold his hit, Wavin’ Flag, for its World Cup marketing campaign, the corporate giant’s biggest ever.

A homer odyssey
If you hadn’t heard the name Jose Bautista before this fall, don’t feel bad. The Toronto Blue Jays slugger had hit fewer home runs in his three previous seasons combined than he has in 2010, and there was nothing to presage the power surge that this week lifted him into the company of legends like Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Having surpassed the Jays’ team record of 47 dingers, Bautista cracked his 51st and 52nd over the weekend, giving rise to inevitable questions about the source of his unaccustomed power. Bautista swatted aside queries like so many hanging curve balls. “I understand because of the [sport’s] history,” he said when asked if he’d used performance-enhancing drugs. “But those days are gone.”

The devil is in the details
With his bald head, sinister black Van Dyke beard and dark sunken eyes, it’s hard to forget that Scott Robb, who’s running for Edmonton’s city council, is a practising Satanist. Still, religious issues aren’t a big part of the message for the founder of the Darkside Collective. Rather, the 31-year-old security guard’s platform focuses on opposing a plan to shutter Edmonton’s City Centre Airport, and proposes to run downtown light-rail transit lines underground. Robb eschews political donations and is spending his own money—$400 so far—on his campaign. Which would mean his name isn’t the only eerie similarity he bears to Toronto mayoral candidate Rob Ford.

Close Sesame
Elmo loves Katy Perry—but not inappropriately. “We had a good time,” the Sesame Street puppet told Good Morning America. Elmo’s talk-show appearance was meant to help defuse reaction to his onscreen play date with the pop singer, whose low-cut, cleavage-revealing costume irked parents and led the show to cut the segment. “We’ll have another play date,” Elmo told host George Stephanopoulos, who until recently hosted ABC’s Sunday political show This Week, where he interviewed powerful world leaders. In other news Perry- and puppet-related, the pop queen will appear in a special live-action episode of The Simpsons this Christmas. “In the wake of Elmo’s terrible betrayal, the Simpsons puppets wish to announce they stand felt-shoulder-to-shoulder with Katy Perry,” said Simpsons executive producer Al Jean.

How many women does it take to make a cabinet?
With the election of Simonetta Sommaruga to the Swiss cabinet, the conservative country crossed an unlikely threshold: with Sommaruga, a Social Democrat, as transport minister, Switzerland, which until 1971 barred women from voting, now has a majority-female cabinet—three men, four women—what Social Democrat chair Christian Levrat called an “essential, decisive step.”

A real guitar hero
Vancouver’s Don Alder entered the sixth annual Guitar Superstar competition on a whim—the top 10 finalists, he’d heard, get a nod in Guitar Player magazine, the enthusiast’s bible. Not only did the 54-year-old win, he earned the night’s only standing ovation. Judges deemed his performance “flawless” and “transcendental,” with one adding: “The world needs to hear you.” Alder took up the guitar at the urging of Rick Hansen, a childhood friend (they were together when Hansen was injured after being thrown from the back of a pickup). They were out fishing eight years ago when Hansen said, “Why don’t you get back to your music?” Alder told the Vancouver Sun. “He told me failure is not trying—ever since it’s taken me down this amazing journey.”

Do as he draws, not as he does
What began as a campaign against plagiarism ended as a lesson in irony. Taiwan’s “Protect Copyright” contest launched last year, soliciting entries for a poster campaign. Judges were particularly fond of Wu Chih-wei’s dramatic entry, “Work—Shattered,” featuring a plunging paper plane, words trailing its wings like smoke. The entry earned him a medal and a cash prize, and his poster went up all over Taiwan. Only problem: he’d ripped off Dutch artist Dennis Sibeijn. Wu was stripped of his prize and faced up to three years in jail, but Sibeijn declined to press charges. He would like an apology, though.

Aafia got her gun
Aafia Siddiqui is a 38-year-old Pakistani neuroscientist with degrees from MIT and Brandeis University. Arrested in Afghanistan in 2008, she was found to carry bomb-making recipes and a list of American tourist attractions. When U.S. officials visited her for questioning in jail, Siddiqui grabbed a discarded rifle and began shooting, saying in exquisite English: “I want to kill Americans.” The FBI called her a terrorist. Yet during her trial Siddiqui’s lawyer argued she’s mentally ill. Siddiqui disagreed. So did the judge, who gave her 86 years in prison. That led to riotous protests in Pakistan, where PM Yousaf Raza Gilani called her a “daughter of the nation.”

He hasn’t got a wife to spare
Maybe Ndumiso Mamba figured a man with 14 wives would take a philosophical view of infidelity. But Mamba lost his job as justice minister of Swaziland this week after he was found under a hotel room bed with his king’s 12th wife. Rumours of an affair between Mamba and Nothando Dube, a former Miss Teen Swaziland, had run rampant in the royal court for weeks. Dube reportedly disguised herself as a soldier to sneak out for their trysts, but officials loyal to King Mswati III cottoned on and set up a sting operation to catch the pair. Some predicted Mamba would be allowed to flee. But a long prison term seems more likely. “Mamba knows too much,” said one expert. “If he flees into exile with the royal secrets, that would be a major problem.”

Too mad for Mad Men?
He’s still a contender for Hollywood’s greatest train wreck, but things are looking up for Mel Gibson. News that he’s in danger of losing his house—and his church—to unpaid construction bills didn’t stop Jodie Foster from rising to his defence. “When you love a friend, you don’t abandon them,” she said. Her vote of confidence came as details of Gibson’s ugly split with wife Oksana Grigorieva trickled out: he was apparently willing to cough up $1 million for tapes of his foul-mouthed tirades. But some were buzzing about a comeback. Last week’s hot rumour from Liz Smith had him signing on for a role in the hit series Mad Men, though she retracted after producers demurred.

Catch and release
Captains of Chinese fishing trawlers don’t often trigger diplomatic crises. But that’s what 41-year-old Zhan Qixiong did when, on Sept. 8, while poking around islands claimed by both Beijing and Tokyo, he allegedly rammed Japanese coast guard cutters—twice. Arrested and jailed in Okinawa, he sparked the most serious standoff between China and Japan in recent memory, a dispute closely watched by a world concerned about a rising China. The incident sparked nationalist fervour in both countries, with some in Japan complaining after Qixiong was released on Saturday. Japanese PM Naoto Kan maintained that Tokyo would issue no apologies.

Buck stops here
Last week, Linda Buck, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist who studies how the brain processes odour, retracted two journal articles because they don’t pass the smell test. That makes three times Buck has disavowed papers co-authored with her one-time post-doc Zhihua Zou (who conducted the experiments), because she couldn’t duplicate the findings. Zou, who has reportedly returned to his native China, agreed to the first retraction, but not to last week’s.

About Face

By Martin Patriquin and Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 8:30 AM - 174 Comments

Photograph by Peter Mccabe

Shama Naz, a mother of two young girls who lives in the Montreal suburb of Kirkland, visited the emergency room of the Lakeshore General Hospital last Sunday after her eldest daughter accidentally poked her left eye with a pencil. A native of Pakistan, Naz wears a niqab, a garment worn by some Islamic women that covers the entire face save for the eyes. A few days before, the Quebec government had announced legislation that would force her to remove her niqab to receive any government service; though it isn’t yet law, she wondered half-jokingly whether she would be turned away at the hospital.

She wasn’t. Her niqab stayed in place until she was able to see a doctor; then, as she has done countless times while writing exams, taking passport pictures and going across international borders, she took it off—without the prompting of the doctor, who happened to be a man. “Law or no law, it’s just about common sense,” Naz says. “For me, it’s never been an issue.”

Soon enough, Naz will be compelled by law, not only common sense, to doff her niqab whenever she visits the hospital, goes to school, has her licence renewed, or avails herself of any other service provided or funded by the provincial government. Introduced last week, Bill 94 is the first legislation in North America to place a de facto ban on any religious face coverings in any government building—including within the walls of every government-subsidized high school, CEGEP and university in Quebec.

Continue…

On top of the World

By Charlie Gillis with Nancy Macdonald - Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 2 Comments

Photograph by Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

After the Golden Goal, when jubilant members of Team Canada had finished mobbing Sidney Crosby, when the sticks had been gathered and the players made their way to the long blue carpet for their medals, a pleasing sight unfolded in Canada Hockey Place. The crowd began bobbing, twisting, to the rhythm of the Black Eyed Peas, and for a moment, you could look around at thousands of red maple leafs—on flags, placards, T-shirts and jerseys—brought to life simultaneously, as if by a gust of wind.

Down on the ice, the man of the moment looked up and smiled. Minutes earlier, Crosby had slid the puck under U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller for what will surely count among the greatest goals in Canadian hockey history—right up there with Paul Henderson’s in 1972. Now, as he stood at the end of the line awaiting his Olympic gold medal, the crowd began chanting his name. “Cros-by! Cros-by! Cros-by!”

There are moments in sports that define an athlete, and some that define a country. But seldom do the two converge as neatly as they did in the men’s hockey final at the 2010 Winter Games, where Canada defeated the U.S. 3-2. Crosby’s goal seven minutes, 40 seconds into overtime cut short an improbable comeback by the Americans and unleashed four years’ worth of pent-up emotions, dating back to Canada’s ignominious defeat at the Winter Games in Turin. Those feelings had only deepened in the early days of these Olympics, as Canadians had been alternately pitied and mocked for various glitches, not to mention our disappointing medal haul that first week.

Continue…

LIVE BLOG: Canada v. Russia

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 11:07 PM - 9 Comments

3rd Period

18:30 — Garbage time. The key now is to avoid penalties and/or injuries. What an enormous game for Canada. Watch the Vegas odds tonight. My guess? They’re the gold medal favourites once again.

17:17 — boneheaded penalty by Boyle; he’s obviously never seen that youtube clip of Semin trying to fight (look it up, it’s priceless)

15:45 — I’m going break with the crowd here and suggest this isn’t “LU’s” best game. But that terrific save off Malkin probably just won him a start in the semis.

12:30 — The team’s acting like it’s garbage time, letting Luongo take way to many shots. If as, a recent TV shot suggests, Ovie hurt his had, Russia is really in a jam for the rest of the tourney. No wonder the Oligarch’s Box is starting to look like a funeral home.

8:55 — The crowd’s on Ovie. And our boy Sid? He’s one buttock away from being on the scoresheet.

3:05— you know things are going badly for your team when only your goalie’s protruding butt is keeping the puck out of your net.

Can I just use this break in play to voice my amazement at what we’re witnessing here? What on earth is with Russia? It’s as if they arrived without a game plan—not even one on a cocktail napkin.

If this keeps up, it will go down as an epic defeat. Consider how talented this team is. It’s as if they thought they could wing it completely, or that the money the new Russian elite have been pumping into hockey would take care of everything. Now they’ve taken a too-many-men penalty. The look you see on Bykov’s face is a that of a man afraid for his job.

1:45 — Staal down. The hit by Volchenkov should have been penalized. It looked worse in real-time than on the replay. Good to see him still on the bench.

0:00 — Interesting to note: Bykov has given Datsyuk and Ovechkin more ice time than he has is top defencemen. Both topped 14 minutes in the first two periods; Gonchar was the top d-man at 13:47.

2nd Period

20:00 — Shots are 30-20 for Canada, but a glimpse of the Russian power-play at the end of the period gives you a sense of how fragile that fat-looking lead might be.

Hey, remember that Crosby-Ovie thing? So far it’s a squib. Ten goals in 40 minutes and neither has so much as an assist. Dan Boyle has a goal and two assists; same for Getzlaf; Corey Perry has two goals. Secondary scoring wins hockey games, and Canada has gotten it tonight.

17:30 — By far the best shift yet from the Ovie line, which no longer has Malkin on it (he’s with Radulov and Kozlov now).

11:40 — How many of Canada’s goals have come on neutral-zone turnovers by Russia? Terrible puck management by Zinovyev leads to a highlight-reel passing play by Getzlaf, Staal and Perry. It’s seriously depressing the Russians here—who got only a minor charge from Gonchar’s goal. 7-3 Canada.

4:46 — Canada does not, repeat not, want to play run-and-gun with this team. Afinogenov. And why was Keith playing in the middle of the ice. As Howie Meeker used to say, he couldn’t have hit him with a handful of beans. 6-2 Canada.

4:07 — Er .. ignore previous update. Corey Perry, then Shea Weber (who couldn’t shoot it through the netting; what a limp-wrist). 6-1 Canada. Who’d have thunk?

Nabokov is out in favour of Ilya Bryzgalov about two goals too late.

2:30 — Worth remembering: Ovie and Alex Semin play for Washington. Washington erases leads like rain washes sidewalk chalk.

0:00 — Nabokov still in.

Some debate about whether the second goal was Marleau’s. My Globe colleague Eric Duhatschek doesn’t think he touched it. That would make it Boyle’s, but no matter. It doesn’t happen without Marleau’s arse in Nabokov’s face.

Speaking of whom, will we see a goalie change at the start of the second? Nabokov looks terrible. He pulled off the post on the Morrow goal, and that was a very important one for Canada.

1st Period

18:10 — What Brenden Morrow just did is what Yzerman put him on this team to do. Worked the puck down low, and scored blue-collar goal. 4-1 Canada. I think Babcock has found his energy line in Getzlaf-Morrow-Perry. With occasional doses of Bergeron.

What an enormous period for Canada. You hear coaches talk about chemistry and it sounds like a cliché. But Canada has found some in the last 80 minutes of hockey it’s played.

How bad is it? The two Russian women sitting next to me in the press section (why do they never seem to be working?) held their heads when Nash buried that beauty from Toews.

16:28 — Game within the game: Keith and Doughty do an interesting little switcheroo when they enter the offensive zone, so that each is shooting from his off-hand side. It improves your angle on the net.

Little bit like watching a volleyball team rotate for a spike, though.

14:39 — You won’t see many shots as well placed as that one by Dmitri Kalinin. Bykov has their attention. 3-1 Canada.

13:53 — They love Lu in this town, and stops like that crease jam are the reason.

Fyi, things look REALLY quiet up in the Oligarch’s Box.

But don’t count your chickens. The Datsyuk line looks really dangerous to me, and the Canadian defence is giving up the blue line because they’re terrified of the Russians’ speed.

12:55 — Marleau!! who is my underrated player of the tourney (Not Boyle, but it was a nice screened shot). Then a beauty by Nash, and you can thank Geno Malkin for the turnover at the offensive blue line. 3-0 Canada? Are my eyes deceiving me?

10:26 — Canadian PP. Volchenkov hauls down Crosby.

10:06 — my goalie friends tell me those bread-basket catches are a lot harder than Luongo makes them look. Whatever. No rebounds on a Russian power play.

7:58 — Russian PP. Seabrook dumps Alexei Morozov; bit of a dive, but it was there. You now know why Seabrook’s icetime has been limited, talented though he is.

From where I’m sitting it looked like Morozov had half a net when he whiffed on that shot.

5:55 — Bykov, in case you’re wondering, is a laconic coach in the old Soviet vein. But his temper is even. You can bet he’ll settle these guys down.

2:21 — Getzlaf! On a sweet feed from Boyle. Feeble coverage by Viktor Kozlov. I’ll try not to keep harping on this, but I felt that cheer in my rib cage. This is by far the loudest the building’s been since the tournament began.

1:26 — I think several of the players couldn’t hear the whistle on that icing call

Teams are out! It’s deafening in here! Drop the G.D. puck!!

UPDATE: The warm-up is just starting, the building isn’t half-full, and I’m already getting worried about the fragility of the social compact.

We have some seriously assertive—and I’m guessing seriously refreshed—Russian fans in Canada Hockey Place this eve. There’s a loud band of them wearing KHL jerseys and waving a giant Russian flag at the east end of the arena. One has megaphone; another has a trumpet. About 90 per cent of them have beer guts. Restrain yourselves, ladies.

Some Canadians down below started hollering back and waving their flags. One has a sign that says “In Lu We Trust,” referring of course to goalie Roberto Luongo. The Russians, meanwhile, have one reading: “In Gold We Trust.” Gotta say, the Russian’s one’s better.

There’s also a very visible gang of about a dozen people wearing Russian jerseys in one of the luxury suites. I’ll be referring to it as the Oligarch’s Box.

UPDATE 2: Ovie is wearing his regular skates, not the technicolor ones with some sort of evil goat-muppet airbrushed on the blade holders. There goes Russia’s psychological edge.

Most incendiary Canadian sign: DA DA CANADA, NYET NYET SO-VI-ET. Wonder how long before the VANOC taste police seize that thing.

————–

Here’s a sad stat. Canada has nine losses and only one Olympic win against Russia/the Soviet Union/the Commonwealth of De-communized States since 1956—the first time the Motherland sent a hockey team to the Winter Games.

The victory came back in 1960, when Canada was still sending its top amateur team to the Olympics—in this case, the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen. Among a handful of familiar names on the team that competed in Squaw Valley, Calif. was a young man named Harry Sinden.

It was a cracking good game, unless you happened to be a goalie: the Dutchmen prevailed 8-5.

The way the current edition of the Russians play offence, and the way Canada plays defence, a similar result tonight is not out of the question. Either way, we’ve waited a long time for this day. Four years, and two days, to be exact—it’s been that long since Russia dropped Canada 2-0 in the quarters at Turin.

These two teams are very different from the ones who played in Italy, though. Younger, faster, more driven. This will be a treat.

Ovie, Malkin & Co. have their mojo back after a shocking shootout loss to the Slovaks in the round robin. They looked very convincing in the 4-2 victory over the Czechs that gave them a bye to the quarter-finals. The hit-goal sequence that began when Ovechkin demolished Jagr at centre ice was one for the ages.

That said, the Canadians were feeling better after last night’s 8-2 rout of the Germans, who had held Sweden to a 2-0 game in the preliminary round. Canadian captain Scott Niedermayer told us the big spread mattered a lot less than the team’s sense things were finally clicking.

“Just doing the things we talked about doing, having success with them, builds chemistry within the team,” he said. “We were able to make some plays that led to opportunities, and then the guys made the most of those opportunities. And confidence is a big part of the game.”

The game within the game, of course, will be Ovechkin v. Crosby: which young star will dominate? You’d have given the edge to Ovie based on his obvious rapport with linemates Alexander Semin and Crosby buddy Evgeni Malkin. But Crosby did nicely last night on a reconstituted line with Jarome Iginla and Eric Staal.

Of note: Iginla leads Canadian goal scorers with five, despite Mike Babcock’s difficulty finding linemates who click with the Calgary Flames winger. Faceoffs have not been Canada’s strong suit: Joe Thornton and Jonathan Toews share the best average on the team (64.1), which looks good until you consider that Ryan Kesler of the U.S. has been feasting on centre-icemen of weaker teams to the tune of 76 per cent. Yowza.

Fyi, watching the Switzerland-U.S. game out of the corner of my eye and Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller is in a shooting gallery. He’s done an amazing job, but good god, Phil Kessel just rang one off the post on his stick side.

And I know it’s been said before, but the Euros have way better cheers than we do. They’re practically syncopated, and usually led by a sort of beer-fueled drill sergeant.

Men's hockey: USA 2 Switzerland 0

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 5:55 PM - 2 Comments

Tough game for the Swiss. Jonas Hiller made 42 saves, as Switzerland stuck to the rope-a-dope strategy it’s been using the whole tournament.

The idea is to keep the game close, let the other guys initiate the play and wait for them to make a mistake (Swiss coach Ralph Krueger has actually said his team plays best if it does not have the puck). And for two periods, it appeared to be working.

But the system requires enormous effort from the players, whose task is to maintain body position on the attacking team at all times, to stick-check ferociously and to race like maniacs for loose pucks. Essentially, it’s a stop-and-start drill that lasts the whole game.

By the end of the second, they were losing their legs. A shot in the dying seconds by Ryan Kesler popped up and off Hiller’s chest, falling into the net. And while replays showed it had not yet crossed the line when the buzzer went, this bit of good fortune for the Swiss merely delayed the inevitable.

Zach Parise scored for the U.S. at 2:08 of the third on an eerily similar play, then popped the insurance marker into the empty Swiss net with 12 seconds to go. The Americans move on to play the winner of today’s Finn-Czech game, which starts at 10 p.m. ET over at UBC.

Props to the Swiss though. They showed in this tournament that they are knocking at the door of the world’s top-tier hockey powers, that they “get” the game on the level Canadians do. To wit: early in the third, Swiss defenceman Severin Blindenbacher appeared to dislocate his shoulder; he left the ice and, there on the bench, the trainer trussed him up in a full nelson and tried, rather forcefully, to pop it back in.

Blindenbacher disappeared to the dressing room for a while. Then, with two minutes left and the Swiss down by a goal, he was back on the ice, taking a heavy hit as he pushed the puck down the left boards.

A guy like that can play for my team any day.

Men's hockey: Switzerland 5 Norway 4 (OT)

By Charlie Gillis - Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 4:50 PM - 0 Comments

Goal at 2:28 goes to Romano Lemm, who collected the rebound. But wow! What an effort by Sandy Jeannin going to the net. Great goal.

Norway, meantime, has nothing to be ashamed of.

——————-

The Swiss get a nice goal on the power play by Severin Blindenbacher, who snuck in from the point for a tap in. The passer was Hnat Domenichelli, pride of Edmonton and a former Kamloops Blazer.

Then, inexplicably, they let Norway back into it. With 7:42 left, you have to think Swiss coach Ralph Krueger, who is from Winnipeg, is displeased.

The crowd in here is having blast. There are a lot of fans rooting for both teams (Canadians seem to favour Norway). Cowbells galore; a guy with a trumpet playing “Tequila;” a confused fellow wearing an HC Davos jersey with a Canadian flag as a cape. Someone blew up a giant, inflatable kangaroo and the crowd began bouncing it around.

On the scoreboard they just showed a guy with the Olympic rings reverse-shaved into his chest. By that I mean, he shaved away all the hair except the Olympic rings.

I think a lot of people didn’t get home last night.

Team Canada-game crowds are a bit boring by comparison.

————-

More evidence the Swiss were put on this Earth for the sole reason of making Team Canada miserable: they’re pooching against the Norwegians.

A Swiss colleague here in the press box says his county’s team “doesn’t like games where they spend most of the time with puck.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a hockey team that felt that way.

Second Swiss bobsled pilot withdraws

By Nicholas Köhler - Friday, February 19, 2010 at 5:38 PM - 2 Comments

After a frightening bobsled crash this morning, one of several on the controversial Whistler Sliding Centre track during training today, Swiss pilot Daniel Schmid is withdrawing from competition.

His departure not long after the withdrawal of teammate Beat Hefti leaves only world champion Ivo Rueegg among the Swiss in contention. And it does little to help soften the reputation of the Whistler track, where 21-year-old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a crash a week ago today, as a foreboding place.

The Swiss team said Schmid, a relatively inexperienced driver, would not compete for safety reasons; yet there is word his misadventures on the track left him too badly shaken to continue in contention.

Though Schmid appeared to emerge from this morning’s crash, his second this week, relatively unscathed, brakeman Juerg Egger is now under observation in a Vancouver hospital.

Switzerland almost trips up Canada

By Charlie Gillis - Friday, February 19, 2010 at 12:34 AM - 1 Comment

Whatever this country did to annoy Switzerland—whatever debit we left on their famed bank ledgers, whatever cloth napkin we tucked into our shirt collars—surely it qualifies for bygones now.

Yes, Canada beat their hockey team 33-0 in the first Olympic tournament. That was excessive, but for goodness sake it was 1924. The news probably took three days to reach Vancouver by cable, by which time everyone had gone back to work for the week.

So why are they trying so hard to embarrass us now?

Not that Canada’s 3-2 shootout win tonight was an embarrassment. On the contrary, it was a damn fine hockey game, topped off by a goal from the player we rely on most to come through in the clutch, Sidney Crosby. The fans went home with smiles on their faces. Crosby quickly donned his customary monotone for the post-game mixed zone.

“We expected them to be good,” he said. “It’s not a question of us taking them lightly. They got a bounce there on their second goal. In the third we had some great chances that didn’t go in. When you’re playing one game, a lot of little things like that can change an outcome.”

But Crosby, like everyone, had to feel a little frustrated. At an Olympic tournament Canada desperately wants and needs to win, the Swiss have no business providing the top-notch entertainment they did by storming back from a 2-0 deficit, and coming oh so close to winning in the post-regulation showdown. With three NHLers in their lineup, they kept pace throughout the game, and when Canada backed off its physical play during the second period, they made the most of their chances.

They also got brilliant goaltending from Jonas Hiller, a 28-year-old who in his other life tends net for the Anaheim Ducks. He stopped 43 shots, compared to 18 by Martin Brodeur, the Canadian veteran.

Crosby knows the history here as well as anyone, having watched it helplessly, his pride stung at being left at home. It was four years ago to the day that an overmatched Swiss team dumped a Crosby-less Team Canada 2-0 in Turin, setting the table for an early exit from those Winter Games and a lot of brave talk about Vancouver.

That game, however, haunted the airwaves and sports pages this week—especially after the Swiss clawed back into a game Tuesday against the U.S., losing 3-1. Canada’s Joe Thornton, who played on the ill-fated 2006 team, promised that the 2006 debacle wouldn’t happen again, and for a while it seemed possible the Swiss would make a fool of him. After getting a 2-0 lead, the Canadians let in a pair during the second period, including one 10 seconds before the horn.

It took a shootout, and Crosby, to salvage the big lug’s dignity. The pride of Cole Harbour, N.S. missed on his first attempt, but under IIHF rules, teams can choose whoever they like after the first three players for each team have shot. Having sent Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf at Hiller to no avail, Canadian coach Mike Babcock went back to Crosby, and this time the Kid made no mistake, wiring one past Hiller on the stick side, drawing a molar-shaking roar from the crimson horde at Canada Hockey Place. Brodeur made a nice save off Martin Pluss to seal the win.

Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau scored Canada’s regulation-time goals, while Ivo Ruthemann, a wiley 33-year-old veteran, and Patrick von Gunten answered for Switzerland.

The decision to go back to Crosby was one of those a coach sometimes makes—inspired if it works, colossally dumb it if doesn’t, considering he had the likes of Rick Nash, Jarome Iginla, and Mike Richards waiting on the bench. Babcock admitted afterward he filled out his shootout card based entirely on the players’ percentages during the current NHL season.

“[Crosby] was the best, Toews was second, Getzlaf was third,” he said. “We thought about going to Nash, because he was fourth, but we just thought Sid had had a look at him once and he’d get it in the second time. It was that simple.”

Still, both Babcock and the players seemed aware they had not turned in a letter-perfect performance. The good news, said Crosby, is that “the gold medal game is not tomorrow.” “We would have liked a regulation win but we found a way, and it’s a short tournament. We’ve got to find a way to get better here.”

As for the Swiss, well, their progress seems quite tangible, despite the heart-breaking loss.

“We knew we played a great game and we had them, but then just didn’t finish in the shootout,” said Roman Wick, one of the team’s slicker forwards. “It gives us confidence to know we can keep up with teams like this.”

Confidence. Right. Evidently, this Swiss grudge isn’t going away any time soon.

Men's hockey: Canada 3 Switzerland 2 (SO)

By Charlie Gillis - Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:28 PM - 2 Comments

Shootout

Format is three shooters from each team, alternating (trust me).

Dominechelli (SUI) – miss

Crosby (CAN) – miss

Lemm (SUI) – miss

Toews (CAN) – miss

Wick (SUI) – miss

Getzlaf (CAN) – miss

Now one shooter of each team’s choice:

Crosby (CAN) – SCORES

Pluss (SUI) – MISS

Wow!

OT

Wild ride in overtime, with almost all the chances going to Canada. Jonas Hiller, take a bow.

3rd Period

Sorry folks, for the head fake on over time. They have a five-minute OT and shootout. As you can see, I need to update my IIHF rulebook. Here, for real, is how the three-point system comes into play:

3 if you win in regulation, 2 if you win in OT or shootout, 1 if you lose in OT or in shootout.

The Heatley line came out flying in the first minute in the third, forcing Hiller to make two enormous saves. Canada carried the play, finishing with 45 shots versus 20 for the other guys. But no W.

It’s not that Canada sucked. You’ve just seen a textbook road game, as played by visiting Olympians.

2nd Period

You probably hadn’t heard of Ivo Ruthemann. He’s one of the best fowards in the Swiss Elite League. Scored 45 points in 37 games for Davos last year. Thirty-three years old.

You know him now. That was a bullet he fired past the glove side of the best goaltender of all time.

That said, Doughty has played better hockey than he has so far tonight. Ruthemann’s goal came on a bad pinch by our Drew and he’ll hear about it from Mike Babcock. Or Lindy Ruff, or Jacques Lemaire.

But Doughty wasn’t the only sinner. Chris Pronger has been playing too long, in too many pressure situations to wander out of position to settle scores with diminutive forwards who throw elbows his way. He was in no man’s land on the tying goal by Patrick von Gunten, and this is the problem with Pronger. He can’t always see the forest for the trees. On this occasion he was busy trying to cut down a rather small one—5-10 Andres Ambuhl, I think it was.

So they’re suddenly tied against a team they appeared to have tamed. Switzerland played Canada much closer in that period, getting nine shots to the Canadians’ 10.

On the bright side, Parick Marleau is having what may be the best season of his career. Ironic, considering he was allegedly being shopped before the free-agent deadline last year. His goal came on a fat rebound. But some players tighten up and miss those chances. Not Patrick.

Heatley took a shot in the arm, and not the kind that keeps the swine flu away. It was point blast from Weber, but he stayed in the game, and took a good shot on his next shift.

As for Crosby, well what can you say, the Euros sitting with me were mighty impressed with his hand-eye, knocking that rebound out of the air and damn near in the net. If he wants to show he’s a big game player, now would seem like a good time to step up.

1st Period

A feverish tempo, and without some laser-quick saves by 37-year-old Martin Brodeur, it could well be a tie or worse. The Swiss can keep pace, and they getting nastier every tournament.

What they couldn’t handle was Canada’s size and strength down low. Hence the penalties.

Jonathan Toews deserves a lot of credit on Dany Heatley’s goal, for taking the hit, for digging out the puck when he was due for a line change. But who could maintain his cool through heavy traffic the way Heatley did? Tracking the puck and tapping it in? Love him or hate him, the guys’s got chops.

The key for Canada will be to keep pouring on that forecheck. The finished the period with 17 shots, and gave up a couple of great scoring chances in the eight they surrendered.

Shea Weber was the team workhorse in that period, logging 8:19 in ice time and registering two shots on goal. Didn’t much notice him? That’s because he’s a good defenceman.

Random thoughts:

-Crosby looks as determined as I’ve ever seen him.

-after a good first outing against Norway, Drew Doughty looked a tad nervous today

-Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley seem to communicate  telepathically. Give them space and they will score. No wonder San Jose is so damn good.

-Mark Streit, the Swiss captain, has gone from being a soft defenceman to a complete player and a true team leader

———-

February 18, 2006.

A day that will live in (Canadian) infamy.

That was the fateful afternoon Switzerland beat Canada 2-0 at the Olympics in Turin—the first time the Swiss had defeated a team wearing the maple leaf at the Winter Games. The first time they played, back in 1924, Canada won 33-0.

Suffice to say, the 2006 result was a soul-shredder for the rather lethargic team Canada sent to Italy. They lost to the Finns, squeaked past the Czechs, then lost 2-0 to the Russians in the quarterfinals and wound up 9th out of 14 teams.

Over and out.

Four years later to the day, in Vancouver, Canada has a chance to set things straight. Joe Thornton, the normally affable centre from St. Thomas, Ont., has heard enough about that Swiss win. He all but predicted a victory for Canada today.

But the Canadians had best not let their emotions get command of their senses. The Swiss have strange way of frustrating good teams in the neutral zone, and using a tactic akin to a football blitz to create offensive chances: essentially, they encourage defencemen to jump up on the play to briefly overwhelm opposing players, get the puck and make a play.

Swiss coach Ralph Krueger reasons that his smaller, less rugged players can’t hope to outmuscle North American players on North American-sized ice surfaces. His method worked fairly well when the Swiss played the Americans on Tuesday. They lost 3-1 and looked good in the third. They have a bona fide big-league goalie in Jonas Hiller.

This is a genuine test for Canada. No more Swiss cheese jokes.

Don't count out Uncle Sam

By Charlie Gillis - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 6:45 PM - 0 Comments

Its economy might suck, but America’s hockey system is showing no signs of decline if today’s convincing 3-1 victory over determined Swiss team is anything to go by.

Clearly they have what it takes to run with the big dogs. Scratch that. They are big dogs.

In the weeks leading up to this tournament the Americans have been ranked in predictions below an upper tier of teams that includes Canada, Russia and—depending on who you’re talking to—Sweden or Finland.

What the U.S. showed this afternoon was depth that matches up well with any of the foregoing countries. If you get past the flashy top line of Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Paul Stastny, you run into workhorses a whole lot more talented than anyone gives them credit for. Jamie Langenbrunner, Ryan Kesler and Dustin Brown on one line; Ryan Callahan, Bobby Ryan and David Backes on another.

“We’ve got guys playing on third and fourth lines who play on top lines on their various NHL teams,” U.S. coach Ron Wilson noted after the game. “I don’t think they should be lacking for confidence here.”

How deep are the Yanks? Phil Kessel, the best player on the Toronto Maple Leafs, could pry only 15 shifts out of Wilson, who happens to be his NHL coach.

Backes, perhaps more than any of them, characterizes the combination of size and ability that will serve the Americans well on the more narrow North American ice surface. The 6-2, 216-pound winger pumped in 30 goals for the St. Louis Blues last season. His pace has slowed this year, but he brought his A game this afternoon.

In the first period, he pounced on a rare gaffe by the Swiss defence and fired home the first goal of the Games. Then, after Ryan Miller made an eye-catching save on Swiss forward Ivo Ruthemann, Backes carried the puck the length of the ice, around defenceman Yannick Weber and slid it under Jonas Miller for what would prove to be the winner.

Ryan Malone added a third on the power-play—one of his patented goal-mouth efforts.

“The one thing we all have in common on this team is that we’re all hard to play against,” Malone said when asked to describe the team’s identity. “We’re going to play playoff-type hockey, where we throw pucks on net. We have enough skill to make the pretty plays when necessary, but we’re playing together and we’re all on the same page.”

Miller, who is a strong contender for the Vezina Trophy as the best NHL goalie, looked more than comfortable throughout the game despite facing only 15 shots (the Americans put 24 on Jonas Hiller). And anyone thinking the Swiss are no yardstick of the Americans should remember the 2-0 shocker they won against Canada in 2006 in Turin.

Questions remain about the U.S. team: will the hot-shot Kane line get going? Can their defence cope with bigger, better finishers than the Swiss have up front? (late addition Ryan Whitney could be particularly vulnerable; he saw 12:23 minutes of ice today, the lowest among U.S. defencemen).

Still, this U.S. side is a potential dark horse, and they had plenty of support today amid the 16,706 fans at Canada Hockey Place.

Canada plays the Americans on Sunday, after meeting Norway this evening and the Swiss on Thursday.

Men's hockey: USA 3 Switzerland 1 (F)

By Charlie Gillis - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 3:50 PM - 0 Comments

3rd Period

Switzerland showed some moxie in the third, with Roman Wick scoring as Domenichelli went to the net. They were in the same rink as the Americans, but still outmatched and outhustled.

2nd Period

Well that settles that. The score is three-zip but the shot clock tells the story. 22-9 U.S.

Ron Wilson teams—with the notable exception of the Toronto Maple Leafs—are known for playing a simplified, but high-paced game. That’s what the Americans did in the second period, and they’re on their way to a win over a none-to-shabby Swiss team.

That forecheck I mentioned? It paid off big time. The Swiss could keep up the pace in this period,  and when they did, Ryan Miller came through for the U.S. Ivo Ruthemann had a glorious chance for the Swiss five minutes into the frame, only to get stopped and watch Backes carry the rebound rink-length for his second straight of the game.

Ryan Malone, a somewhat talented lug with Tampa Bay, stuffed in a rebound on a mid-period power play, but you can credit Joe Pavelski for parking his arse square in Jonas Hiller’s face to make the goal possible.

Interesting to note: the hot-on-paper line of Zach Parise, Paul Stastny and Patrick Kane hasn’t really caught fire, though Kane looks as nifty as ever.

If there’s anything for Canada to worry about from these Americans, it’s their pace. If Wilson could get the Leafs to play at this tempo, they’d be laughing their way to the playoffs.

1st Period

Give the Swiss some credit. They gave no quarter in the first period against a U.S. team front-loaded with talent (their blue line is another matter, but more on that later). They maintained body position in their own end despite a heavy U.S. forecheck, and threw a few hits of their own.

Mark Streit and Yannick Weber got good point shots on Ryan Miller. Hnat Domenichelli, an Edmonton kid who played his junior up the road in Kamloops, B.C., had one glorious chance as the puck scooted through the U.S. crease. But no luck.

Then, with just over a minute left in the period, that forecheck came through for the Americans, as Swiss defenceman Rafael Diaz knocked a puck down with his glove right into the slot, and onto the stick of David Backes. Top shelf, blocker side. 1-0 Americans.

First goal of the 2010 Olympic tournament.

But man, don’t count those Swiss out yet. They’ve got good support in the arena here, and a bit of sandpaper in the lineup. Stay tuned

The big Olympic concerns

By macleans.ca - Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 11:30 AM - 4 Comments

What if it rains for two weeks?
Let’s be honest, Vancouver doesn’t really have winter. Even light snowfalls paralyze the place. It rains all the time. So the international hand-wringing about the city’s warmest January on record should be put in proper context: they won the Olympics despite—not because of—the weather.

And really, the only problem spot is Cypress Mountain on the North Shore, site of the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events. Whistler has been under a heavy blanket of the white stuff since early December, and 10 more metres of it fell this past month. All of the sports in the city—speed skating, hockey, curling, figure skating—will be held indoors, on artificial rinks.

Games organizers hoped for Mother Nature’s help on the slopes just outside of town, but have hardly been taken by surprise by the thaw. Cypress was closed to the public on Jan. 13—two weeks ahead of schedule—in an effort to preserve the courses. When things continued to melt, they moved to plan B: putting down straw bales, then layering on tonnes of snow pushed and trucked down from higher elevations. The spectators might have to wade through the muck in the parking lots, but for the TV cameras the mountain will look like a winter wonderland.
—Jonathon Gatehouse

Continue…

Please remain seated

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 29, 2010 at 3:47 PM - 58 Comments

Stephen Harper, Nov. 21, 2009. We believe strongly that Canadians’ freedom is enhanced when journalists are free to pursue the truth, to shine light into dark corners and assist the process of holding government’s accountable.

CBC, today. Harper flew back from Switzerland today.  While in the air his office announced the appointment of five new Senators and the Supreme Court ruled he has the power to decide to ask if Omar Khadr could be repatriated. What does Harper have to say about these developments? Nothing. Journalists travelling with Harper are being kept on the plane to ensure the Prime Minister doesn’t face any questions in his short jaunt from the bottom of the staircase to his waiting limousine.

Europe’s war against Islam

By Michael Petrou - Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 9:50 AM - 93 Comments

Perhaps it is fitting that it was French President Nicolas Sarkozy who came to the defence of the Swiss, who voted in November to ban the construction of new minarets in their country. Sarkozy’s father was an immigrant to France, and his mother’s ancestors included Ottoman Sephardic Jews from Thessalonica. Sarkozy’s father abandoned his family and refused to help them financially. Sarkozy grew up poorer than his peers and resented it. “What made me who I am now is the sum of all the humiliations suffered during childhood.”

He was, in other words, something of an outsider. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that he might be predisposed to sympathy toward the millions of other outsiders now trying to find their place in Europe—the continent’s growing Muslim population. Yet Sarkozy reacted to the Swiss vote by urging that it be respected. “Instead of condemning the Swiss out of hand, we should try to understand what they meant to express and what so many people in Europe feel, including people in France,” he wrote in the French newspaper Le Monde. “Nothing would be worse than denial.” He urged French Muslims, who make up four per cent of France’s population and are more numerous than in any other country in Europe, not to challenge France’s Christian heritage and republican values.

Sarkozy, a populist politician, was simply reflecting widespread popular discomfort about Islam in Europe. A 2008 survey funded by the Germany Marshall Fund of the United States found that more than 50 per cent of respondents in Germany, Italy, Holland, and France believe that “Western and Muslim ways of life are irreconcilable.” Another study, by the Pew Research Center, revealed an increase in negative views toward Muslims and Jews in Europe from 2004 to 2008. (Attitudes towards Muslims and Jews in the United States improved during the same time period.)

Continue…

Unobserved irony about that Swiss minaret ban

By Colby Cosh - Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 3:39 PM - 80 Comments

No doubt the Swiss voters thought of themselves as striking a blow against “fundamentalist” or “radical” Islam—but the funny thing is that it’s the most radical versions of Islam that are skeptical of objets d’art like minarets, which didn’t become a feature of the Islamic world until nearly a century after the death of the Prophet. Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, the 18th-century iconoclast who gave his name to the “Wahhabist” variety of Sunni Islam, hated the things. To the point of ordering rather a lot of them knocked down.

It goes without saying that when you scratch the surface of the Swiss minaret controversy, you pretty much find the Charlottetown accord—that is, a generic popular revolt against supercilious elites acting in perceived concert. I’m not sympathetic to religious discrimination in anybody’s law, but I am somewhat sympathetic to the Swiss idea of grassroots democracy, and very sympathetic to the Swiss passion for self-determination. My half-informed guess is that if the liberals in Switzerland had been intelligent enough to resist saying “European human-rights law requires us…” over and over, then a local dispute over minarets might not have exploded into a constitutional struggle. And Switzerland would not now find itself resisting Islam as manifested in, of all things, its architecture—i.e., the one artistic aspect of that faith which has surely contributed the most to the mainstream of European civilization.

The UnCanadian Activities Committee (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 1:30 PM - 70 Comments

It is perhaps counter-productive to go round parsing the rhetoric of Pierre Poilievre, but counter-productive seems to be a bit of theme here. And there is probably greater harm in not taking seriously the things our elected leaders say. They get away with far too much as it is.

So. Whatever the merits of the coalition, its members and leadership—and these are infinitely debatable—let us deal specifically with Mr. Poilievre’s primary concerns. Continue…