Prime Minister Stephen Harper has travelled to Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, where world leaders will brainstorm the best way to combat the current financial challenges facing the global economy.
Harper will spend the next day and a half in Davos, where he will mingle with business executives, other world leaders and academics at the annual agenda-setting conference.
While the forum will see leaders debate a number of topics — including disaster aid in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti — the focus clearly remains on the global economy, at a time when employment remains high and governments are becoming less inclined to bail out troubled banks and industries.
In a statement released Tuesday, Harper said his government will stick to its stimulus plan and will continue to fight forms of trade protectionism, as it previously committed to doing.
On Thursday, the prime minister will address the forum and reveal his agendas for the upcoming G8 conference in Huntsville, Ont., and the G20 conference in Toronto.
In his Tuesday statement, Harper said he will push to improve the health of women and children at the G8 summit — a cause he believes is of increased importance in the aftermath of the global recession.
Citing statistics that suggest a half-million women die during pregnancy or childbirth each year, Harper said there is a “pressing need” for action, especially when such mortality can be avoided through better nutrition and medical treatment.
“This is simply not acceptable. The United Nations had hoped to reduce the number of deaths related to pregnancy by 75 per cent by 2015 as part of its Millennium Development Goals. It now appears this target will go unfulfilled,” Harper said.
“What makes it worse is that the bulk of the deaths during pregnancy — experts claim as many as 80 per cent — are easily preventable. There is a pressing need for global action on maternal and child health.”
As for the G20 summit, Harper plans to highlight the need for member countries to reform their banking systems in harmony and to continue with stimulus until worldwide labour markets have fully recovered from the global financial crisis.
In July 2009 I wrote here and here about Lu’s Pharmacy in Vancouver and their denial of access to transsexual women to their services on the grounds that we aren’t “women who were born women” (Via Vancouver Women’s Health Collective’s Our Political Agreements statement – direct link to PDF here).
However, it seems from the transcanada LJ comm (via Google blog search) that, as from 21 January 2010, Lu’s Pharmacy will offer its services to transsexual women.
A further post (via Google blog search), suggests that at least three trans women have been to Lu’s Pharmacy without being thrown out. It’s to be hoped that the women were able, without hindrance or harassment, to access the resources offering a “full-service pharmacy” as well as “advice on your medication and your healthcare”. (Via VWHC website – Lu’s Services)
Additionally:
Vancouver Womens’ Health Collective changed their policy, and Transphobe Caryn Duncan resigned the same week.
Of course it’s heartening to hear of cis women not only recognising their cissexism but also taking positive steps to begin putting right some of the wrongs they have committed in the name of a toxic and elitist feminism, and for that alone, this news is to be welcomed. However, there is no excuse for complacency on the part of any of the staff at Lu’s Pharmacy and it’s to be hoped that all concerned will now work with trans women to ensure that the transphobia so shamefully enshrined in the former regime under the directorship of Caryn Duncan is comprehensively and permanently rooted out.
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Previous related posts:
Lu’s Pharmacy refuses to fill trans woman’s prescription (July 16, 2009)
I’ve just gotten done listening to the first section of The People Look Like Flowers at Last, the new one from the Tony Wilson Sextet (Drip Audio, 2009). I’d been meaning to pick this up anyway, but absolutely couldn’t resist after seeing that the album opens with “Lachrymae,” by Benjamin Britten. Wilson has really jazzed it up, and it works.
“Lachrymae” is a 20th-century classical-music piece for viola and piano. When I first started my irrational viola obsession, I found that the piece was everywhere. I ended up buying two versions, by violists Kim Kashkashian (on ECM and recorded pristinely, of course) and Yuri Bashmet (in a version rescripted for string orchestra rather than piano). I’ve since seen it performed live. And now, here it is, in jazz version.
Now, my musical memory is far from perfect or even good, especially when it comes to classical. There are only three parts of “Lachrymae” that I can identify by ear or “sing” out loud. There’s the very beginning — which I don’t recall note-for-note, but I know it when I hear it. There’s the first variation that comes immediately after that: It’s where the tempo picks up and a recognizably repeated line kicks in. And late in the piece — the climax, I suppose, there’s some aggressive viola sawing — conjuring up dark, looming ghosts.
Wilson’s “Lachrymae” starts with the prelude, done up with harmonica and cello for a buzzy sound, heavier than the original. And then the first variation kicks in (“Movement #1″), with a surprisingly jazzy bassline and a kicking 7/8 rhythm (at least the first bar is 7/8; I lose track of the time after that) propelled by Dylan van der Schyf on drums and a light guitar line. (The original is in 3/4, as you can see here.)
The quivering, sawing viola part (“Movement #10″) is replaced by a stream of guitar notes played under dissonant chords formed by the sax and trumpet. It seems calmer at first, with less abandon, but it goes on and on (as does the original), building tension and power not through overt means, but through the cumulative effect of all the notes. Wilson has also evened out the tempo — moving all (almost all?) the notes into eighth-note form to create a kind of robot babble, which helps push that cumulative effect forward.
Many of the movements include jazzy riffs that become ostinato backing for what I think are the viola parts: Wilson plays the viola part on guitar, and I think he wrote the riffs himself, or at least derived them himself from the original piano parts. It’s going to be fun dissecting the original piece having heard this fresh interpretation.
To audiences that don’t know the original, “Lachrymae” probably comes across as a nice avant-jazz suite, with melody that’s nearly accesible but still angular and exploratory, and some nice moments for the cello, sax, and trumpet.
Because it’s got solos and improv segments, Wilson’s “Lachrymae” clocks in at about 30 minutes, compared with 13 or 16 minutes for the readings I’ve got.
I like Wilson’s music a lot. I first picked up on him during a trip to his home base of Vancouver, where I picked up his album Lowest Note on a recommendation in an ad for the awesome Zulu Records store. (Great indie store where the clerk also turned me on to Dan Bejar’s Destroyer.) And his often rocking Pearls Before Swine (Drip Audio, 2007) includes a kick-ass version of “I Am the Walrus.”
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Help us wake the soon-to-be-late but always-great Duthie Books, one of the world’s great independent booksellers. Sadly, after more than a half a century of informed and impassioned involvement in the literary world, Duthie’s last location will be shutting its doors at the end of February.
We see no reason to wait till its dead to have a wake, so come out and reminisce and help us celebrate a great bookstore and an intellectual institution. This is a chain invitation, so pass it along to all who may be interested, either by copying it into an email, pointing out this blog post, or by inviting people by using the link in the sidebar on Facebook. Half of the Vancouver literati used to work there, buy there, or just try to chat up people in the Cellar (not as filthy as it sounds, outsiders!).
We won’t have a presenter, but we MAY have a coffin; if you can help us borrow one, we’d be very grateful. Unused is preferable. If we can get our hands on one, we’ll see if we can use it for a photobooth!
Come out and share your reminiscences of the deceased, and toast the memory of a fine, upstanding bookstore who never turned away an intellectual in need of brain food or met an esoteric literary magazine it didn’t like. God, I’m getting weepy just thinking about it!
Details:
7pm till late
Monday, February 15th, 2010
The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather pub, 212 Carrall Street, Maple Tree Square, Gastown, Vancouver
$20 includes a drink and dinner, with a choice of:
entree salad
vegetarian pasta
bangers and mash
fish and chips
sleeve of domestic draft or glass of white or red wine
Dress code: funereal. Black beret and tame yet ominous raven optional.
Related Wailings and the Rending of Garments from around the interwebs:
Steven Beattie
The Vancouver Sun
The Globe and Mail
Sean Cranbury on Books on the Radio
Megaphone Magazine
The Georgia Straight
Quill and Quire (though I only include them to ridicule their paywall)
Xtra West
Raincoast Books (no affiliation with raincoaster, by the way)
Arsenalia (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Novel Readings (Rohan Maitzen)
The National Post
please put any more links you find in the comments and I’ll include them on this list.
I worked in Ottawa this past week. Almost didn’t get into the country. I was pulled aside at immigration and required to explain why someone in Canada couldn’t do the job I was flown in to do. After hanging out with the young immigration official (they were ALL really really young…I wanted to ask if there was an adult in charge anywhere, but thought it would do my case no good) for over an hour, I was finally given the opportunity to purchase a 2-week work permit for $150. Others on the team have flown back and forth to Canada and not had this rich experience. I might have to beef up my traveling appearance. There might have been a visual reason why they couldn’t figure out what skill I could possibly offer that a Canadian couldn’t perform much better!
On the other hand, it is interesting that I never gave a thought in advance to any problem there might be in my working in Canada. Working in a foreign country without a visa? Why would I worry about that? I’m an American. If I had heard about a Latin American trying this same stunt, I would have thought they were completely out of touch with the reality of border crossings these days.
Today Maureen came back from the wandering the aisles of the IGA trying to run down something for supper, slack-jawed (something she does pretty often, by her own admission) with a plastic bag which contained a pack of 3 large Mennonite sausages, a can of niblets and two bags of perogies. There was a special on, 2 for 1.
I can only surmise that Hansens are sending a subversive message to Ted Menzies our MP, by keeping the issue alive as a laughing stock in some of the kitchens anyway for 20 or so miles around.
I was immediately amused but trepidated — I got a stomach flu on Saturday morning that has had me doing nothing more for sustenance than nibbling crackers and politely spooning bits of canned peaches gingerly onto my tongue. This flu’s been to our house twice now, the first visit occurring Xmas Day. How I stepped into its path the second time I’m not sure… so it goes I guess.
But I digress — those sad, behind-the-times acolytes of the failed New American Century! Those sorry sons of nickel-a-throw mattress backs! I don’t think of myself as particularly political when it comes right down to it. It’s a big World and there is a huge lot of other neat-o things to explore without focusing solely on what is constantly couched as the only game in town, so dolts like our not-so-esteemed leader and his scheming clutch of spelling bee rejects can bask in the glow of our collective attention, at a safe distance with the microphones switched off, again.
But, roused I am. Even me.
I hope the people of this land rise up and swallow our currently not-sitting PM whole like poor unfortunate Port-O-Prince. They got the wrong guys, those behemoth stone gods of Hubris, when they started stumbling around looking for the fool that’s been disturbing their slumber. And Michaelle Jean — complicit whore that she seems — I can’t help but wonder if she experienced just a momentary, fleeting twinge when she heard about the earthquake. Did she have to gulp back a split-second long realization that it was she who had brought ruin not only onto her country of choice but to her own birthlands and people? That it was a message from Papa Legba, from the Vodou Loa, pointing out that she had made the mistake not once but twice; “Why did you say yes again to the usurper Stephen Harper?”
From the wan look he held for the camera that the CBC used to bejewel the news item about the cabinet shuffle today, I’d say Harpdog knows big time he blew it. Last thing the guy wanted to do was have to hug the tears away from our surrogate queen who has the gaunt, grey and haunted faces of 100,000 freshly dead people steadily gnawing their way into his conscience, once they’ve finished with hers. Then, to actually have to send aid money into what I’m sure he considers a bottomless Third-World pit, one without even the prisons they built with our tax money now, meant to hold the people crushed by their very walls, at a time when it was a gentle coast down to the Vanc. Games and then on to a humble majority. Now that’s gotta hurt.
Well, it’s not a clean downhill run anymore. And Christ it’s so ironic, how could anybody miss it?
Browsing the world of climate change adapation web sites, we find ACT, the Adaptation to Climate Change Team. It is a policy planning initiative from Simon Fraser University designed to develop timely options for sustainable adaptation to climate change impacts.
ACT is a five-year series of six-month sessions on top-of-mind climate change issues that brings leading experts from around the world together with industry, community and government decision-makers to explore the risks and generate recommendations for sustainable adaptation. (From the program page.)
Their most recent conference and policy recommendations concerned adaptation to extreme weather events. Conference information is here. And here are direct links to the conference recommendations and background report.
ACT also has a blog. In the last few months, the blog has been more about mitigation, perhaps because of the media attention on Copenhagen. However, they promise more in 2010 on energy and water security.
The blog has commentary and citations on agriculture, extreme events, fishing, health, population displacement, water, and more.
I was 10 years old my first day of skiing and it was on Rainbow Mountain, a rinky-dink little outfit about 4km north of Whistler, site of the 2010 Olympics.
It was a horrible place. After bumping along in the yellow school bus for a good hour and a half they’d dump us in the parking lot and have us line up in the rain and cold to get our skis. The skis were the really old kind, little more than wooden slats with screwed-on metal edges – and the bindings!
This was 1970 and the tail-end of the era of cable bindings, the kind that wound around your heel and didn’t release when you took a dive. If you fell the wrong way, what did release was more likely to be a joint or leg bone. The boots were leather lace-ups and freezing cold from the sweatsocks of the rental the day before, the poles bamboo with baskets of leather and a metal ring.
The lifts were even worse. No chairlifts here, just a thin metal cable with D-Bars every few feet. Those things either send you flying to the ground or pull your arms out of their sockets if you don’t do it right, and the cable shreds your gloves to rat shit if you do.
Because Rainbow was at the same level as the bottom of Whistler – around 820 metres – it was subject to constantly changing temperatures and a variety of weather. Our second time out we must have arrived after a week of rain followed by night-time freezing, because the snow was bullet-proof. We didn’t ski so much as slip sideways in an awkward snowplow- if we managed to get up on our feet at all.
Lunchtime was spent in an overcrowded little diner that reeked of charred burger and old grease. Smeared french fries were ground into the wet concrete floor as shrieking, unruly kids spilled them under the hard metal tables. I was miserably wet and cold, unable to even peer out the fogged-up windows. The ride back was spent just wishing we’d finally get home.
We were supposed to go once a week for three weeks but after two sessions of this so-called fun, exhilarating sport I told my teacher and school principal Mr. Cope you couldn’t drag me up there a third time. I held off telling my parents for a couple of days, but when I did, they managed to convince me to give it just one more try.
Mr. Cope, who had a knack for humiliating kids in front of others, seized the opportunity once he heard my change of heart.
To peals of laughter in front of 150 kids lined up to go back into school after recess, he brayed:
What’s this Ian, you want to go skiing now? I thought you said you didn’t want to go! Make up your mind! You’re worse than an old woman!
Canadian rock star and photographer Bryan Adams will receive the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award at the 2010 Juno Awards. He is being recognized for his fundraising concerts and campaigns. His campaigns have often brought focus to his photography skills; he has published two portrait books with proceeds going to breast cancer research.
In contrast to his squeaky clean image, his photographs often err a bit on the naughty side. His work has appeared in publications ranging from Vogue to Playboy, along with exhibitions at the Royal Ontario Museum and London’s Saatchi Gallery. His most high-profile job was photographing Queen Elizabeth II. The resulting portrait was widely distributed in the form of a Canadian postage stamp.
All that, and he’s written some beautiful songs as well. Bryan Adams is a Canadian treasure. There’s a great article detailing why that can be found here. Congratulations Bryan!
stephwereley
Last night, for the first time in my life, I held a hockey stick.
No, I’m not joking. And I’m not exaggerating. I’m completely serious.
What kind of 22-year-old, born-and-raised Canadian has never held a hockey stick in her life, let alone hit a puck with the thing?
Oh, right. A 22-year-old, born-and-raised Canadian that has always professed to disliking the sport profusely and who has always been disgruntled that, somehow, the definition of Canada is, well, hockey.
I’m still disgruntled that the definition of Canada is hockey. That’s a stupid way to define a country and a people. I stand by my earlier statements that you are still a perfectly good Canadian even if you don’t like hockey. But, you know what? I retract the statement that I dislike the sport profusely. In fact, I’ll even say there’s something incredibly exhilerating about the whole thing. I think it’s the sounds, actually. Skates on ice, sticks on ice, the voices of the players, the puck ricocheting off the garbage can next to the outdoor rink, the solid plunk of the puck against a stick.
Throughout the city I live in, there are small outdoor rinks, lit, thankfully. Last night, M, his roommates and myself loaded skates and hockey equipment into one of their cars and went to one, hidden away down a dead-end road at the end of a slightly obscure path. There was another small group of three there, experienced players, or at least more so than myself. The guys had their skates on in a matter of minutes. My own skates, being the wrong colour and style (white, not black, with laces all the way up and the pretty look of dancing on ice — that’s right. I handled a puck with a hockey stick in figure skates) took about 15 minutes to get into. It doesn’t help that they haven’t been worn in nearly two years and were stiff and unmanageable. And then, I sat feeling intimidated. The six people on the ice whipped around spraying a thin shimmer into the air. The six pucks flew from one side to the other as they practiced passing and shooting. I could see no where I belonged with my shiny, white, rusty skates and my potential to land flat on my butt the moment I stepped out onto the ice. Making a fool of myself in front of M and his roommates, all whom I know well and trust, was one thing; making a fool of myself in front of these strangers was quite another.
But I couldn’t sit on the sidelines either. Weighing my options I realized I would be far more of a fool if I sat like an idiot on the bench for the next half hour until the three strangers left.
It was like walking when I first stepped out. My skates had been stored improperly the last time I used them and rust had built up on the blades. But it got better, and with each turn around the rink, I gained a little confidence on my blades. Finally, I was ready to hold the stick. It didn’t help that the guys kept trying to hit my feet with pucks in what I guess they thought was encouragement.
I’m lucky to have met M and his roommates. They’re patient. Willing to let me fail, perhaps, as long as I keep trying. They gave me a few basics and then kept shooting pucks at me. And I kept, clumsily, shooting back. Half an hour later, M said I was better. And, I’ll admit, I could tell. It doesn’t take long for the stick to feel more comfortable in your hands. It doesn’t take long for your feet to adjust to gliding instead of walking. The hardest part is putting those two things together.
By the end of the winter, I hope I’ll be better. I hope at least to have an understanding of what it is about the sport that has so captivated the people who play. I think I’m on my way to that.
(However, the hour it took to warm up afterwards hindered that just a touch.)
Sulfur dioxide is one of the by-products of volcanic eruptions…all eruptions send it into the atmosphere. Small eruptions release a little, big eruptions a lot. Sulfur dioxide acts like a “radiation mirror”, reflecting the sun’s energy back into space. Really big volcanic eruptions can cause enough solar power to be reflected to actually cool the earth and alter weather patterns. Mt. Krakatoa’s eruption in August of 1883 did just that, and it affected the weather for several years.
And as we already know, weather is unstable enough. David Laskin writes, “Constantly and futilely, the earth’s atmosphere seeks to achieve equilibrium. Weather is the turbulent means to this perfect, hopeless end. Contrasting temperatures try to balance out to one uniform temperature, pressure differences strive for resolution, winds blow in a vain attempt to finally calm down global tensions. All of this is enormously complicated by the ceaseless rotation of the planet. Weather is the steam the atmosphere lets off as it heaves itself again and again into a more comfortable position. Weather keeps happening because the equilibrium of the atmosphere keeps getting messed up.”
As Christmas of 1887 gave way to the New Year, a large pocket of super-cooled air formed over Alberta, Canada, caused by a combination of factors. Winters in northern Canada feature only a couple hours of sunlight, and much of that can’t be absorbed by the snow-covered surface. Add in high pressure, very light winds, and the possibility that Krakatoa’s residue was still in play, and the region that saw average temperatures of -15°F was now an even more frigid -35°F.
At first, it’s hard to see how this is really news-worthy. After all, it’s Canada, it’s winter, it’s cold. You kind of expect it…our weather south of the border hasn’t been, for the last 2 weeks, all that much warmer. But things changed on January 10, 1888.
It was then that the jet stream dove down from the Yukon and ran into the Canadian Rockies. The currents slid down the mountains, warming as they did, and collided with the super cold air mass that had stagnated there. The drop in air pressure created a powerful low that, propelled by high pressure behind it, began sliding to the south.
In the meantime, many hundreds of miles to the south, a wave of warm, moist air was surging northward from Oklahoma, which would dramatically warm the upper Midwest, and provide welcome relief from the unseasonably cold weather.
Both air masses, the cold from the north and the warm from the south, were impressively powerful on their own. But when the warm air collided with the cold, it would create a storm of awesome power. Stay tuned…
Recommended Reading: The Children’s Blizzard – A “glue” book. Once it’s in your hands, it gets stuck until the last page is finished.
Watching the premiere of Republic of Doyle, a new private investigator series from CBC set in St. John’s, Newfoundland, I came to a conclusion: Burn Notice is a really great show.
Now, it may seem anti-nationalist for me to suggest that a Canadian series only made me conclude how great an American show is, but there is something very frustrating about Republic of Doyle that makes me respect the way Burn Notice has a very clear sense of its identity and doesn’t feel overburdened by either character drama or weekly cases that feel too generic by half. Doyle is not a terrible show, but what it struggles with is feeling like it actually knows what it is: numerous shots of the St. John’s harbour and the colourful houses of the downtown aren’t enough to give the show any sort of distinctive Newfoundland identity, and the show doesn’t bother to get onto its feet before throwing us into a bland procedural structure in order for us to come to care about these characters in any capacity.
There’s a show here somewhere, one where a group of relatively engaging people work together to solve crimes. However, the show has yet to find its own identity to the point where the pilot represents a definitive misfire, especially when you’ve seen Burn Notice negotiate the same types of problems which plague the show with some compelling dramaturgy.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this show reductive of Burn Notice, since I’m sure they were conceived separately, but they are very much of the same cloth. Both owe much of their plotting to 80s-style police shows (Doyle most often compared with the Rockford Files, Burn Notice with MacGyver), and both feature a lead character who is surrounded by a group of somewhat “out there” people who make his job more difficult. However, there are two distinct areas where this perfectly acceptable formula goes wrong with Doyle.
The first is that Allan Hawco (who co-created and stars in the show) has crafted Doyle into a bit of a ladies man, and someone who to be entirely honest with you I don’t actually like very much. I get the idea that he’s supposed to be somewhat brash, which is why he tackles the graffiti artist he’s chasing as the episode starts and is in the process of a messy divorce, but I don’t entirely know why I’m supposed to have any sort of attachment to this character outside of the fact that we’re supposed to. There was a missing ingredient here that would help explain why Jake Doyle is deserving of our empathy, especially since being a womanizer isn’t exactly the kind of quality that I find all that appealing. On shows like this, the protagonist needs to be the person we care about more than the person we find entertaining, and since I don’t find the show that exciting there’s even less to be attached to when it comes to Doyle as a character.
The other issue is that when the show becomes about the “case,” it more or less stops dead. The formula they want to go with here is that Doyle is unpredictable and fun, and yet there were other moments where the show wanted to portray Doyle as serious and focused. And the way the case unfolded, it seemed like they didn’t entirely know where the tone was going to sit, so the unpredictability seemed immature and silly while the seriousness seemed undercut by that behaviour. The idea of using a case in which Doyle is personally involved makes sense to show the latter, and yet because of the supposed seriousness his other behaviour seemed totally out of line and, actually, placing his life and his friend’s life in jeopardy. And because we never actually got to see them acting like friends, it was a gross violation of “show don’t tell”: we never got to see this friendship, so talking about it doesn’t actually accomplish much of anything.
Burn Notice does a lot of these things, but Michael Weston is a character with a purpose (to clear his name) and whose motivations (helping others) are always clear and never undercut by his being a cad. And more importantly, the show knows when things are serious and when things are silly, and it uses different characters to move between the two roles (Fi and Sam handling most of the comic material, Michael only rarely being involved directly). And while Republic of Doyle could eventually find itself, news of showrunner changes in the show’s run doesn’t give me much confidence that the show ever entirely finds its own identity. The episode’s conclusion suggests we’re supposed to care about romantic entanglements and teenage rebellion, and I just don’t know if that’s enough to keep me interested – actually, scratch that, I know it’s not enough.
Cultural Observations
If I had one big complaint, it’s that the show seemed to want to keep reminding us it was set in St. John’s and yet never felt like it was distinctly regional in its outlook. I know the show is trying to appeal to Canadians as a whole, but the case could have taken place in any province outside of the “Evil people are from Alberta because that’s where Newfoundlanders go to get work!” However, that could have easily taken place in Cape Breton, so I’m waiting for the show to actually engage with the culture beyond traditional urban concerns (there’s a point to be made that City Hall has time to deal with graffiti as a serious concern, but the show never had anyone MAKE that point and it faded as soon as it became about a very urban “case”).
I have to admit, the acting was a bit all over the map here: the main characters are alright, but some of the bit players (in particular the Albertan tough who was trapped in the bathtub) were distractingly bad.
There is nothing that annoys me more than stupid cops in shows like this: Burn Notice has always been smart by sticking to stories that are primarily built around cases that cops can’t handle in terms of a lack of evidence or sensitive clients. Here, somehow the police overlooked these Cowboy types cavorting with the sister-in-law in front of the hospital in plain sight – I understand the pilot wants to sell us on the fact that the Doyles are good at their job, but it goes too far to make the police out to be complete and total idiots without making it a point of comedy (like they do on, for example, Psych).
This is the second time the ruling party wants to shut down democracy
Article from Global Research, by Michael Werbowski
This week during the year’s slowest news period, startling reports from Ottawa have revealed that the Canadian conservative Prime Minster, Stephen Harper has prorogued or postponed the opening of parliament for at least a month. With the governor general’s blessings (who according to parliamentary procedure the authority to close down the legislature) he plans to proceed with this scurrilous plot and thereby undermine parliamentary democracy. If all goes according to Harper’s plan, then the House of Commons which is due to resume its New Year’s session on January 23rd will not sit until March 3rd or after the winter Olympics games to be held in February in Vancouver , B.C.
Will Harper’s political gamble pay off?
This Machiavellian move is designed to stave off opposition parties’ call for a full public inquiry, which would centre on the allegations of torture implicating the Canadian military, which surfaced during the last session of the House. On the home front, the prorogation of the legislature would also quell growing discontent in the country with the almost despotic tendencies of the current government. This is not the first time parliament has been shut down either. Back in December, 2008, Canada ’s Governor General Michaelle Jean granted the prime minister’s holiday wish and closed down the house just as the opposition sought to bring down the minority government with a non –confidence vote. The tactic effectively staved off an early general election and also saved the conservatives from immanent defeat allowing them to retain their stranglehold on power indefinitely. Reaction to the possibility of parliament becoming obsolete again was swift. Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale called this machination a, “shocking insult to democracy.”
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The ruling party’s silent coup
The attempt to close down the Canadian parliament is a political style putsch worthy of the best tradition of a “caudillos” or strongmen. It resembles a” manu duro” (strong hand) manoeuvre associated with third world states where democracy is still a “work in progress”. It is likely at this point, that the PM will use whatever means necessary to silence growing dissent among the opposition parties and the citizenry reeling from the noxious side effects this year’s economic slowdown. Getting the governor general’s consent, whether by coaxing or coercion, shouldn’t be a problem for the P.M., as the governor general has shown little resistance to the governing party’s previous attempts to emasculate the legislature in the past. This time Madame Jean will likely, as she did in 2008, once again give the government “carte blanche” to ride rough shod over the legislative process which is based on the idea, that parliament is supreme or sovereign and hence not beholden to any political party or a particular leader.
Historical precedents are relevant to the current crisis
Canada is at war and its enfeebled democratic institutions are facing a crisis of confidence or worse. A full blown constitutional conundrum may result over this move as the government decrees prorogation. There is ample historical irony in this situation. In critical periods of a nation’s history parliament is supposed to be a valued political forum and arena for debate and discussion on how to resolve pressing issues. Way back, in 1778, during the American Revolution and the British Empire’s war with its wayward colonies and as Britain was also threatened with invasion from France by the French fleet, King George III sought to prorogue parliament. His attempt, however, was deemed foolhardy by some brave souls opposed to this action, especially in a time of grave crisis. For instance, Sir James Lowther later known as “Earl of Lonsdale” and a member of parliament for over twenty years, presented a motion to defer the closure of the house of parliament.
In his appeal to the King, he argued it would be counterproductive to do so because ” … his Majesty would be deprived of that natural and constitutional advise and assistance which may be so necessary at this critical conjuncture and the united wisdom of the kingdom (i.e. parliament) is absolutely essential to secure us from impending danger.” His appeal was not heeded and parliament was adjourned according to the king’s wishes. Canada ’s less than enlightened ruler seems to be using his “divine right” to the same thing today.
Here’s the second shot I took of our Dec. 26th-27th freezing rain storm –this one, taken 24 hrs after the storm began outside of Ottawa, Ontario. Please follow the large arrow below to see the first photo, taken early on Dec. 26th, and an accompanying poem.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers. When I started this poetry/photography blog, I was new to blogging, and never imagined it would get past 5,000 hits, let alone the 21,000 it’s at now. Thanks so much for your interest in my poetry, photography, and books, and for all of your kind comments.
Story in the Toronto Sun. (H/T Acts 17 Apologetics)
Excerpt:
A seven-year-old Pakistani girl and her family have been given asylum in Canada after reports the child was raped and left to die when her Christian father refused to convert to Islam.
The identities of Baby Neeha and her family are being protected by immigration officials, said human rights lawyer Chantal Desloges and One Free World International, a church that was instrumental in getting the family here.
[...]Church founder Rev. Majed El Shafie said the family of seven have been hiding from extremists in Pakistan for about three years.
Baby Neeha, at the age of 2 1/2, was raped by the son of her father’s employer and left to die by the roadside, he said. No one was arrested for the crime.
“These horrific events took place because her father, who was Christian, refused to give in to pressure from his Muslim employer to convert to Islam,” El Shafie said.
The family went underground in Pakistan to hide from Muslim extremists who were seeking revenge for their non-conversion, he said.
“The family has lived for years in hiding and in constant fear of being discovered by the employer’s family or Islamic extremists,” El Shafie said. “We are thrilled that she’s finally in Canada.”
Click through to the story in the Toronto Sun to read about how my second favorite Canadian MP, Jason Kenney, is the hero of their story. He is a devout Christian, and a social conservative.
Hundreds of people braved bitter cold to line the highway outside of Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton this afternoon to pay their respects to the 5 Canadians killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan last week as well as the families of the fallen.
Arriving at the base and parking, the first thing I saw was a man getting out of his car across the highway. At first he looked like any other retired military man. Except that in this case, he had a broken left foot. His cast was wrapped in a plastic bag, and I watched in silence as he hobbled along on his crutches through the slush and snow to find a spot to participate in watching and paying his respects.
The afternoon was snowy with a stiff wind. Temperatures in mid-afternoon had a wind-chill of -23C ( -10 F). Because there were 5 coffins on the plane, the process of removing each coffin and carrying to the waiting hearses took almost 2 hours.
The first off the plane was the coffin carrying Michelle Lang, the reporter who was riding in the armoured car with the troops that hit the IED. Ms. Lang bears the distinction of being the first civilian in Canadian history to be repatriated by the military.
Then the 4 soldiers’ coffins were removed one by one.
When the convoy was ready to leave to head to Toronto, firetrucks blocked traffic along the highway so people could form a line on either side of one lane. The vehicles then passed through the long line of people paying their respects. When the hearses pass by and then the limos with the families of the fallen, it gets pretty personal. And when a family member rolls down a window and waves and says “thank you” to the people gathered along the roadside, the cold and the numbness seem such an insignificant thing .
No matter how many times I attend these ceremonies, the tears always come. And the silence in the car driving home is always a long one.
**my apologies for the blurry pic. After 2 hours in -23 C temps, it wasn’t working that well anymore**
Canadian universities are among the best in the world in terms of learning, research, culture and development opportunities. Students from all over the world to go to Canada every year in some of the best universities to register in this country. Some students call Canada's diversity and multiculturalism as some of the reasons for the selection of Canada instead of British, Australian or American universities. Others elected at Canadian universities because of theirAffordability, excellence, and employment opportunities after graduation. If you are interested in the selection of Canada as a destination of your training, it is important to gather information and facts about all types of higher education in this country. Here is a summary of the best small, medium and large universities in Canada.
St. Francis Xavier University
This small university in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (North-Canada) is, as the No. 1 university in Canada under Rankespecially university bachelor of Maclean's – one of the leading publishers in Canada. St. Francis Xavier is the home of more than 4,200 students from many parts of Canada and other countries. The university is known for its known quality programs in art, science, economics and information systems, but most students choose to there because of its small campus atmosphere, small classes, a go-on-one faculty-student interaction, community service and research opportunities. St.Francis Xavier offers about 33 academic programs ranging from Anthropology to Economics to Human Kinetics. Some of the most popular majors include business, information systems, nursing and marine resources.
Admission
Admission requirements include a rule, a school certificate or its equivalent completed with courses in English, mathematics and other subjects. U.S. high school graduates have 16 academic subjects, including four English haveCourses. Foreign students whose native language is not English and who do not attend school in an English speaking country has to TOEFL (236 to provide a computer-based test and 580 on the paper-based test is required).
Tuition and General Fees *
Canadian students: $ 6800 Canadian Dollars (CAD) / academic year (approximately $ 5783 USD)
International Students: $ 13,289 CAD / academic year (approx. U.S. $ 11,300 USD)
Scholarships are awarded forCanadian and international students who have excellent grades (85% or higher), a history of community work, leadership and commitment to others.
University of Guelph
Located in Ontario and one hour west of Toronto, University of Guelph excellence in teaching, research and international business opportunities does perceive, without compromising the ease and comfort of a small community. The university is home to 16,000 students and 1964 doctoral students, includinginternational students from over 100 countries.
Rated by Maclean's as the # 1 comprehensive university in Canada, the University of Guelph offers a wide range of academic programs in arts, science, economics, technology, engineering, architecture, veterinary medicine and other fields. Many programs offer co-op opportunities for students to apply their academic knowledge in the practical work of the industry. Through the commitment of the university in internationalism, Study Abroad ProgramsAbundance and exchange programs with universities in Australia, England, France, India, Latin America, South Africa, USA and other countries.
Admission
A secondary school-leaving certificate, school certificate or equivalent is required for undergraduate admission. Successful candidates will possess excellent qualities, and additional evidence. Students are encouraged to submit International Baccalaureate diplomas, Advanced Placement exams, SAScores, or Advanced Level examinations. Certain minimum requirements apply to citizens of certain countries. Consult the admissions website for further information.
Students whose native language is not English are required to produce evidence of English proficiency by submitting ratings of companies, a test such as IELTS, TOEFL, Melab, CAEL or offer by enrolling in the university ESL program.
Graduate admission requirements depend on the particular Graduate Program. MinimumRequirements are a Bachelor's degree or equivalent (four-year degree) from a college or university. Certain programs do special tests like the GMAT for the Master in Business Administration. Consult the graduate program website for more information.
Tuition costs **
Tuition costs vary depending on academic program. The following estimates indicate a rough average of total tuition per semester.
Undergraduate Canadian Students: $ 2500 CAD /Semester
Undergraduate International Students: $ 7500 CAD / Semester
Canadian Graduate Students: $ 2087 CAD / Semester
International Graduate Students: $ 4448 CAD / Semester
Scholarships are awarded to Canadian and international students. Merit-based scholarships of $ 500 to $ 6000 CAD-based whilst other scholarships from $ 1,000 to $ 3,000 CAD. Successful applicants have outstanding academic records, high test results(if applicable) and letters of reference.
University of Toronto
The largest known university in Canada, educated at the University of Toronto, over 70,000 students from about 62,000 full-time students and 6,000 international students. There was recently a top-ranked university in Canada – in the category of doctoral universities in Maclean's – through its commitment to research and discovery and learning them for their great Student body. The university is known for break-through research such as the development of the first electronic pacemaker, and the development of chemical lasers, and with 6 Nobel Prize-winning graduates. With more than 300 academic programs, students can choose to major in a variety of fields, from Aboriginal Studies to Zoology or choose a degree in law, medicine, pharmacy, nursing to pursue, and dentistry.
Admission
A secondary> Secondary school leaving certificate, school certificate or equivalent is required for undergraduate admission. Successful applicants are usually in the upper third of their graduates. Students are encouraged to International Baccalaureate diplomas, Advanced Placement tests, SAT Reasoning and SAT II scores, or subjected to Advanced Level examinations. Certain minimum requirements apply to citizens of certain countries. Consult the website for further approvalsInformation.
Students whose native language is not English are required to produce evidence of English proficiency by submitting ratings of companies, a test such as IELTS, TOEFL, Melab, CAEL or offer by enrolling in the university ESL program.
Graduate admission requirements depend on the particular Graduate Program. Minimum requirements are a bachelor's degree or equivalent (four-year degree) from a college or university. Certain programs do specific tests such assuch as the GMAT for the Master in Business Administration. Consult the graduate program website for more information.
Tuition costs **
Tuition costs vary depending on academic program. The following costs to the minimum and maximum tuition costs for the academic year 2006-2007. For example, the cost for Canadian students in a bachelor program of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences entry in 2006 $ 4373 CAD per year while the cost for Canadian students in theBachelor of Science in Pharmacy Program in 2006 is the input CAD $ 10,283 per academic year. At the graduate level, the cost for the Master of Laws and Master of Music programs established at $ 5660 CAD for Canadian students, while the MBA program is a fee of $ 37,839 CAD per year of study for international students.
Undergraduate
Germany 4373 – 10,283
International 16,800 – 21,000
Graduate
Domestic $ 5660 – $ 27,000
International$ 12.600 – $ 37,839
Scholarships are awarded to Canadian and international students. The University of Toronto, outstanding students for undergraduate and graduate awards. Undergraduate Admission prices have a value of $ 5,000. Successful applicants have outstanding academic records, high test results (if applicable) and letters of reference.
* Cost does not include housing and living costs ** The costs do not include tuition fees, accommodation or living roomExpenses
New Year’s Eve is typically a slow news day. Flipping over to the Guardian to see what’s happening on the other side of the pond, I see that Van Morrison is denying that he is a new father. And hey, there’s an article about Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue parliament – evidence that the Brits are gluttons for punishment. The author, Colin Horgan, isn’t too happy:
It will take a special kind of apathetic populace to collectively shrug off back-to-back cut-and-run attempts like this.
I did a Google search on “Canadians” and “apathetic” and got over a million results. Apparently we are also apathetic about voting, terrorism, and Prince Charles, among other things.
But I appreciate that a U.K. paper is reporting on our Afghan torture scandal and our lack of leadership on climate change and our perogies and all that. I thought that they might have been more interested in Stephen Harper’s bid to become the new 5th Beatle:
There can be only one of four possible outcomes of Harper’s new Beatles obsession. (1) Divorces wife, remarries, winds up in a Montreal hotel in a bed in for peace. I’m guessing it’s unlikely; (2) travels to India, learns to play the sitar, becomes devotee of the Hare Krishna tradition. Again, I’m guessing no. (3) becomes the next Mr. Conductor. Possible; (4) is busted in Japan for pot possession; probably the most likely outcome for 2010. It’s always the ones you don’t expect.
And it’s not entirely clear that we’re going to shrug this off. We might, but there have been low-level grumblings. The Conservatives are doubtlessly hoping for a boost from the Olympic games, but we have a history of sucking at the Olympics, even ones we host, and that could put us in an especially foul mood.
And if Canadians continue dying in Afghanistan while parliament is M.I.A… we’ll still be famously apathetic, but we’re capable of being apathetic towards the good things that governments have done as well.
In July 2009 I wrote here and here about Lu’s Pharmacy in Vancouver and their denial of access to transsexual women to their services on the grounds that we aren’t “women who were born women” (Via Vancouver Women’s Health Collective’s Our Political Agreements statement – direct link to PDF here).
I’ve just gotten done listening to the first section of The People Look Like Flowers at Last, the new one from the Tony Wilson Sextet (Drip Audio, 2009). I’d been meaning to pick this up anyway, but absolutely couldn’t resist after seeing that the album opens with “Lachrymae,” by Benjamin Britten. Wilson has really jazzed it up, and it works.
BSKcafe
This week during the year’s slowest news period, startling reports from Ottawa have revealed that the Canadian conservative Prime Minster, Stephen Harper has prorogued or postponed the opening of parliament for at least a month. With the governor general’s blessings (who according to parliamentary procedure the authority to close down the legislature) he plans to proceed with this scurrilous plot and thereby undermine parliamentary democracy. If all goes according to Harper’s plan, then the House of Commons which is due to resume its New Year’s session on January 23rd will not sit until March 3rd or after the winter Olympics games to be held in February in Vancouver , B.C.
