Reduce greenhouse emmisions by closing the City Hall Parking facility. Now I will be pushing that all food not only have a Best Before date but also a Number Of Kilometer label.
Jumping on the green bandwagon
By ROB GRANATSTEIN
The day before November’s municipal election, Gord Perks sat across from me at a Roncesvalles diner and started talking about the environment.
It seemed like a strange spot for someone on the verge of being elected to deal with everything from pot holes to planning to the TTC, to put on his last big push.
But the candidate for Parkdale-High Park, who has been immersed in the environment since 1987 and wears his NDP colours proudly, said locally is the place where the attack on climate change really begins.
Sure, all the big talk about Kyoto and the battles among the federal Liberals, Tories, NDP and Greens about how Canada is going to radically change its ways is an important part of this hot-button issue.
But at some point, it has to go beyond simply demanding better from the oil sands, shutting down coal-fired hydro plants and hoping cows stop farting and burping. None of these polluters can or will change overnight.
A giant part of easing off the greenhouse gas pedal will come down to what local governments do and the choices you make.
So, are you are in or out?
If you dare, tape your ankles and make the leap on to the green, hybrid bandwagon. Perks got on board early and he isn’t about to leave. We asked him to walk us through the best ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Here are his four suggestions:
n Green up your home. Get an energy audit done by a company like Greensaver, retrofit the place with a more energy-efficient furnace, add insulation. The Tories have reinstated the rebate program — finally figuring out they goofed the first time — to help with the costs.
“You can really cut your energy bill and save the planet at the same time,” Perks said.
Think about your transportation. Do you drive your car to get a bag of milk? Do you live close to where you work? Cut the number of miles you travel. See if you can shift modes from your car to cycling or walking or public transit. Look at what you’re driving. Can it be more energy efficient? Are you willing to dump your SUV for a hybrid?
Watch your water usage. “The city of Toronto uses more electricity to pump water than all the street lights, the entire transit system and lighting all of the city-owned buildings combined,” Perks said.
Get the most efficient toilets, faucets, shower heads and dishwashers, use a rain barrel instead of city water to water your lawn.
Buy locally. Perks says the average meal eaten by a Canadian travels 2,000 km to get to their plate. Shipping the food uses a lot of fossil fuels. Ask yourself if there’s a way to replace the foreign food with Ontario-grown produce, or even plant something in your yard. To do his part, Perks is re-examining whether sucking back some of Juan Valdez’s finest offerings from South America is all that smart, although we all know that kicking a coffee addiction is a hard thing to do.
The city has been doing a number of good things, everything from using Toronto Hydro to push conservation, to air conditioning buildings using deep lake water cooling through its large stake in Enwave, to greening the TTC fleet and city vehicles.
In the last 15 years the city has cut its own greenhouse gas emissions by 40%.
“That’s fantastic,” Perks said. “What we haven’t done is help people in the general community cut their emissions. That has to be our next step.”
In March, the city is expected to roll out its green plan. At that point it will start to look at the tools that can be used to make Torontonians greener.
This is where we all start to get the climate-uncontrolled sweats. How much will it cost us? What will be mandated? Will new powers in the City of Toronto Act be used to attack us? These are the typical questions.
It’s also where we decide how serious we, personally, are about climate change. Are we willing to pay to be green? Things like higher gas prices, higher water costs, enforcing water restrictions, new efficiency standards for new construction and the dreaded tolls?
It’s all on the table under Mayor David Miller’s watch. Whatever his plans, these must be region-wide. Any new Toronto-only fees or obstacles will continue to hurt a city that can’t afford any more weaknesses.
Feel free to jump off the bandwagon at any time.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Weekly Dose Of Climate Change Reality
Greens aren’t always good
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
Global warming and the Kyoto accord are the crack cocaine of trendy causes for opportunistic politicians and chic environmentalists.
Since fighting man-made global warming involves “saving the planet,” or so they tell us, it is the King Kong of all environmental crusades.
Of course, the fact we have been warned in the past by this crowd that life as we know it was about to end over everything from “the population bomb” to “global cooling,” and that we survived, is now ignored.
Too many environmentalists know only one way of talking about these issues — hysterically — which has led to disaster in the past.
In this context, the history of the pesticide DDT is instructive.
DDT was rightly banned in the developed world a generation ago, specifically because of its misuse by modern agri-business in order to increase crop yields.
But it was then wrongly denied to the third world, despite the fact that properly-used, DDT was a life-saver.
As a result, millions of innocent people died or suffered life-altering illnesses due to malaria and other insect-borne diseases.
For the chilling story of what really happened when DDT was banned, which environmentalists have always boasted about as a great victory, read James Lovelock’s latest book, The Revenge of Gaia. In it, this brilliant scientist who is also the grandfather of the modern “green” movement, condemns ignorant, urban environmentalists, whom, he says, hysterically campaigned to ban all DDT use, with catastrophic results.
Ironically, Lovelock invented the electron capture detector, which first enabled the measurement of pesticides and other man-made pollutants in the atmosphere and which led to the birth of modern environmentalism.
Lovelock’s discovery also resulted in the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, warning of the dangers of pesticide use — the holy bible of the greens.
But as Lovelock angrily recounts in his book, “the indiscriminate banning of DDT and other chlorinated insecticides was a selfish, ill-informed act driven by affluent radicals in the first world. The inhabitants of tropical countries have paid a high price in death and illness as a result ...”
Lovelock is also an expert on global warming who believes the world is facing imminent catastrophe.
Because of that, he has again broken ranks with the greens, whom he accuses of hysterically campaigning against nuclear power, which, he argues, is mankind’s last, best hope.
Unlike the burning of fossil fuels, nuclear power doesn’t emit greenhouse gases.
As for the wind, solar and tidal power so beloved by the greens, Lovelock says it’s hopelessly naïve to think they’ll be ready in time at the capacities we need.
He compares the greens to clueless passengers flying on an airplane over the Atlantic who, having discovered that it is pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, tell the pilot to turn the engines off, thinking that will solve the problem.
“We cannot turn off our energy-intensive, fossil-fuel-powered civilization without crashing,” Lovelock warns. “We need the soft landing of a powered descent.”
Such straight talk — coming from one of the world’s leading environmentalists and climate change experts — will of course be lost on the braying jackasses in our House of Commons — on all sides — who are playing silly, partisan games on this issue, urged on by naive environmentalists playing fast and loose with reality.
Inevitably, our politicians will screw up Canada’s response to global warming which should lie outside of Kyoto — a farcical, money-sucking disaster — in the strict conservation of fossil fuels here in Canada, burning them as cleanly as possible and looking at every alternative, including nuclear power.
But it will never happen.
Remember, these are the same folks who can’t fix the long and often deadly wait times in our medicare system, despite years of promising to do so.
Now they’re going to “fix” the climate? God help us.
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
Global warming and the Kyoto accord are the crack cocaine of trendy causes for opportunistic politicians and chic environmentalists.
Since fighting man-made global warming involves “saving the planet,” or so they tell us, it is the King Kong of all environmental crusades.
Of course, the fact we have been warned in the past by this crowd that life as we know it was about to end over everything from “the population bomb” to “global cooling,” and that we survived, is now ignored.
Too many environmentalists know only one way of talking about these issues — hysterically — which has led to disaster in the past.
In this context, the history of the pesticide DDT is instructive.
DDT was rightly banned in the developed world a generation ago, specifically because of its misuse by modern agri-business in order to increase crop yields.
But it was then wrongly denied to the third world, despite the fact that properly-used, DDT was a life-saver.
As a result, millions of innocent people died or suffered life-altering illnesses due to malaria and other insect-borne diseases.
For the chilling story of what really happened when DDT was banned, which environmentalists have always boasted about as a great victory, read James Lovelock’s latest book, The Revenge of Gaia. In it, this brilliant scientist who is also the grandfather of the modern “green” movement, condemns ignorant, urban environmentalists, whom, he says, hysterically campaigned to ban all DDT use, with catastrophic results.
Ironically, Lovelock invented the electron capture detector, which first enabled the measurement of pesticides and other man-made pollutants in the atmosphere and which led to the birth of modern environmentalism.
Lovelock’s discovery also resulted in the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, warning of the dangers of pesticide use — the holy bible of the greens.
But as Lovelock angrily recounts in his book, “the indiscriminate banning of DDT and other chlorinated insecticides was a selfish, ill-informed act driven by affluent radicals in the first world. The inhabitants of tropical countries have paid a high price in death and illness as a result ...”
Lovelock is also an expert on global warming who believes the world is facing imminent catastrophe.
Because of that, he has again broken ranks with the greens, whom he accuses of hysterically campaigning against nuclear power, which, he argues, is mankind’s last, best hope.
Unlike the burning of fossil fuels, nuclear power doesn’t emit greenhouse gases.
As for the wind, solar and tidal power so beloved by the greens, Lovelock says it’s hopelessly naïve to think they’ll be ready in time at the capacities we need.
He compares the greens to clueless passengers flying on an airplane over the Atlantic who, having discovered that it is pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, tell the pilot to turn the engines off, thinking that will solve the problem.
“We cannot turn off our energy-intensive, fossil-fuel-powered civilization without crashing,” Lovelock warns. “We need the soft landing of a powered descent.”
Such straight talk — coming from one of the world’s leading environmentalists and climate change experts — will of course be lost on the braying jackasses in our House of Commons — on all sides — who are playing silly, partisan games on this issue, urged on by naive environmentalists playing fast and loose with reality.
Inevitably, our politicians will screw up Canada’s response to global warming which should lie outside of Kyoto — a farcical, money-sucking disaster — in the strict conservation of fossil fuels here in Canada, burning them as cleanly as possible and looking at every alternative, including nuclear power.
But it will never happen.
Remember, these are the same folks who can’t fix the long and often deadly wait times in our medicare system, despite years of promising to do so.
Now they’re going to “fix” the climate? God help us.
Why Are Cities Getting Screwed
Because the liberals, when Martin was finance minister, cut transfer payments to the provinces which in turn had to dump services on the municipalities but Toronto still supports the federal liberals at election time. But we can't forget the lack of fiscal control excercised by the elected officials at Toronto city hall....$5M for road repairs, $6.5M for office renovations.
EDITORIAL: Cities deserve a fair shake
Canada is a country of cities run largely by politicians from rural ridings.
That has to stop.
The Conference Board of Canada may not have put it that bluntly in its report released last week, “Mission Possible, Successful Canadian Cities,” but that’s the gist.
And it’s one of many problems holding back our city and cities across this country.
In Canada, 80% of us live in cities. That’s not just Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, but also the suburbs of those cities. Vaughan, Burlington, Mississauga, this means you, too.
You are all getting screwed.
In 1993, cities received 25% of their revenues from the federal and provincial governments. That fell to 16% by 2004. It’s becoming clearer why cities cry poor.
And help? Well here’s why it’s hard to get. It’s the make up of government. Cities are under-represented both in Ottawa and provincially.
This leads to debates about agriculture, fisheries and natural resources — which together constitute only 3% of national economic activity — dominating over urban concerns, the report found.
“The distinctive needs of Canada’s six big cities are being ignored,” the report states. “Chronically short of resources and poorly equipped with governance powers, our big cities are struggling to fulfil their potential as engines of national prosperity.”
Living and playing in Toronto, it’s easy to see what the report is referring to. The city is bleeding jobs, the transit system is set to scoop up 51% of the city’s capital funding for 2007, the problems of the homeless and new immigrants are multiplying, and there is no cash in the budget to pay for these issues, never mind expanding community centres, rinks and parks.
That’s why the Conference Board is backing Mayor David Miller’s call for access to a growth tax — like the sales tax.
And why should cities get this money? “Increasing resources allocated to major cities would have a substantial impact on accelerating national economic growth,” the report found. That’s right, making cities work is good for the whole country.
The study is a loud call for help for municipal governments.
We understand why taxpayers are apprehensive about handing more money over to cities when the fools can’t even sit together for a photo.
But the provincial and federal governments are sitting on city money, and spending it elsewhere. It needs to be directed to fixing our roads, solidifying and expanding the TTC and GO Transit.
To finding ways to keep business taxes low and to make the city appealing so that the smartest, most creative people and businesses.
Now’s the time. The future of Canada’s cities has to be a front-burner election issue.
If You Are Arrested First Ask For Your Lawyer
And then demand that you be questioned by an officer of your ethnic, religious, cultural and sexual orientation background. Diversity in action.
T.O. police go recruiting in 'gay village'
TORONTO — Toronto police were in the heart of the city's gay village Saturday afternoon hoping to further expand the force's diversity portfolio through one of many recruiting sessions aimed at members of the gay community.
The police service has made efforts to diversify its force by recruiting officers who reflect a variety of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds found across the city.
Const. Gail Steed from the police employment unit said the information sessions for the gay community are a natural extension of that outreach.
"Our service wants to reflect our diverse communities in the city,'' she said. "We don't ask anybody to tell us their sexual preference, we just strive to get an accurate representation of the city.''
Mike Schneider, 23, who arrived early for the closed session, said he heard about a few recruiting events being held at a community centre in recent weeks, but this was the first one he had attended himself.
"I think it's great the police are coming to the gay community for these sessions,'' said Schneider. "This is very encouraging, and it shows the police support and welcome us.''
"This is good way to reach some people in the community who may be afraid of coming out.''
But others attending the session said they were concerned their sexuality would be more valued than their qualifications.
"I wanted to see if they was any difference applying as a heterosexual or applying as a gay person,'' said Chris, 30, from Aurora. "Hopefully they aren't using it as leverage.''
"If I am going to get in, I want to get in because of my own ability and not because of my sexuality,'' said Chris, who didn't want to use her last name.
That's what worries Staff Sgt. Don Cole of the Toronto police service. He said he thinks the information sessions targeting specific communities are "ridiculous.''
"Anybody is free to join,'' said Cole. "Why are we targeting them and begging them to join?''
"We should be looking for the best people, not people who fit the quotas and are substandard. I don't see where we are going with this.''
He said it's common knowledge the force has been actively seeking visible minorities and women, but he thinks that filling those quotas shouldn't conflict with the integrity of the candidates' qualifications.
"We're winding up with people who are unsuitable, and we have to keep kicking them out because they can't pass anything,'' said Cole.
"Let's go back to the best people get hired, and that's it.''
T.O. police go recruiting in 'gay village'
TORONTO — Toronto police were in the heart of the city's gay village Saturday afternoon hoping to further expand the force's diversity portfolio through one of many recruiting sessions aimed at members of the gay community.
The police service has made efforts to diversify its force by recruiting officers who reflect a variety of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds found across the city.
Const. Gail Steed from the police employment unit said the information sessions for the gay community are a natural extension of that outreach.
"Our service wants to reflect our diverse communities in the city,'' she said. "We don't ask anybody to tell us their sexual preference, we just strive to get an accurate representation of the city.''
Mike Schneider, 23, who arrived early for the closed session, said he heard about a few recruiting events being held at a community centre in recent weeks, but this was the first one he had attended himself.
"I think it's great the police are coming to the gay community for these sessions,'' said Schneider. "This is very encouraging, and it shows the police support and welcome us.''
"This is good way to reach some people in the community who may be afraid of coming out.''
But others attending the session said they were concerned their sexuality would be more valued than their qualifications.
"I wanted to see if they was any difference applying as a heterosexual or applying as a gay person,'' said Chris, 30, from Aurora. "Hopefully they aren't using it as leverage.''
"If I am going to get in, I want to get in because of my own ability and not because of my sexuality,'' said Chris, who didn't want to use her last name.
That's what worries Staff Sgt. Don Cole of the Toronto police service. He said he thinks the information sessions targeting specific communities are "ridiculous.''
"Anybody is free to join,'' said Cole. "Why are we targeting them and begging them to join?''
"We should be looking for the best people, not people who fit the quotas and are substandard. I don't see where we are going with this.''
He said it's common knowledge the force has been actively seeking visible minorities and women, but he thinks that filling those quotas shouldn't conflict with the integrity of the candidates' qualifications.
"We're winding up with people who are unsuitable, and we have to keep kicking them out because they can't pass anything,'' said Cole.
"Let's go back to the best people get hired, and that's it.''
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Making Your Own Valentine....Feel Free To Use These
Love may be beautiful, love may be bliss
But I only slept with you because I was pissed.
I thought that I could love no other
Until, that is, I met your brother
Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head.
Of loving beauty you float with grace
If only you could hide your face
Kind, intelligent, loving, and hot
This describes everything you are not
I want to feel your sweet embrace
But don't take that paper bag off of your face
I love your smile, your face, and your eyes-
Damn, I'm good at telling lies!
My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife:
Marrying you has screwed up my life
I see your face when I am dreaming
That's why I always wake up screaming
My love you take my breath away
What have you stepped in to smell this way?
My feelings for you no words can tell
Except for maybe "go to hell"
What inspired this amorous rhyme?
Two parts vodka, one part lime.
How Could You Not Invite Right Girl Out For A Beer At The Legion
You certainly wouldn't have to worry about your language or inadvertently say something that was politically in-correct.......
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Thick Skin
For the past week I've been watching the rise and fall of Amanda Marcotte as official blogger to the Edwards '08 Presidential Campaign with a mix of bemusement and snark. As of a couple of hours ago, it seems that she's been fired for her many venomous tirades over at Pandagon. Whatever. I can live with that. After all, it wasn't so very long ago that she was tearing a strip off of yours truly. Let's face facts here. If the Pope-hating, feminazi cooze was burning, I probably wouldn't piss on her. Nor would she return the favor. She thinks I'm a tool of "The Patriarchy". I think she's a tool. Suffice it to say we have our differences.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Thick Skin
For the past week I've been watching the rise and fall of Amanda Marcotte as official blogger to the Edwards '08 Presidential Campaign with a mix of bemusement and snark. As of a couple of hours ago, it seems that she's been fired for her many venomous tirades over at Pandagon. Whatever. I can live with that. After all, it wasn't so very long ago that she was tearing a strip off of yours truly. Let's face facts here. If the Pope-hating, feminazi cooze was burning, I probably wouldn't piss on her. Nor would she return the favor. She thinks I'm a tool of "The Patriarchy". I think she's a tool. Suffice it to say we have our differences.
You Have To Follow The Links
If you really want to make an objective assessment of a posting. The following is a good example. Rafe Mair seems to be making a case for Canada to stand up for itself and get brownie points from world's power brokers. At least that is what it seems in the capsule posted but if you follow the link to the full article it would appear it has more to do with bashing Harper's strong postion regarding Isreal.
Sunday, February 04 2007 @ 03:29 PM MST
Contributed by: jensonj
Canada must be an honest broker
By Rafe Mair
Feb 03 2007
Looked at from a distance, Canada is a strange land; large in size, small in population, bilingual and multicultural, old ties to Great Britain dwindling, next door to the United States as it deals with increasing regionalism and gropes for a foreign policy.
The 1931 Statute of Westminster granted us independence and Canada symbolically declared war a week after Britain, yet when the UN was formed the U.S.S.R. was given seats for the Ukraine and Belarus, to offset Britain’s Commonwealth seats. Thus as recently as 1945 after a brilliant war record as a nation, we were still seen as sort of an international step-child—part of the family but different. One is reminded of former U.S. Secretary Dean Acheson’s cruel jibe “Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.”
Try as we have, Canada still seeks a role with which we are comfortable.
During the Cold War our policy was to snipe at America for hometown political brownie points while always remembering that we were on “their side” if trouble came.
When the Cold War ended, Canada became less willing to accept the lead of the United States. Sadly, the U.S. being the only superpower, it doesn’t much matter to the White House what anyone, let alone Canada, thinks. George W. Bush has made it clear that the U.S. will do whatever it thinks is best for its interests, with that determined by the most recent polls. Canadians don’t like being in thrall to America yet are uncertain as to how to break free.
------
This is what was posted but if you click on the link.....
The Harper government uncritically supports Israeli policy. This is clearly wrongheaded. We should stand back, survey the scene, learn the history and make a principled stand for a solution where both Palestinians and Israelis recognize some realities, such as the fact that the Palestine/Israel populations are half and half Jews and Arabs while within Israel itself, the Palestinian population is about 20 per cent and growing.
Israel, as the relative numbers of Jews in the region diminish, sees itself besieged from without, with ever-increasing hostile Palestinian Arabs within. Its consequent stubbornness brings more violence from surrounding Arab groups that seek Israel’s destruction. Thus stumbling blocks of land and the claims of Palestinian refugees seem unmovable. By firmly taking sides, the Harper government has disqualified itself as a possible arbitrator.
Israel has had, by far, the best of the public relations war.
Most Canadians believe, quite erroneously, that Palestinian Arabs willingly abandoned their homes in the 1948 War—so tough luck on them. Many look at the West Bank as “disputed lands” rather than “occupied lands” which they are.
Most Canadians, evidently including Harper, believe that Israel’s “land for peace” policy was fair, not understanding such a solution would leave Palestinians having to go through Israeli roadblocks to get to other parts of their country. We shrug off the Jewish settlements in occupied lands seen by Palestinians as an ongoing “up yours.”
Canada must develop a policy of “honest broker” which it can’t do if it’s on Israel’s side whate’er betide. As Iran develops nuclear weapons and comes nose to nose with a nuclear-armed Israel, settling land and refugee claims become the only issues that matter.
The refugees have gone from about 700,000 in 1948 to well over four million—obviously a settlement based on land alone won’t happen. But put yourself in the position of a refugee—any Jew from anywhere in the world has a “right to return” to a country he’s never seen, while Palestinians are denied what was once theirs.
The stakes are mortal. Canada, if it’s to help, must unshackle itself from its present policy of blindly supporting Israel and seek policies aimed at achieving justice for Palestinians and Israelis.
Otherwise, the price to be paid could well be Armageddon.
Rafe Mair is a former radio talk show host and cabinet minister
Sunday, February 04 2007 @ 03:29 PM MST
Contributed by: jensonj
Canada must be an honest broker
By Rafe Mair
Feb 03 2007
Looked at from a distance, Canada is a strange land; large in size, small in population, bilingual and multicultural, old ties to Great Britain dwindling, next door to the United States as it deals with increasing regionalism and gropes for a foreign policy.
The 1931 Statute of Westminster granted us independence and Canada symbolically declared war a week after Britain, yet when the UN was formed the U.S.S.R. was given seats for the Ukraine and Belarus, to offset Britain’s Commonwealth seats. Thus as recently as 1945 after a brilliant war record as a nation, we were still seen as sort of an international step-child—part of the family but different. One is reminded of former U.S. Secretary Dean Acheson’s cruel jibe “Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.”
Try as we have, Canada still seeks a role with which we are comfortable.
During the Cold War our policy was to snipe at America for hometown political brownie points while always remembering that we were on “their side” if trouble came.
When the Cold War ended, Canada became less willing to accept the lead of the United States. Sadly, the U.S. being the only superpower, it doesn’t much matter to the White House what anyone, let alone Canada, thinks. George W. Bush has made it clear that the U.S. will do whatever it thinks is best for its interests, with that determined by the most recent polls. Canadians don’t like being in thrall to America yet are uncertain as to how to break free.
------
This is what was posted but if you click on the link.....
The Harper government uncritically supports Israeli policy. This is clearly wrongheaded. We should stand back, survey the scene, learn the history and make a principled stand for a solution where both Palestinians and Israelis recognize some realities, such as the fact that the Palestine/Israel populations are half and half Jews and Arabs while within Israel itself, the Palestinian population is about 20 per cent and growing.
Israel, as the relative numbers of Jews in the region diminish, sees itself besieged from without, with ever-increasing hostile Palestinian Arabs within. Its consequent stubbornness brings more violence from surrounding Arab groups that seek Israel’s destruction. Thus stumbling blocks of land and the claims of Palestinian refugees seem unmovable. By firmly taking sides, the Harper government has disqualified itself as a possible arbitrator.
Israel has had, by far, the best of the public relations war.
Most Canadians believe, quite erroneously, that Palestinian Arabs willingly abandoned their homes in the 1948 War—so tough luck on them. Many look at the West Bank as “disputed lands” rather than “occupied lands” which they are.
Most Canadians, evidently including Harper, believe that Israel’s “land for peace” policy was fair, not understanding such a solution would leave Palestinians having to go through Israeli roadblocks to get to other parts of their country. We shrug off the Jewish settlements in occupied lands seen by Palestinians as an ongoing “up yours.”
Canada must develop a policy of “honest broker” which it can’t do if it’s on Israel’s side whate’er betide. As Iran develops nuclear weapons and comes nose to nose with a nuclear-armed Israel, settling land and refugee claims become the only issues that matter.
The refugees have gone from about 700,000 in 1948 to well over four million—obviously a settlement based on land alone won’t happen. But put yourself in the position of a refugee—any Jew from anywhere in the world has a “right to return” to a country he’s never seen, while Palestinians are denied what was once theirs.
The stakes are mortal. Canada, if it’s to help, must unshackle itself from its present policy of blindly supporting Israel and seek policies aimed at achieving justice for Palestinians and Israelis.
Otherwise, the price to be paid could well be Armageddon.
Rafe Mair is a former radio talk show host and cabinet minister
Eugene Makes Some Valid Points But.....
The fact that we questioned things that might be irrefutable doesn't mean we have become "denial" freaks, another label, but rather that we enjoy shit disturbing and when you come right down to it blogging would disappear and you would end up with message boards where moderators decide whether you favour cucumber sandwiches or rare beef.
Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 11:16 AM MST
Groupthink
Contributed by: eugene
We sometimes overlook the most obvious connection between deniers, those who deny global warming, those who deny evolution and those who deny the holocaust.
They suffer from the same kind of groupthink and conspiracy theories.
Its not denial, they say; it's debate they want, the facts are not irrefutable, there is evidence to the contrary.
Thus the same argumentative tactic used to deny the holocaust is used to deny evolution and used to deny climate change. It is groupthink on the right. And the argumentative style does not change, the subject of the attack does.
And it is always tinged with conspiracy theory, that the scientific or historical facts are being foisted on us because it is consensus reality, consensus of those in power it is not the 'real thing'.
So all the historians that accept the holocaust are establishment historians not 'real' historians. Scientists that accept evolution or global warming are not 'real' scientists.
"The only place that a climate change science consensus exists is in what Essex and McKitrick call 'Official Science', the collective voice of governments and other so-called 'science authorities'. But this is not real science."
The Climate Change Deniers have money and powerful connections they have used to discredit their opponents, in this case other scientists and academics. And sometimes do so to end careers, literally terrifying their opponents into silence. Certainly a form of fascism.
The Fraser Institutes response to the IPCC report was a long time in the making, and a coordinated effort between them and the anti-climate change lobby, the flat earthers, in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. And the organizations, front groups really, are all interconnected.
It was planned years ago, as new front organizations sprung up over the past three years in preparation for the IPCC report. While the Fraser Institute like its American counter-part the Cato Institute have existed since the seventies, groups like Canada's Natural Resources Stewardship Project, and the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition are all relatively new lobbying groups. Even the older Friends of Science. was only created in 2002.
The push was on by the right and their big business backers when they saw the writing on the wall after Kyoto was signed. One faction of capitalism endorsed Kyoto, another was ambivalent, and a handful, but a powerful handful, vehmently opposed Kyoto.
Having lost the war they now engage in a protracted series of battles to attempt to inundate doubt in the public mind, using fronts like Junk Science.com and Fox News, various assorted right-wing media mouthpieces in Canada, Europe and America. They know they have lost, but if in anyway they can hold back radical changes required to deal with the heat death of the planet, to save their industries they will. Victory to them is to delay change.
Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 11:16 AM MST
Groupthink
Contributed by: eugene
We sometimes overlook the most obvious connection between deniers, those who deny global warming, those who deny evolution and those who deny the holocaust.
They suffer from the same kind of groupthink and conspiracy theories.
Its not denial, they say; it's debate they want, the facts are not irrefutable, there is evidence to the contrary.
Thus the same argumentative tactic used to deny the holocaust is used to deny evolution and used to deny climate change. It is groupthink on the right. And the argumentative style does not change, the subject of the attack does.
And it is always tinged with conspiracy theory, that the scientific or historical facts are being foisted on us because it is consensus reality, consensus of those in power it is not the 'real thing'.
So all the historians that accept the holocaust are establishment historians not 'real' historians. Scientists that accept evolution or global warming are not 'real' scientists.
"The only place that a climate change science consensus exists is in what Essex and McKitrick call 'Official Science', the collective voice of governments and other so-called 'science authorities'. But this is not real science."
The Climate Change Deniers have money and powerful connections they have used to discredit their opponents, in this case other scientists and academics. And sometimes do so to end careers, literally terrifying their opponents into silence. Certainly a form of fascism.
The Fraser Institutes response to the IPCC report was a long time in the making, and a coordinated effort between them and the anti-climate change lobby, the flat earthers, in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. And the organizations, front groups really, are all interconnected.
It was planned years ago, as new front organizations sprung up over the past three years in preparation for the IPCC report. While the Fraser Institute like its American counter-part the Cato Institute have existed since the seventies, groups like Canada's Natural Resources Stewardship Project, and the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition are all relatively new lobbying groups. Even the older Friends of Science. was only created in 2002.
The push was on by the right and their big business backers when they saw the writing on the wall after Kyoto was signed. One faction of capitalism endorsed Kyoto, another was ambivalent, and a handful, but a powerful handful, vehmently opposed Kyoto.
Having lost the war they now engage in a protracted series of battles to attempt to inundate doubt in the public mind, using fronts like Junk Science.com and Fox News, various assorted right-wing media mouthpieces in Canada, Europe and America. They know they have lost, but if in anyway they can hold back radical changes required to deal with the heat death of the planet, to save their industries they will. Victory to them is to delay change.
Hillbilly White Trash Makes A Valid Point
I am neutral on the gun issue, although I do favor mandatory sentences and jail time for possession of "unregistered" weapons, but Hillbilly's point that opposing or favoring gun control has little to do with religious affliation.
Another gun control post
Just so everybody knows, gun control is not a religious issue. Many sincerely believing Christians support gun control because they mistakenly believe that the Bible supports non-violence when confronted with criminal attack.
Many people of other faiths than Christianity believe in civilian firearms ownership as do people of no faith whatsoever.
Now it is true that most Christians who actually believe that the Bible means what it says are politically conservative and also think that gun ownership is a constitutionally protected freedom, as well as a good idea, but not all.
BTY, "turn the other cheek" means "don't hold a grudge" not "don't defend yourself".
Another gun control post
Just so everybody knows, gun control is not a religious issue. Many sincerely believing Christians support gun control because they mistakenly believe that the Bible supports non-violence when confronted with criminal attack.
Many people of other faiths than Christianity believe in civilian firearms ownership as do people of no faith whatsoever.
Now it is true that most Christians who actually believe that the Bible means what it says are politically conservative and also think that gun ownership is a constitutionally protected freedom, as well as a good idea, but not all.
BTY, "turn the other cheek" means "don't hold a grudge" not "don't defend yourself".
The Political Correctness Of The Left
Political correctness started with the renaming of "manhole covers" to maintenance entry access covers," to appease feminists and has evolved to the point that before you start a normal conversation you have to analyze ever word, phrase, nuance,etc. before expressing yourself and face the "ism" label. If you have the time, IMHO you should make the time, you need to visit blogs like Political Correctness Watch or
Tongue Tied 3 for examples of how the freedom of expression is being muzzled by radicals on the left.
Tongue Tied 3 for examples of how the freedom of expression is being muzzled by radicals on the left.
Let's Not Get Too Cocky Terry
We still have a lot of work to do and we can't forget that much of the media leans to the left and they tend to manipulate the news by ommission.
Canada's New Party, 38 Percent
Liberals, Thirty One Percent
"It's ironic how the liberals, who stood by and watched Rome burn are expecting that the Conservatives should rebuild it in a day."
A new Leger poll has the conservatives, which is Canada's New Party, at a 38 percent popularity, and the liberals at 31 percent. One headline out of Cherranna calls that a slight lead. Of course if it were a liberal lead, it would be considered a huge lead. It would be like a shot that rang out through the GTA's liberal media mafia, where the echo would last for three months.
In "vote rich" Ontario, the Conservatives are at 40 per cent support, as compared with the Liberals' 35 per cent.
--Terry Pearson
Canada's New Party, 38 Percent
Liberals, Thirty One Percent
"It's ironic how the liberals, who stood by and watched Rome burn are expecting that the Conservatives should rebuild it in a day."
A new Leger poll has the conservatives, which is Canada's New Party, at a 38 percent popularity, and the liberals at 31 percent. One headline out of Cherranna calls that a slight lead. Of course if it were a liberal lead, it would be considered a huge lead. It would be like a shot that rang out through the GTA's liberal media mafia, where the echo would last for three months.
In "vote rich" Ontario, the Conservatives are at 40 per cent support, as compared with the Liberals' 35 per cent.
--Terry Pearson
All Of Us Are Too Savvy To Be Taken In But
You might want to review your online practices......click on the link for more info.
Computer experts warn of viruses in Valentine messages
Feb 09 6:05 PM US/Eastern
Security experts are warning PC users to be on guard against viruses masquerading as Valentine's Day messages, which could damage computers.
"Computer users should keep a wary eye on any romantic messages received by e-mail, as many of them could contain malicious code," said US security firm PandaLabs after detecting an increase in a worm it dubbed Nurech.A.
The worm hides in e-mails with subjects like: "Together You and I," "Til the End of Time Heart of Mine."
People who open an attached file such as postcard.exe can end up infecting their computers.
Security firm Symantec said it had detected "large-scale spamming" of e-mails including a Trojan horse, a program that contains or installs a malicious program.
Symantec said the malware was a new version of Trojan, Peacomm or the "Storm Trojan."
"With Valentine's Day approaching, this time around the authors are attempting to tug on the heartstrings of unsuspecting users with romantic subject lines such as 'My Heart belongs to you,' said Symantec's Orla Cox.
"The Trojan is much the same as we've seen before, the only difference being that the authors have used a modified packer in an (unsuccessful) effort to evade detection by antivirus vendors."
"As a general rule, don't open any suspicious e-mail, regardless of what is says it contains," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs.
"Instead of going on instincts, let a security solution decide whether it's safe to open it or not," he said, urging users to scan any suspicious messages with an antivirus program.
Corrons said events like Valentine's Day and Christmas are often exploited by cyber-criminals to try and spread their creations by disguising infected e-mails as e-greeting cards.
This use of "social engineering" was used in the LoveLetter virus, which caused one of the biggest epidemics in computer history.
Computer experts warn of viruses in Valentine messages
Feb 09 6:05 PM US/Eastern
Security experts are warning PC users to be on guard against viruses masquerading as Valentine's Day messages, which could damage computers.
"Computer users should keep a wary eye on any romantic messages received by e-mail, as many of them could contain malicious code," said US security firm PandaLabs after detecting an increase in a worm it dubbed Nurech.A.
The worm hides in e-mails with subjects like: "Together You and I," "Til the End of Time Heart of Mine."
People who open an attached file such as postcard.exe can end up infecting their computers.
Security firm Symantec said it had detected "large-scale spamming" of e-mails including a Trojan horse, a program that contains or installs a malicious program.
Symantec said the malware was a new version of Trojan, Peacomm or the "Storm Trojan."
"With Valentine's Day approaching, this time around the authors are attempting to tug on the heartstrings of unsuspecting users with romantic subject lines such as 'My Heart belongs to you,' said Symantec's Orla Cox.
"The Trojan is much the same as we've seen before, the only difference being that the authors have used a modified packer in an (unsuccessful) effort to evade detection by antivirus vendors."
"As a general rule, don't open any suspicious e-mail, regardless of what is says it contains," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs.
"Instead of going on instincts, let a security solution decide whether it's safe to open it or not," he said, urging users to scan any suspicious messages with an antivirus program.
Corrons said events like Valentine's Day and Christmas are often exploited by cyber-criminals to try and spread their creations by disguising infected e-mails as e-greeting cards.
This use of "social engineering" was used in the LoveLetter virus, which caused one of the biggest epidemics in computer history.
Urinals Would Be Banned In 1/3 Of Liberal Ridings
Dion will have to rethink this promise.....
Do you agree with the Liberal strategy of selecting only female candidates in some ridings?
Yes 309 18%
No 1375 81%
People Speak Out
So this is democracy?
Stéphane Dion's plan for more female candidates in the next election is being called discriminatory
Feb 10, 2007 04:30 AM
Dion may bar male candidates in some ridings
Feb. 9.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's apparent plan to prohibit men from running in some ridings in the next federal election is troubling. If true, and if subsequently implemented, the plan would implicitly condescend to women and discriminate against men.
Dion's apparent plan would allow only women to run in these particular ridings for the Liberals just because they are women. And qualified and capable men would be barred from running as Liberals in these ridings just because they are men.
I understand the misguided logic behind the reported plan – that is, to help increase the number of elected women in Parliament. Yet the notion implies that women can't or won't run or win in an election without receiving preferential treatment.
This seems offensive and condescending to women who have rightly fought over the years for equality and to be treated the same as men. And the reported plan clearly discriminates against men because they are men.
No amount of rationalizing by Dion and his cohorts about this apparent sexist plan can justify its implicit unfairness.
Tim Cowan, London, Ont.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion would be wise to check out United Nations human-rights standards before he embarks on the banning of male Liberal party candidates in some ridings.
Paragraph 401 of The United Nations and Human Rights: 1945-1995 (United Nations Blue Book Series) states, "Inequalities (between men and women) can persist in practice despite the existence of laws and regulations intended to guarantee equality under the law. Therefore, the ... parties to the convention (on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women) are invited to take special measures to establish de facto equality while ensuring that these measures are non-discriminatory."
Banning males from running for the Liberal party is discriminatory. And it doesn't say much about Dion's commitment to UN human-rights standards (including those that have the force of law in Canada) that he would so nonchalantly engage in the violation of human rights in order to gain a minor political advantage.
Sid Knowles, Mississauga
I read, with some dismay, that Liberal campaign organizers plan on barring men from being nominated in some ridings so that they can meet their target of 33 per cent female candidates.
While I applaud any attempt to increase the role of women in government, I can't help but wonder if the Liberals have taken into account the very discriminatory nature of their announcement.
Gerard Kennedy, Stéphane Dion's special adviser on election readiness, says this is "consistent with our democratic processes." I disagree. Canada has a tradition of promoting equality. It's a shame the Liberals seem to have forgotten this.
Rafael Gomez, Guelph, Ont.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to read that the Liberals are planning on women-only nomination races. To quote Gerard Kennedy, Stéphane Dion's special adviser on election readiness, "We're trying to find the techniques that are consistent with our democratic processes to the greatest extent possible."
I am having a hard time equating democracy with this policy.
Dugald Souter, Kemptville, Ont.
Do you agree with the Liberal strategy of selecting only female candidates in some ridings?
Yes 309 18%
No 1375 81%
People Speak Out
So this is democracy?
Stéphane Dion's plan for more female candidates in the next election is being called discriminatory
Feb 10, 2007 04:30 AM
Dion may bar male candidates in some ridings
Feb. 9.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's apparent plan to prohibit men from running in some ridings in the next federal election is troubling. If true, and if subsequently implemented, the plan would implicitly condescend to women and discriminate against men.
Dion's apparent plan would allow only women to run in these particular ridings for the Liberals just because they are women. And qualified and capable men would be barred from running as Liberals in these ridings just because they are men.
I understand the misguided logic behind the reported plan – that is, to help increase the number of elected women in Parliament. Yet the notion implies that women can't or won't run or win in an election without receiving preferential treatment.
This seems offensive and condescending to women who have rightly fought over the years for equality and to be treated the same as men. And the reported plan clearly discriminates against men because they are men.
No amount of rationalizing by Dion and his cohorts about this apparent sexist plan can justify its implicit unfairness.
Tim Cowan, London, Ont.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion would be wise to check out United Nations human-rights standards before he embarks on the banning of male Liberal party candidates in some ridings.
Paragraph 401 of The United Nations and Human Rights: 1945-1995 (United Nations Blue Book Series) states, "Inequalities (between men and women) can persist in practice despite the existence of laws and regulations intended to guarantee equality under the law. Therefore, the ... parties to the convention (on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women) are invited to take special measures to establish de facto equality while ensuring that these measures are non-discriminatory."
Banning males from running for the Liberal party is discriminatory. And it doesn't say much about Dion's commitment to UN human-rights standards (including those that have the force of law in Canada) that he would so nonchalantly engage in the violation of human rights in order to gain a minor political advantage.
Sid Knowles, Mississauga
I read, with some dismay, that Liberal campaign organizers plan on barring men from being nominated in some ridings so that they can meet their target of 33 per cent female candidates.
While I applaud any attempt to increase the role of women in government, I can't help but wonder if the Liberals have taken into account the very discriminatory nature of their announcement.
Gerard Kennedy, Stéphane Dion's special adviser on election readiness, says this is "consistent with our democratic processes." I disagree. Canada has a tradition of promoting equality. It's a shame the Liberals seem to have forgotten this.
Rafael Gomez, Guelph, Ont.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to read that the Liberals are planning on women-only nomination races. To quote Gerard Kennedy, Stéphane Dion's special adviser on election readiness, "We're trying to find the techniques that are consistent with our democratic processes to the greatest extent possible."
I am having a hard time equating democracy with this policy.
Dugald Souter, Kemptville, Ont.
Chantal's Assessment Of Turner's Walk
Turner now Liberal red but he's no Red Tory
February 09, 2007
Chantal Hébert
No one would accuse Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's research team of lacking the journalistic instincts to dig into a story. After all, some members of the group that lays the groundwork for the official opposition's onslaught on the Conservative government these days once starred in the Parliamentary press gallery.
But they might have done more homework before letting Dion herald the Liberal conversion of maverick MP Garth Turner as a progressive second coming.
In two statements that should have Joe Clark spinning in his political grave, Dion framed Turner's decision as proof that the Liberal party had become the new home of the Red Tories, the progressive wing of the defunct Progressive Conservative Party.
Well, Turner has certainly been many things over the course of his political life. But a Red Tory he most certainly was not.
On the contrary, when he ran to succeed Brian Mulroney in 1993, it was as the candidate of the ultra-right wing of his party.
At the time, Turner promoted the most radically conservative policies of all five contenders, including deep cuts to social programs, reduced old-age security pensions, maternity leave and employment insurance payments, and the introduction of hospital user fees. He also called for the privatization of Canada Post and the CBC and the elimination of the multiculturalism ministry.
Over the course of that campaign, Turner was often described as a soulmate to Reform party founder Preston Manning, a comparison he did not reject.
"There are a lot of Conservatives who think the party today is too centrist," Turner told The Globe and Mail in June 1993. "Those people are looking for a return to conservative values within the Conservative party. And quite frankly, I'm out to appeal to a number of those people, because I share that belief. It's basically a conservative message. It's just one that they haven't heard from the Conservatives for a while."
If he had been more fully briefed on his recruit's well-documented background, Dion might have been more selective in his choice of words. But he would likely have been as effusive in his welcome. It seems the Liberal party felt it needed Turner as much as the banished Conservative MP needed a new home.
Few political manoeuvres reveal as much about the fears of a party as the successful seduction of MPs previously elected under a different banner.
Notwithstanding Dion's fighting words, such manoeuvres are all about papering over glaring weaknesses.
After the last Quebec referendum, Jean Chrétien went out of his way to get a handful of Quebec Tory MPs to cross over to the Liberals to drive home the message that his party was the only viable federalist alternative to the Bloc Québécois.
By bringing Bloc co-founder Jean Lapierre back into the Liberal fold, Paul Martin wanted to attract nationalist voters. And he hoped that winning over Progressive Conservative Scott Brison would help the Liberals fend off a reunited right.
David Emerson and Michael Fortier would not be in the Conservative cabinet if the party had done well in Montreal and Vancouver in the last election. And ex-Liberal MP Wajid Khan might have been excluded from Harper's caucus if he had not held a seat in Toronto's crucial 905 belt.
In Turner's case, the Liberal hype over the recruitment of a right-wing MP addresses three unpalatable realities for the party.
The first is that it has yet to find its ideological compass. Dion is right on at least one score. Compared to the significant rump of social conservatives in his caucus, Turner does qualify as a progressive.
The second is that the Liberals have yet to find a way to make up for what is likely to be a permanent loss, i.e. the return of a significant number of traditional Conservative constituencies to their natural ideological home.
Turner's Halton seat is one riding that the Liberals won handily when the right campaigned under two conflicting banners.
It is no accident that the Liberals first lost their majority, and then power, after the two conservative factions reconciled.
Finally, the warm welcome extended to Turner reveals just how anguished Liberal strategists are over how Dion will play against Harper in the suburban belt of Southern Ontario, in places where his dream team of Gerard Kennedy, Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff and Martha Hall-Finlay, with their trendy downtown Toronto undertones, will not be able to do the job for him.
Chantal Hébert's national affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. chebert@thestar.ca.
February 09, 2007
Chantal Hébert
No one would accuse Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's research team of lacking the journalistic instincts to dig into a story. After all, some members of the group that lays the groundwork for the official opposition's onslaught on the Conservative government these days once starred in the Parliamentary press gallery.
But they might have done more homework before letting Dion herald the Liberal conversion of maverick MP Garth Turner as a progressive second coming.
In two statements that should have Joe Clark spinning in his political grave, Dion framed Turner's decision as proof that the Liberal party had become the new home of the Red Tories, the progressive wing of the defunct Progressive Conservative Party.
Well, Turner has certainly been many things over the course of his political life. But a Red Tory he most certainly was not.
On the contrary, when he ran to succeed Brian Mulroney in 1993, it was as the candidate of the ultra-right wing of his party.
At the time, Turner promoted the most radically conservative policies of all five contenders, including deep cuts to social programs, reduced old-age security pensions, maternity leave and employment insurance payments, and the introduction of hospital user fees. He also called for the privatization of Canada Post and the CBC and the elimination of the multiculturalism ministry.
Over the course of that campaign, Turner was often described as a soulmate to Reform party founder Preston Manning, a comparison he did not reject.
"There are a lot of Conservatives who think the party today is too centrist," Turner told The Globe and Mail in June 1993. "Those people are looking for a return to conservative values within the Conservative party. And quite frankly, I'm out to appeal to a number of those people, because I share that belief. It's basically a conservative message. It's just one that they haven't heard from the Conservatives for a while."
If he had been more fully briefed on his recruit's well-documented background, Dion might have been more selective in his choice of words. But he would likely have been as effusive in his welcome. It seems the Liberal party felt it needed Turner as much as the banished Conservative MP needed a new home.
Few political manoeuvres reveal as much about the fears of a party as the successful seduction of MPs previously elected under a different banner.
Notwithstanding Dion's fighting words, such manoeuvres are all about papering over glaring weaknesses.
After the last Quebec referendum, Jean Chrétien went out of his way to get a handful of Quebec Tory MPs to cross over to the Liberals to drive home the message that his party was the only viable federalist alternative to the Bloc Québécois.
By bringing Bloc co-founder Jean Lapierre back into the Liberal fold, Paul Martin wanted to attract nationalist voters. And he hoped that winning over Progressive Conservative Scott Brison would help the Liberals fend off a reunited right.
David Emerson and Michael Fortier would not be in the Conservative cabinet if the party had done well in Montreal and Vancouver in the last election. And ex-Liberal MP Wajid Khan might have been excluded from Harper's caucus if he had not held a seat in Toronto's crucial 905 belt.
In Turner's case, the Liberal hype over the recruitment of a right-wing MP addresses three unpalatable realities for the party.
The first is that it has yet to find its ideological compass. Dion is right on at least one score. Compared to the significant rump of social conservatives in his caucus, Turner does qualify as a progressive.
The second is that the Liberals have yet to find a way to make up for what is likely to be a permanent loss, i.e. the return of a significant number of traditional Conservative constituencies to their natural ideological home.
Turner's Halton seat is one riding that the Liberals won handily when the right campaigned under two conflicting banners.
It is no accident that the Liberals first lost their majority, and then power, after the two conservative factions reconciled.
Finally, the warm welcome extended to Turner reveals just how anguished Liberal strategists are over how Dion will play against Harper in the suburban belt of Southern Ontario, in places where his dream team of Gerard Kennedy, Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff and Martha Hall-Finlay, with their trendy downtown Toronto undertones, will not be able to do the job for him.
Chantal Hébert's national affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. chebert@thestar.ca.
Mayor Miller's Priorities
$6.2 million is chump change in a budget of $1.2 billion but when people are fighting for nutritional supplements on social assistance, traffic tie ups due to water main breaks, roads full of pot holes, etc. you would think politicos would be showing some semblance of fiscal restraint. $5M for roads/bridges $6.2M for office renovations?
The backlog of road and bridge repairs in Toronto is a $301-million pothole growing larger by the day and endangering residents, the Canadian Automobile Association warns.Toronto's proposed 2007 capital budget allocates a mere $5 million this year to the backlog, when it should be at least $30 million for each of the next 10 years, Faye Lyons, of the CAA, told city councillors yesterday.
And what else is buried in the budget
Hall's $6M remodel
Expansion of mayor's office part of two-year renovation planned for City Hall
By BRODIE FENLON, SUN MEDIA
The mayoral workspace at City Hall is pegged for a renovation that David Miller's spokesman says will merge the mayor and his staff into one office space. (Mark O'Neill, Sun Media)
Mayor David Miller may cry poor over the city's finances, but there's apparently enough taxpayer dough to pay for a multimillion-dollar renovation at City Hall, which includes the expansion of his office.
Tucked away in the city's proposed $1.4-billion capital budget is a $6.2-million renovation project spread over two years.
The project includes two new committee rooms, a media studio and a bigger office for the mayor and his staff.
A breakdown of costs wasn't available last night. Nor was the mayor, who was en route home from Ottawa.
Details of the renovation came to light just days after councillors passed a 9% water rate hike to pay for badly needed repairs to the city's crumbling water main system.
Just yesterday, councillors were briefed on a $301-million backlog in road and bridge repairs -- a backlog for which the city says it can only afford $5 million due to the TTC's huge cost demands.
"This is ridiculous. I think taxpayers should be outraged," said Councillor David Shiner, a former budget chief.
"At a time when we're begging the provincial and federal governments to assist us financially to maintain our infrastructure ... we seem to have more than six million to renovate at the mayor's convenience."
Miller's spokesman, Stuart Green, stressed the renovation is being directed by city staff, not the mayor.
"It's a project to increase public access to City Hall," Green said, adding that the mayor's staff is split between two offices and the goal is to merge the two.
"There's a disconnect between the mayor's staff as a result of a previous design. The intention was always to have the mayor's office as one unit," Green said.
City spokesman Rob Andrusevich said the plans date back to 1998. With the advent of the new City of Toronto Act, more public meetings will be held requiring more space, he said.
"With the act, there's an expectation of more civic engagement, people being more involved with City Hall, and as a result we need more meeting space," he said.
The renovations must still be approved by the city's budget committee and council as a whole.
A Coup D'etat In Canada?
That is something reserved for third world countries. Hmmm! Now that I think about it thanks to leftists and social in-activists we have been moving towards that status. I don't disagree that we have to spend the money now or will have to spend more in the future but allowing countries like China & Russia to opt out is ludicrous especially when you consider China is a major competitor for Canadian jobs.
Power struggle brewing over opposition Kyoto bill
Updated Fri. Feb. 9 2007 11:02 PM ET
Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- The Conservative government was accused of preparing a quasi "coup d'etat" after suggesting Friday it might ignore an upcoming Commons vote to respect the Kyoto accord.
The Tories dismissed as insignificant a Liberal bill that would require them to table a plan within 60 days explaining how they would meet Canada's commitments under the climate-change treaty.
The bill is slated for a final vote in the House of Commons next Wednesday, having easily sailed through an earlier vote with the support of all three opposition parties.
Some constitutional experts said the government has a democratic obligation to follow laws adopted by Parliament and could face lawsuits if it fails to comply.
The Liberal who authored the bill said ignoring it would amount to a "coup d'etat" and would trigger a constitutional crisis -- but the government discarded such suggestions.
"No," said Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, when asked if the government felt bound by Bill C-288.
"I'm telling you that we will act (on the environment) instead of adopting an empty piece of legislation."
It was the latest twist in a climate change debate that has become increasingly politicized as polls suggest the environment has become a dominant issue for Canadians.
The legislation was also ridiculed as useless by House Leader Peter Van Loan, by spokespeople for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and in government talking points distributed to reporters.
They did not explicitly say they would ignore the law, but said their government's fate was not bound to it. The legislation contains no financial provisions and is not being considered a confidence matter.
As for the environment, the Conservatives said they were working to revise their own Clean Air Act and noted that greenhouse-gas emissions rose nearly 30 per cent under the Liberals.
The Kyoto target -- a six per cent cut in emissions by 2012 -- would be impossible to meet without crippling the economy, they said.
More
Power struggle brewing over opposition Kyoto bill
Updated Fri. Feb. 9 2007 11:02 PM ET
Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- The Conservative government was accused of preparing a quasi "coup d'etat" after suggesting Friday it might ignore an upcoming Commons vote to respect the Kyoto accord.
The Tories dismissed as insignificant a Liberal bill that would require them to table a plan within 60 days explaining how they would meet Canada's commitments under the climate-change treaty.
The bill is slated for a final vote in the House of Commons next Wednesday, having easily sailed through an earlier vote with the support of all three opposition parties.
Some constitutional experts said the government has a democratic obligation to follow laws adopted by Parliament and could face lawsuits if it fails to comply.
The Liberal who authored the bill said ignoring it would amount to a "coup d'etat" and would trigger a constitutional crisis -- but the government discarded such suggestions.
"No," said Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, when asked if the government felt bound by Bill C-288.
"I'm telling you that we will act (on the environment) instead of adopting an empty piece of legislation."
It was the latest twist in a climate change debate that has become increasingly politicized as polls suggest the environment has become a dominant issue for Canadians.
The legislation was also ridiculed as useless by House Leader Peter Van Loan, by spokespeople for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and in government talking points distributed to reporters.
They did not explicitly say they would ignore the law, but said their government's fate was not bound to it. The legislation contains no financial provisions and is not being considered a confidence matter.
As for the environment, the Conservatives said they were working to revise their own Clean Air Act and noted that greenhouse-gas emissions rose nearly 30 per cent under the Liberals.
The Kyoto target -- a six per cent cut in emissions by 2012 -- would be impossible to meet without crippling the economy, they said.
More
Friday, February 09, 2007
Maybe George Didn't Say It But It Is The Thought That Counts
BTW if you have already read/heard them congratulations...save some time I am not interested.
George Carlin's New
Rules For 2006
New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly likethem! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.
New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Trout?
New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards.
New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you're a grown man , they're pictures of men.
New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.
New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule: Stop f***ing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the SocialSecurity crisis.
New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the ass hole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a hugeass hole.
New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding,no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating myAlmond Joy.
New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.
New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait. They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."
New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.
New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.
George Carlin's New
Rules For 2006
New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly likethem! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.
New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Trout?
New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards.
New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you're a grown man , they're pictures of men.
New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.
New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule: Stop f***ing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the SocialSecurity crisis.
New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the ass hole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a hugeass hole.
New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding,no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating myAlmond Joy.
New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.
New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait. They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."
New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.
New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.
If We Extract Greenhouse Gases....
.....from the atmosphere wouldn't we leave a hole similar to the one in the ozone layer which would create additional problems for the human race.
25M prize to beat greenhous gas
Contributed by: Anonymous
$25M prize to beat greenhouse gas
POSTED: 6:55 a.m. EST, February 9, 2007
Adjust font size:
LONDON, England (AP) -- British tycoon Richard Branson on Friday announced a $25 million prize for the first scientist to come up with a way to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
The Virgin Group chairman was joined by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other leading environmentalists as he announced the challenge to find ways to significantly reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Branson compared his challenge to the competition launched in 1675 to devise a method of estimating longitude accurately. It was 60 years before English clock maker John Harrison discovered an accurate method and received his prize from King George III.
"The Earth cannot wait 60 years. We need everybody capable of discovering an answer to put their minds to it today," Branson said.
"We have only our own ingenuity and we have no hope of a meaningful solution unless we find a way to work together," Branson said. "Necessity is the mother of invention."
Wasn't the atomic bomb developed because of necessity?
25M prize to beat greenhous gas
Contributed by: Anonymous
$25M prize to beat greenhouse gas
POSTED: 6:55 a.m. EST, February 9, 2007
Adjust font size:
LONDON, England (AP) -- British tycoon Richard Branson on Friday announced a $25 million prize for the first scientist to come up with a way to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
The Virgin Group chairman was joined by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other leading environmentalists as he announced the challenge to find ways to significantly reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Branson compared his challenge to the competition launched in 1675 to devise a method of estimating longitude accurately. It was 60 years before English clock maker John Harrison discovered an accurate method and received his prize from King George III.
"The Earth cannot wait 60 years. We need everybody capable of discovering an answer to put their minds to it today," Branson said.
"We have only our own ingenuity and we have no hope of a meaningful solution unless we find a way to work together," Branson said. "Necessity is the mother of invention."
Wasn't the atomic bomb developed because of necessity?
Miller Keeps Promise To City Unions For Their Support
A private contractor charges $10/tonne less to pickup garbage than do city employees. How does this save the taxpayer money? The city tells us no additional workers will be needed as the existing force will pickup the extra garbage. If that is true you have to wonder how much time the existing employees are wasting? The outside workers will now hold the entire city for ransom when it comes to negotiating contracts.
City considering garbage collection to save cash
Toronto city council is considering a report that recommends adding more garbage collection routes but not more people to pick up the trash as a way to save millions of dollars a year.
The former City of York is one of two places in Toronto where trash is picked up by a private company under contract.
A Works Committee report recommended that city workers take over the collection of trash when the contract expires this summer. The report said it could save money for Toronto city hall.
York's former mayor is now a city councilor in Toronto. Frances Nunziata does not support the recommendation.
"It has worked, the residents are happy with it - they get good service," Nunziata said Friday.
She added that she does not know why city staff recommended bringing garbage collection "in-house."
"I don't believe the figures, so I'm going to be objecting to it."
Fifteen years have passed since city employees have picked up trash in York.
The staff report said Toronto will save $4 million a year by taking over garbage collection.
The report also said that there will be no need to hire new workers, despite the added workload. City officials believe the work can be handled by existing staff.
If the recommendation is accepted by city council, city employees will start collecting garbage in August.
With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown
City considering garbage collection to save cash
Toronto city council is considering a report that recommends adding more garbage collection routes but not more people to pick up the trash as a way to save millions of dollars a year.
The former City of York is one of two places in Toronto where trash is picked up by a private company under contract.
A Works Committee report recommended that city workers take over the collection of trash when the contract expires this summer. The report said it could save money for Toronto city hall.
York's former mayor is now a city councilor in Toronto. Frances Nunziata does not support the recommendation.
"It has worked, the residents are happy with it - they get good service," Nunziata said Friday.
She added that she does not know why city staff recommended bringing garbage collection "in-house."
"I don't believe the figures, so I'm going to be objecting to it."
Fifteen years have passed since city employees have picked up trash in York.
The staff report said Toronto will save $4 million a year by taking over garbage collection.
The report also said that there will be no need to hire new workers, despite the added workload. City officials believe the work can be handled by existing staff.
If the recommendation is accepted by city council, city employees will start collecting garbage in August.
With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown
Democracy a la Liberal
Affirmative Autocracy
When women can't win nomination the old fashioned way, enter the Liberal sugar-daddy;
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is prepared to take “extraordinary measures” to boost the ranks of women candidates in the next election, including barring men from seeking nominations in some ridings.
During last year’s leadership race, Dion promised that under his watch at least a third of the party’s candidates in the next election would be women.
But campaign organizers have concluded that the ambitious goal will be impossible to reach without some intervention to secure nominations for female candidates.
This guy is just a gift that keeps on giving...
Posted by Kate at 8:13 AM | Comments (5)
When women can't win nomination the old fashioned way, enter the Liberal sugar-daddy;
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is prepared to take “extraordinary measures” to boost the ranks of women candidates in the next election, including barring men from seeking nominations in some ridings.
During last year’s leadership race, Dion promised that under his watch at least a third of the party’s candidates in the next election would be women.
But campaign organizers have concluded that the ambitious goal will be impossible to reach without some intervention to secure nominations for female candidates.
This guy is just a gift that keeps on giving...
Posted by Kate at 8:13 AM | Comments (5)
Continuing Muslim Primer Ed
The Term "Human Being" Has No Meaning In Islam
From Front Page Magazine comes an interview with Bill Warner the head of the Center for the Study of Political Islam (thanks to Religion of Pieces):
FP: Why, in your view, is there so much ignorance about the history and doctrine of political Islam in the West?
Warner: First, let’s see how ignorant we are about the history of political Islam. How many Christians can tell you how Turkey or Egypt became Islamic? What happened to the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in Paul’s letters? Find a Jew who can tell you the Jewish history of dhimmitude (second class citizens who serve Islam). What European knows that white women were the highest priced slaves in Mecca? Everyone knows how many Jews Hitler killed, but find an unbeliever who can tell you how many died in jihad over the last 1400 years.
We are just as ignorant about the doctrine of Islam. An FBI agent gets two hours of training on Islam and most of that is how not to offend the imam. We are fighting in Iraq. Who utilizes the political, military doctrine of Islam to plan strategy? Who can find a single rabbi or minister who has read the Koran, Sira and Hadith?
What governor, senator, congressmen or military leader displays a knowledge of the political doctrine of Islam? Try to find a course available in a college about Islamic political doctrine and ethics. Graduates are schooled in Islamic art, architecture, poetry, Sufism, and a glorious history that ignores the suffering of the innocent unbelievers. Graduates read comments about the Koran and Hadith, but do not read the actual doctrine.
Go read the whole thing.
From Front Page Magazine comes an interview with Bill Warner the head of the Center for the Study of Political Islam (thanks to Religion of Pieces):
FP: Why, in your view, is there so much ignorance about the history and doctrine of political Islam in the West?
Warner: First, let’s see how ignorant we are about the history of political Islam. How many Christians can tell you how Turkey or Egypt became Islamic? What happened to the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in Paul’s letters? Find a Jew who can tell you the Jewish history of dhimmitude (second class citizens who serve Islam). What European knows that white women were the highest priced slaves in Mecca? Everyone knows how many Jews Hitler killed, but find an unbeliever who can tell you how many died in jihad over the last 1400 years.
We are just as ignorant about the doctrine of Islam. An FBI agent gets two hours of training on Islam and most of that is how not to offend the imam. We are fighting in Iraq. Who utilizes the political, military doctrine of Islam to plan strategy? Who can find a single rabbi or minister who has read the Koran, Sira and Hadith?
What governor, senator, congressmen or military leader displays a knowledge of the political doctrine of Islam? Try to find a course available in a college about Islamic political doctrine and ethics. Graduates are schooled in Islamic art, architecture, poetry, Sufism, and a glorious history that ignores the suffering of the innocent unbelievers. Graduates read comments about the Koran and Hadith, but do not read the actual doctrine.
Go read the whole thing.
Climate Change's Bono
Al Gore to Announce Climate Change Concerts Friday Larger Than Live Aid
Posted by Noel Sheppard on February 8, 2007 - 21:53.
First came the movie, then the media publicity, next the Academy Award and Nobel Peace Prize nominations, and now the concerts. This dreadful circle likely won’t end until the next Ice Age starts in about twenty years.
At least that gives us all something to look forward to.
Until then, the Financial Times reported Thursday (h/t Drudge):
A series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn.
The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.
The article continued:
It is understood that former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change to cinema audiences last year, will announce the event tomorrow in London.
The organisers hope to involve up to 2.5m people in events and link-ups at the cities involved, as well as other locations.
They are promising a line-up of artists to "dwarf" that of the Live8 and Live Aid concerts, thought to be branded under the name "SOS".
One person close to the event said yesterday: "The talent involved is just exponentially bigger because the issue itself is bigger.”
Unfortunately, the article didn’t specify whether or not people who don’t buy into this junk science will be allowed to either perform or attend. I’ve sent an e-mail message to Al Gore with that question. I’ll let you know as soon as he gets back to me.
Noel Sheppard's blog
Visit and read comments.....
Posted by Noel Sheppard on February 8, 2007 - 21:53.
First came the movie, then the media publicity, next the Academy Award and Nobel Peace Prize nominations, and now the concerts. This dreadful circle likely won’t end until the next Ice Age starts in about twenty years.
At least that gives us all something to look forward to.
Until then, the Financial Times reported Thursday (h/t Drudge):
A series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn.
The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.
The article continued:
It is understood that former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change to cinema audiences last year, will announce the event tomorrow in London.
The organisers hope to involve up to 2.5m people in events and link-ups at the cities involved, as well as other locations.
They are promising a line-up of artists to "dwarf" that of the Live8 and Live Aid concerts, thought to be branded under the name "SOS".
One person close to the event said yesterday: "The talent involved is just exponentially bigger because the issue itself is bigger.”
Unfortunately, the article didn’t specify whether or not people who don’t buy into this junk science will be allowed to either perform or attend. I’ve sent an e-mail message to Al Gore with that question. I’ll let you know as soon as he gets back to me.
Noel Sheppard's blog
Visit and read comments.....
Any Similar Plans For Toronto's Cultural Event This Summer
Possibly the mayor, the island squatters and the organizers of the Gay Pride Parade can organize something similar for the island....how does the saying go; "Families that sail together stay together."
Amsterdam Gay Pride to include boat for under-16s
Amsterdam's mayor has reportedly changed his mind and allowed the city's upcoming Gay Pride festival to include a canal boat for 11 to 16 year-olds.
According to the ANP news agency, the mayor, Job Cohen, had blocked the plans in late January, saying it was too risky.
A 14-year-old Danny Hoekzema came up with the idea and has conducted an Internet campaign to drum up support for his campaign, and says he has already found around 10 participants for the 30-place boat.
Gay Pride organizers had said that it would be kept well away from more "provocative" boats parading along the Dutch's city's canals and that the youngsters would be joined by their parents on board.
Is This Similar To The Y2K Doomsday Vault
'Doomsday vault' to resist global warming effects
An Arctic "doomsday vault" aimed at providing mankind with food in case of a global catastrophe will be designed to sustain the effects of climate change, the project's builders said as they unveiled the architectural plans.
The top-security repository, carved into the permafrost of a mountain in the remote Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole, will preserve some three million batches of seeds from all known varieties of the planet's crops.
The hope is that the vault will make it possible to re-establish crops obliterated by major disasters.
"We have taken into consideration the (outside) temperature rising and have located the facility so far inside the rock that it will be in permafrost and won't be affected" by the outside temperature, Magnus Bredeli Tveiten, project manager at Norway's Directorate of Public Construction and Property, told AFP.
Construction on the seed bank, also dubbed the "Noah's Ark of food", will begin in March.
The seed samples, such as wheat and potatoes, will be stored in two chambers located deep inside a mountain, accessed by a 120-meter (395-foot) tunnel. The tunnel and vaults will be excavated by boring and blasting techniques and the rock walls sprayed with concrete.
The seeds will be maintained at a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 Fahrenheit).
The vault is situated about 130 meters (426 feet) above current sea level. It would not flood if Greenland's ice sheet melts, which some estimate would increase sea levels by seven meters (23 feet).
It is also expected to be safe if the ices of Antarctica completely melt, which experts say could increase sea levels by 61 meters (200 feet).
The entry to the vault, which will shoot out of the mountainside, will be a narrow triangular portal made of cement and steel, illuminated with artwork that changes according to the Arctic light.
In summer, "in the midnight sun, it will look like a large diamond," said Tveiten. In winter, when the sun does not rise above the horizon, "it will glow into the darkness," he added.
Behind the airlock door, each chamber will measure 375 square meters (4,036 square feet). Corrugated plastic boxes the size of moving boxes will sit on rows of metal shelves.
Each box will contain about 400 samples in envelopes made of polyethelene, and each sample will contain around 500 seeds.
The samples will be stored in watertight foil packages to act as a barrier against moisture should a power failure disable refrigeration systems.
Construction on the three-million-dollar (2.3-million-euro) vault is due to finish in September. It will officially open in late winter 2008.
The design of the structure is "simple, it's functional, it runs by itself. We can't have a better design," Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the brains behind the vault, told AFP.
"It makes use of the natural cold. It's planned with the climate change factor taken into consideration and it will be frozen 200 years from now. And even in the worst case scenario, if the temperature rises it will still be safe," he said.
An Arctic "doomsday vault" aimed at providing mankind with food in case of a global catastrophe will be designed to sustain the effects of climate change, the project's builders said as they unveiled the architectural plans.
The top-security repository, carved into the permafrost of a mountain in the remote Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole, will preserve some three million batches of seeds from all known varieties of the planet's crops.
The hope is that the vault will make it possible to re-establish crops obliterated by major disasters.
"We have taken into consideration the (outside) temperature rising and have located the facility so far inside the rock that it will be in permafrost and won't be affected" by the outside temperature, Magnus Bredeli Tveiten, project manager at Norway's Directorate of Public Construction and Property, told AFP.
Construction on the seed bank, also dubbed the "Noah's Ark of food", will begin in March.
The seed samples, such as wheat and potatoes, will be stored in two chambers located deep inside a mountain, accessed by a 120-meter (395-foot) tunnel. The tunnel and vaults will be excavated by boring and blasting techniques and the rock walls sprayed with concrete.
The seeds will be maintained at a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 Fahrenheit).
The vault is situated about 130 meters (426 feet) above current sea level. It would not flood if Greenland's ice sheet melts, which some estimate would increase sea levels by seven meters (23 feet).
It is also expected to be safe if the ices of Antarctica completely melt, which experts say could increase sea levels by 61 meters (200 feet).
The entry to the vault, which will shoot out of the mountainside, will be a narrow triangular portal made of cement and steel, illuminated with artwork that changes according to the Arctic light.
In summer, "in the midnight sun, it will look like a large diamond," said Tveiten. In winter, when the sun does not rise above the horizon, "it will glow into the darkness," he added.
Behind the airlock door, each chamber will measure 375 square meters (4,036 square feet). Corrugated plastic boxes the size of moving boxes will sit on rows of metal shelves.
Each box will contain about 400 samples in envelopes made of polyethelene, and each sample will contain around 500 seeds.
The samples will be stored in watertight foil packages to act as a barrier against moisture should a power failure disable refrigeration systems.
Construction on the three-million-dollar (2.3-million-euro) vault is due to finish in September. It will officially open in late winter 2008.
The design of the structure is "simple, it's functional, it runs by itself. We can't have a better design," Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the brains behind the vault, told AFP.
"It makes use of the natural cold. It's planned with the climate change factor taken into consideration and it will be frozen 200 years from now. And even in the worst case scenario, if the temperature rises it will still be safe," he said.
Climate Change Problems End In July
That is when a series of concerts, that will dwarf the Live Aid concerts, will be held and we all know how successful those concerts were. A lot of hype, a lot of music, a lot of committment but we still have thousands of children dying each day of hunger.
Climate change concerts 'to dwarf Live Aid'
By Carlos Grande and Fiona Harvey
Published: February 8 2007 02:00 | Last updated: February 8 2007 02:00
A series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn.
The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.
It is understood that former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change to cinema audiences last year, will announce the event tomorrow in London.
The organisers hope to involve up to 2.5m people in events and link-ups at the cities involved, as well as other locations.
They are promising a line-up of artists to "dwarf" that of the Live8 and Live Aid concerts, thought to be branded under the name "SOS".
One person close to the event said yesterday: "The talent involved is just exponentially bigger because the issue itself is bigger.
"Live Aid was about asking people to stump up money, this is about effecting systemic change.
"The aim is not just to drive awareness but to get people to take action."
These actions are likely to include personal pledges to reduce emissions, for instance by using energy efficient equipment or flying less.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Climate change concerts 'to dwarf Live Aid'
By Carlos Grande and Fiona Harvey
Published: February 8 2007 02:00 | Last updated: February 8 2007 02:00
A series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn.
The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.
It is understood that former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change to cinema audiences last year, will announce the event tomorrow in London.
The organisers hope to involve up to 2.5m people in events and link-ups at the cities involved, as well as other locations.
They are promising a line-up of artists to "dwarf" that of the Live8 and Live Aid concerts, thought to be branded under the name "SOS".
One person close to the event said yesterday: "The talent involved is just exponentially bigger because the issue itself is bigger.
"Live Aid was about asking people to stump up money, this is about effecting systemic change.
"The aim is not just to drive awareness but to get people to take action."
These actions are likely to include personal pledges to reduce emissions, for instance by using energy efficient equipment or flying less.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Blogger Success Story?
It is obvious it can be done but then going to the moon can also be done. Each presents it's own challenge and effort. Congrats to John Chow and others who are taking the challange.
Internet bucks; no effort
A Richmond, B.C., blogger has found multiple ways of earning ad dollars while spending only two hours a day on his site
Marke Andrews in Vancouver
CanWest News Service
Thursday, February 08, 2007
B.C. resident and blogger John Chow managed to earn $3,440 in advertising in January on his Web site while happily doing nothing more than writing.
John Chow spends about two hours a day on his blog, johnchow. com. For that time, Mr. Chow says he made $3,440.66 in ad revenue last month. That's a nice little egg from his part-time labour of love, a Web log that runs under the secondary title: The Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Dot Com Mogul. It may not be the $100,000-plus monthly earnings of some sites, but it's good beer money and 10 times what he made five months ago when his blog started earning ad revenue.
More
Internet bucks; no effort
A Richmond, B.C., blogger has found multiple ways of earning ad dollars while spending only two hours a day on his site
Marke Andrews in Vancouver
CanWest News Service
Thursday, February 08, 2007
B.C. resident and blogger John Chow managed to earn $3,440 in advertising in January on his Web site while happily doing nothing more than writing.
John Chow spends about two hours a day on his blog, johnchow. com. For that time, Mr. Chow says he made $3,440.66 in ad revenue last month. That's a nice little egg from his part-time labour of love, a Web log that runs under the secondary title: The Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Dot Com Mogul. It may not be the $100,000-plus monthly earnings of some sites, but it's good beer money and 10 times what he made five months ago when his blog started earning ad revenue.
More
IS DION TANKING ? TORIES OPEN 7% LEAD
Keep up the pressure Stephen! Don't get cocky. Let's build on the momentum.
Poll gives Tories the edge
February 08, 2007
Canadian Press
MONTREAL – A recent poll suggests the Conservatives have a slight lead over the Liberals.
The Leger Marketing survey gives the Tories 38 per cent support, the Liberals 31 per cent, the NDP 14 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois eight per cent.
In Quebec, the Liberals (32 per cent) and the Bloc (31) are in a battle and are followed by the Conservatives at 24 per cent.
In Ontario, the Conservatives are at 40 per cent, compared with the Liberals' 35 per cent.
The poll of 1,500 Canadians was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 4, a period shortly after the Conservatives unveiled ads critical of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
The national results are considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Poll gives Tories the edge
February 08, 2007
Canadian Press
MONTREAL – A recent poll suggests the Conservatives have a slight lead over the Liberals.
The Leger Marketing survey gives the Tories 38 per cent support, the Liberals 31 per cent, the NDP 14 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois eight per cent.
In Quebec, the Liberals (32 per cent) and the Bloc (31) are in a battle and are followed by the Conservatives at 24 per cent.
In Ontario, the Conservatives are at 40 per cent, compared with the Liberals' 35 per cent.
The poll of 1,500 Canadians was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 4, a period shortly after the Conservatives unveiled ads critical of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
The national results are considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Councillor's Actions WERE Childish
And they should be admonished but The Star seems to have lost sight of one obvious thing....THE CONTINUING LACK OF LEADERSHIP BY MAYOR MILLER. Aren't parents supposed to be in charge and control the children?
Play nice, children
February 08, 2007
City council animosities have erupted in the form of unforgivably childish behaviour that must not be repeated if Toronto's municipal government is to retain even a shred of public respect.
People are outraged. And they have every right to be when even lining up for a photo seems beyond the ability of their elected representatives.
The cancellation of a group portrait Tuesday after several councillors would not stop bickering over where to sit marks a new low for a council that has been long tarnished by episodes of dysfunction.
The incident stems from the outrageous behaviour of a few politicians on council's conservative wing who demanded to sit in the front row and refused to move when asked.
It is inexcusable that veteran councillors, including Case Ootes and Mike Del Grande, stooped to such juvenile tactics in expressing their opposition to the new order at city hall.
Ootes was once a highly respected deputy mayor who effectively chaired many a meeting in the Mel Lastman era. Now he has put himself in the role of a schoolyard whiner, devoid of any sense of propriety.
It would not be so serious if such conduct only tarnished those councillors who refused to co-operate with the city's photographer.
But this embarrassing incident inevitably reflects upon the effectiveness of the entire city council.
It serves to deepen the public's already profound cynicism concerning politicians, especially those elected to local office.
The councillors who perpetrated this nonsense not only made fools of themselves, they made Toronto's municipal government appear silly and weak. In fact, it is neither.
What it is, though, is deeply divided.
Mayor David Miller and some councillors, especially those on a new executive committee, wield unprecedented power. This group was originally supposed to occupy the coveted front row in the photo.
Other long-serving members, such as Ootes, have seen their influence stripped away and have been reduced to battling on small fronts, such as seating for a portrait.
What councillors must do is settle down and do the job they were elected to do, which is to represent constituents to the best of their ability.
And for those councillors who won't, then they should at least stop tossing their dignity to the wind and making fools of one and all.
Play nice, children
February 08, 2007
City council animosities have erupted in the form of unforgivably childish behaviour that must not be repeated if Toronto's municipal government is to retain even a shred of public respect.
People are outraged. And they have every right to be when even lining up for a photo seems beyond the ability of their elected representatives.
The cancellation of a group portrait Tuesday after several councillors would not stop bickering over where to sit marks a new low for a council that has been long tarnished by episodes of dysfunction.
The incident stems from the outrageous behaviour of a few politicians on council's conservative wing who demanded to sit in the front row and refused to move when asked.
It is inexcusable that veteran councillors, including Case Ootes and Mike Del Grande, stooped to such juvenile tactics in expressing their opposition to the new order at city hall.
Ootes was once a highly respected deputy mayor who effectively chaired many a meeting in the Mel Lastman era. Now he has put himself in the role of a schoolyard whiner, devoid of any sense of propriety.
It would not be so serious if such conduct only tarnished those councillors who refused to co-operate with the city's photographer.
But this embarrassing incident inevitably reflects upon the effectiveness of the entire city council.
It serves to deepen the public's already profound cynicism concerning politicians, especially those elected to local office.
The councillors who perpetrated this nonsense not only made fools of themselves, they made Toronto's municipal government appear silly and weak. In fact, it is neither.
What it is, though, is deeply divided.
Mayor David Miller and some councillors, especially those on a new executive committee, wield unprecedented power. This group was originally supposed to occupy the coveted front row in the photo.
Other long-serving members, such as Ootes, have seen their influence stripped away and have been reduced to battling on small fronts, such as seating for a portrait.
What councillors must do is settle down and do the job they were elected to do, which is to represent constituents to the best of their ability.
And for those councillors who won't, then they should at least stop tossing their dignity to the wind and making fools of one and all.
The Ball Is In Garth Turner's Court
Do Dion, Turner and Bonin put the hands up in surrender?
Newest Liberal takes on Tories
Turner dares Prime Minister to call by-election
February 08, 2007
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau Chief
OTTAWA–Garth Turner, the newly converted Liberal MP, is locked in a game of political chicken with his old Conservative bosses – each daring the other to provoke a by-election so that Halton voters can endorse or reject his new party affiliation.
In question period yesterday, Turner stood up in his new place on the Liberal opposition bench and challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call a by-election in his GTA riding of Halton. But he argued that also means a by-election in Mississauga-Streetsville, where MP Wajid Khan exchanged his Liberal party stripes last month to sit as a Conservative MP.
"If the Prime Minister will call a by-election today so the people of Halton will not be without their member of Parliament for a few weeks, then I will lay my seat on the line today," Turner said. "Will he do that, yes or no, and will he tell the member for Mississauga-Streetsville to get with the program?"
Harper didn't answer the questions himself. Minutes earlier, he'd joined in the raucous applause of Tories, sarcastically welcoming Liberals to embrace Turner as one of their own. The Prime Minister even waved his arms in that direction, gesturing that he was pleased to hand Turner to his political foes across the floor of the Commons.
Government Leader Peter van Loan instead issued a counter-challenge to Turner – quit first, and then the government will call a by-election to fill the seat.
"I will assure the member for Halton that if he wishes to see a by-election at Halton, it is fully within his control. He can resign today. I am sure we will comply," he said. "I think his 15 minutes of fame are over. If he wishes to have a by-election, that is 100 per cent in his control."
Don't hold your breath.....
Barnum & Bailey At Their Winter Home
TORONTO CITY HALL
Council `hypocritical as heck' on wage issue
February 08, 2007
City council this week opted not to push Queen's Park to hike the minimum wage to $10, at least not immediately. Councillors Michael Walker and Michael Thompson had asked council to endorse the hike, and Walker was upset when council voted 27-15 against his motion. He suggested some NDP councillors voted "no" because they don't want to upset Premier Dalton McGuinty, who's proven a good friend of the city. Several NDP party members voted in favour of his idea, but Walker wasn't mollified. "This council is hypocritical as heck. We're talking about basic, human decency and increasing the minimum wage should be an NDP issue. Their own party is on record in support of it." Mayor David Miller voted against the motion, but said it was because he wants the idea examined as part of the city's anti-poverty program. A council committee will consider the $10 minimum wage issue in the coming weeks.
Perks turns off coffee, non-local food sources
Councillor Gord Perks, a long-time environmentalist who sits on council's parks and environment committee, said he's not happy with himself for drinking coffee lately. "The average meal we eat has to travel 2,000 kilometres," he said yesterday. "Think about the fuel that's consumed. We really should consume food that's grown locally." Seeing as coffee doesn't grow in Canada, even with global warming, Perks was asked what the best local alternative might be. "Dandelion tea, maybe? That's not too appetizing. But there are other teas that are made locally."
Moscoe makes like a virgin at council
Discussing a rezoning application at council this week, Councillor Howard Moscoe used an analogy about protecting one's virginity. After a round of groans and guffaws from his fellow councillors and the public gallery, Moscoe, enjoying the moment, said words to the effect of, "It's my virginity and I can talk about it if I want to." Thanks for the mental image, Howard.
Butts named as a new deputy city manager
Richard Butts has been named a new deputy city manager. Butts was the former head of solid waste management for the city. He joins Sue Corke as deputy manager under city manager Shirley Hoy.
Careful what you wish for, councillor
Council's debate on whether to institute a lobbyist registry, and whether lobbyists should have to pay a small fee to talk with councillors when they're trying to influence them on public policy matters, droned on quite a while Tuesday night. Near the end, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti threw up his hands in mock frustration. "Actually," he said, "I hope nobody ever talks to me again." Mayor David Miller immediately raised his arm. "The motion carries," he said with a grin.
Politico talks back too soon to new Speaker
It's going to take councillors a while to get used to having a Speaker run their meetings. When Speaker Sandra Bussin started laying down the law early Monday, one councillor was heard to mutter, `What, are we supposed to genuflect?' Councillor Michael Walker, used to being overruled by council's dominant left wing, made a point of order late on Tuesday. As Bussin started to respond, Walker jumped to his feet. When she ruled in his favour, he suddenly sat back down with a bemused look. "Anticipated outrage," he said.
JIM BYERS AND DONOVAN VINCENT
Council `hypocritical as heck' on wage issue
February 08, 2007
City council this week opted not to push Queen's Park to hike the minimum wage to $10, at least not immediately. Councillors Michael Walker and Michael Thompson had asked council to endorse the hike, and Walker was upset when council voted 27-15 against his motion. He suggested some NDP councillors voted "no" because they don't want to upset Premier Dalton McGuinty, who's proven a good friend of the city. Several NDP party members voted in favour of his idea, but Walker wasn't mollified. "This council is hypocritical as heck. We're talking about basic, human decency and increasing the minimum wage should be an NDP issue. Their own party is on record in support of it." Mayor David Miller voted against the motion, but said it was because he wants the idea examined as part of the city's anti-poverty program. A council committee will consider the $10 minimum wage issue in the coming weeks.
Perks turns off coffee, non-local food sources
Councillor Gord Perks, a long-time environmentalist who sits on council's parks and environment committee, said he's not happy with himself for drinking coffee lately. "The average meal we eat has to travel 2,000 kilometres," he said yesterday. "Think about the fuel that's consumed. We really should consume food that's grown locally." Seeing as coffee doesn't grow in Canada, even with global warming, Perks was asked what the best local alternative might be. "Dandelion tea, maybe? That's not too appetizing. But there are other teas that are made locally."
Moscoe makes like a virgin at council
Discussing a rezoning application at council this week, Councillor Howard Moscoe used an analogy about protecting one's virginity. After a round of groans and guffaws from his fellow councillors and the public gallery, Moscoe, enjoying the moment, said words to the effect of, "It's my virginity and I can talk about it if I want to." Thanks for the mental image, Howard.
Butts named as a new deputy city manager
Richard Butts has been named a new deputy city manager. Butts was the former head of solid waste management for the city. He joins Sue Corke as deputy manager under city manager Shirley Hoy.
Careful what you wish for, councillor
Council's debate on whether to institute a lobbyist registry, and whether lobbyists should have to pay a small fee to talk with councillors when they're trying to influence them on public policy matters, droned on quite a while Tuesday night. Near the end, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti threw up his hands in mock frustration. "Actually," he said, "I hope nobody ever talks to me again." Mayor David Miller immediately raised his arm. "The motion carries," he said with a grin.
Politico talks back too soon to new Speaker
It's going to take councillors a while to get used to having a Speaker run their meetings. When Speaker Sandra Bussin started laying down the law early Monday, one councillor was heard to mutter, `What, are we supposed to genuflect?' Councillor Michael Walker, used to being overruled by council's dominant left wing, made a point of order late on Tuesday. As Bussin started to respond, Walker jumped to his feet. When she ruled in his favour, he suddenly sat back down with a bemused look. "Anticipated outrage," he said.
JIM BYERS AND DONOVAN VINCENT
YOA Protects Garbage Like This
Police identify shooting suspect, 14
February 08, 2007
Tracy Huffman
Crime Reporter
Police are hunting for a 14-year-old boy, wanted in the shooting of Kemar Long-Thompson who was killed in the city's far east end Sunday while attending a birthday party for his 16-year-old cousin.
In a move reserved for the most serious of crimes, homicide officers were granted judicial authorization to identify Jason "Yoshi" Beharry for five days in order to seek help from the public, Det. Graham Gibson said at a press conference at police headquarters this afternoon.
"To Jason Beharry, the Toronto Police Service urges you to turn yourself in," said Gibson.
Beharry should be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached, the homicide detective said.
Anyone who sees Beharry should call 911.
Police believe he was in Toronto up until yesterday morning and is likely still in the Greater Toronto Area.
"It concerns me that a person of this young age is running around armed with a firearm," Gibson said.
Long-Thompson was at his cousin's 16th birthday party on Scarborough Heights Blvd. in the Kingston and McCowan Rds. area on Saturday night when gunfire erupted. Two others were injured; an 18-year-old was treated and released from hospital while a 28-year-old relative of the birthday girl remains in critical condition.
Police believe Beharry had been at the party for a couple of hours and fired a gun in the basement when asked by adult family members to leave around midnight.
Two other suspects are also being sought, but police do not know their identities.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477 or online at www.222tips.com
Where Have We Heard This Before
Liberals plan women-only nomination races
February 08, 2007
Joan Bryden
Canadian press
OTTAWA – Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is prepared to take "extraordinary measures" to boost the ranks of women candidates in the next election, including barring men from seeking nominations in some ridings.
During last year's leadership race, Dion promised that under his watch at least a third of the party's candidates in the next election would be women.
But campaign organizers have concluded that the ambitious goal will be impossible to reach without some intervention to secure nominations for female candidates.
So-called green-light committees, set up to run the party's nomination process in each province, have been empowered to ensure the 33 per cent target is met. Among other things, the committees can set dates for nomination meetings and approve or reject nomination papers from those seeking to carry the Liberal colours.
Where necessary, the committees will be able to simply refuse to allow men to run for nominations in some ridings.
"We're trying to find the techniques that are consistent with our democratic processes to the greatest extent possible," said Gerard Kennedy, Dion's special adviser on election readiness.
Screw the democratic process.....
A Pat On The Head For Gun Crimes
Is it any wonder that gun crime is escalating?
Prosecutors offered Steele a deal in court Thursday. In exchange for his guilty pleas for dealing guns and drugs, Steele was given a six-month sentence. That time is on top of the seven months he has already served.He is expected to be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence, or four months.
There should have been no deal, a mandatory sentence of two years consecutiveon each of the possession charges and no allowance for time served. Also consideration should have given to charging one of his accomplices...his mother.
Creba suspect guilty of gun and drug charges
toronto.ctv.ca
The first guilty plea related to the Jane Creba murder investigation was entered in a Toronto, Ont. court Thursday morning with a 19-year-old man admitting to gun and drug charges in the case.
Richard Steele pleaded guilty in an Old City Hall courtroom to conspiracy charges involving the sale of crack cocaine and at least eight handguns. He was arrested seven months ago during a Toronto police raid dubbed 'Project Green Apple.'
Why bother arresting them.......
Prosecutors offered Steele a deal in court Thursday. In exchange for his guilty pleas for dealing guns and drugs, Steele was given a six-month sentence. That time is on top of the seven months he has already served.He is expected to be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence, or four months.
There should have been no deal, a mandatory sentence of two years consecutiveon each of the possession charges and no allowance for time served. Also consideration should have given to charging one of his accomplices...his mother.
Creba suspect guilty of gun and drug charges
toronto.ctv.ca
The first guilty plea related to the Jane Creba murder investigation was entered in a Toronto, Ont. court Thursday morning with a 19-year-old man admitting to gun and drug charges in the case.
Richard Steele pleaded guilty in an Old City Hall courtroom to conspiracy charges involving the sale of crack cocaine and at least eight handguns. He was arrested seven months ago during a Toronto police raid dubbed 'Project Green Apple.'
Why bother arresting them.......
The Real Test Comes In October
I would suggest to John Tory that he become more aggresive right now and take a page from Harper's playbook with a campaign that highlights McGinty's broken promises especially the "no new taxes" and his failure in the energy sector.
NDP, Liberals and Tories all win in Ontario
Canadian Press
The NDP's campaign for a $10 minimum wage propelled them to unexpected victory Thursday in one of three provincial byelections considered key indicators of voters' attitudes just eight months before a general election.
New Democrat candidate Paul Ferreira captured Toronto's York South-Weston riding by tapping into voter anger over a 25 per cent pay raise members of the legislature voted themselves before Christmas.
York South-Weston is one of the poorest ridings in Ontario, and the NDP used the politicians' pay raise to highlight their own campaign for a $10 minimum wage, issues they said hit home with voters in the inner-city riding.
It was obvious the NDP tactics were resonating late in the campaign, when Liberal candidate in York-South Weston, Laura Albanese, tried unsuccessfully to steal their thunder on the minimum wage issue by issuing a flyer on the issue.
The Liberals did manage Thursday to hang on to the suburban Toronto riding of Markham, where candidate Michael Chan took nearly 48 per cent of the vote compared with 35 per cent for Conservative Alex Yuan.
The Opposition Conservatives held onto Burlington, where candidate Joyce Savoline took about 48 per cent support to hold the riding where hospital funding and traffic gridlock were the key issues.
The Conservatives won Burlington by less than 1,000 votes in the 2003 election, but have held the seat for decades and winning the byelection was considered a major test for new party leader John Tory.
Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank De Jong was a distant fourth in Burlington with only three per cent of the vote.
The results of the byelections would not have changed the Liberal government's majority status even if they ended up losing all three ridings, but the outcome gives the NDP some strong momentum heading into the Oct. 4 general election.
Speaking in London earlier Thursday, Premier Dalton McGuinty downplayed the importance of the byelections and joked they would only foreshadow the October vote if the Liberals sweep all three.
"Look, if we win all three, that's very symbolic in terms of the upcoming provincial election," McGuinty told reporters.
"Should we lose all three, of course, these will be meaningless."
NDP, Liberals and Tories all win in Ontario
Canadian Press
The NDP's campaign for a $10 minimum wage propelled them to unexpected victory Thursday in one of three provincial byelections considered key indicators of voters' attitudes just eight months before a general election.
New Democrat candidate Paul Ferreira captured Toronto's York South-Weston riding by tapping into voter anger over a 25 per cent pay raise members of the legislature voted themselves before Christmas.
York South-Weston is one of the poorest ridings in Ontario, and the NDP used the politicians' pay raise to highlight their own campaign for a $10 minimum wage, issues they said hit home with voters in the inner-city riding.
It was obvious the NDP tactics were resonating late in the campaign, when Liberal candidate in York-South Weston, Laura Albanese, tried unsuccessfully to steal their thunder on the minimum wage issue by issuing a flyer on the issue.
The Liberals did manage Thursday to hang on to the suburban Toronto riding of Markham, where candidate Michael Chan took nearly 48 per cent of the vote compared with 35 per cent for Conservative Alex Yuan.
The Opposition Conservatives held onto Burlington, where candidate Joyce Savoline took about 48 per cent support to hold the riding where hospital funding and traffic gridlock were the key issues.
The Conservatives won Burlington by less than 1,000 votes in the 2003 election, but have held the seat for decades and winning the byelection was considered a major test for new party leader John Tory.
Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank De Jong was a distant fourth in Burlington with only three per cent of the vote.
The results of the byelections would not have changed the Liberal government's majority status even if they ended up losing all three ridings, but the outcome gives the NDP some strong momentum heading into the Oct. 4 general election.
Speaking in London earlier Thursday, Premier Dalton McGuinty downplayed the importance of the byelections and joked they would only foreshadow the October vote if the Liberals sweep all three.
"Look, if we win all three, that's very symbolic in terms of the upcoming provincial election," McGuinty told reporters.
"Should we lose all three, of course, these will be meaningless."
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Taking A Hard Look At Your Recycling Committment
You thought you were a greener but the truth is you need a couple of more coats of green paint. Personally I am lime coloured.
The least effective 'R'
By Kelly McManus
Toronto is patting itself on the back over its bulging blue boxes. But recyclables are still trash, even if they don't go straight to the dump.
Standing in the viewing gallery at the Dufferin Transfer Station's sorting facility, I'm looking at mountains of blue box trash. Crushed cans, plastic bottles, newspapers and corrugated cardboard zoom along through a maze of conveyors and bins, all of it separated, piled, squashed and squeezed out the other end as multi-coloured bales of junk.
At one point in the assembly, electrically charged aluminum cans leap into the air, arcing in the dull indoor light like hopeful little salmon, glinting as they leave behind the torrent of plastic bottles and old bags.
This is one of two stations that process the contents of Toronto's blue boxes for sorting, bailing and shipping. The city's recycling and compost programs – designed to decrease the daily loads of Toronto garbage heading out in big diesel trucks to Michigan landfills – have helped the diversion rate skyrocket from 27 per cent in 2001 to somewhere around 44 per cent in 2006.
In hard tonnes, those percentages mean, for one, that we've increased our capture rates for recyclables by 25,000 tonnes annually; they also mean that in 2005, our blue box program saved over 150,000 tonnes of recyclables from the dump.
Those are good things, right? Well, yes. And no.
Our bulging blue boxes are worrying environmentalists and researchers, because recyclables are still discarded trash, even if they don't go straight to the dump, and recycling that trash instead of sending it to a landfill still generates carbon emissions and industrial waste.
“We need to consume less, period,” says Dr. Charles Hostovsky of the University of Toronto, “and recycling can take away the incentive to reuse packaging.”
Toronto City Councillor Gord Perks agrees. “In many ways,” says Perks, who has worked with Greenpeace and the Toronto Environmental Alliance (and was Eye Weekly's Enviro columnist until 2006), “getting the blue box has foreclosed the discussion about reduction and reuse.”
Ah, reduction and reuse. Remember the good old three Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle? Well, not all Rs are created equal. The fact is recycling is the inferior R, like the weak-chinned younger brother who never quite lives up to the standard of his older siblings.
Consider the enormous energy required to recycle our blue box garbage – energy that runs dump trucks and fork lifts, transfer stations and mechanical sorters. We ship those materials, break them down and create new products, creating carbon emissions, by-products and new wastes. For every tonne of aluminum we recycle, for example, we generate six tonnes of carbon dioxide. Recycling old paper materials gives us not only new paper materials, but paper sludge and waste, ink and paper fibres that have to be disposed of by landfill or incinerator.
The problem, environmentalists say, is that reduction and reuse – vastly preferable approaches to garbage – are things we, as citizens, must do largely on our own: making choices to avoid buying excess packaging or choosing to reuse our old glass bottles, for example. Tossing things in the blue box, by contrast, becomes nearly automatic, and we don't think about the energy-intensive industrial impacts of recycling.
As Dr. Hostovsky puts it, when we walk our single-portion soup cans and 250 ml water bottles to the curb in a recycling bin, we “see ourselves as environmental stewards,” like we've done a wonderful, selfless thing. “To some degree,” he says, “what the blue box system does is alleviate the individual's guilt about convenience items.” According to Hostovsky and other environmentalists, we shouldn't be placing those materials in the blue box because we simply shouldn't be using them at all. “People get a false sense of security [from recycling], but we're still consuming at an unsustainable rate,” Hostovsky says.
He's right: we're consistently spewing out more garbage on a yearly basis. We may have made some serious inroads with our garbage-diversion programs, especially here in the GTA (remember, this city accounts for one fifth of all the garbage produced in Ontario), but since the early days of the blue box, garbage production has been on the rise. Ontario's annual trash tonnage has actually increased by more than 50 per cent, from eight million tonnes in 1993 to 13.3 million tonnes in 2005.
Now what do we do? Recycling isn't the ecological Holy Grail we've come to think it is. So how do we get to the point where we start seriously reducing our total trash tonnage, recycling included? Environmentalists point out that convenience packaging is so pervasive that consumers aren't given real options to dramatically reduce waste.
Perks and Hostovsky both cite Germany's Green Dot movement, an ecological revolution that began with frustrated consumers literally ripping away excess packaging and handing it back to the checkout at grocery stores. That kind of action can increase awareness, but its real aim is to have producers stop creating that wasteful packaging in the first place.
Can we force manufacturers to reduce wasteful packaging? “That's the central failure in waste-management policy in Ontario for the past 20 years,” says Perks. “We've failed to put the responsibility where the power really is.” Perks is talking about “extended producer responsibility,” the idea, implemented heavily in Europe, that a manufacturer should see the total costs of a product through its full life cycle – so the company that makes the car engine, paint tin or plastic bottle should not only pay to create it, but should cover the costs of disposing of it, too. As a result, industry inevitably finds ecological solutions to packaging and waste in order to save money on disposal.
The obstacle for Toronto activists and politicians is that the next giant step forward in responsible waste management undoubtedly lies in policy making at federal and provincial levels. “The city [of Toronto] is reaching a point where it's maxing out in its powers,” says Dr. Mark Winfield, director of the Pembina Institute's Environmental Governance program. “Laws about the design and use of materials are the next step. But, fundamentally, [Toronto] lacks the legislative tools, the scope of jurisdiction to get at the base issues underlying waste management.”
We need to decrease the waste we produce, period: landfill and blue box waste combined. Imagine the future of the Dufferin Transfer facility if we truly started to produce less residential waste. Imagine that on top of slashing the total annual truckloads of waste heading to the landfill, we started sending less and less recyclable material to the transfer station, too. Imagine we did this because we just stopped using single-serving cans and cereal boxes, bottled water and double-wrapped Styrofoam meat packages.
Is it tough to imagine? As environmentalists point out, “not doing” is an important next step for us – not buying products that use too much packaging, not recycling as much material because we're making do with less.
Diverting kitchen scraps or tuna cans is only going to take us so far, and recycling is just the beginning – not the end – of our environmental responsibilities.
EMAIL LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM
The least effective 'R'
By Kelly McManus
Toronto is patting itself on the back over its bulging blue boxes. But recyclables are still trash, even if they don't go straight to the dump.
Standing in the viewing gallery at the Dufferin Transfer Station's sorting facility, I'm looking at mountains of blue box trash. Crushed cans, plastic bottles, newspapers and corrugated cardboard zoom along through a maze of conveyors and bins, all of it separated, piled, squashed and squeezed out the other end as multi-coloured bales of junk.
At one point in the assembly, electrically charged aluminum cans leap into the air, arcing in the dull indoor light like hopeful little salmon, glinting as they leave behind the torrent of plastic bottles and old bags.
This is one of two stations that process the contents of Toronto's blue boxes for sorting, bailing and shipping. The city's recycling and compost programs – designed to decrease the daily loads of Toronto garbage heading out in big diesel trucks to Michigan landfills – have helped the diversion rate skyrocket from 27 per cent in 2001 to somewhere around 44 per cent in 2006.
In hard tonnes, those percentages mean, for one, that we've increased our capture rates for recyclables by 25,000 tonnes annually; they also mean that in 2005, our blue box program saved over 150,000 tonnes of recyclables from the dump.
Those are good things, right? Well, yes. And no.
Our bulging blue boxes are worrying environmentalists and researchers, because recyclables are still discarded trash, even if they don't go straight to the dump, and recycling that trash instead of sending it to a landfill still generates carbon emissions and industrial waste.
“We need to consume less, period,” says Dr. Charles Hostovsky of the University of Toronto, “and recycling can take away the incentive to reuse packaging.”
Toronto City Councillor Gord Perks agrees. “In many ways,” says Perks, who has worked with Greenpeace and the Toronto Environmental Alliance (and was Eye Weekly's Enviro columnist until 2006), “getting the blue box has foreclosed the discussion about reduction and reuse.”
Ah, reduction and reuse. Remember the good old three Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle? Well, not all Rs are created equal. The fact is recycling is the inferior R, like the weak-chinned younger brother who never quite lives up to the standard of his older siblings.
Consider the enormous energy required to recycle our blue box garbage – energy that runs dump trucks and fork lifts, transfer stations and mechanical sorters. We ship those materials, break them down and create new products, creating carbon emissions, by-products and new wastes. For every tonne of aluminum we recycle, for example, we generate six tonnes of carbon dioxide. Recycling old paper materials gives us not only new paper materials, but paper sludge and waste, ink and paper fibres that have to be disposed of by landfill or incinerator.
The problem, environmentalists say, is that reduction and reuse – vastly preferable approaches to garbage – are things we, as citizens, must do largely on our own: making choices to avoid buying excess packaging or choosing to reuse our old glass bottles, for example. Tossing things in the blue box, by contrast, becomes nearly automatic, and we don't think about the energy-intensive industrial impacts of recycling.
As Dr. Hostovsky puts it, when we walk our single-portion soup cans and 250 ml water bottles to the curb in a recycling bin, we “see ourselves as environmental stewards,” like we've done a wonderful, selfless thing. “To some degree,” he says, “what the blue box system does is alleviate the individual's guilt about convenience items.” According to Hostovsky and other environmentalists, we shouldn't be placing those materials in the blue box because we simply shouldn't be using them at all. “People get a false sense of security [from recycling], but we're still consuming at an unsustainable rate,” Hostovsky says.
He's right: we're consistently spewing out more garbage on a yearly basis. We may have made some serious inroads with our garbage-diversion programs, especially here in the GTA (remember, this city accounts for one fifth of all the garbage produced in Ontario), but since the early days of the blue box, garbage production has been on the rise. Ontario's annual trash tonnage has actually increased by more than 50 per cent, from eight million tonnes in 1993 to 13.3 million tonnes in 2005.
Now what do we do? Recycling isn't the ecological Holy Grail we've come to think it is. So how do we get to the point where we start seriously reducing our total trash tonnage, recycling included? Environmentalists point out that convenience packaging is so pervasive that consumers aren't given real options to dramatically reduce waste.
Perks and Hostovsky both cite Germany's Green Dot movement, an ecological revolution that began with frustrated consumers literally ripping away excess packaging and handing it back to the checkout at grocery stores. That kind of action can increase awareness, but its real aim is to have producers stop creating that wasteful packaging in the first place.
Can we force manufacturers to reduce wasteful packaging? “That's the central failure in waste-management policy in Ontario for the past 20 years,” says Perks. “We've failed to put the responsibility where the power really is.” Perks is talking about “extended producer responsibility,” the idea, implemented heavily in Europe, that a manufacturer should see the total costs of a product through its full life cycle – so the company that makes the car engine, paint tin or plastic bottle should not only pay to create it, but should cover the costs of disposing of it, too. As a result, industry inevitably finds ecological solutions to packaging and waste in order to save money on disposal.
The obstacle for Toronto activists and politicians is that the next giant step forward in responsible waste management undoubtedly lies in policy making at federal and provincial levels. “The city [of Toronto] is reaching a point where it's maxing out in its powers,” says Dr. Mark Winfield, director of the Pembina Institute's Environmental Governance program. “Laws about the design and use of materials are the next step. But, fundamentally, [Toronto] lacks the legislative tools, the scope of jurisdiction to get at the base issues underlying waste management.”
We need to decrease the waste we produce, period: landfill and blue box waste combined. Imagine the future of the Dufferin Transfer facility if we truly started to produce less residential waste. Imagine that on top of slashing the total annual truckloads of waste heading to the landfill, we started sending less and less recyclable material to the transfer station, too. Imagine we did this because we just stopped using single-serving cans and cereal boxes, bottled water and double-wrapped Styrofoam meat packages.
Is it tough to imagine? As environmentalists point out, “not doing” is an important next step for us – not buying products that use too much packaging, not recycling as much material because we're making do with less.
Diverting kitchen scraps or tuna cans is only going to take us so far, and recycling is just the beginning – not the end – of our environmental responsibilities.
EMAIL LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM
Good Argument For An Un-Hyphenated Canada
Do ethnic enclaves impede integration?
Marina JiméNez investigates how multiculturalism is failing Canada's visible minorities
MARINA JIMÉNEZ
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
BRAMPTON, ONT. — It is here, on the border of Brampton and Mississauga, that it is most striking: Canada's famed multicultural mosaic has morphed into a series of monocultural neighbourhoods.
If it weren't for the snow and salt in the parking lot, Plaza McLaughlin Village outside Toronto could as easily be in New Delhi. There is goat and lamb for sale at the Doaba meat shop. The latest Bollywood hit, Guru, is at West End Video. You can do your taxes, go to the doctor and book a flight in Punjabi. And the clock in the photocopy shop shows the time in New Delhi. The only Caucasian faces are the officers at Brampton's community policing station.
The number of ethnic enclaves like this one has exploded in Canada. In 1981, there were only six in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. By 2001, there were 254, according to a study by Statistics Canada, which defines ethnic enclaves as communities with 30 per cent of the population from one visible minority group.
Some neighbourhoods are low-income, underscoring the reality that visible minority families make up three-quarters of the country's poor. In a way, they mirror earlier waves of immigrants, such as Jews and Italians, who congregated in ethnic enclaves out of economic necessity and cultural identity long before anyone had ever heard of multiculturalism policies.
More
Marina JiméNez investigates how multiculturalism is failing Canada's visible minorities
MARINA JIMÉNEZ
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
BRAMPTON, ONT. — It is here, on the border of Brampton and Mississauga, that it is most striking: Canada's famed multicultural mosaic has morphed into a series of monocultural neighbourhoods.
If it weren't for the snow and salt in the parking lot, Plaza McLaughlin Village outside Toronto could as easily be in New Delhi. There is goat and lamb for sale at the Doaba meat shop. The latest Bollywood hit, Guru, is at West End Video. You can do your taxes, go to the doctor and book a flight in Punjabi. And the clock in the photocopy shop shows the time in New Delhi. The only Caucasian faces are the officers at Brampton's community policing station.
The number of ethnic enclaves like this one has exploded in Canada. In 1981, there were only six in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. By 2001, there were 254, according to a study by Statistics Canada, which defines ethnic enclaves as communities with 30 per cent of the population from one visible minority group.
Some neighbourhoods are low-income, underscoring the reality that visible minority families make up three-quarters of the country's poor. In a way, they mirror earlier waves of immigrants, such as Jews and Italians, who congregated in ethnic enclaves out of economic necessity and cultural identity long before anyone had ever heard of multiculturalism policies.
More
Message To European Fence Sitters
The United States and other western countries might be too busy to save your sorry asses a third time...
US urges Europe to boost Iran sanctions
By Stephen Fidler in London
Published: February 7 2007 20:58 | Last updated: February 7 2007 20:58
The US on Wednesday night voiced its growing frustration over the failure of European governments to toughen financial sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Differences over the sanctions between Washington and European governments threaten to open a new transatlantic division over how to deal with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which have until now been papered over.
Gregory Schulte, the US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, went public with Washington’s complaints, saying the Europeans should do more. He drew attention to European export credit agencies that provide billions of dollars a year in help to Iran for the finance of imports.
“Faced by the defiance of Iran’s leadership, the European Union and European countries can do more – and should do more – to bolster our common diplomacy. Why, for example, are European governments using export credits to subsidise exports to Iran? Why, for example, are European governments not taking more measures to discourage investment and financial transactions?” he said in a speech drafted for delivery in Munich last night.
Since a United Nations resolution in December that mandated sanctions on Iran – including a ban on financing for 10 named companies said to be linked to missile and nuclear programmes – the US has expanded its own financial sanctions.
These include barring one bank from dealing in dollars. The US alleges the state-owned Bank Sepah, which is not named in the UN resolution, has helped finance weapons programmes and Washington has passed a dossier to European governments that it says supports its case. The US also took action last September against Bank Saderat for its alleged involvement in terrorist financing.
European officials expect that Washington will follow up with unilateral action against other financial institutions.
But US pressure on the EU to follow suit has met resistance, with Europe saying it does not have the right mechanisms for taking such action and expressing fears that the extra sanctions would be overturned by courts.
In spite of the lack of official European enthusiasm for the US proposals, several European private banks have announced they would curb their dealings with Tehran.
Mr Schulte said Europe should use “the full range of non- military measures at its disposal” to direct political, economic, communications and other non-military pressure at Iran’s leadership and those who influenced them.
His remarks suggested that bolstering economic and financial sanctions against Iran could avoid military action, which the US has refused to rule out.
The US and many western governments believe Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at developing a weapon, but Iran has repeatedly asserted that its programme is for civil purposes.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
US urges Europe to boost Iran sanctions
By Stephen Fidler in London
Published: February 7 2007 20:58 | Last updated: February 7 2007 20:58
The US on Wednesday night voiced its growing frustration over the failure of European governments to toughen financial sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Differences over the sanctions between Washington and European governments threaten to open a new transatlantic division over how to deal with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which have until now been papered over.
Gregory Schulte, the US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, went public with Washington’s complaints, saying the Europeans should do more. He drew attention to European export credit agencies that provide billions of dollars a year in help to Iran for the finance of imports.
“Faced by the defiance of Iran’s leadership, the European Union and European countries can do more – and should do more – to bolster our common diplomacy. Why, for example, are European governments using export credits to subsidise exports to Iran? Why, for example, are European governments not taking more measures to discourage investment and financial transactions?” he said in a speech drafted for delivery in Munich last night.
Since a United Nations resolution in December that mandated sanctions on Iran – including a ban on financing for 10 named companies said to be linked to missile and nuclear programmes – the US has expanded its own financial sanctions.
These include barring one bank from dealing in dollars. The US alleges the state-owned Bank Sepah, which is not named in the UN resolution, has helped finance weapons programmes and Washington has passed a dossier to European governments that it says supports its case. The US also took action last September against Bank Saderat for its alleged involvement in terrorist financing.
European officials expect that Washington will follow up with unilateral action against other financial institutions.
But US pressure on the EU to follow suit has met resistance, with Europe saying it does not have the right mechanisms for taking such action and expressing fears that the extra sanctions would be overturned by courts.
In spite of the lack of official European enthusiasm for the US proposals, several European private banks have announced they would curb their dealings with Tehran.
Mr Schulte said Europe should use “the full range of non- military measures at its disposal” to direct political, economic, communications and other non-military pressure at Iran’s leadership and those who influenced them.
His remarks suggested that bolstering economic and financial sanctions against Iran could avoid military action, which the US has refused to rule out.
The US and many western governments believe Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at developing a weapon, but Iran has repeatedly asserted that its programme is for civil purposes.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Message To Premiers & Mayors
THERE IS ONLY ONE TAXPAYER! And let's not forget who it was who reduced tranfer payments to the provinces, THE LIBERALS, and it might be appropriate for both the premiers and the mayors to learn to live within their means.
February 7, 2007
McGuinty: Premiers can't reach agreement on equalization
TORONTO (CP) - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty admits the provincial premiers will not reach an agreement today on changing the revenue-sharing equalization program.
The premiers have scheduled a conference call to talk about internal barriers to trade, energy, the so-called fiscal imbalance and equalization.
Ontario doesn't want any increase in equalization payments to poorer provinces until it gets the same level of federal funding for health, education and infrastructure as other provinces.
McGuinty says each of the provinces has been engaging in its own separate talks with the Conservative government to get a deal that benefits them.
He says it would be unreasonable to expect the premiers to come to a consensus today on the best way to approach equalization and the fiscal imbalance.
McGuinty says he'll be reminding his colleagues that Ontario doesn't want a special deal, just the same deal that the other provinces have with Ottawa.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to fix the fiscal imbalance and is expected to take some steps in that direction in the federal budget even without a united front from the provinces as to what they want.
The Golden Goose is developing constipation......
February 7, 2007
McGuinty: Premiers can't reach agreement on equalization
TORONTO (CP) - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty admits the provincial premiers will not reach an agreement today on changing the revenue-sharing equalization program.
The premiers have scheduled a conference call to talk about internal barriers to trade, energy, the so-called fiscal imbalance and equalization.
Ontario doesn't want any increase in equalization payments to poorer provinces until it gets the same level of federal funding for health, education and infrastructure as other provinces.
McGuinty says each of the provinces has been engaging in its own separate talks with the Conservative government to get a deal that benefits them.
He says it would be unreasonable to expect the premiers to come to a consensus today on the best way to approach equalization and the fiscal imbalance.
McGuinty says he'll be reminding his colleagues that Ontario doesn't want a special deal, just the same deal that the other provinces have with Ottawa.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to fix the fiscal imbalance and is expected to take some steps in that direction in the federal budget even without a united front from the provinces as to what they want.
The Golden Goose is developing constipation......
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.