National
Quick Hitter
Submitted by Karl Knox on Tue, 09/07/2010 - 18:50Hello there and hope you all had a brilliant summer and don't mind my sporadic posting of news stories here. For more regular post you can check out the New Media and Politics blog (it's a lot more opinionated -- these are news stories you shouldn't miss regardless of how busy school and life get).
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study has found that Canada spends more and more on higher education, an increasing percentage of the cost is borne by students and their families. In financial terms, the benefits of a postsecondary education to individuals and Canadian society at large far outweigh the costs -- the OECD estimates that the average Canadian man with a college or university education makes more than three times what he put into getting such an education, both in terms of direct costs and lost wages. For the average woman, the gain is more than double the cost.
Findings contained in Education Indicators in Canada, a wide-ranging collection of data released by the Council of Education Ministers, that looks at education levels found Canadians are better educated than they were a decade ago and have some of the highest rates of post-secondary attendance in the developed world.
Sadly and incomprehensibly the report also shows that women are graduating from both high school and post-secondary in much higher numbers than men, but continued to earn far less in the workforce.
Canadian News
Submitted by Karl Knox on Thu, 08/26/2010 - 22:31
The RCMP report on the long-gun registry has surfaced and it is described as an important tool for law enforcement. Will the tough on crime Tories notice anything that disagrees with the narrative they've been trying to manufacture? It costs less to run than building a fake lake and is described as being cost efficient in reducing firearms related crime. It is also said to promote the public safety. This should be a no-brainer then, right?
Statistically the Canadian Firearms Act saves lives and millions of dollars a year. The Conservatives have not made a case for the proposed changes to the Firearms Act.
The story about two Russian military TU-95 Bear bombers flying within 56 kilometres of Canadian soil, just when the House of Commons defence committee is getting ready to examine the government's single-bid purchase of the new generation of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, makes it look like the Tories are trying to manufacture an excuse for $16 billion dollars worth of spending. Aiming your jets at someone else's airspace and veering off before you cross it is an old Cold War style game. A way of testing response time and seeing if the other side is awake. This is the second time in the last few weeks that this has taken place and both times the news organizations took the time to note that this is not an uncommon occurrence -- four bombers have been intercepted this year, and it happened sixteen times last year.
That it happens while the three countries that are competing for Arctic riches with the Russians are engaging in military exercises -- Canadian, American and Danish warships are in the final week of a joint exercise in the Canadian Arctic, part of an annual event known as Operation Nanook -- makes the affair even less surprising. Canada's Tories argue this is proof that they needed to buy sole-sourced jets at a cost of $16 billion instead of just a routine "buzzing" by the Russina. Canada no doubt needs an upgrade in its defense forces, but the question reamins, why were there no competing bids?
Stephen Harper paid his annual visit to Canada's North and announced that a new Arctic Research Center would be built in Cambridge Bay by 2015.
The biggest salmon run in nearly a century in the Fraser River has the locals hopeful that the salmon crisis is over. Government officials are taking a more cautious line.
Canada's Arctic Claims
Submitted by Karl Knox on Sat, 08/21/2010 - 18:05In 2009 the New York Times called the fight over Arctic territorial claims, The biggest land grab since colonial times, and said it was accelerating as nations scramble to claim writ over hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean floor, much of it believed to be rich in natural resources.
Determining who controls the Arctic Ocean's seabed won't play out until a few years from now. Russia has decided to postpone its Arctic bid to 2013 while Denmark and Canada have until 2012 and 2013, respectively, to file claims of which Canada's are well supported by maritime law. Norway became the first nation to win control of Arctic territory, when the commission finished its review of Oslo's claims north of Svalbard, a region that lies far south of the North Pole. This leaves Russia, Canada, Denmark and the US to sort out the remainder of the Arctic riches.
What has all the maneuvering been about? The U.S.G.S. (US Geological Survey) has also run an assessment of undiscovered oil and natural gas reserves in the region and concluded that the continental shelves are a veritable treasure trove. Specifically, according to U.S.G.S. estimates, hidden within the continental shelves lies between 22 and 256 billion barrels of oil and as much as 2,990 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. These numbers are significant. The mean estimate of undiscovered oil reserves is more than double the amount of oil that has been previously found in the Arctic. Also, the median estimate of undiscovered natural gas in the Arctic represents about 30% of the world’s undiscovered reserves.
And there is the Northwest Passage. One day, the fastest way between Asia and Europe will be across the Arctic Ocean from the Bering Strait in the West to Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait in the East. There are a number of possible routes but the quickest and most likely to be ice-free for extended periods of time are those that traverse through Canada’s Arctic islands. The savings in time and cost will be enormous. For example, travel time from Japan to the Netherlands would be cut in half. Moreover, ships travelling through the Northwest Passage will not be limited to the maximum size currently permitted through the Panama Canal, the so called Panamax Ships.
When will the Northwest Passage will be fully navigable? Likely sooner than anyone thinks. In September 2007, the European Space Agency used a series of satellite photos to establish that an ice-free route through the Northwest Passage existed for the first time in modern history.
Now, after years of promises about standing up for Canada's claims to Arctic, the Conservative government has decided it wants swift and permanent solutions to issues that they have heretofore preferred to leave unresolved. Canada will make finding solutions to Arctic boundary disputes this country’s top foreign-policy priority in the far north. The reason being, one can assume, is that Canada is the most vulnerable of all the nations involved in the disputes to a potential loss of control over its Arctic waters -- this due to a lack of appropriate ships, port facilities and infrastructure to enforce the existing laws and regs.
Shelagh Grant of the Globe and Mail asserts, Canada no longer has the luxury to dither and debate. If this government fails to take immediate action, Stephen Harper may well go down in history as the prime minister responsible for the nation’s loss of control over its Arctic waters – as will the Canadian people for allowing it to happen.
Monday, Monday - New Media and Politics
Submitted by Karl Knox on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 13:59Monday's are as good to me as any other day. For my radio show it usually means I have way more stories than I'm able to get to in 2 hours which is strangely kind of of fun.
So of course the controversy over the census is still ongoing and the Conservatives continue to keep digging which is okay with me. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says ask Canadians to fill out a long census form for the good of the country and they'll rush to grab their blue or black ballpoint pens - he failed to mention all the fairies and elves that assist in this magical effort but you can assume they're part of the equation.
Mr. Flaherty, who has been on vacation, said he has yet to hear from business leaders on the issue - but we can assume that he hasn't been anywhere near a computer or teh Google search engine. The list of those who oppose the Conservatives' census plan is long, easy to find on-line and includes provincial and municipal governments, social scientists, religious groups, medical researchers, economists, minority-rights advocates and some business groups. The list includes the country's former chief statistician, Munir Sheikh, who quit last week over the government's decision to make the long form census optional.
In a story I didn't get to on my radio show today, Omar Khadr has once again been failed by the Canadian courts and our PM. From The Calgary Herald: Any chance the Canadian government would come to Omar Khadr’s rescue before he stands trial for murder next month in Guantanamo Bay seems to have been washed away with a court ruling. The Federal Court of Appeals has stayed an order requiring the Harper government to quickly come up with ways to help the young Canadian terror suspect.
Lawyer Nathan Whitling said, “It’s going to be an unfair trial. It’s going to be based in large part on statements derived from coercion and torture. It’s a system that would clearly be illegal if Omar happened to be a U.S. citizen.” Good going Stephen! Remember he'd do as much for any of you out there.
In a bit of good environmental news, the rules for Arctic shipping regulations have been strengthened and you can tell it's likely a good idea as the new rules promptly drew fire from BIMCO, the Denmark-based Baltic and International Maritime Council, as a "drastic" response to increased Arctic ship traffic and a potential threat to the long-standing "right to innocent passage" on the world's oceans.
Conservatives feeling the Heat Over Census Flap - new media and politics
Submitted by Karl Knox on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 23:31
It seems to me the Canada's Conservative Party has done all it can to stay in the news in what should be the off-season, politically speaking. Parliament took its summer break four short weeks It has not done them credit. The $1 billion spent on security for the G8 and G20 summits which were essentially pro-forma - meaning the deals had been struck in advance so the entire show was about photo-ops mostly. Canadians are going to remember that..
I wish they'd remember the omnibus budget bill C-9 that was shoved down Canadian's throats but we'll take what we can get at this point. We're impressed on one level that Stephen Harper can make Michael Ignatieff look so great. Don't mistake that for a backhanded compliment - I like Mr. Ignatieff but have had more than a few doubts about his being a politician.
He seems to be learning though. His tour to talk and listen to Canadians will pay dividends I believe as he learns to better communicate his message. I listened to an interview on CBC 1 in Montreal (abysmal questioning) on Friday and he handled himself with aplomb in spite of the amateurish interviewer. It augers well for the fall session I hope.
So, back to Harper staying in the news. The census flap is turning out to be far worse than he could have expected. I mean all he wanted to do was throw his base a bone... right? Of course it was at the expense of the rest of Canada and unfortunately for Stephen someone stood up to let Canadians know.Munir Sheikh resigned because he knows the importance in the value of Statistics Canada as an institution.
Census surveys form the basis of much of Statistics Canada’s other analyses, including vital labour force measures such as the unemployment rate. It drives everything from corporate fundraising drives in Toronto to the deployment of B.C. lunch programs for school kids; and from the layout of suburban subdivisions to the prescriptions of think tanks of every ideological bent.
Restaurants use information from the long form to help determine where to locate and how to target their marketing. Census information turns out to be an unexpectedly effective fundraising tool.
Census data such as mother tongue and family income also allows provincial education officials to target resources for services such as B.C.'s breakfast programs for schoolchildren and English-as-a-second language instruction in Ontario cities with large numbers of newcomers. In Penticton, B.C., two elementary schools receive extra funds for a hot-lunch program thanks to census tract data that reveals which neighbourhoods have relatively high concentrations of poor families.
Here's a list of organizations who are against the scrapping of the long form census:
Canadian Jewish Congress
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Registered Nurses of Ontario
Canadian Conference of the Arts
Canada West Foundation
Canadian Nurses Association
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Council on Social Development
United Way Canada
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Cooperative Housing Federation of Canada
Canadian Marketing Association
Marketing Research and Intelligence Association
Manitoba Bureau of Statistics
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Association of Municipalities of Ontario
Canadian Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities
Societe franco-manitobaine
Association francophone des municipalites du Nouveau-Brunswick
Canadian Institute of Planners
Canadian Association for Business Economics
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Institute for Research on Public Policy
Quebec Community Groups Network
Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
New Brunswick Association of Social Workers
C.D. Howe Institute
Canadian Centre for Policy AlternativesStatistical Society of Canada
Canadian Economics Association
Canadian Association of Public Data Users
Information and Communications Technology Council
Ancestry.ca
Environics Analytics
The best thing from the perspective of someone who wants to see anyone other than Harper in the PM's office is that he's too much of an ideologue to back down or change his mind and it'll cost him.
The Cons Census Is In - New Media and Politics
Submitted by Karl Knox on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 16:37
As the calls grow for Statistics Canada to be made into an arms-length agency, perhaps similar to the Office of the Auditor-General, or just independent the Tories are busily scrambling to defend their decision to scrap the long-form census calling opposition to their ideas support for tyranny. Most agree, they've made a huge mistake, a voluntary census is no substitute for a mandatory one and they should find some way to walk this decision back. The thing about ideologues is that never happens. They will stick to their guns and blame others for the whatever problems beset them for having the nerve to disagree.
Then there's Harper’s decision to stay away from a major international AIDS conference that draws heads of state. Julio Montaner, the outgoing president of the International AIDS Society who is also a Canadian, saved his parting shot for the government of Canada, issuing a sharp rebuke.
“I must recognize Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the chair of this year’s G8 and G20 meetings and his health minister, Leona Aglukkaq, for demonstrating, once again, their incredible ability to take credit where none is due,” Dr. Montaner told the conference Friday.
“I am ashamed to say that the Government of Canada has punched well below its weight in funding universal access and supporting those affected by HIV and AIDS in Canada and around the world.” It's another example of Harper's uncaring attitude towards Canada's reputation and standing in the world. There hasn't been a moment in the past year where I haven't been ashamed he was Canada's PM.
Oh Stats Canada...
Submitted by Karl Knox on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 00:01
We damned well better "stand on guard," or the Tories will just continue down this road of screwing Canadians and destroying fine institutions like Statistics Canada. Every kind of industry, labour, academic and charitable organization had sent petitions, letters and press releases saying the same thing, backed by a truckloads of statisticians and economists, said in effect that a voluntary survey would effectively gut the census. By his resignation Munir Sheikh strongly echoed those opinions.
John Ibbitson of the Globe and Mail believes the Tories should reverse course on this - I don't believe they will. On the plus side, they have provided the opposition with an easy target and a reminder during the summer months that the Tories are first last and always ideologically driven in a way that does not reflect the majority of Canadians.
In other news, Iggy continues his bus tour and it takes him to former PM Jean Chretien's hometown of Shawinigan, Quebec. I do believe they'll make a politician out of Iggy yet - necessity is a mother!
Wednesday War News - New Media and Politics
Submitted by Karl Knox on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 23:43This is a sad place to start: Another Canadian soldier has given his life for the mission in Afghanistan. Sapper Brian Collier, was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan Tuesday He was killed while on a foot patrol in the village of Nakhonay, in the eastern part of Panjwaii District by an improvised explosive device (IED). Collier who was just 24, was born in Toronto and raised in Bradford, Ont. He was a member of the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based at CFB Edmonton and was serving in Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.
Of the soldiers service Harper said "The bravery and remarkable commitment of Canadians like Sapper Collier are bringing safety and stability to the people of Afghanistan." There's neither safety nor stability in Afghanistan but what else can Harper say?
The international conference that was held Tuesday in Afghanistan with Western leaders, quietly decided 2014 as the war’s unofficial end date. In the Globe and Mail this was reported as, a move that could now mark Canada’s intended 2011 withdrawal as premature. Maybe they like war - someone sure does.
James Dobbins, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan during the Bush administration and one of the diplomats responsible for installing Mr. Karzai as President after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 said, “They’ve rather subtly shifted the goal posts from 2011 to 2014. I think you’ll see a steady downplaying of 2011 on all fronts as it doesn’t turn out to be the turning point many people thought.”
The Guardian reports, General David Petraeus, the new US commander in the country, is less committed to a speedy transfer of power and a Nato official said the change reflected Petraeus's wish to slow the pace of the transfer of power.
Looks like kicking the can down the road on the path to endless war to me.
Harper Still A Wanker! - New Media and Politics
Submitted by Karl Knox on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 14:12Sorry to abandon my post for the weekend but it had to be done. My sanity and well-being were at stake. I've done my best to recruit a writer or two but to no avail. It's hard to blame anyone either - "Would you like to chronicle bad new for very little money and hardly any recognition?"
That might change in the not so distant future but for now that is an apt description of the gig. Mostly I do this in tandem with my radio show. The links here today are to the Canadian stories I talked about this morning. Isn't it endearing when I share loads of personal information?
Okay, so the JFL Comedy festival just ended this past weekend in Montreal and it seem our PM has angered Cheech and Chong. Here's what Tommy had to say about our PM the ideologue: “I would tell Stephen Harper to let go of George Bush’s butt. Your head’s too far up there. Get your head out of his butt. He’s gone. George is gone. He’s history, Stephen.” Cheech and Chong are mad at our PM - it doesn't get worse than that!
While we're on the subject off just how big a wanker Stephen Harper is, let's look at the census flap. apparently right-wingers go crazy when there's accurate information to base your political decisions on - just like south of the border reality is not their purview. So Harper panders - shocking! Of course by shocking I mean just more of the same from our PM.
Canadians aren't all that keen on how he wants to spend more of our money either - but then when you got into the PM's office with less than 30% of the national vote how hard do you have to work at pleasing voters? He certainly feels free enough to ignore the court's rulings on Omar Khadr. The linked article concludes and I agree, The vindictiveness and mean-spiritedness of the Harper government is a real threat to the supremacy of the rule of law and the inherent goodness of the Canadian people.
The Globe reporter John Ibbitson is not sure what the Liberals and Iggy hope to accomplish with the bus tour dubbed the Liberal Express, but it seems pretty strait forward to me: they're trying to remake him into a politician. By getting him out on the hustings so he can hear what people have to say and so he'll learn what he can say to move people. According to the latest Environics poll, there's only three points separating Iggy and Harper and if Canadians get fed up enough with the Harper right wing agenda being shoved down their throats at every turn Iggy may soon start to look pretty good as an alternative. There's also the prospect of an economic slowdown on the horizon and that would effectively end every last argument Harper could make for the Conservatives.
In good environmental news from British Columbia, a team of loggers and biologists works to undo the damage of decades of industrial-scale logging on Clayoquot Sound. In troubling news from Manitoba, provincial officials are on high alert for zebra mussels, one of the many nuisance species that invaded the Great Lakes and have recently found a home in the Red River in North Dakota. Their arrival spells big trouble for the natural ecosystem, not to mention the havoc they can cause to water pipes, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure.
Unsexy War News - New Media and Politics
Submitted by Karl Knox on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 13:31There was supposed to be a post yesterday on the Canadian troops handing over Kandahar city to the US Forces. You have to wonder how the Afghans feel about it though. Apparently it's all part of a major reorganization of NATO's forces in southern Afghanistan, due to the influx of thousands of fresh U.S. troops into Kandahar. After the worst month for NATO fatalities in the nine year history of the war, Lt.-Col. Craig Dalton of the Canadian Forces told a news conference in Orwellian speak that, "This rising tide of security will set the conditions for the Afghans to defeat the insurgency."
Good luck with that!
Here's a report on an an attack this week on a major Afghan police base in Kandahar that killed nine — including three American soldiers that suggests an increasing sophistication in Taliban attacks - all part of a pretty bad week for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
As my radio show guest William Ray suggested would be the case last week, armed militias of the type used to fight the insurgency in Iraq are to be introduced to Afghanistan as part of the new strategy of General David Petraeus to counter the tide of Taliban attacks.
CBC has an excellent news report and video on Canadian soldiers and the caution they must exercise as they fight for the hearts and minds of the Afghans.
Peter McKay is in a spending mood - funny that he would wait until Parliament was on a summer break to do all this spending. Afraid of the scrutiny perhaps? Anyhow, $2.6 billion for some boats and $16 billion for some planes (sole sourced - or no competing bids). Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail thinks the fighter jets don't fit Canada's current needs.
