Reviewed in this inaugural segment of I read political bumpf so you don’t have to: 1. Strange Dianetics-like two-page brochure called Get to know Stephane Dion. Dion appears backlit, and immediately below him, Hubbard-like, is an inspiring quotation. (It’s something about Canada and human achievement — I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.) Thecontinue reading
Current Events Archives
Word of the Day – Malaccamax
I recently read an article in the Economist about the pending Panama Canal expansion. Fascinating to those who find such things fascinating — I think the containerization revolution is one of the great mostly-unknown stories of modern time. A few interesting angles I hadn’t been aware of: – Some people suggest that a more efficientcontinue reading
Name & shame?
QUEEN’S PARK – Three individuals who had defaulted on their court-ordered child support payments have been found thanks to the McGuinty government’s new www.goodparentspay.com website, Minister of Community and Social Services Madeleine Meilleur announced today. “After one week of operation, goodparentspay.com has been a huge success with over 10 million hits,” said Meilleur. “Thanks tocontinue reading
Double-ouch
This is a big black eye for the CRA, even if it ends up being only short-lived, given the space given to promoting of online filing in all the materials they distribute, and the exquisite, post-RRSP-deadline timing: Online tax services suspended by CRA OTTAWA, March 6 /CNW Telbec/ – Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agencycontinue reading
Subways redux
The Star reports that the TTC has the go-ahead for the Spadina Line extension. Here is the preferred alignment. Those of you who have been up in that neck of the woods, does it seem to make sense, or are we just making a larger white elephant?
How to impress your jury
Stab your defence lawyer.
Not that today is a good day to talk about global warming
Global warming’s impact on your garden from Slate Magazine by Constance Casey Lilac bushes in New England have pretty steadily been blooming earlier every year for the past 30 years. One way some gardeners have begun to think about shorter winters is to say, “Hey, great, I live in Ohio [or wherever, north of thecontinue reading
Huts and headscarves
Interesting discussion on Macleans.ca site about the soccer headscarf incident. I believe Lawgeek walked through the Sukkot case during a dinner once. You can find it here.
Sympathy for the…
I’ve been following the bank fees issue with some interest. First, because the NDP caucus dug up an easily understood, populist issue for once, only to see it fall flat thanks its semi-articulate leader. Then, because the Canadian Bankers Association‘s defence of the fees for electronic banking is so embarrassingly thin. There’s competition in thecontinue reading
And so it begins…
Justin Trudeau has confirmed he will seek the federal Liberal party nomination in Montreal’s Papineau riding. “We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not,” Trudeau said Thursday afternoon.