This Week In Canada
Here’s a roundup of important news in Canada for the week ending Friday February 26th, 2010:
Olympic Women’s Figure Skating
Topping the list is three minutes of pure emotional porn on Tuesday night as Joannie Rochette completed her first skate in the Olympic Women’s Figure Skating competition notwithstanding the fact that her mother died on Sunday morning. This is as close as figure skating gets to NASCAR racing, where half the people are watching because they secretly hope they’ll see an accident. I wonder which was more challenging for her – the grief or the voyeurism. She went on to win the bronze medal on Thursday. After all the fans went home, Joannie came out onto the ice and celebrated with a can of beer and a cigar. Well done, Joannie! People can post condolences on her website.
Copyright
While we’re still on the topic of ice, hell froze over this week. The Computer and Communications Industry Association (whose members include Microsoft, Google, T-Mobile, Fujitsu, AMD, eBay, Intuit, Oracle and Yahoo) filed a submission to a U.S. regulatory body that prepares an annual report on the status of the intellectual property laws of its main trading partners. Michael Geist writes in his Toronto Star article:
The CCIA warned that including Canada on the list of countries that need reforms undermines the credibility of the process, adding “Canada’s current copyright law and practice clearly satisfy the statutory adequate and effective standard. Indeed, in a number respects, Canada’s laws are more protective of creators than those of the United States.”
Too bad the people making the submission don’t know how to write. Who cares about copyright protection when the stuff being protected is crap?
Climate Change Denial
Speaking of things freezing over, Conservative MP, Maxime Bernier, affirms his climate change skepticism in this press release. Unfortunately, M. Bernier misconceives the nature of the debate. Climate change isn’t a scientific debate; it’s an actuarial debate. It isn’t a debate about the correct assessment of facts; it’s a debate about the correct assessment of risk. I, for one, am unwilling to allow a bonehead like Bernier to assume, on my behalf, a risk – even an infinitesimally small risk – of catastrophic consequences simply because there is a debate about the underlying science. Common sense suggests that we proceed as if the science were correct. If, at a later date, the science is demonstrably wrong, the worst thing that can happen is that we suffer a little embarrassment. I’d rather be embarrassed than dead.
Besides, does anybody really believe that climate change denial is motivated by a loyalty to truth?
Youth For Christ Gets a Crack at Native Kids
Winnipeg’s City Council demonstrated an utter lack of historical knowledge this week when it approved spending $3.4 million dollars (which triggers an automatic $3.2 million in federal “stimulus” funding) to support a Youth For Christ sponsored “Youth Centre For Excellence.” The building site is on the northern edge of the city in a primarily aboriginal neighbourhood. CBC News reports that First Nations leaders said the proposal “stirs up thoughts of historical assimilation.” If I recall correctly, the last time church organizations undertook anything like this, they called it cultural genocide, the churches issued apologies and ended up paying substantial compensation. As a partner, the federal government bore financial responsibility for an even greater part of the compensation package. So why are we letting this happen all over again? In a wildly moderate article, Dan Lett of the Winnipeg Free Press points out that Youth For Christ is a proselytic organization which includes a column in its annual report for the number of people it converts. However, the organization assures that it will not turn away anyone who resists conversion. I find that so reassuring.
Parliament Is Still Prorogued
In case you’ve forgotten, Parliament is still not sitting because Stephen Harper is having too much fun watching hockey in Vancouver. He’s hoping that by the time the Olympics are done, everyone will be so mesmerized by all that gold that they will have forgotten about incidental matters like the torture of Afghan detainees.
RCMP cracked the Sneaky Greenpeace Case
CBC News reports that two months after 19 Greenpeace activists scaled the walls of Parliament to draw attention to Canada’s flaccid appearance at the Copenhagen summit, the RCMP has finally figured out how they did it. Greenpeace made its move when the two police officers guarding Parliament Hill went to the Timmies on Bank Street for coffee and donuts. The RCMP says it has beefed up security since then. Although the RCMP refuses to reveal details, an anonymous insider has leaked the solution: tell the MP’s to keep proroguing Parliament. If the place is empty, then it doesn’t need protecting.
Walmart Invasion
Canadian Business Online reports that Walmart will be opening another 35 to 40 super centres in Canada, creating 6,500 jobs. What they don’t report is that the new big box stores will probably cost Canadians at least as many jobs because most of the goods it sells are manufactured elsewhere, and it will eviscerate communities by driving local businesses into bankruptcy. And because of Walmart’s anti-union stance, most of the permanent jobs it creates will not even pay a living wage. Meanwhile four members of the Walton family appear in the top ten spots on the Forbes list of richest Americans. It’s called the trickle up theory of economics – from your wallet into theirs. Note to Walmart: if you’re going to quote job creation figures, quote NET jobs created and say a little something about the QUALITY of the jobs created. Check out Walmart Watch for more on the treat that awaits us.
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