April 28, 2006: #1

His Excellency

'Lafond: An embarrassment to Canadians, who continue to pay his way'

[....] this film is no youthful indiscretion. Rather, it is a post-911, anti-American, conspiracy-theory rant. Had His Excellency been truly sensitized to his new role, he could have pulled his film from this year's Hot Docs film festival. [. . . . ]

Bingo! -- letter from Prince George, BC -- city memorialized by MP Hedy Fry



Supreme Court upholds acquittal of woman who killed husband in trance state -- battered-wife syndrome -- automatism -- self defence CNEWS, Apr. 28, 06

Maybe the feminist lobby could teach girls how to walk away? would it be possible for a battered / nagged / belittled, etc. male to beat the rap with automatism? Of course not!



Tories open to foreign airwaves -- Radio, TV ownership Graeme Hamilton, NatPost, Apr. 28, 06

OTTAWA - The Conservative government is opening a door for more foreign companies to buy Canadian radio and television stations.

Industry Minister Maxime Bernier has been reviewing recent recommendations of a government-appointed panel that suggested regulators should back away from the telecommunications sector and allow market forces to prevail. [....]

Search: an advocacy group on broadcasting issues , Friends of Canadian Broadcasting , Ian Morrison , The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists


Would the "Friends" be considered an NGO? Where do they get funding?

The mainstream media wanted something from the PMO / MP's. Well, this should give them fodder for the forseeable future. Anything to protect ......... the system in place.

The "Friends" might want to read this: THE AMERICANS -- written by Gordon Sinclair and recorded and made famous by CKLW, Windsor, Radio announcer Byron MacGregor posted by tweetypie, 4/27/2006 -- or this: "The press, especially the CBC and the Toronto Star are all that is propping up the federal liberals", posted by 71717


More scope for protest here: CRTC's nemesis now one of its bosses -- "radio shock jock turned Independent MP Andre Arthur" Elizabeth Thompson, Apr. 28, 06



Television Canadian content an issue for pay TV Barbara Schecter, FinPost, Apr. 27, 06

[. . . . ] In a letter to the CRTC, Charlotte Bell, vice-president of regulatory affairs at CanWest MediaWorks Inc., said the problems facing Discovery Health are "endemic to the entire category" of channels launched in 2001.

The so-called Category 1 digital channels were given the perks of "genre" protection from competition and guaranteed carriage by cable and satellite operators, but faced escalating Canadian-content obligations.[. . . . ]

I hope the History Channel survives.



Perhaps a job for "Friends"? They could take up a collection.

Tories refuse to pay AdScam bills -- Treasury Board won't pay for legal challenges -- re: Justice Gomery report / AdScam Stephanie Rubec, CNEWS, Apr. 28, 06

Baird took a hard line against Liberals looking to challenge Justice John Gomery's AdScam report, slamming the former Liberal government's decision to sign off on $40,000 for the legal fees of a longtime Grit on Jan. 23, hours before losing the federal election.

$40Gs for Chretien pal -- "In its final hours, Paul Martin's Liberal government secretly cut a $40,000 cheque to cover the costs of a Grit's challenge of the Adscam report" Stephanie Rubec, Apr. 27, 06

Just hours before losing his seat to the Tories Jan. 23, former Treasury Board president Reg Alcock signed off on a $40,000 payment to help Pelletier cover some of his legal fees.

[....] The payment is in addition to the $600,000 in legal fees taxpayers have already picked up for Pelletier's lawyers.

Not amused: comments from WesternCoyote (Search "zoo") and Ne0_North



Thane Burnett: Secret agent blues -- spy agencies recruiting



CIBC to pay $27M for overcharging CNEWS, Apr. 28, 06



From the PMO

Prime Minister announces Canada and U.S. reach softwood deal

April 27, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

NO QUOTAS AND TARIFFS AT CURRENT PRICES

$4 BILLION IN DUTIES TO BE RE-PAID TO CANADA

PROVINCIAL AND REGIONAL FLEXIBILITY

7-YEAR ARRANGEMENT

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today that Canada and the United States have reached a long-term agreement that resolves the longstanding softwood lumber dispute between the two countries.

The United States has agreed to Canada’s key conditions including:

Stable and predictable access to the U.S. market: there will be no quotas and no tariffs at current prices;

Repayment of duties: at least four billion dollars will be paid out to Canadian producers;

Provincial flexibility: there will be different compliance options in response to varying operating conditions across Canada; and

Certainty: the deal runs for a minimum of seven years with options for renewal at a later date.

“Canada’s bargaining position was strong; our conditions were clear; and this agreement delivers,” said the Prime Minister. “It’s a good deal that resolves this long-standing dispute and allows us to move on.”

The Prime Minister said today’s agreement was the product of intense engagement on the part of the Canada and noted the agreement is supported by British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s three main softwood-producing provinces.

“We have a deal that defends Canada’s national interests and helps Canadian communities and workers,” said the Prime Minister. “I commend Premiers Campbell, Charest and McGuinty for their support.”

Softwood deal reached Jason Kirby, Peter Morton and Paul Vieira, National Post / CanWest News Services, April 28, 2006

[. . . . ] Aside from surrendering 20% of the $5-billion that Washington has collected from Canadian lumber producers in the past four years, the agreement would also see Canadian exports limited to 34% of the $10-billion U.S. market.

The agreement also includes an export tax linked to both the value of the Canadian currency and the U.S. market price for construction lumber. [. . . . ]

Editorial with a negative viewpoint: Gone soft on softwood -- NAFTA, WTO, stability and predictability


Why quotas are an inferior system -- An export tax lets markets work and is easier to remove Ronald Wonnacott, NatPost, Apr. 27, 06

[....] Under a quota system, Canada would get a fixed share (its historical one-third?) of the U.S. market, with this in turn divided up as quotas among Canadian exporting firms. The benefits would go to Canadian exporting firms holding the valuable quota rights; they would be able to sell in the United States at the higher price resulting from the scarcity generated by the export limits. [....]

This article makes some points worth reading. The Liberals had years to get this in place ... but didn't. If a deal were so easy to get, why not?



Quebec proposes making history less anti-English

MONTREAL - A provincial government proposal to play down French-English conflict and pay more attention to non-francophone Quebecers in the teaching of high-school history is angering Quebec nationalists.

[....] "We will have to take to the street to protest this aberration," said one contributor to an Internet forum on the sovereigntist Web site vigile.net. [. . . . ]

Merger?

In praise of the four-party system Adam Radwanski, NatPost, Apr. 28, 06

New Democrats hate Liberals. More than Conservatives.

World report China on track to launch its first lunar satellite next April



Opposition MPs question government's power over Peace Tower flag protocol -- want Parliament to decide -- however ......

[....] Rob Nicholson, the Conservative House leader, brushed off the arguments.

He said the protocol for the Peace Tower flag, which is lowered for the death of senators, former parliamentarians, privy councillors and other VIPs, has been in place almost since Confederation - with the last four years of the Afghan mission the exception. [....]

Publication Ban on name of accused? In Okotoks, however, family and friends grieved the loss of Debra and Marc Richardson and their preteen son, Jacob.



China gives BlackBerry maker a raspberry -- In example of wild market, state-run companies offer ‘Redberry’ devices
AP, April 26, 2006

The Redberry is not a new version of the BlackBerry that's been designed by Research in Motion Ltd. for the Chinese market. It's the name being used by two unaffiliated Chinese companies selling a BlackBerry-like service on a non-BlackBerry mobile device.

[....] of the two companies involved. One, not so surprisingly, is a pugnacious start-up. But the other is China Unicom Ltd., whose majority owner is none other than the Chinese government.

There's another odd wrinkle. There are only two big cell phone companies serving China, both of them state-controlled but publicly traded. China Unicom is the wireless carrier offering "Uni PushMail," the new BlackBerry-like mobile e-mail service. The other carrier, China Mobile Ltd., just happens to be RIM's partner in bringing the BlackBerry to China.

[....] Facio Software Inc., founded by a Microsoft Corp. veteran named Tony Chan, boasts on its Web site that "We are the Redberry!" and that its service is available "before RIMM's BlackBerry." In a press release, Chan was quoted as saying, "The Redberry is not afraid, neither did David fear Goliath!"

There was a reason for helping curb mention of democracy online in China -- for helping the Chinese government to suppress dissent. Business.



Upheaval in the Congo

[. . . . ] Anvil and Banro are among a dozen or so Canadian firms hoping to revive the fortunes of the Congo, a mineral-rich nation that two decades ago supplied 6% of the world's copper. Years of civil war and controversial mineral policies have lowered the Congo's copper output to a trickle, currently less than 0.5% of global supply.

The Congo is trying to hold its first democratic elections in four decades but is struggling with several outbreaks of violence. [. . . . ]

Mentioned: Robert La Valliere, Anvil's Montreal-based vice-president of investor relations ....



Memory Lane

Sex scandal in Congo threatens to engulf UN's peacekeepers -- They should be rebuilding the country, but foreign workers face serious accusations NewsJunkie Canada, Dec. 24, 04

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1413501,00.html

Sex scandal in Congo threatens to engulf UN's peacekeepers Jonathan Clayton and James Bone, Dec. 23, 04, Times

HOME-MADE pornographic videos shot by a United Nations logistics expert in the Democratic Republic of Congo have sparked a sex scandal that threatens to become the UN’s Abu Ghraib.

The expert was a Frenchman who worked at Goma airport as part of the UN’s $700 million-a-year effort to rebuild the war-shattered country. When police raided his home they discovered that he had turned his bedroom into a studio for videotaping and photographing sex sessions with young girls. [. . . . ]