Nov. 27, 2006: #1

Quebec Nation?

www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/13364-2.html

Quebec already has recognition as a nation.

Here's part of a text written by Errol Mendes, for the Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, November 24, 2006

(Go back to) the Quebec Act of 1774, which bestowed legal and cultural autonomy to the French population by restoring the pre-conquest French civil law and permitting religious and language freedom.

The Quebec Act of 1774 is ... also the original catalyst in the development of a constitutional convention that [....]

While visions of sugarplums dance in some heads, the Grand Chief sees $$$

First Nations seek clarity on Harper's motion on 'nationhood', OTTAWA, Nov. 23 /CNW Telbec/

www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2006/23/c8197.html

[....] Indeed, First Nations across Canada are expressing frustration at the lack of action and attention to First Nations issues. At the same time, as putting forward this motion, the Government of Canada is actively opposing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada's opposition to this non-binding Declaration that would set only minimum standards for dignity, survival and well-being of the world's Indigenous Peoples is unprincipled and inconsistent.

How did they get to be "indigenous"? Aren't we all? Some journalist should look into the import and ramifications of this UN interference. See if it means more than dignity, survival and well-being.

"The announcement of a larger than anticipated surplus and more tax-cuts by Minister Flaherty today is yet another blow to First Nations" noted the National Chief. "In the full awareness of the growing socio-economic crises in First Nation communities across Canada, First Nations receive neither recognition nor investment." [....]

Should we cue the victim violins for the ... ones who usually thrive, the chiefs and their network.





Tory calls for action on grow ops -- Visits scene of massive grow op and urges more action to protect Ontario residents , TORONTO, Nov. 26 /CNW/

www.newswire.ca/en/releases/
archive/November2006/26/c8703.html

TORONTO, Nov. 26 /CNW/ - Progressive Conservative Party Leader John Tory today toured the scene of a massive Toronto grow op and called for action to better protect Ontario families from drug crimes.

"This was a disaster zone waiting to happen," said Tory. "The fire, mould and other health risks to families because of this drug operation are nothing short of shocking. All governments have to be doing much more to protect Ontarians from these grow ops - it seems we hear about a new one almost every day." [....]

Good deeds punished? , Kathleen Harris, Nov. 20, 2006, Sun Media

www.ottawasun.com/News/National
/2006/11/20/2429935-sun.html

... audit of Katimavik ...

... Katimavik-OPCAN, a non-profit corporation that receives 98%-99% of its $20-million-plus funding from Heritage Canada.

... spot checks at Katimavik's Montreal offices ... 2005. ... excessive meal claims, expensed Christmas gifts to staff and an excessive travel period and costs for a conference trip for two to Ghana. [....]

... the audit is still in its draft form .... All programs, including Katimavik, are under review to determine if they are aligned with government priorities, but no decision has yet been made on Katimavik's future. [....]

Katimavik, which enlists youth aged 17-21 to work for $3 a day on community-service programs, ... founded under the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau in 1977 by Jacques Hebert. Former Tory PM Brian Mulroney axed ... Jean Chretien restored it a year after he took office and many still see Katimavik as a Liberal brand. [....]

Knife Violence

www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/13403.html

Sensforever, 11/25/2006 09:23:03

In the City of Ottawa during the years 2003 and 2005 there were 374 knife crimes which included stabbings, deaths, robberies and threats.

So far this year up to November 13th there were 345 knife crimes including some deaths.

There are far more knife crimes than there are gun crimes. [....]


choppy, 11/25/2006 17:58:15
Clearly the answer to knife violence is the following:

(1) At a cost of $ 2 billion, establish a knife and blunt object registry.
(2) Form a committee to investigate the root causes of knife violence with the ultimate intention of [....]

INSIDE STORY: When Mr. Harper's press secretary approached him about 6 p.m. on Tuesday with the Bloc motion in hand, it didn't take him long to decide on action: defining Québécois as a nation within Canada Nov. 24, 06

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.2006
1124.NATIONTICKTOCK24/TPStory/TPNational/Quebec/

“OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper was surprised by the Bloc Québécois motion calling for the recognition of Quebeckers as a nation. But he’d been pondering the subject for some time — at least since the question was put to him by a reporter in the province last spring. [....]

The Best of the Best !!, timwest, 11/25/2006 11:54:29

www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/13405.html

Read it slowly — read it carefully — and then think about where our “new government” is going with it’s “tax breaks” and their shutting down of the “Trudeau Apparatus” which has accomplished nothing but steal our hard earned dollars as they continued their game plan – ”to buy the Canadian public” — one vote at a time.

China: Redberry rip-off of Blackberry

Proud Moment -- Stephen Harper making Canada relevant again, By Ezra Levant, Nov. 20, 06

calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Levant_Ezra
/2006/11/20/2430063.html

Under almost 13 years of Liberal rule, Canada's China policy had become increasingly obsequious.

[....] Avoiding specific issues meant China would never have to answer for specific actions, ranging from detaining a Canadian citizen in a Chinese jail, to violating Canadian trademarks and other intellectual property, as China so brazenly does, such as with their "Redberry" rip-off of Canada's BlackBerry.

When Harper's diplomats pressed for a meeting about substantive matters, the Chinese reneged.

Had it been Chretien or Martin who were snubbed, they'd have panicked and gone into appeasement mode.

They probably would have groveled, promised not to raise prickly issues, and perhaps even raised Canada's absurd annual gift of $65 million a year to China in foreign aid, the largest amount we give to any country.

Harper dug in. [....]

PRIME MINISTER HARPER LAUNCHES CANADIAN PARTNERSHIP AGAINST CANCER, November 24, 2006, Montreal

www.pm.gc.ca/

[....] The major players in the fight against cancer will soon be joining together to pool their expertise and knowledge.

These include:

the Canadian Cancer Society;

the Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies;

the federal, provincial and territorial health departments; and

the nation’s top research institutes.

Their goals are nothing less than:

Preventing cancer altogether;

Detecting cancers early when they’re most treatable; and

Enhancing treatment and support services to improve quality of life for Canadians suffering from cancer.

To achieve these goals – prevention, detection and treatment – I am pleased to announce today the creation of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

This Pan-Canadian body will serve as a clearing house for state-of-the-art information about preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer.

A non-profit corporation, it will operate at arm’s length from government.

The board of directors of this independent non-profit organisation will include:

Patients;

Families;

Survivors;

Representatives of the key cancer stakeholder organizations;

The federal, provincial and territorial governments; and

Canada’s aboriginal peoples.

Recognizing that health care falls within provincial jurisdiction, the new national agency will play no role in the administration of health policy or programs.

Its job is simply to make sure that the best cancer care practices in any single part of Canada are known and available to health care providers in every part of Canada.

[....] Jeffrey Lozon, the president and CEO of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, will serve as the body’s chair.

While Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, the president and CEO of the BC cancer agency, will serve as its vice chair. [....]

Gordon Lightfoot's support for our troops in Afghanistan is heartfelt , Joe Warmington, Nov. 18, 06

www.torontosun.com/News/Canada
/2006/11/18/2404649-sun.html

[....] Don't forget this guy has written songs covered by Elvis Presley, Peter, Paul & Mary, Dylan, Anne Murray, Glen Campbell, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte and Nana Mouskouri for crying out loud.

He can afford a driver. He doesn't want one. The biggest legends don't realize that they are ones.

Sometimes they don't know why they are. Hit songs. Classic songs. Songs that define a generation or a time. Lightfoot has had his share of those. Not many can boast writing and recording Sundown, Early Morning Rain, The Edmund Fitzgerald, Ribbon of Darkness over Me, Alberta Bound and If You Could Read My Mind -- just to name a few. [....]

Canadians jailed in China hopeful after PM talks -- A brief, informal meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his counterpart in China is being welcomed as an "important first step" by those fighting for the release of a Canadian man detained there on suspicion of terrorism.


Memory Lane: British MP Galloway

This is a little late but, in view of the mainstream media play the Galloway comments received--anything for quick news, I suppose--it is time for a trip down Memory Lane.
British MP slams Harper -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's foreign policy strategy is a joke and is causing Canada to be hated around the world, British politician George Galloway said Monday.


Harsh words -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's foreign policy strategy is a joke and is causing Canada to be hated around the world, British [Labour] politician George Galloway said Monday.
www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=
b1a53168-0a3c-46f0-b94c-f6e1d7252ed2&k=28974

Should Canadians care what the UK's Mr. Galloway had to say about Canada's Prime Minister Harper? No!

UN, Saddam, Chirac, Galloway Pascua & Related -- also re: Chile's President Mrs. Bachelot, May 14, 2005

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_05_08_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html


Saddam spies 'offered to help Chirac get re-elected', Francis Harris in Washington, Henry Samuel in Paris and David Rennie in Brussels, May 14, 2005

www.telegraph.co.uk/core/track.jhtml?aT=
EMLNK&emTy=new_14052005&nxt=http://
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=
/news/2005/05/14/wsadd14.xml


Oil-for-food probe fingers 2 politicians -- "the former interior minister of France, Charles Pasqua, and British member of Parliament George Galloway", 12 May 2005, CBC

sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05
/12/oil-food-program050512.html


Hard Line -- The leader of Action democratique du Quebec lifted the veil Sunday on his campaign theme for the coming provincial election.

www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=
3a19e073-7293-4bbf-923a-ded72d197364&k=93979



Environment, posted by SeanMcElroy, Nov. 20, 06

www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/13338.html

>>Opposition MPs and environment critics blasted Environment Minister Rona Ambrose for using her UN climate conference speech to conduct a partisan attack.

"It's inappropriate in an international meeting to slam another political party," Liberal environment critic John Godfrey told CTV Newsnet on Wednesday, adding no other environment minister did so.<< tinyurl.com/ycrpta

BUT

The Globe connects the dots:

>>It's inappropriate in an international meeting to slam another political party," Liberal MP John Godfrey said in an interview with CTV Newsnet. But Mr. Godfrey insisted he was not guilty of the same charge when he called Ms. Ambrose's actions "idiotic" during a news conference Monday at the same UN meeting.<< tinyurl.com/yj9le8

Statistical Analysis for Activists (part 1) -- Fenris has a way with words , November 20th, 2006 by Fenris

www.dustmybroom.com/?p=5024

Alot of people are confused as to what planet the Main Stream Media gets their authoritative numbers used to prove Global Warming, Third Hand Smoke, and Illiteracy among Black University Graduates. The answer is .....

With so much talk about PM Harper, China's Hu Jintao and a tempest in a teacup over who said what to whom, the MSM have managed not to mention any of this. It might impede business ... whatever was in play during the last Liberal government's administration ... things which might have been put on hold until they can get someone of their own in power.

I noticed TV--one of them; I forget which--"activist" Jaggi Singh is on the prowl again ... being funded by which leftist group? Now, what drew him out?


Daycare

Hundreds march to protest day-care inequality , Ross Marowits, CNEWS, Nov. 26, 06
cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/11/26/2502780-cp.html

[....] Line Robillard of Longueuil, Que., said she doesn't believe the government should remove her choice to pay a little more to obtain the quality care she wants for her child.

[....] Private day cares have charged additional fees because they receive about $7 less per day in government subsidies for each child. For a centre with 80 children, this amounts to about $150,000 per year.

The province spends $1.6 billion a year for its day-care system, including daily subsidies ranging between $30 and $50 per child. Parents top that off with a $7 contribution.

More than half of the province's 500 private day-cares have recently been visited by government inspectors. About 100 of them received written warnings to reduce their fees to $7 per day by Dec. 6 or risk losing their provincial subsidies and licences. [....]

Give us a child until he's six and ...




A nation by any other name -- According to linguists, Quebec might be better suited to statehood , writes Tony Atherton, The Ottawa Citizen, Published: Friday, November 24, 2006 -- or here , SeanMcElroy, 11/24/2006 13:42:55

www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/13393.html

tinyurl.com/y39gbw

www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=
b55b3ce9-adaf-430c-a4a2-322b1bf90a83&p=2

- Quebec toddlers are more likely to live in a family with two parents than their counterparts anywhere else in Canada.

- By age 10, Quebec children are more likely to be living in a single-parent home than children elsewhere in Canada.[....]

There are more statistics if you link.



Vets gird for battle against Canadian War Museum, Sarah McGinnis, CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald, Published: Sunday, November 26, 2006

www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=
05bb0c8c-827d-4d79-8ee3-dda6ad6b6707&k=42408

[....] Former Calgary alderman, MLA and MP Art Smith is lobbying the government to force the Canadian War Museum to remove a display in the airforce section of the facility which he says insinuates strategic bombing raids didn't make any difference in the war.

'As a former airforce pilot I am deeply offended and have to do something for the tens of thousands of airmen who never came home," Smith said.

The disputed panel reads: "The value and morality of the strategic bombing offensive against Germany remains contested. Bombers command aim was to crush civilian morale and force Germany to surrender by destroying its cities and industrial installations. Although bomber command and the American attacks left 600,000 Germans dead and more than 5 million homeless, the raids resulted in only a small reduction in German war production until late in the war." [....]

Have you read much about this in the news in Canada? The MSM have concentrated on drek, to our detriment.

The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies (And the Man Who Tried to Stop Them)
An exclusive look at how the hackers called TITAN RAIN are stealing U.S. secrets, By Nathan Thornburgh, Posted Monday, Aug. 29, 2005

www.time.com/time/magazine/
article/0,9171,1098961,00.html

[....] He set his alarm for 2 a.m. Waking in the dark, he took a thermos of coffee and a pack of Nicorette gum to the cluster of computer terminals in his home office. As he had almost every night for the previous four months, he worked at his secret volunteer job until dawn, not as Shawn Carpenter, mid-level analyst, but as Spiderman--the apt nickname his military-intelligence handlers gave him--tirelessly pursuing a group of suspected Chinese cyberspies all over the world. Inside the machines, on a mission he believed the U.S. government supported, he clung unseen to the walls of their chat rooms and servers, secretly recording every move the snoopers made, passing the information to the Army and later to the FBI.

The hackers he was stalking, part of a cyberespionage ring that federal investigators code-named Titan Rain, first caught Carpenter's eye a year earlier when he helped investigate a network break-in at Lockheed Martin in September 2003. A strikingly similar attack hit Sandia several months later, but it wasn't until Carpenter compared notes with a counterpart in Army cyberintelligence that he suspected the scope of the threat. Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find, and they were getting them by penetrating secure computer networks at the country's most sensitive military bases, defense contractors and aerospace companies.

Carpenter had never seen hackers work so quickly, with such a sense of purpose. They would commandeer a hidden section of a hard drive, zip up as many files as possible and immediately transmit the data to way stations in South Korea, Hong Kong or Taiwan before sending them to mainland China. They always made a silent escape, wiping their electronic fingerprints clean and leaving behind an almost undetectable beacon allowing them to re-enter the machine at will. An entire attack took 10 to 30 minutes. "Most hackers, if they actually get into a government network, get excited and make mistakes," says Carpenter. "Not these guys. They never hit a wrong key." [....]

Testing Beijing's Limits -- In the quest for China's lucrative--and elusive--TV market, did murdoch bend the rules? , by Matthew Forney, Beijing Time Magazine, Sept. 5, 2005

www.time.com/time/magazine/
article/0,9171,1098932,00.html


Mark Steyn: The War Party vs. the Small Government Party , Insight Magazine, Nov. 21-27, 2006, Posted On: 11/21/2006

www.insightmag.com

[....] As we can see in Europe every day of the week, Big Government is a national security issue—for all the reasons Milton Friedman understood: in diminishing individual liberty, it transforms free-born citizens into nanny-state charges to the point where it imperils the existence of the nation. If ever there was a time for not introducing a new prescription drug entitlement, wartime is it. Yet the president and Congress apparently decided that they could fight a long existential struggle abroad while Big Government continued to swell and bloat at home. [....]

Alta Tory race Tory leadership race, Dean Bennett

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/
2006/11/25/2501893-cp.html

Jim Dinning 29,470
Ted Morton 25,614
Ed Stelmach 14,967
Lyle Oberg 11,638
Dave Hancock 7,595
Mark Norris 6,789
Victor Doerksen 87
Gary McPherson 744

[....] Morton, who has chided the one-time TransAlta power executive as a puppet of big business and as a political dilettante for coming back to the political arena after a decade simply to grab the brass ring.

Morton is pushing a hard-right agenda. He said as premier he would fight any attempt by the federal government to raid Alberta's resource revenue. He said he'll work for a provincially run pension plan and a made-in-Alberta police force.

He would tie spending to revenues and fight what he terms judicial activism.

In 1998 he was elected one of Alberta's four senators in waiting as part of a provincial plan to push for democratic reform in the Senate.

He was never appointed to the red chamber by the then-Liberal government.

[....] Some rural polls reported slow turnout due to poor driving conditions and temperatures stuck around -25 C.

Is it a "hard-right agenda" or common sense?



Tribunal to rule on guide dog vs. religion, Jane Seyd, North Shore News

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/viewtopic.php?t=
1146&mforum=elwoodpdowd

A case potentially pitting rights of the disabled against religious beliefs will be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after a blind man from the North Shore who uses a guide dog to get around launched a complaint against North Shore Taxi.

Bruce Gilmour filed the complaint after a cab driver from North Shore Taxi refused to let his guide dog into the cab in January of this year. Gilmour, who says it's not the first time he's been refused service by a taxicab, is complaining that North Shore taxi discriminated against him on the basis of physical disability.

But the taxi driver, Behzad Saidy, is arguing his Muslim religious beliefs will not allow him to take dogs in his taxi, because Muslims can't associate with dogs

Failure to save puts half of Canadians on brink of poverty: poll -- Half of Canadians fear that they are only a pay cheque or two away from poverty, according to a new survey that finds most people feel excluded from the economic good times of the current decade.

www.canada.com/cityguides/toronto/story.html?id=
d7294206-cd31-449a-ba8b-d37bcc8b2189&k=73115


Tories not right wing enough according to Harris, Manning -- If Preston Manning and Mike Harris had their way, the Harper Conservatives would be more conservative.

www.canada.com/cityguides/toronto/story.html?id=
64f5e9ca-acc3-4aa0-8dda-a0416099b077&k=87016


Update on Michaelle Jean's visit

Jean takes part in revelry in ancient African town , Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 26, 06

www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=
85cdcbaf-41f0-4f89-be02-9767a088a607

[....] Ms. Jean congratulated the residents of this architectural masterpiece for preserving a 2,256-year-old town, which has been recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. [Was any Canadian taxpayer money used for this, perhaps through CIDA?]

The event was joyful, as Ms. Jean walked past rows of mud-brick buildings to tour a mosque that towers above the town of 40,000. [....]

Blair admits Iraq invasion a disaster , By George Jones, Political Editor, Last Updated: 11:42am GMT 18/11/2006

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/viewtopic.php?t=
1143&mforum=elwoodpdowd

Interviewed yesterday on al-Jazeera television's new English-language channel, Mr Blair was challenged by Sir David Frost over the daily murders, bombings and kidnappings in Iraq.

Sir David said the West's military intervention, which has cost 2,858 American and 125 British lives, had been "pretty much of a disaster". [....]

An oldie but ... Unaffordable Liberal convention sparks fundraisers, calls for reform, John Bryden, Nov. 20, 06

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/
2006/11/20/2431551-cp.html

OTTAWA (CP) - A fundraiser to subsidize female delegates to the Liberal leadership convention was held up Monday as proof that the party needs to adopt a more economical process of one person-one vote for selecting its leaders. [....]

Table: Similarities & Differences between Canada & the United States

[....] Sources:
CIA World Factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/)
US Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/)
Statistics Canada (http://www.statcan.ca/) 08/08/00
OECD (http://www.oecd.org/)
United Nations Human Development Report (http://www.undp.org/hdro/)

Iraq misery mirrors regional bankruptcy, Salim Mansur, Sat, November 25, 2006, posted by luvthewest, 11/25/2006 15:37:05

Salim Mansur is a political sciences professor at the University of Western Ontario.

[....] Iraq's misery, however, is not from America's "botched" effort to plant democracy in the Middle East.

It is the result of a deep-seated malignancy and failure to settle its tribal quarrels that reach back to the killings of Husayn (the prophet's grandson) and his family in Karbala in 680 and all the unresolved issues accumulated since then.

The deafening silence of the Arab League, of the Organization of Islamic Countries and of Muslims in general as atrocities mounted in Iraq and beyond confirms the obvious. Much of the Arab-Muslim world is stuck in its medieval past that neither a thin facade of modernity nor boastfulness of past glories might hide.

America's eventual withdrawal from Iraq is a given.When it does, an unreformed medieval Arab-Muslim world will likely need containment by the likes of an Iron Curtain that once kept the Communist East at some distance from the West.

All the more reason NOT to believe the MSM , gl1800, 11/25/2006 11:25:03

www.canoe.ca/mb2/messages/cnewsf/13404.html

[....] Fighting back: the city determined not to become al-Qaeda's capital.
While the world’s attention has been focused on Baghdad’s slide into sectarian warfare, something remarkable has been happening in Ramadi, a city of 400,000 inhabitants that al-Qaeda and its Iraqi allies have controlled since mid-2004 and would like to make the capital of their cherished Islamic caliphate.

A power struggle has erupted: al-Qaeda’s reign of terror is being challenged. Sheikh Sittar and many of his fellow tribal leaders have cast their lot with the once-reviled US military. They are persuading hundreds of their followers to sign up for the previously defunct Iraqi police. American troops are moving into a city that was, until recently, a virtual no-go area. A battle is raging for the allegiance of Ramadi’s battered and terrified citizens and the outcome could have far-reaching consequences.

Al Sahab: The Cloud, November 15th, 2006
www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/al-sahab-the-cloud.htm

In a counterinsurgency the media battle space is critical. When it comes to battling for public opinion, rallying support, and forcing opponents to shift tactics and time tables to better suit the home team, our terrorist enemies are destroying us. Al Qaeda’s media arm is called al Sahab – the cloud. It feels more like a hurricane. While our enemies have “embedded” “journalists” crawling all over the battlefields, we have “an embed media system” that is so ineptly managed that earlier this month there were only 9 reporters embedded with American troops in Iraq. There were about 770 during the initial invasion. [....]

Censorship is a giant among words. Not to be used flippantly. Censorship is a word like “murder”: Break Glass Only in Event of… The word “censorship” is like a hand grenade so powerful that no arm can throw it far enough, and so a writer better be serious before pulling the pin. To understand the gravity, we must first clarify meaning. [....]

Seven days a week I communicate with wounded service members and families of service members killed in action. They ask, “When are you going back?” They long to hear the details, –good, bad or ugly—that bring them closer to their loved ones. Some get impatient and short with me, perhaps not realizing that LTC Barry Johnson has the final say and he doesn’t recognize my work as warranting an embed on his watch. [....]