No subject should be outside the realm of debate in a democratic society.
Tiny but courageous little fellow ... rather like all my cats who knew they were safe. It looks like a tiny duicker. Thanks J.
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Those were the words used by one reviewer about political correctness in a review of Oriana Fallacci's book, The Force of Reason.
Through no desire of her own, Oriana Fallaci will spend her final days as the focus of a trial in her native country. She has been charged with defaming Islam in eighteen separate statements in her book, The Force of Reason.
Defamation is the politically correct term for telling unpleasant truths about extremely thin-skinned cultures who refuse to acknowledge that their own leaders have previously proclaimed what Fallaci says is their goal: the subjugation of Western civilization. Surely everyone by now has heard the imams in Britain who boldly state that their goal is to have the flag of Allah flying from No. 10 Downing Street, or the grandiose “speeches” from Osama bin Laden telling the West how Islam will conquer us all. Not to mention Iranian leaders who scold American presidents and warn of our destruction, or the inciteful propaganda put out on a global basis by Saudi Arabia.
However, in our Alice in Wonderland world, such statements are not hate speech. Killing Jewish Frenchmen after torturing them is not anti-Semitism. Israel’s incursion into Gaza to retrieve its soldier is “revenge.” [....]
Now Fallaci’s book has her on trial in Italy. She faces prison time — should she return to Italy — for saying things like this: “Over the last twenty years terrorists have killed six thousand people to the glory of the Qur’an.” Such are the strictures binding free speech in Europe that even factual statements or tentative opinions can get you in trouble via the “anti-incitement laws,” laws which can mean imprisonment: [....]
“The end of free speech - the end of democracy”.
There are two groups that are going to really hate this book. One are the Islamists who divide humanity into two groups: the People of Paradise and the People of Hell. And who insist that their beliefs alone are off-limits when it comes to critical inquiry. The second group is the multiculturalists and relativists, who do not find anything particular valuable in Western Culture over any other culture (including those who kill a daughter who has been raped to preserve "honor".)
So who WILL like this book? Those who do deeply cherish Western culture as it has developed through the US constitution, who value the hard won freedom and autonomy of the individual, who believe that women are the equals of men and should be treated as so, and those who believe that humanity reaches its greatest heights when the human mind is left free. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Criminal Intent Posted 6/27/2006
National Security: A lot of words have been used to describe media behavior in revealing government secrets in the war on terror. "Irresponsible," "reprehensible" and "disgraceful" are just a few. How about "criminal"?
[....] But we were aghast at the rationale offered by New York Times Editor Bill Keller: It was, he said, in the "public interest."
We rather doubt that. Fact is, the Times has now published three stories in the last year and a half that revealed details of secret programs in the war on terror. In so doing, it has put terrorists on notice they're being watched, thereby giving them an incentive to alter their behavior and become tougher to catch.
How's that in the "public interest"? [....]
[....] Time for a little history lesson: Every time Moe Howard poked Curley in the eye, Curley knew where it came from. Every time Islam pokes Canada in the yet, the Canadian government looks at Larry, asks to see the script (the Qur’an), can’t find anything but peace and toleration, apologizes for its insensitivity for suspecting anything at all, sits back and awaits the next finger in the eye—or a ton or two of ammonium nitrate. [....]
Not a single Muslim in all of Canada knew what was going down—except for the conspirators. The 40 to 50 families that frequented the mosque, the lawyers, the imams, the women in the burqas, knew nothing from nothing. It was the chat-room observers and the Royal Mounted that exposed the vermin to the light of day. Someone in the Muslim community must have known something; 750,000 Muslims cannot be kept in the dark unless they want it that way.
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Beaudoin: The truth about AIDS June 27-July 4, 2006
[...] Quarantine is a proven tool to deal with infectious diseases. It worked well for SARS and it is part of avian flue plans around the world.
Quarantine, however, was not used for AIDS. [....]
Over the past 25 years, 81 percent of American AIDS cases have been males. And 90 percent of them were exposed to the virus by sex with men and injection drug use or both. In 2004, 73 percent of new AIDS cases were males. And 82 percent of them got it from sex with men and injection drug use or both. In other words, AIDS in North America has been and still is a killer of men who have sex with men and/or who use injection drugs.
[....] Just as it was 25 years ago, the reality of AIDS is being ignored today.
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
U.S., Canadian police bust drug smuggling ring
[....] The smugglers are alleged to have operated between Bellingham, Wa., and Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., using remote, mountainous locations as staging points for helicopter-borne drug drop-offs and deliveries.
[....] The spoils included 3,640 kilograms of marijuana, 365 kilograms of cocaine, three aircraft and $1.5 million US in cash.
[....] Much of the smuggling was done using helicopters, which in many cases were allegedly operated by unqualified Canadian men involved with the smuggling ring. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Steel: Arcelor and Mittal to merge -- and other videos
Interactive graphic on steel giants Mittal and Arcelor as the Arcelor board finally accepts a merger bid from rivals Mittal. Graphic includes list of world's top 10 steel groups, key dates in takeover battle, Mittal-Arcelor fact files.
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Casino Rama cash cow is sacred, off-limits to provincial auditors Sue Bailey, June 30, 06
OTTAWA (CP) - Ontario's auditor general says he has no jurisdiction to assess the extent to which more than $1 billion in gambling cash has helped First Nations.
Jim McCarter says a new legal opinion concludes that hundreds of millions of dollars in Casino Rama profits are off-limits to provincial auditors. That's because the money never flows through Ontario government coffers, he said in an interview. "The government never actually sees the money." [.....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
The Gulag of Saud Michael I. Krauss and J. Peter Pham, FrontPageMagazine.com, June 28, 2006
First, on June 19, the new 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council opened its first session in Geneva. The new body replaces the discredited 53-nation Human Rights Commission (see photo above) that was viewed by many as, at the very least, ineffectual in fulfilling its mandate to promote and protect human rights on a global basis.
Many critics considered the main reasons for its ineffectiveness its extreme politicization coupled with the farcical nature of its membership—recall the commission presidency was recently held by Mu’ammar Qaddafi’s Libya.
However, despite the assurance of many—including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who piously declared at the inaugural meeting that “the eyes of the world—especially the eyes of those whose human rights are denied, threatened or infringed—are turned towards this chamber and this Council”—that the new body would be different from its predecessor, early indications are not promising. Despite the solemn assurance by the General Assembly that “members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,” the Assembly then proceeded to give the lie to its own statement by electing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a founding leader of the new body.
[....] The Saudi Arabian Women's Rights blog contains the following excerpt from Parvin Darabi's "I am a Moslem Woman." The author is Iranian, but the Saudi rights bloggers insist that exactly the same conception of women's rights obtains in the Wahhabi kingdom:Islam believes and promotes only one relationship between male and female and that is the relation of lust: "If a man and a woman are alone in one place, the third person present is the devil". Prophet Mohammed.
I am not allowed to swim, ski, ride a bike, dance, learn to play musical instruments, practice gymnastics, or any other sport. I am not even permitted to watch men play sports, either in the stadium and/or on television.
I am not permitted to participate in [....]
In March 2005, Freedom House published its most recent report on human rights. The report, "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2005," lists Saudi Arabia as one of the "world's 18 worst regimes." It includes detailed summations of the dire situations in Belarus, Burma (Myanmar), China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Among these countries, only Saudi Arabia appears to be a "dear ally and friend." Here are excerpts from Freedom House's report: [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
2003 Electoral Reform
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Gomery: Witnesses lied to me
[....] Judge Gomery says everyone has memory lapses, especially about unimportant events, but it is another matter when the "forgotten" event is one that has "marked" the person.
"If it is a determining factor in someone's career ... and the witness has absolutely no recollections of this event, we can say 'it is not a memory blank, it is a deliberate memory blank.' It isn't a memory blank. It is a lie to say I do not remember," Judge Gomery says.
[....] The judge says his work on the inquiry influenced the Harper government's Federal Accountability Act, which had been promised during the Christmas election, anticipating his final report on Feb. 1.
[....] "I think the truth cleanses enormously and if I can shine the light on what happened, it will have a beneficial effect on all the population," he says. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Adding up the numbers Sue-Ann Levy, June 24, 06
[....] The homeless portfolio should be audited. But Ootes says that will be an "uphill battle" with the NDP in power at City Hall.
In fact, the report has the audacity to suggest that the city needs more money from senior levels of government to get the homeless into permanent housing.
Yet no mention is made of trying to train homeless people to re-enter the workforce. Heaven forbid. What would Miller and his socialists do if they reduced the cycle of dependency?
Why, then they'd have $220 million to spend on little things like repairing sidewalks or replacing park benches.
We [Toronto Sun] also said it was time to stop tolerating services that only perpetuate and enable homelessness -- handing people food and sleeping bags right on the street so they can stay there -- and better co-ordinate aid to ensure it gets to those who need it.
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Jed Babbin: Into Hamastan June 29, 2006
Unless he is extraordinarily lucky, Israeli Army Corporal Gilad Shalit won't live to see his twentieth birthday. The Sunday raid by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip succeeded in wounding and kidnapping Shalit, killing two of his comrades and wounding two more. Israel has begun a sizeable military penetration into Gaza which aims to recover Shalit - alive or dead - and punish the Palestinians for their raid. As the Israeli incursion began early Wednesday, America and Egypt were counseling calm and - if he's still alive -- a scared teenage boy was sitting in some lightless room in Gaza praying for rescue.
[....] Hamastan poses problems both too large and too small for Israel to solve. The small problems, such as terrorists excavating the terror tunnel used to surprise Gilad Shalit's unit, can never be entirely prevented. The military strike into Gaza this week won't re-establish Israeli occupation, and it will from time to time be repeated. Bigger problems, such as the Hamas government and the support it gets from Israel's neighbors, won't, say some top Israelis, be solved by topping Hamas because there's no moderate Palestinians to take their place. That is another counsel of despair. Israel is stuck in a military cycle it thinks can't be broken. But it can, and it must, for our benefit as much as Israel's.
[....] Washington urges understanding, restraint, compromise, management of the problem, and other half-hearted and doomed remedies. The result is an ever more exhilarated and aggressive Palestinian population that believes victory within reach.
Washington's mistaken approach goes back to the Oslo accords of 1993, when Yasir Arafat seemingly closed the existential conflict in writing to Bill Clinton that "The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security." But Arafat's assurances were fraudulent and the Arab effort to eliminate Israel remains very much in place.
Israel, with U.S. support, must defeat this foul ambition. That implies inflicting a sense of defeat on the Palestinians, and winning their resignation to the permanent existence of a Jewish state in the Holy Land. Only then will the violence end. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Get Fitz Mark Levin, June 26, 06
What’s the difference between investigating the source of information that appeared in a Bob Novak column and information that appears in a New York Times article? Novak was forced to appear before a federal grand jury and reveal his source for Valerie Plame's employment. [....]
Yet, for some reason, the First Amendment and civil-liberties arguments appear to be impediments to investigating leaks of classified national-security information to news organizations like the New York Times which, by all accounts, has damaged our war effort.
The latest information leaked to Times reveals with specificity that our government is tracking the enemy's financial transactions. [....]
Columnist Charles Krauthammer contended “there's a reason why we haven't had an attack since 9/11, and unfortunately we've learned about it [the NSA eavesdropping program to find terrorist financing] by these journalistic leaks about all of the secret programs.” He lit into the judgment of the [NY] Times: “The idea of having it published out there, in a sense disarming us by letting the bad guys know how we're tracing their wire transfers, I think, is a disgrace.” Krauthammer added: “I think this is the 21st century equivalent of publishing the Enigma program in the Second World War in which we listened in on secret German communications in submarines.” Morton Kondracke suggested the New York Times assumes “we've got more to fear from our own government than we do from terrorist attacks” and regretted how “there are evidently people in the bureaucracy who share that view who are willing to blabber to the New York Times.”
Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. The cost of these plots suggests that putting Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists out of business will require more than diplomatic coalitions and military action. Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists.
The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity and is readying an executive order freezing the assets of known terrorists. Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also must be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Friday, June 30, 2006
|
0 comments
Bumped up. Newer posts below.
[....] Wives of four of the central figures arrested last month were among the most active on the website, sharing, among other things, their passion for holy war, disgust at virtually every aspect of non-Muslim society and a hatred of Canada. The posts were made on personal blogs belonging to both Mr. Amara and Ms. Farooq, as well as a semi-private forum founded by Ms. Farooq where dozens of teens in the Meadowvale Secondary School area chatted. The vast majority of the posts were made over a period of about 20 months, mostly in 2004, and the majority of those were made by the group's female members.
The tightly knit group of women who chatted with each other includes Mariya (the wife of alleged leader Fahim Ahmad), Nada (the wife of Mr. Amara, the alleged right-hand man) Nada's sister Rana (wife of suspect Ahmad Ghany), as well as Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal (the Muslim convert from Cape Breton, N.S. who married the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal). The women's husbands are part of a core group of seven charged with the most severe crimes -- plotting to detonate truck bombs against the Toronto Stock Exchange, a Canadian Forces target, and the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. [....]
Somebody else to keep them ... welfare or relatives ... Is there a pattern?Fahim Ahmad, 21 [wife: Cheryfa Jamal]
It's alleged the group's emir, or leader, was Fahim Ahmad, and that he was in touch with shadowy terrorist figures in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain. [....]
Zakaria Amara, 20 [whose wife, Nada Farooq, along with Cheryfa Jamal, wife of Qayyum Abdul Jamal -- are featured in the above article, "Wives united by hatred"]It's alleged that Zakaria Amara led a group of the suspects after the larger group split split in February. Followers of Zakaria Amara, impatient to get moving, are alleged to have formed a bomb group
It is alleged that Mr. Amara was spotted approaching government offices in the far Northern Ontario community of Cochrane, Ont., allegedly to scout out a possible location for a training camp. Someone claims to have heard him fire off two shots with a shotgun. It is alleged that Mr. Amara grew impatient that Mr. Ahmad was not moving fast enough. Mr. Amara is alleged to have joined forces with a charismatic figure at a local Islamic centre: Qayyum Jamal. With the help of the 43-year-old, Mr. Amara surrounded himself with a small group of young men and teenagers.Mr. Amara recently moved into his mother-in-law's Mississauga home. He was planning to live with his wife, Nada Farooq, their eight-month old daughter, Nour, and the rest of the Farooq family. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
Three firms vie to build pipeline to B.C.'s north coast June 29, 06 VanSun
Enbridge Gateway Pipelines Inc. has taken an early lead in the race -- if it can be called that -- to build a pipeline from Alberta's oil sands to B.C.'s north coast.
Israeli troops rounded up dozens of ministers and legislators from the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party on Thursday, while pressing a military campaign in Gaza meant to win the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas gunmen.
[....] Nortel employees looking to their pension years learned this week that their defined benefit pension plans are about to be defined out of existence. In their place the company will set up defined contribution plans, part of a global corporate trend. Faced with falling returns on investments, flawed actuarial assumptions and bad laws, companies have no choice but to get out of the pension model that shaped corporate pensions for much of the last 50 years.
No such retrenchment looms at public pension operations. The same crises that plague private pensions -- brought on by the same wonky assumptions, unfavourable laws and mounting deficits -- is ripping through government-run plans. The big difference is that while private sector plans such as Nortel's must face funding realities, governments and their unions are looking at limitless supplies of taxpayer cash to bail them out. [....]
[....] Canadian Press bylaws require one-year notice of withdrawals. Mr. Anderson underscored that CanWest's action was only a notice of intent. [....]
[....] One smart Bay Street media analyst anonymously wonders if it is all a lot of satellite noise signifying nothing. Says he: "I think sat radio will fill a market niche, but only that. It's a linear programming service. Great fit for the salesperson who has long drives every day, but after that, put me in with skeptics. Once you get an iPod, how can this compare?"
On balance, though, the Bay Streeter gives XM's American bosses the edge: "XM is the better company -- superior technology, stronger management." [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
David Warren: McGuinty's Caledonia gambit sets catastrophic precedent
[....] Ontario's ruling politicians are congratulating themselves, because so far, thanks to their egregious cowardice, nobody in Caledonia has actually been killed. That is their standard for a successful result. It is a very odd standard. The same logic could be expressed in the sentence: "Until he kills you, you don't have a case."
It goes beyond this. There was an unambiguous court order for the police to remove the Six Nations blockades. It was ignored, by police and the politicians behind them. And since the last Superior Court hearing on June 16, the provincial government has been operating on the loopy legal theory that, by expropriating from its present owners the land Six Nations are claiming, and taking it "out of contention," the many violations of the Criminal Code that have already occurred become null and void. This is a legal theory unworthy of adults.
[....] passively accepting the wisdom of their social and ideological class, which holds that any expression of masculine assertion must necessarily be wrong. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
Terror suspect wants out of 'Guantanamo North' -- Kingston -- too hot for Egyptian national in Canada Allison Hanes, National Post, June 29, 2006
Terror suspect Mahmoud Jaballah complained yesterday of stifling heat, not being able to buy snacks and difficulty contacting his wife and six children since being moved to a new immigration holding centre in Kingston dubbed Guantanamo North.
Through his lawyer and in a recent affidavit, the Egyptian national aired his grievances in Federal Court in Toronto, as part of a renewed bid to be released from custody, this time asking to be put under house arrest. [Surely, there must be a liberal judge around .....]
A hearing to determine whether Mr. Jaballah's detention since August, 2001, on the basis of secret intelligence is reasonable was supposed to continue yesterday. But his lawyers requested anew that Judge Andrew Mackay postpone the proceedings until after the Supreme Court of Canada rules on the constitutionality of security certificates. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
Prominent Tory named as judge in Fredericton NatPost, July 29, 06
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
Ali Hindy--An Islamic extremist hiding in plain view
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
What the liberal media omitted in the Caledonia dispute
posted by News Junkie Canada at Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
0 comments
Julie Van Dusen, Emmanuelle Latraverse & Lina Dib
[....] But on the Hill there are plenty of stories of how the National's Julie Van Dusen harangues colleagues who break rank. (She also recently PMO security and began banging on Harper's door while he was meeting with children). Others name Radio Canada's Emmanuelle Latraverse and TVA's Lina Dib as two key rabble rousers. [....]
Facts, research...who cares when one can bring Bush into an issue in order to discredit the government? The Toronto Star's Mr Travesty gets things very, very wrong:Among those Harper is pleasing are O'Connor, the arms industry that until recently paid his lobbying fees, Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier, George W. Bush and, of course, Boeing. In buying everything from the [C-17] Globemasters to helicopters, ships and trucks, Harper ends a nasty dispute between O'Connor and Hillier and sends another strong signal south that, more than a friend, Canada is an ally.
That's important to an increasingly isolated Bush administration. And it's a help to both the Pentagon and Boeing as they try to extend the slowing Globemaster production run as far as possible...
That is nonsense. The Administration has been trying to stop C-17 procurement; it is Congress that is trying to extend it. From Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, April 5: [....]
The proposed mining mega-merger between Inco Ltd., Falconbridge Ltd. and Phelps Dodge Corp. may spark a twinkle in the eyes of some, but at least one group on Bay Street is pouting.
Mining analysts -- a clique in high demand as metal prices soar and merger madness washes over Canada -- are looking at the roster of companies they cover and noticing one saddening characteristic: It's shrinking.
The three-way, US$40-billion deal may sound exciting -- it would be the largest takeover in Canadian history -- but two Canadian mining institutions would be wiped off the Canadian map.
"It's the gutting of the Canadian mining industry," one analyst said. Asked what mining analysts will cover should Inco and Falconbridge be taken out, the analyst said: "I'm trying not to think about it, actually." [....]
If you get an email along the lines of "Osama Bin Laden Captured" or "Osama Hanged" don't open the attachment.
This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe,
but mainly in the US and Israel.
[....] If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.
posted by News Junkie Canada at Wednesday, June 28, 2006
|
0 comments
A dialogue with Imam Hindy.... -- Gay and Right: I received today via e-mail an exchange of e-mail to and from Imam Hindy in Toronto. June 12, 2006
First, here is the letter that was sent to him:
[.... and then Aly Hindy's reply in which he includes this bit of information designed to settle our fears ....]
I have contributed personally to many engineering projects in Ontario in the power generation Industry. [....]
If you look at the allegations, apart from criminal charges for 3 individuals of smuggling guns to be sold in Toronto lucrative market (Muslim community like any other community including yours have some criminals), the whole case of terrorism is hanging on one simple question. That is who & how those 3 tons of fertilizers.
If the government fails to prove the one of those individuals ordered the fertilizers, the whole case will fall apart.
Now I am asking you, why for the heaven sake the government did not wait until those guys bought the fuel oil and bring the wiring and the trucks and captured them red handed specially when the police already changed the fertilizers to an un-harmful material.
My friend the case is politically motivated specially the timing of the arrest.
The moment, I saw those individuals in the court, which I know nine of them, I realized that this case is made up. In no way by knowing the personality of some of those individuals, they can not be in this and they can not be together in a group.
I can assure you that we are peace loving people [....]
How do Muslims worldwide think?
To find out, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press [.... results]
Its themes can be grouped under three rubrics.
A proclivity to conspiracy theories: In not one Muslim population polled does a majority believe that Arabs carried out the attacks of September 11, 2001, on America. [....]
Likewise, Muslims are widely prejudiced against Jews, [....]
This conspiracism points to a widespread unwillingness in the umma to deal with realities, preferring the safer bromides of plots, schemes, and intrigues. It also exposes major problems adjusting to modernity.
Support for terrorism: [....]
British and Nigerian Muslims are most alienated: [....]
[....] The situation in Britain reflects the "Londonistan" phenomenon, whereby Britons preemptively cringe and Muslims respond to this weakness with aggression.Nigerian Muslims generally have the most belligerent views on such issues as the state of Western-Muslim relations, the supposed immorality and arrogance of Westerners, and support for Mr. bin Laden and suicide terrorism. This extremism results, no doubt, from the violent state of Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria.
[....] Overall, the Pew survey sends an undeniable message of crisis from one end to the other of the Muslim world.
TANGERANG, Indonesia [....] She wore green pants, a denim jacket, beige sandals with modest heels, burgundy lipstick and penciled eyebrows. Her black hair flowed freely, unencumbered by a head scarf, the sign of a religious Muslim woman that is increasingly prevalent in Indonesia but not mandatory.
In a now widely recounted incident, Lindawati, 36, was hustled into a government van that clammy February evening by brown-uniformed police, known as tranquillity and public order officers.
"They put about 20 of us in the police station and then went out again to target the hotels," she said, telling the story as she sat on the floor of her family's two-room, $12-a-month rental, her husband beside her.
She was charged with being a prostitute under a new local law forbidding lewd behavior, and in an unusual public hearing attended by local dignitaries and residents, she was sentenced with some of the other women to three days in jail. [....]
But Goldring said there wasn’t any mention of civil liberties and foreign policy until the eve of the meeting – and that’s a discussion he doesn’t feel would meet the stated objectives of finding ways to strengthen Muslims’ ties with the rest of society.
“In a community meeting you want to find out what you can do at the community level and overall demonstrate to the greater Canadian public that they really want to be part of the resolve,” he said.
“You’re not going to get there by discussing foreign policy in Palestine.”
Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, 28 June, 2006 - Six well-known Muslim organizations held a press conference in Ottawa on June 8, 2006 in which they issued a joint commitment to take a leadership role in challenging extremism". We look forward to these groups publicly challenging the extremist message of Britain's Sheikh Riyadh ul-Haq who has been invited to Canada to "educate" Muslim youth, and to publicly call on the government to bar his entry to Canada.
Sheikh ul-Haq's message is no secret. On June 15th, CCD released audio recordings of Sheikh Riyadh ul-Haq n which he is calling for martyrdom and jihad while presenting Hindus, Jews and tolerant Muslims as enemies of Islam. Many groups, including the CCD, Muslim Canadian Congress , Egale (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere), B'nai Brith Canada, Canadian Jewish Congress, Hindu Dharma Mission, and others have called on Immigration Minister Monte Solberg to exercise his prerogative to bar entry to Canada of those who promote hatred and violence, as Canada has done in the past with members of the Ku Klux Klan.
"It was an extremist message that turned young British Muslims into mass murderers," said Alastair Gordon, CCD president. "Minister Solberg has a duty to keep incitement out of Canada."
The six Muslim organizations that issued the statement on combatting Islamic extremism were the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association (CMCLA), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA), Muslim Association of Canada (MAC), Muslim Students Association - National (MSA-National), and the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals (CAMP).
"It was reported that the local chapter of one of these Muslim organizations invited Sheikh Riyadh ul-Haq to speak to students at McMaster University," Gordon continued. "Now that actual audio recordings of the Sheikh's sermons have been made public, we hope that this organization and its co-signatories will join responsible Canadians in condemning ul-Haq's views and calling for a denial of his entry into Canada."
Unfortunately, ul-Haq's statements have been defended by some Canadian imams as being "taken out of context". However, there is no context that could explain away his comments about Hindus, Jews, moderate Muslims and homosexuals. Ul-Haq's call for martyrdom is unequivocal: "Among the believers there are those who ... are martyred in the way of Allah. And the rest of the believers, they are waiting for martyrdom. They are waiting for shahada [martyrdom]."
Canadians look forward to timely public action from the six Muslim organizations in keeping with their expressed opposition to extremism.
Founded in 2003, the Canadian Coalition for Democracies is a non-profit, non-partisan, educational think-tank dedicated to promoting democracy and freedom, and countering the ideologies that drive terrorism. CCD combines policy research, investigative journalism, education and strategic communications to support its mission.
Let your voice be heard in Ottawa! If you would like to send a message to Minister Monte Solberg, Minister Stockwell Day and Prime Minister Stephen Harper on this topic
[email addresses:
Solberg.M@parl.gc.ca
Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
Day.S@parl.gc.ca]
If you would like to comment on this statement or other topics relating to foreign policy or national security, please visit our public message forum and post your comments:
canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/17395.shtml
For more information, please contact:
David Ouellette
Director, Canadian Coalition for Democracies
Mobile: 514-704-8581
Office: 416-963-8998
Background:
A copy of the statement by the six Muslim organisations can be read at: http://www.caircan.ca/itn_more.php?id=2508_0_2_0_C
Audio recordings of Sheikh Riyadh Ul-Haq's sermons can be heard at: http://canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/17082.shtml
What's up with Sheik Riyadh ul-Haq? The government is clearly trying to do something, but what is it?A controversial British cleric scheduled to speak in Toronto will not be allowed to board a plane until he speaks with Canadian officials in London.
Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq, a British citizen, [...]
[....] In an internal Air Canada memo obtained by the Toronto Star, which is addressed to at least one airline, gate security and ticket agents have been told not to allow ul Haq to board Air Canada planes. Instead, the memo says, the passenger must contact the Canadian High Commission in London, which issued the directive to Air Canada...
...Lesley Harmer, the [immigration] minister's director of communications, said, "Anyone who comes here and practises hate speech will be arrested and prosecuted under Canada's Criminal Code, and we don't welcome anyone that practises hate speech." [....]
Mark C.
Search: Canada Border Services
posted by News Junkie Canada at Wednesday, June 28, 2006
|
0 comments
Canada Day via a member of Canada's Armed Forces:
Today I actually found time to read the news and came across a good story where the media actually accurately represented what is like to serve overseas, away from everything we cherish and hold dear. .... to remind everyone how much we should appreciate our amazing country, and all that it offers.
Please read the news article below. The message is simple – love and appreciate the beauty, amenities, and most importantly the safety and security that Canada offers. Secondly, appreciate what our CF members are sacrificing to directly contribute to a safer Canada and overall world. On this coming Canada Day weekend, have a toast to CANADA FIRST, and somewhere in your Canada Day celebrations also toast our military personnel serving overseas whilst we enjoy our cozy homes and loved ones here at home (be it a toast with a glass of clean Canadian water, or a brew or two or 24 ... ).
[....]
PS. If anyone is ever interested in yellow or camouflage “Support Our Troops” car magnets / rubber bracelets, you can order through Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency / Canex online at https://www.cfpsa.com/en/canex/wyn/
The proceeds go directly to benefitting troops overseas. The CFPSA do nice things like provide movies, magazines, gym equipment and much, much more for troops overseas and here at home. No, I don’t personally benefit in any way if you buy anything.
John Cotter: Canadian troops long for simple things June 27, 06KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - For thousands of soldiers, celebrating Canada Day in the sweltering emptiness of the Afghanistan desert is at best a wistful experience of compare and contrast.
In the sprawling warren of dusty tents where 2,200 Canadian troops temporarily live, even the everyday things that people at home take for granted are nothing but memories here.
But framed by the bleak international coalition base, they become cherished memories.
"I miss the colours of Canada,"[....]
There's British beige, Canadian crud, Dutch drab, French frump, U.S. utility and Romanian rust. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Wednesday, June 28, 2006
|
0 comments
Google Error
posted by News Junkie Canada at Monday, June 26, 2006
|
0 comments
Welcome to Communist Martyrs U
posted by News Junkie Canada at Sunday, June 25, 2006
|
0 comments
George Bush never lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction. Liberals lied
By now much of the nation has finally heard the truth; George Bush never lied about weapons of mass destruction. By now most of America is realizing that the President who has been pummeled mercilessly on the fact that such weapons were missing, is deserving of public apologies from every Ted, Dick, and Harry the Senate can cough up.
The lying leftists, who will get all of us killed if we don't remain vigilant, were very slow to respond.
If you have been living under a rock here's the short measure of it.
LONDON (AP) - A man who used his computer skills to help encrypt e-mails and produce anti-western DVDs for radical Muslims said he tried to warn British police about two of the men responsible for the July terrorist attack in London, a newspaper reported Saturday.
Martin Gilbertson, a former biker and rock band roadie, said he met Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer at a party held to celebrate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States, the Guardian newspaper said. The party was in Beeston, West Yorkshire, some 300 kilometres north of London.
Gilbertson, who the newspaper said was a former Hell's Angel and roadie for the band Motorhead, said he was working as a computer technician for people who were involved in a local Islamic bookshop and youth centre, and helped produce anti-western DVDs. [....]
OTTAWA - The Conservative government's much-criticized admission that Canada cannot meet its requirements under the Kyoto climate-change protocol is backed up by documents prepared for the new government by federal bureaucrats.
The documents, obtained through a request made under the Access to Information Act, indicate public servants at the Natural Resources ministry had already concluded targets accepted by the previous Liberal government were unattainable, and were waiting for the right moment to admit it.
In material on climate-change policy prepared for the new Natural Resources Minister, Gary Lunn ...
No. 1 on the list was:
"Whether/when to acknowledge that Canada will be very unlikely to meet target?"The target in reference is Canada's Kyoto commitment -- ....
A number of pages and sections of the briefing material were blacked out or omitted as department officials cited numerous confidentiality concerns. For instance, three pages dealing with the issue of whether or when Canada should acknowledge its likely Kyoto failure were censored. That means the reasons why the department has identified this as the top key issue for the Minister are not available. [....]
[....] 20) EECOM (Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication) Environmental Awards
21) From 1994 until 2004, the Centre has been actively involved with the Premier’s Round Table on Environment and Economy. The Director of the Centre has been a Member of the Round Table and Chair of the Energy and Coastal Zone Task Groups. In this capacity she has been a member of Market Design Committee for the NB electricity market and the Bay of Fundy Stakeholders Forum.
22) International work of the Centre includes a Tier 1 CIDA project with China and Vietnam on Community Based Conservation Management and a Tier 2 project with China on Sustainable Agriculture. This later project has led to an initiative (under discussion) between the UNB Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management and the Fujian University of Forestry and Agriculture for an articulated undergraduate program. The Centre has been involved with partners in Cuba and presented a paper in Cuba at the invitation of FOCAL.
We would like to begin this editorial with a pre-emptive apology. There is a possibility that no matter how carefully written and lucidly argued the editorial is, there may still be people who disagree with our position. For that we would like to extend our sincere regrets.
It has become fashionable to apologize, and this is particularly true with respect to historical wrongs which, since they involve actions of others, long dead, and hence are free of any personal culpability, are apologies that are inherently easy to make. [....]
We need not grovel only to ethnic groups, however. What about expanding the definition to include all people who have suffered, financially or otherwise, as a result of federal government policies? Perhaps we should offer financial redress to the descendants of the tens of thousands of Canadians who lost money due to bank failures between 1867 and 1923, a period when roughly 20% of Canadian banks failed and the federal government refused to inspect banks or offer deposit insurance.At least the Chinese who paid the bigoted tax in order to come to Canada have something to show for it. They were able to buy a better life. You wouldn't think that is something anyone would require compensation for.
Lai Changxing, a Chinese fugitive and alleged smuggling kingpin, has decided to bide his time under house arrest in Vancouver by making a movie about his life. Three weeks ago, the Federal Court of Canada stopped Mr. Lai's deportation over concerns he could be tortured or executed in China. That same day, Mr. Lai, pictured, said yes to a film offer to tell his side of the story. "This movie has nothing to do with the [deportation appeals]. It begins when I was very little, how I came to do business and how my business grew so big," he said. [....]
[....] Spies are targeting federal departments and companies involved in the aerospace, biotechnology, chemical, communications, nuclear, mining, IT, oil and gas industries, it says.
[...] attempting to infiltrate key Canadian government departments in their quest for intelligence ...
[....] China and Iran are believed to have among the most active spy programs in Canada. Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in April he wanted to crack down on Chinese industrial espionage because of its impact on the economy.
[...] use specialized knowledge and cutting-edge technology to acquire intelligence.
"In other instances, countries enlist or coerce the co-operation of their citizens who are visiting Canada, such as students and scientists, exchange personnel, members of delegations, employees of state-owned corporations and business people."Canadians may also be targeted when they travel, it says, adding that hotel rooms, restaurants, offices and telecommunications equipment can be adapted "for espionage purposes."
Spies have also been manipulating and exploiting expatriate communities in Canada for the benefit of foreign interests, the report says. Despite being warned by Canada, "certain countries" continue to do so. [....]
[....] Sharon Simon, 48, and Annie Arbic, 21, made an appearance at the Laval, Que., courthouse. Ms. Simon, a resident of the Kanesatake Mohawk community, and her daughter were among 12 people who will have their cases heard in Laval while several others who were arrested on Wednesday appeared before a judge in Sherbrooke, Que. Ms. Simon and most of the people charged in Laval face a conspiracy charge that encompasses four criminal acts; trafficking, possession of marijuana with the intent to traffic, possession of the proceeds of crime and money laundering.
[....] Two weeks ago, in a stunning decision that is reverberating from coast to coast, the B.C. Court of Appeal reversed these precedents. In the Kapp decision, five justices unanimously ruled that unless commercial salmon fishermen prove financial loss, government-mandated racial segregation of the commercial fishery -- in this case by giving preferential access to aboriginal fishermen at the expense of everyone else -- is not discriminatory. In other words, government is free to use race to determine who can fish commercially on any given days.
What the B.C. court has effectively done is follow the separate but equal concept developed by the U.S. Supreme Court in its infamous 1896 ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson, which endorsed segregated rail-cars for black and white Americans. After Plessy, black Americans were forced to fight segregation by contesting each inferior school, university, rest-room, park and rail-car on a case by case basis. [....]
[....] Despite their difficult history, Nguyen [first Vietnamese woman to join the B.C. fishing industry], Horne [aboriginal ... Saanich Indian Band ... "he expressed his intense frustration at trial by saying that it was "too hard" to stay tied to the dock and then listen to Musqueam fishermen brag about how much money they were making."] and Canadians of Japanese ancestry never asked for special treatment in the fishery -- just equality. Asked in court to explain why she opposed race-based commercial fisheries, Nguyen testified: "When I became a Canadian, I remember when I swear, I obey the law. I have freedom to speak. Equal rights, and everything. We wants, one fishery do for everybody the same and equal. They can have it; we can have it, too. I got the family; they got the family, too ... They fish; we sit ... We come to this country, to freedom ... We love fishing. We don't want to leave the fishing business." [....]
[....] As in the Caledonia situation, meanwhile, the natives of the KI are being manipulated and used by those with other agendas. The estimable Western Standard seems to have been the only media outlet to have reported that those contributing to the violent escalation at Caledonia include pro-Palestinian groups, the thuggish Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and CUPE Local 3903. Those stirring the pot at Big Trout Lake include the Toronto-based Wildlands League, which claims that the vast tract of Canada's boreal forest is under threat.
The KI are seeking not merely to hold up Platinex, which could threaten the tiny company's survival, but to challenge the Ontario Mining Act as unconstitutional.
[....] what Platinex is doing is exploration, which has a very low, if any, long-term environmental impact. Without the traditional and legal freedom to explore on Crown Lands, no development will take place. And that would be bad news for all northern natives.
Meanwhile, the main victim in this situation is Platinex. Even if their legal rights are confirmed, operating in Big Trout Lake may prove impossible. In that case, the company should vigorously seek damages from the KI band. Otherwise it will be established, yet again, that violence pays. [....]
Seven men arrested in connection with an alleged terror plot have been charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and other U.S. buildings. [....]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of young men seized in a Miami warehouse have been charged in a federal indictment with conspiring with al-Qaida to “levy war against the United States” by committing acts of violence including blowing up Chicago’s Sears Tower. [....]
"Not-So-Candid Camera" Zoran Bozicevic, an associate photo editor at the National Post with combat photography experience, has a fascinating piece in today's [June 16, 2006] National Post about staged pictures and falling photojournalism standards:"With the rise of digital photography, barriers to entry fell in the profession: Anyone could call himself a photojournalist, pick up a camera, and e-mail photos to editors around the world. The cost-cutting media increasingly relies on these cheap, sometimes unscrupulous, local stringers. In some cases, they flout professional objectivity, and take sides in the conflict they cover. In other cases, they stage pictures to keep employers happy. Or worse, they manipulate digital pictures after the fact, turning a photo into a work of fiction."
As an example, Bozicevic applies his professional eye to this AFP/Getty image from June 1:
Photograph by: Saif Dahlah, AFP, Getty Images
In the name of now-fashionable New Urbanism planning, the Ontario government last week announced dramatic new controls over where citizens of Toronto and its satellite cities will be able to live in the next 25 years. It is a deliberate strategy to curb suburban growth and force more people into downtown high-rise apartments -- thus frustrating the hopes and dreams of many young potential homebuyers across Southern Ontario.
No doubt everyone gets the government, and the urban planning, they deserve. But at least we should be honest about the terms we use. And New Urbanism really doesn't capture the imperial urges of the McGuinty government. A more accurate term for this planning doctrine would be New Feudalism.
Last Friday, David Caplan, Ontario's Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, unveiled the Greater Horseshoe Area Growth Plan, the final component in his government's designs for stopping the organic expansion of most cities in Southern Ontario.
[....] New Feudalism is the cure for that age-old government problem of individual choice. [....]
A report concludes that no major errors were committed in granting day parole to a British Columbia killer who went on to take part in the murders of seven people in the province.
Robert Bruce Moyes pleaded guilty in 2002 to seven counts of first-degree murder for the strangling of a suspected police informant and his wife in 1995; and the slayings of five people in the Abbotsford area in 1996. [....]
This week, while testifying in B.C. Supreme Court against a man he described as his most loyal friend outside prison, Mr. Moyes happily admitted that he lied repeatedly to parole and corrections officials for the past 30 years.
"I know how to make the rules work for me, just like a lawyer," said the multiple murderer turned police agent turned key Crown witness, at the first-degree murder trial of Salvatore Ciancio. [....]
[....] The U.S.-led "war on terror" launched after 9/11 has largely been limited to Afghan soil but should be extended to the sources of terrorism, he told reporters in Kabul in an apparent reference to Pakistan, where the Taliban have safe haven in lawless tribal regions....we must engage strategically in disarming the terrorists by stopping their sources of money, training, equipment and motivation. .... The international community also needs to "reassess the manner in which the war on terror is conducted," he said, adding he had been in discussions with Afghanistan's partners about a "change of approach." [....]
'Secular warlords" is a phrase with an uncertain future. For some weeks, the wire services and other media, when reporting on Somalia, have found this to be a convenient description for a group formed in February, the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism (ARPCT). This month, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) drove the ARPCT out of Mogadishu, the city that was Somalia's capital when the country had a government.
[....] The Americans have reason to worry that rule by Islamic courts in Somalia would tolerate, or actively harbour, terrorists from elsewhere in the Muslim world -- in other words that Somalia would become like Afghanistan under the Taliban.
The rise of these courts was not a revolution against an existing power, as in Iran. There was evidently a popular demand in Mogadishu for the resolution of disputes, and for protection against ordinary crime. That led in turn to a federation of 11 courts, of various tendencies. Two of them are said to be militant, though Sufism -- a mystical rather than political strain of Islam -- is supposed to be prevalent in Somalia.
For good or ill or both, civil society in Somalia consists of clan kinships and Islamic jurisprudence -- entailing allegiances that often overlap with each other. For example, most of the Mogadishu courts are affiliated with one clan, the Hawiye, and warlords draw upon clan support. [....]
OTTAWA (CP) - The Supreme Court of Canada, in a judgment sure to spark controversy, has refused to boost a sentence of one day in jail for a Winnipeg teenager who beat a man to death with a billiard ball wrapped in a sock.
In a 7-0 ruling Thursday, the court said the Youth Criminal Justice Act, as currently written, doesn't allow for increasing a sentence just to send a get-tough message to the public.[....] The legal question was whether judges have the leeway to consider so-called "general deterrence" as a factor in sentencing under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
In effect, the deterrence principle means sending a message to the public that certain serious crimes cannot be tolerated and ought to be subject to heavier sentences.
The high court ruled that can't be considered in sentencing young people. [....]
Canada's immigration policy took a big hit in public confidence in the wake of 17 arrests in southern Ontario earlier this month, a new poll suggests.
Even though all of those arrested on suspicion of terrorist activity were Canadian residents – and most of them were born in Canada – the new poll commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) and conducted by Léger Marketing found that for the first time more people are dissatisfied with Canada's immigration policy than support it. [....]
According to sources, the report of the Senate's transport and communications committee will recommend that the Competition Act be beefed up to require an automatic review whenever a media company acquires more than a certain percentage of audience share in any market. [....]
A CanWest spokesman had no immediate comment. But last week, CanWest CEO Leonard Asper argued that the government needs to give its blessing to even greater consolidation of the media industry.
He maintained that fears about ownership concentration are unnecessary given the surge in Internet competitors, such as Google and Yahoo.
[....] In testimony before the Senate committee last year, Victor Mlodecki, vice president and general manager of Brunswick News Inc., argued that his company's dominance in the province results in economies of scale that actually produce more and better quality journalism.
"Without the benefit of scale, many of these local publications would not exist or would not be of the quality that BNI ownership has permitted,'' he contended.
However, other witnesses argued that concentration of media ownership -- particularly cross-ownership of newspapers, radio and TV -- jeopardizes freedom of the press, limiting the diversity of opinion that is vital to the health of a democracy. [....]
[....] The report, to be released Wednesday, will also recommend measures to prevent private media conglomerates from dominating newspaper, radio and television audiences in a single market. According to sources, the report of the Senate's transport and communications committee will recommend that the Competition Act be beefed up to require an automatic review whenever a media company acquires more than a certain percentage of audience share in any market. [....]
Brunswick News, owned by the Irving family, owns three dailies, 12 weeklies and four radio stations in New Brunswick.
Bell Globemedia, which owns CTV and The Globe and Mail, dominates about 43 per cent of the Toronto market.
Quebecor, which owns the Sun newspaper chain, dominates 47 per cent of the market in Quebec City. [....]
CBC News has obtained a copy of a video of one of the suspects in the Toronto bombing plot that was allegedly handed out in the parking lot of a local mosque.
Alleged bomb-plot suspects in a Brampton courtroom on June 6, 2006. (John Mantha/CBC) A Canadian convert to Islam, Muhammad Robert Heft says he was given a copy of a video by Fahim Ahmed. It is a chilling glimpse inside the jihadist mind and intended as a wake-up call to Muslim youth in Canada.
Heft says he argued with Ahmed and came to the conclusion that: "The guy's either a moron who doesn't really, or underestimates how strong people have views against Sept. 11, even in the muslim community. Or, the guy is one of those people who must think somewhere that he's got this super relationship with God." [....]
Heft's allegation that he obtained the video from Ahmed fits with a synopsis of the prosecution's case obtained by CBC News that also alleges Ahmed handed out copies of a video glorifying jihad.
Aly Hindy, imam of the Salaheddin mosque, says he knew nothing of the matter, adding that he has no control over what people handout in the parking lot.
[....] Ethanol: The ethanol boondoggle, essentially a plan to plough billions in taxpayer dollars into the fields of farmers, is now escalating as a great financial scam.
The first thing to know about ethanol is that there is no real business in ethanol. It's an industry that exists solely on the backs of taxpayers snookered by governments hooked on farm votes and green propaganda. Ethanol knows no limits in the amount of government protection, regulation and subsidy it needs to keep operating.
[....] Through an income trust, the company would be turning taxpayer dollars into personal gain, all the while claiming environmental benefits that don't exist. [....]
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) needs new subway trains. In a back-room deal cooked up by the Mayor and his council crony, Howard Moscoe, the city has decided to award the $700-million contract for 234 trains to Bombardier without competitive bids from other firms. The trains would be built at Bombardier's plant in Thunder Bay, Ont. [....]
Nuclear energy: With Ontario set to spend billions on new nuclear facilities, who should get the business? The drums are already beating for Ontario to forget about going for "the best technology at the best price" and instead throw the business to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL).
AECL has been on the receiving end of endless streams of government funding -- billions over the decades. It still draws regular cash transfers from federal taxpayers. In an editorial yesterday, the Toronto Star urged Prime Minister Harper to step forward to announce major new backing for AECL. Ottawa, it said, should "underwrite the risk" of Ontario's next big energy gamble.
From Bombardier's trains to ethanol and AECL, taxpayers of Toronto, Ontario and across the country are paying to subsidize industries, unions and special interests that do not deserve it.
[....] The Auditor-General does great work, but it is largely retroactive. And while the Conservatives' commendable Accountability Act will improve attentiveness, it too is largely about measures after the fact. We need more real time data so Canadians can have information the media can assess and analyze and parliamentarians can discharge their expenditure control responsibly.
S-217 provides for mandatory quarterly disclosure for all government departments and Crown corporations. When combined with the new Parliamentary Budget Office, this will enhance Parliament's capacity to actually scrutinize in-year spending while remedial action is still possible. The Senate bill also calls for a management discussion and analysis as to key variances and changes from plan. Excesses in revenue would also be tracked quarterly, as opposed to appearing like magic after the fiscal year-end -- a practice that does more to bring the credibility of public accounts into disrepute.
Public servants I have consulted on this seem to feel that whatever the technical challenges of getting this right, the liberation effect of uniform disclosure rules and reporting periods would be constructive. Ministerial or peer pressure to obfuscate disclosure, dilute timeliness or "manage" the numbers would be countered by the disclosure law. The provisions of this bill would allow civil servants to do the work required and expected of them. [....]
MONTREAL -- Nine people have been arrested after 100 police officers busted a multimillion dollar debit and credit card fraud ring that involved convenience stores and small grocery stores.
[...] some 18,000 people were defrauded [....]
[....] the technology is becoming more sophisticated,
[....] with modified Interac keypads [....]
Ottawa The Canada Border Services Agency does not properly control how and what personal information of Canadians it shares with the United States and other foreign governments. And, it must change the way it does business to better track the flow of transborder information, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart urged in her annual report to Parliament yesterday. [....]
posted by News Junkie Canada at Sunday, June 25, 2006
|
0 comments
Bloggers who support abolishing the federal Status of Women agency:
Governance
Parl Library:
Radio
News