Whew, that was close.

If it was you or I we would have been in big trouble.

But you or I cannot call the Prime Minister and say "Hey, Steve, it is Rahim." Nor do we sleep with a cabinet minister.

Rahim Jaffer can and the VIP, that is the Very Important Persons, the VIP Act was invoked to assist him today.

The former Alberta Conservative MP, he was, can you believe it, defeated in the last general election, was charged with holding coke and driving while drunk late last year in Palgrove, a town north of Toronto. reports that Mr. Jaffer was clocked going 93 in a 50 klick zone by the OPP who found coke on the former MP. "The initial drug charge was embarrassing for Mr. Jaffer who had appro...

CBC News - Politics - Ex-MP Jaffer fined for careless driving

Damn those activist judges!

If you thought a Liberal Senator's now prorogued proposal to increase women's representation on corporate boards was a fly by night idea never to be heard of again, except from obscure political bloggers , consider this news from the UK yesterday: "Absence of women from top boards is unacceptable, says Gordon Brown."

In a statement to coincide with International Women's Day today, the PM said that if there was not a "dramatic change" in the composition of company boards in future, the government would consider "more serious action to ensure companies recru...

The way around this, of course,...

Today, maybe for just one day, we won't have to listen to blather about "tough on crime."

As for the OPP 'allegedly' finding cocaine in his car, I think we can understand from the judge's ruling that the cops just made that one up. Not.

Personally, I'm going to note down the name of Jaffer's lawyer, in case some day I only have one phone call.

(h/t Haitham Kharrat)...

Reading this Globe story on the Conservatives' over the top attack on the Liberals over Mac Harb's position on the seal hunt, I thought it might be fun to re-write the story, but with Maxime Bernier playing Mac Harb. Because it's all rather silly. Apologies to Ms. Taber, her's was just the first story I came across on the topic......

In the byelection in Concordia last week, Judi Heppner and the Manitoba Liberals continued campaigning hard right to the end. Unlike the Tories who gave up early in the day, Liberals kept going and worked hard. It paid off. Judi Heppner, already described twice on my blog, was an outstanding candidate and it showed in the quality of everything she did. She and her husband Rob and her three children contributed a lot.

Despite an overall record low turnout, the Liberal vote increased by 82% from 336 votes in 2007 up to 613 votes in the byelection. In contrast, the NDP vote decreased by almost half from 3862 votes in 2007 down to 2065 votes in the byelection. The Tory vote also collapsed decreasing by more than 40% from 1209 votes in 2007 to 694 in the byelection.

A big...

How does this make the roads safer? Teach young people the right lessons? Conform with the evidence?

Former Conservat...

Rahim Jaffer negotiated a "plea" with the Crown so that he was convicted of careless driving. Impairment-related and drug possession charges were dropped. Plea bargains are a part of our system and occur for lots of people from all walks of life.
The judge noted to Mr. Jaffer that, "I'm sure you can recognize a break when you see one." A line that surely applies to many plea bargained cases...but one that should be cautionary for a public figure like Jaffer and his lawyer.
Indeed, one has to wonder just why that lawyer doesn't know enough to leave well enough alone. Saying things (in reference to the drug and alcohol charges) like, "...

Well ya know it must be true.

Glenn likes Danny, too.

The blogosphere is already filled with cries of "special treatment".

I don't think so -- it's fairly common for weak impaired cases to be pleaded down to careless. Usually the Crown sees a decent chance of losing flat out and then agrees to a plea to careless. The drug charges may well have been tainted by an improper search.

Overall a good result for Jaffer but not one reflecting special treatment.

Travers makes the case for a fall election in his latest column. Yesterday, we discussed just that possibility here, and I see a powerful argument from the government side.

I see plenty of pitfalls for the Conservatives if they do a 2008 redux, basically creating a crisis where none existed, forcing an election. To assume the government can pull that off again, without any blow back, fails to consider recent events. I would argue that the Conservatives would suffer the same polling fate as the Liberals did last fall, should they arbitrarily push for an election. The appetite for an election hasn't grown in the slightest, and I see little reason...

Sounds like more thought went into which plane to take than was devoted by the brain dead Jim Flaherty on how to resolve the income trust "problem":

"please be assured that there was thorough consideration for all possible alternatives before deciding to use a Transport Canada...

In his Globe article today entitled "Branch plants R" us", Jeffrey Simpson proves himself to be blind to reality and incapable of linking cause with effect. What's the point of bemoaning the takeover of Canada by foreigners without identifying the causal underpinnings of such a devastating trend or prescrib...

This may be a sign of a new judicial approach – in the past adjournment requests were almost never refused and when they were the resulting decisions were subject to being overturned on appeal.  If an adjournment is requested, the party seeking an adjournment must set out specific reasons, and evidence if possible, as to why the adjournment is needed and how there will be relevant material to follow....

...for a pig-roast?

h/t

CBC has been doing a bang-up job the last few days on the Afghan detainee documents; the latest revelations was on the 5 pm Power and Politics show yesterday detailing the Conservative government’s plan for PR if torture allegations came to light or even were confirmed: (H/T Scott Ross for the video) On another note, it looks like the whisperings about Harper not wanting to be accountable to Parliament and instead trying to get a majority to avoid it by yet again dissolving Parliament and holding an election has been picked up by some in the media – James Travers for one seems pretty certain of it: Despite Conservative efforts to wrap muck in the flag the issue is about ministerial accountability, not support for the troops evidence is mounting that Ottawa had a “...

Is you is or is you not?

...

Q. Guess which former MP, just 25 months ago, rose in the House to table a petition calling for mandatory minumum sentencing?

A. This one .

With a team that was...

It's not good enough for Danny Williams, but the Canadian Health Care system does have one supporter:

But during a weekend speech in Calgary, the former Republican vice presidential candidate acknowledged...

Mr. Simpson, your piece this AM decries the fact that a wave of foreign takeovers is increasingly turning Canada into a branch plant economy, to our detriment. Agreed.

In making your point however you deliberately (I must assume deliberately because the evidence is so clear) avoid any mention of the contri...

It's because we have more sex.

On March 4, 2010 Liberal MP Paul Szabo rose in the House of Commons and tabled the following petition (signed by 3,421 Canadians) and did so with the following motion: "In view of the fact that there is no justification for the imposition of the 31.5% tax on income trusts that the government take all necessary steps to introduce and...

 The complaints from staffers, from management, to the average citizen are overwhel...

Coming to fruition soon in a pseudo-democracy near you :

Canada's mining leadership put up a united front at PDAC Monday to fight a private member's bill they say will "seriously harm" the industry if passed into law.

Peter Worthington makes a case for Iacobucci today. He is correct about the integrity of the former Supreme Court Justice (though the mandate of his role is the devil in this inquiry). But, Worthington missed one credential that surely would influence our current PM. Frank Iacobucci is the Lead Director over at Tim Hortons .
No wonder he got the job!

 Last Thursday the council and mayor of Woodstock decided that they would invest your dollars in new voting technology. The reason for this is the old machines were at the end of their "l...

There is no “municipal” recycler of e-waste in Regina. We have SWEEP at SARCAN (Provincially funded), or private recyclers, one of whom is at risk of going out of business because the Premier of the province lied* and expanded the SWEEP program at SARCAN [PDF] without consulting private recyclers (as he promised in a letter). Now private recyclers’ market is damaged, and they also get none of the millions in SWEEP money that only SARCAN gets. Where before, private recyclers like Second Time Office Equipment were getting 5/lb for plastic waste, now they PAY 25/lb to get rid of it ethically, because of a political decision at SERM...

From the Winnipeg Sun ...Harper posturing on crime laid bare, yet again...You just cannot trust him.

Despite having spent most of last year arguing that his "tough on crime" agenda was urgently needed, Stephen Harper killed off most of it when he prorogued Parliament.
This means the legislation will have to be re-introduced and debated all over again over the next few months.
It is also a second chance for Canadians to see that his initiatives aren't going to accomplish much, but they are going to cost taxpayers a lot of money.
Harper's agenda involves increasing the amount of time people have to serve in jail or prison (at taxpayer expense)...

 Day has asked 17 federal departments...

Sorry, I was in the mood to quote Kerouac. So shoot me. Anyway. With the morning papers comes news that the New Democrats’ Peter Stoffer, one of the most-liked-ever MPs, is a considering running for mayor of Halifax. This follows a discussion of anti-tobacco politicians yesterday at the Daisy Group – Ontario Liberals, [...]

In like a lamb with the first cuts :

"Following this review that has taken place of some 2,700 position, there will be a reduction of 245 positions to the boards, agencies and commissions that operate with government and that receive appointments by government," Day told reporters gathered at a news conference.

God you're sexxxy! And those horns are so sick the baribusa can
IMPALE ITS OWN HEAD ON THEM!!!

PS. I am avoiding any "mother-in-law" cheap shots, but if you're pet name for mom is The War Pig I'm sure a few will occur to you naturally....

Given that for years now the Harper government has been deferring to the U.S. on Omar Khadr's fate, one would think they might actually follow through on that position and listen carefully to the new signal being sent our way: "U.S. officials looking for way to send Khadr back to Canada: source."

Obama administration officials are quietly seeking a way to repatriate Canadian-born terror suspect Omar Khadr, an authority in a position to know has confided.

"They don't have the stomach to try a child for war crimes," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of such a U.S. bid.

Let Jeff explain it.

Yesterday...

Last week Atrios made this perceptive observation

I'm really not sure how we got from we don't torture, to that torture stuff we do isn't torture, to anyone who opposes torture hates America. Apparently that's where we are.

We're never quite sure how to celebrate International Women's Day. Are we supposed to congratulate ourselves on our gains, or discuss the gaps? Should we throw parties? Host rallies? I mean, really, what is the purpose of having a day? I dunno.

So we at Pareta are using it as a chance to give you so...

I made another error.

I said that the University of Ottawa Gee Gees men's bball team would be travelling to Thunder Bay to play/lose to the Lakehead squad. Wrong again. The Lakehead team will be at Montpetit Hall, U of Zero, Saturday, 3 o'clock to play/beat the Gee Gees.

My bad.

       -- John Adams,


James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777

Danny likes Canada's health care system and goes to Florida for surgery.

Sarah Palin rants and raves against socialised medicine but admits that her family has come across the border for care.

They've been known to share an interest in reading , too.

Interesting.

-srbp-

Confronted by runaway spending in a budget requiring $53-BILLION worth of reductions to balance, Stockwell Day summoned reporters Monday to announce he would save a maximum of $1.4 MILLION by eliminating 245 appointments.

These are not government jobs with salaries, staffing costs or hefty pension obligations. Mostly part-time seats on obscure boards and tribunals rewarded with honorariums, these usually serve as low-level patronage plums for party faithful. The vast majority of the posts are now vacant, some having languished unfilled for years without anybody noticing enough to complain.

How the government will save big bucks by eliminating positions which do not have an actual paycheque up for fiscal sacrifice is a mystery Mr. Day did not satisfactorily explain.

James Morton
11...

About the only defence left, leaving common sense aside and debating linguistic meanings. Today's relevation that the government full expected torture allegations, prior to any "public knowledge" very much fits the timeline :

The memorandum, drafted by officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs, says that if "NGOs, relatives, media or otherwise, make credible allegations that detainees transferred by CF [Canadian Forces] to Afghan authorities have been potentially abused following their transfer," officials must inform the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Red Cross "and to follow up separately to address potential concerns with the conditions...

In regards to this Afghan detainee abuse scandal, I'm personally on the side of the government on this one; we should just drop the whole thing altogether. Trying to find out whether the Canadian government committed war crimes in Afghanistan is like asking your doctor if he's ever done time, all it does is make things awkward.

As Canadians we don't really need to know if our government committed war crimes anyway, that's why we elect them, to do the dirty work of breaking international law. Can you imagine if after a long day working in the office and looking after the kids you had to torture an Afghan? It would be brutal.

For months we have had to go through the drudgery of seeing story after story appear about whether this government knowingly handed ov...

I am concerned right now that the YFS election system has been undemocratic. There have been complaints of not getting all the ballots, ballot boxes not being properly secured and massive demerit points awarded for handing out Excalibur. All voters should be extremely concerned about this issue.

A rally was held at 10:30 today to voice these concerns. Here are some key quotes:

"[I'm] not a campaigner [and I] wasn't really involved other than voting. I am not happy with how things went down. I feel that handing out newspapers is not a reason to disqualify people. I feel this is common sense...Contaminating the voting process by putting the wrong type of tape is undemocratic. There are a lot of issues that should be addressed...

Well, at least the Eurasian section of the world. China is negotiating with the rest of Europe for a deal that would allow connections between Asia and Europe. Great. If this happens, it will signify a new era of massive building of rail. The benefits are just too large to ignore anymore. With an ever-growing network in Europe, Asia, and now the US it can only be so long until Canada plays catch-up.

Railway passengers will be able to travel from King's Cross to Beijing in just two days on a journey that would be almost as fast as by airplane under ambitious new plans from the Chinese.

China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe with trains capable of running at more than 321 kph within the next 10 years.

The Harper Regime is all about photo-ops, sound bites and truth recalibration. Today was Stock Day's turn. He trotted out to announce 245 "cuts" to Governor In Council appointments ...patronage in other words. It is about as transparent and useful as last week's "freeze" to the pay of MPs and Ministers when it comes to controlling spending by the most spendthrift government in Canadian history ( even before the Great Recession stimulus spending).
In staging his photo-op-of-the-day , Stock man said, " Many of these positions were vacant as the review was undergoing, while it was going to be...

Rest in peace.

“They could have Tweeted the Throne Speech, and still had twelve characters left over.” Liberal MP Marlene Jennings (not verbatim, but close)

In the mid-nineties, when I still worked as a political staffer for a federal cabinet minister, we decided to introduce the two dollar coin – the one that would come to be known as the toonie. The toonie budget was going to contain big, big changes. One of our deputy ministers, a nice but naïve fellow, [...]

What an interesting coincidence! A denial of service attack the very same hour the federal budget is released. Sigh. Anyway: wk.com’s Team Propellerhead has been busily tinkering in their Digital Demons workshop for weeks, and building a More Robust Platform for the website (all contents protected, 2010, BTW). It’ll be unveiled this weekend. Reformatory DOS stunts will [...]

Adam: Wakey, wakey! Like, have you lost your mind? Welcome back, Bob! Great, great news so much for Little Timmy's promised surge. What's that? Zero for three, now? Hook, line, sinker: we all take Harper's bait talking about what he wants us to talk about (a diversion), instead of [...]

Warren and Tim share a laugh mere moments before the Reformatory anthem-induced whiplash hits.