929...Representation By Population

Lorne Gunter, Edmonton Journal writes a big piece this morning praising the powers that be in Ottawa for shuffling the deck and making votes in his province more valuable. The headline

Rep by pop finally coming to Commons

Alberta, B. C., Ontario shortchanged too long merely to placate Quebec

shows a regional bias but he does make some good points. For example, even though we kind of assume that Parliament is equally weighted, Prince Edward Island is the province that gets the most value for their votes. A riding in PEI has about 34,000 voters; one in urban Alberta 130,000. "It takes two Alberta votes to have as much influence as one from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, and five from Alberta to have as much impact as four from Quebec."

Mr. Gunter goes into great detail about the mechanizations that govern how seats are assigned federally, suffice to say if we were to have true representation by population they would have to move the House of Commons down the street to the 2,300 seat National Arts Centre's Opera House.

This is a step though.

WFDS

698...Quebec Cash Grab

It did not meet the smell test in either British Columbia or Ontario but it is a nice way to grab cash so of course Quebec has decided to make their pilot project on the use of photo radar/cash machine a go.

For residents of the National Capital it is a good news/bad news story: The Ottawa Citizen, which serves Gatineau, the third largest market in Quebec, is running a story from CanWest News Service that indicates that the province has 15 of the little buggers but that none of them are in Gatineau.

Six of the Kodak's are on the Island of Montreal and the greatest in terms of potential revenue is on the Decarie Expressway at the Ville Marie Expressway where out of about 5,001 warning letters taken because of snapshots taken during the trial period fully 2,744 were taken on the southbound part of the Decarie, just past Atwater where it merges with the Ville Marie.

The speed limit on the Decarie is 70 km/hr. If you are familiar with the Decarie, driving 70 km/hr is an invitation to die.

WFDS

568...Isn't That Ironic?

Don't you think?

On the first day of a national rail strike, The Canadian Press reports that the Ontario and Federal Guvs have agreed to chip in 305 mill to help update Canada's busiest train station, Toronto's Union Station. T. O. will be throwing 355 large into the project. Hopefully they will keep the reciepts so they can get their 1,300 federal rebate.

When you think about it, a strike is a perfect time to do a reno. No pesky people to get in the way.

WFDS

550...More Driving Tips

Don't watch porn while driving on a super highway.

Efe Osemwegie, 32, of Mississauga is charged with speeding and operating a motor vehicle with a television visible to the driver.

The Toronto Sun reports that he was busted by Northumberland OPP.

Mr. Osemwegie was alone in his car, [is there a better way to watch porn than alone?] and had an X-rated movie playing on a portable DVD player in the car's front seat, when the police pulled him over around 12:39 a.m. along Hwy. 401 in Port Hope.

WFDS

527...Canuckistanian Kicks On Fortune List

Fortune, the magazine about money and lists of who makes money, lists Ontarioario's own Russell Peters in its top ten with a nice pay day of 10 000 000 USD last year.

Could not happen to a nicer guy.

WFDS

522...Elizabeth Payne On Global Warming

In an editorial in today's Ottawa Citizen, an editorial that skillfully uses the near death of Lake Erie 40 years ago as metaphor, Elizabeth Payne thoughtfully asks "What will it take to get some concrete action on global warming?"

The answer is simple yet out of control of science and scientists.

It has to get warm.

As in hot.

Ridiculously hot.

Not that I am being Lowell Greenesque and doubting that global warming is an issue but you did ask the question Miss Payne.

It is just hard to energize the common man, and none are more common than I, behind a cause that one cannot feel and in a summer in Ontario and Quebec where the temperatures have barely touched 20 let alone the 30's and near 40's of years gone by, it is difficult to believe that there is global warming.

Intellectually I know that there is global warming but when I am running my car heater in July in Ottawa it is hard to emotionally buy in.

Lake Erie had dead fish washing up on shore, the Cuyahoga River catching fire in Cleveland, great optics for television; global warming doesn't have that.

The issue has to be saleable. And it has to be localized.

The only question is, how?

WFDS

497...Happy Holiday;MoreBadNews For King James

Not LeBron, the other one.

Specifically today is the 319th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, a bad day for King James VII and II [he was king, er, King, of England and Ireland as the 2 and Scotland as the 7] and a good day for Syracuse's own William of Orange, also known as William III.

The Blue and Orange, Protestants, beat the Roman Catholics and that was about it, eh?

The great victory is celebrated to this very day especially in in Northern Ireland, where some Protestants remember it as the great victory over Catholics that resulted in the sovereignty of Parliament and the Protestant monarchy.

It is also commemorated in other parts of the world including here in Ontario although not at the level it was previously to the end of World War II.

Still, any excuse to party is an excuse to party.

Give 'er.

WFDS

362...Tomorrow Is A Big Day In La Belle

Fete Nationale.

St. Jean Baptiste Day.

An excuse to party.

I love living on the Ontario/Quebec border.

Extra summer holiday.

Keep on rocking in the free world.

WFDS

344...Good News For Ontario

The Conservative Party of Ontario is picking a new leader and the good news is that that leader is going to be soooooooooooo far to the right of Premier Dalton McGuinty, so far, so very very very far that he or she will be the leader of the opposition for ever and a day.

The candidates are all Mike Harrisian but my personal favourite is Randy Hillier, former head of the Ontario Landowners Association "This land is our land. Back off government". Mr. Hillier has called for the abolition of Ontario's human rights apparatus, among other things.

It is not a new day in Ontario.

LOL.

At least not for the Tories.

WFDS

317...Dalton Does Right Again

I saw this live on CTVNewsThingy and now The Canadian Press has it, Premier Dalton McGuinty says from now on, the government and all its agencies will no longer allow sole-sourced contracts for consulting services.

That is the good news.

But.

The bad news is, in addition, under new rules consultants will not be allowed to bill extra for hospitality, incidental and food expenses.

As someone who has made much of his way through life by urban foraging, I have to say the implication of less free food for moochers such as myself is not a happy thought but, greater good and all that.

WFDS

260...Liberals Surging Nationally

New EKOS poll commissioned for the CBC and released today, suggests 35 per cent of Canadians would vote Liberal in an election while 30.3 per cent would vote Conservative.

In the key battlegrounds of Ontario and Quebec the Liberals have leads in the neighbourhood of 11 and 20 points respectively.

Good Lord willing, creeks don't rise, the Tories will continue to shoot themselves in the foot and then we get a Prime Minister and a government that will represent all Canadians.

WFDS

201...When Did Canada Become So Mean?

Truly, example thereof would be the blog ZeroMeansZero, Anonymous little pissants spouting vile hatred of Ottawa's mayor and judging, pre judging, a man, Mayor Larry O'Brien of Ottawa, who, like you, should get the benefit of the presumption of innocence.

Ditto the comment after Post 197, by, you guessed it, Anonymous, who has decided that Omar Khadr is less of a Canadian than you and I.

More examples.

The insane proposed new mandatory sentencing laws for marijuana; who needs discretion anyhow.

Ontario's new anti drinking and driving laws that offer the same lack of discretion.

And on and on.

WFDS

183...Peter Van Loan, Please, Snap Them On

Your testicles that is.

Story from www.CBC.ca this morning stating that Canadian border guards abandoned their posts early Monday at a U.S. border crossing at Cornwall, Ont., after talks broke down with Mohawk officials over the arming of border guards.

First off, why is the Conservative government so afraid of 400/200 angry non Canadians? Mohawk leaders from the Akwesasne Mohawk territory, which straddles the borders of Quebec, Ontario and New York, say they don't want the guards to be armed because it would violate their sovereignty and increase the likelihood of violent confrontations. If they, the Mohawks are a sovereign nation, and I will give them that, why are they dictating what our [bigger by the way, we have an army and everything] sovereign nation can do to protect our borders?

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan's office said the issue is out of its hands.

Whoah, repeat that.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan's office said the issue is out of its hands.

One more time.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan's office said the issue is out of its hands.

It is not your problem PVL, well, if it is not your problem, who's problem is it?

Ask your legislative assistant where he keeps your testicles Petey, snap them on and get to work.

WFDS

100...Ottawa, the city, not the capital

I am still obsessed with the cowards who populate ZeroMeansZero, the Mayor Larry O'Brien hatefest populated by those who are hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.

I did not vote for him either but he is our mayor, show a little support.

It is said that nature abhors a vacuum yet none of the fearless civic leaders, both elected and pretenders to the various thrones in north eastern Ontario, have stepped up to fill the supposed vacuum that is the mayor's office in Ottawa.

Not that you haven't had opportunity: a bus strike, the light rail/subway issues, an impending health crisis, the stadium kerfuffle all come to mind.

Yet none of you know it alls have stepped up to the proverbial plate.

Meme chose for the many who spend their work day filling ZeroMeansZero with their libelous rants.

What's with that?

Fear factor I suppose, fear factor.

As per usual, I sign my work, not anonymously, not with a cute nick name, but with my name.

WFDS

73...So

I am watching the NHL playoffs on Hockey Night In Canada, San Jose versus Anaheim and it dawns on me that there is a pretty good chance there are more people watching this game in Ontario than in California, where the teams are based and the game is being played.

Would someone tell Gary Bettman, please?

WFDS