Psst ... It's Tomorrow

Statement by the Prime Minister on Canada's 141st birthday issued today:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement marking Canada Day:

“Today, Confederation turns 141 years old and there are more reasons than ever to celebrate our country."

Today is June 30, 2008.

Tomorrow, July 1, is generally recognized nationally and internationally as Canada's birthday.

I'm sure someone will come by and tell me I'm being pedantic. I know I am, but if it were the Liberals, there'd be a call for an inquiry.

George Carlin, May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008

Definitely NSFW, but a video showing George Carlin performing something other than the seven word routine doesn't seem right.


RIP, George.

Ed Doesn't Like Green Shift - Who Cares

On June 18, 2008, the European Environment Agency (EEA) reported that:

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union decreased slightly between 2005 and 2006 according to the official inventory report prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Overall emissions within the EU-27 fell by 14 million tonnes (0.3%) and now stand 7.7% below 1990 levels. Total emissions in the European Union were slightly more than 5.1 billion tonnes in 2006.

Nations in Europe are working under cap-and-trade as well as carbon tax regimes.

Of the nations in Europe with a similar or larger amount of emissions over the same-ish period as Canada (596 megatonnes in 1990, 747 megatonnes in 2005), only Italy reported a 9.9% increase in emissions. Of note:

• Europe's largest emitter, Germany, has reduced emissions by 18.2%.
• Canada now out-emits the United Kingdom. In fact, we out-emit every individual country in Europe except Germany.

All said, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has come out publicly against the Liberal green shift plan.

I say who cares.

More importantly, the facts say who cares. It's clear he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Update: Fixed a typo. Added a label.

Denied ...

Like some others, I too have been denied accreditation to cover the Conservative Party convention in Winnipeg, this November.

My site's level of popularity (or lack thereof) probably didn't warrant inclusion, but I choose to believe I just failed a highly involved, highly mathematical litmus test for inclusion.

Updated: I smell a blog button coming up.

Morality Police Show Up at Queen's Park

Somebody has dropped some social conservatives into the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.

Ontario's Progressive Conservatives say the province should be careful about putting taxpayers' money into movies that many would say have too much sexual content.

I have now found myself, again, on the other side of an issue with my old provincial political home. Dalton McGuinty is right on this issue.

First it was young squirrels, now it's Young People.

Word of the Day : Irony

From Dictionary.com:

The essential feature of irony is the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action or expression and the context in which it occurs.

From the Canadian Press:

The federal ombudsman for freedom of information has stirred up a hornets' nest by going ahead with a costly private session at the posh Rideau Club to thrash out potential reforms to access law.

...

[Ken Rubin, an Ottawa consultant who specializes in access requests,] said Marleau's proposals to rank more than 2,000 complaints that have stacked up over the years "seems to mimic the worst features of the bureaucracy in Ottawa; the system he is creating is complex and bureaucratic in its own right."

When it comes to freedom of information, obstructive bureaucracy is apparently a good thing.

Yet another remarkable Conservative achievement.

CBC in Jeopardy

There's lots of news about CTV picking up the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song, snatching it away from the CBC.

Probably lost in all of this shuffle was that CBC picked up the rights to air Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy some months ago away from CTV (although it seems CTV gave them up).

Among US shows, the CBC has acquired the Canadian rights to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune from CBS Paramount International Television after rival CTV decided to give them up. They will premiere in fall 2008. Neither game show airs nationally on CTV - Jeopardy! is not seen in Vancouver and Montreal, and Wheel only airs on the A-Channels in Ontario, plus CTV Manitoba and CTV Saskatchewan - so gauging their popularity is difficult. Layfield said she will simulcast Jeopardy! nightly as a lead-in to the network's prime-time offerings. Wheel of Fortune will air at 5:30 pm nightly to help boost viewership for local supper-hour newscasts.

I'm not sure who's the winner, really - presumably CBC will air both shows nation-wide.

For those of us who currently receive American channels, we can already watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

I would have suggested that the CBC fight a little harder for the theme song.

Just Throwing this Out There

Not to get into semantics too much, but just because there is no official youth wing of the federal Conservative Party, does not mean there are no Conservative youth to mobilize a campaign on the streets of Ottawa.

I'm not suggesting that's who's out there, but usually the simplest explanations are the right ones.

Are Gas Station Pump Video Screens Legal in Toronto?

That certainly seems to be in question, according to Spacing Toronto - with information provided by IllegalSigns.ca.

Here is some correspondence [PDF] between Howard Moscoe and the Chair and Members of the Planning and Growth Management Committee. This correspondence came in February, a week or so after the city attempted to have sign laws changed to permit the installation of video signs at gas stations without a permit [PDF]:

In the interim I [Howard Moscoe] received complaints that Esso had installed video display advertising signs on its gas pumps which in addition to gas pumped commercials at its customers. All of these were installed without permits. The building department ordered them turned off and they were instructed to apply for sign permits. They complied but after about six months they were again turned on.

Imperial Oil (Esso) was quoted in the media accusing the city of a “cash grab” which seemed rather strange given that Imperial Oil generated some $3.2 Billion in Profits last year. The city has been talking about taxing third party advertising(billboards) and all of these gas pump videos are exactly that.

GSTV (Gas Station TV) reports that it has inked a deal with CBS to bring news and entertainment at television-equipped fuel pumps. The company has 5,000 screens on fuel pumps in more than 300 cities. Esso has 400 stations in Ontario about half of them in the Toronto Area. Add to that the 205 Petro Canada Stations in the Toronto Area and the 200 Shell Stations and it looks like a lot of potential ad revenue.

It seems that if there are video screens at gas station pumps in the City of Toronto, they are there without a permit. If that's true, it would be unfortunate to use that media to get a political message out.

Kady (Inside the Queensway) has more.

Mitt Romney, Definitely!

Intuitively, I knew it would happen if I mentioned it, and I accept it.

Mitt's in second.

Unquote

"The older, deeper pro-Canadian conservatism that elevates the condition of the people, as Disraeli put it, is tried and proven conservatism."

-- David Orchard, March 6, 2000

Cap-and-Trade Deal for Ontario and Quebec

The premiers of Canada's two largest provinces agree to a deal that would see the two provinces bring about a cap-and-trade policy to control greenhouse gas emissions.

In a firewall-encircled, rebalanced federalist Conservative vision of Canada, this is what we should be expecting to happen. The federal Conservative government should be applauding the fact that two provinces, within their own jurisdictions, can come up with an innovative policy.

So, why is John Baird all bent out of shape about it?

I don't understand.

He could, perhaps, inquire as to why Ontario and Quebec felt the need to take this step without federal cooperation. That, however, might requiring talking without pointing.

Mitt Romney, Really?

Some of you have noticed on the right hand side of my blog I have a Newsvine Election 2008 widget that let's you vote for your candidate of preference in the United States presidential race. It tallies the votes for visitors to this site, as well as my Newsvine site.

Right now, Barack Obama has 50% of all votes, with an even split of 13% between Mitt Romney, Al Gore, John McCain, and John Edwards.

Not a Hilary Clinton vote in sight.

Interesting to note too, that of all Newsvine readers, Barack Obama leads with 33%, with Ron Paul second at 17%. Hilary comes in third with 12%, followed by John McCain at 7%.

Updated: Mitt's in second. :)