April 30, 2008

Age of Consent, Miley Cyrus, and Predatory Artists

In Canada, the age of consent is set to rise from 14 to 16.  This is good news, but not all predators have sex with their victims.

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Viigo: BlackBerry Feed Reader

I've installed a new gadget for my BlackBerry.  It's called Viigo.

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Pierre Poilievre brings the Elections Canada Investigators' Manual to parliament

Until now, the debate on the significance over the apparent decision not to follow its own internal rules governing investigations and search warrants with regards to the Conservative Party In-and-Out issue has been limited to the blogosphere.  That changed yesterday when Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre raised the issue in the House of Commons.

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April 29, 2008

Main stream media was the first to mention the Elections Canada Investigators' Manual

I just discovered that I was scooped by just over a week on the question of whether the investigators who pursued a search warrant targeting Conservative Party headquarters had followed the rules in their own manual.

Glen McGregor of the Canwest News Service mentioned it briefly in a story printed on April 15.

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April 28, 2008

Stephane Dion: Higher taxes make Canadian food more appealing

Maybe there is a subtlety to the economic principles involved that I'm not getting.  But according to Stephane Dion, if I force a Canadian farmer to pay more in taxes, he'll be selling more produce than a foreign farmer who pays none of those taxes.

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April 27, 2008

Stephane Dion to make a decision this year

Ralph Goodale provides a view into Stephane Dion's to-do list:

  • Bake sale for leadership debts
  • Threaten to invade Pakistan to look like tough leader done that
  • Get smaller dog hamster to replace Kyoto to reduce pet-related greenhouse gas emissions
  • Make a decision this year

Let's look at that last one.

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Trackback Primer

Having re-enabled trackbacks, I've had more than a few people asking me just what a trackback is.

This post will provide some explanation, some guidelines on how to use trackbacks on this site, and a procedure for performing a trackback regardless of the software you use for web authoring (blogging or otherwise).

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April 26, 2008

Trackbacks are back

It's been a long time, but I've put trackbacks back onto the blog.  Thanks to Jason Cherniak for prompting me to finally get off my butt and get this task done.

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April 25, 2008

International observers: More power to Elections Canada, more foreign participation in Canadian politics

With the range of contentious issues facing the work of Elections Canada, from allegations of differing standards for party filings to the draconian rules about publication of polling results to the free-speech limiting interpretation of advertising rules, I thought it might be interesting to see what election observers from other countries think about Elections Canada.

Judging from a report from a branch of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe called the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the attitude seems to be that Elections Canada is doing fine, but there ought to be some rules that need to be changed.  Rules to protect the rights of prisoners to vote, to allow foreigners to become involved in Canadian elections, and such -- but when it comes to restrictions on the free speech of Canadians, well, the less said the better.  Perhaps literally.

In general, the ODIHR is more concerned that Elections Canada doesn't have enough power, and that the ODIHR does not have enough access to provide oversight of Canadian elections.

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April 24, 2008

How the Conservatives were singled out by Elections Canada

One of the more difficult things for many Canadians to accept is the notion that Elections Canada had singled out the Conservative Party for special treatment.  Let's be honest -- it does sound a bit paranoid.

The actual explanation is really very simple.  Ridiculously simple.  But unfortunately, it does not dispel the conspiracy theory entirely.

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Four questions concerning the search warrant

I try to eliminate some of the fog based on the speculation by asking some very simple questions.

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Elections Canada warrant makes no mention of interviews with senior Conservative officials

Elections Canada investigators have a process by which they attempt to get documentation from people they suspect as having broken the law regarding elections.  Reviewing the warrant, I don't see any evidence that the process was followed with regards to officials at Conservative Party headquarters.  I wonder if that explains why officials drove all the way to Toronto to have a judge who specializes in commercial litigation sign a warrant dealing with electoral law.

What's wrong?  No specialists in electoral law sitting on the bench in Ottawa?

Maybe that's want they wanted to avoid.

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April 23, 2008

Elections Canada Investigators' Manual

Helpfully, there is a manual that explains just how an Elections Canada investigator is supposed to do his job, including the level of non-cooperation that has to be reached before a search warrant is justified.

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April 22, 2008

The Toronto judge and the warrant

Elizabeth Thompson points out something interesting.  Elections Canada officials drove from Ottawa to Toronto to have a judge in Toronto sign the warrant that subjected the Conservative Party headquarters to a search.

I'm not sure what it means, or if it means anything at all.

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April 21, 2008

In-and-Out Timeline

A list of the major event moments in the In-and-Out story.  What's so remarkable is just how short the list is.

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April 20, 2008

Guelph voters can continue with absentee Liberals, or vote for change

You always hope to have a good MP.  But when you think about it, a good MP generally has a low profile.  As a member of a federal party, big decisions are made at the cabinet level.  Issues being voted on affect the country as a whole.  Most truly local issues are properly handled by a municipal representative or perhaps a provincial MLA.

That is not to say an MP doesn't have an important role to play.  For all the money spent on polls, for example, a party would do well to listen to MPs about the feeling on the ground.  And a good MP ought to always be plugged in to his riding and the issues that people are concerned about.

When all is said and done, an election is still won riding by riding.

And a great MP, well, can do a lot for a riding.  Especially one who is well versed in politics.

I say this by way of introduction to an interesting post by Gloria Kovach, who is hoping to win in the riding of Guelph, next door to where I am in Cambridge.  No by-election has been called yet, but perhaps one ought to be called soon, because it seems like Guelph has not been well served by the former Liberal MP.

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What does Stephane Dion mean when he says he won't support a bill?

Stephane Dion is clear on this. He cannot support the proposed changes to the immigration law.

Unfortunately that says absolutely nothing about an election.

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April 18, 2008

Some answers and more questions about Andre Thouin

Unexpectedly, the question about Andre Thouin's exact job is turning out to be more interesting that I expected it would be.

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April 17, 2008

Elections Canada: Who does Andre Thouin work for?

A minor detail, but you know Andre Thouin?   He's the Elections Canada official photographed carrying out that box of material from Conservative Party headquarters.  Here's the thing.  I can't find him in the staff list.

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Can the Liberals really use this picture?

That picture of Andre Thouin of Elections Canada carrying out papers from the headquarters of the Conservative Party is quite striking.  But can it ever find its way into Liberal Party election material?

I doubt it.

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