Category: Canada

Well, this sucks.  Ever since I can remember, kids at halloween have been carrying around those ubiquitous UNICEF boxes while they tirck or treat, gathering up the nation’s spare change to go towards helping the United Nations Children’s Fund.  Heck, I even remember doing it myself.  Kids I knew used to compete and brag about who could bring in the heaviest box.  Looks like that’s coming to an end now; and for some of the stupidest reasons, too:

There are several reasons why UNICEF has ended Halloween box collection.

In many cases, children did not understand how the funds were spent and there were safety concerns about kids carrying money.

Burgess said a big problem with the collection was rolling the coins.

Oh, yeah.  Those are perfectly good reasons to turf something that’s helped Canadian kids raise over $90,000,000 so far.  Yet another perfectly good tradition down the tubes.

Sacked?

As most likely know by now, maverick Tory MP Garth Turner has been suspended from the caucus today and, surprise surprise, the blogosphere is all over it like a cheap suit:

Garth non grata… Turner gets suspended from Tory caucus
Garth Turner
Garth Gets The Boot
Garth Turner has been suspended!
Garth Turner Booted?
Garth suspended!
Garth Turner Gets the Boot

That should be enough reading on the subject to keep ya busy for a while. 😀

BOO!

Well, kids, the political game of musical chairs in London just keeps on keepin’ on these days, doesn’t it? First, it was Joey Bananas leaving Ottawa to come back and run for mayor in London, creating a socialist vacuum in the area that threatened to suck in everything from Martha Hall Findlay to Bob Rae. Now, former mayor Dianne Haskett has announced that she’s going to be making a run at the Tory nomination for London North Centre. I guess she figured that, since Joe was after her old job, she could return the favour.

Haskett might be the best bet the Tories are going to find around here, too. A solid social conservative (remember the stink raised when she refused to proclaim a gay pride proclamation in 1995 because of her religious beliefs?), Haskett has an equally solid reputation in the London area as someone that will stick to her guns, even if they’re pointed at her. She also has a solid reputation for winning; in the 1997 mayoral race, she beat the competition by a margin of 2 to 1.

“I have a sense that in my future I’m meant to continue in political leadership and that this period of time, presumably about five years, is a hiatus period. I feel led to a life in the future which I feel will include political leadership in the federal arena.” — Haskett Oct. 19, 2000, as her family leaves for Washington D.C. area.

I love when this happens.  Here we are, smack in the middle of the Librano$’ leadership race, with the whole country supposedly eagerly eyeing who the new leader of the Natural Governing Party (and therefore presumably the next PM) is going to be, canoe.ca puts up a poll that kinda pops the little liberal baloon:

It’s enough to make a guy feel all warm & fuzzy inside…

There are things wrong with our immigration and refugee system. Lots of them. But, every now and then, we will trip over something that reminds us that not everything is wrong with it. We find ourselves reminded that the vast majority of us either are, or are descended from, prople who came from someplace else. This country was built by immigrants, and I don’t mean the kind that we all like to complain about; showing up with a hand out and making a beeline for the welfare office and free health care (can anyone say “Khadr?”).

No, I’m talking about men and women like Ervin Kulcsar, a veteran of the Hungarian revolt of 1956 who came to Canada with next to nothing and not only made his own way, but contributed as well. After a harrowing flight from the commies following the failed revolt:

On New Year’s Eve, Kulcsar and some fellow freedom fighters found themselves crouching in the snow just yards from the border. After counting the 110 paces the guards took to go from one end of their section of fence to the other, they made a mad dash for the snow fence that separated free Austria from communist Hungary. They made it ~ even though Kulcsar reopened his wounds making the dive.

Kulcsar was allocated to Canada. He worked by day, studied by night to learn the language and get his engineering certification.

“There were so many Hungarians in Toronto at that time. I really appreciate the opportunity Canada gave to all of us. We all stuck together. But many of us were hoping to return to Hungary one day, that it would one day become a free country like Canada.”

But that only happened in 1989, and Kulcsar now feels more Canadian than Hungarian. When he goes to Hungary, he says he gets homesick for Toronto.

Now, 50 years later, he is happy Canada is remembering the refugees. “A lot of us don’t have much time left Sum But we have to make sure the memory of the Hungarian Revolution is passed on to younger generations.”

In December, Kulcsar will be made part of Hungary’s “Knighthood of Heroes.” But, he turned down the chance to get his medal in Budapest. He chose to mark the 50th anniversary in Canada, instead.

The whole article is here. Isn’t it nice to find a good story in the rubbish heap of the media every now and then?

On the face of it, this might appear to just be yet another in the long and tiresome line of idiotic nuggets that the high and mighty roos in the SCC have left on the national rug but when you look at it just a little, it seems that they may have gotten it right this time. The Grand Roos declared today that judges do not have the authority to order convicts to submit bodily fluid samples on demand.

Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Maybe not, this time. The SCC isn’t trying to bugger about and rewrite or make up the law this time; their logic was clear and simple (for once):

“A sentencing judge has a broad jurisdiction in determining appropriate conditions of probation,” said the decision, written by Justice Louise Charron. “However, there is no authority under the Criminal Code to authorize a search and seizure of bodily substances as part of a probation order.

“It is Parliament’s role to determine appropriate standards and safeguards governing the collection of bodily samples for enforcement purposes.”

Oh, my gawd! Actually letting those idiots in Parliament (elected by the even more idiotic and ignorant unwashed masses) decide what is and isn’t the law in this country?? Her Beverlyness must have blown a synapse at the very thought of it.

As strange as this is going to sound, I actually think that this might not be a bad thing. For once, the SCC isn’t lounging on their lofty lipizzaners and declaring that the law is what they say it is, flying in the face of what has been democratically enacted by our elected representatives. The fact is that there is nothing in the CCOC to allow the collection of such samples, some other judge made it up. While he may have been well-intentioned and taking such samples seems only common sense, it is up to Parliament (chosen by the prople) to make laws in this country, NOT the courts (who are not elected). This is essentially what the SCC said in their decision.

Which makes me wonder: why is the SCC taking such a hands-off attitude to buggering about with the law all of a sudden? Could it be because we have a PM who has no qualms about (and, indeed, may even be eager to begin) putting this country’s courts back in their place? Just a thought.