Ottawa | Nov 2

AFP - Canadians are no more loving of the United States under its current leadership than during George W. Bush's presidency, suggested a poll published Monday.

But they do like President Barack Obama a whole lot more than his predecessor, said the Historica Dominion Institute survey of 1,018 Canadians.

Obama was viewed favorably by 86 percent of respondents, compared to only 21 percent for Bush in 2005.

"What's striking about these findings is how Canadians have detached their personal view of Barack Obama, whom they quite like and respect, from the United States, which they still view with skepticism, even distrust," said Andrew Cohen, president of the institute.

Compared to results of a similar poll taken four years ago, Canadians have a marginally improved view of Americans as individual people, with 71 percent expressing a favorable view in 2009 versus 68 percent in 2005.

Canadians were split as to whether the United States is now "a force for good in the world." Forty-four percent agreed while 46 percent disagreed. This question was not asked in 2005.

Ron Nurwisah | October 28

National Post - Paul Pritchard, the Victoria man who shot the footage of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski being Tasered by RCMP at the Vancouver International Airport, has been given the first ever Citizen Journalism Award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

"Without the tape we wouldn't have had the journalistic investigation, the year-long inquiry into the incident, and we wouldn't have seen the safer use of the taser by police departments across the country," said CJFE President Arnold Amber in a press release.

While Canada's designated citizen whipping boy, Omar Khadr, remains incarcerated in the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay, it's becoming increasingly apparent that evidence against his elder brother, Abdullah, was also obtained through torture-induced "confessions". These young men are both members of the unit once described by Barbara Frum's evil spawn as "Canada's first family of terrorism." That catchy phrase seems, at this point, to provide the only shield for government prosecutors, given that little or no provable evidence has materialized concerning the two imprisoned Khadr brothers (and notwithstanding a significant rewrite of that pesky "right to face one's accusers" aspect of the court system in this case.) The youngest of the three brother seems to have escaped attention but he is also imprisoned, in this case by his quadriplegia, (thanks to an American shoot-out.) Then again, perhaps prosecutor's aren't interested in that child's recollections because the family patriarch was also killed in that attack. Pops, being stone cold dead, is obviously exempt from prosecution so there'll be no trial where troubling questions about his true culpability could be raised. Nevertheless, it seems to me some actual evidence of the rest of the family's wrongdoing should be examined in a court somewhere that is devoid of procedural improvisation. To put minds at rest on this, neither Canadians nor American's should fear that finding these kids to be innocent of the charges against them would result in their release into society. So far, court orders notwithstanding, we just keep 'em locked up indefinitely anyway. After all, at the end of the day, WE know better than the courts, don't we? David Frum has already told us all we apparently want or need to know about Canada, about Who's Who in the world of terror, and which of his denominated "axis of evil" enemies are readying for military attack.

John Byrne | Oct 22

Raw`Story -

Ex-president gets standing ovation from paid crowd

During a visit to speak in Canada Tuesday, former president George W. Bush was met with signs, songs, screams and a black-clad Grim Reaper. And a little applause.

Protesters outside the speech carried signs emblazoned with such phrases as "Bush is a war criminal," "Bush lied, 1,000s died" and "Canada is not Bush Country," according to a Canadian press report. As a crowd mushroomed, police erected metal barricades.

Bush spoke at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton where he led a talk, "A Conversation with George Bush." Tickets to the event ranged from $30 to $100. All 2,000 tickets sold out, and ticketholders were frisked and made to show their tickets twice upon entrance.

One protester carried a nine-foot tall Grim Reaper tagged with signs that said "GWB I am your biggest fan" and "Thanks for 8 great years."

Former Canadian Chief of the Defense Staff has this to say in his forthcoming book, "A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War:"

Afghanistan has revealed that NATO has reached the stage where it is a corpse decomposing and somebody's going to have to perform a Frankenstein-like life-giving act by breathing some lifesaving air through those rotten lips into those putrescent lungs or the alliance will be done.

Now, I'm not surprised to hear someone say this. I've been saying for years now--at least six--that the defensive alliance part of NATO has long been dead. There are a lot of reasons for this, but it's been clear for quite some time that NATO has become just like the Concert of Europe, by inviting too many members into the club, it was watered down in post-Napoleonic Europe and NATO has duplicated the same process. A new order isn't really in the offing as of yet and the current state of affairs will continue, as the collapse of Concert of Europe did, for a great deal of time. What arises in its aftermath is anyone's guess.

One last note: the idea that the Ukraine or Georgia will ever be a part of an effective defensive alliance with the US is laughable as well.

Steve Connor | Oct 20

The Independent - Study delves back into 200,000 years of history to demonstrate the devastating impact of global warming

A frozen lake on a remote island off Canada's northern coast has yielded remarkable insights into how the Arctic climate has changed dramatically over 50 years.

Muddy sediment from the bottom of the lake, some of it 200,000 years old, shows that Baffin Island, one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, has undergone an unprecedented warming over the past half-century. Scientists believe the temperature rise is probably due to human-induced warming. It has more than offset a natural cooling trend which began 8,000 years ago.

Instead of cooling at a rate of minus 0.C every 1,000 years – a trend that was expected to continue for another 4,000 years because of well-known changes to the Earth's solar orbit – Baffin Island, like the rest of the Arctic, has begun to get warmer, especially since 1950. The Arctic is now about 1.C warmer than it was in 1900, confirming that the region is warming faster than most other parts of the world.

Martin Mittelstaedt | Oct 18

Globe and Mail - Embassy in Washington asks agency to alter plan that would force lake freighters to stop burning dirty bunker fuel

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed tough new measures to reduce the health toll from air pollution around the Great Lakes by forcing lake freighters to stop burning dirty bunker fuel.

But the plan has an unusual opponent: The Canadian embassy in Washington has quietly asked the EPA to weaken the measures, arguing that they could harm trade. It wants ships to be allowed to continue using the high-polluting fuel and to instead install smokestack scrubbers that would clean up their emissions. The Canadian recommendation, if accepted, could delay the clean-air measure for years, because the technology for the scrubbers does not yet exist.

The embassy asked the EPA to make the changes in a letter last month, marking a rare instance in which Canada has lobbied the United States to weaken air-pollution controls designed to reduce health problems linked to breathing dirty air. Because winds carry contaminants back and forth across both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, the EPA proposal would also lead to air-quality improvements in Canada.

The Canadian position is supported by the Great Lakes shipping industry, which is warning that the costs of complying with the proposed environmental regulations are so high that they will force companies to scrap some of the iconic steamers that now ply the lakes carrying everything from salt to iron ore.

From Our Family to Yours.

Canuck, Haydn & Frosty (Eski-Poo0

Steven Chase and Bill Curry | Ottowa | September 19

Globe and Mail - The future of Stephen Harper's minority government now apparently rests in the hands of Jack Layton's New Democrats, who have previously made a virtue of opposing Tory legislation.

As expected, Mr. Harper's Conservatives survived a parliamentary confidence vote on several budget measures Friday after both the Bloc Québécois and NDP voted in their favour – with the Liberals opposing.

But later that day, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe took to the microphone to make it clear that the Tories should not count on his party's support in future confidence votes. Mr. Duceppe emphasized that while he continues to support a popular home renovation tax credit approved in yesterday's budget vote, he has no interest in propping up the Tories on a regular basis. He suggested the NDP would be the only party keeping Mr. Harper in office. He said the Bloc would vote against the Conservatives in motions that test parliamentary support for Mr. Harper.
 

Interested especially in what Canadian Agonists think of this

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec, September 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a notably personal interview in Quebec City, Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained that God's judgement on his life was more important to him than the judgement of history. The story will be published in the September edition of Prestige magazine.

His comment came while speaking about his family, saying that his relationships with his wife and two children are more important to him than political accomplishments. "The important thing, for me, is to preserve family ties," he said. "I can win elections, but if I lose my family, it's a disaster."

Quebec | September 8

Canadian Press - Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe says he's convinced Canadians are headed to the polls this fall.

The Bloc is already planning a double-barrelled blast at Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper, including ads that tear a strip off both adversaries. It's the first time in memory that it's targeted the two biggest national parties at once, in an indication of how Quebec appears to have become a three-way battlefield.

"I've acquired over recent days across Quebec the firm conviction that, barring a major change, there will be an election," Duceppe told a news conference Tuesday in Quebec City. "Mr. Ignatieff was clear – he can no longer back away. As for Mr. Harper, he is inflexible and has not given any signs of openness."

Bill Curry | Ottawa | September 4

The Globe and Mail - The Supreme Court of Canada will hear the federal government's appeal of the Omar Khadr case, a decision that will prolong an issue that has become one of the top political issues on the eve of a likely federal election.

The Supreme Court issued a statement today confirming the government's request for an appeal has been granted and will be heard Nov. 13, 2009.

Sept 2

Raw Story/AFP - South Africa's ruling party on Wednesday accused a Canadian immigration panel of racism, after a white man was granted refugee status due to his fears of persecution by blacks.

Brandon Huntley, 31, told The Star newspaper on Wednesday that he had won asylum because he fears that he could face violent persecution for being white, a claim the ruling African National Congress (ANC) dismissed as "sensational".

"We find the claim by Huntley to have been attacked seven times by Africans due his skin colour... sensational and alarming," the ANC said in a statement.

"Canada's reasoning for granting Huntley a refugee status can only serve to perpetuate racism," it added.

Steven Mufson | Washington | August 21

WaPo - The State Department has approved the construction of a multibillion-dollar pipeline from Canadian oil sands to refineries in the United States, prompting an outcry from environmental groups opposed to oil sands development.

Extraction of the oil in Alberta has drawn opposition because it scars vast tracts of land and uses large quantities of energy and water. The projects have contributed to a sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions by Canada, which as a result will not meet its own climate change targets.

"By approving this pipeline, we are committing to another generation of dependence not only on fossil fuels but on the dirtiest, most greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil fuels," said Sarah Burt, an attorney for Earthjustice. "We thought that the Obama administration would walk the walk on this, but it appears that that's not happening."

Lee Carter | Aug 17

BBC -

Canada is launching a series of military exercises in the Arctic far-north region of the country.

The so-called sovereignty operation is designed to show a visible presence in the resource-rich area, amid competing claims among other nations.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to join in some of the exercises later in the week.

Asserting Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic has been a priority for Mr Harper's conservative government.

Operation Nanook will see the Canadian Armed Forces involved in sea, land and airforce operations in the country's eastern Arctic territory.

Mr Harper is expected to join the operation midweek, when he will board both a navy frigate and a submarine during a warfare exercise.

Once thought a barren region, a number of countries with competing claims - including Denmark and Russia - have been carefully mapping the area around the North Pole, thought to be rich in minerals and natural resources.

Sarnia, Ontario | August 15

Canwest - An anticipated 1,500 people were expected to drop their drawers Saturday and give a balloon with a surveillance camera trolling the Canada-U.S. border a piece of their derriere. Adam Bush of Sarnia, Ont., the creator of a Facebook group called "Moon the Balloon" said as many as double that number of protesters have signed up on the social networking site.

The group is protesting the 15-metre long Aerostat balloon which has a high-tech camera with the capability of identifying the name on a ship 12 to 15 kilometres out in Lake Huron. The camera was set up last week just across the St. Clair River in Port Huron, Mich., aimed at the border in Sarnia.

Travis Lupik | Vancouver | July 28

Georgia Strait - What are Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s plans for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games? And—perhaps the more pressing question—what are they up to in Vancouver right now in relation to the Games?

David Ljunggren | Ottawa | Aug 6

Reuters - * Ottawa says will stick to plan to end mission in 2011
* Canada has lost 127 soldiers so far in Afghanistan

NATO wants Canada to extend its military mission in southern Afghanistan beyond the planned 2011 withdrawal date, the alliance's new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said on Thursday, increasing the pressure on Ottawa to change its mind.

The remarks were the most pointed yet by NATO, some of whose senior members are working behind the scenes to persuade Ottawa to change its mind about ending the 2,700-strong combat mission in Kandahar in 2011.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon quickly reiterated that Ottawa would stick to its withdrawal plan.

The federal government, which has long complained that Canadian troops are bearing a disproportionate burden in Afghanistan, vows it will abide by a Parliamentary vote to end the mission in 2011.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canadian troops will have been in Afghanistan almost 10 years by the end of 2011 and says that is long enough.

Senior Canadian military officials say the army is worn out and will need at least 18 months to recover once the mission ends.

Embassy Magazine by Carlo Dade.

The first question that comes to mind with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's surprise announcement that Mexicans will suddenly need a visa to enter Canada is: why? It's a question that also has people in Washington, D.C., and throughout the hemisphere scratching their heads.

Allan Dowd | Vancouver | July 24

Reuters - Police should restrict their use of Taser stun guns, but there is no need for a moratorium on the weapon while safety concerns are studied, according a Canadian report released on Thursday.

The weapons can be used safely, but police must also recognize they have the potential to kill, and further study is needed on their medical effects, according to the report of British Columbia inquiry into a fatal incident near Vancouver.

Inquiry head Thomas Braidwood said he was recommending police be able to keep the weapons while safety questions are resolved, because they are a potentially valuable tool for officers as an alternative to firearms.

Les Blumenthal | Washington | July 23

McClatchy Newspapers - Sometimes, pork on Capitol Hill has to do with, well, pork.

Or in this case a pig, a dead pig.

With bipartisan support, a resolution has been introduced in the House of Representatives to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Pig War.

The name, age, sex, and size of the pig has long been forgotten but the dispute its death triggered is the reason the border is where it is today between Washington state and Canada.

The pig was part of a herd owned by the Hudson's Bay Co., a British outfit. An American farmer shot it in the summer of 1859.

Killing livestock on the frontier was a serious offense. The farmer offered to pay restitution. Hudson's Bay wanted $100, an exorbitant sum back then. The farmer balked. Both countries sent in troops, with weapons that were locked and loaded.

Ian Bailey | Vancouver | July 16

Globe & Mail - The government lawyer who tearfully admitted to an error that has delayed the Braidwood inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death has resigned from handling the file.

from my family to yours:





To view a video that a young couple living in London, Ontario made, click to watch: Canadian, Please

June 23

CBC - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched another unmanned surveillance aircraft over the Canadian border on Monday, this time in the Great Lakes area, to try to stem the flow of drugs, migrants and terrorists into the country, U.S. officials told CBC News.

The U.S. has been using the Predator B drone aircraft to patrol its border with Mexico.

The Predator is the unarmed version of the drone plane that the U.S. uses to conduct air strikes in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. The aircraft is able to fly at an altitude of 6,000 metres and can remain in the air for 20 hours.

The plane is equipped with 3,000 sensors and cameras capable of detecting a moving person from 10 kilometres away.

The planes will gather information along the border and transmit it to operators who will in turn contact border agents. The drones will not carry weapons and the U.S. will need permission to send them into in Canadian airspace.

David B. Caruso | New York | June 14

AP - New York City plans to trap and kill as many as 2,000 Canada geese this summer in an attempt to avoid the type of collision that caused an airliner to ditch in the Hudson River.