What does a homicide squad do when there are no murders?
By Natalie Alcoba, National Post
York Regional Police beefed up its roster of homicide investigators two years ago, following a record-breaking streak of murders that forced officers to routinely pull 12-hour days.
Now, there’s another record in play — York has had one murder so far this year, and it was quickly wrapped up as a murder-suicide.
It’s great to live in York Region!
Please keep up the good work Chief.
My humble little blog gets picked up by the mother of all Canadian political blogs, and now my Analytics graph is all out of whack.
I hope you’re pleased with yourself Kate.
And if that’s not bad enough, did you have to make my graph look like a hockey stick?
To prevent a financial crisis from turning into an economic calamity, the European Union has pulled the emergency brake on green policies. At last week’s EU summit in Brussels, seven eastern and central European countries, together with Italy, threatened to veto the Union’s climate pact. The rebel governments claimed that the originally agreed goal of cutting the EU’s CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 was too expensive; economic turmoil and rising unemployment meant that implementing the CO2 goal was no longer affordable.
But wait, didn’t the Liberals assure us during the election campaign that the carbon tax scheme was working in Europe?
If this approach to cleaning up the environment is not workable in Europe, which has a far more diverse economy and a population density that is much more conducive to green transportation initiatives, how on earth could this work here in the frozen north, where our economy is resource-based and our commuter lifestyle and transportation needs are tied to fossil fuels?
Just as this planet has learned that improvements to healthcare and education can only come about after improvements are made to our overall economic well-being and technological advances, significant improvements to the environment will require the same conditions if they are to be sustained.
Just ask China.
In an open letter to daily newspapers in America, Orson Scott Card (a Democrat, no less) laments the sorry state of mainstream journalism in politics today. As a conservative, trying to sell my home, and with a son now in his 4th year of journalism school, I found this to be particularly timely.
This housing crisis didn’t come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.
…
Isn’t there a story here? Doesn’t journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren’t you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?
I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. “Housing-gate,” no doubt. Or “Fannie-gate.”
Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.
…
These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was … the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was … the Republican Party.
…
So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?
Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?
There is indeed a story here, and you can read the rest of it here.
h.t. to Kate
As a follow-up to the October 14th federal election I thought I’d try a new feature here at Keyes.ca and see if I could get some feedback on how my readers were influenced during the campaign.
I’m also scheduled to appear on a televised political panel this coming Wednesday evening and it would be nice to share the thoughts of others.
And feel free to comment further if you feel so inclined.
It’s hard to remember an election in this country where the choices we faced were more distinct than between the Stephen Harper Conservatives and the Stephane Dion Liberals. It’s also hard to remember a time when the stakes were this high.
Canadians are understandably concerned about how the economy will be managed in these turbulent times, and they’re still cynical when it comes to deciphering the bombardment of political rhetoric they’ve been subjected to recently – this is the 3rd Federal election in 5 years. The campaign commercials have not been terribly effective, and the two televised leaders debates did little to help Canadians cut through the partisan sniping and really understand the choices we face. And do Canadians really care if Stephen Harper’s handlers advised him to wear a sweater vest?
This week’s National Post editorial did a very good job of putting the choices in this election into perspective:
Mr. Harper has governed the country well overall. He has stuck by Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, provided sound stewardship for the economy (notwithstanding the inevitable buffeting we are now taking thanks to Wall Street’s meltdown), managed the Quebec file well, returned Canada-U. S. relations to their normal level of amity, lowered taxes, and implemented a number of welcome tweaks to our criminal justice system.
Most importantly of all, Mr. Harper has avoided the temptation to impose any large-scale Trudeauvian social-engineering schemes on the country, of the type the Liberals seem to cook up every few years. Yesterday’s Tory platform, largely a rehash of previous announcements, is admirably stingy. It contains no multi-billion-dollar pharmacare program, no federally micromanaged daycare, no new National Energy Program. And for that, Canadians should be thankful.
This brings us to the main reason why we cannot endorse the Liberals. Putting aside Stephane Dion’s reflexive leftward tilt on everything from foreign affairs to social issues, his “Green Shift” carbon-tax scheme is, by itself, enough to persuade us that he is the wrong man to be running this country. As our banking and financial-services sectors become strained by the worldwide credit crunch, this country is increasingly dependant on our oil and gas sector to sustain us through rough waters. Yet these are exactly the industries Mr. Dion wants to soak.
We also are not impressed by Mr. Dion’s plan– and general attitude — in regard to Canada’s economic challenges. In recent days, he truly has sounded like a hysteric, trying to convince Canadians that our relatively sound economy is on the brink of a cataclysmic depression. There is no evidence of this: Indeed, the latest economic numbers on jobs and growth are excellent. And as a stack of reports from our major banks attest, the fundamentals of our real estate market bear no comparison to America’s sub-prime mess. Indeed, the only thing that could tip this country into full-blown depression is wide-scale investor panic of the type Mr. Dion seems intent on fomenting.
Please read the whole thing. This is important folks.
And, if you’re still not convinced that Stephen Harper is the person we need as Prime Minister, please take the time to view these two one-on-one interviews that were conducted this week with Peter Mansbridge on The National:
I was saddened and deeply troubled to hear the news that “Vandals target Liberal, Conservative candidates” in Toronto. These are far more than acts of mischief directed towards a particular party, and we have certainly seen examples of this sort directed at all parties in the past. What is so troubling about these acts is that they will deter free expression – expression that is vital in a healthy democratic country.
I myself have spent countless hours over the last several elections (both federal and provincial) knocking on doors and speaking to people about their political views. While many are not comfortable displaying a lawn sign for privacy reasons, there are also many that are simply afraid to display their political allegiance. And this is what saddens me. Clearly one of the pillars of a free democratic society is the right to peacefully express your views without fear. These recent acts have far more significance than the effect they might have on a local campaign, and are far more costly than the value of the signs and the property damage. I am not suggesting these attacks are “hate crimes”, and, in fact, they might be little more than over-zealous individuals taking things way too far, but the wider effects of these acts must be taken very seriously by all Canadians who value our democratic freedom.
I would expect all candidates from all political stripes to take a very strong stand and denounce these acts without reservation. And I would encourage all Canadians to look at this as an opportunity to express pride in the democratic freedom we enjoy. Contact your local candidate of choice and request the biggest lawn sign they can provide you with, and display it without fear.
During the 2004 and 2006 federal election campaigns the Liberal Party war room kept itself busy promoting the idea that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have a “hidden agenda” that would see Canadians hurled back into the dark ages, with women at home, barefoot and pregnant, same-sex couples back in the closet, and soldiers in our streets. Of course none of this has come to pass and the Liberal Party fear-mongering has been exposed as exactly what it was – a desperate attempt to cling to power by a party whose “best before date” had long passed.
So here we are, approaching 2009, and Canadians have had a good look at Stephen Harper as Prime Minister. We’re in the midst of another federal election – an opportunity for all the parties to explain to Canadians why they should be given an opportunity to govern this country. An opportunity for the Liberal Party to explain their “Green Shift” platform, that they claim has not been “understood”. But instead, the Liberals have chosen to reach deep into their war room cupboard and resurrect an item that dates back to 2003 – an item that Warren Kinsella has described as a “Huge win – biggest war room score of the campaign so far“.
Given the current challenges we face on economic issues, international affairs, health care, the environment, public safety, and so many other concerns shared by all Canadians, you would think the Liberal Party could do a bit better than this – or maybe not.