Today the Prime Minister offered an official apology on behalf of the Canadian government to the more than 100,000 First Nations victims of Residential Schools. During their operation, which lasted from the late 19th Century until the 1970’s, the state funded Christian run schools were home to frequent sexual and physical abuse. First Nations children were, for example, beaten for speaking in their native tongue. One issue I will take with the Prime Minister’s apology is his choice to employ the word Indians rather than ...More »

It was only a matter of time until a second investigation was opened into the Bernier affair. The Prime Minister has already stated that the Department of Foreign Affairs will be internally investigating the matter, but as I’ve learned through a source on the Hill, there’s basically no one left at Foreign Affairs that can realistically undertake it in a timely fashion. The House of Commons Committee that will be looking into the affair will begin proceedings next Tuesday and will conduct hearings for four ...More »

So the Department of Foreign Affairs is investigating itself. One wonders who at the Department of Foreign Affairs is actually undertaking that investigation being that, since Bernier’s resignation, the entire senior staff has been dismissed, including Bernier’s chief of staff, and the remaining staff is skeletal at best. An intern perhaps? Also of interest is that during a recent TVA interview, Couillard claimed that she was approached to be a Conservative candidate, something that has been rather overlooked by the mainstream media. More »

A fair number of readers have emailed me and asked why I haven’t commented on the resignation of Maxime Bernier. My response is that I wanted to wait until the air cleared somewhat before doing so. While the government will not release what the status of classification of the documents left at Bernier’s ex-girlfriend’s house – which could range from confidential to top secret – there is no denying that Bernie left the documents at Julie Couillard’s residence for five weeks, after which Miss Couillard showed ...More »

You know, I remember back in the good old days when you could cross the US/Canada border relatively easily. The worse thing that would typically happen was for you to have your car searched, or get asked a pile of questions from a border guard. That changed a few years ago when the border agents were given the ability to search your laptop for child pornography. And while I think the end goal (cracking down on pedophiles) is a good one, ...More »

It's a beautiful day here in the city of Toronto, who wouldn't get up early to enjoy it? Man, beaten to the punch on a Saturday morning! Thanks to all who supported me last week. I'll keep results short and by the numbers. 42 km +$4,300 for Right To Play $700 for the Colo rectal Cancer Society Of Canada +50 pairs of shoes for Shoes for Malawi Two sore knees 1 Happy Irish-Canadian Veteran An infinite number of thank yous to those that made it worth while. Nobody asked me, but ...More »

If anyone were looking for an example of just how truly idiotic the man running this country is, look no further than this quote… "If a country wants to be taken seriously in the world, it must have the capacity to act. It's that simple. Otherwise, you forfeit your right to be a player. You're the one chattering on the sideline that everyone smiles at, but no one listens to." Is that what being taken seriously in the world demands - military might? If so, then we ...More »

I’ve been busy with rehearsals and exhausted afterwards, so haven’t been able to update the site at all. In fact, I haven’t even checked my email since Friday. Anyway, a few things… Welcome to the new Canada. Today, in Halifax, the Prime Minister announced the Canada First Defense Policy, which is a major shift in Canadian military spending and commitment to global military affairs. It is, without question, extremely alarming. Listening to the Prime Minister talk this morning I was deeply troubled at his alignment of ...More »

When the minority government of Stephen Harper came to power it did so with the promise that transparency and accountability would be its cornerstones. Since that time, Harper’s government has taken various steps in the other direction, the most recent being the quiet dissolution of CAIRS - the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System. Instituted in 1989 as an internal mechanism with which to monitor requests and allow Canadian agencies to co-ordinate their responses to the release of sensitive information, it has also since been ...More »

It's a fantastic morning here in the great city of Toronto. Sure it's raining, but at least the TTC isn't on strike (that I know of). For those of you who don't know the TTC is the mass transit outlet here in Toronto - and like any public transit system should, they decided to celebrate earth week last weekend by going on strike on Friday night at about midnight. I said, they went on strike during earth week last Friday night, you know, when people like ...More »