This is a follow-up to No dogs? Then leash your child, please.In order to change the designation of a park, with regard to allowing dogs within or not, at least 25 householders within a certain distance of the municipal recreation facilities must present a petition to the City of Ottawa councillor for that area and the By-laws and Regulations Services staff.The information received is confidential and staff will not release the names nor the addresses of the individuals who signed the petition.A notice was posted at Sandy Hill park with regard to the request to a change of designation, to ban …
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It has come to my attention that a long-standing usage of a section of Sandy Hill park in Ottawa (behind the community centre) could be terminated because petty and intolerant individuals want dogs banned from that area. They (whoever they are) have applied for a regulation change.It would be just as petty and intolerant of me to speculate that those who initiated this application process are irresponsible parents who take their children to public recreational facilities and expect city employees to watch out for them. You know the type. On planes, they let their child kick the back of your …
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By the time two individuals reach the point where they're joyously, frantically, gratefully or athletically (or any combination of those qualifiers) sharing bodily fluids, a number of mental, emotional and physical processes have preceded "la chose". (As in - porté, portée sur la chose.)Example: for a vast majority of men, receiving a blow job from a skilled, gifted and enthusiastic practitioner of the art is a dream come true. However, it matters to most of them whether the person who bestows this pleasure upon them is female or male. Why? It shouldn't be a factor, if sex if purely …
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Dawg's Blawg has a 'new' commenter whose knickers are on fire regarding the "thugs, hooligans and anarchists" that were referenced over and over and over and over and over by Conservative députés at a special meeting of the Public Safety and National Security Committee was held Monday : "Requested by Four (4) Members of the Committee to Undertake a Study of the Issues Surrounding Security at the G8 and G20 Summits".Alors, to demonstrate that we are most eager and willing to assist the police in their efforts to identify the 10 Most Wanted, we ask our readers to help identify this alleged …
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Another round in the battle between do-gooders and evil-doers?Taser International's lawyers are challenging the findings of the Braidwood Commission in the BC Supreme Court. Taser International says its bottom line is hurting and its reputation has been slurred in the wake of a provincial public inquiry report that concluded the weapon can cause death. ...David Neave, a lawyer for the U.S. manufacturer, told Judge Robert Sewell on Monday that Taser is concerned about Braidwood’s conclusion that the weapon can cause death. “It’s a slur on Taser that its device can kill,” Neave said. …
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Rachel S. returned to Montréal, her actions respected and supported by her network of family, friends and fellow students. She reported what she experienced and observed in Toronto during the g20 events.But first, a video that faithfully depicts the actions of Rachel and her peers, peaceful activists, volunteers and committed citizens who took to the streets of Toronto, numbering 25,000 and more. These are the images that the 'mainstream' media chose not to broadcast.And now Rachel in all her eloquence, powerfully written and spoken.On Wednesday, while on the way to an environmental justice …
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... would he stop Stephen Harper's cold, calculating and callous scheme to transform Canada into a third-rate, theocratic version of Margaret Thatcher's Britain?Fact: The Canada Pavillion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai is among the 10 most popular attractions there. Cirque du soleil created the concept design for the pavillion and will also create public performances, organize cultural programs and develop strategic corporate alliances for the pavillion. The 6,000-square-meter pavilion, among the biggest at the site, will feature an exhibition themed 'The Living City: inclusive, sustainable, …
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Yesterday Dr Dawg had a short post about Sayon Camara's plight.Today a Federal Court judge heard her lawyer's appeal and granted an emergency stay of deportation until she gives birth. The news item also provides some insight into the minds of Jason Kenney, Lawrence Cannon, Vic Toews and the people who follow their direction.It was alleged by immigration investigators that the marriage between Camara and her husband Abdoul Sow was a "sham". In which case, thousands of couples living in the Atlantic provinces would be shocked to discover which criteria was used to establish this determination …
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As I read Paul Wells' piece in Macleans about Guergis, Bernier and Harper this morning, something clicked.Bernier has been in the news recently, for a number of reasons: his 'opinon letter' (sic) about greenhouse gases, his declarations about Québec to target audiences and, in a less flattering light, his possible knowledge of events in Afghanistan while he was minister of Foreign Affairs.By the way, our John Cross wrote a splendid rebuttal to Bernier's pretentious perorations about climate change.It would be interesting to know who is supporting Bernier's reincarnation as a maverick Tory. …
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During the Middle Ages, when a messenger would be sent to deliver a message to a monarch, they would be killed if the king or queen did not like the message, usually by beheading. Some might think recently that the political scene in la ville de Québec is not that far removed from this type of feudal imbroglio.The emperor – oh, sorry – the mayor of Quebec City Régis Labeaume, was still basking in the glory of celebrating the 400th anniversary of La Ville, when he convinced the conseil municipal to spend $300,000. for the professional services of Clotaire Rapaille in order to keep tourism …
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Faithful to the Conservative Party of Canada and its practice of opacity and of evading accountability, the Minister for Public Safety blamed civil servants for documents that had been heavily censored. Vic Toews was reacting to a question raised by Gilles Duceppe, the BQ leader in the House of Commons. According to a Radio-Canada news report, Djemila Benhabib discovered in 2007 that CSIS had checked out her credit rating. She contacted the agency to ask why she was being investigated. When CSIS stonewalled, Benhabib presented a complaint to the Security Intelligence Review Committee. Two …
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And is it "art"?Leaving aside the fact that Dorothy Parker was not addressing the issue of torture in the 21st century, the installation conceived and crafted by Ottawa artist Jenn Farr and builder Erik Windfeld should perhaps not be viewed by the faint of heart. Or by those who have first-hand knowledge of the particular hell it represents. The Canadian Press: Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin attended the unveiling of a grim, grey cell modelled on the squalid chambers in the Syrian prison where they were whipped and beaten. El Maati, a former truck driver, spent …
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Unfortunately, that would not seem to be the case for those who felt compelled to add their own racist, loathsome, right-wing, intolerant and execrably ignorant comments after this CBC news item. A 61-year-old Winnipeg store owner has been arrested and charged in the death of 29-year-old Geraldine Beardy.Police allege Beardy was confronted by the man, whose name has not been released by police, after she was caught trying to steal a can of luncheon meat worth $1.49 at a Sherbrook Street convenience store in Winnipeg on Sept. 13. She was assaulted before she fled to a nearby residence, police …
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Jason Kenney's Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration enforced a deportation order, quite possibly in a frenzy to prove to critics excoriating Harper's government for a number of incidents where brown-skinned citizens were stranded outside Canada that Conservative ministers are NOT acting on the basis of systemic and implicit racist policies and/or incompetence. Hours before her legally blind, 69-year-old mother was deported to Poland last night, Aldona Pindiur was in tears, begging for help. "She's old, she can't see ... Who will look after her in Poland? All the family is here," Pindiur …
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As always with the PM and his Con-job ministers, it's all about political OPportunity, OPtics and OPerations.After touring homes in Vaughan that suffered severe structural damage during Thursday's storm, Canada's Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said doling out financial aid is not a political decision but rather the result of a "complex mathematical formula."Could one of the factors in that "complex mathematical formula" be the demographic profile of Vaughn and other neighbourhoods affected by Thursday's violent storm in Milton, Newmarket and Durham? Specifically, how to calculate …
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That is the question.There is history, ideology and strategy, and now there is opportunity that makes you wonder what the hell is happening in Afghanistan.Fact number 1: In the mid-1980s, a covert operation was set up by individuals in the Reagan administration to sell and supply arms to Iran. Profits from the transactions were used to fund the Contras (anti-socialists) movement in Nicaragua.Fact number 2: In the late 1980s, Congressman Charlie Wilson, a fiercely anti-Soviet Democrat, became the go-between that far right Republicans needed on the appropriations committee to ensure that Afghan …
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An item in the Toronto Star presents a variety of perspectives on:Justice Douglas Cunningham's decision regarding the testimony of MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) trickled out this week in stages. By week's end, it had become a sort of Rorschach Test on women's lib, a la 2009. The Progressive Conservative MPP had testified in the influence-peddling trial of Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien. In his decision this month dismissing the charges, Cunningham said that he assigned "little weight" to MacLeod's "imprecise" recollections.Were those who attacked the judge for the sexism of his remarks too …
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