What? Fox News isn't fake?

I say all this without access to cable, and admitting that since the arrival of the Canadian Publius, the Next Generation, I haven't found myself up to watch TV past about 9.30 pm anyway...

... but it appears that Fox News is planning their own version of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tentatively called "Watch This Right Now?"

This is quite a surprise. I thought all of Fox was fake news.

And I am bewildered - can you make the Progressive wing of any party funnier than it already is... I mean this whole leadership race - that's just a satire ... right? I mean, it's not real, is it?

The J-Lo Senate reform proposal

CP reports:

Jack Austin and Lowell Murray served notice Thursday of their intention to introduce a resolution to amend the Constitution to significantly increase the number of western seats, particularly for British Columbia.

Under the proposal, B.C.'s Senate seats would double to 12, Alberta would get 10 and Manitoba and Saskatchewan would each get seven.

The central Canadian in me shudders at the thought of the J-Lo Senate proposal.

Don’t we already have a body that is elected and reflects representation by population? Isn’t it called, like… the House of Commons?

But that’s not the point.

You have to hand to Senator Jack, who has been a force in Canadian politics before Warren Kinsella could type type, he knows how set up a wedge issue.

What’s going on here is simple.

Harper has indicated he wants to move on Senate reform without amending the constitution. The weak link is that in BC, Senate reform without Senate redistribution to put more seats in BC is like putting Molson Excel on tap at a frosh party.

It’s more likely to cause a riot than selling the regular stuff.

Now Harper has a choice. Reform the Senate while continuing to disadvantage his Western base, or crack open the constitution and watch everything go to hell in Western breadbasket.

The sad part here?

My money is on the Mulroney protégé to crack open the Constitution.

Get ready to roll the dice.

Harper calls Canadians ‘Naïve”

Or so said our fearless leader on the program “Coulisses du pouvoir” last night stating,

«Je pense que beaucoup de monde au Canada est naïf, c'est vrai... La réalité, c'est que la menace terroriste est une menace mondiale et on ne peut pas y échapper en fermant les yeux.»

Or: “I think many Canadians are naïve. The reality is that the terrorist threat is a global threat, and we can’t avoid it by closing our eyes.”

Well, gee whiz willickers, thank be to heaven we have Big Daddy Harper to warn us all and keep us safe.

Calling Canadians naïve - there is a master politician. First insult your citizens, then spout a platitude.

You know, I think Harper has weird eyes, and looks like his mother dresses him, but I don’t run around saying that in front of a TV camera.

But what exactly should we all be doing to show Stephen we aren’t naïve?

Maybe I could put a guard hut at the end of my driveway?

Maybe I could snitch on my neighbours?

Mybe I could set up a neighbourhood terrorist watch group in my community?

Stephen, if you want us to take this situation seriously, start dealing with Canadians seriously, and stop patronizing us.

Anything else would be… well… naïve.

Soleberg on Clement's shares...

Tony Clement owns shares in a private pharma company. Some people think that puts him in a conflict of interest.

According to PoliticsWatch.com, Tony thinks it's "none of your business!" Tony says he has taken the advice of the Ethics Commissioner and that he shouldn't be taking ethics lessons from Liberals.

A bit odd though.

Only a few months ago, his boss Harper was calling the Ethics Commissioner a "liberal appointee."

So I guess, Tony is taking ethics lessons from a liberal... but I digress...

Me? I think he should keep his shares. He's followed the Ethic Commish's ruling, and we should all get on with our lives.

But no-one voted for me. What do our duly elected leaders have to say...?

"The one way to clear this thing up is to get rid of the company, " said Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Monte Soleberg to Louise Elliot at CP.

Ooops, I am sorry, Monte was talking about CSL and Paul Martin's kids owning the company on February 6, 2004.... what a difference an election makes...

Uh-oh ... here come the "principles of convenience" again ...

Here is a blogger challenge - let's see who can come up with another Tory urging a liberal to sell due to risk of conflict of interest....

Tories flip the bird and other acts of Parliamentary decora

While most of Canada was asleep last night, Parliamentary Secretary Jacques Gourde was busy debating a fascinating opposition motion on milk proteins in processed food.

Truly the stuff of empassioned debate, particularly given Mr. Gourde farms on the South shore of the St. Lawrence himself.

At one point in the debate M. Gourde became so inflamed with passion on the issue of milk protiens in processed food that while the myriad of captivated observers in the gallery were busily reaching for their heart pills, he responded to the BQ with the 'doigt d'honneur' (flipped the bird) or so reported Canadian Press last night.

Lors du vote sur une motion du Bloc québécois portant sur l'utilisation de protéines de lait dans la nourriture transformée, Jacques Gourde, secrétaire parlementaire du ministre de l'Agriculture, s'est levé pour voter contre la motion en faisant un doigt d'honneur aux députés du Bloc.

Though the opposition demanded an apology, M. Gourde was immediately - and ably - defended by the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and milk protein afficinado, Pierre Poilievre who responded with his middle-finger as well.

This continued until Denis Coderre reigned them in.

You know, its the maturity displayed by our elected officials on issues of such importance that really builds my faith in government.

Thank God for Denis Coderre's sense of decorum.

You know, Denis, if you're reading this, I never thought I would ever write those words.... did you?

Gary Mason - worth reading & Fraser Institute - not so much...

Gary Mason deserves a hat tip for today's story in the Groan & Wail about Roosevelt Park School in Prince Rupert, and their ranking courtesy of the Fraser Institute who used the figures from BC's Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) test. Those figures put Roosevelt in last place, with a score of, well ... zero.

On the other end of the scale, is the private school St. George's School, who scored at the top of the test with a score of ten out of ten

Worth noting, there is no website for Roosevelt.

Mason notes that the FSA scores are for basic reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. They don't account for incidence of FAS, number of years previously in school, home situation, etc. Not huge factors for the kids at St. George, but a bit more of an issue in Prince Rupert.

And it's all about learning, or so say the helpful folks at the Fraser Institute Think Tank (note: emphasis on the 'tank', not so much the 'think') in their release on the 'Report Card'

I'm always happy to see my free market friends use taxpayer-funded research, but it might have been nice to see some value-added here. Like what are the determinants at an individual level? What type of follow-up is needed to ensure the low-scoring schools can improve their score?

And what really surprised me here was that the Fraser Institute missed an opportunity to talk about more effective use of tax-dollars.

I mean, jeez, is it really an effective use of BC tax money to provide over $2000 per student to a private school like St. Georges, when a public school is in such straits?

And just how do the tax-paying parents of Prince George feel about that?

They must be all warm and fuzzy knowing some kids are getting a great education with their tax-dollars, even if its not their own children.

I suppose its the difference between between Prince George, and Saint George.

Who is afraid?

There is a movement afoot to together a Canadian website “I am not afraid”in response to the terrorists attempt to blow up… well, no-one is saying what, but three tons of ammonium-nitrate is a lot fertilizer.

The logic is that if we are afraid, then the terrorists win.

So I asked myself – am I afraid?

No, I am not.

But one of my friends is.

My friend is a lot like me. He’s married, he has children, he works in downtown Ottawa.

We are both first generation Canadians whose parents came here for a better life.

But I’m white. He’s not.

So if you ask me if I am afraid, I am not. I am not afraid of the terrorists.

But if you ask my friend, he may be just a little bit afraid.

Perhaps not of the terrorists, and he would never admit being afraid for himself, but he is afraid for his family, and friends, and of what would come after the terrorists.

Most Canadians shouldn’t feel afraid. Clearly, our security people are doing their job and doing it well.

Last Sunday night, we all saw the footage of vandalized mosques in Toronto. This morning, another man was threatened with a knife in Quebec City. When an attack succeeds, it is not unreasonable to think that the response will be more than broken windows.

And that makes some of us afraid.

And if Canadians - like my friend - must not only fear terrorism, but also our reaction to terrorism, well… they really do win, don’t they?

I will not be afraid, I wish I could say the same for others.