Daily Digest June 29, 2008

The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/

EDITORIALs

ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM -
Go East, young students
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=148201&sc=80

MONTREAL GAZETTE -
Canada is too ready to ignore the rules
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=91d381d0-d391-4739-bf9f-7440c5d02ae0

TORONTO STAR -
Remove barriers to foreign-trained
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450912

Harris has seen the enemy
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450911

Wake-up call on poverty
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450910

Don't put up For Sale sign
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450886

TORONTO SUN -
Miller, Harris get over yourselves
http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary/2008/06/29/6016486-sun.html

CALGARY HERALD -
Foreign workers deserve protection
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=cb897fe8-2814-4683-bc2e-832f7807382d

Small victory for free speech
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=6c5dfffd-2f60-437a-845f-b71e29b848c1

Democratic reforms will make government more accountable
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=04dd4f1d-3805-40ca-8be4-eafe15d347b2

CALGARY SUN -
Weeding out the new reality
Obsessive-compulsive green-lawn lovers could be in for some trying times
http://calsun.canoe.ca/Comment/POV/2008/06/29/6019041-sun.html

EDMONTON SUN -
Politics and our thirst for oil
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2008/06/29/6016811.html
 
VANCOUVER SUN -
Kim demoted to axis of dingbats
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=19a489ff-10ca-4770-ade4-8f1be40f514f

VANCOUVER PROVINCE -
They also serve who only stand and wait . . . for jobs on a plate
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=6bff443e-4346-4bb7-b33d-28c2ab353403

Let's celebrate ties that bind
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=51d39de8-1f31-43b8-af3f-3dda5695f75d

Truckers need help
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=87335fe8-2e51-48e7-8186-49e69e4ce740


ISSUES

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS -          
Mohawks reclaim their land
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0aed2734-35cb-4db3-85ee-8d2726311206

A form of slavery
Forced labour investigation needed
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2008/06/29/6016736-sun.html


AFGHANISTAN -
Islamabad blinks at Taliban threat
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JF28Df01.html

Afghan civilian deaths up 60 per cent
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080629.wafghancivilians0629/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

Canada backs Afghanistan's tough new cop
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=0031fb2a-0cbb-4220-b1c1-997a298ce60f

Breakfast with Kabul's shadowy spy-master
Toronto Star (06/29/2008)

First Afghan president's body found in mass grave
Reuters (06/29/2008)

Taliban flourishing, Pentagon reports
Baltimore Sun (06/29/2008)

Failed states - Nation-building for dummies
The Economist (06/29/2008)

Taliban Imperil Pakistani City, a Major Hub
The New York Times (06/29/2008)

Helmand is Afghanistan's biggest trouble spot, Pentagon says
Los Angeles Times (06/29/2008)

Can Pakistan's new anti-militancy strategy work?
BBC (06/29/2008)

No Afghan peace while Taliban have sanctuary: NATO
Reuetrs (06/29/2008)

Pakistan's inconclusive military operations against the Taliban
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/pakistans_inconclusi.php


CANADIAN FORCES
Families of wounded military veterans struggling to cope and make ends meet
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/afghan_cda_families

Families of soldiers serving in Afghanistan banding together for support
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/afghan_cda_homefront

Rick Hillier reconnected Canadians with the Canadian Forces
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/cda_day_hillier_profile


ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Politicians fiddle while economy burns
It's time our leaders came clean on the ugly truths of what it really takes to be competitive
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=3df7c7d4-bf63-4ced-97a3-390bb3cba547

Are we on the road to ruin?
The skyrocketing price of oil is driving up the cost of manufacturing and transporting goods, and now consumers will have to pay the price
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/451260

Hiding injuries rewards companies
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/451322


FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Serbia remains a captive of its history, and it seems violence could erupt again at any time
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=e4846904-04af-497d-bf99-127125081108

U.S. close to getting info deal
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/newsbriefs/story.html?id=700cd857-f4eb-47c8-9225-592979123e1c

The oil price villain? Bush
White House threats against Iran have triggered speculation in Persian Gulf oil
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450919

Preparing the Battlefield
The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh

Iran Threatens to Shut Down Persian Gulf Oil Lanes if Attacked
http://www.truthout.org/article/iran-threatens-shut-down-persian-gulf-oil-lanes-if-attacked

It Was Oil, All Along
http://www.truthout.org/article/it-was-oil-all-along

Gas up while it's a bargain
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2008/06/29/6016686-sun.php

Canada announces measures against Zimbabwe
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080629/Zimbabwe_Mugabe_080629/20080629?hub=TopStories


HEALTH CARE RELATED
8 Ways to Spot Skin Cancer Before It Kills
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20080627/ts_usnews/8waystospotskincancerbeforeitkills

Canada facing shortage of dermatologists: doctor
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080629/cancer_skin_080629/20080629?hub=Canada

Scientists to test if cancer cure can work in humans
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080627/cancer_trial_080627/20080628?hub=TopStories


JUSTICE SYSTEM
T.O. cops vow to continue war on traffickers even though most are back dealing drugs soon after being busted
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Bonokoski_Mark/2008/06/29/6016561-sun.php


POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
Lawyers stalling needed reform
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=42387011-6a9e-467b-893f-a3c1163a25e8

Secret rebates amount to a tax on patients
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=8e8adc2b-8d5f-4ee1-8326-e16c43df8bb7

Ontario's energy system ripe for a shakeup
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450920

B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day, fuels debate a gas pumps
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/carbon_tax


PARTY POLITICS
Flaherty 'gently' pushes McGuinty on tax cuts
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080629/flaherty_mcguinty_080629/20080629?hub=Canada


POLITICAL OPINION -
Dion carbon tax would shaft West again
Alberta, Saskatchewan would pay disproportionate price as big oil, gas producers
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=327621d6-b945-4015-a439-f6b76678345e

Do schoolyards have master tacticians?
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Persichilli_Angelo/2008/06/29/6016671-sun.php

Dion's carbon tax plan is brilliant
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/letters/story.html?id=89991fa0-c406-4f33-930b-928a20529558


PROGRAMMES
A leader of the coal industry will advise the Government Harper
The Harper government has appointed a representative of the coal industry to head the only body with a mandate to advise him on environmental issues.
http://translate.google.ca/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyberpresse.ca%2Farticle%2F20080628%2FCPACTUALITES%2F806281088%2F1025%2FCPACTUALITES&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
        
Tories stock parole board with former cops, jail guards
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080629.wparoleboard0629/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

Companies that curbed emissions before 2006 can now apply for carbon credits
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/tories_ghg_regs

Beefed-up rules put ex-public officials' lobbying aspirations on hold
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/cda_day_changes

Bureaucrats uneasy with dismal progress in greening federal fleet: documents
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080629/national/federal_alternative_fuels


PRESSURE POINTS
Ill-conceived rush to ethanol
Corn is being used as a biofuel to help ease the gas crisis.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/451291

Global warming fixes not cool
Every attempt so far to get emissions under control turns out to be about money
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Goldstein_Lorrie/2008/06/29/6016636-sun.php


OPINION AND INFORMATION
How about a new patriotism for Canadians?
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=db3819b9-e70b-4c22-a5b8-8ad54d108b48

Remembering what we are, and what we can be
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=83d05cfc-a446-4fb1-9bdf-6c9fc2b2a065

Canada is a unique affair of the heart 
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=bf89f033-1a1e-449d-80bc-570cd268160c

We stand on guard for what?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080627.wcandayfocusdebate/BNStory/CanadaDay2008/home

We have plenty to celebrate on Canada Day
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Rodriguez_Jose/2008/06/29/6019051-sun.php

Sir John A. Who?
Half of us can't name our first PM. But don't think we don't care about history, family, country, study finds
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ideas/article/451264

Our country's standards are slipping with age, report says
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=c8576500-a2e6-4c8f-ad1e-8637204f718c

Who controls the streets?
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/westview/story/4192710p-4783734c.html

French fries and Solzhenitsyn
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/westview/story/4192708p-4783718c.html

Journalists: a fate worse than prison?
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/1064848.html

It's a dirty country, but it's our country
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/1064841.html

Games visitors face Chinese culture shock
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=77425399-ea2e-4e87-bb5a-a65afaef636d

The price we pay for 'progress'
The St. Lawrence Seaway could not be built today and that, writes Kelly Egan, is a good thing
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=22475e15-31af-4faa-a68c-1abeb26008d7

From Champlain to Seaway, an uneasy border
The story of the St. Lawrence Seaway is one of progress and commerce -- but look deeper, and you'll also find a story that's as much about war, diplomacy and politics as engineering http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=a3bb7700-5989-4e6f-925b-fdcf655eb6a0

Hard choices in sustaining a human life
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/450921

Paying for quality work
Amazing, interesting and investigative journalism doesn't come for free
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Granatstein_Rob/2008/06/29/6016626-sun.php

Raising a stink over big blue bins
T.O.'s new plastic behemoths are trucked in from U.S.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Mandel_Michele/2008/06/29/6016571-sun.php

Canada's water supply drying up?
Explaining the myth of water abundance in Canada
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/CanadaWorld/water/2008/06/27/6014406.html


INFOS 
Day a privilégié d'anciens policiers et membres des services correctionnels
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080629/N062940AU.html

Retour au pays: Douanes Canada a augmenté ses effectifs à la frontière
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080629/N062904AU.html

Via Rail: les trains de passagers ont accumulé les retards l' hiver dernier
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080629/N062954AU.html

Québec soutient qu'Ottawa doit aussi faire sa part pour le logement
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080628/N062842AU.html

Des militants de la fierté gaie ruent de coups un Stephen Harper en papier mâché
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080628/N062858AU.html

Les premiers ministres des territoires s'opposent à une taxe sur le carbone
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080628/N062856AU.html

Des experts s'inquiètent de la course folle aux ressources de l'Arctique
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080628/N062846AU.html

Cancer de la peau
Cri d'alarme des dermatologues
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/National/2008/06/29/001-cancer-dermatologues.shtml

Michaëlle Jean défend son rôle dans la promotion du 400e
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080628/CPACTUALITES/80628099/1025/CPACTUALITES

Un dirigeant de l'industrie du charbon conseillera le gouvernement Harper
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080628/CPACTUALITES/806281088/1025/CPACTUALITES

Le CRTC compte trois nouveaux membres permanents
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080628/CPACTUALITES/80628014/1025/CPACTUALITES

700 civils tués en Aghanistan en 2008
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080629/CPMONDE/80629020/5846/CPACTUALITES


La Teoria Conspiratoria

BELOW(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)

From: "Real Gagne"

Joe:

"Peace-maker or Powder Monkey:" shades of J. M. Minifie.

It's a term I hadn't seen or heard of for some forty years or more.

In my view, Why not both?

Real

=====
. . .we are of an age, heh?

        Joe

===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject:  More idiocy in the UK

Does the madness ever end?

Now health and safety cut number of holes in chip shop salt shakers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030164/Now-health-safety-cut-number-holes-chip-shop-salt-shakers.html

Subject: [On-Guard] deformed vegetables

C02 is dangerous for us and the planet, but this can be spread on the
fields, eaten by cattle, destroy food crops and no mention is made that it
is in the meat we eat?
politicians make sure there are only five holes in a salt shaker but allow a
herbicide like this to be used? This is disgusting.Becky

Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/29/food.agriculture


further to the article on deformed Veggies. Aminopyralid is also used in
Canada. This is just one of the articles I found. But I guess we
shouldn't worry--Health Canada et al are looking out for us!
Again no mention about the meat we eat from cattle etc grazing on treated
pastures.

Milestone: aminopyralid
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/notes/aminopyr.htm

becky

===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject:  DD

Joe--where to begin?  Are the Taliban al Qaida light?  We have so many
boogeymen being thrown at us that we are getting dizzy spinning our heads
looking for all the dangers.
Harper will call me an anti-semite, but a country glaringly missing from
this map--the fact that Israel will be a net benefactor of this pipeline
that our children are expected to die for.

Karzai government corrupt?  Who'd have thunk that a former employee of
Halliburton(not a worker but in management) would be corrupt?  Could one
venture a guess that Karzai was installed by the Cheney self interest
Halliburton in the first place for this exact reason that our children would
be dying for greed? Talk about moving forward to the past.  Nothing but
empire building and greed for our leaders?

Why should the children of Canada be dying, and the taxpayer of Canada be
paying for this abomination?  Where are the mercenaries?  Could they not be
hired by the oil companies to do the dirty work?  Since when is it in
Canada's best interest to satisfy the needs of Pakistan and India(and israel
if the truth were allowed to see the light of day)?  We have no
infrastructure in Canada.  Canadians are dying waiting for healthcare.  Are
we not paying enough for oil and gas in Canada?  Do we have to assure that
India, Pakistan and Israel get something that more and more Canadians cannot
afford to use and eat too?  We cannot afford to eat either because our food
is transported using oil and gas.  We are supposed to be gung ho to have
stable gas and oil for India, Pakistan and Israel while we go without?  What
a ludicrous situation.

I would suggest to our government that Canada is their prime concern.  Let
the rest of the world look after themselves.  But then I guess it is easier
to play the saviour that do the job you were elected to do?

When, oh when, will Canadians wake from their slumber and see the truth for
what it is.  We are nothing more than cannon fodder for the elitists of the
world.   Our PM gets a gold medallion for championing human rights around
the world while in Canada we cannot speak openly, we are one paycheque away
from starving and freezing in the dark, and we are to offer our young to the
oil companies.  Oh Canada!

===================================
From: Larry Kazdan
Subject: The Irish referendum: populism vs democracy (Open Democracy)

Joe, another view on the European Union and the Irish referendum that your readers might find of interest:

The referendum: populism vs democracy

George Schöpflin
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-referendum-populism-vs-democracy
The idea of the referendum as an instrument of the people's will rests on pre-democratic foundations, says George Schöpflin.
 
16 - 06 - 2008

The result of the Republic of Ireland's referendum on 12 June 2008, a rejection of the European Union's "reform treaty" agreed at the Lisbon summit in October 2007, has precipitated a crisis for the union whose resolution is hard to foresee. For the victorious "no" side, and for those elsewhere who support the use of referenda to decide on constitutional or other matters, the outcome in Ireland is also on three grounds a vindication of the institution of the referendum:

it restores democracy to the people

it allows the people to tell political elites to be responsive

it restores "the people's will" to the storehouse of democratic instruments.

These propositions - which can be summarised as the seduction of direct democracy - are misconceived. The championing of referenda they embody proceeds from a series of four untenable assumptions, which are worth itemising in some detail.

An unsafe vehicle
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-referendum-populism-vs-democracy

===================================
From: alan heisey <hize@earthlink.net>
To: "joe hueglin, daily digest" <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>
Subject: "earthworm" 08 6 22 sunday

Publisher is Alan Heisey, 38 Avoca Avenue, L.P.H #6, Toronto, ON, 
Canada, M4T 2B9   * N.B.: This email address, <hize@earthlink.net>
proving most reliable!
Personal phone 416 923 5381, fax 416 944 0133, south 239 513 0444  
This issue emailed from Toronto.
I welcome comments, always, on contents and how to improve presentation.

Map breaks 106 Ontario edas into five regions of nearly equal 
population. They are labelled East; North; South West; West Lake; and 
Centre Lake. Electing regionally of party's national councillors from 
four provinces with two or more councillors is said to get serious 
attention from Constitution Committee.

Will reproduce three drawings showing similar districtings as done by 
Doug Hawkins following Whitby-Oshawa/Ajax committee wishes, but only 
when I am more comfortable with how to re-scale pdfs!

"Policy lite" has a message for ON's attorney-general

INTRO: Eight Toronto tories spent 75 minutes on Thursday, June 19th 
assessing and voting on three issues of public policy which concerned 
them. The event was the third annual "policy lite" jawjaw I have had 
the pleasure of convening at my address near Yonge and St. Clair in 
Toronto. Because the evening was cold and dampish we did not meet in 
our condo garden, but rather in my living room.

Following a format of two previous years we were well served by one of 
our number, Robert Aterman, director of Tri-Spa, acting as our Hansard 
reporter. Thus for the interest of our readers I present below his 
entertaining report on who said what and how we voted on issues as 
selected on the spot by participants.

I want to preface his report by my "take" on a highlight of our first 
motion, presented by George Macdonell, a director of St. Paul's eda. 
As detailed below we were addressing willful disobedience to the laws 
of the province by sharia marriages and aboriginal occupations. Ont 
the first item we had agreement, but on the second there were two 
participants who insisted that the differences had to be resolved only 
by discussion and diplomacy. Reg Stackhouse, former M.P. arrived in 
the middle of the discussion and shortly thereafter made the point, in 
his usual understated way, that the police, or if necessary the 
canadian army would have to ensure that the law was upheld. His 
perspective, I thought, brought the room together for a unanimous 
endorsement of George's resolution. Read on.

(Understand too, that I favour such serious conversations quarterly by 
party activitsts, quite aside from the constructive policy processes 
of the national party!)

Trinity-Spadina Conservative Association
Third annual "policy lite" event.
June 19, 2008
7:00-8:30 p.m. 38 Avoca Avenue

Attendees:
Robert Aterman, right, sitting
Ken Chan, second left, standing
Al Heisey, photographer
Doug Lowry, second right, standing
George Macdonell, right, standing
Reg Stackhouse, left, standing
Bill Trusler, left, sitting
Sam Wakim, centre, sitting

The chill winds and impending rain of one of the coldest springs in 
years (to say nothing of the perennially frosty attitude of the party 
mandarins in Ottawa towards philosophical discussion of any kind among 
the rank and file) did not deter the faithful from attending the third 
annual Avoca Avenue "policy lite" festival, hosted, as always by the 
always genial, occasionally peremptory, founder of this event, Tory 
gadfly Al Heisey.  Despite the short notice a quorum of 8 
independently minded members and a full slate of issues materialized 
on schedule.

(A detailed report is availale upon request)

 HQ vacuums GTA rebate funds for HQ's strategy

Directors of four of the party's GTA 40+ edas have confirmed that a 
meeting was convened recently of their presidents. As an outsider, 
looking in on such party processes in Toronto, I would have thought 
that such an event might be reported after the fact with a carefully 
edited summary of those things that could be usefully discussed by 
Toronto tories and others.

Why, I would always favour a photo being taken of the prezzies who 
attended (apparently a couple of dozen) along with the organizers, and 
hopefully all four of the national directors of the party elected from 
Ontario. I think sending out from party h.q. friendly items like that -
with captions of those present, of course - would remind all, if they 
need reminding, that the local organizations are gearing up to an 
appropriate pitch in preparation for the next election.

However, nothing official has come to me as a lay member of St.Paul's, 
but informal comments on one aspect of the meeting, which is not 
surprising. Hq. has a plan for informing Toronto residents about what 
goes on, the details of which I regard as a genuine secret which I 
cannot spill here without singing off a different song sheet!

Part of the problem is that most organizers and local party brass are 
seized of the idea that the press is unfriendly. Having been coached 
by a topflight writer in Toronto I much prefer the concept of 
"milking" the media, which all would-be elected pols learn quick.

A related reality is that being in the backroom of the party, I mean 
really in the back room, one is apprised of "secrets". These secrets, 
backroomers know, but the unwashed don't unless they get ferreted out 
in private conversations to those who can be expected to keep secrets. 
And most stuff in most party meetings is regarded as secret stuff.

All that aside aside, headquarters has asked for the campaign's 
funding from those Toronto ridings which pulled 10% of the vote 
minimum in their last election and thus were entitled to the per-voter 
rebate they now have in their local bank accounts. To my knowledge 
there is no such thing now as a local Conservative campaign manager, 
and thus the development of an appropriate strategy is handled by the 
pros in Ottawa. Generally speaking, our party both nationally and 
provincially, has bought into the Mike Harris success strategy of the 
one songsheet, but anything aimed only at Toronto, one thought would 
be tested by some of our top T.O. hitters.

I feel the lack of a Don Guthrie, a Patrick Veron or a Gordon 
Sedgewick, all local hitters who represented previous national party 
leaders, and who were presences for the boss at endless local meetings 
over endless local decades! I suggest that s should find himself such 
a luminary and I dare to suggest one. I  wonder how often the national 
party seeks the view of David Soknacki, former councillor from 
Scarborough, now retired of his own volition. David was budget chief 
for Mel Lastman and thus had considerable standing across our town. He 
now has some role regarding the grossly underutilized Downsview 
airport, but surely someone of his  accomplishment should be speaking 
for our town in the party councils.

Ottawa committees owe "the mushroom farm" reports!!

I worry for the sensitivity of the party's great powers in the caucus 
and  in Ottawa headquarters. They should realize that six months have 
passed since the cut-off for suggestions for amendments to the present 
party constitution and from that central committee meeting however, 
across this half-year -NUTHIN'! I fail to understand why all the 
received, possible amendments  to our party's living constitution 
could not have been posted, as received, on a constitution committee 
web site.

The ennui ripens after comparing notes on parallel amendments by 
myself from St. Paul's and from Doug Hawkins of Whitby-Oshawa. Turns 
out we both have been enquiring of our Ontario committee co-chair, 
usually very forthcoming, but nuthin' currently. At the end of last 
year, in a "plain email envelope" I got a leak from the central policy 
committee which listed areas in which they had received policy 
amendments, and which invited all e.d.a's to forward one more.

The constitution committee, if they do not want to show some 
preliminary conclusions, could at least detail their process of 
consideration, which of course, might well include running proposals 
by the most knowledgeable members of caucus and the senate. They owe 
us better than we are getting, and it might even help stir interest in 
being in Manitoba in mid-November, which proposition my better half 
sets against all the other conventions she has in fact gone to!

The policy committee having reported formally to presidents at the 
year end, we unwashed may hope for more tidbits at the half year 
point. Otherwise my repressed view of h.q. as "the bunker" and the 
hinterlands as "the mushroom farm" may merit further repetition!

Is Dion in fact running the country? a writer wonders!

Excerpt of a letter in Daily Digest from Gary Davidson

"Which brings me to my third problem with these ads.  The Liberals 
aren't Canada's government, Harper is.  I don't think Harper and his 
lot realize that Canadians aren't fooled by Harper's claims of the 
Dion boogeyman when Dion isn't the Prime Minister, yet every one of 
his anti-Liberal ads since forming Canada's New Government have spoken 
in a language that makes it sound like Dion is actually running 
things.  I'm sure the Liberals appreciate the Harper-Cons giving 
Canadians that impression, it obviously hasn't hurt the Liberals in 
the polls none, and as many Canadians in central canada worry about 
keeping the perceived status quo Harper's strategy of making it look 
like Dion is running things could work out very well... for Dion."


To be removed from this mailing list:
You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking "Reply" and writing 
"unsubscribe" or "disconnect" or even "git" on the subject line of 
this note.  Next issue from Toronto. Cordially

===================================