Queer-liberal

Ontario's Catholic schools quandary...

2012-01-28T14:58:00.003-05:00

This article today by Chris Selley is the latest to clearly signal the increasingly irreconcilable conflict between the public sphere in Ontario and one of its two publicly funded education systems, namely the Catholic school system.

While the provincial government has been working hard to combat the biggest threat to students in our schools - bullying (which is frequently homophobic in nature) - the Catholic system has been working at odds to conform with provincial direction while not, in its collective mind, contradicting Catholic faith. The result from Catholic educators is this weak compromise: 'Respecting Difference' clubs instead of provincially-mandated 'gay-straight alliances' in public schools.

I was a closeted, gay student in the Catholic system in Ontario. What I needed then and what similar students still obviously need today is a firm and clear strategy in our schools to combat homophobia. If left alone, hatred of the other (which frequently is the gay other) runs rampant, threatening student safety and productivity. The message must be sent - in public schools and in Catholic schools alike - that homophobia is wrong and that LGBT people are every bit deserving of acceptance and respect as straight people.

The inherent conflict here is in Catholic doctrine which states that homosexuality is against the so-called natural law. It's hard to respect somebody when you believe they, at their core, run "contrary to natural law" and are "intrinsically disordered." If Catholic educators believe such nonsense, why shouldn't a 13-year-old Catholic jock?

These new 'Respecting Difference' clubs as proposed by Catholic bishops who are overseeing the process to draft board policies simply do not go far enough. The clubs themselves, unable to use the word 'gay' in their names and unable to do anything without the condescending presence of school chaplains, seem like a pathetic, pale imitation of the real thing. The whole point of GSAs is visibility. These new Catholic school clubs sound a lot like 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'

I'm increasingly of the opinion that we can't square this issue. A modern society which accepts all people as equal, including its LGBT minority, not to mention the equality of all religions, simply can't go on publicly funding one religion's schools.

Our most vulnerable - our youth - are being subjected to systemic discrimination in one of our publicly-funded education systems.

The clear answer for me is to end funding for Catholic schools in Ontario. The province should be in the business of running one publicly funded system for all students. Additional public funding for one religion's schools at the exclusion of all others is simply outdated and unfair in post-Charter Canada.

The provincial government is using kid gloves to handle its Catholic education partners on this issue. As Selley writes, "this smells to me like yet another attempt to be seen addressing a problem without angering a powerful stakeholder. And it illustrates yet again that when push comes to shove, publicly funded Catholic education, in Ontario, in 2012, makes very little sense at all."

If this is Dalton McGuinty's last term as premier, and we are about to enter into an era of fiscal restraint and fiscal sanity a la Don Drummond in order to tame our public finances, wouldn't this be the right time to re-examine our province's commitment to two publicly-funded school systems, with all the inherent duplication of administration and extra costs, not to mention the lack of commitment to basic student safety? I say yes. Of course, embarking on this path is frightening to politicians who don't wish to cause conflict where none currently exists in the tranquil, unequal, and unjust status quo. But perhaps it is time for someone to finally exercise some needed leadership.

Stay tuned for a post from me next week on a political strategy that could be used by the McGuinty government within the next few years for creating a political mandate for changing Ontario's outdated public system of elementary and secondary education.

POOF! Your rights are gone?

2012-01-12T13:03:00.006-05:00

Very disturbing, but not surprising. Stephen Harper and his over-bloated PMO control every aspect of federal government policy. So Harper expects us to believe he doesn't know anything about this case or the revised government position that same sex couples from most foreign countries can't get married in Canada? I don't believe a word he says on this issue.

It seems when this government doesn't agree with a policy but doesn't have the guts to legislate (such as on environmental protection), they just take a stealth approach to undermine the law, like firing civil servants and scientists to ensure those environmental protections can never be enforced.

The Harper government clearly doesn't have the guts to revisit equal marriage in the elected House of Commons. But it clearly has no problem taking the position that the marriages of same sex couples who came to Canada from other countries are not valid if such marriages aren't allowed back home.

This is how this sneaky PM operates, in the shadows. All of us - including the thousands of foreign couples who travelled to Canada and put down money to get a Canadian marriage license in good faith - were all under the impression that same sex couples regardless of citizenship could marry in Canada. Now this new interpretation of the law?

I wonder if the government will start treating other groups this way? If your rights are denied back home, Canada must do the same here? Will Harper treat women from Saudi Arabia this way now too? If you're from Saudi Arabia and you're a woman, you can't drive a car in Canada?

This new position by the federal government means that foreign countries are dictating how Canada treats LGBT people when they visit our country, not Canadians. Everyone should be losing sleep over this.

The government needs to act now to change any laws that need to be changed to respect the marriages of all those thousands of couples who came here to marry.

********UPDATE January 13, 2012****************

The media frenzy on Thursday over this issue has pushed the Harper government to clarify its position on same sex marriages performed in Canada for couples who live in other jurisdictions where such marriages are not recognized.

“We want to make it very clear that in our government’s view, these marriages should be valid,” a senior government official said on Friday. “That’s why we will change the Civil Marriage Act so that any marriages performed in Canada that aren’t recognized in the couple’s home jurisdiction will be recognized in Canada.”

I'm very glad that the large Issues Management team in the Harper PMO is effective enough to react so quickly to a public relations nightmare. From the many discussions I had on this topic yesterday, it does appear the Department of Justice lawyer in the divorce case in question was more than likely expressing a legalistic position in keeping with longstanding international comity rather than participating in a political conspiracy to undermine same sex marriage in Canada. Although now the government seems to disagree with its own lawyer on the validity of such marriages. Nevertheless, this clarity is much appreciated.

Christian Bullshit Nailed by Bill Maher

2012-01-09T13:05:00.000-05:00

"Really! It's in that book you hold up when you scream at gay people."

I came across this great commentary by Bill Maher and had to share it here for obvious reasons. Enjoy!

Lying sack of shit Rob Ford hides his whereabouts from taxpayers...

2011-12-22T11:28:00.004-05:00

What's good for the goose isn't good enough for the gander! Yet again, Rob Ford proves himself to be a liar and a hypocrite of monumental proportions.

Are you a taxpayer in Toronto? Do you know with whom Rob Ford is meeting right now? Do you have a right to know as you are paying his salary? Do you feel his respect for you when he lies through his teeth like this: "With all due respect to the media, I worry about the taxpayers. The taxpayers know where I am. The taxpayers — I go to people’s houses, just like I did yesterday," he said. "People know where I am. People call me. I return all their calls....I’m very accessible, very transparent."

I called the mayor's office this year to complain about his snubbing of the entire LGBT community by boycotting all Pride Toronto events. I left a message. He didn't return my call. He's a fucking piece of shit liar!

Every word Rob Ford says can't be trusted. He's a habitual liar. Nothing he says is true.

My advice to Blatchford: Quit writing, move to Texas and become a cowgirl!

2011-12-11T12:37:00.009-05:00

Behold, the latest atrocity by writer Christie Blatchford. After studying for weeks the impacts of macho men who allegedly massacred their daughters and a wife to protect male honour, she's now lamenting the low number of macho male rapists and child murderers in Toronto.

Blatchford doesn't like men showing their softer, feminine sides. I find this a repulsive inclination on her part because I love (for obvious reasons) the softer, kinder, gentler sides of men. I think most gay men and women do too.

She thinks the best way to deal with bullies is to take them outside and beat the crap out of them. She may have a point, but I remember standing up to bullies in Grade 10 with threatened physical retaliation was just as effective. It's strange Blatchford thinks advocating violent, vigilante action against bullies in a newspaper is appropriate. Perhaps Blatchford's simply lost it and this column is simply a cry for help, as if she were writing, 'Stop publishing me!'

Ms. Blatchford, here's some free advice: Quit writing forever, move to Texas and take up your true calling as a cowgirl. We'll all be a lot happier.

Rob Ford's special message to Scarborough: "Suckers!"

2011-12-07T23:29:00.005-05:00

Voters in Toronto's suburbs complained the former Miller administration ignored them and only spent money downtown, so they elected Rob Ford, who killed Miller's Transit City plan which would've built rapid transit lines throughout the suburbs.

Now Scarborough will have no rapid transit and crowded buses for four years starting from 2015 as a direct result. Ford's plan for a Sheppard subway clearly won't be built by then, if ever. Basically, this transportation fiasco is all bad planning by the dude they elected. It's like Ford was saying to Scarborough commuters: "Suckers!"

Scarborough voters, please don't vote for Rob Ford next time!

Religious bigots come out swinging against LGBT students and anti-bullying legislation...

2011-12-06T14:21:00.004-05:00

Yes, the provincial government has introduced tough new anti-bullying legislation. The legislation includes provisions which will ensure that LGBT students and their straight friends who wish to form Gay-Straight Alliance-type groups in all publicly-funded schools will be able to do so. Such groups help promote tolerance and acceptance for LGBT youth in environments that otherwise remain homophobic and hostile.

Today, the usual suspects of religious bigotry in Ontario came to Queen's Park to hold a press conference (sponsored and/or attended by Ontario PC MPPs Frank Klees and Lisa MacLeod) to demand that anti-bullying provisions designed to fight homophobia and violence against LGBT students and others be dropped.

Yes, so-called religious activists including Charles McVety of The Institute for Canadian 'Values', Rondo Thomas, of the Evangelical Association, and Jack Fonseca, of the Campaign Life Coalition, are fighting for more violence against LGBT youth in Ontario schools. Disgusting!

The legislation these bigots are attacking today allows Catholic boards to create gay-straight alliances without having to use the specific term. This isn't enough for these anti-gay/pro-violence religious advocates. According to them, allowing student-initiated clubs that promote acceptance and combat homophobia in high schools is somehow a violation of Catholic rights.

So trying to stop violence and promote acceptance goes against the Catholic faith? As a recovering Catholic, even I can't remember those pro-violence/anti-acceptance provisions of Catholic doctrine.

Shame on these bigots today fighting to maintain violence and harassment against LGBT youth in our public schools. Shame!

VIDEO: Alberta Tory MP mimicks shooting guns at the opposition when voting to kill long gun registry

2011-12-06T12:49:00.001-05:00

Disgusting. Nothing surprises me about these neo-con dopes in the Conservative Party of Canada anymore.

Maybe this was Lethbridge MP Jim Hillyer's imitation of Marc Lepine?

A great clip from 'Designing Women' on World AIDS Day...

2011-12-01T12:23:00.000-05:00

This scene and this episode of 'Designing Women' meant so much to me when it first aired in the late 1980s.

I was a closeted teenager living in homophobic and AIDS-phobic times, quite used to sad depictions on television and elsewhere of effeminate, weak gay men dying like helpless victims from AIDS. I remember one particularly awful scene on 'St. Elsewhere' in which a nameless gay man dying of AIDS in hospital announced to his doctors that he's cured because he's decided he wasn't "gay anymore."

But this episode of 'Designing Women' showed a relatively masculine gay male character (played by the handsome Tony Goldwyn) who was passionately supported by his female friends.

I'm happy to share it here today on this World AIDS Day and I hope it brings a smile to your face!

Goodbye 'Movember'! Hello 'ABSTA-VEMBER' in 2012!

2011-11-30T18:10:00.005-05:00

I am so glad to see 'Movember' come to an end. Yes, raising awareness and funds in the fight against prostate cancer is a great cause and I'm glad they raised so much of it in Canada and elsewhere this month.

The problem with 'Movember', at least for me, is it encourages men to grow disgusting and outdated facial hair. Let me be clear about my own personal bias: I hate facial hair on men. I've been known to utter, 'Facial hair is for the Taliban,' as a means to demonize the practice and encourage progressive males to give up growing it.

As most women and gay men already know, facial hair is painful on the fair cheeks of loved ones forced to kiss or get close with men who choose to grow beards or moustaches or what have you. If facial hair isn't grating on your skin, it's getting stuck between your teeth. Gross.

Nowadays, thankfully, beards or goatees are more in style than the lone moustache. Yet this Movember campaign is a throwback to the 1970s. I noticed several attractive men this past month who reminded me of 70s gay porn stars. I was half-expecting these guys to strip down and engage in condom-free sex, but alas it didn’t happen (at least not in front of me.)

The ugliness of moustaches continues to be lost on many men. Take Justin Trudeau for example, one of the more high profile Canadians to grow a moustache this month. He told CBC News he plans to keep the moustache he grew for Movember until the New Year: "I'm quite attached to it, and more importantly, my wife doesn't mind it to a most heinous degree...So I think we're doing OK."

She doesn't mind it to a 'most heinous degree'? So you're okay with keeping it. Typical straight male response: I like it, you hate it, it stays.

I think women need to respond to this bizarre campaign with a new, equally inconsiderate campaign of their own. How about a new campaign next November to coincide with 'Movember' to raise awareness and funds for a cancer that affects only women?

I offer you my proposal for such a campaign: 'Absta-vember'. Next November, women everywhere should raise awareness and funds to help in the fight against cervical cancer by abstaining from sexual relations for the entire month. Extra points should be given to those women who have male partners who are participating in growing gross moustaches as part of Movember.

The more I think of it, the more brilliant it sounds: 'Absta-vember'. I am only half-kidding. I'm not about to launch such a campaign, but merely write about it here to (1) send the message that the main exercise of growing moustaches, even for good causes, is gross, and (2) perhaps inspire women out there to respond in kind.

Although these women already seem to have picked up on a similar idea.

Moustaches are gross. Goodbye, Movember!

McGuinty Liberals to introduce bill to allow schools to expel bullies...

2011-11-30T12:03:00.004-05:00

This is a great 'It Gets Better' video by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, proving yet again he's the right person for the job as leader of this great, dynamic and diverse province.

It's nice to have a premier who stands up for all students and is willing to take action in government to make our schools safer places. I support any government actions that make it harder for bullies to carry on their evil deeds in our schools. This proposed bill is a step in the right direction.

Today, I remain as ecstatic as ever that Ontario dodged the disgusting conservative triumvirate by re-electing an enlightened, visionary and progressive Liberal government in October. I dread to imagine the kinds of destruction that Tim Hudak and his regressive Conservatives would be plotting for our schools were he to have somehow won the recent Ontario election. Hudak would be looking to find ways to ban the mention of homosexuality in our schools, perhaps. He pandered to homophobia during the election campaign, claiming any attempts to make our schools safer for gay kids was somehow an attack on parents' rights. Get used to opposition, Timmy.

Thank you, Dalton, for your leadership. Now I hope you take this further and crack down on Catholic school boards that cater to bullies and bigots by banning gay-straight alliances. We need to do more than promise, 'It gets better.' We need to make it better and ensuring students who want to form gay-straight alliances can do so in all of Ontario's publicly-funded schools would be a good, fair and wise move.

Useless Tory MP Rob Anders falls asleep in Parliament

2011-11-23T12:16:00.001-05:00

Despite his previous attacks on Nelson Mandela and longtime moronic behaviour, Tory MP Rob Anders has been continually protected by the central Tory brass around Stephen Harper from ever being challenged for his free ticket to Parliament from Calgary West, despite numerous attempts over the years to elect somebody qualified to be a Member of Parliament for the area.

Falling asleep in Parliament? The fact he couldn't get a bit excited by a Tory colleague speaking live directly in front of him (thereby guaranteeing he was on camera) speaks volumes. Yet, I'm sure that Harper will fight tooth and nail to make sure Anders gets acclaimed again for the Tory nomination in his riding. Will voters in Calgary West approve? Probably, since they keep electing the moron by massive margins every chance they get.

Sophisticated democracies throw out bums like Anders, not re-elect them five times! Until Rob Anders goes down to the defeat he deserves for being the most useless MP in Canada, I'm afraid Calgary and Alberta will continue to be seen by folks like me as still very much a backwater of unenlightened rednecks, no matter what Premier Alison Redford says.

Toronto School Board wants apology from Tim Hudak for ‘homophobic’ flyer

2011-11-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

I'm very glad to read that the Toronto District School Board is trying to hold PC Leader Tim Hudak accountable for his party's disgusting, misleading and ‘homophobic’ flyer published during the recent Ontario election campaign.

I blogged about this when the story broke and you can link here to see the original attack flyer, which insinuated that a locally-drafted Toronto school board policy designed to assist teachers to fight homophobia and promote safety in schools was something quite different. Hudak defended the homophobic flyers, thus confirming with many mainstream voters in Ontario he was not ready for prime time.

Keep this issue alive, I say. And make the untalented Mr. Hudak squirm a bit longer.

Pro soccer player David Testo comes out...

2011-11-10T21:29:00.008-05:00

I love it when this happens. Not only does the LGBT community get to shatter some stereotypes about athletes, we also get a new and VERY HOT hero!

David Testo, a 30-year-old midfielder who played for the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, revealed in a Radio-Canada broadcast Thursday morning that he is gay.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, the North Carolina native said that he is going public because of a recent string of suicides among gay teenagers, including Ottawa’s Jamie Hubley, an openly gay figure skater who was bullied at school.

“We have to change, and it’s always been my philosophy that you have to lead the change you want to see,” Testo said. “I felt like it was almost my duty to say that this is okay.”

Thanks, David, for this great move and congrats! And if you are ever in Toronto and get lonely, you can always get in touch with me! ;-)

The heartless stupidity of Mayor Fraud's words after tragic death of pregnant cyclist

2011-11-10T08:45:00.002-05:00

This week's tragic death of cyclist Jenna Morrison, a pregnant, 38-year-old mother and wife, in Toronto's west-end has really hit home for me. Morrison died at the corner of Sterling Road while turning west on her bicycle onto Dundas, a turn I also make on a regular basis on my bicycle as I live in the very same area. She was clipped by a truck as both made a right turn and she was pushed under the back wheels and died. Police are still investigating and charges may still be laid against the truck driver.

I cried last night watching this video of the press conference yesterday at the site of the tragedy.

Although I didn't know her, reports make clear she was a beautiful person. I will continue to cycle around town, including on this very corner. But I'll never forget what happened as I cycle past this location.

At a time like this, I'm reminded of the abomination of a man and the fraud we unfortunately have for mayor of Toronto and his disgusting, heartless, stupid words uttered a few years back when he was just a whiny councillor. In life, Morrison was just a pinko cyclist who didn't matter in Rob Ford's Toronto.

Watch this video of Rob Ford, remember Jenna Morrison and her unborn child and vote accordingly in 2014:

You'll probably enjoy reading this article as much as I did: a spot-on analysis of the fraud's first year in office.

I Support You.

2011-10-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

Enough said. Great video!

Spreading hate must have consequences...

2011-10-18T15:40:00.014-04:00

The case of Saskatchewan resident Bill Whatcott, who published and distributed in 2001 and 2002 some virulent hatred against LGBT people, is now before the Supreme Court of Canada. In his case, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission found Whatcott guilty of spreading hatred and fined him $17,500 dollars, which he refused to pay. An appeal to a higher court in Saskatchewan overturned his guilty finding. Now the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission is taking the case to the Supreme Court of Canada, which is expected to rule in the months ahead.

There has been much debate about the topic of prosecuting the expression of hatred in Canada. Those who favour unrestricted freedom of expression often argue the only consequences of their position are some "hurt feelings." Like the "feelings" that led young Jamie Hubley to commit suicide this past weekend, I guess. This writer condemns the use of human rights commissions to prosecute hate speech because too many, "Canadians will sooner self-censor than risk having to spend tens of thousands of dollars to defend against a human rights prosecution, in which neither truth nor good intention is recognized as a defence." Except of course there wasn't any truth in Whatcott's pamphlets, but that's beside the point, I guess.

Whatcott published materials that included the phrase, "Kill the homosexuals!" repeatedly. He later apparently tried to argue that publishing "Kill the homosexuals!" did not really mean, "Kill the homosexuals!" The fact that he published "Kill the homosexuals!" has been frequently ignored by those arguing his defense in the private media including Ezra Levant and the Toronto Star. Even this gay writer ignores the fact that Whatcott incited violence against homosexuals. Yet some of these supporters of unconditional free speech argue hate speech prosecution should only be used against those who incite violence.

What the fuck!? Since when is "Kill the (insert group name here)!" not an incitement to violence?

Jonathan Kay even assumes himself to be the supreme authority on all Abrahamic faiths in his defense of Whatcott. If we allow hate speech protections in ours laws, then we must make all Abrahamic faiths illegal, he writes. What utter bunk! Surely, forced mass conversion of all Christians/Jews/Muslims to Humanism or gay-friendly Paganism or some other spirituality is an option too, right Jonathan? (My tongue firmly planted in cheek there, giving Kay's arguments the respect they deserve.)

But what of simply attacking all gay men as pedophiles, as Whatcott did? Should that be acceptable? If I published that Ezra Levant was a pedophile, he could rightly sue me for libel and extract millions in damages, which would push me into bankruptcy. But if I published that all Jews are pedophiles, Levant and others like him seem to argue that is just fine and dandy.

This article by David Langtry, the acting chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, is probably the most reasonable entry into the debate I've read in a long time. In it, he addresses the main issue about whether hate speech should be prosecuted by quasi-judicial bodies like human rights commissions, or strictly in the criminal courts. Hatred against homosexuals has only been part of the Criminal Code's anti-hate provisions for a few years, of course, while most anti-hate provisions in human rights acts protecting LGBT people date back to the 1990s.

Langtry summarizes the problem well when he writes: "The Criminal Code [provisions against hate] requires the approval of an attorney general for a charge to be laid. This is an unusually tough test. It discourages prosecutions. Police forces are reluctant to invest resources in investigations they doubt will lead to a charge. Few have resources to invest in hate crime units. If MPs vote to repeal Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, as Bill C-304 proposes, perhaps Parliament should also make it easier for police to lay a charge based on evidence. Perhaps, too, it would be useful to ensure that police have the resources they need to gather that evidence. If the Canadian Human Rights Act is not the best vehicle to counter hate speech, Parliament should ensure the Criminal Code is up to the job."

Langtry is right. If human rights commissions are to be stripped of their abilities to combat hate speech and other forms of hatred, then it must be made easier for police to do their jobs in this regard. They must be able to press charges without the permission of Attorneys General.

But there's another issue here. Again, if Whatcott published that "Matt Guerin is a pedophile," I could have sued him for libel and won millions as this is not true. However, since Whatcott published that all homosexuals (including Matt Guerin) are pedophiles, an even bigger lie, his supporters argue he should be free as a bird and face no consequences. This is unacceptable in a free and democratic society where individuals such as myself should be able to fight back against all libel.

If bigots like Whatcott are to be allowed to publish that entire members of an identifiable group are pedophiles, or terrorists, or murderers, or what have you, then why can't every member of that identifiable group sue Whatcott or others like him in court for libel? Are members of attacked groups to have no recourse whatsoever against these lies? Such a tolerance for hate speech is dangerous, as history has unfortunately taught us. If you want to be a bigot and publish such nonsense, I and every other gay man should be able to join in a class action libel suit against you for millions. Truth would win the day and Whatcott would be bankrupt financially (on top of his moral bankruptcy.)

However, the only recourse individuals such as myself now have against bigots like Whatcott are human rights commissions. Until the Criminal Code provisions against hate speech are improved, we must continue to have these venues to protect ourselves against destructive libel and hatred.

Another tragic loss of a beautiful young gay man...

2011-10-17T20:06:00.002-04:00

Have a watch of this video shot by yet another talented, beautiful, young gay man whose life was cut short this weekend by suicide. Every gay man understands the pain and isolation that Jamie Hubley expressed on his blog recently (see the image borrowed from Towleroad.com below).

It brings tears to my eyes to know that Jamie's depression was left unabated and the only escape that Jamie could conceive was suicide. In my own moments of despair and isolation as a closeted 15-year-old in the late 1980s, I too contemplated suicide as the only way out. But I never made the attempt. I somehow got through it and made my way into adulthood, came out and embraced a better life. It did get better!

Queer youth remain isolated and extremely vulnerable in our society and in our schools. But I couldn't agree more with one comment on this YouTube page that, ""It gets better" is not enough, we need to "Make it better"".

Fighting homophobic bullying (and all forms of bullying) must be the highest priority of our schools now! We have to start demanding real action! We have to start attacking politicians and so-called Christians who continue to fight against any attempts to minimize homophobic bullying in our schools and create respect in our schools for diversity! Any attempts by any public school boards to stop Gay-Straight Alliances need to be stopped in their bigoted tracks and those guilty removed from their public positions! For the sake of our youth!

Below is the statement released today by Jamie's father, Kanata councillor Allan Hubley. My thoughts go out to Jamie's entire family and friends in this moment of tragedy.

STATEMENT BY ALLAN HUBLEY, FATHER OF JAMIE HUBLEY:

This past Friday, our family suffered one of the worst experiences that can happen to a family when we lost our boy — Jamie. To make this even more difficult, his death was the result of suicide.

I would like to thank all the family and friends that have been helping us get through these very difficult days. Very special thanks to everyone that came out in the rain to walk every foot of our community to look for our boy. The outpouring of support has shown us that our angel was loved by many and we were not the only people to witness his beautiful spirit.

Jamie was for most of his life a very happy and confident child. He was a compassionate person always looking to help others and didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Jamie often worked with me on community events and our many efforts to help others were made more effective with his ideas. From a very young age, he wanted to make a better community and a better world.

He was a championship figure skater for years and was just beginning to excel as a singer. He enjoyed acting as well and was involved in many different clubs and groups both in and outside of school. James’s family and friends unconditionally supported and accepted him for who he was and whatever direction he wanted to go in life.

James had been suffering with depression and was receiving care from doctors at CHEO and counsellors. These professionals, along with James’s family and friends, were trying to help him learn to cope with his depression and other issues, one of which was his struggles with his sexuality. He struggled with the idea that people can judge you harshly even when you are trying to help others. Jamie asked a question no child should have to ask — why do people say mean things to me?

Although James had a great many people who loved and supported him, something in his mind kept taking him to a dark place where he could not see the positive side of life, which led him to this drastic and tragic decision on Friday. Jamie is free of his pain now and there is a new angel, but we have paid too high a price.

There are some reports in the media and on social media that James was bullied. This is true. We were aware of several occasions when he felt he was being bullied. In Grade 7 he was treated very cruelly simply because he liked figure skating over hockey.

Recently, when Jamie tried to start a Rainbow Club at his high school to promote acceptance of others, the posters were torn down and he was called vicious names in the hallways and online. We had meetings with officials at the school and were working with them to bring an end to it but Jamie felt it would never stop.

We will not say that the bullying was the only reason for James’s decision to take his own life but it was definitely a factor. As his family and friends, or even if you never met him but want to help, we must do whatever we can to wipe out bullying for any reason in our society and especially in our schools. Young people are very vulnerable and have enough pressures in life to have to deal with aside from the stress of being bullied. My family’s wish is that no more families have to suffer the unbearable pain of losing a child. No child should have to deal with depression or feel hated because of their beliefs — that is not the Canadian way of treating others.

Bullying doesn’t always take the form of physical violence. Especially today with cyber-bullying on the Internet, children often feel there is no safe place to go; even when they are at home they can still be victims. Earlier I mentioned his posters being taken down. Many friends have offered to stand by the posters to ensure children that may want to meet and talk about issues that don’t harm others will be given the chance to do so. The school has made a promise to me that they will ensure the posters are protected. We hope from our tragedy others will become more active in stopping this cruelty towards children.

To this end, after my family and I have had some time to come to terms with the loss of our beautiful son James, I will be working hard to use my energy and public position to help bring awareness and resources to those groups working to stop the bullying and find a treatment for depression. Wendy and I have asked that all the people wishing to make a donation in Jamie’s memory can direct them to Youth Services Bureau’s Mental Health Walk in Clinic.

Over the years I have tried to help a lot of people and I was very proud that my beautiful boy was also learning the joy that comes from helping others. I need time to deal with the pain of not being able to save my precious boy and will speak more on his life and these issues later.

— Kanata South Councillor Allan Hubley

Actor Zachary Quinto comes out...

2011-10-16T14:42:00.006-04:00

Like many, I've heard the rumours about the lovely Zachary Quinto being gay for years. I'm thrilled that the actor best known for his roles as Spock in J. J. Abrams’s 2009 rendition of Star Trek and his breakout role in the TV show Heroes has made it official.

Quinto spoke with New York Magazine recently and put his cards on the table:

For one thing, he’s willing to unambiguously talk about his sexual orientation. His eight-month role in Angels was both “the most challenging thing I’ve ever done as an actor and the most rewarding” he says. Having to inhabit that terrible lost world, if only in his mind, took a toll. “And at the same time, as a gay man, it made me feel like there’s still so much work to be done, and there’s still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed.”

I have such respect for Quinto for doing this. Every time an actor comes out of the closet like this, it further breaks down the barriers other gay actors face. One can be successful and be open about one's private life at the same time. The admiration Quinto will earn from this move will more than ensure a greater fan base and a long career.

At a time when stories about LGBT youth tragically losing hope and ending their lives continue to dominate, this is a good news story we can all celebrate. Indeed, Quinto himself references the recent tragedy of Jamey Rodemeyer's suicide on his blog today as part of his reasoning for doing this now. Bravo!

Conservative Party officials push aside reporters to protect Brampton candidate

2011-10-04T10:14:00.002-04:00

I'm glad to see this story has taken off in the mainstream media. This issue will be the straw that breaks that camel's back for Tory support in Ontario, I predict.

When asked yesterday about the homophobic flyers being distributed by PC candidates, which contain complete falsehoods about plans for the provincial curriculum, Tim Hudak defended them. Now we know how truly small a man Tim Hudak really is.

And now PC officials roughed up or pushed aside reporters yesterday who wanted to talk to one of Hudak's candidates who had distributed the hateful and incorrect flyers in Brampton.

I can't wait to see these Conservatives get crushed on Thursday!

Hudak Tories distributing homophobic literature to win votes...

2011-10-02T18:51:00.009-04:00

Thanks to Warren Kinsella who posted about this issue today. If you needed further proof that Tim Hudak's Ontario P.C. party has been taken over by the Tea Party, check out this disgustingly hateful and misleading pamphlet on the right. This pamphlet follows Hudak's attempts earlier in this Ontario campaign to appeal to racism with his attacks on underemployed Canadian immigrants, calling them "foreign workers". Now this!

According to Kinsella, the Tories are circulating the pamphlet in Brampton ridings, alleging this policy developed by the local Toronto District School Board (i.e. not the province, not the local Peel school board, etc.) is somehow provincial policy.

The Tory pamphlet alleges the McGuinty Liberals are somehow conspiring to keep parents in the dark about sex education which includes the promotion of cross-dressing. These allegations are false, utterly ridiculous and misleading, as the policy was drafted by the local Toronto school board, not the province. The alleged "keeping parents in the dark" presumably refers to the following section of the local board policy:

Should Schools Send Notes Or Permission Slips Home Before Starting Any Classroom Work About Curricular Issues That May Involve Discussions About Discrimination and Harassment?

No. The TDSB Equity Foundation Statement and Commitments to Equity Policy Implementation states that each school has a responsibly to education that reflects the diversity of its students and their life experiences. Singling out one group or topic area as too controversial, and depending upon parent/guardian/caregiver discretion, shifts this responsibility from the school to the parents/guardian/caregivers and fosters a poisoned environment contrary to the TDSB Human Rights Policy.

Sending a school newsletter home at the beginning of each term is a best practice for keeping parents/guardians/caregivers informed of all upcoming equity topics in the classroom without having to single out one topic over the other.

I encourage you to read the local board policy further as it's a great read, clearly written by Toronto education professionals who take seriously their responsibilities to ensure a safe and secure environment for all students - not just the heterosexual ones - in Toronto's schools.

It's abominable that the Hudak Tories have decided to attack the provincial Liberals for a policy they didn't initiate. Yes, Tim Hudak seems more than happy to mislead the public and appeal to irrational bigotry and homophobia in order to win votes.

Tim Hudak is disgusting and most definitely not a leader for Ontario!

McGuinty's got my vote

2011-09-29T11:46:00.005-04:00

I've had a love-hate relationship with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty for a while. I still haven't fully forgiven him for the 2007 Ontario referendum fiasco, in which he hobbled the once-in-a-generation chance to reform our First-Past-The-Post voting system. Ultimately, the crushing defeat for proportional representation in Ontario foreshadowed similar crushing defeats elsewhere. So I've buried that hatchet.

In this 2011 election, McGuinty has been running a mostly strong campaign encouraging voters to stay the course and keep his vision of moving forward together. His record on supporting public health care, public education, green energy and many other issues has been inspiring. He's pursued innovation and has shown an admirable willingness to make very unpopular decisions for the greater good.

There have been mistakes. But for the most part, McGuinty has been able to show us what thoughtful, hard-working, progressive, reasonable government looks like.

Compared to the pie-in-the-sky NDP plan put forth by Andrea Horwath in this election, McGuinty's record and plan for the future is far superior. In addition, the Liberals are now well-positioned to humble Tory Tim Hudak next Thursday, a delightful and welcome development after a year of disgusting conservative victories.

Alice Klein puts it well in today's NOW Magazine when she describes the choice for progressives in this Ontario election this way: "...the irony is that one relatively progressive party is running on a platform of stability and staying the course while it actually promotes a platform of positive change. Meanwhile, the other relatively progressive political party is supposedly running on a platform of change but is actually wooing voters on the basis of resistance to the changes being thrust upon us by forces far beyond anyone’s control."

I'm heartened by the polls which show McGuinty is in close contention for the top. Ontarians seem willing to stay the course and keep the leader with a passionately-articulated and reasonable plan in these hard economic times, versus a Tory pretender who has only uttered conservative generalities and old prejudices in this campaign.

I will be voting for Liberal Cristina Martins in my Davenport riding. She may not win against NDP upstart Jonah Schein, but I hope she does. The Liberals need every seat they can muster to hold back a horrifying Tory trifecta. The NDP plan is simply not a plan at all. It would be a shame to lose the gains the Liberals have produced.

My message to progressives in Ontario: Get real and please vote Liberal.

McGuinty's first big mistake in Election 2011...

2011-09-23T18:16:00.003-04:00

TheStar Hudak and Horwath scold McGuinty for missing northern Ontario debate

In my humble estimation, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty has been (mostly) kicking Tory leader Tim Hudak's butt during this Ontario election campaign. McGuinty's cause has been helped greatly by Hudak's own small-minded approach to leadership and politics. In response to the Liberal promise to provide tax credits to a small number of businesses that provide training/accreditation opportunities for immigrant professionals (in regulated industries), Hudak's response was over-the-top and showed a shocking lack of judgment. Hudak's first impulse was to fan the flames of intolerance against so-called 'foreign workers', even after it became clear the Liberal proposal was designed to assist Canadian citizens in the country for less than five years. It was as if Hudak was feeling nostalgic for 1995 when his hero and former leader, Mike Harris, fanned the flames of resentment against visible minorities over the employment equity issue and the poor over the work for welfare issue to great victory. Clearly in 2011, such attacks don't work anymore.

McGuinty has benefited thus far from what appears to be a strong desire by voters to "stay the course" and not choose risky or untested options in these uncertain economic times. McGuinty has a plan for the future and a relatively decent record. Hudak has a tonne of complaints and nothing much different from the current administration in terms of policy. Hudak's vision for the province remains largely a mystery to most voters. Until the decision by McGuinty to skip today's leaders' debate on Northern Ontario issues, McGuinty's campaign has been exceedingly effective. But this choice to snub a region already feeling neglected by Queen's Park puts several Liberal seats in great jeopardy. The Liberals now hold seven seats in northern Ontario. After today, they'll be lucky to hang on to three. More than likely, they'll get only two seats (Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury) and be shut out of northwestern Ontario altogether. Even my former boss, Michael Gravelle, who has previously commanded nearly 75% of the vote in his constituency, looks in danger of losing his Thunder Bay-Superior North seat. That would be a huge shame.

Why would McGuinty make this bizarre choice? For such a skilled veteran on the campaign trail, it confuses me. The Liberals are in a tough fight and the resurgent NDP has been biting at their progressive heels. With the Tories fading back to the low-mid 30s in terms of support, the Liberals need to reach the high 30s/low 40s in voter support to win that coveted third majority. But with the NDP's Andrea Horwath doing well in this campaign thus far, the NDP vote seems steady in the mid-high 20s. That would be enough for them to take six or seven seats in the North, up from three. In the end, we could easily end up seeing the Liberals fall just short of the 54 seats they need for another majority. If the campaign gets worse for the Liberals (as anything can happen in an election campaign), the Tories could get new life and end up squeaking out a victory by a seat or two. In that scenario, hanging on to those seats in the North might've made the difference.

I guess party central in the Liberal war room figures they're already losing most of their northern seats, so why bother make the trek north today? I don't know. Seems foolishly reckless to me. But maybe they know something I don't. They usually do.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ends in the U.S. as YouTube Gay Soldier coming out video goes viral...

2011-09-21T17:10:00.006-04:00

YouTube's Gay Soldier: 'Never Thought I'd Be So Comfortable' - ABC News

Yesterday marked the official end to the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy in the American armed forces. Now, finally, LGB soldiers in the U.S. army can be open about themselves without fear of being fired. (I leave out the 'T' from LGBT because the ban on transgendered soldiers still remains.) To mark the occasion, 21-year-old U.S. soldier Randy Phillips took the opportunity share his experience of coming out to his own father via YouTube.

Here's an ABC news story on Phillips, which makes mention of his many anonymous videos also posted on YouTube under the handle "AreYouSurprised," in recent months leading up to yesterday.

"It feels great. It's nice not having to look over your shoulder or worry about who you are talking to," Phillips told ABC News the day after "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was officially repealed. "I never thought I'd be so comfortable with it. It's very supportive. Everybody's been so great."

A heartfelt congratulations to all of those who can now continue to live their lives openly. I hope this trend continues for those still suffering from discrimination in the U.S. armed forces. I also want to congratulate Phillips in particular for his leadership and bravery, both for joining the air force in the first place, as well as sharing this life-changing moment with all of us.

Many LGBT people fear the moment when they finally come out to parents. It's beautiful to see Phillips' father's almost nonchalant response as well as his pledge to 'always love' his son.

The best of my fest: TIFF 2011

2011-09-18T19:33:00.021-04:00

I caught five films this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, which wraps today. I purposely chose films which aren't on the verge of wide release and use TIFF as a launching pad (like Drive, Moneyball, The Ides of March, and many others, most of which I intend to watch in the months ahead in regular theatres.)

Of the five, only one was a disappointment. Here goes:

The Good Son, a Finnish film by director Zaida Bergroth, was the first film I took in. Haunting and subtle, it was a fascinating portrait of one young man's almost psychotically protective devotion to his self-involved mother. Ilmari (played by Samuli Niittymäki, pictured) is a dangerous teenager with more than typical family responsibility. His mother, the actress and tabloid target Leila (Elina Knihtilä), is an impressive whirlwind of fragility and vindictive vanity. This leaves Ilmari to raise his younger brother Unto (Eetu Julin) and guide his mother through career crises. The boys’ father is out of the picture and we are left to imagine why (although judging from mom's personality, it isn't too difficult.) Yet his absence leaves the family with at least a perceived opening for a new older man to interfere. Aimo (Eero Aho), one of Leila’s perpetually boozed up friends, sees that gap and tries to cut in.

The film centers around a family trip to a summer house after a disastrous premiere for the actress-mother. The adult partying begins as Leila invites several friends including Aimo to join them. Young Ilmari responds with shocking and increasing violence when he perceives any threat against his mother. At first it seems honorable, but quickly it becomes obviously dangerous. To make matters worse, Leila seems more than happy to exploit and manipulate her son's rage, sometimes just to cause a little trouble. As the story unfolds, Aimo becomes the victim of Ilmari's violence. As we reach the story's climax, mother Leila realizes almost too late she's allowed her son to turn into a bit of a monster and has lost control over him. While the final moments are ambiguous, leaving us only to imagine how this family can possibly evolve, The Good Son is fascinating viewing.

I Am A Good Person/I Am A Bad Person is the second feature film solely directed by Toronto filmmaker Ingrid Veninger (she co-directed a feature in 2006 before taking up full directing duties on Modra in 2010). I had never seen her work prior to this, but I must admit she will be a director I follow closely from now on.

I Am A Good Person profiles a mother-daughter relationship as the two embark for Europe to promote the mother's latest film. Veninger plays the mother, Ruby White, while her eighteen-year-old daughter Sara is played by Veninger’s real-life daughter, Hallie Switzer, who also starred in Modra. This movie was actually shot as the two toured with Modra earlier this year, a fabulous example of life imitating art. Little happens plot-wise, except to say that mother and daughter suffer somewhat typical struggles to communicate and get along. After a brief visit to Bradford, UK, daughter Sara departs for Paris to stay with a cousin, almost breaking her lonely mother's heart, who must then continue alone to Berlin for another screening. It's in Paris where we discover that daughter Sara is pregnant, something she's been keeping from everyone.

The movie has some quietly hilarious moments. The film within the film, 'Headshots', the film Ruby is ostensibly accompanying around the festival circuit, includes a bizarre series of close-up shots of men's penises just before the end credits. The character's eventual explanation for why she made the film provides great laughter long after I Am A Good Person ends. I loved the women-centric nature of this film. All of the male characters are perceived solely through female eyes and I must say most were awfully attractive. This was quite refreshing.

Beauty by South African director Oliver Hermanus will stay with me the longest of the five films I saw at TIFF. Quietly devastating, the film profiles a deeply closeted and macho Afrikaner named Francois (played by Deon Lotz), a successful family man who finds himself magnetically drawn to the beautiful 23-year-old son of a close friend (played by Charlie Keegan, pictured with Lotz). Lotz' Francois is the epitome of male repression, his entire married life a total lie. His fascination with Christian seems to be his undoing as his carefully constructed life begins to unravel.

At first, I thought the story was heading in the same direction as Death in Venice. How wrong I was! Francois becomes increasingly isolated as he struggles to deal with his infatuation. A violent scene in a hotel room near the end is utterly shocking and confirms the main character's downward spiral. In the end, we are left with great sadness as Francois slowly realizes the love he has denied himself through his sick choices. As he sits quietly at a table in a restaurant alone, he stares across at a lovely, young gay couple living the happy life he can no longer even imagine. The closet is a scary and lonely place.

Some commentary has stated that Beauty is also a scathing portrait of conflicted masculinity in post-Apartheid South Africa, with Francois's generation of hypocritically macho, Caucasian men contrasted with Christian's open and tolerant youth. This makes the violence in the hotel room all the more disturbing.

Touted as one of the first Vietnamese films to depict homosexuality both explicitly and positively, Ngoc Dang Vu’s Lost in Paradise is a contemporary tale of living on the margins of Vietnamese society. Khoi is a fresh-faced 20-year-old who makes his way to Saigon, where he befriends Dong and his boyfriend, Lam. They take the first opportunity to make off with Khoi’s cash and belongings. But when Dong is abandoned by his boyfriend and winds up on the streets hustling for money, he runs into Khoi again, and they strike up an unlikely romance.

While the actors were cute, I have to say Lost In Paradise was quite disappointing and unoriginal. We're never given any real reason to believe the romance between Khoi and Dong. The former seems to sit around home all day nursing injuries and doing little else, while the latter, Dong, continues his self-destructive hustling on the streets of Saigon. Dong's inability to leave behind prostitution is just one of many illogical plot developments. Worse, the dialogue is unbelievably on the nose. Why show a character's love when you can just say it? Queer film has evolved long past these feeble stereotypes in most parts of the world, but sadly not in Lost in Paradise.

Finally, I checked out Hysteria, the new film by director Tanya Wexler and starring hottie Hugh Dancy, the lovely Maggie Gyllenhaal (both pictured on the right) and the always-entertaining Jonathan Pryce. It was a delightful romantic comedy/period piece that profiled the invention of the vibrator in the 1880s. Dancy plays Doctor Mortimer Granville, who is recruited by Pryce's doctor character to assist female patients diagnosed with the catch-all and fictitious condition then known as 'hysteria.' The therapy: careful, manual stimulation of a certain female body part. Of course, at the time, the female orgasm was yet to be acknowledged by the medical establishment and it never occurs to Pryce's Doctor Dalrymple that these housewives are experiencing something more basic and natural than a mysterious epidemic of insanity: horniness.

Aided by a goofy pal with a fascination for gadgets and electricity (Rupert Everett, still looking a bit strange after his face lift a couple years ago), young Dancy comes to invent the first vibrator and begins testing it out on Pryce's patients, to their utter delight. The result is a revolution in women's medicine that precedes the time period's eventual women's liberation. To wrap these events into a charming romantic-comedy seems totally appropriate. Why can't the inventor of the vibrator look like Hugh Dancy and be caught in a love triangle between two sisters? Wonderful, all around.

Message to Sun Media readers...

2011-09-12T01:39:00.003-04:00

I captured this today on Sterling just outside the delicious Nestle chocolate factory. Had to share...hahaha!

Nenshi first Calgary mayor to lead Gay Pride parade

2011-09-04T21:04:00.006-04:00

Progressive, decent folks in Toronto are looking west to Calgary today with a bit of envy at news that city's mayor, Naheed Nenshi, led today's Gay Pride parade (pictured).Torontonians hardly knew the idea that a mayor would actually exert a bit of effort to be the mayor of all the people was something one election could erase; yes, today in Toronto we have a horrific example of democracy gone bad with a mayor more interested in ripping the shit out of the city and selling public assets to his private sector friends, all the while his red-necked, idiot base cheers.

Oh, dark days, please end soon. And let that first sign come October 6th when we reject the third horseman of the Conservative Apocalypse, goofy Tim Hudak, and re-elect a Liberal majority government (yes, that is my prediction for the Ontario election on the eve of the vote call.)

Persichilli shows his Tory feathers as he joins Harper's PMO...

2011-08-31T12:37:00.000-04:00

TheStar Star columnist Angelo Persichilli to join PMO

I've always thought I was reading conservative spin when reading Angelo Persichilli's columns over the years. His analysis always reserved the most scrutiny and hostility for Liberal subjects. Rarely did he point a critical eye at Stephen Harper or other Conservatives. Now his Tory credentials are confirmed.

Lessons learned: if the so-called fair-minded journalist sounds like a Tory duck, looks like Tory duck, quacks like a Tory duck, he's a Tory (and a duck!)

Goodbye, Jack!

2011-08-27T22:41:00.003-04:00

Today, the country said goodbye to a great leader and hero. Thanks to Jack for everything he did for our country, for the issues he championed, for the battles he fought! May we try to move forward truly inspired by your great example.

I'm happy to share the sublime words of Stephen Lewis, who eulogized Jack at today's funeral. I especially loved the moment when he stated: "[Jack's final] letter was, at its heart, a manifesto for social democracy..." In the audience, all stood and applauded, including Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper (minus the applauding).

Yes Jack did unite Canada!

Federal NDP and federal Liberals must unite into one progressive national party...

2011-08-25T13:25:00.007-04:00

TheStar NDP will need growth outside its Quebec base

On this issue, I'm sure I will anger many diehards in both the NDP and the Liberals. But as a post-partisan progressive (both a former card-carrying Liberal and a frequent NDP voter), the coming together of the federal NDP and federal Liberals is absolutely necessary if the progressive MAJORITY in this country is going to beat the Conservatives over the long-term.

Divided between a left-wing NDP and a centre-left Liberal Party, the progressive majority will always find it difficult to beat the Conservatives. Unhelpful, historic bickering and partisan hang-ups need to be dispensed in favour of the greater good.

Now that the NDP is facing another existential crisis with the passing of Jack Layton, it's as good a time as any to make the plea. It's time for the NDP and the Liberals to unite into one national party. It should be called the 'New Liberal Democratic Party', or NLDP for short.

Consider the arguments in today's column by Chantal Hebert:

"Unless the NDP rises to the challenge of convincing more Canadians outside Quebec that it is a contender for federal power, its support in the province will dwindle fast. And at some point, the party will also need to get its head around its relationship with the still very much alive Liberals....

"A majority of Quebecers also support a rapprochement between the Liberals and the NDP.

"The notion of a coming-together of their two parties is heresy to many Liberal and New Democrat activists in the rest of the country. Whenever the issue is raised, they point to their strikingly different pasts to foreclose the option of a common future.

"But against the seismic realignment that is ongoing in Quebec, that argument comes across as empty.

"These days, some of the Liberals and Bloc Québécois incumbents who were defeated in the last federal election are considering running provincially under the banner of the new party former PQ minister François Legault is trying to get off the ground.

"If a Quebec tent is large enough to shelter people who hail from such irreconcilable sides in the so-called national debate, the thinking — at least in Quebec — is that there should be a progressive tent sturdy enough to accommodate the NDP and the Liberals federally."

Under new, unseasoned leadership, the federal NDP will likely only pose a token threat to the Conservatives federally. Alone, those diehard Liberals may be able to increase their vote by a couple of percentage points if they're lucky. But the splits could actually mean fewer Liberal MPs, not more. The result: Conservative majority after Conservative majority federally. That would be disastrous for Canada.

The removal of public financing for parties will also make it next to impossible for both the NDP and Liberals to properly finance national campaigns that can compete against the Conservatives.

Alone, the Liberals are dead in most of Quebec, as well as most of Western Canada. The federal Liberals are no longer a national party. The NDP has a new foothold in Quebec that could easily dissolve, but also stronger pockets of support in the rest of Canada. But still the NDP, with its massive baggage, particularly in Ontario, faces hurdles that it may never overcome on its own.

Both brands need fixing. The best way to do it is to bring the best of both parties into one big tent. The federal Liberals can overcome their history of scandal by starting fresh in a new party. The NDP can gain critical credibility on the economy by embracing Liberals with their stronger records of fiscal and economic management. The result would be a highly credible alternative to the Conservatives capable of winning in every region of this country. Over the long term, such a new party would regularly beat the Conservatives.

Harper is counting on continued division in his opposition. He needs to be foiled. Those opposed to the Conservative agenda of Harper and others need to do the right thing. We need one centre-left party in Ottawa now!

p.s. The Economist also sees the value in such a merger.

Lightning strikes CN Tower in Toronto on Aug 24th, 2011

2011-08-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

Lightning strikes the CN Tower at 00:30.....02:03.....02:45.....04:00.... 04:48...05:56 (shot from my Davenport balcony last night). Enjoy!

Canada mourns 'courageous' Jack Layton

2011-08-22T17:23:00.004-04:00

Canada mourns 'courageous' Jack Layton - Politics - CBC News

Let me add my voice to the chorus of sadness and praise for Jack Layton, who lost his battle with cancer today.

Jack was a champion of the little guy who fought his entire adult life for a better Canada for all. He was an unwavering supporter of gays and lesbians, something for which I will always be grateful.

I briefly met Jack once in the 1990s at some municipal conference at a Toronto hotel. (I can't honestly remember the details of the event, only Jack's friendly smile as he said, "Hello," to me, a total stranger, at the coffee table.) He was that kind of guy, as we all know, always willing to positively engage his fellow citizens. He was a leader like Canada had never seen before and he transformed modern politics for the better. His legacy is clear and now I hope the NDP can keep up Jack's momentum. I bet you they will be able to do so.

But in the mean time, this is a very sad day for Canada.

But even in death, Jack is inspiring. Some words from his final letter to Canadians prove it: "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world..."

When Rob Ford lied about his drunk driving charge, did you really think he was telling the truth about his fiscal plan?

2011-08-13T12:00:00.001-04:00

TheStar Ford poised to break promise of no layoffs

Rob Ford is a habitual liar. Everything that comes out of his mouth is either a complete fabrication or so twisted from reality it's hardly recognizable. The city's labour takes up 48% of the annual budget? Rob Ford says it's 80%. And the dummies in Ford Nation believe their big, fat, lying leader.

When Rob Ford was asked last summer about his 1999 arrest in Florida for drunk driving and marijuana possession, he lied to the media about it. He lied his fat, White trash face off about it. Only when he got caught, did he confess his guilt.

“I will assure you that services will not be cut, guaranteed,” he said on Oct. 8, two weeks before winning election. Yeah, right...

Next time you hear Rob Ford say anything, remember his record of lies and fabrications. Nothing he says is true.

Why does ALL political, terrorist violence come from the right?

2011-07-24T13:12:00.003-04:00

I'm overwhelmed with anger and frustration by the evils that continue to be perpetrated by right wing fanatics in this world. Innocent Labour party kids die in Norway because some right wing fanatic hates openness and his country's approach to multiculturalism?

It's time for conservatives to explain why ALL political, terrorist violence nowadays comes from the right side of the spectrum, be it Islamic or Christian or just plain fascist!

There's something inherently evil lurking in the hearts of far right conservatives, including an impulse to turn to violence and force to get their way when democratic means don't work. George W. Bush opted to go to war and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people when he had other options (but the profits to be made from war by those around his cabinet table proved too tempting to resist). Anders Behring Breivik didn't have that kind of power, but he did have his rifle and a lot of material for making a bomb. It's telling the gunman in Norway disguised himself as a police officer to conduct his murderous crimes on that island.

How many more times are we going to see some right wing nutbar take his unregistered rifle and murder innocent civilians before we on the left start fighting back? When is some left wing fanatic going to take a rifle and go on a shooting spree at Goldman Sachs in New York and kill the people who truly are dangerous threats to the world's economic security (and responsible for the 2008 worldwide, economic meltdown)? Left wingers don't usually own guns, let alone go on shooting sprees. That reality keeps these evil conservatives safe in a world they continue to denigrate with their hateful ideology.

Great video: My Fellow American

2011-07-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

I was contacted by the folks who put up this site and asked to post this video. I'm happy to do so as the video's message of acceptance and equality is vital and continues to be important in both the U.S. and Canada 10 years after 9-11.

Liars at Sun Media remove last ounce of journalistic accountability, credibility

2011-07-14T15:12:00.000-04:00

TheStar Sun Media ditches press council, citing issues with ‘political correctness’

Now Sun Media is completely free in Ontario to continue to print fiction and make up stories without any way for the public to complain. For a media organization obsessed with accountability for everyone else, this is the height of hypocrisy. I'd expect nothing less from the conservative assholes who run QMI Media and Sun Media (or conservative assholes anywhere.)

Remember that great fictional story in Sun Media about how Ignatieff started the Iraq war? Well, get used to more pieces of fiction gracing the pages of Sun Media. And now there will be no one to hold Sun Media liars to account for their yellow journalism and lack of professionalism.

This is why nobody should ever read Sun Media.

Homophobia trumps racism: Bigot Rob Ford plays favourites on the summer festival circuit...

2011-07-12T20:45:00.003-04:00

TheStar: Rob Ford promises to attend Caribbean Carnival

For my friends of colour who insist racism is still a huge problem in Toronto, I give you exhibit A: Rob Ford. With his actions today, Toronto's white trash bigot of a mayor proves that homophobia is still far more fashionable than racism. What's worse, the virulent homophobes who make up a portion of the black community will take Ford's attendance at their festival just weeks after snubbing the batty boys as further "proof" that hating gays is, indeed, okay in Ford's Toronto.

Twenty years ago, a mayor like Ford wouldn't have been caught dead at something like Caribana. Such is the mindset of our bigoted, anti-mayor. But today, Ford sees the value in sucking up to certain communities in Toronto, namely the suburban minorities who refuse to accept that discrimination based on race can only be wrong as long as discrimination based on sexual orientation is also wrong.

Of course, Ford's mantra is to pick and choose which parts of society he'll respect and which parts he'll disrespect. He, like most conservatives, divides up the populace and plays favourites. He shows respect to his base and nothing but disdain for the rest.

Of course, Ford's base isn't as stable as he'd like it to be. He forgets his 47% of the vote in October 2010 was trumped by a divided 53%. The opposition won't be so divided in 2014 after four years of broken promises and/or deteriorating city services.

Ford's message today: discrimination based on sexual orientation and disrespect for LGBT people is A-okay. The contrast couldn't be clearer.

My message to non-homophobic Ford supporters: SHAME!

So arrogant!

2011-07-10T23:47:00.002-04:00

It's appalling that no Canadian who isn't a card-carrying Conservative loyalist can get anywhere near this guy and give him the "boo" he deserves.

Ontario to mandate 'LGBT support groups' in Catholic schools

2011-07-08T10:15:00.000-04:00

Ontario to mandate 'LGBT support groups' in Catholic schools

Another excellent reason to re-elect the Ontario Liberals this October.

Bigot councillor Mammoliti continues his anti-gay witch hunt

2011-07-04T22:02:00.005-04:00

TheStar Door open to Pride funding being cut

Toronto city councillor George Mammoliti - infamous for his disgustingly hateful speech against LGBT people in the 1990s for which he was never prosecuted and during which he was receiving public funds as a MPP - continued his witch hunt against the gay community this past Pride weekend, armed with a video camera.

The same weekend a radical Muslim conference in Toronto was extolling the virtues of executing homosexuals, Mammoliti instead chose to try to hunt for alleged hate speech in the Dyke March. I most appreciated local MPP Glen Murray's tweet on Saturday that, "If Mammoliti is looking for a hate crime he should take his video camera to where the hate preachers are suggesting killing gays is ok."

It doesn't appear Mammoliti found any hate speech, in my opinion. Just some proud lefties expressing their opinions in public, something that clearly offends the powers that be at city hall. Check it out here for yourself.

The Toronto Star reports the contents of the video as: "17-minutes of tape, which Mammoliti plans to edit down, [and] shows about 30 parade marchers expressing pro-Palestinian opinions. Some carry a “Free Palestine” banner. Others call for a boycott of Israeli products. Others chant “End the occupation.” Some are not marching in the parade, but are standing at the sidelines."

So somebody shows up on a sidewalk next to the Dyke March expressing an opinion, and this leads to Pride losing its city funding? The people in the video were expressing their right to free speech and assembly, clearly things that Mammoliti doesn't respect (at least if expressing opinions he doesn't tolerate.)

I am sick and tired of some who continue to equate any criticism of Israeli government policy as akin to anti-Semitism. This is draconian, thought control at its worst and it seems to have taken hold in Mammoliti's tiny brain, as well as many others. The reign of idiots at Toronto City Hall continues, so we have to consider these attacks from the bigots running the mayor's office and Executive Committee seriously.

The voices of reason on city council at least continue to get consideration in the (for now) free press:

"Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, council’s only openly gay member, said the city would absolutely open itself to legal action [should it deny Pride funding on the basis of Mammoliti's footage.]

Ford adversary Councillor Shelley Carroll called Mammoliti’s position “dangerous.”

“It’s the broader implications that we have to look at here. What is a political message. Are we part of a nation that honours freedom of speech or not?” she said. “What precedent does it set? Where does your responsibility as a cultural event organizer begin and end? There have to be some parameters.”

I couldn't agree more. Sadly, these intelligent, reasoned positions are in opposition at City Hall.

New York passes equal marriage into law

2011-06-29T14:05:00.003-04:00

Please excuse my silence over the last couple of days. I was on a road trip to drive a friend back home to Richmond, Virginia. We drove through New York state on Friday, as well as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and onto Virginia. Little did I know that as we passed through New York, that state became the latest to pass same sex marriage into law! I didn't watch the news at all until returning to Toronto this week and only today heard about this historic win!

Congrats to New Yorkers for this giant step toward justice for all!

p.s. I'm still on vacation this week, so I'll have little time for blogging. But have a Happy Pride!

Harper Government fights to give cancer to the rest of the world with asbestos 'bombshell'

2011-06-23T12:45:00.000-04:00

Canada drops asbestos 'bombshell'

This is disgusting and shows the moral core of Conservatives (and some Liberals) quite clearly: we're not even willing to warn the people how to handle the toxic exports we are selling to them.

Ask yourselves: do the majority of Canadians support the unlimited/unregulated export of toxic, cancer-causing asbestos? Is there nothing Canadians won't do for money? Once again, I am ashamed of what Stephen Harper is doing to our country (with only 39.6% of voter support.) We are an unenlightened, international pariah, part of the problem.

Ford's first really big mistake would be snubbing Pride...

2011-06-23T03:17:00.000-04:00

TheStar James: Ford turns back on gay community by shunning Pride Misguided. Small-minded. Toronto has definitely taken several steps/decades back under Rob Ford.

What a dipstick of a mayor we have!

The Truth About the Economy

2011-06-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

Inspiring blowback against Catholic school officials on the rainbow issue..

2011-06-11T00:34:00.001-04:00

TheStar Catholic schools: Embrace the rainbow

And for the record: the kids at St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School and all Catholic high school students trying to form GSAs are my heroes! I never would've done that in high school, so it's heartening to see progress in Ontario Catholic environments.

TheStar Cohn: Hudak Tories take a page from Harris era to dupe us on debt

2011-06-05T00:40:00.001-04:00

Cohn paints a disturbing picture of Tim Hudak's judgment on the energy and debt files. Perhaps the McGuinty Liberals stand a fighting chance this October after all!

The Gay Who Wasn't Gay Enough

2011-06-04T00:27:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to quickly give well deserved kudos to the makers of this little promo for Toronto's Gay Rugby Team. Wow! I'm tempted to join (tempted, I won't be actually joining...haha.)

Looking forward to blogging again soon when inspiration hits...

GREAT MOVE: Alberta Liberals open party votes to non-members

2011-05-30T00:14:00.001-04:00

I have to say that if the federal Liberal Party does the same thing for its leadership and nominations, it will be well on the way to renewal and electoral recovery. A public primary would bring in thousands of votes, it would be extremely difficult to manipulate such a large pool of voters. Shenanigans by parties trying to manipulate the results by misleading voters or pushing an unacceptable candidate would likely face huge backlash from the public. Elections Canada would run the elections. Candidates would have to win the old-fashioned way: by being the best on the ballot. This could be the start of a great electoral evolution in Canada, if we dare to do the smart thing.

Toronto Pride likely to receive city funding after threats over controversial group

2011-05-25T00:41:00.004-04:00

Great news tonight from the City of Toronto's executive committee. I was glad to email them this past weekend. I have no idea if it made a difference. I'd like to think so. Congrats to the Proud of Toronto campaign, especially Mike Went and Doug Kerr, for galvanizing the community these past few weeks...

From: Matt Guerin@yahoo.ca
To: "exc@toronto.ca"
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 2:28:30 PM
Subject: Please save Pride Toronto

Dear Toronto Executive Committee Members -

As a longtime Toronto resident and member of the LGBT community, I am writing to strongly urge you to continue funding for Toronto Pride.

I have been appalled by the bizarre attacks by some on freedom of expression and association with regard to the Pride parade. While we may not agree with 'Queers Against Israeli Apartheid' or QAIA in terms of their tactics or even their name, we should not deny them the right to express their positions in a public event. Questioning some of the Israeli government's policies is not tantamount to hate speech, as some have suggested.

I do not support QAIA and I'm glad they have promised not to march in this year's parade. But they have a right to participate in Pride festivities elsewhere, the same as any group, as they do not break the law. But all of this talk about QAIA is a smokescreen. To cancel funding for hundreds of thousands of people because of the actions of 20 people is ridiculous!

Toronto Pride has been an important institution for freedom and culture in our city for decades. It has brought together our LGBT community and our allies for years. It is a symbol of the freedom shared by Torontonians and all Canadians. It brings in thousands of tourists every year, fills our hotels, our restaurants, our bars, our streets, for one big celebration at the start of summer.

It is appalling that the city would find no reason to invest in this celebration. The investment more than pays for itself as the money comes back many times over in terms of revenue for the city's businesses. Like any public event of this magnitude, it also requires policing and clean-up and I'm glad the city has provided that over the years.

I hope that your committee does the right thing and continues to support Toronto Pride. Do not listen to those city councillors who have in the past said some of the most hateful things about the LGBT community, who now tell us that alleged hatred against other communities is unacceptable. Some councillors on this issue are being hypocrites. I implore you to ignore that stupidity and make the best decision for the city of Toronto and all of its citizens.

Sincerely,
Matt Guerin
Toronto, ON

Conservative and private media attack strategy against NDP already clear...

2011-05-20T14:40:00.006-04:00

Stephen Harper's Conservatives have so many friends in the private media, from QMI and Sun Media to CTV. Already, Tory-leaning media friends have had a field day chasing down obscure NDP MPs-elect from Quebec, writing numerous stories about any resume mistakes the party may have made during the campaign. I'm sure we can expect no equivalent scrutiny against Tory backbenchers from the rest of the country from the same media. Do Canadians in English Canada care this much about backbenchers in the opposition? I don't think so.

But the anti-NDP narrative is now clear: all of those inexperienced, extremist amateurs from Quebec, some with alleged separatist tendencies (as long as you accept QMI's conservative spin), coupled with the NDP's socialist ideology, can never form an effective alternative to the Conservative majority. The narrative relies heavily on anti-Quebec sentiment in English Canada, writing off la Belle province as irrelevant.

The inherent dangers to national unity caused by the Conservative collapse in Quebec are ignored in favour of inside baseball analysis about some NDP MP nobody has ever heard of. At least, not all writers in the private media are drinking the conservative koolaid (thanks, Mr. Martin, for this accurate and scary portrait of the advantages Stephen Harper now possesses going forward.)

I trust Jack Layton and the NDP realize the forces they are up against over the next four years as they forge an alternative government and plan for 2015. Yes, many of their Quebec MPs look pretty green. Let's give them a chance to perform. In 2015, the NDP should allow fully democratic, open nominations in all ridings across the country and if their MPs perform well, they will be re-nominated. If not, they can be replaced by better people.

I also expect Jack Layton to continue to emphasize the practical, bread-and-butter issues he always has and follow the successful path of the Nova Scotia NDP. With Quebec in his corner plus way more support in English Canada than Harper has in Quebec, Jack Layton also has many advantages going forward too.

The next four years are going to be very interesting.

The lovely view from BeBloor

2011-05-20T14:21:00.007-04:00

Snobby, elitist Star columnist Christopher (don't dare call him Chris) Hume may hate the look of my condominium building, BeBloor. But I can assure you the view from my ninth floor balcony is incomparable (see above picture.)

Yesterday, May 19th, was my birthday so it definitely wasn't appreciated seeing Hume heap scorn on my personal dwelling. I don't consider BeBloor a stunningly beautiful building, but it is pleasing enough and fits in with the other apartments and buildings in the area in the Junction Triangle, an area transitioning from old industrial to urban residential chique. I can assure the building is exceptionally well-run and filled with lovely people, many of them first-time buyers like me who enjoy being just outside the chaos of the downtown core. We are close to High Park, Roncesvalles, College West, Queen West West and The Junction.

Considering Hume also loves the ugly Chin Crystal fiasco at Bloor and Avenue, I think we can take his opinions with a grain of salt. Hume was, of course, one of the downtown elitist snobs at the Toronto Star who helped elect Rob Ford as Toronto mayor. Wow, I never thought I could sympathize with the folks out in the burbs. But if I had to choose between Rob Ford or Christopher Hume for Toronto mayor, I'd have to vote for Ford. And that says a lot.

Shape up, Toronto Star. Your snobby columnist is attacking personal living spaces and buildings not even built yet. I'm glad I canceled my Star subscription back in 2007 and I can assure you I will never buy a Toronto Star copy again.

'Proud of Toronto' campaign kicks into high gear to save Toronto Pride

2011-05-16T20:15:00.006-04:00

I was happy to attend today's Proud of Toronto event at Toronto City Hall at this crucial time. It was quite an event and will hopefully serve to galvanize the LGBTQ community into action. As many will know, Toronto mayor Rob Ford and his neo-con followers are gunning for Toronto Pride this year, hoping to cut off funding for the annual event. They also hope to cut funding for LGBTQ Programs and Services like the 519 Community Centre, arts and culture, economic development, tourism, and HIV/AIDS programs and services.

It appeared they'd use the excuse of 'Queers Against Israeli Apartheid' to cut off funding. But now that that group has pulled out of this year's Toronto Pride parade, Rob Ford and his cohorts will no doubt be looking for any and all other excuses for denying funding.

Such investment into Toronto Pride, both through direct cultural funding as well as police and clean-up support, is crucial. As Pride co-chair Francisco Alvarez said today at the City Hall event, cutting off funding for Toronto Pride this year jeopardizes Toronto's World Pride celebrations in 2014 and could lead to Toronto Pride's bankruptcy.

Thus, it's crucial that everyone who supports Toronto Pride contact Toronto City councillors to urge them to resist the very real threat to cut off funding for this important institution.

I urge everyone to sign this petition and share it on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else you can.

Like the Proud of Toronto campaign, I also urge you to write the City of Toronto's Executive Committee ahead of their meeting on May 24, 2011 about why Pride Toronto matters: exc@toronto.ca. They will vote that day on what recommendation to make to City Council on Pride Toronto funding. I will be emailing the committee as soon as I finish this post.

Join the campaign's Facebook page here. And most importantly, spread the word and sign the petition.

B.C. Conservative goes for the troglodyte vote in bid to resurrect moribund party

2011-05-13T20:36:00.011-04:00

Blogger.com was down from Thursday noon until today, so please forgive me for not blogging about this sooner. Simon has beaten me to it already.

The B.C. Conservative Party hasn't elected anyone since the 1970s. Now their great white hope is John Cummins, who served 18 years in Ottawa as a Reform Party turned Canadian Alliance turned Stephen Harper Conservative backbencher.

His strategy for putting his moribund party back on the map? It would seem to appeal to those on the far right who cling to their hatred of LGBT people. Cummins recently suggested that sexual orientation is a choice that does not require specific protection under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

“I'm not a scientist [but] some of the research tells me that there's more of an indication that that's a choice issue,” Cummins told a Victoria radio audience.

What research exactly? Did he ask John Baird? Probably not, as I'm sure he would've told him being gay is NOT a choice. I didn't choose to be gay, it chose me. Every gay man I've ever met has told me their sexuality was not something they chose. In fact, the only choice is whether or not to live your life as an openly gay person. For those who are bisexual, I can see how one might gravitate from one gender to another over time.

But Cummins' argument that something being a choice means it doesn't deserve human rights protection is disturbing for other reasons. Of course, religion is also a choice, but Cummins mentioned nothing about removing religious freedom protections from human rights acts. Even if sexual orientation were a choice, does this mean firing someone for being gay or refusing to do business with someone because they are gay is therefore okay?

Cummins' misguided position boggles the mind. This is the most press his leadership candidacy has garnered. Cummins is a shoe-in for the leadership as the deadline for others to declare has past. When he was later queried by more media about his anti-gay comments, Mr. Cummins said his opinions were personal.

“I'm pro-life, I'm pro-traditional marriage, that's my view, I'm not a scientist,” he told the Times Colonist. “I'm not going to discuss that, they're personal issues, private issues.”

Why must too many conservatives continue to rely on their knee-jerk ignorance when determining public policy? If I were an elected official and were asked to vote on an issue I knew little to nothing about, I'd want to do my research and make an educated, intelligent decision. But such fair thinking is foreign to conservatives like Cummins. In fact, truth and research just get in the way of their ideology and prejudices. Just ask Rob Ford.

This makes me wonder how many other Tory backbenchers in the newly-invigorated Tory majority caucus feel the same way about LGBT people and our rights. All LGBT people in Canada and those who support equality should be very wary about the next four years.

*******UPDATE*******

Since opening this can of worms, Cummins has backtracked on the issue a bit. So it was sloppy rhetoric that got him into trouble, not some devious scheme to represent the far-right in B.C. Good to know.

Liberal Party arrogance led to historic defeat...Continued infighting will destroy it

2011-05-10T23:01:00.017-04:00

I'm still staring at the CBC's Canada Votes 2011 web page, particularly that beautiful map. It's slowly sinking in how far the Liberal Party has fallen. How it literally is staring oblivion in the face. (For if Liberals think 34 seats is the lowest they can go, they are so wrong.)

Liberal arrogance is mostly to blame for the public's rejection of Ignatieff. Here was a man who had lived 30 years outside the country coming home late in life to ask to lead the country. As of 2011, his wife hadn't even become a Canadian citizen yet. For him to overcome these negatives, he had to wow Canadians off their feet. Few outside the Liberal base rose up with enthusiasm. Sadly, the portrait painted by Conservatives in those attack ads seemed to ring true for many voters. I do believe Canadians gave Michael Ignatieff a chance in this election. But the people were obviously unimpressed, although Iggy did manage to convince many in the Liberal base of his campaigning strengths (including this writer.) I'm not sure I blame Iggy for everything. He was also painfully unlucky.

Nobody foresaw the Jack Layton Quebec surge. Once progressive voters saw that voting for the NDP might actually be the best way to challenge the Harper government, the Liberal vote collapsed down to a historic low of 18.9% of the vote and only 34 seats.

In 2015, Layton will be facing either Stephen Harper in his ninth year in office (perhaps voters will be thoroughly sick of him by then) or a new Tory leader. In that election, the Liberals will be lucky just to keep what they have.

That's why it's so important to get the leadership right this time after making mistakes this past decade. I'm going to stay neutral in the race for interim leader and for permanent leader for now. I'm sure the Liberal caucus will make a decision that works best for the party. The Liberals should wait at most one year to select a new leader who can get on to the tough task of rebuilding the Liberal Party in every region of the country. They need a permanent replacement by spring 2012, I'd say.

It was the arrogance that Ignatieff would sell to the country, the top-down, elitist idea that such a thing were possible, that sealed the party's fate.

The Liberals' crushing defeat is the end result of the 2006 leadership race in which the party elite tried to hoist two enormously flawed insiders on the party: Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. I, like many in the party's base, liked neither of them and desperately sought an alternative. We found that in Stephane Dion.

After Dion flopped, the party elite told us the democratic approach that elected Stephane Dion was clearly wrong. We had to correct the error of 2006 by anointing Ignatieff in 2008. If Bob Rae was the only other choice (as the party elite ensured), I had to choose Ignatieff.

Ignatieff's choice to seize the interim leadership of his party and essentially push out all other contenders looked power-hungry. It turned out to be an unfortunate omen and possibly inspired the Tory attack ad campaign. In 2011, the general public saw in Ignatieff what many Liberals refused to see in 2008.

For the Liberals to succeed in the future, they need to expel the control of elites and make the party's decision-making hugely democratic. They have to make being a part of the Liberal Party a meaningful exercise for grassroots members between leadership and nomination races. Liberals need to engage Canadians on what it means to be a Liberal in the 21st century and why a balanced approach to government is better than the polarization of the Conservatives and NDP. Liberals are fiscally responsible with a social conscious.

It's far too early to predict how well the Tories and the NDP will do in their new roles as majority and official opposition. The NDP is already having enormous growing pains.

I do think the Liberal Party has the opportunity to come back one day. This time in the wilderness will serve to convince Liberals they don't deserve power, they have to earn it. This will make Liberals more appealing to the public. The next Liberal leader will have to build from the ground up and earn the confidence of Canadians the old-fashioned way. Just like Jack Layton did.

Did we learn nothing from the Ignatieff coronation?

2011-05-09T01:38:00.006-04:00

I agree Bob Rae as interim Liberal leader in Ottawa would be a very bad idea if he plans to run for permanent leader.

Jean Chretien needs to stop playing his little games and move on...This is the kind of backroom manipulation and bullshit voters so thoroughly rejected last week and it's why the Liberals are in such dire straits today.

Liberals unlikely to formally merge with the NDP...

2011-05-03T23:21:00.009-04:00

I've got to admire the positive spin by some Liberal supporters out there after last night's devastating and historic defeat.

The people of Canada made decisive choices yesterday. They voted for continuity and stability in government by rewarding Stephen Harper with a solid plurality of votes, which, under our archaic voting system, handed them a majority. And they voted for one clear and strengthened alternative to that government, Jack Layton and the NDP. I decided over the weekend to be a part of the country's big change instead of resisting it and voted NDP in Davenport.

It's clear now the NDP has replaced the Liberal Party as the national alternative to the Conservatives.

I estimate the only way Liberals will play a decisive role in federal politics in the near future is for party members to switch over and join the NDP (or the Tories). Some leadership candidates and others in the party are already talking about merger with the NDP.

However, I'd bet against a formal merger ever happening - not because of resistance from centre-right Liberals out there - but because the NDP will not be interested in the slightest. Jack Layton and the NDP have clearly developed a great brand across the country that has shown amazing strength. Now the NDP is the only other national party, perhaps even more national than the Conservatives. Why would they merge with the Liberals now? The NDP model being used by Jack Layton is the Nova Scotia model where they won power without merging with the N.S. Liberals (who themselves managed to bounce back partially after a disastrous third place defeat two elections ago. Now they form the official opposition in Nova Scotia again.)

Canada now has an opposition leader with a strong, clearly defined brand that will be difficult for the Tories to tarnish. I dread to see what the Conservatives will pull against Layton and the NDP in order to maintain their position. But I think Layton will be up to defending himself.

Once the NDP rejects any real discussions about merging with the fallen Grits, I expect to see many Liberal MPs eventually decide to join the NDP over the coming years. The shell of a Liberal party left will probably work very hard to survive and rebuild. But in the end, it may not matter who becomes the next Liberal leader. If Harper and Layton steer toward the centre over the next four years, I expect the Liberals to continue to lose seats in future elections as the country polarizes between the centre-left and the centre-right.

But I also don't expect Stephen Harper to lead the Conservatives into the 2015 election. By then, he'll have been prime minister for nine years. Perhaps a good time for an exit. Which would make this majority his legacy government. And that scares me.

But I pray the NDP's new strength will keep the Conservatives more moderate. We shall see.

Pollsters and seat projectors should beware Monday's results

2011-05-01T15:19:00.010-04:00

****UPDATED 12:15 AM MAY 2ND

"Polls don’t elect MPs," said Michael Ignatieff today. "Votes elect MPs. Let’s wait for the Canadian people to do what they want to do."

The pseudo-science of gauging public opinion in a world in which many voters (especially younger voters) no longer own land lines or ignore entreaties to take part in online surveys will be truly tested on Monday night in Canada.

Frankly, I look forward to re-assessing which pollsters still are able to accurately gauge public opinion in this modern world and which ones have little credibility.

We can today look at the final numbers predicted by pollsters:

Decima-Research: Cns 36%, NDP 30%, Libs 19%, Greens 6%, BQ 6%.

Nanos: Cns 37.1%, NDP 31.6%, Liberals 20.5%, Bloc 5.7%, Green 3.8%.

EKOS: Cns 33.9%, NDP 31.6, Libs 20.8%, Bloc 6.4%, Greens 5.9%.

Forum Research: Cns 35%, NDP 33%, Liberals 19%.

Abacus Data: Cns 37%, NDP 32%, Liberals 18%, Greens 7%, BQ 7%.

Angus-Reid online poll: Cns 37%, NDP 33%, Liberals 19%, BQ 6%, Greens 4%.

Ipsos-Reid: Cns 38%, NDP 33%, Liberals 18%, BQ 7%, Greens 4%.

I can't find any final numbers from Environics.

And, of course, the always laughable Compass, frequently happy to boost Conservative spirits when they need it most: Cns 46%, NDP 26%, Libs 17%, Bloc 7%, Greens 4%.

I look forward to comparing the final vote percentages with these guys' numbers on Monday night.

Even more interesting will be how accurate seat predictors will be.

Forum Research, despite putting the Conservatives and NDP in a dead heat in voter support, still predicts the Tories will gain seats and land at 147 by the end of the night. But they caution with the normal margins of error for their survey, the election still might produce a either a Conservative or NDP minority government.

Three-Hundred-Eight.com's Eric Grenier has had a great run with regular columns in the Globe based on his projections. *****Tonight, he pegs Conservative support st 36.4%, NDP at 27.3%, Libs at 22.8%, Bloc 6.7% and Greens at 5.6%. Grenier estimates this will translate into a House of Commons made up of 143 Conservatives, 78 New Democrats, 60 Liberals, and 27 Bloc members. I think he pegs the NDP too low and the Liberals (sadly) and the Bloc too high.

But of course I can't forget Grenier's claim in November that the Liberals would win only 14% of the vote in the Winnipeg North by-election, based simply on his analysis around vote percentage changes. Of course, in that local race, the Liberals won the seat with 46% of the vote. Of course, we'll see how well his final predictions stack up against the real results tomorrow night.

Election Prediction Project is another great site and it's been reliably cautious is changing its predictions for the entire campaign. Only in the last few days have the NDP seat counts increased substantially. As of midnight ET, the site predicts 146 Conservatives, 65 Liberals, 61 NDP, 33 Bloc, 1 Independent in Quebec and 2 races too close to call (Dartmouth-Cole Harbour in NS and Gilles Duceppe's Laurier-Ste-Marie in Quebec, both of which will not be won by Conservatives).

And DemocraticSpace.com hasn't put out his final numbers yet. The last predictions are from April 29th, so I imagine he'll update these by tonight.

It's all about the numbers now.

Harper smears Liberals for years, then asks us to save him?

2011-04-30T14:05:00.004-04:00

I don't think this latest argument from Prime Minister Stephen Harper is going to resonate with the intended audience. As all Liberals know, Harper has led a vicious smear campaign against the Liberal Party since he became leader of the Canadian Alliance. That smear campaign attacking the integrity of all Liberals continued after he became leader of the reformed Conservatives.

Harper argued that Liberals were basically criminal. It's been his sick dream for years to destroy the Liberal Party and replace it as the so-called natural governing party of Canada.

Harper is unlikeable, extreme and dangerous to the country. I'm sure that opinion is widespread among the 22-23% of voters who remain in the Liberal camp at this late stage of the federal campaign. These Liberal folks are the base of the party and they are not going to switch to Harper now. Of those 23%, I'm sure the vast majority would prefer to see Layton over Harper, if they had to choose. If the Liberal vote continues to collapse, this will likely benefit the NDP almost exclusively.

Personally, as I stated two days ago, I'm still torn as to who to vote for in Davenport, a riding where the Tories traditionally run even with the Green Party around 10% (i.e. not in contention.) I have the luxury of possibly voting NDP in this election, knowing there's no chance switching from the Liberals will possibly elect a Conservative.

But without a doubt, if I still lived in my hometown of Guelph or Kingston or Brampton or Ajax or Mississauga, or any other riding where the Liberal incumbent has traditionally faced off primarily against Conservatives, I'd be voting Liberal.

The Liberal base will hold. Voters are smart. They know which riding they live in and they know the history of those ridings. They know a Liberal incumbent they know well is better positioned to stop the Tories in their riding than some unknown New Democrat who spent part of the election on vacation.

The Liberal vote will hold in Ontario, the NDP will take a huge bite out of the Conservative vote and Monday's night's results are going to surprise everybody.

Accused drunk driver/wife beater endorses Stephen Harper...Sun Media smears Jack Layton...

2011-04-29T23:25:00.014-04:00

Remember when it came out last summer that Rob Ford had been arrested in Florida for drug possession and drunk driving in 1999 (see mug shot to the right)? The revelations followed other incidents which included Ford being thrown out of the Air Canada Centre in 2006 intoxicated after berating a couple of strangers and in 2008 being accused of beating his wife (the charges were eventually dropped). None of these real scandals seemed to hurt Rob Ford, who went on to win the Toronto mayoralty.

Now the alleged wife beater and drunk driver is endorsing Stephen Harper in this election.

Meanwhile, Sun Media is quoting an unnamed Toronto police officer as having seen Jack Layton naked inside an alleged bawdy house in Toronto's Chinatown in 1996, apparently after having received a shiatsu.

The Sun quoted the mysterious cop: "To have arrested him and charged him would have served our egos a lot more. Layton was a thorn in the side of the police, siding with the anti-poverty movement in '96 or '97 ... Jack was anti-police," the ex-cop said.

Olivia Chow, Layton's wife, denied her husband had done anything wrong in an e-mail statement late Friday night.

"Sixteen years ago, my husband went for a massage at a massage clinic that is registered with the City of Toronto," Chow wrote. "He exercises regularly; he was and remains in great shape; and he needed a massage.

"I knew about this appointment, as I always do."

In a letter from his lawyer, Layton recalls "being advised by police at the time that he did nothing wrong."

I'm sure Layton did nothing improper in this incident. Certainly nothing as bad as Rob Ford.

This story of course follows Sun Media's exclusive story this election about how Michael Ignatieff started the Iraq War in 2003.

It seems to me that Sun Media and all its affiliates are just yellow journalists and fiction writers pushing a partisan agenda. I think this lousy smear will actually be seen by the public for what it is - and it will backfire dearly against Sun Media's political wing, the Conservative Party.

Harris-Decima poll: NDP humbling Tories across the country, Liberals on top in Ontario...

2011-04-29T00:11:00.007-04:00

Nanos's daily polls this campaign have been always interesting and entertaining, but they seem to have caught on to the NDP wave in Quebec a bit late. Their regional swings defy gravity. Although I will say their leadership measurement has been fascinating and has correctly caught Jack Layton's meteoric rise.

I trust Harris-Decima polls the most. Their numbers have always stacked up and rang true for me. I'm glad to see them confirming the trends picked up by other pollsters.

That's why today's numbers from Harris-Decima confirming the NDP is five points behind the Conservatives and closing, with the Liberals still very much in the game in Ontario, have truly cheered me up. It looks like the Conservatives will only win a minority, thank God. In fact, it could be a squeaker of a win over the surging NDP. I can see the Tories winning by less than 10 seats.

I have to confess I'm supremely tempted to vote for Andrew Cash in Davenport, but my longstanding affection for the Grits will likely win the day for me on May 2nd.

CTV's Jane Taber's horrified eyes at the thought of an 'NDP-led coalition' government...

2011-04-25T11:29:00.011-04:00

I'm through with CTV's Question Period, the hour-long political gab fest held each Sunday. The show's bothered me for years with its barely contained conservative biases (symptomatic, of course, of CTV's biases.) There have been moments of fairness and objectivity, but overall the show has always profiled the state of Canadian politics through the narrow prism of the centre-right. Rarely have serious investigations into things like health care delivery, poverty, climate change or social justice found their way onto 'Question Period's line-up. Instead, the show has almost exclusively focused on the bogus games, scandals and inside baseball antics of Ottawa that have turned off so many Canadians from politics in recent years (which plays into Stephen Harper's playbook quite nicely, as we know.)

During yesterday's panel discussion between co-hosts Jane Taber, Craig Oliver and journalists Joel-Denis Bellavance and Mercedes Stephenson, there was a key moment in which Taber's anti-left biases shown through her journalistic facade.

Taber and Oliver have been talking up the possibility of a NDP-Liberal coalition as a possible outcome of this election for weeks, sometimes using tongue-in-cheek tones (and despite Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's ruling out such an arrangement.) But in yesterday's show, Oliver brought up the possibility again, this time musing it could be led by the NDP if they come in second in the vote count. Taber's reaction was priceless and undeniable:

OLIVER:
It could be going even to the extent if this momentum continues...we could even be seeing an NDP-led...

TABER:
Coalition? Ugh!!!

(Her eyes dart open in a look of horror)

OLIVER:
Agreement with the Liberals, yeah.

Click here and then fast forward to around the 03:00 minute mark, you'll find it.

Taber also mentioned in yesterday's broadcast that she had voted in the advanced polls this weekend. That sent a shiver down my spine as I could imagine her putting her X next to the Conservative party candidate, then running off to host her weekly political show.

With days to go in the 2008 campaign, CTV showed its biases when they betrayed their word and broadcast the false starts of former Liberal leader Stephane Dion during an interview about what he'd do as Prime Minister yesterday to fix the economy tomorrow, or something like that. Shortly thereafter, CTV host and now Conservative Senator Mike Duffy went on air questioning Dion's basic comprehension and competence.

I've been worried CTV would also go to bat for the Conservative Party in this election. Oliver raising the spectre of an NDP-led coalition could just be the kind of trick the Conservatives are hoping for from their beloved network. If enough Ontario voters get scared by such a prospect (kind of like how Taber reacted to the notion), perhaps CTV figures it'll help swing more voters behind the Conservative Party and hand that party its majority.

All of this makes we wonder how successful Sun TV will really be. Sun TV puts it pro-Conservative bias up front. But why would Conservatives need to watch the amateur coverage on Sun TV when they already have a very powerful and clearly Conservative broadcaster in CTV?

If you're watching CTV this final week of the campaign, be very aware of the pro-Conservative biases you will no doubt be witnessing.

Michael Ignatieff's Town Hall for Canada

2011-04-25T00:31:00.000-04:00

For those who haven't seen it, for your convenient consideration...

Harper knocks Kent back into line: "I regret any embarrassment that my remarks may have caused the Prime Minister..."

2011-04-24T23:22:00.006-04:00

Yuck. Our Prime Minister Stephen Harper's horrifying side has reared its ugly head again. Man, what will happen to this country if this creep wins a majority and there's no more checks on his judgment?

EXCERPT FROM GLOBE & MAIL: 'Conservative cabinet minister Peter Kent has reversed course and fallen back into line behind Stephen Harper after criticizing his own party for recruiting a candidate with apparent Tamil Tiger sympathies.

“I regret any embarrassment that my remarks may have caused the Prime Minister,” Mr. Kent said in a statement sent to The Globe and Mail after Mr. Harper defended the candidate, Gavan Paranchothy, during a weekend campaign stop in Mississauga, Ont...

In a Globe and Mail interview last Thursday, Mr. Kent was blunt in decrying as “outrageous” a television program that Mr. Paranchothy played host to last November, which honoured Tamil Tiger “heroes” and “freedom fighters” killed in the militant group’s separatist war in Sri Lanka. The Conservatives listed the Tigers, who relied on a large Canadian support base for funding, as a terrorist group in 2006.

“It was a tribute and it’s unacceptable even if he didn’t write it, even if he didn’t believe it,” Mr. Kent said in the initial Globe interview, adding that his party “obviously dropped the ball” when it cleared Mr. Paranchothy to run in Toronto’s Scarborough-Southwest riding.'

Peter Kent was brave for speaking his mind initially, but he's no doubt paid the price of free judgment and personal expression in Harper nation. What a backdown! How humiliating!

As we battle it out for anti-Conservative votes with the NDP, let's not forget who our real opponent is in this election. Stephen Harper must be removed from office as soon as possible.

Shades of Ontario 1990: let's hope this flirtation with Dippers ends this week...

2011-04-23T18:36:00.002-04:00

This past week's flirtation with the NDP in Quebec and perhaps elsewhere reminds me of Ontario's flirtation with the NDP in 1990. Quebecers have never experienced life under NDP rule. Ontarians did from 1990 to 1995, and it wasn't overly pretty: an idealistic platform of expensive promises were quickly abandoned after the Ontario NDP came to power and it went downhill from there. I'll spare you the history lesson, but it's safe to say that Ontarians have no illusions about the NDP anymore, unlike our Quebecois neighbours.

Jack Layton is a decent, hard-working man with the polished charisma one would expect from a career politician. I can't criticize him as a person and obviously he's talented at what he does. But he's not offering a serious governing option to Canadians in 2011. Check out this recent Jeffrey Simpson article for more evidence.

I'm afraid a strengthened NDP in this election (coupled with a Liberal result that barely moves up from the 2008 result) will only make the removal of Stephen Harper and his Conservatives further delayed. Worse, it could pave the way to a Harper majority.

It's time for those who oppose Harper to get serious and vote for an actual alternative government. In this election, that's Michael Ignatieff's Liberal Party, who have done the work to present a platform that is balanced, progressive and costed.

It's easy to appeal to voters when you are untried and untested and are offering pie-in-the-sky platitudes that soothe our progressive hearts and fantasies. But this is not the NDP of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and even Nova Scotia provincial politics. This is still the pre-1990 Ontario NDP with a bunch of promises, an appealing leader and a record free of experience.

If the NDP win a breakthrough in Quebec in this election and take down the Bloc a peg or two, that will be momentarily interesting to watch. But it'll also further deepen the schism that runs through Canada's opposition parties and helps ensure repeated Conservative victories. In an ideal world, we'd have one federalist, progressive alternative to the Conservatives called the Liberal Democrats, with credibility and support across the entire country. Our nation's progressive bent would ensure this new party beats the Conservatives more than not.

But of course, it's not clear how that could ever happen. If the NDP wins a breakthrough in this election, why would they want to abandon their party and merge it with the Liberals? I fear the only thing that could bring about such a merger would be repeated Conservative majority wins, and I don't want to see that happen to our country.

The Liberal Party of Canada's success in the 1990s and early 2000s was built largely on a weak NDP with barely 10 per cent support (and of course a divided conservative movement). Since Jack Layton became NDP leader, the Liberals have had a difficult time beating those pesky Conservatives because huge chunks of the progressive left have opted out of choosing a real governing option. It seems the only way for the Liberals to one day beat the Conservatives on their own is with a suppressed NDP vote. That was certainly the goal of the Liberal campaign in this election.

Sadly, Layton's beaming smile has screwed that option (at least this week.)

We'll see how this all works out.

What's happening with the NDP???!

2011-04-21T23:43:00.005-04:00

I'm as shocked as anyone at the sudden, apparent surge of the New Democrats in Quebec.

It makes sense the NDP would eventually win appeal with Quebecers. Jack Layton is a native son and he's been organizing there for years and it's paying off. We've always known that Quebec is the most socialist/progressive of the 10 provinces. And now, due to the unique circumstances of 2011, the NDP has managed to find a window into the hearts of many Quebecois voters. If the NDP manage to hang on to this lead in the Quebec popular vote, this'll signal a historic breakthrough, one that changes federal politics forever. It's also nice to see a populist wave coming from the left for a change.

Michael Ignatieff is still in this, but this election is now completely up in the air...

Please feel free to share your thoughts to make sense of all this:

Thoughts at the half-way point: Harper blowing Ontario, Ignatieff has the most growth potential...

2011-04-16T14:53:00.008-04:00

The federal campaign is now at its half-way point. Let me share some thoughts.

The Daily Nanos rolling overnight polls show little change in the last two days and everyone is saying public opinion isn't budging. Remember the good old days when polls came out once a week and therefore did pick up on changes more clearly? Today, if a party goes up 0.4% in the overnight tracking, the pundits say they've got momentum.

The 62 per cent of Canadians not impressed by Stephen Harper before this election remain unimpressed. Once again, Harper's many negatives are turning people away and his support can't seem to rise above the 38% he had last time. The weight of Tory scandals and missteps in government seem to be overpowering whatever strengths Harper is showing on the campaign trail. Harper's improvements are proving to be too subtle or unconvincing to overpower what is already too firmly established a brand. Recent reminders of G8 overspending and the mistreatment of Helena Guergis merely reinforce our collective hesitation to give this guy the ultimate power he so clearly craves.

Harper is tanking a bit in Ontario. Throwing out a student from a rally in London because of her Facebook page probably played worse in that region than anywhere else because it was in their own backyard. The same goes in Guelph where the Tories tried and failed to disallow hundreds of student votes. The recent G8 spending spree scandal has also reminded voters in Ontario and particularly the Greater Toronto Region of Conservative missteps and incompetence. Now the Helena Guergis affair in Simcoe-Grey, right in the heart of Tory country, reminds voters of Stephen Harper's less-than-stellar judgment. It also turns off many women who mostly see a new mother badly beaten up by her former boss.

None of these things help create momentum for the Tories. Quite the contrary, they create an environment in which Tories in close ridings lose seats, particularly around the GTA.

This creates a huge opportunity for the Ignatieff Grits to make gains in Ontario.

At the same time, while Michael Ignatieff has impressed many in the Liberal base during this election, he has yet to seal the deal with many outside the big red tent. Although I do believe he has begun that process having put in a strong effort thus far. The Liberal platform is solid and speaks to the voters he hopes to win over. Liberal attacks on Tory incompetence and arrogance are resonating, particularly in places the Grits know they can win back seats. Ignatieff is a leader on the rise in this campaign. It's just a question of how many voters he can win over in the next two weeks. Many progressive Canadians currently in the NDP camp are very tempted to vote Liberal on May 2nd.

The slight uptick in support for the NDP after the debates shows there's a healthy dose of progressiveness in the Canadian electorate. But I think those progressive votes are still in flux. They could go either Liberal or NDP in this race. The question for Michael Ignatieff: how best to win them over into his camp by voting day?

Nanos and other polls also show a drop in B.C. for the Tories of about 5 to 10 points from 2008. The main beneficiary in B.C. is the Liberal Party, who are up eight to 10 points, while the NDP is largely stagnant. That would translate into Tory losses, both to the Liberals and the NDP, not gains. If Ujjal Dosanjh can win Vancouver South for the Liberals in 2008 when his party only got 19% of the vote, how well will he do with the Grits at 27 per cent? Probably much better. No, in fact, based on what we're seeing today in B.C. polls, ridings like West Vancouver, Surrey North and probably even Saanich-Gulf-Islands are in trouble for the Tories.

The NDP growth in polls this week in Quebec will likely not last until election day for two major reasons: the NDP doesn't have the organization on the ground to identify that vote, nurture it and get it to the polls on election day, and two, many voters realize that voting NDP will likely produce little except a smaller margin of victory for one of the other three major parties in their riding. Peaking two weeks before voting day is something the NDP does best. I'm sure the NDP will increase their vote in Quebec on May 2nd from 2008, but it won't be anywhere near as high as they are polling now.

Ignatieff appears to have won the campaign in the first two weeks, only to come up a bit short in the leaders' debates in which Layton, Duceppe and Harper stole some of his thunder, although I still contend Ignatieff did an excellent job in both debates.

But the debates won't decide the outcome of this race. Two weeks is an eternity in politics. We can now expect Ignatieff to up his campaign performance. If he continues to perform as well as he did at this Sudbury rally, we should expect the Liberal vote to rise back up into the 30s and momentum to shift back to him as the best option for Canadians looking to cast a ballot against the Harper Conservatives.

My advice to Ignatieff: let his negative ads continue to bash Harper on his record of incompetence and dishonesty, particularly on health care. But on the campaign trail, Ignatieff should focus squarely on emphasizing that he and the Liberals have the best plan and vision for taking the country forward. To the average progressive Canadian, it's already extremely clear that the Liberals are the best positioned to beat the Tories. We don't need to hear the old maxim that 'Voting NDP is like voting for the Tories' again. That argument grates on ears and actually turns away more voters than it attracts. No one wants to hear they don't have a choice in this election except to vote Liberal. It sounds desperate.

Instead, Ignatieff should focus on his positive vision and his plan for the country, how an Ignatieff government would be better for Canada than another Harper government. Ignatieff has carefully laid the groundwork for this argument with his platform and message. Now it's time to hammer that message home. I think he's more than up to it.

Yes, Ignatieff should go positive on his vision for the country in the next two weeks. If he does that, the big red tent will get bigger and bigger...

Ignatieff tells Harper what leadership is all about

2011-04-13T08:40:00.000-04:00

This was another great moment last night when we finally got to see Stephen Harper get a little truth about leadership from Michael Ignatieff. Play it often.

Great moment (among many) by Ignatieff in tonight's debate...

2011-04-12T23:26:00.000-04:00

While watching the post-debate spin tonight on CBC and CTV, I asked myself: 'Were we watching the same debate?'

Ignore the spin doctors. Watch for yourself one of Ignatieff's many great moments tonight.

Debate draw...Ignatieff exceeds expectations with many voters.

2011-04-12T22:39:00.004-04:00

Watching tonight's debate left me invigorated with Michael Ignatieff's performance and leadership. I applauded with joy his many zingers and take-downs of Stephen Harper and his record. He made the case this Harper government has got to go.

He also put forth eloquently the many reasons why the Liberals are the best alternative government. If he has anything more to do now in the next 2.5 weeks, it's to firmly convince Canadians he's got a credible and, indeed, better program for taking the country forward. And he's the best guy to lead it.

All the leaders did well tonight. Harper suffered considerable blows and I don't think convinced anyone not already leaning toward him to support him. Layton reassured traditional New Democrats to continue to back the party, but I still think his vote will go down to 15/16%. Duceppe was again the welcome voice of objectivity and considerably hurt Harper tonight, especially by reminding viewers of Harper's hypocrisy on minority governments in 2004.

Ignatieff looked prime ministerial and deeply thoughtful; he was the most human of the candidates. Harper was Harper. Layton was a salesman.

Now the main issue of the election will become: what would Harper do with a majority government? And do you really want one? I'd guess that more than 60% of Canadians will continue to NOT want one on May 2nd.

Harper G8 deception...

2011-04-12T09:01:00.002-04:00

Kudos to where they are due: Joe Warmington in Sun Media today.

“We found that money expended for the G8 infrastructure projects under the Border Infrastructure Fund were approved by Parliament without any indication that $50-million of the appropriations for border congestion reduction would be spent on G8 legacy projects,” she wrote in a leaked document. “In our opinion, Parliament was misinformed.”

What would happen if you misinformed them on your tax form?

Meanwhile, despite these assertions, the government is not being beaten with batons, strip searched, kettled and — against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — locked up with no proper charges in a makeshift gulag for allegations like blowing bubbles?

And the public is skeptical about real repercussions while it pays $1.30 a litre for gas and struggles to feed their families without any help from a $50-million slush fund of their own cash."

Did the Tories delay Ignatieff's wife's immigration approval for political reasons?

2011-04-09T01:13:00.005-04:00

Would it be too sneaky for Stephen Harper and his Immigration minister, Jason Kenney, to purposely delay final approval of Zsuzsanna Zsohar's immigration application so that the Conservatives could try to make it an issue against Michael Ignatieff in this election campaign? No, surely, Harper wouldn't stoop that low...?

Harper answers his critics on chickening out of Ignatieff debate...

2011-04-03T15:42:00.000-04:00

With answers like these, this election is over! lol

Chicken shit Harper misses his debate train...

2011-04-03T14:26:00.006-04:00

Clearly, Stephen Harper thinks Canadians are idiots who can't even remember what he said last week. Here are the facts: Harper challenged Ignatieff to a one-on-one debate. Ignatieff agreed to it. Then Harper chickened out.

Now Harper's hoping Canadians weren't listening or will forget his chicken-shit cop out.

He now says the television networks are setting his debating priorities this election and he can't do anything about it.

"The train has left the station," the Conservative leader told reporters in Ottawa on Sunday. "The networks made their decision and we have accepted their decision."

The networks also want more than four questions per day to Harper on this campaign trail. Will Harper be accepting their decision on that issue too?

Harper thinks Canadians are fools.

Ignatieff wows at townhall in London ON

2011-04-02T13:35:00.000-04:00

If he keeps this up, he will win on May 2nd!

MEMO TO ELECTION REPORTERS: 'Why wouldn't Harper just prorogue Parliament again to stop 'inevitable' coalition?'

2011-03-29T01:07:00.006-04:00

Inquiring minds want to know if Stephen Harper has ruled out proroguing Parliament again like he did in 2008 to stop an opposition coalition from taking over? He claims such a coalition is inevitable if he only wins a minority of seats this election. Why would he not just prorogue again to stop it?

Ignatieff: "We categorically rule out a coalition or formal arrangement with the Bloc Québécois."

2011-03-26T13:00:00.002-04:00

The Liberal Party won't try to form a coalition with any other party, Leader Michael Ignatieff promised Saturday.

Ignatieff tried to pre-empt possible questions from the media — and criticism by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper — by releasing a written statement about 45 minutes before he was due to kick off his campaign on Parliament Hill.

"We will not enter a coalition with other federalist parties," Ignatieff said in the statement. "In our system, coalitions are a legitimate constitutional option. However, I believe that issue-by-issue collaboration with other parties is the best way for minority Parliaments to function."

"We categorically rule out a coalition or formal arrangement with the Bloc Québécois."

Ignatieff says if Canada faces a minority parliament after the election, he'll work issue by issue with other parties.

This leaves Stephen Harper the only leader lying to Canadians about (his 2004 love of) coalitions.

Ignatieff should rule out a coalition with the Bloc...

2011-03-24T23:40:00.002-04:00

Some free advice for the federal Grits:

In response to the next question on the coalition, Michael Ignatieff should answer: I'll never form a coalition agreement with the Bloc or lead a government that depends on support from the Bloc Quebecois. Ignatieff should also agree the party with the most seats gets the first chance to form a government.

But of course, Ignatieff should say his main goal remains to form a majority Liberal government. None of these questions of political uncertainty will matter if the Liberals win a majority government.

And leave it at that...

Guy Giorno's BIG LIE: Another Tory minority in 2011 could stop coalition just like in 2008...

2011-03-23T15:25:00.004-04:00

Yes, it looks like a big theme in the upcoming Tory election campaign will be: vote Tory and give us a majority because otherwise the opposition parties will form a coalition with the Bloc Quebecois and the country will go to hell...yada yada yada...

If this logic were true, we'd have a coalition government right now. But we don't. Why not? Because Stephen Harper, as leader of a minority Conservative government in 2008 faced with possible defeat to a coalition, prorogued Parliament. The move killed the coalition in its tracks.

If it worked in 2008, why wouldn't Harper just shut down Parliament again this year should he win another minority in the upcoming election and be faced with this 'inevitable' coalition?

And more importantly, why aren't more reporters asking the Tories this question today? When will the media do their jobs and ask these Tories these tough questions before they continue to spin this bunk?

Justin Trudeau shows very poor judgment...

2011-03-15T00:57:00.005-04:00

So much for the political judgment of Justin Trudeau. This was pretty daft on his part, I must say. Sometimes, opposition critics feel the need to criticize the government for the sake of criticizing. This should not have been one of those times.

Honour killings are barbaric and putting that in a document outlining Canadian values to new immigrants is perfectly acceptable, in my opinion.

I'm also glad that gay marriages are finally mentioned in this citizenship guide. It's about time!

********** UPDATE

Finally, some better thought-out comments from Trudeau today lessens the damage from yesterday's musings: “My problem with the use of the word barbaric is that it was chosen to reassure Canadians rather than actually change unacceptable behaviours,” he said on Twitter.

“The subjective value loaded into that word makes it easy to dismiss as an insult, rather than a statement of basic, simple fact,” he added.

Instead, he suggested describing such acts as “totally unacceptable,” a phrase he says is “clear, strong, and objective, without being ‘us civilized, you not.’”

On that front, he is making some sense. The Harperites have cut funding to women's groups and the kinds of community organizations in minority communities that help women escape domestic violence. It is typical of Conservatives to use 'pejorative' language to attack a problem, but then do little to nothing to actually deal with it.

Added a senior Ignatieff official today on this issue: “It’s disappointing that the Conservatives think that a mention of violence against women in this guide is a sufficient strategy to actually combat violence against women...If Stephen Harper claims to be concerned about violence against women, why has his government refused to develop a National Violence Against Women Prevention Strategy that the House of Commons unanimously endorsed in 2008?”

Harper's as bad as you feared: "Name change for 'Government of Canada'"

2011-03-05T01:19:00.003-05:00

What would happen to this strange, power-hungry personality that is our PM should he be given majority power over our beautiful country?

A lovely victory for transgendered rights in Canada

2011-02-10T20:53:00.002-05:00

The Canadian House of Commons passed a private member's bill yesterday - February 9, 2011 - by a narrow vote of 143 to 135 to provide protection against discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act to transgendered and transsexual citizens. It was a historic day, indeed.

A close friend of mine is a F-to-M transsexual which has made the issue personal for me. I continue to be stunned by the willingness of so many conservatives to remain ignorant on this and other issues. That explains the narrow vote, with ignorant Stephen Harper and most Conservative MPs (and sadly a handful of socially conservative Liberals) leading the charge to ensure a very vulnerable group in our society continues to live without protection from discrimination. This followed yet another despicable campaign by bigot Charles McVety to mislead Canadians about the nature of the bill. It's always the same story - passage of human rights protection will somehow lead to catastrophe, these types argue. They can be assured that transsexuals are already using public washrooms and nothing in this bill will change that. Shame on all those bigots.

As John Ibbitson writes in the Globe, it was a moral victory for the transgendered and transsexual communities and those who support true equality. Sadly, Harper, ever the enemy of democracy, will likely use his unelected stooges in the Senate to deny the bill passage into law (if an election call doesn't kill the bill first.)

Yes, we have yet another reason to remove Stephen Harper from office as soon as possible. The next election can't come soon enough!

Congrats to NDP MP Bill Siksay for sponsoring the bill. Congrats to all the MPs, including Tories John Baird, Lawrence Cannon, Lisa Raitt and James Moore and many others, who supported it. A special thank you to Marlene Jennings who took on the falsehoods pushed by bigot McVety with typical gusto. I love her.

Greedy Scotiabank, despite tax cuts, gouges customers and drives this fed up customer away

2011-02-10T09:23:00.009-05:00

I've been a longtime Scotiabank customer. I switched from CIBC over a decade ago because CIBC refused to allow access to its ATM machines outside working hours at its Carlton/Church location in downtown Toronto at the time due to concerns about homeless people sleeping inside its location at night. I was also impressed that Scotia was the only one of five Canadian banks not to try to merge during the 1990s.

However, my relationship with Scotiabank is coming to an end, at least when it comes to my regular chequing account. Why? Despite the generous corporate tax cuts provided by the Stephen Harper government, lowering all corporate taxes again on January 1st from 18% to 16.5%, borrowing from the country's children and grandchildren to pay for them, Scotia has decided to gouge its customers yet again.

On February 1st, Scotiabank increased its monthly charge for a basic banking plan to $8.95 from $7, a 27 per cent increase. At the same time, the number of debit transactions covered by the monthly fee fell to 25 from 30. The monthly fee for the Scotia One Account, which offers an unlimited number of transactions went up to $11.95 from $9.95, a 20 per cent increase. CIBC is similarly gouging its customers.

These monthly fees on accounts with barely anything in them on a regular basis (at least in my case) have recently been major irritants at $7 plus more if you exceed 30 transactions. Now at $8.95 a month plus more if you have more than 25 transactions in that month, they're intolerable.

I, of course, didn't find out about these fee increases from Scotiabank. I had to read about them in the Toronto Star yesterday, nine days into February. The changes also include a whopping jump to 19% on overdraft payments, up from about prime + 5.0. This is practically theft to customers who might've been in overdraft after February 1st, but weren't made aware of the fact that Scotia had more than doubled the percentage they were charging on those overdraft amounts.

Scott Tribe adds his thoughts on the same subject here.

There seems to be a sense among many in the corporate world that the hard-working, middle class is an endless tap from which millions of dollars can be sucked at will. Scotiabank, Canada's third-biggest lender, earned $1.1 billion just in the third quarter last year. That compared with a profit of $902 million in the same period in 2009.

This is not a corporation that needed a tax cut on January 1st of this year of 1.5%, one month before it would go back to long-time customers and gouge them for more!

I've had enough. I'm closing my Scotia chequing account and opening a new account at PC Financial which doesn't gouge its customers every month with a monthly fee. They even offer a tiny bit of interest on money in these accounts every month, unlike Scotia and other big banks.

I hope more customers of the major banks follow suit and close their basic accounts to move to institutions that are less disgustingly greedy and more respectful of their hard-working customers in these difficult times. ING Direct also offers chequing accounts with zero monthly fees plus a bit of interest on balances.

These are the big corporations that Stephen Harper and his minions call 'job creators', deserving of tax cuts on January 1st while the rest of us saw our monthly payroll deductions increase.

My father always used to say: 'The Conservatives are the party of the rich and the party of big business.' He was right. We need a new government in Ottawa as soon as possible, one that is on our side, not these endlessly greedy, gouging big banks!

Latest sleazy ads prove Harper Tories rotten to the core...

2011-01-28T00:48:00.005-05:00

The latest sleazy ads taking Michael Ignatieff's words completely out of context prove Harper Tories are rotten to the core. There is no moral compass left. You can read about them here.

I AM VERY ANGRY!

These Tory scumbags deserve to be thrown in the trash along with all their supporters for a generation! Shame on those still planning to vote for these assholes!

The only cure is to cut out the cancer that is Stephen Harper from Canadian political life. As soon as possible!

************UPDATE January 28, 2011

The ads have been pulled due to the massively negative backlash. The Harper Tories may be rotten, but perhaps not completely to the core.

Would Harper prorogue Parliament again to stop NDP-Liberal coalition after 2011/12 election?

2011-01-24T12:52:00.003-05:00

Reading Chantal Hebert's article today in the Star got me thinking about an important question that I have not yet heard asked of Prime Minister Stephen Harper: if a coalition agreement between the NDP and Liberals is inevitable if his Conservatives fail to win a majority government in the next campaign, would he pull the same trick and prorogue Parliament again like he did in 2008?

Harper's incessant warnings about the coalition boogeyman have become increasingly annoying, particularly to the many Canadians who understand that such arrangements are completely fair and democratic. Most countries in Europe are frequently governed by coalitions between parties, including Great Britain at the moment.

It's now clear that the Harper Tories intend to make stopping a Liberal-NDP coalition a centrepiece of their next campaign, arguing that only a Tory majority can stop it from happening.

But history proves Harper a liar. In 2008, when just such a coalition was proposed, Harper stopped it in its tracks by demanding the Governor General prorogue parliament. After much over-the-top, anti-separatist rhetoric, Harper turned around public opinion against the proposed coalition and lived to fight another day (two more years at least, in fact.)

I hope every journalist and political reporter asks Harper point blank the next time he makes his anti-coalition warning in the upcoming federal campaign: if the Tories fail to win a majority and this alleged NDP-Liberal coalition starts to take shape, why wouldn't he just shut down Parliament again as he did in 2008 to stop it? If shutting the people's parliament was good enough in 2008 to stop the socialist-separatist-Liberal coalition, why wouldn't it also be good enough in 2011 or 2012?

GSA ban lifted by Halton Catholic school board

2011-01-19T12:52:00.002-05:00

Xtra is reporting some great news from last night's Halton Catholic board meeting: the ill-advised ban on gay-straight alliances (GSAs) has been lifted.

"In a 6-2 vote, trustees decided to rescind the ban and shelve their equity and inclusive education policy. While a new policy is drafted, the board will use the Catholic 'template,' a version of Ontario’s equity policy that’s written specifically for English Catholic boards by the Ontario Education Services Corporation. Originally Halton wasn't satisfied with the Catholic template, so they made a few edits when they quietly passed the policy in November, such as removing the terms 'sexual orientation' and 'gender.' That's when they also added the ban on GSAs.

When asked by Xtra whether or not the board will allow groups to be called gay-straight alliance clubs, board chair Alice Anne LeMay refused to answer the question.

“I can’t answer that tonight. The policy will go to senior administration and will be implemented in the schools,” she says.'

Congrats to the board for correcting its error. I hope their new equity policy doesn't fail LGBT students the way their last policy did. I agree with local Halton Catholic student James Hopkins, who says he plans to take the fight to Queen’s Park to pressure the Ministry of Education to push for one equity and inclusive education policy for all school boards, Catholic and public.

“See the little faggot..." lyrics get 'Money for Nothing' banned from Cdn radio

2011-01-13T19:21:00.003-05:00

I hated and resented the Dire Straits’ song ‘Money For Nothing’ when it was released in 1985 and I still do. Mind you, I had little time for that kind of rock music back then. Today, I’ve grown to slowly admire the genre. But not this song. Why? Because it blatantly and without apology used a vicious slur against gay men, and did so in a way that was as mainstream as you could get in 1985. It even won Dire Straits some awards for their work.

I'm not knocking Dire Straits' talent. There's some great guitar music in 'Money for Nothing' for sure.

To all those folks up in arms over today’s ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, I say: “Let it go! There’s plenty of great classic rock out there without hateful lyrics. Listen to something else on the radio!”

And if you simply can't go without hearing the lovely lyrics, "See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup. Yeah buddy that's his own hair. That little faggot got his own jet airplane. That little faggot he's a millionaire," then play it on your iPod to your crass heart's content.

‘Faggot’ is a heinous slur against all gay men that should never be used, except in appropriate contexts. It’s the gay equivalent of the word, ‘n*gger’.

The Dire Straits song was reportedly written in the first person by songwriter Mark Knopfler from the mindset of some regular working class dudes he once saw working in a retail store selling refrigerators, TVs, etc. In the song, one such guy watches MTV on one of the TVs in the store and starts making observations of the people they’re seeing on the music network: "See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup. Yeah buddy that's his own hair. That little faggot got his own jet airplane. That little faggot he's a millionaire."

Sure it's supposed to be a characterization and not a literal attack by the song's writer on gay men (or effeminate, successful male musicians appearing in videos in the 1980s). There's little doubt in my mind the irony the songwriter claims to have meant with the lyrics was lost on most fans. Even if we accept the fact that the lyrics are unintentionally hateful (which I don't), it doesn't take away the fact that many straight guys I knew who loved this song were quite happy to sing along to it, often putting particular emphasis on the term ‘little faggot’. The song gave them even more permission than they already had to hate 'faggots.'

I doubt that Mark Knopfler was innocent here. Even he seems to have acknowledged it was an unacceptable slur as he's frequently sung the song in concert since, replacing 'faggot' with 'queenie' or some more innocuous word. 'Queenie' is still pretty homophobic.

The 1980s (and all periods before it) were virulently homophobic times. Gays were not even offered basic protections from discrimination in housing or employment in most parts of Canada at the time. Being gay meant inevitably facing frequent attacks, mostly verbal and sometimes violent. (In most parts of the world, this is still the case.) On top of that, we had Mark Knopfler adding his little phrase: “See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup...” to mainstream dialogue.

This is a song I’d like to forget. I’m all for playing censored versions of it that replace the word ‘faggot’ with something preferably non-homophobic on Canadian radio. And of course, I don’t care what people play in the privacy of their own homes or in clubs, etc.

How many movies have you watched on television which were edited to remove the profanity? Not every word is appropriate to be broadcast on the air waves.

The ugly face of the Conservative Party of Canada starts to show again...

2011-01-11T21:07:00.007-05:00

The misinformation from the religious right, well-represented in Stephen Harper's Conservative caucus, has already started after yesterday's ruling by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal that public servants don't have the right to discriminate against same-sex couples seeking to legally marry.

"The Court has hereby belittled religious faith by writing it off as something 'you do in your head or on weekends' without it impacting all of a person’s life," Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott wrote to the province’s Justice Minister Don Morgan Tuesday.

"It’s a serious misunderstanding of Christian faith or any faith for that matter," Vellacott told QMI Agency in an interview.

"The inference here (is) you can hold these beliefs and freedom to worship just long as it doesn't affect your life or how you live out your life. And that obviously is a serious problem," he said. "It sets up a hierarchy of rights saying these same-sex rights are more important than freedom of conscience and religion."

Wrong. The ruling simply re-affirms that public servants, paid with public dollars, cannot discriminate against members of the public based on their personal biases, be they religious or otherwise. It is the duty of such public servants to adhere to the law and treat all equally. Civil marriage commissioners must be willing to perform the ceremony for any who qualify. Refusing to follow that law is a violation of the job's responsibilities. What Vellacott and others seem to want is the ability to openly and defiantly discriminate against gay people in all areas of life whenever it suits them. They want religious people to be above the law. They want religious people to, in fact, have special status under the law.

I support yesterday's ruling. I do think there can be some compromises on this issue that allow marriage commissioners who oppose same sex marriage on religious grounds to keep their jobs. Perhaps Ontario's "single entry point" system is the best solution. In that system, those looking for a marriage commissioner get one list if they're a heterosexual couple and another list if they're a same-sex couple.

However, some folks in this case simply don't get it and seemingly never will. For them, they see no contradiction between holding a public office in a secular state and discriminating against LGBT people seeking to exercise their rights in that secular state. For them, their personal faith trumps all others' rights. This argument has dangerous implications if taken to their full extent, something they conveniently ignore. We could soon see male Muslim doctors refuse to treat women. We could soon see anyone who claims to have religious faith exercise mass forms of discrimination and indignity and have it all be justified as they were, they say, practising their faith.

Says Larry Bjerland, the Saskatchewan marriage commissioner at the centre of this case: "I do not intend to marry any gay couples and so, therefore, I’m not going to resign. They’ll have to fire me."

Perhaps they will fire him. Or perhaps they'll design a smart system which allows same sex couples to get the service they're entitled to get, while still allow folks like Bjerland to keep their positions. We shall see.

The vast majority of Canadians support equal treatment under the law for all, including LGBT people. They understand fully that public servants must provide service to all members of the public without discrimination. Religious people are free as ever to practise their faith as they see fit, except when doing so in the public sphere circumvents the rights of others. The state still has no jurisdiction in the churches of the nation.

Message to Halton Catholics: Banning gay-straight alliances promotes bullying, anti-gay discrimination

2011-01-10T19:39:00.006-05:00

Shame on yet another Catholic school board stuck with its collective head up its arse, more worried about offending Pope Benedict in Rome than helping isolated, closeted teens in their care avoid violence and discrimination.

Added shame on Halton Catholic school board chair Alice Anne LeMay for her ill-advised comments defending a ban on gay-straight alliances in Halton Catholic schools, for which she's awkwardly and unconvincingly apologized.

We know that our high schools across Canada and elsewhere continue to be hotbeds of intolerance and bullying. Some leaders have taken action to counter that violence and intimidation.

But teenagers being teenagers will continue to harass and belittle their fellow schoolmates like they always do without strong leadership from the top telling them it's wrong.

To think, an out, gay, Catholic student living in Halton might ask that s/he and her/his straight friends be allowed to form a gay-straight alliance (GSA) in their high school and they'd be turned down flat because the Halton Catholic board believes such groups are harmful and, “don’t fall within the teachings of the Catholic church.”

Disgusting. Especially considering that by banning groups that promote tolerance and acceptance, you are, in fact, sending a message to all the students in your care that tolerating and accepting homosexuals is not cool. You don't ban something unless there is something wrong with it, no? As if high schoolers need more reasons to be homophobic and to harass gay students or students they suspect might be gay. The Halton Catholic board has just given them another reason to pick on that slightly queer, artsy boy in their midst who now has few places to turn for help.

These incidents merely increase my desire to see the whole god-damned Catholic school system shut down in this province for good! If you refuse to protect the dignity of your most vulnerable students, you are abdicating your responsibilities as educators and you have no business running anything resembling a school system. One secular, public board for all is what Ontario needs!

*******UPDATE

Here's a Facebook group set up to 'Fight the Halton Catholic School Board's Ban on Gay Straight Alliances.'

And here's an online petition to 'Tell the Halton Catholic District School Board to lift ban on Gay-Straight Alliances.'

U.S. Senate votes 65-31 to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't tell"

2010-12-18T15:35:00.003-05:00

It's a beautiful and historic day for equality rights for LGBT citizens in America! The U.S. Senate has just voted 65 to 31 to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' which was the policy adopted in the 1990s banning openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. military. The law now goes to President Obama's desk for final approval, which it will get hopefully quickly.

My faith in Americans to do the right thing for their LGBT citizens has long been shaken, with all the recent referenda and votes to ban equal marriage. But today, it's great to see a victory for my American LGBT friends and others who support true equality.

A court ruling in Canada in the early 1990s led to the end of our ban on openly LGBT solders in the Canadian military. It's nice to see the Americans finally catch up with us on this important issue.

Bigot McVety's big mouth gets his show pulled from CTS...

2010-12-10T13:20:00.006-05:00

Ah, the sweet taste of justice! As most readers will already understand, Charles McVety is an outspoken bigot. His words, broadcasted last year on his CTS show, Word TV, have finally gotten him into trouble with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council who have found him in violation of broadcasting codes for statements that implied there was a "malevolent, insidious and conspiratorial purpose" to the activities of homosexuals.

The report said McVety violated sections of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters code of ethics, particularly the clause that calls for "full, fair and proper representation." You can read full details on the report here.

Infamous for his constant, unrelenting, and bigoted attacks on the LGBT community, and his disgusting and frequent access to our Prime Minister's ear and office (not to mention his great power to influence federal Conservative government policy), I'm sure McVety will rail against this decision as unfair and a violation of his freedom of speech. Of course, our free speech laws don't give anyone the right to peddle hatred and lies over the air waves so I'm quite pleased with this decision to shut the bigot McVety down.

I hope Dalton McGuinty grows a spine and stops listening to this bigot when it comes to setting our school curriculum (although sadly I won't be holding my breath). Homosexuality is a natural part of the human condition and our high schools are, undoubtedly, still hotbeds of homophobic bullying today. That we leave our young queer students alone to suffer in these violent conditions is evil, and surely something that brings a smile to McVety's face. Expanding knowledge of the reality of this world (not McVety's hocus pocus version of it) including the existence of gay and lesbian people is long overdue in our school curriculum in Ontario, Mr. McGuinty.

I hope the mainstream Canadian media (including the National Post) thinks twice before quoting McVety ad nauseum again on some social issue in future.

And I truly hope his hate-peddling T.V. show never sees the light of day in this country again.

Happy to be a 'Pinko' cyclist in anti-mayor Ford's Toronto

2010-12-07T17:48:00.002-05:00

Respect for taxpayers? There was nothing resembling 'respect' emanating from City Hall today, that's for sure. I did hear many shrieks of shame and buyers' remorse from ordinary Torontonians.

Said national embarrassment Don Cherry while introducing anti-mayor Ford today: "I’m wearing pinko for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything...Put that in your pipes you left-wing kooks."

Talk about a great beginning to the four-year gong show that will be anti-mayor Ford's reign of error. Great job, Don!

I rode on my bicycle for 6.6 kms to work today in below freezing weather. I'm more of a man than Rob Ford and Don Cherry (in their cozy limousines, no doubt) will ever be. Stick that in your pipe, you fascist kooks!

December 6th remembered: Tories would win majority and wipe out gun control legacy?

2010-12-06T21:44:00.003-05:00

Am I the only one who found the timing of this political report by Nik Nanos to be quite inappropriate? It's been 21 years (I still remember watching the initial reports on the news as a teenager) since 14 women were murdered at École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec by a man with a long gun. This tragedy became the impetus for passing stronger gun control laws in this country, including the much-needed long-gun registry.

The last thing we needed to hear today (even if I don't believe the analysis) was that our misguided Prime Minister Stephen Harper could win a majority government were an election held today and subsequently wipe out our gun control laws. I pray this terrible result never occurs.

On this day of remembrance, I remind you of the names of the 14 women who lost their lives 21 years ago today in Montreal:

* Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
* Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
* Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
* Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
* Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
* Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
* Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
* Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
* Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
* Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
* Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student

Major win for Liberals in Western Canada! Fantino squeaker proves backlash against Harper tactics...

2010-11-30T01:28:00.004-05:00

Tonight's three byelection results are available here. The Fantino win was expected, but not this squeaker. If Fantino held a huge lead in internal polls months ago, it's clear the centrally-run, "peek-a-boo" campaign run for Fantino out of Harper's PMO almost cost him the election.

I'll admit Fantino was the better candidate in Vaughan, but the Grits ran a spirited campaign in Vaughan and their strong result tonight shows there was a major backlash against the Tory campaign (ie. hiding Fantino, not participating in all-candidates' debates, mostly ignoring the media.) The Tory candidate ran much the same campaign in Winnipeg North and her vote collapsed in half. I'm glad to see voters are finding Harper's ways so unappealing.

And with voters in Winnipeg North electing an absolutely incredible local representative in longtime Grit MLA Kevin Lamoureux, it's fair to say the Liberals have something to smile about, despite the loss in Vaughan. The Rob Ford win kind of threw me for a loop, so it's kind of nice to see results that make sense... :-)

Required reading for Vaughan voters: 'Fantino wasn’t ‘there for the little guy’ in Caledonia'

2010-11-27T13:05:00.001-05:00

I've always had grudging respect for Christie Blatchford. I haven't always agreed with her biases. Often, as a partisan Liberal, she's annoyed the hell out of me. But that's what good and fair reporters need to do: sometimes annoy you, sometimes thrill you. If the same reporter can both piss you off on some occasions, and bring smiles on others, then clearly she is doing a good job as a reporter.

I dare say that she's right on the money here when it comes to Julian Fantino. Much of what this unfortunate man has accomplished in his career is completely offensive to me. As London, Ontario police chief, many critics attacked Fantino for turning a child-porn investigation into a witch hunt against local gay men. In Toronto, many say he failed to adequately deal with police force corruption. As head of the OPP, his record on Caledonia is well-documented. It's true: he's no more a friend of the 'little guy' than his would-be boss, Stephen Harper. So it's not surprising Fantino is attracted to Harper's party and government.

I only wish that Greg Sorbara and Dalton McGuinty had thought more clearly before appointing this self-promoting man to so many high-profile positions in the Ontario police hierarchy. It does seem those appointments had more to do with removing a potential Fantino candidacy for the Ontario PCs (presumably against Sorbara himself in Vaughan) than simple merit.

Like attracts like. After posting the biggest deficit in history, after spending over $1 billion on the G8/G20, after fighting tooth and nail to end the long gun registry, after dividing Canadians and regions against regions, after diminishing Canada's standing in the world, the last thing Stephen Harper deserves is to take a seat away from Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

I'll be praying on Monday that the people of Vaughan do the right thing and tell Julian Fantino and Stephen Harper to take a hike.

Ignatieff should call for a parliamentary vote on extending the Afghan mission to 2014.

2010-11-21T21:54:00.007-05:00

There, I said it. It would be in his own best interests and it would be telling Canadians that he values democracy and public input on foreign affairs. It would make his caucus happy. It would show Michael's not afraid to let the people speak.

I do support the extension of the Afghan mission by Canadian Forces melding into a training role starting next year until 2014. We can't abandon the Afghan people when our job isn't finished yet. In 2001, I supported the Afghan invasion. I don't want the deaths of our Canadian soldiers to have been in vain. It's the right thing to do. There would be some division in the Liberal caucus, but in the end, the extension would pass the House with overwhelming Liberal support.

Still no word from QuAIA on my query about gay Saudi man...

2010-11-20T14:59:00.002-05:00

It's been five days since I emailed Queers Against Israeli Apartheid about this tragic story of a gay Saudi man who's been sentenced a man to five years in prison and 500 lashes for having sexual relations with another man.

Perhaps they're short of volunteers at the moment? Despite their focus on the Middle East, perhaps they don't care about injustices outside of Israel's borders? Regardless, I'll continue to wait patiently for this community group, so vocal when it wants to be, to reply to my honest query.

Margaret Atwood's eloquent words on the horrors of (Harper's) conservative Canada...

2010-11-20T14:53:00.002-05:00

Margaret Atwood's eloquent words on the horrors of (Stephen Harper's) conservative Canada are much appreciated:

"She did not spare the current government any pointed criticism, saying they had turned into one that’s all about “airplanes and jails. “The airplanes are useless against the real foes we face, which are scarcity and inequality.”

As for the jails, who will fill them? she asked. “Is it a case of build it and they will come?”

She suspects what they’ll do to fill those jails is just lower the criminal bar so they will have enough people to fill the jails. And then they can say, we told you so.

“Is the big idea really to bankrupt the social welfare system … by spending all of our money on planes and jails?”

Gordon Laxer, director of the Parkland Institute, said at the beginning of the talk that many of us used to proudly wear a Canadian flag on our backpack when we travelled abroad. But no more.

“Canada is on the wrong side of almost every international issue,” he said.

I am disgusted by what our country has become under Stephen Harper's rule.

Saudi Man Gets Five-Year Prison Term, 500 Lashes for Gay Sex, Okaz Reports

2010-11-15T22:03:00.003-05:00

After reading about this tragic story today, I wondered how those queer activists involved in Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) might react to it. One of the biggest criticisms against the group has been the charge QuAIA only attacks alleged Israeli abuses, failing to condemn injustices committed in Arab countries (leaving the group open to accusations of anti-Semitism.) So I sent this email to the group this afternoon. I'll be sure to publish their response here if I get one...

From: Matt Guerin
To: quaia.toronto@gmail.com
Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 3:24:12 PM
Subject: Saudi Man Gets Five-Year Prison Term, 500 Lashes for Gay Sex, Okaz Reports

Dear QuAIA --

Will your group be speaking out against this injustice in Saudi Arabia? If so, when and how? It would be great if your organization challenged and spoke against all injustice and human rights abuses in the Middle East, particularly when it's LGBT people being victimized (and not just targetted one country's abuses while ignoring others.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-08/saudi-man-gets-five-year-prison-term-500-lashes-for-gay-sex-okaz-reports.html

Matt Guerin

After 5 years of psychotic Harper secretiveness, Fantino gives us even more...

2010-11-13T13:01:00.004-05:00

Before Stephen Harper came to power, was it normal to accept this kind of aloof, secretive approach to politics from our federal government? Certainly not. Since when did governing in a democracy mean never speaking with the public, always refusing to answer questions, and routinely, without exception, pulling the wool over our eyes? We have never experienced a federal government this secretive, this openly hostile to public scrutiny.

If the people of Vaughan elect Julian Fantino after answering ZERO questions about his own record or the Harper record, I will be truly disgusted.

Fantino needs to answer for the Harper government's mishandling of the G20 summit including the $1 billion price tag. Did he support the fake lake? Does he support getting rid of the long-gun registry? Does he think families need to go bankrupt in order to care for dying loved ones so that the feds can buy $16 billion PLUS sole-sourced military planes? Fantino also needs to answer for his own record, particularly with the Toronto Police force, where critics charged he failed to adequately deal with police force corruption, as well as his performance during the Caledonia occupation.

Voters have a right to ask these questions and demand answers before voting day. Stephen Harper doesn't think so. I'm tired of this sham of a democracy that Harper is leading. I've already donated some money to Tony Genco's campaign. I am praying that the people of Vaughan do the right thing on November 29th and not blindly endorse our federal dictator's disdain for democracy.

Michael Ignatieff on his vision for Canada

2010-11-01T00:15:00.000-04:00

I must say I love this video. Ignatieff's narrative is starting to take shape and I'm liking it better every day.