It would have been 97,002 if one of my golf buddies (and his girlfriend) had not had a wedding to attend.
He was happy to see his friend get married, but was not shy about explaining to me that there were better weekends to do so (i.e. non-Calgary-Comic-Con weekends).
CanCon music news:
Just came across this video clip while zipping through You Tube. It is Calgary’s very own Lindsay Ell being out on the spot while on a radio show. Considering that she wasn’t born when any of these songs were first recorded and that she’s just kind of winging it, it’s pretty impressive!
We saw Lindsay open for Chris Isaak a couple years go and the kid is a helluva guitar player. We’ve subsequently bought a couple of her albums and been paying close attention to her career ever since.
She’s currently spending her days in Nashville putting the finishing touches on her new album, scheduled to hit this summer, for which her latest single,“Trippin’ On Us,” is already getting some attention on radio and CMT. She describes her sound these days as a combination of Keith Urban, John Mayer and Sheryl Crow and I think that’s pretty close to her sound.
Anyway, I think she’s primed to be the next big thing in the country-pop music genre. She’s got the sound, the look, the talent, and at 25, she’s still a child with room to grow.
One more bonus tune, live from Oslo.
What I’d like to see is getting rid of Ontario’s stupid minimum price for beer.
I’ll drink to that.
It appears Ontario’s headed for election.
Every government, competent or incompetent, eventually reaches a point when it is tired and out of ideas and needs to be replaced. Never in my life have I seen a government more in need of replacing than the Ontario Liberals. The budget they’ve proposed is beyond bad and into laughable; you often hear of budgets being money-throwing in an effort to win votes but this one is the absolute apex of that. It’s just hysterically comical and, as others have point out, it quite literally, in many areas, spends millions upon millions of dollars on one thing and spends millions more on something else intended to have the opposite effect.
Regrettably the other options are not super appealing but hopefully one of them runs a good campaign and wins, because we need, really badly, to change things up.
Fingers are crossed. I’ve been hoping the Liberals would go away for a while now, expect there’s nothing in the wings I find appealing at all. Guess I need to go dig up the party web sites and do some reading before they start sanding off the edges for the non-core supporters
And in other breaking news, overshadowed by the election call, Shawn Atleo has just resigned as National Chief of the AFN.
:(:(:(
Can I assume this had to do with his backing of Bill C-33, the First Nations Education Act?
Effectively - he stated that he no longer wanted to be an “obstacle or a lightning rod for criticism” of the bill. Without getting into the internal politics being played, there’s a lot of regionalism going on.
This came as a real blow and a blindside to the staff, as the National Chief was highly respected in the office.
Next week will be Interesting.
I don’t know anything specifically about aboriginal issues, but I always got the impression Mr Atleo was well-respected and thoughtful. I’m sorry to see him go.
What’s up with this tiff between the PM and the Chief Justice?
Weird huh?
It would seem that having been thwarted by the SC in both his SC appointee and his Senate reform approach that the PMO is opting to throw a small hissy fit by implying the Chief Justice behaved inappropriately. Normally I’d chalk it up to poor communication from the PMO, but innuendo and character assassination against people is de rigueur for the Harper conservatives.
My guess is that this plays to their base who distrust “activist” judges thwarting the “will of the people”.
That’d be a lot more convincing if this string of recent decisions weren’t all unanimous, and half the court his own appointees.
It’s blatant character assassination. Worse, the innuendo that Harper is peddling isn’t even true. He implied (without stating it outright) that the call came after the court case went to the Supreme Court. In fact, the call came before Nadon was even selected by the Conservatives, and was prompted by the Parliamentary committee that was vetting the candidates contacted the Chief Justice.
Maybe I’m drunk, but I’m having a hard time parsing this.
Whose character is being assassinated: Harper’s?
So the supreme court called the PM to discuss potential candidates before the PM even made an appointment? And the PM refused to speak to the SC due to perceived conflict issues? Is this what you’re stating? I believe it is, and I believe it would be a conflict for the PM to get involved at this point.
Unsurprisingly, you’ve chosen to focus on an irrelevant issue. At issue is the fact that Harper implied that Justice McLachlin broke an extremely important ethical rule. From the Globe and Mail:
By the phrasing there, you can see that the Globe fell for it hook, line and sinker. That Harper would choose to directly attack the Chief Justice politically, attempting to force her to resign is deeply troubling.
Look at it this way: if this was such an important ethical breach, why is Harper only making an issue of it nearly a year later?
[QUOTE=The Chief Justice]
In response to recent media reports, the office of the Chief Justice of Canada, the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C. is releasing the following statement.
At no time was there any communication between Chief Justice McLachlin and the government regarding any case before the courts. The facts are as follows:
On April 22, 2013, as a courtesy, the Chief Justice met with the Prime Minister to give him Justice Fish’s retirement letter. As is customary, they briefly discussed the needs of the Supreme Court of Canada.
On July 29, 2013, as part of the usual process the Chief Justice met with the Parliamentary committee regarding the appointment of Justice Fish’s successor. She provided the committee with her views on the needs of the Supreme Court.
On July 31, 2013, the Chief Justice’s office called the Minister of Justice’s office and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Novak, to flag a potential issue regarding the eligibility of a judge of the federal courts to fill a Quebec seat on the Supreme Court. Later that day, the Chief Justice spoke with the Minister of Justice, Mr. MacKay, to flag the potential issue. The Chief Justice’s office also made preliminary inquiries to set up a call or meeting with the Prime Minister, but ultimately the Chief Justice decided not to pursue a call or meeting.
The Chief Justice had no other contact with the government on this issue.
The Chief Justice provided the following statement: “Given the potential impact on the Court, I wished to ensure that the government was aware of the eligibility issue. At no time did I express any opinion as to the merits of the eligibility issue. It is customary for Chief Justices to be consulted during the appointment process and there is nothing inappropriate in raising a potential issue affecting a future appointment.”
[/QUOTE]
I still don’t know what you’re saying. And The Globe and Mail is extremely partisan anyway.
I conclude that I must be drunk.
Rysto is saying that Harper is attempting a character assassination on McLachlin, by stating/implying that the Chief Justice attempted to talk to him about a matter before the court. I confess I can’t see any other way to interpret the PMO’s press release myself, bizarre though it is to think Harper would do that.
Ah. Thanks. OK. And we have no proof one way or the other I assume.