I had to write this somewhere and since this is still nominally my blog, here it goes.

Je suis tannée. This election is at once boring and stupid. We have had Stephen Harper proposing a stupid tax break for families that will never take place because he only wants to do it after he 'slays' the deficit. We have seen Mr. Harper pretending that he works for Tim Horton's as well as pretending to play street hockey in between bouts of playing the piano. Oh he's playing us alright.

Puis, M. Ignatieff is accused of pretending to be from poor immigrant stock (it is the favoured view of Canadians that immigrants are poor, even when this is often not the case). Iggy is also keen on trying to buy off Canadian students by dangling a measly $1000 dollars in front of them to help with tuition. This doesn't apply to those already in university and college though. It also doesn't help with systemic problems in the Canadian education system nor does it help control rising tuition rates in any meaningful way. It is entirely pointless and Mr. Ignatieff knows it.

Et en troisième position, on trouve M. Layton who has decided rather oddly to try to woo Canadian veterans to the NDP by offering former armed forces members better pensions. This is odd because the NDP is a social-democratic party that (last I checked) was supposed to be (more or less) against military engagement. But whatever.

Gilles Duceppe is not worth mentioning because his job isn't to become Prime Minister or win the election.

Et alors? Personne parle de ce qui est vraiment important. On entend RIEN sur les sujets qui vont toucher les vies des canadiens ordinaires. Alors rien de neuf sur l'emploi (même si on est en plein crise), rien de neuf sur les impôts des corporations, rien de neuf sur un train à grande vitesse (La France me manque) entre Windsor et la ville de Québec, rien de rien sur l'environnement, moins que rien sur les guerres dont on fait parti actuellement, etc.

J'en peux plus. C'est ahurissant. C'est incroyable. C'est ben trop triste.

J'en ai completement marre. Puis on a encore deux ou trois semaines de cette merde.

Est-ce qu'on pourrait parler des vraies problèmes. Real problems affecting the country. Like peak oil, our crumbling/non existent public infrastructure (not including roads, there's always enthusiasm for road building in this country), health care, obesity, rising food prices, banking reform, the housing bubble, a rethink of our economic system, job security, pensions, etc.

Anyways I already know how I'm going to vote (because I always vote) and I already know it won't matter.

Il me semble que j'ecris presque plus sur mon blogue. Ca faisait un bout que je voulais mettre quelque chose ici, question de reprendre des anciens habitudes.

Je suis encore a Montreal. Je suis encore imparfaite. Mais ca c'est la vie. Mon programme a Concordia se termine en decembre. Je bosse a temps partiel puis je vais rentrer a Toronto bientot pour faire de la visite. Il fait froid et beau a Montreal.

Oh Toronto. Je me sens a l'ecart et dedans en meme temps. Le boy ne semble pas comprendre. Pour lui, sa ville natale est dans le passe (au moins, ca lui passionne pas) pendant que moi, je me sens toujours attachee, toujours interessee par le futur d'une ville que je n'habite plus.

Cet ete, a cause d'un stage a Quebec, je suis rentree dans les residences de Laval. Au debut, je pensais que ca allait etre le fun mais en fait, ca a tout change. C'est bizarre d'etre dans des buildings que tu connais si bien mais que te sont si etranges aussi. Les jeunes jeunes d'aujourd'hui me semblent etrange avec leur iphones, crackberries, et leur doights qui ne font que envoyer des textos.

Meme la ville de Quebec a change. Le cafe Tatum n'est plus pareil et il faut descendre jusqu'au St Roch pour un bon cafe (dans un cafe style americain). J'ai passe beaucoup de temps a St Roch cette fois-ci, ce qui n'etait pas le cas il y cinq/six ans.

Il me surprend encore que ca fait deja presque six ans. Est-ce que j'ai change aussi? Partout dans la ville, il semblait que je voyais des ombres de ma vie d'avant. La vie cossue a la fac.

Et d'autre part, je m'ennuyait de mon apparte, ma vie de grande personne, ma cuisine, mes choses, mon chum. N'ayant jamais eu des tres bons relations avec ma mere, j'avais eprouve tres peu souvent cet ennui, ces sentiments de homesickness.

Je me sentais completement choquee. Voila, une changement. Une vraie.

Since the last posting this has happened....

1) I found a contract job.
2) I finished the contract job.
3) I went back into unemployment land.
4) I'm still there (it sucks)
5) We have decided we are moving from the apartment because of crazy noisy neighbours and crummy semi absent landlord
6) The boy and I are looking for an apartment together.
7) We are also looking for furniture.
8) I have been accepted into Concordia. I have chosen my classes and figured out the admin circus relating to how to be considered a Quebec Resident.
9) The weather has improved by leaps and bounds.
10) My skin is improving!
11) We have found a sichuanese restaurant in Montreal that is 1)very fiery and 2)obviously authentic as CCTV (China state television) is broadcast on the ubiquitous flat screen.
12) I have spoken to my mother and am worried about my godmum
13) I have made fish head soup (twice). It is very good. Unfortunately the price has doubled recently. Stupid fishmonger, shall have to go elsewhere for my fish head supply.
14) My French course is over. I have no idea what sorts of grades I got.
15) I did my taxes and am now waiting for the verdict. The federal government has cashed my cheque.
16) I saw the Weakerthans!
17) There were a couple of days of almost thirty degree weather!
18) I keep dilly dallying about going back to Toronto. Boy went in April and had xiao long bao. The bastard! (teeeheee)
19) Still alive.
20) No really.

En gros, my life is pretty dull. However....

Boy has introduced me to an excellent Chinese writer (now living in London) called Ma Jian. I have read Beijing Coma, Stick out your tongue (got the author banned but then again China banned a Coldplay song so really...they'll ban anything), The Noodlemaker (en francais, alors Nouilles Chinois) and am finishing up the very excellent Red Dust (en francais, alors chemins de poussière rouge). I highly recommend him.

Also watching a few classic movies and a couple new ones. Go see Gomorrah. It'll make you feel sick but that's good for you.

Winter is supposed to end in and around March 20th right? Wrong! In Quebec it can last until May (in Toronto it comes in a week or two earlier, with the last snowfall usually in early April, which melts quickly and then boom Spring-Summer heat!). I'm sick of winter. It is truly odd that I should be bitching about this but my body does not like winter in Montreal (even if the rest of me minds less). But winter is simply too long (this does not mean however that I've suddenly gone 'pro-global warming' or anything). This is just a ranty whine or a whiney rant. So you have been warned.

My skin HATES Montreal (my stomach rather likes it). Last year having lifted nary a finger my skin cleared up miraculously, little cream or lotion was ever needed and I looked mostly luminescent (despite not being the type to boast about my appearance...ahem...oops). This is how I met the boy. Now I feel like false advertising. The boy has brought me home only to discover eek, breakouts and worse red scaly skin caused by eczema which itself is brought on by extremely dry conditions inside (love the indoor heatin') and extremely windy conditions outside (love those searing, skin belittlin' gusts of cold). Result, I have terribly angry looking red face covered in spots even with the humidifier on (which appears not powerful enough to actually make a big difference). I feel like a freak.

So a desperate decision was made yesterday (this happens at least once a winter, usually when the skin has gotten so angry it can no longer be ignored and my regular regime of wash face, put on some cream and hope for the best OBVIOUSLY no longer cuts it). Emergency trip across the street to the Pharmaprix had me picking up some tinted moisturizer (to minimize the red scaly cheeks), a tub of unscented cold cream (to make so skin does not dry out), some very mild tea tree based pimple treatment (in a roll on stick form) and some medicated tea tree oil face cleanser. The whole shebang cost almost 60$ so here's to hoping it makes the difference I SO NEED IT TO MAKE! Strangely enough the skin on the rest of my body is just fine. It's just my hands and face that look disgusting. I wonder why that is......

Anyways with constant cream application I have gotten the face to calm down a bit. The pimples remain (acck) but the redness has gone down significantly (even without the tinted moisturizer but I insist on putting a bit of that on).

I need it to be warm enough outside that we can shut off the central heating. I need dress and skirt weather! I want to see the sun and walk down the street without worrying if I'm going to go skidding off on my bum. I wish for beach days and less overall pastiness (I'm not a big sun tanner or what not but a BIT of colour really couldn't do any harm could it?). I want warmth. Although I don't much miss Hong Kong, I do miss some of the weather (as well as xiao long bao and wontons). I miss Kensington Market in Toronto (okay that's just because I want to look at vintage sun dresses on the cheap). Oh god, please please get warm soon.

Today is 'warm' at 4 degrees however tomorrow everything is going to freeze over again which means Monday will be skating outside on the sidewalk day (again). Sigh....

Oh and I found work. How odd. I also found next year's snow boots (current pair have hole in them, hole is not actually a problem yet but obviously once hole starts, it can do nothing else but grow).

So decided I should have a proper Xmas posting to report on holidays. I recently quit my job at the evil place (beginning of December) so I was able to hang out with my friend L who came in from Honkers. Lots of fun was had including walking all over the downtown, going to the museum (the MFA here is quite cool and FREE! Unlike something called the ROM). We didn't see the entire museum collection because I started to get dizzy. L didn't bring his boots to Mtl (crazy!). Outside was like and is like a giant ice rink. Anybody thinking of coming to Montreal ought to bring PROPER BOOTS.

We had dinner at boy's place (boy made curry), at my place (we made pizza and caeser salad) and at Au Pied du Cochon which specializes in pig's trotters and foie gras and the uber Montreal Schwartz's. Lots and lots of fat was consumed as was chocolate. Good times over all. L left during a snow storm and arrived back to Toronto a couple hours late due to the gods and Via Rail. Despite the fact that I LIVE next to St. Joseph's Oratory, we didn't make it up there! We did make it to Marché Jean Talon where foie gras, sausage, and maple syrup was purchased by L for the voyage home to HK. I got myself a box of oysters (I have been training self on opening them...NOT EASY!!) and sausage. Boy is not particularly keen on foie gras (crazy crazy boy!).

Boy and I had Xmas dinner with Amelie her bf and her Frenchie friend C. Duck, foie gras, lots of wine, caeser salad (boy's idea) and Christmas cookies were on the menu. Lots of mild drunkenness. The weather was crap outside (started to rain after several days of accumulated snow fall). After it got dark, it froze over so boy and I walked home (luckily just about three minutes away) trying not to slip on large vats of ice. Yes Ames and her bf now live literally a stone's throw away, they can see my apartment from their window.

Xmas day, Ames left for la belle patrie and boy and I opened prezzies. He got me a humidifier (my skin has been angry at dryness of Canadian indoors due to dryness in general + indoor heating), rolling pin (yay!), hazelnuts and chocolate (large large gift). I only got him a mixer but quite a nice one with two kinds of attachments (one for beating and one for whisking), a carrying case and all that jazz. Boy took me out for a movie (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and then we tried to track down Chinese food for a Jewish Christmas but all the decentish Chinese restos appeared to be packed (leaving the yucky Chinese buffet). So we went home and had the last of the dumplings with udon (yum!) and some nice sausage and cheese (basically a forage in the fridge).

Today must clean apartment and want to do laundry maybe (hmmmm....) and make a banana cake.

PS I called mum and she sounded happy to hear from me. Called everyone else. Plans for New Years? Maybe roast chicken and mash for dinner and a nice bottle of tipple (already bought) for celebration-time come on! Unless someone has a better idea.....

Less than two months after the Canadian Federal Election we are on the brink of a coalition government or another election or a grave abuse of prime ministerial power.

In the last few weeks Harper's unfitness for office has slowly become more and more evident until he suddenly decided to set up his own possible demise by introducing an economic update that was devoid of economics and chock full of neo-con ideology. Harper seems to have forgotten that he won a larger minority government but still a minority government, which means you have to talk and listen to your opponents. The beginning of this unraveling started weeks ago when it turned out that Harper and Flaherty (our finance minister) had been LYING about the federal deficit. Throughout the campaign Harper and Flaherty swore that there would be no deficit, that there was no deficit, that they were 'fiscally responsible'. Malarkey. Post election it was revealed that the federal government would run a deficit this year and that it had been investigating selling off federal property (including the CN Tower) so as to minimize or eliminate the shortfall and keep the egg off their face. All of this without first consulting the population as to whether they would prefer to sell off THEIR holdings or run a deficit and after they had essentially lied through their teeth.

Then this week a bombshell was set forth by the Conservative government. Last week no one spoke of coalition, this week unless Harper seriously starts bending a whole list of parliamentary rules (that is assuming the governor general doesn't stand in his way) we will have a coalition government headed by Liberal leader Stephane Dion. Harper created this own mess by issuing a number of 'economic' announcements that were in fact nothing but thinly veiled (if that) neo-con policies that would do nothing to help the economy. Included in his economic update (delivered by the always detestable Jim Flaherty)
1) cut public financing of political parties, essentially insuring that the other political parties will not have enough funds to run proper campaigns against him because the Conservative party is the only party at the moment with finances in the black
2) ban the right to strike for public sector employees when NO ONE has said that government employees are being paid too much and when the largest union recently signed a contract extension for a measly 6% increase spread over 4 years.

Unlike ALL of the other Western democracies Harper's economic update provided NO plan to help see the country through the global economic meltdown. No plan to help the unemployed by loosening the E. I. rules, no plan to help laid of auto workers with retraining and infrastructure projects, etc. We were simply told that Harper's plan was to do very little except make sure that public sector employees can't strike and make sure his opponents can't compete and wait it out until February, when, if we were still obediently toeing the Harperite 5 years out of date neo-con line we would get perhaps an inkling about how workers would maybe get some help from the federal government.

Surprisingly the opposition rather than lamely choking this nonsense down (like they have done countless times before), actually united in anger (prolly because their share of the campaign financing pie was under threat) and signed a document agreeing to put forth a coalition government as an alternative to fresh elections. They are going to vote down the government on Monday when there will be a confidence vote, as long as Harper doesn't ask G-G Michaelle Jean to delay returning to Parliament and-or as long as Ms. Jean refuses to do so. The G G is our symbolic Head of State (representing that dear olde English Queen) and she must be the one who gets to dissolve parliament or allow the coalition government to take the place of the Harper's government because it has lost 'the confidence' of the House.

Harper is ramping up the conservative fear mongering by arguing that the coalition will be illegitimate and undemocratic (NOT TRUE, the majority of the population voted for one of the three parties and many Western European countries are ruled by coalition governments). He has also been trying to use the separatists (and to a slightly lesser extent, the 'socialists' (aka the NDP, a party a regularly vote for)) as bogeymen to scare Canadians off from the coalition. What he doesn't want Canadians to know is that the Bloc only promises to prop up the coalition by voting on confidence measures with the government, it will not be a part of government and it will not have any cabinet seats. More importantly, the Bloc represents a lot of Quebecois votes and essentially by demonizing the Bloc and wrapping himself in the flag, he`s effectively saying that Quebec votes are not as equal or as 'Canadian' as Anglo-Canadian votes which, if you think about it, wouldn't make anyone want to stay in this country. It's a petty, divisive line of argument that plays DIRECTLY into the hands of the separatists.

Former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau, the grand old man of Quebec Separatism has walked into the melee by issuing a statement damning the coalition with praise saying that its inherent weakness shows that Canada is not a functioning country and that thus Quebec should leave it. Current Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois (who came up with such 'interesting' ideas as Quebec citizenship before the province even votes on sovereignty) said approximately the same thing recently. Of course, sovereignty is not high up on the list of things people in la Belle Province are thinking about these days and Marois is about to lose an upcoming provincial election here (prolly the most boring election ever) to Liberal leader Jean Charest.

The saddest thing in all of this is Harper's Anglo-Canadian ability to wrap himself in the flag when he really doesn't like this country that much. When he tries to lump Dion, a true Canadian patriot who killed his electoral chances in his home province by going to bat for Canada time and again in the 1990s against the separatists by arguing for the Clarity Act and by replying to their occasionally absurd allegations, in with Duceppe just because the two come from the same province and are francophone it really makes you want to cry. Dion is a lot of things. One can argue he really shouldn't be Liberal leader, that he is better suited to being in cabinet because of his lack of eloquence but one could never argue that the man hasn't spent most of his political career trying his darndest to keep the country together. And what has Harper done? Nothing except shit disturb. Obviously it's time for his exit, and heck maybe he'll trip on his way out.

So here we are at the beginning of the Christmas season and staring down at a whack of bad economic news that goes much further than the fact I make nothing at my terrible terrible job. Banks have failed. The ones that survive won't lend you a penny. Businesses are going to go bust. Heck GM, the biggest American automaker and at one time the biggest and baddest car company out there may disappear anytime from now to this spring depending on if and when (and what sort of) a bailout package is offered to them by the American government, which itself is propped up by China's obsessive buying of American T-Bills in order to keep Chinese factories rolling.

Now the British government is retaliating with more of the same, the economic salvage plan released today calls for a 2.5 percent cut in the VAT (their version of the GST) in order to spur consumer spending. What, exactly, in a time of tightening credit and people who have already spent all their money and then some, are people going to be able to spend on now??? Have we not yet realised that we cannot borrow and spend our way out of economic problems? The British and American governments are cash strapped, their populations are cash strapped and the entire house of cards is falling ever so slowly into oblivion. The leaders' response at this point seems to be a) do nothing or b) do more of the same.

As for here in Canada we have not yet felt the full on impact of the coming crash although one imagines that whenever GM does bite the dust, the hurting will begin. All the talk of bailing out the automakers is for nought though since it would take an outrageous sum of money (better spent on infrastructure and retraining or early retirement pensions), would probably not profit the average worker in the long run and is very unlikely to succeed. The reason GM et al in it is so badly is directly related to their continual decline ever since the first oil crisis. They were once the by word for excellence in car making and now they are considered a bit of a joke in their own backyard. It'll take a long time before people start associating American cars with quality again.

So where does that leave us? I know where it leaves me. Batten down the hatches, hope to hell the job doesn't make me go on full time, play guitar, cook and try not to spend money I don't have and wait the sucker out. Who knows, with a Keynesian revival, things may end up better than they were before.

First off the Canadian election is over. The status quo reigns (if only just barely). The Tories (e. g. GOP lite) have a strong minority (but still, thankfully, a minority). A website called vote for the environment was set up to facilitate strategic voting on the left-centre wing of the political spectrum. This probably helped keep the Tories out of power.

The results are as follows:

Conservative 143 seats 38 percent of the vote
Liberals 76 seats 26 percent of the vote
NDP 37 seats 18 percent of the vote
Bloc 50 seats 10 percent of the vote
Other 2 seats 1 percent of the vote
Green 0 7 percent of the vote

The Bloc is a Quebec Separatist party (at the federal level). It is essentially useless but manages to get a bunch of seats every time by playing to Nationalist sentiment here in la belle province. It could be argued that Bloc members really have no interest in separating at this point because their MPs would thusly lose their salaries and accrued pensions.
Moreover the percentiles show how completely skewed the British first past the post system we use really is. Harper got 38 percent of the vote (which means fully 62 percent of the population voted against him and for centrist and centre left parties). With first past the post and a strong Western Canadian base (where it seems frankly, that many people can't see far beyond the end of their nose), he manages to get enough seats to win. The NDP has been consistently screwed under the FPP system where they get a sizable portion of the vote (this time 18 percent) but not that many seats because the votes themselves are spread out. Another winner under FPP is the Bloc because it concentrates solely in Quebec. The Green Party of course is the biggest loser (as are small upstart parties in general) since even though 7 percent of voters voted for them, they are not represented whatsoever in the House of Commons.

Part of me is relieved that it is only a minority and the other part saddened at 1) the upsurge in Tory support in Ontario (despite the fact that Harper doesn't give a piss about my native province) and the fact they strengthened their minority. Sadly the Harper recipe (Rove lite) of fear mongering and anti-intellectualism worked with a large section of the population. This does not bode well for the future.

Stephane Dion, I'm sad to say, may be part of the problem. Many anglophones simply cannot follow what this man is saying. His lack of confidence in English as well as the general clunkiness of his English language skills left many puzzled as to what he planned to do with the country. Le Tournant Vert, his Carbon Tax plan was badly explained at the debut of the compaign and he unfortunately let Harper set the tone by not correcting the early Harper attack ads (which were outrageous).

In any case, Que Sera Sera.

On to the GOP madness! How low can the Republicans go? (they make Harper look like such a softie).
A Repub supporter was filmed carrying a plush monkey with an Obama sign on it. He called the plushie "Hussein" (which JUST HAPPENS to be Obama's middle name). He seemed very content with himself and waved the plushie proudly in front of a handful of protesters protesting the racism at the angry mob rallies that McCain has been organizing of late. Palin (who has been at this for about six weeks ) Keeps going on about how "we don't really know who Barack Obama is" when the truth is more likely to be "we don't really know who Sarah Palin is". But since standards are so low for Palin, I guess the fact that she can walk, talk and hold a fork is good enough.

See the ugly monkey video here:

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=28306

On Wednesday night, here in the Northern landmass, there was a French language debate where we got to listen to four left leaning leaders attack the one overly smug Conservative incumbent. If only the four could somehow get together and avoid Harper's re-election. More than two thirds of Canadians DO NOT SUPPORT the Conservative (read Republican-lite that enjoys using Rove-ian tactics) and yet come October 14th, we're probably going to find ourselves (best case scenario) with a Conservative Minority Government. Of course if Harper wins a majority, lefties will have to hunker down for four years and regroup. Hopefully four years of Harper will scare us straight so that we PICK A PARTY, vote for them and keep the damn Albertans out.

The French debate highlighted two things. Dion is quite eloquent in French and is very good at explaining things. This is not going to make much difference because most Quebeckers don't like him because of his position as Captain Canada in the Chretien government's and his hand in the Clarity Bill (excellent legislation from an English Canadian perspective that unfortunately meant political suicide in Quebec).

Dion's innnate decency is probably not helping him either which is unfortunate. Why is it that decent people fail in politics whereas people like Harper seem to do well? I suppose we get the leaders we want and deserve.

Harper can really hold his own in his second language. May cannot speak French and sadly she can't even fake it very well. It was embarrassing. However La Presse (Montreal 'federalist' newspaper) did give her kudos for not being cowed despite her so-so skills en francais. It is also unclear whether this is a point to the Green Party APART from their shining a light on environmental issues (GOOD) and taking votes away from the two other centrist-left parties (BAD).

The English debate showed that Dion really cannot speak English very well (I felt somewhat sorry for him for reasons of pure bias). May is MUCH BETTER in English and was quite good at holding Harper to account on various issues. The best debater in both languages is (hilariously) Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe who has been around since sometime in the mid 90s and can clearly communicate in both languages. He's also the separatist who wants nothing to do with Canada (although one imagines that he'd like to keep his pension).

Harper will probably win despite only holding the support of 35 percent of the population. He will win because he appeals to the pettiest and most short sighted aspects of the 'Canadian personality'. Seeing as those aspects are very prevalent in this country (we are the country of overfishing, over mining, strip mining, clear cutting and uncontrolled oil sands development), he obviously has the upper hand. Something about Canadians makes us unable to look beyond the edge of our noses, it's really quite depressing.

Finally there was the American VP debates on Thursday night (I was switching between the two and talking on the phone at the same time so my comments need to taken with a grain of salt). Palin is really quite a piece of work. She's scary. I can't believe we have gotten to a point where the VP candidate can openly say that she won't answer the debate questions (what is the point of going to a debate if you're not going to answer the questions????), continually bat her lashes (how completely depressing, sort of like something out of Mad Men where women have to use their 'charms' in order to make a point?) and wink at the audience! As for content, did anybody else find it difficult to follow her reasoning (or lack there of). She seemed to be attempting a series of memorised circular arguments that didn't completely connect to each other. Basically she was just spewing loads of BS at the camera while looking 'confident' and some people ACTUALLY think that with those tropes she 'narrowly' won the debate. What sort of debate is won by winking?

As for her comment about America as some sort of defiant shining City on the hill, a beacon to the rest of the world. Perhaps at one point in history, this was true. Back in the era of Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy when America bathed in a post war glow of boom times and decent governance. But the time of being some sort of shining beacon has long past, especially since the election and re-election of Dubya Bush. If Palin ever bothered to leave the country, she would find that most people fear and dislike the United States. The mythic City on the hill has become a debt ridden, war mongering, torture condoning, isolated and paranoid place. It may be time for McCain-Palinites to look themselves in the mirror

Okay so the first time this happened, it was funny. The second time wasn't so funny. And now, as a third candidate (and we're not finished the election campaign yet, folks, still two weeks to go) finds himself in hot water, one really has to wonder if the NDP might want to up their vetting process a little bit. It's looking like Sarah Palin was better vetted than some of these people.

First person to fall was Dana Larsen who was found on various internet videos to not only be a regular pot user but also an acid dropper and someone who was willing to be filmed while driving under the influence of TWO illicit substances! He is of course also co-founder of the Marijuana Party of Canada (yes that does indeed exist).

Second person was another pot user seen on Google video testing various strains of the pot plant and also a former Marijuana Party member.

The third (and hopefully final) person to be 'caught out' wasn't found in druggie videos but instead has been found to be spewing hateful ad hominem attacks on various people on Facebook.
http://election.rabble.ca/post/51754048/ndp-durham-candidate-in-hot-water-over-offensive-web

The person in question, a Mr. McKeever likes to use the words 'fucktard' and 'cunt' when referring to other people in the heat of a debate. The Liberals found the dirt on this guy and are now demanding he resign from his candidacy. Strangely enough McKeever supports deporting war resisting American soldiers (war dodgers, since there ain't no draft...yet) from Canada which is not the policy of the party itself nor is it the opinion of most NDPers on the street.

The PDF file with all the damaging commentary is here (courtesy of the Liberals who actually kind of campaign when they're not trying to eat each other alive):

http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/docs/080925_facebook_mckeever.pdf

It also seems, on a more banal note that the Tories have a racist on their hands (what else do you expect from them? Tolerance?). A Calgary Tory candidate decided to make that age old like between immigrants and refugees and CRIME! Obviously, it must be all them people who don't look like us or talk like us or go to Church who are causing all that trouble! Out out all of you! (I think that would include me, unfortunately, oh well tis is life in Steve Harper's Pleasant-ville version of Canada, methinks).

Read all about it: http://www.straight.com/article-164094/conservative-candidate-lee-richardson-links-immigrants-crime?

Unlike a properly decent racist, the would-be MP insists on half retracting his inflammatory comments after making them. What a sissy.

What is with American voters? Not all of them, obviously. But a general theme seems to have resurfaced in this election (as it did the last time). That is that a lot of people seem to want to vote for someone who is 'like' them or to whom they can 'relate'.

My question is WHY?

Does the average American (a conceit if there ever was one because such a person doesn't really exist) really think that he or she is capable of running the world's (still) most powerful country? Do they really rate themselves so highly that they think they can deal with international crisis? Can they manage the world's largest nuclear arsenal? Really?

If they can't (and I wouldn't be ready to say that I could, for example) then why on God's earth do they want to vote for someone who is 'like' them? With the stakes this high, you want someone smarter, someone who has left the country before, someone with a proper education who presents well on the international stage and doesn't embarrass you. If you're going to put someone in the White House, you'd want them to be able to do the job.

It seems incredible that after 8 years of Bush and someone that the 'average' American can 'relate' to and all the shit that has fallen as a result, many people are ready and willing to go and vote for the McCain-Palin ticket which is essentially selling the same BS as Bush-Cheney did.

Worse, in a away is that Palin has a piss poor six college leading to one bachelor's degree education and has never left the country. She has no experience apart from being governor of Alaska for two seconds and mayor of a tiny town in the middle of nowhere for several years. She is the least feminist female candidate that ever was (anti-choice, pro-guns, crazy batshit religious) which is probably why the GOP picked her. Since McCain is half dead (watching him give a speech is quite creepy as he starts, stops to take a breath and give that scary grin of his) it is very possible, even probable that Palin could take over as POTUS. Palin as POTUS! I think a comparison with Nero is not uncalled for.

More worrying than even the Republican ticket is how, in the country that spawned the American Dream of riches through self improvement, self improvement is now used as a slur. Obama was raised by a single mother and managed to claw his way to an Ivy League education and somehow this is something to be used against him. Speak another language? Oh well that makes you European. Obviously to be a proper American you have to be unilingual, never leave the country, feel pride in your piss poor education and wield a gun. This is absurd.

The worst part is that we're seeing it here in Canada as well. The Conservatives are LEADING after a week where they released a campaign ad on the internet (since pulled) where they depicted a puffin crapping on their opponent, the intellectual former university professor and current Liberal leader Stephane Dion. The same ad made fun of Dion for being a university professor as if teaching and reading books makes someone a suitable target for ridicule.

This is the same government that just cut an inconsequential amount of money from Arts funding for 'budgetary' reasons all while continuing to fight a useless and stupid war in Afghanistan as proxies for our American masters. The cuts to the arts program were obviously politically motivated (Harper doesn't like bands with names like Holy Fuck, he doesn't like lefty Gwynne Dyer and he especially doesn't like art he can't understand) and while people with no brain cells pat the government on the back for being 'fiscally responsible', NO ONE questions the war nor the Conservative plan to keep us there until 2011. To date nearly 100 Canadians have died and millions of tax dollars have been sucked into fighting a war for our American masters.

Even more disgusting is when Harper tries to literally pull a page out of the Karl Rove handbook by citing how we have to stay in the war in order to keep another September 11th from happening---to us! We weren't attacked on September 11th! If that is not fear mongering by proxy I have no idea what is. It's like someone in rural Saskatchewan watching news from Detroit or Fox News and worrying about crime. Harper makes me sick.

Entretemps (depuis la derniere posting):

I went to London, Ontario and met boy's parents, grandparents, brother, etc.
I moved to Montreal.
I found work. (haven't told mum yet)
Myme and I found an apartment and we went through hell with the landlord. The apartment has a very very tiny bathroom (HK sized or smaller).
I had some smoked meat at Schwartz's. Mmmmmm........ and lots of fruit (blueberries! strawberries! blackberries! honey melon! etc.), dimsum, pho, burgers, montreal bagels (mmmmm....), etc.
Boy came to Toronto and met Nomes, Antoine, Mego.
Boy came down to Montreal for a week and a half and met Myme, Myme's bf, Myme's friend, Amelie, Amelie's bf.
I tried Peruvien food (mmmm....) with Jorgé + Amelie (Ames' bf).
Amelie moved to Montreal (for her six month's worth of articling).
Nomes came to and left Toronto.
Mym went to and left Toronto (while I wasn't there).

Je suis à Montreal. Je vais rentrer demain (plus tot que prevu) puisque je viens de recevoir l'appel que du patron qui me dit j'ai des journées du congés jusqu'au mardi. Le boy va me dire aussitot que possible s'il peut descendre à toronto pour m'aider. Sinon c'est moi et des valises dans l'autobus de Coach Canada. Oooooh comme j'ai hâte.

J'ai aussi un entretien pour une job de prof d'anglais à Toronto (maia la position se trouve à Montreal). On va voir comment ca se passe.

Je suis hyper fatiguée. Je viens de faire le linge et tout je dois tout preparer ce soir pour demenager. Oooh la la. Myme va venir demain pour m'aider a transporter des trucs chez elle et comme ca elle demenagerait le tout samedi apres-midi quand je serai à Toronto.

Je viens d'appeler ma mère pour lui dire que je viens. Je vais reessayer ce soir aussi, je crois.
Le caffeine me rend completement dingue. Je suis toute freaké sur tout la. Oh my god.

Bon c'est tout pour le moment.


K

At Mym's place. I slept a good ten or eleven hours last night. Very nice. Finally feel more human. The jetlag is winding down. I'm a bit icky as it is hot in Mtl.

I`m going to bum around a bit more and then start calling prospective numbers that may provide us on leads to apartments. I leave tomorrow with a sublet in hand but no firm place for September (although we did see one we like in Cote Des Neiges and if we get really lucky, it`ll be OURS!). Sorry, it`s really really nice and only about 630 a month plus utilities and internet split between us. And from what the current tenants tell us the landlord doesn't appear to be crazy.

We met a racist landlord (bad experience with Arab tenants) and a weird one (something about CDN being like 'les nations unies'). Verdun is out. The area seems to be populated, in the words of la Mymette, 'by people who don't seem to have left the neighbourhood, never mind the province'.

So we're concentrating on CDN. Hopefully this works out!

J'ai parlé avec le canadien hier (un peu zarb de l'appeler comme ca maintenant que l'on est de retour au pays natal). Pendant une visite (a un apparte so-so proche du Saint-Laurent) j'ai rencontré un torontois hyper beau (un autre de ces etranges jeunes hommes blancs qui étudient le mandarin et revent d'aller en Asie pour faire....(probablement) du fric....). Il a passé presque quatre ans a Mtl sans avoir appris francais (c'est tres faisable ici puisque tout le monde semble d'etre bilingue). Je vais devoir parler plus de francais la prochaine fois puisque cette fois ci avec le decalage et tout j'ai presque pas utilisé le francais.

Bon, il va falloir que je commence a chercher a nouveau des jobs et des appartes. Je suis censée d'aller payer pour la chambre a sous louer aujourd'hui. Je demenage vers le 4 aout.

Cheerio

God I am so sick of cockroaches. Damn subtropical island. I need to go home and not have to think about cockroaches for once. We're fresh out of repellent as well which makes the situation rather untenable. I don`t know how much more of this I can take.

J'ai un avion à prendre le 1 juillet (Fete du Canada!) pour Toronto! Je vais arriver le 1er juillet (a cause du decalage l'horaire) à 18h à Pearson. Il est peut-etre possible que j'arriverai même à voir les feux d'artifice. On verra.

D'autres nouvelles: J'ai rencontré un ontarien ici a HK. Il vient de repartir pour chez nous. On a passé des beaux moments ensemble. Je lui tiens maintenant. Aucune idée comment ca va se dérouler. Pour le mois qui vient de s'ecroulé, j'ai presque habité chez lui (sur l'ile de Lamma au sud de l'ile de Hong Kong) et on s'est bien amusé (de toutes les facons possibles). Je suis contente la dessus mais je ne suis pas sûre de rien. C'est toujours comme ca que ca se passe? We shall play it by ear, je crois.

Ensuite pour le Canada et la grosse rentrée, encore des questions. Ou vais-je habiter en aout? Et en septembre? Mymette et moi, allons-nous pouvoir trouver un apparte convenable et pas trop cher quelque part dans CDN ou aux environs? Est-on fucké? Oh la la.

Leo va bien. Il a recu de l'argent. Il en cherche plus pour rentrer faire son doctorat en Colombie.

Nomesich va bien. Elle va venir a Toronto en juillet.

C'est le moment des adieux:

Mecredi soir je suis allée manger au resto indien avec S (un prof de la fac qui vient d'Inde) et son ami.
Jeudi soir je suis allée manger au resto indonesien avec C (une prof du primaire chinoise). Je suis allée prendre un café en apres-midi avec S (une fille chinoise).
Vendredi je prendrai probablement un picnic avec un banker ameri-canado-chinois (evidemment, il n'a pas des origines).
Samedi je verrai de la famille.
Dimanche je verrai de la famille.
Lundi ???
Mardi je volerai! Je rentrerai! Je suis très contente la-dessus.

Choses a faire a Toronto:

1) manger: vietnamien, pain, fromage, bleuets, fraises, asperges, crepes (maison), gateaux, cup cakes, fish and chips, etc.
2) faire mes impots (joy!)
3) defaire et refaire mes valises (joy!)
4) voir de la famille et des amis (oueeeh)
5) aller a Montreal (chercher un sublet et payer)
6) aller a London? (hmm ca a l'air tres possible puisque le canadien m'a appelé une fois rentré de HK)
7) voir Nomesich a la fin du mois
8) esperer que Justin va rentrer de NB.
9) aller a la banque pour regler des petits problemes bancaires
10) TROUVER DU BOULOT! (le dernier sur la liste mais le plus important!!!!)

Mais avant cela, il faut absolument que je fasse mes valises.

A plus

NB Je viens d'acheter le nouveau Coldplay. C'est meilleur que X and Y.

Canada is a really stupid country.

We are allowing Americans to come in and:

1. poison our water
2. cut down trees on a swathe of land as large as the State of Florida
3. pump the dirty oil sands oil to the States (while Quebec gets its oil elsewhere)
4. lie to us (the oil companies say they can reconstitute the landscape to what it was like before development which is complete BS)
5. dig craters and mines that can now be seen from outer space (it is known as Alberta's moonscape)

All in the name of putting gas in our cars.

Read all about the dark side of the Canadian economic 'renaissance'

http://www.environmentaldefence.ca//campaigns/whatsnew/TarSandsAd.htm

The conservative suckers in Alberta haven't got half a brain cell between them and Harper is asleep at the wheel. We are stupid. It should be the new national mantra for every one in the country. Until we can see the depths of our stupidity, of our willingness to continue to get rich quick by pumping shit out of the ground (that is non renewable) to sell it for cheap to Americans then we deserve what befalls us. We never fucking learn.

I want to go and hide now.

Non, je n'ai rien oublie par Charles Aznavour

Je n'aurais jamais cru qu'on se rencontrerait

Le hasard est curieux, il provoque les choses

Et le destin pressé un instant prend la pause

Non je n'ai rien oublié



Je souris malgré moi, rien qu'à te regarder

Si les mois, les années marquent souvent les êtres

Toi, tu n'as pas changé, la coiffure peut-être

Non je n'ai rien oublié



Marié, moi ? allons donc, je n'en ai nulle envie

J'aime ma liberté, et puis, de toi à moi

Je n'ai pas rencontré la femme de ma vie

Mais allons prendre un verre, et parle-moi de toi



Qu'as-tu fait de tes jours ? es-tu riche et comblée ?

Tu vis seule à Paris? mais alors ce mariage ?

Entre nous, tes parents ont dû crever de rage

Non je n'ai rien oublié



Qui m'aurait dit qu'un jour sans l'avoir provoqué

Le destin tout à coup nous mettrait face à face

Je croyais que tout meurt avec le temps qui passe

Non je n'ai rien oublié



Je ne sais trop que dire, ni par où commencer

Les souvenirs foisonnent, envahissent ma tête

Mon passé revient du fond de sa défaite

Non je n'ai rien oublié, rien oublié



A l'age où je portais mon cœur pour toute arme

Ton père ayant pour toi bien d'autres ambitions

A brisé notre amour et fait jaillir nos larmes

Pour un mari choisi sur sa situation



J'ai voulu te revoir mais tu étais cloîtrée

Je t'ai écrit cent fois, mais toujours sans réponse

Cela m'a pris longtemps avant que je renonce

Non je n'ai rien oublié



L'heure court et déjà le café va fermer

Viens je te raccompagne à travers les rues mortes

Comme au temps des baisers qu'on volait sous ta porte

Non je n'ai rien oublié



Chaque saison était notre saison d'aimer

Et nous ne redoutions ni l'hiver ni l'automne

C'est toujours le printemps quand nos vingt ans résonnent

Non je n'ai rien oublié, rien oublié



Cela m'a fait du bien de sentir ta présence

Je me sens différent, comme un peu plus léger

On a souvent besoin d'un bain d'adolescence

C'est doux de revenir aux sources du passé



Je voudrais, si tu veux, sans vouloir te forcer

Te revoir à nouveau, enfin... si c'est possible

Si tu en as envie, si tu es disponible

Si tu n'as rien oublié

Comme moi qui n'ai rien oublié

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Y811IhYjg

In the interests of fairness (I have complained previously about stupidity qui vient du côté francophone du pays) and because this sort of behaviour is myopic and unhelpful (as well as entirely aggravating), I felt I needed to write about this. 
The Globe and Mail
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080404.wcoessay0405/BNStory/specialComment/home)  has just published an essay in the wake of the protests in New Brunswick to keep the status quo of French education in schools over there. 

The article does a reasonably good job of giving an idea of the state of bilingualism in Canada (with a few editorial flourishes, such as comparing bilingual Canadians schooled in immersion to France's Enarques, an idea which is beyond hilarious).  The problem is that most anglo canadians can't seem to be arsed to learn and use the other language and of course that francophones feel (somewhat rightly) under attack.  Ahh such is the life of minority status. 

What is most annoying (and saddening) about the article isn't the article itself but the comments generated by the article (Canadians can be such idiots, English or French).  Apart from the usual gibberish about how it would be more 'useful' to learn Chinese or Spanish (we can't even manage to learn French, lets go trying to gallivant towards learning a whole different script!) there's the classic Anglo Canadian obsession with money.  In Canada, du côté English au moins, we are penny wise and pound foolish.  Canada  wastes money on lots of things, why not spend a bit of that money on a language that (whether you like it or not) help found the bloody nation!?  And to blame the Quebecois for bilingualism is absurd.  Lots of Quebecois don't like bilingualism and just want to be left alone.  However, recent events in Belgium suggests that creating a highly decentralised (even more decentralised than Canada) country along linguistic lines is not something that is particularly healthy or good for the nation.  Unlike les belges, we don't even have a made-in-Canada monarch to symbolise the nation. 

Also I have no idea why it is that some Anglo Canadians get so worked up (STILL!) after 20 some years have passed that French (oh my god!) appears as well as English on tubes of toothpaste and cereal.  If it really bothers you that much, just turn the cereal box over the other side for chrissakes! 

Anyways here are a few examples of what has been said:

Voice of reason (probably from New Brunswick).
Devon White from Canada writes: Another column that misses the fundamental point:  New Brunswick is not like Quebec, Ontario, B.C. , Alberta, etc.
The immersion issue is not a Canadian issue. It is a New Brunswick issue. New Brunswick is the only bilingual province in the country. No one is saying that everyone in Canada should be bilingual, but in many parts of New Brunswick it is a necessity. French is alive and prospering there.
And yes, the Legislature of New Brunswick is a functionally bilingual place. Most of the people I went to immersion with have maintained a strong standard of French (many of whom using it in their jobs) and speak it because they enjoy it and because it's professionally beneficial.
So please, stop comparing New Brunswick to the rest of Canada. It is an entirely different issue there.

One from someone un peu plus detraqué (c'est pas necessaire d'être moins franc, il ne comprendra rien de toute façon)
Dave Woodsman from Canada writes: And one last comment from me. Let's just stop equating being bilingual with speaking French, period. Naturally, speaking more than one language, and reading and writing in other languages, as well, is good for the brain. However, none of those other languages should ever be French.
French is a dying language. The number of people in the world who are fluent in it falls by millions every single year, and has done so for decades. The only Europeans other than the French who speak it are all over 50. Young Europeans speak German, Italian, or Russian, and often all three. Teaching Canadians French is like teaching them Latin or Greek. French is a language no one of any importance or value in the world speaks anymore.
Please, bilingualism does not mean speaking French. Only someone living in the 1940s would ever waste their time learning to be fluent in French.

And finally a little bit of analysis:

Swifty J from Mariposa, Canada writes: What a hopeless muddle. I mean the article and comments, but of course they are simply a reflection of the hopeless muddle that is the so-called 'debate' over the French/English fact in Canada.

Most people can't even disentangle the concepts of official and individual bilingualism, for crying out loud. And then there's all the mythology that informs the various positions. To take just two prominent examples:

Rumours of the endangerment of French on the Island of Montreal are greatly exaggerated, but they do serve some agendas. They ignore the fact that French is thriving as a second or third language among immigrants and especially their children and, yes, even (some) migrants from the ROC.

Canards about the omnipotence of 'the French' in the civil service are likewise exaggerated. If 'the French' hold all the cards, why is the vast majority of the federal Translation Bureau's work from English to French?

Which is not to say I think Canada's official bilingualism policy, and related provincial policies, have been a success. Clearly they've been misguided and/or wasteful in many ways. But a debate founded on myths, half-truths, ancient grudges, prejudice and thinly veiled hate is no debate at all. And that's most of what I'm seeing here, and it's probably what you'd see on, say, La Presse's website.

It's our national room-in-Hell and I don't expect to see it change any time soon...

William MacKenzie from Barrie, Canada writes: Sue, it has only failed because most Anglo-Canadians do not see (and rightly so, according to many) that they have any need to learn another language. Bilingualism was designed to shore up French-speaking communities outside Quebec, the thinking being that the more Quebec is isolated, the greater the danger to national unity. Now, of course, we could simply revoke bilingualism as a feature of federal government policy and encourage Quebec to separate. Then we'd be done with the whole problem and we (anglo-Canadians) could become what we really are: Americans.

C. B. from Canada writes: Mr. William MacKenzie has taken the words out of my mouths. Indeed, revoking bilingualism would mean that a quarter of Canada's population, mostly in Quebec, would become second-class citizens in their own country.

Swifty of course has it down pat.  We're stuck in this room with each other (like we're stuck in a country with each other).  We don't understand and our fear and jealousy of the other makes understanding impossible, so we look for little things, money (inconsequential really because Canada has so much of it) and writing on toothpaste tubes and make a big deal about them.  On the otherside, surtout au Quebec, there is also the strain of a hunker down mentality, of fear and loathing.  O mon pays, what is wrong with you????
Finally, Anglo Canadians really need to own up to (but never will, it's like the very few men who manage to own up to the fact that gender equality doesn't yet exist) that they speak from a position of linguistic power.  Of course if you're unilingual, you are much less likely to be aware of the overwhelming linguistic power of English and its effect on other people.  Such is life.

Je suis partie.  Je suis revenue.  Je suis perdue.  Je ne me suis pas encore retrouvée.  Voilà l'histoire de ma vie toute courte.  Je suis allée à Paris afin de voir L.  Il va bien.  On s'est bien amusé ensemble.  On a pris des decisions (surtout lui, mais je suis d'accord alors....).  Je dois en prendre des autres.  Je me sens noyée comme si la vie s'ecoule autour de moi et je ne suis pas assez forte d'agir.  C'est pas vrai, je crois, mais c'est le sentiment que je retire en ce moment. 

J'ecrirai plus un peu plus tard.  J'ai encore a regler un peu mes sentiments et mes idées.

In Toronto, my ville natale where the entire world has decided to congregate, they have decided that they will try to bring back something they have decided to sell as 'black focused schools'.  To my ears this sounds rather like turning back the clock to the bad ol good ol days when the 'races' (terrible word) didn't mix.

If there is any reason to love Toronto, any reason at all to feel optimism when I think about Canada and my city, it is because of that brilliant diversity that one encounters in the subway or when wandering on Queen Street.  The idea that a group of people feel that their 'racial' group need to be cut off from others in the years when they are developing their minds, is absolutely absurd and frightening.  What sort of Toronto and Canada will come about from this nonsense?

Chief in the reasons given for 'black focused' schools is that the Ontario curriculum is too 'Euro-centric', a tiresome and overused word that is wielded whenever someone disagrees with something that is already in place.  I went through the public school system in Ontario and as a 'member of a visible minority', I have to say that I didn't find it too Eurocentric at all.  In fact it would have been a bit better if they had been a bit more Eurocentric.  Or perhaps if they had decided to centre on something since the prevailing wisdom of the day dictated (and dictates) that we don't concentrate on anything too much so as not to offend any one group nor privilege any one group.  So we got our piss poor year of Canadian History (tiny bit about the Native people suffused with guilt, bits about old Englishmen, Confederation, 20th Century and voila) and were offered (but not forced to take) Ancient History, European History, American History and I believe British History.  These were entirely optional.  And no there wasn't an African History class at my high school but then with a majority Asian (Chinese and Vietnamese background) population, the school didn't offer any Asian History classes either.  There were also a sizable number of Greek kids who didn't get any official schooling in Modern Greek History. Unlike what the proponents of black focused schools seem to suggestion, this did not make our lives a misery.  This did not keep us from graduating or from taking those courses (if we wanted to) in University or (lo and behold the idea!) of reading about them in our spare time.

In any case, I object to this idea that just because we look a certain way, thus we must obviously be fascinated with where we came from a generation or two or three or four ago.  This may be the case.  Or it may not be.  Living in Hong Kong, there have been moments when I never felt like more of a stranger, more out of my element (despite speaking some Canto and despite looking like the rest of the population).  In fact sometimes it feels stronger because of this.  You think you ought to be able to identify but you don't and can't and don't (initially) understand why.  It's okay to feel like a foreigner in France, I mean I'm Chinese looking and have an Anglo-Canadian immigrant soul, I can't possibly be expected to fit in there.  However when you walk around in the midst of a sea of people who look just like you, whose daily conversation you can understand, who expect you to be able to understand them and you can't understand anything (or you can't understand why they do what they do...for example I saw a girl walking around with a huge plastic model of a ferrero rocher chocolate today on the KCR train back home....please SOMEONE explain that to me!) then the effect is much more alienating.  All of those similarities and yet they are incomprehensible, they like things you can't stand, they do crazy shit and make lots of noise!!!  Oh my god!

Okay so I'm indulging in hyperbole but I think you get my point (hopefully).  I also hope that McGuinty will heed this article from the Toronto Star:  http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/299950

Walkom writes that if McGuinty truly feels that black focused schools are a bad idea (he has publicly said so and is urging Torontonians to write to their trustees to get the plan reversed) then he should step in and veto it.  Apparently this is within his power as Premier.  I think that he should do so since as Walkom points out, he campaigned hard against publicly funded faith based schooling during the last Provincial Election.  I wonder whether McGuinty will have the guts or whether he will be scared off by the prospect of taking on the supporters of this half baked plan.

PS  While I know that Black focused schools have met with some success in the United States, Toronto is not an American city and what is good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.  In addition I am not sure we want to go towards American style race relations (even Salon can't stop talking about how Barack is black and white and how this may or may not affect his chances, and Salon is a liberal publication!  For Christ sakes, whatever you think of the man, he's just a man).  Perhaps it is because I believe that Canada and Toronto have so much potential that I don't want to see it all fuck up. 

We all know about Maher Arar.  But he is not the only one to have been wrongly implicated as a terrorist:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/observer/story.html?id=6cfbd053-d721-4146-9cb9-3e02e1558093