Volksfront fundraiser: Thanks from British Columbia

I've just received a letter from British Columbia, with regards to that white supremacist fundraiser that I wrote about back in February.  It seems like I did indeed play some role in messing up their plans to raise money for Richard Kemp.

Sometimes, you have good days, and then you have really good days.  This is a really good day.

Battling Jason Kenney: George Galloway overcompensates

British MP George Galloway has been barred from entering Canada.  This decision has been upheld by the courts.

Predictably, George Galloway has turned this into a testosterone-soaked battle of wills with Jason Kenney.

Liberal Party: The Alfred Apps email is a dead letter

In an attempt to get ahead of the story, Rocco Rossi and Steve MacKinnon have announced that the Liberal Party will not be accepting donations to the Michael Ignatieff leadership campaign fund as a way of purchasing tickets to a fundraising dinner.  Only donations to the party count.

People who have already donated to the party at their limit are out of luck.

Before giving, ask Bob Rae how much he needs for his leadership fund

Politicians raise money.  That's fine.  Leadership candidates need money to run for party leaderships.  That's also fine.

But with the recent controversy over incoming Liberal Party president Alfred Apps email to wealthy Liberal donors encouraging them to donate to Michael Ignatieff's campaign fund, a campaign in which he is the only contender, I think it's fair to ask whether Bob Rae really needs to money.

Because Bob Rae is still asking for donations for his leadership campaign that ended back in December.

Will Garth Turner turn on the Liberals in his latest book?

Former Liberal MP Garth Turner is back in Halton, helping out the local Liberals raise money through the launch of his latest book, a tell-all expose of his time in Ottawa.

Is everyone certain that Michael Ignatieff is on board with this?

Some people miss Garth Turner

Halton Lib­er­als are up in arms. Steve Sav­age, the rid­ing as­so­ci­ation pres­id­ent, wrote warmly of former MP Garth Turn­er, and sug­ges­ted that un­der Mi­chael Ig­natieff, it wasn't likely Garth Turn­er's re­place­ment would be as ef­fect­ive as Turn­er was. That promp­ted an­oth­er group of Halton Lib­er­als to make it crys­tal clear that they nev­er want to see Garth Turn­er again.

Meanwhile, squirrels are nervous.

Michael Ignatieff and the ongoing expenses

As the sole contender in the Liberal Party leadership non-race, it stands to reason that Michael Ignatieff is not going to accrue any expenses.  It matters, because it would then suggest that pleas to donate to his leadership fund constitute a cynical attempt to get around donation limits, since any surplus in the fund will flip to the Liberal Party.

So I looked over the costs of running a leadership race to try and guess what more needs to be spent.

One Liberal tried to suggest the sorts of expenses that would need to be covered, but he just confirmed what Alfred Apps and others are denying, and that is that any donations to the Michael Ignatieff leadership fund are really destined for the Liberal Party.

Really, they need to get their stories straight.

CRTC chairman says that despite getting assurances, he is not assured

The saga of Canadian television seems absurd.  While being questioned by Heritage Committee MPs on solving the crisis that has struck Canadian television, Konrad von Finckenstein explained that the problem he has with fee-for-carriage is that he has not been given "enough assurances" that the new revenue stream would be used by broadcasters to support local broadcasters.

This despite the fact that both CTVglobemedia and CanWest stated a commitment to support local stations with fee-for-carriage revenue in a written submission to the CRTC.

This despite the fact that both Ivan Fecan (CTVglobemedia) and Leonard Asper (CanWest) stated a commitment to support local stations with fee-for-carriage revenue in a hearing in front of the chairman of the CRTC.

Just what does this guy want?

The CRTC is refusing to act to save television; time for government to act

In an appearance before MPs, CRTC head Konrad von Finckenstein explained that he doesn't have the answer on how to save television, nor will he implement an answer that people have been trying to explain to the CRTC for years.

It is time for the government to move on this.  It looks like there is enough support within parliament to pass rule changes and bypass the CRTC.

Pierre Poilievre asks Commissioner of Elections Canada to look into Michael Ignatieff leadership fund donation scheme

The story of Alfred Apps, the incoming president of the Liberal Party, asking dozens of high-powered and wealthy Liberal supporters to donate twice to the Liberal Party, continues to build up steam.

The media is all over it already.  And now the Commissioner of Elections Canada has been asked to look into the issue.

Donation tactic generating some heat for the Liberals

Recently I wrote about a donation tactic that the Liberals are using to maximize their fundraising.  The tactic appears legal, but the optics are lousy.  Now it seems like the Liberals are scurrying to spin the message.  This is never a good sign.

Michael Ignatieff uses leadership fund surplus to do end-run around donation limits

In an email that was mistakenly distributed far too widely, we learn of a plan to have Liberal donors donated double the amount legally allowed.  They'll do this by donating to Michael Ignatieff's leadership fund, which is in surplus, and then transferring the surplus to the party.

This is legal, apparently.  I suppose every leadership candidate's leadership campaign funds could be used this way.

But somehow I don't think the legislation was intended to make leadership funds conduits for extra cash, not when everyone involved is told outright that the fund is no longer paying off campaign debts.

TV advertising primer

I'm no expert on the subject of the economics of TV advertising, but I've written quite a few pieces recently on CanWest and the need to redesign the fee model for television.  Based on comments and emails, I think quite a few people are still not clear just how cable and satellite distribution hurts broadcasters, and why broadcasters are owed some sort of compensation.

So I'm going to try and explain how it all works.

More trouble for Ruby Dhalla?

Some obscure (and rather trashy) Indian website might cause Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla even more heartburn.  Besides disparaging her political aspirations, it alleges that there is another movie in which Ruby Dhalla appears. 

A Note to George Galloway: We owe you nothing

George Galloway, the radical British MP who praises terrorists, is being denied entry into Canada. 

Predictably, George Galloway is whining about his rights.

George Galloway has rights, of course.  They're just entirely irrelevant in this situation.

The foreign buy-out bogeyman is more dramatic than the truth

Charlie Smith of straight.com online is issuing a dire warning to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Help CanWest at your peril!

Cue the ominous thunderclap.  Crash!  Boom!

It's all nonsense of course.  The truth is far more pedestrian, but also incredibly important to understand if we are to save Canadian television for the future.  Don't be distracted by the tortured imaginings of Charlie Smith and people like him.

Will Phil Lind of Rogers Communications back fee-for-carriage now?

I doubt it.  But in 2008, when Leonard Asper of CanWest and Ivan Fecan of CTVglobemedia put aside their differences to jointly address the CRTC on the question of carriage fees, Phil Lind of Rogers Communications dismissed their concerns on the basis that there was no need for carriage fees, since the broadcasters were profitable at the time.

Does that mean that Phil Lind will support carriage fees today?  Someone should ask him.

No bailout for the CRTC!

With news that the government is looking at helping out Canada's private broadcasters, it is imperative that whatever else happens, this does not a result into a bailout for the CRTC.  The regulator needs to be held to account for its considerable level of responsibility for the situation that we find ourselves in.

Will a permanent change for Canadian television come in on time?

It would be churlish of me to point out that setting up the rules for Canadian television broadcasters such that they actually have a chance to succeed is something that ought to have been done years ago.  But better late than never, as long as it doesn't turn out to be too late.

Unfortunately, it seems like it going to be a photo finish.

Launching the mobile edition of Angry in the Great White North

On the heals of the recent design upgrade, I'm also launching the mobile edition of Angry in the Great White North.  I have no idea how many mobile phone users read blogs with their phones, but providing them with a subdomain and a XHTML-MP compliant version of the website is not all that much trouble.

Tamil Tiger Rally: Did Derek Lee or Gurbax Singh Malhi see the INHCU petition?

The recent controversy that erupted when Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi appeared at a Tamil rally continues to raise questions for me.  Digging deeper into the background of the rally, I find it difficult to understand how Liberal MP Derek Lee, who encouraged Liberals to attend the rally, could have believed that this rally was not going to feature a strong Tamil Tiger presence.

The Tamil Tigers have been designated a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.

I'm looking at the petition around which this rally was organized.  It demands that the Canadian government legitimize the Tamil Tigers by appointing an official contact.

Gary Goodyear and the Anti-Faith Brigade

My local MP, Gary Goodyear, is under fire, for refusing to submit to a self-appointed scientific inquisition.  Why?  Because scientists disappointed that funding is being curtailed in this recession have decided to tie that to the oh-so-important question about his belief in evolution.  Somehow they think that it is faith that is driving funding questions -- or that's what they want to think.  As if the recession isn't real.

Welcome to yet another iteration of Angry in the Great White North

Since I am a computer engineer as well as a blogger, I love to tinker with the nuts and bolts of the website almost as much as I enjoy producing content for it.  So it is that Angry in the Great White North is transformed again.  In this design, I have incorporated much of what I have learned about usage patterns surrounding this blog.

CanWest needs a future in order to survive the present

CanWest Global has dodged the bankruptcy bullet for the moment.  First, the Aspers got an extension from creditors to mid-April.  Now they are using this time (and an injection of funds from an old debt) to work with bondholders to come up with a solution that both sides can live with.

This is great news...but that success is based on convincing banks and bondholders that there is a profitable future for CanWest.  The CRTC can do a lot to make that happen.

Liberal Helpings: Not much in the way of momentum yet

Liberal Helpings is the name for a Liberal Party fundraising effort in which people will host private parties to sign up members and raise funds.  All the parties will be on March 27, so that Michael Ignatieff can do some sort of conference call or taped greeting.

Here's an update.  It doesn't look good for the Liberals.

May be doctored? Ruby Dhalla is sounding less certain today [Update]

Yesterday news broke of an effort by Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla to prevent the DVD distribution of Kyon?  Kis Liye?, a Bollywood-style movie she starred in, filmed in Hamilton in 2003.

The film has already seen theatrical release.

She alleges, among other things, that the promotional still photos were doctored, with her head being superimposed on another woman's body.

Today, though, she seems less certain.

But the Liberals told us Ruby Dhalla's movie was a hidden jewel

It's funny how things can change on a dime.  A few years ago, Liberal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps is raising a glass to toast Chico Sihra for bringing Bollywood movies to Hamilton.  She even called Kyon?  Kis Liye? a hidden jewel.

Today, though, Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, who starred in the film, wants distribution stopped.  And Chico Sihra?  Not so much a hero bringing money and jobs to Hamilton, but a crass opportunist.

It fits into a pattern in which Ruby Dhalla seems to be trying to erase all references to this part of her past.

Ruby Dhalla has mysterious run-in with Tamils [Updates]

Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla has had some sort of trouble regarding Tamils.  The details are sketchy, and no one seems to be talking.

If it weren't for the fact that the police had become involved, we might not have even heard about it.

Tamil Tigers! Freedom Fighters! LTTE! Freedom Fighters! Our leader! Prabhakaran!

This was the roar from the crowd on March 5, gathered in front of Parliament Hill.

Not just one or two, but all of them.

Loudly.

Repeatedly.

Led by the rally organizers.

So just who exactly told Liberal MP Derek Lee that this was not going to be a Tamil Tiger rally?

Concerns about Khaled Mouammar first raised in 2005

Canadian Arab Federation President Khaled Mouammar is under some suspicion, now that the National Post has revealed that when he was on the Immigration and Refugee Board, all Arabs that came in front of him were allowed into the country.

Khaled Mouammar is the patriarch of a family of radicalized Palestinians.  His daughter supports the "No One Is Illegal" movement that aims to remove all immigration restrictions, and was named a leader of the infamous Concordia riots of 2002 that forced the cancellation of a speech by Benjamin Netanyahu.  Khaled Mouammar himself wrote approvingly of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and in support of Hezbollah.

Concerns about his suitability for the IRB were first raised on this blog in 2005. 

Jim Prentice and Jason Kenney: Strange resemblance?

Have you noticed that Jim Prentice and Jason Kenney are almost twins?  No?  Truth is, neither have I.  They don't look anything alike.  But some people seem to be confused.

Global warming believers build in the escape hatch

As many people have heard, a new study admits that the Earth has not been warming as predicted, but actually cooling off.

But leave it to the global warming crowd to turn this into a win-win for them.

Does Gurbax Singh Malhi take Michael Ignatieff for a fool?

When an MP who spent the almost the first thirty years of his life in India earning a degree in Politics and History suddenly claims to have no understanding of the significance of the flag of the Tamil Tigers, something just doesn't add up.

But that is what Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi is claiming, having been caught on video supporting the "fight" at a Tamil demonstration, one that featured a heavy presence of Tamil Tiger sympathizers.  The Tamil Tigers have been classified as a terrorist organization in Canada.

I have no doubt that Michael Ignatieff has asked for an explanation.  If Gurbax Singh Malhi is spinning the same story behind closed doors as he is stating publicly, then he is treating his party's leader with as much disrespect as he has treated us.

It'll be interesting to see if Michael Ignatieff will tolerate it.  Of course, Michael Ignatieff's track record is poor when it comes to demanding that MPs behave.

Michael Ignatieff opens the door to future scandals

Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff is a man of ideas.  I'm just not certain they're all good ideas.

The latest one is obligating Liberal MPs to maintain a certain level of dues-paying membership in his riding or be forced to fight a fresh nomination battle before the next election.

And with that, Michael Ignatieff has rendered donation limits meaningless.

My TV is broken -- and together we have an opportunity to fix it

My TV is broken.  Oh, I still get a picture and sound from it, but the Canadian TV model is breaking down.  I would like to fix it, but like all good medicine, a lot of people are not going to like the taste of it.

Unfortunately, the right solution will most adversely affect people who seem to think that they are the only ones with good taste, period.

Michael Ignatieff acknowledges Elizabeth May's uselessness

In a move that will continue the process in which the Green Party of Canada becomes marginalized and irrelevant, Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff has announced that the Liberal Party will run candidates in every riding in Canada in the next election.  That includes whatever riding Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader, decides to run in.  In other words, the deal between Igantieff's predecessor, Stephane Dion, and May, in which the Liberals withdrew their candidate from Central Nova where May was running.

Consider what Stephane Dion got for his accommodation of May, and where that got him, and you get a sense of what Michael Ignagtieff thinks of Elizabeth May.

Angry in the Great White North by Steve Janke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at stevejanke.com.