Sixth Estate

Say hello to my little boy

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:23:00 +0000

I've been on a self-imposed hiatus these last couple of months. One reason I'm about to show you. The other had to do with a little campaign I was fortunate enough to play a small part.

Say hello to Aidan John Summers, my not-so-wee lad.

Who wathces the Watchmen?

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:21:00 +0000

I already can't wait.

Silly, of course Flaherty won't bail out Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:10:00 +0000

Why would the current federal Finance Minister, who also happens to be the Minister responsible for the GTA laugh at a reporter's question about using a federal surplus to help ease Toronto's budget woes? Let's think, hmmm. Which government did he serve in before he sought his calling in Ottawa? Which Tory government in Ontario downloaded social services to the property tax base ten years ago? Oh yeah, right. If you were him I bet you would laugh too.

No bailout from Flaherty TheStar.com - GTA - No bailout from Flaherty
August 21, 2007 Kerry GillespieQueen's Park Bureau
OTTAWA–Federal Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty told a roomful of municipal politicians that Canada's
economy was punching well above its weight and that he was paying down the debt
at a record rate.
Minutes later, when reporters asked him if he'd use some of
that money to bail out Toronto, he laughed. Far from paying down its debt,
Toronto is $575 million short of balancing its budget next year and is looking
into raising new taxes and cutting services.
Flaherty pointed to all the
money for infrastructure the federal government has already made available to
Toronto and other cities.
In his budget last March, he announced a $33
billion, seven-year program to help build roads, public transit and other
infrastructure projects across Canada – a response to municipal calls for a
predictable flow of funding. Getting access to some of that money is dependent
on working with the private sector.
"Certainly, Toronto as Canada's largest
city ought to participate in that. Part of the money is available through
public-private-partnerships, and I would encourage Mayor (David) Miller and the
council in Toronto not to be closed-minded about successful public-private
partnerships," Flaherty said.
Such projects have been successful in the
United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand, he said.
Flaherty's
behind the times on Toronto, budget chief Shelley Carroll said. "It's a nice,
provocative thing for Mr. Flaherty to say, except that he obviously hasn't
really looked at the city in detail because we actually do these things,"
Carroll said.
"What do you think the street furniture program is? It's a
20-year partnership with a private firm where they're going to put fixtures on
our streets and maintain them and pay back revenue to us. We do explore those
things."

This is so disappointing

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:43:00 +0000

After the huge crash he had early in this year's Tour de France, I just wanted to root for him. By far he was the most inspirational story of this year's race. Sixty stiches in his knees, which became infected. The huge win yesterday and in the time trial three days ago. The mere fact that this guy just would not quit despite the enormity of the pain he was suffering. By every measure he was the narrative of the Tour this year. By a country mile. Now this. Brutal.

uuuohhhh!!!!! Sorry, just stretching there

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:59:00 +0000

Back from a week long respite from the rat race. Aside from my near-apocalyptic battle with rodents during my time away, I must say that I return to the daily grind, rested and ready for whatever is thrown at me. And I must say my small vacatino came none too soon. I've been draggin my butt around for a while now. With a wee one on the way any r&r Steff and I can get was surely blessed. Now back to the grind. By the way for anyone interested - young Summers arrives sometime in the next five weeks. Stay tuned.

When I need a real good laugh, I watch this...

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:06:00 +0000

I pray I won't be like this...

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:49:00 +0000

My heart will go on, yadda, yadda, yadda

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:54:00 +0000

This is the precursor to the news heard round the world last week - that Celine Dion was pegged by Hilary Clinton for her tour song. Yawn!!!! On the up side, this video, a la Sorpranos blew me away.

Pants on fire

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:39:00 +0000

I always laugh when I hear Ontario Conservatives and their supporters frothing at the mouth over broken promises and whatnot - particularly when they conveniently put that "indignancy" aside when their cousins in Ottawa have made an art of it. I wonder how they feel this morning with the Globe and Mail's Murray Campbell who rightly points out the following in his column today:

Think of where we were four years ago when the provincial economy was going into the tank but the Progressive Conservative government was sticking to its story that it planned to deliver a fifth consecutive balanced budget. The finance minister, Janet Ecker, promised $2.2-billion in unspecified "sales and rentals" to boost sagging revenue lines and tough actions to rein in spending. She said it was an "undebatable point" that the books would be balanced.
But it was smoke and mirrors, as a report from a former auditor a few weeks later showed.
Far from being balanced, the government of Ernie Eves was running a $5.6-billion deficit as voters went to the polls, because it had overestimated revenues and underestimated expenditures. In other words, voters had been lied to.

The McGuinty government's push for "fiscal transparency" flowed from this sad chapter in Ontario history and Mr. Sorbara is justified in slapping himself on the back.

Today, the "new" Ontario PC's have put out a platform that reminds me of the "old" Ontario PCs of Mike Harris days. What's worse is we don't know how much their plan costs. I guess they want us to take their word for it. Or maybe they just don't know. Either way it's bad news.

Questions about accountability

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:41:00 +0000

Newspapers, television stations and other news outlets all accept advertising dollars from political parties. This is a long and accepted practice.

But what happens when a political party buys headlines, or pays for favourable coverage? Does that not muddy the waters a bit? What about when a political party buys ad space on a race car driven by the an individual who owns a website that sells headlines? Doesn't that muddy the waters further? And what happens when that same site, like today, provides a headline referencing a story about that new sponsorship arragement? Isn't that a bit murky?

Bourque and fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:18:00 +0000

In keeping with Pierre Bourque's one sided fascination with all things Stéphane, including fashion and clothing selection, I wonder if he knows who dressed this guy up?

No? Maybe it's this person...

Mirror, mirror: 'Who pays PM's primper?' gets no response

Jennifer Ditchburn
Canadian Press
Friday, June 08, 2007
OTTAWA (CP) - The cost to taxpayers for Stephen Harper's personal stylist is destined to remain the prime minister's beauty secret.
The NDP attempted to part the curtains blocking access to details about the public cost of Michelle Muntean's services, and who oversees her work. MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis submitted a formal question in the House of Commons that requires a government answer, but received no details.
Muntean has travelled the world with Harper as his personal image advisor, including managing his wardrobe and his grooming. It is not certain whether she was with the prime minister in Germany this week for the G8 leaders meetings, although the gregarious former TV makeup artist has typically joined Harper's entourage for major excursions abroad.
Harper's staff has repeatedly refused to divulge the size of her salary.
The response given to Judy Wasylycia-Leis, prepared by the Privy Council Office and signed by Harper's parliamentary secretary, was that there were "no records indicating Michelle Muntean is an employee (public servant or exempt staff) or that she submitted expenses for payment for expenses incurred by her or on her behalf."
Yet government officials have said she is considered part of Harper's "travel staff" and that her salary is not picked up by the Conservative Party of Canada.
That leaves only one possibility for the mystery of who provides Muntean's paycheques: the House of Commons.
Each MP - including Harper - gets a yearly budget through the Commons to help run their offices. The details of those budgets are not covered under Access to Information laws and Harper can keep the numbers concealed forever if he likes.
Wasylycia-Leis said Harper seems to have a double-standard for transparency. As a Reform MP in the mid-1990's, Harper demanded that leader Preston Manning reveal the details of his party-paid wardrobe allowance.
"Canadians have a right to know in the first place, and that's doubly so given that Stephen Harper himself has made a big deal about clothes, or personal accoutrements coming out of public budgets or even party budgets," Wasylycia-Leis said. "He needs to fess up and he needs to be absolutely forthcoming with Canadians."
Harper's director of communications Sandra Buckler did not return a message with questions about Muntean's salary.

UN Troops in Sudan? Maybe soon

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:56:00 +0000

I'm cautiously optimistic about this development. It's generally better if well-resourced African troops are on the ground.

Hey, I think there's a campaign underway!

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:25:00 +0000

Understatement of the century I admit. Check out Torytube.ca to see what I mean.

Two Thumbs Up to the Young Liberals of Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Wed, 30 May 2007 13:07:00 +0000

For this. Brilliant.

Congratulations to Rob

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:09:00 +0000

An old friend from my Ottawa days woke up today as Premier-elect of PEI. Congrats Rob on a well run campaign, and for proving the pundits wrong.

Whatever happened to Weather Underground?

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Fri, 11 May 2007 19:11:00 +0000

A year ago I was literally in heaven listening to Massive Attack's Collected, a two-disc compilation of their singles, rarities and B-Sides. At the time Collected was released, word on the street was that a new album was due for release in February of 2007. Well it's May 2007 if you haven't noticed, and I can't for the life of me find out what happened.

Maybe this very good article from the Indepedent, written in concert with the release of Collected explains a bit.

If anyone has any info, a big, big, big fan wants to know what's up.

Sometimes Janke tries too hard

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Thu, 10 May 2007 14:16:00 +0000

See his comments section re: Sandra Buckler.

I can't believe it's been a year already

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:40:00 +0000

One year ago Warren, Sandra, Emily, Declan and I opened the doors to DCG. Boy did it go by fast.

Thanks to all who supported us in our first year. The best is yet to come!

A special shout out to my man the Tail

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:20:00 +0000

I'm told that his muse was a couple of glasses of Italian red. Although I'm not one to usually praise the creative virtues of alcohol, I must say that Raymaker was in rare form yesterday.

Live from Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:23:00 +0000

Steff's friends, Angela and Amanda Miles-Berry are running in the Boston Marathon today. Steff just sent me the link for the race, from which you can track an individual's performance throughout the race. Based on how the twins are doing right now, I'd say they will comfortably come in under 3:15, which would be just amazing. Go girls!!

Being a mile wide isn't so hot if you're an inch deep

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:28:00 +0000

In reference to this missive today, I feel incumbent upon me to suggest to my chum that he doth protesteth too much. Whilst he beats his chest about his 300 friends, compared to my 126, I feel I must clarify matters. In my case I actually know each of the individuals and really do count them as friends. In Warren's case he knows about ten of the people who have linked to him. To be fair though, I will give Warren credit for one particular individual... I'm sure he does count the guy who shaves messages on his chest as a kindred spirit.

First glimpse

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 18:47:00 +0000

Well, hello there.

Winston Smith would cringe

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:02:00 +0000

I had started to wonder if the Conservative Party was simply made of money - what with their new Quebec ads spreading bs about Stephane Dion, and the Orwellian show John Baird and Maxime Bermier gave with the media a tour of their Campaign HQ, and told all with a straight face, "Election? What Election?" Sure, and Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. Carry on.

And then there was the news that the Conservatives were going to run ads hitting back at Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams. Not so coincidently, Williams and his government ran ads in the major dailies last week slamming the federal government for breaking its promise on equalization. But wait, its not the Conservatives who are going to runs ads against Williams, it's the Government of Canada. Tories using the public's cash to promote themselves. Gee, I've never heard of that one before. Read below.

PM to use tax dollars for ad blitz
Tories to defend budget with Newfoundland 'info' campaign

Andrew Mayeda
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to use federal taxpayers' money to finance ads defending his government's budget against attacks by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams.
Mr. Harper defended the move yesterday, saying: "It's important to get the facts on the record." But critics say the prime minister has no business dipping into federal coffers to finance what are essentially political ads.
"Spending hard-earned tax dollars on this kind of paid advertising campaign is a silly and ridiculous use of government resources," said John Williamson, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "With the number of journalists following both men around, you would think they would be able to take their message to voters."
The dispute between Mr. Harper and Mr. Williams, a Progressive Conservative, centres on the formula used to calculate equalization payments to the provinces.
Last week, Mr. Williams launched newspaper ads across the country attacking Mr. Harper for breaking a promise to exclude non-renewable natural resource revenues from the formula. Such a move would favour Newfoundland, which has substantial offshore oil and gas resources.
The budget gives provinces the option of excluding all resource revenues, but also caps the fiscal capacity that any province can achieve.
Federal Tories point out that Newfoundland can choose to keep the Atlantic Accord, an agreement that excludes oil and gas revenues from the equalization formula until 2012.
But doing so would prevent the province from benefiting from the new, enriched equalization system.
The Harper government will launch print ads in Newfoundland and Labrador tomorrow, followed by radio spots and more print ads next week.
The ads are expected to accuse Mr. Williams of spreading misinformation and argue the budget leaves Newfoundlanders better off.
Mr. Williams remained defiant in the face of the counterattack. "I think the running of those ads just insults the intelligence and the integrity of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador," he said yesterday.
He reiterated his wish to see Mr. Harper voted out of office.
In defending his decision to use public money, Mr. Harper said Mr. Williams financed his own ads through provincial cash. The ads, which ran in 16 national newspapers, cost about $250,000.
Mr. Harper also rejected the term "attack ads," calling the move an "information campaign."
Using public money to pay for ads defending the government in provincial disputes is not unprecedented. In 2000, former prime minister Jean Chretien launched a newspaper ad campaign in response to ads from former Ontario premier Mike Harris that attacked the federal government for reducing financial support for health care.
The purpose of the sponsorship program that later enveloped the Liberals in scandal was to raise the federal government's profile in Quebec.
Mr. Williams said it is legitimate to spend tax dollars on ads explaining government programs or recruiting for organizations such as the military.
But he said the new ads "cross the line" into political gamesmanship and should have been financed by the Conservative party.

Tid bits

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:10:00 +0000

72 hour challenge - On Friday night I was told that within a day of signing up on Facebook, the latest phenomenon in social networking, I would get 100 "friends". Really "Well, okay, let's say 72 hours." Okay then. For all of you readers of this little blog o'mine, head on to Facebook, register or log in and be my "friend". Social networking is where it's at man.

Quebec election - Anyone who tells you they know how today's vote is going to turn out doesn't know jack. Here's my fearless prediction - it will be a mess. Can Charest eke out a government on the basis of Jim Flaherty's $700 million tax cut? Will Boisclair pull it out despite himself. Or will Dumont prove he won't flame out like last time? Wait and see. I'll be sitting in front of the boob tube, eating my popcorn watching nervously.

Federal election? - Word on the street is that Harper's going to pull the plug this week. But on what basis will he call it on? The latest polling numbers would suggest this is the best chance he'll ever have at a majority. Today's results in Quebec may well determine if he gambled right with last week's budget, and therefore whether we're going to polls in all of Canada sooner rather than later.

Are cold cuts good or bad? - Steff and I are having this debate at the moment. There's a lot of material out of the net, and in literature that suggests that cold cuts are risky business during pregnancy. Our doctors and mid-wives say that in moderation it's not a big deal. What do you think?

Quite the weekend for the Summers clan

noreply@blogger.com (Cam) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:59:00 +0000

On Saturday night my family welcomed into the clan Lachlan (sp?) Thomas Summers. Pictures to come. The first born in a generation to the overly melodramatic soap opera that is my immediate family, Lachlan is my nephew. For the most part, his arrival was blessedly not dramatic. In fact all accounts suggest that his birth was fairly routine. Although, I don't know how my sister-in-law felt about her water breaking in Sears. I'm sure it was the least of her concerns. Anyway, Lachlan was born following a fairly long labour at about a quarter after nine. I met the wee lad about two hours later. He's a strapping 6 pounds, 10 ounces. So congratulations to Brent and Michelle. May the wind always be at his back.

In other news, our lovable orange ball of fur Clod underwent some surgery on Friday for a lower canine tooth that had gone wonky. Not one to complain, he had this one tooth that had literally gone crooked. I'm happy to report however that he is doing just fine, although he's sleeping about 20 hours a day, as opposed to his usual 18.

UPDATE:

Here's a photo of Lachlan, his mom and dad:

And here's one with me! My mother tells me that this photo made my sister cry.