May 2014 – David Akin’s On The Hill

Israel ambassador says Ottawa City Hall art show "glorifies terror"

The current exhibition at the Karsh-Masson Gallery at City of Ottawa features an exhibit by Palestinian-born artist Rehab Nazzal. The exhibit has been strongly condemned by Rafael Barak, Israel’s Ambassador to Canada. [An article at MuslimLink profiles Nazzal and the exhibition] Here is the press release issued this morning by the Embassy of Israel:

Exhibit at Ottawa City Hall Glorifies Terror

Ottawa, Canada – May 23, 2014: An exhibit at Ottawa’s City Hall Karsh-Masson Art Gallery reflects a culture of hate and incitement that contradicts the values of Canada as a guardian of peace and champion against terror. Although the exhibit claims to present “portraits of lost artists, activists, writers and leaders,” this deceitful description is cover for what is a “who’s who” of international terrorists: suicide bombers, masterminds of massacres, terrorist operatives and the hijackers of planes, buses, and schools. Many of those glorified are individuals connected to organizations that appear on Canada’s official list of terrorist entities. Continue reading Israel ambassador says Ottawa City Hall art show "glorifies terror"

Running to the beat: My Ottawa Race Weekend playlist for a PB

This weekend in Ottawa is “Ottawa Race Weekend”. Tens of thousands from the national capital region and around the world will put on a pair of shorts and run around a variety of tracks as fast as they can. On Saturday, thousands will run a lovely 10K route that goes from Ottawa City Hall, down the Rideau Canal to Dow’s Lake and back. On Sunday, the half-marathon and marathon are run. Both courses are terrific. The marathon course takes you right by 24 Sussex, the Governor General’s Residence, the Museum of Civilization, er, Canadian Museum of History, and has great views of Parliament Hill.

I’ve done the 10K event before but this weekend, for the first time in this event, I’m running in the half-marathon. [Course map] I’ve run this distance — a half-marathon is about 21 kilometres — three times in my life, one of which was in another race event (that’s me finishing that event, the 9-Run-Run last fall, above), but I’ve always run it before with an attitude of “just finishing means you’re a winner.” This time, though, I want to be faster than I’ve ever been. (My fastest is 1 hour and 57 minutes over this distance.)

Continue reading Running to the beat: My Ottawa Race Weekend playlist for a PB

The Liberal record on job creation by industrial sector

Today on the Ontario campaign trail, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak was indicting the Liberal governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne for letting 300,000 manufacturing jobs disappear on their watch. Now, while I was critical of Hudak and the PCs earlier this week for vastly overstating the number of “out of work” Ontarians, Hudak is pretty much spot-on with this latest number. Since October, 2003, when McGuinty took the reigns for the first time, Ontario has, in fact, seen 314,500 manufacturing jobs disappear. That’s what Statistics Canada says.

I was curious which industrial sectors fared worst or better during the Liberal reign and so I crunched the numbers from Statscan for three time periods: Since the McGuinty liberals first won office in October 2003; since the last Ontario election in Oct 2011 (the McGuinty/Wynne years) and the last 12 months. The most recent month for which data is available is April 2014. Continue reading The Liberal record on job creation by industrial sector

Angry pensioner surviving on income from phone sex calls berates Australian PM

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott gives a rather sly wink as he takes a phone call from a grandma who claims she works a phone sex line to make ends meet. Abbott then argues that the virtues of his carbon tax cut will help this woman. I cannot possibly see Stephen Harper allowing himself to be even remotely close to having an unscripted moment like this filmed.

Why is history important to Harper?

2480_20120914_Photo_Gallery_PM_1812_7 — Saint-Paul-de-l’Île-aux-Noix, Quebec – In September, 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Fort Lennox, QC to announced that battle honours would be awarded to those regiments that served in the War of 1812. (PMO Handout Photo)

On Tuesday,the Canadian Journal of History published an essay by Yves Frenette, one of Canada’s top historians, which is sharply critical of the way the Harper government has “used” or, so far as the critics go, “abused” Canada’s history. Frenette’s essay is a good summing-up of the kind of critique which has been showing up over the last three or four years whenever academics gather at conferences, at their blogs, and in other fora.

Note to reader: Those links won’t click themselves. I encourage you to check them out.

As a political journalist (and history grad), I’m much more interested in why governments turn to history to help sustain their current political objectives. I wrote about this in a column destined for our papers on Wednesday and I wrote about this last month when Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird spoke about the history of Canada’s foreign policy. Mind you, I’m limited to just 625 words for each of these columns so I can’t get into some of the same great detail that Paul Wells touches on his book The Longer I’m Prime Minister … that helps answer this question about why the Harper gang is interested in Canadian history: Continue reading Why is history important to Harper?

The wonky math in Tim Hudak's new "I Want To Work" ad

This is the latest ad from the Ontario PC Party, which has built its campaign around what it calls its “Million Jobs Plan”. In short, Hudak believes that if Ontarians can leave the PCs in charge in government for the next eight years, the province will end up with 1 million more net new jobs. Western University economist Mike Moffatt has put that promise in context and, in his judgement, believes that that is an “ambitious — but not impossible — target.”

But in this new ad, Hudak is not talking about the million jobs he will create in 8 years. In this ad, he is standing in the legislature at Queen’s Park and and says: “There are 1 million people out of work.” Now I’m assuming that, as this is being released in the midst of an Ontario general election and he made that comment in the Ontario legislature, we ought to interpret what he said as there are 1 million Ontarians out of work. But that’s just not true. Continue reading The wonky math in Tim Hudak's new "I Want To Work" ad

Ontario campaign ad wars: Mike Harris versus Barack Obama vs "The Kid"

In this new ad released Saturday, the Ontario Liberals try to scare the bejesus out of any soft leftie who might be thinking of voting for Andrea Horwath that Kathleen Wynne is the only who can save us from Mike Harris, er, Tim Hudak!

Meanwhile, Continue reading Ontario campaign ad wars: Mike Harris versus Barack Obama vs "The Kid"

Cardinal to Trudeau: Be "the king's good servant, but God's first"

ROME – Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, speaks to reporters on March 10, 2013 ahead of participating in the College of Cardinals which would elect Pope Francis. (DAVID AKIN/QMI Agency)

Last week, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said that any Liberal candidate who is not already a sitting MP must be pro-choice. This week, Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, sent Trudeau the following letter, a copy of which was distributed to the Parliamentary Press Gallery:

Mr. Justin Trudeau, MP
Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
House of Commons, Ottawa

May 14, 2014
Dear Mr. Trudeau,

I am deeply concerned about your decision that citizens who, in conscience, seek to assure the protection of the most vulnerable among us are not acceptable as candidates in your party. Continue reading Cardinal to Trudeau: Be "the king's good servant, but God's first"

In new ad, Kathleen Wynne asks: Is Andrea Horwath for real?

Here’s the latest ad to hit the Ontario election campaign trail. It’s from the Liberals and that’s the voice of Liberal leader and premier Kathleen Wynne jumping on Andrea Horwath for failing to support the Liberal budget.

If you haven’t yet seen it, Continue reading In new ad, Kathleen Wynne asks: Is Andrea Horwath for real?

Coming soon to your TV: A new ad from Justin Trudeau and the Liberals

It won’t make it to TV screens until later this month but this TV ad posted online today by the federal Liberals and spun by a “senior Liberal” as an attempt at “contrasting Trudeau” with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and not as a response to Conservative ads and frequent Conservative member’s statements in the House of Commons in which Trudeau is derided as “in over his head.” Continue reading Coming soon to your TV: A new ad from Justin Trudeau and the Liberals