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In Egypt, will it be a military dictatorship or an Islamist dictatorship?

Danger signs. David Kirkpatrick reports from a village outside of Cairo in today’s New York Times:

In the aftermath of the vote, Egyptian liberals, Israelis and some Western officials have raised alarms that the revolution may unfold as a slow-motion version of the 1979 overthrow of the shah of Iran: a popular uprising that ushered in a conservative theocracy. With two rounds of voting to go, Egypt’s military rulers have already sought to use the specter of a Salafi takeover to justify extending their power over the drafting of a new constitution. And at least a few liberals say they might prefer military rule to a hard-line Islamist government. Continue reading In Egypt, will it be a military dictatorship or an Islamist dictatorship?

Kent on Durban Platform: "fair and balanced framework"

Peter Kent at Durban
Australia’s Minister for Climate Change Greg Combet (left) speaks with Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent during a break in plenary session at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17) in Durban December 10, 2011. REUTERS/Rogan Ward

The international conference on climate change in Durban, South Africa was supposed to wrap up on Friday but without a deal, all countries kept going and, early Sunday morning, came up with what they’re calling the Durban Platform. Here, for the record, is Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent’s statement on Durban Platform:

Continue reading Kent on Durban Platform: "fair and balanced framework"

Poll: Canada, Kyoto, climate change, Durban, jobs and so on

Earlier this week, MPs in the House of Commons voted on the motion you’ll see in the poll question below. I’m not going to tell you right now who tabled the motion,  what party the MP belongs to, or what the results were (and if you already know, don’t play the spoiler!)  but, in a post I hope to put up later today, I’ll touch on all of that in some notes I hope to make about about free votes in the House of Commons.

In the meantime, here is the exact wording of the House of Commons motion. As the Speaker, says, all those in favour? Opposed?:

Continue reading Poll: Canada, Kyoto, climate change, Durban, jobs and so on

Who do you blame for the crisis in Attawapiskat?

The federal government today said it had acquired 15 mobile homes for the beleaguered community of Attawapiskat, Ont. The community’s chief, Theresa Spence, says they need 22. And, in any event, the homes won’t get there until after Christmas when the roads are frozen solid enough for transport.

Continue reading Who do you blame for the crisis in Attawapiskat?

Tonight on the Daily Brief: Jason Kenney, Bob Stellick, Chris Warkentin and more

Tonight on The Daily Brief on Sun News Network:

New border deals: More aspirational than actual changes

Getting any kind of a deal with the Americans these days on just about anything can be considered a big deal.

U.S. President Barack Obama is, if the polls can be believed, not having a good time of it. He has been politically neutered by his Republic opponents in Congress and in the U.S. Senate. There is a virtual logjam in Washington on most issues because those Republicans refuse to play nice with Democrats and vice versa.

And so against that background two deals announced this afternoon between Canada and the U.S. can be considered an accomplishment of sorts.

Continue reading New border deals: More aspirational than actual changes

Federal government's "fact sheet" on Attawapiskat

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister John Duncan today said that the “third party manager” appointed to manage the affairs of Attawapiskat is Jacques Marion from BDO Canada LLP.

Duncan’s office also issued the following “fact sheet” on the issue:

Continue reading Federal government's "fact sheet" on Attawapiskat

Lessons in PR: The merits of staging news events on Sunday afternoons

Say what you want about Garth Drabinsky, he was terrific at promoting his theatre shows, finding every niche he could to maximize free publicity — otherwise known in the trade as “earned media.”. Case in point: the tradition in Toronto theatres is that the press are invited round to opening night which is usually held on a Wednesday or a Thursday. This would make sense as the reviews would then show up in the papers on Thursday or Friday theatregoers were planning what to do for the weekend. Continue reading Lessons in PR: The merits of staging news events on Sunday afternoons

So just who's running things anyway? The professional backgrounds of our politicians

The federal government — god bless 'em — has launched what it calls its new Open Data Portal, a pilot project in which the feds will put a bunch of datasets online.

I think this is going to be a great resource, not only for journalists, but for researchers, educators, and anyone else with an interest in information about our country. Here's one neat dataset: History of the Federal Electoral Ridings, 1867-2010. I downloaded the data and thought I'd run this quick check: What are the most common occupations of all of those who have sought election to the House of Commons since Confederation? Answer: Lawyer. (you could probably guess that one.) But what's second? Or third? Wonder no longer!  Here's the list of the most popular occupations, as reported by the 36,000 candidates who have stood for office in all the general and byelections we have had. (this data set does not include the 41st general election held on May 2, 2011). I note that “Journalist” makes the top 10 while “Housewife” is number 21.

  1. lawyer (3730)
  2. farmer (2587)
  3. teacher (1415)
  4. merchant (1194)
  5. businessman (1125)
  6. physician (999)
  7. barrister (981)
  8. parliamentarian (817)
  9. student (795)
  10. journalist (497)
  11. retired (476)
  12. manufacturer (425)
  13. manager (355)
  14. Member of Parliament (353)
  15. administrator (298)
  16. accountant (271)
  17. consultant (268)
  18. contractor (267)
  19. notary (224)
  20. engineer (223)
  21. housewife (196)
  22. salesman (195)
  23. insurance agent (190)
  24. professor (186)
  25. secretary (179)

Now, remember what I said about “housewife” cracking the Top 25 most common occupations so far as candidates go in our history? Well, a lot of “housewives” may have run, but they have not been that successful. In fact, though 196 housewives have run for Parliament, just 13 have won in our entire history. Check out the next list: It's the most popular occupations of the 11,000 people who have actually been elected to the House of Commons in our history. (11,000 and only 13 housewives among them!). Lawyer and farmer are still 1-2. Journalist drops to 11. And I am pleased to see that Canadians elected 56 MPs who, when asked for their occupation, simply replied “Gentleman.” Very nice. So, here the 25 most popular occupations of our MPs.

  1. lawyer (2046)
  2. farmer (1023)
  3. parliamentarian (702)
  4. merchant (604)
  5. physician (511)
  6. businessman (448)
  7. barrister (435)
  8. teacher (278)
  9. Member of Parliament (210)
  10. manufacturer (200)
  11. journalist (184)
  12. notary (123)
  13. lumber merchant (90)
  14. editor (89)
  15. barrister-at-law (79)
  16. politician (78)
  17. manager (76)
  18. administrator (73)
  19. contractor (70)
  20. lumberman (67)
  21. retired (58)
  22. gentleman (56)
  23. insurance agent (56)
  24. accountant (55)
  25. insurance broker (55))

Now this is a very rough cut at the data. Because “occupation” is self-reported, there's a lot of data that needs cleaning up here. For example, 2 MPs identified themselves as “broadcast journalist”, 3 as a “reporter” but, of course, they should all be lumped in in the “journalist” category. Nonetheless, an interesting chunk of data worth additional probing…

Last little data slice: In our electoral history, candidates who list “lawyer” as their occupation have garnered 19.1 million votes in our electoral history. Those who said they were “farmers” have garnered 7.4 million votes. Housewives: 178,447 votes.