King of the Shiners

Not Quite a Liberal Obituary

2012-01-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

Hey. How's it going?

Five months since I have written anything. Partly a conscious decision made since The Harper Government has gotten into the swing of things. Partly laziness since I started working again.

Biggest change in my life? I'm a public servant... for now anyways. Good money says I'm out of a job by the summer. I had applied for an indeterminate position that was made term by an anxious hiring authority just before I was given the contract. My position should be safe, but the budget is going to create a few thousand indeterminate public servants that have priority status over a lowly term employee. So when my time is up someone else will probably get my position. No sour grapes though... well aside from the whole priority list thing. There is waste in the government, and it should be cut away. Do I believe a few thousand Canadians should have their lives turned upside down due to one of the stupidest tax policy decisions in the history of the Western World? No. But here we are. Tax increases are now toxic and The Harper Government ruined the country's finances and that has to be fixed.

So that's the laziness part: employment in a pretty inconvenient location. A couple hours of OCTranspo a day drains you. Also, government frowns on non-business internet use, so I can't be quite the news addict that I used to be.

The other part is just the complete lock-down The Harper Government has on the Canadian news industry. I wake up each day with a pretty good idea of what the political stories will be in the increasingly horrible Globe and the almost giddy Post Media papers. Add in the tiresome sheep of the Canadian punditocracy on an increasingly influential Twitter and you get a severe case of the blahs.

Harper the mastermind will be in power for the next half-century. The NDP are doomed. The Liberals are doomed... sorry, the Liberals are DOOMED!!! Anyone who is still living in Ontario or Quebec should probably just kill themselves. Some variation of these will appear in the news every single day of the week.

The Liberals are the only interesting thing on the Canadian political scene. They've punched above their weight as the third party while the NDP gives new meaning to the term "shadow cabinet". Nonetheless, the media continues to shout out dead man walking every time the L word is mentioned and everyone is quite certain that if - er, when - this weekend's convention fails to produce the awesomest political party EVER, the Grits might as well throw in the towel. I don't think there's any reason the Liberals should be operating under this weird deadline, but the media creates the narrative here.

Anywho, I'm slightly more attentive than I have been now and hope to have something to say about the whole mess in the future.

LCBO Fall Beer Release

2011-08-21T15:08:00.001-04:00

Whew, I've been shirking my beer news duties since leaving for London a year ago. But I'm back now and think I've figured out what I have/haven't missed in the Ontario beer scene. Here's the LCBO's Fall beer release, hopefully coming to a store near you:

Item # / Product Name / Alc./ Vol. / Size (mL) / Retail
237693 / Cannery Maple Stout / 5.5 / 650 / $5.80
254656 / Ayinger Celebrator / 7.2 / 330 / $3.45
173658 / Garrison Imperial I.P.A. / 7 / 500 / $4.25
234047 / Bacchus Flemish Old Brown / 4.5 / 375 / $4.50
236091 / Celt Bronze Crafted Ale / 4.5 / 500 / $3.65
233486 / Marston's Pedgree V.S.O.P. / 6.7 / 500 / $3.50
233494 / Wychwood Goliath / 4.2 / 500 / $3.50
236992 / Renaissance Stonecutter Scotch Ale / 7 / 500 / $4.60
173534 / Southern Tier Choklat / 11 / 650 / $9.85
504670 / Fuller's 1845 Bottle Conditioned Ale / 6.3 / 500 / $3.50
125153 / Affligem Dubbel / 6.8 / 330 / $2.75
239475 / Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Triple / 9 / 500 / $5.95
244376 / Les Trois Mousquetaires Porter Baltique 2011 / 10 / 750 / $9.95
237875 / Box Steam Funnel Blower / 4.5 / 500 / $3.55

You're going to want the Ayinger Celebrator, a gold standard of the liquid bread German doppelbock. Bacchus Old Brown is worth a try for something different if you've got a taste for a bit of sourness and barny funk. Choklat is a nice chocolate stout for rainy November days. Fuller's 1845 is a favourite of mine, a really nice English strong ale. We're seeing some great Quebec brews start to filter over the border, and I've heard good things about both the Charlevoix and Trois Mousquetaires.

Finally, Garrison Imperial IPA is a welcome addition for hop heads in the province. We're starting to see some real bitter pale ales and IPAs now, catching up to the rest of the country (and world). If you like a good hoppy beer and haven't been buying Hoptical Illusion, Smashbomb, Mad Tom, Crazy Canuck, or Garrison Hopyard, start now. not exactly up to American standards yet, but the Canadian brewers are starting to show us what they've got. Keep an eye on dates though, you want hop forward beers to be as fresh as possible, the flavours fade quickly compared to maltier brews.

Oh, also I've added the Amazon thingamajig to share some of my favourite beer books with you in case you're interested. The Brewmasters Table was written by Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery fame. Beautiful book about how much better beer is with food than wine is. Great advice on pairings and descriptions of styles.

The Royal We

2011-08-18T13:20:00.000-04:00

I'm not entirely sure what to make of the re-renaming of the "Navy" and "Airforce". I feel like I should have a strong opinion about it. I'm admittedly a traditionalist, monarchist, nationalist, but I can't seem to work up the rage/sense of triumph that so many commentators seem to be expressing.

In a week when one of the government's major ministers was (again) exposed as a corrupt pork barreler my twitter feed is exploding with a fierce battle over the inclusion of the word "Royal" in the names of two organisations that, technically, ceased to exist 50 years ago. And it's gotten more than a little absurd. For instance, check out this bizarre tweet from Andre Coyne.

While putting the Royal back seemed like a decent enough gesture to me, I certainly wouldn't accuse those against it of "adolescent insecurity". Monarchists should always be careful about calling others insecure. I don't think there's anything insecure about believing that Canada is greater than its connection to the Crown, believing that our institutions can stand on their own without connections to what really is a long-dead past.

I'm proud of our history, but I also have respect for Trudeau's "nation-building" project. I grew up being exposed to both, and I like to think I'm a better Canadian for it.

Coren pulls a Starkey

2011-08-14T09:51:00.003-04:00

Apparently Michael Coren and SunTV are jealous of all the attention David Starkey has been getting.

Via Dr. Dawg.

Dawg suggests the Broadcast Standards Council and CRTC should be sent a couple notes. Frankly I'm not so sure that isn't exactly what SunTV and Coren want, nothing better for their ratings and tabloid sales. Should be spread around though.

Remember London

2011-08-09T10:37:00.003-04:00

Just a thought about London prompted by Doug Saunders and this blog post (which appeared in a Naomi Klein tweet that was, I think ironically, RTd by Andrew Potter).

We would do well to remember what's happening in London the next time someone tries to suggest that unemployment payments, child daycare, free healthcare, public education, or any other publicly funded social welfare program is some sort of "charity". The social safety net was developed for a much bigger reason than to simply help the poor. When wealth is systematically removed from the areas in London we're seeing on the news and transferred to The City, and then The City (or Bay Street, of Wall Street) succeeds in slashing their taxes and shredding these social programs, I think it becomes pretty clear that everyone benefits when the highest provide some level of security for the lowest.

This isn't an excuse for the rioters. As Saunders points out there's no political cause being fought for, these kids don't care about public policy or social justice, they're out for a good time and a Blu-Ray player. It's senseless, but it's not random or without cause. They're kids with little education, poor families, no work, no prospect of work, and no hope that anything is going to get better. I'm a functionalist when it comes to the welfare state, and if we can't remember why the structures we created decades ago exist, then we should make an effort to remember what happens when they're taken away.

UPDATE: Another good article.

Put CBC News Network out of its misery

2011-07-26T15:55:00.002-04:00

I am under self-imposed house arrest. I got back to Ottawa from London about three weeks ago. Technically I should be working on my dissertation, with its rapidly approaching September due date, but I've always been a procrastinator and the graduate Shiner is no different than the undergraduate Shiner.

While I was in London there was never a dull moment, nowhere better to put off school work. Not so much in Ottawa. After getting reacquainted with poutine and Hintonburger, and after taking a couple quick walks downtown, I've pretty much exhausted the activities on offer in Bytown.

So television it is. Unfortunately daytime tv blows. So I'm stuck flipping back and forth between CBC News Network, CTV News Channel, and the odd assortment of shows they have of BBC Canada. The only benefit of this horrible lineup is that I stay about as up-to-date as is possible. Or you would have thought so. Yet there I was on Friday morning, tuning into CBC News Network after reading on twitter that there had been a serious explosion in Oslo, and I was watching a segment on sweat. Don't get too excited, nothing interesting or even new has been discovered about sweat. The gist of the story was that sweat keeps you cool when you're hot. This was explained over beach shots and plenty of close-up video footage of moisture on skin.

I'd become resigned to the fact that CBCNN was dull on weekday afternoons but assumed that if something important happened they would snap out of it and, y'know, report stuff. But nope, CBC doesn't do that anymore. I spotted a vague headline about an explosion roll across the bottom of the screen, but it would be about half an hour before any sort of actual story showed up on channel 26. This is the state of our public broadcaster.

As a supporter of public broadcasting, and more specifically the CBC, a pretty professional news organisation was always a big plus (even if it didn't convince the more dedicated in the anti-public broadcasting crowd). It's sad to watch the News Network now. The still fairly new "conversation" style of it all is just plain horrible. The forced interest that the generally untalented anchors have to show in every subject (while maintaining a fake smile) is pathetic. The unwatchable banter that goes on comes across like small chat between particularly dim people at a particularly boring cocktail party. You feel like everyone on screen should be wearing a name tag. Maybe you could look past this silliness if you could still count on actual news and above average analysis, but it's just not there. Most reports involve reading news releases or asking the new intern what yokels on twitter are saying about Amy Winehouse, Norway, or debt default. At this very moment News Network is showing a youtube clip of a raccoon in a swimming pool. The anchor, whose name I don't know and will almost certainly never learn, has just failed, with a bad stutter, to deliver a lame scripted joke about a "raccoon stroke".

This isn't an attack on public broadcasting though, because the CBC simply can't be considered a public broadcaster anymore. The reason for the poor quality is the screwed up incentive the Corp has. Tasked with providing a pan-national service that gives Canadians something they don't receive from commercial broadcasters, the CBC is still required to attract advertisers to make up the funding shortfall from the government. The CBC is screwed up because it awkwardly operates in the market. Again, it is required to provide a service that the market can't provide by attracting money from the market.

Anyways, rant over. Nothing new above, and plenty of other folks said the same things when the changes to the CBC news format was made awhile ago. I just have a bad case of cabin fever and daytime television overload.

In Defence of the Senate

2011-06-22T09:00:00.003-04:00

Seems everyone is fed up with the Senate.

With Harper having a steel grip on power in Ottawa and doing all he can to circumvent scrutiny over the purse strings, it seems like a heck of a time to get rid of the only actual House on the Hill that does anything. Don't tell me that this committee work is unimportant. Don't claim that the Senate no longer functions as a place for sober second thought.

We have one of the saddest excuses for a Parliament in the western world and now we want to make sure they're the be all and end all for governance in Canada? There's no way this improves politics in this country, we're entering dangerous waters here.

While the Opposition slept...

2011-06-20T09:08:00.005-04:00

With the NDP (edit: busy) deciding to not not stop being socialists and the Liberals taking their first step in renewal by putting off renewal for two years it seems as though the job of holding the Harper government to account has fallen to twitter.

Also, PMO hides its expenses, no biggie.

The Globe stops trying

2011-06-19T08:49:00.001-04:00

I know, I know, "they were trying?".

But check out the photo accompanying this Curry article on Rait, hero to the working class. Will they name this one "Riot"?

Inspiring stuff...

2011-06-13T13:59:00.002-04:00

Craig Oliver writes:

Two of the party's most impressive leaders laid it out best. Preston Manning and Jason Kenney set out their vision of "managerial Conservatism." Manning insisted Canadians were not interested in a government that is building monuments or seeking great visions.

What they are looking for, in his view, is practical, prudent, day-to-day management of problems and issues.

Presumably "monuments" doesn't include gazebos. Gets the blood flowing eh? Everyone together now: NO WE CAN'T!

Jealous...

2011-06-10T12:59:00.002-04:00

of folks back home in Ottawa... sort of.

On the one hand, I've always wanted to see Great Big Sea do a Canada Day show on the Hill. On the other hand, the RCMP completely dropped the ball on crowd control for the Queen's visit. With Will and Kate making an appearance (something that makes hardened Londoners act a bit mad) and Great Big Sea and Sam Roberts on stage, I just pray nobody gets hurt.

I'll be in Trafalgar Square for the annual festivities there, but my heart will be back on Wellington.

Manning Strikes Again

2011-06-08T13:49:00.006-04:00

Everyone remember this absurd poll put out last year?

Yeah, well, it's back. So is The Mop and Pail's pathetic coverage/pimping, including what will surely be a fascinating live chat with Preston Manning. We are all Conservatives now.

Update: Ugh, if you're a masochist read the G&M chat. Apparently Canadians are very accepting of tax increases and there seems to be a uniquely Canadian conservatism emerging... finallllllly.

The Canonization of Laurier

2011-06-04T07:01:00.002-04:00

You can rely on Brian Lilley for stupid columns, and the Sun published a corker yesterday. I won't link to it but the title is Canada doesn't need fixing and it's about how Canada needs fixing. Apparently Canadian progressives want the country to be more like Greece, and we all know how that's working out for them! Lilley and his fellow travellers look south for their policy inspiration, because things are peachy in the land of liberty, apple pie, crushing national debt, and an unofficial unemployment rate hovering around 20%.

But that's not really what I wanted to write about today, I'm fairly sure Lilley's idiocy is generally acknowledged. Instead I want to scratch an itch I've had for some time. In his column Lilley suggests that Canada needs to get back to its heritage of liberty and limited government. This is a meme the new right has picked up over the past decade or so. It has been given a sheen of academic legitimacy thanks to Brian Lee Crowley's silly free market manifestos and received popular attention through The Macdonald-Laurier Institute "think" tank. Crowley has made Wilfred Laurier the hero in his rewriting of Canadian history, and, keeping with the ahistorical theme, completely transformed one of Canada's greatest Prime Ministers into someone almost completely unrecognisable.

A moderate late-19th Century liberal has mutated into a radical post-1980s liberal, a Reagan, a Harper, a Palin. People seem to be buying into it. Even relatively intelligent liberal commentators have adopted Laurier as their new patron saint. The thing is though, it's not who Laurier was, at least not in his policy. Laurier continued the National Policy. He went on a spending spree that's considered a bit much even by today's standards. Canada's protectionist policy remained in place and even proposed reciprocity was watered down. The settlement of the west continued under the federal government's hand. Aside from the rhetoric and the appeal to Quebec, Laurier was a continuation of the policies that built the country.

It's sad that Crowley and company can get away with this nonsense.

That Ethnic Vote

2011-05-21T08:48:00.002-04:00

This article from The Star on what the CES is showing about how new Canadians voted is pretty interesting.

The common wisdom is that the Conservatives were successful in creating an impressive coalition of voting groups to give them a majority, and immigrants have been a part of that coalition according to opinion leaders. It's something that's bothered me, this idea that there's something awe inspiring about the CPC targeting efforts. That being tough on crime, anti-tax, and generous with pork is some sort of magical formula dreamed up by wunderkinds coming out of the Manning Centre. We're all supposed to be very impressed with the ability of the CPC to tap into the Tim Horton's crowd, despite the transparency and obviousness of the whole thing. Anyways, the CES is suggesting that in the one area where the CPC was doing something interesting, with immigrants, their efforts weren't particularly successful.

As is suggested in the Star article this presents an opportunity for Liberals. All is not lost. If they can hold on to the immigrant vote, that provides a solid base that will ensure the party's survival over the next decade (not that I buy the odd notion that the Liberals are at risk of vanishing). So the Liberals should get out those notebooks and start coming up with policy ideas and substantive attacks on the CPC to strengthen their position with new Canadians.

Unfortunately policy doesn't seem to be a priority at the moment. Liberals have inevitably been sucked into insider party politics and organisational debates that have certainly started to alienate this fence sitter. I suppose if you're going to have this kind of slap fight, better now than later, but it's certainly not fun to watch, nor is it likely to attract any new members or lead to any sort of renewal.

Freedom Comes to Manitoba

2011-05-19T11:39:00.002-04:00

After the election I took the train to Belgium for a week and binged on beer and waffles. Hung out at the Delirium Cafe in Brussels, a famous beer bar with a phone book beer menu (over 2,000 bottles) and spent a massive amount of money that I should have been saving for my upcoming wedding. Belgium, like the UK, gets me a little depressed about the state of liquor distribution in Ontario.

In the tiniest of corner stores here in London I have my pick of a dozen quality bottled ales, cheap as dirt table wines, and the usual macro lagers. In Belgium I could go into a grocery store and find some of the tastiest beers on the planet, in one I even found a bottle of the Trappist beer Westvleteren 12, considered by some to be one of the best beers on the planet.

While I doubt that Manitoba will measure up to London or Brussels in the near-term, it looks like they're taking a step in the right direction and will be testing the sale of wine and beer in grocery stores in the province.

Meanwhile, Ontarians will continue to make due with the LCBO and the beer barons of the US and Belgium, who continue to hold our beer distribution system hostage in the name of Ontario "values".

Confederation

2011-04-21T05:42:00.002-04:00

Two articles I read this morning that suggest, to me, that the end is nigh:

Paul Wells on Stephen Harper's not-so-hidden agenda
William Johnson on radicalism in Quebec

The two points are obviously related. Harper is dismantling the nation-building (or sustaining) parts of government and the PQ will be happy to demand and receive ever more concessions from his "Conservative" government.

The dream of Canada is more or less dead. There are a few of us romantics hanging around still, believers in the idea that John A. MacDonald had when he was working on the national project, but we're not even outliers. The nationalist cause doesn't register in Canadian politics anymore. It's far more fashionable to accept a new neoliberal Canada, one where Laurier is held up as Canada's greatest Prime Minister, transformed into a Canadian Reagan.

I haven't commented much on this election. I had previously suggested that Ignatieff would surprise folks, that the media had been premature in writing him off. I was wrong. I still like the guy, I think he would make a very good Prime Minister (though the Liberal platform is less than attractive), but I guess I'm just not an "average Canadian". I think he campaigned well, but that apparently doesn't matter much anymore. So we're looking at another Harper government, and I think anyone who believes that an opposition minority government is possible is way off mark. The idea is toxic now, it would be political suicide for anyone to attempt it. Harper succeeded in lying to Canadians about how their government works.

And so we'll continue down the road towards true confederation. Canada will exist as a prison manager and a military that, ironically, is focused on building nations overseas.

How Policy Debates Should be Covered

2011-03-30T09:23:00.003-04:00

Anyone who isn't paying attention to The Globe and Mail's Economy Lab is missing out.

A group of informed, thoroughly even-handed, economists give their thoughts on policy ideas and general economics issues. The media likes to present economics as a Conservative discipline, firmly neo-liberal in every way. It isn't. Since Adam Smith, practitioners have recognised the faults and short-comings of the market. Unfortunately, most of this debate takes place under the noise generated from liberal "think tanks" that represent most of the exposure that the general public get to what is assumed to be academic consensus in the field.

True, the approach is thoroughly technocratic, and comes with the assumptions and measurements that mainstream economics is based on and concerned with. Nonetheless, the Economy Lab shines some light on the crazy world of campaign policy promises and is worth a look.

The Two Campaigns

2011-03-28T17:04:00.003-04:00

So we're into it now, and we can already see how it's going to be. Ignatieff's Liberals are going to try some good old-fashioned mass politics with big crowds, plenty of energy, and a focus on the headliner. Team Harper will approach the media with open scorn, stay firmly in friendly territory, and focus on the shadow campaign. While the Liberals try for headlines and media face time, the CPC is focused on specific voters listening for that one thing that will bring them onside. We've got fear mongering and citizenship issues with the new Canadian vote. Today he grabs a certain segment of the suburban vote with income-splitting (despite it being a non-policy, this is huge, there are more than a few people who have been wanting this for a long time).

There's nothing new here. Expect more easy-to-understand, headline grabbing, horrible policy from the CPC as we move on. Expect good policy with a limited audience from the Liberals.

Too early to call it obviously, but the Liberals had to do something specific to fight the CPC and all we're hearing right now is that their platform is middle-of-the-road and cheap, and even that will get ripped to shreds given that they're wrong-footed on the potential savings from CIT.

The only question for me now is whether I just stick with UK media for the rest of the election or keep watching, hoping against hope that the Liberals actually know what they're doing.

Laugh from the Past

2011-03-21T13:41:00.001-04:00

Gloomy Monday? This ought to brighten your day.

Sections I and III are especially worth a read.

Diary of a Part-time Monk

2011-03-12T14:19:00.003-05:00

Here's something worth keeping an eye on.

Diary of a Part-time Monk chronicles the journey of a fellow who has committed to fasting on nothing but doppelbock and water for Lent. For those who don't know what doppelbock is, go pick up a bottle of Paulaner Salvator. It's a strong, malty beer from Germany. The fast is rooted in the medieval practice of German monks.

After 4 days he has lost 10 pounds, so I'm guessing it won't go the whole way, but here's hoping!

On a related note, Spring Beer Release is out in Ontario. Look out for Tree Double Hophead in particular.

Thanks Doris!

2011-03-12T11:03:00.003-05:00

In all seriousness, I wish Stockwell Day nothing but the best in his life after politics and thank him for his public service. I disagree with his politics, but everyone I know with any connection to government in Ottawa has a tremendous amount of respect for him. This includes every public servant I've ever spoken to who has worked in one of his departments. By all accounts, a capable and incredibly curteous boss. Big loss of talent in a very shallow pool.

EDIT: The above shouldn't be taken as agreement with anything he did while involved in provincial politics or his personal views, it's simply acknowledging that he was a capable administrator.

Why Wait?

2011-03-11T11:32:00.003-05:00

That seems to be the question that should be asked about the electoral calculations. The media seems to be focused on "Why would they?". Pundits seem to, for the most part, fall into the "Liberals don't want an election" camp, or the "Liberals do want an election and they're nuts for it" camp.

Andrew Coyne and Paul Wells touch on my thoughts in their latest podcast, apparently the Liberal braintrust's thoughts as well. The simple fact of the matter is that outside of an election campaign Conservatives are able to, and do, saturate Canadian media with partisan advertising using public money. Their sleaziness in so-doing is something to behold, and we've had the chance to do just that over the past couple weeks. This certainly won't get better after the next budget, why would it?

Every day we wait until an election is a day that the CPC gets to play the game with an advantage. It's especially rough on Ignatieff who most Canadians, still, have not been exposed to outside of the odd media narrative that has been created for him.

Like Steve V, I have a bit of hope for a strong showing by the LPC in the next election, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that it's not going to get any easier for them.

An Election About Democracy

2011-03-07T09:58:00.002-05:00

So there are rumblings that a spring election wouldn't end up being about corporate tax cuts and fighter jets after all. Marlene Jenning's has suggested a non-confidence vote might be in the cards, prompting an election about democratic themes, like a lack of transparency. Music to the ears for those of us concerned about such things, but I think it's pretty well accepted that Canadians couldn't care less. If lack of transparency and unaccountability got Canadians excited the CPC wouldn't be flirting with a majority. "Oh but the Conservatives got elected on a platform of open government!" some might claim. No, they didn't, they got elected on a tough-on-crime and GST cutting platform, Liberal corruption, and western parochialism. They'll run the next election the same way, with an unhealthy amount of Iggy and elite-bashing thrown in. So, if the Liberals want any chance of improving their seat count they need to beat the Cons on policy. They can't do that with fuzzy rhetoric about democratic values. Even the policies Ignatieff has already talked about won't do the job. They need something serious and big that monopolises election coverage. I have no idea what that is. If I had my druthers it would be some sort of move towards a PR system, that would be a complete game changer, and a serious punch to the electoral stomach of the NDP (for this election). Doubt it will happen though, Liberal partisans still think they can form a majority government at some point. They can't. Canada's cartel system isn't working anymore and someone needs to break it open.

Also, Iggy's education platform is a nice thought, but a non-starter.

The Harper Government

2011-03-03T17:26:00.002-05:00

Civil servants were informed that the Government of Canada no longer exists. It's the Harper Government please.

Not much to say about that is there?

Something to get Excited About

2011-02-28T12:17:00.002-05:00

This is interesting.
(I can only see the first line of this, I seem to have misplaced by iPolitics password)

For the past couple weeks I've been asking myself what kind of policy could get people excited. We know how the Conservatives are playing the next election. They've greased the wheels with last week's Porkfest 2011. They're apparently loading up on "star" candidates. They'll beat the dumb-on-crime drum in the suburban ridings they desperately want. Oh! Attack ads too, lots of those.

So how do you counter them? Good policy. And democratic reform was one of the things I had in mind.

Maybe I'm being a tad optimistic about the possibility of good policy proposals exciting your average voter, but a guy can hope. Opening up QP to Canadians, reducing the size of the PMO, and an overhaul of Access to Information are all good ideas. The most exciting thing about this is that they're actually thinking about it. Having concrete proposals for imporiving the Canadian democratic process will be handy if they're going to frame this as an attack on "Harper's Ottawa".

Another policy I had in mind? At least floating the idea of a PR electoral system. I know that's a heck of a fight, but it's certainly exciting. Some might ask what self-professed conservative would be in favour of PR. Up until recently I was a Majoritarian fan boy, but I've come to the conclusion that, given the fact we have 4 parties in the HoC and none show any sign of going anywhere, the jig is up. The system just doesn't operate well with 3 parties, let alone 4. Time for a change, or at least a discussion.

So here's hoping the best is to come from the Liberal policy book.

How to Create a Structural Deficit

2011-02-28T08:56:00.003-05:00

A fantastically clear post from Stephen Gordon on how we went from persistent surpluses to a structural deficit. Really should go read it, or at least have a look at the graphs. Ends with this conclusion:

Here are the policy decisions made between 2005 and 2008 that generated that swing in the pre-recession budget balance:

Transfer payments increased by roughly 1% of GDP.
The GST cut reduced revenues by roughly 0.75% of GDP.

Put the two together, and we get a trend towards a deficit even before the recession hit.

Modernizing Ontario's Liquor Laws

2011-02-24T14:01:00.003-05:00

This was pointed out to me on the Ministry of the Attorney General's website:

The Ministry of the Attorney General wants to hear your suggestions about how liquor laws in Ontario can be modernized.

The Ministry is accepting submissions from organizations and the public until March 17, 2011, by email at: consultwithus@ontario.ca

Or by regular post at:
Ontario Consultations
720 Bay Street, 7th floor
Toronto, ON M7A 2S9

Just before Christmas I was walking down a street in the not-so-nice area of London I call home and was approached by a fat man in a Santa costume carrying a tray of paper cups. This is a working class neighbourhood, mostly council housing, he wasn't part of some Christmas market or anything, just an average guy on an average street. He asked me if I wanted some mulled wine. It certainly took me a couple seconds for my Ottawa brain to go over the situation in my head, but I eventually said yes, he said "Merry Christmas!" and I showed up at class 15 minutes later with a happy buzz.

There are some nasty parts to Britain's drinking culture. The streets are paved with vomit and I have yet to meet a British drunk you want to be around. But one thing they do right, and one thing the European continent does right, is allow social drinking in all sorts of public places. You can drink your pint on sidewalks outside pubs, I often walk around my local market with a glass of cider, wine, or beer on sunny afternoons.

I would be over the moon if I could visit Winterlude and have some mulled wine, or carry around a glass of whatever during festivals in the Byward Market. When it comes to alcohol in public places Ontario needs to lighten up. I'll be firing off a note to the AG, hope you'll do the same with your liquor related hopes and dreams.

Fixing Parliament

2011-02-18T10:08:00.002-05:00

I got to page 3 of this article and then stopped because it was too depressing.

So the question is how do you fix it? For Conservatives the answer is you don't, debate just gets in the way of Dear Leader. But for those of us who do care about Canada's institutions and democracy in general, what can be done?

Seems to me that the answer is that the opposition should use the tools it has to hold the government's feet to the fire, to demand transparency and accountability. Wherry certainly puts some of the blame at their feet. Yet we know why they don't. To follow on the theme that Steve V has been writing about for the past week, if nobody outside Parliament cares, why should anyone inside Parliament care?

Lazy of me to write two posts in a row saying the exact same thing, but it's the Canadian people that's the problem.

"Stephen Harper is incompetent"

2011-02-15T18:40:00.002-05:00

So says Dan Gardner.

This government is comically bad... unless you're a Canadian with an ounce of sense, then it's just depressingly bad.

What else can be said about these guys? Gaff after gaff, rotten policy after rotten policy, and yet they continue to hold a plurality of the vote. I don't blame the media, I don't even blame the opposition. There's just something seriously wrong with Canadians.

The Canadian Disease

2011-02-11T04:50:00.002-05:00

Helpfully defined by Hugh Segal:

Segal predicts that there will be opposition to his proposal. He writes that while Canadians share certain strengths of decency, compassion, moderation and tolerance, some are also struck with something he calls the "Canadian Disease . . . a weakness that combines wishful thinking, nostalgia and confusion.

The kicker is that it appears in a "book" about the "history" of Canadian "conservatives". According to Segal it's our small mindedness that keeps us from realizing true progress and forming a union with the United States and Mexico. Why would we do such a thing?

If sovereignty is an instrument to be used to expand freedom and opportunity, then surely the use by us of our own sovereignty to build a North American Community must also be seen as an attempt to create a larger society that reflects our values and priorities

Got that? We must use our sovereignty to expand our freedom and opportunity by getting rid of our sovereignty. Our first Prime Minister must be so proud.

Place yer bets!

2011-01-25T08:18:00.003-05:00

Hi. It's me, Shiner. Been a bit since I last posted. Who knew that pubs with open fires, real ale, free world class museums, and good company could be more enjoyable than paying attention to Canadian politics.

Nonetheless, this stadium thing has me pacing my tiny cell in Southwark and periodically frightening my suite mates with outbursts of profanity. I'm not the only one who is angry though.

Well, okay, maybe "angry" isn't the right word for how the folks at the National Post are feeling. Their laughable headline says it all:

Build it and... we won't be happy

Right. Stop it this minute or I'm turning this car around!!! I'm sure they'll get a bit more heated if this rumour (via BCL/Bourque) turns out to be true. I imagine we'll get something like

We're really serious this time Mr. Prime Minister. We're not happy... in fact we're verging on mildly displeased

How I can wait... however many months... to find out who the NP is going to endorse in the next federal election, I don't know. More beer reviews I suspect.

Reason to take comfort though, Canada's NEW! Globe and Mail dutifully reports that the money the government will be using is unspent. Well whew!

Meanwhile, over here, the silly Brits are having debates about banking reform and the financing of higher education. Thank God I'm from a more serious country.

About Time

2010-12-17T07:05:00.002-05:00

Finally we might see an end to the political deadzone Canada is in. Iggy is talking about bringing the government down.

I have no idea how the next election will play itself out, but I've said for awhile that the Liberals simply can't hope for a wild swing in the polls without having one. They know exactly how the CPC will run a campaign, they know exactly what issues they'll want to talk about, they know exactly what they'll be saying about Ignatieff. One would hope that, given this knowledge, the braintrust at Liberal HQ could come up with a way to counter it, that they have some sort of plan that doesn't involve stepping on rake after rake. That might be too optimistic, but surely they have some strategy if Iggy is threatening to bring the government down. We can hope.

I Love CBC

2010-12-15T09:19:00.002-05:00

Far n' Wide posted this and thought I'd share. Call me paranoid, but I think Canadian public broadcasting is in trouble, and will be facing tough times if the CPC manages to form another government after the next election.

Meanwhile, in London...

2010-12-09T16:39:00.002-05:00

While Ottawa discusses the musical "talent" of the boss man (a talent which will undoubtedly register as a push into majority territory in next week's polls), protesters in another capital clashed with police, causing several injuries on both sides, and actually getting a couple kicks at a car carrying Prince Charles.

The LSE campus is buzzing with a new student protest movement. Pictures from The LSE's hayday marches down Fleet Street are plastered around campus. The Student Union is bubbling with excitement, I get a couple e-mails and facebook messages a day telling me about the next sit-in or march. I'd be surprised if this, the most serious confrontation yet, fizzles out. Even though the Conservatives managed to keep enough members in line today (not without a few surprising dissenters) , the student leadership seems to have a bit of momentum. Right now it's a matter of watching and waiting to see how hard authorities come down on them.

That aside, there's something positive to take from this. I'm not particularly interested in this battle. I think the education reforms are quite reasonable here, especially at my school. But it is good to see some life from students. Outside of Quebec, Canada's universities are depressingly lacking any serious student debate, and students certainly don't exert any influence outside their campuses. Canada's horrible apathy is as evident at our institutions of higher learning as everywhere else in the Great White North. Today in London, however, we witnessed students take a real stand and have a serious impact on politics, if not policy.

Homesick Sunday

2010-12-05T06:19:00.002-05:00

'Tis the season, or at least the lights hanging around Oxford Street would suggest so. Unsurprisingly I'm getting a bit homesick for Canada. Doesn't help matters that I spent most of the week doing some federalism work that led me to the CBC archives and their clips from our nutty nation's bizarre contemporary history. When I get feelin' this way, there's only one thing to be done, load up some good Canadian folk music and imagine I'm back at a pub in Ottawa.

Here's Bye Bye Montreal from Newfoundland's Amelia Curran. If you have any favourite Canadian acts (folk or otherwise) you think I should look up, please let me know.

Fantino's Hitler Theory

2010-12-04T08:13:00.003-05:00

Tory Taber gets all soft and cuddly with Fantino, who takes the high road by comparing the Liberal leadership to Hitler. Un-f'ing-believable.

Nietzsche and The Great Recession

2010-11-29T05:18:00.001-05:00

Great post by Brad DeLong:

Think of that when you consider this: The U.S. unemployment rate is stubbornly high, yet aid from a federal government that can borrow at unbelievably good terms could allow states to maintain their levels of public employment, and those public workers would then spend their incomes and so boost the number of private-sector jobs as well. But the voters are against that. No, they say. We have lost our jobs. It is only fair that those who work for the government lose their jobs as well -- never mind that each public-sector job lost triggers the destruction of yet another private-sector job. It's the underlying logic that has led to a wave of austerity across Europe that is now headed for America's shores. And it's the same logic that says, "It is only fair that homeowners lose their money" -- never mind that everyone's home prices will suffer. What does not kill me makes me stronger.

WikiLeaks

2010-11-28T15:32:00.003-05:00

Frankly i'm not sure what to think about the latest WikiLeaks document drop. You place yourself in a bit of a difficult position when you take a stand against people knowing... stuff.

In a perfect world all governments would be completely transparent. Wouldn't have a need for things like intelligence agencies and secret diplomacy. But here we are and secrets and information matter. The first story that struck me from the release was about Chinese hacking. Whose interests are served by everyone finding out what the United States knows about Chinese intelligence efforts? It's possibly, maybe likely, that the Chinese already knew all of this stuff, but what if they didn't? What if this kind of release provides the piece of the puzzle that identifies some human asset in Beijing?

How does knowing that certain leaders in the Middle East were/are pushing for the bombing of Iran help anyone? Is there any way that ends well for the region?

Same goes for all the diplomatic "locker-room" chat, as the American Ambassador put it. Is anyone really looking forward to the release on Thursday when, much to the delight of certain media in Canada, we all get to read about how little American diplomats think of us?

In theory something like WikiLeaks is a great sounding idea. Certain things, like much of the Iraq stuff, should be made public. This latest drop though, strikes me as a shot in a personal crusade by Assange against the US. There will probably be some information in there that needs to be made public, but for the most part I think State is about right, this is going to put quite a few lives in danger.

Danny Williams

2010-11-25T20:09:00.003-05:00

How interesting is it that the Globe throws in a bit of federal speculation into its report on Danny Williams' exit?

Tradition seems to last a bit longer out east and Williams is a pretty good example of it. He is a real conservative. A nationalist most definitely, though a Newfoundlander, not a Canadian nationalist. Yet the bit in the end about "nation building" certainly made me sit up a bit. The post Harper CPC looks more interesting by the week.

Cognitive Dissonance

2010-11-25T07:18:00.001-05:00

A perfect example in this Sun editorial. The weaving back and forth over hospitality expenses is hilarious, though eventually they find a way out... has to do with ponies.

Monday, Monday

2010-11-22T04:45:00.002-05:00

Quite sure I've never seen such a depressing set of Canadian headlines in my life.

Ontario voters would turf McGuinty: poll
Alberta safe for Tories to ignore
Government to CBC: Be open, comply with law
200,000 sign petition calling for Jean Charest’s resignation
Michael Ignatieff faces daunting 'enthusiasm gap'
Is Canadian democracy in real danger?
Kinsella: Liberal rumour
Fantino the man to beat in the vote the country is watching
Taber: By-election nastiness makes it to the House of Commons
Canadians tune out destructive politics
Bob Rae zips from dove to hawk
AECL up for auction but West’s industries protected
Defence department critics win booby prize

I'm not sure whether I should take solace in the fact that most Canadians don't care.

Happy Election Day!

2010-11-16T09:53:00.003-05:00

I note from a few dozen tweets that today is election day under Harper's fixed election rule. So get out there and vote!

EDIT: Actually that's not right at all! Twitter let me down!

The Bored Media

2010-11-16T06:01:00.003-05:00

Coyne posts on the CPC's abandoning of principles. Not the first time he's written about it. I keep wondering when someone is going to tap him on the shoulder and let him know that it's a minority government.

Now, this isn't the good Liberal way of talking about the situation. As you can see from the comments it's alot of "Yeah! Coyne is right! The Conservatives are unprincipled!" But I still cling to the hidden agenda. I know it's there because I know the politicians, because I know where they come from, because I know their supporters. A minority situation forces governments to abandon their princples, for the life of me I can't figure out why this confuses Coyne so much.

However, let's assume for a second that he is right and that the CPC isn't ideologically sound. Why do pundits believe that politics exists to entertain them? Because that's the impression you get from Coyne's article, that elections in Canada are stupid because they don't result in massive swings from communism to anarchy. It's such an absolutely bizarre point. Elections in Canada produce exactly what Canadians want, a middle-of-the-road set of policies that at least presents the illusion of good governance. They get the last part wrong regularly, and have it horribly wrong right now, but eventually it corrects itself and the other guys get a shot.

Does anyone really believe that the American model of highly charged ideology is what we should be after? How can the media look with envy at the swing from Obama to Tea Party in the United States and suggest that it's a better way of doing business?

Austerity and Gold

2010-11-09T14:32:00.004-05:00

A post on some of the nonsense economic talk going around.

First a good video on austerity and the fallacy of composition.

Second, I just wanted to address this little slice of insanity from World Bank President Zoellick:

The system should also consider employing gold as an international reference point of market expectations about inflation, deflation and future currency values.... Although textbooks may view gold as the old money, markets are using gold as an alternative monetary asset today.”

It is, as DeLong points out, just plain wrong. Gold is not an alternative monetary asset. It is a commodity. That's it. I blame the internet for all this gold standard craziness. Suddenly every schmuck with access to google considers themselves an economist and the romantic notion of gold tricks people into thinking it's the solution to all our problems. They forget the problems that gold actually caused us and simply refuse to acknowledge the impossibility of going back to a gold standard. This economics "dark age" is starting to worry me.

On Religion

2010-11-07T08:38:00.002-05:00

There are a few areas I split from what I consider traditional Canadian conservatism. One of the bigger ones is religion.

Religion has had an undeniably huge role in the development of the Canadian identity and psyche. The striking split down the middle of our founding cultures, English Anglicans on one side and French/Scots-Irish Catholics on the other, defined our society and politics. So it's not surprising that Christian conservatives, all of us romantics, usually embrace religion as another facet of Canadian nationalism.

I was born a Roman Catholic in the Irish-Canadian tradition. I'm from a family of five with an extended family that I can't be bothered to count at the moment. I was raised in a Catholic community in Ottawa, largely french. Went to a Catholic school. Attended Mass at least weekly. Served as an altar boy. All that good stuff. I was a good Catholic right through the first couple years of my undergraduate degree.

Yet as I aged my relationship with the Church changed in a strange sort of way. From real faith and devotion I moved away from the religion itself and came to identify more with the community than the faith. It had nothing to do with the scandals or past sins of the Church. Horrible though the abuse scandals are, they have yet to touch me or mine personally. Other historic misdeeds are important to recognize and acknowledge, but they don't change anything about the faith or traditions of the religion. Rather, I turned away from the faith because I got to know the history of Christianity and the Catholic Church. Any religion depends on a certain amount of mystery and myth. Tracing the development of a church unfolds the mysteries and washes away the myth. You're left with historical facts. You're left not with sacred practices and divine instruction, but with practical policy and political goals.

There's another part to it, a problem that most atheists have with religion. It's the simple "How could a billion Hindus/Muslims/Buddhists be wrong?" The realization that, because of simple flukes of geography and history, more than three quarters of the world's population is doomed.

I'm not a militant atheist. I'm grateful for the role that religion played in my early life. Some of the greatest experiences in my life continue to involve the Church or Christianity in some way. An Irish Mass in the Gaeltacht, a Semana Santa procession in Galicia, Handel's Messiah at the NAC. Stuff like that makes it tough to hate religion. Honestly, I'm still not sure how I'm going to approach the issue when I eventually have children. Chances are they'll be raised liberal Catholics like my girlfriend and I were.

I posted the video "Science Saved my Soul from Religion" yesterday because it showed just how awesome life is even without religion. Winged angels, burning bushes, and hell have nothing on the unfathomable size and mysteries of the universe. Atheism doesn't have to be shallow compared to religion.

Science Saved my Soul

2010-11-06T14:02:00.002-04:00

Hopefully I'm not the last person to have seen this, excellent stuff.

An Eye on Prentice

2010-11-05T07:38:00.003-04:00

Glowing send offs all around for Jim Prentice today.

And all of them are thick with the same political speculation in Kinsella's piece.

"Mr. Clean", as Weston calls him above, predictably played down all the musings about a future re-entry into politics, but the talk won't go away and his name will probably still come up in the prayers of traditional conservatives still hanging around the CPC.

He is the Liberals' worst nightmare, a moderate with feet firmly planted in West and East. More importantly he's Reform's worst nightmare, a spectre of the Progressive Conservatives, who, as a leader, would threaten to beat the populists back down and possibly reignite the flammable and delicate truce that is the Conservative Party of Canada.

Harper has one more election in him.

On the Potash Bid

2010-11-03T05:19:00.003-04:00

Fascinating stuff.

Fascinating because the issue is exposing one of those dirty little secrets of the market economy... actually it's not little, the implications are massive... and it's not a secret, everyone knows it, but the great thinkers in the liberal camp just ignore it. Free markets create monopolies.

One of the main concerns that the Calgary business community has is the near monopoly this hands BHP over potash production. Irony of ironies, unless the government intervenes and stops the deal, the free market will destroy itself. Potash prices will no longer be set by the market, they will be set by BHP. The simple fact is that laissez-faire and the market economy just don't get along that well.

EDIT: In other free market news, the feds reject a mine proposal on environmental grounds. When will government learn to just trust the free market with the environment!!!???

The Church of Economics

2010-10-30T05:01:00.001-04:00

Great article from Caplan:

Imagine a so-called scientific discipline based on the proposition that humans invariably act on the basis of rational calculation and complete knowledge. This is not science; it’s blind, irrational faith.

Imagine promoting an economic system that busts as often as it booms and that always leaves an abundance of losers in its wake.

Imagine belonging to that fraternity of maven who are responsible for the economic and financial meltdown of the past two years.

Imagine that your “science” proffers wrong answers as often as right ones. Imagine that you make weather forecasters look prescient.

Imagine insisting that in return for much-needed loans, poor countries must agree to exactly the same kind of reckless de-regulation that enabled Wall Street to trigger the global economic meltdown.

Polanyi on Liberalism

2010-10-28T13:25:00.002-04:00

I'm sure I'm among the last to read Polanyi's classic The Great Transformation as I never actually took much of any political theory in undergrad. I've been exposed to it here and, for anyone of a conservative mind, or socialist for that matter, it really is a fantastic book. In particular Chapter 12 The Birth of the Liberal Creed examines the argument made by liberals concerning the collapse of the market economy in the late 19th Century (and more generally made by liberals about everything since then). Stop me if you've heard this one before: the market economy would have sorted it all out had it not been for the collectivist conspiracy that forced intervention.

Polanyi accepts that there was intervention, but he rightly points out that it wasn't a collectivist conspiracy at all. It was upper middle class legislators, all laissez-faire faithful, who enacted these horrible laws that interfered with the free market. So what were these laws that ruined everything and prevented the utopian society we would surely be enjoying today? Polanyi takes them straight from the horse's mouth, 19th Century liberal Herbert Spencer, in his criticism of fellow liberals for abandoning their principles:

Analysts of food and drink to be paid out of local rates
The inspection of gas works
making it penal to employ boys under twelve not attending schools and unable to read or write
Power to poor law guardians to enforce vaccination
Local boards were authorized to fix rates of hire for means of conveyance
It was made illegal to have a single shaft coal mine
The creation of a Pharmacopoeia at a rate fixed by the Treasury
Extension of compulsory vaccination to Scotland and Ireland
Establishment of inspectors for the wholesomeness, or unwholesomeness of food
A Chimney-Sweeper's Act to prevent the torture and death of children
A Contagious Diseases Act
A Public Libraries Act

That was the damning evidence liberals used to show a collectivist conspiracy over a hundred years ago. You'll see a similar, slightly updated, list from liberals nowadays. Polanyi's entire point is that the countermovement against the free market is the most natural thing in the world. When business tortures children, sells fake drugs, destroys rivers, and is completely unable to provide education for a society's poor, the government has to act. No conspiracy. Just commonsense reactions to very real problems brought about by the free market.

Just a Friendly Reminder...

2010-10-21T04:58:00.001-04:00

That it's the Liberals who are the party of corruption, nothing to see here.

Canadian Partisanship (in 1984)

2010-10-18T03:29:00.003-04:00

David Akin posts about the nature of Canadian partisanship, citing a study that suggests Liberals inherit their partisanship while Conservatives think about their's. Problem: the CES he cites uses data for 1984!

The authors suggest the study still has valuable information because the Liberals and NDP still exist. It's an absurd argument, and one that should keep you from sending your children to UWO.

Canadian politics has experienced massive changes since 1984. Events in Quebec especially would probably invalidate the bulk of the article's conclusions. Indeed (and this might be in the piece, I haven't had time to read it) I'd be curious about how much of the inherited nature of the Liberal Party comes (came) from Quebec federalists.

I think their conclusions about the NDP are probably still valid, but the rest is just useless. Besides, we know the CPC has an official policy against thinking.

Good Stuff

2010-10-15T11:00:00.004-04:00

This is a good creative. Play stuff like this against the preschool crap that comes out of CPC HQ and I think we'd have a pretty interesting election.

UPDATE: And for something completely different.

A Canadian Abroad II

2010-10-13T07:09:00.002-04:00

While I'm able to remove myself from domestic politics a little bit, international affairs is tough to avoid at a place like The LSE. The expats feel our embarrassment at the UN keenly. We're attending a school where the international leaders of my generation are being trained, and the simple fact of the matter is that my country is no longer a leader. You don't have to be a flag-waving nationalist to grasp the importance of the unfortunate reality that your country just doesn't matter anymore.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-10-10T11:37:00.003-04:00

All the best to you and yours back home.

I'm just about to take my specialty, tortiere, out of the oven and head over to an expat meal. For the occasion, a special beer.

Kriek 100% Lambic Bio
Cantillon
Brussels, Belgium
Kriek
5%

The last time Ontario saw this beer, it was refused by the LCBO due to chemical similarities with cyanide from the cherry pits. It was a sad sad day. No such concerns in London, where I'm apparently free to kill myself with this prettiest of beers.

A kriek is a Belgian lambic (beer created from wild yeast) brewed with cherry pits. There are alot of beers out there claiming to be kriek, but many are sweetened with sugar. A kriek shouldn't taste like candy.

It pours a beautiful cloudy rose with a nice big pink fizzy head.

The aroma has some sweet cherries up front with a slight tartness lingering behind, hinting at what's to come.

Again, you get subtle cherry flavours at first, but that's swiftly thrown aside by an almost puckering tartness. This lambic flavour can be off putting to some (most), but it shouldn't be. I don't think it's so much a matter of taste as it is of something unfamiliar. With any lambic I think you should let the first few sips roll around and your mouth. Let your tongue get accustomed to the "wildness" of the beer so that you can see beyond it. Once you've done that, the tartness sort of fades away towards the end and you're left with lovely cherry sweetness.

A classic, simple as that.

Enjoy your turkeys folks!

EDIT: By the way, halloween releases should be out so keep an eye out. Muskoka Harvest ale is a special release that I hear good things about. Sam Adams Octoberfest is out for a limited release so grab it if you can.

Stupidity in the OLO

2010-10-08T06:30:00.002-04:00

This is dumb. What upside is there to this? I think it shows a complete lack of understanding about how the "average" Canadian feels about different types of government spending. You will not get any traction (especially in flipping Manitoba!) attacking defence expenditures.

What's with the CFIB?

2010-10-06T04:11:00.002-04:00

I don't get these people, or, probably more accurately, I don't get Catherine Swift's bizarre obsession with the public service.

As the article states, the public service has agreed to an average annual increase of under 2% for the next 3 years, which is below the projected wage increase one might expect in the private sector. You're hardly keeping up with inflation. I think that qualifies as "belt tightening".

This isn't the first time Swift has stomped her feet in anger over public service job benefits. She's fixated on what civil servants make and how generous their pensions are. I don't think Canadian small businesses are hard up for staff, and as far as public expenditure go, the Canadian Public Service salaries are a drop in the bucket. I think someone might be angling for a career in politics.

When Business School Grads Strike...

2010-10-01T06:06:00.002-04:00

It's never pretty (emphasis mine):

"The redesign is not just about design, or paper quality, or our new online navigation, or social media groups. It's about confidence."

"Our part of the bargain was to create a newspaper that was equally daring – one that did not seek to prolong the past, but burns to invent the future."

"As the young woman – our future – says on our TV ads, let's celebrate things not yet done or dreamed. Let's reach for what's beyond our grasp. "

"In today's Globe, you get your first taste of what's to come. I hope you find it delicious."

"One, we're a visual medium, showcasing outstanding pictures and colours.
We're also a medium of words and ideas..."

"...one that dares to lead the entire newspaper with an editorial because the first task for the new Globe is to deliver insight to Canadians." (Shiner: Front page editorials huh? That sounds familiar...)

"We're also striving for new voices and insights, to help Canadians seize the 21st century rather than yearn for the 20th."

"Our outstanding Ottawa Notebook – nominated this week for best blog award by Canadian Online Publishing Association – finds a new companion in print, coming this Monday with a political file that will set the week's agenda in Ottawa and every provincial capital." (Shiner: A political agenda set by Jane Taber!?)

"But we're also shifting strategically, with much more content, in print and online, to help us all enjoy and understand the personal sides of our lives. Today’s Life section launches as an expanded daily, glossy section that probes everything that should matter to you personally."

"If you don't push yourself, if you don't dare to make today better than yesterday, if you don’t believe in progress, you're doomed to defeat."

"Are you ready to begin?"

No.

Stop the Stupid

2010-09-30T18:10:00.002-04:00

First Rick Salutin, and now, according to Paul Wells, Tabatha Southey.

Maybe the Globe staff heard that big whale Teneycke was available and are trying to slip down to his standards to win him over.

Canada no longer has serious major newspaper.

Adam Radwanski's Crystal Ball

2010-09-29T11:10:00.002-04:00

This is an odd article.

Radwanski suggests that the pitchforks are being gathered in populist anger towards incumbent governments. Something about the recession and big government... or something.

Yet every single politician he names is in it up to his neck for a very good reason. You don't need to put on your wizard hat and blather on about "residual resentment toward public employees" to figure out why Brown lost, Campbell is done, and New Brunswick has a new government. Nor do you need to read very much into a Provincial Premier trailing in the polls after a trip up in the economy. There's nothing mysterious here.

God I hate fake narratives.

The Black Sheep of the Social Sciences

2010-09-28T15:05:00.004-04:00

"teach political economy on more modern and more socialist lines than those on which it had been taught hitherto, and to serve at the same time as a school of higher commercial education"
-Sidney Webb on the purpose of The LSE

This is a funny place. The LSE was created in a different time. A time when Smelly Ol' London really was Smelly Ol' London. When poverty was a civic emergency that mobilized people like Sidney Webb to fight against the newest breed of robber barons.

Today I had my School Orientation presentation and the difference between then and now was striking. On one hand we had the head of the student union talking about the glory days of The LSE, showing pictures from massive demonstrations down Fleet Street. She rhymed off all the achievements of the Union and its latest fight against unchecked tuition fees and encouraged us all to show up at the General Meeting to give the Director hell. She got a polite round of applause. The Dean of Graduate Studies, on the otherhand, told us a tale of a young economist he got a job for after Lehman Brothers collapsed. This produced an audible, impressed, gasp from the assembled would-be bankers.

Paul Krugman talks about this alot, but the difference in reactions from the students really illustrated to me how far Economics has fallen away from the other social sciences. I don't want to get up on a high horse, but very few people get into Comparative Politics for the bling, but for economics students it really is all about the money, and the way to that money is by acknowledging The Truth of free markets and evil government. There has to be some serious grave spinning going on in Westminster Abbey (aside: what happens when the spinner in question was cremated?).

A Canadian Abroad

2010-09-24T18:33:00.004-04:00

You face a bit of a conundrum when you commit to an extended period of time away from your home. As an "informed citizen", do you keep up with goings on at home, or do you take a break and enjoy the responsibility free feeling of being a foreign alien in another country?

The last time I was living in Europe I didn't have much of a choice. Internet access was infrequent in the small oceanside village where I lived, and The Munster Express doesn't exactly have a Canadian office. It was a pleasant experience. Being forcefully removed from the gong show that is Canadian politics was good for me after my undergrad in Ottawa. Actually, having only a general sense of what was going on back across the Atlantic put me on the same level as most Canadians. I think it put alot of things in a more real perspective. It was nice to be able to read a newspaper and laugh about Irish political scandals (invariably involving alcohol) instead of kvetching about fake crises in Canada.

This time I have an actual choice to make. I'll have internet access and I'll be in a major world city, with access to all the media I could possibly want. So I have a decision to make over the next few days, between pints of real ale and the resultant hangovers. To be honest, the choice has already been made. I don't want to be reading Jane Taber and checking Paul Wells tweets from London. To that end, I, like anyone with half a brain, will be spending every spare second out and about in the City of Cities and every spare minute doing beer runs to Brussels and breakfast trips to Amsterdam. So really it's just a matter of discipline.

All that said, a few months from now, sitting in my local with a pint of Fuller's, I think I can realistically look forward to seeing an article in The Times with the line, "Canadian Conservative Party wins another minority government, sparks dissent within caucus." If I had a particularly cheery disposition, I might have written "loses", but it's always better to lower your expectations. Frankly, I think watching Harper fend off Flaherty, Clement, and Bernier, as they try to stab him in the throat would be pretty enjoyable.

So I'm off! Wish me luck.

A Coup by the Elites

2010-09-24T11:23:00.004-04:00

Toronto Elite (Harvard trained no less) replaces Toronto Elite as Toronto Elite's Chief of Staff. Toronto Elite Party President is thrilled. Conservative grassroots is outraged... surely.

Conservative "Thought"

2010-09-20T11:54:00.003-04:00

Now, David Warren is, objectively speaking, a very stupid man. For that reason, I'll rarely comment on one of his brain farts. But he wrote something this weekend that I just had to share:

They (Shiner: Thatcher, Reagan) knew that bureaucracy is an evil; but accepted it as a necessary evil, susceptible to reform and occasional "downsizing." We need to take one step farther, and grasp that it is an unnecessary evil -- that any human activity which requires a cumbersome bureaucracy is itself morally dubious; that anything which reduces the human being to a "unit" for bureaucratic purposes is in its nature inhuman.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the activities he's talking about are war and justice. Am I close? If anyone can decode the above nonsense, please share.

Friday Night Beer: Wychcraft

2010-09-17T17:06:00.002-04:00

And the countdown is on, one week until London! In honour of that, a bog standard English Pale Ale just released at the LCBO.

Wychcraft
Wychwood Brewery
Oxfordshire, UK
English Pale Ale
4.5%

Looks like a straw lager. Very pale gold. Loads of visible carbonation. Medium white head settles quickly to a thin film. Spotty lacings.

Hm. Don't know if I've ever talked about diacetyl in beer before. Diacetyl is a compound produced by fermentation. It also happens to be a key compound in butter. Usually, but not always, it's a sign that something has gone wrong in a beer. You'll get a very buttery taste, it will seem almost slippery. You'll also notice it on the nose, which is the case here. That said, there is also some vague citrus aroma, sweet orange, with just a bit of fruity malt in there.

Carbonation seems to get in the way a bit. It's almost club soda like up front, hard to get much taste off it. Once you get past that there's a noticeable lager character to the flavour, sort of grainy as opposed to the usual fruit and caramel you get from and English ale. Hopping leaves a bit to be desired. Bittering, but I'm getting almost no citrus flavours off it. Moderate sulfur throughout. Aftertaste leaves a nice hint of lemon.

Mouthfeel threw things off for me. Carbonation seems out of whack.

Not my favourite from a brewer I've always enjoyed. Their Fiddler's Elbow was one of my favourites, though many find it too sweet. Give this one a shot while the LCBO has it, let me know if I'm way off.

Awesome

2010-09-15T11:48:00.002-04:00

I like to think that I usually pass on stories that everyone else is going to be commenting on unless I have something worthwhile to say. Not in this case. Like it says above, awesome.

EDIT: Paul Wells via twitter: June 9, 2010 - Sept. 15, 2010: the best summer job since Kim Campbell's. Ha!

"Tories thrilled"

2010-09-15T09:30:00.003-04:00

That's how Don Martin describes the mood in the CPC caucus after Layton's declaration that he has saved the long gun registry. His (or Funke's) analysis is spot on. The opposition should have let the registry die. The Conservatives never wanted to win this fight, and Layton (and Ignatieff for pushing him) played right into their hands. Which is bizarre because my dog saw through this little nugget of political strategy... and he's a Lab.

Others saw this coming a mile away.

Monday Afternoon Beer: Blanche du Paradis

2010-09-13T12:13:00.002-04:00

Beautiful thing about being happily unemployed is that Monday afternoons are the same as Friday nights. Don't tell my girlfriend though, she thinks I'm reading Lipset, Horowitz, and Said.

I've been a bit lazy when it comes to beer news in Onterrible, and so failed to tell everyone about a big Dieu du Ciel promotion in the province. Dieu du Ciel, a brewpub in Montreal, is probably the best commercial brewery in the country. Take a look at the link above and check your local LCBO's online inventory for any stock. They're all good beers. Peche Mortal, an imperial coffee stout, is widely considered the best beer in Canada. Corne du Diable is a wonderful Canadian IPA. Aphrodite was an epiphany beer for me when I had it at the Montreal beer festival this year.

Today I'm going with something new for me, DDC's take on the delicate wit, Blanche du Paradis. Wit beers, if you'll pardon the expression, broke my good beer cherry. Unfortunately we don't get many good examples in Ontario. Blanche du Chambly from Unibroue is probably the best made, and I'm not a big Unibroue fan. The wit is the classic Belgian wheat beer. It has little resemblance, aside from maybe colour, to its German cousin the Hefeweizen. I said delicate above, and that, I think, is the perfect description for a wit. These are light refreshing beers, but they're incredibly full-flavoured. We're talking about a barnyard wheat base, dusty Belgian yeast, zippy coriander spicing, and bittering citrus from orange peel. The best ones blend all these flavours perfectly on top of a nice chewy, I like to say cookie dough, malt base.

Blanche du Paradis
Dieu du Ciel
Montreal
Witbier
5.5%

Looks like a wit should. A very light straw. Hazy. Snow white head balloons up and settles quickly.

Strong spicing on this example. A nose full of coriander first, followed by some mellow tangerine. Also a noticeable bitterness that suggests some heavier than usual hopping unless it's coming from the spices.

It's that odd bitterness right up front. There's a really unique herbal character to this beer. You can feel those nice rounded flavours, but they're lingering behind heavy spicing. There's a real out-of-place bitterness to it.

Mouthfeel is right. This should be a smooth, lightly-carbonated beer.

An interesting example. I think I enjoy it more than the Chambly from Unibroue, and it's certainly better than Hoegaarden, but I wouldn't buy it by the case. Worth a try. Do a blind tasting with the other two and even include the Keiths' and Rickards' examples for a real learning experience.

The New Economics

2010-09-10T12:27:00.002-04:00

Interesting read from Salutin in the Globe.

Once upon a time Europeans and Americans built things, Canadians mined and farmed things, and everyone else bought things. Then free-trade became all the rage. Suddenly Europeans and Americans were still building, but the nuts and bolts manufacturing had been shipped off to China and South America, Canadians kept mining and farming. Free-trade was sold as an evolution of things, yes we (or they, the Americans) were moving away from the dirty work, but they were heading towards the information and knowledge economy, an entire nation based on the creative class, a nation of people that simply came up with stuff for other people to build and then bought it from them.

The theory that all this was good for Americans was sound... as long as the Chinese, Indians, and South Americans stayed poor and uneducated. Well, they aren't anymore. Suddenly the technology and productivity of the poorer countries are sneaking up on, or moving ahead of, that in the United States.

The only way to stay ahead is by becoming more educated, which is near impossible given the speed of knowledge today, or to have value buried in the dirt, Canada's saving grace (though probably not for long given the new Conservative's insistence on selling off every harvesting asset in the country).

So there's the question, what happens when the Western world no longer has anything to offer to the invisible hand?

8 Long Years

2010-09-04T10:43:00.003-04:00

Something caught my eye this morning. Here's the story. To be completely honest, it caught my girlfriend's eye. My reaction was "So what?" and she said "Well, I just think it's interesting. Everytime you hear about soldiers dying over there you hear that they have young children. Guess their children aren't so young anymore."

It's true. The children of soldiers who were deployed in 2002 are now eight years older. A 9 or 10 year old, not even in highschool when the Twin Towers came down, is now heading to university. To put it another way, the children of the younger members of our military are just about ready to join dad or mom in Afghanistan.

Heading West

2010-08-20T14:05:00.002-04:00

And by west I mean Winnipeg.

Today was my last day of work at the market research firm where I've been for the past 3 years. It was a halfday of wonderfully enjoyable inbox and desk cleaning. Then it was off to the Sir John A pub (Hooley's was closed) for a Hoegaarden and some fish and chips.

There's nothing quite as refreshing as voluntarily leaving a job. I now have a week in Winnipeg to relax. I've never been, but I doubt I'll be disappointed. It'll be a week of cottages and golf leading up to a friend's wedding next Friday. I come back to Ottawa Sunday and then it's a month of "reading" and "research" until I board a plane for London, England to join all the radical socialists at The London School of Economics. Life's good just now.

So silence from me for the next week. Anyone reading this should also consider a break from the intertubes to enjoy the rest of this wonderful summer in Northland. See you in a few!

The Next Level: Harper Takes on the CRTC

2010-08-19T08:13:00.002-04:00

All I can do is echo impolitical's thoughts on the matter.

You can't put too fine a point on it. If Martin's reporting is correct, the Prime Minister is looking to establish a must-carry network dedicated to the Conservative Party of Canada. I'm at a loss. "Disturbing" doesn't begin to describe it.

What Keynesians Would Say

2010-08-18T15:09:00.002-04:00

I just saw this tweet from Andrew Coyne from two days ago. It links to a post from Cafe Hayek holding up the robustness of the German economy as proof that austerity pays off and all you dirty commies don't know what you're talking about.

My response is that Keynesians would first point out that the German and American economies are incredibly different. They would then point out that the Germans suffered nowhere near as badly as the Americans did in the recent recession. Finally, they would point to Ireland and just as arrogantly ask "What say you libertarians?"

That's what Keynesians would say. This type of absurd argument is common place, indeed it's the basis for just about all economic arguments. I remember reading a Krugman post a few weeks ago lamenting the current ideological warfare in economics. It is pretty disturbing. There is no more, or at least very little, truth seeking in modern economics, just a constant tug of war between saltwater and freshwater schools.

National Post vs. Sun Meida

2010-08-18T09:15:00.002-04:00

Chris Selley calls out Sun Meida on yesterday's nutty "Lock n' Load" story.

But I don't want to focus on teh crazy from Sun Meida. In fact I've decided to stop linking to their articles, no matter how insane. Instead, I was wondering whether there's any significance to the National Post calling out Kory's lemonade stand.

Could it be possible that Canada is heading for a split in the Conservative 'movement' along the lines of what we've seen in the United States? There's an, uh, interesting comment from MIKEMURPHY in the National Post link there, where he suggests Sun Meida may "take over the NP's place as a real Conservative voice". That's the kind of stuff we're used to from the American Tea Baggers. It puts the National Post in a bizarre situation. Do they hope the non-crazy element of the right in Canada is big enough to keep them afloat, or do they take part in a race to the bottom?

Entirely possible that I'm reading way too much into one man's opinion, but I do see a bit of a divergence since the census story broke.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Experts!

2010-08-17T08:57:00.003-04:00

It's been amazing watching anti-intellectualism come to the fore in the CPC since the census story broke. Some of the comment boards at my regular haunts have me sitting slack-jawed at my desk. The theme continues today in the G&M. That's right, in order to get to the bottom of this issue the CPC is going to call Mike from Canmore to testify about the census. I hope to God Public Works is installing a gong in the chamber. What a joke.

Friday Night Beer: Ontario Beer Revolution

2010-08-13T11:30:00.002-04:00

I'll be meeting up with some friends visiting from the Yukon tonight and I'll be drinking my go-to: Flying Monkey's Hoptical Illusion of Barrie.

No review this week, but this is a fun read from Steve Beauchesne of Beau's Brewery east of Ottawa. A what-if Ontarians started drinking good local beer scenario using some simple economic calculations. Worth a read. Consider spending that extra 40 cents a beer, or $3 a six pack this weekend on something local.

Mario Laguë

2010-08-12T11:56:00.002-04:00

This morning I walked by a traffic accident on my way to work. I, like my neighbours, stopped a second to see what happened. It was a particularly bad one, as motorcycle accidents so often are. I noted the black SUV that seemed a rather odd addition to the group of responders on site. Thought nothing more of it and went on my way, making a mental note to call my girlfriend to see if she saw it. I had forgotten all about it by the time I got to my desk. I was going to say it's strange how these brushes with events leave you more touched when the headline hits, but it's not strange at all.

From all the accounts I've seen, Mr. Laguë was a good man, well-liked in this town. It's a shame that this is the closest I know that I have ever come to him. Thoughts and prayers with his family.

CP Blames Statcan for Bad CP Reporting

2010-08-12T09:22:00.002-04:00

If one thing has been made clear during this whole census kerfuffle, it's that journalists aren't that great with numbers. Not to say that this wasn't clear already, but watching them report on something as number and method heavy as statistics gathering just puts a giant exclamation point on the fact. This story adds another exclamation point, followed, perhaps, by a "WTF?".

The headline suggests that Statcan is just rotten at its job. The first half of the article suggests that economists throughout the land are exasperated by Statcan's economic reporting. The damned bureaucrats don't know what the hell they're doing. Presumably, and I may have my partisan goggles on here, the author would like the reader to think that the government is right to give the agency a quick kick in the arse... even if the kick is poorly aimed and the government ends up on its behind.

Then you get halfway down and find out that actually it isn't really an issue. Real economists take individual job surveys "with a grain of salt" and pay attention to wider trends from multiple sources. This is followed by this hilarious line:

"That is what private sector economists also advise, but the caution often gets lost in the headlines about jobs created and lost."

And then it all becomes clear. It isn't that Statcan is doing a poor job. It's that the media doesn't know what they're doing and that an issue that isn't particularly new is now big news because of another completely unrelated story.

I get off my bus at Tunney's Pasture every day and walk past Statcan's office on my way home. Lately, if you listen very carefully, you can hear the cries of pain as mild-mannered statisticians pull their hair out.

Language Question No Longer Intrusive

2010-08-11T16:31:00.003-04:00

Funny how this works. So the long form census is scrapped because it's intrusive. This included questions on language skills and the language most often spoken at home. Suddenly though, word comes down from on high that no, those questions in particular are not intrusive and shall be added to the totally not intrusive short form census.

Now if CPC supporters were at all honest in their position on this issue, they would be quite outraged at this Big Brother-esque move by the government. HOWEVER, it really is a victory for liberty and freedom because the government will put forward legislation to decriminalize the regular census. So really, asking those questions about language is not a big deal anymore because the non-threat of jail is gone. The other questions on the long form though? Still totally intrusive, jail or no jail.

The knots these folks are tying themselves in would make even the most badge-winningest boyscout run for the hills. I notice that in the general discussion of the issue on the web, most intelligent Conservatives have climbed off the ledge and are now settling for "Maybe it's not the bestest policy move ever, but it's not that serious. Can we talk about something else?" So the only people left on the government side of this issue are the raving lunatics, week old talking points firmly in hand.

PM sticks head out of hole, sees media, six more weeks of census talk

2010-08-06T16:22:00.004-04:00

Read Taber's description of Harper's first "scrum" after his self-imposed exile from the planet (by the way, does anyone remember the furor over Ignatieff's apparent disappearance awhile back? And he wasn't even the guy supposedly running the place!). Now go check out Paul Wells' tweets starting at about 10AM, culminating in this.

EDITED TO ADD: Also, tangentially related, a new meme was born this day. Sun Meida is on the rise!

Future of the CPC

2010-08-06T09:19:00.003-04:00

Must read columns from both Wells and Hébert this week. I lean towards Hébert's take on the summer's events, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

I think the key thing to take away from all this is that discontent within the CPC is Harper's biggest threat. Yes, he has a firm base of true believers that the Liberals don't. Yes, the CPC goes into an election in an incredibly strong position, from an organizational and financial perspective. No, the Liberals have not done themselves many favours lately. Yes, Harper could probably govern forever from a minority position with no opposition. Yet it's not really all up to Harper. The Conservative Party wants a majority government. While the PM seems like he would be perfectly happy to nibble away at the edges of Canada's institutions forever, the rank-and-file are looking for a wrecking ball.

I think when Harper went for the census, it marked a point where he said "screw it" to a majority. I can't really blame him. Despite the accepted narrative that the LPC is dead in the water, and Harper is always just one election away from destroying them, the CPC still can't get above that 40% mark for long. His complete refusal to wade into a debate over the issue, despite the cries from both sides of the political spectrum, just reinforced that view for me. Hébert is absolutely right on when she says the census was essentially this year's equivalent if the culture cuts, but in Ontario instead of Quebec. I can't believe that Harper expected to fly the census change in under the radar. He had to know that there would be more than a few people on Bay Street, Elgin Street, and quadrangles around the country that would speak up.

Add to this the sudden reappearance of Maxime Bernier on the scene, shooting for the hearts of the grassroots crazies of the CPC, and I just can't buy the master plan angle of Wells. To me, it adds up to trouble ahead within the ranks, or a Harper that's sick of the job.

Survey Says: Not Very Much! Part II

2010-08-05T10:21:00.002-04:00

I love looking at the way polls are reported on. I work in a sector of market research where I'm lucky in that I rarely do the marketing stuff. I can't remember the last time I had to write a torqued headline for a dull press release. It's nice because I can get up on my high horse when the media puts out truly craptacular stories like this one from, you guessed it, QMI:

QMI poll: Half would tell truth on census

Oh my! Well that's disturbing, isn't it? Maybe I, and so many others, have been wrong in our assumption that Canadians, by and large, reply to census questions truthfully. Could it be true that 1 out of every 2 of those people walking by outside, 50% of the folks reading this post, have a deep-seated hatred of Statistics Canada and go out of their way to lie on the census? Um, no.

Read a bit farther (and I'm curious about how many in QMI's audience do) and you'll see that the headline is extraordinarily misleading. First, the question wasn't "Would you tell the truth on the census?", it was:

"If the mandatory Canadian census form contained questions that you considered to be very personal and embarrassing, what would you be most likely to do?"

So right off the bat, we see the question is garbage. However, even with the silly question, the results are not as simple as QMI let on in their headline:

54% said they would tell the truth
24% said they would leave embarrassing questions blank
5% said they would lie
15% said they didn't know

So even if the question is very personal and embarrassingy , like "boxers or briefs?" or "honestly, do you read the Sun?", only 5% of survey respondents said they would lie. Just think, you're going to be able to get this kind of top notch story on TV soon!

The Only Politics Article You'll Ever Have to Read

2010-08-04T12:32:00.001-04:00

'What if political scientists covered the news' from Slate.

"Prospects for an energy bill, meanwhile, are looking grim, since Obama has spent all his political capital. He used to have a lot. Now it's gone. Why winning legislative battles builds momentum but saps political capital, I have no idea. Just go with it."

Real Prisons for Imaginary Criminals

2010-08-03T14:30:00.004-04:00

Okay, so let's give Minister Day the benefit of the doubt on unreported crimes. Let's go with this idea that Canadians are just tired of reporting things like, uh, murder.

Now how does it follow that the solution to this problem is more prisons? How do you put someone who has committed an unreported crime behind bars?

Or, a better question, are these seriously the guys running the country?

Friday Night Beer: Mill Street Betelgeuse

2010-07-30T16:13:00.005-04:00

Whew, been awhile. The nastiest thing about the LCBO is that there are never any surprises. I know a beer is going to show up months in advance (by the way, the fall release is looking like a corker!). There are never any neat finds, and the one-offs are very rare because a craft brewer rarely knows he's going to brew something special with enough time to notify the LCBO, get it tested, etc. etc. Hence the lack of Friday Night Beers.

I forgot, however that I had purchased Mill Street Betelgeuse awhile back and had it stashed away in the fridge. Mill Street is a great Ontario brewery. They're known for their Tankhouse, Wit, and Organic Lager (bleh!), but they also do quite a bit of experimental stuff at their pub in Toronto. A month or so ago they sent the LCBO a bunch of this Betelgeuse and a Roggenbier (rye beer, highly recommended).

The Betelgeuse is in the style of a Belgian Tripel. The "Tripel" in Tripels refers to the amount of malt used (alot). These are strong ales, with a good dose of Belgian candy sugar, giving it a characteristic sweetness. The standard bearer in Ontario is Unibroue's Fin du Monde. We do get some of the true heavyweights from Belgium now and again from the Trappist breweries, but usually as seasonals. They're pretty powerful beers, and this one is no exception, weighing in at about 8%.

Mill Street Betelgeuse
Mill Street Brew Pub
Toronto, Ontario
Tripel
8%

Pours a dark peach, almost tangerine. Nice big creamy head, but it quickly fades away to nothing. Bubbles are slow moving, hinting at some very laid-back carbonation. A bit off-style.

Yikes, alcohol phenols just jump out at you. A little bit of light fruit in there, but it's like you'd expect from some flavoured vodka. Tripel should be much more complex.

Very sweet. Lots of fruit, but it's hard to nail down given the almost overpowering alcohol. Pear and candy sugar combine to leave an almost cloying taste. Where I'd usually expect a nice soft spice and yeast finish, I just get another hit of sugar.

Carbonation is off. The lack of carbonation just accentuates the almost unpleasant sweetness. You want a bit more to contribute to the overall complexity of the style.

A rare miss from Mill Street. Goes overboard on the sugars and misses the other flavours that make this style a Belgian beer geek favourite.

King Louis = Steve

2010-07-26T08:20:00.004-04:00

The above title is for the CPC supporters who have been having the darndest of times trying to understand even the most basic facts involved in the census discussion.

For the rest of you, I present a quote from Reynold's exercise in stupidity from today's Globe:

"Le stat, to paraphrase Louis XIV, c’est moi."

First off, the horrible pun doesn't even make sense. Stats, er stat, is Louis XIV? I'm sure this had Reynolds chuckling to himself at his typewriter, but it's gibberish.

Nonetheless, there is some value in the quote. The irony is fantastic. Tell me, what reminds you more of Louis XIV: Collecting information about the population for the purposes of developing and running public programs and municipal planning, or the Prime Minister making a decision of national importance without consulting anyone, with no debate, on an issue outside his political mandate? L'etat, c'est lui.

Cannons to the right of them, Cannons to the left of them...

2010-07-22T15:38:00.002-04:00

My but Mr. Harper is cantankerous lately.

Probably a good deal of upside in scrapping affirmative action for the CPC, but it's sure going to be a noisy fight. Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward...

The Personification of the State

2010-07-22T09:25:00.002-04:00

If there's one thing that stands out in this whole census debate, it's the strange habit of the populist new right of referring to the state as a person or creature. Two comments from a John Geddes blog post at Macleans are worth reading:

From Sir Francis:

Are you quite sure it is the state qua state that produces the tragedies of which you speak? Is it not perhaps the dispositions and overall ethical character of the people who make up the state which determine whether it produces tragedies or triumphs?

From Emily:

There is no such thing as 'the state'. There are only people.
...
Don't blame anything on some nebulous 'state'....look in the mirror.

In this whole discussion, the proponents haven't been concerned about politicians gathering information on the number of bedrooms you have for their own enjoyment. The conbots aren't worried about John Baird finding out where their ancestors were from and, presumably,jumping into his Delorian, going back in time, and killing them so that they were never born (I think that's what the issue is). They've been concerned about the government doing these things. The government is a creature. At turns, depending on the point being made, lazy, ignorant, and stupid, or, activist, all-knowing, and, above all, nefarious, the government is a villain to be stopped.

Government leads to fascism, or communism (the new conservative refuses to differentiate, mere definitions won't stop the liberal mind), no ifs, ands, or buts. Forget that Hitler and Stalin are exceptions when considering the modern developed state (as far as domestic life goes). It doesn't matter that the Nazis and the Communists were brought to power for the express purpose of targeting a specific group of people. Don't even think of mentioning that the Nazi's base was the same as the modern right's base today. Nonsense! They were all bloody socialists! Government is a creature and, grown up, it's evil.

Yet at its simplest, modern government is simply a pooling of public resources. We all pitch in, according to our ability, to pay for things that benefit all of us. To decide what those things are we elect representatives to decide. To carry out our wishes we hire public servants. However, once a country gets as large and as diverse as Canada, the public loses sight of what the government does. As is the case now, the public turns on itself. Populists with half-baked flavour-of-the-month ideas take this disconnect and wield it to knock down the structures built over a century and a half. Structures that weren't created for the heck of it, but were introduced to fill a need. In all of this, has anyone stopped and asked, why was statscan created in the first place? Why did those that came before us decide that this information was necessary for a better Canada?

The tragedy of it all is that the machinery of government does have a face. Munir Sheikh, a man who could have made a fortune in the private sector, but chose to literally dedicate his working life to his adopted country, steps aside and faces the wrath of the Conservative faithful for doing his job.

Census Puns make Baby Jesus Cry

2010-07-20T07:59:00.001-04:00

Please stop...

Epic Flail

2010-07-19T14:56:00.002-04:00

David Eaves has a great post on Tony Clement's cringeworthy efforts at defending a bad policy, complete with twitter capture of Stephen Gordon giving the Minister a swirly.

The funny thing is that the exact same horrible justifications have played out in comment sections around the blogosphere in the exact same order. Be interesting to see whether Mad Max can give the trolls better material.

Sunday Advice

2010-07-18T10:01:00.002-04:00

1) If you've never seen Great Big Sea live, you're missing out. Friday's Bluesfest performance was brilliant.

2) Go see Inception, great movie.

3) Singapore Noodles is the best value item on your local Chinese food menu.

The Long Form Census

2010-07-16T17:03:00.003-04:00

Everyone seems to be talking about the long form, but I have a hunch not many people have actually read what's in it.

So here.

Quote of the Summer

2010-07-16T08:58:00.002-04:00

Paraphrase actually:

"Mr. Clement said the medical journal and other critics should trust Statistics Canada."

Also, excellent article from Gardner this morning. This, in particular, made me spit out my Cheerios:

"Then the Earth shook. The change to the census will produce "seriously biased" data, the legendary statistician Ivan Fellegi told this newspaper. It is "indefensible." Coming from a man who spent half a century at Statistics Canada, including 23 years as Chief Statistician, this was rather like Moses returning from the mountain and explaining to the wayward Israelites that, no, you can't worship a golden calf, you idiots."

CD Howe Institute Defends Long Form

2010-07-14T21:58:00.002-04:00

Yeah, the CD freakin' Howe freakin' Institute.

Sure, there's a token, and bizarre, shot in there at mysterious nameless opponents, but when even the CD Howe Institute is against you...

This Editorial Brought to you by...

2010-07-13T09:02:00.002-04:00

From The Globe's recent article on Kory:
"Yet Mr. Teneycke rejects the suggestion that Sun TV is designed to further Conservative fortunes. Being a house organ for the Tories would not make commercial sense, he said. He promised there'd be a clear line between editorializing on the station's talk shows and news gathering by its journalists – although, he added, reported stories would be more “populist in orientation.”

Today's editorial from Sun Media.

Survey Says: Not Very Much!

2010-07-11T17:26:00.003-04:00

So you're a journalist. It's a lazy Saturday night in Ottawa. It's humid, thunder storms hover over the region, and you're trying to get an article sent off for the Sunday edition of the Ottawa Citizen so you can head off to see Metric at Bluesfest.

A survey lands in your inbox saying the following:

-44% agree that people should not be convicted of crimes if their mental competency prevented them from knowing what they were doing or that it was wrong.
-37.9% disagree with the statement that people should not be convicted.
-18% neither agree nor disagree.

So, what headline do you come up with?

Probably not this:

"Survey Says: Do the Crime, Do the Time.
Four in 10 Canadians believe mental incompetence shouldn't prevent guilty verdicts"

Historic Moment for Whites

2010-07-10T09:20:00.004-04:00

I got nothing...

UPDATE: From the link: Editor's Note: Due to the high number of inappropriate comments, the commenting feature has been turned off. If you want to comment on this editorial, you can send a letter...

Thanks to jkg in the comments.

UPDATE x2:This is starting to get picked up now that it's in the print addition. Paul Wells' tweet is good for a laugh.

Losers are the New Winners!

2010-07-09T16:03:00.003-04:00

The appointment of failed federal candidates to the Senate is hilarious. Pity poor Navdeep Bains who, despite delivering a whooping to the CPC in Brampton South with 6,000 more votes than CPC candidate Salma Ataullahjan, will have to run again within the next couple months while Ms. Ataullahjan gets cozy in the red chamber. Talk all you want about needing to control the Senate to change the Senate, but there are better ways to do it than by picking a person who the people already rejected. I'm sure the CPC grassroots is concerned.

Dance Iggy, Dance

2010-07-08T16:20:00.002-04:00

Canada needs an election. The federal political scene is stuck in a horrible limbo. At a time when Canada, with all our current wealth and health, should be planning for the future, setting ourselves up to be world leaders in every field, we're governed by bumpkins whose sole goal is to make future government in Canada ineffectual and impossible to afford, while methodically chipping away at our institutions and long-standing policy.

It's not like the chances haven't existed to topple the clowns at the right hand. Yet every opportunity passes by, with the Opposition's ass waving in the air, its head stuck firmly below ground. They're terrified. The golden moment is always just over the horizon. Something's gotta catch. Nothing does. A shockingly apathetic public refuses to pay any attention to serious issues, dismissing them as 'just politics'. A bored and cynical press loses interest in stories quickly and nothing gains traction. All the while the CPC rakes in the loonies, with the PMO going as far as acquiring its own news chanel.

And so another opportunity presents itself. The CPC, so confident in the timidity of the Opposition, laughably threaten an election over privitization of overseas mail delivery, neutering environmental assessments, and selling off the once world-leading AECL. A dare. And the Liberals will cave. It seems they already have given all this silly talk about making a "very important statement".

So back to the waiting game. The bill goes through, the Upper House clears out, and we can all look forward to it all starting up again in a few months time, and Iggy can go out and barbeque a few burgers while nobody pays any attention.

It needs to stop now. Our government is starved of oxygen. We need an election to break the stalemate. I'm not suggesting the Liberals would win a government (though I, perhaps foolishly, continue to believe a campaigning Ignatieff would be a different animal), but anything is better than this. I think a Harper majority would be horrible for the country, but I'm also a firm believer that "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard". If this is really the type of government the people of Canada want, they can have it, enough with this slow death. Nothing would make me happier than to see Iggy pick up the gauntlet and smash it over Finley's monstrous, miserable skull.

Shaky Stats

2010-07-08T09:24:00.004-04:00

Two things on my mind this morning:

First, EKOS has officially outsourced their political polling to a codfish. I don't doubt for a second that the Liberals are in a bad way, but look at those bounces in BC, and the NDP's results in Alberta and Atlantic Canada (!!!). Margin of error aside, these results are downright wonky. Nonetheless, I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the wild election speculation over the next couple days and talk of the big Mo'.

This conveniently leads into my next point on the dangers of crap polling and bad data. I'm a bit sensitive over this stuff, but this census thing really has my hackles up. It's just another step in Canada's not so slow descent to an idiocracy. Like most important policy issues, this isn't a sexy topic, so there's little reaction to the horrified cries from academics, economists, and public servants, and that's depressing. This is really important stuff, and nobody gives a shit.

EDITED TO ADD: And if I hear or read one more person saying "well alot of people just make stuff up on the long form" I'm jumping out my office window. What nonsense.