• Why is the newly-minted foreign
minister baiting Canadians’ efforts to aide Palestinians?
John Baird has
called the Canadian Boat to Gaza “provocative”
and “unhelpful”, causing organizers to wonder if the Harper government is
distancing itself from the group, and possibly
justifying any Israeli aggression against the flotilla.
• Why is the Canadian public being kept
in the dark over the war in Libya?
Last month, the
Defence Department quietly
ordered more than 1300 laser-guided bombs at a cost of $130 million.
Meanwhile, retired Col. Michel Drapeau has publicly
mused that the war is costing Canada at least $100-million per month.
Says Col.
Drapeau: “It needs to be asked: What are we getting for all that? It's
not an omnipotent pool of resources. Someone's got to pay for that.” Any
guesses as to who’s gonna pay?
• Why
are Toronto's police protecting potholes?
It’s a question even the Globe and
Mail is asking, after “penny-pinching” Doug Ford allocated more money for
paid-duty police to oversee construction sites and public events.
Toronto cops are paid $65 an hour to guard the hole versus $10.68 an hour
for civilians who help children cross the road. Says the Globe’s editorial
board: “Off-duty paid policing in Toronto has become a lucrative business,
one that a free-market observer might even call a racket.” Too true!
• Speaking of Toronto cops, who
is the abuser in this G20 photo, and why are Toronto police being allowed
to openly ignore the civilian Special Investigations Unit?
• Is Stephen Harper intent on punishing
Quebec for voting NDP?
When asked for
increased troops to help with flood relief, the Conservatives initially
refused, saying that soldiers would be “in
competition with the private sector.” WTF people, since when is federal
disaster aid mitigated by the “private sector”?
• Now that his overlord has won that
much-coveted majority, why is Dimitri Soudas leaving the PMO?
Harper’s trusted
mouthpiece and chief partisan is heading
to Toronto in September. Just in time for the Ontario provincial election?
Dimitri, are you giving up Harper for Hudak?
• Speaking of Tim Hudak, could Ontario’s
Premier-to-be considering turning prisoners into “gold farmers”?
Hudak has
been musing about forcing Ontario prisoners to do manual labour. But as the
Chinese are proving, hard labour is not nearly as lucrative as playing
videogames.
Gold farming is the practice of building up credits and
online value through the repetition of basic tasks in online games such as
World of Warcraft. And according to former convicts, Chinese prisons are
virtual goldmines.
“Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games
than they do forcing people to do manual labour,” former prisoner Liu Dali told
the Guardian.
Something to think about, Mr. Hudak?
• Is price gouging really necessary when
it comes to Internet service in Canada?
You’d think the
answer would be an obvious “No”, but then why are service providers like Bell
and Rogers---with the seeming approval of the federal government and
CRTC---bilking Canadians consumers?
The advocacy
group OpenMedia (Stop the Meter campaign) is trying to answer this question
with a special report, Casting an Open Net,
timed to coincide with the reopening of Parliament. If you support Internet
neutrality and don’t want to get gouged by Big Telecom, check out the OpenMedia website, and pass it on.
• The Supreme Court may be keeping an eye
on Canada’s spy agency, but who can force them to meet strict accountability
standards set by the court?
According
to a watchdog report obtained by The Canadian Press, CSIS continues to
destroy operational notes, electronic intercepts and other investigative
material, in violation of its legal duty to keep documentation and—out of
fairness—disclose the material during judicial proceedings.
But will the
Harper government force CSIS to listen to the Supreme Court? When our Dear
Leader would surely love to ignore that body himself? Not likely!
Submit your questions to contact [at] xraymagazne [dot] ca