Back in late June, I sent the following email to the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

Dear Mr. Harper,
Toronto has long been proud of our women and men in uniform who protect our city, and provide an invaluable service to its people. The security of the G20, however, has soured the People’s view of the Toronto Police Service,
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Ontario Provincial Police. With videos and photographic displays showing what appears to be excessive force and an abandon of the Charter, Torontonians cannot trust their Police or feel safe.

Obviously these videos and photos only show one side of the coin, and I do hope, along with all of my fellow Torontonians that the Police are honourable and were only acting within the boundaries of the law. And so, I
must request that the Canadian Government act swiftly and open an independent inquiry into the behaviour of the Integrated Security Unit. If no wrong doings occurred, then Torontonians will be able to once again show
pride in their Police; if, however, it is found that the Police overstepped then we’ll find a place to put blame, and I trust that the Government will take the appropriate action.

As the Prime Minister who led the Conservative Party of Canada to their first victory on a platform of honesty and accountability in the wake of the Sponsorship Scandal, I know that honour will dictate your decisions, and you
will do the right thing.

Thank you for your time,
Adam M. Anklewicz

cc:
Jack Layton, MP Toronto-Danforth
Michael Ignatieff, Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition
Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario
David Miller, Mayor of Toronto
William Blair, Chief of Police

I just received this reply on Aug. 6.

Dear Mr. Anklewicz:

On behalf of the Prime Minister, thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the conduct of the police forces providing security for the G8 and G20 Summits.  Our office has noted your concerns.  Our Government takes the allegations which have been raised seriously, and believes that they should be given all due consideration under existing mechanisms for handling complaints regarding police conduct.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Susan I. Ross
Assistant to the Prime Minister

I’m not satisfied with this response, so I replied with:

Thank you kindly for your reply. In the five weeks that have passed since I wrote my original letter Canadians, and specifically Torontonians, have been wondering why the Harper Government refuses to open an independent inquiry. Ms. Ross, it seems to be only for the best of Canadians that we evaluate this.

If Mr. Day is correct that the census data shows Canadians are not reporting crimes, perhaps it’s because of a lack of trust between citizens and the police? This trust is gone. Before the G20, if I saw a uniformed police officer passing on the street, I’d give him or her a smile; now I get tense.

The existing mechanisms for investigation into these allegations are neither broad enough in scope, nor independent. We must examine the events from all levels, and clear the reputations of our would-be beloved defenders of the peace.

Ms. Ross, we have nothing to lose but time and money, and while money is not infinite, Canadians care enough about our integrity domestically and on the world stage that we can take the hit.

Thank you,
Adam

[The Liberals]¹ bit the dust because they treated Parliament with contempt.²

BT Richardson’s Canada & Mr. Diefenbaker is a book which isn’t so much about the then-Prime Minister, but is more about Canada in 1962. I thought it was really ambitious to write a biography of a sitting Prime Minister, but I was mistaken, Richardson wasn’t talking about Diefenbaker’s childhood and early years, he was talking about Canada. Even in the few chapters that did discuss Diefenbaker was more interested in painting the picture of a family living in rural Ontario³ and moving out to Saskatchewan to start a new life with free land and the great opportunities of this new western expansion. The specifics of Dief and his parents is barely touched upon, thus creating a classic Canadian story which could be related to by most 1960s Canadians. Instead of Diefenbaker as a person, Richardson discusses Canada’s place in North America, the Commonwealth, bank policies, the downside of the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition Lester B. Pearson⁴,

Richardson talks at length about James Coyne, who was at one time Governor of the Bank of Canada. His policies were at odds with the Tory government. Thusly, six months before his contract expired, Diefenbaker’s government passed a bill through the Lower House which would relieve Coyne of his job. It was vetoed by the Liberal-held Senate. His statements on the Senate seem to frame Canada in this frozen political landscape.

The Senate’s rarely used power of veto has never been accepted by the Canadian voters as a true curb on representative government. On the other hand, it has never been repudiated by the voters, either. The Coyne affair brought closer the day of Senate reform, which has never quite materialized.

The Canadian Senate has one hundred and two members⁵, when it has no vacancies, and its working force is only a fraction of that number.

And it doesn’t stop there. Richardson’s descriptive of his pre-centenial Canada’s issues seems to mirror many of the 21st-century Canada’s issues, but there are two distinct differences between between modern Canada and that of Diefenbaker’s Canada. We read about the Progressive Conservative party which Diefenbaker was the leader of, and we cannot help but see more similarities between that party and the Liberal Party than we can see between the PCs and the Harper led Conservative Party of Canada. Diefenbaker came out of rural Saskatchewan, and fought to make the PCs a viable party in a land dominated by the Social Credit party and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (who would later become the NDP). Yes, western Canada was once dominated by the left-wing values of the NDP.

Finally, the other major difference is the Canada that Richardson knows is a Canada of pioneers who came from the United Kingdom and France. They colonized the lands we know now. The Canada I know is a land of immigrants. Canada has seen so many immigrants come into our nation that it is no longer English and French, it’s now every ethnicity known to man.

Another worry that Richardson was that Canada was slowly getting more and more confident and less and less of an inferiority complex, I’m not sure why he saw it leaving, but he predicuted that “the risk that Canadians now run is that they will present to the world the image of materialistic, loud mouthed people with pockets stuffed with money.” Something that only recently happened for the first time, and that was during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.⁶

I’m finally going to end with a quote of former foreign minister Sidney Smith’s which was quoted in the book. He was discussing Canadian and American cooperation, and these are words that I wish George W. Bush had taken to heart.

True Friendship cannot be wrecked by honest frankness.

1. Specifically Louis St. Laurent. [↩]
2. The Liberals lost the 1957 election, but had been in power since Mackenzie King’s regained power in 1935. For those bad at math, that’s 22 years. [↩]
3. William Diefenbaker actually lived in Todmorden, which is a few metres from my Toronto house. [↩]
4. Something I hope he regretted when Pearson proved himself to be one of the greatest Canadian Prime Ministers. [↩]
5. One hundred and five today. [↩]
6. Can you blame us? We won the Olympics! [↩]

Dear Mr. Harper,
Toronto has long been proud of our women and men in uniform who protect our city, and provide an invaluable service to its people. The security of the G20, however, has soured the People’s view of the Toronto Police Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Ontario Provincial Police. With videos and photographic displays showing what appears to be excessive force and an abandon of the Charter, Torontonians cannot trust their Police or feel safe.

Obviously these videos and photos only show one side of the coin, and I do hope, along with all of my fellow Torontonians that the Police are honourable and were only acting within the boundaries of the law. And so, I must request that the Canadian Government act swiftly and open an independent inquiry into the behaviour of the Integrated Security Unit. If no wrong doings occurred, then Torontonians will be able to once again show pride in their Police; if, however, it is found that the Police overstepped then we’ll find a place to put blame, and I trust that the Government will take the appropriate action.

As the Prime Minister who led the Conservative Party of Canada to their first victory on a platform of honesty and accountability in the wake of the Sponsorship Scandal, I know that honour will dictate your decisions, and you will do the right thing.

Thank you for your time,
Adam M. Anklewicz

cc:
Jack Layton, MP Toronto-Danforth
Michael Ignatieff, Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition
Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario
David Miller, Mayor of Toronto
William Blair, Chief of Police

Friday morning’s Toronto Star had William Shatner on the cover, the former star of Star Trek, who has a fan movement on Facebook vying for him to be Governor General of Canada.

For those unfamiliar, the Governor General is the nation’s de facto head of state. While the monarch (currently Elizabeth II) is the actual head of state, she cannot perform those duties, as she is also the head of state for numerous other countries, and resides in the United Kingdom. Governors General provide a mostly symbolic role, they represent the nation on an international level, are a spokesperson for the country, sign bills into law (once they’ve passed through the Commons and Senate), dissolves parliament, calls elections and read the throne speech. For Americans this might be a strange thing as their head of government and head of state are within the same role, President. Most world nations divide the two roles.

Governors General are appointed by The Queen upon recommendation by her Prime Minister. Until 1952, Canadian Governors General were British Lords, Dukes, or Earls, with ties to the Royal Family. In 1952, Vincent Massey was appointed as the first Canadian Governor General of Canada. Currently Michaëlle Jean holds the position; a reporter who immigrated to Canada from Haiti, and is fluently bilingual, she possess the two qualities important in a Governor General, is fluently bilingual and is statesman-like.

William Shatner might be amazing, but he is not in any way statesman-like. Would Canada really want him representing us on an international stage? Sure, if we needed someone to Captain HMCS Enterprise¹, he’d be the first one we’d call.

Does Shatner even speak French?

Leonard Cohen, however, is a much better choice. He’s a fluently bilingual artist, who is respected, not mocked. Cohen is very statesman-like, and could be the first Jewish head of states in Canada². That is assuming we ignore the fact that he’s now an ordained Buddhist monk.

What’s most annoying about this entire thing is The Star’s reporting on it. Someone said, “it would be awesome if Shatner were Governor General. I’m gonna start a Facebook group.” People joined. Then the Toronto Star ran an article on the FRONT PAGE. Proof once again that newspapers are useless.

1. Her Majesty’s Canadian Starship. [↩]
2. Have there been any outside of Israel? Benjamin Disraeli was Prime Minister of England back in the 19th century, but that’s head of government. [↩]

This message brought to you by the Liberal Party of Canada, we won’t rape your ears.

Why would Canada want to change the lyrics to “O Canada?” It makes very little sense, especially right now at the end of one of the most patriotic events in Canadian history. There’s not too many times I’ve been in a bar and suddenly had the entire establishment break out in the national anthem, but that happened at the end of the gold medal Men’s Hockey game. The 2010 Olympics, while not as patriotic as the 1972 Summit is a close second.

This move seems to be more of a play for the Government of Canada to get sympathy votes from women voters, when the nation has more pressing concerns, the largest deficit in Canadian history, a government who will gladly put aside the democratically elected Parliament to allow them to govern without a pesky opposition.

Is “all thy sons command” really a horrible lyric? If so, make it “all thy suns command.”

My dear, and sexy friend Nicholas, posted this video to twitter. There’s a few things that strike me about this video… other than the terrible audio, because really, the sound’s horrible.

1. Three tokens for a quarter?!?! WTF?!?! Now it’s one token for twelve quarters!
2. Toronto in the ’50s seems quaint. I’m pretty sure it’s just the music, but Toronto in the ’50s does seem like some cheesy movie. Anyone have a time machine? I wanna see what it was really like? Go down to Queen Street and see what was hopping in the pubs and bars that lined Queen West. I’m sure Buddy Holly was shredding on the stage of the Horseshoe.
3. “Toronto got itself a subway, really!” That quote. It’s kinda cute how he says it, but the content of what he says is the reality. Toronto was as full of municipal cynicism as it is today. It’s a tradition. I think it’s a tradition that needs to end. I think it’s about time we looked with optimism at what Toronto is and, more importantly, what it can become.

• Louis Riel a traitor? Well yes. An elected member of parliament? Yes. A founder of Manitoba? Yes. A hero? Yes. Why doesn’t he deserve a statue?
• Ladies! It seems I embody all top four items that you ladies desire in man. Whatcha doin’ tonight?
• Every wondered why you see a rainbow when watering your lawn? It’s because something is oozing out of the ground. Or, maybe it’s because the water refracts the light. SCIENCE!

• Fuck you Miller, relying on outside sources to fund one of the most important infrastructures in Toronto.
• Fuck you McGuinty, you know the entire province relies on the city of Toronto.
• Fuck you Harper, just cuz.
• CBC wants to know how French are you… in other news, la SRC ne se soucie pas comment l’anglais que vous soyez.
• Smitherman wants to take the Chertien/Martin approach to governance… he might win my vote.
• Surgery in Windsor, not a good idea. Is there anything that’s a good idea in Windsor?
• Who cares? No one uses Bing or Yahoo!
• As often as I’ve had brunch at Sneaky Dee’s, I’ve never had their Huevos Rancheros.
• The Parliamentary Budget Officer takes a look at Canada and its long term financial future.
• I think I need to puke…
• Sharon Jones is coming to Toronto in May, but she’s playing the Sound Academy. Any other venue, and I’d be there with bells on. I absolutely refuse to visit that venue.
• Most god-awful recipes I’ve ever seen. (thanks Terri)

• I want this for my birthday.
• How to attract women.
• Google wants to bring 1 gigabit per second internet to you.
• Adam Giambrone throws in the towel.I’m iffy on this. I wouldn’t have voted for the man, because of the state of the TTC, but to have to drop out of the race because of his personal life isn’t right.
• Did you know they still do a MacWorld Expo? Why? Seriously, why?
• Google Street View… let’s visit the Yukon River in Whitehorse.
• Valentines day mixtape courtesy of Monitor Mix. Dear Carrie Brownstein, will you be my valentine?
• Fake Simpsons words that belong in the dictionary. (Courtesy of swhibbsy)

via The Muppet Newsflash