On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

He was Canada's first astronaut.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/marc-garneau-dead-at-76/

Voting took me ten minutes at my polling station here in Orléans this morning. That included writing up a "user experience" comment form for Elections Canada on my way out the door.

I just had a thought about what Poilievre's voice makes me think of: school principals who used the strap to punish kids. Whether they were actually getting out of hand or something else was going on.

His tone - every time I hear his voice - puts me in mind of someone who was born too late to be one of those school principals, knows it, and wants revenge for that fact of birth timing.

Speaking as a Canadian?

Canadian independence is at stake. If we end up geopolitically sandwiched between Trump and Putin again, we are at risk of ending up like Poland did from 1939 to 1945. As a battlefield, as an involuntary host of death camps, as a client state. Invited to submit to anschluss at best, blitzkrieg at worst. The Trumpists may say that they're focused on Mexico and points south right now, and we cannot rely upon that fixation to remain. Even if it does hold, we will need to take sides in any case.

To any Americans who can vote this upcoming November? Please vote for Kamala Harris, as she is the best of the available options right now. Do push for better candidates in the years that follow, yes. Absolutely! And vote for Harris as soon as you can, while you can, to make sure that you will be able to keep voting.

"Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:

Passenger rail is a safe, efficient, sustainable, affordable, and accessible mode of public transportation;
Due to federal cutbacks and underinvestment over many years, Canada’s current passenger rail services lag far behind those available in other countries;
Since its creation in 1978, VIA Rail has lacked both the legislative mandate and stable budget necessary to maintain and expand passenger rail service in Canada;
While VIA Rail's on-time performance on tracks it owns is over 90 percent, it is only 60 percent on tracks it shares with other railways;
Rail privatization and outsourcing schemes in other countries have led to higher fares, reduced service, deteriorating safety performance, and lower salaries for workers;
Unlike other public passenger rail providers around the world, VIA Rail lacks representation from passengers and workers on its board of directors; and
In its Corporate Plan, VIA has warned that its long-distance fleet, built in the 1950s, is overdue for replacement, without which it will soon be unable to provide services in Atlantic and Western Canada.

We, the undersigned, Residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Incorporate the contents of Bills C-371, the Rail Passenger Priority Act, and C-236/C-640 (41-2) the VIA Rail Canada Act, in a Government Bill and prioritize its passage through the legislative process;
2. Commit, in the 2024 federal budget, the funds necessary to renew VIA Rail’s long-distance fleet;
3. Provide passenger and worker representation on VIA Rail’s board of directors; and
4. Revise the High Frequency Rail project to protect VIA Rail’s role in delivering public passenger rail service along the Windsor to Quebec City corridor."

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4754

Listening to this right now:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/george-grant-lament-for-a-nation-1.7050666

I should look that book up, and also re-read Michael Byers' Intent For a Nation: What is Canada For? That one, I do have a copy of at hand.

First person of any non-White colour, actually...and he's an MP I met once in passing at a pro-CBC protest/advocacy walk from Gatineau across the Alexandra Bridge into Ottawa and up to Parliament Hill a few years ago: Greg Fergus. Details of today's vote here:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mps-vote-new-speaker-1.6984673

I'd have thought that this would have happened years earlier, with some other Member of Parliament gaining that honour and title. That's not how history evolved, though, so here we are.

Congratulations to mayor-elect Chow and to the people of Toronto./

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-mayor-byelection-2023-results-1.6888539

Guess which company lost and why.

Never mind, here's some evidence.

https://pressprogress.ca/saskatchewan-party-corporate-donor-received-60-million-medical-contract-after-crown-corporation-shut-down/

Prof. Michael Geist: "The longstanding debate over whether Bill C-18, the Online News Act, requires payment for linking came to an end yesterday. Government officials admitted that even basic quotes from news articles that include a hyperlink to the original source would scope user posts into the law and require platforms such as Google and Facebook to negotiate payment for the links. As noted below, even that position may understate the impact of the bill, which appears to also cover a user post of a news quote without a link. In other words, merely quoting a few sentences from a news article on an Internet platform is treated as making news content available, which triggers a requirement for the platforms to negotiate payment. This position runs counter to Canada’s copyright obligations under the Berne Convention and has no place in a country committed to freedom of expression."

How will this be made to affect us as individual internet users/publishers?