exaro

rideau canal vs scarborough rapid transit

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:24:00 +0000

The Rideau Canal from Ottawa to Kingston was constructed under the leadership of Lt. Colonel John By. With nineteenth century technology, freezing winters and scorching summers crews were able to cut through virgin forests and precambrian rock in just six years; 200 km, 47 masonry locks and 52 dams to control water levels.

Six years - that's about the same* as the Toronto Transit Commission says it will take to relay 6 km of track and install new wiring on the Scarborough rapid transit line. This 21st century project will be on an existing right-of-way and constructed road bed, i.e. no significant new construction, and have all the benefits of contemporary technology. The disruption for hundreds of thousands of commuters will be massive and the costs to the city will be huge.

Meanwhile, the commission asks citizens to accept this as a reasonable and normal inconvenience. Do we need some 19th century engineers or just their commitment to getting the job done?

* The commission general manager originally stated it would take 9 years; public relations later reduced that goal to 5 years.

someone needs better talking points

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Brian Topp, running for leader of the Official Opposition, is venting his angst that the Senate could frustrate his agenda should he someday be named prime minister. He is vowing to immediately introduce a constitutional amendment, should he achieve his objective, to abolish the upper house.

There is probably a widespread consensus that the current prime minister's appointments of defeated Conservative Party candidates and sundry other political hacks is offensive to Canadians (note, I haven't seen any polling numbers of this). However, abolition is not going to happen. Topp, should he want to become a national leader, might be better to spend his time in the national spotlight more productively than tilting at windmills.

Topp is still a long way from becoming NDP leader and even further from becoming prime minister. However, should he be the beneficiary of every conceivable break in federal politics, win the leadership, sustain his party's momentum for 3-1/2 years, etc. etc, and be sworn as prime minister, he would still need unanimous consent of the provinces to abolish the Senate. That is never going to happen in any government's first term. Moreover, he would be most unlikely to get even the approval of Parliament to ask the provinces for the change; the Conservative dominated Senate would block the effort. I would be far more interested in hearing how Topp would advance an NDP agenda in the face of Senate opposition.

Topp's comments might be amusing were they part of a middle-school student's essay on how to fix Canadian politics. They are that juvenile and naive.

From someone aspiring to national we expect better.

sweetest thing i read today

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:06:00 +0000

Scott Brison @scottbrison

Maxime and I wish Peter MacKay and Nazanin Afshin-Jam best wishes and a lifetime of happiness.

That's a class Tweet from a classy rival.

lament for a transit system

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:37:00 +0000

Being a frequent Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) rider it's easy to find reasons to complain about how the system is mismanaged. Try as one might, not to tilt at windmills, the pressure gets to be too great at times not to shout.

There was a time when I considered most of the TTC's problems the product of a dysfunctional union-controlled workplace. 2011 produced a plethora of complaints about sleeping subway attendants, missing-in-action drivers and downright dangerous-driving by some operators, none of which result in speedy and appropriate disciplinary responses. Union rules and practices are partly to blame, but so to is the attitude of management at the TTC that it's not worth the trouble trying to rectify these things.

It has become increasingly apparent that management - this appears to run from the most senior ranks to front-line supervisors - its primary mission is to provide employment for highly paid civic workers, themselves and union members. Operating a public transit system is incidental to maximizing employment; there is no real commitment to customer service. 2011 also saw the appointment of a customer service manager - a first - but after months of consultations and meetings with riders one cannot identify a single action taken to improve the user experience. What has resulted is the creation of a new department of highly paid bureaucrats and a reduction in bus service because the TTC is out of money.

A few things witnessed yesterday illustrated the misplaced priorities. Exiting the subway at Bloor-Yonge station, I witnessed ten TTC employees - one about every 10-15 feet apparently assigned solely to ensure passengers walked in a way TTC management deem correct. Those employees did not include ticket collectors, security personnel or cleaning and maintenance personnel. The TTC seems to think customer service is telling passengers how to exit a train. Those ten employees were doing nothing to help speed trains through the station and anyone watching could easily see their ineffectiveness.

Later in day, the TTC's subway public address system was blaring announcements about special holiday fares - three days after the holidays and the specials had ended. Does anyone in transit control pay any attention to the broadcasts or is it considered enough to slap in a tape recording and ignore it? Is it more about doing something/anything than doing something useful?

Upon arriving at Don Mills station to transfer to a bus headed for home, there was only a 10 minute wait. This was pretty good, given the wait for this "frequent service" route often runs to 20 minutes or more. But - there is always a but - when the first bus arrived and most of waiting passengers crowded aboard, the driver disappeared. In the next five minutes, three more buses arrived and departed almost empty leaving one busload of very tired and seething riders. Eventually we proceeded north on Don Mills - remember there were three empty buses ahead of us - followed by two more empty buses behind us, as I discovered when I de-boarded.

TTC management claims to be short of money and uses this as an excuse to raise fares while reducing service, but it doesn't seen to have any problems with running dozens of empty buses around the city every day. On the assumption that management is not ignorant of the fact the second, third, fourth etc. buses are of no use/benefit to riders, one has to conclude that management just doesn't care. Buses are running hither and yon, drivers are getting paid, employment is being provided. The only thing missing is service to riders. Meanwhile, as all these buses are running empty northbound, how many potential passengers are waiting at the south end of the route for a long overdue bus?

I often see half a dozen southbound Don Mills buses enter and leave the Don Mills station almost bumper to bumper and empty; I have never seen a TTC supervisor or manager intervene to turn one of those busses around and pick-up any of the couple hundred northbound passengers crowding the platform and waiting 15-25 minutes on this 3-4 minute-service route. I have no reason to believe the problem is unique to the route I ride. For TTC management it appears to be all about running buses rather than carrying passengers.

That would be improving customer service, but I'm forced to assume it's not one of management's priorities.

A more serious example is the recently announced decision to close the Scarborough rapid transit line for five years, beginning in 2015, to convert it to contemporary rolling stock. I first learned of the decision about 9pm one night upon reading a Tweet from the TTC's official spokesman, @BradRoss, and responded something about how only at the TTC could something like this take five years. I was surprised, given the time of day, that Ross responded within seconds about what a big job it really is and how wrong I was. I later learned that Ross was probably a bit touchy because he had had to "clarify" a statement his boss had made earlier that day that the job would really take nine years. Five years or nine, the schedule remains absurd. All this conversion requires is the installation of new wiring and replacing track on an existing exclusive right-of-way. In most international cities, the work would be completed without even interrupting service, or at most a few weeks of sporadic interruption. It's as long as the mayor promises it will take to dig tunnels and build a cross-town, underground rapid transit system twice the length. But this is the TTC, the same organization I watched from my office window take 3 years to install an elevator to carry handicapped subway riders about 12 feet from the concourse to street level. It's obvious the TTC gives no priority to providing a decent level of transit service to the people of Scarborough.

As a regular public transit user, I lament the current situation and despair that anyone at the TTC sincerely gives a damn about operating a reliable, efficient and comfortable transit system. Expect more on this theme as we proceed through 2012.

Christmas present coming from apple

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:28:00 +0000

I love people, and maybe my current and previous pets, so I refuse to say I love my Apple toys. I do however, REALLY REALLY LIKE them and Apple's legendary service. That's not to say I have never had a problem, but when I have the remedy has been exceptional.

My first Apple gadget was an iPod Nano, 1st generation, purchased sometime over 5 years ago and which has spent most of the past 3+ years relegated to a drawer after I upgraded to an iPod Touch (useful while I waited out my Blackberry contract) and, more recently, an iPhone. Last month, Apple announced that a minuscule proportion of these 1st generation Nanos might be vulnerable to an overheating battery that could become hazardous and so it was offering replacements. I submitted the serial number of my old Nano and discovered it would be eligible for replacement, received the packaging materials to return it within 48 hours and started to wait.

It surprised me a bit that a month passed with no update on the status of my "repair" but I found chatter in the Apple forum that the company had far more requests for replacement than it expected - maybe an assumption that most of them had been lost, trashed, whatever over six years - had run out of replacements and was shipping current 6th generation Nanos instead. Last night, Apple Service emailed me that my replacement was ready to ship and the serial number quoted confirms I'm in line for the new model. Nice Christmas present, Apple. A new 2011 iPod for a 2005 iPod, smaller form-factor with larger storage (8GB vs 1GB) and much improved controls and functionality. This is one I will use, particularly at the gym where its wearability will be very convenient. I expect to treat myself to the accessory that turns it into a customizable watch in celebration of getting a retail $129 toy for a nearly forgotten item in the back of a drawer; I'm looking forward to showing-off my Kermit watch! Another 1st generation model would have gone back in the drawer to gather dust until I hauled it out in 2025 to show my grandniece how we listened to music in the old days. BTW, that would be the 3-year old who showed me at Christmas how proficient she can be at playing Angry Birds on my iPad; "batting .500" at level 3 after less than ten games.

It's astonishing that some customers are complaining in the Apple fora about a "broken promise" to replace their Nanos with another 1st generation device. I could understand the disappointment if someone has collected every Nano in the series and wants working models of each but true collectors, I'm sure, would have taken the infinitesimal risk and kept their original editions. The griping seems to be coming from those who are thinking, they've offered me this, maybe if I complain loud enough they'll send me a new iPhone. Maybe they're going to hold out for a MacBook Air.

From my perspective, Apple is continuing, under CEO Tim Cook, founder Steve Jobs' commitment to ensuring a satisfactory customer experience. I am more than satisfied; I'm delighted with what they have done to retain my loyalty for many, many years. Yea Apple! I REALLY, REALLY like you.

dippers break the rules too

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Last week we had the guilty plea from the Conservative Party confirming that it had violated Canada's election financing law in the 2006 federal election. Today we have the admission from the NDP that it too had broken the law when it invited mourners to honour Jack Layton by making donations to the Ed Broadbent Institute. To its credit the NDP is promising to return the donations without a years-long court battle. Had it not been caught by vigilant observers, the party would have been complicit in donors receiving illegal tax benefits; i.e. political donation tax credits which are far greater than the benefit accrued through reductions in taxable income made possible by other charitable gifts.

That party officials ever thought the plan was legal suggests they see the party and the institute as one and the same entity. It suggests further monitoring to ensure the Broadbent Institute is truly independent and not merely a research arm of the NDP circumventing the rules governing political party fundraising and expenditures. The Canada Revenue Agency will also need to ensure the institute is eligible for charitable organization status and to issue charitable donation receipts.

Expect more cases like these as the Conservatives' proposal to end tax-funded political party subsidies. The pressure will be on parties to find creative ways of generating income and moving expenses outside the tightly regulated sphere overseen by Elections Canada.

canada vs conservative party - GUILTY

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:04:00 +0000

It's been a long-running saga of illegal activity and denial but it's ended somewhat happily with a plea of guilty from Stephen Harper's law and order Conservative governing party. The party engaged in what is best described as money laundering in the 2006 election and got caught by Elections Canada's audit of campaign spending. Sitting on a large cash surplus, exceeding what it was allowed by law to spend on its national campaign, the party transferred some of that cash to local constituency organizations who then spent it on national advertising which may have helped it defeat the incumbent Liberal government.

For five years, the Conservatives battled Elections Canada and denied any wrong-doing. Now, apparently secure in a majority government and hoping voters will have forgotten their illegal activity by the time of the next election, there is a guilty plea-bargain. By avoiding a trial, the Conservatives' most senior officials are saved from testifying and being cross-examined in the courts of law and, as a result of their bargain with the Crown, Senators Gerstein and Finley don't have to worry about exchanging their red chamber offices for a jail cell.

Sadly, by dragging this out for half a decade, the Conservatives have won, despite being guilty of a flagrant violation of the law and undermining democracy. They were successful in maintaining plausible deniability of wrongdoing through the 2011 election. Barring getting caught in further breaches of the law and ethics over the next three years, this is unlikely to even be mentioned in the 2015 campaign. Unless by aging bloggers who won't forget when it was Canada vs the Conservative Party the verdict was guilty.

Link: Conservative senators avoid charges in Elections Canada plea deal; The Globe and Mail

better ways to spend $12m

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:01:00 +0000

A few months ago I partook in a BBQ debate about the upcoming bicentenary of the War of 1812-14. A fervent NDP member no less, argued vociferously that the war was a defining moment for Canada and a magnificent defeat of American imperialism that warranted a major celebration here. My position was that it was a was between the USA and Britain that "Canadian" settlers at the time did not support and that most of the glorious victory that has been mythologized here is exactly that, a myth.

It was heartening to read Jeffery Simpson in today's Globe and Mail laying out a few facts about the war and arguing the Harper government's plan to spend $12 on commemorative celebrations is misplaced. Simpson rightly notes that the 1812-14 conflict was between the USA and Great Britain - Canada as such did not exist and certainly the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada and the Atlantic colonies had no independent foreign policy or military/militia to fight Americans. Canadians did not repel an American invasion; British army soldiers, with minimal assistance from colonials, did that. Britain's Indian/First Nations allies in the fighting took a larger part in the fighting than the farmers in Upper Canada.

The Europeans in Upper Canada in 1812 consisted mostly of a minority United Empire Loyalists (Tories who had left the USA after the American Revolution out of loyalty to King George III) and a majority of "late loyalists", i.e. those who moved here from the USA in exchange for free land offered by the British government. For these Loyalists and late loyalists the conflict, which arose out of Britain's efforts to stop Napoleonic expansionism, was more of a civil war than a struggle for independence. Cousins and families resident on both sides of the border were being called upon to fight each other in a battle that mattered far more to politicians and generals in Washington and London than it did to farmers in Upper Canada or New York State.

As in all civil wars, a lot of nastiness went down. Sadly, we've created a myth about Laura Secord but ignored the tragedy of the burning of an exceptional library in Newark (now Niagara on the Lake). Why do we brag about burning the president's mansion in Washington, in response to which it was repainted as The White House, when we can't find the means to properly honour the true founders of Canada who lived and worked a half a century later? Maybe Harper could consider using some of the $12m to buy Earnscliff from the Brits, now that it is in need of some fire-damage repairs itself, and make it a national monument to our first prime minister.

In the context of the federal budget and deficit, $2m is not a big thing, but I'd far rather commemorate the 19th century conflict with a modest picnic for Canmericans on Queenston Heights, with maybe a bicycle tour of Niagara wineries to follow, and be done with it. I'm all for sharing a glass with American friends than making up stories about when we beat-back the evil empire.

lost in a sea of red

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:31:00 +0000

So here I'm left in Thornhill, on a blue island surrounded by a sea of red; the only GTA constituency to elect a Conservative to the provincial legislature yesterday. Thornhill was considered a potential win for the Liberals who closed the gap to about 2500 votes (pending final results) but it was not to be.

At this time, I'm expecting a rather stable minority government. Any opposition parliamentarians who precipitate an early defeat of the Liberal government will risk a beating in an unnecessary election, I believe. Ontario's fixed-date elections law means we shouldn't be going back to vote, or spending millions on campaigns and administration, before October 2015. We sent them to Queen's Park for four years and we expect them to get on with working for Ontario and not against each other. Compromises will be expected and are necessary.

Four-year terms are becoming ingrained in our thinking as a result of recent federal, provincial and municipal electoral rule changes. Voters don't like paying for what they see as unnecessary elections - witness the hammering federal Liberals took last spring, in part for precipitating what many considered the wrong issues at the wrong time. Barring some unseen galvanizing issue, the same fate is very likely to befall anyone who precipitates a premature trip back to the ballot boxes for pure partisan gain.

It's assured tough decisions will be required to manage provincial spending and regain control of Ontario's debt over the next few years. Premier McGuinty should be able to count on Conservative support for that. Liberal values, when it comes to health care, education, social services and justice, should be safe with NDP support. The premier and Cabinet will have to get used to a regime where the Legislature has real influence. Time will tell if they have the skills for that. The two opposition parties will need to show their opposition is reasonable; that they are offering constructive criticism and alternatives and not merely maneuvering for partisan gain.

These next four years can be positive ones for Ontario if Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats act constructively and woe be to any politician who behaves otherwise. It is all about the future of Ontario, just like each promised over the weeks of the campaign.

my tribute to steve jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:29:00 +0000

"Would he, or would he not appear?" was the question bandied about on Monday. Would Steve Jobs attend and be on-stage for Tuesday's launch of iOS5, iCloud and a new iPhone? He did not, and that seemed to be only the first "disappointment " that engaged chat rooms, social media and pundits. There was much head-scratching over the "is that all?" announcement.

In retrospect, the subdued event seems likely to have been influenced by the knowledge Tim Cook and other Apple senior executives had to have had; that Steve Jobs was hours from death. Yesterday evening, in a moment, it was no longer the underachieving iPhone4S but the tribute iPhone4Steve.

Like many Apple fanboys (our household has 3 iPods, 2 iPhones, 2 MacBooks, 1 iPad and pretty much all the software Apple offers for OS-X), I was a long hold-out, content with my Windows OS machines, and skeptical about the cost and functionality trade-offs of Apple computers. But the marketing was a siren and iTunes was enticing and I tried the least expensive iPod. Soon I was following developments of new MacBooks and iMacs. It became apparent that the all-in price of MacBooks was approaching that of its competitors and I was smitten with the matte-black finish. With my husband away away on a 2-week vacation with his family and looking to treat myself, I visited the newly opened Apple Store in Yorkdale. The friendly clerk who approached me observed I was wearing a York University alumni polo-shirt and offered me the educational discount. That simple offer, which cost Apple about $150 if I recall correctly, clinched the sale that day and sealed a ongoing commitment to the company's products and services.

Since Steve Jobs returned to manage Apple in 1996, Apple has been much more than its technology. It has been its renowned service and its unmatched understanding of how people interact with and use their machines.. While engineers and technogeeks love their Macs as much as anyone, it was the creatives who adopted the Apple system and mindset first and influenced the rest of us artsies to take the plunge.

Steve Jobs described Apple as the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. Count me among the liberal arts graduates with a geek side. Touch-tone telephones intrigued me when they arrived but I was seduced by the Contempra phone when it was introduced in 1968. I'm pretty sure, if Jobs had ever seen a Contempra phone with in-handset touch-tone calling, he would have been impressed with its attention to design detail and functionality aimed at making something as simple as placing a telephone call a joyful experience.

When personal computers began to appear in the early 1980s, I was the first among my friends to own one; I was communicating via dial-up bulletin-boards before the Internet was released from its academic and military origins. I wanted these things because they helped me write and communicate and never was there a more effective social network than those dial-up bulletin boards: soc.motss and can.motts. I was communicating on an international scale with people I could never hope to meet face to face while Mark Zuckerberg's diapers were still very wet. Technology was empowering imaginations and building networks and we were doing what no one would have though possible years, even months, before.

Steve Jobs understood that it's not always about having the latest and most powerful and empowering technology, nor is it about having the ultimate design; he knew how and where to find the balance. There were those who wondered why Apple did not offer an LTE phone on Tuesday without understanding that, while such a device would offer faster data transmission, the batteries currently available to operate it are just too bulky to fit in something we'd want to carry in our pockets all day. So in the same way the first iPod looks a bit clumsy and large when compared to today's Nano, we will need to wait a bit. A large part of Job's brilliance was in knowing when the possible technology was at the intersection with consumers' imaginations and giving us the ultimate experience.

Next week, I will convert my MobileMe service to iCloud, I will upgrade my iPhone to iOS5 and I will celebrate Steve Jobs for insisting on getting it right. And I will be a shameless fanboy.

predict a turning point

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:26:00 +0000

Pardon the nautical metaphor, but Sept 20 may very well be seen as the date the seas changed with regards to gay and lesbian equality in the USA. Today is the day thousands of men and women in uniform are celebrating the final and formal repeal of the odious "don't ask, don't tell" law.

Coming soon after such milestones as New York State's approval of same-sex marriage, but amidst such discriminatory activity as the West Virginia's efforts to over-ride its obligation to recognize marriages performed in other states, full equality for gays and lesbians still seems far from secure. I believe, nevertheless, that attitudes, and legal rights, will begin to change quickly with new military policy in effect.

America cherishes its men and women in uniform too much to deny them the same rights as other American's enjoy. Similarly to how racial integration of the armed forces preceded the civil rights movement of the 1960s - but at an accelerated pace - this latest change may very well lead an unprecedented rush to end legal discrimination based on sexual orientation.

It wasn't long after Canada allowed its gay/lesbian soldiers, sailors and aviators to serve openly that the last opposition to same-sex marriage crumbled. Will the same happen in the USA. There's a very good chance it will.

the day after labour day - developing turmoil on the left

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:09:00 +0000

August was a dramatic and busy month with the death of the federal Leader or the Opposition quickly followed by the start of the un-official NDP leadership race. Liberals, meeting to discuss party revitalization, quickly rejected the idea of a merger with the NDP and were smiling as that party's recently achieved prominence triggered internal turmoil that is all to familiar to the red party.

The late NDP leader - if one believes he was the true author of the "Letter to Canadians" - initiated it with the call for an early convention under the same old rules. More likely, party president Brian Topp was maneuvering for his own candidacy as he co-drafted the letter with the leader's staff, his soon-to-be widow and a very ill man who, within hours of death, was an unlikely active participant. Even earlier, the leader's inner circle was strategizing with the appointment of a non-entity as acting leader rather the promotion of the obviously better prepared and more qualified House Leader, Thomas Mulcair.

Rather than inspiring unity, the Letter to Canadians instigated instant conflict. The convention date and rules will be critical: will unions be allowed their continued special privilege and votes? will there be sufficient time for candidates to organize and sign-up voting members or will the party establishment win by default? will francophone voters be over-whelmed by west-of-Quebec party members? will closer ties to the Liberal Party and progressive voters be considered?

The Letter was clear in bolstering the NDP establishment, complete with its ties to the big unions. Whether it set-out the best strategy for a party seeking to move from opposition to government will not be known until 2015 but there are indications the near-term affect will be a divided and conflicted NDP.

All of this has to delight the prime minister and Conservatives. Rather than opposing the government, the NDP seems more likely to be concentrating on internal divisions rather than on reforming itself to appeal to more Canadians; the Canadians whose votes are needed to move the NDP closer to its goal of forming a federal government. Liberals can delight too, as the NDP is forced to adjust to a degree of scrutiny it has never known previously. Canadians hoping for an effective and cohesive opposition will not be delighted.

world's most powerful gay man

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:11:00 +0000

Apple CEO Tim Cook

I didn't know Tim Cook, appointed CEO of Apple Inc yesterday happens to be gay. Thanks to the blogosphere for enlightening me.

In an ideal world, this wouldn't be newsworthy but as Gay Persons of Colour points out, ours is not an imperfect world, there is definitely a demand for gay role models.

back to the future

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:28:00 +0000

I was finishing high school when the then Liberal government, led my Lester Pearson, unified the army, navy and air force under a single command, re-named them the Canadian Forces and gave them a common uniform. It was all so progressive and modern when contrasted with the military in other countries with their double, triple or even quadruple overlapping command structures. Still there were those who rated "tradition" higher than efficiency and effectiveness and railed against the green uniform and the loss of the traditional names, my father among them, although I think his opposition had more to do with a contempt for then Defence Minister Paul Hellyer rooted is the latter's childish, disrespectful behaviour at a VillaNova Baptist Church garden party. It's hard to be in awe of the ministers you knew when they were 8 or 10 year-old brats.

When the government decided to bring back "traditional" uniforms for the maritime and air commands, I saw it as retrogressive, but at least it didn't interfere with the unified command structure. The unified forces have served ably in many combat theatres over the past 40 years and it didn't really matter that someone in navy working garb was stationed in the mountains of Afghanistan hundreds of kilometers from any ocean. They were still the Canadian Forces.

TCA @ YYZ 2011 07 20 (photo: Ed Ng)

Today's announcement that the government is bringing back the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force is more troubling, and it's not just the "Royal" thing. If, as it appears, the government is catering to a lobby of octogenarians who think they preferred things the way they were when John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson were in office, then it's a mistake. If it's part of a move to dismantle the unified command then it's likely to be a huge and expensive mistake. The first time I see RCAF signage I'm going to start looking for a cold-war Diefenbunker and think I'm losing my faculties. Fortunately, Air Canada has been privatized or we'd be looking at Trans Canada Airlines turboprops on the tarmac. On the other hand, what was it with the jet done up in TCA livery that a friend spotted recently, another renaming coming-up?).

One can't, and shouldn't try to, go back. The past is seldom as wonderful as it is remembered - when there were no cars on Yonge Street it was ankle deep in horse manure - and trying to relive the past is a poor alternative to building a better future. That our government is looking so closely to the past to shape the future is not reassuring. I've grown up with, and am quite happy with, the Canadian Forces. So are about 30 million Canadians born, or who immigrated, here since 1968.

one store is not about apple vs rim

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:41:00 +0000

Canadian media have been very excited about the opening of an Apple Store in Conestoga Mall, Waterloo, ON. Broadcast sources, especially, have been telling the story as if it's Apple poking a finger in the eye of Research in Motion (RIM) to highlight its position in the smartphone marketplace. We've been treated to such statements as "Waterloo is the smallest city in which Apple has opened...", a case of manipulating the facts to support a tenuous theory. While Waterloo, at less than 100,000 persons is small, just about everyone knows it's a twin city of Kitchener (over 200,000) and part of a regional marketplace of about half a million. Not such a small market, in fact, but one that is exceptional for hosting two universities, a community college, a young and highly educated workforce, etc. Not to mention, another university (Guelph) a few minutes away.

Less than taunting RIM, which it doesn't need to do to keep gaining market share, Apple is simply following good business practice by opening a store where demand for its products is likely to be high. Apple began in Canada with stores in downtown Toronto and Montréal and swiftly moved out to the suburbs as customer numbers grew. In a few weeks another store will open in Burlington; population about 165,000 or about half the size of Kitchener-Waterloo.

Apple's new store opens close the the internationally renowned University of Waterloo, where Microsoft, Google, RIM and a host of innovating start-ups come to recruit the best and brightest technology graduates. RIM has made Waterloo its home-base, but that is not to say it has any sort of monopoly on smartphone sales. Apple has defined itself as being at the intersection of the Liberal Arts and Technology. There are lots of "artsies" in Waterloo too, at both UofW and Wilfred Laurier University. The city is young, especially during the academic year (wonder why Apple is opening 2-3 weeks before the students start flooding back to town). These are the reasons Apple came to Waterloo and they have little to do with competing with RIM.

Apple is making shopping for its devices easier but this alone is unlikely to have any impact on RIM. If Apple is poking RIM's eye, it's with technology that consumers seem to prefer over BlackBerries. It's not as though consumers, if they want, have any difficulty buying a BlackBerry. I can quickly count ten stores selling BlackBerries on Conestoga Mall's website. If you count all the Bell, Rogers, Telus, Virgin, Fido, Koodo, Wind, FutureShop and Best Buy stores in Kitchener-Waterloo selling BlackBerries (most of them selling iPhones as well), you can hardly say that one more Apple store is an assault on RIM.

If anything, Apple is going after sales of its own devices which have been enjoyed previously by these licensed dealers. If anyone has a gripe, its the businesses that will lose sales to Apple's corporately owned store. The message might be to Rogers or Bell - "how are you going to make shopping for an iPhone as comfortable at your store as it is at the Apple store?"

Customers are choosing Apple products over RIM products it because of the relative quality and features offered by those products. It has little, if anything, to do with proximity to an Apple Store. A store in Waterloo has nothing to do with Apple taunting a competitor.

resolution

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:50:00 +0000

For the record, a living, breathing RBC Direct Investing employee was able to rectify the account application process and accept the required documents. Along the way, he also acknowledged the on-line process really only works with Internet Explorer, the browser popular in the last century but avoided by most users today. A big "F" to the information technology team at RBC. Time for senior management to kick some a**.

techno rant

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:32:00 +0000

A switch to a non-political topic and a rant about mal-designed technology.

Start with a simple enough objective; transfer my TFSA from RBC Royal Bank to RBC Direct Investing. Visit the Direct Investing store in Royal Bank Plaza and be advised "you can do that easiest on-line. Just go to open a new account, select transfer, fill out the forms, submit electronically, print a copy where signatures are required and drop off at any bank branch." That sounds easy.

OK, so finding and filling out the forms goes smoothly; get to penultimate step - review, print and submit. Error message pops-up "you must have Adobe Reader 9 or later installed ... go to .... download..blah blah.". BUT, I do have Adobe Reader 9 installed. RBC Direct Investing technology gurus don't seem to have taken Mac OS-X users into consideration. If you are on a Mac, the system doesn't recognize you have Adobe Reader. FWIW, the same result occurred with OS-X Snow Leopard and Lion, the two latest version of the Mac operating system. Big "F" to RBC Direct Investing for ignoring Mac users.

Try the same procedure on a Microsoft Windows machine with Adobe Reader 9 installed. Everything goes smoothly again until the preview, print and submit step; Adobe opens but refuses to continue until I upgrade to version 10. Don't want to do this now but OK. "Expletive"! Adobe decides for me to install some version of McAfee document virus scan as part of the upgrade, with no option to refuse. Being one of those who thinks installing any software from Adobe is akin to throwing newborns on the kitchen stove to teach them the danger of going near hot things, this is BAAAD. Having competing anti-virus software running on the same PC is a recipe for disasater so abort mission, navigate to the control panel to delete McAfee, etc and go through the process again.

This time the forms appear in preview with a warning in big, bold, red type: go back and fix the error on p4. Except of course there is no error or missing information on p4. Return to the end and try to print anyway. Now there are three error messages; seems some bug has started deleting account numbers and other information entered in step 1.

After aborting the mission, making four or five more repeat attempts in both Mac OS-X and Windows, give up and write a complaint letter on-line to RBC Direct Investing. Receive the usual idiotic response IT types like to give in broken English; "clear your cache and try again" what make of computer are you using? (duh! it's Mac OS-X - it's a Mac!), what version of the operating system and software? (duh! read the complaint, it's all in there).

So the first rant is against RBC Direct Investing for failing to test its on-line services to ensure they work cross-platform and for failing to ensure front-line personnel dealing with customer relations can communicate in English without insulting the client with stupid questions.

The second rant is against Adobe - Steve Jobs is right that they make some of the worst software in the industry - for dealing with the devil (in this care McAfee) and slipping his software into a software upgrade. That is just evil.

Today's mission; see if a real-life person at RBC Direct Investing can solve this, or.... maybe there's someone at the new ING Direct Store (coffee, snacks, WIFI, free desks and workspaces) has a better idea about helping me to save my money.

after the break

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:39:00 +0000

It's been a month and exaro needs to come back. It's not that there haven't been lots of interesting things on which to comment; just that my priorities have been elsewhere. Not to be self-pitying, but one's mother only dies once and that seems sufficient distraction from the will to blog.

Mom's 94 years gave us, her family, students, colleagues and friends, lots to celebrate but I don't think she would have understood blog posts. Reading the newspaper daily and watching CBC NewsNet were her means of keeping informed on what she needed to know. She wasn't that super-exceptional 90-year-old who wanted to master computers and tweet her way to fame and infamy. Outside the classroom, she taught by example and mostly spoke loudly through silence in a manner in which, as one of her mourners stated, you had no doubt what she was thinking.

I hope some of her values can be reflected in exaro's quest to inform, entertain and provoke. Much is happening on the local, provincial and national political scene that is, or will, effect the public good. I can't remain silent and content.

Proposals to tame expenditures in the City of Toronto would profoundly effect the lives my friends and I have come to enjoy. We will argue for what we believe is right. The pending provincial election could result in a triumvirate of neo-conservative governments ruling Ontarians lives, This is the time for progressives to resist. Federally, we know the script for the next four years but we have to prepare for a strong centrist, progressive and national alternative in 2015 so we can get Canada back on course.

Yes, exaro is going to be political in the weeks ahead. I hope it also can be humourous and entertaining, assuming our crazy world can provide the subject matter. For sure the politicians will provide the provocation.

hope you had a wonderful canada day

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Belated here, I know; can't remember when I had to work on Canada Day. Doing my patriotic duty to support a Canadian artist was a fine way to pass the day and BBQ on the deck with red wine - what else - a great way to finish. Only 365 days until the next one!

sad day in york

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:17:00 +0000

You don't hear a lot of "our cops are tops rah, rah" in York Region, nor do you hear choruses of naysayers' complaints about the men and women in black that so many other police services receive. My personal view is that it's because we have a generally well respected, honourable police force doing pretty well at a job most of us would never contemplate for ourselves. It's a young police force, multi-racial and well-led by most accounts. They treat us well; they deserve and get our support, albeit quiet.

It's especially sad, therefore, when one of them is killed in the line of duty. To the family of the officer fatally injured this morning in what should have been a routine traffic-check (as yet unidentified, by request), sincere sympathy. To the fellow officers and commanders, sincere condolences. The dark rain clouds hanging over York Region this morning express our mood on this sad day.

message to posties

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:52:00 +0000

If last night's media reports remotely reflect reality, there are a lot of unhappy workers at Canada Post. They seem not to like their jobs, their supervisors or their working conditions. At once postal station, they so resented their managers returning to work to prepare for their arrival that they physically blocked access, no doubt so they could sit and do nothing for the evening shift as supervisors checked equipment and prepared a plan to clear the backlog of mail.

My advice to these postal workers, if your job is so terrible and the working conditions so poor, QUIT!

The hundreds of thousands of Canadians who switched on e-mail and on-line billing during your strike will not miss you. Canada Post accountants trying to balance the budget with millions in revenue lost from customers departed and never to return will not miss you. Human resources will not be stressed recruiting replacements

You have our best wishes. Good luck with finding another unskilled job paying $25 hour + benefits and pension.

broken campaign commitments damage democracy

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Each day the NDP filibuster drags on in the House of Commons the more damage it does the party, Parliament and Canadian democracy. In May's election, Canadians showed little appetite for pointless politicking and the wasting of their tax dollars. While Parliamentarians and avid politicos appreciated the rationale for defeating the government and forcing the the election, the voters said "enough is enough" to partisan bickering, "just get on with managing the nation's business".

NDP leader Jack Layton played to this sentiment by campaigning to restore dignity to Parliament which voters interpreted as meaning ending the sillier desk-thumping and heckling antics that go on in Question Period and the time wasted on pointless, partisan procedural scrummages. For a few days in this first session of the new Parliament, there indications Layton was keeping his caucus under control. Then, following his party's Vancouver pep-rally, where members were stirred by speeches from their radical left flank and Canadian Labour Congress provocateurs, Layton threw away his script and reverted to the worst of the same-old, same-old.

Michael Behiels, a professor of history and politics at the University of Ottawa, believes NDP leader Jack Layton has walked into a Conservative “set-up” to cast his party as hard-line left. “Layton’s trying to play to his base, but in doing that, Harper has him totally framed,” he told iPolitics. “The damage will continue to be inflicted as they refer to him as this radical socialist who’s under the iron heel of organized labour.”

“(Layton’s) caught. There’s no way out — he’s trapped… The Conservatives laid the trap.”

Behiels said the stage is set for Harper to realize his “dream” of realigning Canadian politics – decimating the Liberals in the “mushy middle,” intensely polarizing the landscape, making Conservatives the natural governing party.

link: Filibuster could backfire, experts say | iPolitics

Few will argue that Bill C-6, which would legislate an end to the postal strike, is harsh or that a negotiated agreement isn't the preferred way to achieve a contract and harmonious labour relations. The NDP argument that the filibuster is intended to give time for the union and Canada Post to negotiate a settlement is specious, however, and Canadians know it. Canada Post and the union long ago reached an impasse; they haven't been at the bargaining table in days. It doesn't help that the union is wildly despised (very high wages for unskilled labour delivering surely service; pensions and holidays other Canadians cannot dream of enjoying). That the NDP sees fit to hijack Parliament in support of an unpopular cause is enough of a self-inflicted wound but the party is going further in breaking its promise to restore civility in the House of Commons.

Layton knows he has no power in this Parliament. He had influence in the previous two minority Parliaments but the Conservative majority leaves him with little more than the ability to rant and rave. When Canadians are concerned about damage an extended postal strike will inflict on commerce and the country's still fragile economic recovery, the NDP sees fit to waste tax dollars and extend the interruption in mail service.

The opposition cannot and will not defeat Bill C-6. It could have stated its objection in the strongest terms and then let history run its course. Instead Parliament is sitting through a record-setting filibuster. Parliamentary staff are working over-time at great expense towards an end-result that will be no different than if the Bill had come to a vote five days ago.

Thanks to the NDP tactics of senseless motions, the hope for more civility in the House of Commons has been vanquished. Respect for Parliament is diminished each hour the obstruction drags on. Lack of respect for Parliament damages the institution and, ultimately, democracy in Canada. That will be the real legacy of Jack Layton's first session as Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

campaigning at pride is one thing, celebrating another

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Much has been written and spoken in the past 24 hours about Mayor Rob Ford's refusal to appear in Toronto's Pride Day parade Jul 3rd. It's been noted that appearances in the parade by the mayor have been pro-forma for a decade and that Ford was the only serious candidate for the office who did not walk in last year's parade.

That may be so - I saw only a small portion of the 2010 parade and that was with a very obstructed view.

However, Rob Ford and his team did think campaigning on Church St after the parade was a worthwhile use of their time. Whether it was Rob or his brother, I can't say (I don't fault myself for my inability to tell the two of them apart¹ ). I do know I had to dodge one of their fat fists to avoid having a Ford for Mayor sticker slapped on my chest. Maybe whoever it was felt safe near a middle-aged white man wearing a polo shirt and straw hat. Maybe I looked like a suburbanite who might vote for him. Maybe I should have been wearing a "I Live in Markham" button.

Whatever, the point is that Ford or his brother and the campaign team managed to make it to Pride, even though it was held at the end of the Canada Day holiday weekend (early return from the Muskoka cottage?) when it was thought he needed the votes. Once elected, he sees no need to celebrate with the hundreds of thousands of gay, lesbian and straight voters who think Pride is just about the best party the city sees each year. "Vote for me now so I can snub you later" seems to be the shameful credo.

It could have been a doppelganger but I'm very certain it was a Ford. The whole campaign team cannot have been tall, blonde and obese.↩

go ahead for urban renewal at don mills and steeles

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:59:00 +0000

It's taken three years to get here, but the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) yesterday issued it verdict on an application to renew the increasingly decrepit 1970s retail mall, Shops on Steeles, with a multi-functional residential, commercial and retail development. The project will add 1200 condominium spaces, low rise commercial and retail space, an urban park and indoor community facilities and, in a sign of the times, delete one Esso gasoline station.

Initially opposed by many local residents, and supported by a few including this writer, the design and density were negotiated and mutually agreed upon by the Town of Markham, the residents' association and the developer earlier this spring. A last-minute objection by the City of Toronto forced an expensive and time consuming full hearing before the OMB to resolve the differences between the two municipalities sharing Steeles Ave as their common border.

Appropriately, the Board was not kind to Toronto for failing to call any evidence to support its objections and its inability to refute under cross-examination any of the evidence provided by the expert witnesses called by the developer and Markham. The decision can be read here.

There will be disruptions and inconvenience in the years ahead as the redevelopment occurs but the Thornhill/German Mills community can look forward to the replacement of a tired old mall, more students to offset the declining enrolment in local schools, more useful community space and less parking lot and a higher population density that will encourage improved public transportation. Toronto's Mayor Ford may have killed, for now, the Transit City proposal for rapid rail along Don Mills but hope remains that by the time new residents start moving into the neighbourhood, he will be nothing more than a bed memory.

Congratulations are due to Markham Ward #2 councillor Howard Shore for his work to broker a positive outcome for the redevelopment proposal, to the local residents for their input and the Mayor, councillors and staff of the Town of Markham who ultimately reached agreement with Bayview Summit Development Ltd to launch this project.

convention assessment

noreply@blogger.com (Donald P Walker) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Over the past two weekends, Canada's three major political parties have met in convention. In the case of the Liberal Party, it was a teleconference convention purposed to put-off a "real" convention called for by the party constitution. Instead of meeting this autumn to elect a new party leader, that task is now deferred until spring 2013. Liberals are in no mood for a potentially divisive leadership campaign and couldn't afford one if they were. There will also be a biennial (i.e. business) convention in 2012 and I expect it to consider proposals to further democratize the procedure for electing a leader as well as move on policies to recapture the imagination of Canadians.

The Conservative Party met a week ago and, aside from being a love-in with the prime minister, showed its true colours by reconfirming its commitment to repeal same-sex marriage and the long-gun registry. I won't try to explain how Conservatives rationalized attacks on gays, lesbians and police (remembering that Canada's police chiefs and most active police officers have been long-time supporters of the registry). The party's affirmed policies do serve to explain why the Conservatives can't move above 40% in voter support.

The New Democratic Party, meeting this past weekend, also demonstrated why it can't win the support of even 1/3 of Canadian voters. Much is being written about the party's unwillingness to remove a commitment to building a socialist society from its constitution. This observer is more flummoxed by the party's decision to feature the president of the Canadian Labour Congress as its keynote speaker and support for the creation of a left-wing think tank (if that's not an oxymoron) headed by a figure whose best-before date expired in the last century. One wouldn't have been surprised to hear a motion to end the war in Vietnam, such is the state of contemporary thought in the NDP. With leader Jack Layton running around wearing a suit-jacket and tie, for the above-the-podium national media cameras, and jeans, for the convention-floor delegates, the party showed little interest in modernizing itself or its policies to be more appealing to the 70% of the electorate who have never supported it.

A certain amount of gloating is to be expected by the socialists and the conservatives following the May 2nd election performances. If they are thinking, with a certain self-satisfaction, that Canada is on the verge of returning to what would be essentially a two-party system, such a conclusion would be very premature. Both have left lots of room for a re-invented Liberal Party, should it find the will, resources and commitment to do so.