Rainn's Christmas Message

So you may have noticed that I took some time off from blogging the last three months.

I decided that I needed a bit of rest from the blogging, and felt especially after the death of Jack Layton that some introspection was in order.

I spent most of my time focusing on photography, and meeting new people. It is easy for us to lose sight of some things that are very important when we spend so much time on the web. Granted we communicate with others through email or social networking, but none of it can replace good old fashioned human interaction.

I did some small projects through my real life work to help fund raise for Habitat for Humanity, I also took a short time off in September to go to Las Vegas, and will hopefully be there again in January or early February to finish off my long awaited project; The Ultimate Guide to The Las Vegas Strip.

As Christmas approaches, I am reminded of the things that I am thankful for in my life, such as my friends, the roof over my head, the fact that I have gainful employment, and my personal freedom and liberties.

These same things that I am so thankful for also remind me that I have an obligation. I am obligated to ensure that I am a good friend. I am obligated to do my best at work. I am obligated to look after my health, so that I can be an effective friend and worker. I am obligated to help others less fortunate than I.

I am also obligated to do my part to steer (or in some cases fight) the government when it is not acting in the best interests of Canadians.

The last item is key. Our government shapes our lives and our futures. It impacts people not only in Canada, but in any number of nations that we do business with, give aid to, have war or peacekeeping efforts in.

Unfortunately, our government has been a bit like a masquerade ball lately. Everyone is in disguise, motives are not clear, and you never know if the person you are speaking with is true or false.

I also recognize that I am one person. There will be no Federal election on the immediate horizon, so I can not change things simply with my vote. So I will continue to discuss the hot button issues here on my blog. I promise to look at things as unbiased as possible (I am human after all). I promise to tell only the truth, and to report only accurate facts as I can find them out.

This Christmas, I encourage you to think about this great country we live in (or whatever country you may hail from, if not Canada). Take the facts in, and decide for yourself what Canada should be and where we should be headed. I encourage you to act! Find a way to effect change! Write letters to your Members of Parliament. Write letters to the editor of your local news paper. Start a blog! All of these things make a difference. Especially if enough of us do them.

The time for Canadians to be passive is gone. It is time to take the reins of our Nation and move forward!

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Jack Layton Dead At 61

The Honourable Jack Layton:

July 18, 1950 - August 22, 2011

It's a sad day for Canada today, as the nation mourns the passing of NDP leader Jack Layton.

Layton passed away early Sunday morning of cancer, though details about his latest fight with cancer have been kept quiet by his family.

Although Layton announced less than a month ago that he would be taking a leave of absence from his post as leader of the official opposition to focus on his battle with cancer, Layton's death came as a shock to many.

Mainly because over the last year in his public appearances, Layton appeared to be The Unstoppable Man.

Early in 2010, Layton announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He publicly vowed to beat the cancer and be back on track to resume his political duties when Parliament was back in session in the fall. And he was. Layton was very optimistic about his fight with prostate cancer, as he had beaten the same condition 17 years earlier.

When the 2011 election had been called for this past May, Layton was recovering from a broken hip he had suffered earlier in the year, and still relied heavily on his cane. When questioned by the media if he had the energy to lead his party through another election campaign, he all but laughed in their faces. Indeed, Layton arguably finished the election scrappier than ever, and propelled his party to Official opposition status for the first time in NDP history.

Through all of the health issues Layton struggled with in the last year, he never seemed to lose composure or confidence that they were minor roadblocks, and indeed, Layton seemed invincible.

Last month when Layton announced publicly that he would be taking the rest of the summer off to fight a bout of newly diagnosed (and unspecified to the public) cancer, Canadians across the country were shocked at his gaunt and frail appearance. But in true Jack fashion, he vowed he would be back for the fall sitting of Parliament. Truly, Canadians had no reason to believe otherwise, as nothing seemed to get in the way of Jack's interminable will.

But sadly, Jack's fight came to an end this weekend. He passed away peacefully at 4:45 am Sunday morning.

Whether or not you agreed with Jacks politics, no one can deny his tenacity and overwhelming desire to make Canada a better place. Jack believed in the power of the people, and that ordinary working citizens like you and me were the driving factor to make Canada a world force and a nation that could be home to anyone despite race, gender or wealth.

Jack's level of conviction set a gold standard for everyone to live up to, especially politicians. I hope others follow in his footsteps.

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USA Debt Drama

Obama Swims in a Sea of Debt

We have all heard a lot about the current debt crisis facing the USA right now. It has become a daily headline. So has all the bickering between the democrats and republicans about how to handle the situation.

A little background information might be in order for some readers. The US is nearing a debt collapse. The amount of debt the US is allowed to hold at any given time is set in law. Currently, by law, the US is allowed to hold $14.3 trillion of debt. With it's current financial situation, the US will reach this debt ceiling by August 2, 2011.

This allows for 3 possible options.

1) The government passes a resolution to allow for an increase to the debt ceiling, allowing the government to borrow more money to keep things status quo,

2) The government drastically cuts spending, and reassigns existing money from other areas of the budget to pay creditors to avoid a default on debt payments

3) The government does neither of the above and defaults on debt payments, (and likely doesn't have enough liquid capital to continue running as is)

Let's examine each of the following options.

In the past, option 1 has always been the most likely course of action. This is by no means the first time that the government has faced the prospect of increasing it's debt ceiling. In fact, in the last few decades, they have actually allowed a debt ceiling increase nearly every year or two. If you look at George W. Bush's administration, the debt ceiling was increased EVERY year he was in office except for 2, going from $5.9 trillion to more than $11 trillion. Bill Clinton actually did a bit better, only raising the ceiling twice in his 8 years in office from $4.9 to $5.9 trillion.

The only difference as to why we have not heard much about this situation in the past, is that the ruling president's political party controlled the house and the senate, practically ensuring the motion for increase passed. Clearly this is not the case this year, as there is a democrat president, and a republican majority in the house. While it is likely both parties will come to an agreement to increase the ceiling prior to the August 2nd deadline, this year there is an added caveat: an increase to the debt ceiling will likely push the American debt ratio to MORE than 100% of GDP. This would be the first time in history where America will essentially owe more than the nation is worth in fiscal terms.

Option 2 would mean that the acting government puts its foot down and does not allow an increase to the allowable amount of debt, essentially forcing it to drastically slash spending on social programs, likely increasing taxes and reassigning funds that have been allocated to future capital projects (ie, roads, libraries etc) to pay off some of the existing debt in the hopes of not hitting the debt ceiling. This is not a pleasant option, as it means the state of the nation will drastically change, most notably on low income and middle class citizens. Social programs will be massively scaled back if not axed all together, and any tax credits or deductions citizens receive will likely be axed.

Option 3 is the most disastrous. This is where the government runs with the status quo until the debt ceiling is reached on August 2nd. At that point, there is no money left to borrow, and all other income is already allocated. This means the government will default on their debts because there is simply no funds to make debt payments left. This has never actually occurred in US history, and what exactly would happen is open to mass speculation. However, over the last year, we have a better indication as this is the scenario that Greece faced last year. The ramifications will be discussed in detail below.

So, the question is which option will the government choose?

I believe the final outcome will be a combination of options 1 and 2. Government representatives WILL increase the debt ceiling prior to the August 2nd date. But, they will also drastically reduce spending (mostly on social programs) and it is likely that there will be some modest tax increases.

Over the past several months, both republicans and democrats have been fighting over what will be cut, by how much and what the tax increases will be and whom will pay them.

The republican position is that only spending cuts will be considered, and tax increases are simply not an option. Democrats maintain that spending cut are needed, but tax increases to the wealthy and large corporations are necessary to add additional funds to replace some of the spending cuts, lest social programs be decimated and devastate the lower class.

John Boehner: Tough Guy

While there has been significant political posturing from Obama, and more so from republican House Speaker John Boehner, eventually they will have to agree to both cuts and taxes. Cuts will probably be more drastic than the democrats want, and small increases to taxes will occur.

The increase to the debt ceiling will calm international markets for the time being, and the spending cuts will reinforce the nation's current credit rating with international agencies like Moody's. However, there will likely be a small slow down in the American economy until a long term fiscal plan can be set out. We have to remember that spending cuts also means that infrastructure projects like road and highway repair will be scrapped, and this will cause layoffs and less disposable income in the economy.

There is, however, always a small chance that democrats and republicans do not come to and agreement, and option 3 occurs - default. It is likely that international markets would take a beating, and every industrialized nation will suffer the fallout. The US is the world's largest economy. The consumerism of 300 million people creates jobs and investment worldwide. China would suffer dramatically since such a large portion of their economy is manufacturing goods exported to North America. Canada, naturally, would suffer considerably since the US is it's largest trading partner. The vast majority of exports from Canada go directly south of the boarder. Additionally, most large European economies would be otherwise affected by harsher scrutiny from ratings agencies like Moody's. After all, if the economic giant the USA is at risk for defaulting on loans, what chance does Germany, France and Britain have when they are also responsible for continuous bailouts to Greece, Ireland, Portugal and possibly Spain and Italy?

Speculation is just that however. But one thing is certain - the current economic situation of the US is not sustainable. US debt has drastically spiked since the Bush administration - presumably largely due to US military operations in the Middle East. I recommend drastic reduction in the operations of the military abroad. Also, closing many of the tax loopholes for large corporations would be a vast source of additional income. US corporate tax law is some of the laxest in the modern world. These corporations would not likely go somewhere else, as the low tax rates are still favourable, but would also force corporations to pay their fair share.

The world can do nothing but wait and see as the clock ticks down to August 2nd.

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Naheed Nenshi: Poetic Tax Grab

Naheed Nenshi: Paying The Poet

So, here's a little tidbit to outrage the Calgary tax payer.

You may have heard that city council boosted property taxes this year. The funny thing is, council announced a 4.4% tax hike. But guess what? You'll actually be paying an additional 10%.

And it's quite sneaky the way they did it. Here's how:

Each year, city council approves the budget for the next fiscal year. In doing so, council decides what the property tax rate needs to be to create a balanced budget. Through natural inflation and depending on what spending projects are on the books for the next year, this typically includes a tax increase. This is the same for every city in Canada.

Usually, anything more than 4 or 5% increases causes vocal outrage from the public, so council stayed within the "safe zone".

Additionally, the city is responsible for collecting a nominal charge from property taxes and giving it to the Alberta government to pay for province wide education. This creates a situation where the city sometimes has to "guess" what the provincial tax rate will be, since the city's budget is completed before the province's budget. To this effect, city council collects these fees in addition to it's announced tax hikes.

As it turns out this year, council grossly overestimated the amount of money which was needed to pay the province for education. In fact, it collected an additional $42 million from property owners. Roughly $40 for EVERY man, woman and child in the city.

The Alberta government was rather responsible, and told the City of Calgary that the money did not belong to the province, and was not needed for the budget. So, tax payers were expecting to have the money returned on their next property tax assessment.

Not so. Council passed a motion a couple months ago, allowing them to NOT refund the money, and keep it in a separate fund to be used for "capital and infrastructure" projects for the next 30 years.

That's kind of dirty, no? No. What's REALLY dirty, is that this handy little motion that was passed allows the city to do this any year where provincial taxes have been "overestimated" for the next 30 years.

How cleaver! So in addition to the 4.4% tax hike levied on us by the city, we actually paid an additional 6% for the province that was not needed or required, and the city gets to keep it all!

Now the next question would be: how often do we think the city will UNDER estimate the provincial tax rate? My guess is probably never.

Now forgetting all of that, let's look at the most recent bout of stupidity by city council. A Poet Laureate! Naheed Nenshi and council decided that a valuable use of taxpayer dollars would be to hire a full time poet! You know, so that we can have original poetry at hand for special events or city functions.

Clearly, this is a necessary service that the citizens of Calgary cannot live without! And how handy that they now have a $42 million slush fund to pay the piper (ahem... Poet) with.

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Brian McPherson: Canadian Tire Money Mogul

This week, and Edmonton Man, Brian McPherson fulfilled a 15 year dream to purchase a lawn tractor entirely with Canadian Tire money.

McPherson, 29, had been saving Canadian Tire money for 15 years, since he bought a hockey stick at the iconic Canadian retailer as a teen-ager. At that time, McPherson had received 10 cents in Canadian Tire money for his purchase, and a dream was born.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to save up all the money, and buy what at the time was the most expensive thing in the store, which was a riding lawn mower." said McPherson.

And so save he did. For 15 years, McPherson saved the Canadian Tire money from purchases on gas, household items, and well, anything else one can buy at Canadian Tire.

So a few weeks back, the McPherson family knew they were getting close to hitting their goal, and decided to count their dollars and cents. Sure enough, they had $1053 in Canadian Tire money. They bundled the money and took it to the store in a brief case.

Several local news outlets showed McPherson using his new lawn tractor on his yard. It's not a yard that really needs a lawn tractor, and McPherson does already own a standard push mower. When asked why he didn't choose to buy something else with the money, McPherson thought that would be ridiculous.

"This is one of those things that you set the goal (when you're a kid) and told your friends and family about what you were saving this ridiculous amount of Canadian Tire money for."

The Canadian Tire store manager, Bruce Duvander said he has worked for the company for 20 years, and only ever seen a similar amount of money redeemed once before.

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Canadian Tire Money Fun Facts:

- Originally introduced in 1958

- The man's face on the front of the notes are a fictional character named "Sandy McTire"

- Over the last 50 years, there have been at least 19 different denominations of Canadian Tire money in circulation. Several of the denominations have been discontinued.

- Was at one time considered a form of legal tender for users of the Canadian E-Bay website, if the seller was willing to accept it.

- In 2004, several customers using an ATM machine at a CIBC branch in Moncton, New Brunswick were dispensed no less than 11 bills of Canadian Tire money instead of actual currency. The bank compensated the customers accordingly.

- In the mid 1990's, a German man was caught with $11,000,000 of counterfeit Canadian Tire money. The fakes were recovered before he was able to fly to Canada to redeem them.

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Fish Pedicures Banned By BC Health Authority

The BC Health Authority has done an apparent about-face on a decision it made last year, to allow spa owner Dixie Simpson to offer "fish pedicures".

Fish pedicures are a popular procedure in which clients place their feet in pools of water containing Garra Rufa rish. The fish are similar in size to minnows. They do not have teeth, but gulp up dead skin cells off the customer's feet.

The practise was first popularized in Turkey, as a means of alleviating the symptoms of psoriasis and eczema. In more recent years, it has become a popular feature in spas world wide, including France, Japan and the UK.

Dixie Simpson first began offering the service in her spa in Duncan, BC last year. She says she contacted the health authority to ensure everything was above board. The health authority gave her the go ahead.

But, in the last few weeks, the BC Health Authority has changed their mind, stating that the practise is not sanitary, despite the fact that Dixie uses UV filtration systems. The health authority feels there are potential chances for bacterial infections to be passed on from one customer to another, and so, they have since classified the Garra Rufa fish as "tools" of the spa owner. Under BC law, any "tools" used in a spa must be sterilized between customers.

Obviously, since they are live fish, it is impossible to sterilize them without killing them.

Dixie says that she will have no choice but to shut down if she can't use her fish for foot therapy.

The actual real risk is patients is low if not negligible. Why not just insist that the spa operators have customers read and sign a waiver stating the risks and reducing the liability of the spa owner?

Frankly, if your not allowed to dip your feet in a pool with harmless fish that can be found in spas around the world, one has to question the amount of government control being exorcised.

Will and Kate Make Me A Liar (And They Don't Have To "Suck It")

Alright, alright! So obviously, yesterday I wrote a post about the major insult to the City of Calgary, as Prince William and Kate Middleton would not don the white hats that they received upon arriving to Calgary.

As a recap for those of you who don't know, or didn't read my last post, receiving a "white hat" as they are called, is one of the city's highest honours for elite VIP'S or local heroes that have performed extraordinary feats of goodwill or bravery.

The couple received the white hats from the Mayor, Naheed Nenshi yesterday. It was reported by most major Canadian news outlets (ie CBC & CTV) that the Royal Couple wouldn't don their hats. Not even for a photo op. This was confirmed by video footage released by both news outlets.

So, I then went on a rampage of what a terrible insult this was to Calgary and it's citizens. (And I stand by that... not wearing the hat, at least for a photo op IS an insult.)

I posted my blog entry with a smug sense of self satisfaction. I think mainly because I uh... told the Duke... and, uh... maybe the Duchess... um... to "go suck it!".

So then, a few hours later, I was watching the local news update on TV, and low and behold, there was Will and Kate, seen EVERYWHERE in public, wearing their white hats.

Umm. Oops.

Now, suspiciously, this happened a few hours after they had received the white hats. And conveniently, after rechecking both CTV and CBC's websites, stories mentioning the Royals refusing to wear the white hats seemingly disappeared, with no explanation or further discussion on the topic.

So, I contemplated retracting my statement last night, but had got busy and thought I would do so today.

HMMM. In retrospect, I wish I had done this task last night. There were SEVERAL vicious emails in my inbox accusing me of spreading inflammatory lies about the Royals. There were also emails calling me names because I told members of the Royal Family to "suck it!" (which I actually think is rather ironic).

So. I have nothing against supporters of the Royals. And let me be the first to say that I am sorry to any who have taken personal offence. Similarly, I apologize directly to the Duke and Duchess for my comments, and wish them the best. (Though I am still confused as to why you did not don your hats for a photo op when you received them? Any explanation would be great, thanks).

William And Kate Can Suck It!

The media of Canada has been in a rabid-dog-like frenzy for the last week as Prince William and Kate Middleton have been touring Canada.

Great. Wonderful for them. They seem to be a nice young couple and I wish them the best.

I personally am not a "Royal Watcher" as they are called. To me they are people like everyone else. But, I do respect the history of our nation that is attached to the British Monarchy.

That being said, as a Canadian, and more specifically, a Calgarian, I was actually insulted by William and Kate this afternoon.

As is tradition in Calgary, William and Kate were being "White Hatted" upon their arrival to our fair city today. Being "White Hatted" means that you are invited to a special ceremony wherein you are welcomed to Calgary by receiving a top of the line, exclusive and expensive hand crafted white cowboy hat. It is important to note that this honour is specifically reserved for super important VIP'S or exceptional heros within our city. Only a handful of people each year receive a white hat.

While I normally would have been in favour of giving the Royals a white hat, I was dismayed and somewhat angry to find that they would not wear it.

Of course, no one expects them to wear it all day, or outside of the ceremony, but at least have the decency to put it on for a single photo op. Doing so would show respect for our people and our customs. Refusing to do so is an insult.

I understand that the Royals are given souvenirs or keepsakes from hundreds of people and organizations over the course of a year, and making a choice not to don all articles. However, that being said, it is not as though they were given shirts, or footwear or some cumbersome piece of clothing. It's a hat. If there is some sort of Royal rule that says it is undignified for members of the Royal family to be seen wearing such an article in public, that is fine too - just don't accept the honour!

Accepting the honour and refusing to don the hat is an insult to the city, its citizens, and the people who take pride in the meaning of the gift! Shame on the Royals! William and Kate can suck it!

iJustine: Coffee Extra Hot With A Side Of Biaaatch!

Ya, ok, so I've been on a youtube kick lately. Hey, cut me some slack... it's been really hot here, and since this new house I am living in doesn't have air conditioning, I have been up late at night waiting for things to cool down. (And while we're on that topic, what the hell kind of a real estate developer doesn't install air conditioning in a new house anyway??)

So while I was browsing youtube, I came across this crazy chick, iJustine, recounting a horror story about purchasing coffee from a local retailer. I don't want to mention the name of the store, but it rhymes with "Czarbucks". Anyway, it's pretty funny, and I must say I have had similar experiences.

By the way, iJustine has A LOT of channels on youtube. Like dozens, so go check her out.

Karmin Music & Nicki Minaj "Super Bass"

So those of you out there who haunt youtube on a frequent basis have probably heard of Karmin Music. They have been out there for quite a while and have scores of fans and subscribers.

I had heard reference to them for some time, but was late jumping on the bandwagon to check them out, and now I'm sorry it took me so long to do so.

Karmin Music is a duo made of Amy and Nick, who not only do dozens of covers of current songs, but have also started writing original music. They have covered everyone from Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera, to Usher, Nelly and Kanye West. And they also have videos for all of them!

Nifty, right? The nifty thing is they are actually really talented, and the best example of their talent (in my opinion) is this catchy cover of Nicki Minaj's Super Bass. Check out the video, and enjoy. And if you like, go visit their website at Karmin Music. They have dozens of videos that you can watch on their website.

Patriot Games: The Conservative Majority

So through the last 35 days of Canada's 41st election, pollsters were in a frenzy to release the most accurate seat projections they could. They polled citizens endlessly hoping to be the most accurate pollster in the nation.

And yet, with the exception of an occasional blip, almost no poll predicted a Conservative majority government.

So how did it happen?

The Conservative party captured about 40% of the votes cast in this election. That was up about 5% from the 2008 election. But that extra 5% in vote secured an additional 24 seats for the party, leap-frogging them past the magic 155 seat count which is required by any ruling party to obtain the majority of seats in the House of Commons.

Ontario was the winning battle ground for the Conservative party. Throughout the election Campaign, the numbers from Ontario, the most seat-rich province in the country polled the Conservatives at a reasonable lead over their rivals. EKOS for example, suggested that the Conservatives were trending about 39% support in Ontario, while both the NDP and Liberal party were tied at 26%.

With these numbers, it would be reasonable to expect that the Conservatives would win 42 of the 106 seats up for grabs in Ontario (roughly 40% of total seats in the province), and the Liberals and NDP would split the remaining 64 seats between them.

But, with Canada's First-Past-The-Post system, this was not the case. The Conservatives actually won 73 seats in Ontario (69% of the seats). Total vote count or "Popular Vote" does not really count in Canada. All that matters is that 1 candidate in each riding gets more votes than any one single competitor.

A great example of how this works is in the Bramlea-Gore-Malton riding in the Greater Toronto Area. In this riding, the Conservative Candidate won the seat by securing 19,907 votes. The NDP candidate in this riding was close behind with 19,369 votes, and the Liberal candidate came in at a close third with 16,401 votes. Other parties running in this riding tied up the remaining 2,119 votes.

Since the Conservative candidate came ahead of any other single rival with 19,907 votes, he wins the seat even though 37,889 constituents did not vote for the Conservative candidate. This phenomenon, known as "vote splitting" occurred in dozens of ridings in Ontario, giving the Conservative Party an additional 31 seats in the province, and thus, securing them a majority government.

This is not the first time this has occurred in a Canadian election. It also allowed Jean Chretien to form a Liberal majority government in the 1990s.

While vote splitting can create a stable government for a 4 year term by allowing 1 party to have a majority government, it often does not sit well with the public. This is because although 40% of Canadians voted for the Conservative party, 60% did not, yet more than 50% of Canadians are now represented by a Conservative Member of Parliament.

In the past when vote splitting has occurred resulting in a majority government, it often brings about calls from the people demanding the electoral system be changed to provide proportional representation. More often than not these calls go unaddressed by government. However this year may be different, as this phenomenon has never occurred immediately after 3 successive minority governments. It will be interesting to see where this will lead our electoral system over the next 5 - 10 years.

Patriot Games: The Dust Settles

As the dust settles from Canada's 41st Election Campaign last night, political pundits ponder the strange events, and how it all happened.

The big prize went to Conservative leader Stephen Harper, who finally got his long-coveted Majority Government. The Conservatives took 167 seats of the 308 available in the House of Commons.

The NDP's Jack Layton, however, celebrated a huge victory of his own last night. The NDP went into the election with a mere 38 seats (quite respectable, considering the party's highest seat count prior to 2011 was 43). By the end of the vote counting, the NDP had decimated the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberal party to end up as the official opposition with 102 seats under their belt. Jack is reportedly already measuring curtains for his move into the Official Opposition leader's new home at Stornoway.

It is likely today that (former) Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is packing his things, as he has been given an eviction notice to vacate Stornoway as soon as possible. Both Ignatieff and Bloc Quebecois leaders Gilles Duceppe were defeated in their own ridings last night, and will be in the unemployment office this morning.

All of this occurred as a small ray of hope beamed down onto the Vancouver Island riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, where Elizabeth May triumphed in becoming the first Green Party member ever elected to Parliament.

Stay tuned for an in-depth analysis of how these events unfolded, and how this drastically new Parliament will or will not change Canada for the next 4 years.

Patriot Games: Ekos Predicts Elizabeth May Will Win

Elizabeth May: The Green Wild Card

Over the last two weeks, Canada has watched the 2011 Federal Election campaign unfold into the most dramatic bout of politics in the last two decades.

The most prevalent topic du jour has of course been the meteoric rise of the NDP in nearly all regions of Canada with the exception of Ontario and Alberta. In fact, as of May 1st, the eve of the election, EKOS pollsters show the NDP have now taken the lead in BC, which has staunchly been a conservative base for the bulk of the last two elections.

But another game changer has burst onto the scene tonight: Elizabeth May. EKOS predicts the Green Party will indeed earn their first ever seat in the house of commons tomorrow. Granted, the pollsters did not specify May's riding specifically, but realistically she is the only candidate high-profile enough to be considered a likely winner.

True, it is only 1 seat of the 308 up for grabs in Parliament. But the Greens will now have a high profile member in parliament, and more importantly, getting regular face time on TV throughout the next sitting of Parliament. Moreover, in the next election (god forbid it be any time soon), Canada's Media Consortium will have no legal leg to stand on to prevent May from getting into the televised leadership debates.

The question looms however, should we somehow end up with an NDP-Liberal coalition government that lasts for a year or two after the votes are counted tomorrow, how will May impact the left of centre vote in the next election? It's hard to imagine that the NDP's Jack Layton and Elizabeth May will become fast friends, as their parties tend to share a lot of the same voters.

If you think this election has been full of frothy excitement, I think we may be in for a real wild time the next go around.

All eyes will be on BC tomorrow night as the votes are counted. The NDP and the Conservatives are neck and neck throughout the nation, and British Columbians stand to be the King Makers in Election 41. If EKOS is wrong, and May loses her riding, the conservatives will retain an all important seat. If EKOS is correct and May wins, Conservative incumbent Gary Lunn will be out of a job, the Conservatives lose a seat they desperately need, and Jack Layton will no doubt be hatching some sort of plan to nip the Green Party in the bud.

More info to come.

Jack-Attack: Will Jack Layton Change Canada On May 2?

Fierce: Gearing Up For The Jack-Attack!

Jack-Attack comin atcha! Or so say the latest political polls.

Jack Layton & his NDP are rising meteorically across Canada. Late last week, a number of political polls from reputed pollsters such as Nanos, Ipsos-Reid and Ekos showed a shocking trend, suggesting that Jack and his party are gearing up to make a major derailment in the train that is the Liberal campaign.

The polls show NDP support higher than the Liberals in several areas of the country. Especially in dire straights is Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois. For the first time in years, the Bloc is trailing in popularity in it's own province to a rival. And who would have guessed that rival would be the NDP?

Currently, the NDP holds a single seat in the 75 seat province of Quebec, and naturally that seat is in a multi-lingual section of Montreal.

These revelations have prompted mass panic from The Liberal, Conservative and Bloc camps, with all parties launching all out attacks on Jack Layton and his party over the Easter weekend (not very love-thy-neighbor, is it?).

All of the pollsters cautioned on Friday, however, that while the NDP has slowly made gains in popular vote since the beginning of the election campaign, things may not be as they seem. Political polls tend to have fickle outcomes in general, but can be even more so prior to a weekend. The pollsters urged Canadians to wait until after the Easter break to draw conclusions as to the reality of the numbers.

Well, the Easter break is over, and the numbers are in again. And they are higher than they were last week. This is shocking news. Ekos predicts, that if the election were held today, the NDP would take 100 seats in the house of commons, second only to Stephen Harper's conservatives with 131. The Liberals have been projected to scavenge off the remnants with 69 seats.

And that's not all. If these numbers hold true, the entire landscape of Canada would surely change. With the NDP taking so many ridings in Quebec, the Bloc would be reduced to fringe party status. Additionally, this would reduce the Conservatives stronghold to only the prairies and Ontario, forcing the two to unite. No more of that "Western Canada - Vs. Ontario" argument. But it doesn't stop there either.

With this Jack-Attack, it would be difficult to imagine a Conservative minority government surviving for long. All opposition parties stated prior to the election that they would not support the budget put forth by Stephen Harper. And Harper himself has stated that after the election, they would present the exact same budget to parliament. This does not bode well for Harper's continued residence at 24 Sussex. It is unlikely that the same budget would pass, which would either trigger another election, which is not likely to occur. The other most likely option would be for the Governor General to ask the leader of the Official Opposition (Jack Layton) to form a government. Of course, Layton would require the support of the Liberals to make such an option work.

Of course, Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Leader could choose not to support the NDP, and throw his support to Stephen Harper instead. However doing so would likely drive even more of his supporters to the NDP.

The ironic part is, after two elections of Layton proclaiming that he was "running for Prime Minister", it seems he proved he was telling the truth!

There is still 1 week left in the campaign, and as the Jack-Attack proves, anything can truly happen in a week. But for the mean time, we will have to wait until tomorrow, as the pollsters are furiously working through the night to determine if Canadians are suffering with a bout of mass-hysteria, or if the love of Jack is strong and true.

Elizabeth May Is Dismayed

Elizabeth May

Elizabeth May and her Green Party were dealt a severe blow by Federal Court judge Marc Nadon yesterday, as he refused to make an emergency ruling on May's complaint of being shut out of the televised electoral debates next week.

Nadon agreed with the Television Consortium's argument that due to the short amount of time to the scheduled debates that a decision could not be made so quickly while still providing due diligence in examining both parties arguments.

This could be a death strike to May's attempt at getting elected this year, as her inclusion in the debates in 2008 gave her party a significant boost in recognition and popularity, but thus far this year has struggled to maintain as much media attention.

May says she is still not counting herself out, as she and her lawyer Peter Rosenthal are currently examining any other potential legal avenues to force the courts to hear the case immediately.

Although the courts will likely not make a decision until it is too late for this election, it is likely that they will side with at least some of the Green Party's arguments, and perhaps force the Media Consortium to establish firm and set criteria for who should be included in the debates in the future.

In the mean time, May continues to campaign hard in her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, rather than focusing on a cross country tour as the party leader like she did in the last election. She hopes to unseat Conservative Incumbent Gary Lunn.

Patriot Games: Election 2011

Not even a week has passed since Canada's ruling government was toppled, and already political posturing and scandals abound.

Last Friday, in an historic move, the Conservative Government was found in contempt of parliament on scandals of hidden costs of military jets and corporate tax cuts, to lying cabinet ministers and document doctoring.

Not 10 minutes after the final session of Parliament wrapped up did Stephen Harper's attack dog, John Baird, begin his annual fear mongering session on national news magazine's cameras declaring a conspiracy by opposition parties to form a coalition government that would throw our country into economic and political fires of Hell.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff did his best to answer reporters questions about the possibility of a coalition government with the NDP without actually giving a yes or no answer. He did this for a couple of days then finally broke down and gave a resounding "NO!" to the question.

Michael Ignatieff Plays Dumb: "What's a Coalition?"

This likely indicates that the Liberals will be running an all-or-nothing campaign on the election trail, as I believe a coalition had being enthusiastically discussed prior to the government falling. Now that Ignatieff publicly stated that no such agreement would occur after the election regardless of the results, it seems likely that his career would be quickly eviscerated should he go back on his word.

Since coalition is out of the question now, this puts the Liberals in a pressure cooker to perform drastically better than the last election, if not actually form a government. It is unlikely that Ignatieff would be allowed to keep his job as Liberal leader if the party fails to gain a significant amount of seats in the House.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed to be sitting pretty for the first few days of the campaign while the heat was on his arch-rival. Until Sebastian Togneri turned up like a bad penny again.

You may remember Togneri's name. He was a high ranking government aide for many years until he was forced to resign over allegations of interfering in several requests for government information made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Very recently, even Conservative Minister Rona Ambrose had no choice but to call for an RCMP investigation into Togneri's interference with the requests for information. (Though, I find it odd that the RCMP were called in a year after Togneri's resignation). Unfortunately for Stephen Harper, the request for an RCMP investigation coincided with a Parliamentary inquiry into Minister Bev Oda's alleged altering of government documents.

Well, now Togneri's name was in the media again, as some lucky reporter discovered that he was working on the campaign for Conservative hopeful Ryan Hastman in the Edmonton Strathcona riding.

Linda Duncan: A Little Orange Fish In A Big Blue Sea

Hastman has a somewhat uphill battle in front of him to begin with. In the 2008 election, NDP candidate Linda Duncan wrestled the riding away from Conservative incumbent Rahim Jaffer (after Jaffer himself suffered several political scandals). From all accounts, Linda Duncan, a long time Edmonton Lawyer is well liked, and has been made high-profile by the NDP since it was the first time an Alberta riding has been anything but Tory blue since the Anne McLellen days.

Unfortunately for Hastman and Stephen Harper, it doesn't look good having a disgraced government aide currently under police investigation helping out with a new Conservative candidate's campaign.

Things turned from bad to worse for both Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff the last two days as Green Party leader Elizabeth May burst on to the scene in a blaze of controversy, fighting for her political rights.

Elizabeth May Is Going To Debate Your Ass Off. Deal With It.

You may remember from the 2008 election, when the Green Party was just starting to gain credibility and a lot of media attention, that the Canadian Broadcast Consortium (basically a handful of executives from Canada's 4 main TV networks) decided that May would not be entitled to participate in the electoral debates. This prompted a huge public outcry, and a chance for all party leaders to look like the good guy on national television by stating that they believed May should be included in the debate. Finally the consortium relented, and May had her day in the spotlight. (She actually did quite well- check out my review of her performance here.)

This week, for some bizarre reason, the consortium again decided that May, despite being the leader of a national party that received 6% of all votes in the last election (that's 1 million votes - more than the Bloc Quebecois received) and that runs a candidate in every riding across Canada, was not worthy of participating in the debates because her party does not have a current, elected MP.

Let's not bother taking into account that the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance Party, which are now both known as the Conservative Party, did not have elected MPs either during their first elections, but were still allowed to participate in the debates.

May has since launched a very public battle against the Consortium, and has retained a high profile lawyer to argue her case to the courts to sneak her way in to the debates.

This is particularly bad news for both Ignatieff and Harper. Partly because May seems to be very good a debating, and neither man likely wants her there. That being said, since Harper endorsed her presence in the last election, he can hardly say that she isn't entitled to be there for this election. He has since said he is open to her being there, but that all parties should submit to the rules put forth by the Consortium. Ignatieff on the other hand, has his barrels firmly aimed at Harper, and the more people included in the debate may lead the public to decide that there are other voting options rather than just the Liberals or the Conservatives, as he has been trying to prove in the media all week.

Foolishly, after May made her public tirade about not being included in the election debate, Ignatieff stated he was most keen on having a second debate televised solely between himself and Stephen Harper. Harper seemed keen on the idea as well, and all but issued a public challenge to his rival. Ignatieff then ran in front of the nearest camera and said it was on. However, as media attention intensified around May and her rhetoric of the debates being anti-democratic for shutting her out, Harper quietly back-peddled on his two-man debate idea. This gave Ignatieff an opportunity to call Harper "chicken", but also gave the impression of him being an elitist.

So to recap, in the last two weeks or so, we have had the government charged with contempt, allegations of creative bookkeeping, Ministers engaged in doctoring documents, police investigations, candidates receiving help from disgraced government aides, finger pointing at undemocratic television execs, threatened legal action, political threats and challenges, and a good deal of back-peddling from most of the party leaders. And we've just gotten started. Imagine where we will be in another 4 weeks!

Patriot Games: A Canadian Election For A New Generation

Oh, it's on, baby.

So last Friday, (March 25th) the Conservative's minority government was toppled when a confidence motion tabled by the opposition parties found the ruling conservatives in contempt of parliament.

The Look Of Contempt: Stephen Harper

This is intriguing for two reasons.

First, since the beginning of March, it was widely assumed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper would be forced to dissolve the parliament, but it was assumed that the motion of confidence that would be the downfall of the ruling government would be the Conservative's proposed budget. Not a decision that the government was in contempt of parliament.

Secondly, it's important because never through all of the political scandals or outrageous diatribes of the 144 years of parliament in Canada, has a ruling party found to be in contempt.

There were several reasons why the Conservative Government had been found in contempt. Firstly, there was the matter of 65 new F35 fighter jets that the government announced it would purchase for a reported $9 billion ($18 billion once a maintenance agreement was signed). The purchase announcement was made in July of 2010, but recently, the Parliamentary Budget Officer went public with his estimation of nearly double the cost to a whopping $30 billion.

Needless to say, this caused a frenzy on Parliament Hill, with the opposition parties attacking the Conservatives like rabid dogs on a lame rabbit. The opposition demanded to see numbers on paper, and their requests were repeatedly rebuffed. At the same time, it had been implied that the government was similarly down playing the expected costs of tax cuts being proposed for big corporations.

The second and more bizarre catalyst was the inquiry into International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda's document tampering scandal.

Bev Oda: Document Doctor

In 2009, a church based aid group known as Karios applied for renewal of it's international development grant. Oda stated publicly that the decision was actually made by the Canadian International Development Agency. However, upon digging up documents on the matter, it was discovered that the CIDA actually signed a note recommending the approval of the grant. And, that the note in question had actually been altered when the word "not" had been manually written before the word "approved".

Bev Oda later admitted in front of a committee that she had been the one who ordered the alteration of the document (if not altered it herself). And of course, no sooner had the admission left Oda's lips, were opposition MP's calling for her head to roll down the aisle of the House of Commons.

Predictably, after the committee wrapped up on Oda's case, the information that had been gathered on the F-35 fighter jets and the corporate tax cuts were all wrapped into one bundle of government-toppling joy. The final bow that had been attached to the bundle was the fact that the Liberal party intentionally stalled on voting on the Conservatives proposed budget, so they could bask in the glory of toppling the government on charges of contempt, rather than the budget.

And so, on March 26th, 2011, Stephen Harper was forced to seek the Governor General's approval to dissolve parliament, and presto! Election in May. So far from what we have seen, all of this political manoeuvring and scandal will just be the tip of the iceberg.

4G Phone? That's What YOU Think.

Think that new 4G smart phone you just bought for an exorbitant amount of money is the latest and greatest in download speeds? You're dead wrong.

For the last few months Sprint, Verizon & T-Mobile has been advertising the power of 4G speed on their networks as the new breakthrough in mobile technology. Telus also followed suit here in Canada, and today it was leaked that Bell Mobility will jump on the 4G advertising bandwagon.

But does anyone really know what the difference is between 3G and 4G connectivity speeds? Apparently there isn't one.

The International Telecommunications Union initially defined 4G as a reference to Long Term Evolution mobile standards (LTE for short). LTE meant a new version of wireless technology that could potentially offer speeds of 100 Mbps. So far, no commercial wireless network on the planet has deployed such a technology. And, as far as I know, no wireless communications company has even managed to develop such a technology that would work in a stable fashion on a consumer level.

The initial definition of LTE (100 Mbps) is considerably faster than the HSPA networks that are currently used by Bell, Telus & Rogers. Their HSPA networks generally tops out at 7.2 Mbps. Even improved HSPA networks known as HSPA+ only reach top speeds of 21 Mbps.

So if Bell, Telus & Rogers all top out at 7.2 Mbps, how can they possibly call themselves 4G?

In December, the International Telecommunications Union have changed the criteria or definition of 3G and 4G. Now 100 Mbps speed is no longer a definition of 4G. 4G is now considered any technology that shows a "substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities" over existing 3G networks.

As an example, Bell Mobility now refers to 3G as being any speeds slower than 3Mbps. And, since Bell's network can theoretically offer speeds up to 7.2 Mbps, (which IS a significant improvement over 3Mbps) presto! Bell is now a 4G network!

So the interesting part to watch for is how this will play out in the long term. Since all the 3G phones currently on the Bell and Telus network should theoretically be able to use the max network speed of 7.2Mbps (which can be less depending on location or network traffic), will Bell issue "4G" phones that operate in the same way so that everyone still has a phone that works at the same speed, (which would allow them to simply market their entire network as the latest and greatest 4G network) or will they attempt to choke bandwidth to keep existing 3G phones slower to encourage customers to upgrade to new 4G marketed handsets?

There is an old saying "Caveat Emptor". Or in English "let the buyer beware". I don't think there is any other product that this warning is most suited for than Telecomm Services.

Bell Mobility Overcharging For Data?

Kate & Daniel Methot from Merritt, BC, have been fighting Bell Mobility for several months over astronomical data charges that they have been receiving from Bell.

In October of last year, Kate purchased a Samsung Galaxy smart phone (shown above). After her first month of usage, the Methots received a bill for over $1000, mainly consisting of data charges.

The couple was shocked. Initially they thought they must have done something that they didn't realize was consuming huge amounts of data. Daniel deleted every app he had downloaded to the phone, thinking maybe it was an app that was accessing network data when not in use. Kate and Daniel also became scrooge-like with their data usage, basically not using the phone for any data if at all possible.

The couple also called Bell asking for an explanation into how is was possible they had used so much data. Bell was unable to give them an answer.

Even with their efforts to keep their data usage to a minimum, The Methots received another astronomical bill in December of 2010. At one point in December, the bill stated that they had used 30 hours of Data in one 24 hour period. The Methots maintained even if they had been frequently using their data capabilities on the phone, it would be impossible for them to use the phone continuously for a 24 hour period.

The couple has spent countless hours of time on the phone with Bell Customer Service to attempt to find an answer about the billing. Every time they called Bell, they were not able to speak to the same service agent, and would have to retell the whole story from the beginning. The responses from Bell was typically an agent telling the couple that they must be downloading video and to stop watching movies on the phone.

One other possibility that Bell suggested was that the couple had the hot-spot feature of the phone turned on, which allows tethering to 3 other devices. In other words other wireless devices that the Methots use, or someone else nearby uses has been connecting to the phone to access the internet.

The couple categorically denies that scenario is possible, stating that since the first two bills came in, the phone is rarely used and is always turned off because of the fear of excessive data charges. Daniel also maintains that some bills show data usage during time periods in which he knows the Samsung phone was turned off.

By the end of December, Bell Mobility had offered no answers for the outrages billing and had offered no solutions for the gigantic bills. Finally the Methots enlisted a lawyer for $400 and had the attorney send a letter to Bell, but that did not bring about any results.

However, in January, Daniel thought he had finally made a breakthrough with the phone company. On a call with a Bell rep that Daniel had recorded, the rep told Daniel that the problems they were experiencing was "known", and was a software problem that Bell was experiencing. Their account was immediately credited $3300. The couple thought that was the end of their problems.

They were wrong.

Within a few days, the couple received another bill for $1200. Bell has since recanted their admission to a software problem, saying the Account Rep the Methots spoke with was incorrect. Bell now says that the software issue they had been experiencing had charged a small number of customers for the correct amount of data, but at a rate that was much higher than in accordance with their monthly plan. Bell says this cannot be the same issue, as the Methots claim they are being billed for data they didn't use.

Since the Methots have taken their issues to CBC news, the couple claims that Bell has now offered to cancel their contract and waive all outstanding fees. The couple has not yet accepted this offer, as they feel this is not enough to make up for the hours of conversations with Bell Mobility, and the $400 for the unanswered lawyer's letter.

The CCTS, or Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunication Services say this happens more often than people think. Last year alone the CCTS received almost 1000 complaints solely for over-billing by cell phone companies. And those are just the customers that actually filed a complaint. The CCTS also recommends installing a third party app on your smart phone that monitors your phone usage. It's important that it's a third party software, so if there are discrepancies between billing and usage, the customer has some evidence to back them up.

If you are having problems with your cell phone company, and want to file a complaint with the CCTS, you can do so here.