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May 2 2023

Digital voting. China threat. Chilly willy.

May 2, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
Canada’s elections authorities move slowly, carefully to digitize voting
Election Nova Scotia's historic step is a good example of the kind of cautious, incremental approach often taken by elections authorities when it comes to technology. [Global]
A long-standing Liberal pledge to ban “assault-style” firearms is being replaced with less stringent regulations that the government insisted Monday would still meets its goal of curbing gun violence — but that critics slammed as a broken promise. [TorStar]
Michael Chong was responding to a report that China's intelligence service sought to target the MP and his family and that a Chinese diplomat who remains in Canada was involved. [Global]
The alleged police stations are described as overseas outposts that harass people on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, but the Chinese government has denied those claims. [Global]
Briefing material prepared for then Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne ahead of his testimony on Nov 23, 2020 to the House of Commons Special Committee on Canada-Foreign Relations has just been proactively published via the Government’s Open Data Portal. Though this is a bit dated, these briefing binders are usually helpful for as reference material and, of course, there may be information in the binder about issues that he was not asked about at his committee appearance. - DA [Government of Canada]
A decision in the sentencing of the man who assaulted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2021 is now expected next week, with the defence requesting a suspended sentence and the Crown calling for jail time. [CTV]
Anna Milani, the official agent for the 2021 Conservative candidate Leona Alleslev, has been charged with one violation of the Canada Election Act and two charges under the Criminal Code. Alleslev, was first elected in 2015 as a Liberal in the riding of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, crossed the floor and won as a Conservative in the same riding in 2019 but was defeated in 2021. The criminal code charges against Milani involve the alleged theft of riding association funds. - DA [Commissioner of Canada Elections]
From the provinces
Here are five things that make this Alberta provincial election one to watch
The official Alberta election campaign period kicks off today, ahead of the May 29 election. Here are five things that make this Alberta election different from all the ones before it. [CBC]
Alberta’s provincial election campaign continues today with the leaders of the two main political parties in Calgary. Writs were issued Monday to launch the campaign with voting day on May 29. [Medicine Hat News]
In an online survey, 43 per cent of provincewide respondents approved of the new Calgary event centre deal and 50 per cent disapproved. For Calgarians, those numbers flipped. [Global]
Contrairement aux autres provinces, le Québec ne tiendra pas d’événement spécial en l’honneur du nouveau souverain. [Le Devoir]
Photographer Ken Pretty from the town of Dildo spotted an unusual ice formation at sea – an avalanche of risque puns ensued. I thought everyone had seen this since it popped up on social media over the weekend. But apparently, some of you missed this ... [The Guardian]
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Elsewhere
Americans show signs of impatience with Ukraine war
New polling reveals that Americans' support for the war in Ukraine is weakening. That should concern U.S. policymakers. [Brookings]
Hong Kong’s leader has unveiled plans to eliminate most directly elected seats on local district councils, the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public. The planned electoral changes are widely seen as part of Beijing’s increasing control over the former British colony. [AP]
Dominion executives say their business was badly burned by accusations Fox aired about the 2020 presidential election.. [Axios]

Economic development has fundamentally changed. Cities that figure out how to make visitors’ and residents’ lives easier are going to have a major competitive advantage. [Bloomberg]

U.S. cigarette smoking has dropped to a new all-time low, but e-cigs are gaining ground. [Gizmodo]
Media

A radio station recently did an experiment where AI took over for 13 hours of programming, featuring 'voice clones' and scripts written by ChatGPT. [ZDNet]
In a recording obtained by Vanity Fair, the former president lashed out at Vaughn Hillyard over his questions related to the Manhattan DA’s case, demonstrating that the ex-president’s hostile attitude toward the press remains unchanged going into 2024. [Vanity Fair]
Smith had given the CBC until Friday to retract and apologize or face further legal action, but a spokesman said Monday it has not seen anything new from Smith's legal team. [Global]
The company, which was once valued at $5.7 billion, has been struggling to find a buyer this year. [NYT]

Advertising appears to have held up quite well considering how much the ad industry talked itself into a downturn toward the end of 2022. [DigiDay]
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Tech

A recent letter calling for a moratorium on A.I development blends real threats with speculation. But concern is growing among experts. Including the University of Montreal's Yoshua Bengio .. [NYT]

Apple's Safari has retaken the lead over Microsoft Edge to become the world's second most popular desktop browser. Chrome. though, is still far and away, the most widely used browser. [MacRumors]
Issued this day ...
... in 1963: Scott # 402: Queen Elizabeth II - Cameo Issue: Tree (forestry). Design: Ernst Roch.

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