Past issues Subscribe

Mar 11 2023

Ke quits. Middle finger. Simon says.

Mar 11, 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
Vincent Ke resigns from Ontario PC caucus amid 2019 election interference allegations
Ontario legislative member Vincent Ke has resigned from the Ontario PC party following a Global News report of allegations election interference. [Global]
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters in Ottawa on Friday that consultations to establish a registry of those who work for foreign governments are open now for with communities, stakeholders and the general public until May 9. [Global]

The Communist Party has been reaching out long before new revelations about the 2019 and 2021 elections. [National Post]
The federal government's budget for 2023 will be released on March 28, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Friday. [Global]
The new price is a 44 per cent increase from the $21.4 billion cost projection of the Trans Mountain expansion last year and more than double an earlier estimate of $12.6 billion. [Global]

In dismissing a harassment case, the judge wrote that the right to make the obscene gesture is one “that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian.” [NYT]
From the Provinces
Ottawa says there's evidence of Albertans 'paying out of pocket to access diagnostic services such as ultrasounds, MRI and CT scans... that should be accessible at no cost.' [Global]
Elsewhere
Disenchantment and Devastation in Syria
“If a country like Canada agreed to admit any Syrian, the country would be empty,” said another friend. Even without a visa, young men who can are fleeing in search of work and perhaps a semblance of normal life. Most of the Syrian capital’s inhabitants must have forgotten the savage artillery and aerial bombardments that terrorized them for years. Otherwise they would not say, as they do, that life is worse now than it was during the war. “We miss the rocket times,” a friend whose retail business has failed told me. “If we died, we died. It was war. Now we don’t know.” What he didn’t know was how he would feed his children. [NY Rev of Books]
COVID and Vaccines
Is COVID-19 becoming endemic, nearly three years after it first emerged? Canadian health officials offered an update on where things stand. [Global]
Will Canadians keep getting boosters, keep testing for COVID-19 or face a new threat from a potential yet to be found variant? Here's a look at what experts expect. [Global]

The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously Friday to declassify U.S. intelligence information about the origins of COVID-19, a sweeping show of bipartisan support near the third anniversary of the start of the deadly pandemic. [AP]
Media
Governor General wants to campaign against vile, abusive online behaviour
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon says she hopes to start a conversation on abuse and online bullying, building on her own experiences with the issue since taking office. [CBC]

“I find that although journalists face both external and internal pressure to devote considerable time and effort to social media platforms — primarily Twitter — they encounter little in the way of guidance or support when it comes to navigating the dangers inherent within those platforms,” [study author] writes. [Nieman Lab]

Google says it will end its block on news links next week following a five-week test that limited access to news for some Canadian users. [Global]
You may have heard about the recent product tests Google is running in response to Bill C-18, legislation that if passed, would govern online news in Canada. We want to ensure Canadians understand these. [Google]
Tech
Apple's Work on Touchscreen Macs: What We Know So Far
Some Apple fans have long wanted Apple to combine the functionality of the iPad with the Mac, and it appears that it's finally going to happen. [MacRumours]

Founder will open a 25-year bottle of Scotch and chat about its history and future. [Ars Technica]
Issued this day ...
... in 1982: Sc # 909: Canada 82: Three-Penny Beaver (No 1). Design: Stuart Bradley Ash
This was one of five stamps issued this day in March and May of 1982 to commemorate "Canada 82", the International Youth Exhibition held in Toronto that year from May 20-24. Each stamp features a reproduction of a vintage stamp from Canada's past. This one, you might have guessed, featured Sc # 1 -- the first stamp to be issued by what would become Canada's postal authority.

Until 1851, the mail system was administered in all of what would become Canada by Great Britain. But that authority was devolved to the Province of Canada in 1851 and this stamp, featuring a sketch of a beaver drawn by Sandford Fleming, was its first issue.

I do not yet have a copy of the original "three-penny beaver" in my collection. With a catalogue value of $60,000 for "very fine" near-mint condition version, this reproduction on Sc 909 might be as close as I get.

Previous Issues

Load More