A bad night for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

There is a very concrete rule in Canadian politics:  winnable by-elections need to be won by Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

With the party offering an ineffective candidate in Tony Genco in Vaughan, there was only one true by-election to contest.  A riding they were in fact defending.

Tonight, the Ontario PC Party had a very winnable by-election in Kitchener Waterloo.  Had the party kept its traditional level of support obtained by Elizabeth Witmer (40-43%), they would have hung on given the fact that the Liberals could get 25-30% at least.

But as it turns out, the PCs dropped 12% and so did the Liberals.  The NDP in turn picked up all the Liberal support and almost all PC support.  The Greens had a modest uptick. 

Tim Hudak campaigned for the by-elections with a message of "Stop McGuinty."  Well as it turns out in Kitchener Waterloo, they did.  Just not for his party.

The Ontario PC Party continues to suffer from a communications problem that has extended from the last election.  In the 2011 provincial election, there was a sense that Tim Hudak felt he could say anything and because he wasn't Dalton McGuinty, that he would coast to victory. 

As of tonight, that trend continues.  There is no vision in this party.  A few tiny policies and anger towards McGuinty.  Hardly an inspiring brand. 

The Ontario PC Party has not articulated a strong, principled and conservative vision for governing Ontario.  Ontario badly needs fiscal conservatism as it continues to dwindle in deficits and corruption. 

Paging Mike Harris...

Why Obama might lose

When I saw this picture on the left, I thought it was a good omen as to what is happening.  

I have a sense that the Obama presidency is crumbling, slowly but surely.  From the weight of its own hubris.

There is a lot of talk about how President Obama is very much still in the driver's seat to win the election.  It's all about the electoral college and how the map will play out in November. 

While it is true that the President has more paths to victory than does Romney, I believe that the map is not set in stone. 

Mr. Obama spent the first half of his term pushing through a stimulus that mostly helped his friends at the expense of the American people.  He then pushed a questionable healthcare bill through that nobody likes.  All the while, the economy moved at a tepid pace. 

Any sign of recovery in the economy has been short lived.  Unemployment is still very high and there is much malaise out there. 

And unlike Bill Clinton, the last Democratic president who will speak at the DNC this week, Obama did not use the defeat of his party in the midterms to reach out to Republicans and find ways to enact pro-growth policies. 

Instead, it's been much ado about blame and retreating to the golf course while the rest of the nation has coped with the slow economy. 

So far in this campaign cycle, the president has offered no solutions for helping the economy grow.  Instead, we have heard anti-business rhetoric like the "you didn't build that" speech. 

Obama's strategy appears to be pinned down to demonizing Romney, scaring certain voting segments from voting Romney and relying on holding enough of the states won last time to clinch a narrow victory. 

But I believe that will ultimately backfire.

Mr. Obama is turning off independents by the day which makes me believe that many states that voted blue in the past 4-8-12 or more years are in play.  States like Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Americans are looking for an optimistic message to turn the economy around and Romney is the one sounding it at the moment. 

The next 63 days will be very telling.  We could be in for a huge surprise come election day. 

Mass public killings in perspective

On the heels of the Aurora, CO massacre, a study has revealed that mass public killings account for less than 1% of total murders in general.
In fact, not even 0.5% of total murders.   It's 0.1% according to Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. 

Now why is this important?  It's important because both pro- and anti-gun control advocates are using the tragedy to further their own agenda.  And the media is facilitating them by sensationalizing this horrific, violent act. 

When you listen to the media sometimes (and Fox News is equally guilty), you get the feeling that they want to make it seem like America is a gun-toting, hungry-for-violence country and that a massacre like the one seen at the Dark Knight premiere is all-too-common. 

Let's be clear:  when a homicide takes place, it is an isolated and awful event.  The same goes for this cowardly attack on innocent movie-goers, albeit on a much greater/horrific scale. 

There are millions of people who are capable of watching violent movies or owning guns and never turning a gun on people.  There are maybe 10 people who will inflict massacres in the span of 3-5 years. 

It would be very difficult to set policy based on a very small and radical minority of people.  But I'm sure it will be attempted. 

But that's not to say that nothing should happen.  Greater security may have to be looked into. 

The key is not to get strung up in the high emotions of a very sensational event like the Aurora, CO massacre.   That has never been the recipe for good decision-making. 

Recruitment agents: curse or blessing?

So I have been searching for work in the last little while.  Up until today, the only interviews I had were with recruitment agents.   More specifically, they were with three agencies specializing in recruiting accounting professionals.

It works like this:  they bring you in and give you a psuedo-interview.  They create the impression that part of their job is to find you a job.  That's only partially true. 

While you do figure a lot in their overall commission, the agens exists to serve the employer.  The employer is the one who pays their bills. 

And while the more you make means the more they will make, an agent will not hesitate to sell you short to make a quick buck.    Not only does the employer pay you, but he must pay a cut on top. That is often the reason why you start at a smaller pay rate because the employer is looking to cut the cost of bringing you on.

One problem that appears to be surfacing is that agents are overtaking a majority of online job postings such that at times, it is almost impossible not to get hired without one.

Another issue is this:  you may be subject to a lot more scrutiny when you get the job because there is a premium to be paid on you.  There is usually less pressure when you come in by yourself. 

Bottom line is this:  the agent is not your friend.  Use them with caution.  Try to get a job by yourself but if you absolutely must, then go with agents. 

Obama to business: "you didn't build that."

I've watched this video a few times.  Quite the populist rhetoric from
Barack Obama. 

Here's the jist:  the President said that businesses are dependant on
so-called public goods, such as roads, bridges and even the research
that led to the internet.  

Fair enough:  I never disputed the fact that government is a necessity. 
Government exists for the things we all need collectively that we could
not possibly get from the private sector.   If the private sector was able to
administer the services that government provides, no government would be
necessary.  

In fact, there was one such political system where the private sector acted like
a government.  It was called feudalism and it didn't work very well. 

But it works the other way too.  Businesses employ people who pay taxes.
Businesses pay taxes themselves.   It is after all, a simbiotic relationship. 

The problems start when government views the more affluant in society
as an endless ATM that they can draw on whenever they wish. 

John Locke theorized that government was created in large part to protect
property and allow for the acquisition of more property.   That these things
would extend to any member of society.   In other words, government's main
reason for being is to facilitate the pursuit of happiness.  If not for that, why
would government exist? 

So the President in effect is asking business to be grateful for government's
basic duties?   Businesses are merely making the most of the situation. 

Quite often, the difference between being an employer as opposed to being
an employee is seizure of opportunity.  And those who make the most of their
opportunities should not be blamed for doing so.

They are after all taking on more risks than an employee.  An employee can always
leave and get another job.  An employer may have to deal with bankruptcy if things go awry. 

And where is the government then? 

I never hear the government say to business:  "thank you for employing people."   "Thank you for
creating taxpayers rather than tax recipients." "Thank you for the sales taxes you collect"  Never. 
Not a peep.

And another question to President Obama:  where do you think the revenue the government
already receives comes from?  It's not yours.  It belonged largely to the successful class. 

Israel at 61

Israel has reached another birthday and each one is as exciting as the one before. It is amazing to see Israel so vibrant and dynamic as a democracy. Its people energetic and ambitious. Its technology highly developed and exported to the entire world. And yet, it maintains its old world charm: the cobblestones of Jerusalem or Safed. The infinite landscape where biblical figures roamed and the names of places that resonate from that time. Israel has something for everyone and it continues to grow.

One must wonder what draws people to settle in a land nestled in the belly of the pressure cooker that is the Middle East. Each day, Israel could potentially face a threat to its existence and yet, life appears to be everlasting in this country. There is a sense of calm as you roam the streets and the beaches as the tide rolls in.

They come because Israel is a haven as ironic as that sounds. When you watch the news, you think that Israel is such a danger zone. When you come there, you feel that it is the safest place on Earth. At least I do.

This year, the national independence day ceremony focused on the centennial birthday of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 as the first modern hebrew city and since then, has grown to be the "a city that never stops." It is a city that has a great cosmopolitan feel to it with great coffee shops, bars and nightclubs. It is also proof that Israel didn't pop up overnight. There was a base that began just after the inquisition and peaked after 1945. The most amazing thought about Israel is that it was created out of 2000 years of hope of Jews to return to a land where their ancestors ruled.

Every part of Israel is quite different from the other. Haifa is so much different than Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Despite the land being so small, there is so much to explore and you will not know all there is to know about Israel even in the span of 30 years. I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to explore this dynamic country that if it was human, wouldn't be old enough to collect social security!

Here's to you Israel for being so amazing despite all that you face. Happy 61!

Lift the embargo?

I must admit I am torn on the whole concept of the Cuban embargo. I used to work with a Cuban guy who was adament that the embargo stay in place. He kept telling me how murderous Fidel Castro is, how the people live as prisoners in their own homeland and how lifting the embargo will not help. But on the other hand, maybe it will?

For America, the need for the embargo, I believe, ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba was no longer a satellite for Russia as it was during the Cold War. The only reason I could see for the embargo is an ideological one since the only threat Cuba poses to the US now is an influx of cigars.

The most vocal group in the US in favor of the embargo is the small Cuban-American exile community in Miami (Little Havana). They claim that lifting the embargo will only help the Castros and not help the people much. Again, it's interesting how the most vocal proponents of the status quo are people who lived under Castro.

Nevertheless, an argument can be made that if Cuba is opened up to millions of Americans, that things will have to change. After all, it was underground western culture that led to the fall of the iron curtain in Eastern Europe and China has become more capitalist.

I say that if done right and the proper concessions can be made such that Cuba makes a transition to greater economic freedom for its citizens, then by all means talk. The US can be a catalyst for liberalizing and modernizing Cuba. Certainly no other country will do so. Every other country seems content with letting Cuba be (including sadly, Canada) and sending tourists to Cuba. Nobody speaks out about their human rights violations.

Will Obama be the guy who gets the ball rolling on a democratic Cuba? I will believe it when I see it. Cuba wants to talk to him from a position of equals. Capitalism shouldn't be treated as equal with socialism. It is far superior to it. Hopefully Obama believes the same.

What Susan Boyle teaches us

By now if you haven't heard of Susan Boyle, you have been living under a rock. The 47-year old Scot who has unfortunately not been blessed in the looks department, has been handsomely compensated otherwise with a voice that puts a lump in your throat everytime you hear her sing.

When she stepped on to the stage of Britain's Got Talent, everybody in the audience wrote her off. There is a shot in the Youtube video of a young female audience member rolling her eyes probably thinking "she is ugly so she must suck at singing." It appears the judges felt the same.

And then she let her voice out and we all received a wakeup call. Each and every one of us who has been programmed to think that only good looking people are talented. Certainly that is how the entertainment mags make it seem. And face it, we love watching good looking people in our movies and television.

But in doing so, we close ourselves off from the Susan Boyles of the world. We deny ourselves the joy of hearing heavenly voices simply for our superficial tendencies. We're all guilty of it or at least a huge majority of us.

Susan Boyle has put the emphasis back on raw talent. The show has the word talent in it. I don't see the word beauty anywhere.

On Freedom and Taxes

In one of the Tax Day Tea Parties in the United States, a CNN reporter annoyingly asked a participant what taxes had to do with freedom. In a word: everything.

Taxes determine how much of our hard-earned dollars we get to keep. They are a cap on our spending and our progress. Taxes are anti-freedom. They place a limit on how much you can save/spend. And judging by the tax rates, you do not keep a whole lot of what you make regardless of how much you earn. Even a $40,000 salary could mean that after different levels of government have reached their hands into it, you come out with around $22,000. And that is hard to live on.

So what does the government do? Throw you a bunch of little crumbs like a child tax credit or a tax credit on your bus pass. This alters your behavior pattern all because you are programmed to get the small tax refund that should belong to you in the first place. Oh and when they cut your taxes, it amounts to little more than $300 a year. Gee thanks!

And where do your tax dollars go? To keep the poor perpetually poor by throwing them crumbs. It's called redistribution of wealth and we've been told that this helps society. No it doesn't. It chains the taxpayers and the welfare recipients in a viscious circle.

I once was told that socialism creates equality: everyone equally poor. It couldn't be further than the truth. That's what our redistribution system does.

Still not convinced that freedom and taxes go hand in hand? Ask yourself what led to the American and French Revolutions? Taxes! The people revolted because their property was being seized by unfair taxation. Well did the people really have a say when it came to income taxes? Income taxes were meant to be merely for the two World Wars. But they stayed on because the money was too enticing. By then, nobody had the appetite to stand up to it.

Don't get me wrong. Governments need to be a certain size in order to protect people and their properties from others. Governments maintain police and the army. They build roads and enforce ports of entry among many other things. But governments have a moral duty not to overtax and overspend. It is outside of their mandate. And also, governments do not have the moral authority to take from one and give to the other. That does not create prosperity or grow the pie.

I should not say that they take a dollar from one and give to the other. They take a dollar from Joe taxpayer, keep 80 cents to themselves (bureaucratic salaries) and give 20 cents to Jim the welfare recipient. That is redistribution and theft. I have a better idea. Have Joe spend that dollar and many other Joes so Jim can get a job and get 40 cents on that dollar. It's just crazy enough to work.

We need the Lockean approach. If a tax dollar isn't allocated to the preservation of liberty and property, then it ought to be returned to the taxpayers. It should never be spent frivolously. And no government dollar should be spent unless it is universally applied (read no earmarks).

Anything else is a restriction of freedom and ought to be opposed with vigor.

Azmi Bishara - A Palestinian when it suits him

There is a video floating around Youtube of Azmi Bishara, a man wanted in Israel for treason and espionage on behalf of Hizballah, professing that there never was a Palestinian nation.

The video can be viewed here.

In the video, Bishara appears to shock the Israeli co-panelists and the host himself by his words. For those who don't understand hebrew, it goes to the effect of:

"The Palestinian nation is a colonial invention. When were there Palestinians? There never was such a nation.

I think there is an Arab Nation, I never turned to be a Palestinian Nationalist, despite of my decisive struggle against the Occupation.

I think that until the end of the 19TH century, Palestine was the South of Great Syria."


If a Jewish person were to say that, they'd be labelled extremists or dillusional. As for Azmi Bishara, he just tried to sweep this under the rug.

Here is how he opened a column in the LA Times on May 3, 2007

"I AM A PALESTINIAN from Nazareth, a citizen of Israel and was, until last month, a member of the Israeli parliament."

But wait a second.. I thought you said Palestinian was a colonial invention. Are you willing to accept a colonial term Mr. Bishara?

It's funny when words come back to bite.

Time to open the border

At a time when the United States is advocating making it more difficult to cross the Canada/US border, I feel it is high time that we become a eurozone. Some fierce Canadian and/or American nationalists resent this idea, but it is an idea whose time has come.

Canadians and Americans are essentially cousins. Our history has been quite mutual. The time for keeping a border has come and gone. Trade should flow much more easily than it is under NAFTA. People should come and go across the border as they will with strict inspections at continental ports of entry (airports, seaports).

I am not advocating one country although this will be argued to be a slope towards it. Those who value the healthcare and social programs up here will stay here. Those who want more net pay and less services from government will come down to the States. It will be interesting to see who goes where.

Speaking of that, one of the theories I have on why the Left hates this idea is that they fear many will opt to go to the US under a eurozone arrangement and that this will erode government services. They also allege that the US will put restrictive covenants on what the Canadian government could spend on, thereby eroding Canada as a country. I don't that will necessarily happen. I'm simply for an open border where people can move to where they want to be.

They will scare-monger too, saying an open border will mean an inflow of guns from down south. Ridiculous notions. Those who want to get a gun up here have done so already. And it's not like Canadians can't own guns. They can.

A lot of talent on either side is not situated where it needs to be due to the fact that immigration is restrictive and costly. An open border will solve that.

The key question is: what about 9/11? What about Canadian sleeper cells? Well that is a tough one to deal with but it is worth addressing for the greater benefit of an open border.

Of course, it will be a tough sell here. A lot of inefficient companies and social programs exist on not allowing American efficiency to flow through. Things will have to be ironed out. However, globalization has made accessibility much greater anyway. It's time to smell the java and move towards it, not away from it. Ultimately, Canada can be richer and better off. Open borders mean open markets where the efficient will truly shine. It's odd for instance that a Canadian company manufacturing stair railings can't cross the border with tools.

There may need to be a common dollar and a common central bank. But it's time to move towards the open border and not away from it.

Kumar goes to Washington

Actor Kal Penn better known to many as Kumar of the Harold and Kumar franchise and most recently, the House series, is being hired by Barack Obama.

"His role will be to connect Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts groups."

The Pacific Islander one is odd to me. Didn't Obama come from Hawaii? What trouble will he have with them?

"The White House did not reveal what Penn would be paid. Aides with similar titles earned between $41,000 and $91,000 last year."

He's an actor. Either he's getting paid more (lots more) or he's doing it for the "honor." I doubt he'll take much of a pay cut.

It's nice to know that the Obama White House is campaigning on the people's dime. Expect a lot more from these guys.

While our soldiers die in Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai, our supposed ally is defining half is population as mere sex objects for their husbands.

In a law that never saw the light of day in parliament, Hamid Karzai authorized husbands in Afghanistan to force sex upon their wives whenever they please. Such a ruling is appalling as
it takes away the free choice that sex ought to be. It is demeaning and forces women to be submissive to their husbands. It reduces them to "baby machines" and "sex objects."

Until this ruling came down, I was convinced that we were doing a truly noble mission in Afghanistan. We were weeding out the bad guys and helping out the good guys. Well turns out the good guys are only a lighter version of the bad guys. They are capable of being as repressive as the Taliban while they rely on NATO's protection.

While a return of the Taliban to power will be a bad thing and al Qaeda still needs to be rooted out, I am not convinced that the people we are helping in Afghanistan are agents of virtue themselves.

This ruling stinks. I am disgusted. Marriage is an equal institution. But clearly not in Afghanistan or a lot of other muslim countries.

Crypto-fascism under Obama

The shiny luster is beginning to fade off Barack Obama. The man who rode a huge wave of momentum and change is showing us how creepy that change can be. What has Barack Obama done with his presidential honeymoon period you ask? Spend billions to nationalize, take 90% of the bonuses that people legitimately earned because others in the company messed up, and now, he has fired a CEO of a private company. What’s next? Executions in the public square?

Ok well that won’t happen. But a media lynching from the President on down is just as bad as a public execution. A person can’t make a living if he/she has been singled out as a pariah and part of “what caused the mess.” Obama is doing exactly that. He’s singling out people be it in AIG, GM, etc. etc. It used to be that liberals were relentless in their war on profit. Turns out they’re even worse when they’re in power and everybody’s losing money.

Obama’s mark on the country is very fresh and yet it is quite a scarier place already. If you are a money-losing bank, insurance company or auto-maker, you’re in the President’s radar screen. He may be your president but he’s also your worst enemy.

When it comes to the companies that require bailouts, I say that necessity is the mother of invention. These companies will invent ways to stay in business because it’s their livelihood. They don’t need Obama to decide what money has to stay in their coffers and who among them should keep working.

These companies have the solutions but they go against everything Obama and his buddies have fought to get and retain for years. The solutions involve tearing down the union structures and eliminating the revolving door mortgage policy. And most of all getting government’s hands off their operations. Part of the solution also involves radically reducing corporate income tax rates.

Since these things go against what Obama stands for, he’s resorted to fascist tactics: singling out honest hard-working people in order to distort from real solutions.

It’s time to call him on it!

America is ruining Soccer

America is ruining soccer by failing to understand the sheer beauty of the game. Soccer is a game of tactics and hard work both individually and as a team. It is a game where a team is only as good as its weakest link but where true superstars can shine.

Stephen H. Webb in his column in the Wall Street Journal demonstrates this failure to appreciate soccer. First, he finds something fundamentally wrong with the fact that people only kick the ball or use their heads in soccer. In fact, hands are quite important in the game. You use your hand to push a defender as you try to charge by him. But in any case, there are more spectacular things you can do with your feet than your hands. Try a 30-yard banana kick that goes over a defensive wall of players and fools the goalkeeper. You can also deke a defender and make them look amazingly foolish. Both are a rush I can't even explain.

Can't do those with your hands!

Second, Webb argues that kids aren't broken down by soccer. That it is egalitarian and that failure is hard to spot. Maybe for a little while. But if you take soccer seriously, you will be easily spotted as the weakest link. The coach will yell at you and bench you. If that is not happening, then kids shouldn't play soccer at a young age when their parents can intervene on their behalf or parents shouldn't be allowed to intervene at all.

I know a father who has a kid in an Ajax Amsterdam development team. He is 11 and they mould him like a little soldier. At any age, this kid can be sent home packing. Perhaps the game isn't broken Professor Webb. America just lacks the boot camps that are European pro clubs.

Third, Webb argues that the better you get in soccer, the less you score. Tell that to Liverpool FC who sparked 14 goals in a recent three-game span! But yes, there are many games that end low scoring because the defence, goalkeepers and midfield of both teams are just that good. But those are often the best games to watch. Such games still provide much action in the form of opportunities and near opportunities. It symbolizes a heavyweight fight that ends in a draw. Each team desperately looking for ways to punch holes in the defensive wall of the other. Soccer is often a war that stretches even to the stands.

Yes, goals are nice. But soccer isn't a sport meant for ESPN Sportscenter. It's not a game where you can just find out the score after the fact. You need to watch a game and you gain appreciation from understanding how a result became 0-0 and not simply that it did.

Webb also mocks the penalty shootout since it's so easy to score. What the shootout tests are the nerves of the teams' shooters. Often the player who misses is the one who gets nervous when he gets up there. Penalty shootouts are dramatic to watch because you never know when a miss will happen but you know that there will be a miss. Some people argue there are better ways to decide a game. But after 2 hours of play, there is not much separating the teams. That is the equivalent of a completed triple overtime in hockey or roughly six overtimes in basketball. Soccer is a thinking man's game played by brutes. The fouls can be nasty sometimes with very nasty injuries. The tactical aspect of the game is too wide to fit in a blog post. It's not just about running around. Often the team that wins is the one that does the least running but simply has the right players at the right positions and masters ball control. Position, like in battle, is huge in soccer.

It's sad that Prof. Webb calls it a foreign invasion as if Americans cannot appreciate a sport enjoyed around the world. I believe they can and if they took soccer more seriously, they might come to like it after all.

Why I don't gamble

The odds of winning big in gambling are slim enough as they are. Now it turns out that even when you win, the house can decide that you actually didn't.

Here is a story that actually happened. A man from Wasaga Beach, ON went to play the slots at Georgian Downs and settled on a machine called "Buccaneer." After numerous failed attempts, he managed to hit the jackpot and the machine went crazy with bells and whistles. According to the machine, he won $42.9 million. But when he went to collect, the staffers told him the machine had malfunctioned (without providing evidence as such) and they would not be paying him. They then stated that the maximum the machine could pay was $9,000.

Their compensation to the man? A free dinner for four at one of the casino's buffet restaurants. Lame at best.

Maybe the corporation did make a machine error. It is up to them to fix it before somebody plays and gets the impression that they have won big. Bottom line is that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) needs to pay up and pay up big. The man is right to sue and he should at least been offered what the machine would have paid otherwise for a jackpot win.

The house rakes in so much money from gamblers. They can afford to pay up when they make a mistake like this and they should. Who knows how much revenue has been lost due to the negative PR this has caused? If the OLG was smart, they would pay up and show the gambling public that what the machine reads is what they will get in the end. After all, isn't that how it's supposed to work?

Instead, now everytime someone will play a slot machine and see the machine go berzerk, they will wonder if they had really won.

Thank goodness for Research in Motion

In the midst of a mountain of doom and gloom, Research in Motion is showing us how it's done. They are taking advantage of the economic slowdown to hire thousands of tech-savvy people laid off from their competitors.

This is precisely the strategy I would follow if I knew I could withstand a drop in demand. RIM's blackberry has slowly become a staple of business so they could easily ride this out. They can afford to invest and it appears they have deep pockets. They even managed to wrest control of U2 from Apple and are going to sponsor their upcoming tour.

Expect more companies to follow suit. You will see a slow trickle of investment, be it manpower or machine. Investment is cheap right now. And then once we have ridden out this downturn, the more heavily invested companies will reap the benefits handsomely.

Paging Michael Moore

Germany just had its own Columbine.

Yep. The enlightened social-demoratic country of Germany with restrictive gun laws. This was not meant to happen right? Only in the US right? Wrong!

Gun shooting sprees happen in Toronto too. Google C.W. Jefferies and you'll get quite a few results. Google Jane Creba. Despite the socialist Toronto mayor's assertions that all the crimes were committed by guns smuggled from the US, it is not truth. Gun crimes happen everywhere. It can't be legislated out.

Yet more proof that the only thing gun control does is employ extra bureaucrats. A killer can emerge at any time from anywhere.

Restricting guns is not a bad idea but it is not a solution on its own. I don't know how this could have been prevented. But it is misleading to tell people that all that needs to be done is to take guns from innocent people altogether and then there won't be gun crimes.

Breaking - Peter Shurman not to run for Ontario PC Leader

CFRB's Silvana Aceto reports that Peter Shurman won't seek the Ontario PC nod.

The news of my MPP not seeking the top job saddens me. I think he would have been an underdog but he would have added colour to the race. He would have been the Chris Stockwell of 2009.

Open Letter to John McCain

Dear Senator McCain,

I know this is a bit late but better late than never. First, I want to congratulate you on your hard-fought run for the Presidency. One can look back and say that you did it with a lot of grace and dignity. You ignited the base by choosing a wonderful conservative in Sarah Palin. All in all, you gave it your best and you are to be commended for it.

I am a conservative living in Canada who has always been interested in American politics. If I was an American, I would vote Republican all the time. I was active in defence of your campaign on the internet, which brings me to this letter.

I am writing to you because of the way you changed my life in an indirect way. I met the love of my life and the woman I'm going to marry on a facebook group devoted to your run for the presidency. Our paths crossed because she was active posting on your behalf and she caught my eye. She is a passionate conservative from Indiana and she was defending you with sharp replies to baseless liberal-biased smears. Sparks flew shortly after we met and we are inseparable. Your campaign made it happen.

So if you can take anything from this campaign, know that you brought two passionate lovers together. If you want an invitation to the wedding, I am sure Krystle and I have zero objections to that. It would be really amazing actually. Make sure to book sometime to be in Indianapolis in the fall of 2010.

Thank you again sir.