That little-known nostalgia act, Little Timmy and the HSTs, are touring Ontario – and the reviews are pouring in!

Adam Radwanski has a column about Timmy’s tune-making in today’s Globe:

“Mr. Hudak’s Tories don’t have [the ability to make “a principled and non-conflicted case” against the HST]. Their ties to the federal party that championed the HST, combined with the fact that they don’t fundamentally oppose the nature of the reform, have limited their ability to benefit from the issue in and of itself.”

And there’s also this boffo review, from the Guelph Mercury yesterday:

“Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak was once again all talk and no promised action during a visit to Guelph.  As he did in previous stops — Hudak has been in Guelph four times during the last 14 months — he lashed out at Premier Dalton McGuinty and the looming harmonized sales tax, which takes effect July 1. But the leader again failed to offer a concrete solution to the tax.”

Then, there’s my latest favourite, also from yesterday, in the Toronto Star:

“While Hudak insists he opposes the tax, he has also pointedly decline to promise to repeal it.  Party sources say that’s because the leader, who has a masters in economics from the University of Washington, sees the merit in taxing consumption instead of income to spark productivity.”

What a tune! “We Really, Really Hate It, But We Won’t Get Rid Of It, Because We See The Merit In It!”

Long song title.  Doesn’t sound like a hit to me, but what do I know?

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My pal Richard – who I am really, really proud to call my friend – has racked up yet another win.  First it was the National Post, now it’s some of the kooks at a far-right hate site called Free Dominion:

On June 16, 2010, the following post appeared on www.freedominion.com.pa under the new thread title “Apology to Richard Warman”

“In 2007, I published on the Internet material that attacked the personal and professional reputation of Richard Warman. These attacks were unjustified and I retract and apologize for them without reservation.”

“Andrew Spencer (Droid1963)”

Spotted by BCL, natch.  Richard’s web site is here.

Go, Richard!

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• The Canadian Press: “The current and former Liberal leaders have been at odds of late over whether their party should find some way to join forces with the NDP, be it through an electoral non-compete pact, a coalition or outright merger. Chretien has publicly suggested the party should pursue some sort of co-operation with the NDP in order to defeat Stephen Harper’s Tories in the next election. And he’s admitted he’s had casual discussions on the matter with former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, although he’s stressed he has no mandate to negotiate anything.”
• Amherst Citizen: “Some Canadians are still wondering how Harper, whose partisan approach and controlling behaviour have kept him at a distance from most, managed to become our prime minister. The answer is simple. He swallowed his pride and merged the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservative Party, to create the ruling Conservative Party of today…”
• Rick Salutin, Globe: “This has often been a subject of speculation. It has now moved into serious discussions. However, an anonymous Liberal organizer told the Toronto Star it won’t happen, because “They’re socialists, we’re not.” Would that it were so, as they say in the Talmud. It would be nice to have someone at least make the case.”

UPDATE: Related, and worth reading.

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Last night, after a SFH get-together, we saw Mudhoney at Michael Hollett’s (hey, Michael!) NXNE in Dundas Square.

And then, at 10 p.m….X!

X!

I’ve waited thirty years to see these guys; when I was a teenager, I reckoned they were the coolest outfit on the planet. Having seen them, I can now die, a contended man [wild cheers go up, country-wide – Ed.].  X was as tight and fast and as passionate as ever – they were amazing.  The only disappointment: they didn’t play ‘Blue Spark.’ To get Friday started right, here they are, many years back, playing on Letterman (and featuring a hilarious exchange between Dave and Billy Zoom):

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A loonie boondoggle: Ostentation in a time of austerity

Jun 17th 2010 | Ottawa

FOR all his gifts as a political tactician, Stephen Harper, Canada’s Conservative prime minister, may have miscalculated how much Canadians want to pay to host the G8 and G20 summits from June 25th to 27th. As the government struggles to close a large budget deficit, it is spending C$1.2 billion ($1.2 billion) to host the world’s leaders-60% more than Japan, the previous record holder, coughed up for the G8 gathering in Okinawa in 2000.

Mr Harper points out that Canada is holding back-to-back summits-doubling the cost, he says. The government also notes that it can hardly be blamed for providing airtight security. It has built a steel fence around the woodland cottage resort at Muskoka that will receive the G8, and deployed special forces on overtime to lurk in the water and surrounding forest.

But critics counter that Mr Harper could have saved money by inviting the G20 to Muskoka as well, rather than receiving them separately in Toronto, 200 km (125 miles) to the south. Moreover, they note that much of the budget has gone on items of dubious utility and taste. The prime minister has become the butt of jokes for commissioning an artificial lake, complete with mock canoes and recordings of the call of the loon, for the G20 summit’s media centre-which sits just yards from the real Lake Ontario. In Muskoka taxpayers are on the hook for a refurbished steamboat that won’t even float until the summit is over, and new outdoor toilets 20km from the meeting site. So much for small government.

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• Norm Spector: “Personally, I’m with Mr. Chrétien on this one. Who better than he—having run successfully three times against a divided right—to understand that the division of the opposition vote, if it continues, will likely mean the election of a third consecutive Conservative government?”
• Brent Noiles: “Liberals shouldn’t summarily dismiss the NDP as a fringe party of socialist wing-nuts, and NDP members shouldn’t pretend they are so morally superior that they can’t co-operate with anyone but themselves. The combined arrogance must end. Instead of dismissing each other, their parties and their policies, the respective leaders might try rising above the small stuff for a change. A closer, more honest look might reveal there’s more that unites than divides.”
• Browne and Lang:  “Coalitions, governing accords, or other novel arrangements might not be the best option in the minds of many Canadian progressives — particularly Liberals who are used to winning government without making concessions to other parties. But new approaches might be the only option to forming a progressive government any time soon in light of these structural political trends.”

And that’s just this morning.

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This is wonderful news – and long, long overdue.

To celebrate, here’s a detail from Bill Reid’s extraordinary Spirit of Haida Gwaii sculpture – which you may have spotted at Vancouver’s airport, or the Canadian embassy in Washington, or (almost certainly, since 2004) on the back of a twenty dollar bill.  To me, he was the greatest Canadian artist.

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Here, my young Daisy colleague opines for CITY-TV.  Way to go, Rob!

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B.O.F., favourite of the bureaucrats, here, versus two super-smart women, here and here.

In my books, aways go with the latter.

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I first linked to PostSecret a few years ago, and it set off a huge response with the folks who come to this web site. It continues to be fascinating and sad and compelling.

I’m going to go black for a couple days – June 15 approaches – so best wishes to you and yours. Hug your parents.

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