What hit you first was the voice.

Driving into Toronto from northern Ontario, that’s what struck you first. The voice. NDP Leader Jack Layton on the radio, announcing to a stunned Ottawa he was stepping down to battle what he called a “new cancer.”

And his voice — the voice that had propelled Layton and his New Democrats to its biggest-ever victory on May 2 — sounded like it belonged to another man. A much older man.

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Hope and pray he’s okay.

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Just got word: I’ve got a deal for book number seven – and for all of North American too.

Pretty excited about this one. Stay tuned for details.

All you regulars are going to be in this one – Gord Tulk and Namesake too!

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I’m a Liberal. I’m also a gun owner.

Now, I’ll bet those aren’t two sentences you’re used to seeing strung together.

But, in my case, it’s true. I don’t see them as being mutually exclusive concepts, either.

I got to thinking about guns, and the politics of guns, with the news this week the long-gun registry is a goner.

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She had talent, that’s a fact.

It’s also a fact that this one should be written up as a suicide. Because that’s what it was.

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I’ve read this a few times, and I don’t get it.

Is he saying they somehow deserved to die?

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For the right-wingers who claim that Tim Hudak can’t halt access to abortion: you’re wrong.  By killing LHINs, he kills Planned Parenthood.  He’s doing through the back door what he can’t do through the front door.

Here are the facts, from GritChik and others:

FACT: Planned Parenthood is funded, in part, through LHINs and the Government of Ontario.

FACT: Tim Hudak is pro-life and has signed a pledge to defund abortion.

FACT: Tim Hudak believes that it’s the government’s role to promote “the choice of life.”

FACT: Tim Hudak will scrap LHINs if elected premier.

Would Tim Hudak deny funding to pro-choice organizations like Planned Parenthood if he’s premier? And can someone please ask him this question?

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…but, at least, McGuinty’s approach is working:

Ontario will set temperature records today but won’t break any power use records (Heat-Wave)
Source: The Canadian Press
Jul 21, 2011 9:35

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TORONTO – Ontario may be set to break some temperature records today, but it won’t be breaking any power demand records, despite all the air conditioners being cranked up.

The Independent Electricity System Operator predicts peak demand will hit 26,651 megawatts today, which won’t even be enough to crack the top ten peak demand days.

The all-time high was Aug. 1, 2006, when Ontario needed 27,005 megawatts of electricity.

IESO spokesman Terry Young says lower industrial demand is one of the reasons we won’t set any power records today despite the soaring heat and humidity.

And Young says conservation efforts are paying off, along with time-of-use pricing which does have people trying to move some of their electricity use to off-peak hours after 7 o’clock each evening.

The agency recommends people set their air conditioners to 26 degrees during the day today to conserve energy and save money.

INDEX: UTILITIES WEATHER ENVIRONMENT NATIONAL POLITICS

 

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Meanwhile, here’s what he says about my guy:

“I’m offering an endorsement of what Mr. McGuinty has done, absolutely. This is a great plan. Any party would be foolish to talk about abandoning it,” he said.

“I’m very, very admiring of what he’s done,” said the man who finished fifth in CBC’s 2004 nationwide search for The Greatest Canadian, behind Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox, Pierre Trudeau and Sir Frederick Banting.

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