The source of his inspiration.

One year from today, Ontario will go back to the polls.  We Ontario Liberals are already at work, and in fact have been at work for months.  We intend to continue to work very hard, to once again earn the confidence of the people.  And we intend to take our opponents very, very seriously.  We don’t, and will not, take anything for granted.

That’s because the choices are starkly different, and the consequences of making  the wrong choice are pretty significant.  So I think Ontario voters need to start pondering what would be the consequence of a win by our principal (but by no means only) opponent, Conservative leader Tim Hudak.

Here’s a very short summary of Hudak’s views and positions, mostly derived from his tenure as a Mike Harris disciple.  In the year ahead, you will be hearing a lot more about these.  Consider them carefully.  If you feel as I and many others do, we need to once again cast a vote of confidence in Dalton McGuinty [full disclosure: whose caucus I’ve given comms advice].

• Education: Hudak and his caucus call full-day kindergarten ” a frill.”  He has supported funding private religious schools in the past, and he still does.
• Health: When he was the right-hand to the Conservative Minister of Health, Hudak worked to close 28 hospitals and 7,110 hospital beds.  He also favoured firing 6,200 nurses.  His current plan is to cut $3 billion from front-line health care in Ontario. And he opposed cutting the cost of prescription drugs for Ontario seniors and families.
• Economy: Many times, Hudak and his caucus have voted against tax cuts for Ontario families and businesses.  He also opposed the partnership with the auto sector, which saved hundreds of thousands of Ontario families – just as he opposed investment in Ontario infrastructure when the recession hit.  And, though he once opposed the HST, he now admits that it should be maintained.
• Energy/Environment: When Hudak and his party were last in power, we had failed energy de-regulation, a “price cap” fiasco, and his Conservative friends getting rich off Hydro One with untendered contracts.  When he had a say, dirty coal generation increased 127 per cent.  And, of course, Hudak, and his party, created a system where people in Walkerton died, and where hundreds more became sick for life.

In the year ahead, you’ll be hearing more and more about these and other concerns.

And in the year ahead, you will hopefully come to know – as I do – that Dalton McGuinty is a builder.

Tim Hudak and his cabal, meanwhile, are the wrecking crew.

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Best news I’ve heard in ages. Woot!

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Just, sigh.

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Reformatory Monte Solberg, who has grown to Godzilla-size, takes on me and the NDP’s Peggy Nash.

Go to “Featured Video” here, at 1:43 mark.

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Sarah on George, in her own words (these are verbatim quotes):

• Smitherman is “completely irresponsible, corrupt, boondoggle of a career politician…”
• Smitherman will “manipulate, trick and pull the wool over” voters’ eyes.
• …and she says something completely homophobic about him that, on reflection, I’m not going to even quote.  It’s disgraceful.

As Rocco said: “They belong together.”

[Thomson – who perhaps was “just pretending” again – has deleted the blog post containing the above words.  Any readers who can find it?]

UPDATE: And intrepid reader Heather finds it, here!

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David Chen is my hero. He should be yours, too.

Last year, David – a 35-year-old Toronto restaurant employee – spotted a creep on a bike stealing a box of plants. The same character had been stealing stuff from people and businesses in the Chinatown area for a while. Everyone knew who he was and what he was doing.

David spotted the guy later that same Saturday, and he confronted him. The guy dropped his bike and took off. David chased after him with two other restaurant employees. When they got him, they tied him up by his hands and feet, put him in a delivery truck and immediately contacted police. They made a citizen’s arrest.

But when the cops arrived at the Lucky Moose Food Mart, everyone – including David and the two other guys, along with the thief – was arrested and charged. The three grocers were charged with assault and kidnapping; the man on the bike was charged with theft. David was kept in jail overnight. The crook, however, was promptly released on bail.

Lots of shopkeepers and customers in Chinatown have been pretty upset with what has happened to David, and they should be. They’ve told the media the area is plagued with petty theft, but that the police often don’t get there fast enough, or at all. The police and the Crown’s office (one of the worst in the country, in my view) have been dancing on the head of a legal pin, saying what David Chen did wasn’t really a citizen’s arrest because, um, er, it wasn’t a “continuous event,” your Honour. That’s B.S.

Section 494 of the Criminal Code allows “anyone” to make an arrest “without warrant” if they believe someone has committed a criminal offence. Sounds like what David did, doesn’t it? Check.

The section further provides that the citizen “shall forthwith deliver the person to a peace officer.” David did that, too. Check.

The whole thing seems to turn on the fact that the bad guy was not being “freshly pursued” by the good guys. What does “freshly pursued” mean? Beats me. “Fresh” is a word you can apply to any edible product, in any circumstance, without being arrested. But in David Miller’s Toronto, “fresh” has to mean “continuous,” or someone is going to charge you with kidnapping and a bunch of other stuff, too.

As you guys know, I’m not a law-and-order maniac. As a past member of the executive of various provincial and federal law associations, I actually love the genius of the law. But, in this case, I would have to admit that the law is, indeed, an ass.  And politicians from all parries – Liberal Joe Volpe, Conservative Jason Kenney, NDPer Olivia Chow – apparently agree, and have shown their strong support for David.  Everyone should.

David Chen, meanwhile, is my hero.  He’s in court again today for his trial.  Please drop by to show him support.

And sign the petition supporting him here!

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Floating Vibes: there’s Dinosaur Jr. in there, some Pavement, the Shins, the Beach Boys if they’d done more acid, Tromple le Monde-era Pixies, and a not a few lo-fi others.  But what a tune!

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Ian Douglas MacKenzie! (His profile pic, above, won me over. How could it not?)

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The best Canadian single ever.

I love Top Ten lists, and Top One Hundred lists are even better.

This list is pretty good, but I have edited it, because – well –  I know better.  The numbers you see refer to are Bob Mesereau’s original ranking.  The ones that are absolutely brilliant picks, in my opinion, are 1, 5, 23, 32 (yay, Moe!), 36, 55, 62 (in particular), 80 and 90.  Putting The Demics on there is a stroke of genius, but it should’ve been number one, of course.  (Here it is, if you want to hear it again, which you do.) Missing: DOA (“Disco Sucks”), Young Canadians (“Hawaii”), Modernettes (“Barbara”), Viletones (“Possibilities”), the Forgotten Rebels (“Surfin’ On Heroin”), and – if you ask my daughter – maybe even these teenage jerks.

On the stinker list, anything by Bryan Adams, Bruce Cockburn or Celine Dion is a source of enduring national shame.  We should revoke their citizenship.  Better yet, throw them in Millhaven.

Anyway.  The ones where I agree with their inclusion – that is, The Good List – although not always their ranking:

1. The Guess Who — “American Woman”

2. Neil Young — “Heart of Gold”

3. The Band — “The Weight”

5. Leonard Cohen — “Hallelujah”

6. Steppenwolf — “Born to Be Wild”

7. Gordon Lightfoot — “If You Could Read My Mind”

8. Bachman Turner Overdrive — “Takin’ Care of Business”

9. Ian and Sylvia — “Four Strong Winds”

11. Joni Mitchell — “Big Yellow Taxi” / “Woodstock”

12. Rush — “Tom Sawyer”

13. Blue Rodeo — “Try”

14. Tragically Hip — “New Orleans is Sinking”

15. Gordon Lightfoot — “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

16. Leonard Cohen — “Suzanne”

18. The Guess Who — “These Eyes”

19. Gordon Lightfoot — “Sundown”

20. Sloan — “Underwhelmed”

21. The Band — “Up on Cripple Creek” / “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”

22. Maestro Fresh Wes — “Let Your Backbone Slide”

23. The Diodes — “Tired of Waking Up Tired”

25. Rush — “The Spirit of Radio”

26. Rough Trade — “High School Confidential”

27. Martha and the Muffins — “Echo Beach”

28. Stampeders — “Sweet City Woman”

29. Arcade Fire — “Wake Up”

32. The Pursuit Of Happiness — “I’m an Adult Now”

33. Ugly Ducklings — “Nothin’ “

34. Sloan — “Coax Me”

35. Rush — “Closer to the Heart”

36. Teenage Head — “Picture My Face”

37. Guess Who — “Shakin’ All Over”

38. Five Man Electrical Band — “Signs”

39. Blue Rodeo — “Lost Together”

50. Terry Jacks — “Seasons in the Sun”

52. Neil Young — “Cinnamon Girl”

53. Alanis Morissette — “You Oughta Know”

54. Feist — “1234”

55. Arcade Fire — “Rebellion (Lies)”

56. k.d. lang — “Constant Craving”

57. Neil Young — “Rockin’ in the Free World”

60. Tragically Hip — “Bobcaygeon”

62. The Demics — “New York City”

64. Tragically Hip — “Ahead by a Century”

65. Blue Rodeo — “Five Days in May”

66. Hank Snow — “I’m Moving On”

72. The Kings —“This Beat Goes on/Switchin’ to Glide”

73. Neil Young — “Old Man” / “Needle and the Damage Done”

80. Teenage Head — “Let’s Shake”/ “Somethin’ On My Mind”

86. Stompin’ Tom Connors — “The Hockey Song”

87. Tragically Hip — “Wheat Kings”

90. New Pornographers — “Letter from an Occupant”

91. Guess Who — “No Time”

93. Neil Young — “Hey Hey My My”

94. Paul Anka — “Diana”

95. Daniel Lanois — “The Maker”

96. The Spoons — “Nova Heart”

The Stinker List, the things that make us ashamed that these people are in some way Canadian and/or only got airplay because of CanCon, and we don’t know who they are and don’t really care to:

4. Bryan Adams — “Summer of ’69”

10. Anne Murray — “Snowbird”

17. Tom Cochrane — “Life is a Highway”

25. Crowbar — “Oh What a Feeling”

30. Barenaked Ladies — “If I Had $1,000,000”

31. Robert Charlebois — “Lindberg”

40. Ron Hynes — “Sonny’s Dream”

41. Men Without Hats — “The Safety Dance”

42. Rheostatics — “Claire”

43. Lighthouse — “One Fine Morning”

44. A Foot In Coldwater — “(Make Me Do) Anything You Want”

45. Corey Hart — “Sunglasses At Night”

46. Loverboy — “Working For The Weekend”

47. Trooper — “Raise A Little Hell”

48. Parachute Club — “Rise Up”

49. Alannah Myles — “Black Velvet”

51. Malajube — “Montreal -40C”

58. Michel Pagliaro — “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy”

59. Bruce Cockburn — “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”

61. Joni Mitchell — “A Case of You” / “California”

63. Bryan Adams — “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”

67. Harmonium — “Pour un instant”

70. Celine Dion — “My Heart Will Go On”

71. k-os — “Crabbuckit”

74. Jean Leloup — “1990”

78. Bruce Cockburn — “Wondering Where the Lions Are”

79. April Wine — “You Could Have Been a Lady”

81. Joni Mitchell — “Help Me”

82. Trooper — “We’re Here For A Good Time”

83. Lighthouse — “Sunny Days”

84. Jean-Pierre Ferland — “Le petit roi”

85. Bryan Adams — “Cuts Like A Knife”

88. Gilles Vigneault — “Mon pays”

89. Spirit of The West — “Home For a Rest”

92. Mashmakhan — “As the Years Go By”

97. Beau Dommage — “La complainte du phoque en Alaska”

98. Ron Sexsmith — “Secret Heart”

99. Bryan Adams — “Run to You”

100. Wintersleep — “Weighty Ghost”

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I’m three friends short of three thousand.  I planned this momentous event to coincide with the weekend that Social Network opened.

FB page here. 3,000th customer gets…oh, Christ, I don’t know.

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