Off the grid

Up at the cabin with three sons, one daughter, one Mom, and two labs. Barring any events of significant significance, this space will be off the grid for a while.

Have a safe and happy week.


Classy statement by the P.M.

Statement Date: August 7, 2010

For immediate release

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement regarding former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien who recently underwent brain surgery in Montreal:

“Laureen and I send former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien our best wishes for a speedy and full recovery. Along with his wife Aline, Mr. Chrétien and his family are in our thoughts and prayers.

“Mr. Chrétien, I am sure, will emerge as he always has from every challenge, by winning.”

– 30 –


He’s in great shape, joking with the doctors, and will make a full recovery

Jean Chretien has successful brain surgery in Montreal

Updated: Sat Aug. 07 2010 11:03:38 AM

CTV.ca News Staff

Former prime minister Jean Chretien is recovering in a Montreal hospital after undergoing surgery to relieve a pooling of blood on his brain.

A news release issued by Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital said Chretien had surgery to relieve a spontaneous subdural hematoma, or a collection of blood between the skull and the brain, on Friday.

The hospital said neurosurgeon Dr. Jeff D. Golan successfully evacuated the blood, which had accumulated on the right side of Chretien’s head.

Hospital staff will update the former prime minister’s condition during a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Chretien is expected to be released from hospital in a few days.

He appeared in good health in May when he attended the unveiling of his official portrait on Parliament Hill.

Chretien, 76, served as an MP for 40 years and led three Liberal-majority governments in a decade as prime minister.

Chretien left public life when he resigned as prime minister in December 2003, and went to work for Heenan Blaikie, mostly at the law firm’s Ottawa office. But he is also active at the Montreal office, according to the firm’s website.

He underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery in 2007 at the Montreal Heart Institute, shortly before his memoirs were published.


Trojan test

A number of regular readers (Darren, David et al.) let me know that a Trojan had somehow infiltrated wk.com this morning.  The Ill-Logic Team got to work on it, and had to strip out more than 800 instances of malicious code.

This post will show us whether the Trojan is gone.  Thanks to all for the suggestions and help.

And, while we are on the subject, this episode should make clear to one and all that APPLE PRODUCTS CAN BE INFECTED WITH VIRUSES AND MALWARE.


“The best mayor Toronto never had”

That’s how I described John Tory to the Star and the Globe. It was a bit of a paradox, I said to Kelly Grant of the Globe (who also owns a beautiful lab named Roxy, but that’s coincidence for another day): “The things that made him so attractive to Toronto voters – his decency and his honesty – are the things that persuaded him not to enter the race: he can’t fake it. He’s a honest guy. He had to have a burning passion for the job to run. You need that burning passion to win.”

And he would’ve won, too. Big time.

So the race is what it is. Rocco Rossi is a good candidate, but unfortunately no one knows who he is; a lot of them think he should have run to be a councillor first. Rob Ford is a joke, and his manifest unsuitability for office is going to be shortly revealed to the city, in forensic detail. George Smitherman has run a low-bridge campaign when he shouldn’t, and he doesn’t have anything resembling a vision; the “Furious George” appellation isn’t unfair, either – it’s a highly factual description of the person he has become.

Sarah Thompson is an impressive and interesting person, but she too should have run for council first. Like Rocco, not enough people know who she is. Joe Pantalone is evidence for the proposition that the Left is entirely sitting this one out – they couldn’t figure out what to do after Adam Giambrone beat a hasty retreat, and now they’ve given up on holding onto the mayoralty. (Adam shouldn’t have bowed out, by the way, but that’s a debate for another day.)

The Summer 2010 re-draft John Tory movement – like the Summer/Fall 2009 draft John Tory movement that preceded it – was partly about John, of course. He would have been the best mayor Toronto has ever had, hands down. But it was also a response to the lack of enthusiasm people have for the candidates now offering themselves for election. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs for Canada’s biggest city, but that’s how it is.

Canadian politics sure is weird, these days: people seemingly have more enthusiasm for who isn’t there, and not who is. I’m open to hearing about your theories as to why that might be.

In the meantime, pop by the SFH/Rockin’ Al/Kill For You gig at the Bovine gig tomorrow night: you might bump into a candidate (and a former candidate) or two. Maybe you can convince them in a way that I couldn’t.