Cigarette prices keep going up and there are increasingly less places one is free to smoke. Cigarettes cannot be shown in stores and cannot be advertised. It is not an illegal habit – it is just an increasingly inconvenient one to enjoy. Even with the stigma of death being attached to each pack and the constant reminder of health repercussions to the smoker and those around them, smoking continues to be seen everywhere. However, it is not just the traditional corporate brands being enjoyed. Many of them are lesser known brands of contraband cigarettes. The National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco and The Canadian Convenience Stores Association recently released a report explaining a connection between illegal cigarettes and organized crime including drug and weapons smuggling. The CCSA points to contraband cigarettes being the primary cause of difficulties felt by convenience store owners around the country.
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Last week I found an interactive map on the Globe and Mail website that provides a big-picture look at the number of confirmed H1N1 hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths by province/territory and for Canada as a whole. Today, I found another great resource courtesy of the National Post.

The image illustrates how H1N1 vaccines in Canada originate from GlaxoSmithKline, the sole provider of H1N1 vaccines in Canada, and ultimately reach the general population. The image also indicates the eligibility groups province by province and provides up-to-date information on the roll-out so far.

Here is a summary of the content provided:

British Columbia:

- 1.16 million doses received.
- Over 900,000 injections thus far.
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Now seeing as Remembrance Day has come and gone, it seems appropriate to discuss our beleaguered military and the misguided government who directs it. Now I am sure I am not the only poppy-wearing Canadian getting sick of our soldiers coming home in body bags, I’m sure our government is too – but seeing as the most significant thing they’ve done in regards to our armed forces is extend our one minute of silence to two on November 11th, I question the level of their concern. Perhaps we should be more invested in our soldiers while they are alive rather than remembering them after they are gone. Although considering the steady stream of body bags coming home, perhaps the government is on to something.

I have never been a fan of war. If I was alive during the ‘60s I would have felt right at home. But I am willing to accept that there are those in this world that just do not excel at co-existing with others. People like Hitler, Stalin, and my favourite character on Team America, Kim Jong-Il. Adding to this list, you got your crazed, blood thirsty revolutionaries which are too numerous to name but dot the international map in mass quantities and can be found in tragedies like Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. No one pretends that our world is a perfect place, in fact, it is pretty messed up. And it is for these unfortunate circumstances that we have our military, and thank goodness we do.
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“Events my dear boy, events.”
- British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s response to a query about the most difficult aspect of governing.

“A week is a long time in politics.”
- British Prime Minister Harold Wilson

Admit it. You have experienced this emotion. You desire something more when you know that you cannot have it. It appears that the desire to know the future is not unlike this craving. Although many people intuitively seem to know that the future cannot be predicted, humans still seem hardwired to want to know the future. Business spends huge amounts annually for consultants and futurists to inform them about the future. They do this despite the fact that these experts for the most part are not held accountable for their forecasts and, if monitored, these forecasts would prove wrong more often than not.
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As a Tory, I have to admit that I’m reveling in the woes of the Liberals, and elated at the Bloc getting a bloody nose. As a Canadian, and a voter, I’m tragically concerned with the serious imbalance within our political system today, and all Canadians should take note that a weak and indecisive Liberal party is a very bad thing for the democratic process.

That said, (I love that queue) for the first time in 25 years, I feel elation at the prospect of the erosion of the hold the Bloc has over Quebec. For the first time in such a long time, Quebecers are finally looking like they intend to get into the game federally, with more than just the token protest vote.

It’s about bloody time too. The Bloc has always been a “park vote here, no alternative” solution to most Quebecers, but it’s been done in the full awareness that the Bloc agenda has ever been set on the track of “how much can we screw the rest of the nation for”. As an Albertan, I’m painfully aware that Central Canadian politicians can be screwed for a fair bit by a blackmailing Quebec.
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"Lest We Forget"

To my family and my forefathers whom sacrificed themselves and their futures for all that I have enjoyed in my life, I hope you hear this as my words; defending your gifts:

Remembering our dead and actually learning form their suffering and sacrifice are not the same things. Remembering Canada’s fallen, although sentimental and poignant, is one thing; I have lost family in all the great wars of Canada’s history since 1831 defending our world from those whom would impose their beliefs at the point of a gun or tank turret, a principle for which my grandfather fought and spent four years as a German POW in Bavaria, leaving his infant sons and wife to cold fortune and hope. Remembering these men’s sacrifice, however, (there were no women in combat roles at this time) without “learning” from their sacrifice makes their deaths, their solitude, their pain and the emotional agony they endured pointless.
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Over and over, I hear British Columbia’s Minister of Health Kevin Falcon tell us he is following “best practices,” when he explains why certain services, such as six community based crisis lines on Vancouver Island, have been dismantled. The term is held up as a rationale for cuts to an existing and responsive tried and true system of delivery of services, particularly in regard to the Nuu-Chah-Nulth on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Under the guise of “best practices,” the existing crisis-line services that have direct ties in to each of the communities are being replaced with a central call centre. The easy to remember number 811, so goes the rationale, will make it more convenient for those in crisis to get through for the help they need. That the call centre will be staffed by the lowest bidder for the job will make for great savings in Falcon’s system. Anyone who’s paid attention to the abject failure of corporations such as Telus to deliver useful service to its customers through their outsourced call centres should quickly understand the fundamental differences in service that this shift by the Minister of Health implies. The difference is often inconvenient and frustrating when dealing with one’s phone or internet service; it can be a matter of life and death when dealing with a crisis line for those living in remote regions whose only contact is the person on the other end of the line. It can make all the difference for the individual in crisis if the voice on the other end of the line is familiar with the community, the situation, and the unique social narrative that defines small and remote communities.
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Canadian Commander in Afghanistan Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance

Brigadier-General Jonathon Vance, Canada’s commander in Afghanistan, has been the most recent high level official to state publicly what many NATO military and political leaders are increasingly recognizing as a primary obstacle to success in the war torn country.

“The international community is going to demand honesty, integrity and good performance from all levels of government or we won’t stay. We have lost too many soldiers and spent too much of our people’s money to stay if there is not honest co-operation. Our public accepts us here and is deciding right now whether we will stay. Canadians, Americans, the British, everyone is wondering whether it is worth it to stay.” Vance made his comments during his final tour of Kandahar province, meeting with local tribal elders on the eve of his departure as Canada’s top commander in Afghanistan, following his ten month tenure.

His dire warning comes on the heels of similar statements delivered to Afghan president Hamid Karzai, in the aftermath of the election debacle which saw widespread fraud allegations lead to a potential second round of voting, only to have the runoff vote halted at the last moment by the unexpected withdrawal of Karzai’s main challenger, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.
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Ontario MPP and Mayoral hopeful George Smitherman with Toronto Mayor David Miller.

When David Miller announced that he would not be seeking a third term for mayor, much speculation arose as to who would dare take the role of what is seemingly the worst political job in the country. Almost right away, Ontario Liberal MPP George Smitherman – who was Health minister of Ontario from 2003-2008 until he was shifted to Energy and Infrastructure – put his name in the proverbial hat, though no official candidacy will begin until the new year. Smitherman is MPP for the Toronto Central riding and does have experience in municipal politics, as he was top aide to former Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall. Considering his likely opponents may include John Tory, Smitherman must think he is a shoe-in for the job and has even resigned his portfolio (though not his membership) in anticipation of the race.

Smitherman will be switching political domains on the heels of the red hot eHealth scandal, which saw the resignation of Smitherman’s health portfolio successor David Caplan. Smitherman feels there should be no correlation between himself or the scandal, because eHealth was not created until after he was shuffled to the energy portfolio.
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"R.C.M.P. Stare Down Protest"

Senior R.C.M.P. Officials can deny harassing Vancouver Olympic protesters all they want and Pat McDonnel can sit and feint innocence as long as he can legally cover it up or maintain deniability, but lets look at the truth – the R.C.M.P.’s actions, not statements, and I.S.U. security behaviours for the 2010 Olympics.

Danika Surm, friend of open anti-Olympic protester Chris Shaw, claims she was approached by two plainclothed Olympic security officers and questioned about her friendship with an anti-Olympic protester. Surm said “she was on her way to class at a south Vancouver campus when she was approached by two plainclothed police officers with the Integrated Security Unit, the force in charge of Olympic security. The two officers questioned her about her friendship with Chris, who teaches neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, and what she knew about his plans to protest against the Olympics in February. The R.C.M.P. then did the same thing to Chris Shaw’s ex-wife, even though the two haven’t been married for 15 years.
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