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Feb. 22nd, 2016
The Toronto Star's Dan Taekema reports on those few Americans who actually do move to Canada as a sign of political protest.
“I think very few people who say they’re going, have any idea what it all involves,” said Lee Rowan, an author who moved from Ohio with her wife in 2007 and settled in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. “It’s complicated; you don’t just throw a bag in the car and drive north.”
Rowan’s father was a PoW during the Second World War, and the 63-year-old said watching American officials gloat about torturing prisoners during the Iraq War left her “horrified.”
Adding to the allure was the fact that three years earlier their home state had outlawed same-sex marriage; meanwhile Ontario was one of the first North American areas to make it legal.
“We were thinking, you know, this system is so screwed up there may be no hope left and we started really thinking about Canada, which seemed to be sane.”
At ipolitics.ca, Andrew Mitrovica is scathing of the leadership of the federal NDP, not just Mulcair.
In the months since its calamitous election campaign, the NDP — a party that prides itself on, and largely defines itself by, perpetually demanding accountability of other parties — has carefully avoided holding its own leader to account.
As far as I can tell, no one inside the NDP hierarchy in Ottawa has paid any price (beyond a little humiliation) in the wake of the painful thrashing the party received on October 19.
Tom Mulcair remains the bruised, diminished leader of a rump caucus reduced to playing third-string in the House of Commons and acting, yet again, as the self-proclaimed parliamentary conscience of Canada. (The line the NDP trots out every time it gets trounced in a federal election — that it’s the Western Hemisphere’s most moral party — is getting stale.)
Sure, Mulcair has made noises about how he takes personal responsibility for squandering the NDP’s historic opportunity to actually win a federal election. But from my distant perch in Toronto, Mulcair’s mea culpa sounds about as convincing as Ezra Levant does when he tells people he’s a journalist now.
Look, if Mulcair truly accepted blame for the NDP’s disastrous showing, don’t you think he would have taken the proverbial walk in the snow by now? Ottawa did record its largest one-day snowfall ever earlier this week. Opportunity knocks, Mr. Mulcair.
Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde notes Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei's support for Apple. This will be interesting to watch.
Huawei Technologies Co. will back Apple Inc. as it contests a U.S. government order requiring the unlocking of a terrorist’s iPhone, taking the side of the industry’s biggest names in a clash over the balance between law enforcement and consumer privacy.
China’s largest smartphone maker joined Google Inc. and other technology companies in supporting Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, who last week vowed to fight a court order compelling the company to help investigators break into the phone used by one of the shooters in a California terrorist attack.
Consumer privacy is key for smartphone makers, Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s fast-growing consumer devices division, told Bloomberg Television on Sunday. Huawei becomes one of the first major Asian technology companies to speak out on a debate that has galvanized an industry long resistant to government efforts to gain access to data in criminal cases.
[. . .]
“It’s the top one, the most important thing to the consumer. We should really protect the consumer’s privacy and security,” said Yu, who was at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to unveil Huawei’s first laptop. “Personally, I support Apple’s, Tim Cook’s idea.”
Huawei showed off the laptop -- which is powered by Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 and comes with a detachable screen -- to help fuel its rapid ascent in consumer devices. Now the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, behind Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple according to IDC, Huawei has aspirations of becoming the No. 1 brand in five years.
Newsweek's Seung Lee describes how the FBI conflict with Apple might undermine the position of the United States in the European Union (and of Apple, too!).
With Apple openly fighting court orders backed by the FBI and the Department of Justice this week, several news outlets have reported on how Russia and China may use this case to expand their surveillance powers.
But this legal battle may have huge ripple effects among America’s closest allies in Europe as well. The United States and the European Union do not currently have an agreement on how to share data across the Atlantic. But both sides have recently reached a new transatlantic data protection agreement called Privacy Shield, which would allow companies to move data across the Atlantic lawfully and with protection against foreign threats.
But European public trust toward the United States remains shaky following the disclosure via Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency (NSA) engaged in large-scale data collection involving EU citizens. If the FBI is able to coerce Apple into opening encrypted smartphones, that trust—and maybe even Privacy Shield—could topple quickly, one security expert tells Newsweek.
“Privacy advocates will use this is as a bargaining position against Privacy Shield,” says Stephen Cobb, a senior security researcher at the IT security company ESET. “They will cry, ‘See, the United States is still not secure.’”
Bloomberg's Yoolim lee writes about Indonesia's e-commerce leader.
William Tanuwijaya was helping small companies build websites when he began shopping an idea for Indonesia’s first Internet shopping hub. It took 11 pitches to get funding, but his startup is now verging on becoming the nation’s first unicorn.
The son of a factory worker created Tokopedia in 2009 just as the economy and Internet usage mushroomed in the world’s fourth-most populous country. A then-record $100 million funding round that included SoftBank Group Corp. and Sequoia Capital in 2014 announced the nation’s coming-of-age as a bona fide destination for technology investment.
Tanuwijaya is the poster child for Indonesia’s online boom, a 34-year-old entrepreneur who started without family money or credentials and now hobnobs with government officials. With his company taking its name from the Indonesian word for store, he wants Tokopedia to become a local answer to Alibaba.com, and he credits that drive to some dismissive advice he received from a potential investor in 2008.
[. . .]
Tanuwijaya is capitalizing on one of Asia’s youngest populations -- where the median age is 28-- and one of its most mobile-centric with more connections than people. About three-quarters of Tokopedia’s traffic comes from mobile devices.
That may propel the startup past $1 billion in valuation -- territory inhabited by so-called “unicorns.” There are currently only three in Southeast Asia -- two in Singapore and one in Thailand, according to CB Insights.
Angus Whitley of Bloomberg describes a strict regime for cycling in Sydney that I actually think is defensible if flawed. You?
Australia’s newest piece of criminal legislation is among the toughest in the world. The target: cyclists.
In a week, riders in Sydney and the rest of New South Wales state will be subject to a package of new laws aimed at cutting deaths and the more than 1,000 serious injuries a year among cyclists.
The penalty for cycling without a helmet more than quadruples to A$319 ($229), stiffer than many speeding fines for drivers, and riders jumping a red light will get a A$425 fine. Adult riders will have to carry identification, or face a A$106 penalty from March 2017.
Cycling advocates say the crackdown will deter people from saddling up and worsen motorized congestion that’s already grinding down Australia’s biggest cities. Without better planning, the economic cost each year of such gridlock will quadruple to A$53 billion by 2031, according to government agency Infrastructure Australia.
“This legislation is reaching new lows,” said Chris Rissel, a professor at the University of Sydney’s school of public health who has researched the benefits of cycling for 15 years. “There are many things that could be done to make cycling safer and to encourage more people to ride. These things are not it.”
Tougher rules, which come into force March 1, are needed because on average 11 cyclists die and 1,500 are seriously injured each year in New South Wales, said Bernard Carlon, executive director of the government’s Centre for Road Safety.
The Toronto Star's Sunny Freeman describes an ongoing renaissance in Hamilton. I really do have to get there again, and soon.
Even as a U.S. recovery and low Canadian dollar breathe new life into the city’s manufacturing sector, Hamilton is focused on diversifying the local economy away from its former dependence on heavy manufacturing, the fate of which is largely determined by global cycles beyond its control.
The port city’s steel-driven manufacturing base — once the Canadian home to a who’s who of industrial leaders from Westinghouse to Procter and Gamble — has shed some 25,000 jobs since 1976, as major employers lost out to new cheap global competitors amid the rise of the Canadian dollar.
“We were in desperate need of diversifying the economy and growing the economic base,” said Neil Everson, City of Hamilton economic development director.
The realization came at an auspicious moment — just before the 2008-2009 recession battered the city’s manufacturing sector, sending output down 16 per cent in 2009.
City hall believes that this focus on diversification is one of the major reasons Hamilton weathered the recessionary storm as well as it did, and even managed to post lower unemployment rates than the provincial or Canadian averages.
Hamilton has been rated Canada’s most diverse city economy by the Conference Board of Canada, which expects it to make strides in economic growth, employment and personal income levels over the next three years.
The title alone of Tim Harper's Toronto Star article justifies reading this.
As the Stephen Harper years piled one onto another, debate grew in the capital over how much of his Conservative legacy would become a fundamentally ingrained part of Canada.
Would successive governments be unwilling or unable to lift the rocks and get at the philosophical underpinnings of almost a decade of Harper?
Turns out, a lot of the Conservative agenda can be overturned, and rather quickly.
While Justin Trudeau’s Liberals may be spinning their wheels on some big items, such as the size of its budget deficit, the scope of its missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry or the regional tensions engendered by its imminent decision on a $1-billion bailout or stake in Bombardier, it is proving much more adept at tearing down the Conservative house.
It’s as if the new government stole into that old Conservative neighbourhood armed with a pressure washer and starting cleaning that unsightly graffiti off the walls.
[BLOG] Some Monday links
Feb. 22nd, 2016 02:54 pm- Crooked Timber's John Holbo considers the problems of some Americans with modernity.
- Kieran Healy reports on Apple sales trends through to January 2016.
- Language Hat considers the etymology of "Iona".
- The Map Room Blog links to speculation that GPS and mobile maps are eroding humans' ability to track things.
- Marginal Revolution questions why there is a lesbian wage premium.
- pollotenchegg notes the changing housing situation across Ukraine.
- The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that Ecuador is adapting well enough to falling oïl prices.
- Towleroad shares a video of a scientist proposing to his boyfriend in the top of a rainforest.
- Window on Eurasia discusses coercion of public religiosity in Russia.
[URBAN NOTE] RIhanna ft. Drake, "Work"
Feb. 22nd, 2016 10:25 pmblogTO and NOW Toronto note that the video for Rihanna's new single "Work" featuring Drake, seen earlier this month being filmed at east-end restaurant The Real Jerk, has dropped.
This is big news. From blogTO:
Joe. My. God. shared the Pride Toronto press release.
Torontoist's Erica Lenti emphasized the broader political context.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed today he'll be marching in this year's Pride Parade in Toronto. It's no surprise he'll be attending but it is significant - Trudeau will become the first Prime Minister to ever participate in the festivities.
In 2015, Trudeau made his presence known at Pride when, as leader of the Liberal Party prior to the federal election, he dressed in a pink shirt and white pants and hammed it up in front of large crowds and cameras alongside Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Joe. My. God. shared the Pride Toronto press release.
Pride Toronto, the city’s most vibrant and inclusive arts and cultural festival and North America’s largest Pride celebration, unveiled today its 2016 Pride Month theme, announcing to the world that this June, “YOU CAN SIT WITH US.”
The campaign for Canada’s first-ever Pride Month, features Canada’s top political leaders: noted “sexiest man alive” and “politician dreamboat” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, openly out Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and partner Jane Rounthewaite and Toronto Mayor John Tory who will all participate in this year’s festivities in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Pride Toronto’s 2016 Parade will make Canadian history, with Justin Trudeau participating as Canada’s first ever sitting Prime Minister to march, alongside leadership from both Toronto’s municipal and Ontario’s provincial governments.
Torontoist's Erica Lenti emphasized the broader political context.
For the first time in Toronto’s history, Canada’s prime minster, Ontario’s premier, and the city’s mayor will participate in Pride festivities.
Pride Toronto unveiled today that Justin Trudeau, Kathleen Wynne (along with partner Jane Rounthewaite), and John Tory will attend the festivities on July 3. Trudeau’s participation will make the first time an incumbent prime minister will march in the parade.
The news comes after four years of former mayor Rob Ford skipping Pride in favour of a cottage weekend, and nine years of Stephen Harper avoiding the event for his entire run as prime minister.
Other attendees at this year’s events include Police Chief Mark Saunders, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett, 6ix dad @norm, and Black Lives Matter Toronto, who are this year’s honoured group.