test blog #10

How did I fail to acknowledge the passing of Adrienne Rich? She gave the world so much - in politics and in art, and by example. Recognizing my own mind in Rich's prose was one way I realized I was a radical. From The Guardian : Adrienne Rich, who has died aged 82 of complications arising from rheumatoid arthritis, was one of the most influential and political American poets of the last century. The author of more than 30 widely read books of poetry and prose over six decades, she believed that art and politics are indivisible. Her radical focus on feminism, sexuality, civil rights, Jewish identity and the anti-war movement positioned her as a leading activist as well as writer. In her poem Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (1963) she described the drudgery of marriage and domesticity before feminism had properly found its feet: "Banging the coffee-pot into the sink / she hears the angels chiding, and looks out / past the raked gardens to the sloppy sky." Motherhood was ano...

If you haven't seen the abortion-related Doonesbury cartoons that many US newspapers refused to run, you can read them here . Go Garry Go. More importantly, if you would like to see what the Texas sonogram law means in real life to real women, you can read one woman's heartbreaking story here: 'We Have No Choice': One Woman's Ordeal with Texas' New Sonogram Law . Subtitle: "The painful decision to terminate a pregnancy is now — thanks to Texas' harsh new law — just the beginning of the torment." Update. A doctor's resistance . Thanks to reader hhw for posting in comments.

With the Toronto Public Library workers back at work after a ten-day strike, here is an assessment of their settlement, from a TPL librarian (my friend and comrade) who is active in the union. The lesson is it's better to fight than to run away when you are a city-worker union dealing with the Tory assholes that dominate these days. We got a better deal than anyone else in TO, with a host of concessions beaten back and even a couple of small improvements to benefits. However, we still gave up too much on the job security provision. Partly, we were moving from a MUCH stronger clause than other city units, so to bring us closer to them would require a big loss. But the blunt truth is that the concession leaves many (as in, more than half) workers vulnerable. I take two, related lessons from this. Jobs are becoming even less secure, which is scary, and terrible. And we must fight, fight, fight for our rights as workers, because we may win some battles, and we will certainly win more b...

A reader - or at least someone who stumbled on my blog at some point - emailed me with a request. When I replied, I received this auto-reply: Your message to xxxxx was not delivered because this mailbox does not accept mail from the Gmail system. Gmail not only invades the privacy of its users, but of their correspondents. Please re-send using another service, or call or write. This is an interesting approach to Google privacy issues. It assumes that other email systems don't glean information from users the way Google does. I'm not sure we know that to be true. Unlike those old anti-spam systems that asked the sender to type a confirmation, this is just a block. Unless it's a simple auto-reply, written to appear to be a block, as a kind of protest against Google, while the email is actually received, and possibly kill-filed into trash. Either way, this person isn't too concerned with receiving email. All my email accounts are through Gmail. I have email at both my wor...

Ontarians, already living so close to the bone, are being told we must sacrifice even more - because corporate tax hikes cannot even be discussed. Ask the 1% for a solution and you'll get a solution that satisfies the 1%. Ten months ago, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty appointed former TD Bank Economist Don Drummond to head the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, to deal with a projected (and likely overestimated) debt of approximately $16 billion. Ontario’s deficit was a result of the global economic crisis triggered by the gang of banking bandits to which Drummond belongs, but Dalton McGuinty asked the same gang to suggest remedies. It is therefore not surprising that the Commission’s recommendations are heavily biased in favour of the 1%. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the pain will be absorbed by the most vulnerable in society and ordinary working people, because McGuinty directed Drummond not to keep revenue generation off the table, including increasin...

A long time ago, when I was in my early 20s, I was once venting to my mom about some ongoing street harassment. There was a construction site near my workplace, and all the women in the area were forced to run a gauntlet of catcalls and obscene chatter, every single day. My father overheard us and joined the conversation. He suggested that the women find a different route to work to "avoid that scene". I explained that this wasn't a "scene" one could avoid. It was everywhere, every day, every place where men gather. I explained that women shouldn't have to inconvenience themselves and take different routes to work because men can't keep their mouths shut. But even if we wanted to, where we would walk? Where was the harassment-free street? My father then asked what the women were wearing, if their clothes were "appropriate for the street". He then claimed he had never heard of this kind of thing, even though he walked city streets daily. He then...

A few years ago, I used Blogger with my own domain, wmtc.ca. There was an issue with individual posts not publishing correctly. The main page, wmtc.ca, was fine. But if you clicked on a post, you still got wmtc.ca, not wmtc.ca/todayspost.html. You could get a unique URL for a post if you right-clicked, but people didn't do that, so when readers posted a link somewhere, they were using the URL from the main page. Eventually this got too annoying, and I changed to URL forwarding. I still own wmtc.ca, but it forwards to wmtc.blogspot.com (now .ca, thanks to Google deciding to aid potential government censors ). But of course I'm much rather use wmtc.ca and get the blogspot out of the address. As I said, this was quite a few years ago, and maybe Blogger has fixed this issue. I asked my DNS host, but they didn't know. Anyone? [And while you're here, would you mind answering a quick, one-question survey ? Thank you!]

"Oh man, you gotta read these books! These books are the best ! They're not even really books. There are pictures! And jokes! And they're really, really funny! And they're super easy to read! These are the best! You gotta read these books!" The books that are "not even really books"? Archie comics. The young man didn't know the word for comic books.

Some two years ago, I posted about Matt Green, who (as I said at the time) was living my oldest dream: walking across the United States. Now Matt Green is walking every street in New York City, all five boroughs, about 8,000 miles worth of walk. In 2010, Matt Green, 31, a former civil engineer, walked across the United States from Rockaway Beach, Queens, to Rockaway Beach, Ore. The journey took five months, during which he averaged 20 miles a day, pitched his tent on front lawns and wore through three pairs of Timberland Chocorua Trail boots. The plan was to take a break from the work force in the hopes of re-entering it in a more fulfilling capacity later on. “The problem with that idea,” Mr. Green said recently, “is that after you walk for five months straight, the last thing you want to do is go back to a desk.” So Mr. Green, a bearded Virginia native with a gleeful look in his eye, spent the next year and a half working odd jobs (data collector, farmhand) while he plotted where t...

Well, I thought I'd be sad . But I'm not sad. I'm excited. I'm not excited about Thomas Mulcair, but I'm excited about a re-grouped and re-energized New Democratic Party. I almost don't care who the leader is. All I want is to beat Harper. All I want is to stop building prisons and redirect those funds to education. All I want is to protect and enhance publicly financed health care. All I want is to eradicate poverty. All I want is to stop wasteful military spending. All I want is Canada out of Afghanistan, Libya, and wherever else they'll follow the US. All I want is to tax corporations fairly so we can give ordinary people better lives. All I want is a government that will protect and sustain the environment. All I want is a real democracy. That's all I want from my government. I know I won't get everything on my wish-list, but there's only one party that will even try to get us there, and if Thomas Mulcair is the leader of that party, then I...

I purposely haven't blogged about the NDP leadership contest, as I don't do party politics. But now we're down to the very end, and I'm worried. A mere skim of the headlines at Progressive Bloggers is eye-opening - and nauseating. So many (supposed) progressives want to see the party move even further to the (supposed) centre. At the height of the party's strength, they want to betray the legacy of Tommy Douglas and Jack Layton and become a slightly more liberal version of the Liberals. And it all makes sense, right? Since the Liberals are conservative, and the Conservatives are right-wing reactionaries. And the millions of Canadians who voted for an alternative, who want to see social democratic values put into policy, what do we do? Before I answer that question, I'm holding my breath, and quoting Dr. Dawg: " If I wanted a Liberal to lead my party "... If either Thomas Mulcair or Brian Topp leads the NDP, I will be sick. And very sad.

Please watch this excellent video about Bill C-10. It's only 4 minutes and incredibly informative and entertaining. I'm sorry I didn't see this video before the bill was rubber-stamped in the Conservative-controlled Senate, but that's what I get for staying away from social media. Even though the law has passed, organizers are urging us to contact Stephen Harper and share your thoughts on the new crime law: pm@pm.gc.ca. Why not take a minute and vent to our friend Steve. Be respectful, of course. Don't want to end up on a watch list higher up on the watch list.

This Sunday, folks in Toronto will have a great opportunity to hear a firsthand account of the arrest and abduction of the crew of the Tahrir, the Canadian boat that tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, part of last year's Freedom Flotilla. Ehab Lotayef, a Montreal engineer, and David Heap, an academic and activist from London, Ontario, will speak about their experiences on the boat and in an Israeli jail. I wish I could attend! I've never heard my friend David speak publicly about this, although I do read every post on his blog . If you're in Toronto this weekend, this is sure to be a fascinating event. When: Sunday, March 25, 1:00 p.m. Where: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto Admission: $10 or pay what you can. More information here.

Three machinists, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, were suspended after "sarcastically applauding" Minister of Labour Lisa Raitt as she walked to her flight. They may lose their jobs. Now members of IAM at both Pearson and Trudeau Airports are on a wildcat strike , vowing to not work until their brothers are reinstated. The Harper Government refused to intervene when Caterpillar - which received tax breaks and other incentives to come to Ontario - insulted its workers with a 50% pay cut, then closed its plant. But when workers have legitimate grievances against a company - and the company refuses to negotiate in good faith - the government forces them back to work. Now Air Canada has violated its employees' rights of freedom of expression, protecting the government that protected the company's interests. It's all very cozy for corporations and the governments that serve them. I met a member of IAM recently; he came to T...

An open letter from my friend and comrade Jonathon Hodge. See below for picket schedule. Dear friend/neighbor/colleague, Many of you are library users, or know someone who is, and so many of you are affected by the current work stoppage at the Toronto Public Library. Those of us who work in the library system do not take this step lightly. The Toronto Public Library Board is pursuing a course that will severely undermine the library services that Torontonians hold dear. Already, budgets cuts have resulted in the loss of over 100 full-time equivalent positions, including the entire office for services to people with disabilities! This is on top of a 17% reduction in staffing over the last 12 years, while library circulation has increased over 25% in that same period. The library system is busier than ever and running with fewer people. Further to that, the board is proposing to eliminate the employment security provisions for almost two-thirds of library workers. The employer’s final of...

In the March issue of New Mobility , I have a cover story about Canadian musician Justin Hines. You can see it here. I wrote this over my winter break - just as the library job came through! Not exactly the restful vacation I was hoping for. Fortunately I had a lot of help; Allan should really have a co-byline on this one. The print edition looks terrific, full of great photos. It was a pleasure to interview Justin, he seems like a terrific guy. I add this to my profiles of interesting Canadians: Chantal Petitclerc , Stephen Fletcher , and the great Alyssa Manning . For those of you who can't get enough of my scintillating prose, I posted this with the Children's and Youth Advocacy group at the iSchool: A View from a Children's Library .

One more question, folks! Do you use directories to find information online? If you ask, "What's a directory?", it's safe to say you don't use one. Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. I will share the results of both surveys when I'm done with my research.

Thank you very much to everyone who answered my social bookmarking survey. If you have not already done so, could you please answer two questions? It's research for a paper I'm writing. The survey is here. Thanks!

If you have not already done so, please take a moment and send a letter to the Canadian Senate, calling on them to tone down their offensive rhetoric, and stop trying to marginalize and demonize Canadians who stand up for the future of the country (and the planet) by opposing the tarsands. As David Suzuki says, "The issue of relatively small amounts of international funding is a distraction and effort to silence environmental organizations." From the Suzuki Foundation: With their insulting and uninformed statements during an inquiry into international funding for Canadian charitable organizations that are standing up for our country’s rich natural environment, senators are doing a disservice to all Canadians. The government has already labelled Canadians who question the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal as "radicals" and potential terrorists, but its appointed senators recently kicked things up a notch. Senator Don Plett, former president of the federal Conservat...

I've just found out that word verification for comments has been on, even though I've turned it off. I already use comment moderation, so there's no need for verification, too. I've turned off verification repeatedly, but it keeps defaulting back to "on". If you're also having this problem with a Blogger blog, please use the "send feedback" feature on your dashboard to report it. Thanks.

I've never understood why so many working people have it in for unions. I understand why employers don't want unions: unions give workers input into their own working conditions. A union workplace shifts the balance from the employer having 100% of the power to the employer having some amount less than 100%. So companies will do anything, even close a store rather than concede any portion of their unilateral power. But why workers don't want unions, that just makes no sense. Right now I have two part-time jobs. One is a union job (for the first time in my life)* and one is a non-union job, as has been the case for my entire working life. I can't go into too many details (yet)**, but I can summarize. In one job, my co-workers and I have zero input into our working conditions. The employer sets the terms of our employment: our salaries, our hours, our job descriptions. Those conditions change according to the whim and will of the company, often quite suddenly and in ways...

As you know, the staff of the Toronto Public Library is on strike. Rob Ford is using the financial crisis as an excuse to "privatize everything that isn't nailed down" (his words), including the library. Branch closures are still an issue. Service cuts loom. In times of austerity, working people need the library more than ever - and the library should be free, public, and open to all. A quality library means quality staff. More than two-thirds of TPL staff is part-time, working without benefits and often without adequate hours to make ends meet. Today at noon, library workers and their supporters will rally at Toronto City Hall to demand a fair contract. If you work downtown, please join us. On the internet, I've already seen that (a) librarians sit around all day while pages do all the work, (b) librarians can be replaced by retirees and volunteers, and (c) libraries are unnecessary, because "it's all on the internet now and the internet is free". Does...

I'm sure Canadian readers have noticed Blogger's new blogspot.ca addresses. Blog-readers the world over are seeing country-specific domain addresses, as Google has decided to make it easy to aid government censorship. Why does my blog redirect to a country-specific URL? Q: Why am I seeing a URL change? A: In the next few months the website address of a blog you're reading may be redirected to a country-specific domain. For example, if you're in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected to [blogname].blogspot.com.au. The country-specific domain should correspond to the country where you're currently located. Q: Why is this happening? A: We are doing this to provide more support for managing content locally. If we receive a removal request that violates local law, that content may no longer be available to readers on local domains where those laws apply. This update is in line with our approach to free expression and controversial content,...

The poll in an earlier wmtc post wreaked havoc on my blog, so I'm trying again. If I might beg another moment of your time, please go here to take a two-question survey about your use of social bookmarking websites . By this I mean sites like Delicious, Reddit, CiteULike, BuzzFeed, Digg, Fark, and the like. This is research for a paper I am writing about tagging. Even if you took the first survey that was posted here, please answer the questions again on the new survey. Thank you very much!

As you can see, strange things have been happening to this blog's template, and I've been unable to find the source and fix it. The header background is appearing in a strange (ugly!) colour. I can't find the code that is making this happen. If you click on any of the tabs ("contact", "comment policy", wmtc's greatest hits", etc.), you will see how the header background is supposed to look. If you click on an individual post, same thing. The colour code for the header background (#111111) is in there. But something is overriding it on the main page. Of lesser importance, a gradient code is causing the background to have a fade effect. I would like a solid background without this effect, but when I try to change or remove the code, I get error messages. I don't know whether that's a Blogger glitch or my own error. I would also like to remove the second background, now showing up as a pale green, in between the main blog and the gray backg...

What, you thought I wanted a blog header the colour of dog puke? No, I did not. The colours of my blog template have changed. On their own. And they won't change back. Blogger accepted a few changes, so at least I have my lower-case back on the sidebar! But the colours are all off, and no matter what I do, they don't budge. The header, post titles, post footers, and tags should all be black. Grrrrr... Update. It appears that whatever changes I make are showing up when you click on the tabs, but not on the home page. I repeat: grrrr .

I hate to agree with the Sun 's Peter Worthington, who once penned a screed against US Iraq War war resisters, as full of lies and errors as it was bluster and false patriotism. But apparently on some issues Worthington is willing to consider facts: breed-specific legislation is a form of bigotry, and it should be repealed. Critics call the law “canine racism,” and say breed specific legislation (BSL), is vague to the point that it’s uncertain as to what constitutes a “pit bull.” Legislation identifies Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers, and “a dog that has the appearance . . . substantially similar to any of those dogs,” warrants being banned, or killed. Holy Mackinaw! To put the above in human terms, that’s akin to deciding guilt on the basis of appearance, not behaviour. To be brutally frank, it (Bill 132) is a Ku Klux Klan law. Right now three MPPs — a Liberal, Conservative and NDP — have a private members bill (16) to resci...

Two more reasons to say j'aime le Quebec . Two days ago, the Cons' ridiculously wasteful, unnecessary, and inhumane crime bill was passed in the House of Commons. The leadership of Quebec wasted no time in striking a blow for justice and common sense. The province announced Tuesday that it would do everything in its power to limit the clout of the legislation that passed a day earlier. Because the provinces are responsible for applying the laws passed in Ottawa, Quebec says it will work to soften Bill C-10 where possible. The provincial minister said he will issue a directive to various players in the justice system to avoid applying the strictest provisions of the crime bill – particularly when it comes to youth offenders. “It is not a plan to abolish C-10,” Jean-Marc Fournier told a news conference Tuesday inside a courtroom at Montreal's youth courthouse. “C-10 is a law, but we've also got laws in Quebec. We can make them work together.” Some provinces, including Que...

Please watch this video of my friend Chris Vassey, a former sergeant in the US military, speaking at a recent Afghans For Peace vigil in Toronto. Chris has sacrificied so much for peace, much more than most of us will ever have to bear. Now he lives in Canada, and he works for peace.

Further to our chat about the tone-deaf 1%: go here for Brian McFadden 's latest in the New York Times .

I know I'm not the only Canadian who is frustrated by the media's constant use of the phrase "robocall scandal," as if we're all fired up over a few unwanted phone calls. (Dr. Dawg has an excellent post about this fuzzy thinking .) Come on, people, we're talking about election fraud . Vote suppression. A deliberate attempt to mislead citizens in order to prevent them from voting. We're talking about a polarizing government that won majority status by squeezing past the post in some very tight races - in which there are now serious questions about the legitimacy of the vote! Robocalls are not the problem! And I know I'm not the only one who seriously doubts we've seen the worst of this yet, the rotten core of this corrupt, hypocritical, arrogant, anti-democratic Harper Government. Here's one lie exposed. If you're disturbed by the connection between the Cons up north and the Reps to our south, don't miss this essential post by Alison at...

A U.S. soldier is accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan people . Civilians, we are told. As if all the Afghans and all the Iraqis slaughtered by US bombs, raids, drones, guns, white phosphorous, and torture were something other than civilians. The US has been waging two simultaneous wars against civilian populations for more than a decade. Some people are labelled "insurgents". Those are the civilians who fight back. I've heard many Vietnam War veterans tell a story, goes something like this. The platoon leader would count the dead, then say, "Twenty-five dead Viet Kong." "How do you know they're Viet Kong?" "Because we killed them." Shoot first, declare the bodies enemy later. The White House called this latest incident in Afghanistan "tragic and shocking". It is neither. It is criminal and unsurprising, just like the rest of the war.

If you're in the GTA, here are the details . Rallies are being held across Canada. Check this Facebook page or do the Google to find an event near you. Demand a full public investigation. Demand a new election!

"Cash bonuses on Wall Street are expected to drop by 14 percent during this year's 'bonus season'." Only 20 billion dollars will be doled out, with the average bonus totalling $121,000. How sad. That's billion, with a B. Bankers' trophy dates are sad, too . Be sure to click - and read to the end for maximum impact.

In at least one respect, I am a born librarian. Friends have said there should be a sign over my head: INFORMATION. Everywhere I go, people ask me for directions. In New York City, it was a rare subway trip that I wasn't approached. "Does this train go to Grand Central?" "How do I get to Columbus Circle?" In Toronto, it's "Is this the way to the Eaton Centre?" and "Where is the Rogers Centre?" It happens just as frequently when I travel. We were in San Francisco less than an hour when I car pulled up beside me, passenger window rolled down, inquiring face at the window. In Italy, France and Ireland, natives and tourists alike asked me the way. On a deserted highway in rural Mississippi, in a tiny village upstate New York, in the middle of rush hour in Mexico City. They pick me out of crowds, cross the street, flag me down. They want directions, and they want them from me. When I talk about this phenomenon, people think I'm exaggerati...

To the editor of the Toronto Star: Thank you for printing so many excellent letters countering your terrible editorial about the Ontario Dog Owners Liability Act. The letter signed by "Michelle Brew, Toronto" was in fact written by me, Laura Kaminker. I'm glad to see you kept the meaning of the letter nonetheless. That editorial may have been a new low for your publication, and we were afraid we'd see no letters in response. Your readers deserve a correction and retraction from the Public Editor. It’s wrong to say opponents of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) are “pit bull fanciers.” I am against BSL and I own a Basset Hound — a dog most people assume can barely move, let alone bite. I want to see the government crack down on the real problem — bad owners. These owners can’t be bothered to socialize their dogs and don’t follow existing laws (like leash laws). People need to understand that they have responsibilities beyond feeding, watering and licensing their dogs...

We hear about so many human-rights abuses and outrages around the world, that it's easy to become numb. But think of this. A man held in a prison camp for 10 years - the last five in solitary confinment* - without ever being charged with a crime. Right in our own backyard. Shaker Aamer, a Saudi citizen and legal UK resident, has been held in the Guantánamo Bay prison camp for 10 years. He was cleared for release in 2007, and the UK has asked for his repatriation. And yet... nothing. The rogue state knows no morals and heeds no laws. Amnesty International is using an upcoming meeting between UK Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama to try to get Aamer's release on the agenda. Go here to sign a letter demanding Shaker Aamer be either tried or released. From The Guardian Observer: This month marks 10 years since the first detainees were taken to Guantánamo Bay, the notorious US Navy-run detention centre in Cuba. One of those still being held there is Shaker Aa...

During the school term, I am frequently frustrated by not being able to blog. I have ideas for posts that never get written - unusual for me, and unpleasant. If this annual tradition of collecting my best posts from the past year serves no other purpose, it reminds me that I actually am still writing. This the long list for best-of wmtc in 2011. resistance is not futile: resistance is everything how to save the public library "all we know is we are going to get our freedom" (Report on forum on revolution in Egypt.) my police complaint saga comes to a close stephen harper dismantles canada's refugee system; jason kenney attacks canadian democracy haliburton wolves in winter ¡bienvenido diego! (Not best-of, but most important! More good dog pics here: in which i undertake something completely new: my first garden .) books on books, part 1: robert darnton, the case for books books on books, part 2: contested will by james shapiro books on books, part 3: reading matters: wh...

Yesterday the rallies kicked off in Vancouve r. Next Sunday is Toronto's turn. Demand a complete, public inquiry into election fraud in the 2011 election. Demand a by-elections! Toronto: Sunday, March 11, 2012 12:00 noon Yonge-Dundas Square On Facebook Facebook pages for other cities where rallies have been confirmed: Calgary Montreal Ottawa Saskatoon As more cities have information, they'll be listed here . For more information on why the present Elections Canada investigation is inadequate, see Dr. Dawg .

Today is International Women's Day . We've come a long way . And we've still got a long way to go . Globally, the picture looks much worse . See the current issue of Socialist Worker for a collection of IWD stories, including one by yours truly . At today's IWD March in Toronto , the theme is "Reclaim Our City: Together We Are Stronger!" Details here.

Colson Whitehead is now officially one of my Favourite Writers. I last gushed about him here , after reading his excellent novel Apex Hides the Hurt . That post also contains links to earlier raves, especially about Whitehead's New York City essays. Over my reading week, I read (for myself! hurrah) Sag Harbor , Whitehead's novel from 2009. It's a coming-of-age story, narrated by a teenage boy during a summer in Sag Harbor, Long Island, a historically black beach community, where middle-class African American families from the New York City area have taken their families for generations. I absolutely loved this book. First, the teenage voice is as true as they come. Whitehead has such a light touch - the writing is very funny, and touching and sweet, but never cloying or anguished or self-aggrandizing. You feel for Benji, and your heart squeezes in recognition of his perpetually self-torturing teenage mind, but you know he'll be all right. Then, within the coming-of-age ...

This petition from Avaaz calls on the RCMP and Elections Canada to expand their investigation beyond the one riding in Guelph, to third parties, including all robocall contracts, and all ridings where misconduct is suspected. Sign here.

Canadians, if you or someone you know may have been the victim of election fraud during the 2011 federal election, please fill out this survey . The clock is ticking. When media reports of voter suppression came to light, it triggered a 30-day time period for the filing of these reports under the Canada Elections Act. If you suspect this may apply to you, please act now. The Council of Canadians has made it easy: go here . Or, if you prefer, a similar tool at Leadnow .

Thank you, Thomas Walkom! You are a voice of reason in a sea of media ignorance. Read this column to learn the truth behind Ontario's breed-specific legislation. Thanks to the efforts of MPPs from all three parties, Ontarians are being given a chance — a chance — to see a patently bad law buried. That law is the province-wide ban on pit bulls, a statute enacted seven years ago on the basis of much demagoguery and virtually no evidence. The ban’s origins were fear and opportunism. The fear — particularly in Toronto — stemmed from a particularly vicious pit-bull attack that left a 25-year-old man with extensive injuries. The opportunism was that of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government, which sensed in the public outrage surrounding this attack a chance to polish its fading image. At the time, debate over the ban was hot and furious. Honest people took different sides. Many parents welcomed any move that might keep young children safe. Conversely, many dog lovers were outraged...