Montague Roundup

It's been a while since anything happened in Montague Township... well, at least as far as the blog is concerned. Here's a quick roundup of news and views and things to discuss:

• The Fire Department : First, I happened upon the scene of the recent serious accident on Roger Stevens Drive on my way home the other night. I arrived shortly after the accident and before any emergency vehicles were on site. I don't know how long it was after the 911 call that our Volunteer Fire Department arrived. The fire truck arrived after one ambulance but before a second; the OPP were some minutes behind the other services. Our firemen went straight to work to free the trapped driver; they looked highly organized, efficient, calm and professional. Everything happened as quickly and smoothly as possible and in the right order of priority. Much has been said and written, but as this is my first eye-witness experience I would like to say I was very impressed.
• Firearms Safety : This issue came up at council and various options were being discussed in terms of the bylaw governing discharge of firearms near residences. What do you think? Where should the balance between safety concerns and traditional rural lifestyle be struck? Are there areas that should be off-limits for firearms?
• Volunteer Boards & Committees : Lots of you had a lot to say here in November - who's interested in serving the township now? Council has been short of applicants for several committees. Check the township website for more on this.
• Transit for Lanark? : Check out http://www.communitytransitsolutions.ca/ for a group looking to develop transit solutions for Lanark County, and between the County and Ottawa.

If you Montague readers haven't drifted away, then ignite the comment thread :)

Credibility, the Dion Way

Friday 5th January 2007, 09:35:

Friday 5th January 2007, 10:35:

Time To Take The Environment File Seriously

... and that means no longer putting up with the outrageous media bias and completely partisan bull being put out there by the environmental pressure groups.

Driving home tonight I listened to an interview with Beatrice Olivastri of Friends of the Earth Canada. I'll use this as an example, because it's typical. She grudgingly acknowledged that the appointment of John Baird to Environment (which I privately predicted about three weeks ago; how I wish I'd put that on the blog!) shows the government is placing greater importance on the file. However, the greater part of her remarks was made up of accusations agains the government:

• They are not working with anyone on the environment; FOE and other groups are being ignored.
• The government needs to meet the international commitment of Kyoto.
• The government needs to meet the international commitment of Kyoto.
• The 'Dirty Air Act'
• The government needs to meet the international commitment of Kyoto.
• Did we mention Kyoto?
• er....
• That's it, except for Kyoto.

Now, that's all fine and dandy, except that the only words she had for the Liberals were words of praise for the election of Stephane Dion - a man who has placed the environment front and centre. She didn't mention 13 years of inaction. She didn't mention that the Liberals signed up to the Kyoto accord and then did nothing about it; instead allowing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions to rise by 30%. No, according to Beatrice Olivastri, if Canada misses the Kyoto target it will all be the Conservative's fault.

This is complete rubbish. If (when) Canada misses the Kyoto target it will be down to the Liberal's 13 years of inaction. From where the Liberals left us there is no way to meet the goal. It simply isn't possible. It's like having an income of $100 a month and a goal of saving $10,000 over 10 years. If you spend all the money in the first 9 years, you can save everything you can in the last year and you'll still only have $1,200. The Liberals spent our entire environmental opportunity and then some.

Unless and until the environmental groups start acknowledging Liberal failings instead of only berating the Conservative government, their arguments have no substance. With John Baird at Environment, this hypocrisy will hopefully be exposed, and the cosy partisan duo of national media and environmentalists will get blown open.

Can the government do more than the Clean Air Act? No doubt, and they should do so. But it's time for some honesty about this file. John Baird might just be the man to bring that honesty to bear.

Lay off the Macadamias

In the spirit of sharing useful, if bizarre, information: Someone on the corgi listserv to which we belong recently found their corgi paralyzed at the rear. The vets worked on the dog for about 24 hours, whereupon he suddenly recovered. They could find nothing wrong.

Someone else on the list asked if the dog could have eaten any macadamia nuts - and indeed he had. Turns out that macadamias can cause temporary paralysis in dogs. So, readers with canines, take care of the macadamias.

Our corgis have never had the chance to try macadamias, but they do enjoy Neo's excellent blog Halls of Macadamia.

OHS Reformer: Who Is She?

A little research identifies one of the Reform the Ottawa Humane Society's leading lights as one Beth Greenhorn. I was wondering how this campaign managed to get so much media exposure so quickly and easily, and a little looking into the background of Ms. Greenhorn explains this. Turns out that Ms. Greenhorn makes a habit of this kind of thing; she's a semi-professional rabble-rouser.

She's the chair of the Ottawa Committee of the World March of Women, an organizer of local Code Pink anti-war demonstrations in Ottawa, and a speaker at various events related to 'activism'. For example, this excerpt comes from a 9/11 Conspiracy Theory site:

Civil Liberties & Legal Strategies for Protest: ... To work out how to continue to mount effective public protest, occupying and expanding the public space and finding ways of confronting, exposing, and undermining corporate and state control, while continuing to build viable alternatives. Solidarity & support strategies with communities and individuals under immediate risk; but also to make the best use of the freedoms and privileges we still enjoy. Concrete discussion of the real dangers as well as the real opportunities & strategies. With... Beth Greenhorn & Vallie Stearns (Ottawa Women's March Committee); ......

By their friends shall ye know them.

It bears pointing out that Ms. Greenhorn doesn't mind taking a paycheck from that oppressive state-controlling government; in her spare time, she's a Project Manager with Library and Archives Canada.

Speechless...

Wow... h/t to Neo.

My Two Moms, One Dad, etc., etc.

Reported on earlier, the case of an Ontario child of a lesbian couple is now resolved; both 'moms' and the dad are now legal parents of the child. Won't that get nice and confusing if ever they all stop getting along? With same-sex marriage and now no limit to the number of legal parents a child can have in Canada, polygamy is looking closer and closer...

Groucho Marx, Eat Your Heart Out

"I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." said Groucho Marx. In a situation that is essentially a reversal of this sentiment, the Ottawa Humane Society has refused memberships to three vocal critics - who have in turn gone whining to the CBC.

I've commented on these publicity hounds before, here and here. In a nutshell, they found a stray dog, took it to the Society where it failed temperament testing and was euthanized. They had apparently wanted to adopt the dog and were so angered by the euthanasia decision that they set up an anti-OHS campaign.

Local media loves this kind of story and doesn't let facts get too much in the way, so naturally there were lots of heart-string pulling stories, and the OHS was forced to initiate a review of the temperament testing policy. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. However for two people who have never owned a dog in their lives to set themselves up as some kind of experts on aggressive behaviour, is a little rich. Although they have managed to get the media walking obediently on leash behind them...

The media repeatedly talks about dogs 'being poked with sticks while eating' - which is rubbish. The temperament test is designed to look for food aggression, by placing a simulated hand in a food bowl while the dog is eating. Nobody pokes the dogs with a stick. The Reform the OHS campaign is certainly a master of misinformation.

Having thus devoted their time to promoting damaging and false media stories running down the OHS, they then try to join the OHS, and they're acting surprised that they weren't successful. For me the question is why would they even want to join? They clearly don't like the OHS, but more importantly, the review of temperament testing and euthanasia policies that was their avowed goal is already happening. What other agenda did they hope to take with them into the organization?

Or is it possible that the underwhelming response to the Reform the OHS campaign meant that they needed another excuse to get back under the spotlight?

For the record, I have no connection whatsoever to the Ottawa Humane Society. I just love dogs, and I want to see responsible dog ownership. Sometimes the responsible thing to do isn't nice, warm, cuddly and fluffy; sometimes the responsible thing to do is to let dogs go. It's sad and very hard to do, but it's right.

I should end this post with another Marx quote: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Mystery Illness Strikes Ottawa Press Corps

We are enjoying some unseasonably mild weather here in the National Capital Region, perhaps brought on by the huge cloud of smug that drifted up the St. Lawrence from Montreal in early December. The weather appears to be contributing to an epidemic of election fever in the Ottawa press corps.

CBC Ottawa, to which I listen most mornings, had Kathleen Petty and Hill Times / Maclean's hackette Kady O'Malley chatting away this morning, about the 'poor job' done by the Harper government and how much M. Dion has to gain from an early election... although Kathleen grudgingly admitted the election 'might not be as early as we thought' - read 'hoped'. This is but one example, but the media is wall-to-wall early election speculation - that is, the parts that aren't cabinet shuffle speculation.

As the fever overtakes all the journalists on the Hill we can expect to see more of the same. It seems that they all have forgotten three important things:

1. The Prime Minister and/or the Opposition will decide the timing of the next election, not the media.
2. The electorate will decide the outcome of that election, not the media.
3. The Liberals might be the natural governing party of Canada but the Conservative Party is the actual governing party of Canada. The CBC and 'Senator' Jane Taber are neither.

Only rarely do we get a real glimpse into the minds of the political hacks; in the current climate of wild speculation and wishful Liberal thinking by the press, this piece from Larry Zolf should be re-read by as many folks as possible. This is the attitude that's really at work again right now; the Press Gallery wants their revenge on Harper and we can expect them to work as hard and as deviously as possible to create the election timing and outcome that they want to see.

Walking On Water

Brought to you by the tireless (or sleepless) researcher Doggerelle:



See an explanation.