I Guess Rules Really Weren't Made to Be Broken

In a decision that one might think came from some kind of bizarro parallel world, the Ontario Minor League Hockey Association has extended to a full season the suspension of coach Greg Walsh as a consequence for pulling his team from a game in November after an opposing team member hurled a racial epithet at one of his players. While the offending boy's coach benched him for the second period, Walsh became outraged when he rejoined play in the third period without so much as offering an apology.

Owing to a Hockey Canada rule on 'refusing to start play,' Walsh had been immediately suspended after the forfeiture, but the new ruling, doubtlessly intended to emphasize the sanctity and supremacy of hockey rules over integrity and human decency, means that Walsh is out for the season as a coach.

Tell me again how playing sports helps build young people's characters?

The Truth About KAIROS Defunding?

NGO KAIROS, a social justice church-based coalition, finally has learned part of the truth about its loss of CIDA funding about a year ago. At the time, CIDA Minister Bev Oda said the organization was cut as an aid partner because its project proposal did not meet the government's new aid priorities.

That decision was met by much suspicion at the time, with KAIROS insiders believing that "its involvement in corporate social responsibility work related to mining in developing countries and oil sands awareness in Canada was a factor. In addition, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney linked the decision with KAIROS's supposed role in leading a boycott, divestment and sanction campaign against Israel in December."

According to a story in today's Toronto Star, CIDA in fact had recommended the continuation of funding, but was overruled by Bev Oda, who now admits "it was her decision alone to discontinue funding arrangements with KAIROS, in spite of the advice she was given."

In the old days, such blatant lying by a cabinet minister would have created a real furor. Today, I suspect, such a revelation will create nary a ripple.

The Unfair Practices of Visa and Mastercard

According to a story in today's Toronto Star, The Federal Competition Bureau is asking the Competition Tribunal to strike down the rules that allow both Visa and Mastercard to impose restrictions on merchants that ultimately lead to higher costs that are passed on to the consumer.

Apparently the current agreements, in addition to the fairly high fees charged to merchants when the cards are used, prevent vendors from offering discounts for cash payments or suggesting to the purchasers less costly means of buying, such as the use of bank cards or cash.

Given the huge profits that banks already enjoy, one hopes that the Tribunal will make a quick decision on this matter.

C.B.C. Petition

A Young British Student Speaks

I love this young man's passion. It seems to me that his words, based on police reaction to the student demonstrations in Britain, are equally applicable to what many experienced during the G20 police repression of protesters.

">

The Vatican – Just Another Corrupt Political Entity?

I have reached the point in my life when I regard (and indeed hold) spiritual beliefs as completely distinct from any religious organizations that purport to convey the word of God. Nonetheless, I continue to be filled with revulsion over new revelations that demonstrate the craven political nature of the Vatican and the clerical elites that do its bidding. It has long been obvious to me and many others that the Church, one of the largest and wealthiest of the world's organizations, has been acting in a typically craven organizational manner in its dogged refusal to accept any real responsibility for the decades-old coverups of its priests' paedophilia. To my knowledge, the closest it has come is to apologize for clerical abuse, totally avoiding the central role it played, and continues to play, in the whole sad, sordid, and sinful imbroglio.

The latest proof comes from a WikiLeaks' document regarding Ireland's probe into the abuse:

According to the deputy to the Irish ambassador to the Holy See, the Irish government gave in to Vatican pressure and allowed ... church officials to avoid answering questions from the inquiry panel, according to one of the cables from a U.S. diplomat.

So much for wanting to ferret out corruption. What would Jesus say, indeed?

Dalton McGuinty and The Smoking Gun

I have written extensively about my long-standing suspicions of Premier McGuinty's weak explanations for his failure to reveal the truth about the 'secret law' (the regulatory change under the Public Works Protection Act) which permitted police to violate the Charter Rights of thousands of peaceful protesters during the G20 Summit in Toronto. Today, the Toronto Star reports that the Marin Investigation uncovered emails revealing a concious decision not to inform the public that the '5-meter rule' did not, in fact, exist:

On June 25 — the day before the weekend summit of world leaders at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre — the Starreported ministers had quietly designated areas within the G20 security zone a “public work.”

Blair led people to believe that his officers had been granted the authority to arrest anyone who failed to provide identification or agree to be searched within five metres of the secure conference site.

Later on June 25, Bartolucci’s ministry drafted a press release outlining the changes under the Public Works Protection Act that specifically said “it does not authorize police officers to require individuals to submit to searches on roads and sidewalks outside the zone.”

But the news release was never distributed because, according to Marin, “by the end of the day, the ministry had decided to scrap the idea of going public altogether” since there was only one media call on the five-metre rule.

Now more than ever, it is imperative that a full and independent inquiry into the entire sad episode be held. For the government to do anything less is to demonstrate complete disdain for the sanctity of our Charter Rights as Canadians.