Canadian Crossing

Slices of Canada: Hockey, Afghanistan, and proroguing Parliament

Doing this notebook style, here are three separate but relevant peaks into Canada this week:

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How big was the announcement of the Team Canada men's hockey team?

"The midday announcement was carried on 13 Canadian TV networks and cable channels."

Rather impressive. Team Canada has the extra pressure of trying to win on home ice (Vancouver 2010), but the speculation has been heating up over who would and won't make the squad.

Here is a list of those who made it and some who barely missed the cut.

Sweden won the 2006 Olympic gold medal in men's hockey. Canada won the women's gold in dominant fashion.

Canada last won men's gold in hockey in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002, snapping a 50-year drought, beating the United States. Could there be a rematch in Vancouver? Given that the squads will be playing on NHL ice (not international ice with a wider ice surface), Canada and the U.S. would have a decisive advantage.

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Yesterday was a day of joy in hockey, but a horrible tragedy in Afghanistan. Four Canadian servicemen and a Canadian reporter were killed in Afghanistan. The attack was the worst for Canadian casualties in 30 months.

Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald was the first Canadian journalist to be killed in Afghanistan. Lang had been in Afghanistan less than three weeks. (Here is her blog from Afghanistan.)

Canada had already planned to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 2011.

The country's role has been more of peacekeepers in the country, but has suffered a high number of casualties and injuries, given the country's allotment of troops and their intended role. This news piles on to the anguish of why Canada has stayed so long in Afghanistan.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper is proroguing Parliament once again. This prorogation of Parliament is under far less extreme circumstances, but the move has come under considerable fire.

The prime minister wanted to shut down Parliament during the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Shutting down Parliament allows MPs to remain, but any bills in the middle of the process have to start over.

The Conservatives score political points in proroguing Parliament to kill an inquiry into how the government treated Afghan detainees, and will allow the party to take control of the Senate.

The last time Harper prorogued Parliament was even more controversial because it was seen as staving off a chance for a coalition government to form that would have kicked the Conservatives out of power.

Harper currently runs a minority government.

A look back to the previous prorogation of Parliament:

-- political essay I wrote for my day job

-- "The Daily Show" take on the process

Canada toughens security measures on flights to U.S.

International flights are in focus after the terrorism attempt over the weekend in Detroit. With that in mind, Transport Canada is implementing a few new rules, which hopefully will be temporary, for flights from Canada to the United States.

Effective immediately, U.S. bound passengers are not allowed to bring carry on bags into the cabin of the aircraft, with some exceptions. Passengers may carry with them the following items: medication or medical devices, small purses, cameras, coats, items for care of infants, laptop computers, crutches, canes, walkers, containers carrying life sustaining items, a special needs item, musical instruments, or diplomatic or consular bags.

We officially feel sorry for travelers coming from Canada into the United States. We strongly encourage travel between the two countries, but perhaps, we can make a short-term exception. Or travel by bus or car or train or just about any other way.

It would be nice to blame Transport Canada, but clearly, as we've seen in other cases, the pressure is purely coming from the United States.

NHL Network temporarily forgets about Hockey Night in Canada

Did you turn on the NHL Network last night hoping to see Montréal at Toronto? They weren't there. Neither was the second half of the doubleheader (that would have aired today) with Edmonton @ Vancouver.

That's right. Hockey Night in Canada happened but the NHL Network didn't carry the games, nor will they next week. The NHL Network is showing a bunch of IIHF games featuring teams from countries from around the world.

If there were two feeds, of course, the NHL Network would likely show HNIC, but to be fair, we should point out that it is the NHL Network, not junior hockey network.

So we get an unforced break from Don Cherry, After Hours, the Hot Stove, and, of course, Peter Puck.

A few weeks back, the NHL Network showed a live exhibition of women's hockey, tape-delaying the early game until Sunday morning.

I love how the NHL Network brings me HNIC without having to pay for Center Ice, but I would like it to be on consistently. And if I can keep on nit-picking, when they show the second half tape-delayed, they show the results at the bottom of the screen. It's not fair to try and watch the game and hope you don't see the results of the game. An element of surprise makes the experience more enjoyable.

Hopefully, the NHL Network will return to the NHL (i.e., HNIC) on January 9 when Sidney Crosby brings his Pittsburgh Penguins to Toronto and Calgary will be at Vancouver.

Happy Boxing Day!!

Happy Boxing Day!! A traditional holiday in Canada, but not the United States. These days, in Canada, the day signifies mostly buying presents you didn't get for Christmas.

And the day has nothing to do with pugilism.

This is also a reminder that as we come close to entering the new year, we have 48 days remaining until the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Sarah Palin will still speak in Hamilton, but fundraiser is off her schedule

There was, to little surprise, a backlash over the visit of former Alaska Governor and one-time GOP VP pick Sarah Palin to Hamilton, Ontario.

Palin was supposed to receive $200,000 (not sure if U.S. or Canadian currency) to give the speech, but she will speak and have the money go to charity. Though if Palin receives that kind of money for a speech in front of a charity, doesn't that reduce the amount of money the charity receives.

Details may still be yet to come. There was a feeling that Palin's attacks on the Canadian health care system made her appearance at a fundraiser for a Canadian hospital a bit awkward. And there was likely some backlash as well.

Toronto loses Roy Halladay to Philadelphia, losing even more relevancy in MLB

The focus of MLB's off-season has been north of the border. Baseball coming back to Montréal? Vancouver will finally get a team?

No such luck: the major players have been fighting to see which team gets the carcass, er, services of one of baseball's best pitchers, Roy Halladay.

Halladay has pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays for his entire career. But given the potential for free agency, and how non-NY and non-Boston have limited potential to win in the American League East, Halladay wanted to pitch for a team that had a shot at winning the World Series.

Toronto almost traded him in the middle of the season, but that proved too distracting, setting up the hype in the off-season.

As you may have guessed, Toronto traded Halladay in a 4-team deal. Philadelphia acquired the right-hander, sending back three minor leaguers: pitcher Kyle Drabek (son of former major leaguer Doug Drabek), catcher Travis D'Arnaud, and outfielder Michael Taylor (Taylor was later traded to Oakland for corner infielder Brett Wallace).

We could do an analysis on whether Toronto got enough back for Halladay (they didn't), but this isn't about that.

The current structure of baseball allows for very little chance of making the playoffs if you are a team in the AL East, unless you are the Yankees or the Red Sox. Yes, the Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series in 2008, and Baltimore made the playoffs in 1996 and 1997, but they have been the exception, not the rule.

It's no mistake that Toronto's playoff record was much more active before the 1994 strike. Two of the hottest tickets in all of baseball in 1994 were in Toronto and Montréal (with the Expos). Baseball salaries exploded, and without a salary cap (and issues with the Canadian dollar), Canadian teams suffered even more than a lot of U.S. teams.

The Expos were forced out of the game, and Toronto, while remaining vital, has lost relevancy on and off the field. The vultures, the high salary teams, in the current system view good players on poor teams as targets, biding their time until they can pick one off for little or nothing in return. Adding insult to insult, Toronto didn't get enough back for Halladay, yet they still have to give Philadelphia $6 million in 2010 for part of Halladay's contract.

The media that covers baseball, ESPN in particular, sees the "lesser" teams as "why don't they trade their players to the good teams" instead of asking why the system isn't set up better so more teams can compete.

There is no coincidence that Toronto was in the playoffs 4 of the last 5 years before the 1994 strike and zero appearances since. Having what many considered the best starting pitcher in baseball wasn't enough. Now that the Blue Jays don't have Roy Halladay, they won't get any better. And as an added insult, their relevance is even reduced because they don't have the best pitcher in baseball.

With the World Baseball Classic, baseball seemingly wants to encompass the world with its sport. But the way they have treated Canada, MLB shows it could do a lot more at home first.

Canada didn't decriminalize marijuana — because of the United States?

The segment on "To The Contrary" was about Marijuana Moms. Each story on the PBS public affairs show is followed by a panel discussion.

The guest this week from the right-wing section of the panel was the Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell. The former Prime Minister of Canada also served as the Defense Minister.

Campbell's comments on marijuana raised a few eyebrows:

"It would be great for the Canadian economy because we're huge producers of marijuana... We have actually talked about decriminalizing it, because our criminal law is federal. And it was pressure from the Americans that has kept Canada from decriminalizing possession of marijuana."

At the end of the last Liberal government, when Paul Martin had a minority government, the Liberals were trying to get a law passed that would decriminalize marijuana.

Since the Conservatives have taken over, Canada's reaction to marijuana possession has grown more harsh, not less. As has been noted, "the biggest proposed policy change is mandatory six-month sentencing for those growing as little as one marijuana plant for the purposes of trafficking."

Campbell belongs to the Conservative Party, which is the party in charge. Though to be fair to Campbell, the Conservative Party of 1993, when she served as prime minister, isn't quite like the Conservative Party of today. You almost gathered from the tone she took in the interview that if she were in Parliament today, and she could vote her conscience, Campbell would vote to decriminalize marijuana.

Campbell is from British Columbia, where hemp growth is more apparent than in other parts of the country. This could account for her thoughts on helping the Canadian economy.

But the key point is the apparent pressure from the U.S. government. There isn't any reason to believe Campbell is wrong or mistaken.

A country doesn't have a right to put pressure on another country to implement laws. The idea that Canadian citizens, who want a law passed for their own society, can't get that law passed because of factions in another country, violates basic sovereignty.

After all, hemp is now legal in Canada, yet not legal in the United States. If Canadians want marijuana decriminalized, the United States shouldn't stand in its way.

Sarah Palin coming to Canada, talking health care

Having a conservative U.S. politician come speak in Canada is becoming more of a trend. George W. Bush likes giving speeches up in Canada. And now the country will get a visit from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Hamilton, Ontario is Palin's destination for a speech at a health care fundraising event on April 15. Palin is reported earning a $200,000 fee for speaking at the fundraiser.

Gov. Palin doesn't like the Canadian health care system, at least what she thinks she knows about how the Canadians deal with health care.

What is even more startling about Palin's visit is that her number of visits to Canada so far is apparently one. Even though she worked in Juneau, capital of Alaska, really close to British Columbia, Palin has said she has only been to Canada once, and that was on business while as Alaska's governor.

Then again, Palin was originally asked how many countries she had visited, Canada was not on the original list. Then again, Ireland was on the list, and that was a fueling stopover.

With all the commotion about being close to Russia, Palin lives close to Canada. Yet outside of a meeting in Canada, Palin hasn't set foot in the Great White North.

For Palin's own sake, if she is going to speak on Canadian health care, it would help the former Alaska governor if she learned something about Canadian health care. So hopefully, Palin will spend some time in the country before her speech.

There has been a lot of lies told about the Canadian health care system from politicians who claim to know how it works. Most of those politicians and other figures know something about Canada. Palin hasn't shown us that she knows all that much about Canada. So the fear is legitimate that her speech won't be as thorough or accurate unless she does some research. We invite Palin to visit and explore the country first-hand, but given lots of opportunities to find out for herself, she hasn't taken Canada up on the offer in her first 45 years of her life.

The media haven't been allowed to cover many of Palin's speeches. But perhaps, real Canadians will get to ask Palin some questions about her perception of Canadian health care.

Toronto to host G20 next June

The fact that next June's G20 economic summit would be in Canada isn't news; the meeting was scheduled to be in the District of Muskoka, about 250 km north of Toronto.

However, the Harper government has moved the summit into Canada's largest city. If you are planning a summer vacation in Toronto (and actually I am), the G20 summit will be June 26-27.

This also means that U.S. President Barack Obama will make a visit to Toronto. President Obama has already been to Ottawa, making Canada his first official foreign visit as president.

Canada using poppy quarters as spy devices?

You need every possible edge in the spy game, try to come up with something the other side wouldn't suspect.

There were senior Pentagon officials who wondered if Canada was being very sneaky by using Canadian quarters as listening devices.

Of course, these weren't ordinary quarters. These quarters have a bright red poppy in the middle.

The red poppy is used in Canadian culture to honor the war dead. if you watched any sort of Canadian television leading up to Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the U.S.), you would have seen people wearing red poppies. When I visit Windsor around that time, I always run into people who wear them.

But someone thought they were a disguise for something much more sinister. Like spying.

Canada and the United States are very close. The U.S. gets more oil from Canada than any other country, each country is the other one's largest trading partner, and even with crackdowns, they still have the longest unprotected border.

And they haven't been at war with each other since 1812, and Canada wasn't even officially a country yet.

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