No Hamilton Coyotes For Now

The judge has ruled in the case of the NHL hating Canada and not wanting it to have more teams. The verdict: nope to Balsillie and a 'seriously, that sucks, please try again' to the NHL (TSN).

Snottiness aside it's probably the right ruling. I wouldn't want a crazy owner doing whatever he wanted in my league. That could work against Canadian franchises just as easily as for.

It's good that the NHL's "screw Wayne Gretzky and that other guy" bid was tossed out, though. That was ridiculous.

Here's Your Municipal Election

A few more names made it in right at the end: Katherine Gagne will run in Subdivision 6, Donna Standingready will run for council in Ward 8, while Frank Fiacco and John Stevenson will run for spots on the Separate School Board.

And with that, the nominations are now closed and this is what the election is going to look like. (* indicates the incumbent)

MAYOR
Pat Fiacco*, Jim Elliott, Linda AM White

CITY COUNCIL
Ward 1: Louis Browne*, Shawn Kuster, Andy Asherbranner
Ward 2: Jocelyn Hutchinson*, Heather McIntyre
Ward 3: Fred Clipsham*, Don Young, Shirley Dixon, John Conway
Ward 4: Michael Fougere*
Ward 5: Bill Gray*, John Findura
Ward 6: Wade Murray*, Brenda Mercer
Ward 7: Sharon Bryce*, Danny Berehula
Ward 8: Michael O'Donnell*, Donna Standingready
Ward 9: Terry Hincks*
Ward 10: Jerry Flegel*, Chris Szarka, Michael J Cassano

PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD
Subdivision 1: Timothy Stobbs
Subdivision 2: Barbara Young*, April Bourgeois
Subdivision 3: Dale West*, Dr. Shauneen Pete, Larry Davis
Subdivision 4: Cindy Anderson, Frederick Rackow, Chad Blenkin
Subdivision 5: Carla Beck
Subdivision 6: Debra Conlin, Don Wren, Katherine Gagne
Subdivision 7: Angela Fraser

SEPARATE SCHOOL BOARD
Gerald Kleisinger*, Rick Turchenek*, Robert Bresciani*, Bert Yakichuk, Vicky Bonnell*, Jim Graham, Donna Ziegler*, Jerry Adams*, John Stevenson, Frank Fiacco

Congratulations to Councillors Michael Fougere and Terry Hincks who are running unopposed (in Wards 4 and 9 respectively) and get to take this election off. Same goes for Timothy Stobbs in Public School Board Subdivision 1, Carla Beck in Subdivision 5 and Angela Fraser in Subdivision 7.

The municipal election will be held October 28.

Three-Way Race for Mayor

This just in from Twitter: Linda A.M. White will be running for mayor against Pat Fiacco and Jim Elliott.

More Candidates Enter Election Race

Four minutes to go until the election office stops taking nomination papers and few more people have declared their candidacy.

Andy Asherbranner will be running in Ward 1. This will be a three-way race between Asherbranner, Shawn Kuster and incumbent Louis Browne.

Over on the separate school board side, Donna Ziegler, Jerry Adams and Jim Graham have submitted their nomination papers.

In Public School Board Subdivision 4, Chad Blenkin will be running for the trustee spot against Frederick Rackow and Cindy Anderson

Late to the party, eh?

Notice to CBC Saskatchewan's newsrooms: (CBC Saskatchewan)

Way ahead of ya. (Planet S)

They let anyone into the business, these days

Things aren't going that well for Sarah Palin on the lecture circut these days because she's a blithering idiot (Mother Jones). Well, that hasn't stopped some people (CJME). Me, I think it's sexism.

More Competition for Flegel and Szarka

Michael J. Cassano has announced he'll be running in Ward 10. He'll be up against incumbent Jerry Flegel and Roughrider Chris Szarka. In less than 24 hours, this has become one of the wards to watch.

Four in the Afternoon

Man, the phone just would not stop ringing this morning then I had to bundle my daughter off to a "Kids Music and Motion" class at the Neil Balkwill Centre. That's why you're getting another late and truncated dose of headlines....

1. NOMINATION DEADLINE LOOMS: These are the last few hours for people to submit nomination papers to run in Regina's municipal election on October 28. At 4:01, we'll know who's running and who's won by acclamation. Keep an eye on the city's election Twitter feed to find out who the final candidates are. (the Twitter)

2. CANADIAN SOLDIER GETS FOUR YEARS FOR KILLING FRIEND: Cpl Matthew Wilcox was sentenced to four years in prison and was dismissed from the military for accidentally killing -- during a game of "quickdraw" -- his tentmate in Afghanistan. (CBC)

3. SASKATCHEWAN POPULATION NEARS ALL-TIME HIGH: We're 1,030,129 people strong. Only need 3,000 more to top the all time high in 1987. (CBC)

4. ECONOMY GETS A FLAT: Throwing into question reports of a recovery, numbers from July indicate the Canadian economy failed to grow. (Globe and Mail)

And to top it all off, he did sing 'If I had a Rocket Launcher ...'

Bruce Cockburn recently went to visit his brother, who's a doctor with the Canadian Armed Forces expeditionary force in Afghanistan. He also entertained troops at a forward operating base there. (cbc.ca) The folk festival crowd at Rabble (rabble.ca) aren't impressed.

In Defence Of Anime

I don't know nuttin' about Evangelion 1.0 but I do know that, like any genre, anime has its good points and its bad points.

Here's one of anime's good points. Just to make a point.



Today's Evangelion ticket giveaway is at Comic Readers downtown from 12-1:00. More info here.

My pissy, defensive relex aside, Vanda's Max Fleisher/Cab Calloway cartoon is mind-blowing. You should all watch it. Haven't had a chance to watch her second vid but if it's as good as the first, whooof! Yay Vanda!

Mandryk, Condensed

Let's bash Micheal Ignatieff for picking an out-of-control wingnut as his Quebec lieutenant. And while we're at it, let's blast him for the coalition agreement with the separatists and socialists, something Iggy disavowed. And we'll talk about how lucky Stephen Harper is ... especially the fact that the same Harper who criticized the coalition has to depend on the same coalition partners to remain in office. Oh wait, since that contradicts my whole argument, maybe I should leave that out? Ugh. (L-P)

An antidote to Anime

Did you miss out on the big Evangelian 1.0 ticket giveaway?  Don't dispair.  You can always sit at home and watch all kinds of animated brilliance on youtube like this: 

Or how about this:


Now, will someone please define "progress" for me?

Pick of the Day: Final Fantasy w/Timber Timbre

Final Fantasy a.k.a. Owen Pallett has performed in Regina a couple of times before. In 2008, in fact, he played the main stage at the Regina Folk Festival. Here's the video for the title track of his 2006 Polaris award winning album He Poos Clouds. (YouTube) As well, if you check out our Sept. 24 issue, you'll find an interview with him by Emily Zimmerman that serves as a preview of his gig tonight at the Exchange as part of the RFF's Concert Series.

Joining Pallett is another pseudonymous singer-songwriter Timber Timbre a.k.a. Taylor Kirk. He's signed to Arts & Crafts and has three albums to his credit -- Cedar Shakes (2006), Medicinals (2007) and Timber Timbre (2009). I believe he's making his first appearance in Regina. But don't be surprised if, following this show, you see him on the main stage at a future Regina Folk Festival. Here's him performing his song "Demon Host" off Timber Timbre (YouTube)