This Week at City Hall

Monday, January 17
Crime Prevention Committee (12:15 pm): Considering the November 2009 crime statistics, the Crime Prevention Week and Crime Prevention Awards and setting meeting times for 2010.

City Council (5:00 pm): First meeting of 2010! Excited? Well, you would be if you'd read this week's agenda. Boy howdy, what a way to kick off the year! Shuffling the city's boundaries! Preparing for capital expenditures! Suggestions of budgetary hijinks to come! Hydrogen from garbage! Let's get to it, shall we?

This week, council will be considering the operating budget for the Regina Police Service and $25,000 in funding allotted to the Transit Fare Assistance Program.

Also, council will be looking to expand the city's boundaries by absorbing a portion of the Rural Municipality of Sherwood, for which said rural municipality will be compensated for lost tax money to the tune of a whopping $9,450. No, there are no zeroes missing on that number. Or at least I assume there isn't as it's written that way twice in the report. Man, if I'd known annexing land was this cheap I could've got this on my line of credit.

Council will also be passing recommended changes to the Local Government Election Act. Among the changes are provisions to allow for alternative voting methods such as on-line voting, a requirement that voters have to provide identification before being issued a ballot and provisions so that special polls (such those at hospitals or personal care facilities) can be held on days other than election day.

Looks like the Youth Advisory Council will be getting its name changed to the Youth Advisory Committee and its numbers shrunk to 12 so that it can reach quorum at meetings. (Formerly, it had 40-some members and that proved unworkable.)

Council will also be considering canceling its contract with the Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation (SHEC). We ran a news brief about this in the latest print p-dog; but, even briefer: SHEC had an agreement with the city to buy methane off-gassing from our landfill and it would turn that into hydrogen. Then the economy went to crap and it's apparently not a viable project at present so they want to back out. Have to say I'm not entirely surprised. I'm pretty skeptical of this hydrogen economy thing. And when someone comes a-knocking saying they can spin my straw -- or garbage as the case may be -- into gold, I'm inclined to ask "what's the catch, Rumpelstiltskin?"

Council is also looking at the capital projects for which it will have to give advance approval. This gives a good pre-budget glimpse at city priorities for the year so this item probably warrants a whole blog post of its own.

Finally, Councillor Clipsham is bringing a motion forward to extend council terms to four years as opposed to three.

Tuesday, January 19
Community Services Advisory Committee (5:30 pm): Considering a report from an attendee to the Canadian Urban Transit Association conference in 2009 and setting meeting times for 2010.

As always, complete agendas and reports can be downloaded from the city's website.

Pick of the Day: Going for a Walk Around Wascana Lake

I'm writing this a couple of days in advance, but the weather report for the weekend looks pretty favourable. We've essentially been cooped up for an entire year with shitty weather -- except for September, which was awesome, and November, which was pretty good too. But otherwise, frigid with a capital F. So if you get a chance today, head down to Wascana Lake for a brisk walk. Pathways are kept pretty clean in the winter, there's no bike and roller blade traffic to deal with, and we can all do with a bit of fresh air and exercise this time of the year.

Heads up to all the bachelors out there though who are tottering on the brink of making a life-time commitment to the woman of their dreams (or man of your dreams, I suppose). If your sweetie suggests a walk around the lake, and you find yourself in the vicinity of the Conexus Arts Centre, be forewarned that's there's a Wedding Expo on today. So proceed with caution.

Further south on the Wascana Parkway at the university, the Department of Music is partnering with the Theatre Department to present a concert of music and spoken word focussing on composers and writers from the 19th and 20th century. The concert is being held at Riddell Centre at 3 p.m.

And if you're looking for something to do tonight, playing at the RPL at 7 p.m. is the Australian film Three Blind Mice. It's about three sailors enjoying a last day of shore leave in Sydney before shipping out to Iraq. Here's the trailer. (YouTube) At 9 p.m., there's a U.S. documentary called Collapse about a real gloomy Gus named Michael Rupert who thinks the world is headed to hell in a hand-basket. Here's the trailer. (YouTube)

La Dolt Vita

Recently in Regina, a couple or three glossy lifestyle magazines like the one pictured have popped up. It's a business model that's been popularized in larger cities, and now that Regina (and Saskatoon up north) have supposedly "arrived" as prosperous and sophisticated urban centres we too get to have our own lifestyle magazines.

Through two different avenues I've been privy to a solicitation from the editor of Fine Lifestyles Regina seeking people to write for the magazine. Here's the form the pitch takes: He's looking for two kinds of writing: features (longer stories not tied to a particular advertiser) and advertorial (typically business profiles, these are part of an advertising package purchased by a client and subject to the client's approval).

As a business model, I suppose whoring a significant portion of your "editorial" content to garner advertising revenue might work. Although you'd think Reginans would have better things to do with their time than read what amounts to a glorified advertising insert. Or maybe not. But as far as any claim these magazines might make to journalistic credibility, forget about it.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Jackie Chan's latest dismal watered down kung fu kid's movie The Spy Next Door opened in theatres yesterday with a naturally lousy 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. So today's cartoon is the 1970's Hanna-Barbera Productions Hong Kong Phooey.

Phooey was a crime fighting dog in a world full of people. He worked as a janitor in a police station but nobody ever seemed to figure out that the only walking and talking dog in the city might be the walking and kung fu fighting dog. Voiced by Scatman Crothers, Phooey was comically incompetent and only succeeded with the help of his partner a striped cat named Spot.

Pick of the Day: Blue Rodeo

Chris Morin did a preview of this gig in our Jan. 14 issue where Blue Rodeo kind of come across as being a little full of themselves. I doubt, for instance, that they'll enjoy the same name-recognition at their upcoming Olympics gig as when they played Pariliament Hill on Canada Day 2008. For that to be true, Blue Rodeo would have to be world famous, and they're not.


That's not to say that the band doesn't rank as one of the best ever to emerge from Canada. I laboured to phrase that sentence, by the way. I originally thought about saying "best bands Canada has ever produced". But that would imply that Canada, as a country, takes credit for their existence.

To the extent that we provide reasonable levels of publicly-funded education and health-care for all our citizens, along with a smidgen of money to help nurture the arts, that's true. But for a band like Blue Rodeo to have endured as long as it has, and to have enjoyed the success that it has, is a testament primarily to their talent, dedication and drive as the lot of cultural producers in this country is difficult to say the least.

Blue Rodeo is at Conexus Arts Centre tonight. Cuff the Duke's backing them up. Here's video of them doing "The Ballad of Poor John Henry". (YouTube) And here's Blue Rodeo performing "Rain Down on Me" off their 1992 album Lost Together. (YouTube)

Also tonight, and on Jan. 23 too, Rick Harris is playing jazz at the Mediterranean Bistro from 6-9 p.m.

Friday Afternoon Kitty: Special Bad Tiger Edition

Tigers have been getting a bad rap in the media in Canada lately. In October, a tiger at the Calgary zoo named Vitali dined on drunks' arms (an after-hours zoo treat). Last week, a tiger at an exotic animal farm got rid of his keeper once and for all. There are all kinds of bad tigers, from the Tamil Tigers to you-know-who. (Rwoar!)

Our bad tiger of the day pick is Kenny, who lives at a sanctuary in Arizona. White tigers (the kind that usually eat ambiguously gay Vegas celebrity duos) are actually not a type of tiger, but descendants of one poor white male tiger named Mohan who was forcibly bred with his daughter Radha in 1951. The inbreeding has gone on to produce thousands of animals, which populate zoos and Vegas shows and large cat rescues. Inbreeding is never a good idea. Many are deformed (and subsequently destroyed). Kenny is mentally retarded; his siblings have knock knees and breathing problems.

Apologies for the hootenanny music, and for anything it implies. To Kenny, I mean.

UPDATE: prairie dog called for an update on poor Vitali, the drunk-eatin' Calgary Zoo tiger. We're happy to report that Vitali is just fine: no injuries to his mouth or paws, and no repercussions for the attack.

Pick of the Day: Volcanoless in Canada

As it happens, Canada is not volcanoless. True, there are no volcanoes currently erupting in our fair land, but according to National Resources Canada there is evidence of three volcanic eruptions in the last few hundred years. And numerous other volcanos could potentially erupt in the near future. Before everyone freaks out, keep in mind that we're talking geological timeframes here, so "near future" could mean hundreds of years down the road.

Most volcanos in Canada, as you might expect, are located in belts like the Garibaldi and Wrangell on the west coast. Many are less than five million years old, so still have plenty of life left in them. Then there's the threat posed by nearby American volcanos in Alaska and the Pacific north-west. Mount Baker, for instance, at an elevation of 3285 m, is an active Washington State volcano located less that 100 km southeast of downtown Vancouver. It blows, things could get pretty messy for residents of VanCity.

But enough geology. Tonight at O'Hanlon's Pub the Saskaton-based quintet Volcanoless in Canada is performing a free gig. Here's video of them doing their song "Tiptoes" at Cameron House in Toronto in 2008. Backing them up at O'Hanlon's are the Regina band Tinsel Trees.

Also on tap tonight is a show by Val Halla at the Gaslight Saloon. Fronted by former Reginan Val McLeod (who was featured in prairie dog's Dec. 31 My Music) the band is expected to hit the stage around 10 p.m. Here's a link to an earlier Blog post I did on Val.

And if your taste runs a little more retro, Canuck rock legends Lighthouse are at Casino Regina tonight.

The Late, Late, Late Afternoon, Okay, Evening, News

1.) HAITI: IT JUST GETS WORSE Sounds like we should expect more Canadian deaths in Haiti. That's in addition to the 100,000 Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive is gussing were killed in Tuesday's brutal earthquake. Also, there are problems getting medical help, food and water and other aid to people who need it--the scale of destruction in Port-Au-Prince and other devastated areas includes collapsed buildings and impassible streets. What fun. At least Ottawa will match individul Canadians' donations (up to $50 million anyway). Then again, is that really an efficient or practical disaster relief strategy? Sounds kind of like a multimillion dollar version of a bake sale to me. Someone left me know if I'm off base here. (CBC)

2.) CONSERVATIVES CRASH IN POLLS Thanks to Harper's diabolical proroguerry, support for the Tories has tumbled. Yeah, well, that was the Prime Minister's gamble. We'll see where the voters sit when parliament comes back and everbody's forgotten about this. Harper's betting things will be just fine for his party. Think he might be right. (Globe And Mail)

3.) LOTS OF INTEREST IN MARRIAGE COMMISSIONER LAW Yeah, not so surprising. And I'll just add here that prejudices masquerading as legitimate religious values don't belong in all kinds of public spheres: education, science, medicine, politics, etc. (Leader-Post)

4.) YOU CALL IT A "STRUCTURAL DEFICIT", I CALL IT A PLOT AGAINST CANADA Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page says Canada can't have a balanced budget while it continues to spend far, far more than it raises in taxes. So do you suppose when the Conservatives sliced two per cent off the GST--which lost the government $8-10 billion in revenue--they knew they were manufacturing a fiscal crisis that would help create support for savage government cuts? (CBC)

5.) A RARE SHARK ATTACK Great whites don't usually eat people. This one did. (Guardian)

6.) HAITI: GOOD GOD, PAT ROBERTSON IS A DICK So what's he saying, Haiti deserved the earthquake? Yes, he is saying that. My question: what kind of an asshole worships a god who earthquake-nukes the poorest country in the western hemisphere anyway? A miserable creep, that's who. Sure as hell not any kind of real Christian. The only public forum Pat Robertson should have is his family's dining room table on major holidays. Get off the TV, evil loon.



(Note to woman nodding in sad agreement: Fuck you, too.)

Rally Time

If you check out the new prairie dog just hitting the streets now you'll find a news article by Stephen LaRose and an editorial by Stephen Whitworth taking issue with the parliamentary manouevring that a third Stephen (Harper) has been up to in Ottawa to save his government from embarassing questions concerning Canadian complicity in the torture of Afghan detainees, plus also buy himself some time to appoint more Conservatives to the Senate to consolidate the party's grip on that august chamber and the committee work that it does. If the democratic rights of Canadians get trampled in the process, why should he care? This is a man, remember, who's on a mission to revamp the country and turn it into his own personal utopia where religion trumps reason and priviledge trumps public duty and social responsibility.

Some Canadians probably couldn't care less. Fortunately, not everyone has been cowed into submission by Harpo's dictatorial ways. Saturday, January 23, a series of rallies are being held across the country to protest the latest prorogation debacle. In Regina, the rally will be on the Scarth St. Mall between 1-2 p.m. That's more or less on our front door step, and we'll have writers there to report on the event. We promise.

Pick of the Day: Coffeehouse Controversies

Back when the Cold War was raging between the East Bloc led by the Soviet Union and the West led by the United States, certain areas of the globe like south-east Asia, Africa and Central and South America were surrogate battlegrounds where forces funded by both sides waged guerilla and outright war against each other for regional supremacy.

Beginning with the elections of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and Ronald Reagan in 1980, the West ratcheted up its involvement both militarily and financially in order to overthrow what were often democratically elected governments that were regarded as being too closely aligned with the Soviet Union. Few British and American troops were in the direct line of fire, but civillians in countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mozambique and Angola suffered horribly.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a lot of those proxy wars petered out. They've since been supplanted, of course, by what some commentators have described as a clash of civilizations between the West and the Muslim World. While all this has been going on, there's been a resurgence in leftist politics in Latin America in particular led by peasant, labour and indigenous leaders. How governments like those led by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia came about, and how they are faring in this age of global capitalism, is what University of Regina Political Science professor Jeffrey Webber will discuss in the first Coffeehouse Controversies of the winter season at Chapters tonight at 7:30 p.m. The formal title of the talk is The New Latin American Left.

To get you in the mood for a bit of rabble-rousing, here's Bruce Cockburn performing his song "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" which was initially inspired by a visit he made to a Guatemalan refugee camp in 1984. (YouTube)