Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Former aide had disclosed his background prior to joining PMO : Bruce Carson

Stephen Harper’s disgraced former aide, Bruce Carson, had disclosed his entire criminal record, which included five counts of fraud resulting in psychiatric treatment, prior to being hired by the PMO. Carson became the subject of an RCMP investigation after a report by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network alleged he lobbied Indian Affairs on behalf of a water company which employed his fiancee, a 22-year-old former escort.




Court documents show Carson was charged with defrauding Budget Car and Truck Rental, the Bank of Montreal and Toronto-Dominion Bank in June 1990, when he was working as a researcher for the Library of Parliament. He pleaded guilty to three counts and was sentenced to 24 months probation on condition he receive psychiatric counseling. Carson’s lawyer, Patrick McCann, said his crimes were the result of a mental breakdown from an ugly divorce, and that the light sentence demonstrated that the charges weren’t serious. The revelations raise new questions about Prime Minister Harper’s judgment in hiring Carson, particularly since he was quoted as saying “had I known these things, I would not have…hired him.” As Harper’s chief policy analyst and troubleshooter, Carson would have had access to top-secret government files and had close access to the Prime Minister.

The Liberals made modest gains on the Tories at the end of the federal election campaign's first week,

OTTAWA - The Liberals made modest gains on the Tories at the end of the federal election campaign's first week, but could face an uphill battle in the key battleground around Toronto, a new poll suggests.




The latest Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll put the Conservatives at 35 per cent support, ahead of the Liberals at 28 per cent. The NDP was at 17 per cent, while the Bloc Quebecois stood at 10 per cent and the Greens at eight.



The results are almost identical to the federal election standings that delivered a Conservative minority government in 2008.



The telephone survey of 1,000 people was conducted between Thursday and Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



Harris-Decima's two-week sampling of voter intention, which wrapped up Sunday, gave the Conservatives the support of 37 per cent of respondents, 11 points better than the Liberals.



That survey of 2,000 respondents carried a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



Those results offer partial support for the notion that the Liberals had a fairly good start to the campaign, said Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg.



Voters may also be warming up — albeit modestly — to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, he added.



"Perhaps even more encouraging for the Liberals is the fact that their leader, Michael Ignatieff — while still having the highest 'unfavourable' ratings of all of the five federal leaders — has improved his favourable ratings," said Gregg.



The number of people who view Ignatieff favourably has increased to 37 per cent, up from 25 per cent in February, his highest 'favourable' number since September 2009.



Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 'unfavourable' rating increased by nine points to 52 per cent, up from 43 per cent in February. That's Harper's highest unfavourable ranking since the start of the last federal election in September 2008.



"When you look below the surface, however, it is clear that it would be wildly premature for the Liberals to start popping the champagne corks at this point in the campaign," Gregg said.



That's because the Liberal hold on Toronto is slipping, with the Conservatives opening up a wide lead in the so-called 905 suburban ridings that ring the city. If the Tories are able to pick up seats in 905, so named for its telephone area code, that could give them their much-coveted majority.



In the 905 ridings, Harris-Decima's two-week sampling of vote intention put the Conservatives at 42 per cent and the Liberals at 32 per cent. The NDP and Greens trailed at 14 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.



"The Liberal fortress of Toronto is now perilously close to being breached by the Conservatives, who have been solidly polling in the 30-plus per cent range for all of 2011," Gregg said.



In the 416 ridings of Toronto itself, the Liberals had a slim 42-37 lead over the Conservatives with the NDP at 16 per cent, and the Greens at five.



Across Ontario, the Tories led the Liberals 43-34 in the most recent Sunday-to-Thursday polling, with the NDP at 14 per cent, and the Greens at eight.



That's only a modest shift from the two-week sampling that gave the Tories a 41-33 lead, with the NDP and Greens at 17-per cent and eight-per-cent respectively.



"The Liberals still have a long way to go to before even neutralizing the huge advantage the Conservatives had going into this election," Gregg said.



The historic Liberal advantage among women has all but disappeared and they now trail the Conservatives among men by 18 points, he added.



For more information about the survey, visit http://www.harrisdecima.ca./



Respondents were asked: "If a federal election were being held tomorrow, who do you think you would be voting for in your area?"

Monday, April 4, 2011

The Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled the federal government's proposal to create a national securities regulator is unconstitutional.

QUEBEC — The Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled the federal government's proposal to create a national securities regulator is unconstitutional.



In a split decision released late Thursday, the court said the federal government would intrude on the province's constitutional jurisdiction with the project.



"This decision confirms Quebec's opposition to the federal government's project of a single securities commission is well-founded," Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand said in a statement.



The Alberta Court of Appeal handed down to a similar decision in March.



"Considering those two rulings and the lack of support in many provinces, I urge the federal government to give up its project," Bachand added.



Quebec and Alberta are the two most vocal provinces opposed to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's plan to create a single national securities regulator to replace the numerous provincial bodies overseeing regional capital markets.



Flaherty has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to weigh in over the constitutionality of the proposed Canada Securities Act.



The high court is scheduled to hear the case in April.



The Conservative government, now in the midst of a federal election campaign, has been pushing for the creation of a single national regulator to handle increasingly complex and global markets.







Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Federal+securities+regulator+unconstitutional+Quebec+court/4541434/story.html#ixzz1IWzAT0w0

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Green Party of of Canada in court April 5

OTTAWA – On Tuesday, April 5, at 9:30 a.m. lawyer Peter Rosenthal will appear on behalf of Elizabeth May before the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa. The Court will determine whether it will hear the application of the Green Party before the first leaders’ debate on April 12.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Site report for microsoft.com

Netcraft Site Report

Site http://www.microsoft.com Last reboot unknown Uptime graph


Domain microsoft.com Netblock owner Microsoft Corp

IP address 65.55.12.249 Site rank 72

Country US Nameserver ns1.msft.net

Date first seen August 1995 DNS admin msnhst@microsoft.com

Domain Registrar melbourneit.com Reverse DNS wwwco2vip.microsoft.com

Organisation Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, 98052, United States Nameserver Organisation Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, 98052, United States

Check another site:





Hosting History

Netblock Owner IP address OS Web Server Last changed

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 207.46.131.43 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 9-Mar-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 207.46.131.43 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 4-Mar-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 65.55.21.250 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 3-Mar-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 207.46.170.10 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 2-Mar-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 65.55.12.249 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 28-Feb-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 207.46.131.43 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 26-Feb-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 65.55.12.249 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 25-Feb-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 207.46.131.43 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 24-Feb-2011

Microsoft Corp One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 65.55.12.249 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 23-Feb-2011

MS Hotmail One Microsoft Way Redmond WA US 98052 64.4.31.252 Citrix Netscaler Microsoft-IIS/7.5 22-Feb-2011

Site report for www.conservative.ca

Netcraft Site Report



Site report for www.conservative.ca



Site http://www.conservative.ca Last reboot unknown
Domain conservative.ca Netblock owner Backbone IT Services

IP address 66.199.131.122 Site rank 496052

Country CA Nameserver ns1.telecomottawa.com

Date first seen June 2000 DNS admin johnmattocks@conservative.ca

Domain Registrar cira.ca Reverse DNS conservative.ca

Organisation Conservative Party of Canada Nameserver Organisation Atria Networks LP, 100 Maple Grove Rd, Ottawa, K2V 1B8, Canada







Hosting History

Netblock Owner IP address OS Web Server Last changed

Backbone IT Services 200 - 440 West Hastings St. Vancouver BC CA V6B-1L1 66.199.131.122 Linux Apache/2.2.3 CentOS 16-Mar-2011

Backbone IT Services 200 - 440 West Hastings St. Vancouver BC CA V6B-1L1 66.199.131.122 Linux Apache/2.2.3 CentOS 16-Feb-2011

Backbone IT Services 200 - 440 West Hastings St. Vancouver BC CA V6B-1L1 66.199.131.122 Linux Apache/2.2.3 CentOS 5-Oct-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 12-Mar-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 11-Mar-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 10-Mar-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 9-Mar-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 8-Mar-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 7-Mar-2010

Allstream Corp. Corporation Allstream 200 Wellington Street West 16th Floor Toronto ON CA 66.46.145.120 F5 Big-IP Apache/1.3.37 Unix PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.8.28 OpenSSL/0.9.8e 6-Mar-2010

Friday, April 1, 2011

Doug Ford says the Star is ruthless.

Doug Ford says the Star is ruthless.




Speaking at a meeting of the city’s government management committee, Ford condemned the Toronto Star for filing requests under the Municipal Freedom of Information Act, for asking questions of the mayor’s constituents and for what he called “stalking” his 76-year-old mother for a story.



“I’m the first to admit that 90 per cent of the media is very respectful; they don’t come charging through the office, but there is a media outlet that doesn’t respect that,” Ford told David Nickle, the city hall press gallery president, on Tuesday.



The committee was discussing a proposed change to security rules that would prevent reporters from entering the councillors’ office area without restrictions. Apparently, the idea is to require accredited media, who rent offices in City Hall, to sign in like the general public and be escorted to councillors’ offices.



It’s still before the committee.



The Ford brothers and their teams have consistently refused to talk to the paper’s reporters.



Ford complained the newspaper has gone to constituents asking the purpose of the mayor’s visits. “As far as I am concerned, that’s private,” said Ford. “That’s none of their business.” The Star denied Ford’s claims.



He also blasted Star reporters for filing what he deemed too many freedom of information requests.



The Star filed such a request for details on the mayor’s daily itinerary when reporters were unable to obtain that information from his communications team. The story published March 24 revealed, among other things, that the mayor keeps a busy schedule filled with appearances at community events. The Star spoke to business and community leaders to discuss the meetings, but not to ordinary constituents.



When David Miller was mayor, his office released a basic itinerary every week.



Ford was also angry about a Star reporter trying to speak to his mother while writing his profile before the October election. (A reporter was working on the story in Etobicoke when she spotted a Jaguar covered with “Ford for mayor” decals. When she attempted to speak with the driver, she discovered it was Ford’s mother.)



“When you start going after people’s families, it’s a witch hunt. It’s unacceptable,” he told Nickle.



“And I just want to say — 98 per cent of you are respectful, you don’t hunt someone’s mother down, except one media outlet: the Toronto Star,” said Ford. “They’re ruthless.”



Star reporters undertake their journalism in a professional and respectful manner, said Star spokesman Bob Hepburn.



“It is simply wrong to suggest that Star reporters have ‘stalked’ or ‘hunted down’ Mr. Ford’s mother,” he said. “Star reporters have interviewed Mrs. Ford in the past, but always with courtesy and professionalism.”