Michael Ignatieff Waves His Paper Tiger For The Press

Photograph by: Pierre Obendrauf, The Gazette

Read my lips: there will be no summer election. Having Michael Ignatieff even pretend such a thing speaks to his opinion of our intelligence. There is absolutely nothing that the economic update indicates, and nothing about the performance of the Conservatives, that would be compelling enough to defeat the government after 8 months in power, during which time they have acquiesced to the “coalition” demands for stimulus spending. I suppose what rubs me the wrong way about Mr.Ignatieff’s current posturing and brooding, is the emptiness of his gestures. As Paul Wells wrote, the Conservatives are “off probation”, and this Shakespearean act he’s putting on is fooling nobody but, it would appear, the news wires.

The problem for Mr.Ignatieff, like his predecessor, is that he is fighting desperately for some kind of relevance. An immediate brand of relevance that isn’t just about secret tape recordings, or listeriosis, or employment insurance. And yet despite having nothing to say, nothing new to add, nothing to fight the Conservatives on, he continues to talk about the prospect of an election, pretending he holds sway over the guillotine hanging over the heads of the government. Rubbish.

Mr.Ignatieff’s actions are nothing but an exaggerated dramatic pause, a William Shatner impersonation involving hyperbole and over-acting, as he mulls over the economic update that he knows full well is based largely on the demands of the Liberals themselves, most of which has yet to even be implemented. The Liberals have a lot to say, but not much to talk about. What exactly does this party stand for, that it didn’t stand for under the tenure of Stephane Dion, except for the dunking of the Green Shift into the memory hole? In fact the only reason the Liberals would even consider bluffing on an election right now, is that they inexplicably show a lead in most recent federal polls, despite the fact that all polls also show that Canadians don’t want an election yet.

If we’re to take the latest cryptic message from Ignatieff’s war room seriously, some people actually think there’s a chance to attack the Conservatives while they’re seen as being weak. But here’s where we see the true nature of the Liberal strategy revealed for the rank opportunism of an empty agenda. The only reason to have an election is based on defeating the Conservatives at a time where polls indicate it could happen, but just like the planned “coalition” coup, they have neither the consent, nor the will of the public in whatever policies Mr.Ignatieff has managed to squeak from both sides of his mouth. We hear the Liberals complaint about the massive projected deficit, but at the exact same time complain that not enough money is being spent to provide stimulus during the economic downturn.

And what of the will of those behind the scenes? Why, even by the contents of that Lisa Raitt tape that the Liberals have mercilessly flogged in Question Period, the companies and banks and financial institutions that backed the Liberal and Conservative plans for economic recovery with this stimulus budget would be none too happy to hear that Mr.Ignatieff is backing out of the deal:

Later in her conversation with Ms. MacDonnell, Ms. Raitt tells the man driving them around Victoria that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had backed down from defeating the Conservative government on a budget a few days earlier because he got a message from Canadian bankers.

“They did it at the Canadian Council of (Chief) Executives, there was three presidents of major banks who stood up in the room — and this is not from cabinet so I can talk about it — stood up and said, ‘Ignatieff, don’t you even think about bringing us to an election,’” said Ms. Raitt.

“’We don’t need this. We have no interest in this. And we will never fund your party again.’ That was very powerful. So he heard it from very powerful people in the industry. He was definitely muzzled.”

And yet these “Liberal insiders” consider the odds of defeating the government as being “50-50″. Without the consent of the public, without the consent of companies and workers who want to focus on economic recovery, and perhaps even without the consent of those within the Liberal Apparatchik itself. If the Liberals did somehow manage to convince the NDP and Bloc Quebecois to defeat the government in a confidence vote, I think the voters would severely punish the opposition parties for putting their own opportunistic goals, once again, ahead of Canadian interests.

Now This Is A Mechanized Infantry

Literally. Although the preamble to the video is a little boring, with no sound, it does show the kind of robots that will be shown later in the video. At the risk of having robots take over the world and overthrow humanity, the video shows much of the advantages in future warfare that will eliminate the need for soldiers to put themselves at risk.

You can skip to the 0:45 mark and watch a robot traverse a desert landscape, scale a flight of stairs, drive through water, and then [turn up the volume] accurately destroy a shooting range target. It’s all computer animated, but it shows the kind of capabilities that mechanized warriors can have in future combat.

At 1:50 the video shows an African slum patrolled by a mechanized policeman or soldier. It’s a little bit “Terminator” in the execution of the video, but not entirely unbelievable. Imagine being able to deploy robots manned remotely by security teams in dangerous sectors of the world. Even if the robot was attacked, headquarters could record the data and send a response unit or take other action.

At the 3:05 mark you get to see various land vehicles of small size with automatic rifles blowing away targets. These more or less look easy to avoid; there’s no bipedal locomotion going on here. But the best is for last: a UAV helicopter drone with two sidemounted automatic rifles weaving and bobbing as it shoots a target.

Of course this is likely to spawn the whole HAL9000 argument, and all the ethical problems that follow. So long as the robots are remotely controlled, they would only be another tool in warfare or security. It’s when you attempt to create AI programs that need to make human decisions in warfare that it would likely be a very nasty learning curve indeed.

h/t Wired Magazine.

Time To Dump Miller And Molson Stock

I hate drinking from plastic, and that’s the primary reason I won’t touch overpriced beer at hockey or baseball games. Beer only tastes good in glass, or possibly aluminum. Besides, I can’t quite understand the move in conjunction with recent concerns about the plastic crisis and the pollution it causes. There’s already a flotsam of plastic in the Pacific Ocean larger than most countries on Earth. But to each his or her own, I guess. Do you enjoy drinking a rare whiskey out of a Styrofoam cup?

A major brewer wants to give traditional beer bottles a kick in the glass.

Miller, in partnership with Molson, has begun selling its Genuine Draft in clear plastic bottles through the LCBO.

The company says the flexible packaging offers several benefits over traditional glass and cans, including being virtually unbreakable and faster to chill.

MGD spokesman Peter Bombaci said glass can be prohibitive in certain situations and the recyclable plastic bottles offer more ease of use.

“The MGD clear plastic bottle is a natural fit for indoor and outdoor settings where glass is not appropriate, such as around the pool, at the beach and on the golf course,” he said.

The plastic bottles were first introduced at sports venues in the U.S. in 1999, and their popularity south of the border led the company to bring them to Canada.

The Air Canada Centre will offer MGD’s plastic bottle option in October to coincide with the opening of the Raptors season. Until then, you can buy a single 473 ml bottle at the LCBO for $2.50.

The plastic bottles can be refunded at Beer Store locations throughout the province.

Nathan Camero, beverage manager for Prime Restaurants — franchisor of several pubs including East Side Mario’s, Fionn McCool’s and the Bier Markt — says he will approach the new packaging option with a healthy skepticism.

“There’s a reason why breweries have traditionally chosen glass for hundreds of years of bottling,” he said.

On a personal level, he compares drinking beer out of a plastic bottle to “drinking a rare whiskey out of a Styrofoam cup.”

For me, it’s the taste and the aesthetics. For others maybe it’s just about pounding back an alcoholic beverage.

We’re Getting Stimulus, Whether We Want It Or Not

Photo: screen capture from CTV News

The Conservatives delivered their quarterly economic report today, one of the “conditions” for passing the January budget, otherwise known as the day that Michael Ignatieff put Stephen Harper “on probation“. The Prime Minister said that Canada’s economy is in recovery mode partly because of the $62 billion “shot in the arm to the economy”. Mr.Harper said that 80% of the measures outlined in the stimulus plan are flowing, or are committed to flow shortly when specific projects are approved:

“Some signs of stabilization have been appearing in the world economy. The effects of the recession are beginning to ease.”

Trying to mitigate any political fire the Liberals might play with regarding Employment Insurance, the government said that more than 100,000 Canadians are participating in federal work-sharing programs, and that the government will spend an additional $5.5 billion on the Employment Insurance program. An estimated 3,000 infrastructure projects are getting started under the $22.7 billion stimulus plan, but was vague on the details. The Prime Minister then issued a warning against any political instability during this time of economic recovery.

What doesn’t quite make sense about this economic update, however, is the assertion that both the economy is recovering, and that it is the stimulus that has enabled it to do so. Addressing the former assertion, the Prime Minister certainly has a strong argument that it is. The TSX is up as good news rolls in from south of the border, the dollar is rising, and the composite index today is up to 10,665, the highest point in the daily reports shown in months. As well, a recent international Ipsos poll showed that global consumer confidence had stabilized in Canada, after three straight semesters of plunging. The survey showed “positive” indicators in consumer confidence based on discretionary household expenditures.

But has the “stimulus” had anything to do with economic recovery? While the government makes a bold statement that it has, less than a month ago the Financial Post ran a story that showed only 5% of the stimulus money had even been released into the economy yet. Even with the most up-to-date statistics, there is no chance that recent stimulus spending could have any effect on economic indicators talked about in the Prime Minister’s speech. So the economy seems to have stabilized, and even turned around, all without the massive spending that has been so urged by the members of the opposition government. Under Canada’s Parliamentary rules, supplementary estimates haven’t even been voted on in the stimulus budget yet, and those projects that have been green-lighted are very dubiously linked to any growth recovery.

So if economic indicators are positive, consumer confidence is growing, and unemployment is leveling off, why do we still need to spend billions of stimulus bucks? The answer is found at the tail end of a National Post editorial. Politicians of all stripes want credit for fixing the economy, and win praise from voters with local infrastructure programs that have nothing to do with economic recovery. It may be that the Keynesian economics being played in Ottawa is more for show, than for effect.