I attended the Green Party of Canada Convention tonight wearing my “GlobeCampus hat” looking to write a story about the youth summit they are holding as part of the convention.
At the same time as the youth summit, the motions workshops were underway.
Motion workshops are when members of a political party can propose ideas and, usually, the fringe motions die a quiet death there.
That’s not what happened today – the grown-ups weren’t in the room and a motion passed recommending the Green Party take a position in favour of the legalization of polygamy.
Laura Payton, who was in the room, reports for Sun Media.
What happened? Where were the grown-ups?
As one delegate pointed out to me, they were busy in training sessions.
The Green Party was holding two training sessions simultaneous to the motions workshop.
Green Party candidates were two doors down the convention hall in “Candidate training.”
The Green Party’s hopeful MPs – the people that have to sell policies passed at the convention -  were not in the room.
Their campaign managers, financial officers, and fundraisers were two further doors away from the action. They were in training sessions as well.
In short, the very people who build, maintain, and manage the party left the keys in the ignition and the result is the Green Party’s public flirtation with polygamy.
Tomorrow, the grown-ups will put this car back into the driveway. The only question is how much body work will be needed to make it roadworthy again. …

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the controversial Second World War raid on Dieppe, France. (Wikipedia)

The debate rages to this day – was it a worthwhile venture that saved lives in North Africa and Normandy or was it a slaughter orchestrated by the political interests of the British government to appease the Soviet desire for action on the Western Front to provide relief in the east?

I’ve studied the raid extensively over the years and hold the educated opinion that it was a combination of both.

While motivated by numerous political considerations – as most military campaigns are – it served as a valuable and necessary attack against the Atlantic Wall that ultimately saved lives.

Was Dieppe necessary? Yes and no – if not Dieppe, the Allies would have been decimated elsewhere. The result would’ve been worse and potentially decisive against the entire Allied war effort.

The men at Dieppe fought with valour and served their country proudly.

Their battle was a lost, but they helped to win the war.

Today, I paused to reflect on all they gave to my generation and to quietly say thanks. …

Last week, I received a news release from a group calling itself the Simcoe County Safe School Committee. (WiFi in schools is Very Dangerous for Children)

I looked at the release and thought – okay, they have one expert who believes WiFi is dangerous and she’ll be speaking about her viewpoint that evening at a public library in Thornbury. I figured it would be picked up by wire services – after all it’s the middle of August and almost anything new become news. I didn’t expect it to amount to more than filler content on a slow summer news day.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke Sunday morning to discover that more than a wire story had come of the release – mass hysteria was well underway.

(It must be noted this group is likely guided by someone experienced in public relations as few have the expertise to use successfully capture the public agenda with such speed as this group.) 

Tuesday, the public elementary teachers union joined the call to ban both WiFi and cell phones from schools in Ontario.

I misread that. I had an earlier story that spoke about the Niagara proposal. Thank you Sarah for correcting. Ouch, that’s a huge misread on my part. Huge.

Let me try that again.

Thankfully, the provincial public elementary teachers union rejected a proposal from it’s Niagara chapter to ban WiFi in schools.

What’s next?

That’s the $100 question. The province is dodging responsibility on the matter and saying the WiFi decision is best left to individual school boards. …

In the days leading up to the Pan Am decision, and only two days before the federal government intervened to veto a West Harbour stadium – a decision reversed less than 24 hours after becoming public knowledge – the Canadian Football League Commissioner met with senior Cabinet Ministers.

While the topic of the discussions is officially unknown, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to see the patterns.

In public records released online yesterday, it was revealed that CFL Commissioner Mark Cohen meet with four cabinet Minister during the lead-up to the Hamilton vote:

• Atlantic Gateway Minister Keith Ashfield;
• Finance Minister Jim Flaherty;
• Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn; and
• Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay.

Cohon met with Flaherty and Lunn on Tuesday, August 3 – only two days before Lunn called Pan Am 2015 CEO Ian Troop to deliver the news that the Federal government would not fund a West Harbour site.

There were two separate meetings between Lunn and Cohon on August 3.

The meetings with Ashfield and MacKay indicate the CFL is pushing to establish a team in the Atlantic market – the question is if they were discussing expansion or the relocation of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to the region.

The meeting with MacKay occurred August 9 – the same day that the Tiger-Cats pulled out of negotiations for a stadium in Hamilton and announced their intention to leave Hamilton.

Hamilton City Council voted, in committee of the whole, for the West Harbour site during their August 10 meeting. …

Hamilton City Council will meet Thursday to ratify their decision Tuesday to support a West Harbour Stadium for the Pan Am Games in 2015.

Council voted 12-3, with Brad Clark absent at the Michael Buble concert in Toronto, for the West Harbour site.

Who knows what will happen today – anything can happen (and it seems everything has already).

The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. I will launch the CoverItLive at 9:00am.

The full agenda can be read here.

Click Here to join the discussion in a new window

<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=592aaedb37″ mce_href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=592aaedb37″ >Hamilton City Council Live</a>

I’m officially off today at The Spectator and am NOT representing the Spectator. I’m attending the meeting because I’ve been attending important meetings for the last 15 years.

I’ve always tweeted news and information at events I attend. At the Future Fund Meeting a few weeks ago, I launched CoverItLive and hundreds of people joined in.

Over 11,000 people joined in the discussion on Tuesday.

I hope by facilitating this today, hundreds more will be able to join in. …

I’m live at Carmen’s on Hamilton Mountain for the Ticat-Cats pro-East Mountain stadium rally.

Twitter is down, I’m using CoverItLive.

…

I was caught off guard by the announcement today that Ontario’s public universities are being granted pension solvency relief.

I knew there were significant discussions occurring between the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities and the Ministry of Finance.

I didn’t know that an announcement was imminent.

The government news release is available here: Putting University Pension Plans On A Sustainable Track

I’ve filed to my GlobeCampus online column and it should go up later this afternoon following edits. (You would not believe how many times my editors have saved my hind.)

I’m also writing a brief news story for The Hamilton Spectator which should appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

This is a significant announcement by the Ontario government which will alleviate a budget pressure that was going to effect the quality of classroom education. …

My former Silhouette editor, and current colleague at The Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Baulcomb answered a few questions for the McMaster University public relations page “Daily News” early this week.

The Q&A is posted online.

Andrew’s an amazing journalist. His prose is captivating and information. Watch for his bylines, especially if you’re like me and only skim newspapers – you don’t want to miss any of his stories. …