Bigots swarm interracial Cheerios ad

There are some sick bastards out there.

I’m going to go buy some Cheerios.

Wynne Liberals need to help the Huronia Survivors get the justice they deserve

But they’re not.

I work with the abused Huronia survivors so this is close to my heart. Not only is the government delaying justice, the government has denied even owing these women and men a duty of care. That’s right, children – some still in diapers – were placed in the government’s care where they were abused – physically, sexually and emotionally – while in government-run institutions. But now they say they don’t owe them a duty of care.

Yesterday, Pat and Marie – two of the brave survivors – were part of a press conference at Queen’s Park, where they talked about the abuse. Here’s a taste of what life has been like for them.

Marie (who was institutionalized at the age of seven): “We were herded into the shower like cattle, all naked. And we would have to wait in line for clothes and underwear, naked.”

Marie: “I thought I was going to die there and be buried behind the barn where the stones had numbers and no names.”

Marie: “We had to walk around the playroom with our pants down to humiliate us.”

Pat (who was also seven when she was dropped off at Huronia): “My  mom let go of my hand and I was left with strangers.”

Pat: “They turned me upside down in the hopper [a toilet]. Held me upside down by my feet with my face in the hopper. I couldn’t breathe.”

Pat: “Some of the staff would stomp you on the head.”

Pat: “I call [being institutionalized] being imprisoned for a crime we didn’t commit. What was the crime? Having an intellectual disability.”

I dare you to watch the video below and not want to help. And after you watch, ask yourself why isn’t the government helping them? Then go ask Premier Wynne and her Attorney General John Gerretsen.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9EVPMbwt70&feature=player_embedded]

Dr. Henry Morgentaler, RIP

For all that you have done to ensure that Canadian women have reproductive choice, thank you. 

The man everyone wants to hear from

David Price, Rob Ford confidante, is having a very bad week.

You may not know who he is – neither did I until he started calling me – but he’s known Rob Ford since the 80s when he helped coached Ford’s high school football team. Recently, and seemingly with little experience, the Mayor hired Price as his Director of Operations and Logistics (a post that keeps Price very close to the Mayor).

Now, given the (alleged) recent crack cocaine scandal – that now has the added element of murder – everyone wants to hear from Price. The Star and the Globe have both published pieces on Price, and his involvement with the clip that (allegedly) shows Rob Ford smoking crack, with a person who is now dead. According to these reports, Price knew the location of the video and that the video’s original owner was “killed for it.”  Ford’s now-former Chief of Staff wisely told Price to not go looking for that tape. Instead – also, wisely – Towhey went to the cops.

Everyone now wants to hear from David Price. Not surprising given how much information Price actually has (how did Price know where the clip was shot?).

And until I had published this post about how Rob Ford called me at night and then hung up on me, I had never heard of Price. Within days, Price was trying to reach me. Here’s one of his voice mails (I’ve edited out his cell phone number) in which Price says that he’s been very busy with a couple of “very high-profile issues these days.”

Very interesting, all things considered.

Darcy Allan Sheppard’s father speaks

Here, at a presser today.

I can only imagine the tremendous grief Mr. Sheppard is living with each day.

Welcome to Toronto

Currently making the social media rounds:

H/T: @cheyennedevan

This post isn’t about Rob Ford

I’m not a Trekkie (is that how you spell it?) but my partner is (sigh). Sometimes I humour him, like when I buy him Star Trek-themed gifts as a joke (except he always thinks they’re the best present, ever).

Anyway, the Rob Ford thing is boring (until someone buys that tape!) so I thought I’d use this opportunity to post about how a Star Trek writer apologized for the film’s “mysogenistic” scene. Good on him for apologize, too bad no one realized this sooner. You know, while they were filming, or something crazy like that.

When politicians need to back away from Twitter

It’s the cover-up, stupid!

For anyone old enough to remember the Watergate scandal, it wasn’t the break-in that did Nixon in, it was the cover-up. It’s a political lesson that should never be ignored: The truth will always get you in the end.

Take Mike Duffy. He’s a living, breathing, lumbering example of why the Senate needs a complete overhaul, if not (figuratively) burned to the ground (a position that I’m becoming more comfortable with despite my appreciation for the Red Chamber). He, and many of his colleagues, have, well, become entitled to their entitlements. Double dipping on expenses, claiming allowances they’re not eligible for, not regularly showing up for work, and so on. It’s hard to get rid of them, too –  some were only relieved of their duties after being criminally convicted for their transgressions.

But what made this one worse is that while all the Senate-expense drama was unfolding, the Prime Minister’s very own chief of staff managed to get his hands dirty. Rather than kick him out of Langevin’s front door, Nigel Wright allowed Duffy to stink the place up. Were I Wright, I would have held Duffy up as an example of what the Conservative government would not tolerate and publicly berate him for abusing taxpayers’ dollars, and their trust. And I would have directed his conservative colleagues, in both Houses, to do the same.

Not only did Wright cut Duffy a big, fat cheque but the Tory brain trust decided to trot out several members of Parliament to spin this whole mess. First came Pierre Poilievre – a serious joke in Ottawa – who actually called Wright’s cheque to Duffy “exceptionally honourable.” But Skippy screwed the whole thing up so badly, it pushed well-respected Calgary MP Michelle Rempel out onto the pundit circuit to repeat the “no taxpayer dollars” mantra. (Against her wishes, I’m betting).

So, the question remains: Why did the PMO go to such great lengths to protect the senator from P.E.I?

With Wright’s resignation, Harper himself is in the hot seat. Tomorrow is going to be a very bad day for him.

All of this to say, it’s never the break-in, always the cover-up. (Rob Ford take special note).

From the archives: Mike Duffy defends Conservative Senate expenses

I kid you not.

Several years ago, shortly after Mike Duffy was handed his cushy Senate gig, he appeared on a national news broadcast in, well, rough shape defending Conservative Senate expenses – and held his own up as a shining example. Oh, and he also attacked a member of Parliament and members of the Canadian Press.

Ah, sweet, sweet justice.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naV6EK1rbGY&feature=player_embedded]