Moses Znaimer’s IdeaCity celebrated its 20th year of innovative thinking opening on June 19, 2019. Znaimer is best known as one of the masterminds behind CityTV and MuchMusic back in the 80s but he continues to break the fourth wall in media, both bringing new ideas and creating an event that involves the audience.
A mobile version of his iconic Speakers Corner was available for guests who wanted to add their own voices and Znaimer hosted the event with an affable but energetic dynamic that indicates he’s not done changing the world.
The keynote speaker was esteemed lawyer Marie Henein who spoke about the rise of illiberal democracy.
Henein said she took it for granted in the past that Canadians engaged in “fairness and decency” and assumed that democracy was a synonym for the will of the majority. She noted there were many contentious social issues in which the public was split but as those issues are resolved in law—allowing gay marriage, abortion, and assisted dying—allowing for one set of values did not mean the destruction of the other point of view.
The current divisiveness and lack of dialogue is something new.
Part of the problem, she noted, was the lack of information available to the public before they make their decision. Informed opinions can’t be issued in “140 characters” or fast enough to get in on a current Twitter debate.
Henein had three main points of observation: Dialogue has been replaced by a screaming match, illiberal democracy is on the rise, and the urge to protect classes of victimhood has become a priority.
Henein warned against the calls to be “tougher on crime” by escalating police charging policies and leaving it up to the legal system to sort out. She said we “can’t solve problems at the courtroom door” when the real solution to some of these issues are social and economic.
A vigorous champion of our legal system, Henein said that public figures denouncing so-called “activist judges” when an outcome is unpopular is a “snake oil” scam that falsely attempts to delegitimize our legal system.
The attempt to place a higher value on perceived “majority rights” at the expense of “individual rights” is an Orwellian approach that ultimately claims some people’s rights are better than others.
At the same time, Henein noted that you can’t say “just calm down” to someone in the midst of a panic attack and that we will need to find a different way to bridge that communication gap.
Finishing on a note that ties back to the concept of the whole event, Henein closed with the remark “ideas breathe life into democracy.”
The afternoon also highlighted former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler, who gave a passionate speech that was met with a standing ovation. Cotler outlined the great work Canada is doing to address human rights violations around the world, emphasizing how “one person acting with integrity can make a difference” even in extreme circumstances.
He outlined specific cases of political persecution in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela and China and what is being done to free those people from torturous conditions. These examples of the “criminalization of dissent” are a good reminder why events like this are important and how many reasons we have to engage in the world around us.
In terms of what the average person can do, Cotler quoted a professor he had at McGill University who said “imagine the world is split into two halves and your one kind act can tip everything in that direction.”
IdeaCity continues until the 21st at Koerner Hall in Toronto.
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Raccoon takes bus in London, Ontario
A raccoon was spotted on a city bus in London, Ontario last night around 8 pm. One passenger was able to snap a picture of the along route 19 in the Masonville area.
The LTC replied to the tweet saying,
No one quite knows how the little guy managed to board the bus and the LTC has yet to comment.
Word on the street is after failing to present a valid ticket he was asked to leave, begrudgingly he waddled off muttering something about the LTC.
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Man denies keeping $3,700 from his Humboldt Broncos' GoFundMe
Multiple charges were laid against Andrij Olesiuk after he claimed to have handed over $4,100 to a door-to-door canvasser to give to the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team, according to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Olesiuk claimed that he did not know the name of the woman he gave the money to. He also said that the receipt she gave him was burned in a house fire.
Over a year ago, Olesiuk had multiple charges laid against him involved with using the Humboldt Broncos’ fundraiser for his own benefit.
According to evidence and documents from the case, close to $3,700 was deposited into 33-year-old Olesiuk’s account. Prosecutor Darren Howarth told the court that the money was never sent to the Saskatchewan hockey team. The money was raised using the #PrayForHumboldt GoFundMe page.
The trial took place at the Saskatoon provincial court on Wednesday. When Olesiuk testified he said, “My intention was to raise funds for the families affected by the tragedy.”
According to the Olesiuk, he gave away the money on April 24, 2018. He claimed in court that the money totaled $4,100.
Olesiuk claimed that he gave away the money in $100 bills and that his family donated about $700 to the cause themselves.
He was charged and arrested in November 2018.
Olesiuk claimed that he sent the money with the canvasser because it would be easier than traveling to Humboldt. He also said that she seemed to be legitimate.
The GoFundMe page specified that Olesiuk was supposed to give the money directly to the team. He was unsure where the money he handed over to the woman had ended up.
His prosecutor said, “You gave it to someone you didn’t know… You didn’t even know if she was representing the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.”
Olesiuk responded, “I don’t know for sure.”
He also said that the house fire took place three months after the incident destroying his receipt which was delivered to him a couple of days after handing over the money.
According to the police, there were 35 people who contributed to the GoFundMe page before it was closed a few weeks after the accident.
Olesiuk was charges included:
- Fraud over $5,000
- Fraud under $5,000
- Possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000
- Possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000
- Laundering proceeds of crime
According to RCMP Cpl. Craig Hall, most of the money was spent at Canadian Tire, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants.
Closing arguments are taking place Thursday morning.
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Former 'anti-racism' government employee was reprimanded for talking about Trudeau's blackface
A former government employee told HuffPost Canada she was punished for giving comment to the news outlet on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of blackface when it became an international story during the 2019 federal election.
39-year-old Manjot Bains told HuffPo she was reprimanded and commanded to not speak about racism publicly after she spoke to a HuffPo reporter in a September story where she wasn’t identified as a federal employee. Bains faced a lot of backlash at work where she was a senior program adviser, which led to her quitting her job at the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives program that’s part of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
“The prime minister is the one who performed blackface, not me. But somehow I faced repercussions for his actions,” Bains said to HuffPost.
Bains was hired last May and was cleared by her new employer to still continue contributing to her media website, Jugni Style, that covers South Asian culture, so she thought it wouldn’t be a problem to comment on Trudeau’s history of blackface.
“It didn’t connect with who I thought Trudeau is,” Bains told HuffPo back in September. “For anyone to even do that, whether it’s 2001, 1990 or right now, that doesn’t make sense to me.”
Bains told HuffPo she passed along the story to her manager when it was published and was swiftly told she shouldn’t have spoken to the media and had lost her manager’s trust.
Bains then had a meeting with her superiors and was told that public servants aren’t allowed to speak critically of Trudeau publicly, and would have to do “loyalty training” and redo ethics training.
Bains cited her union actually promotes political activity and her contract stated, “the right to engage in political activities while maintaining the principles of political impartiality in the public service.”
Public servants are expected to show a “duty of loyalty” to the Canadian government.
In a much more clear cut case of political activism, a federal public servant was put on leave from his job after releasing an anti-Harper folk song during the 2015 election.
Bains also wrote her own personal account of the ordeal she faced after speaking about her thoughts on Trudeau’s blackface incidents publicly, published by HuffPo as well on Thursday.
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BREAKING: Andrew Scheer resigns as Conservative leader
The leader of the Conservative party of Canada has resigned after a disappointing election loss where he took the popular vote but lost the path to victory, allowing another Trudeau government.
Andrew Scheer will be resigning from the Conservative leadership role after intense internal party division largely made his position impossible, according to sources that have spoken to the Globe and Mail.
According to Global News, the resignation also came after it was revealed that party funds were used to send Andrew Scheer’s children to private school.
Mr. Scheer announced the decision at a special caucus meeting on Thursday morning.
The decision comes as former Conservative cabinet minister John Baird prepares his autopsy of the election which many expect to be critical.
According to Sun Journalist Brian Lilley, the decision will become public once a new leader is selected by the party.
With Scheer out, many have begun to wonder who will be the interim leader and who will run in the following leadership race.
With interim leaders normally staying out of leadership races, multiple high ranking officials will have to weigh their options and decide if they would rather keep the party united, or choose to run as Andrew’s potential replacement. Some pundits believe Conservative insiders such as Erin O’Toole or Peter Mackay could be gunning for that position, due to their brand power and instances which have occurred since the election of Trudeau.
For example, Peter Mackay has harshly criticized the party’s campaign, comparing it to missing on an open net, while O’Toole has voiced his disappointment with results in Ontario, especially with the loss of key figures such as Lisa Raitt.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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