|By Robert Eve||
|August 13, 2011 12:00 PM EDT||
As with motherhood and apple pie, who can argue with data governance?
Business users like it because it assures critical business decisions are made based on sound data.
IT likes data governance because as the organization's data stewards, it shows they are doing a good job.
Compliance officers and risk managers like data governance because it lets them sleep at night.
Data Governance Is Challenging
Liking it is one thing. Doing it is another.
Enterprises are struggling to turn the concept of data governance into a reality due to significantly growing data volumes, variety and variability, along with onerous new compliance requirements.
Effective data virtualization can improve data governance in numerous ways.
Five Requirements for More Effective Data Governance
Many articles and white papers define data governance, so it does not make sense to include a lengthy treatment here. However, it is helpful to identify data governance's most critical requirements.
Data governance is a set of well-defined policies and practices designed to ensure that data is:
- Accessible - Can the people who need it access the data they need? Does the data match the format the user requires?
- Secure - Are authorized people the only ones who can access the data? Are non-authorized users prevented from accessing it?
- Consistent - When two users seek the "same" piece of data, is it actually the same data? Have multiple versions been rationalized?
- High Quality - Is the data accurate? Has it been conformed to meet agreed standards?
- Auditable - Where did the data come from? Is the lineage clear? Does IT know who is using it and for what purpose?
Data Virtualization Helps Five Ways
Enterprises cannot buy data governance solutions off-the-shelf because effective data governance requires complex policies and practices, supported by software technology, integrated across the wider enterprise IT architecture.
As such, enterprises are turning to enabling technologies such as data virtualization support the accessibility, security, consistency, quality and auditability capabilities required for effective data governance.
It is generally agreed that as much as 80 percent of any new development effort is spent on data integration, making data access--rather than developing the application--the most time-consuming and expensive activity.
Most users access their data via business intelligence (BI) and reporting applications. These applications typically rely on data integration middleware to access and format the data, before the application displays it. So, ensuring proper governance falls on the data integration middleware.
By eliminating the need for the physical builds and testing that replication and consolidation approaches require, data virtualization is more agile and cost-effective method to access, integrate, and deliver data. This agility lets enterprise provide data access faster and more easily.
Ensuring that only authorized users can see appropriate data and nothing more is a critical data governance requirement. This is a straightforward task for single systems and small user counts, but becomes more complex and difficult in larger enterprises with hundreds of systems and thousands of users.
As a first step, many enterprises have implemented single-sign-on technologies that allow individuals to be uniquely authenticated in many diverse systems. However, implementing security policies (i.e., authorization to see or use certain data) in individual source systems alone is often insufficient to ensure the appropriate enterprise-wide data security. For some hyper-sensitive data, encryption as it moves through the network is a further requirement.
Data virtualization not only leverages single-sign-on capabilities to authorize and authenticate individuals, it can also encrypt any and all data. As such, data virtualization becomes the data governance focal point for implementing security policies across multiple data sources and consumers.
Consider the following commonplace scenario: Two people attend a meeting with reports or graphs generated from the "same" data, but they show different numbers or results. Likely, they believed they were using the same data. In reality, they were each using their own replicated, consolidated, aggregated version of the data.
Data virtualization allows enterprises to prevent this scenario from occurring by establishing consistent and complete data canonicals applicable across all aspects of business use.
Correct and complete data is a critical data governance requirement. However, data quality is often implemented as an afterthought to data creation and modification, and it is usually performed during data consolidation. This approach impedes the achievement of good data quality across the enterprise.
The modern trend in data quality and governance, however, is to push the practices of ensuring quality data back toward the source systems, so that data is of the highest quality right from the start.
Data virtualization leverages these "systems of record" when delivering data to the consumer, so it naturally delivers high-quality data. In addition, data virtualization allows data quality practices like enrichment and standardization to occur inline, giving the data stewards more options for ensuring data is of the highest quality when it reaches the consumer.
On the data source side, good data governance policy requires that IT can explain where data comes from, and prove its source. On the data consumer side, good data governance policy requires that IT show who used the data, and how it was used.
Traditional data integration copies data from one place to another. As a result, the copied data becomes "disconnected" from the source, making it difficult to establish a complete source-to-consumer audit trail.
Data virtualization integrates data directly from the original source and delivers it directly to the consumer. This end-to-end flow, without creating a disconnected copy of the data in the middle, simplifies and strengthens data governance. When auditing is required, full lineage is readily available at anytime within the data virtualization metadata and transaction histories.
As data governance becomes increasingly prevalent in enterprise information management strategies, forward-looking organizations are deploying methods that simplify data governance. Data virtualization platforms such as Composite 6 not only makes data governance easier in practice, but it also shortens the time to begin achieving the data governance benefits of consistent, secure high-quality data for more intelligent business decision-making.
DevOps has traditionally played important roles in development and IT operations, but the practice is quickly becoming core to other business functions such as customer success, business intelligence, and marketing analytics. Modern marketers today are driven by data and rely on many different analytics tools. They need DevOps engineers in general and server log data specifically to do their jobs well. Here’s why: Server log files contain the only data that is completely full and accurate in th...
Aug. 28, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 304
The pricing of tools or licenses for log aggregation can have a significant effect on organizational culture and the collaboration between Dev and Ops teams. Modern tools for log aggregation (of which Logentries is one example) can be hugely enabling for DevOps approaches to building and operating business-critical software systems. However, the pricing of an aggregated logging solution can affect the adoption of modern logging techniques, as well as organizational capabilities and cross-team ...
Aug. 28, 2015 07:30 AM EDT Reads: 342
In today's digital world, change is the one constant. Disruptive innovations like cloud, mobility, social media, and the Internet of Things have reshaped the market and set new standards in customer expectations. To remain competitive, businesses must tap the potential of emerging technologies and markets through the rapid release of new products and services. However, the rigid and siloed structures of traditional IT platforms and processes are slowing them down – resulting in lengthy delivery ...
Aug. 28, 2015 06:45 AM EDT Reads: 519
Early in my DevOps Journey, I was introduced to a book of great significance circulating within the Web Operations industry titled The Phoenix Project. (You can read our review of Gene’s book, if interested.) Written as a novel and loosely based on many of the same principles explored in The Goal, this book has been read and referenced by many who have adopted DevOps into their continuous improvement and software delivery processes around the world. As I began planning my travel schedule last...
Aug. 28, 2015 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 492
Skeuomorphism usually means retaining existing design cues in something new that doesn’t actually need them. However, the concept of skeuomorphism can be thought of as relating more broadly to applying existing patterns to new technologies that, in fact, cry out for new approaches. In his session at DevOps Summit, Gordon Haff, Senior Cloud Strategy Marketing and Evangelism Manager at Red Hat, discussed why containers should be paired with new architectural practices such as microservices rathe...
Aug. 28, 2015 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 352
Any Ops team trying to support a company in today’s cloud-connected world knows that a new way of thinking is required – one just as dramatic than the shift from Ops to DevOps. The diversity of modern operations requires teams to focus their impact on breadth vs. depth. In his session at DevOps Summit, Adam Serediuk, Director of Operations at xMatters, Inc., will discuss the strategic requirements of evolving from Ops to DevOps, and why modern Operations has begun leveraging the “NoOps” approa...
Aug. 28, 2015 03:15 AM EDT Reads: 311
It’s been proven time and time again that in tech, diversity drives greater innovation, better team productivity and greater profits and market share. So what can we do in our DevOps teams to embrace diversity and help transform the culture of development and operations into a true “DevOps” team? In her session at DevOps Summit, Stefana Muller, Director, Product Management – Continuous Delivery at CA Technologies, answered that question citing examples, showing how to create opportunities for ...
Aug. 27, 2015 05:45 PM EDT Reads: 437
The Microservices architectural pattern promises increased DevOps agility and can help enable continuous delivery of software. This session is for developers who are transforming existing applications to cloud-native applications, or creating new microservices style applications. In his session at DevOps Summit, Jim Bugwadia, CEO of Nirmata, will introduce best practices, patterns, challenges, and solutions for the development and operations of microservices style applications. He will discuss ...
Aug. 27, 2015 02:15 PM EDT Reads: 490
In his session at 17th Cloud Expo, Ernest Mueller, Product Manager at Idera, will explain the best practices and lessons learned for tracking and optimizing costs while delivering a cloud-hosted service. He will describe a DevOps approach where the applications and systems work together to track usage, model costs in a granular fashion, and make smart decisions at runtime to minimize costs. The trickier parts covered include triggering off the right metrics; balancing resilience and redundancy ...
Aug. 27, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 106
Docker containerization is increasingly being used in production environments. How can these environments best be monitored? Monitoring Docker containers as if they are lightweight virtual machines (i.e., monitoring the host from within the container), with all the common metrics that can be captured from an operating system, is an insufficient approach. Docker containers can’t be treated as lightweight virtual machines; they must be treated as what they are: isolated processes running on hosts....
Aug. 27, 2015 01:30 PM EDT
Before becoming a developer, I was in the high school band. I played several brass instruments - including French horn and cornet - as well as keyboards in the jazz stage band. A musician and a nerd, what can I say? I even dabbled in writing music for the band. Okay, mostly I wrote arrangements of pop music, so the band could keep the crowd entertained during Friday night football games. What struck me then was that, to write parts for all the instruments - brass, woodwind, percussion, even k...
Aug. 27, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 340
Whether you like it or not, DevOps is on track for a remarkable alliance with security. The SEC didn’t approve the merger. And your boss hasn’t heard anything about it. Yet, this unruly triumvirate will soon dominate and deliver DevSecOps faster, cheaper, better, and on an unprecedented scale. In his session at DevOps Summit, Frank Bunger, VP of Customer Success at ScriptRock, will discuss how this cathartic moment will propel the DevOps movement from such stuff as dreams are made on to a prac...
Aug. 27, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 166
SYS-CON Events announced today that G2G3 will exhibit at SYS-CON's @DevOpsSummit Silicon Valley, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Based on a collective appreciation for user experience, design, and technology, G2G3 is uniquely qualified and motivated to redefine how organizations and people engage in an increasingly digital world.
Aug. 27, 2015 11:30 AM EDT Reads: 394
SYS-CON Events announced today that DataClear Inc. will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. The DataClear ‘BlackBox’ is the only solution that moves your PC, browsing and data out of the United States and away from prying (and spying) eyes. Its solution automatically builds you a clean, on-demand, virus free, new virtual cloud based PC outside of the United States, and wipes it clean...
Aug. 27, 2015 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 314
What does “big enough” mean? It’s sometimes useful to argue by reductio ad absurdum. Hello, world doesn’t need to be broken down into smaller services. At the other extreme, building a monolithic enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is just asking for trouble: it’s too big, and it needs to be decomposed.
Aug. 27, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 295
Several years ago, I was a developer in a travel reservation aggregator. Our mission was to pull flight and hotel data from a bunch of cryptic reservation platforms, and provide it to other companies via an API library - for a fee. That was before companies like Expedia standardized such things. We started with simple methods like getFlightLeg() or addPassengerName(), each performing a small, well-understood function. But our customers wanted bigger, more encompassing services that would "do ...
Aug. 27, 2015 08:15 AM EDT Reads: 154
Culture is the most important ingredient of DevOps. The challenge for most organizations is defining and communicating a vision of beneficial DevOps culture for their organizations, and then facilitating the changes needed to achieve that. Often this comes down to an ability to provide true leadership. As a CIO, are your direct reports IT managers or are they IT leaders? The hard truth is that many IT managers have risen through the ranks based on their technical skills, not their leadership ab...
Aug. 27, 2015 07:00 AM EDT Reads: 247
Brands are more than the sum of their brand elements – logos, colors, shapes, and the like. Brands are promises. Promises from a company to its customers that its products will deliver the value and experience customers expect. Today, digital is transforming enterprises across numerous industries. As companies become software-driven organizations, their brands transform into digital brands. But if brands are promises, then what do digital brands promise – and how do those promises differ from ...
Aug. 26, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 409
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pythian, a global IT services company specializing in helping companies leverage disruptive technologies to optimize revenue-generating systems, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 17th Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Founded in 1997, Pythian is a global IT services company that helps companies compete by adopting disruptive technologies such as cloud, Big Data, advance...
Aug. 26, 2015 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 160
We chat again with Jason Bloomberg, a leading industry analyst and expert on achieving digital transformation by architecting business agility in the enterprise. He writes for Forbes, Wired, TechBeacon, and his biweekly newsletter, the Cortex. As president of Intellyx, he advises business executives on their digital transformation initiatives and delivers training on Agile Architecture. His latest book is The Agile Architecture Revolution. Check out his first interview on Agile trends here.
Aug. 24, 2015 07:15 AM EDT Reads: 484


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Councilman Lewis Fidler (D-Brooklyn) is calling for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to pull down ads critical of funding for Israel. Fidler is demanding that MTA President Thomas Prendergast put an end to billboards calling for an end to funding for Israel as “a highly political campaign with a controversial underlying anti-Israel message.” Apparently, amid all of the graffiti and ads and pamphlets in the MTA there is no room for messages critical of Israel. Fidler wrote I would urge you to disallow and/or remove these advertisements.”
The ads – with the tagline “End U.S. military aid to Israel” – are pure free speech on a subject of great interest to citizens. In response, the pro-Israel group Stand With Us is planning its own ads to counter the message. This is how it should be and the public is benefitted from the debate. I would prefer these billboards than additional ads for hair products and weight loss. Yet, Fidler (right) wants the government to engage in content-based censorship.
Fortunately, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz insisted that the MTA would stick with the First Amendment rather than Fidler.
I find it incredible how quickly our politicians will dispense with core civil liberties with little thought of the implications of their actions for our society.
Source: NY Daily News

domain: news


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Star Wars: The Old Republic will add a free-to-play option this Fall. Those who opt to play for free will have access to all the story content for all eight classes, and will be able to level a character all the way up to the current cap of 50. Some content will be restricted, though, and will only be attainable through paying a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 or using an upcoming in-game currency called "Cartel Coins" to make purchases (subscribers also get monthly allotments of Cartel Coins).
Paid content is said to include new high level content, new features and unlimited access. While free players will be able to access all the story content, they'll have to pay to access new content, as well as get additional bank slots and get unlimited plays in PvP warzones. Players who only play for free will be able to jump in warzones weekly, but only a few times before they're locked out of the content and asked to pay. Subscribers will have unlimited access to warzones.
EA cites "choice" as the reason for the switch, and BioWare GM Matt Bromberg said in an interview with IGN that the free-to-play decision is less about subscriber losses as much as it is the market:
"There has been some decline in our subscriber numbers, but I wouldn't say that's what's driving the decision...what's happened in the marketplace is that free-to-play has really become the market standard for MMOs and we felt like there were both potentially millions of new players who were Star Wars fans who never tasted the game because the subscription was a barrier. Our research also told us that a lot of the folks who we had earlier on who left the game would like to come back and try some of the new features and content that we've put into the game since they've left if the subscription wasn't a barrier. So we feel like the market and our players are telling us that greater access is what they want and so we're really responding to that.
Additionally, EA and BioWare say that the new free-to-play option will enable them to increase the frequency of content updates. The first of the new updates will come this August, alongside a temporary sale of The Old Republic for $14.99, which nets users both the game and a one-month subscription. The goal after that is to release content every six weeks, focusing on group content. Staff reductions have now occurred twice for developer BioWare Austin, once in May and again in the last couple of weeks, but Bromberg says the team they currently have will be able to handle the increased production. "We really have built a team around this newer and different model..so we think have the right team to do it and at the right numbers."
If you're a previous subscriber and decide to come back, you'll get benefits. Current or previous subscribers will earn 150 Cartel Coins for each paid main before July 31st, 2012, while anyone who bought the Special Edition will get an additional 1,000 Coins. To learn more about the other benefits you can read more on the game's official website.
After BioWare was recently cited as "looking at free-to-play" this announcement doesn't exactly come as a shock, but is it enough to bring in the money the MMO needs to survive? Will you be playing it now? Let us know in the comments below.
Anthony Gallegos is a part of IGN's PC team. When he's not doing the Kessel Run he's busily strumming a guitar or losing himself in yet another game of Company of Heroes. You can reach him on Twitter and follow him on IGN.


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Council planners say stage one of a controversial wind farm scheme should get the go-ahead – despite objections from hundreds of residents.
Banks Developments has applied for permission to put up a temporary 60-metre “test mast” on green belt land at Hook Moor, near Micklefield and Garforth in east Leeds.
The firm wants to use data from the mast to fine-tune its proposals for as many as eight propeller-style turbines on the same site.
Banks’s test mast application is due to be considered by Leeds City Council’s plans panel east next Thursday, September 27.
And today it emerged that the council had received 779 letters of objection to the scheme, compared to just six of support.
Councillors from three local wards have also signalled their opposition, as has Colin Burgon MP, whose Elmet constituency includes Hook Moor.
However, the local authority’s chief planning officer is recommending that the application be accepted, subject to further scrutiny from the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber.
A report to the nine councillors who make up the panel says the “wider environmental and economic benefits” of a wind farm outweigh the impact the test mast would have on the rural landscape.
Carolyn Walker, spokeswoman for the Hook Moor Wind Farm Action Group, which is spearheading the fight against Banks’s plans, today admitted that the findings of the report were “disappointing”.
She added: “We can only hope the panel takes into account the strength of feeling in the area.”
Each of the proposed turbines would reach a height of 125m – taller than the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, which is 96.3m high.
The location earmarked for the wind farm is near the junction of the M1 and A1(M), south of the B1217 Collier Lane.
Durham-based Banks says the development would generate enough energy for up to 10,000 homes without the production of environmentally-damaging greenhouse gases.
Because of the size of the proposed wind farm, the test mast application will still need to be considered by the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber if it comes through next week’s meeting successfully.
The Government office could then choose to make the final decision on the application itself, or simply pass it back for approval by the council’s chief planning officer.
By Paul Robinson
22 September 2007


Tech's biggest chief executives faced sharp criticism from members of Congress Thursday about how their companies are handling misinformation spread on their platforms about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai about their companies' efforts to stem anti-vaccine content.
There is increasing concern from public health experts and legislators that misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines is threatening public health efforts to inoculate Americans against the virus.
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pennsylvania, chair of the House Subcommittee on Communications & Technology, said his staff easily found misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines on social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
"You can take this content down. You choose not to. But time after time you are picking engagement and profit over the health and safety of your users," Doyle said during the hearing. "It seems like you just shrug off billion-dollar fines. Your companies need to be held accountable. We will legislate to stop this. The stakes are simply too high."
Twelve individuals or organizations are tied to up to 65% of anti-vaccine content circulating on major social media networking sites, according to a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate and Anti-Vax Watch. These 12 are dubbed the "Disinformation Dozen."
"Why, in the middle of a pandemic, haven’t you taken these accounts down? Your unwillingness to unambiguously commit to enforcing your own policies and remove the 12 most egregious spreaders of vaccine disinformation from your platforms gets right to what I'm concerned about," Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-California, said.
He added, "You too often don’t act even though you have the resources to do that. There are real harms associated with this."
Vaccine hesitancy by some populations continues to hinder efforts to vaccinate Americans against the COVID-19 virus. About 30% of Americans continue to express some hesitancy around getting a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
There is increasing support in Congress for legislation to rein in Big Tech companies. Top Democrats in Congress have renewed their scrutiny of social media platforms following the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol, which was organized on social media.
"The time for self-regulation is over. It’s time we legislate to hold you accountable,” Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, the committee’s chairman, said during the hearing.
The three CEOs defended their companies' efforts to combat COVID-19 disinformation on their platforms.
Zuckerberg testified that Facebook uses its platform to proactively connect people to authoritative information.
"We have directed over 2 billion people to our COVID-19 Information Center," he said. That information shows at the top of Facebook news feeds and on Instagram.
The social media platform has removed 12 million pieces of false content related to COVID-19, he testified.
In December, Facebook began removing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines that could lead to imminent harm, including false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects of the vaccines, according to Zuckerberg's written testimony.
Pichai highlighted Google’s role in connecting users with vaccine information and other COVID-19 resources.
The company has removed 850,000 YouTube videos related to dangerous or misleading COVID-19 medical information and has blocked 100 million COVID-19-related ads throughout 2020, he testified.
In his written testimony, Pichai called for clearer content policies and giving users a way to appeal content decisions as a way to combat misinformation.
Dorsey said Twitter is stepping up innovative efforts to counter harmful misinformation with a focus on user-led content moderation. The company launched a pilot project called "Birdwatch," which Dorsey called a crowdsourcing approach to tackle misinformation. Through Birdwatwch, people can identify information in tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context.
To rein in the tech industry and to address online misinformation, federal lawmakers are considering making sweeping changes to Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. That law provides a liability shield that grants websites legal immunity for much of the content posted by their users.
Zuckerberg is calling for Section 230 reform. He has proposed a form of conditional liability, where online platforms gain legal protection only if they adhere to certain best practices established by an independent third party.
In response to questioning Thursday, Pichai said he was open to some of the Section 230 changes proposed by Zuckerberg.
"There are definitely some good proposals around transparency and accountability. We would certainly welcome legislative approaches in that area," he said.
But the tech giant's self-imposed efforts might not be enough to satisfy members of Congress.
"Self-regulation has come to the end of its road," said Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, chair of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, noting lawmakers are preparing to move forward with legislation and regulation.
"The regulation that we seek that should not attempt to limit constitutionally protected freedom of speech, but it must hold platforms accountable when they are used to incite violence or hatred, or, in the case of the COVID pandemic, spread misinformation that costs thousands of lives," she said.


CALGARY, Alta., Sept. 29 (Reuters) – Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) announced on Wednesday that its Line 3 pipeline replacement project will begin operation on Oct. 1, the first successful major expansion of export capacity from Canadian crude in six years, removing obstacles that other projects have not been able to overcome.
Its completion is good news for the Canadian energy sector after a number of proposed pipelines, including TC Energy’s Keystone XL (TRP.TO), were scrapped due to environmental opposition and regulatory delays.
The $ 8.2 billion project allows Enbridge to roughly double its capacity to 760,000 barrels per day on the 1,765 km (1,097 mile) pipeline.
Line 3, built in the 1960s, carries oil from Edmonton, Alta., To refineries in the Midwestern United States, but for years it has carried less than its capacity due to age and corrosion. . The project encountered opposition from environmental and Native American groups, especially in Minnesota, the last stage of the expansion.
Construction in the United States and Canada took over seven years to complete, but the project succeeded where other projects failed because it replaced an old line, rather than starting from scratch, Leo Golden, vice president of Enbridge Execution’s Line 3 project, told Reuters in an interview.
“This was a security-focused project to replace an existing and aging infrastructure, which sets it apart from some of these other projects,” Golden said.
The 542-kilometer Minnesota section of Line 3 is the last part of the pipeline to come into service, following previously completed segments in Canada, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
Golden said Enbridge will begin filling the line on October 1 and deliver a full capacity of 760,000 barrels per day in November. Earlier this month, the company told shippers it would offer 620,000 bpd of crude capacity in October. Read more
He said that in the future, increasing capacity by optimizing and expanding existing pipelines would likely be the way forward for the industry, given the challenges of building new infrastructure, a point of view echoed by union leaders in the United States.
“The maintenance industry is our future, the lifeline of the oil and gas (pipeline) industry,” said Phillip Wallace, sales representative for Pipeliners Union 798, who worked on the project in Minnesota. “Line 3 was the big boy that really needed to be replaced.”
The completed project assures Canadian producers that their growing production of oil sands crude will have access to US markets and global exports via the US Gulf of Mexico coast.
Line 3 is the first major Canadian pipeline expansion to be completed since Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper project, completed in 2015. However, since 2019, Enbridge has also optimized portions of its existing mainline, adding approximately 150,000 b / d of capacity.
The Line 3 replacement project was first announced in 2014, but has faced stiff opposition from environmental groups and Native American tribes, particularly in Minnesota. Read more
US President Joe Biden, who revoked a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this year, has been criticized by some environmental groups for allowing the project to continue. They argue that the United States should reduce its dependence on fossil fuels to fight climate change. Read more
“President Biden and the other politicians who chose to do nothing because treaty rights were violated, waterways were polluted and peaceful protesters were brutalized have taken the wrong side of history. Sierra Club spokesperson Margaret Levin said in a statement.
However, the project was celebrated by unions, whose members benefited from thousands of jobs during construction, and the Canadian energy sector, which in the past has struggled with bottlenecks. pipelines that lowered the price of Canadian crude and contributed to an exodus of foreign capital.
“This is a huge boost for the industry,” said Martin King, analyst at RBN Energy. He said the projected growth of Canada’s tar sands suggests the industry will only need one more major pipeline expansion, which will be the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain expansion on the west coast.
Robert Fitzmartyn, head of energy research at Stifel FirstEnergy, said he expected the completion of Line 3 to have a positive impact on stocks of Canadian oil companies over the long term.
Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Anil D’Silva
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise in this House today to speak in favour of Bill .
This legislation would further strengthen our government's track record of keeping our streets and communities safe for everyone and to ensure that those who do commit crimes are held responsible for their actions.
Since coming into office in 2006, our government has made the safety and security of Canadians one of its top priorities. That is why we have pushed forward with a series of measures to get tough on crime, especially violent gun crime. For example, members will recall that in the last session of this Parliament any killing linked to organized crime would automatically lead to a charge for first-degree murder.
To further combat the reach of organized crime, this government has also introduced legislation that imposes mandatory jail time for those involved in serious drug offences. In addition, we have passed laws that address drive-by shootings and other intentional shootings that brazenly disregard both our laws and the right of all Canadians to their safety.
We have passed legislation that gives added protection to the police and peace officers who put their lives on the line every day that they go to work. I would like to pay tribute to the members of the Canadian Police Association who have been visiting us on Parliament Hill the last few days.
Offenders have always done their best to go undetected and the rapid pace of technological change has made this easier than ever. Hidden in the dark alleys of the information highway, offenders are attempting, and often succeeding, at stealing the very identity of their fellow Canadians.
I am proud to remind all members of the House that this government has passed tough new laws that help the police and the courts fight the scourge of identity theft.
However, the wheels of justice often turn more slowly than we would like. As a result, there may be considerable time spent by an individual in pre-sentence custody. I am very proud that the government has passed laws that limit the amount of credit offenders will receive while in pre-sentence custody. In this way, the guilty will serve a sentence that truly reflects the severity of their crimes.
These are but a few examples of the government's efforts and accomplishments to keep our communities safer, to ensure that offenders receive appropriate sentences and to ensure that the rights of victims are heard and respected.
However, as the Speech from the Throne notes, our work is far from over, and I am pleased that this government has already taking further action.
Members will recall that the recently reintroduced legislation to strengthen the national sex offender registry. This measure would provide additional protection for our children from abuse and exploitation.
With that background, I am pleased that our Conservative government has reintroduced amendments that would strengthen the International Transfer of Offenders Act.
As members will recall, and as the last speaker correctly identified, Canada has been a party to international treaties relating to the transfer of offenders since 1978. Since that time, 1,531 Canadian offenders have been transferred back to Canada, while Canada has returned 127 foreign national offenders in our prisons back to their countries of citizenship. The initial legislation, which was modernized in 2004, now, in the interest of public safety, has to be amended once again.
Currently, the is required by law to take several factors into account when considering a request for a transfer. These include: first, if the offenders returned to Canada would constitute a threat to the security of Canada; second, consideration of whether the offender left or remained outside Canada with the intention of abandoning Canada as their place of permanent residence; third, the offender's social or family ties to Canada; and, fourth, whether the foreign entity or prison system presents a serious threat to the offender's security or human rights. No doubt, these are important considerations which ought to be taken into account. However, there are deficiencies.
Nowhere in the current law is there any specific mention of protecting the safety and security of law-abiding Canadians. Nowhere in the current law is there any specific mention of victims, family members or children. I would submit to the House that these are serious omissions that the bill before us would certainly correct.
Moreover, Bill , when passed by the House, will allow the minister to consider a number of other factors when considering offender requests for a transfer. Specifically, the will be able to consider situations where an offender who requests a transfer to Canada has refused to participate in career, vocational or educational programs while incarcerated in another country. The minister will also be able to take into account the circumstances in which the offender, if transferred to Canada, will be monitored and supervised after his or her release. This is especially important, given that one of the purposes of the act under consideration will continue to be contributing to the administration of justice and the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community.
Bill would also allow the minister to take into account several other very important considerations when assessing an offender's request for a transfer. These are as follows: If the offender has accepted responsibility for the offence for which he or she has been convicted, including acknowledging the harm done to victims and also to the community; and, if the offender is likely to continue to engage in criminal activity if the transfer is successful. These considerations should surely help to guide decisions about whether to grant a request for a transfer from an offender serving a sentence outside of Canada.
Currently, there is no clear legislative authority for the minister to take those matters into account. Bill would surely remedy these deficiencies, while providing the minister more flexibility in the decision-making process itself.
I will now highlight how the proposed amendments would help keep Canadians safer, because I believe all members of the House are interested in keeping Canadians safe. The amendments before the House would add public safety as one of the purposes of this legislation. These are two simple words but these simple words will clearly reinforce the government's commitment to ensuring that Canadians, their families and their children are safe and secure in their communities. At the same time, the amended legislation would ensure that offenders remain accountable for their actions, both in Canada and abroad, and continue to be treated fairly and equitably when they are making a request to be transferred.
The legislation as it stands would empower the to assess an offender's potential security risk when considering a request to transfer back to Canada. However, as I indicated in my intervention with the previous speaker, the notion of a threat to the security of Canada has been linked solely to terrorism threats to Canadian people as a whole. We believe that is too narrow and must be expanded to include public safety risks to Canadians domestically and locally in their own communities. The bill would add to this by including as a factor whether, in the minister's opinion, the offender's return to Canada will endanger public safety. The will consider, among other things, the safety of victims, the safety of any child and the safety of members of the offender's family.
To further guide the minister's decision-making on these matters, the amendments propose other factors that would add greater flexibility in considering transfer applications. An example as to how this might work in practice is that if the offender is likely to commit criminal activity in Canada, the minister may take this factor into consideration when entertaining the transfer request.
Conversely, this legislation also has factors that would actually assist offenders in making applications successfully. For example, if an offender is in poor health, has co-operated with law enforcement officials or has acknowledged the harm he or she has done to victims in the community, the minister may take these factors into account when considering the transfer request.
I would submit to all members of the House that these are sensible changes and, moreover, much needed. When the minister assesses the potential risk of transferring an offender back to Canada, it is not enough to examine the likely threat to national security. Public safety must also be a principal consideration in that decision, and public safety must include more than threats of terrorism.
This legislation is timely considering that it is National Victims of Crime Awareness Week. It also ensures that helping victims of crime remains at the heart of the government's public safety and justice agendas.
On this side of the House, we have always believed that every victim matters. We are committed to ensuring that victims' voices are heard and their concerns are taken seriously. That is among our highest priorities and why we have taken action on so many victims' rights issues.
The legislation before us is proposing to help further strengthen this track record by ensuring that the safety of victims can be taken into account when assessing a request for transfer. The changes our government is proposing stipulate that the safety of family members and children will be taken into account. This is an important change and a clear deficiency in the act as it currently reads.
The minister would be able to consider the issue of the transfer of an offender with assault convictions against family members and if it would endanger their safety. The minister would also be able to consider an offender incarcerated for a sexual offence against a child in a foreign state and if he or she is likely to commit a sexual offence against a child if transferred to Canada. Surely, these changes are sensible and all members ought to support them.
Bill would ensure that the may consider public safety as part of the decision-making process for the transfer of offenders. As such, this bill reflects this government's commitment to strengthening the rights of victims, increasing the responsibility of offenders and making our communities safer.
While the amendments before the House today are simple and straightforward, they would have a significant impact on the lives of Canadians who are concerned about the transfer of offenders back to Canada. Accordingly, I urge all members to join with me in ensuring the speedy passage of Bill .
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill . As we know, this is not the first time the House has seen the bill. As it has with much of its legislation on crime, the government has accused the opposition of stalling when its measures are not adopted immediately. However in the end, it is the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, the Conservative , the Conservative and, in this case, the who terminate their own bills and then reintroduce them with an apparent urgency that they have contradicted. Can you say prorogation, Madam Speaker?
If the House is to properly examine Bill , we ought to be talking about the purposes of, and any existing problems with, the international transfer program as it exists. In other words, in broken English, if it ain't broke, why fix it? If the House is to amend the act, we must do so with an understanding of the objectives of the transfer program. I certainly want to make it clear from the outset that we on this side are recommending that we send the bill to committee and that some things can be done to the bill at committee to improve it.
As the current International Transfer of Offenders Act reads:
The purpose of this Act is to contribute to the administration of justice and the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community by enabling offenders to serve their sentences in the country of which they are citizens or nationals.
The House is well aware that the purpose of this program is to facilitate the administration of justice and the rehabilitation of offenders.
Correctional Service Canada clearly puts forward the reasons that brought Canada to adopt the international transfer of offenders, as follows:
If offenders are not transferred, they may ultimately be deported to Canada at the end of their sentence, without correctional supervision/jurisdiction and without the benefit of programing.
Whatever amendments we make to the bill, this has to be the overall objective with respect to public safety and reintegration.
It seems to be a flaw in the whole Conservative justice agenda to pretend that no one ever gets out of prison. Well, people do serve their sentences and they get out of prison. They get out of detention facilities. They get out of federal prisons. Many people get out of prison. In fact the overwhelming majority, up to 90% of people, are back on the streets, and what have we done with those people in terms of rehabilitation?
It may be a generalization to say, but I am guessing people serving 10-year sentences in a correctional facility in Texas probably do not get the amount of rehabilitative programing that they do at Dorchester Penitentiary in the county of Westmorland in the province of New Brunswick. I do not have the evidence on that. I am standing on a limb with a wild guess on that, but that is why we have committees and that is why we have the test of evidence at committees, which helps us mould a bill.
Not only does the possibility exist that we may have no idea of a citizen's criminal record in a foreign country, but the act as it stands serves a clear rehabilitative purpose. In other words, people who serve their entire sentence in a foreign jurisdiction are deported at the end of that sentence back to Canada, often and in many cases by administrative fact, without a permanent transfer of the record of what that person has done. So if a person is a dangerous offender and for some reason serves his or her sentence in an American or other jail, he or she could be brought back to Canada without public safety authorities knowing that there is a dangerous offender candidate in the community. That cannot be in the interests of public safety.
Every day, some 2,000 Canadian citizens are incarcerated somewhere in the world. According to the Correctional Service of Canada, authorities here may never hear about it even if the offender has a criminal record, because there is no record of the sentence in Canada. There can be no doubt that Canadians serving prison sentences abroad face serious difficulties. According to the Correctional Service of Canada:
Canadians incarcerated in foreign countries often find themselves facing serious problems coping with local conditions. The most common problems involve culture shock, isolation, language barriers, poor diets, inadequate medical care, disease and inability to contact friends and family.
The Canadian consular personnel in foreign countries provide all the assistance to the incarcerated that they can, but it cannot be a substitute for serving time in Canadian institutions, especially when these people are going to be back on the streets of Canada. The act, as it exists, is well warranted in its intentions and the services it provides in ensuring appropriate justice is afforded to Canadian offenders.
To summarize, the purpose of these agreements is humanitarian in enabling offenders to serve their sentences in their country of citizenship, to alleviate undue hardships borne by offenders and their families and, I would suggest, to marry the objectives that my friend from indicated. That is, the dual concerns of humanitarianism and public safety.
The existing act takes into consideration the fact of their eventual reintegration into society. Under the existing formula, once transferred, the offender's sentence is administered in accordance with the laws of Canada, in this case. Quite simply, transfers enable offenders the opportunity of becoming productive members of society, particularly through managing justice and rehabilitation of the offender.
Bill seems to go against many of the principles that shaped the international transfer of offenders program. The Conservatives have attacked the fact that individuals, Canadian citizens, are being transferred from foreign countries to Canadian prisons to serve out their sentences. The government has, however, approved many of those transfers. While it purports to support strong and effective justice legislation, it enables potentially dangerous consequences through this bill. It is important to underline that the minister and the government, for four years, have used the existing legislation to allow people to serve out their sentences in Canada, when the act already contains a ministerial discretion.
The International Transfer of Offenders Act does not permit a program out of some sense of feeling sorry for the offenders. We ought not to think that everyone on this side is more concerned about the offenders than public safety. In fact the theme of the speeches I am hearing on this side is all about public safety married with the concern for humanitarian and Charter of Rights protections.
If an individual commits a crime in a foreign country, is tried, convicted and ultimately imprisoned, that citizen cannot be guaranteed our sense of Canadian justice, which includes restorative justice and rehabilitation. These are central to the concept of our Criminal Code.
I have often said and I will say again that a Canadian Conservative created the Criminal Code, Sir John Thompson. It is one of the best accomplishments of a Conservative politician in Canadian history, so let us not say I am unfair and overly partisan. I am complimenting a Conservative justice minister and prime minister.
In section 718, there is laid out our principles of sentencing. If we listen to the Conservative news network, we might think that the only consideration for sentencing ought to be punishment, deterrence and locking people away, but that is not our system. That is not what we all believe in. We believe in many principles of sentencing as set out, which in section 718, briefly, are to denounce the conduct, to deter the offender and people generally from doing the same thing, to separate offenders from society, to assist in rehabilitation, to provide reparations and restitution for those wronged and to promote a sense of responsibility in offenders.
That says it all. That is our system of justice. The question is: Does this new act strike a balance, or does it go more to the side of making sure people are far away from society and not a threat to public safety until they are not? Then, coming from some crazed asylum known as the American correction facility of the day, they are let out on the streets in Canada, because I have heard nothing from the other side that they will invoke the Galloway measure, that they will say that an offender, having served his or her time in an American prison, will be barred entry to Canada from, say, the United States.
I do not think the United States would accept that. It would want to deport criminals who have served their time. Make no mistake, these offenders are going to be on our streets at the end of their sentences, whether they serve them here or there. The real question is: Should they serve those sentences, in the best cases possible, and in the majority of cases they are transferred, in a Canadian facility or an American one or a foreign one?
I am dwelling on American facilities because the statistics are fairly clear that an overwhelming number of Canadian citizens serving sentences abroad are in American prisons.
When the individual is released, which will happen, he or she will be deported back to Canada without the effect of our rehabilitative programs.
The degree to which offenders may require help is extensive. Currently one in ten individuals imprisoned is suffering from mental illness. We only have to read the comments of Senator Michael Kirby in the newspapers today to know how important it is on a non-partisan level and something which should unite all Canadian elected and non-elected officials, and how important and grave mental illness challenges are in Canada. This number, one in ten individuals in prison suffering from mental illness, only goes up among female offenders, and the plausibility that citizens imprisoned overseas will not receive appropriate help is real.
I was very involved in wanting to have a resolution to the tragic consequences of Ashley Smith's death. She was from Moncton. She was not treated appropriately by our correction system. I am hoping that the will take the recommendations of Howard Sapers and others, including Bernard Richard in the province of New Brunswick, and better our system with respect to incarcerated females, incarcerated youth and those incarcerated who have mental health issues.
As it stands, Canada is party to treaties that allow offenders to serve their sentences in their country of citizenship. The currently decides whether a transfer into Canada of a Canadian citizen or out of Canada of a foreign offender is allowed. The minister already has some discretion.
However, this bill proposes to modify the International Transfer of Offenders Act by changing the words “the minister shall” to “the minister may”. On top of this, it also adds new factors that the minister may take into account.
These are certainly questions that will be launched at the minister, officials of the public safety department and other witnesses at the committee, which is why this bill must go to committee to be studied.
We want to know what these other reasons might be. A law which has wide discretion that does not define the parameters of that discretion is a dangerous law. I would think that would be a very salient factor to consider for us as lawmakers who may be passing, if we pass this part with the open-ended discretion, a law that knows no bounds. It is against our parliamentary tradition.
These amendments are greatly concerning. Considering that this bill will see the transformation of a rules-bound structure into a flexible and absolutely discretionary ministerial duty, this is hardly an improvement on the existing program.
The most recent statistics from Corrections Canada, as has been revealed in previous debates, reveal that there were only 53 transfers to Canada in 2006-07. As far as is known, there are no considerable problems with the application of the program which was amended in 2004.
It does beg the question, and I think in the presentation of the government there might have been an exposition of the problems, what were the problems with those 53 transfers to Canada between 2006-07? Were those people threats to public safety?
From the government's bringing these amendments to this protocol, it is inferred by us that the terrorist protection provisions do work. There were exclusions of those who were incarcerated and who were let out from foreign institutions from Canada based on those reasons, and that is working.
Somehow the public safety issue had not been taken into account. There are 53 cases. Of the 53 cases there must have been something in the government's mind in passing this. There must have been instances where people who were allowed to serve their sentence in Canada should not have been allowed to. They presumably would have served the sentence elsewhere and come back to Canada anyway, so are they not still a public safety risk? It is a question that must be asked at committee.
As it stands, applications for an offender's return to Canada can be refused for a number of reasons. This is the existing regime.
In the past, if the offender left Canada with the intention of abandoning the country, for example, somebody like Conrad Black who actually gave up his citizenship, that was clear evidence he was abandoning the country as his place of residence and in this case citizenship. One reason would be if the offender's return to Canada would constitute a threat to the security of Canada, or if the offender has no social or family ties in Canada or is linked to terrorist organizations.
The is also required to consider whether the conditions of incarceration pose a serious threat to the offender's safety or human rights. As such, the transfer acts as a means to enhance basic human rights.
Bill , however, would amend the existing legislation so that the minister is not necessarily bound by those fairly sensible criteria. The bill would add a list of factors that empower the minister to use his or her complete discretion as to whether to consider the current and binding standards in the protocol.
Bill would now see new factors, and they have been canvassed in previous speeches, about whether the offender has sufficiently accepted responsibility for the crime.
Well, the offender is serving the time. I guess what is wanted is a guilty plea from the incarcerated person after the person has been found guilty. I wonder what the importance of that is other than to get satisfaction that a person who has already served his or her time will have to enunciate that he or she did the crime. Maybe there is a question about the foreign systems of law, but we take it in our system that if the person has served the time for the crime, the person probably did the crime. At least in law we find that is the case.
The other factor that is new is the minister is left to determine whether in his or her opinion the offender has co-operated with foreign authorities.
In some cases, the foreign authorities, which is the whole purpose of this legislation in the first place, might not be easy to co-operate with. There might be foreign countries which we do not co-operate with fairly well. Increasingly, the government seems to have a problem with a number of countries and it would seem odd that should be a factor in letting someone back.
Finally, we can see that under the proposed changes there is that basket of “any other factor”. Clearly, at committee that has to be tightened up.
If we look at those reasons, they do not all point to enhanced public safety, as one of the previous speakers, in fact the member for , suggested. We are looking for sensibility in this bill. I hope that it will be explained at committee exactly how this would enhance public safety.
What is greatly concerning is that in some jurisdictions there are cases of innocent Canadians accused and convicted who would now have to renounce their innocent or not guilty plea and accept responsibility for an act they did not commit to avoid incarceration in a foreign prison.
I would for once say something very positive about the American justice system. It is similar to ours. It may be even more protective of an accused's rights in that if a person is found guilty in the United States, barring all the John Grisham novels, the person is probably guilty. However, in many jurisdictions there are innocent people who have been convicted.
The person would have to renounce that plea to get back into the country to serve the sentence.
Does this House feel that Canadian citizens should have the right and the opportunity to be transferred if their conviction and imprisonment should result in harsh imprisonment?
Think of the family members who have a son or a daughter who committed a crime in a country where its conditions of imprisonment are very different from ours.
In closing, it would seem to me that this bill is eminently ripe to be sent to committee. Questions that should be asked are: What exactly is going on here? Why is it that the system is not working? Is it that bad? How does it enhance public safety to send back to Canada criminals who have served their time in a foreign jail, with no treatment and are now on our streets?
We support sending this bill to committee. I am looking forward to any questions there may be.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill , which is a carbon copy of Bill C-599 introduced on November 26, 2009. This bill amends the International Transfer of Offenders Act to provide that one of the purposes of that act is to enhance public safety and to modify the list of factors that the minister may consider in deciding whether to consent to the transfer of a Canadian offender held abroad.
Let me preface my remarks by saying that we can learn a lot by listening to our colleagues in the House. I listened carefully to the Liberal member who spoke previously. He said that this bill would be studied in committee. What does that mean for the Quebeckers and Canadians who are watching? It means that the Liberal Party will vote in favour of the bill, but will want to improve or amend it in committee.
That is not what the Bloc Québécois is going to do. We have to stop being afraid of the Conservatives' right-wing philosophy. The Liberals are afraid. They wonder what the public will think. A bad bill is a bad bill.
The problem with the Conservatives is that the only place where they see an opportunity to make political gains is on law and order issues. They are trying to make sweeping law and order changes, even though those changes make no sense. Quebeckers have always held onto certain values, and we expect Canadian nationals who commit a crime abroad to be judged according to our values. If not, we expect the country where they are charged to honour our policies and our values. Otherwise, we will return our nationals home.
There are international agreements about offender transfers. This bill is designed to give discretionary power to a Conservative minister. The Bloc Québécois will always be against giving right wingers the power to decide whether or not to return Quebeckers and Canadians home, no matter what they may have done. Depending on the country, charges are laid. I will give some examples. In some cases charges are laid, but six or seven years later, they still have not been processed.
Bill C-5 is designed to give the minister more discretionary power when he decides to transfer a Canadian who is serving a sentence abroad.
Instead of having to take into consideration the offender’s health or, worse, the fact that the foreign prison system presents a serious threat to the offender’s security or human rights, the minister would now be allowed to consider any factors he likes, without being obliged to consider them all. We can see the right-wing philosophy. The government will repatriate Canadians when it suits it to do so, but leave them to their fate when it does not.
But human rights are, by their very nature, non-negotiable. Parliament cannot allow a minister to overlook potential human rights abuses. Every human being, even the most despicable criminal, has fundamental rights.
The Conservative ideologues want to use this bill to give themselves the option of evaluating the fundamental rights of Quebeckers and Canadians on a case-by-case basis, although the courts have consistently ruled against this and have called the Conservatives on it many times. Mr. Smith and Mr. Arar are just two devastating examples.
Knowing the Conservatives' dogmatism, particularly on this issue, it would be irresponsible of us to give them more room to manoeuvre when it comes to negotiating the basic rights of Quebeckers and Canadians, especially those being held in a country that believes that incarceration and mistreatment, such as torture, are the only solutions to crime.
The Conservative government has not provided any factual reasons for amending the legislation. What is worse, the minister has acknowledged that much of what is in the bill is already covered in the act, but says that Bill C-5 spells it out. He also added that he has cases in mind that he does not want to discuss, and these cases would justify the amendments.
Again, we see this right-wing philosophy whereby they are right and everyone else around them is wrong. Our fear is that the government has a hidden agenda.
Why would we trust people who see and present themselves as white knights, but are anything but? Just look at the case of Rahim Jaffer driving dangerously while impaired and in possession of cocaine—he once campaigned for drug free schools—or the violation of the Access to Information Act where criminal offences have probably been committed, or the matter involving the former Conservative minister who just left cabinet, or Mr. Blackburn, who fancies himself above the law, or the Afghan detainee abuse situation.
When we see their attitude toward the court challenges program or the Khadr case, they are anything but sincere. It is highly likely that the Conservatives see this as a way of imposing heavy sentences abroad rather than having to deal with parole and rehabilitation here. That is the crux of the problem.
The Conservatives would like to impose a right-wing philosophy on Canadians and Quebeckers. These are not the values that were passed down by our ancestors. The Conservatives were elected and they represent a certain segment of the population, but, again, the entire population is represented in the House and they have to accept that.
I say that in all politeness to my opposition colleagues. The NDP knows the score, but the Liberals have to stop being afraid of the Conservatives. We, in Quebec, showed them a long time ago what we were made of. The Conservatives have not bothered us in Quebec in ages. People have to stand up to them, not let themselves be run over. Only then will they realize that this American style, right-wing philosophy is not what our ancestors wanted for us. It is not the type of society I want to pass on to my children and my grandchildren.
I will always fight against extremists who, for purely political reasons, decide to manipulate things and change the law. Often, the government takes a piecemeal approach. When something terrible is sensationalized by the media, it decides to change the law. When it comes to law and order there needs to be balance. The beauty of law is in its balance.
We have seen how the Conservatives have attempted to introduce all manner of bills to shift the balance established by our ancestors. It is terrible to see the damage this can do in right-wing societies. The Americans chose the conservative route. We all recall the Republican era: incarceration was the rule, people were sent to jail. A few months ago, the American president had to release 20,000 inmates. He said that because of their lesser sentences, they should not be incarcerated and had to release them because of overcrowding in prisons. That is difficult to grasp. The Conservatives support incarceration but they would like all citizens to carry a gun. It is rather difficult to understand. They want to abolish the gun registry. They would like everyone to be able to defend themselves. They would like to play cowboys and Indians. That is how the Conservatives react.
Once again, that is not the society that the ancestors of Quebeckers and Canadians left them. That is not the type of society that we are used to. It is the Conservatives who want to change that. As I was saying, the Americans are changing course. They tried it and the crime rate did not go down. The prison population has risen and they do not have the money to look after, let alone rehabilitate these people.
The balance I was speaking of earlier is not achieved by simply incarcerating people. We must also be able to rehabilitate them. We have to allow citizens who have committed lesser crimes, who can be reformed, to be rehabilitated. We have to invest the necessary resources and not just use these people or punish them by incarcerating them.
We know that prisons are where people go to learn how to become criminals. First the Conservatives tried everything they could to send children under 18 to adult prisons. That was a terrible initiative. We must rehabilitate criminals, especially young ones. The younger they are, the easier it is to instill new values. This is what we should be doing, which is why a balance must be struck between repression and rehabilitation. That is what the Bloc Québécois has always advocated in all areas.
The Bloc Québécois has been the toughest party in the fight against organized crime. It was the Bloc Québécois that introduced a bill to reverse the burden of proof in connection with the proceeds of crime. Now criminal groups have to prove where their money came from. Previously, the burden of proof was on the government, and it was much more difficult. This measure allowed Quebec to mount Opération printemps 2001, which targeted organized crime, starting with the Hells Angels.
That is one way of going about it. We need to be tough at the right time, and not simply for the sake of being tough or because we want to jump on any kind of media bandwagon. Indeed, we often realize a few weeks or months later that the situation was not as serious as we thought and that it was blown out of proportion.
Acting on impulse is always a bad idea, even in our lives. We must take a balanced approach, even in our own lives, and never go on instinct alone. Acting on instinct or impulse can be costly to consumers and that applies to everything. That is why it is important to always be wary of the Conservative philosophy. As we know, instead of having to take into account established factors, the minister will now be able to consider whatever factors he chooses.
We talked about health and how offenders are treated. That is one philosophy. Torture is not allowed in Canada. We cannot allow a government, even a Conservative government, and a minority one at that, to outsource torture.
Serious accusations are being made because the government refuses to give the House all of the documents related to the Afghan prisoners. There are suspicions that torture was outsourced to Afghan authorities. That is the worst of them. I have a hard time understanding why the Conservatives refuse to release these documents. We need to be able to tell the public that we defend our society's values throughout the world.
That is not what Bill does. The minister is being allowed to choose why he will or will not bring an offender back to Canada. If it is left up to the minister, he could decide to leave an offender or Canadian citizen for a longer period in a country where torture is used, in order to get something from him. That is not right.
We cannot play with human rights and with the values our society believes in. These values are there in good times and in bad, and that is always what we strive for.
As I said at the beginning of my speech, this is a bad bill. Giving a Conservative minister the powers and the discretion allowed for in this bill is a bad decision.
The Bloc Québécois will oppose this bill and will not send it to committee as the Liberals are doing. Obviously, if the Liberals vote with the Conservatives, this bill will go to committee, but we will do everything we can to ensure that it does not pass. The minister was not able to convince us of the merits of this bill, other than the fact that it gives him the discretionary power to choose why or why not to bring an offender back to Canada, and gives him more latitude and flexibility. He must have some cases in mind, but he does not want to share them. This kind of Conservative, right-wing, extremist behaviour is very disappointing.
I am very surprised to see that my colleague, the member for , now espouses right-wing values. I knew him in his previous life in municipal politics. I always thought of him as a balanced and conciliatory person, but he seems to have taken on some bad habits since joining the Conservatives. He was a Liberal in Quebec, but now he is defending American-style right-wing conservative philosophy tooth and nail. President Obama had to let 20,000 people out of prison because there was not enough money to look after them, let alone rehabilitate them. The member for Pontiac and his government want to invest more money in prisons and put more people in jail. Those are not the values our ancestors passed on to us, nor are they the values I want to pass on to my children and grandchildren.
Once again, I chose the right party: the Bloc Québécois. Bloc members will always stand up for human rights and the values we cherish. Those values should protect our citizens no matter where they are in the world. We will certainly not give a Conservative minister the power to make decisions for purely political reasons. They seem to think it is a good idea right now. They are impulsive. They see what is going on in the media, so they introduce a bill to fix the problem. They hope to win a few more votes. But the Conservatives will not win more votes in Quebec, and they know it.
We will never support Bill . If the Liberals support it and it goes to committee, Bloc members of the committee will do their utmost to make members of every political party understand that this is a bad bill. Giving a discretionary power to a right-wing Conservative minister is not a good idea. Sometimes they have good ideas that we can support, but this is a bad one.

domain: sociology


text:
COLORADO SPRINGS – The Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox baseball team is playing one its final two games ever Sunday.
The Sky Sox will face off against the Oklahoma City Dodgers at home at Security Service Field. This is the team’s second to last game of 30 years in Colorado Springs.
The Sky Sox are scheduled to start their 2019 season in their new home in San Antonio, Texas. The Elmore Sports Group announced the relocation in June 2017.
The sports group said the move is part of a realignment of several owned clubs.
“For many years, it has become increasingly difficult to find a Major League Baseball team that is interested in Colorado Springs as a long-term home for their Triple-A club due to the weather and elevation, which make it hard to develop and evaluate players, particularly in the early spring months,” said Elmore. “Moving a short season club to Colorado Springs is a perfect fit, as we have tremendous fan support, particularly during those summer months, a beautiful ballpark that will be among the finest in the Pioneer Baseball League and a solution that is beneficial for Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball.”
The new team to move in, a short season rookie-level team from Helena, Montana. But, Sky Sox fans have one more chance to catch the local team on Monday, September 3 at 1 p.m.
The team will play against the Oklahoma City Dodgers, for final ticket info, click here.

domain: geography


We recently flew out to St. John, New Brunswick to bring you an update on the legal battle and court appeal win that Rebel News supporters helped make happen, for two pastors who have been persecuted for standing in the gap for religious freedoms in Canada.
Pastor Phil Hutchings and Pastor Cody Butler, from St. John’s His Tabernacle Family Church, were both arrested last year after the province of New Brunswick was unable to compel them to follow all COVID-19 regulations. Pastor Cody, the church's youth pastor, was apprehended on Thanksgiving Sunday, and while he was later released, the same couldn’t be said for the church's lead pastor, Phil, who ended up being imprisoned and trapped in solitary confinement for seven days.
The invasive government restrictions that the pastors and churchgoers could not morally follow included forbidding them from worshiping together in song, tracking and tracing their congregants and forcing people to wear a face covering in order to experience the gospel in person. The church's building doors were also ordered to be shut, but the iron fist ruling never stopped the church body from growing with more people desiring to hear the gospel in person.
“We just had church literally in the cold” said Pastor Phil when I asked him and his wife Jamie Hutchings how the church coped with having their doors shut. “It went from stilettos to snow pants” quipped Jamie with a smile. New Brunswick averages around -9C in its colder months and can get as low as -14C, so the congregation set up a tent to cover the equipment needed to run a service. It was that tent’s four walls that was then used as an excuse to put Pastor Phil and his church in contempt of conditions.
“They wanted to put me away for 90 days and fine us up to $70,000 in fines” explained Pastor Phil. That punishment never happened, thanks to Rebel News supporters who helped get behind His Tabernacle Family Church by donating to The Democracy Fund charity, which has taken on their legal fight at no expense to the churchgoers. The Democracy Fund hired the church a top notch lawyer named Johnathan Martin who filed an appeal — and won!
“That was a strong win for us, we were excited about that, and that’s a win for Canada,” said Pastor Phil. Despite being persecuted for their faith, both Pastors Phil and Cody are optimistic about what is in store for Canada. “I honestly feel like Canada’s best days are not behind us. Even in the midst of the crazy, I feel like God’s still at work,” was just one of the encouraging messages you can hear from the pastor by clicking on the full video report.
Unfortunately, this church's legal battles for following their convictions to God over and above the state, are far from over. If you’re able to donate towards their ongoing legal fees, please do so at SavePastorPhil.com.


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Barking is a very normal habits of pet dogs as it is their way of communicating withtheir human buddy and other animals. Pet dog frequently bark to express their sensations to their humancompanion. So, occasionally even a effectively acted canine can startbarking continually. There are a great deal of reasons that could trigger a canine to bark and theirbarking can be very frustrating. Pet dogs frequently bark to warntheir human buddy of a suspicious activity or a suspicious individual. Pet dogs might also bark due to the fact that they do not trust odd peopleor they are uncomfortable with the existence of unusual people in their home. Some petdogs are used by their human buddy to alertthem of burglars and any other sort of dangers. However sometimes incessant barking can be exceptionally bothersome and disturbing dueto the fact that if your pet dog is barking all through the night, itcan have an adverse result on individuals living in the very same home as the pet dog and their neighbors. A dog that is barking ceaselessly cancause a significant boost in the stress levels of individuals in the pet dog's environment,this can result in loss of sleep.
Among the most popular ways of managing barkingproblems in pets is using barkcollars. Bark collars is one of the most tender ways of managing perpetual barking in dogs. It is likewise an efficient method of controlling barking issues in pet dogs. A bark collar is likewise an effective method of training a canine, although it is not as extensively used as favorable reinforcement.
KINDS OF BARK COLLARS
There are many kinds of dog collars in the market today,but the 3 most common kinds of dog collarsinclude;
1. ELECTRIC SHOCK BARK COLLARS COLLARS
The electrical shock bark collars are one of the earliest kind of bark collars on the market. They work by providing the dog a moderate fixedelectricity once the vibrations from its singing cords and barking noises are spotted by the sensing units of the bark collars. The electric shock dog collars sends out electric existing to dog's muscles whenever he barks. The integrated prongs is usually utilized to deliver the moderate electric shock which can adjusted in strength according to the size of the petdog and the training requirements. However the precise approach that each private electrical shock bark collars works depends on the design and themanufacturer of the electrical shock bark collar. Many sort of electric shock barkcollars release a mild electrical present when it senses that the pet is barking.Some people state that the electric shock bark collarsare harsh because of the mild electriccurrent that is sent out to the dog's body however it isnot likely harm your pet in any way. Theelectric shock bark collars is frequently usedto teach a canine to just bark when it is needed and not simply barking persistently. Individuals that are using the electric shock bark collar for the very first time should start with a low level setting and increase it slowly as the circumstance needs.
The use of electric shock bark collars is questionable, however it is very efficient for managing incessant canine barking as long as the user has enoughknowledge about it. And also prevent setting the strength of the electric shocks too expensive however rather set it to an intensity that is just undesirable enough to dissuade the pet dog from barking. Also some electrical shockbark collars use microphone to sense when the canine isbarking. Some collars nevertheless utilize both vibration sensing units and microphones to sense when the petdog is barking.
2. ULTRASONIC BARK COLLARS
The ultrasonic bark collars are among the most popular bark collars in themarket today. This type of bark collars are used to dissuade pets from barking by usingan irritating yet entirely safe noise. Ultrasonic bark collars frequently workby launching a high go to these guys pitched ultrasonic sound that is said tobe irritating to discourage the pet dogfrom barking. They are likewise one of the most efficient way of managing a pet's incessant barking. The bark collar gives off a sound when its microphone senses the pet'sbarking that startles the canine withoutresulting in any type of physical damage. Themicrophones in the ultrasonic bark collars are established to pick up unique barking, which stops the high pitched ultrasonicsound from inadvertently going off as aresult of other sounds. The high pitched ultrasonic noise emitted by the ultrasonic bark collars can not be heard by people but they can be heard by pet dogs, and it just lasts for a couple of seconds. Recent studies have shown that this type of barkcollars does not have any kind of negative effect on the pet dog due to the fact thatthe period of the high pitched ultrasonic sound is controlled. Several brands of ultrasonic bark collarshave a positive tone function that serves asa favorable support when the pet stopsbarking.
3. CITRONELLA SPRAY click here to read BARK COLLARS
The citronella spray bark collars work by squirting out citronella unto thedog's snout whenever the canine startsbarking. The citronella spray typically go for the dog's sense for fast results. The citronella spray barkcollar are developed to make the pet connect the smell of citronella with barking, so the dog will stopbarking because he does not want smell thecitronella that is frequently released as a consequence forbarking. This is frequently efficient since the aroma of citronella is really disappointing to canines howeverit is also totally harmless. Citronella is typically used as an insect repellentby people but it does not bother people.
When the canine begins barking, themicrophone will notice the barking and the citronella spray bark collarwill launch the harmless citronella fragrance. It does notrequire any human intervention to operate and it has no negative results on the health of the pet, rather it has a soothing effect on page thedog. It also take advantage of pet dogs severe hatred of natural services. The amount of citronella launchedshould just suffice to stop the canine from barking.
The only drawbacks of using the citronella spray bark collars isthat the aroma of the citronella may stick to the pet dog's body for many minutes or hours insome celebrations.

domain: pet


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- WHY CARE ABOUT MYANMAR?
- WHO WE ARE
The Lancet, June 23, 2012
“To be forgotten, too, is to die a little”, said Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when she addressed the Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo, Norway, on June 16, 2012. Myanmar seems to be making the difficult and fragile transition from military dictatorship to fledgling democracy.
An editorial in the Lancet journal — based in part on a study done by CPI and our partners the Back Pack Health Worker Team and Johns Hopkins University — highlights the need for a rights-based approach to health in Myanmar. Link to the full editorial, below.
"In Burma, human rights abuses by the military junta, economic sanctions, and natural disasters have resulted in internal conflict and the forced migration of an estimated 340 000 people within the country, and worldwide, millions of refugees. Burma has some of the worst health indicators in the world. Life expectancy is 56 years. The 2012 Countdown to Maternal and Child Health Report documents insufficient progress on child health—the mortality rate for children aged 5 years and younger is 56 per 1000 live births, and around 40% of all Burmese children younger than 5 years old are moderately stunted. The solution? The goverment, says the Lancet editors 'must begin to shift resources from the military back to the health of its people.'"
The Prosthesis Olympics, Thailand-Myanmar Border. Eastern Myanmar has one of the highest rates of landmine injuries and deaths in the world. Gathering at a refugee camp to compete in a variety of sports, injured men, women and children show how they overcome the odds to survive and thrive.(photo: Dang Ngo)


In the old joke a non-smoker says, “If you quit smoking, you will live longer.” The smoker replies, “It will only seem longer.”
Of course, no one advocates smoking anymore. Even the most die-hard chimney knows that smoking is not good for anyone, including those who are around the smoker breathing the fumes, which we have come to call secondhand smoke.
However, eating adds to virtually everyone’s enjoyment. A calorie-restricted life, researchers say, will add to longevity. We can well imagine that the good health that comes with reduced calories will more than compensate for not being able to eat everything a person would like to eat. In fact, researchers have found that persons who participated in experiments experienced no mood setbacks from a calorie-restricted diet; their happiness quotient was not reduced at all.
Researchers at the National Institute on Aging found that it does not take a large reduction in calories to achieve good effects. The subjects of the study were asked to reduce their caloric intake by 25%, but they never achieved that level! They reached about half that amount of caloric restriction, or 12%. Nor did they reach their targeted goal of reducing their weight by 15.5%. Nevertheless, they lost about 10% of their body weight in the first year and sustained the weight loss onto the second year of the study. Researchers had hoped for more weight loss, but the fact that the persons in the experiment maintained their weight loss during the second year was highly significant to the researchers. The subjects also maintained their 12% reduction in calories over the two-year duration of the study.
Researchers expected changes in metabolism, but the changes did not materialize. The researchers found that the subjects had lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and lower chances of diabetes by the end of the study.
Calorie restriction has been found to produce many benefits, including:
- Delay the onset and pace of age-related diseases in numerous studies with animals,
- Reduce blood pressure (the subjects in the study by the National Institute on Aging lowered their blood pressure by 4%)
- Reduce cholesterol (the subjects in the study lowered their cholesterol by 6%)
- Increase good cholesterol
- Reduce an inflammatory protein related to heart disease by 50%
- Reduce thyroid hormones by 20%
These are very good and promising results. Yet, the director of the National Institute on Aging, Richard J. Hodes, cautioned against persons entering into a calorie-restriction mode prematurely. He stated that the obvious, that “exercise and maintaining a healthy weight and diet can contribute to healthy aging.” (NIH Study)
Calorie restriction should never come at the expense of nutrition. It should be noted that several subjects experienced fleeting bouts of anemia. Some showed a decrease in bone density that was more than the researchers had anticipated in view of their weight loss. Calorie restriction is best followed by a senior in your care under the guidance of a doctor.
With a physician’s guidance and monitoring, most adults can probably safely reduce their caloric intake by 10% to 12%. Under those circumstances, they can experience the benefits of sustained weight reduction and no they may have more time on earth to experience life’s joys.
Cire, Barbara. NIH Study Finds Calorie Restriction Lowers Some Risk Factors for Age-Related Diseases.September 1, 2015. National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available online at: https://www.nia.nih.gov/newsroom/2015/09/nih-study-finds-calorie-restriction-lowers-some-risk-factors-age-related-diseases
September 2015 issue, The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences contained the report of the study: Ravussin, E., et al., A 2-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of Human Caloric Restriction: Feasibility and Effects on Predictors of Health Span and Longevity. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci (2015) 70 (9): 1097-1104. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glv057


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Real-estate investor CIM Group, a lender to the developers of New York’s Trump SoHo hotel and condominium, on Thursday won a foreclosure auction that will allow it to own the property, a CIM executive said.
The change in ownership is the latest twist for Trump SoHo, which Donald Trump touted in 2006 on his television show The Apprentice and whose family has helped market the property.
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domain: economics


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"Critical for all those who are in the field of psychology to own, refer to, and use. No longer are diversity and gender issues considered to be on the periphery as they once were .one would be remiss in not considering these factors in psychology."
--Florence L. Denmark, PhD (From the Foreword)
Author, Psychology of Women
This handbook presents a multicultural approach to diversity in feminist psychology. Provocative and timely, the text comprehensively discusses the cutting-edge of feminist discourse, covering major topics such as multicultural feminist theory, gender discrimination, aging, health and therapy, violence and harassment, politics and policy, and much more.
The unique quality of this book is that each contributor brings her own cultural perspective, values, and concerns to her chapter. Special emphasis is also given to the intersectionality of minority identities such as race, ethnicity, social class, sexual preference, and other socially constructed status differences among women.
Key topics discussed:
Intimate partner violence: perspectives from ethnic groups in the United States
Gender-transgressive sexual minorities
HIV/AIDS among women of color and sexual minority women
Psychological perspectives on older women, including transitions, cognitive functioning, and mental health
Ethnicity, disordered eating, and body image
Methodological and statistical issues in research with diverse samples
Low-income women, women with disabilities, workers, and immigrants/refugees
About the Editors:
Nancy Felipe Russo is Regents Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at Arizona State University where she served as director of the Women's Studies program (1985-93). Founding director of the Women's Programs office of the American Psychological Association (1977-1985), Russo is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Psychological Association (Divisions 1, 9, 26, 34, 35, 35, 38, 45, 52), and the American Psychological Society. She is author or editor of more than 200 publications related to the psychology of women and women's issues; current editor of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry; and a former editor of the Psychology of Women Quarterly. Her honors include a Carolyn Wood Sherif Award and a Heritage Award for Contributions to Public Policy from APA's Division of the Psychology of Women. She received a Distinguished Career Award from the Association for Women in Psychology, and was recognized by APA's Board of Ethnic Minority Affairs for contributions to ethnic minority issues. Russo is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's 1995 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Women's Corporation and of the American Orthopsychiatric Association.

domain: library


Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: el dorado hills, CA, usa
I had my bike apart for track day, and always remove the headlight because the parking lamp is a pain in the ass to unplug. I have two HIDs installed.
when i put the headlight back together, the low beam wouldn't work. I swapped out parts of both HID's and all the components worked on the high beam side. I checked the plug with a multimeter and the low side registered a small voltage, but the high side 12+.
i did a hard reset by disconnecting the batter for a day. still didn't work. the only other thing i can think of is using a regular halogen bulb just to get the canbus to work properly, or is it not related?
06 K1200R,76 Yamaha RD400 VOID 7/08 ,03 Kawi ZX-6R VOID 10/10/06, 94 Suzuki GSXR-750 VOID, 85 Yamaha FJ1100 VOID