April 2005

Layton Takes a Swipe

by alec on April 28, 2005

Jack Layton took a swing at Stephen Harper today saying:"If we end up in an election, those who call it, will have taken their mind off people and will have begun to focus on political interests, and that’s very unfortunate."  

That’s a little arrogant Jack.  Let’s have an election and see if the people really want these new programs.  This person, and a bunch more like him, would prefer to pay down the debt. 

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Layton’s deal with Liberals

by alec on April 27, 2005

You have to admire Jack Layton.  Yesterday’s deal with the Liberals was masterful power politics.  In one stroke he has:

  • Imposed the NDP agenda on Parliament.
  • Repositioned the NDP as the Party that knows what it wants and how to get it.
  • Undermined Ralph Goodale’s credibility as finance minister.  Remember, it was Goodale who insisted the money for these programs wasn’t available in the first place.
  • Exposed Paul Martin as weak-willed, and willing to do anything to retain his grip on power. 

He’s already got his election positioning worked out — “We worked for the people, while the other parties were just taking care of their own business to their own advantage.”

I don’t agree with what Jack has asked Parliament to spend our tax dollars on, but I am in awe of how devastatingly effective he has been when presented with this opportunity.

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Close to finished

April 24, 2005

Getting closer to the final version of the new blog.  If anyone ever tells you that moving from one blog tool to another is easy, run screaming.

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VoIP pricing in Canada

April 23, 2005

Pricing amongst VoIP carriers is getting very aggressive.  Here in Canada, Inter.Net just unveiled an unlimited US / Canada calling plan for C$29.95/month.  I met with Inter.Net President Sophie Leger at VON Canada.  They may have a leg up on other small VoIP companies because of the fact that they also provide access.  You can buy [...]

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What’s innovative about VoIP?

April 23, 2005

Martin has done a great analysis of what’s innovative, or potentially innovative, in VoIP over on Telepocalypse.  It’s quite an eye opener that, of the list he started with, only one feature is impossible on the PSTN.

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Bountiful: Systematic Pedophilia

April 22, 2005

This morning’s Ottawa Citizen ran a full page article on Bountiful, where a polygamy practicing sect of the Mormon church is located.  Titled The Bountiful Challenge, it’s remarkable in that it represents the first time I’ve seen members of the sect declare that they believe they have a Charter right to practice polygamy.  The article [...]

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Harper’s response

April 21, 2005

What can I say?  Did I call it, or what?  Here’s Stephen Harper’s response to Martin’s speech.

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Martin’s speech: I’m sorry

April 21, 2005

Phew.  Matters of National Importance are being covered on the CBC, and I am on a train between Ottawa and Toronto.  Luckily, with my handy Blackberry, doubling as a GPRS modem, I have connectivity.  Slow, but as Om Malik said recently “Any connectivity is better than no connectivity”.  So I’ve whistled over to the Globe [...]

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VON Canada News Blog

April 21, 2005

The VON Canada News Blog is up.  Clever idea, and ideally suited to the blog format.

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Mark Spencer’s talk at VON Canada

April 21, 2005

Mark Spencer, from Digium, is the other presentation I’ve been looking forward to. He’s talking about Asterisk, DUNDi, and the “opening of telephony”. He’s starting off with a plug for open source, and all the benefits. C’mon Mark! Get to the meat. Interesting tidbit: Asterisk does Bluetooth presence. When your bluetooth enabled cellphone goes out [...]

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