1 BEYOND THE BORDER Today Harper and Obama announced plans for a new cross border security and trade agreement. While the agreement seeks to facilitate the exchange of goods and people across the border, it also involves exchanging information on travelers. No clear indication what this might entail, but it certainly has a giant privacy-breaching loophole kind of feel to it.
2 DISAPPOINTMENT IN DURBAN Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent continues to side-step any conclusive statement regarding rumours of a Canadian withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord in Durban. Not much interpretation needed as Kent argued today that Kyoto was “in the past” for Canada.
3 TECHNOLOGY DID IT! Recent investigations into the summer riots in England and the social media blame-game that ensued indicates that there is a tendency for authorities to blame technology for rioting and demonstrations, potentially distracting from the real sources of civil unrest.
4 INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES Mexican authorities claim to have stopped a plot of international dimensions to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi, the son of ex-Libyan leader, into Mexico. A Canadian woman named Cynthia Vanier has been cited as a key player, in contact with the Gaddafi family and orchestrating the finances of the operation.
