1 BREAKING THE LAW So as of about, oh, whenever you’re reading this, a bunch of new bills have received royal assent and become law. One of those bills is the Harper Government’s Economic Action Plan, which I’m obliged to remind everyone was prefaced by a massive and dumb ad campaign to convince us that this vague and nebulous thing is a good idea as opposed to a bullet point on Tory MP mailouts. Oh and you can’t wear a mask at a “riot” anymore, which is great, because a riot is a very well-defined term both in the bill and in Canadian law and in Western law in general, especially when it comes to [i]the police[/i], who are usually very restrained in their application of force. I mean, it’s too bad if say you’re someone who was instrumental in bringing a brutal teen rape case to light and want to remain anonymous while doing so, but I guess that’s the price we pay for safety, right?
2 BYE, BOB Career politician Bob Rae has quit. Global has a timeline of his life and work to date. Remember when he was the first NDP premier east of Manitoba? I don’t, because I’m basically a child, but still. It happened!
3 LAND OF THE TOTALLY NOT PRIVATE AT ALL ANYTHING The United States government has, according to the director of the FBI, used drones for surveillance on American soil. Hooray! Unfortunately I can’t find the Barack Obama/drone fanfiction I saw once where the President meets his faithful companion, a drone, outside the White House for a tender conversation between old friends, so instead have this Star Trek fanfic where an Enterprise captain uses drones. Very American.
4 SPEAKING OF PRIVACY Murray Mandryk’s column on the Saskatchewan government’s decision this spring to legislate what’s basically a corporate right to privacy is nuanced, thoughtful, and utterly damning. Go read it!
