My ranked-ballot unscientific poll for the next federal Liberal leader

Participate in my ranked ballot poll for the next federal Liberal leader.  You may rank your choices "1, 2, 3, and so on."  You may vote once per hour.  Here is the link: http://www.demochoice.org/dcballot.php?poll=2013lib.  Note: the order of the candidate listed on the ballot is randomly shuffled periodically by the magical computer fairies.  I don't determine the order.

The Ontario Liberals have lost the next provincial election.

Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten has decided to impose conditions of employment on Ontario's public elementary and secondary school teachers.  She did mention that she would repeal Bill 115 after the the conditions of employment had been imposed.  She did use the term "collective agreement."  However, a collective agreement requires two or more parties to agree.  There will be no collective agreement between the teachers and their employers, the school boards.

Broten assumes that by repealing Bill 115, the teachers will go back to work normally.  She assumes that teachers will go back to participating in extra-curricular activities.  That will not happen.  Teachers will likely not participate in extra-curricular activities for the next two years.  They will not organize field trips or meet with parents after school.  There will be no grade-eight or high school graduation ceremonies in the evening.  There will be no evening high school dances.

The Liberals may assume that the education system will get back to normal.  Unfortunately for them, that will not happen.  It will be likely that teachers will protest in front of the Liberal leadership convention site in Toronto on Friday and Saturday of the convention weekend.

There will likely be an election this spring.  I don't know which voters will support the Liberals based on Laurel Broten and Dalton McGuinty imposing conditions of employment on the teachers.  If one hates the teachers, one will support the Conservatives.  If one supports the teachers, one will support the NDP.

It will be likely that teachers will campaign against the Liberals and Conservatives in the next election.  Most likely, Laurel Broten's riding will be targeted.  To the teachers, the Liberals are just another group of right-wing Conservatives.  In fact, Dalton McGuinty and Laurel Broten made the former Conservative premier Mike Harris, and education minister John Snobelen look good by comparison.

No amount of salvaging by the current Liberal leadership candidates will help restore their relationship with the teachers of Ontario.

Excellent blogpost by a teacher to Dalton McGuinty: http://sine-of-the-times.blogspot.ca/2013/01/an-open-letter-to-premier-mcguinty-and.html

The Simpsons are going to Gaza--the Sequel

Here is a link to a still-frame post about the Simpsons and their Springfield friends being trapped in Gaza.  I made this post a few years ago during the last Israel-Gaza conflict.

http://skinnydips.blogspot.ca/2008/12/simpsons-are-going-to-gaza.html

CTV: Ontario education minister to woo young teachers

Why is the Ontario education minister, planning to make an announcement today?  It's because the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario is starting its annual general meeting today in Toronto.

I don't know how Broten will try to woo young teachers.  Perhaps she wants to divide and conquer.  She may think that by getting to impressionable young teachers, she can tell them that the older and more experienced teachers are hurting the young teachers.  All I will say is that the older teachers have helped the younger ones with their professional development.  What has Laurel Broten done to help young teachers besides originally planning to freeze the pay-grid?

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-education-minister-to-woo-young-teachers-1.911769

Happy Canada Day! A Google alphabet in English and French (2012)

These are the words that appear instantly when one types the first letter in a Google search:

In English:

·       Air Canada

·       Best Buy

·       Canadian Tire

·       Dictionary

·       eBay

·       Facebook

·       Google

 

 

·       Hotmail

 

 

·       Ikea

·       Job Bank

·       Kijiji

·       LCBO

·       Mapquest

·       NHL

·       OLG

·       Project Free TV

·       Quotes

·       Rogers

·       Scotiabank

·       TD

·       Urban Dictionary

·       Via Rail

·       Weather Network

·       xBox

·       YouTube

·       Zellers

En français:

·       AccèsD

·       Best Buy

·       Canada 411

·       Dictionnaire

·       eBay

·       Facebook

·       Google

·       Hotmail

·       Ikea

·       Jeux

·       Kijiji

·       Lespac

·       Météomédia

·       NHL

·       OC Transpo

·       Poste Canada

·       Québec

·       Radio Canada

·       SAAQ

·       Traduction

·       UOttawa

·       Vidéotron

·       Wikipedia

·       Xplornet

·       YouTube

·       Zellers

Last year's list: 2011

On the lighter side: Won't somebody please think of the children (World Naked Bike Ride)

From Auntie Antonia of the Toronto Star:

Nobody should have been taken aback on Saturday to see some 150 stripped loins wheeling past Exhibition Place.

It was at Coronation Park, just outside the Princes’ Gates, where Toronto participants in the eighth annual World Naked Bike Ride bared down and headed downtown to protest automobile pollution and the dangers cars pose to cyclists everyday.

Toronto Star: Cohn: Pride has become a victim of its own success

Martin Regg Cohn usually write some good columns.  This time I respectfully disagree with his comments about the Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA).  He seems to imply that QuAIA is an outside group that has infiltrated the Pride Week festivities.  QuAIA ranks low on his "gay-o-meter".  One could state the same about Kulanu--the gay Jewish student group.  While the core group of Kulanu may be gay, its general supporters in the parade diminish the "gayness" of Kulanu by focussing on Israel rather than LGBT pride.  Kulanu's participation in Toronto's Pride parade ranks low on my "gay-o-meter."

Toronto Star: Cohn: Pride has become a victim of its own success

YouTube: Pride Toronto - QuAIA

YouTube: Pride Toronto - Kulanu 2010