Justin Trudeau crowdsources leadership

Really? Tuck in your shirt! Buy a belt!

Justin Trudeau has been fundraising on vague promises to the middle class, while echoing the Obama formula of hope and hard work. In the political sphere, hard work gets results when a leader’s role and vision is clearly defined, which in turn can make hope seem reasonable. Sadly, the problem faced by the Liberal Party is that Justin Trudeau is not interested in leadership, as can be exemplified by his recent “speak up and be heard” campaign, in which Canadians are supposed to submit a question on “middle-class concerns”.

The man is a millionaire; he’s paid $157,731 a year and, apparently, wants folks to sign up to do his job for him.

Justin Trudeau’s calculation appears to be that Canadians won’t care if he is a competent leader or not. In fact, his new-found support, when you scratch the surface, isn’t support at all. Instead, his legion of followers fall into one or a combination of two camps: the “he will have good advisers" camp and the “he’s better than Harper" camp. Which is to say, these alleged supporters would presumably vote for any well-meaning person with enough cash to hire a crew of politically savvy anti-Harperites. This time around, it just happens to be an oleaginous dude named Justin Trudeau.

Note to Loblaw and Joe Fresh: if you can find the Canadian consumer, you can find the Bangladeshi worker

Reshma: Galen Sr. can afford 17.1 million years of her labour

Modern capitalism is very effective. It can locate customers with pinpoint accuracy. It knows, for example, how to find a small-town girl to encourage her to buy a T-shirt. In Canada, a clothing division of the supermarket chain Loblaw, called Joe Fresh, will extend significant time and resources on marketing and advertising, including social media campaigns, to find that girl. In fact, adult Canadians go to work every day, either within Joe Fresh or the advertising agencies that Joe Fresh employs, doing one thing and one thing only: busting their butts to target and reach that kid. Millions of dollars are spent on the effort.

Stephen Harper has always been a robot, and Justin Trudeau was never a math teacher

Justin: Math is way more dramatic

The pissing match between the Conservative Part of Canada, led by a cyborg name Stephen Harper, and the Liberal Party of Canada, led by a ponce named Justin Trudeau, has revealed, if you’ll allow the oxymoron, the profound shallowness of both leaders.

The Conservative Party came out the gate after Trudeau’s coronation as Liberal leader with an attack ad showing the dauphin bowing and prancing as he removes his shirt. Poor form, given that Trudeau was doing the striptease as part of a charity fundraiser for the Canadian Liver Foundation.

Venezuela’s Argo moment

Tracy doesn't fit the profile (Photo: family handout)

Yesterday Venezuelan authorities arrested Timothy Hallett Tracy, a US citizen and aspiring documentary film-maker, accusing him of being part of a master plot to foment a right-wing revolt.

Tracy, 35, had been active in the film business in California, having worked as a consultant and producer. He has been in Venezuela since last year, and had been detained twice by Venezuela’s intelligence police before his arrest at the international airport in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

Tensions are high in Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro, who succeeded the late Hugo Chávez, narrowly defeated the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski in an election held April 14. Capriles has said he was robbed of victory, and is challenging the vote. During post-election rioting at least seven people were killed and many more injured.

Meteorite falls near Toluca, followed by a minor earthquake in Mexico City

Over Toluca

At 8:05 pm local time on April 21 residents of Toluca, México – a city about 45 minutes west of Mexico City – saw a “luminous body” falling in the sky.

Eleven minutes later, an earthquake registering 5.8 on the Richter scale hit Mexico City.

The coincident events created a flurry of activity on social media, with #MeteoritoToluca trending on Twitter.

SNC-Lavalin could now be on the hook for “moral damages” to Cynthia Vanier

SNC-Lavalin's image refresh. Yikes!

As soon as Cynthia Vanier was arrested on November 10^th, 2011, in Mexico City, she was at a disadvantage. Accused of being the mastermind of a complex plot to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, from war-torn North Africa to Mexico, she was expected to defend herself from behind bars.

She was supposed to do this in a foreign country, in a language she did not understand, and in a highly politicized and possibly corrupt environment.

From the beginning, Vanier quarterbacked her game-plan with the help of her husband Pierre – always at her side, and an effective advocate. From Mexico the Vaniers made a strategic decision: focus on the legal route and play defense with the media. The rules were strict and, at times, arbitrary.

There were to be no interviews from jail, unless Vanier needed to call the CBC’s As It Happens. A media strategy, including press releases, was rumoured, but never occurred. Journalists were offered candy or starved.

Cynthia Vanier arrives in Toronto

Vanier arrived on the evening of Saturday, April 20, at
Toronto's Pearson International Airport

Cynthia Vanier, the Canadian mediator held in Mexico for 18 months as the accused “ringleader” of a plot to bring Saadi Gaddafi, former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s playboy third son, from war-torn North Africa to Mexico, has arrived safely in Toronto, Canada.

Vanier had been released before dawn on Friday, April 19, and sent to an immigration holding facility to work out the details of her formal deportation.

Her co-accused, Gabriela (Gabby) de Cueto, was released at the same time and is now in the United States. A third accused, Danish national Pierre Flensborg, is expected to be deported from Mexico to Copenhagen on Sunday. A fourth accused, the Mexican  Jose Luis Kennedy Prieto, remains in prison.