Interesting times..

It has been a surreal two days in Ottawa and it looks like another week of this, before it's resolved.

It appear Stephen Harper in a fit of arrogance, is trying to screw the other political parties by eliminating the subsidy parties get of 1.95$ per vote.

I'm not sure why that should be a matter of confidence regardless of one's position on it.

I think in a fit of stupidity, they also provided cover for the other opposition parties by refusing to do anything on the economic front.

So it looks like we may have Stéphane Dion as Prime Minister after all.

If there's anyone the tories have to blame it's Stephen Harper.

The new "Bond"

So i just saw the latest Bond movei and I thought it was pretty good, it's much darker.

I seem to agree with most critics that the plot was pretty thing, but I think it's normal for that to be the case in bond movies.

I think there was a lot of stuff to get rid of from the last movie so that they can move on to a new one. It'll be interesting to see the next one, as it'll be one of the first stand alone bond film that isn't based on the novels.

I'm looking forward to it.

For those who have seen the movie:

I thought the Canadian spy agent thing was hilarious and a bit over the top, especially as Canada doesn't have a foreign spy network.. so what the hell was one doing is Russia?

Ottawa International Writer's Festival

I really enjoyed 3 sessions at the Ottawa Writer's fest today. Luckily for me, Carleton University offered 500 free tickets to the festival, and I took full advantage.

There were 3 sessions:

The first , John Ralston Saul speaking about his new book A Fair Country. which is fantastic, and the presentation was just as good. This is a great book, though in many ways I like Reflections of a Siamese Twin better. Maybe because it was my first experience in reading Saul. What I like best about Saul is that he always challenges and provokes thought. I've never read anyone who confused and delighted me as much.

The second, was a bit more of a discussion between Tarek Fatah and Michael Adams on mutliculturalism. This was a bit of a disappointment because there was little dicussion and a air amount of hyperbole. The defence of multiculturalism was also pretty weak I though.

He actually summed it up saying that it was about creating "mixed race babies".

The third was a presentation by Major Gen. (ret.) Lewis Mackenzie.

I found it interesting to look at someone who i fundamentally disagree with in the eyes, and realize that they have reason behind what they say and they have charisma and intelligence and passion. This is important, and I find more and more that there seems to be less room for intelligent well informed debate and now you see more about style. More debate on form than content. This is no doubt important but it reminded me that it is possible to debate ideas.

The writer's festival which I attended for the first time in several years is an enjoyable experience for me, and I'm glad Carleton decided to purchase 500 tickets and distribute them for free to students. The intellectual stimulation will be with me for a long time, I always find my own ideas, challenged supported, and sometimes confirmed. It's always fascinating to see the authors of some of my favorite books, defend them in public and speak about them. I remember how fascinating it was to hear Yann Martel talk about his book the life of Pi, and how much more depth and understanding his presentation added to my appreciation of his book.

I hope I can keep attending, as this really is a wonderful festival.