politics

Today, 14 October 2008, is the date of the federal election to determine who gets to sit in the 40th Canadian Parliament, as well as determine whether or not the Dark Lords of the Sith Conservative Party continue to hold the power of government.

Given the way the political currents are currently going here in Canada, it seems pretty unlikely that bill C-61 will get anywhere. After all, bills and other government business are dropped when parliament is prorogued. And it seems we'll be headed for a federal election this fall, probably on

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I received an interesting e-mail this afternoon from the OMDC, the crown corporation which manages tax incentives and other programs for the entertainment industry in Ontario. They released a report today, titled Ontario 2012: Stimulating Growth in Ontario's Game Industry. From the report's cover letter:

Fresh this evening, from the Globe and Mail comes news that Stephen Harper is threatening a fall election because of investigations by the House of Commons ethics committee, over the Conservative Party's funky cash transactions during the 2006 election campaign.

Some sad news out of Australia: Rather than encourage adult gamers to keep up the pressure on South Australia's game and freedom hating Attorney-General, Michael Atkinson, Bethesda Softworks is modifying Fallout 3 for Australia due to the lack of an 18+ rating in that country.

As part of Harper's tough on crime policy, the federal government recently passed the Tackling Violent Crime Act, which amended the Criminal Code in various ways, including putting the onus on accused persons to prove their innocence, in a reverse of "innocent until proven guilty." While I have no problem about reducing violent crime, switching the burden over like this, especially onto parties which may not have the resources to compete with the Crown even when they are innocent, is very troubling.