Parliament prorogued

Facing certain defeat in the House of Commons on Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended Governor General Michaëlle Jean at Rideau Hall on Thursday morning, 4 December 2008 and requested prorogation of Parliament, which she granted until 26 January. His minority government thus obtained a reprieve and some breathing space, but the country was left in a precarious situation at a time of major economic crisis worldwide. The PM's manoeuvre has no precedent in Canadian parliamentary practice.

A potential coalition of opposition parties, with majority votes in the Commons, was left in limbo, furious. The nation can expect a bombardment of vicious propaganda in coming weeks as parties justify their position, and dig in their heels. The coalition may fracture long before it can come into existence. In truth, it has been deeply flawed and illusionary from inception.


Had the Governor General been courageous and refused prorogation, a ragtag combo of Liberals and NDP, with dubious Bloquiste support, would have attempted some response to the fast deteriorating economic condition of the country. Meanwhile, a bad constitutional precedent has been set.

If Her Excellency had either refused prorogation or taken the request under advisement, a furor would have erupted not unlike the fuss and rant in 1926 when Lord Byng of Vimy did not acquiesce to the prime minister of the day. In Canadian fashion she chose discretion rather than assertion. Nevertheless reserve powers of the royal prerogative remain, intact and dormant until some future crisis.

Arts in Canada under attack

The Conservative government’s strong dislike of arts and culture is increasingly evident in proposed legislation that would establish subjective tests for media to receive public subsidies, and most recently in $45 million of cuts to various arts programmes, particularly those that promote Canadian culture abroad.

Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau (Montreal Papineau) and NDP leader Jack Layton have been vocal in making the cuts an issue in the election campaign, as have many cultural organizations across the country.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper can scarcely conceal his contempt for what he calls a “niche issue” promoted by well-heeled intellectual élitists, evidently of little interest to ordinary Canadians.

It is not an issue that is going to go away. As an economic activity culture represents a value as high as $85 billion in Canada. Nothing is more potent a factor in Canadian identity forged over centuries across a vast continent. It includes a myriad of activities, national and regional, ethnic and aboriginal, on-stage, in museums, schools and universities, in print, on-air and on-line. Some is commercially viable, but most requires a boost in this country more than most, given the small diverse population spread unevenly across a huge land. Philanthropy can help, but assured public subsidies remain essential for the continued healthy existence of the arts in Canada.

graphic: The Red Maple (1914), by A.Y. Jackson (of the Group of Seven)

After Beijing

I watched the final closing spectacle of the Games, astonished and somewhat perplexed. No doubt the totalitarian host country surpassed itself in the quality of the event. I am distressed by unspoken political overtones. However, the athletes experienced wonderful conditions over the seventeen days of the XXIX Olympiad, and they deserve the best.

Canada’s 18 medals equal the number obtained in Barcelona 1992, less than the 22 in Atlanta 1996. The haul was 3 gold, 9 silver, and 6 bronze. The country’s support of its élite athletes is trivial, even pitiful compared to programmes in Commonwealth countries like Australia and Great Britain.

I watched quite a bit of the Olympics over the past two weeks, as much in awe of the disappointments and failures as of the successes.

In fairness, Canada's excellent standing in winter sports should be remembered. At the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006 Canada ranked fifth with 24 medals (7 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze). Vancouver is the venue for the XXI Games in 2010.

Fateless: Holocaust in Hungary

Sorstalanság (Hungary/Germany/UK, 2005)
Eng.: Fateless
Fr.: Être sans destin
dir. Lajos Koltai
rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

The Hungarian title can also be translated Fatelessness, a mind-numbing concept in the novel and script by Nobel laureate Imre Kertész. The film remarkably combines holocaust and coming-of-age themes in the personal experience of a boy wonderfully played by Marcell Nagy. The story is as harrowing as the resolution is troubling. The cinematography is powerful and memorable throughout.

Jacob Hertzman (1981-1996)

One has to be moved by the tribute of family and friends to a young boy who died just short of his fifteenth birthday after a life complicated by multiple congenital abnormalities. He was my 1st cousin 2nd removed, lived in the same city, but I never met him and hardly knew anything about him until I recently saw The Jacob Stories, a little book compiled by his mother Jill, with Elayne Freeman, and wonderfully illustrated by grandmother Florence (Toronto, 2004).

Jill wrote of her son: “Jacob was a puzzle whose pieces did not quite fit. He was an unusual combination of fierce determination and fragility. When he felt well he boldly went about the business of living.” (p.xiv)

The graphic (below) was done by Kaylee Mimron, a friend of Jacob’s at Kohai Education Centre in Toronto, a special needs school where he blossomed.

Toronto, 22 January 2008

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On the run with Jason

The Bourne Ultimatum (USA, 2007)
dir. Paul Greenglass
rating: ✶✶✶

The third thriller about Jason Bourne, trained by the CIA as an “asset” (i.e. spy, covert agent, and assassin, who then cut himself loose from the company) is replete with action that kept stuntmen busier, no doubt, than star Matt Damon. He is good to excellent in the part of uncanny survivor on a dangerous quest. Chases and fights are high-powered, frequent, and incredible. Rogue CIA men are the bad guys rather than foreigners this time. But basic premisses of the plot are less intricate than in the antecedent films, so for me less interesting.

Not a lot happens on Canada Day, in contrast to the grandiose events in Paris on 14 July, and patriotic ceremonial in many other countries on their national day. In Ottawa and provincial capitals the military fire a 21 gun salute. The Mounties get to show off their horses on Parliament Hill and there is an air force fly-past. Governor General and Prime Minister plus some premiers publish inspirational, quite predictable messages. There is a banal fête populaire at an improvised stage on the Hill, broadcast nationally. Across the country for a few moments the night sky is lit with fireworks. The national press is loaded with reflective articles on who we are, mostly not worth quoting. Outside the country there is scarcely a mention. This year marks 140 years since Confederation.We get a long weekend.

Quadriga (2007) by Max Streicher

This afternoon I discovered four luminous gigantic horses floating in the Great Hall of Union Station, Toronto, another component of Luminato festival of the arts. This was an astonishing kinetic inflatable sculpture by Canadian Max Streicher who has been constructing pieces at venues around the world. I have so far not been able to find anything about him, except year of birth, 1958, and the fact that he is based in Toronto. The subject for me is highly mythic and powerful.

A quadriga is actually the four-horse chariot used for races in the Olympic games and sacred rites in ancient Greece, the vehicle used by gods and heroes in classical art. The four horses here, though not attached, nevertheless are in mystical union.

La Sylphide: National Ballet School, Toronto

For the first time Spring Showcase consisted of a single classical work, La Sylphide in the 1836 version choreographed by August Bournonville — a challenge that senior students of the National Ballet School met with skill and enthusiasm. It was staged by Sorella Englund, formerly of the Royal Danish Ballet, who also took the cameo role of fortune teller sorceress, Madge. It was carried off at near professional level by the young cast with minimal accoutrements.

Englund's Madge, of course, seething with scheming resentment, was nonpareil and true in the role, as authentic as one could want. But the principal parts taken by students were equally accomplished and stylish. The corps de ballet in this classic white ballet, the essence of romanticism at mid-19th century, was expressively disciplined and beautiful with never a ragged or awkward line.

With five performances, the school had a new cast of student principals for each — I saw one. As the eponymus Sylph that night, faerie of air, Heather MacIsaac sweetly generated the mystery and mischief that moved the plot. But the evening’s star was Alexander Bozinoff as betrothed and enchanted farmer’s boy, James. His beautiful leaps and pirouettes in kilt, all lightness and elevation were pure examples of Bournonville style at its finest.

Opera Atelier, Orpheus and Eurydice

The current production by Opera Atelier of C.W. Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, the 1774 Paris version in French of the opera, was first performed in Vienna in 1762 in Italian. The poetic retelling of a myth from Greek mythology, the genre is azione teatrale, but here straightforward and much simplified as the composer attempted to lighten the traditional, highly involved opera seria of the time. Opera Atelier, skilled in reconstruction of baroque performance, have produced a consistently clear and entertaining work, true to the original, but somewhat free in interpretation. It made for a splendid evening.

As Orpheus tenor Colin Ainsworth looked and sounded the part of heartbroken, audacious swain and prodigy dangerously venturing into the underworld to rescue his spouse. She, Eurydice, was sung by soprano Peggy Kriha Dye with suitable pathos, though her full white gown seemed somewhat anomalous in the situation. With surtitles I was able to follow the text in French, overwrought rhetoric rather tedious in the 21th century. It was rescued by the splendid interventions of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. Gluck’s score was throughout played with distinction by Tafelmusik, conducted by Andrew Parrott.

The production was generous with dance beautifully and inventively choreographed by Jeannette Zingg, who moved in style from late baroque to early romantic, quite in the transitional spirit of Gluck’s piece itself. The artists of Atelier Ballet themselves moved stylishly and cleverly through dance sequences that advanced the story. The Dance of the Blessed Spirits with three variations was a particular delight.

Elgin Theatre, Toronto, 28 - 5 May 2007

Arma virumque: Commonwealth of Virginia

In Virginia anyone older than 12 may own a rifle or shotgun. From age 18 onward it is legal to own a handgun. No permit is required, but without one the individual may purchase only one weapon a month. To carry a concealed gun a permit is required, but there is no requirement of training. Before the weapon is sold the name of the purchaser is checked against state and federal databases — convicted felons are ineligible as are mentally disturbed persons who have been treated in hospitals. There is no waiting period.

At a gun show even that check is waived. To buy a semi-automatic pistol or even a military-style assault weapon no name is required, hence no background check, and no record of sale.

Virginia's laws may seem lax, but the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence considers 32 other states even less rigorous. In 2001 about a third of U.S. households reported the possession of arms.

The student assailant at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University used two legally acquired weapons to kill 32 students and faculty on 16 April 2007: a Glock 9 mm pistol (above), and a Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol. He had been referred to an out-patient clinic to treat mental instability, so not reported to the database.

[sympatico / msn news, 18 April 2007, "Virginia massacre raises gun control questions"]

An executive order by the Governor of Virginia now makes mandatory reporting of mentally troubled patients treated in out-patient clinics, thus making them ineligible to purchase arms at stores. That is mere tinkering — 28 states do not even participate in the voluntary federal database. The New York Times refers to the "silent retreat" of legislators: "One hearing after Virginia Tech carefully focused on the need for mental health counselors on campus — certainly not saner gun controls."
[NYT, 2 May 2007]



I received the following comment from a friend who is a psychiatrist and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada):
The term "mentally unstable" is a vague, catch-all phrase. I often wonder what it really means and I imagine you do too. Does it fluctuate with time? Is anyone who sees a psychiatrist considered mentally unstable? Is someone with substance abuse considered mentally unstable? Does someone who has undergone a relationship breakup and harbours angry feelings qualify as unstable?
Another interesting point needs to be made. Psychiatrists feel from a careful review of evidence that they do know what risk factors exist for suicide and have some expertise (not complete) in predicting suicide risk. [On the other hand, by contrast] the American Psychiatric Association says time and time again that we do not have sufficient expertise to identify risk factors or ability to predict aggression, violence and homicide (even though this may sound counter-intuitive).

Ireland's Struggles

The Wind that Shakes the Barley
(Ireland, 2006)
dir. Ken Loach
rating: *****
Festival de Cannes: Palme d’or, 2006

The film is a powerful, emotionally wrenching presentation of circumstances in rural Cork during the Irish struggle for independence (1919 – 1921) and subsequent civil war (1922 – 1923). It focuses on the lives of two brothers caught up in the struggle, superbly played by Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney. The fight was fraught with personal tragedy — the one brother wrote towards the end: “I tried not to get into this war, and did, now I try to get out, and can’t.”

The film remarkably gives one the sense of being present in the unravelling of violent events. The British occupation of Ireland was brutal, and the resistance had its own cruelties. Director Ken Loach is not one to romanticize, nor indulge in ambiguities.

Vimy 1917 — 90 years after

On the morning of 9 April 1917 the four divisions of the Canadian Corps moved to take the ridge at Vimy, after days of preliminary bombardment. The task was daunting, even impossible, yet it succeeded thanks to careful preparation and the use of innovative tactics. The cost in lives was horrendous, as casualties along the static front mounted.

In 1922 France ceded 1 sq. km of Vimy Ridge and environs in Pas-de-Calais to Canada where, in 1936, the soaring national monument to the 66,000 Canadian dead in World War I was inaugurated by King Edward VIII.

On Easter Monday, 9 April 2007, the monument will be re-dedicated on the 90th anniversary of the landmark battle, by H.M. the Queen and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin will also be at the high-profile event. Thousands of Canadians, including many young, will attend. Her Excellency Governor General Michaëlle Jean will mark the day at the National War Memorial, Ottawa.

Villepin ended his elegant address with "Vive la république, vive la France!" Why did he omit "Vive le Canada!"?

Not a celebration of victory, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial solemnly commemorates the sacrifice of lives in the struggle of nations, and the grief of a young nation just coming into its own.

Rob Stewart's Sharkwater

Sharkwater (Canada, 2006)
dir. Rob Stewart

Close to 100 million sharks a year are slaughtered in the seas each year, many of them for the consumption of their tasteless fins in soup. The myth is perpetuated worldwide of sharks as ruthless predators and killers, whereas in truth they are part of an essential balance of marine life.

Marine photographer Rob Stewart, still only 27, struggled five years through endless personal, financial, and artistic difficulties to create a remarkable documentary released last week in Canada, and September in the United States. Along the way he and his team experienced shark poachers, criminal intrigues, official corruption, and death threats, among other dangers, much of it in the waters of Cocos Island (Costa Rica) and the Galapagos (Ecuador).

From all reports the imagery of the film is extraordinary along with the message, and I want to see it soon.

Tangueros de Buenos Aires

The origin of tango along the docks of Buenos Aires in full expansion in the 19th century is somewhat mythical, and I have not immersed myself in any of the many histories of the art. Certainly it was danced by men among themselves, cuchilleros and compadritos, in cafés and gatherings in San Telmo before the scandalous dance was discovered and adopted by high society in Argentina and Europe after World War I.

Tango is still much danced in its city of origin, and taught in many schools, though now more of a cult activity for aficionados and dance tourists.

I did get to see a show in the Centro Cultural Borges that I very much enjoyed, with six young dancers accompanied by the Carla Algeri Trio, all winners in national competition. Small of stature, Algeri is an intense, wonderful bandoneonista. At Zival’s record shop on Avenida Corrientes I purchased records in traditional style by orchestras I learned about for the first time: Carlos DiSarli, Juan D’Arienzo, and Osvaldo Pugliese, all pre-dating the changes that occurred with Astor Piazzolla and other modernists who introduced jazz and other elements that quite transformed the genre.

In contrast to other milonga dance, tango has a sad, sometimes sinister quality, charged with intense sexuality. Most of that is lost when it is put on the stage to entertain.

A new opera ballet house for Toronto

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

Inside, acoustics of the theatre are excellent, as are sight lines for the most part. Ballet looked wonderful on stage in the fall season. That is not to say it is a truly successful building. Scant attention has been paid to the movement of crowds in the corridors and lobbies — exits are slow and congested. The lunchtime open space with a tiny, precarious stairway is more suited to children than brown-bagging adults, though no doubt free entertainment is always welcome.

Christopher Hume summarized the building better than anyone, calling it an architectural dud — architects were Diamond & Schmitt. "Clad in blue-black masonry, and blank on two of its four façades, it feels more industrial than cultural, more inwardly focused than outward looking."
[Toronto Star, 30 December 2006]

Ironically, it stands across from splendid Osgoode Hall, yet hardly distinguishable from nearby hotels and banal commercial structures on the street.

Matters of Life and Death: capital punishment in the world

Should the state have the right to execute a human being, for crimes of murder, treason, trafficking, mutiny, genocide, or whatever other heinous offence in law? The state's right to deny life was questioned by Milanese writer and academic Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) in his famous abolitionist treatise, Dei delitti e delle pene (Of crimes and punishments,1764), calling for rational reform in the law. His influence, directly or indirectly, led to the Leopoldine Code of 1786 in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany where, for the first time in Europe (and possibly the world) the death penalty was abolished.
In the map above, countries in blue have no death penalty. It exists in the red zones. Others either make limited use of it, or have not in practice had executions for several years. As of 1977 sixteen countries including Canada had eliminated capital punishment; by the end of 2005 the number had grown to 122 (either completely, or for the most part), while 68 countries retained it. The latter, however, include the most populous countries, so that a majority in the world live under authority that can take life.
In the United States twelve states and the District of Columbia have no death penalty, nor do numerous American territories abroad. Michigan abolished it as far back as 1846.
Canada removed the death penalty from the Criminal Code in 1976, and from the National Defence Act (where it remained for military offences, treason, and mutiny) in 1998.
Amnesty International is on record as opposed to capital punishment, along with a world-wide coalition of abolitionists who try to monitor trials for abuses of human rights.
The European Union mandates no death penalty as condition of membership.
Show trials and gruesome executions in Iraq can only enhance profound unease in that country, and elsewhere in the world. Blood vengeance by the state is not an acceptable solution in the modern world.

The Queen, Diana, affairs of state, and plausible fiction

The Queen (UK, 2006)
dir. Stephen Frears
rating: ✶✶✶

Clever writing and skilful montage of news clips create an unlikely, yet reasonably successful film about the tense week in September, 1997 when the body of Diana, Princess of Wales was returned to England for burial. Diana's celebrity pop status won out in the end over protocol, and a reluctant Queen accorded the honour of state funeral to the divorced and disruptive mother of the princes. The look at what was going on behind the scenes at Balmoral and Downing Street is plausible fiction, and an excuse to consider the role of symbolic monarchy and tradition in the modern democratic state, not unsympathetically. Helen Mirren in the leading role is quite brilliant, credible, restrained and ultimately human (as well as a remarkable likeness to the original). Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair is also excellent in his portrayal of fresh young energy in public life, with a clear sense of nation, and its swift changing dynamics (another close look-alike). Other roles are less important, occasionally muddled, and sometimes biased. Younger supernumeraries on the scene add contrast as smart-ass irreverent sceptics, and the film suggests a deeper crisis of monarchy than probably in reality occurred. Ultimately, in any case, the nation appears to overcome whatever trauma there was, with institutions and Her Majesty comfortably intact.

The History Boys

The History Boys (UK, 2006)
dir. Nicholas Hytner
rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

Based on Alan Bennett's excellent 2004 play, and with the original stage cast, the engaging and well-acted film covers the story of a class of eight high-spirited, very bright boys at a grammar school in Sheffield preparing to sit entrance examinations for Oxford and Cambridge. In part a coming-of-age saga, it touches on sexuality both of students and teachers, the education system, English class structure, and the meaning of learning. It succeeds in being both comic and, at times, profoundly moving. A sub-theme on homosexuality further enhances the film's insights into the lives of students and masters alike in the evolving social context of the 1980's.