Recently, someone that I know (and no, it was not me!) was charged under Ontario’s Stunt Driving Law for travelling over 50 km an hour on a major highway.  In consultation with him, and though various discussions that I have had with others, I have found that this is one of the nastiest laws on the books today.  The legal name is Bill 203 – Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act.

The penalties for street racing, stunt driving and driving 50 km/h or over the speed limit are as follows:

Pre-conviction:  Immediate 7-day licence suspension and 7-day vehicle impoundment.

Upon conviction:  $2,000 to $10,000 fine, 6 demerit points, up to 6 months jail, up to 2 years licence suspension for a first conviction.

Second offence:  Driver licence suspension up to 10 years within 10 years of first conviction.

Obviously, the easiest way to avoid contravening the law is to stay less than fifty kilometers over the posted speed limit.  I don’t think anyone needs to drive that fast, though I can see how people can get carried away.  In my car, it’s very easy to drive 150 km on a highway and not really notice.  I have an old car, but it has a big engine that likes to go go go.

On the flipside, cops are generally decent people.  If you are going 120 km on a highway, and not driving like an idiot, they’ll generally leave you alone.  If you are driving funny or weaving in and out of traffic, your ass is getting lit up and pulled over.  Realistically, if you are speeding at 50 km over the posted speed limit, the cops have no choice but to pull you over.

I would like to know – out of the 10,000 charges that have been laid under this new law since September 30, 2007 (when the law was enacted), how many of these charges were dismissed and for what reasons?  The law has been challenged on a constitutional level with little success.  Those challenges arose because there are criminal ramifications to the law (up to six months in jail), but the law (being a traffic law) does not allow the person to submit a defence.

I would hope that the judge in each case looks at the person before passing a sentence.  If someone who has all sorts of previous convictions is in front of the court begging for mercy, then throw the book at them.  If someone is a first time offender who was just not paying attention and got carried away, then I would show them some leniancy.

Once again this year, I had the opportunity to visit Montreal.  This is the third time in the last three years that I have been to Montreal, and once again the city did not disappoint.  Montreal is a fabulous city, and one that I would have no problems living in.  The culture is diverse, and the majority of its inhabitants are bilingual.  This – to me – is important because my French is very rusty.  This is not to say that I would not grasp the language fairly quickly if I was living there…but you know, feeling lost due to a language barrier bothers me.

This time, I took my camera and I took a ton of photos.  The last couple of years, I did not take a camera and after the trip ended, I was kicking myself for not doing so.  Hindsight always being 20/20, of course.  This year, I made up for it in droves by taking over 1,000 pictures.

In any event, we (me and a couple of guys from work) booked a trip up to Montreal to witness UFC 113 live in person.  I was previously in Montreal for UFC 97 and UFC 83.  Each of these events are awesome to attend live in person and I urge anyone with an interest in Mixed Martial Arts to make an effort to attend at least one live event in person.  The atmosphere is electric and the UFC puts on a great show.

The main event was a rematch between Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title.  In their first encounter at UFC 104, the champion Machida retained his title in a very controversial decision.  Many people thought that Rua had defeated Machida – ergo the immediate rematch.  The second fight did not disappoint, as Shogun became the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with a devasting first round knockout.

Many people believed that beating Machida was impossible.  His style – Karate – is unique to Mixed Martial Arts and up until his first fight with Shogun, he was considered virtually impossible to hit.  If you can’t hit your opponent, you certainly have no way of winning the fight.  In the first fight, Shogun solved the Machida puzzle by using low leg kicks and aggressively punching.  This threw Machida off of his game and forced him into counterpunching randomly.

The strategy was similar for the second fight.  However, this time it did not take Shogun that long to solve Machida.  He used the same strategy to pummel Machida and knocked him out at 3:35 of round one.  He caught Machida with a hard right that knocked him down and then followed with a shot to the eye to finish the fight.  It was a quick fight with a brutal knockout, which made many fans happy.  It was a decent fight in my eye, and while some people wanted to see a longer fight, I was just happy that it ended decisively. 

Personally, I have never been a big fan of the judges.  The judging in Mixed Martial Arts is more often than not very suspect.  The judges – however admittedly – have a very difficult job to do.  They sit at ringside (on three different sides of the cage) and watch the fight from a singular angle.  They do not have the benefit of commentary, television, or instant replay.  As a result, it is entirely possible that they may not see something that is pivotal to the fight.  Thankfully the judges did not play a factor in the outcome of this fight.

In the co-main event, Josh Koscheck defeated Paul “Semtex” Daley via unanimous decision.  Koscheck used his wrestling and neutralized Daley throughout the bout.  The match was not without controversy, however, as Koscheck “pretended” to get hit with an illegal knee in the first round (which cost Daley a point).  It was not honorable in any way.  After the bout, Daley punched Koscheck in frustration.  That is a definite no-no and earned Daley a one-way ticket out of the UFC.  Many people thought that firing Daley and banning him from the UFC forever was far too harsh, but in my opinion an example had to be set.  It is no different than Renato “Babalu” Sobral not releasing the choke on David Heath at UFC 74 following the bell.  I don’t care if the fighters don’t want to be friends, or shake hands following a fight, but there can be zero tolerance of aggressive actions outside of the cage (or in this case, the fight itself).

The fight of the night was Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens vs. Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout.  This was a back and forth affair that saw Stephens take the split decision.  I have to admit that even though the fight was close and the crowd did not like the result, the judges scored the fight accurately.  Stephens won the first round, and I think eeked out the second, but Stout clearly won the third round as Stephens tired.  I was hoping that Stout would have been able to finish the fight, but ultimately Lil’ Heathen’s chin held out against the barrage of rocks thrown by “Hands of Stone.”

The comedian of the night award had to go to “Filthy” Tom Lawlor.  At the weigh-ins, he did the funniest Dan Severn impersonation that I have ever seen.  I was in tears, laughing so hard.  Then, on the way to the cage, he was doing his best Apollo Creed impersonation.  It takes balls to come out to “Living In America” in Montreal.  He lost a very competitive fight to Joe “El Dirte” Doerkson.

The “OMFGWTF” award of the night went to Jason MacDonald, who, two minutes into his return to the Octagon, landed awkwardly on a takedown and broke his shin in two places.  This was the first fight of the night and it was a very sickening injury.  I’m sure his opponent, John Salter, did not want to win in that manner, and I would like to see these two fighters rematched because I think that their styles could make for a very competitive fight.

The “Disappointing Fighter of the Night” easily went to Kimbo Slice.  Kimbo – via his reputation – has (had) a lot of hype behind him.  He faced Matt Mitrione at UFC 113 – and was stopped via strikes in the second round.  Mitrione is a very large man in need of a tan, and much like his unofficial nickname on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, he reminds me of the meathead from Archie Bunker fame.  I even made up the name before I knew that he was coined with it by Rashad Evans.

Regardless…Kimbo did nothing in this fight other than throw a few wild punches.  Mitrione took him down at will, attempted submissions, and generally used his reach to out-box Kimbo at his own game.  I was hoping that Kimbo – after four years of training – would be able to show some kind of takedown defense, but alas I was disappointed.  Kimbo was cut from the UFC following this fight (a move I did not agree with as the man only has one UFC loss on his record), and hopefully he lands on his feet in another organization.  Normally I wouldn’t care where I fighter goes, but Kimbo seems like a decent guy who is doing everything that he can to earn a living to support his wife and kids.  Inside the cage he is menacing, outside of it he seems like a big quiet teddy bear.  His fortunes are likely best served in Japan, where they will pay top dollar for fighters who have that type of aura and charisma about them (…in Japan, the actual ability to fight is almost secondary…).

Patrick Cote made his return to the Octagon after an eighteen month layoff due to injury.  His opponent was Alan Belcher, a rising condender in the 185 lb. division.  The ring rust was evident in Cote less than a minute into the bout, as he was unable to find his range against Belcher.  He submitted to a rear-naked choke in the second round, after Belcher dropped him on his face (obviously, stunning him).  I was surprised that Belcher won, I had picked Cote in this bout despite the layoff.  Moreso, I was suprised that Belcher won via submission – it is not something that he is known for.  I had predicted that these two guys would stand and slug with one another, but given the fact that both of these guys have dynamite in their hands, I guess they were leery of each other’s power and decided to turn it into a mat war instead.

In other fights, Mike “The Joker” Guymon defeated Yoshiyuki Yoshida (by decision, for which he was very emotional and very happy), Johnny Hendricks (who reminds me of an Ewok-in-training) defeated T.J. Grant by decision, Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran defeated Tim Hague (by decision), and Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis defeated Jonathan Goulet by strikes in the second round.

All in all, it was a fantastic event, and of course I will attend the next one in Montreal if I have the means to go.  It was better than last years event (UFC 97, which was marred by the snooze-fest between Thales Leites and Anderson Silva), but not as good as UFC 83 (which featured Georges St. Pierre rematching Matt Serra).  It goes to show you how much the main event plays a part in the overall quality of the show.  If the main event is good, then people will remember that the show was great.  If it is not, then they have the notion that they got ripped off.

While in Montreal, we did a few other things.  On Friday, we ventured up to the Bio Dome and the Olympic Stadium.  We just saw the outside of the Stadium, because to be honest none of us had the desire to go inside.  The monstrosity that is the hotel that looms over La Stade Olympique should, in all honestly, be torn down.  Actually…just tear the entire thing down and rebuild it.  I think that Montreal would benefit from a classic stadium, using architecture from the 1800′s (much like Camden Yards in Baltimore…I’ve always loved that stadium).

The Bio Dome is a unique place.  I have never seen anything like it.  It looks (and is) huge on the outside, but because it houses so many various environments it does not take long to walk through.  It is basically an indoor zoo.  You start in the Tropical section, which will take you about twenty minutes to walk through.  In the twenty minutes though, you’ll drop about ten pounds.  I have to remember that this is not the environment for me – I don’t like it when my breasts sweat.

I did enjoy the wildlife though.  Birds, a crocodile, something that looked like a flamingo…they were all there.  As well, a myriad of various tropical fish.  There is no way that I could identify them all, but I have the pictures with the names on them.  What I liked was how the environment completely changed as you went through the different areas.  Thankfully, the sub-arctic envirionment was behind glass, or it would have been mighty cold (though I would have loved to have interacted with the penguins).

After we finished up at the Bio Dome, we took the Metro (which runs on tires and railroad tracks…tires!) to get to the Bell Centre for the UFC 113 Weigh-Ins.  We were early so we stopped by La Belle Province for a quick bite to eat.  La Belle Province is a burger joint, with their claim to fame being $1.00 hot dogs.  The food was palateable, but I would have preferred something a little more decent.

The weigh-ins were a very good tease to the main show – Tom Lawlor’s impersonation of Dan Severn standing out – and the history of Lyoto Machida and Maurico Rua for those who were not in the know.  Say what you will, but the UFC does a great job building up their shows.  The weigh-ins were covered live by ESPN, another sign that the sport is gaining more mainstream popularity.  There were approximately 6,000 people there for the weigh-ins and pre-fight buildup.

We went up and down Rue Saint Catherine a few times, and we stopped at Reubens for a nice large smoked meat sandwich.  We did a fair amount of shopping, because Saturday was a really shitty day.  It rained and the wind blew like crazy.  That was o.k. though – in my previous two stops I had never been through the Montreal underground (where all the good stores are).  The Bay is eight floors high!  And of course, we went through all eight floors, just to see how they laid out the store.  Then, we went into the main mall and wandered around where I found a few MMA t-shirts.  The other guys found some shirts that they were looking for as well, merchandise that they couldn’t find in Toronto.

The goods in Montreal tend to be a tad higher priced than in Toronto, but they offer a much better selection and quality of product.  I don’t mind paying good money for quality, though i do mind paying $75.00 for a t-shirt.  The MMA t-shirt business is a gold mine, in that you could manufacture these shirts for less than $20.00 – and sell them for at least 100% profit.  If I had any chops with respect to designing and marketing, I would probably get into the business.

We filled up our remaining time by eating in various restaurants around the city (St. Hubert, of course!!!!!) and watching the playoff series between Montreal and Pittsburgh.  Montreal was the underdog in this series, and we were fortunate enough to catch Games Five and Six while in the city.  The fans in Montreal are extremely passionate about their hockey club, and as they were (unexpectedly) climbing deep into the playoff picture, people were out in droves to support their club.  Even in McDonalds – they had big screen televisions and people were glued to them.  You don’t see that in Toronto – because you actually have to qualify for the playoffs first! 

As in previous years, I would have liked to have gotten down into old Montreal a bit more.  It’s funny, even though you plan the time to do things, you invariably never get to see everything that you want to see.  It’s a good thing that I keep going back.  Eventually I’ll see it all!  Montreal is a fantastic city and I wouldn’t have much problem living there full time.  As it stands though, I’ll settle for visiting regularly.  Even when Mixed Martial Arts is eventually licensed in Ontario, and the UFC puts on a show here, I’ll still make the trek up.

The Canadian Justice System needs a complete overhaul.  It is a mess, not only with how lax criminal convictions are treated but also how we manage the business of keeping criminals under lock and key.  The motivation of this article is because of the recent news that Craig Munro, a convicted cop-killer, has been granted unescorted passes out of prison.  To be very blunt, this makes me sick to my stomach.

Munro was convicted of murdering Constable Michael Sweet during a botched robbery thirty years ago.  In that time, he has not had any remorse for his crime, and he has continued to manipulate the facts of the case.  He constantly implies that he was not responsible for the murder of Constable Sweet.  Yet the facts paint a very different story.

Constable Sweet was on patrol when he came across a robbery in progress at George’s Bourbon Street Tavern in the early morning hours of March 14th, 1980.  He was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the shoulder.  He fell to the floor of the tavern bleeding to death while the Munro brothers negotiated with police officers.  To add insult to injury, Craig Munro repeatedly taunted the dying Constable Sweet, telling him how he was going to die and that he would never see his wife and kids again.  One of his exact quotes was, “I’ve been in ’Nam, pig.  Put your hand over the holes and you won’t bleed to death.  Take it better, will you.  You’re getting on my nerves.”

Ninety minutes later, thanks to the heroics of Officers Eddy Adamson, Gary Leuin, and Barry Doyle, Constable Sweet was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Toronto General Hospital, where he had emergency surgery.  Unfortunately, the doctors could not save his life and he succumbed to his injuries.

Jamie Munro was tried and convicted for second-degree murder and sentenced to twelve years in prison.  He was released in 1992 and now lives in Italy under the name of Massimo Marra.  Craig Munro was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.  Less than four years prior, Canada had abolished the death penalty.

I am unabashed in saying that I support the death penalty in cases such as Craig Munro’s.  In capital murder cases, where there is no question that the perpetrator is guilty, they should be executed.  Other criminals that fit this profile are Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olsen.  In some cases, I tend to become extremely right-wing when I start theorizing on how I would overhaul the Justice System and rewrite the Criminal Code, but please bear with me.  Perhaps it is the philosophy behind incarceration itself.  People who lean towards the left view incarceration as a tool to rehabilitate, whereas those who are politically right tend to view being behind bars as punishment.

I see building the system as an effective tool to do both.  Let us face facts here.  You are never, ever, going to be able to release men like Clifford Olsen, Craig Munro, and Paul Bernardo into society again.  There is no way to rehabilitate them, and their crimes are so severe that they deserve nothing less than the harshest punishment that we can provide.  As a society, it is our responsibility to make sure that these men suffer for their crimes as much as the victims left behind in their wake.  To me, it’s an eye-for-an-eye mentality when dealing with the worst of the worst.

As mentioned, I really do not have a big issue with respect to re-instating capital punishment.  Why should we, as taxpayers, pay good money year in and year out to keep these monsters behind bars?  Do you know that it costs the government nearly $70,000 per year to house a prisoner?  That number factors in everything from wages for guards to the cost of heat and hydro.  I’m going to wager that it would  not cost near as much to hang them.  The caveat, of course, would be the fact that indisputeable proof would have to be provided prior to that sentence being handed down.  Of course, the law would have to be re-written to accomodate the strictest definition of indisputeable.

Taking a look at the system itself, the punishment must always fit the crime and in many cases in Canada it does not.  Death penalty aside (because really, you can’t go around killing marijuana users), the deterrents to commit crime are so lax that many police officers probably do not want to charge anyone, because there are no reprecussions!  If I was a cop, this would bother me terribly.  Ergo, if I was a politician, my mission would be to get tough on crime.

You hear that old adage over and over again with every new government, be it provincial or federal.  Yet – if I had my way – it would come true.  Now, I’m not talking about sending someone to prison for life because they were jaywalking.  No, no, no…let’s be sensible before everyone brands me a conservative wingnut.  That comes later.

Start with the Youth Criminal Justice Act.  This act addresses many of the glaring concerns in the Young Offenders Act, which it replaced.  However, it does not go far enough.  I do not necessarily agree with the fact that maximum sentences are still enforced, nor are they strong enough deterrents.  In so saying that, given that the crime or crimes were committed by those under the age of eighteen, more provisions to rehabilitate have to be included.  I think that we have a much better chance of turning around a younger life than that of a career criminal.

When people are younger, they do stupid things.  I myself am guilty of that.  Thankfully, things worked out well for me because my sentence (and the consequences thereof) were both a deterrant and a punishment.  Serious offenses, such as those of capital murder, are the exceptions to the rule.  If you commit such a crime, then you deserve to be locked up forever (or executed).  Lesser crimes, such as mischief, theft, and even drug abuse are correctable crimes.  I sometimes think of the kid in California who was sentenced to life in prison under California’s Three Strikes Law because he stole a slice of pizza.  That is a good example of the law being too harsh.  He was not stealing to buy drugs or get rich, he was stealing because he was hungry.  These are the people that we need to help. 

They need to pay for their crime, of course.  But they can pay for their crime by volunteering in the community, getting an education, and doing positive things as opposed to hard time.  As an aside, the government should be stepping up to help those in need so that they do not feel that they need to resort to crime to make ends meet.  However, that would be a workfare/education concept that I have also touched on in the past and will likely discuss in greater detail in a future article.

Where I have little sympathy are for those who commit serious offenses such as weapons violations, rape, and murder.  There should be serious minimum sentences for these crimes with no maximum sentence.  The sentences should not run concurrently, but rather consecutively.  So, for example…if you commit a robbery, you get two years.  If you commit a robbery with a gun, you get two years for robbery and you get seven years for illegal possession of a handgun.  That’s nine years total.

Neither am I a fan of getting time chopped off of a sentence for good behaviour.  In fact, if you are not on your best behaviour in prison then we just add more time!  However, I do believe in giving time off if the individual in prison is volunteering, learning a new skill, or undergoing education.  If that person can prove to the powers that be (ie, the parole board) that they are well on their way to being rehabilitated, then perhaps that individual deserves a second chance.  Again, with respect to capital murder cases or multiple repeat offenders, second chances do not apply.

I am not sure what the current penalties are with respect to certain crimes, but I am going to state here what I think the minimum punishments should be.  When looking at what I have written, please keep in mind that these are not even near as severe as some other countries, whose punishments are far harsher and whose prison systems are a lot worse.  There are many criminals who would love to come and serve out their sentence in Canada, as opposed to countries such as Mexico, Bulgaria, China, or Russia.  In those countries, prisoners are offered neither rights nor dignity.  They are treated worse than animals, starved and put to work in hard labor camps.

Terrorism.  The punishment should be death.  Those who would plot terrorist acts against our nation, regardless of the role they played, would be executed.  Domestic terrorists would be treated in the same manner as foreign nationals.

Sexual Assault.  Sexual assault to me is a serious and deviant crime.  I do not see any possible way to rehabilitate sexual offenders, especially those that prey on children.  These monsters I would lock up behind bars forever.  I would never give them a second chance to re-offend.  Even when released, they pose a grave danger to society.  Ergo, they would never be released.  Unfortunately, western society would not allow me to castrate them, or I would make that mandatory as well.

Rapists.  Rapism is the ultimate sexual assault.  Therefore, rapists would fall under the same category as those who committed sexual assault.  They would be put in jail for life.  There would be no possibility of parole.

Gun Crime.  This one is a tricky one.  Gun crime almost always preceeds another crime, or is committed in conjunction with a crime.  The sentences would, as previously stated, run consecutively.  Simple possession of an illegal weapon would be an automatic five year prison sentence.  Possession of a weapon used to commit a crime would be seven years.

Illegal Immigrants.  With respect to illegal immigrants, I am not talking about the people who sneak over the border and try to make an honest living for themselves.  I am talking about those who are in Canada illegally, but commit crimes.  I would have them serve their full sentences in this country, and then they would be immediately deported.  If they return into the country and are apprehended, they would be given an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole.

Drunk Driving.  The fines and the losing of your licence penalties are stiff, but there is no punishment or proper programs in place to help these people out.  Yes – they are drinking and they made the conscious (albeit inebriated) decision to get behind the wheel and drive.  A first time offender would have to complete a treatment program, would not be able to drive for two years, and would have to spend at least six months in jail (likely to be served on weekends so as not to cause financial hardship).  Second time offenders would receive two years in jail, and a five year ban.  The third time, five years with a lifetime driving ban.  The fourth time they would get ten years, and the fifth time twenty years.  Any further incidents and the individual would then receive life in prison.

Should someone commit vehicular manslaughter while under the influence, that changes things entirely.  Unfortunately, intended or not, that is something that should carry a very stiff sentence.  In my opinion, at least ten years, with no possibility of parole.  It goes without saying that their licence would be revoked forever.

Drug Abuse.  Drugs are an interesting subject because they take so many different forms.  For example, I would have no problem legalizing small quantities of marijuana for personal use.  To me, the drug is less harmless than cigarettes and since its use is so widespread, we may as well cultivate it ourselves, tax it, and sell it.  We have done the same thing with cigarettes and cigars, and god only knows what chemicals are in them.  On the flipside, we could ban both cigarettes and marijuana in their entirety, but I think the government would face a public revolt if it did.

Hardcore drugs would be handled differently.  I would impose a mandatory five year sentence on hardcore drug abusers, with credit towards their sentence given if the proper substance abuse programs are completed.  However, this would be a not necessarily be one time chance to get clean.  Second offenders would receive a harsher sentence, but the same programs would still apply.

Traffickers are another story altogether.  A mandatory ten year sentence would be imposed with no possibilty of parole.  For those selling to minors, the sentence would double to twenty years.

One thing that I admire about the United States’ justice system is their accessory law.  If you are an accessory to a crime, you are held accountable to the standard that you actually committed the crime.  I fully support this and I would have no issues implementing it in Canada.

Under my system, I’m sure the prisons would fill up very fast and we would likely have to build more, as well as hire and train many new personnel.  The capitalist in me is always looking for ways to make money.  Call this section The Business of Prisons.  As it happens, I have some ideas on how we could adapt the prison system to cover the costs of its responsibilities.  The first idea, obviously, is to trim the fat.  Government entities are always overloaded with excess, and to that end all around it has to become more efficient at what it does.  I do not mean cutting manpower necessarily, but rather the tendering of services and supplies as opposed to going with “preferred” suppliers.  Make it illegal to tender a service contract for a duration longer than three years, which would ensure that the company providing the services offered up the best value to the government.

The Canadian government could profit by offering to host (the worst of the worst) convicts from other nations.  People who are never going to be released from prison.  It would be akin to providing a service.  Obviously, we are not going to do it for free, but if we estimate that it costs $120,000 per year per prisoner, why not charge $135,000 a year?  Or more, if you can get it.  Some (mostly third-world) countries would not pay this fee, but other developed nations may consider this a deal.  Even if the charge is more than they can do it themselves for, there is the factor of being able to wipe your hands of any mess in the event that something untoward happens (for example, the prisoner tries to escape, kill another prisoner, etc…).  As the facilitators of the prison, our government would be ultimately responsible.

Not that I would expect any of this to happen.  To steal a page from the United States, you have to have SuperMax prisons.  This is where the business gets a little complicated, because we branch out into different areas here.  Do we build the prison with taxpayer money and then run it ourselves, knowing that we will eventually reap a profit?  Or, do we outsource the construction and day-to-day operations of the prison to a private contractor?

Personally, I would rather spend the money up front and reap the profit at the end.  The government has lots of time and there is plenty of crime.  There is also plenty of crown land, as we are the largest (land-wise) country on the planet.  I think that building these SuperMax prisons in urban areas is foolish.  I would begin construction of these prisons in the northern settlements.  Specifically, Banks Island, Baffin Island, Ellesmere Island, and Victoria Island.  Given the northern population is primarily Inuit, prison construction and staffing would provide an excellent employment resource for those communities that deperately need it.

I once had a radical idea (even for me) to make money, or more aptly, pay money to the victims of crime.  It was based on the Stephen King novel The Running Man, where convicts would fight to the death and people would wage on who would survive the longest.  Now, I wouldn’t suggest going that far, but I would not have a problem televising the executions of condemned prisoners on pay per view.  Of course, this idea really appeals to those people who do not see the moral denigration of society, or who wish to do anything to curb it.  And in that aspect, it would never, ever become a reality if I ever had that kind of power.  I am merely wondering out loud what the revenue potential would be.

I’m sure I’ve missed more than my share of things, and opened up a huge can of worms with respect to the “what if” debaters out there.  The simple fact is that writing a universal law is best left to lawyers (who in their own right, should be shot for being lawyers).  The trick is to make the Criminal Code clear, simple, and understandable by all.  These are the laws, and if you break them, this is the minimum sentence you have to look forward to.  Any extrenous circumstances can be interpreted by the judges, who would have the ability to increase a sentence should they feel the need.

Additionally, and I guess as a final note, all appeals would be run concurrently in cases where the sentence was death.  There would be no ability to tie the case up in the courts for years on end.  The prisoner would be able to choose the method of execution, however.  Lethal injection, hanging, or firing squad.  Of course, they would be allowed a last meal as well.  I am harsh, but I am fair.

In the spirit of the Irish, what a fun, happy holiday!  Everyone’s out wearing green, tossing a pint…

St. Patrick’s Day started out as a Catholic holiday and then evolved into an Irish one.  Check out Wikipedia for the history of the holiday.  It would be nice if we had it off, but oh well.  It’s still a fun day with everyone in green.  Even the kids, who look like leprechauns.

Yesterday, .com domain names turned 25 years old.  Happy birthday!

The first domain name ever registered was symbolics.com.  Two hundred million dot com registrations later, and the World Wide Web is as big as can be (and growing every hour).

The Internet is now a part of everyday society.  A little side project that is now the biggest thing in the world.  Here are some more dot com numbers:

There are currently around 86 million active dot com sites.

There have been 311 million dot com sites launched and deleted in the past 25 years.

Let’s see what the next 25 years bring.

As the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics close, and the torch passed to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Canada and the world in general can congratulate themselves on a very successful two weeks.

The Olympics started off on a sad note, with the death of the luger from Georgia.  It was a very unfortunate accident.  However, despite the tragedy, the Games went on and Canada found themselves with a record gold medal total of fourteen when all was said and done.

Even though Canada’s final total medal count was not as high as officials may have liked, they have to be thrilled with the fact that more than half of the medals were gold.  Our final total medal count was 26, surpassed by only Germany (30) and the United States (37).  From what I understand, the government in the years leading up to the Olympics had increased funding for amateur sport, and it would seem that the results are beginning to bear some fruit.

Unfortunately, however, the tendency with the government tends to be to ease off of the gas pedal once they see results.  It is my hope that they do not do this.  I would argue that they should increase funding for sport, as I mentioned in my previous article.  Our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is a big fan of amateur sport and on the remotest of possibilities that he reads my blog I would urge him to take my advice into consideration.

As it stands, the Winter Olympics were the most successful ever for Canada, and perhaps for a host nation ever.  As the Games are friendly sport, in that light I would wish Sochi, Russia good luck in hosting the 2014 Winter Games.

It’s not often that I single an individual out for any sort of congratulations.  But in this case, Joannie Rochette, I take my hat off to you.  In light of your personal hardship with respect to the sudden and tragic passing of your mother four days ago, you competed in the Olympics and displayed a bottomless courage in doing so.  The icing on the cake was the bronze medal, yet even if you had finished last your performance was truly inspiring.

I’ll cut right to the chase.  When things like this happens, it pisses me off to know end.  I feel my blood just boil.  When a woman lies about being raped, what should her sentence be when she is convicted?

The story of Biurny Peguero comes to mind.  She purgered herself in a rape trial that sent an innocent man, William McCaffrey, to jail for nearly four years.  This is not a case of mistaken identity, or anything else.  The woman lied, plain and simple.  This man just lost four years of his life.  He cannot get the time back and while he can possibly sue, you cannot get blood from a stone.  I’m sure this woman does not have a lot of money.  And the govermnent will not pay, as they did not make a mistake in the prosecution (though one could argue that they should have done DNA testing).

I think the only fair thing that could be done is to mete out the same punishment to this woman.  And then tack on a year or two because of the perjury charge.  Ergo, the victim served four years, and that’s where her sentence would start prior to any other sentence handed down.

The sad part is that the justice system is lined with examples such as this.

Canada had high hopes going into the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.  We wanted to Run The Podium and finish first overall in the medal standings.  While I admire ambition, or gall if you would like to call it that, I think that the dream was very unrealistic to start with.  We are a country with a small population that does not spend near enough money on our athletes to allow them to properly train to compete at the highest level.

Don’t get me wrong; as a proud Canadian I would be thrilled if we could dominate the Olympics.  Yet – we should be very proud of where we are now for the simple reason that we are there to compete – and compete we did.  If an athlete competes in an event and finishes 4th, 10th, or 20th, they should be proud as long as they gave it their best shot.  If I was in that situation, I would be pretty happy to know that I was the 20th best in the world in something!

Yet I understand the consternation…Canada has always had the stigma that we are happy being second best.  As a proud Canadian I can tell you that is not the case.  Most people that I know always strive to finish first.  In so saying that, at least with respect to the Olympics, you have to look at population density and training methods.

The United States has a population base of some three hundred and thirty million people.  Canada has one tenth of that population.  Ergo – using that metric alone – to expect us to finish with the same amount of medals at the United States is technically unrealistic.  Russia has 118 million people and Germany has 82 million people.  On the other side of the coin – Norway – which has more medals than Canada – has a population around 4 million people.  So – and good for them – they’re kicking ass right now!

The other sabermetric is how much support an athlete is given by their country.  In Canada, it is paltry.  You have to prove yourself as a top tier athlete before you even qualify for government support.  Even when you receive said support, it is not enough to supplement you and you still have to have a full time job in order to compete.  This is due to the time required to train, hire coaches, and purchase equipment.  If you look at the Russian or American teams, these costs are all covered.  In the case of Russia (or the previous Soviet Union) – they are training athletes full time from the age of six.  They also make sure that the facilities are top notch and the coaches are the absolute best that they can find.

There are a few exceptions to this, however.  The Canadian and American women’s hockey team is so dominant because they play together all year.  Every other country – this doesn’t happen.  This is a major reason why the skill level is so disparate.  Teams from Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Finland do not play together all year and play in barely semi-competitive leagues.  The Canadian team plays against men to practice, in meaningful games no less.  They can afford to do this because they have many corporate sponsors.

Donovan Bailey is another good example.  Prior to putting his career on hold to train for the World Championships and the Olympics, he was a self-made man.  He was wealthy enough to be able to afford the coaches and equipment necessary to augment his natural ability to world-record breaking skill.  He had enough money to be able to train and keep food on the table for his family.

So – without resorting to the “athlete schools” of the former Soviet Union  (boy, thoughts of Ivan Drago come to mind here…) and East Germany (boy, thoughts of the Germans turning men into women come to mind here…), how do we increase our medal count at the Olympic Games?  The answer is pretty simple to me, but to expect it to happen overnight is foolish.  The government, and business in general, has to make sure that the athletes have proper funding, the coaching is top notch, and the facilities are world class.

Now, I know that people will argue (and with a valid point) that there are other, more important things to spend that money on.  Yet, the hidden factors are there too that are likely being overlooked with statements contending otherwise.  Economically, building training facilities is an infrastructure project that creates jobs and provides communities with a top tier facility.  The naysayers usually argue that the building is only for training athletes, yet this is rarely the case. 

Thinking it through some more, all three levels of government could participate.  The municipal goverment provides the land, the provincial government covers the labour cost, and the federal government pays for the material (or building) cost.  From there, the municipal government covers the cost of property management and maintenance, yet offsets that cost by selling advertising (via corporate sponsorships) within the building.

The responsibility of hiring top notch coaches would fall to the federal government.  Whether you hire from outside of the country, or develop from within, it doesn’t matter.  Top tier athletes at the end of their prime can pass along their experience and knowledge to our up and coming athletes.  When you take a look at what Alex Baumann – a top Canadian swimmer – has done with the Australian National Team, it makes you wonder how we let him get away.

Developing our athletes is the most important cog of this equation and the responsibility for support falls to both the federal government and the Canadian corporate community.  Now – you don’t have to give an athlete millions of dollars.  They are not professionals.  They are amateurs, but they need enough money to be able to live comfortably while developing their particular skill.

Now – here’s the kicker.  Assuming that this is the plan, do not expect it to bear significant fruit for many years.  It has to be a twenty year plan.  That’s how long it will take to build the facilities, hire the coaches, and develop the athletes.  When the government switches, they must continue what the previous goverment started.  Stopping and starting funding will kill the idea dead in its tracks.

Developing top tier athletes is important because it encourages kids to get into sport and be active.  Our country is becoming lazy and I think that this would be a great way of reversing that trend.  Getting kids out there playing sports, wanting to be the next Donovan Bailey or Hayley Wickenheiser or Clara Hughes is much better than having them watching television or playing video games all day.  Physical education is important, and while it starts at a grassroots level in the schools, providing children with a potential hero or idol to look up is an intangible benefit that is often overlooked.