So, the 37 days of chaos are over. What do we have to show for it?
We still have a Conservative minority government, which Harper said would put him "in a stronger position in the next government". Well, he’s got a second minority, so I guess we’ll find out exactly what he’s going to do with this "stronger position".
It appears we’re living in Interesting Times.
The polls are now open in all parts of Canada and the voting has begun. In a few hours, we’ll know who is going to be running the country for next while.
Some people vote for the party regardless of who their local candidate is; others cast their vote based on the merits of the candidate; some vote for the person their family/friends are voting for; and some vote for the incumbent because they’re the incumbent. There are probably people who vote for the first, last or nth person listed on the ballot or vote by closing their eyes and randomly picking someone. And some people spoil their ballot or refuse to accept it when they truly cannot decide how to cast their vote.
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I met someone recently who told me they were voting for their NDP candidate because back in 1942 when the government was rounding up Japanese Canadians and putting them in concentration camps, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) — the pre-cursor to the NDP — was the only party to vote against Japanese Canadian internment. (The person is a Japanese Canadian who has served in Canada’s military and is very proud of this fact.) Clearly, a dark period in Canada’s history is still having an impact on the events of today.
Regardless of who you vote for, you should fulfill your responsibility as a Canadian and cast your vote. If you don’t know where to vote you should visit the Elections Canada website where you’ll find all the information you require. If you don’t know who to vote for, there’s still time to visit the websites for the various parties and learn about what they stand for.
Remember, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain when the government does something you don’t like.
The mayor’s “zero means zero” policy has reared its ugly head again. Yesterday’s 24 hours, Sun Media’s free daily newspaper, had a front-page story with the headline “Fuel plan may cut OC service”. Basically, the Eco-Driving Plan’s goal is to reduce the city’s consumption of fuel by 25%. Since OC Transpo accounts for 76% of the total fuel consumption, they’re going to take the bulk of this cut.
The report is scheduled to be tabled at a meeting of the transportation committee next week. It proposes massive cutbacks to OC Transpo, including an across-the-board 25% reduction in service and the elimination of 20 bus routes. Even the core Transitway routes, the 95, 96 and 97, are going to subject to both regular- and peak-hour cutbacks.
Naturally, service cuts like this are going to affect the number of users and thus the revenues.
There would likely be decrease in public transit ridership of between 10% and 15%. This would translate into a loss of 32,000 to 48,000 passengers per day. — the report
This plan, if enacted, will result a huge increase in the number of vehicles on the road, particularly as most people drive to work alone. More vehicles on the roads means more wear and tear to the roads, so they’ll have to be inspected and repaired more frequently. This is going to be a problem since the city recently decided not to increase the number of road inspectors.
And it begs to be asked how this plan is consistent with the four main goals of the City’s Environmental Strategy, which are:
Clearly, more vehicles on the road is going to result in an increase in emissions and energy use and this plan can hardly be said to “encourage sustainable transportation”. Expect air quality to decrease as the number of vehicles on the road increases.
But traffic and environmental problems won’t be the only result. It will also almost certainly increase unemployment in the city. Fewer bus routes and a reduced level of service means they won’t need as many bus drivers.
Hopefully, this report is an extreme what-if scenario by city staff to drive the point home that the city cannot continue to operate under “zero means zero” cutbacks. I would question the suitability-to-lead of any councillor who would vote to support such an irresponsible plan.
By now you’ve probably heard that Carleton University has imposed several sanctions on Mansour Moufid for violating Carleton‘s Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy in the Kasper Holmberg incident. The sanctions include:
There’s no mention of academic penalty, suspension or expulsion.
I have no problems with any of the conditions other than having to say he lied. There appears to be some confusion at the university over whether the university received the report prior to Moufid making it public. Carleton University spokesman Christopher Walters told the CBC in their September 8th story that "the university received the document alerting them to the problem on Aug. 29", which makes it seem pretty clear they did receive it. Their requiring him to say he lied is going a bit too far. He could probably accept everything else but appeal the requirement to say he lied.
Apart from that, I think the sanctions are quite fair and consistent with the Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy, particularly as this wasn’t Moufid’s first encounter with the university administration for violating their policies. He confirmed in the Ottawa Citizen’s story today that he was given a verbal warning when he was caught creating different IP addresses for his computer in order to get around access resources he was not allowed to access.
Anyways, it appears that Moufid has decided to leave Carleton and work in a warehouse for a year and continue his studies at another university next September. Of course, he may get jail time when he’s found guilty, as he almost certainly will be, so there may be a longer break in his education.
As I said in my first post on this topic, I hope he thinks it was worth it.
Several stories in this morning’s Ottawa Metro caught my eye
Are we starting to see the true effects of Larry O’Brien’s “zero means zero” plan?
According to the first story, to increase the frequency which bus stops are maintained during the winter from once a day to two or four times/day would cost between $4.1 million and $8.2 million, depending on the frequency. Clearing them four times/day would require an additional 104 pieces of equipment. So, rather than clear them more frequently passengers are probably going to have to climb over big piles of snow, which strikes me as a safety hazard when there’s a lot of snow that’s built up.
The second story reports that roads in Ottawa are not inspected frequently enough to meet even the minimum provincial road inspection standards. Instead, existing city staff that drive as part of their jobs as well as OC Transpo drivers are apparently “just as effective” in reporting road damage such as potholes.
There’s more to inspecting a road than just looking for potholes. Inspectors are concerned with more than just the suface. They’ve had specific training and they may even be engineers who can make accurate assessments as to the condition of a road.
Let’s face it: roads are expensive. The cost to replace a section of road can easily cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. So, you don’t want to replace them too early because that’s a waste of money. Nor do you want to let roads deteriorate to the point where they have to be replaced because you didn’t spend a little money fixing a problem that would have deferred replacement for several years.
Nothing against bus drivers, but I don’t think they’re qualified to make these assessments.
With respect to the last story, one has to wonder exactly how much is being “saved” by not producing detailed crime statistics and what effect this lack of detail is going to have on community-level policing. Will they be able to make accurate assessments of where the problem spots are without the quantitative data? Are problem spots going to go unaddressed as a result?
Time will tell, I guess.
A quick follow-up on my previous entry about Kasper Holmberg.
According to an Ottawa Police news release, Mansour Moufid, a second-year math major at Carleton, has been charged with “Mischief to data and Unauthorized use of a computer” in relation to the Kasper Holmberg Incident that took place at Carleton University.
He used Keylogger software and Magnetic stripe card reader software to acquire students’ information. Moufid put together a 16-page document that first made it to the University Secretary’s office followed by emailing the document to 37 students of the University several days later.
Apparently, he is going to appear in court on October 15th.
Section 430 of the Criminal Code of Canada indicates that
(5) Every one who commits mischief in relation to data
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Section 342.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada says
Unauthorized use of computer
342.1 (1) Every one who, fraudulently and without colour of right,
(a) obtains, directly or indirectly, any computer service,
(b) by means of an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device, intercepts or causes to be intercepted, directly or indirectly, any function of a computer system,
(c) uses or causes to be used, directly or indirectly, a computer system with intent to commit an offence under paragraph (a) or (b) or an offence under section 430 in relation to data or a computer system, or
(d) uses, possesses, traffics in or permits another person to have access to a computer password that would enable a person to commit an offence under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Doesn’t sound like it was worth it, does it?
You might be asking yourself is “Who is Kasper Holmberg?” and “What did he do?”.
Kasper Holmberg is the alias used by a Carleton University student who broke into a number of systems at Carleton. He stole data from the campus identification cards of 32 students and then used this information to gain access to their email accounts and financial information. He claims he did it to demonstrate that the cards are not secure and wrote a paper that he distributed “pretty widely” according to a university spokesman in a story on CBC’s website. (And another story here.)
He has since been caught by campus security and is going to appear before a campus disciplinary committee who could do anything from assigning him community service to expelling him. And the police are looking into whether criminal charges should be laid.
The student is by no means the first hacker to break into a computer system for altruistic purposes and he won’t be the last. People have been breaking into computer systems to which they have no legitimate access to expose security holes for years. In many cases, these individuals are glorified as “heroes” or likened to Robin Hood. In rare instances, they have been hired by the companies whose computers they broke into as “security consultants”. They then become role models for up and coming hackers who want their share of the fame, glory and prestige.
This is wrong.
AKA Keeper of Maps, I'm a geocacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
