Yelled at by the owner of the Inlet Cafe in Mahone Bay for some spilled Owen cheerios. Not family friendly, despite the high chairs and …
Microposts
Out-of-office messages are set, let the vacation begin! Two weeks on a family road trip to the Canadian east coast.
TheStar.com | Opinion | Cash may never be converted into constructionBut using federal dollars for infrastructure has two powerful political advantages. It gives taxpayers something tangible for their money. And it allows cabinet ministers and government backbenchers to fan out across the country, announcing local projects.
Earlier in the 20th century, governments treated public money with the same puritanical respect that people generally treated their own money in a famously frugal age. It wasn’t that these governments never wasted public money, never misused it. It was that they did everything parsimoniously.
But government waste, though infuriating for taxpayers, is a small thing. The real tragedy lies in the inexorable rise in deliberate spending. In the exponential increases cited by Gordon Robertson, across two or three decades, the most unnecessary spending was entirely intentional, duly instigated by government and duly authorized by Parliament.
Unnecessary government spending is no accident - The Globe and Mail
Owen loves being outside (via Flickr)
Impressive. Japan commits to 20 kW solar panels on all of their 32,000 public schools by 2020 http://bit.ly/CBzsF
Just tried a Galt Knife Old Style beer from Grand River Brewing. Quite tasty.
Owen’s first (captured on film) steps: http://gallery.me.com/mroutley#100189
This is right http://bit.ly/XDNA3 I’ll vote for the party that proposes a credible plan to increase taxes and cut spending.
eHealth Ontario is controversial. But, having just copied my information dozens of times for routine paperwork, we need electronic records.
What makes these service stoppages all the more irritating is that they are unnecessary. Elected politicians can – if they have the nerve – remove the conditions that foster them. Only where cities operate a unionized public monopoly on garbage pickup are city residents potential hostages to a strike vote. And there is no good reason for these monopolies to exist.
Wow, $10,800 per kilowatt of power capacity for nuclear http://is.gd/1zZU9 (via @timbray)
Interesting read on the health effects of wind turbines, with a comparison to coal and nuclear http://bit.ly/S51fv (via @globeandmail)
Family stroll around the neighbourhood. Quite nice outside, if somewhat chilly.
Property rights: the Nisga’a pave the way
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opin…
Engaging in commercial activity doesn’t make someone less indigenous
Restarting Apple Mail fixes my Notes synchronization problem with the iPhone. Repeat every couple of days.
Replaced stolen electric mower with a manual reel mower. Requires a bit more effort, but works quite well and is much quieter.
Lounging by the kiddie pool after a walk through the park.
Registered for Toronto Hydro’s peaksaver program. My air conditioner is going to join the semi-smart grid and reduce peak load.
http://www.gigatonthrowdown.org/ identifies building efficiency as the lowest cost pathway to achieve 1-gigaton CO2e reduction by 2020.
Bizarre. Someone broke into our garage & stole the landmower, leaving behind more valuable things. Didn’t even take the electrical cord.
Discomfort of my recent capitulation to IT was greatly reduced by #GTD guide to Outlook 2003. Saved hours of fiddling. http://bit.ly/GyObv
Instapaper Pro 2.0 released!
Excellent. This is one of my top three iPhone Apps and these look like important changes.
Looks like an interesting article on data mashups in R: http://bit.ly/IEyg9 Could be a good excuse to use R at work (via @timoreilly)
Playing with a dump truck (via Flickr)
Perhaps my last academic paper? http://bit.ly/32P2B Two manuscripts and several datasets left, but no resources to do anything with them.
I’ve been curious about this abandoned bank on Yonge Street. Jonathan Castellino has some great pictures of the interior. (via jonathancastellino)
I was given an opportunity to propose a measure to clarify how and on what basis the federal government allocates funds to STI - a measure that would strengthen relations between the federal government and the STI community by eliminating misunderstandings and suspicions on this point. In short, my proposal was that Ottawa direct its Science, Technology and Innovation Council to do three things:
To provide an up-to-date description of how these allocation decisions have been made in the past;
To identify the principles and sources of advice on which such decisions should be based;
To recommend the most appropriate structure and process - one characterized by transparency and openness - for making these decisions in the future.
These are reasonable suggestions from Preston Manning: be clear about why and how the Federal government funds science and technology.
Of course I may not agree with the actual decisions made through such a process, but at least I would know why the decisions were made. The current process is far too opaque and confused for such critical investment decisions.
The kids have a great time together, which is fantastic.
TheStar.com | World-beating bureaucrats
My research compared the achievements of Canadian public service and political leaders with their U.K. counterparts, and the results are very favourable to Canada. It was rewarding to hear so many U.K. public service leaders ask about Canadian reforms. It seems that public service managers around the world are looking carefully at leading practices emerging in Ottawa and the provinces, especially Ontario.
One of the strange challenges I have as a public servant is the constant description of my colleagues as overpaid and underworked. The classic quote came from John Tory as leader of Ontario’s opposition party:
“These kinds of jobs are people who are breathing each other’s exhaust and sitting around, analyzing each other’s papers. There hasn’t been enough attention paid to looking at whether those people are really making a productive contribution to the effective delivery of public services in Ontario.”
Of course, you can point to several studies showing how efficient Ontario’s public servants are and how much the public benefits from government services, but people aren’t interested in reviewing this kind of evidence. So, I’m happy to see Tony Dean advocating for public servants. I think that strong advocacy from public servant leaders will help much more than statistics.