$1 Million for Cricket, $0 for Christine Lee

The news today has been dominated by the scandal in the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. Minister Mike Colle doled out $32 million in grants to cultural groups including $1 million to the Ontario Cricket Association (what cricket has to do with citizenship or immigration is the next question*). The thing is, the Ontario Cricket Association had requested a grant of only $150,000. An auditor's report revealed that the Cricket people spent $360,000 of their grant and parked $500,000 in a term deposit. That's how we get our taxpayer dollars working for us.

In the meantime, my sister, Christine, had to find $50,000 in private funding in order to visit the Cleveland Clinic to have a gastrointestinal pacemaker implanted to try to restore her health to the level it was when she had her first (government funded) pacemaker. Christine's story was the subject of a Toronto Star article in October, 2006. Click here to read about her plight. The Ontario government refused to fund or reimburse Christine's surgery and would not allow her to have the surgery here since the GI pacemaker is considered an experimental device -- even though they had previously funded the exact same surgery, the exact same device.

A million dollars for cricket and nothing for Christine. It's hardly a laughing matter, but Chris is a landed immigrant in Canada. Too bad we didn't know the ministry was handing out funds.

*The connection between cricket, citizenship and immigration? According to the now former minister, "Cricket is a sport that brings together a number of, basically, ethnic peoples..." I guess all ethnic peoples, particularly those who play cricket, MUST be either immigrants or citizens, right?

For more information about Christine's fight with the Ontario government, please click here to visit her blog. When Michael Moore was researching stories for his movie Sicko, I sent him a snapshot of Chris's fight. But Canada was the hero in his movie so, unfortunately, her story didn't fit his agenda.

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I Confess....

I am hooked on Canadian Idol. So hooked, in fact, that for the first time ever, I made sure to watch the show this evening live -- so that I could call in and register my vote for the next Idol.

Lju and I are both rooting for Jaydee Bixby from Drumheller, AB. Instead of sitting him in front of the TV to watch Teletubbies when he was a baby, his parents must have played hours and hours of Elvis archives. The kid has a voice with such depth and resonance it belies his 16 years. (16 years for gosh sake!) I haven't heard -- or seen -- anything like this kid in 25 years -- or maybe ever! If his sincerity is an act, then the kid deserves an Oscar, too. This handsome young boy is going to be a superstar! I promise, I'll buy his CD the day it hits the market! I think I must have used the automatic redial at least 25 times to register our votes for Jaydee tonight. (Thank God it's a toll-free call!)

But I must confess that I also registered half as many votes for Carly Rae Jepsen, too. Here's another superstar. She's exotically beautiful, tremendously sweet and her stylings are sophisticated in a way that neither American Idol nor Canadian Idol has seen. The moment captured immediately following her audition was priceless. Zack Werner begged her not to take the gold ticket and to, instead, sign with him and make a record right away. I was right there with him. She deserves a record deal and tour, pronto. I'll buy Carly Rae's CD the day it's out, too. I can't wait to hear a mix of originals and interpretive cover tunes. But I still would like to see Jaydee win.

It's a very tough field right now with this top 9. The weakest performances tonight, I think, were Dwight D'eon and Martha Joy. Both have terrific talent -- I'm rooting for Dwight because I'd like to see him buy his ticket off his dad's Nova Scotia fishing boat. I think Martha is just too classically trained for this show. She's got great pipes, but she just doesn't seem authentic when she's performing pop hits.

Greg Neufeld needs to stay at least until the top 5 because he is so good looking! He definitely wins for the best looking older brother (did you see last week's episode?) Be still my beating heart! (Poor guy... how does it feel to have middle aged women lusting after him?)

Tara Oram has a great set of pipes and legs, too. I really enjoy her performances and she looks great on stage. The thing is, her game face is a little too much like Celine Dion's. Irritatingly so.

Matt Ripley and Khalila Glanville both impressed the hell out of me tonight. They each gave amazingly soulful performances. Nice work, both, although Matt could use a little choreographic coaching (I wasn't sure if he was feeling the song or had heartburn) and Khalila needs to stop being so terrified on that stage. I take it she's terrified; I'd hate to think that she's really that unfriendly.

Brian Melo is a force to be reckoned with. I'm not fond of his musical choices, but the guy shows up each week to win. And he has the coolest creative facial hair. Top 5 for sure.

I find myself liking Ben Mulroney and all of the judges; they each have something to offer and their musical influences and tastes add colour to the commentary. Even Jake Gold is likeable. I don't think I can pick a favourite, I respect them all. They've come a long way from season one. Although they are certainly different than the AI judges, I think that's part of their appeal.

If you want to know where I'll be tomorrow evening -- I'll be parked in front of the TV awaiting the results of this week's voting! I confess....