The big news in Canadian hockey recently is that Sidney Crosby has decided not to attend the upcoming Top Prospects junior game, citing an injury and general fatigue. Lots of people are disappointed, but Crosby’s family, the head of the Canadian Hockey League, and the commissioner of the Quebec Junior League in which Crosby plays have all confirmed that Sidney is injured and disappointed that he cannot make the game.

Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo has been very vocal, calling Crosby’s move a “knock on the game”. He also felt that Crosby would play if the game were in Montreal or Toronto instead of Vancouver, and offered first class airfare and accomodations for Crosby and his family, which they declined. Toigo needs to relax. If Crosby and these other important people are saying he’s injured, he probably is. Would you want to play injured in a game where everyone else is going to be sizing you up and wanting to prove themselves against the number one prospect in North America? I don’t think so, the chances of making the injury worse are just too great.

Surprisingly, the correct comment on the situation comes from Don Cherry:

Don Cherry, who called Crosby a hotdog in his rookie season last winter, dismissed questions of the phenom’s absence. “You expect me to say a lot of things, but there are 40 guys here working their butts off to make it,” he said. “And I’d rather have the attention on those 40 guys. I don’t want to dwell on that one. I’m just going to talk about the kids who are here.”

Read: Vancouver Sun

I just finished watching the first episode of CBC’s new show, The Hour, hosted by George formerly of MuchMusic. I must say, I rather enjoyed it! George tells it like it is, and he covers the news that’s truly important, like how Canadian beer is better than American beer!

If you missed it tonight, check it out another night this week – The Hour runs every Monday through Thursday. I don’t watch that much TV, so I can’t say that I will become a faithful viewer, but I can see myself tuning in again…say tomorrow night! It also struck me while watching that George could really make this show unique for CBC – by podcasting it!

Zhao Ziyang, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party who was ousted for sympathizing with student activists at Tiananmen Square has died:

Zhao died today of “numerous respiratory and heart ailments,” China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said in a statement on its Web site. He had four sons and a daughter.

He was a rather important man, especially now that China is becoming more democratic (slowly but surely).

“Zhao was a symbol of China’s political change and transition from communism to democracy,” said Wu Guoguang, an associate professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, who wrote speeches for Zhao.

Interesting man if you read about him or if you’re interested in where China is headed.

Read: Bloomberg

In my last post on the topic, I argued that perhaps people should focus on helping out charities at home instead of donating blindly overseas. My main reasoning was that just because a country is rich does not mean it should have to donate. I also took issue with the fact that rich individuals wasted no time in throwing money overseas but they are hard-pressed to donate in Canada (or their respective countries). One such family are the owners of MusicWorld. I have been doing some more reading lately, and I have some new reasons to question the aid heading overseas. One article that sums up most of these reasons is from Economist.com, titled “A cautious offer, cautiously received.“

You have probably heard in the news that somewhere around $3.64 billion dollars (USD) has been pledged to the countries who were affected by the tsunami. What you probably have not heard, is that those same countries owe billions and billions of dollars in debt – Indonesia alone owes $48 billion to the so-called Paris Club of major lenders. In 2005, $5 billion in debt repayments were to be made, but the members of the Paris Club recently announced that they would freeze debt-repayments.

Sounds great right? But think about it for a minute. The countries in the area of the tsunami now effectively have over $8 billion dollars to play with. And yes, I mean play. Experts from around the world have already said that no more money is needed. It seems very unlikely that the amount of money that has been donated can all be spent on rebuilding. And these countries are already heavily-indebted, so who knows if they can be trusted to spend the money responsibly?

Such relief frees up resources, which a government can then devote to aid and reconstruction—or divert to anything else. Heavily indebted governments tend to be bad governments, sceptics argue. If they cannot borrow money prudently, why should we trust them to spend it well? Any money given to such countries should come with strings attached.

The only country that has indicated it will make its debt payment anyway is Thailand, and I hope that is indeed what they do. As for the other countries, like Indonesia who is ranked as the fifth most corrupt country of all countries tracked by Transparency International, the best we can hope for now is that they don’t waste the money.

Another reason that the huge amounts of aid are absurd? Remember the controversy and suggestions of fraud surrounding the UN’s oil-for-food program? Well the huge amounts of money being sent to tsunami-afflicted countries offer the perfect way for the UN to prove that it can indeed handle money transparently. So not only are there no strings attached, but the UN is eager to distance itself from the money. Perfect timing isn’t it? The one time the UN should be closely monitoring and directing money, it steps back for political purposes.

The amount of money heading overseas continues to grow, and with more benefit concerts and events coming up, it doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon. I hope the money is being spent wisely, but I won’t be surprised to see reports five years from now describing how aid money was used for other purposes.

Remember back on October when George Stroumboulopoulos was one of the people who hosted CBC’s “Greatest Canadian” show? Well apparently the move is now permanent. No longer is he George from MuchMusic, he’s George the host of the brand new CBC News: The Hour show.

CBC’s huge gain is Much’s big loss. Who knows, maybe George will even be able to make CBC hip again (or for the first time?). I think I’ll watch the show when the premiere airs tomorrow night at 6 PM MST, so already CBC is ahead!

Apparently some Canadians got together and took part in Canada For Asia. That’s nice, and I am sure there is a story there, but what I found funny was how Canoe introduced the article:

Some 150 celebrities, including the cream of Canadian show business and the arts, brought their time and talent to the CBC broadcasting centre Thursday evening to take part in Canada For Asia, a three-hour, history-making live telecast in support of relief efforts for the tsunami victims of South Asia.

Since when does Canada have that many celebrities?!

Prince Harry is making headlines after photos of him wearing a swastika at a costume party emerged. As you can imagine, all sorts of people are up in arms over the photos, calling it a “shameful act” among other things. For his part, Harry has issued an apology, and the Royal family has withheld further comment (especially since they have in the past been seen as sympathetic to the Nazis).

Obviously, his choice of costume was a bit tasteless. On the other thand, Harry will never understand what happened during the time of the Nazis. Unfortunately, the people that were so quick to berate Harry don’t understand that people are starting to forget. Children born now only learn about World War 2 in history class, and as more and more survivors die, the human connection to the events is lost. What Hitler and his regime did become more fact than emotion. Its sad but its true.

Harry should not have worn the swastika, and I am sure he’ll never make that mistake again. In order to prevent groups like the Nazis and their actions from happening again, we can’t forget what happened in the past. At the same time, we need to understand that the younger generations cannot be expected to feel the same passion about symbols like the swastika. Knowing the facts and history is not the same as understanding. I know that when I look at the swastika, I don’t feel the anger or hatred that someone who lived through the war would feel. Its not because I don’t care, its because I don’t understand – I can’t. Just like Harry.

Apple released their new iPod Shuffle yesterday – basically it is a flash-based MP3 player whereas the iPod is hard drive based. Tempted? Don’t waste your money. Buy a Creative player, or turn your existing iPod into an iPod Shuffle. Seriously, even the cheapest flash players have an LCD. And their tagline is just nutty, “enjoy uncertainty”.

David Suzuki has written a new column in which he calls the Tsunami aid inspiring. He goes on to say that “in all our efforts to bring some hope to those suffering, we mustn’t forget that the developing world needs our help every day. Those living in poorer countries do not often have access to the services and infrastructure that we take for granted.” Further, he points out that “the tsunami has also taken the spotlight off other long-suffering regions, such as Sudan and Uganda.”

Those are all very good points, and I agree that the outpouring of support for areas affected by the Tsunami has been touching. Yet for once, just once, I’d like to see someone as prominent and respected as David Suzuki say something about starting at home. Sure Canada is consistently ranked high on quality of living lists, but we can always do better.

Lets take a step back, and ask…how did North America get to where it is today? It wasn’t because the Europeans that settled here found people who were less fortunate and poured resources into helping them. Why are things different today? Can you imagine what western countries (not just Canada and the United States) could accomplish if the billions of dollars spent on foreign aid each year were instead spent at home? I’m all for human rights, but if it’s going to cost Canada millions of dollars to temporarily stop one group of people from killing another half way around the world, screw it. Let them kill each other. Then we can help the survivors. Why can’t we let the developing countries develop? There’s a reason we don’t call them incubated countries.

I realize that the point of view I am presenting is extreme, but perhaps that is what is needed. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s sick that people will donate millions of dollars right away to help countries hit by the Tsunami but they won’t donate a dime to their local charities. Not only that, but do you think people in Sri Lanka would donate money to Canada if Vancouver fell into the ocean? Did anyone outside the US and Canada donate any substantial amounts of money for victims of 9/11?

Obviously it is a very kind and generous act to donate to the Tsunami victims, but I just don’t like how the donations are made without a second thought. In the US alone, corporate donations for the Tsunami are set to exceed those made for the 9/11 attacks. I know that in Canada, donations must be spent on goods produced here which can then be shipped to the affected areas, but that’s not enough. That scheme only helps the people in Canada who already have something. What about those that do not?

I think it would be great if Canada instituted a law that half or even a quarter of all foreign aid has to go to charities in Canada. So if you donate $100 to Tsunami, $25 of it will go a charity in Canada. But as that is not likely to happen, let’s at least have some prominent figures make a plea for helping out other Canadians first.

So what’s with the crazy weather? Below minus 40 celcius with the wind chill is not my cup of tea. FYI, the weather warning for the Edmonton area has been continued.