Mathieu Allard's blog

I wrote the National Film Board today asking if they could point me to the Log Driver's Waltz

an enchanting clip which is part of the Canada Vignette series. I was able to find it on youtube  but I see no reason why it should not be available on the NFB website. There is even functionality on the website to preview to buy the movie, but does not allow you to view the movie in full. I will keep you posted on the response.

******** Original Message ********

Subject:	Log Driver's Waltz
Date:	Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:48:40 -0500
From:	Mathieu Allard <mathieu@mathieuallard.ca>
To:	info@nfb.ca

To Whom It May Concern,

I was browsing the NFB website recently looking for a childhood memory, 
from the Canada Vignettes series the Log Driver's Waltz.

The link can be accessed here:
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=13202

I looked on the site but I did not find a button to view the movie, only 
a button to watch a preview of the movie and a button to purchase.

I'm wondering someone from your office would please point me to a URL 
that could allow me to watch the Log Driver's Watch on my computer.

Sincerely,

Mathieu Allard

Isaac Newton , one of the greatest thinkers the world has seen, once wrote "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants." to explain how he had come to make so many significant scientific breakthroughs and how he could not have done so without the contributions of great people in history. For me, this is a good quote to explain how important the public domain is to all of us, it is our collective history, free for anyone to use, learn and repakage into other works. I wanted to highlight the good work of a couple of organisations that are bringing the public domain to all of us. These include: http://librivox.org, whose mandate is :"To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet." It looks like they re-release their books immediately in the public domain.
There is also the long standing Project Guttenburg that aims to put public domain books on the Internet.

Joelle and I received an Acknowledgment letter from Rosann Wowchuk reguarding provincial controls to protect animals.

******** Original Message ********

Subject:	RE: Animal Cruelty
Date:	Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:17:22 -0500
From:	Mahoney, Kaila <Kaila.Mahoney@leg.gov.mb.ca>
To:	'Mathieu Allard' <mathieu@mathieuallard.ca>
References:	<4862C811.4030105@mathieuallard.ca>

June 27, 2008

Mr. and Mrs. Mathieu and Joelle Saltel-Allard
mathieu@mathieuallard.ca

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Allard:

On behalf of the Honourable Rosann Wowchuk, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your email dated June 25, 2008.

Please be assured that your correspondence has been brought to Minister Wowchuk's attention and a reply will be forthcoming.

Sincerely,

Kaila Mahoney
Special Assistant
to the Minister


******** Original Message ********
From: Mathieu Allard [mailto:mathieu@mathieuallard.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 5:35 PM
To: Agriculture, Minister
Cc: Joelle Saltel
Subject: Animal Cruelty

Honorable Rosann Wowchuk
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives;

Animal cruelty has been an issue in the Press lately following the rescue of nearly 100 puppies and dogs in Warren, Manitoba.

My wife and I are writing to inquire what measures are currently in place to protect helpless animals that have been neglected by their owners.

I believe it's important for the Province of Manitoba to take appropriate measures to prevent animal cruelty and get tough on those who disregard the well-being of their animals.

I look forward to your response on this very pressing and important issue.

Sincerely,

Mathieu Allard and Joelle Saltel-Allard

I need to start watching my weight again. The last time I decided to lose some weight I followed the Hacker's Diet. This diet does not make you change your eating habits but has you count your calories. It now has free online tool that I plan on using. It even allows you to plug your progress into your webpage.
 

My wife Joelle and I sent the following email today to the Honorable
Rosann Wowchuk  wanting to ensure that appropriate measures are currently in
place to protect helpless animals that have been neglected by their
owners further to the rescue of nearly 100 puppies and dogs in Warren,
Manitoba.

******** Original Message ********

Subject:	Animal Cruelty
Date:	Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:34:57 -0500
From:	Mathieu Allard <mathieu@mathieuallard.ca>
To:	minagr@leg.gov.mb.ca
CC:	Joelle Saltel <joelle.saltel@gmail.com>

Honorable Rosann Wowchuk
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives;

Animal cruelty has been an issue in the Press lately following the 
rescue of  nearly 100 puppies and dogs in Warren, Manitoba.

My wife and I are writing to inquire what measures are currently in 
place to protect helpless animals that have been neglected by their owners.

I believe it's important for the Province of Manitoba to take 
appropriate measures to prevent animal cruelty and get tough on those 
who disregard the well-being of their animals.

I look forward to your response on this very pressing and important issue.

Sincerely,

Mathieu Allard and Joelle Saltel-Allard

Jean-Marc Lafond as Sieur Samuel de Champlain and I at the splash park announcement today in Provencher Park. Please click on the image for a bigger picture.



It was a great day today to launch the spray park with no rain and lots of sun. Champlain is doing pretty good in that coat considering the sweltering near 30 degree celcius heat.

Ghistlaine Roy has acknowledged my letter on behalf of the Honorable Josée Vernier re the termination of the culture.ca program. To see the letter please click on the thumbnail for a .pdf.

Thanks Rich Mahe for this link

which is an explanation of what we can expect with the future of the Internet authored by Michael Welch. The message I got from is that the Internet is a huge machine that builds knowledge by the complex relationships that are forged simply by people using it. This made me think about a couple recent actions I oppose that were recently taken by the Harper Government. One is how the Harper Government recently announcing they would scrap the CAIRS which was a database of Access to Information requests that was published online.  The other was a website promoting Canadian culture which the Harper Government also said would be scrapped.  My thought is that the Harper Government doesn't really understand the importance the of Internet in the knowledge economy. Government should be working at finding new ways of connecting with Canadians and the rest of the world, not taking them offline.

Sharon Blady's comment Dan Vandal's article commemorating Elzear Goulet:
"Thank you Dan for the article and Mathieu for letting people know about it. Elzear Goulet was one of the unsung heroes in our province's history, and sadly became a martyr. When I was teaching the Metis of Canada course at the UofM, I always made sure that students read about him and knew about the racism that the Metis faced after we joined Confederation. I look forward to the dedication of a park in his honour."

Vandal publishes his first Grassroots News Column on Elzear Goulet .  It looks to be the first of many columns that Dan will be publishing. Be sure to send him your ideas for a better Winnipeg. If you're interested on adding him on Facebook you can add him . From the article:

"I am proud to be the St Boniface city councillor. I am proud to be working for the people of Winnipeg. I will be writing this column every 2 weeks. It will be a "Report from City Hall", but it will really be about Winnipeg…the challenges…the opportunities…the stories…and the people. Let me know what you think. Feel free to send me ideas for future columns."

The Sun published my editorial on how Harper's government campaigned on transparency in government and is now running away from it. It was a reaction to:
http://winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2008/06/17/5899036-sun.html

Here is the editorial:

The Sun published my editorial on Bill C-61 and how it will make it illegal to transfer music from copy protected CDs to an ipod even if the music was legally purchased.

This is what I had sent:

Hands off my Ipod

The Harper Government has introduced Bill C-61 last week that will make it illegal to transfer music from protected cds I can buy at the music store to my Ipod. If I buy music at the store, I should be able to listen to it when and how I want. Shame on you Steven Harper, the state has no place in the Ipod of the nation.

I just sent this letter to the editor to the Winnipeg Sun. It is a reaction to:
http://winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2008/06/17/5899036-sun.html

Yesterday's article on MPs not disclosing their travel expenses had me steaming. Steven Harper campaigned on making government more transparent and he is doing exactly the opposite. Recently, Vic Toews announced that the harper Government would be scrapping the CAIRS database, a system that made it easier to get past Access to Information Requests. Today, we see that MPs are still not required to disclose their travel expenses. If Steven Harper was honest about making government more transparent, he would make it easier to access government information, not harder. He would also make it mandatory for MPs to disclose their travel expenses so we can see how they are spending our hard earned taxes.

Bill C-61 has will have serious consequences if it is passed. Check out http://www.michaelgeist.ca/ for more details. I wrote an editorial that I sent to the Free Press and the Sun underscoring that I feel I should be allowed to put music that I buy at the store on my Ipod without breaking the law!
Hands off my Ipod

The Harper Government has introduced Bill C-61 last week that will make it illegal to transfer music from protected cds I can buy at the music store to my Ipod. If I buy music at the store, I should be able to listen to it when and how I want. Shame on you Steven Harper, the state has no place in the Ipod of the nation.

I wrote Minister of Canadian Heritage asking her to reinstate the culture.ca web portal and copied my MP Raymond Simard. The correspondence follows.

Subject:	Termination of Culture.ca
Date:	Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:12:22 -0500
From:	Mathieu Allard <mathieu@mathieuallard.ca>
To:	Verner.J@parl.gc.ca
CC:	Simard.R@parl.gc.ca

Honourable Josée Verner
Minister of Canadian Heritage,

I write today to express my disappointment at the discontinuation of the 
culture.ca Federal Government portal that sought to share Canadian 
culture online with Canadians and the rest of the world.

The message on the culture.ca website states that the program objectives 
have been concluded, and that the digital environment has changed 
substantially since culture.ca's inception in 2003.

I believe that culture.ca is precisely the type of programming that is 
needed to promote Canadian culture online. As more and more institutions 
are finding a home online, I believe that Canadian culture should be no 
different and that Canadians and the rest of the world should have 
access to quality Canadian digital cultural content.

As a francophone living in a minority Francophone environment, the 
bi-lingual nature of the portal was one of the services that could be 
accessed in a minority environment.

I have copied my MP, Raymond Simard, who I hope will add his voice to 
mine in asking you to reinstate this important program.

Sincerely,

Mathieu Allard