Canadian Politics & Fallis' The Best Laid Plans

From yesterday’s Guardian article “Justin Trudeau takes up father's torch for Canada's Liberal party:”

There are few equivalents to the political power and promise associated with membership of the storied Kennedy clan. But in Canada, being the eldest son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau comes close…

Now, more than a decade after Trudeau's death, his first-born son, Justin, has taken up his father's torch. An MP since 2008, he was elected leader of the Liberal party last weekend with an overwhelming 80% of votes cast…

Now Trudeau, 41, has a task more daunting than living up to his famous name. His challenge leading up to the next federal election in 2015 is to return the once dominant Liberal party to power. It is no easy job given that the Liberals, who made up the government in 2006, are now in greatly diminished third place in the House of Commons.

For a novel about Canadian politics, try The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis:

A burnt-out politcal aide quits just before an election — but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock — an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers — to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign, certain to lose, and so on.

Then a great scandal blows away his opponent, and to their horror, Angus is elected. He decides to see what good an honest M.P. who doesn’t care about being re-elected can do in Parliament. The results are hilarious — and with chess, a hovercraft, and the love of a good woman thrown in, this very funny book has something for everyone.

Back in the News: US-Canada ecstasy smuggling ring and Lynch's Border Songs

I don't like to post twice about the same book, but this article is just too dead-on to pass up.

Last month I posted about Jim Lynch's Border Songs, a novel all about a border patrol agent who busts drug smugglers along the Canada-Washington state border.

Flash forward to this morning, when the BBC ran the article "US border agents bust US-Canada 'ecstasy smuggling ring':"

Four people are in custody in the US and Canada after a suspected drug smuggler fired on US border agents and fled, sparking a day-long manhunt. 

The incident began on Tuesday morning when border agents encountered two men carrying backpacks five miles (8km) east of Sumas, Washington, in the US. Authorities say agents interrupted an attempt to smuggle a load of MDMA, or ecstasy, from Canada to San Francisco... 

On Tuesday morning, US border agents ordered the two men they encountered near the border to halt, officials said. One of the men dropped his backpack, fired a weapon at the agents, and ran, according to a criminal complaint filed in US federal court in Washington on Wednesday. 

The officers took the other man, identified as Jeffrey Laviolette, into custody immediately. Canadian and US police searched for the fugitive on foot and by helicopter, putting up road blocks. Nathan Hall, a Canadian citizen, was arrested by the Abbotsford Police Department in British Columbia early on Wednesday morning. According to border patrol agents, the backpacks Mr Hall and Mr Laviolette were carrying contained a total of 58lb (26kg) of ecstasy.... 

The wooded area a few miles east of a highway border crossing is a well-known smuggling route for drugs and firearms, and a spokeswoman for the US attorney for the Western District of Washington told the BBC smuggling prosecutions are "a large part of our practice".

Newsworthy Novels: bringing you tomorrow's news today!

Mike Rice, Abusive Coaches, & Walters' Power Play

From yesterday's New York Times article "Rutgers Fires Coach Over Abuse and Slurs:"

Rutgers fired Mike Rice, the coach of its men’s basketball team, on Wednesday, a day after a video surfaced showing him berating his players during practices, throwing balls at them, kicking them and taunting them with slurs. Rice’s termination comes nearly four months after the university’s athletic director, Tim Pernetti, suspended him for three games and fined him $50,000, with little elaboration. On Wednesday, Pernetti said that he erred in not taking stronger action and that he would “work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community.”

For a novel about an abusive coach, try Power Play by Eric Walters. While there are large differences between Rice's use of physical and verbal abuse and the sexual abuse depicted in the book, it's well-written and is the best novel on abusive coaching I could find. Here's the summary:

This gripping new novel by bestselling children’s/YA author Eric Walters explores the complex and disturbing relationship between a talented young hockey star and his predatory coach as it descends into sexual abuse.

The Border Patrol, the US-Canadian Border, & Lynch's Border Songs

We've previously touched on the US-Mexico border (with the post about Boyle's Tortilla Curtain and Mexican immigration), but the northern border has been a little neglected. How are things going up there? Not well, it seems:

Sequester means fewer agents along Canadian border

The union representing border patrol agents says it's being unfairly targeted for spending cuts under the sequester, and that there will be less of a law enforcement presence along the North Country's border with Canada. Starting next month, all U.S. border patrol agents will have to take a day's furlough for every pay period... Shawn Moran is the vice-president of the National Border Patrol council, the agents' union. Moran says the cumulative effect will be 5,000 agents out of the field at any given time. And that means, he says, less secure borders. "We're going to see more people successfully crossing the border. When agents call for backup, there's going to be a longer response time to get backup, there'll be fewer people out there. On top of that, the agency is trying to save money in terms or vehicles and gas. That's also going to slash the amount of area we can effectively cover."

Looks like the sequester will also have a major economic impact on the US-Canada border, as reported last month by Canada's Globe & Mail in its article "Massive spending cuts could have Canada-U.S. border plan shelved:"

Lengthy lineups at the Canada-U.S. border. Long flight delays. A loss of lucrative American business contracts. The much-heralded Beyond the Border initiatives placed on the back burner indefinitely. Canada will feel the sting if U.S. Congress fails this week to avert what’s known as sequestration, an array of massive, mandated spending cuts to a host of federal departments and agencies aimed at slashing America’s $16-trillion national debt... For Canadians, that means quick shopping trips to nearby border communities will almost immediately become a hassle as they’re confronted with waits of several hours at busier entry points. They’ll also feel the long hand of sequestration when they fly given there will be a ripple effect across North America as U.S. officials cancel flights and shutter some control towers and airports.

For a novel centered around the US-Canadian border and the US border patrol, try Jim Lynch's Border Songs:

Six foot eight and severely dyslexic, Brandon Vanderkool has always had an unusual perspective—which comes in handy once his father pushes him off their dairy farm and into the Border Patrol. He used to jump over the ditch into British Columbia but now is responsible for policing a thirty-mile stretch of this largely invisible boundary. Uncomfortable in this uniformed role, he indulges his passion for bird-watching and often finds not only an astonishing variety of species but also a great many smugglers hauling pot into Washington State, as well as potentially more dangerous illegals. What a decade before was a sleepy rural hinterland is now the front line of an escalating war on both drugs and terrorism.