It is also very sad that Nortel’s leadership, including Mike Zafirovski, did not know the true value of what they had in the company.  Also sad is the fact that our governments (federal and provincial) didn’t realize the value of this innovation to our country.  I still believe that investment into high-tech is more forward looking than investment in the automobile industry, and expecially construction.  Highly skilled knowledge workers are great for the future of the country.  Here is an article that I think sums up the loss pretty well: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1016391–family-jewels-frittered-away

Hoepfully this is a lesson that can be learned.  RIM is a true Canadian tech anchor–let’s hope we take to heart some of lessons from the down fall of Nortel.  I’m not talking a future bailout, but some manner of protecting the intellectual capital (patents, workers, skills) that is being developed at RIM.

Here’s hoping.

It made me think of another recent commercial I saw that I really liked, the Chrysler Super Bowl commercial by Eminem:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/thinning+ranks+Ottawa+tech+sector/4564755/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

But now it seems we could have some more bad news for Ottawa (really Canada) tech with RIM’s recent announcements.  This will affect the growing tech economy of Waterloo much more than Ottawa’s but there will be an effect.  RIM is one of the local bright spots. 

Who is going to be Canada’s tech anchor?  It looks like RIM is still a major force and will remain the number one tech company in Canada for awhile.  But who will be Ottawa’s anchor?  Since the demise of Nortel we don’t seem to have a large, world-class, exporter of technology (apologies to all the smaller Ottawa companies out there).  Maybe an anchor is not required beyond the government and it’s tech contracts, but I think a big world-beater would be good to have in town.

I have always been a fan of the “street party”.  From my early high school days in South Western Ontario where small towns would shut down streets to let everyone roam around with (or without) drinks, to homecoming parties at Queen’s, to Canada Day here in Ottawa.  I’ve always thought that being outside with multitudes of people celebrating is a great way to spend a day/evening.  But more recently there seems to be people who are not there for the celebration, but are there for the chance to cause some damage. 

I’ve noticed this happening recently in Kingston. Incidents lead to Homecoming moving from the fall to a time during the summer session — when far less students are on campus.  Was it alumni coming back and ripping up the town for old time sakes?  No way, it was current students, Kingstonians, and many out of towners in for the party.

That’s why I think the riot would have happened whether they won or lost.  There were people in that huge crowd that were just there for the chance to go crazy.  Now I shouldn’t say that the negative vibe from losing wouldn’t have made things a bit more violent–that is a distinct possibility.  But I really do think the party was going to get out of control one way or another.

Now what to do about this.  Truthfully I’m not sure–this seems to happen more and more often with these major sports championships.  Perhaps a greater police presence?  Or should there be some more communication with the revellers before the game that night?  I’m not sure, but I do hope that the follow up actions that Vancouver is undertaking at least make people think before things get out of hand.  Unfortunately this has put the great city of Vancouver in a very poor light.

And just edited my post to add this–I do hope that the idea of the street party continues!  So many good (non-rioting) memories!

In the mean-time I did want to put out a link to a blog about Ottawa.  I do know Mel so I may not be completely impartial, but I do think it’s a good blog on discovering Ottawa including local music, along with some food/recipe exploration.

Here’s My Ottawa Life !

So this time, I will not be engaging in strategic voting, but just voting for the person that I would like to see in the House of Commons.  Maybe next time I will engage in strategic voting, vote swapping, or some other method to get around the old first-past-the-post system, but not this time.

Looking forward to see what tomorrow will bring, with a hope for some type of electoral reform in the future.

What is interesting is a rise in the NDP numbers.  Could the NDP actually get more seats than the Liberals?  Could make for an interesting night, although the NDP number usually dips when actual election results are tabulated.  I personally think that a Conservative / NDP coalition might be an interesting mix, provided that the controlling Harper is ousted.  I could see Jack Layton putting his stamp on the Conservative government with a mix of fiscal and social responsibility (still want that deficit down!)  It reminds me of the current situation in the UK, where there was a large protest vote against Labour who had been running the show for a while–and the key beneficiaries were a newly revamped Conservative party and the 3rd party the Liberal Democrats.  The Liberal Democrats were being run by a charismatic leader, and did quite well.  I “think” that uneasy coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has been going “OK” (current lack of knowledge in that area).  It would be interesting to see who Mr. Harper (or replacement) would turn to for help in voting through key legislation.

Meanwhile, in my own riding I plan on voting for neither Conservative or NDP!  Decision soon…

From south of the border, a call to run for office for the nation’s engineers.

• Project Democracy
• Catch 22
• Vote Pair
• Vote Swap – Facebook

The first two present target ridings, and the third and fourth links are places where people can register to transfer their vote (an interesting concept in it’s own right).  I’m still not happy that people have to resort to this–proportional representation is a better way to make use of the popular vote numbers.  But, I will be very interested to see if this can make any difference, especially with the NDP surging and the Liberals falling.