Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday July 23, 2015

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we like people who are respectful to their opponents, whether they were captured or not. We also like it when the government makes it rain. In these hot, sunny, summer days, the government’s giving out cheques, but we wouldn’t go shopping with those extra dollars just yet. Robocalls are back in the news, not that it matters if you’re reading this abroad because you’re not going to be voting anyway if you’ve made your home outside of Canada for five years. It’s the dog days of summer, but we’re not dog-eared at all. It’s time to break down this week’s Open Sources.

This Thursday, July 23, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

1) Dump Trump? Already making waves in the very busy Republican race for President, Donald Trump took his vitriol to the next level last weekend when he said that despite Arizona Sen. John McCain having spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he is not, in fact, a war hero. Unwilling to apologize, and, in fact doubling down on his comments, many across the political spectrum are asking whether or not Trump is qualified to be Commander-in-Chief.

2) The Cheques in the Mail. Coincidentally just a few months before an election, the Conservative government increase to the Universal Child Care Benefit went out this week, and members of Team Harper were on the stump in force to promote it. But now some are saying that the payout may not be what it seems, and critics of the government are wondering if they’re just blatantly buying votes at this point by giving money away.

3) Robocalls Make Robocops. This ain’t over. Although Michael Sona was sentenced to jail, and Elections Canada called ‘case closed,’ a group of 30 voters are not letting the robocall case slide by making a legal appeal to Elections Canada to reopen the investigation. Will the gambit work? Unsure, but the move does suggest that there’s a lot of discomfort amongst the electorate, going into an election, about the security of the voters’ list.

4) Ex-Pats Now Ex-Voters. The Ontario Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that Canadians that have lived outside of Canada for five years of more should not be allowed to vote in federal elections. The move reopened the debate about whether or not ex-pats should be allowed to have a say in creating the Government of Canada, or whether their ability to influence their home and native land ends at the Canadian border. We’ll debate the merits of both sides.