RSS

It was a quieter weekend on the campaign trail as leaders were reeling off their televised debate performances earlier in the week. 

NDP leader Jack Layton’s popularity has increased since the debates. He is taking advantage of this by campaigning in Liberal strongholds in the Atlantic and Quebec. Layton claims that the NDP and Liberals’ platforms are nearly identical. The main difference being that the Liberals have been in power and have broken promises to Canadians. 

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Conservative leader Stephen Harper will both be in Yellowknife Monday. Harper was in Vancouver on Sunday urging Canadians to vote in a majority Conservative government. He said it would be the only way to stop the resurgence of separatists in Quebec.

Ignatieff campaigned with former prime minister Paul Martin. They focused on the Liberals’ reputation as pioneers of the Canadian health care system. 

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe will be in Montreal Monday giving several speeches to members of the art and culture communities. 

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois urged over 1,700 delegates to back the Bloc in the May 2 election at a PQ convention on Sunday. Marois received a 93 per cent confidence vote from Parti Quebecois members.

In international news, Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis over  the crippled nuclear power plant under control. Tokyo Electric Power Company’s chairman said the plan included containing radiation within the reactor and eventually removing the nuclear fuel. The crisis would be under control within six to nine months, with the possibility of some residents returning home.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has failed to resolve the nuclear crisis of the Fukushima Daiichi complex, more than a month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. In addition to reducing the levels of leaking radiation, the company is focusing on decontaminating sea water by dumping sandbags filled with minerals that absorb radioactive cesium.

Plans were also discussed for recycling water contaminated by the radiation, and removing salt from the seawater used to cool down the reactors, as it was also corroding them.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Sunday that the US stood by Japan. The US has provided the biggest bilateral humanitarian mission ever conducted in Japan with roughly twenty thousand troops mobilized to help Japan cope with the damages and the nuclear crisis.

Both Action and Your Concordia have filed complaints regarding the CSU CEO’s decision to disqualify both slates. 

Although filed separately, the opposing teams echo the same concerns. Both Lex Gill and Khalil Haddad point out the lack of evidence provided in Oliver Cohen’s disqualification letters. In order to disqualify a candidate, there must be clear evidence that a breach of regulations has taken place.

Both teams argue that they were in constant contact with Cohen throughout the elections, and were never warned of any offence. They also point out that Cohen never approached either slate for an explanation. Both slates also defend their elections expenses reports, which were deemed insufficient by the CEO. 

The complaints were made to Concordia’s Judicial Board. Both Gill and Haddad are asking for their disqualifications to be overturned. Following in the steps of their peace treaty, both teams also asked that the other be given a fair decision.

For more information on the disqualifications, click here.

It was back in July 2008 when I had my first opportunity to see Cut Copy at the O2 Wireless Festival in London, England. This wandering Canadian tourist knew nothing of the Australian electro-pop group at the time, but I saw their records in almost every record shop I visited; In Ghost Colours, their second studio album (and one of my all-time favourites), had just been released that spring. One might rightly ask me how they were then, but unfortunately I cannot say; I foolishly passed them up to settle into my jet lag. Now, having admitted to that, I can proudly say that I finally got to see Cut Copy on their recent tour for Zonoscope - their third and newest album – playing to a sold out Club Soda on April 5th, 2011.

As the crowd came in and out of the venue to cool off after the amazing opening set from Brooklyn’s Holy Ghost!, it was hard to remain calm while waiting for Cut Copy to take the stage. The packed venue erupted as they stepped on stage and began with "Visions" and "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found" from In Ghost Colours. Once they had settled in and their presence was well received, leading member Dan Whitford introduced the band, acknowledged their absence from Montreal for the past three years and carried on to perform "Alisa" from Zonoscope.

One remarkable thing to note about the entirety of Cut Copy’s set that night was the balance between playing material from their new album and their previous releases. The band played six songs from both In Ghost Colours and Zonoscope, while playing only one - "Saturdays" – from Bright Like Neon Love, their first album from 2004. Not that I do not enjoy when groups play mostly new material, but anyone familiar enough with Cut Copy’s newest and second album knows about the groups obsession with long ambient type transitions between their songs. Cut Copy made the most of these during their performance and it was fantastic how they kept the crowd in anticipation of what they would play next, as well as the variety of songs they would play, switching from album to album throughout the night.

As for songs that stood out, two particularly captured me and I believe the crowd would have to agree. Although it was performed early in the night, "Corner of the Sky’" moved the crowd with its heavy synth-bass lines and three-person percussion work. The other was "Sun God", the fifteen-minute finale song from Zonoscope; it was the last song played by Cut Copy before their encore. Lead vocalist Dan Whitford busied himself with his modular synthesizers on the side, while lead guitarist Tim Hoey played with a variety of voice effects and took out everything on his guitar; he played it with a drum stick, swung it in the air, and shoved it into the crowd.

Overall, this show was completely amazing and it sold out for good reason… given the possibility, why would anybody want to miss these guys? So the next time Cut Copy is anywhere near you, don’t pass up seeing them for strawberries and cream, jet lag, or any reason. Hopefully it won’t be another three years before they come back to Montreal.

-Mason W hosts Midnight Love Affair on Sunday's from 11pm-12am