Elinor Caplan, Federal Minister of Immigration, has just tabled a new and improved Immigration Act. In large measure, this is in response to public outcry following the ships of Chinese boatpeople who washed up on the shores of British Columbia last fall. The new bill has been touted as a cure-all for all the immigration woes. It can be better compared to snake oil than to any miracle drug when it comes to curing what ails Canadian immigration.

Microsoft has seen nothing but red since Monday's United States district court ruling against them. Their stock value dropped significantly; as a result, the NASDAQ financial index took a huge hit, and Bill Gates' fortune dropped to a mere $97 billion US. That's got to be a huge blow.

Last week, amid a great deal of fanfare, a new Canadian political party was born--the Canadian Alliance. Narrowly avoiding becoming the first party in Canada to have a naughty acronym, the Canadian Alliance seeks to offer conservative-minded voters a right-wing alternative to the governing Liberal party. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

The Chechen rebels were expelled from Grozny. It has taken months of bitter fighting, but in the face of overwhelming opposition, Chechen fighters withdrew and relocated to the mountainous hillsides where the struggle is sure to continue indefinitely. They persist because they believe they are fighting for their freedom. Why the Russians persist is anybody's guess.

Farmers are an interesting lot. Most of them (on the prairies at least), subscribe strongly to right-wing politics. They support the Ralph Kleins and Mike Harrises of the nation. They wish they could still store loaded weapons on the rear window of their pick-up trucks. They don't even blink when you talk about privatizing health care. Yet, when it comes to grain and hog subsidies, farmers back right off of that right-wing-free-market-laissez-faire stance.

Calgary's finest have done it again. In a Toronto-esque move, the Calgary Police Association has announced they want to devote their time to investigating any public official who crosses them.

Indonesia is in the news again. Believe it or not, the island nation is experiencing numerous ongoing problems, mostly related to ethnic violence, unauthorized militia activity, and threats of a military coup. In the midst of all this, the European Union lifted its ban on arms sales to Indonesia. This is perhaps not the best-advised course of action.

Elian Gonzalez. Who knew one little six-year-old boy could stir up so much popular emotion? Two and a half weeks ago, Elian Gonzalez was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean, clinging to an inner-tube that his stepfather placed him in after their boat carrying a dozen Cuban refugees capsized and sank. Elian appears to be the only survivor, and is currently in Miami with extended family, who want the boy to remain in the United States with them.

Russia has been shelling the Chechen capital of Grozny since last week. Russian forces appear to have directly attacked only some of the fleeing civilians. I guess things are looking up for noncombatants in Chechnya.

Last Sunday marked the 10 year anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The fact it promotes basic human rights for children may explain why the vast majority of states signed it. It fails to explain, however, why so many do little to implement it.