The Institution of Structural Engineers announces its 2021 Gold Medal has been awarded to Paul Fast, founder of Fast + Epp, an internationally recognized structural engineering firm based in Vancouver, Canada.
Since its inception in 1922, the Gold Medal has been awarded for exceptional contributions to the advancement of structural engineering. Fast is only the second Canadian to receive the medal.
The 2021 medal is awarded in recognition of Fast’s world leadership in the design of architecturally expressive structures that incorporate unconventional use of materials, including hybrids of wood, steel and concrete.
For over three decades, he has been the design lead for many of Fast + Epp’s most significant award-winning projects, including the Richmond Olympic Oval roof, the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre, the Kingsway Pedestrian Bridge, and the 18-storey Tallwood House at UBC. He has seen the firm grow from one person to a staff of 125 with offices in Canada, USA and Germany.
“This is truly a very special recognition by the Institution of Structural Engineers. It is also most humbling when considering the pedigree and talent of previous award winners,” said Fast. “I have had the wonderful privilege of embarking on many adventures with clients and architects alike that opened the door wide for ambitious design exploration. Collaboration with our Fast + Epp staff has also been most rewarding and filled with abundant design enjoyment and much laughter. I am grateful for my professional lot in life.”
Subject to travel restrictions, Fast will be giving his Gold Medal address at an Awards ceremony at the Institution’s London UK headquarters in September.
The Institution of Structural Engineers is the world’s largest membership organization dedicated to the art and science of structural engineering. The Gold Medal was first presented in 1922 to professor Henry Adams. Other past recipients include Felix Candela, Ove Arup, Oleg Kerensky and Edmund Happold.
OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
Kingston's top doctor to replace Dr. David Williams as Ontario's chief medical officer of health
Ottawa residents 80 and older can rebook second dose appointments this week
Indoor dining, gyms reopen today as Quebec lifts some public health restrictions in Gatineau
Ottawa surpasses 27,000 total COVID-19 cases
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
New COVID-19 cases: 52 on Sunday
Total COVID-19 cases: 27,019
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 42.7
Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.0 per cent (May 21 to May 27)
Reproduction Number: 0.91 (seven day average)
Testing:
Who should get a test?
Ottawa Public Health says you can get a COVID-19 test at an assessment centre, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:
You are showing COVID-19 symptoms;
You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by Ottawa Public Health or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app;
You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;
You are a resident, a worker or a visitor to long-term care, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other congregate settings (for example: group homes, community supported living, disability-specific communities or congregate settings, short-term rehab, hospices and other shelters);
You are a person who identifies as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
You are a person travelling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;
You received a preliminary positive result through rapid testing;
You require testing 72 hours before a scheduled (non-urgent or emergent) surgery (as recommended by your health care provider);
You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort travelling out of country for medical treatment;
You are an international student that has passed their 14-day quarantine period;
You are a farm worker;
You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy-testing; or
You are in a targeted testing group as outlined in guidance from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
The Brewer Ottawa Hospital/CHEO Assessment Centre: Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at 300 Coventry Road: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Open Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (testing only)
The Heron Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (testing only)
North Grenville COVID-19 Assessment Centre (Kemptville) – 15 Campus Drive: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Centretown Community Health Centre: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sandy Hill Community Health Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 pm.
Somerset West Community Health Centre: Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday
COVID-19 screening tool:
The COVID-19 screening tool for students heading back to in-person classes can be found here.
Symptoms:
Classic Symptoms: fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath
Other symptoms: sore throat, difficulty swallowing, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pneumonia, new or unexplained runny nose or nasal congestion
Less common symptoms: unexplained fatigue, muscle aches, headache, delirium, chills, red/inflamed eyes, croup
The Ontario government will table a motion in the Legislature today to appoint Dr. Kieran Moore as the province's next Chief Medical Officer of Health.
The medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington will replace Dr. David Williams, who will retire on June 25.
Dr. Moore has been Kingston's top doctor since July 1, 2017.
"Being considered for the role of Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health is a great honour and one that I do not take lightly," said Dr. Moore in a statement.
Ottawa residents 80 and older can rebook second dose appointments this week
Ottawa residents 80 and older can reschedule their second dose COVID-19 vaccine appointment this week, as Ontario shortens the gap between vaccine doses to begin a two-dose summer.
Beginning at 8 a.m., all Ottawa adults aged 80 and older may book their second dose vaccine appointment through the provincial booking system. This applies to both those who booked their first doses through the provincial system and those who booked their first shot through Ottawa Public Health.
The city says individuals who already have second dose appointments will keep their original appointment if they don't re-book for an earlier shot.
The city of Ottawa warns "booking availability may be limited" due to supply of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Indoor dining, gyms reopen as Quebec lifts some public health restrictions in Gatineau
The Quebec government lifts some of the COVID-19 public health measures in Gatineau and the Outaouais today, allowing restaurants to reopen indoor dining rooms and gyms and fitness centres to open.
The Outaouais is one of eight regions across Quebec moving into the "Level 3-Alert" orange zone. Here is a look at the COVID-19 restrictions easing in Gatineau and the Outaouais today:
Secondary 3, 4 and 5 students return to school full-time
Restaurant dining rooms reopen for indoor dining. A maximum of two people from a different address may sit at the same table, and they may be accompanied by their children under 18
Gyms and fitness centres reopen, but must keep compulsory sign-in records and individuals must wear a mask at all times. Fitness centres can offer classes or supervision to individuals or to members of the same household
Places of worship may open with a maximum of 100 people. Weddings and funerals are limited to 25 people
Museums are allowed to open, in compliance with the measures in force
Ottawa Public Health reported 52 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Sunday, pushing the city beyond 27,000 total cases since the pandemic began.
Two more deaths linked to novel coronavirus were reported on Sunday.
Since the first case of COVID-19 on March 11, 2020, there have been 27,019 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 569 deaths.
Speedkore has helped produce a few cars for the Fast and Furious franchise, including the mid-engine Charger and Plymouth Barracuda from Furious 7. The Charger Tantrum has bodywork completed in carbon fiber and HRE wheels, and under the hood is a 9.0-liter twin-turbocharged Mercury Racing V-8 QC4v crate engine that puts out 1650 horsepower.
OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
Ontario extends interprovincial travel restrictions at Ottawa-Gatineau crossings until June 16
Ontario's COVID-19 science table says schools can reopen safely on a regional basis
Ottawa's COVID-19 case numbers returned to double-digits on Saturday following Friday's spike
71 tickets issued for illegal gatherings at private residences in Ottawa during the stay-at-home order
Health Canada extends shelf life of AstraZenca doses set to expire on Monday by a month
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
New COVID-19 cases: 61 on Saturday
Total COVID-19 cases: 26,967
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 43.9
Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.0 per cent (May 21 to May 27)
Reproduction Number: 0.94 (seven day average)
Testing:
Who should get a test?
Ottawa Public Health says you can get a COVID-19 test at an assessment centre, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:
You are showing COVID-19 symptoms;
You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by Ottawa Public Health or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app;
You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;
You are a resident, a worker or a visitor to long-term care, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other congregate settings (for example: group homes, community supported living, disability-specific communities or congregate settings, short-term rehab, hospices and other shelters);
You are a person who identifies as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
You are a person travelling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;
You received a preliminary positive result through rapid testing;
You require testing 72 hours before a scheduled (non-urgent or emergent) surgery (as recommended by your health care provider);
You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort travelling out of country for medical treatment;
You are an international student that has passed their 14-day quarantine period;
You are a farm worker;
You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy-testing; or
You are in a targeted testing group as outlined in guidance from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
The Brewer Ottawa Hospital/CHEO Assessment Centre: Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at 300 Coventry Road: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Open Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (testing only)
The Heron Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (testing only)
North Grenville COVID-19 Assessment Centre (Kemptville) – 15 Campus Drive: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Centretown Community Health Centre: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sandy Hill Community Health Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 pm.
Somerset West Community Health Centre: Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday
COVID-19 screening tool:
The COVID-19 screening tool for students heading back to in-person classes can be found here.
Symptoms:
Classic Symptoms: fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath
Other symptoms: sore throat, difficulty swallowing, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pneumonia, new or unexplained runny nose or nasal congestion
Less common symptoms: unexplained fatigue, muscle aches, headache, delirium, chills, red/inflamed eyes, croup
Ontario is extending the interprovincial travel restrictions at Ontario-Quebec crossings at least two more weeks.
The move means motorists driving into Ottawa from Gatineau will continue to see police checkpoints at the interprovincial crossings until at least June 16.
The checkpoints have cost the Ottawa Police Service approximately $600,000 since they were first set up six weeks ago.
Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table is recommending schools reopen on a regional basis before the end of the school year.
The science table says it believes schools can reopen on a regional basis without risking the province's progress of driving down virus spread during the third wave of the pandemic.
Premier Doug Ford asked medical experts and education sector unions for "input on the possible safe return to schools" by the end of day Friday.
Ottawa Public Health reported 61 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Saturday, and one new death linked to the virus.
Since the first case of COVID-19 in Ottawa on March 11, 2020, there have been 26,979 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 567 deaths.
Ottawa Bylaw officers have issued dozens of tickets for illegal private gatherings, non-essential businesses staying open and for violations in Ottawa parks during the current COVID-19 shutdown and stay-at-home order.
Since the Ontario government imposed the shutdown on Ottawa April 3, Ottawa Bylaw officers have issued 163 tickets for contraventions of Provincial Orders and the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
According to statistics provided to CTV News Ottawa, Ottawa Bylaw officers have issued 71 tickets for illegal gatherings at private residences since April 3. The fine for a gathering at a private residence is $880 under Ontario's COVID-19 rules.
Bylaw officers have issued 43 tickets in Ottawa parks since April 27 for Section 22 violations.
Health Canada has extended the expiry date of roughly 45,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The doses were supposed to expire on Monday, but the federal agency extended the expiry date by a month.
“Vaccine doses with an original expiry date of May 31, 2021 can now be used until July 1, 2021,” a spokesperson from the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
It’s a long way from hijacking trucks to low-Earth orbit, but judging from the most recent trailers for the upcoming ninth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise (F9), that would appear to be the trajectory for the world’s favourite gang of former street racers turned genre-smashing super heroes.
It’s been a long, strange trip for a creative group that managed to parlay a low-budget remake of Point Break (based on a magazine article about New York City gearheads and scofflaws) into a never-ending series of billion-dollar blockbusters only tangentially related to their automotive roots.
And yet, it’s hard not to see how the decision to distance the Fast & Furious films from the car culture that birthed them has been key to the success of the entire enterprise.
While it’s true that vehicular mayhem remains a component of each entry, Dom Toretto and his crew now employ stunt driving as mere window dressing to the physics-defying, globe-trotting invulnerability that serves as their primary weapon in pulling off whatever elaborate, world-changing caper they’ve been pulled into. It’s a transition that has borne major financial fruit for Universal Studios — and obliterated the concept that a diverse cast is anathema to a strong box office — but it’s also forced the Fast & Furious philosophy to turn its back on the very movement that birthed it.
Three car culture time capsules
To understand the distance between the upcoming F9 and the franchise’s point of origin means going all the way back to 2001, when no one had ever made a successful movie about street racing, and Vin Diesel was still best known for supporting roles in Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and a small sci-fi flick called Pitch Black.
His on-screen partner-in-crime, Paul Walker, was also only just emerging from a long string of teen flicks, and with the rest of the cast of that year’s The Fast and the Furious filled out by relative unknowns (Michelle Rodriguez, Rick Yune, Matt Schulze), TV actors (Jordana Brewster), and hip-hop cameos (Ja Rule), not much was expected of the movie other than filling enough theatre seats to make back its $38-million budget.
Some $207 million later, it was clear that journeyman director Rob Cohen and writer Gary Scott Thompson had hit on something significantly bigger than a summer popcorn-seller. Trouble is, the executives at Universal who had green-lit the picture weren’t sure how, exactly, to capitalize on a movie that was essentially a love letter to California’s import tuning scene.
This explains 2 Fast 2 Furious, the 2003 sequel that exported the fun-in-the-sun street action to the opposite coast. With Miami as its backdrop and Diesel missing in action, the movie would use a similar casting template (with Ludacris replacing Ja Rule as the requisite nod to pop culture) to highlight the vibrant muscle car and J-tin populating Florida’s panhandle.
Underdog street racer Sean Boswell (Lucas Black in a ’67 Ford Mustang) and Boswell’s drifting rival D.K., the “Drift King” (Brian Tee in an ’02 Nissan Fairlady 350Z) jockey for position in The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.Universal Pictures
Another $237 million worldwide was strong enough (against nearly double the first movie’s budget) to tack on a third sequel, 2006’s The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift. The movie on one hand played it safe (with Lil’ Bow Wow present to capture the hip hop crowd) while at the same time allowing new director Justin Lin to cancel out both Walker and Diesel (save for the latter’s two-minute epilogue) in favour of placing a largely Asian cast front and centre. Tokyo Drift was the first entry to not make back its budget domestically, but it was also the only movie in the trio whose international box office was appreciably higher than at home, allowing it to turn an overall profit.
It’s here that the studio made two key realizations about the franchise it had been quietly nurturing. At the time, Hollywood was still staunchly white-washing big money tent-pole pictures, but both 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift had featured just a single Caucasian protagonist in an ensemble cast that more accurately reflected the moviegoers outside of the U.S., who were increasingly important in greasing the financial wheels of American-made pictures. Sensing a unique opportunity to appeal to audiences that had to that point been denied a truly representative blockbuster, savvy marketing minds began to craft the battle plan that would shape the future of Fast & Furious and serve as a notice to other studios that the era of ignoring international returns was over.
Doing so, however, required a gradual paring back of the car culture that permeated each of the first three movies. Universal knew how to sell explosions and one-liners to a global crowd, but twin-turbo Supras and Mopar drag cars? Not so much — or at least, not to the same degree. Whereas Tokyo Drift tapped into the touge movement that was spreading across the world in the form of both Formula and Initial D, and 2 Fast 2 Furious had focused its universe as much on the candy-paint southern cars as it did on drag race metal, future titles would reposition the Fast & Furious automotive passion as a backdrop, rather than a well from which to draw plot and character.
Instant success
The effect was almost immediate. 2009’s Fast & Furious introduced cross-border tunnels and international drug rings into the equation, and although Walker was back in the fold, it would be Diesel and a cast of decidedly mixed ethnicities and cultures that steered the film. While driving acumen played a key role, it was in service of the action set pieces that truly served as its central hook, with only a single, over-the-top street scene to be found. Three years later, Fast Five would head down to Rio and further side-show street racing, which took place almost entirely off-screen, and by the time Fast and Furious 6 arrived, the idea of lining up for pinks was as quaint as the concept that a ragtag crew of street punks and FBI washouts weren’t capable of thwarting international terrorists.
Each of the above films made orders of magnitude more money than the trio that had preceded them, thus setting in stone the playbook for the franchise’s future: bigger stunts, more absurd scenarios, and as many exotic locales as could be squeezed into a shooting schedule. Chases broadened to include cargo planes hurtling down 23-mile-long runways and nuclear submarines churning through arctic ice, and cars regularly parachuted from the sky to do battle with tanks. Essentially, if an 11-year-old could imagine their action figures doing it, the Fast & Furious producers weren’t afraid to put it on the screen.
Changing movies forever
Most of today’s multi-racial blockbusters owe a massive debt to the pioneering practices of the Fast & Furious. Although the process has been a slow one, those who would fight against representation in big budget Hollywood movies can no longer make a financial argument to back up their bigotry, thanks to the franchise’s massive, and enduring success.
Michelle Rodriguez as daredevil Letty, Vin Diesel as fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto and director Justin Lin on the set of The ‘Fast and The Furious 6.’Universal Pictures
At the same time, it’s become almost impossible to relate on a real level to any of the characters who now inhabit the series’ vastly expanded universe. What does the average person have in common with a man who can deflect a speeding missile with a well-placed kick, or leap from a disintegrating, exploding airplane into the relative safety of a speeding vehicle? Far less than they did when many of those same faces — a little fresher, a little younger — were staying up late in the garage wrenching on cars they planned to decimate, once those overnight parts from Japan had arrived.
In a world where superheroes have replaced fallible, fragile humans in almost every form of entertainment, and where mid-budget movies no longer have a place in a release schedule that swings its hundred million dollars for a grand slam each and every time, there’s little hope for a return to the subculture that started it all. That likely won’t keep the diehards from hitting the cinema for F9, hoping for just a little reflected gearhead glory amid all the big booms.
This two-bedroom home was built by Polygon in 1999 in the city's Westwood Plateau district.
Author of the article:
Nicola Way
This two-bedroom Coquitlam condo was listed for $529,900 and sold for $544,000.Photo by Supplied /PNG
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
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Weekly roundup of three properties that recently sold in Metro Vancouver.
310 – 1438 Parkway Blvd., Coquitlam
Type: Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment
Size: 852 square feet
B.C. Assessment: $547,000
Listed for: $529,900
Sold for: $544,000
Sold on: March 3
Days on market in this listing: Zero
Listing agent: Rod Bahari at Sutton Group – West Coast Realty
Buyers agent: Mehran Rabiee at Royalty Group Realty
The big sell: According to listing agent Rod Bahari, this two-bedroom condo in Coquitlam’s Montreux building received multiple offers and sold within hours of hitting the market. Built by Polygon in 1999 in the city’s Westwood Plateau district, the pet- and rental-friendly complex boasts an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub with panoramic city views, and myriad amenities nearby. This upper-unit home has a bright, open-concept living space with a gas fireplace and balcony access, Shaker-style kitchen cabinetry and a double-height countertop, pendant lighting, a master bedroom with a den area, updated flooring and paintwork, and a new Samsung washer/dryer. The unit comes with two parking stalls, a storage locker and a monthly maintenance fee of $310.14.
Article content
This West Cloverdale bungalow received 12 offers, and sold for more than $300,000 over the listed price.Photo by Supplied /PNG
6062 172 St., Cloverdale
Type: Three-bedroom, one-bathroom detached
Size: 1,020 square feet
B.C. Assessment: $911,500
Listed for: $1,010,000
Sold for: $1,313,000
Sold on: March 1
Days on market in this listing: Six
Listing agent: Sharon Williams at Macdonald Realty
Buyers agent: Jasbir Nahal at Macdonald Realty
The big sell: Listing agent Sharon Williams reports that 12 offers were received for this West Cloverdale bungalow, achieving a sale of more than $300,000 over the listed price. She cites a lot size of 9,387 square feet and a “beautifully maintained and updated” home as the prime motivators for prospective purchasers. The single-level layout showcases a maple kitchen with undermount lighting and granite countertops, a modern bathroom with a soaker tub, and a 19-foot-long master bedroom with space for a king-sized bed and additional furniture, while an attic provides extra storage with built-in ladder access. There are vinyl windows, wiring, plumbing, gutter and roof upgrades, newer fencing, a workshop with power and an entertainment-sized covered sundeck.
This two-bedroom Vancouver townhouse was listed for $1,795,000 and sold for $1,717,350.Photo by Supplied /PNG
TH205 – 1455 Howe St., Vancouver
Type: Two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse
Size: 1,371 square feet
B.C. Assessment: $1,667,000
Listed for: $1,795,000
Sold for: $1,717,350
Sold on: March 27
Days on market in this listing: Five
Listing agent: Gregg Baker at Engel & Volkers Vancouver
Buyers agent: Imran Ali at eXp Realty
The big sell: The Pomaria complex in Yaletown’s Beach District has the notable distinction of winning the Urban Development Institute’s award in 2007 for the High-Rise Multi-Family Development category. This two-storey townhouse boasts a private rooftop terrace equipped with gas and water bibs, an electrical outlet and a gas fireplace while the interior provides 1,371 square feet of living space including two bedrooms and a den/office complete with balcony on the upper level. There are hardwood floors, overheight ceilings and a geothermal cooling and heating system. Residents have access to concierge services, a gym, meeting room and guest suite. The unit comes with two parking stalls, a locker, a monthly maintenance fee of $1,045.55, and pets and rentals are permitted with restrictions.
These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of BestHomesBC.com.
Please note that sales cannot be published until after their completion date.Realtors – send your recent sales to nicola@besthomesbc.com.
There has never been, at least since the start of the TV age, an entertainer as bizarre – and yet strangely appealing – as Tiny Tim. Awkward and tall, with unkempt shoulder-length hair, he had a monstrous hawk nose, wore pancake makeup and strummed a left-handed ukulele he’d pull out of a ratty shopping bag.
And when he opened his (enormous) mouth, he sang in a girly falsetto voice, the kind of voice that could peel paint. From the moment America got its first look at him, on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, the debate raged over Tiny Tim – was the act an elaborate put-on, or could this strangely androgynous man-child be for real?
The answer, made clear in the documentary film Tiny Tim: King For a Day, was that he was both, and he was neither. For Herbert Butrous Khaury, born to a Lebanese Catholic father and Polish Jewish mother in Manhattan in 1932, was an extremely talented musician, a musicologist with databank knowledge and understanding of the popular songs of the 1920s and ‘30s.
Was he normal? That depends on your definition.
As the film, which opens Sunday at Green Light Cinema, explains, Herbert’s parents were verbally and physically abusive to their strange, gawky son, and from an early age he sought refuge in his bedroom, listening to records night and day on the family Victrola, losing himself in the melodies and lyrics.
He was, from an early, both obsessed with and confused by his family’s religion, and his own sexuality.
And he desperately wanted to be famous.
His baritone singing voice had an old-timey Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby quality to it (he once told this writer he’d loved a book, as a young man, called You Too Can Sing the Dick Haymes Way), but it wasn’t until he discovered that otherworldly falsetto that people began to notice him. In his diary (read in the film by “Weird Al” Yankovic) he says “God told me to sing the sissy way. Thanks, ever so much, for the magnetism onstage that you’ve given me.”
First as a freak show act known as Larry Love (along with other names), then as Tiny Tim, Khaury endured taunts and thrown tomatoes for years before becoming a “hit” in underground Greenwich Village folk clubs.
Which led to Laugh-In, and a recording contract (“Tiptoe Through the Tulips” was a Top 20 hit in 1968), and multiple appearances on all the TV entertainment shows (Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, David Frost, Merv Griffin, Hollywood Palace, Jackie Gleason).
King For a Day includes excerpts from many of these programs, and it becomes clear that the hosts, incredulous though they were at Tim’s weird mannerisms (the flirty eyerolls, girlish laughter and flurry of blown kisses) and outrageous statements, had a begrudging respect for the man – he was clearly a respectful, and well-spoken, fan of vintage music. And he knew how to entertain.
The pancake makeup disappeared, but the disheveled appearance and flights of falsetto remained.
Between 1968 and 1970s, Tiny Tim was America’s freak. He was on every magazine cover.
England loved him too. George Harrison included him on the Beatles 1968 Fan Club Christmas record, he sold out Albert Hall, and the was the smash hit of the Isle of Wight Festival.
In 1969, he married 17-year-old Vicki Budinger, live on The Tonight Show. An estimated 40 million people tuned in.
The marriage fell apart, as Budinger explains via audio clips in the film, because Tiny Tim was incapable of anything resembling normal life. He was addicted to applause.
The couple’s adult daughter, Tulip, is one of the interview subjects in King For a Day, along with a parade of managers, agents and adult women who knew him as teenagers (despite everything, they insist, he always remained a perfect gentleman).
Laugh-In producer George Schlatter, musicians Peter Yarrow and Richard Barone, professional hippie Wavy Gravy, record producer Richard Perry and filmmakers Jonas Mekas and D.A. Pennebaker are also interviewed.
There’s nothing, however, quite like watching the man himself onstage. In his salad days, Tiny Tim was extraordinary, so much more than a novelty act.
The public, of course, didn’t see it that way, and his disappearance from view was swift and final. The last third of the relentlessly engaging King For a Day chronicles the sad decline of Tiny Tim the entertainer, and Herbert Khaury the man. Plagued by health problems in his final years, he collapsed onstage at the end of a performance, and died in the arms of his (third) wife, Susan, in 1996.
OTTAWA -- Federal lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation to create a national day for truth and reconciliation.
In a Liberal motion, MPs moved unanimously to wrap debate on Bill C-5 and deem it passed by day's end, sending it to the Senate.
The legislation would establish a new statutory holiday to commemorate the victims and survivors of Indigenous residential schools.
The move comes a day after a First Nation in British Columbia confirmed discovery of the remains of 215 children buried in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
The bill follows a similar one introduced by the NDP in 2017 that foundered in the Senate two years later.
The statutory holiday, which would apply to federally regulated workers, is set for Sept. 30.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller has said the bill marks a step toward righting past wrongs associated with the residential school system, which he deemed a "national tragedy borne by colonialism and propelled by systematic racism."
Green MP Jenica Atwin teared up during third-reading debate Friday, tracing a direct line between the legacy of colonialism and the myriad challenges facing Indigenous people today.
Bill C-5 will help bring awareness to "the horrors of the past," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2021.
OTTAWA -- Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.
Fast Facts:
Ontario shortens gap between COVID-19 vaccine doses with majority of residents fully vaccinated by end of summer
Ottawa sees highest one-day COVID-19 case count in nine days
Curfew ends, patios reopen in Gatineau as Quebec begins to ease COVID-19 restrictions
Ottawa hosting pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics in priority neighbourhoods
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
New COVID-19 cases: 107 cases on Friday
Total COVID-19 cases: 26,906
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 45.1
Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.0 per cent (May 21 to May 27)
Reproduction Number: 0.90 (seven day average)
Testing:
Who should get a test?
Ottawa Public Health says you can get a COVID-19 test at an assessment centre, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:
You are showing COVID-19 symptoms;
You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by Ottawa Public Health or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app;
You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;
You are a resident, a worker or a visitor to long-term care, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other congregate settings (for example: group homes, community supported living, disability-specific communities or congregate settings, short-term rehab, hospices and other shelters);
You are a person who identifies as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
You are a person travelling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;
You received a preliminary positive result through rapid testing;
You require testing 72 hours before a scheduled (non-urgent or emergent) surgery (as recommended by your health care provider);
You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort travelling out of country for medical treatment;
You are an international student that has passed their 14-day quarantine period;
You are a farm worker;
You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy-testing; or
You are in a targeted testing group as outlined in guidance from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
The Brewer Ottawa Hospital/CHEO Assessment Centre: Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at 300 Coventry Road: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Open Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (testing only)
The Heron Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (testing only)
North Grenville COVID-19 Assessment Centre (Kemptville) – 15 Campus Drive: Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Centretown Community Health Centre: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sandy Hill Community Health Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 pm.
Somerset West Community Health Centre: Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday
COVID-19 screening tool:
The COVID-19 screening tool for students heading back to in-person classes can be found here.
Symptoms:
Classic Symptoms: fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath
Other symptoms: sore throat, difficulty swallowing, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pneumonia, new or unexplained runny nose or nasal congestion
Less common symptoms: unexplained fatigue, muscle aches, headache, delirium, chills, red/inflamed eyes, croup
The Ontario government is shortening the gap between COVID-19 vaccine doses, with the goal of fully vaccinating the majority of Ontarians by the end of summer.
Ontario announced the ramp-up of vaccination efforts, allowing people aged 80 and up to start booking their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine next week.
The province says the shortened interval could be as small as 28 days for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in the coming months, depending on supply.
Individuals between the ages of 12 and 25 will become eligible for the second dose in early August.
Ottawa Public Health is reporting 107 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa on Friday, the highest one-day case count in more than a week.
Three new deaths linked to novel coronavirus were reported on Friday.
Since the first case of COVID-19 in Ottawa on March 11, 2020, there have been 26,906 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, including 566 deaths.
Gatineau police say officers will continue to set up sporadic checkpoints at interprovincial crossings to limit non-essential trips into Quebec as the province relaxes restrictions.
The Quebec government lifted some of the restrictions on Gatineau and the Outaouais on Friday, before a new three step reopening plan begins on Monday.
Here is a look at the COVID-19 restrictions relaxed in Gatineau and the Outaouais on Friday:
The overnight curfew is lifted. (Quebec imposed an overnight curfew in January in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19.)
Outdoor gatherings of up to eight people permitted on private property
Restaurants allowed to open outdoor patios for customers
Travel between regions will be allowed
Crowds of 250 people per section allowed in theatres and stadiums
The city of Ottawa and Ottawa Public Health will hold a series of pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics next week to reach residents in specific priority neighbourhoods.
In a memo to Council, medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches and Ottawa's general manager of emergency and protective services Anthony Di Monte announced the pop-up clinics will resume, focusing on specific neighbourhoods and only for residents that live in those areas.
Appointments can only be made in-person during the clinic operating hours and will be on a first come first serve basis.
Here is a look at the upcoming locations for the pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics:
May 31-June 1
Bayshore Shopping Centre
Eligible neighbourhoods: Bayshore-Belltown
Hours of operation: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
June 2
Infinity Centre – 2901 Gibford Drive
Eligible neighbourhoods: Ledbury-Heron Gate-Ridgemont and Hawthorne Meadows-Sheffield Glen
Hours of operation: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
June 3-4
Patro d'Ottawa – 40 Cobourg Street
Eligible neighbourhoods: Lowertown
Hours of operation: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
June 5-6
Regina Street Alternative School at 2599 Regina Street
Federal lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation to create a national day for truth and reconciliation.
In a Liberal motion, MPs moved unanimously to wrap debate on Bill C-5 and deem it passed by day’s end, sending it to the Senate.
The legislation would establish a new statutory holiday to commemorate the victims and survivors of Indigenous residential schools.
The move comes a day after a First Nation in British Columbia confirmed discovery of the remains of 215 children buried in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
The bill follows a similar one introduced by the NDP in 2017 that foundered in the Senate two years later.
The statutory holiday, which would apply to federally regulated workers, is set for Sept. 30.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller has said the bill marks a step toward righting past wrongs associated with the residential school system, which he deemed a “national tragedy borne by colonialism and propelled by systematic racism.”
Miller stood during a moment of silence in the House of Commons Friday. The Chamber paused to observe a moment of silence for the 215 children whose remains were found at the former residential school.
Green MP Jenica Atwin teared up during the third-reading debate Friday, tracing a direct line between the legacy of colonialism and the myriad challenges facing Indigenous people today.
Bill C-5 will help bring awareness to “the horrors of the past,” she said.
The northbound fast lane of Malahat Drive in Mill Bay is closed as crews are on scene after a Friday afternoon crash.
The crash involved at least three vehicles and left a truck tipped on its side at the intersection of Malahat Drive and Deloume Road around 3:15 p.m. on Friday. It left the front end of a black crossover vehicle heavily damaged and caused its airbags to deploy. Fire and ambulance crews are on the scene.
Drivers should expect delays.
**INCIDENT** Motor Vehicle Incident on #HWY1 at Deloume Road Intersection in #MillBay. NB fast lane closed. Emergency crews are on site. Expect delays due to congestion. @DriveBC_VI
— Emcon Services Inc., South Island Division (@EmconSouthVI) May 28, 2021
Federal lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation to create a national day for truth and reconciliation.
In a Liberal motion, MPs moved unanimously to wrap debate on Bill C-5 and deem it passed by day’s end, sending it to the Senate.
The legislation would establish a new statutory holiday to commemorate the victims and survivors of Indigenous residential schools.
The move comes a day after a First Nation in British Columbia confirmed discovery of the remains of 215 children buried in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
The bill follows a similar one introduced by the NDP in 2017 that foundered in the Senate two years later.
The statutory holiday, which would apply to federally regulated workers, is set for Sept. 30.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller has said the bill marks a step toward righting past wrongs associated with the residential school system, which he deemed a “national tragedy borne by colonialism and propelled by systematic racism.”
Miller stood during a moment of silence in the House of Commons Friday. The Chamber paused to observe a moment of silence for the 215 children whose remains were found at the former residential school.
Green MP Jenica Atwin teared up during the third-reading debate Friday, tracing a direct line between the legacy of colonialism and the myriad challenges facing Indigenous people today.
Bill C-5 will help bring awareness to “the horrors of the past,” she said.
Authors: J. L. Han, Chen Wang, P. F. Wang, Tao Wang, D. J. Zhou, Jing-Hai Sun, Yi Yan, Wei-Qi Su, Wei-Cong Jing, Xue Chen, X. Y. Gao, Li-Gang Hou, Jun Xu, K. J. Lee, Na Wang, Peng Jiang, Ren-Xin Xu, Jun Yan, Heng-Qian Gan, Xin Guan, Wen-Jun Huang, Jin-Chen Jiang, Hui Li, Yun-Peng Men, Chun Sun, Bo-Jun Wang, H. G. Wang, Shuang-Qiang Wang, Jin-Tao Xie, Heng Xu, Rui Yao, Xiao-Peng You, D. J. Yu, Jian-Ping Yuan, Rai Yuen, Chun-Feng Zhang, Yan Zhu
First Author’s Institution: National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Status: Published in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics [open access]
Astronomers don’t typically get excited about holes in the ground, but one particular hole has recently garnered quite a lot of attention. Its name is Dawodang, and it’s actually a karst depression half a kilometer wide, formed by limestone and other rocks slowly dissolving. Astronomers are actually less interested in Dawodang’s geological history and more interested in what humans have now built inside it: the largest single-dish radio telescope on Earth.
Figure 1: FAST, as it appeared in December 2016, shortly after it began operations. Dawodang, in a remote part of Guizhou province, is surround by numerous other karst depressions – plenty of options for astronomers to choose from. Figure 5, Zhu et al. 2018.
Located in southwest China, the instrument’s massive size has earned it the nickname Tianyan, or “Heaven’s Eye”, but astronomers know it better as the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST. The dish is shaped like a portion of a sphere and is too large to be steered like smaller telescopes. Instead, FAST uses something called an active surface. An array of 2,225 extremely precise actuators deforms a 300-meter-wide portion of the dish into a parabola, which reflects radio waves to a receiver suspended above the telescope. To track a radio source moving across the sky, astronomers gradually adjust the actuators to shift the parabola accordingly.
Conceived in 1994, FAST achieved first light in 2016 and finished the commissioning process in 2020. Today’s paper talks about one of its first major science findings: The first results of the Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey (GPPS), which last week reported an astounding 201 new pulsars!
Figure 2: FAST is sensitive enough to detect sources with low flux densities at a variety of periods and dispersion measures. Its large collecting area and active surface make it sensitive to sources other radio telescopes, like those at the Parkes Observatory in Australia and, until recently, at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Not surprisingly, most of the new pulsars discovered by the Galactic Plane Pulsar Survey were too faint for other radio telescopes to find. Part of Figure 13 of the paper.
Pulsar surveys have transformed our understanding of these remarkable objects – dense, fast-spinning neutron stars emitting beams of radio waves. As pulsars rotate, this emission creates a periodic signal, with peaks appearing when the beam crosses our line of sight. Pulsar surveys are long-term observing campaigns designed to search some portion of the sky for new sources. For example, the Parkes Multi Beam Pulsar Survey (PMPS) has discovered over 700 pulsars, while the Green Bank North Celestial Cap survey (GBNCC) and the Pulsar Arecibo L-band Feed Array (PALFA) survey have each discovered about 200. These are impressive figures, especially considering that astronomers have only discovered about 3000 pulsars to date.
As one of the most sensitive radio telescopes in the world, it should be of no surprise that FAST has already made contributions of its own. The Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot survey utilizes the telescope’s snapshot mode, which can cover roughly 1/6 of a square degree of sky in 21 minutes. It focuses on the disk of the Milky Way, which hosts most of the Galaxy’s stars and stellar remnants, pulsars included! The GPPS survey began in late 2019 and is still ongoing, but the first results are now out – and wow, there is a lot to unpack.
The first set of data includes 201 pulsars, already comparable to the yields of GBNCC and PALFA. Most of these sources hadn’t been detected before because they’re simply too faint, but FAST’s large collecting area, precise active surface, and new L-band receiver allow it to detect pulsars with flux densities an order of magnitude lower than the limits of most existing radio telescopes, as shown in Figure 2. Some of the faint new discoveries are truly intrinsically dim, not just far away, which may open doors for astronomers to learn about pulsars with low radio luminosities.
The next surprise for pulsar astronomers is a group of 11 pulsars with unusually high dispersion measures. A radio source’s dispersion measure, or DM, quantifies the amount of free electrons between the source and the observer; large DMs correspond to sources that are far away or behind dense regions. We have several models of the free electron distribution in the Milky Way, and because the Milky Way is finite in size, there’s a limit to how high a DM can be for a source in any given direction. These 11 pulsars have DMs higher than the maximum values predicted by the two main electron density models, the YMW16 model and the NE2001 model. This probably indicates that there are other structures contributing to the electron density along the lines of sight to these 11 pulsars – probably groups of not-yet-modeled H II regions, clouds of ionized gas often associated with hot young massive stars.
Figure 3: 11 of the new GPPS pulsars exhibited unexpectedly high dispersion measures. The blue arrows denote the highest expected DM along the line of sight to each pulsar according to the NE2001 model; the black arrows do the same for the YMW16 model. Five pulsars fit the former but not the latter, while the other six – in particular, J2030+3944g, or gpps0118 – have higher DMs than either model predicts, a likely sign of HII regions. Figure 15 of the paper.
Another 40 new pulsars from the GPPS dataset have spin periods of less than 30 milliseconds, with a subset of those rotating fast enough to qualify as millisecond pulsars, or MSPs. MSPs are interesting in their own right – astronomers think they’re the result of old pulsars accreting matter from a companion, gaining angular momentum and dramatically increasing their rotation speeds – but they’re also extremely handy tools. For example, millisecond pulsars are the components of pulsar timing arrays (PTAs), which aim to detect gravitational waves by looking for shifts in the arrival times of pulses. This is because they’re extremely stable: their pulse periods change only very slowly over time. With dozens of candidates from the first GPPS release alone, it’s possible that some of FAST’s discoveries will find their way into fledgling or still-growing PTAs, like the Indian Pulsar Timing Array or the International Pulsar Timing Array. 14 of the pulsars appear to lie in binary systems, and while this them makes them harder to time, it fits with what we expect from models of millisecond pulsars.
Figure 4: Astronomers can tell that a pulsar is in a binary system if its pulse arrival time shifts very slightly over the course of an observation in a specific way, caused by the pulsar moving through its orbit. The FAST data shows that J2023+2953g, among others, exhibits this characteristic curve. When the phase shift is corrected for, we get the correct pulse profile, seen in the bottom panel. Part of Figure 17 of the paper.
Not all pulsars are as stable as millisecond pulsars, though. Some exhibit phenomena called nulling, where a pulsar seems to turn of its emission for several spin periods, or mode switching, where a pulsar’s pulse profile varies over time. Unsurprisingly, several of the new GPPS pulsars exhibit one or both of these phenomena; in addition, one source, J1905+0849, is even more erratic. It’s what astronomers call a rotating radio transient, or RRAT. RRATs tend to emit single, sporadic pulses, rather than the mostly regular, periodic emission we see from normal pulsars. This makes them extremely difficult to detect and study with normal methods. Astronomers still don’t know for sure what RRATs are, although there are plenty of ideas, such as pulsars undergoing periods of extreme nulling.
It’s understandable if your head is spinning faster than a millisecond pulsar at this point. Although it’s easy to imagine them as cold, dense, dead lumps, neutron stars are actually dynamic and diverse objects, and any large-scale pulsar survey will reveal a menagerie of flavors. The authors of today’s paper estimate that FAST could discover about 1000 pulsars in total – and that 9000 more could be found by other instruments in the years and decades to come. With “Heaven’s Eye” pointed at the heavens, there’s plenty to be excited about.
This column is an opinion from Graham Thomson, an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years.
When Jason Kenney is finished hosting the traditional premier's pancake breakfast at the Calgary Stampede this July, might I suggest he take on another more colourful role at the "Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth": that of sideshow carnival barker.
With a hearty "Step right up!" Kenney could usher us rubes into the funhouse known as the "Steve Allan Public Inquiry."
For that is what the inquiry has become: a house of mirrors worthy of a trashy midway.
Or, considering the $3.5-million price tag for a job one-year behind schedule, a house of horrors.
Commissioned in July 2019 with a mandate to "inquire into the role of foreign funding in anti-Alberta energy campaigns," it is a "public" inquiry that has done nothing public except become a notable embarrassment to the Kenney government.
It is a clown car filled with deadline extensions that pop out relentlessly one after the other.
The original report was supposed to be delivered to the government in July 2020 but that target was extended to October, then January, then May and now July.
The government has blamed the delays variously on the pandemic, the need to ensure "fairness" in the process, and a court challenge from the environmental group, Ecojustice.
The real reason is that Allan was handed a confusing, if not impossible, task.
He was supposed to uncover "any foreign organization" that was financially supporting Canadian organizations that had "disseminated misleading or false information about the Alberta oil and gas industry" with the intent of landlocking Alberta oil.
It's a vague, all-encompassing mandate that seemed to be nothing more than a politically inspired witch hunt against environmental groups that had every right to protest against pipelines and/or the oilsands.
The mandate began to unravel last June when Allan bluntly declared he didn't have the time or resources for the "colossal undertaking" needed to fact-check whether a statement made by an organization was misleading or false.
At the same time, the government quietly changed the wording of Allan's mandate to suggest perhaps there wasn't any foreign funded conspiracy, after all.
Credibility lost
Energy Minister Sonya Savage altered the terms of reference to include the qualifier "if any," as in "inquire into the role of foreign funding, if any, in anti-Alberta energy campaigns."
The only thing unravelling faster than the inquiry's mandate has been its credibility. Not that it had much to begin with.
The non-public inquiry is a creature of Kenney's "fight back" strategy articulated during the 2019 election campaign. It includes the absurd War Room, an ineffectual referendum on equalization and a self-defeating, never-ending conflict with the federal Liberal government.
It is an out-of-date strategy formulated before COVID-19 had Kenney appealing to Ottawa for help, before the price of oil went negative, before Albertans saw Kenney as less appealing than Prime Minister Trudeau.
It is not a strategy based on reality but on rhetoric.
It is part of Kenney's political schtick where he blames Alberta's troubles not on a world moving away from fossil fuels but on shady enemies, domestic and foreign.
Allan has routinely refused interviews but someone who has talked to him says he regrets getting involved in the inquiry.
Donna Kennedy-Glans, a former Conservative MLA who sat on the government's "fair deal" panel, told the CBC's West of Centre podcast that she suggested to Allan last year he should simply stop the inquiry.
"It's almost like it's become a negotiation between Steve and the team that supports him and the minister of energy," said Kennedy-Glans. "And it's like no one's really clear or happy about what the outcome is supposed to be."
The outcome of a public inquiry is supposed to be based on facts, not on what a government minister would like to see.
This inquiry, though, is based more on farce than fact.
Having said that, there is indeed a foreign-based movement making life more difficult for Alberta's energy industry. It is a global shift away from oil and gas.
It is the French-based energy company, Total, writing off $9.3 billion worth of oilsands assets as a bad bet. It is the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank declaring it was joining a list of European financial companies blacklisting new oilsands projects for environmental reasons.
It is Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announcing last week it is selling all of its 51 million shares in Calgary-based Suncor Energy.
The Allan inquiry has until July 30 to submit its report to the government. The government is then supposed to make the report public within 90 days afterwards.
If all goes according to plan, we will get to see the Allan report by the end of October.
But when has anything gone to plan for the Allan inquiry?
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