Catch up: Liberals score with response to ‘not ready’ ads and other stories you may have missed

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Some political veterans were skeptical of Justin Trudeau's televised ad responding to the Tory"he's just not ready" criticism, writes Adam Radwanski.

Yet Trudeau's unprecedented move - repeating his opponents' criticisms - proved to be a hit with people who have seen his ad, helping the leader further sell himself as a champion of the middle class.

The ad, in which Mr. Trudeau pronounces himself “not ready to watch hard-working Canadians lose jobs and fall further behind” and ready instead to raise taxes on the rich, showed support for the party increase by 10 percentage points compared to the response from the Liberal's prewrit ad, according to Innovative Research Group.

The research also showed that the share of respondents who ranked Mr. Trudeau as the most competent leader and the one who most"cares about people like me" increased by six percentage points in each case. Selection of the Liberal leader increased by 17 percentage points with the question of which leader will"stand up for the middle class."

It seems that after struggling to reject the Tory attack and its subsequent effect on declining Liberal poll numbers, the party has finally found a response that helps their cause.

Tod Maffin and his wife are avid videogamers.

Together they developed a startup named GameSchool.tv, offering gamers the ability to"learn your favourite video games from the best players in the world. For one low monthly price."

As Mr. Maffin and his wife were mere days away from closing a six-figure seed round, with forecasts showing nearly $1.2-million in revenue at the end of their second year in business, the fast-moving, multiple-tentacled monster with unlimited ammo attacked: Google.

Google announced it had been quietly working on a special site called YouTube Gaming. It would feature live streams and categorized game-play videos.

At first, the couple considered this good news - it proved there was an audience for this type of gaming assistance.

But there was a catch: Google was offering their services for free.

"In a way, we’re fortunate that Google announced their project when they did," Mr. Maffin writes."Another week or two and we’d have brought investor money on board, incurred thousands in legal fees, and started significant spending on the platform and launch plan. Although we are out about $8,000, we didn’t go into debt, mortgage our home, or live off our credit cards."

A free-standing space elevator that would allow astronauts to launch into space from a platform high above the Earth is currently being developed by Thoth Technology of Pembroke, Ont.

Thoth was granted a U.S. patent for the technology in July. Inventor Dr. Brendan Quine explained that the structure would act like a passenger jet, eliminating the need for expendable rockets that would come off during normal flight and save more than 30 per cent of the fuel of a conventional rocket.

Mr. Quine says the project will cost between $5-billion and $10-billion (U.S.) and could take three to five years to complete the demonstration tower, with another three years to finish the full version.

According to the latest weekly tracking poll from Nanos Research, the numbers are showing little movement nationally in this three-way race for government, John Ibbitson writes.

Some highlights from the latest figures:

• Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, at 31.8-per-cent support, are about where they’ve been for a number of weeks
  
• The NDP may be starting to drift lower, at 29 per cent this week compared to 30.4 per cent last week
  
• The Liberals are stable, at 28.7 per cent compared to 28.6 per cent last week
  

But the race continues to be essentially tied, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

“With the election so far off in the distant future, there’s no real reason for Canadians to make a decision,” Mr. Nanos said in an interview.

The Liberals are staying strong in Atlantic Canada, the NDP command British Columbia and Quebec and the Conservatives see big support in Ontario and the Prairies.

The Rhinocerous party, known as the clowns of federal election campaigns, hit the trail yesterday with a 1,000-year plan that includes moving Canada's capital from Ottawa to the middle of the country, privatizing the Canadian army and nationalizing Tim Hortons.

Party leader Sebastien CoRhino Corriveau had to make his announcement on the street after he was thrown out of a Timmy's in east-end Montreal.

Mr. Corriveau explained that the most effective way to improve and defend Canadian values is to nationalize the beloved coffee chain.

“We’ll look at the results after five years, after 10 years, after 50 years and with the results of these studies we’ll be able to determine if other economic sectors should also be nationalized and be privatized," he said.

The Rhinos are promising a mind-blowing experience at the ballot box for those who vote for their party.

“The moment when you vote Rhino, you will automatically have an orgasm,” Mr. Corriveau said.