With the upcoming election in British Columbia provincial officials are finding they can’t keep up to blogs.

Technically if someone expresses a partisan opinion on a candidate, party or referendum, they are supposed to register as as advertising sponsors.

That’s a bit like putting one’s finger in the dyke, and Election BC realizes it may have to amend the Election Act now that so many blogs are online and so many bloggers are expressing their opinion.

The provincial election is Tuesday.

Child Found
Most Canadians have seen this picture because of the ingenuity of Toronto Metro Police. Frustrated and concerned about 200 pictures of this little girl online and her exploitation, police wanted to at least try to find her location. They did not have a name.

Within hours of the photo being released in February the location was identified by callers. A hotel in Disney World. They estimated her age to be about eight or nine.
Despite all the tips Toronto Police were unable to find her.
In April the Toronto unit released a photo of another young girl on a hotel couch that they believed might know the victim. It turns out she was a neighbour and friend. She was not exploited.

Eventually, the Toronto police, the FBI, the Orange County, Fla. sheriff’s office and the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were all involved in the search.

Sharing information is often difficult for police agencies. Turf wars abound.

This child is now 11 or 12 and is in foster care in the US. The man who molested her is in prison. He adopted her from Russia when she was about 5.

I don’t think any of the effort the Toronto police went to has been in vain.
This innovative approach to save this girl shows how willing the public is to step forward and help in a child exploitation case.
I think it shows us the need for police agencies to co-operate and use the same technology as pedophiles to catch them.

Ever since I first saw this picture I’ve wondered about this mystery child.
She is physically safe. Hopefully she is getting psychological help.
Police say that there are 50 thousand children that have been exploited.
Only 500 children have been identified and saved.