Advocatus Diaboli

This blog is about things, issues, ideas, and concepts on subjects focusing on Canada, Canadian Issues and Affairs and those that affect Canada and Canadians from afar.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Celebrity intellectual Michael Ignatieff

Oh great.

Just what Canada needs the, 'Celebrity intellectual Michael Ignatieff,' setting his sites on 24 Sussex Dr.

Will the Globe and Mail be able to fawn over two stars in the Liberal Party at the same time?

Or will they drop their current darling for producing mindless copy, Belinda Stronach ?

As it goes Michael Ignatieff will do well. It is easy to become the captain of a sinking ship when no one else wants it.

He can spin it all he wants, but his eyes are fixed on a sinking ship. The Liberal Party of Canada.

By meeting with an informal group of influential Liberals in Toronto, he already has sent a message to Western Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada is all but dead west of Manitoba and all we are waiting for is the death announcement in the newspaper.

His greatest coup would be to connect with the 50% of the voters in Canada that do not and did not show up to vote. That rises to 80% of people under 35. Many of who do not watch, read, and listen to the mass media.

His next greatest coup would be to realize to do this is not by some ivory tower job at the University of Toronto nor by addressing influential Canadian audiences.

He would be better served if he got out among the great unwashed and talk to them on their level. I doubt if he understands much about the concerns, needs, wants, and desires of the vast Canadian voting public who could careless about his attempts to produce a four-part TV documentary series and companion book with the CBC. Nor watch or read it.

It does show the Liberals urging him to enter political life and the 'senior Liberal with extensive election campaign experience,' advising him still have their heads buried in the past and away from the mainstream Canada.

If Ignatieff truly believes he has the moxy for the job, he should choose the lesser of two evils and run in a Calgary riding for his seat in parliament.

I doubt it if he has the spine for real politics outside of the ivory tower though.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Basement Suites "Should they be legalized?"

This is part of a research project I did for a local Calgary MLA, with regards to how best to help legalize safe basement suites, granny suites, in-law suites and such.

With a few changes and some standards set up, a large number of housing units can be made legal and give an incentive to people to put them in. It provides low income housing, and it provides seniors with a possible solution to being able to stay in their homes longer.

Basement Suites "Should they be legalized?"

The Issue:

Currently, since there are no building codes specifically designed for Basements suites in Alberta, Municipalities have by default, been applying building codes which were originally designed for Duplexes and Apartments instead - which in most cases, means that Municipalities do not have the power to approve basement suites, since they cannot meet these codes

For some people, this is a bit of a “square peg in a round hole” type approach, which has lead to some impossibilities in terms of compliance.

For example, duplex and apartment building codes require an 8 foot ceiling, and a separate furnace in each living unit. Since most houses built decades ago, were not required back then to build 8 foot ceilings in the basement, most basement suites today have ceilings somewhat lower than 8 feet, and thus it is impossible for a homeowner to comply with this requirement (or the two furnace requirement).

Consequently, because municipalities do not have the tools in their toolbox ( appropriate building codes which would allow approval) this forces the municipality to refuse approval of the unit, even though it might be correctly zoned and a perfectly acceptable suite otherwise, and even though affordable housing is always a very big problem (especially in Calgary Currie!).

Thus, society is left with this big dilemma of the so-called illegal suites – suites which have been built without municipal approvals in place, which essentially therefore have not then been inspected and may have other safety and financial issues worrisome to all.

Should these suites be legalized? - if they can be done so in a manner which improves safety and life-and-death requirements, but reduces (or grandfathers) requirements on “nice to have” but non life-threatening issues, such as requiring an 8 foot ceiling? In other words, if we allow lower ceilings in return for requiring installation of smoke detectors, would we then allow - and could we get - homeowners to have their suites approved in a proper manner?

The approach, is to give the power to municipalities through the Provincial building codes, to be ABLE to make a decision on whether or not the suite should be allowed (once it has come to their attention), something they currently cannot do.

In return for more pragmatic conditions of approval, safety improvements WILL be required, such as smoke detectors, and windows large enough to crawl out of. However, these requirements are low-cost, and will greatly enhance safety, and thus are not seen as an impediment when compared to the alternate case. Readers should be aware that this is an extremely controversial issue.

NIMBY issues (you can do it somewhere else, just Not in My Back Yard!) seem to be the biggest obstacle, the exclusionary desire to “zone” or eliminate the housing for “those” people as a roundabout way of making sure there are no undesirables in the community, who might threaten the children of the community.

Some apartment owners object and do not want the competition either……and social advocates insist the government should be building much better housing for the poor or buying them their own houses in the first place. Few jurisdictions anywhere in the world have really tackled this issue – although we all know that across North American, millions of people are probably living in such units – thus, Alberta has a chance to really show some leadership here, if our committee is successful in finding the right solutions. All of which makes for an important political discussion in which your comments and votes can really count!

We believe we have solutions to propose, which would allow current safety and security to be enhanced, while at the same time creating a municipal permitting process to essentially allow manipulates to be able to make their own choices in these matters - and thus resolve the legal dilemmas municipal authorities are faced with. Currently, we are holding hearings across the Province, to find out what people think - as well as soliciting feedback from the public through mechanisms such as this web-site. If we succeed against the odds - it will likely be of benefit to many, and serve as an example, for many other jurisdictions across Canada and the U.S. - since so few have ever tackled it before. Wish us luck - and let us know what you think!

Read why so few have ever tried to tackle this issue below, and make up your mind where you stand - then comment below, read and react to other's comments and rate them on a scale of one to ten - and then go to the voting page on the main menu to register your opinion.

For The Idea:

Keeping these suites "illegal", is not a good solution - from a pragmatic practical standpoint, it is only discouraging and preventing a number of desirable goals from being achieved, such as ensuring tenant safety, and ensuring a good supply of affordable housing units on the market being created.Almost all the complaints about basement suites being undesirable, is not really the point here. They are already there, for the most part, and as such many of the fears about creating problems such as parking complaints, etc, wouldn't change much under this proposal - and in fact may even be alleviated.

Opposing this initiative on the basis that you are opposed to basement suites in general, is not what we are doing here- this initiative is not about where or if they should be allowed or where they would be allowed, it is only about how should they be built - if and only if they are allowed by the Municipality. Primarily, it is about whether or not the Municipality, "should" be given the power to make a decision to approve a suite, under different codes than what currently exist - a power that they don't have now - they can only condemn them.

This is not creating a "two-tier" housing scheme, but rather it is improving upon a currently-occurring situation that is undesirable from a number of standpoints. Safety is NOT being compromised AT ALL in this initiative - quite the opposite - the goal is to ENHANCE safety requirements - such as requiring smoke detectors, requiring windows large enough to crawl out of, etc.

The demographics of people wanting to rent basement suites, is often quite different from those in upscale apartments - they are servicing different types of customers, and thus basement suites are not in direct competition to apartment investors. People living in basement suites, often cannot afford normal apartments - and thus basement suites are only competing with homeless shelters. Furthermore, "preventing competition" as a consideration of why such suites should not be allowed, should not be allowed as an objection in a free-enterprise economy.

These situations exist now - it is not creating a "new category" of sub-standard housing. Poor people are living in basement suites now - and most of them are not properly inspected and may present safety concerns.

There are no building codes, specific to basement or secondary suites now - the only codes being applied, were developed with apartments or duplexes in mind, and thus are not applicable to the unique circumstances of secondary suites in older existing homes. Thus, almost no existing basement suites could comply except at tremendous cost - and thus, homeowners do not try to get approvals through the authorities - they know they would be rejected. So what happens in reality is that they build them anyway, but just don't tell the municipal authorities, because they know the municipal authorities could not approve them, even if they wanted to.

Because homeowners do not apply for permits, other minor safety code features that might have been achieved through a pragmatic, proper permitting process, do not get installed - and thus tenant safety is compromised, as a result of too-stringent safety demands.

If you set the bar too high - people CANNOT comply, and therefore WILL NOT APPLY. If you are reasonable about it, more people would apply properly - and it would be better to get some major safety features - than none at all - which could be the current situation.

In fact, if you allowed approval of these suites, landlords considering upgrades or creation of a new suite, would not be so worried about having their entire investment continually at great risk - and would therefore have incentive to spend more money and do better upgrades than what they do now. No one spends a lot of money on basement suites if they know they could be shut down at any time - approved suites, could allow for substantially more investment and quality, by responsible landlords.

Safety is a spectrum - not a "black and white". Overly demanding and prescriptive safety codes being applied to anyone trying to legally build a basement suite - or used against a landlord when inspecting and closing down a basement suite - might result in tenants being put into even more dangerous situations - such as being homeless and out on the street, during winter especially. Thus, safety, is always a trade-off - and must not be judged on a too-narrow criteria or single criteria only - such as just looking at "fire safety" - but should be judged on "overall safety" instead, that can be achieved at at reasonable cost ( otherwise landlords will not do it, and will continue to not comply.)

Many of the building codes specifications, which would prevent an approval of an affordable basement suite, actually offer very little improvement in safety -they are primarily more quality of life issues, or a convenience issue. As such, they might be adding considerable costs to a prospective landlord, but are only creating very little safety improvements for a tenant - and thus are just another barrier preventing affordable housing. For example, does a single family house, wanting to put in a basement suite,really need to have two furnaces? If having to put two furnaces into a basement, in order to get municipal approval, prevents people from applying for a permit in the first place - and going underground instead and not seeking an approval - does this make sense to keep it as a minimum building specification? Or can this requirement - developed for duplexes - be dropped?

Without basement suites, tens of thousands would be homeless, or face much higher apartment/duplex rents, or be forced into multiple person living arrangements with compromised privacy, etc. - all of which can create numerous other problems, also creating safety concerns.

Basement suites in existing homes, especially older existing homes, cannot comply with modern building codes without enormous costs being incurred - thus building codes,specific to such situations, and "grandfathering" should be considered.

Absentee "slum landlords" problems could be more effectively dealt with if proper permitting, inspections and other bylaws could be implemented and complaints more effectively acted upon. Most people would want to comply, if they had a choice to be able to do so - very few people are in any way actually malicious.

It is possible that the permitting process could include different requirements and/or different specifications for absentee landlords, vs. resident owner-occupied landlords.

On-site Parking requirements could be a condition of proper approval for a legal basement suite. Thus, a proper approval process, might greatly improve upon the current situation, where basement suites are already existing anyway, and creating parking problems on a block. The Bar-b-que out back might have to go, in order to create on-site parking to get the cars off the street - but municipal authorities could require that, as a condition of approval of what is currently an "illegal" suite where everyone is currently parking out front. It would help, not hurt, the current situation.

People living in basement suites pretty much includes the majority of the population at one point of their life or another - they most certainly are not "undesirables", any more than any other renters in apartments of duplexes are. It is a stage of life issue, an affordability issue, a "going-to-school issue, or a life-style choice - and there is absolutely nothing wrong with living in a basement suite in order to save money on rent, for anybody.

Studies show that most complaints or concerns about secondary suites in houses, are a myth.

Property values tend to increase, not decrease in communities that allow secondary suites. It tends to only increase density - in communities that have experienced a significant and continuing decrease in density first - namely older, inner city communities.

Most suites, are not problematic to the neighbours at all, most tenants are not problematic at all, and tenants often are people who take the bus, thus helping improve bus services into a community. Having a properly approved basement suite, increases property value for the homeowner, allows for proper insurance, allows for proper financing (CMHC will not give high-ratio mortgages to young people if they have a "mortgage helper" basement suite tenant living in the basement - which is really strange, when you think about it!) and so on.

Seniors/widows and widowers could earn some badly needed income, students could use the cheap rent, communities wouldn't be emptied out as the kids grow up and leave, young couples could use the "mortgage helper when buying a new home" - there are many benefits.

Allowing secondary suites would allow the private sector to create hundreds if not thousands of affordable housing units, without one dime of government/taxpayer investment required.

Conclusion:

The many benefits of allowing secondary suites, greatly outweighs the negatives - they should be allowed in properly zoned areas, starting with a major overhaul of Provincial building codes which are creating major barriers to legalizing basement and other secondary suites. The power to ultimately approve or disapprove of such suites, will still rest at the Municipal level, and Municipalities have many other tools in the tool box to deal with any negatives that may be created. However, unless the Provincial building codes are changed to allow for such approvals, Municipalities currently do NOT have the power to approve these suites at all - they have no discretion on this, they must apply the Provincial building codes. This does not allow Municipalities to be able to make those common-sense, logical decisions - instead, they are forced to "go by the book" and disapprove all such suites, if for example, they don't have an eight foot ceiling. The Provincial building codes should be changed to allow Municipalities the power and the discretion to deal with these suites locally.

Against:

Apartment owners and investors, must now compete against low-cost housing being allowed in single family homes, which under the current proposal,would have lesser building code regulations than what apartment owners are forced to comply with - it is unfair competition. Why should apartment owners have to build 8 foot ceilings if basement suite owners don't have to?

If all basement suites were to be closed down, apartment rents would initially sky-rocket - but this would then lead to much new building of new apartments, new investment and so on - and then prices would eventually come back down again after a while.

Codes for all this new construction would be equal across the board, and eventually there would be more competition amongst landlords and prices would eventually come down again. Allowing low-cost basement suites, prevents apartment landlords from making enough money to build more modern and up-to-date apartments instead.

Secondary suites in housing leads to too many people in one house and too many cars on the street out front. This becomes a nuisance and a detriment to the neighbours.

Politically, NIMBY ( not in my back yard) issues from the neighbours, and secondary suites being rented to younger people or undesirables who just go around partying, creates all sorts of problems and fears in the community, and thus is not an area that politicians want to touch with a ten-foot pole. It is not something a neighbourhood would want to have or see promoted, since young people especially tend to live in these suites, and thus are a source of concern and fear to the neighbours, many of whom may be senior citizens and who like their sleep at night and not having to worry about who is living next door..

Absentee landlords are often perceived to be among the worst sort of property owners in a neighbourhood. Allowing outside investors to invest in rentable houses with multiple suites, should be discouraged in any community, and any attempts to "legalize" basement suites, would likely just promote more absentee landlord problems in a neighbourhood

Basement suites create parking problems on a block.

Basement suites bring undesirables into a neighbourhood, in terms of transient renters who do not have the same sense of community responsibility.

Conclusion:

Many basement suites exist and they should almost all be shut down. They are often compromising the fire safety of the individuals, they are really substandard in terms of quality of life quite often, and have little or no benefit to the neighbours or the community. No attempts should be made to encourage upgrades, retrofits of fire alarms, larger windows or doors, as all of this may just encourage more basement suites in a community and further legitimize what should never have been allowed in the first place. Giving Municipalities the right to use their discretion, and giving Municipalities the right to grant approvals or grandfather existing suites, will only result in more of these units being legitimized....the Province should prevent this from happening. Municipalities should NOT be given the discretion nor the power, to allow for legalizing of basement suites.

Stronach, her recusals, $300 million in old world technology

In your story fawning over the riches of Belinda Stronach and her need to recuse herself from discussions around the cabinet table, and basically ignored the real issue of why the cabinet is even discussing the need to for the upcoming $300 million bail out of the old and tired North American dinosaur auto makers. Out of 20 inches of copy, two were about the $300 million. That is expensive copy.

If you have the time to dedicate three reporters, a 4 column wide photo, and 20 inches of copy to a story, why not report on what is really at issue.

What is at issue is that the Federal government is even discussing the $300 million in bailouts for tired technology and vehicles that are not looking to the future and have a limited shelf life.

These bailouts will not employ methods to fight green house gasses, reduce fuel consumption and even create sustainable long term environmentally friendly jobs. GM is laying off 25,000 employees world wide.

The story should have been about the fact California is rushing to endorse and legislate the use of hybrid cars in that state, in areas it has the power to do so, and in others they are using the carrot. It seams the Terminator, sees the future and is wooing Toyota to have the Prius plant built in California.

Now we hear Premier Dalton McGuinty and Economic Development Minister Joe Cordiano have promised $125-million in financial help from the Ontario and federal governments, for Toyota. Not to build the Prius their hybrid car, but RAV4 compact sport utility vehicles and possibly cars for Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand, a brand not sold in Canada.

Why does Canada always have to be the after-thinkers in the world?

What would happen if Canada took that $400 million and offered an incentive program of double GST and gas tax rebates to any and all commercial users switched to Prius' or other hybrid alternatives?

If Canada created incentives for people to buy Prius' they would create a demand that Toyota could not ignore and look at building the future car here in Canada, and we can sell and ship it to California.

Toyota if you look at hybrid sales have increased 81% year over year.

SUV sales have been plummeting last month by 30%.

GM announced that they would lay off another 25,000 people.

It has been shown that a taxi driver who drives a hybrid can save $1,200 a month on gas, which basically means the cab driver in Canada driving a hybrid is driving for free and putting a thousand bucks in their pocket.

Think about if all newspapers and media were mandated to use hybrids in their fleets or get no further subsidies, government advertising, or access to the press galleries in Ottawa?

Think if all of the provinces, cities, and agencies who want gas tax or GST rebates got double the amount if they used hybrids in their fleets?

It really is a no brainer.

Why then do three well paid Globe and Mail reporters waste so much time and money wondering out loud about the Stronach's wealth, and look at what is really important to Canadians?

Letter To The Editor - Hot Properties

How could you not do experiential marketing right in the centre of the universe?

By the way what is experiential marketing?

Don't see it mentioned again in the article. Was it a new word invented to obfuscate the fact that all the Maple Leafs are doing is using the 4 P's of marketing to perfection? And we can't pass up an opportunity to invent a new word.

What is experiential inventory?

Too bad the people at Marketing Magazine didn't realize that this sort of marketing is going on all across Canada, even in Calgary and Alberta.

Too bad they did not realize that there are several post-secondary and corporations all ready using experiential inventory or e-learning to teach people in all four corners of the world.

Too bad we did not have a reporter out in Calgary or Alberta that was allowed to report on real marketing communications going on here.

I know, Toronto is the centre of the marketing communications world in Canada.

Gas well go-ahead angers residents

Lets say sour gas can be, "drilled, completed and operated safely," as the EUB maintains in their approval of the Compton Petroleum Corp.'s application to drill four potentially poisonous sour gas wells at the city's edge.

Let's say, that Alberta Energy Minister Greg Melchin and industry representatives, are right when they say the ruling is an "important signal" that companies can develop sour gas safely.
One then must wonder why the promised, by Ralph Klein, Alberta Health And Wellness' 2000 plans for research into the affects of sour gas on both humans and cattle, has not been fully lived up to.

Yes, there has been $17,000,000 spent on the studies, only for the cattle.

One also must wonder if the companies can develop sour gas safely with an emergency planning zone from a radius of 15 kilometres in place, can we see it actually work?

Can we see how 300,000 Calgarians will be evacuated?

Can we see how the Calgary Health Region will lock down, evacuate, or help the people that will be in the new hospital planned for the land almost next door to the wells?

Let Compton pay for a mock disaster trial. For both a hospital and 300,000 people. If they are sure of their plan, then they will see no problem in putting their money where their mouths are.

In fact I am sure they can get their liability insurer, and friends in the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

In fact if all of the members of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers feel sour gas drilling, exploration and processing is so safe, then maybe they would pay the $17,000,000 to finish the human side to the, ' Klein promised,' Alberta Health And Wellness' 2000 research into the affects of sour gas on both humans.

It would help Ralph live up to his promises, and show the public that even the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers have no fear of their industry.

If it can work, with in the time frame humans have to live after breathing in sour gas.

Marilynn Christensen is wrong when she says Compton has been given a licence to kill. It is a license in stupidity they have been given.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

EnviroNewsandIssues Newsletter - Edition 16

Jim Harris - Leader of The Green Party of Canada in
Edmonton June 22,and 23, 2005 or Calgary on June 19, 20, and 21st.
Come meet him in Calgary at the Oolong Tea House June 19 - 5:00 to 7:00PM

June 17, 2005

Senate Makes Environment the Focus of Energy Bill - New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 16 - Heading toward a collision with the House and White House, the Senate sought Thursday to put an environmentally friendly stamp on its energy legislation as lawmakers and President Bush struggle to agree on an elusive national power policy.
In an effort to strengthen their hand in looming negotiations with the House, senators voted 52 to 48 to require power companies to use more renewable fuels like wind and solar power to generate electricity. At the same time, the Finance Committee approved a $14 billion tax incentive package that rewards alternative fuels and energy efficiency.
U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan - Washington Post
Global-Warming Science Assailed
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Bush administration officials working behind the scenes have succeeded in weakening key sections of a proposal for joint action by the eight major industrialized nations to curb climate change.
Under U.S. pressure, negotiators in the past month have agreed to delete language that would detail how rising temperatures are affecting the globe, set ambitious targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions and set stricter environmental standards for World Bank-funded power projects, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Negotiators met this week in London to work out details of the document, which is slated to be adopted next month at the Group of Eight's annual meeting in Scotland.
On-line news gaining ground - Globe and Mail
New York — One in five Web users who rely on newspapers for news primarily go to their on-line editions, rather than read articles in print, a new study has found.
The majority, 72 per cent, still primarily use the print editions, while 7 per cent split their time evenly, said a survey released Thursday by Nielsen/NetRatings.
“It's great news for the on-line entities,” said Gerry Davidson, senior media analyst with Nielsen/Net Ratings.
“It shows people are going to those sites and they are responding.”
Men are more likely to read news primarily on-line.
The survey excluded people who obtain their news from other sources, such as television, and people without Internet access.
The random survey of 9,000 individuals was conducted from January through March. It has a margin of sampling error of one percentage point.
June 16, 2005
West can lead battle on smog - Saskatoon StarPhoenix
National news reports that show week-long smog alerts in Toronto and doctors reciting mortality statistics attributed to bad air, along with video images of the haze that covers much of the Golden Horseshoe area of Ontario, shouldn't cause smugness among western Canadians.
If you live in a Prairie city, the notion that a good west wind will come along and move along the ground-level ozone, particulate matter and harmful oxides that form smog is false comfort. It's not always that windy; besides, the solution isn't that simple.
One only has to stand on the Meewasin trail on the east side of the riverbank some warm summer morning and watch the cars streaming into the downtown on the 25th Street Bridge.
You notice the haze at ground level even in our modest city, especially on days where the weather pattern produces thermal inversions.
First Nations talks on Mackenzie pipeline put hearings in doubt - Edmonton Journal
CALGARY - Imperial Oil Ltd. says it is encouraged by the progress made on resolving the complaints which led to the suspension of work on the $7-billion Mackenzie Valley pipeline project in April. However, it isn't ready to say whether regulatory hearings for the line will go ahead in the fall.
Speaking to reporters at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers investment symposium, Michael Yeager, Imperial's senior vice-president, said Wednesday the company was satisfied with the response it has received from the federal government since it halted pre-construction work.
"We have every bit of what we need to have addressed being worked on," Yeager said. "We did not have that prior to our announcement."
Right to counsel 'not absolute,' Supreme Court rules - Globe and Mail
Ottawa — Canada's highest court says the right to seek legal counsel is “not absolute” for drivers pulled over on suspicion of driving drunk.
The Supreme Court of Canada says two Manitoba men should be retried on charges of impaired driving.
Both were acquitted because police officers did not fully inform them of their rights before they
agreed to – and failed – roadside sobriety tests.
The court says such rights are reasonably limited in cases where police are trying to keep drunks off the road.
Devils Lake not on hold, N. Dakota says - Globe and Mail
Winnipeg — Weather, not diplomacy, will be the only reason to delay the startup of the Devils Lake water diversion project next month, a spokesman for a North Dakota senator said Thursday.
Don Canton denied a published report that Governor John Hoeven has promised not to operate the outlet until either an agreement has been reached with Canadian officials or talks break off.
The comment was made by Treasury Board President Reg Alcock, Manitoba's only cabinet representative.
Labour Force Survey: Western Canada's off-reserve Aboriginal population - Statistics Canada
April 2004 to March 2005
Labour market conditions have improved for off-reserve Aboriginal people in western Canada.
However, gaps still persist between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population, according to new data from the Labour Force Survey.
Balance sheet of the agricultural sector at December 31, 2004 - Statistics Canada
Farm liabilities at the end of 2004 were up 4.9% to $44.9 billion from 2003. This represented the 11th consecutive annual increase. Current liabilities increased 8.1% while long-term liabilities were 4.0% higher compared with a year earlier.
Farm sector equity in Canada edged up to $183.4 billion in 2004, as both assets and liabilities increased. The value of farm real estate continued the steady growth started in 1988 with a 1.8% advance in 2004, and was the main contributor to the increase in assets.
The debt-to-asset ratio increased for the ninth consecutive year to 19.7% in 2004. This ratio, which measures the dependence of farm businesses on debt, reached a new record for the 1981 to 2004 period, edging up from 19.0% in 2003. The lowest ratio (12.4%) occurred in 1981.
After reaching its lowest level since 1981 in 2003, the current assets-to-current liabilities ratio edged up to 1.981 in 2004. The lower levels recorded in the past two years mean that operators within the agriculture sector had a lower ability to pay short-term debts compared to the 1981 to 2002 period.
The interest coverage ratio, which indicates the ability to pay interest charges and to protect creditors from interest payment default, reached 3.176 — the highest level since 1996 and well above the previous 10-year average (1994 to 2003).
Don't believe the hype: What's really behind the Fraser Institute's "Tax Freedom Day"
OTTAWA, June 16 - Each summer the Fraser Institute announces the arrival of "tax freedom day:" the day when Canadians allegedly stop "working for the government" and start "working for themselves." A study by Neil Brooks, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, takes a closer look at Tax Freedom Day and finds that to arrive at this politically loaded and heavily-reported date the Fraser Institute's calculations understate the income of Canadians, overstate their taxes andmisuse the concept of averages.
"The concept of Tax Freedom Day is a gimmick designed to suggest thatCanadians derive no benefit from the taxes they pay when nothing could be further from the truth," explains Brooks.
"With their taxes, Canadian citizens buy their most valued goods and services: high-quality public schools, world-class universities, excellent medical services, public parks and libraries, safe streets, and livable cities."
In addition to reinforcing the suggestion that the goods and services Canadians provide to themselves through their taxes do not enlarge their freedoms or enrich their lives, the methods used by the Fraser Institute tocalculate Tax Freedom Day are also deeply flawed.
To determine family income, the Fraser Institute uses a family's cash income-a much more limited definition of income-rather than a family's totalincome before taxes. This gives the impression that Canadian families pay muchmore of their income in taxes than they actually do, and also ensures that tax freedom day falls much later in the year than it would if a more accurate method of calculating tax burden had been used. In 2004, according to theInstitute, the average family paid over 48% of its total income in taxes andtax freedom day fell on June 28. However, if the Institute had based its calculations on an average family's total income, only about 31% of thatfamily's income would have gone to taxes and tax freedom day would have fallen on April 30-58 days earlier.
In addition, the Fraser Institute bases its calculations on the "average" family as opposed to the "median" family. Because income is distributed sounequally in Canada, the average income of families is much higher than the income of the median family-- the family in the middle of the income distribution scale. The majority of families earn much less than the average income and their effective tax rates are lower than that of the statisticalaverage family.
"Even if it were useful to inform Canadians how many days they had towork in order to earn enough to pay their taxes, the information the Fraser Institute presents about the tax system is flawed, misleading, seriouslydistorts public knowledge, and hinders rational debate about the tax system," concludes Brooks.
Trudeau Foundation Awards Canada's Largest Social Sciences and Humanities Scholarships to 14 Students.
Inspirational students awarded up to $200,000 each; 9/11 hero, Arctic traveller and third world development worker among honoured scholars
MONTREAL, June 16 - The balance between making a difference throughresearch and making ends meet got a little easier for 14 doctoral students today, who were awarded a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation DoctoralScholarship worth up to $200,000 each. The new crop of Trudeau Scholars includes a 9/11 hero, a Canadian Arctic traveller and a third world medic,among others from fascinating backgrounds and fields of study.
"We strive to find the students who show the greatest potential toinfluence and promote public policy debate at home and on a global scale, andthis year's Trudeau Scholars are poised for astonishing success," said Roy L. Heenan, Chairman of the Board of the Trudeau Foundation.
"Trudeau Scholarships are about more than money; they're about supporting and fosteringCanada's future leaders."
This year's recipients are:
Emma J. Stewart (Human Geography, University of Calgary)
Health Minister Broadens Representativeness of Pest Management Advisory Council
OTTAWA, June 16 - Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh today announced the appointment of 14 new members to Health Canada's Pest Management Advisory Council (PMAC), including stakeholders from several organizationsnever before represented on the Council.
"We have a wide range of expertise represented here, and a good balance of interests. We have members from the research sector, health and environmental organizations, manufacturers and users," said Minister Dosanjh."I am particularly pleased to see representation from the Council of ChiefMedical Officers of Health and the Ontario College of Family Physicians. PMAC input is essential to meeting my commitment to openness and transparency in all aspects of the work we do at Health Canada and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency."
Minister Dosanjh went on to say that the expansion of views on pesticides is especially important with the coming into force of the new Pest ControlProducts Act (PCPA). "PMAC continues to play a key role as we move toward this goal," he said.
Established in 1998, PMAC is a multi-stakeholder group that fosters communication and dialogue among stakeholders and with the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). The Council provides advice directly to the Ministerof Health on policies and issues relating to the federal pest management regulatory system. With approximately 25 members, PMAC has a balanced representation ofinterests, drawing members from the pesticide manufacturing industry, user organizations, the research/academic community and environmental and healthgroups. PMAC also includes the past provincial co-chair of theFederal/Provincial/Territorial Committee on Pest Management and Pesticides.
Those named to PMAC from organizations new to the Council are:
- Dr. Eric Young, Deputy Provincial Health Officer in British Columbia and a member of the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health, who brings extensive experience in environmental health, West Nile Virus response and community health;
- Dr. Neil Arya, family physician in Waterloo, Ontario who brings recognized expertise in environmental health, and who is a member of the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment;
- Alain Renaud from Druide, a Quebec-based manufacturer of organic body care products including citronella oil used as an insect repellent;
- Chris Andrews of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, an organization that links eight provincial member associations and provides education, information, research and certification services.
- Dr. Claire Infante-Rivard, Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, a noted health researcher currently studying genetic and environmental risk factors;
- Dr. Richard Belanger, Professor of Plant Pathology at Laval University and an expert in biocontrols in agriculture and forestry;
- Dr. Jeremy McNeil, Visiting Professor of Chemical Ecology at the University of Western Ontario, and an international expert in integrated pest management with a special interest in public awareness of science;
- Glen Sampson, Associate Professor of Weed Science, Plant Pathology and Pest Management in the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and a specialist in integrated pest management with current research in herbicide use patterns, environmental technologies and weed populations;
- Dr. Mark Winston, Professor of Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University, an international researcher and author of numerous books including the award-winning Nature Wars: People versus Pests.
There are also new members of PMAC from organizations previously represented on the Council: - Dr. Irena Buka from the Canadian Pediatric Society - Drew Franklin from the Canadian Consumer Speciality Products Association - Rick Smith from Croplife Canada and - Gary Brown of the Canadian Horticultural Council.
June 15, 2005
The Community of Democracies May Reshape The UN: Canada Should Take a More Decisive Role
TORONTO, June 15 - Prime Minister Paul Martin should throw Canada's support behind the fledgling Community of Democracies in an effort to reform the problem-plagued United Nations, says a new C.D. Howe Institute Commentary.
In Cleaning Up the UN in an Age of U.S. Hegemony, author Radek Sikorskisays that as a more active member of the Community, a UN caucus of 100democracies founded in 2000, Canada could exercise considerable influence inrebuilding the United Nations as an effective multilateral forum where smallercountries could more actively engage the U.S. superpower.
Sikorski, Executive Director of the New Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute and a former deputy minister of defence and offoreign affairs in Poland, says that although Martin is "an ardent advocate ofthe L-20 - a group of leading nations from both the developed and thedeveloping world - he has had trouble drumming up support for it, particularlyin the United States."
"An even deeper problem is that the proposed members of the L-20 havelittle in common," he says.
The author adds: "Martin's basic instinct is correct, though. Because theU.S. is so strong, smaller powers naturally try to contain it withinmultilateral institutions. In normal times, the UN might serve that purpose.However, the UN is in crisis."
The Community of Democracies, which has Washington's tentative support, gives representation to a diverse group of countries under an ideologicalumbrella, Sikorski says, "potentially generating trust and a sense of purposewhich has been so sorely missing at the UN".
"Inaction in the face of genocide, the antics of its Human Rights Commission and the oil-for-food scandal, have all sapped the UN's authority; forthcoming arguments over increasing the membership of the UN SecurityCouncil and the election of the next Secretary will do little to restore itsreputation," the author says.
"The Community should make itself heard on all these issues and Canada should be a far stronger voice.'
The Commentary is available at www.cdhowe.org.
The C.D. Howe Institute is Canada's leading independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit economic policy research institution. Its individual and corporatemembers are drawn from business, universities and the professions.
TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty's bid to shed his reputation as a promise-breaker has suffered another blow with confirmation his Liberal government can't shut down all of Ontario's coal-fired generators by 2007.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan has released a schedule for closing three of the four remaining coal-burning plants by the promised date.
But he admits the huge Nanticoke generating station - Ontario's worst polluter - will have to remain open until 2009.
Nanticoke, which generates nearly four-thousand megawatts of electricity, will start shutting some units in 2008.
But Duncan says the last unit at the Lake Erie facility won't close until the following year.
Duncan recently warned Ontario would not be able to close all the coal plants if it could not find enough new generating capacity to replace them.
June 14, 2005
Government hurries up and waits - Ottawa Sun
Despite promises to move on the Agent Orange file, the federal bureaucracy seems unenthusiastic about providing aid
One morning last month, Defence Minister Bill Graham called us from his car phone with some encouraging news for potentially thousands of Canadian veterans poisoned by toxic "Agent Orange" herbicides in the 1960s.
After 45 years of denial and coverups, the federal government was finally coming to the aid of victims and their families.
Or so Graham promised.
Is globalization losing élan? - Halifax Herald
CANADIANS have been told for years by politicians and business leaders that we have no choice but to adjust to the dictates of economic globalization.
In Canada, this has been used to push for closer integration with the U.S., a less active government, and the abandonment of a social agenda. But it appears that in other parts of the world, citizens are rejecting the notion that they have no choice when it comes to globalization.
The most recent example is the rejection by Dutch and French voters of the version of European integration being pushed by political and economic elites.
In spite of politicians claiming that a No vote would mean chaos and the collapse of the European project, 62 per cent of voters rejected the proposed EU constitution in the Netherlands while 55 per cent rejected it in France.
International Symposium on Local E-Democracy
July 26-27, 2005 - Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
http://dowire.org/localedem
The International Symposium on Local E-Democracy is a dynamic conference exploring leading e-democracy trends around the world. The next day, a field trip to the "wired" chambers of the Minnesota State Legislature and Northfield, Minnesota's community blogging efforts along with traveling color commentary will bring one of birthplaces of "e-democracy" to life.
This is the world's first international conference focused specifically on local e-democracy. We expect representatives of a number of government, non-profit, research, and civic organisations to attend. If you are interested in improving governance and citizen participation in the information age, this conference is for you.
The symposium is sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the United Kingdom and the UK Local e-Democracy National Project along with other partners.
* Register Today - Full Conference Details http://dowire.org/localedem
Or sign-up for future conference e-mail updates: localedem-subscribe@dowire.org
* Plenary Themes
The following panels are being developed:
- Informed Elections - From e-voting to voter education online
- E-Government and Democracy - Leading e-democracy practices in governance and civic education
- Local Citizens and Community Online - Citizen e-activism, local blogging, and media online
We promise short presentations with an emphasis on interactive discussion.
June 13, 2005
Inspired England romp to victory - Telegraph
England (179-8) beat Australia (79) by 100 runs
In a summer where bloody imagery and emotive language is bound for copious use, it was first corpuscle to England after they won the inaugural Twenty20 match between them and Australia.
Some will claim it as a humiliation, after Australia made the second lowest score in a Twenty20 match in England, though with the visitors' rustiness palpable that judgment cannot safely be made for at least another month. But with disarray such as this, oh for the first Ashes Test to be starting on Thursday instead of in five weeks' time.
The official margin of victory, after Australia were dismissed for 79 in the 15th over, was exactly 100 runs, but the match was rendered a non-event once Australia lost seven wickets in 20 balls before they had faced six overs. Four of those fell to Jon Lewis in the seam bowler's first official outing in an England shirt, with Darren Gough taking three wickets at the other end.
Below the Belt - The Moscow Times
"The Vagina Monologues" is about to have its Russian debut. But will the sexually explicit, pro-feminist work by U.S. playwright Eve Ensler be lost in translation?
By Anna MalpasPublished: June 10, 2005
It was only a matter of time before the "The Vagina Monologues" came to Russia, and just as in the original English version of the hit play, there are 128 mentions of female genitalia in the translated script. But translating feminist chutzpah into Russian could be trickier, so the director has prepared an escape plan in case audiences refuse to shout out a certain word beginning with "p."Opening Sunday at the Hermitage Theater, the first local staging of Eve Ensler's play has attracted plenty of attention in the Russian media, and tickets have sold out for the only two confirmed dates, director Joel Lehtonen said Monday. Yet box-office success is not guaranteed, with the production playing in a venue that has only 100 seats, and with its premiere coming right at the end of the Moscow theater season.
What's causing cancer? - Toronto Star
Chemicals fingered as rates reach epidemic proportions, by Mitchell Anderson
Cancer in Canada is now projected to afflict one in every 2.2 men and one in every 2.6 women in their lifetime. In the 1930s, those numbers were less that one in 10. What's happening? Why are we now seeing what many are calling a "cancer epidemic"?
Some would suggest we are simply an aging population and cancer is a disease of the old. Not true. Recent statistics show that the net incidence rate of cancer has increased 25 per cent for males and 20 per cent for females from 1974 to 2005 — after correcting for the effects of aging.
Children are increasingly the victims. Researchers in Britain have shown that certain childhood cancers such as leukemia and brain cancer have increased by more than a third since the 1950s.

Debt relief only a start, UN official says - Toronto Star
Food program short of fundsChildren will die, U.N. official warns

JOHANNESBURG—Debt relief is a fine thing, and it may well bring hope to millions of the world's most desperate souls — but Michael Huggins isn't cheering just yet.

After all, he has more than 7 million mouths to feed, or he soon will have — a daunting number that could easily rise to 10 million by early next year.

What's worse, Huggins does not have enough food to do the job. Not even close.
"Right now, we have only 20 per cent of what we need," he says, "and we're halfway through the year."
June 11, 2005
Residents walk, run, cycle nude to raise $150,000, awareness - Vancouver Sun
On Saturday, about 100 nude cyclists biked from Sunset Beach to the downtown core as part of World Naked Bike Ride 2005, an international event aimed at discouraging people from using their cars.
Volpe moves against Nazi war-crimes suspects, sources say - Globe and Mail
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has asked his department to begin building cases to revoke the citizenship of five men in Canada who are suspected Nazi war criminals.
Sources told The Globe and Mail yesterday that Mr. Volpe called for the move soon after he took over as minister late last year.
Among the men is Helmut Oberlander, stripped of his citizenship by the federal cabinet after a court found that when he emigrated to Canada with his wife in 1954, he lied about serving as a translator for a Nazi death squad. A Federal Court ruling restored his citizenship a year ago.
Liberals face more key votes - Politics Watch
OTTAWA — The government will face another confidence test in the House on Tuesday when a vote is held on the main estimates. If the Liberals lose the vote, then the government will fall and Canadians will be back at the polls.
However, what is different than the last confidence vote that was held on May 19 is that the two opposition parties who were trying to take down the government appear to be in no mood for a repeat performance.
The wind has been taken out of the Conservative party's sails after they failed to topple the government while riding high in the polls on sponsorship anger. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper toned down his rhetoric this week when meeting with reporters and said the only way the government would be taken down is if Liberal MPs who voted with the government last month change their minds.And the Bloc Quebecois is facing an uncertain future following last weekend's resignation of Parti Quebecois Leader Bernard Landry. Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe is at the top of the list to replace Landry and is scheduled to announce his plans on Monday.If Duceppe leaves, then the BQ would be without a leader and an obvious successor to Duceppe.
Not exactly the optimal situation to wage an election campaign. The government survived a confidence vote on one of two budget bills last month by the narrowest of margins. But the dynamic for Tuesday's votes will be different as the Liberals may have lost two votes they had on May 19. . Independent MP Chuck Cadman, who is undergoing cancer treatment, told the Globe and Mail this week that he will not be in Ottawa for the vote. And Ontario MP Pat O'Brien left the Liberal caucus this week to sit as an independent. O'Brien left because of his opposition to the government's same-sex marriage legislation and would not rule out toppling the government on the budget as a way to defeat the other bill. Meanwhile, two other confidence votes are working their way back into the House from the finance committee.
MPs have already begun debate on Bill C-43, the budget implementation bill, which was returned from committee on Wednesday. And finance committee chair Massimo Pacetti says he expects to have Bill C-48, the NDP budget deal with the Liberals, in the House on Wednesday.
The government is expected to deal with the following bills next week.
> Bill C-2, the child protection legislation
> Bill C-53, the bill respecting proceeds of crime
> Bill C-56, the Labrador-Inuit legislation
> Bill C-26, the border services legislation (third reading)
> Bill S-18, Census bill (Second Reading)
> Bill C-52, Fisheries Amendment Act
> Bill C-25, Radarsat bill (report stage)
> Bill C-37, the Do Not Call bill (report stage)
> Bill C-28, the food and drug bill. (report stage)
> Bill C-44, the transport legislation
> Bill C-47, the Air Canada bill.

June 10, 2005
Ruling's legal fallout tough to predict - Toronto Star
Didn't widen social rights, experts say More `security of person' cases possible
TRACEY TYLER LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
This week's Supreme Court ruling, opening the door to private health care in Quebec, may bring renewed optimism to those who hoped Canada's Charter would prove a powerful weapon for ensuring access to social programs.
But while it may lead to some "creative" legal arguments on how the inability to obtain government services can violate the right to security of the person — producing psychological or physical harm — the decision doesn't translate into a free-standing right to social benefits, legal experts say.
In the short term, the ruling is likely to serve mainly as a "catalyst" for debate about the delivery of health care, said Lorne Sossin, associate dean at the University of Toronto's faculty of law.

Ottawa to Become the Home of Canada's First Carbon-Free, Climate Friendly Condo Building
OTTAWA, June 10 - Christopher Sweetnam-Holmes and Cheryl Gladu of EcoCité ( http://www.ecocite.ca/ ), a leading developer of environmentally sustainable and energy efficient urban housing, are pleased to announce the construction of Canada's first carbon-free, climate friendly condo building right in the nation's capital.
EcoCité on the Canal is a new EcoCondo(R) project to be built at 1014 Bank Street next to the Rideau Canal. The 6-storey building will house 25 condos and lofts, a ground level bookstore, and will incorporate backyard and rooftop gardens into its design.
Most of the heating and cooling for the building will come from geothermal energy and will meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements, the most demanding standard for green construction in North America.
"This means that the building's heating and energy needs will have zero impact on the environment and zero impact on global warming," says Christopher Holmes, EcoCité's founder.
EcoCité has also reached an understanding with a local pioneer in renewable power generation, Energy Ottawa ( http://www.energyottawa.com/ ), to generate the equivalent of 407,000 kWh of electricity annually from its Eco-logo certified run-of-the-river generating stations on the Ottawa River. Theelectricity is considered to be "green" because of the low impact that run-of-the-river generating stations have on the environment when compared to other forms of generation (i.e. coal).
"We are very pleased to have been able to work with the developers of the EcoCité Condominium," said Marc Brulé, Chief Operating Officer of Energy Ottawa. "The green features of the condo, combined with the LEED standards that will be put in place, signify a significant step forward in the waybuildings are constructed in Canada."
The anticipated five-year contract will see electricity flowing into Hydro Ottawa's distribution system or Ontario's electricity grid once the EcoCité Condo Board has approved the contract.
Construction on the EcoCité on the Canal will begin in the summer of 2005 for occupancy in the spring of 2006.
Homolka hopes for pardon - Globe and Mail

Schoolgirl killer Karla Homolka hopes she can prove to be a solid enough citizen that she can one day win a pardon for her crimes, Correctional Services Canada documents say.
Ms. Homolka expressed the wish during a psychiatric evaluation done in 2001, Dr. Lucinda Presse wrote in the report which was released at a hearing to decide the extent of Ms. Homolka's freedom after she is released from prison.

Protect marine life from 'bioprospectors,' UN report urges - CBC.ca

Lowly underwater life with medicinal potential deserves regulatory protection, according to a UN report to be released on Thursday.
Researchers working for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are increasingly interested in the billion-dollar prospect of using underwater life in products ranging from anti-malaria drugs to suntan creams.
At this week's International Marine Biotechnology Conference in St. John's, Nfld., scientists are excitedly talking about coaxing cancer drugs from the insides of creatures such as sea sponges.
The UN report, titled "Bioprospecting of genetic resources in the deep sea bed," warns that harvesting those creatures for bio-tech purposes could put some species at risk.

Effects of cod collapse trickle down food chain - CBC.ca

The collapse of the East Coast cod fishery appears to have caused the region's marine ecosystem to restructure itself, researchers say.
Kenneth Frank of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Dartmouth, N.S., and his colleagues studied more than 40 years of data on the food chain.
The study focused on the northwest Atlantic ecosystem off Nova Scotia, an area that was dominated by cod for centuries.
Starting in the mid-1980s, several commercially exploited bottom-dwelling species including cod, haddock and pollock declined.

Green groups lodge fish farm complaint - Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER (CP) -- A coalition of environmental groups and the fisherman's union has joined forces in a complaint against the federal Department of Fisheries over the potential spread of disease from fish farms.

The formal complaint to the federal auditor general accuses the federal government of neglecting its mandate to protect the province's wild salmon stocks.

"It's really just a matter of time before we see diseases spreading from farmed to the wild fish," said Suzanne Connell, of the Georgia Strait Alliance, one of four groups in the coalition.

Connel said Canada should be learning from the mistakes of other countries where fish farms have transferred disease to wild stock.
"This is a disaster waiting to happen," she said.

'Spills bill' tough on Ontario polluters - Toronto Star
Tough new legislation that threatens the province's largest industrial polluters with hefty fines of up to $100,000 a day even without a conviction was passed into law today over the protests of industry leaders who say it goes too far.
The Liberal government's so-called "spills bill" allows ministry officials to penalize companies almost immediately without a conviction or even having to lay charges. Those come later, along with additional fines up to $10,000,000 for severe and repeat violations.
Money from the fines, which are expected to kick in within a year, will go towards cleanup efforts in those communities affected by the spills, said Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky.
Blues Festival - Calgary
June 25 and 26, 2005
http://www.kaosblues.com/
Writer there all weekend - come find me - Beer helps

The Sky Is Falling Again…

The Sky Is Falling Again…

Depending on how you listen to the neverending discussion, debate, and rhetoric around this country’s crumbling and mismanaged health care system, you could suffer from a sever case of whiplash.
Don’t fool yourself in to thinking that the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada has much affect on our health care system in the short, near, or long term. The ruling said, ‘Government bans on private health insurance have increased the risk to the life and health of Canadians, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday,’ while agreeing that prohibiting private health insurance jeopardizes the well-being of people who desperately need treatment. They also found that a prohibition on Quebec residents getting private insurance for services covered by Medicare ran afoul of that province's own Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
If the courts really wanted to force a change, they should have ordered the politicians and doctors to be removed from the role they play in setting the plans for where and when health care will be delivered, and to have no say in what kinds of health care are funded more today, and less tomorrow.
Ordering the end to the ‘Squeaky Wheel Planning For Canada’s Health Care system’ would have helped too.
What strikes me is the strange picture emerging with this decision by the usually, ‘ activist judiciary.’ On the right wing, we find the same people who have railed against the activism of the bench, notably the Nine Red Robed honourable members of the Supreme Court of Canada, when their ruling goes against the tidy little world people like Stockwell Day, Stephen Harper, Ted Byfield, Ralph Klein, Barry Cooper, Tom Flanagan, Rainer Knopff, and recently elected MLA, Ted Morton live and think in.
Examples can be found all over the map, but most will focus on the recent rulings of Provincial and Federal courts that has set the path our Federal Government is trying to follow in the same sex marriage legislation before the House of Commons.
The basic reason the not withstanding clause will not be used is this instance is that health care is a provincial responsibility with the Federal government having no jurisdiction. The court decision having reverberations across the country as it alludes to the fact somewhere between the lines of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, we have a right to free and extensive health care, only because the media will allow it to go unchallenged, and it looks good in the sound bites for the talking heads.
Klein’s, Third Way is not written by the devil, and makes good sense.
Klein is dead right when he says that Canadians are tired of: the debate that has become bogged down, with governments on one side and the sky is falling group on the other side.
What is wrong with taking the best of what we have in Alberta and Canada today and combine it with the best approaches we can find anywhere in the world, whether it's Sweden, or France, or England or Australia?
Yes we need to do this in conjunction with Alberta and the rest of Canada, adopting a patients bill of rights that will ensure all Canadians receive the health care service, along with effective enforcement and penalties, they need to stay healthy and contribute to Canada’s society in a positive way.
The basic problem with Canada’s health care system is that it has been built on a make shift basis, based on the squeaky wheel. If you make some noise the governments throw money your way to make you go away.
Whether the money being spent on that current medical malady of the day is going to help with the long-term health of the system is not looked at.
Whether the money thrown at special studies, round tables, MLA listening tours, or union reports, is having the desired affect or whether the outcomes are measured, is yet to be proven.
Canada spent approximately $100 billion on health care in 2004, according to Health Care in Canada, a report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information on June 8, 2005. Of that, just under $70 billion was spent by governments delivering public health care. A little over $30 billion was spent on private health care.
With the money given to the Provinces under the recently agreed to, ‘ Premiers Dogs Breakfast, to Help Paul Martin get re-elected, ‘ we saw the principles of Canada’s basis for being, sold down the river.
The original purpose of the Canada Health Act was to put strings to the federal money given to the provinces for health care so a Canadian could expect the same kind of health care no matter where they lived.
To make that deal, the Prime Minister cut the strings.
The $41-billion federal-provincial health-care deal was not designed to address those concerns.
It was the invention on the fly of the, ‘ Paul Martin Desperate Re-Election Bid Asymmetrical Federalism.’
Asymmetrical federalism means each province will be able to make up their own set of rules to live by, and it will bare no reality to the province to its west, or to its east.
The Paul Martin Desperate Re-Election Bid Asymmetrical Federalism should be a bigger concern. The reality of a Canada with a pizza parliament for the foreseeable future means the Paul Martin Desperate Re-Election Bid Asymmetrical Federalism will be the norm.
Dr. Albert Schumacher, president of the Canadian Medical Association estimates that 75 per cent of health-care services are delivered privately, but funded publicly.
That does not mean the big mean old for profit companies are pocketing most of that money. It’s the doctor you go to see, is a private businessperson. It’s the private company providing the food you eat at the hospital, and always have eaten there. It’s a private company provides all the band-aids, drugs, equipment, and oxygen tanks.
Should we have no privately run hospitals in the country?
Most of the current hospitals still standing in Calgary and those that were blown up, were built with a combination of public and private funding. In fact some of them were built with no public money.
That means shutting down the Kensington Abortion Clinic. It is run by a corporation, and funded by the Health Region.
That means shutting down the Shouldice Hospital in Toronto opened in 1945, repairing hernias with a demand for its services beyond Canada’s borders?
If we follow the Canadian Health Care Coalition and Friends of Medicare’s thinking we will have to bring all of the doctors, facilities, and infrastructure under the ownership of the Province of Alberta and wait to see if this will build a more efficient bureaucracy.
Remember those scary words, ‘ I am with the government and I am here to help you.’
We need a ten, twenty and thirty year plan for health care with benchmarks, indicators and timelines for where the money will be spent, where the health care services will be needed based on sound demographic and medical science research and planning.

Letter To The Editor - Leaving On a Jet Plane

Despite Paul Vella's protestations, the real reason for Calgary born and bred businesses like Petro-Canada, Forzani Group's last TV project, A-Channel and WestJet are heading anywhere but Calgary's advertising agencies, is boredom and complacency.

It has nothing to do with ego or an inferiority complex. It has to do with the ingrained boringness of Calgary's advertising agencies.

As Vella wrongly states, the problem is not that local agencies in this city do a piss-poor job of promoting themselves, but that the local advertising agency industry assumes the local business will stay local, even when it goes worldwide.

Instead, Calgary agencies prefer to whine after the horse is decided to leave the barn.

The Calgary companies do not want another, 'brand evangelist,' but someone who is creative and knows how to produce marketing communications that work in the big world, that exists outside of Calgary.

Marketing is more than branding.

Marketing to the world means you need more than an advertisement with a cowboy hat and good old folksiness.

We have several companies involved in real worldwide advertising and marketing communications. They do not sit back and whine, but go out and compete on the world stage. And win.

White Iron is one.

Rare Method is another.

Critical Mass is another.

Despite what Vella says, WestJet is another. An airline that has survived in the real world of trying to make a buck in the airline business. It is an airline that has survived the on-slot of all comers.

Vella should be asking the Calgary advertising community to apologize to WestJet for treating them as a cash cow, and assuming they could be bad and uncreative and still expect WestJet to use them. It looks like it took a, 'new amateur marketing guy,' to show the real side of the Calgary advertising community and its uncreativeness.

We do have all the tools in our creative marketing communication's tool box here in Calgary.

Elbow and Glenmore Trail - Extra $10 million

It is time for someone at City Hall start to take responsibility for the decisions made. Especially those that show a complete lack of regard for the dollars each city taxpayer entrusts to the Members of Council and City Hall Management to spend wisely.

Considering what we have heard, both from the Ward Aldermen for the area where the work on the Elbow and Glenmore Trail interchange will affect, Barry Erskine, it is time for the city management employee in charge of the project to resign, with no golden hand shake. It is also time for the Ward Alderman to resign as well.

Considering our City Council does not work this way, and that the Ward Alderman is one that spent $67,755 on a campaign for which he did not run, I will not hold my breath.

It seems no one at city hall, in the council chambers or management ever is made to take responsibility and fall on their swords.

Can anyone cite one example of a company in Calgary that would be this patient with someone who costs them an extra $10 million dollars, mislead them and the shareholders, and not blush at what they have just done?

It seems doing the honourable thing, is a foreign concept at city hall.

RE: Desperately Seeking Ideas

Dear Sir/Madame:

I don’t know if Allan Gregg was trying to dance around the real problem in Canadian politics, or was just leaving out the juicy bits because of ignorance. His, the media’s or politicians’ take your pick.

The fact is that we are now at a period in Canadian history where the dumbing down of our media, polling gurus, and politicians has converged into a black hole, where the Canadian voter is not. It is also the same black hole that has sucked the pride of Canada, and any sort of creative problem solving that might have been seen in Ottawa in years past.

Our media in Ottawa, who report on the politics and political game have reduced their efforts to the scrum, all chasing the same story, all chasing the theatrics of people who act like kindergarten children at the best of times. Reporting what the most recent poll is showing is also part of the dumbing down process, not only is the data bad, so are the assumptions made from it.

On the other hand it is cheap journalism for the ‘cut and paste,’ trend in our media reporters.

There is no background information researched and given, to the Canadian people so they can think, discuss, debate and arrive at an informed opinion on any new ideas, policies, and dreams that might be put forth.

Can you imagine a Prime Minister standing up in the House of Commons, let alone the Leader of her Majesty's loyal opposition, and telling the country that he will build a railway across the country, find a cure to cancer in the next decade, bring an end to the endless slaughtering of innocent people in Africa, or clean up our dying oceans?

The polling companies have been looked upon as gurus of the future and thoughts of Canadians, when all they do report back to their clients is the opinion of randomly selected Canadians, who are lucky enough to be at home, with no caller ID on their telephones. The polling companies pay their caller-interviewers by the call completed, so the only real criteria used to qualify the person who answers is the fact they speak English, are home, and have a heart beat. The entire younger generation that relies on cell phones, internet, wireless or text messaging are missed. As are those working shift work.

There is no attempt to collect the evolution of any of the thinking, ideas, or opinions since there is no attempt to call the same people back to see if their thoughts, ideas, or opinions have been changed for the good or bad, after having watched, listened to, or read the dumbed down reporting. How can you ask 1,500 randomly selected people across Canada a question about something that is important and cannot be explained in eight seconds, and expect to extrapolate that slice of opinion across a country with 30,000,000 plus people, from every corner of the world, speaking every language of the world?

Who might or might not come from a country where speaking your mind gets you shot. Dead.

Remember, the mass media we have now reporting the political games being played out by the kindergarten being convened in the House of Commons, is not read by, listened to, or viewed by a majority of Canadians.

This is also a media that is shrinking its presence around the world, thus the view of the world from a Canadian perspective, and thus limiting Canadians ability to look at the world’s issues from a uniquely Canadian point of view.

In fact the numbers of people in Canada watching, reading, or viewing the media reflects very closely the numbers of people not showing up to vote.

That means Canadians under 35 don’t show up to vote, 8 times out of 10, and their brethren over 35, show up only 50% of the time to vote.

Our politicians are dumbed down to the point where they watch their popularity in the polls rise or fall much like Snow White asked her mirror to tell her was the fairest of them all.

When a Prime Minister will sell his soul to stay in power, and a leader of the Opposition will only whine to the Canadian people about what he does not like about the Liberals, but not tell us what he would do different, we are truly at the lowest ebb.

Mind you when only 50% of us show up to vote, do we get the government we want or need?

EDITOR - City Council's Wanderlust

The shrieking and fussing over the travel of the Mayor of Calgary and council members is sounding a might hollow.

In case those in the media who are trying to build a mountain out of mole-hill have missed, Calgary is a big city in a big world.

Calgary trades with and in the world.

Calgary is not an island unto ourselves, where the world comes to us.

It only makes sense that if Calgary wants to be a true player on the world's stage, with a city that not only looks world-class, but also actually is, and then our Mayor and Council must travel.

Could there be a better idea somewhere in those 6,000,000,000 heads that will help us to make better use of the environmental footprint we inflict on the land, air and water around us?

The Mayor and or Council members can show those same 6,000,000,000 how despite the whining about Kyoto, Calgary is actually powering our LRT with the wind, and helping do our small part towards the greenhouse gas emission problem?

As Calgary communicates and trades with the world, we have to increase our view of how the world relates to Calgary and and the potential for Calgarians to do great things in it.

There is not a business in this city with a budget of over $1.6 billion and growing, with 1,000,000 shareholders, who live on one of the largest municipal land bases in the world, that would give it a second thought in having their Chairperson or Directors, go forth and see what the world has to offer to the company and what the company has to offer the world.

It is time for the people, media, and political pundits of Calgary to stop looking into the future, wishing and whining about being on the stage.

There are countries and cities the size of Calgary and smaller that have so much to offer us, and we have so much to offer them. To do either, you must have some face time.

Face it people. Calgary is more than the Calgary Stampede, and few in the world even care that we have the Calgary Stampede.

Frank McKenna, Canada's new ambassador to Washington, is right

Frank McKenna, Canada's new ambassador to Washington, is right.

Canadians need a new attitude towards the Americans.

First we must realize that the Americans need what Canada has, and in most cases more than we need the Americans. Our oil and natural gas are transportable to any corner of the earth. In fact we now have a growing interest in our oil and gas, by China, and Southeast Asia.

Both China and India have a population of 1,000,000,000 people, and are hungry for what Canada has to offer.

Both from our dirt and our minds.

Second, Canadians must realize that the major part of our trade with the US is connected directly with the car.

When you think of it, where else will the US relocate their automotive manufacturing industry? Maybe it is time Canada stop supporting the American automotive industry through our tax dollars.The American auto industry loves to build their cars in Canada. They save a mountain of money with our taxpayer funded health care system. In the US the largest cost to the American big three auto makers is their employee health care plans. The American auto industry also walks away from our governments with buckets of public money to support their for profit businesses.

Canada needs to tell the Americans that because of their politicians' protectionism acts, such as the soft wood, and BSE, they are paying more for their new homes, and meat in their stores.

Canada, needs to tell the Americans it was not Canada that unleashed the violence on them on 9/11.

Canada, needs to tell the Americans we will make sure our borders are secure, whether it is at the 49th parallel, or on our coast.

Canada, needs to tell the Americans it was not the Canadians that caused their last major power outage on the East coast.

Canada also needs to tell the Americans, that their creeping towards running the world through thuggocracy, is not acceptable.

To help, Canada should offer free land, and buildings to the U.N., for their new beginnings, and have them move their head offices here

Canada should put on of its efforts into moving Canada back into a Pearsonian like Canada, where we can rightfully lay claim to being an influential middle power, by example, and moral persuasion.

Darfur is the first place to start.

Canada needs to start thinking about the other 6,000,000,000 people that do not live in the US, and trade with them. The word is trade. Which denotes it is not a one way trade root.

The US has only 350,000,000 people living in it. Despite the American's thinking, they are not the biggest democracy, nor are they the largest single market to trade with.

There are others.

Call Him When It's Over

Rarely have I seen such a childish piece of writing in a magazine, as that of Paul Bunner's article in June 2005's Alberta Venture, 'Call Him When It Is Over.'

The fact that the writer has sunk to the level of a kid in the schoolyard and seen the need to use name calling and labelling to make his point while showing no real level of intelligence in his premise. Add to this the fact that he sees little of value in anyone that does not agree with his political thoughts or beliefs show more about his small mindedness thinking than anything else.

The fact that he writes like this, shows he does not understand why, participation in the political system or process by 80% of those under 30, relates directly to how he has written about the politics of Canada. He also shows his lack of understanding of the vast majority of Canadians and their political beliefs. Even those living in Alberta.

He has proven that the 80% of the people who don't vote, whey they say, they don't because the system has no relationship to their lives, the politicians or want to be politicians do nothing for them, and the political process shows no signs of being relative to the average Canadian. The media and people like Bunner add fuel to that argument with columns or commentary such as in your June 2005 edition.

If Paul Brunner wants to engage the young people and lure them back to the voting booth, he will have to get out of the school yard and raise his level of thinking and writing to that of the 18 year old who might just like to have an intelligent conversation with him about politics and why they should be interested in politics, especially when Brunner is acting like a 12 year old.

In fact there is also the 50% of the average Canadian that does not vote as well, if Brunner feels too intimidated by the 12 year old.

EDITOR - This is all wet

Your editorial on why we compensate people who have flood damage when they build on a flood plain is rich.

So are the stories we have to endure after a car crash that kills people because the driver of the car was drunk, but we never hear the hell the innocent people who get dragged into the tragedy, in some cases for the rest of their lives. They are the ones who were driving properly on their side of the road, living their lives smart.

The stories about memorials, closure, tears, sadness, and loss suffering are nice, but they do not seem to change the fact that there will more young people killed in yet another similar car crash soon to happen.

Michael Jackson Trial Coverage

The reason for the wall to wall Michael Jackson trial coverage is that it is cheap to do.

You don't have to spend anything on research. Nothing on digging into a story, and you offend no one. Much like the pack mentality during scrums in our House of Commons and political reporting in Canada.

As a Canadian I am embarrassed that Newsworld needed to take up time on their broadcast so I could watch three black vehicles drive from the courtroom to Neverland.

CBC and Newsworld has always been something for me to hold up for the world to see how Canada is different, instead it is now trying to beat the rush to the bottom to reach the lowest common denominator.

Don't we have more important things going on in the world, rather to watch a very talented man go back to his own weird little world?

Thank you
Norman Greenfield

[BP] General thoughts about telephones

I would agree that the advent of the cell phone is going to make a huge difference to how governments interact and survey their population, but not in the way that is outlined here or in a positive way.

No call centre will call cell phones to survey or sell them anything. No government or non-profit organization will accept it. So while the number of cell phones around the world grows from a current count of about 1.2 billion, to somewhere in the area of 3 to 4 billion, governments will lose their connection to the public in a large way, that is fast and effective. Currently in Canada it is estimated that 80% of the under 30 to 35 demographic do 90% of the telephony activity on a cell phone. In fact 50% of them have no land line. This demographic is mobile and no longer works the tradition 9 to 5 work day.

If one wants to interact with the segment of their voting population they have to do it in some fashion that is interactive on the phone through text messaging, gaming, or other ways with a incentive for people to respond, and the cost born by the caller.

Currently not possible. It is also not appealing to call centres due to low profit margins on their business.

For an example of where the cell phone is going, check out Blister Entertainment Inc. of Calgary at http://www.blisterent.com .

The idea that there will ever be one easy way to communicate with the voter or citizen in an interactive way is long gone.

The Gomery Factor

The Gomery Factor story by DANNY KUCHARSKY is one of the best articles I have read explaining the situation in Quebec relative to the fall out of the Gomery inquiry.

I know the average Canadian and Quebecer are embarrassed with the actions of the few carpetbaggers being brought out from under their rocks. Thankfully we live in a country that is prepared to hang its dirty laundry out for all to see. It is a sign of the strength of Canadian's faith in Canada. We are more and better than this fiasco.

Anyone who has spent a second in marketing communications, media and public relations knows that sponsorship, trade shows, imprinted promotional items such as golf balls and ties, knows their value.

If used base on the four pillars of the marketing philosophy.

The problem with having auditor-general looking at the industry, is the same problem any marketing communications person has found when dealing with their CFO. Accountants take economics, accounting, asset management, and other kinds of education that is based on numbers. The advertising and marketing industry should have demanded time before the Parliamentary committee to explain the industry to them. All of the MP's sitting on that committee were there based on the use of marketing communications and dare I say some sort of sponsorship opportunities in their constituencies.

Marketing is a science, but it is also an art. It is a combination of arts and science, along with educated assumptions.

What is most distressing to me as someone who has spent the past 32 years in and around marketing communications of all kinds, is the thunderous silence of the marketing communications industry to explain their reasons for being.

I am proud of the time I have worked in the industry, and proud of many of my fellow Canadian marketing communications practitioners who are some of the most creative and successful in the world, that I have worked with.

Maybe it is time we take our talents for telling the marketing story of our clients, and employers and tell our own story to Canadians.



Thank you
Norman Greenfield
Provoco Status Quo
provococstatusquo.com
Calgary, Alberta
403-807-1251
http://provocostatusquo.blogspot.com
Registered Federal Government Lobbyist
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