Advocatus Diaboli: Things Newsletter

Edited and Published By Norm Greenfield - Provoco Status Quo - 403-807-1251 - advocatusdiaboli@canada.com

WANT TO RUN OR WORK IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION FOR THE GREEN PARTY OF CANADA IN CALGARY?

Call me - 403-807-1251 - Norm Greenfield

e-mail: calgary.organizer.greenparty@hotmail.com

THE Campaign Focus, Message, and Strategy in One Story - If You Want to Win

If you, your party or group want a better focus of what their whole campaign should be in the up-coming Federal election, the story below is it.

It will be the key difference between winning a break through seat in the House of Commons or remaining just a debating club.

Canadians are looking for a real choice, between real visions of Canada's future, with real differences in policies, ideas, and visions. They are tired of the current selection, and are therefore are going to stay away from the polling booths in larger numbers in the upcoming election, like we have never seen before.

If you, your group, or candidate want to win while getting their ideas put on to the political agenda, then you must go for the hearts and minds of the people in Canada that the story below talks about. They are the people who will help drive your ideas, policies, and visions forward.

Canadians know there are problems. They know Canada needs a new sort of leadership. They know that what they have to choose from currently, is not that. What they don't have is a clear alternative to look to, listen to, and vote for.

Harper keeping Liberals alive, poll suggests

By ALEXANDER PANETTA

Thursday, November 24, 2005 Posted at 5:16 PM EST

Canadian Press

Ottawa — The biggest handicap facing the Liberals is not the sponsorship scandal, but a deep-rooted desire for change, a new poll suggests.

The Decima survey turns conventional wisdom on its head by suggesting voters' inclination for a change in government dwarfs their anger over sponsorship.

Only 35 per cent of respondents who said they wanted to replace the government cited the scandal as their prime motivation.

A far greater number — 57 per cent — said it was because the Liberals have been in power too long and they wanted a turnover after 12 years.

The poll surveyed 1,040 respondents between Nov. 17 and 20, and its findings are said to be accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

With an election campaign set to begin next week, the poll offers guidance to all parties, especially the Conservatives.

“The Conservatives have a choice in front of them,” said Decima chief executive Bruce Anderson.

“There's a question of whether or not voters will want to spend the bulk of the election campaign talking about the future or talking about the past.”

The Liberals are already making extensive use of another survey conclusion: that voters are extremely skittish about Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

The poll suggests Mr. Harper's personal unpopularity helps sustain the Liberal party; almost 40 per cent of people who said they would vote Liberal cited Mr. Harper as their main motivation.

Another 52 per cent said they favoured the Liberals because they disagreed generally with Conservative policies.

The Liberals spent a large part of the last campaign demonizing Mr. Harper as a threat to Canada's established values, and they plan to paint a similarly scary portrait this time.

Mr. Harper could fight back by fanning outrage over a 1990s scandal, but he'd be much better off if he also excited moderate voters with his own policies, Mr. Anderson said.

“There's no guarantee the Conservatives would lose an election if they ran just on sponsorship. But there's less evidence to believe they'd win it if they ran only on sponsorship.”

Recent polls have placed the Liberals between four and eight percentage points ahead of the Tories, with the NDP running stronger than usual in the 20-per-cent range.

But incumbent governments tend to dip in support during election campaigns and Mr. Anderson warns this one will be anybody's game.

The campaign could be unusually long — up to seven or eight weeks, with a break for Christmas.

The Tories can't expect to surf on scandal that long; they must appeal to voters who could swing either way, Mr. Anderson said.

“The larger challenge for Conservatives is about convincing voters that they would be more mainstream or centrist,” he said.

“This is likely a bigger challenge than it would be because of the fact that Harper's political biography is more often associated with right of centre policy, the Reform party, and western alienation.”

The campaign hasn't even begun and the Liberals have already suggested Mr. Harper is a lackey to U.S. President George W. Bush, is in bed with the separatist Bloc Québécois,, lacks an environmental policy, would institute draconian tax cuts, gut social programs, cut cultural subsidies and has thwarted increased funding for the Immigration Department.

The Tories insist they will deliver an intricate policy platform aimed at exciting voters.

They also have counter-arguments planned for the bogeyman theme: that Liberal scandal helped revive the Bloc, that the Prime Minister's relationship with Mr. Bush is so poor it took weeks last summer to organize a telephone call on softwood lumber, that Liberals don't even have a plan to meet pollution control targets and have turned the immigration system into a bungled, bureaucratic mess.

© Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

November 25, 2005

'Goodwill' permeates native talks - Globe and Mail

Kelowna, B.C. — Canada's premiers are leaving little doubt that they will be able to come to terms with Prime Minister Paul Martin and aboriginal leaders today to sign an agreement aimed at bringing native living standards up to the Canadian average within 10 years.

The public acrimony that normally precedes first ministers meetings is nowhere to be found as the main announcements dealing with housing and education have already been worked out in advance by officials.

"There is a huge amount of goodwill in the room," Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday.

Tax benefit for the working poor - Globe and Mail

Most of Canada's poor have jobs, pay taxes and get little assistance from government. Ottawa's 2005 mini-budget proposed welcome help for Canada's working poor - a Working Income Tax Benefit that would pay a cash supplement to bolster low earners' wages.

People who try to move from welfare to work now encounter the "welfare wall." They lose cash and benefits, such as drug coverage, while taking on added job-related expenses, such as work clothing and transportation. The proposed Working Income Tax Benefit could offset some or all of these losses and lower the welfare wall.

The benefit could be good both for fighting poverty and removing barriers to employment. However, setting up a program that will work in the real world could encounter serious problems. After the cheerleading, policy-makers, experts and advocates must do some hard thinking to translate this promising idea into an effective social program.

At first glance, the most attractive way to deliver the benefit might seem to be as a refundable income tax credit, like the GST credit. Payment would be determined according to the worker's previous year's income, because that is what is reported in the annual tax return.

OTTAWA:

Canadians are buying contaminated fish from China and Vietnam, the Consumers' Association of Canada says. Citing the use of a dangerous fungicide on fish farms, the association wants the federal government to ban the importing of certain fish products from those two Asian countries. BC-Fish-Imports. Moved Business (B) and General (G).

Consumers' Association Calls on Federal Government To Stop The Importation of Cancer Causing Fish Products From China and Vietnam

OTTAWA, Nov. 25 - The Consumers' Association of Canada today calledon the Canadian Government to immediately ban the further importation ofcertain fish products from China and Vietnam. "A cancer causing bannedfungicide, Malachite Green, is being used by fish farmers in some Asiancountries, particularly Vietnam and China", said Mr. Bruce Cran, President ofthe Association. "Independent labs tests of these fish purchased at Canadiansupermarkets have shown that consumers are being sold these contaminatedfish."

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is the Federal watchdogresponsible for the safety of the Canadian food supply. "Canadian Consumersdepend on this Agency to ensure these contaminated fish do not enter Canadaand it is failing to do so", said Mr. Cran.

In tests done this year by the CFIA of farmed fish from Vietnam 43% offish tested were contaminated with the cancer-causing agent.

"This is astunning number," said Mr. Cran. The response of the CFIA has been to test 5fish out of the many thousands that come in as part of each shipment. "If thefive fish tested happen to be clean ones the rest of the shipment has thenbeen approved for sale even though it can be full of contaminated fish".

"That's what happened recently when these fish from an approved shipmentwere purchased at a British Columbia supermarket," said Mr. Cran. "Theseshipments went through the CFIA inspection process, were approved, then soldto consumers even though they were contaminated. This is not acceptable."

The response of the CFIA has been to remain silent and not publiclyadvise Canadian consumers about this contamination. Consumers need to havehigh trust and confidence in the food supply system. Farmed fish from Asiancountries should not be allowed into Canada given the current high level ofcancer causing substances used by these suppliers. "No further imports ofthese fish should be allowed from these countries until there is clearevidence that these substances are no longer being used," said Mr. Cran.

Canada's real bottom line - New study puts multi-million dollar values on Boreal ecosystem services - Report calls Canada's Boreal region carbon bank account worth $3.7 trillion

OTTAWA, Nov. 25 - In a new take on Canada's nationalaccounts, research by the Pembina Institute for the Canadian Boreal Initiativeputs the value of ecosystem services like water filtration and carbon storageat roughly 2.5 times greater than the net market value of forestry, hydro,mining, and oil and gas extraction in Canada's Boreal region.

The report argues that the degradation of natural ecosystems worldwide isat least in part because natural capital values aren't taken into account inland use decisions around the globe, noting these values aren't part of theuniversal international wealth indicator - Gross Domestic Product.

"We are only just beginning to understand the true value of theseservices, including flood control, water filtration, climate regulation, andeven pest control," said CBI Director Cathy Wilkinson. "We have theopportunity to get it right in Canada's boreal, sustaining its natural capitaland ecosystem services, while building other forms of wealth and maintainingcommunity and cultural values."

On the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal,the report estimates the value of the 67 billion tons of carbon stored in thetrees and peatlands of Canada's Boreal region at $3.7 trillion, and the annualvalue of carbon sequestration by the region at $1.85 billion.

"It is indeed time to broaden our understanding of the true "value" ofglobally important forests such as the boreal," said Dr. David Schindler,Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta. "Failure to do so not onlyensures continued ecosystem degradation, but the accelerating impoverishmentof human societies, ours included."

"Our hope is that the Boreal Ecosystem Wealth Accounting System (BEWAS)becomes an international benchmark and an important tool for measuring theconditions and economic values of Canada's ecosystems, in general, and theBoreal region in particular," said Mark Winfield, Pembina Institute forAppropriate Development.

"An understanding of the Boreal region's true value is essential toaddressing important questions about how this natural heritage asset cancontinue to contribute to national and international well-being forgenerations to come," said Mark Anielski, ecological economist and report co-author. "For Aborginal people, it has always been paramount that we take care ofthe land that takes care of us - the land, the air and the resources on it. Ithas not always been easy to have people understand the true total value ofwhat it is that the land provides to us," said Stephen Kakfwi, former Premierof the Northwest Territories. "Perhaps now with this report, it will be easierfor us to begin to understand and have discussions about why we have to beresponsible and not think only in terms of resource extraction and developmentbut in terms of what damage and cost we inflict on ourselves and on the land'sresources in our quest for progress and development".

Additional background and a copy of the study are available at www.borealcanada.ca .

Prion research funded - Globe and Mail

Canadian scientists are hoping to make a significant contribution to the field of research into prion diseases — mad cow disease and its human form, among others — through the formation of a virtual network announced Thursday.

The federal government will invest $35-million over the next seven years into PrioNet Canada, the virtual network which will be headquartered at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

The network will link 27 scientists working in the prion field, said Dr. Neil Cashman, the country's leading prion expert and the scientific director of the of the network.

Dr. Cashman said he hopes the network will create “an intellectual infrastructure” that will allow Canadian scientists to contribute to the development of a non-invasive test for prion diseases and treatments for the human form, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

November 24, 2005

It's a go on Green - hour.ca
P.A. Sévigny

It's not easy being Green, but party Leader Jim Harris loves his gig

Jim Harris leads Canada's Green Party. Within months, Harris may be the one who will force Paul Martin's Liberals to place Canada's environment at the top of his government's priority list if Martin wants to continue to run the country.

Harris describes himself as a fiscal conservative with a social agenda. Over the past three years, he has led Canada's Greens out of the fringe and into the mainstream of Canada's federal politics.

Harris: Grass definitely greener on his side of the fence
photo: P.A. Sévigny

"As matters stand, this country is in big trouble. People are deeply disillusioned with the old political parties," Harris says. "They're looking for direction, for constructive solutions and for the kind of leadership can that offer them some hope for their future."

Over a million Canadians believe him. During the last federal election, Canada's Greens got 4.3 per cent of the popular vote, and according to the latest Decima Research poll, Canada's Green Party now has 9 per cent of the nation's committed popular vote. The poll also indicates that if an election were called today, 34 per cent of the population would be willing to cite the Greens as their second choice. Harris isn't surprised.
"Government is all about priorities," he says, "and both the Liberals and the Conservatives have their priorities all wrong."
For example, Harris wonders if Canadians will continue to tolerate the $5- to $6-billion per year that the Liberal government offers up in subsidies to the oil and gas industries while over 1.1 million Canadian children continue to live below the nation's poverty line.

Why KJ-I won't fly - hour.ca
Chris Scott

Kim Jong-il: An unlikely hero

It's a sad day when North Korea's Kim Jong-il emerges as a role model in the war on global warming. Granted, when the United Nations Climate Change Conference opens at Palais des Congrès in Montreal next week, the Dear Leader will be a no-show.

His absence will put him on the same footing as that other hereditary president, George W. Bush. Other big names who can't be bothered to show up may include our own Environment Minister, Stéphane Dion, plus NDP climate critic (and chief) Jack Layton, who seems set to pick these of all days for a slug-out involving domestic regime change on Parliament Hill.
Absentees may not appreciate what they are missing. If this writer's experience at a previous climate conference is an indication, the Palais des Congrès meeting will be a swanky affair. Participants will we treated to two weeks of gala dinners and cafeteria-style lunches served on throwaway dishware. They will produce truckloads of one-sided photocopies, and a majority of the 10,000 government reps, journalists and NGO-types expected will jet in.

November 22, 2005

Women gain ground in Afghan parliamentary polls - Worldpress.org
Amid cheers for increased representation of women, polls show most victories were result of constitutional quota requirements rather than preference

KABUL: The recent polls showed some surprising gains for women, but it is far too soon to herald a new age of sexual equality. Now that the results of September's parliamentary and local council elections have been finalized, officials and international pundits have been little short of gushing in their assessment of how female candidates fared in the various contests.
Women, as stipulated by the Constitution, will occupy 68 of the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, or Lower House of Parliament. They also secured 121 seats in the provincial councils which have a total of 420 members. That is three short of the 124 mandated by law as not enough female candidates could be found.
In a country where women have long been held back by fear and tradition, this does indeed reflect a significant gain.
Peter Erben, operations manager for the Joint Electoral Management Body, JEMB, announced at a news conference in early November that "most" of the women who will come to the Parliament won their places fair and square. Only "a small number" owe their seats to the quotas established by law, he said.
Many international observers shared the JEMB's enthusiasm. "Women did remarkably well as candidates, winning 68 of the Parliament's 249 seats," the New York Times wrote on October 28. The Eurasianet Web site spoke of "stunning gains for women," arguing that "women would have won about 27 percent of the seats even without the constitutional quota."

Government of Canada provides over $139,000 to support the development of a skilled work force in the fish harvesting industry

HALIFAX, NS - The Honourable Geoff Regan, Ministerof Fisheries and Oceans and Member of Parliament for Halifax West, on behalfof Belinda Stronach, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development andMinister responsible for Democratic Renewal, today announced that theGovernment of Canada will provide over $139,000 through the Sector CouncilProgram, to support the development of Canada's skilled work force in the fishharvesting sector.

"Our government's priority is to invest in its people to promote a highlyproductive economy and to ensure all Canadians have every opportunity tosucceed," said Minister Regan. "Today's funding will help ensure the long-termsuccess of our fish harvesting industry."

Today's funding will support a project by the Canadian Council ofProfessional Fish Harvesters (CCPFH). The CCPFH represents the interests ofthe majority of this country's major fish harvesting organizations,particularly regarding the welfare of independent owner-operators of fishingvessels and their crew members. The CCPFH plays a lead role in promoting the"professionalization" of people in the industry and supports regionalorganizations attempting to establish certification systems. Additionally, inthe future, the CCPFH will pay greater attention to matters related to skilldevelopment and human resources needs in the industry.

"Investing in the skills of Canadians is key to our continued success inthe global economy," said Minister Stronach. "I'm very pleased with today'sannouncement, which supports skills development initiatives in this importantsector of our economy."

"Building on the findings of its newly released Sector Study, thisagreement will give the Council the capacity to conduct a nationalconsultation process with fish harvesters and their representatives," saidJohn Sutcliffe, CCPFH Executive Director. This consultation process will leadto the Council's General Assembly in February 2006 where fishermen coming fromall fishing regions of the country will meet in Vancouver to decide onstrategic orientations to guide the Council in its work to help maintainingand developing vibrant fishing communities across Canada."

Sector councils successfully meet emerging skills requirements byaddressing skills and labour shortages, and building essential skills in theworkplace as a foundation for continuous learning. These organizations bringtogether business, labour and educational stakeholders in key industries toidentify and address common human resources and skills issues, and to findsolutions that benefit the sector. They are instrumental in making sure thatworkers already employed and those seeking employment are well prepared forthe challenges of the rapidly evolving labour market.

There are currently 31 sector councils representing traditionalindustries (such as mining and textiles) and emerging industries (such asbiotechnology and the environment). The sector council network now coversapproximately 48 percent of the labour market. The Government of Canada iscommitted to strengthening and expanding the network of sector councils sothat more Canadian workers benefit from them.

Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federalBudget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.

This project has been reviewed to ensure its compliance with theDepartment's administration of its grant and contribution programs, and it issubject to review under the Financial Administration Act.

Alberta refuses to abide by new federal greenhouse gas regulations - Yahoo News

DENNIS BUECKERT

Alberta will not be bound by federal regulations on greenhouse emissions, says a spokesman for the province's Environment Department.

Robert Moyles said Tuesday that Alberta will introduce its own regulations to govern greenhouse emissions - and they will take precedence over federal rules.

The comments open a gaping hole in the credibility of Ottawa's plan for achieving its commitments under the
Kyoto protocol, with less than a week before a UN conference on climate change opens in Montreal.

"Our regulations, we believe, will take precedence as soon as they take effect," Moyles said in an interview. "Industry (in Alberta) will be bound by Alberta regulations."

He was commenting on Ottawa's announcement Tuesday that six greenhouse gases will be added on Nov. 30 to a list of substances subject to regulation under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Environment Minister Stephane Dion said the listing of the six gases will allow the federal government to draw up regulations on large industrial facilities, which account for half of Canada's greenhouse emissions.

Alternative energy sources potentially rich in jobs - Vancouver Sun

Waning supplies of oil and natural gas will trigger the need for other sources of energy, a report says

British Columbia could open new industries and create hundreds of thousands of jobs by turning its attention to the world's $200-billion power technology industry, a report submitted Monday to the B.C. government says.

The report says global climate change, and waning production of oil and natural gas, will throw a wrench into 90 per cent of the world's present energy supply -- describing a fossil fuel shortage as "imminent."

B.C. residents are "solidly behind sustainability" but the province must increase its commitment to research and development of lower-cost alternate energy technology, the report from the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association says.

Under Mud and Despair, Guatemala Looks Abroad for Help - Worldpress.org

By Jacob Wheeler

The villagers of Santiago de Atitlán, on the banks of what British author Aldous Huxley called “the most beautiful lake in the world,” have yet another reason to mourn.

Landslides the week before last caused by the rain from Hurricane Stan in the Caribbean wiped out a town next to Santiago called Panabáj, burying more than 500 people under mud and rock that fell from thousands of feet above them. By last weekend, recovery efforts were abandoned, and desperate locals who had been digging with shovels, and tools as simple as brooms and tree branches, were asked to stop. “Panabáj no longer exists,” Mayor Diego Esquina of Santiago admitted to reporters, and the town was declared a mass grave.

As if that’s not enough, two months from now these same unfortunate souls will remember the 15th anniversary of the day the Guatemalan military massacred 13 of their fellow townspeople. Their outcry and successful campaign to kick the military out of a nearby base gained international attention and was a crucial step in stopping this country’s brutal civil war in 1996.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Francisco Mendez.

Editorial: Politics undercuts Kyoto conference - Toronto Star

Next Monday, the day the opposition parties plan to bring down Prime Minister Paul Martin's government, a major United Nations conference on the Kyoto agreement and climate change is to begin in Montreal.

As conference host, Ottawa will find itself in a most awkward spot. Participating countries that will be looking to Canada for leadership will be greeted instead by a caretaker government with no mandate to move the agenda forward on the planet's most pressing environmental problem.

In preparation for the conference, new reports on climate change have been issued in recent days at a furious pace. In one major report, the U.N. says progress thus far in cutting greenhouse gas emissions resulted more from happenstance than deliberate action. The report found that the 5.9 per cent reduction in such emissions in the developed nations from 1990 to 2003 came entirely from the economic collapse in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s.

Wind-power funds blow West - Calgary Herald

Alberta firms win Ontario contracts

Four Alberta companies have taken the lion's share of more than $2 billion worth of renewable energy contracts handed out by the Ontario government Monday.

Enbridge Inc., Suncor Energy Inc. and Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. of Calgary, and Edmonton's Epcor Utilities Inc. expect to spend a combined $1.6 billion on wind-power farms in southern Ontario and a small hydro-electric project. Combined, the three companies will produce almost 700 megawatts of electricity, enough to power nearly 180,000 homes.

The Ontario government has agreed to buy power from the facilities for 20 years as it looks to fulfill a pledge to close the province's coal-burning generation plants by 2009. Those plants produce about a fifth of Ontario's electricity, but the province's government will close them because of environmental concerns. To replace that power, Ontario wants 10 per cent of its electricity to come from renewable sources by the decade's end and is also refurbishing some nuclear plants.

Something western this way comes - Ottawa Sun

When Alberta Premier Ralph Klein recently offered to campaign for Stephen Harper in the coming election, the federal Conservative leader commented with a straight face that his party would very much appreciate the preem's support "whatever role he plays."

Yesterday, Harper was once again reminded that with friends like Ralph, who needs the Liberals?

With none of the usual fanfare and photo ops, Klein slipped into the capital Sunday afternoon aboard his government jet, and snuck off to Harper's official mansion for the first ever private meeting between the two leaders --- and likely their last for some time.

Forest firms to get aid package - Vancouver Sun <-- Majority American owned

Victims of lumber dispute will share $1.5 billion

The federal government will announce Thursday a $1.5-billion forest industry aid package, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

The five-year deal, costing significantly more than the $800-million to $1-billion deal rumoured in media reports last week, will be announced in B.C., Northern Ontario, and in Quebec -- the three regions hardest hit in the protracted Canada-U.S. lumber dispute.

The aid package had been held up by Canadian officials in hopes it wouldn't be necessary, given the latest ruling in Canada's favour by a panel established under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

But, the U.S. government is expected to announce Wednesday it won't adhere to the NAFTA requirement that would have compelled the Americans to return at least $3.5 billion in duties paid since the latest battle began in 2002.

The Liberals are also under pressure from all three opposition parties, who are poised to defeat the minority government next week and have been accusing Prime Minister Paul Martin of abandoning the industry.

The key component of the package is $800 million Ottawa will put up to cover loan insurance for companies seeking bank financing to weather the trade dispute.

Ex-Liberal, ex-Conservative to target same-sex marriage in election - Canadian Press

A former Liberal MP has started a group that will spend the coming election campaign taking on candidates who support same-sex marriage.

Ontario MP Pat O'Brien - who resigned as a Liberal this year because of the marriage issue - has founded Defend Marriage Canada with a Conservative ally.
He and ex-Tory MP Grant Hill, who is a doctor, say the group will raise money, publish letters, and lobby voters to elect candidates who oppose same-sex marriage.
The Liberal government passed Bill C-38 redefining marriage earlier this year, following court rulings that the traditional definition was unconstitutional.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says that if elected, he would allow a free vote on whether to overturn the new law.
Critics note that to change the law, the federal government would need to invoke the Constitution's notwithstanding clause for the first time ever.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

November 21, 2005

Rethinking the Global War on AIDS - Worldpress.org

Endless rows of coffins fill a graveyard in South Africa, where AIDS has taken a staggering toll. (Photo: -/AFP-Getty Images)

The H.I.V./AIDS pandemic is now widely acknowledged as a major crisis of our time. As we gradually move to the third decade, the pandemic shows no sustained signs of slowing down, especially in hardest-hit parts of the world. It is crucial to step back and rethink current global remedial efforts.

According to the United Nations agency coordinating the fight against the pandemic (Unaids), almost 40 men, women and children worldwide live with H.I.V. Since the early 1980’s, more than 20 million individuals have lost their lives to AIDS. Nearly 5 million people became infected in 2004 and 3.1 million died of AIDS during the same period. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the epicenter of the pandemic, accounting for more than 60 percent of all global infections although it represents only 10 percent of the global population. Southern Africa represents only 2 percent of the global population but accounts for 30 percent of all individuals living with H.I.V./AIDS. Nearly half of all adults living with H.I.V. are women. In sub-Saharan Africa, 57 percent of infected adults are women. The rate of H.I.V. transmission has also increased exponentially in other parts of the world in the last two years: nearly 50 percent in East Asia and 40 percent in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, respectively.

Despite these sobering statistics, the global war on AIDS includes clearly positive developments. It would be difficult to find a senior policy maker worldwide who has never heard of H.I.V./AIDS. Uganda’s rate of H.I.V. fell from 13 percent in the early 1990’s to 4.1 percent in 2003 through comprehensive prevention programs, according to Unaids. Spectacular advances in research led to the creation of life saving antiretroviral drugs that changed the pandemic from a deadly to a chronic and manageable condition in the West, with rates of AIDS death falling by up to two-thirds. The creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a shining testament of global resolve to fight the pandemic. The unprecedented $15 billion, five year H.I.V./AIDS, TB and Malaria program of the United States in 15 developing countries represented another milestone in the scale and scope of a remedial effort.

Large urban transit - Statistics Canada

September 2005 (preliminary)

Combined ridership on 10 large urban transit systems in Canada was 3.6 % higher in September than it was for the same month in 2004.

Approximately 121.7 million passenger trips were taken on these transit systems in September. These systems account for about 80% of total urban transit in Canada.

The trips generated $190.2 million in revenue in September (excluding subsidies), a 6.1% increase over September 2004.