Plastic wading pool is liberal response t G-8 pavilion.

It appears that fake lakes are springing up all over Canada. First the 1.9 million dollar Muskoka Lake look-alike in the Toronto G-8 pavilion. The simulated lake was created to maximize the experience of reporters who couldn’t make it to Huntsville, Ontario. Liberals, not to be outdone have responded with a faux lake of their own. Their’s ringing in at less than $20.

The difference? While Harper’s display includes cityscapes meant to highlight our economic success as a nation, a bar and a serene backdrop for all-important telecasts Ignatieff’s version is a little less extravagant. It’s made up of a blue plastic children’s wading pool in the Liberal leader’s front yard. The $20 dollar lake comes complete with a “No Diving” sign and life vests for anyone hoping to take a dip in the 3-inch deep water.
(more…)

As Operation Moshtarak continues at this very moment it is pertinent to once again draw our attention to the tactics being deployed on the ground in Afghanistan. The spotlight has recently been on the political attempts to bring stable government to the country in the form of President Karzai’s premiership but the foundations of this will truly be built by the military actions of the ISAF. It is this need that has brought about Operation Moshtarak. With time running out before the withdrawal of troops begins, large offensives will be the order of the day in an attempt to create a legacy of stability from which the West-backed Karzai can act.

While it is all too easy to scrutinize and criticize tactics from the safety of our homes, there needs to be a realization of what lies ahead. However, simultaneously, the ISAF forces need to take action and snatch the initiative. Inaction would be just as deadly and allow the Taliban to seize upon this passivity. It is this conflict of ideas, along with numerous other factors, that causes the current situation inside the country to be so precarious.
(more…)

Simcoe-Grey MP Helena Guergis. Photo credit: Canadian Press.

Flying can be stressful, and I suppose that being an MP is stressful as well. While most of us have experienced the former, few have the opportunity to live through the latter. In late February, Helena Guergis had the misfortune of experiencing both.

For those of you who were caught up in the Olympics and missed the news, Helena Guergis, MP for Simcoe-Grey, apparently threw a diva fit at the Charlottetown airport on February 19. The incident became public when someone sent an anonymous letter describing the tantrum to Liberal MP Wayne Easter.

According to the letter, Ms. Guergis and her aide arrived very late for an Air Canada flight. While clearing security, her footwear set off an alarm so security staff asked that she remove it. In response, Ms. Guergis allegedly removed her boots, chucked them in a bin, swore, and then declared PEI a hellhole (or shithole, depending on the source). After abusing the staff but still clearing security, she ordered her aide to fetch her boots for her. She then discovered that the glass doors leading to the tarmac were locked. She reportedly beat on the doors and tried to force her way out. Of course, the whole time the plane was being held for her. She finally boarded and left the hellhole behind.
(more…)

It's just a flu and it's just a vaccine.

Just to be clear, I enjoy a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person and, as I spend a good deal of time with my husband the communist and my parents, the super-liberal and the skeptic, I am also especially well disposed to a great deal of distrust for anyone who stands to make money from a negative situation. All of this considered, I would love to believe that the H1N1 vaccine is some international conspiratorial plot to either a) fill tax paying citizens with mercury and poisonous neurotoxins or b) turn out the near-empty pockets of a world economy choked by recession for those last few coins and some lint. But no matter what I read or hear, I just can’t make the leap.
(more…)

Perhaps now doctors will start reporting medical errors.

Recently Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital has released statistics saying that reporting medical errors made during patient care has reduced the occurrence of errors by as much as 50%. Health care officials are using these encouraging numbers to work towards the creation of a province wide registry of medical errors. It is my personal hope that every province (for selfish reasons particularly my own) adopts a similar registry system. Canada isn’t the first country to be suggesting that fixing mistakes might be more effective than covering them up. For years physicians and patients have been working towards full-disclosure policies in the US and the UK.

Understandably this presents an interesting problem for many people. Encouraging numbers may finally be the salve for doctors worried about malpractice litigation and the general public not really wanting to know how frequently our health care professionals mess up.

As someone who was the victim of a medical mistake once I am in full support of full disclosure and more than that, mandatory registries of any and all medical errors. In my case the mistake that was made caused me to live for almost two years with an untreated torn ACL tendon in my knee before I finally found another doctor who took the time to find the problem. My own story is nothing compared to patients who have lost their lives or paid dearly in other ways for medication mix-ups or surgery mishaps. Medical professionals are people, and as scary as that realization may be they make mistakes and often after one mistake they again make the mistake of not reporting the first mishap in a voluntary system. It’s just not quite cutting it. It certainly is understandable as admitting to mistakes that may have endangered a patients life is a scary thing for a doctor worried about losing patients, or even their career.
(more…)

The World Economic Forum released their annual report on the gender gap, with Iceland coming in first place and Canada ranking 25th overall. The study ranks countries on particular issues, and then uses these to create an overall ranking. Consider: Canada came in 10th for female economic participation with only 22 percent (up one percent from last year) of Canadian MP’s being female, compared to Iceland’s 40 percent.

Despite the low ranking, Canada did climb up six spots from last year’s report, and interestingly, the US fell 4 spots. Before this year, Canada had been sliding down the rankings by a few spots per year. Hopefully this rebound isn’t temporary.

With less than 40 days remaining before the governments of the world convene to hammer out a save-our-species style of agreement on Climate Change, there is a lot of bustling going on in Ottawa. For one thing this is an especially busy time for the staffers behind our politicians. I’m talking about those brave unheralded souls running around Ottawa buying plane tickets, planning dinners, and ensuring the business-attire economy remains recession-proof. Oh yes, the assistant armies of Ottawa are working all hours to ensure that our Government’s representatives are going to look good, eat-well, and rest comfortably while discussing the future of the planet in Copenhagen (COP15).

Good for those assistants: doing their jobs and taking the COP15 climate talks seriously. If only our Conservative Government and the official Opposition could do the same.

Bill C-311, otherwise known as the Climate Change Accountability Act, would have been a good opportunity for Steve and Mike’s boys and girls to begin to address Canada’s currently negligent role in international climate talks. The Bill, sponsored by the NDP’s Bruce Hyer, would see that the Government — no matter which party is in power — be on the hook to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gasses by 25% of 1990 levels, by the year 2020. Going forward, the Bill aimed to lower emissions by 80% of 1990 levels, by the year 2050.
(more…)

A new campaign called saveournet.ca has launched, hoping to bring attention to the important issue of Net Neutrality in Canada.

Their youtube video does a fairly good job at explaining the reasoning of their campaign and the importance of net neutrality:


(more…)

It is really incredible to watch the development of an idea, as it grows into something grand.

I have been lucky enough to watch the idea of one Thornhill, Ontario (my hometown) resident, Jonathan Maister expand right before my very eyes.

In an April 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic Magazine, Jonathan read about the West Toronto Initiative for Solar Energy (WISE). The community-led renewable energy project organized the bulk purchase of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Solar Hot Water (SHW) systems. In the first wave of this initiative, 86 units (60 solar hot water systems and 26 solar electric systems) were ordered. Residents were able to take their own personal energy use into their own hands while reducing their environmental impact (through the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions their energy source resulted in).
(more…)