Canada has walked away from one of the most farcical UN conferences, calling it a "gong show".

Canada has withdrawn its support for a UN anti-racism conference slated to take place in South Africa next year, the federal government announced Wednesday.

The so-called Durban II conference "has gone completely off the rails" and Canada wants no part of it, said Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity.

"Canada is interested in combatting racism, not promoting it," Mr. Kenney told The Canadian Press. "We'll attend any conference that is opposed to racism and intolerance, not those that actually promote racism and intolerance.

"Our considered judgment, having participated in the preparatory meetings, was that we were set for a replay of Durban I. And Canada has no intention of lending its good name and resources to such a systematic promotion of hatred and bigotry."

The 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban turned into "a circus of intolerance," Mr. Kenney said.

One government official on Wednesday called the conference "a gong show."

I'm proud of Canada. Durban I in 2001 was a Cinco de Mayo with Israel as the pinata. All the Muslim countries got together to blame the Jooooos for all the world's ills. To have our current Conservative government stand up and tell the UN to shove their conference is something that I applaud.

Now if they would just turn their attention to the Human Rights Commissions...

Labels: Anti-Semitism, Canadiana, Israel, Race, UN

I'm actually on vacation this week, and am about to go sit by the pool, read a magazine, and work on adding some lifelike color to my pasty white skin. So here's a roundup:

Why don't they just call it cotton candy? Government renames Islamic terrorism as 'anti-Islamic activity' to woo Muslims

There is no compulsion in religion? British street gang forcing conversions to Islam, dealing drugs.

Cold Terror: Mohammed Mansour Jabarah conspired to blow up U.S. embassies in Singapore and Philippines, gets life term in prison

Bad time to be born in Montreal hospital: Doctors at a Montreal hospital are threatening to stop delivering babies this spring, saying the aging maternity ward is in a decrepit state of repair.

I don't agree with this ruling, especially when young girls are being coerced into getting the HPV vaccine (which has not had enough time to be adequately tested) that you and I are funding: Men who pay for prostrate screening tests are not being discriminated against even though women get free breast cancer screening, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal said Thursday in a ruling it conceded would not end the public health controversy.

And for a great laugh: The Top 25 Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians

Labels: Canadiana, Health, Islamic Terror, Travel, United Kingdom

Hezbollah is recognized as a terror organization by Canada, and is strictly prohibited. Well, maybe not strictly...


A billboard in Windsor, Ontario

Printed in English on the left side of the billboard are the words: "Lebanese and Arab communities in Windsor city congratulate the Lebanese people for their steadfastness and endeavor to establish peace in Lebanon."

But Nabbout said that Arabic writing which appears on the right side of the billboard does not match the English translation. According to Nabbout, the Arabic writing makes a reference to fighting.

"What they mean by 'fight' is basically 'guerrilla' - using arms and weapons," Nabbout said. "Basically, there is a very specific word... That is a definite difference between the Arabic and the English."

You can contact the Mayor of Windsor, Eddie Francis (The mayor's name is Eddie? Oh Christ. WWII would never have happened if Mr. and Mrs. Hitler had named their son "Skip". You know why? Cause no one takes Skip - or Eddie - very seriously.) here:

Mayor's Office
350 City Hall Square West
P.O. Box 1607
Windsor, Ontario
Canada
N9A6S1

Tel. (519) 255-6315
Fax. (519) 255-7796
Email: mayoro@city.windsor.on.ca

Labels: Canadiana, Hezbollah, Islamic Terror, Ontario, Windsor

04/24/06 "I can't figure out why the homosexuals I ran into are on the side of the Muslims. After all, Muslims who practice Sharia law tend to advocate beheading homosexuals."

03/09/06 "I defy Islamic censorship and speak about what I believe is the truth
about violent Islamism and its threat to religious liberty in Canada."

"How many of us pay nothing but lip service to the Muslim threat here in Canada?"

"Probably everyone want to jail a Muslim."

"I have to ask why we are importing them here?"

"Islamic fundamentalism and its threat to Canada's religious and civil liberties."

Fuck you, Human Rights Tribunal.

This blog stands with Connie Wilkins of Free Dominion. The Human Rights courts are a sham and a disgrace, and a blatant misuse of taxpayer money. Speak out (while you still can).

I am Spartacus.

Labels: Canadiana, Connie Wilkins, FreeDominion, Human Rights, Kangaroo Court, Spartacus

I just don't have the same kind of resources as Black to do anything about it. But it doesn't mean I'll give up trying.

Conrad Black "simply outgrew the country".

Nice to know I have such elite company!

Labels: Canadiana, Conrad Black

When the Natives do absolutely nothing except smoke, drink and fuck their daughters. This Friday will mark the Native Day of Action(tm) here in Canada. It's their chance to whine and complain that us white guys who pay 45% in income tax to support their smoking, drinking and daughter-fucking are ripping them off. How they can justify that, we're not entirely certain. But what we can be certain about is that it will cause a new committee or study group to be formed - also at our expense - and it will solve exactly nothing.

I have no sympathy for the plight of the Natives, any more than I do for the Palestinians. In both cases they have the choice to get the hell off the rez, become fully-functioning, voting members of democratic society, but instead they choose to live in concentration camps, hands out to the government, ever ready with a complaint on their lips for the shoddy treatment they chose for themselves. Shut up and get to work, losers. You can bang the drum (not a euphemism for daughters) on the weekends, the way some overgrown white boys still get together to rock out in a garage band. But Monday to Friday belongs to The Man, same as it does for the rest of us.

Which neatly segues into an article I read this morning, about the trouble with Native populations sniffing gasoline to get high.

Aboriginals in Labrador are hoping a new fuel that doesn't intoxicate gas sniffers could help solve a persistent problem among young people in their communities.

But even though BP has offered the formula free to anyone who promises to produce it, it's still not clear how Opal gas, developed in Australia, could be brought to the Canadian communities that want it.

"We'd love to have it available in Canada," said BP spokeswoman Anita Perry. "The issue really is logistics."

Opal gas was developed as a partial response to the problem of gas-sniffing in aboriginal communities in Australia.

Daniel Pottle, a member of the Nunatsiavut government created by the Labrador Inuit land claim, heard about the product last Christmas through contacts with a business development group at Newfoundland's Memorial University. Intrigued, he travelled Down Under this spring with a delegation of Inuu, Inuit and government officials to see what Opal's effect has been.

"Where the product is being used, gas sniffing is no longer an issue," he said. "We came back with a very positive impression of this product."

This is taking things a little bit too far. When we're in the process of trying to stave off environmental damage, and reduce dependency on foreign oil, BP is wasting their time and energy creating a sniff-proof gasoline to deal with the huffing problem so common among native populations. And now Canadian natives from Newfoundland want in on it. Guess who pays?

Yup - that's right. You and I, the whipped taxpayer. We're not paying enough in gasoline taxes, now we're expected to foot the bill so the notoriously substance-abusing natives will have one less thing to huff? Here's a better idea: why not just remove petrol stations from reservations? Then when they complain that they can't get around, can't get out to bingo or whatever, can't fill their snowmobiles, freeze to death in their Northern climes etc, we can remind them why. Bad enough most reservations have to lock innocuous substances like mouthwash and cough syrup behind the pharmacy counters. I, for one, do not wish to be buying these people snort-proof gas because they can't take responsibility for their own lives.

Let's not have just ONE day of Native Action. Let's have 365 days of it. Maybe then they'd find they only have the same problems everybody else has, and not these bizarre problems that seem to proliferate while you sit collecting the dole and looking for something to complain about. You know what? Make it 364 days - they can have Christmas off like everybody else.

Labels: Canadiana, Injuns, Nanny State, Natives, Palestinians, Substance Abuse

As part of my PACOM series (other posts here and here), I'd like to introduce you to Major Paul Young, of the Canadian Air Force. That's right folks, there's a Canuck on Oahu, and he isn't just there to golf.

He stands apart from his American counterparts, with his darker green digitized uniform (apparently the basis for much teasing from his paler-green desk mates), soft-featured, friendly face and spectacles. Originally from the Maritimes, Major Young had been based in Winnipeg for the longest time before becoming part of the exchange program, moving his family to Oahu (there are worse postings to have to convince your wife of, I'm sure). There are currently 12 Canadians in various parts of the US Military machine (Canada offers just one spot for an American - currently vacant).

The exchange gives our Canadian soldiers an opportunity to work with bigger machines, better toys, and - in the case of Major Young, who works in Logistics - larger amounts of money and personnel. When I asked him, not totally understanding his role there, what he worked on, he said "American things. I work for the US Military. I don't sit at that desk working on anything Canadian." It's actually a very strange working relationship, since he will sit in his little cubicle, next to the Americans; together they will discuss various problems and solutions throughout the day, yet he is restricted from accessing certain areas of the very computer programs and databases he's meant to be working on. He is, after all, a foreign national.

Unfortunately I was only able to spend a few minutes with Major Young, but I could see he was happy with his role at PACOM. When I spoke with LTC Upson, who works with Major Young, he had only good things to say. Major Young is a well liked and respected colleague - one of their own.

Labels: Canadiana, Hawaii, Military, PACOM

A tip from a Canadian resident ended Richard Steve Goldberg's stint on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, and the alleged child molester is now awaiting extradition, the bureau said.

According to the Web site for the television show, "America's Most Wanted," Goldberg had been seeing a nonprofit counselor under the alias Terry Wayne Kearns. He allegedly told the counselor he was an American fugitive, but the charges against him were "trumped up," the Web site said.

The counselor told a friend, who found Goldberg on the FBI Web site, according to "America's Most Wanted."

The 61-year-old former engineer had been on the run for six years after he was charged in 2001 with producing child pornography, two counts of possessing child pornography and six counts of performing lewd acts on a child, the FBI said. He also faces unlawful flight charges.

Labels: Canadiana, Child Molesters, Law, Law Enforcement

It must be one of the seven signs of the apocalypse.

A group of strangers came together on a road in north Pickering making extraordinary efforts to save the driver of a pickup truck.

The truck left the roadway and overturned Wednesday night. A small farm pond on Brock Road was the scene of the accident at about 8 p.m.

Police say the truck's driver had been drinking and lost control. The vehicle ended up in the pond, prompting a group of passersby to rush into the cold water.

About 30 people helped flip the pickup onto its side. But the driver could not be found.

So the group, led by two off-duty firefighters, organized a rapid search for the missing man.

"We organized ... an arm-to-arm search," Greg Beatty, a firefighter at the Pickering nuclear power plant, told CTV's Jim Junkin Thursday morning.

The group joined hands and walked forward into the water, searching for the missing driver.

The driver, alas, did not make it. But lets hope the spirit of humanity lasts a while in this self-centered part of the country.

Labels: Apocalypso, Canadiana

[Padre] Varga told the mourners. "A war took Patrick; evil in the world took Patrick. God caught him when he fell and now God carries him safely into eternal life."

Pentland died when the light-armoured vehicle he was driving hit a roadside bomb near Kandahar.

What a lovely way to eulogize someone.

Labels: Afghanistan, Canadiana, Military, War on Terror

In an update on this post, the Green Party is dumping his conspiracy-generating, America-hating, pro-Jihad ass.

A journalist who wrote that he initially cheered the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center has been rejected as a candidate for the Green Party of Canada.

Kevin Potvin has been told he cannot represent the party in the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway, party leader Elizabeth May said in a news release on Sunday.

I have been proven wrong: The Greens do have a little common sense, after all.

Labels: Canadiana, Politics, September 11, Truther, Zionist Conspiracy

One of the morons who revels in 9/11 and yet thinks it was perpetrated by the government in a vast Zionist conspiracy is running for office in Vancouver (under the Green banner, of course).

The editorial, entitled, A Revolting Confession, was first published on Nov. 28, 2002 in an alternative newspaper, The Republic of East Vancouver, which Kevin Potvin founded.

"When I saw the first tower cascade down into that enormous plume of dust and paper, there was a little voice inside me that said, 'Yeah!' When the second tower came down the same way, that little voice said, 'Beautiful!' When the visage of the Pentagon appeared on the TV with a gaping and smoking hole in its side, that little voice had nearly taken me over, and I felt an urge to pump my fist in the air," Mr. Potvin wrote in the editorial.

Some degenerate who masturbates to the death of 3,000 Americans wants to represent in Parliament. If this is the direction Canada is taking, we're sicker than I had originally feared.

Labels: Canadiana, Politics, September 11, Truther, Zionist Conspiracy

What an awesome idea, with hat tip to Halls of Macadamia.

The Royal Canadian Legion has initiated a support program called The RCL Troop Morale Fund.

They hope to raise funds to treat our troops regularly to a coffee and doughnut from the Tim Hortons in Afghanistan. A donation container is set up in the lounge here at Branch 99; loonies, toonies and the folding paper stuff would be most welcome.

...

To get things started, Dominion Command has donated $6,000 to buy the first round of coffee and doughnut certificates and, with the help of legion branches across Canada, they are hoping to be able to do this on a weekly basis.

It is not so much the coffee and doughnut, but the message behind it to the troops, to show them we care. Please help make this program a success by coming in and making your donation at Branch 99. You don't have to be a legion member to donate everyone's money is appreciated.

Branch 99 details are here.

Labels: Afghanistan, Canadiana, Military

Let me give a little tip to Canadians and Americans alike that spend a lot of time on the Internet:

You are not alone. And when you say things like Kill the President and Behead the Prime Minister, your nerdy MySpace buddies aren't the only ones reading. You aren't the only one reading the words Jihad and Allah in your email.

My threads have been read time and again by the Department of Homeland Security, the RCMP, and my Internet provider. I'm watched constantly, even though I'm not a threat. Why? Because I use the buzzwords. They have to watch me. It's not a big deal, because I'm on the right side of the law. I'm with the good guys. They know I'm not actually going to kill the president, even if their sooper seekrit search engine flags those words here and sends them looking.

But for all you commie, anti-establishment assholes, get a grip. Your nonsense isn't funny, it's illegal.

Internet ramblings about Stephen Harper on the blogsite of an Alberta man found an attentive but not overly appreciative audience with the RCMP.

As a result, Patrick David Fenton is to be sentenced May 30 for threatening the life of the prime minister.

Fenton, 25, pleaded guilty in court in Canmore Wednesday to a single charge of uttering threats to cause death.

Fenton's lawyer says the whole thing has been blown out of proportion.

"He had an online blog and frankly he intended it as satirical," Tyson Dahlem said yesterday from his office in Canmore, 120 km west of Calgary.

Dork.

Labels: Canadiana, Internet, Politics

Common sense has prevailed in Quebec, where Muslim women will have to show their faces before voting in tomorrow's election.

"What's at stake here is the integrity and, as I said, the serenity of the electoral process," Mr. Blanchet said at a press conference. "Since yesterday, the chief electoral office has received numerous emails and numerous telephone calls that have raised concern about inappropriate actions being taken at the polls. Suggestions were also made, notably on the Internet, that voters should show up at polling stations with covered faces or in silly disguises."

Quebec has had issues in the past with voter fraud (remember them being ridiculed back in 1995 for having the roll of every cemetery voting YES in the referendum, yet they still lost?), and the idea of letting Allah's whores show up in disguise was raising the ire of many Quebecois.

Earlier this week Mr. Blanchet, the top civil servant in charge of running Quebec elections, said that women wearing the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves only the eyes exposed, or the burqa, a head-to-toe covering, could vote without exposing their faces if they brought photo identification to the polling station and a second person vouched under oath that they were who they claimed to be. He made the ruling in accordance with a Quebec law that wasn't necessarily designed for that purpose. After the Journal de Montreal uncovered the story, outrage erupted--fuelled by concerns an exception for Muslim women would facilitate fraud, such as people casting multiple ballots or without being qualified.

Labels: Canadiana, Immigration, Islam

Oh, the dramas that unfold in a public healthcare provider's office - the frustrations, the anger bubbling to the surface - like some great sociology project. Waiting, endless waiting. Our time here has no value. We may be the patients, but the doctor answers only to the government. Ironically, I discovered on Tuesday that the doctors have since taken to referring to us as "customers" - a label that denotes a relationship based on commerce and trade - yet the principles of customer service do not apply here, for we are not the ones paying the bill.

Everyone's time is precious and should be respected, whether you are retired, or a lawyer billing $500 an hour who must turn down an client, or a caregiver who must arrange for someone to look after your elderly parent. Double-bookings, triple-bookings – it doesn't matter if the "customer" is unhappy - the bill will still be paid. The wait is long, and we are all equal in the neglect and abuse we endure. The physicians are free to treat us with indifference, and we must meekly accept. You see, we have no choice.

In our country, a pregnant woman may choose, almost up to the moment of birth, to end the life of her baby. After all, it's her body, right? But what about my body, and my choice? Why can't I choose to see a doctor who will respect my needs and my time?

After a three hour wait for my 3:30 appointment, which of course I left the office early for, I was presented with a $49 bill for the sick-leave note I required for my absence last week. It was a fee I didn't mind paying, but the doctor's office - though happy to charge for such "luxury" services - does not accept credit cards or even have a debit machine. Like a bookie or the dealer at the corner of Dundas and Yonge, this was a strictly cash business. I was asked - politely - by the (harried) receptionist to go downstairs, cross the street and walk half a block to the nearest bank machine, the final insult being that the receptionist did not have the $11 change for the three twenties I handed her. The doctor herself actually had the nerve to ask - after my three hour wait - if I could go down to the shop in the lobby for change. As a testament to her obviously effective treatment of me for anxiety, I neither burst into frustrated tears nor strangled her. Instead I gave her a firm "no", that after such a long wait I would most certainly not be willing to run and fetch my own change.

How did we come to this point? Surely Tommy Douglas did not have that disrespectful scenario in mind when he introduced us to the so-called wonders of socialized medicine. Surely he didn't see Canada in the same category as Cuba, where the public service is mandatory and private competition is not only discouraged but illegal. Our system is broken. The sacred cow at the heart of "Canadian-ness" has become a monster - a mad cow. It's time to slaughter the beast and start fresh. There is nothing Canadian about this kind of treatment.

Labels: Canadiana, Health

Charles at LGF posts that Montreal is a hotbed of terrorist financing and planning. Babe, whatever you're reading in the papers, you don't know the half of it. I watched it happening at a time before 9/11, when no one thought twice about such things. Two words, Charles: Import/export. Those are the businesses they set up when they come to Canada, and that's how they are able to move large sums of money back and forth to the Middle East without scrutiny. Until now, that is. Thankfully.

You want to see real terrorist planning? Check out the communities living in Laval. These are the real financiers, in their big houses, in their little enclaves, doing business with Canadians and then going home to plot against us.

When the raids come to Montreal, look for the words "rounded up in a community just North of Montreal". That's Laval. Mark my words.

Labels: Canadiana, Islamic Terror

Harper was in Toronto to speechify the populus. It was nice to see him again, but I think I'm getting too old for these screaming rallies. Or maybe, after the week I've had of hiding in the house, standing for two hours in a noisy, crowded, darkened room was a bad idea.

"Legend says that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. And last year, you, the grassroots members of the Conservative party, drove the Grits out of Ottawa. Now that's something worth saying cheers to."

Labels: Canadiana, Politics

The whiskey must be flowing in Newfoundland for St. Patrick's Day, because I just got the most pathetic bit of hate mail I've seen in a while. Normally something so uninspired usually comes from someone who has English as a second language (and while the average Newfie can be quirky in their speech, they do still speak English!).

It turns out that this tired statement

You are obviously an ugly fatty who's not getting any action from any attractive guys sweetheart

is from Lib-left criminal lawyer Averill Baker from Mount Pearl Park, Newfoundland. The whiskey and screech must be so plentiful that Ms. Baker didn't notice my email policy to the side of the screen. Oh well, not my problem...

Just think. Someone in Newfoundland is going to need a lawyer for something. Someone who can not only present the facts of the case clearly, but who can win over the jury with a breathtaking closing argument.

Based on the unsolicited email I received, they will probably want to call someone other than Averill Baker.

Labels: Canadiana, Email, Law

The perils of Canada's "free" "health" "care".

Most former patients experienced a "difficult path" through [cancer] treatment, from experiencing booking errors to finding themselves a "go-between" among professionals, the report found. Only a small minority reported that their care had lived up to expectations.

"Currently, there is no co-ordinated system of care," said Sharon Wood, executive director of the foundation's Ontario chapter.

"Women were surprised, because they expected a co-ordinated system of care and didn't find it."

Ms. Noble said she found it difficult to navigate her way through the health-care system when she was first diagnosed with the disease in 2004.

She underwent chemotherapy treatments on Friday afternoons, only to find that when the extreme side-effects of the treatment kicked in, the cancer centre she relied on for her care was closed for the weekend.

When things didn't work, like pain medication, it could take days before the problem could be rectified, she added. She once had to wait two days to obtain a much-needed drug, because it wasn't available in her city.

I buried two parents because of cancer. It is one of the ugliest ways to die, and I wouldn't wish is on anyone. By the time they were diagnosed (in the case of my father it was his fault for waiting, in the case of my mother the doctors didn't detect it when there was still time to do something about it) it was already terminal for them. Any treatments they endured were mostly of a palliative nature. Very little effort was put into saving them. In my father's case, that was his choice. He wanted to die. In my mother's, nothing we could have done would have saved her - even a miracle would have been hard pressed to make a dent in her illness. But if we'd been in a situation where recovery was our goal, I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be to have to go through all be bureaucratic to-and-fro that this report describes.

Even the diagnosis step is falling short:

It also suggests that women 40 to 49 be included in the province's breast screening program, which currently targets women 50 to 79.

That recommendation is key, said Nancy Noble, a 47-year-old cancer survivor from London, Ont.

"Women under 50 are really comfortable with technological change and would line up," the mother of two said. "I mean, I have friends I know who would pay to have one done if it was accessible to them."

However, earlier scientific studies have questioned the merits of introducing breast screening programs for all women 40 to 49. In particular, there is less evidence that screening mammography significantly reduces mortality in those under 50, compared with screening in older age groups. [emphasis mine]

I went to the doctor this afternoon - routine stuff, yet she still had me waiting for an hour past my appointment time - and on my way out, waiting for the elevator, I overheard two old men talking on a bench in the hall. I don't know which doctor on the floor they were waiting for, but one was saying to the other that even with an appointment, he always factors three hours before being seen. I couldn't believe it. I turned to him and said "Yet there are some in the US who think we have it great here!"

He answered, "Well, we do, considering we don't pay for it."

As the elevator doors opened for me, I said "Sir, we're getting what we're paying for."

Labels: Canadiana, Health

First I want to apologize for not being able to blog this week. It's been a rough one - just work and stuff. Nothing deadly. Thanks for sticking around and checking in on me.

Anyway, on to the content. Once more my Paranoid pal has impressed me with his prose in discussing the residents of Herouxville, Quebec. They have taken the dark side of multiculturalsims out of the shadows and into their town council meetings, where it was openly discussed and tossed out like last night's mucky bathwater.

We would especially like to inform the new arrivals that the lifestyle they left behind in their birth country cannot be brought here with them and they would have to adapt to their new social identity...We consider that men and women are of the same value... a woman can: drive a car, vote, sign checks, dance, decide for herself, speak her peace, dress as she sees fit, walk alone in public places, have a job, have her own belongings and anything else that a man can do..killing women in public beatings, or burning them alive are not part of our standards of life...We listen to music, we drink alcoholic beverages in public or private places, we dance and at the end of every year we decorate a tree with balls and tinsel and some lights. This is normally called "Christmas Decorations" or also "Christmas Tree" letting us rejoice in the notion of our national heritage...boys and girls play the same games and often play together. If you came to my place we would send the kids to swim together in the pool, don't be surprised this is normal for us…..

This has, of course, caused a great deal of ruffled feathers among the (multi)cultural elite across Canada. The mighty Paranoid One puts them in their place as only he can.

Clearly these Herouxville troglodytes - these ignorant Catholic peasants - have refused to be converted to the religion of multiculturalism. Damn heretics. Imagine, here we are, in 21st century Canada, and there are still people around clinging to the absurd notion that Canada’s founding cultures should be celebrated, protected and perpetuated.

Something apparently drove these people over the edge. What could it have been I wonder? Did they wake up one morning and suddenly notice that Canada has largely become a nation with no history and no shared values or identity? Did they become concerned about their small community suffering the same sad fate?.

Did they somehow clue in that the term 'multiculturalism' is really code for: 'destroy whitey's culture' and decide that participating in the destruction of their own culture was, well, kinda stupid?

Labels: Canadiana, Islam, Multiculturalism, Religion

Dr. Mary Fernando has an excellent article in yesterday's Toronto Star about the sickly state of our top-heavy healthcare system.

In Canada, we are not spending our health-care dollars on hospitals, better front-line services, doctors and equipment. Instead, we spend too much money on bureaucracy and the flavour-of-the-moment programs with catchy names, all of which are burgeoning at a scandalous rate.

Indeed. In Ontario alone, we are spending millions tracking wait times for things like cancer and cataract surgeries, instead of actually performing the surgeries. How many various stop-smoking hotlines does this country have right now? There's a federal one, and I know Ontario has one. Does every province have a telephone number you can dial that tells you to make an appointment with your doctor to discuss quitting options? Am I the only one who sees that as being a redundant step? How many people are we paying for the manning and administration of these programs?

Canada's health-care problem is rooted in our pattern of spending. The OECD shows we spend almost one percentage point more on health care than all 30 countries on average, or 9.9 per cent of GDP in 2003.

For the extra money we spend, we get very few resources. Canada has fewer hospital beds, physicians, MRIs and CTs than the average OECD country. We do have more nurses, but Marlene Smadu, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, explains that the lack of investment in nursing will result in shortages in the near future.

It has been argued that drug costs account for our higher than average spending. In fact, pharmaceutical spending in 2003 accounted for 16.9 per cent of total health spending in Canada, below the OECD average of 17.7 per cent.

The Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) is a prime source of data about national health-care expenditures. Based on CIHI figures, the percentage share of total health-care dollars we invest in hospitals and physicians has decreased significantly since 1975, and we have certainly gotten what we paid for: fewer hospital beds, equipment and physicians.

We are spending money creating administrative positions, instead of on the people and equipment needed to do the actual job. More people running information back and forth to the government, instead of running labs and scanners and performing surgery. We don't need project managers, we need doctors. And instead of forming a task force on hiring them, why don't we skip the task force and just hire them?

Governments, both federal and provincial, need their feet held to the fire of accountability by telling us, clearly, how many MRIs, CTs and hospital beds they are buying, how much is being invested in nurses and physicians and how working conditions are being improved. Accountability necessitates that governments put money into delivering the health care they promise us and that they put it in the right place.

Here, here!

Labels: Canadiana, Health

So MustControlFistOfDeath and I are sitting at The Ten Spot on Thursday night, sipping on martinis and having our toes painted (hers are pink, mine are ra-ra-red), when she turns to me and says "Wanna read something hilarious?" She dips into her covet-worthy bag and pulls out a broadsheet called Women's Post. The subtitle in the upper right corner is News Is Emotional, which of course is blatantly untrue. News is news. Women are emotional. Sometimes we get emotional about the news, but unless we're reading or watching something very skewed like CNN, the news itself is NOT emotional.

She directed my attention to an article entitled The choice in green leaves something to be desired. The environment. That old chestnut. From start to finish the article was full of half truths and downright bullshit. My favorite part though was

I think it all boils down to the astounding fact that I can't buy a hybrid car.

Honey, there are several days a month when I can't afford to buy food, so I really don't give a flying fart about whether or not you can buy a hybrid to ease your conscience.

Now, to be fair, Ms. Nickson wasn't alluding to price. If you can get your hands on the hard copy of the article, it is significantly longer than the online version. If there's one thing Ms. Nickson isn't concerned about, it's price. No, she's upset that she can't offroad to the cottage in a Smart Car. She laments that there are no 4WD hybrids to choose from. You see, she drives an SUV - but she has to. She's forced to, because nothing else can get her to her far-flung place of refuge from the great unwashed in the city.

There is one area where Ms. Nickson and I do agree, though:

Put aside global warming, of which our auto emissions cause 30%; with every gas dollar you and I spend, we are funding Islamic terrorism

It's truly enough to make RightGirl go green.

So if you want your news not only emotional, but elitest, mostly made up, and condescending too, Women's Post is the way to go.

Having said that, check out Michael Coren's article. Hidden agenda, indeed.

Labels: Canadiana, Main Stream Media

Beth sent me this story:

Foreign strippers planning to dance in Canadian clubs must now provide photos of themselves with no clothes on to qualify for a visa for Canada.

The Canadian Embassy in Mexico says "stage photos during performances are required."

Labels: Canadiana

No, I don't use them. But I love them anyway (hat tip LFR):

Jim Shaw is ticked off.

The CEO of Shaw Communications is tired of subsidizing the CBC. He's frustrated by spending five per cent of his company's annual revenues on television programs no one watches. He refuses to pay broadcasters a fee-for-carriage of their signals as well as part of the freight on their production costs. And he's prepared to blatantly breach CRTC regulations to make his point.

As the result of a typically blunt letter written by the burly, Harley-riding cable executive on Dec. 20, there are an awful lot of people scuttling about in the private and public sectors: Their fear is that Mr. Shaw's aggressive stance may set a precedent for other disgruntled cable companies.

The letter, obtained by the Citizen, expresses Mr. Shaw's "dissatisfaction" with the "performance, operations and governance" of the Canadian Television Fund.

That dissatisfaction has a steep price tag: about $56 million a year.

As the largest private sector contributor to the fund (all cable operators are required to contribute five per cent of their revenues to the fund, less the amount they spend on community initiatives), Shaw Communications is refusing to pay another nickel unless there is an immediate restructuring.

It's like corporate porn - I love this guy!

Labels: Canadiana

How odd. Watching the Michael Coren show, and the panelist representing the NDP managed to take the Quebec "Nation" question and turn it into a conversation about healthcare.

"Healthcare is a big issue for all Canadians, but some of them don't realize it." - Kevin Modeste

Oh my. Good thing the socialists know us better than we know ourselves... Maybe we should let them run the country, and then we won't have to do any of that thinking and choosing that takes up so much time.

Labels: Canadiana

The ever eloquent Joan watched Shades of Black so that we wouldn't have to. And her eagle eye was especially sharp:

The truly amazing coincidence that every single character who happened to be consuming spirits - no matter the decade or continent - used glassware of the exact same crystal pattern, a low-priced old Cristal d'Arques style that was widely available at such proletarian outlets as Eaton's and the Bay.

Labels: Canadiana

I had to laugh when I read this editorial from yesterday's Star. It seems that because Prime Minister Stephen Harper has only delivered on four of his five campaign promises, he is a failure. Yup, 80% is the new failing rate if you are a Conservative.

Pretty funny coming from the left, who prefer that there be no teams, winners or losers, children shouldn't play sports because it encourages competition, and honor rolls are fascist and skewed toward smarter kids. Heh.

The Tories have made it clear that they intend to use Ottawa's $7 billion surplus chiefly to cut taxes, reduce debt and shrink government rather than reinvest it to boost the three things Canadians care most about, namely health care, the economy and jobs, and the environment, or to seriously address poverty and crumbling urban infrastructure.

Granted, the Tories have "delivered," more or less, on four of their five big campaign promises. The new Accountability Act sensibly restrains political donations, offers whistle-blowers some protection and requires more disclosure on spending. The goods and services tax is now 6 per cent, not 7. Families get $100 a month in child-care help for each child. And on crime, the Conservatives propose stiffer sentences and less bail for violent offenders. However, they have yet to deliver on their fifth promise: a "wait-times guarantee" for medical patients.

I love the scare quotes around delivered. They're so spiteful, and rife with sour grapes. Oh yes, they've given us 80% of what they promised, and done it in less than 10 months, but what about health care??? True, what does it matter that we have honest government and lower taxes if we still have to wait for treatment under the Canada Health Act? The Canada Health Act that the left does not want us under any circumstances to change or do away with.

Personally, I have a heck of a lot of faith that a minority government that has accomplished this much in less than a year has a damn good fighting chance of actually tackling the healthcare problem successfully, so I'm in no rush to go back to the polls.

Labels: Canadiana

I think I'm going to need someone to explain this to me.

Native groups slammed the federal government on Wednesday for not consulting them on proposed changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act that would give aboriginal people the right to challenge federal legislation governing First Nations.

Aboriginal people in Canada currently cannot launch complaints about the Indian Act under the Canadian Human Rights Act, because of a specific section in the law that exempts the Indian Act.

At issue is Section 67, which says: "Nothing in this Act affects any provision of the Indian Act or any provision made under or pursuant to that Act."

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice, who introduced the changes Wednesday in Parliament, called the section "a block which prevents Canadian First Nations citizens from having the same rights and protections that you and I have."

Repealing the section "without engaging in meaningful consultations with Aboriginal Peoples could only lead to disaster," said Bev Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada in a release Wednesday.

If passed, the change is expected to prompt hundreds of discrimination claims.

The government wants to give Indians the same rights as everyone else. And that's bad? The Indians don't like it?

I'm confused. Maybe I can't understand it because I'm only a quadroon, daughter of a half-breed, but more rights seems like a good deal to me.

Labels: Canadiana