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This page provides an Index to my columns for 2006 published in the Kamloops Daily News
EYE VIEW 
Unfortunately, a stronger Canada will mean a weaker federal government. The road to constitutional reform in Canada is littered with the broken hopes and ambitions of politicians. Prime Minister Mulroney attempted to bring Quebec back into Canada's constitution through the Meech Lake Accord. Although those concessions for Quebec seemed radical at the time, they now seem like a modest proposal that would have kept Canada whole. January 10.
One of the first jobs for our prime
minister will be to pull out of NAFTA. NAFTA is dead. We didn't
kill the trade agreement; the U.S.
did last August when Washington refused -- again -- to obey a trade
tribunal requiring export of our softwood. We are a trading nation but
NAFTA has become a pathetic excuse for a trade agreement. Now that NAFTA
is dead, that doesn't mean that we have no trade agreement. Our fall-back
position is the World Trade Organization, which has served us well in the past.
January 24.
Natural health products still use labeling based on fairy tales. Canada's new food labels are the best in the world. It's too bad we can't say the same about our labeling of natural health products. The good news is that starting this year, food manufacturers can no longer make unscientific claims about foods. The bad news is that labeling for Canada's natural health products remains deceptive. Despite an ongoing review by Health Canada's Natural Health Products Directorate on hundreds of products, new labels can still make unscientific claims based on "traditional use." February 7.
Despite pills,
depression is something we know little about. "Antipsychotic
drugs were discovered in the fifties, antidepressants were discovered
in the fifties. We have refined these drugs but there's been no great leap
forward. "says Dr. Young. Drugs can help but sometimes depressing things
cause depression. We remain a nation of consumers who are convinced
that we can buy happiness - - if not through goods and services, then though
drugs. February 21.
Environment, weather have a strong effect on religions. The very fabric of our culture and language is affected by environment and weather. So is religion, says Professor Robert Saplosky. Two patterns emerge. A large proportion of rain forest dwellers are polytheistic; worshipping an array of spirits and gods. On the other hand, desert dwellers are usually monotheistic. The lesson of the desert is singular -- life is tough, food is scarce, and your enemies are relentless. The world is reduced to a simple, desiccated, blast-furnace. March 7.
How can we avoid cancer when carcinogens
are all around? Many Canadians are getting the message -- don't
smoke, eat your veggies, exercise, stay out of the sun, get screened regularly,
visit your doctor and dentist regularly. The cancer establishment implies that
if you get cancer, it's your fault. If you had only followed their
guideline, you'd be OK. They also warn that you should avoid
cancer-causing substances. But hat's impossible, as Wendy Mesley, host of
CBC's Marketplace found out. She got cancer and found that her blood was
full of carcinogens. March 21.
Integrity of professors, research threatened by big business The reputation of universities as a source of impartial expertise is threatened. Universities and professors are becoming increasingly influenced by corporations warns Arthur Schafer, professor of Philosophy at the University of Manitoba. More than ever, we need impartial expertise to solve urgent ethical questions posed by science and technology. We trust that publicly-funded universities will provide expertise for the public good but that trust is being threatened. When universities stake their futures on partnerships with industry, who do they serve? April 4.
Electricity system is designed for profit, not economy for Canadians If you like what the free market has done for the price of gas and oil, you'll love what it will do for the price of electricity. Canadian provinces don't have to connect to a power grid designed by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but that's the direction they are headed. Once provinces give up control of the generation of electricity, they give up control of domestic agendas. The plan is keep the transmission lines public so that taxpayers will pay for the power grid that private electricity generators use. We will pay twice for the new system, once through increased electricity rates and again through taxes. April 18
Turning back the clock to the folly of mutual assured destruction When will we learn that the journey down the path of escalating conflict is a dead end road? When the Cold War ended in with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, an opportunity for saner military policies was wasted. We have heard the twisted logic for the arms buildup. Military leaders have explained how we have to invade a country in order to save it. It's time for public discourse on the folly of this madness and why we should give peace a chance. May 2
Harper's plan to build more prisons good politics, bad government If we want to reduce crime, we should keep doing what we are doing. Violent crime has dropped 10 % in the last decade. We must be doing something right. Prime Minister Harper's plan to build more prisons is in response to the fears that crime is increasing, not decreasing. Why do citizens think that crime is increasing when the opposite is true? TV plays a role in distorting perceptions of crime. May 16
Little has changed to alleviate the suffering of the mentally ill Our misconceptions haven't changed much from 50 years ago when the Canadian Mental Health Association observed "In no other field, except perhaps leprosy, has there been as much confusion, misdirection and discrimination against the patient, as in mental illness . . . a disgrace to be hushed up, a personality weakness to be deplored or a welfare problem to be handled as cheaply as possible." The closure of mental hospitals should have been a step forward except that governments shortsightedly closed the hospitals without finding alternative group homes. As a result, many ended up on the street. May 30
Parroting Bush's rhetoric sinks Harper's chances of connecting Why does Prime Minister Harper abuse us by repeating the meaningless sayings of President G.W. Bush? Harper repeats Bush's lines like a bad actor, "We are a target because of who we are, how we live, our society, our diversity and our values." We are not targets of terrorist because of our values; neither are Americans. Why does he parrot things like "cut and run" and "Canadian way of life," when those terms are meaningless to Canadians? June 13
Wrong on two counts to label 17 arrested men as Islamic terrorists The 17 men arrested in southern Ontario are not Islamic terrorists; no more than the members of the FLQ were Catholic terrorists. The 17 arrested men were immersed in Islamic culture but to call them Islamic terrorists suggests that they were motivated by their faith. Their Jihadism is related to Islam as much as the invasion of Iraq is linked to Christianity. Canada's 700,000 Muslims deplore violence and stress obedience to the laws of Canada. Hamid Slimi, imam of a Toronto Muslims organization said "These attacks have not done anything but emphasize our commitment to this beautiful country of ours that we love and respect, and we're committed to the security of this country." June 27
Migrants to cities beat all-too-familiar-path away from the good life Where are we going? It's clear that the sea of humanity is drifting to cities but it's less clear where civilization is headed. For better or worse, the world's poor are moving to cities at an unprecedented rate. It all started 11,000 years ago. At that time, we were all hunter-gathers. Over time, confrontations between hunter-gathers and agricultural societies became one-sided not just from germs and steel weapons, but because of writing. Writing allowed generals to have advance knowledge of local tactics, customs, and wealth as a result of written records prepared by scouting parties and explorers. July 11
For some, the loss of CBC also means loss of unbiased news. As a fan of CBC, it pains me to be critical of our public broadcaster but from past experience I have found that's the only way Kamloops will get the programs it deserves. The CBC has a history neglecting Kamloops. In the 1980s, the local radio transmitter would quit for days and no one from CBC would fix it. Then the CBC wouldn't provide Radio 2, service that even small centres like Lillooet had. Now the CBC says it will not replace lost television service previously broadcast in Kamloops although it will provide transmitters to much smaller places. July 25
Forget fad diets, the Inuit have the key to a healthier you My diet will revolutionize the way you eat and it's guaranteed to shed pounds. There is nothing to measure and you can eat as much as you want. You can eat all the muktuk you want. Muktuk is raw whale skin with the underlying blubber attached. You'll find the consistency a bit like chewing a tire but its novel texture is part of the exotic appeal. For variety, try some raw caribou liver. Seal oil is perfect for party dips. Salmonberries whipped with walrus fat makes for a special treat. August 8
Canada partly to blame for
ongoing tension in Middle East Blame Canada for the destruction of
Lebanon and the bombing
of Israel. No one else will accept responsibility. Not Lebanon's Hezbollah; they
want to wipe Israel off the map. Not Israel; they want to excise the
cancer of Hezbollah from their neighbouring country. So blame Canada and
the Canadian Ivan Rand. The well-intentioned Mr. Rand thought he was doing the
right thing when he argued for the partition of Israel in 1948.
August 22
Harper's Conservatives got national child care all wrong The Conservative's child care plan is a failure. It fails to deliver child care and it fails to deliver maximum benefits to families who need it most: the working poor. Canadians reasonably expect that if program is called a Universal Child Care Plan that it would be a plan to care for children. But the federal Conservative's plan isn't. The child rebate plan would be a good idea if it didn't already exist but we already have one. It's called the Canada Child Tax Benefit. It would have made more sense to increase the Child Benefit by $100. As it now is, families will get much less because of taxes. September 5
Presidents who are
ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it While young jihadists around the
world dream about flying
airplanes into tall buildings, many other targets remain neglected (so far).
As bad as the attacks of September 11 were, the potential for chemical attacks
is even more frightening. Not an attack by chemical weapons but instead, the
sabotage of
chemical plants found everywhere. If not chemical attacks, then
unexpected attacks that spring from the fruitful minds of the jihadists who live
among us. Like the anarchism of 125 years ago, jihadism will eventually
fade. Meanwhile, the war against terrorists is not on the battlefields of
some faraway place, it is in the hearts and minds of otherwise ordinary citizens
who have succumbed to the belief that radical jihadism will bring about a better
world. September 19
Beetle-killed wood ideal for
generating electricity By the year 2013, pine beetles will have
destroyed one billion cubic meters of wood in B.C. This means more cheap
wood will flood the market and depress lumber prices even further. There
will be so much dead wood on the market that traditional industries will never
be able to use it. Instead of letting it rot on the ground, we should put
the wood to good use in generating electricity. According to Professor
Flynn of the University of Alberta,
we could build twenty 300-megawatt power plants and run them for twenty years,
meeting one-half of all of B.C.'s
electricity for that time. We would have surplus electricity to sell on
the North American market. October 3
Harper will have a hard time selling Alberta's American-based ideals countrywide It's puzzling why Prime Minister Harper would copy U.S. policy and rhetoric when Canadians define themselves as distinct from Americans. It's less puzzling when you consider that Harper's home province of Alberta was settled and influenced by Americans. Calgary is the most American city in Canada with about 8 per cent of its population from the U.S. The former U.S. ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard, half-jokingly described Calgary: "It's just like Texas, only less anti-American." The American influences on Alberta's history and traditions become clear when you compare it with its sister province of Saskatchewan. October 17
FBI operatives have run of Canada but neighbour shuts out CSIS There are so many FBI agents in Canada that they are having trouble keeping track of them says the inspector-general of the FBI, Glenn Fine. Agents are so keen to find those thousands of terrorists in our midst that they are entering Canada illegally. In his audit, the inspector-general found 135 instances where FBI agents had entered Canada without proper clearance. The FBI is convinced that Canada is a haven for terrorists despite the fact that none of the attackers on September 11 came from Canada. They have opened two new offices in Toronto and Vancouver. Canada has more FBI agents than any other county outside the U.S. October 31
Unpopular, yes, but closing tax loophole was right There is no doubt that the federal Conservatives did the right thing when they closed the tax loophole on income trusts. The political price they will pay for offending their corporate supporters still remains an open question. Sure, the Tories promised not to tax income trusts but that was before Canada's largest corporations started to jump aboard the gravy train. It's a good first step. Now, if Prime Minister Harper would only do the right thing with the environment and Afghanistan he might win the confidence of Canadians. November 14
Premier's P3s mandate not in
public interest Premier Campbell has been trying to make his B.C.
Liberals seem more liberal. The reversal of some of the damage done
to B.C.'s small communities when he eliminated government jobs will help.
But that step is negated by the imposition of P3s. If they are such
a great thing, why does Campbell have to dictate their use? November 28
Government Inaction
Spurs Private Clinics The Canada Health Act doesn't allow clinics to
charge for medically necessary procedures. Yet private clinics like Dr.
Mark Godley's Urgent Care Centre in Vancouver have been capitalizing on
the confusion of what's covered with brazen violation of the law. Health
care entrepreneurs are encouraged by the government's
slow pace in reducing wait times. Commercial ventures see the pent-up public
demand for health care as a business
opportunity. Godley's clinic in (appropriately named) False Creek
deceptively encouraged patients to jump the queue and get emergency treatment.
December 12
