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This page provides an Index to my columns for 2009 published in the Kamloops Daily News
EYE VIEW 
2009
Quebec has much to
offer Canadians in a Coalition Government
Canada's coalition government has been portrayed as
an
unholy trinity of the Liberals, NDP and the Bloc Quebecois i n which the Bloc is
the enemy of Canada. Demonizing the Bloc Quebecois makes good politics if
you oppose the coalition but the BQ has much to offer Canada. To suggest
the BQ is separatist party insults the intelligence of Quebecers who sent 49 BQ
MPs to parliament. Who in their right mind would vote for a party that avows
separation when most Quebecers disagree with the principle?
January 6, 2009
Debunking the
idea of the 'grey tsunami' Most of
the projected increases in health care costs are not due to seniors but from
inflationary pressure factors such as rising drug costs and salaries for
health-care providers. Why does the myth of the "grey tsunami" persist
when only about 30 per cent of increased costs can be attributed to that group?
To find the answer, follow the money. Those who stand to profit most from
alarmist predictions of a failing health care system are private health care
providers. Although they would never admit it, health care costs are too low for
their liking, not too high. The only way to extract more money from the
efficient Canadian health care system is to make it less efficient.
January 20, 2009
Conservatives quiet as drug costs continue to rise Canada has the expertise in running an efficient health care system. We should apply the same principles to pharmacare. The advantage of a single-payer insurance system, regardless of whether it's a health care or pharmacare, is that it lowers administration costs because you don't waste a lot of money deciding who is excluded. Instead of a patchwork of insurance plans, a single-payer system consolidates plans to provide the purchasing power of a big buyer. Our drug prices are now controlled by large pharmaceuticals. A national pharmacare plan would shop around for the best deal. February 3, 2009
CRTC good at protecting companies If the CRTC were doing its job, they would have checked to see that the Internet phone company was following the rules. But they didn't. Melvin Luck found out the hard way when he dialed 911 to report that his son was turning blue and had stopped breathing. He reasonably expected that an ambulance would arrive shortly at his Calgary home. Instead, an ambulance was sent to his old address in Ontario. February 17, 2009
Protection needed for pension plans Quebec is about to become the first province in Canada to protect pension plans by extending the time to rebuild funds and, where necessary, taking over plans completely. About one-quarter of pension plans are especially at risk. These plans, which represent 400,000 contributors across Canada, do not have guaranteed retirement guaranteed benefits. Instead, they depend entirely on investment returns and pensioners could ultimately face a bleak future unless happy days return to the financial markets. Retirees should not pay for the poor judgment of pension planners who gambled with contributors' money by rolling the dice in the stock markets. March 3, 2009
U.S. corn being dumped into North American diet, world markets The link between corn subsidies and obesity is not immediately obvious. Americans give their farmers $10 billion a year to grow too much corn. Excess corn creates market distortions when corn is dumped in world markets. Cheap corn creates hardship for farmers in counties that don't subsidize. In Mexico, where corn originated, subsistence farmers have been driven from the land by the flood of cheap U.S. corn. And corn is turned into HFCS. An average of 10 per cent of our calories comes from fructose and that figure is closer to 20 per cent for children who consume more fruit juices, granola bars, and soft drinks with HFCS. March 17, 2009
We need local
broadcasters to stay informed If we don't
fund our public broadcaster; and if private broadcasters are subject to the
whims of economic cycles, who will pay for the news and stories which inform and
shape our sense of community and nation? Maybe we would be better off
knowing nothing. If ignorance is bliss, we can sit at our TVs and computers
watch all the pretty pictures, immerse ourselves in the faux-news of the
celebrity scene, and let comedians like Rick Mercer and John Stewart interpret
world events for us. March 31, 2009
Use of electric cars must be smart, not just convenient BC Hydro is developing an electric car grid but there is more to be done. The grid must be smart, not just convenient. Hydro customers are familiar with taking power from the grid but less familiar with putting it back. Electric cars fit into that picture. If we could somehow soak up the excess power and reuse it later, management of the grid would be simpler. Storage would also reduce our dependence on dirty electricity imported from coal-fired sources. The electric car both takes and gives back to the grid. The car's battery soaks up electricity. One plugged-in car doesn't represent much stored energy but millions do. April 14, 2009
Environmental, economic disaster run hand-in-hand If you think things can't get much worse, you are in for a big surprise says George Monbiot, columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian. "The credit crunch is pretty compared to the Nature crunch," warns Monbiot. While leaders are preoccupied with saving the economy, the biggest extinction of species in millions of years is taking place. We are running out of clean air and water and the earth's climate is perilously warming. Jared Diamond provides a good example in his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Economic collapse historically follows ecological collapse. The Maya of Central America were among the most advanced and successful people of their time. But a combination of population growth, extravagant construction projects and poor land management wiped out more than 90 per cent of their population. April 28, 2009
Credit-based
economy full of holes Our
credit-based economy isn't working. Despite the heroic efforts of Canadians
spend their way out of a recession, debt is dragging them down. In the past,
shoppers have done their patriotic duty by spending until it hurts. When the
going gets tough, they pull out their credit cards and shop. While shopping does
wonders for the economy, consumers have paid the price of debt. The average
Canadian family has negative worth - - they owe more than their assets.
Families are saddled with almost one trillion dollars in debt of mortgages and
credit cards. Savings only amount to one-tenth of that amount. If
this credit-based economy can't sustain the economy, what
can? May 12, 2009
Call it what it is -- war on women Women who enter war know the risks. Canada's female soldiers are prepared for a mission filled with danger. Women who enter marriage don't expect to be harmed. The mission of marriage is to build loving relationships. Despite high expectations the outcome is often the same - - injury and death. The terrain of the battleground and the family should be poles apart. But Brian Vallee finds the view remarkably similar. The former reporter for CBC's Fifth Estate says that domestic violence is a "war on women." The statistics are stark. They reveal that five times as many Canadian women are killed or wounded as soldiers and police officers combined. Dozens of women are shot, stabbed, strangled, or beaten to death by their partners each year. May 26, 2009
Canadians are dropping out and tuning in Antennas are springing up across the country as Canadians take advantage of free TV. Yes folks, that's free TV. Fields of rooftop antennas may evoke past memories but this is not your granny's TV. Over-the-air reception has been made new again by digital TV. Snowy, coarse images have been replaced by cable-quality crisp pictures. Canadians in big cities are canceling cable and satellite in favour of free channels (did I mention no cost?). Cable companies don't like it one bit. They don't mind free TV as long as they are on the receiving end. But they balk at paying local broadcasters as they do for other cable channels. June 9, 2009
How private can go public at curbside our garbage just got less private. That includes trash-talk. In a majority decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that you can't expect your garbage to remain private just because you left it at the curb for pickup. The case involved a former national swim star who thought he could safely dispose of ecstasy-making supplies. Fallen star Russell Patrick supposed that remnants of his lab would just disappear when he threw them out. The Calgary resident naively thought that his drug recipes, gloves, and weigh-scale packaging would safely vanish into the anonymity of the garbage heap. June 25, 2009
Canada sacrificing its leadership in the peaceful use of nuclear technology Canada's didn't become supplier of one-third of the world's medical isotopes by accident. We have a long history of nuclear research and isotopes are just one of the practical applications. Others include neutron beams which are used to analyze welding for defects - - everything from space shuttles to certifying steel for bridge-building. To drop decades of research will not only get us out of the isotope business, it will entrench our reputation as a branch plant of the U.S. and scatter our talented physicists to the corners of the earth. July 10, 2009
Embree, Falcon espouse myths on health care Myth one: We can save money by spending less on health care. The chair of the Interior Health Authority thinks health care is too expensive and that we should allow private clinics to reduce costs. Underfunded public care will drive desperate patients to the private sector but their total health bill will rise, not fall. If the goal is to reduce the total cost of health care, more should be spend in the public sector. July 23, 2009
Forecast for next year: Crime down, fear up If the trend over the last five years continues, next year will see a further drop in crime according to Statistics Canada. Conversely, the fear of crime will increase. Ironically, the baby boomers are responsible for both the decrease in crime and the increase in fear. Kelly Sundberg, who teaches at Calgary's Mount Royal College, explains that most crime is committed by young men. "When we get into our 30s and 40s and beyond, we don't really feel like committing petty crime." A study by the John Howard Society indicates: "Elderly people have a high fear level in relation to many crimes because they feel vulnerable." August 13, 2009
Taliban damages bid for leadership The Pashtun nation consists of 30 million people that straddle the Afghanistan-Pakistan border says historian Gwynne Dyer. "The border has never really existed for the Pashtun, who freely move across it in peace and in war." The Taliban is already running parallel administrations, claims an Afghan reporter. In many areas people prefer the Taliban courts rather than the Government's system. Taliban fighters used to come from Pakistan but now they are local Pashtun. There is no love lost between the Taliban and their fellow tribesman Karzai. After all, it was his government that cooperated with NATO to push the Taliban out of power. August 27, 2009
Governments learn Keynesian economics if bad times Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no resolute free-marketers during a recession. Even our Conservative prime minister has temporarily forsaken his belief that small government is beautiful for the new religion. Now he is keeping his head down and spending like there is no tomorrow. Governments around the world have learned how to apply Keynesian principles to kick-start economies. All except the B.C. government, that is. Instead of priming the B.C. economy through spending, our government is doing just the opposite. September 10, 2009
Buy the station for local TV One way to develop community TV is to buy the station. That's what 45 employees of Victoria's oldest TV station did when owners threatened to shut it down. They bought CHEK TV from Canwest Global for $2. Employees and Loyal viewers in Victoria were thrilled at the worker-led company. Investors were confident in the motivated workforce. Another way to build community TV is to do it yourself. Canadians are getting together to provide an alternative to commercial TV. "Community television is a way to democratize television, and a way for citizens to take back the airwaves and to muscle our way into the crowded cable universe so that we can tell our own stories. It is way for us to participate in shaping the communities where we live," says a supporting website. September 24, 2009
What have we learned from the collapse? Last month marked the first anniversary of the disaster that hit the financial towers of New York. The meltdown on Wall Street reverberated around the world. The point of impact was Lehman Brothers, that seemingly invincible bastion of financial services with tentacles that circled the world. Sinclair Stewart, a Canadian business reporter, was close to the epicenter of the meltdown on Monday, September 15, 2008. "This wasn't just the failure of a once-venerable brokerage house. More broadly, it was an indictment of market fundamentalism, and it didn't take long before the necrologists were out in force, etching the epitaph for American-style capitalism." October 8, 2009
When life is
intolerable, why not a graceful exit?
The Australian group Exit International was recently
denied access to a meeting room in the Vancouver Public Library. The library
claimed they were promoting suicide contrary to Canada's Criminal Code. The
group responded that they only wanted to help terminally ill people end their
lives with dignity. Australia's Northern Territory allows for assisted suicide.
The territory's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (1995) allows terminally ill
patients to commit medically assisted suicide, either by the direct involvement
of a physician or by lethal drugs. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association
defends Exit
International. "Nobody is promoting or encouraging suicide at the Vancouver
Public Library," said says Jason Gratl, Vice-President of the BCCLA. "Open and
public discussion about death and dignified means of dying may make us
squeamish, but they are not unlawful." October 22, 2009
We aren't
perfectly male or female The first thing parents want to know about
their new baby is whether it's a boy or girl. No wonder. Sex and gender will
establish their infant's identity for a lifetime. Unfortunately for some
parents, that determination is not easy. Rather than a life-long roadmap, a
physical examination of intersex children will result in an unsettling
ambiguity. Or worse, sexual ambiguity may be hidden; not revealed by a simple
physical exam. Sex is less like a light that is turned off or on and more
like a light controlled by a dimmer and continuously
variable. Yet social imperatives require an either/or answer to the question of
sex. November 5, 2009
Liberals managed to offend everyone with HST plan The Liberal plan appears to have been written on the back of a paper napkin. It's poorly thought out and full of bizarre contradictions. The government says it wants to reduce carbon emissions yet they propose taxing bicycles and not gasoline. Why tax school supplies and not children's car seats? How is a tax on energy efficient products consistent with the government's climate action plan? However, the HST will not increase business competitiveness despite the tax windfall. New jobs will not be created, productivity will not be enhanced, and investment will not be increased. November 19,2009
The future of TV is in your hometown For decades, owning a TV station was a license to print money. Cable, satellite, and internet TV has changed all that. Audiences are fractured into to niche markets and the old business model is broken. The success of cable companies is in the distribution, not production, of programming. Subscribers sustain cable cash flow, not advertisers. Now, in a last gasp, big broadcasters are fighting for a slice of the cable pie. December 3,2009
If Canada is an energy superpower, why do we just pump the gas? Canadians have built a comfortable way of life from delivering raw materials to the world's superpower. We have been hewers of wood and drillers of oil for decades. The weakness of our branch-plant mentality is that we have failed to mature as a nation. Prime Minister Harper likes to put a positive spin on our status as a client state by calling Canada an "energy superpower." But superpowers are in the driver's seat of the engines of economy, not pumping the gas. It's finally dawned on Harper what other governments have known for years: the sun is rising in the Orient and Canada has some catching up to do in China. December 17, 2009
Maybe Earth needs legal status What talks on climate change in Copenhagen failed to accomplish, a change in the legal status of nature might achieve. Legal changes often reflect the evolution of society. One-hundred years ago, Canadian women were not considered legal "persons." As non-persons, women had no legal standing; no remedy in courts of law. Corporations and municipalities are now legal persons and so are ships in some jurisdictions. In Christopher Stone's book titled Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality, and the Environment, the University of Southern California law professor argues that trees, oceans, animals, and the environment as a whole should be bestowed with legal rights. December 31, 2009
