The Drift

Category: News Hits

  • AG says no way to measure whether border plan is working

    AG says no way to measure whether border plan is working

    Canada’s auditor general says that federal government has no idea whether its $1.1-billion action plan to strengthen border security and trade with the U.S. has produced results.

    Michael Ferguson’s audit of the Beyond the Border Action Plan was among several areas assessed in his fall report, released Tuesday.

    Ferguson’s audit on the plan focused on the progress in achieving the objectives of a shared vision for perimeter security and economic competitiveness between the United States and Canada.

    “This audit is important because the Canada-U.S. border is vital to our economy and way of life,” the report said.

    Launched in 2011, the Beyond the Border Action Plan started with a “vision of establishing a new long-term partnership to enhance security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and services across the border, ” said the report.

    The audit found a lack of performance indicators to assess results proved problematic.

    The auditor general recommended developing indicators to measure the security, travel, and trade benefits for various initiatives of the plan.

    Treasury Board President Scott Brison said the government accepts the findings.

    “We welcome the auditor general’s report, and we agree with all the recommendations,” he said. “In particular, we agree that the Government of Canada must do a better job at reporting and tracking its progress.”

    He added “this work has to be a top priority for the government and for the Treasury Board.”

    Former prime minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama announced to much fanfare in 2011 that the plan would establish a new long-term partnership built upon a perimeter approach to security and economic competitiveness.

    They agreed, among other things, they would jointly assess border threats, share information and intelligence on law enforcement and national security, and bring greater transparency and accountability to border fees and changes.

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  • Women fighting for their place in geek culture

    Women fighting for their place in geek culture

    Women still face routine discrimination as they increasingly take their place in geek culture, a study from Carleton University has found.

    “‘Women spoil the fun’ … This was a pervasive form of discourse,” said Dr. Benjamin Woo, an assistant professor with Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication. Woo’s study focused on misogyny in so-called “geek culture,” which can include interests as broad as technology, gaming, cartoons, and film sub-genres.

    In his talk titled “Angry Young Nerds: Geek Culture and Toxic Masculinity,” Woo explained how some men see women as obstacles that prevent them from fully participating in geek culture.

    Men in Woo’s study talked about what they heard happened to their peers when they got married or found a girlfriend—limiting their ability to play games, for example. According to Woo’s findings, men who had partners were especially likely to think this way.

    “Women are portrayed as nagging and seen as unsupportive,” Woo said, adding that men talked about this with a “50s sitcom sense of humour.”

    On the other hand, women who participated in Woo’s study said they must expect either invisibility or fetishistic hyper-visibility to be accepted as members of geek culture.

    Gina Freitag, a communications co-ordinator and horror film enthusiast, said other fans of the genre almost always expect her to prove herself.

    “I have to have the awareness of being categorized. People will have assumptions about my interests, which are usually incorrect,” she said.

    But Freitag said she’s never been bullied while attending fan conventions, adding that the geek community—in her experience—is very supportive.

    “Women in particular are standing up and saying, ‘Hey! We accomplish things. We do things just as well as men do, and we deserve to have recognition for that,’” said Keya Prempeh, a program co-ordinator with Carleton University’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Centre.

    She said that women find solidarity with other women in male-dominated spaces.

    “It’s so interesting,” said Sarah Cleary, a Carleton University psychology student who attended Woo’s presentation. “I want to learn more… It left me with more questions than answers.”

  • Doctors must assert independence from drug companies, MPs told

    Doctors must assert independence from drug companies, MPs told

    Independence and transparency are crucial to avoid conflict of interest between the pharmaceutical industry and doctors, health experts said Tuesday.

    “Doctors are trained and socialized to think that we are special, that we are better human beings than other people,” Thomas Perry, an internal medicine and clinical pharmacology specialist at the UBC Hospital in Vancouver, told the House of Commons health committee. “It’s very difficult for us as a species to come up with the idea that we might be bought or conflicted or influenced.”

    Perry, said he got used to declaring conflicts of interest as an elected official in British Columbia, which has strict conflict-of-interest rules. It was only when he returned to UBC, he said, that he realized his former medical colleagues were not used to declaring these conflicts.

    Conflict of interest can arise when doctors receive benefits from the drug industry to prescribe a certain medication without knowing whether there is a better product on the market, noted Ramez Ayoub, a Liberal member of the committee.

    Doug Coyle, a medical professor at University of Ottawa, suggested several steps that could be taken to address conflicts, including independent experts making decisions about drug coverage, and an oversight body to ensure the experts are adhering to principles of fairness and transparency.

     

     

    Coyle, the interim director of the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, also stressed the importance of finding experts outside of the pharmaceutical industry.

    “Don’t believe the argument from the pharmaceutical industry that those who have pharmaceutical money are the experts,”said Coyle.

    The issue of conflict of interest arose earlier this year, when Matthew Herder, associate professor at the Faculties of Medicine and Law at Dalhousie University, submitted a brief to the committee emphasizing the need for institutional independence.

    “Those charged with making drug coverage decisions must not simply disclose real or potential conflict of interest; instead, they should be conflict free,” wrote Herder.

    The committee also heard testimony on the need to properly educate doctors on pharmacare to ensure its success.

    “If we are going to go ahead with a national pharmacare strategy, the decision has to be that there is physician education as a key component,” said Coyle.

    Perry echoed Coyle’s testimony and said that as drug therapy becomes more complex, physicians’ understanding is falling behind.

    “This is something that will require enormous effort to undo,” he said.

    Pharmacare is a system of public insurance coverage for prescription drugs. Under the Canada Health Act, “medically necessary services” which includes drugs administered in hospitals are free of charge. However, prescription drugs used outside hospital settings are not free.

    A May 2013 survey entitled “Canadian Views on Prescription Drug Coverage” found that 78 per cent of Canadians support the idea of a universal public prescription drug insurance program.

    The committee has been tasked with the development of a national pharmacare program.

  • Pilot killed in crash identified as Capt. Thomas McQueen

    Pilot killed in crash identified as Capt. Thomas McQueen

    The RCAF pilot killed in a training accident near Cold Lake, Alta. yesterday has been identified as Capt. Thomas McQueen of Hamilton, Ont.

    McQueen’s single-seat CF-18 Hornet crashed in Saskatchewan yesterday morning near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

    In a press conference this morning, Col. Paul Doyle of the Department of National Defence said McQueen had served in the Forces for 10 years, including a stint in the Middle East.

    Doyle extended his condolences to the captain’s family, including McQueen’s fiancée who lives near Cold Lake.

    Doyle said there will be an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

    The crash comes a week after the federal government announced it would invest in new jets to replace Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18s.

     

    Photo: Capt. McQueen poses in front of a CF-18 fighter jet in 2014, when he served as a Santa’s escort pilot. ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE/Cpl. Elena Vlassova

  • It’s GivingTuesday Canada!

    It’s GivingTuesday Canada!

    Canada is celebrating it’s third annual #GivingTuesday and people are in the mood for giving.

     

  • The Gift of Lights comes to Ottawa

    The Gift of Lights comes to Ottawa

    Ottawa has a new way to make winter driving fun this year, and light up the holiday season to boot. For the first time, Gift of Lights is visiting the capital, and has set up a two-kilometre roadway, consisting of 30 animated light displays and a tunnel made of lights at the end that drivers can navigate through.

    The display, which started on Nov. 25, can be found at Wesley Clover Parks, on Corkstown Road.

    It is $20 per car to visit and will be running every night from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. until Jan. 1. It is presented by radio station MAJIC 100 FM, and proceeds will support the Sens Foundation.

    Tunnel of lights #giftoflights #ahhhshit

    A video posted by Zack Attack🔰 (@fl4t_out) on

    A car drives through the tunnel of light in Kitchener, ON.  The tunnel in Ottawa is similar to this. 

     

    #giftoflights

    A photo posted by April (@the.days.of.a) on

     

    #santa #giftoflights #ottawa #thissrslysucked #dontgo #justdonate #christmas #christmaslights #dinosaur

    A photo posted by MacKenzie Lebensmittel (@mackenzielebensmittel) on

     

  • Is the TPP Agreement Dead?

    Is the TPP Agreement Dead?

    International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) can’t go ahead without the United States.

    “The TPP agreement as currently structured and finalized can only come into force if it is ratified by the United States,” Freeland told reporters in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncement he would pull out of the deal.

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    International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland outside the House of Commons, Ottawa. [Photo: Floriane Bonneville]
    “It is a fact that the TPP agreement is so structured that this agreement can only come into force if six of the countries covering 85% of the GDP of the overall space ratified the agreement.” Freeland said.

    Nonetheless, Freeland said that Canada’s position on the TPP remains the same.

    “Our position on TPP is unchanged– we promised that we would consult Canadians and listen to them on TPP.”

    Freeland did not make clear if the structure of the agreement could be mended to still function without the United States.

     

    The combined gross-domestic product (GDP) of the 12 countries involved in the TPP agreement totals $28.5-trillion, which constitutes 40% of the world’s GDP.

    The 12 countries involved in the TPP are Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New-Zealand, the United States, and Canada. The TPP would eliminate tariffs on a lot of goods circulating between the countries involved.

    Freeland declined to answer when asked what use there would be in pursuing a trade deal that the next U.S. President opposes.

    The outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will not be official until February 2018. This decision was taken to allow domestic politics to adjust to the agreement before it is ratified.

    Freeland said Canada is very confident that the economic relationship between Canada and the United States is beneficial. “This is probably the strongest, most mutually effective economic relationship in the world maybe perhaps outside of the European Union,” Freeland said.

  • Liberals to acquire 18 new jets for Canada

    Liberals to acquire 18 new jets for Canada

    By Floriane Bonneville, Lauren Sproule and Bronwyn Beairsto

    Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan announced this afternoon Canada would acquire 18 Boeing Super Hornet jets to replace the military’s current 35-year-old CF-18 jet.

    L-R: General Jonathan Vance; Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan; Public Services and Procurement Minister Judy Foote and Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains in this afternoon's press conference. (Photo: Floriane Bonneville)

    Sajjan said the government was not willing to carry the risks of continued reliance on the aging jets.

    The Super Hornets are an interim solution until the contract for a more permanent fleet is awarded in “an open and transparent competition,” said Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Judy Foote.

    Foote would not say how much the planes would cost.

     

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended this afternoon’s announcement in question period.  “We right now have a capability gap, we cannot fulfill our NORAD obligations.” He said that it is necessary to get new jets “to protect our sovereignty and support our allies.”

     

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  • City leaders meet to discuss ending homelessness in Ottawa

    City leaders meet to discuss ending homelessness in Ottawa

    The way to fix homelessness is to permanently subsidize housing for the poor, a community forum on ending homelessness heard today.

    Professor Marybeth Shinn from Vanderbilt University used a keynote speech at the 13th annual Community Forum on Ending Homelessness to make a plea for affordable housing.

    “Homelessness for families in the United States is really a housing affordability problem,” Shinn told hundreds of workers from the public and private sector. “You fix the housing affordability problem, you fix homelessness.”

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    Data retrieved from Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa’s Annual Progress Reports[/box]

    The “intervention” of permanent subsidies was one of many different options explored as part of the research conducted by the Family Options Study in the United States. The federally-funded project compared the effectiveness of different interventions for homelessness. But subsidies, Shinn admitted, are not a new idea.

    “Some of the lessons are not so surprising; so you give people housing subsidies and that fixes homelessness,” Shinn said dryly to chuckles from the audience.

    Shinn was quick to point out that there were “benefits that radiated beyond housing stability” that emerged from the permanent subsidy experiment. According to Shinn, the study indicated a reduction in substance abuse, partner violence and psychological stresses that contribute to homelessness.

    Professor Marybeth (Beth) detailed the findings of the Family Options Study in her keynote speech on Tuesday. Photo by: Matthew Olson
    Professor Marybeth (Beth) Shinn detailed the findings of the Family Options Study in her keynote speech on Tuesday. Photo by: Matthew Olson

    “The study suggests a clear winner among interventions for families experiencing homelessness in the United States,” Shinn said. However, the professor admitted that she wasn’t sure how these results might apply to services in Canada, saying, “you’ll have to tell me.”

    Deputy Mayor Mark Taylor, who acts as the City of Ottawa’s Special Liaison on Housing and Homelessness, said he believes there are already good programs in place.

    “Right now, the scenario that exists is we are supporting people across a whole variety of different needs, so someone might receive a subsidy for transit – we’re bringing in a low-income transit pass in Ottawa – they might receive a subsidy to send their kids to school,” Taylor said. “They might collect a couple of meals a month from the Food bank – so in a sense, they’re receiving a subsidy on food.”

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    Deputy Mayor Mark Taylor opened National Housing Day on behalf of Mayor Jim Watson at the forum. Photo by: Matthew Olson

    “Beth Shinn’s principle of ‘housing subsidies work’ comes as no surprise. In fact, we’re looking at taking it a step further and saying ‘life subsidies’ can sometimes be of a real benefit, especially to a family.”

     

    It is this kind of talk that makes the annual forum so important, said Executive Director Mark Bulthuis from the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa.

    “I often describe the day as… a dialogue between researchers and practitioners, the folks who are on the front lines doing this work day in and day out and wanting to make sure they have access to the latest research,” Bulthuis said, adding that researchers also needed to be aware of “local realities” in the city.

    But for Bulthuis, there is always more work to be done.

    “I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Bulthuis said. “I think there’s lots of reasons to be optimistic right now; some of that just has to translate to new investments to help us work.”