Crack Pipe Kits NOT Municipal Jurisdiction

Mulder

As Ottawa city council works through ways through the budget for 2007, the issue of spending money on free “crack pipe kits” has come up again. And, as expected, the Ottawa medical officer of health, David Salisbury, is defending the program.

However, the police chief is standing by his statements too.

Police Chief Vince Bevan has said that he opposes the program because it promotes illegal drug use.

“The chief’s position is clear on this,” said spokeswoman Isabelle Lemieux.

Am I wrong in assuming that a program designed to minimize the spread of HIV and Hep C should be left to the provincial government? I always thought health care was provincial jurisdiction.

In fact, last fall during the election run, I called in to a radio show hosting the candidates for Cumberland ward (not my ward) and asked how the candidates would vote if the idea of safe injection clinics was brought up. Rob Jellett, the incumbent, was the only one who stated clearly that this fell under provincial jurisdiction. Since safe injection clinics give free needles and are there to help prevent the spread of diseases, one would conclude the free crack pipe kit program is in the same boat.

I think we need more of city council to read Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species.

ADDENDUM

From CFRA:

Ottawa Police are responding to the scolding they received from the city’s Medical Officer of Health.

A frustrated Dr. David Salisbury says the police service has done everything in its power to interfere with the needle exchange and crack pipe programs by confiscating the kits. However, Ottawa Police Superintendent Gilles Larochelle isn’t offering any apologies.

He says in a criminal investigation, police will seize drug paraphenalia(sic) no matter where it came from. He adds they sometimes take away the pipes for “safety reasons”.

I Almost Forgot To Post This Photo

Mulder

This was taken in my car, January 17th, 2007 from the front seat while I sat in the “Canadian Position”, my body hunched over, hands between my legs while I waited for the car to warm up. I managed to get one glove off and snap this before my fingers froze off. This was one of those mornings where inhaling through your nose caused your nostrils to stick shut and inhaling through your mouth gives you an ice cream headache.

Temperature-Morning-January 17, 2007-Ottawa

Yes, that says minus 21 Celsius. And the whole time I sat there shivering, my teeth clattering, I kept repeating. There’s no warming like global warming. There’s no warming like global warming.

I clicked my boots together three times and voila … my seat warmers kicked in.

Ontario Liberals Redefine Hypocrisy In Opening Of Smoking Lounges

Mulder

The Ontario Liberal government has decided that government owned casinos are no longer considered public places because the Niagara Falls Casino and the Windsor Casino will be opening smoking zones.

Today, Ontario Health Minister Jim Watson defended the announcement by saying that the ban on restaurants and bars is different because they serve food but that the primary reason for a casino is not to serve food.

This plan comes on the heels of the drop in business at the Windsor casino after the Detroit casino opened up a smoking area.

In related news, Legion’s are still smoke free zones which means the Provincial Liberals, headed by Dalton McShifty, are giving more rights to gamblers than to veterans who fought to create a free Canada.

I guess the dollar is almighty to the Ontario Liberal government and public businesses just don’t get a level playing field.

OfficiallyScrewed … again.

China's Coal Powered Plants Wet Blanket For Kyoto

Mulder

562

Remember that number.

It is the number of coal fired plants that China plans to open in the next few years. Add in the USA and India (all three exempt or not signatories to Kyoto) and the number of plants goes up to 850.

…the implications of this planned coal-fired plant construction in China, India and the U.S. It estimated these 850 plants will put five times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than Kyoto is designed to remove, even if every other country, including Canada, miraculously hits its Kyoto target.

Pause for a second and reread that statement. Five Times what Kyoto would remove if every nation hits its target. Wow.

Lorrie Goldstein is taking on the Kyoto challenge and doing a great job. In this article he outlines how the biggest polluters are not included in Kyoto.

Something that I would like to add is that the Kyoto Protocol considers Saudi Arabia a “developing country” too which means the Saudis are not being penalized for pumping petroleum into the world while nations like Canada are.

For more, I urge people to read Lorrie Goldstein regularly. He is doing a good job trying to educate Torontonians on the myths surrounding Kyoto.

The problem with Kyoto

Debunking Hot Hysteria

More Kyoto Crimes

Well worth the time to read them.

Liberals Better Think Twice About A Spring Election

Mulder

The results of a CFRA poll indicate that the Liberals should be thinking twice about taking down the government this spring.

There is renewed speculation about a spring federal election. Please rate the performance of the Harper minority government.
Excellent 34.4%
Very Good 43.6%
Adequate 13.7%
Very Poor 8.05%
Other 5.55%
Total Votes: 1801

This may not be a scientific poll as it was conducted online, but when 91.7% of the 1800 or so respondents believe the government is doing Adequate or better and a whopping 78% feel they are doing Very Good or Excellent, then the opposition parties need to pay attention.

If you take out the Other results, the weighted value of the Adequate or better answers go up to 97% and the Very Good or Excellent total is a commanding 82.6%. These are quite dramatic results and make me very proud to be one of those who think the Harper government is doing an Excellent job.

The environment may be a key issue to the press, but to citizens it is not as important as good government, good leadership and an accountable team that will not squander our tax dollars and this poll shows it.

Obesity Doesn't Care If You Can Play Mozart

Mulder

From this article:

An online petition to the Government of Canada, signed by more than 35,000 people, says the credit is unfair and places a higher value on fitness than on music or visual and dramatic arts.

The Canadian Conference of the Arts urged the government to include a variety of arts activities, including music, theatre and visual arts, in the tax credit.

I don’t think these art critics get the intent of the tax credit, but this raises quite an interesting conundrum.

The arts tend to be championed by the left. Tax cuts tend to be championed by the right.

Hmmmmm…..

H/T to Clear Conservative Thought

Ask For Bacon, Or You Only Get A Cheeseburger

Mulder

My wife teases me a lot with the phrase “You think you can change anything with a bit of money.” because if I can’t find something specifically the way I like it, I wonder how much money it would take to customize to my needs.

I know this makes me sound like some overpaid ass, but in reality, it comes from the fact that I work in the fast paced high tech industry and if a customer comes to me asking for something out of the ordinary, I never say no unless it is completely impossible. The conversation usually ends up with an explanation of the time and effort involved to make it happen and the opportunity cost is assessed and a surcharge is brought in, because my industry understands customization.

It was this same philosophy that created the “Add Bacon 50 cents” option on cash registers. It was people like me who grew up with banquet burgers asking Wendy’s and McDonalds for bacon on our cheeseburgers and offering to pay more for it that revolutionized restaurant cash register operation and, more importantly, gave us more options as consumers.

Life truly is better.

Where am I going with this? Well Yahoo news has an article about how a BC clinic is charging customers $30 for appointments and the NDP (go figure) is bitching about how this is a violation of the Canada Health Act and that the clinic needs to be stopped.

I thought this was the usual private clinic argument until I read this:

“Without the benefits offered under the plan, beginning March 1, 2007, there will be a $30 reservation fee in order to schedule an appointment to see one of the doctors at a specific time,” the letter states.

Drop-in patients or patients without scheduled appointments will not be charged the appointment fee.

*emphasis mine

So the patients are not being charged if they are willing to accept regularly scheduled appointments or drop in and wait for a gap in the doctor’s time. The ONLY people getting charged are those who ask for a specific time. i.e. that person out there with a busy schedule because they are being productive to society and not willing to stop being productive without a bit of guarantee that when they arrive they will be seen right away so they can go back to being productive to society. Hell, I bet if I had this service my boss would be glad to pay it to get me back on the job quickly and efficiently.

The kicker is that the patient is NOT paying for healthcare at all. The price for the treatment is the same if you wait or if you take the appointment they give you or if they charge you to be flexible to your time requirement. The patient is paying for expediency. They are paying for time saved. They are paying for a customized treatment “time”.

i.e. They are paying for a bacon cheeseburger.