May 9, 2015
CBC News
Poverty linked to future high health-care costs – Health effects of poverty far reaching, Canadian researchers find
Health and poverty researchers both have long suspected a vital connection between the two. Now, this study, has been able to link individual health records and economic data. The results are startling. The top 5% of health care users account for two thirds the expenses of health care, costs “disproportionately associated with disadvantaged circumstances…We found that those with lower socioeconomic status, that is lower income, lower education, food insecurity, housing issues were much more likely to transition into a state of high use in the next five years,” said Laura Rosella, the study’s lead author, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, at the University of Toronto. http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/poverty-linked-to-future-high-health-care-costs-1.3065822 Related article: Toronto Star – Paul Gallant For nurses, improving health means fighting poverty http://www.thestar.com/life/nursing/2015/05/07/for-nurses-improving-health-means-fighting-poverty.html
CTV News – Angelina Mullholland
Houseguest Omar Khadr ‘a remarkable young man,’ Patricia Edney says
Khadr has gone from prison after 13 years in hard times to the home of his lawyer Dennis Edney and his wife Patricia. Asked by reporters what he thought of Prime Minister Harper’s continuing resistance to his release: Khadr said: “I’m going to have to disappoint him; I’m better than the person he thinks I am.” The Edneys have two sons about Khadr’s age and Patricia broke into tears when the court announced the bail provisions. Human Rights Watch applauded the decision as well, saying that as a child soldier, Khadr should have received rehabilitation the moment he arrived in Canada. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/khadr-see-who-i-am-as-a-person-not-as-a-name-1.2363711 Related article: MacLean’s – John Geddes Khadr ruling angers Conservatives and divides House http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/khadr-ruling-angers-conservatives-and-divides-house/ Related article: Toronto Star What Omar Khadr’s lawyer said: ‘Mr. Harper is a bigot’ http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/05/07/what-omar-khadrs-lawyer-said-mr-harper-is-a-bigot.html Related article: Toronto Star Editorial (May 7, 2015) Omar Khadr, free at last (1min17 sec video of first words) http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/05/07/omar-khadr-free-at-last-editorial.html
Toronto Star – Tim Harper
The global debate over security and privacy may yet wound PM
Harper thinks that his namesake may not be able to play the security card as a clincher given C-51, at home reaction, and international reaction to invasion of privacy now condoned under law – the bill is en route to the Senate having passed the House for third reading. While the furor in Canada has somewhat died down, the furor continues in other countries. The US appeal courts have struck down the widespread and indiscriminate eavesdropping by the National Security Agency. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/05/07/the-global-debate-over-security-and-privacy-may-yet-wound-pm-tim-harper.html Related article: Reuters News Agency – Jonathan Stempel NSA’s phone spying program ruled illegal by appeals court http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSKBN0NS1IN20150507
Globe and Mail – Benjamin Perrin
Why life in prison rarely works out that way in Canada
Perrin is a UBC Law professor, formerly advisor to the PMO under Harper, and advocates in favour of the life-means-life approach that Harper is proposing in Bill C-53. Significantly, Perrin thinks C-53 as it is, is likely to be struck down by the SCC eventually, and he argues for discretionary sentencing, not mandatory and judges should have discretion in ordered the amount of fixed time before parole eligibility. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/why-life-in-prison-rarely-works-out-that-way-in-canada/article24301991/
Canada.com – Stephen Maher
Alberta NDP won a false majority because of our outmoded electoral system
Maher proposes the thesis that the electoral seat distribution is manifestly unfair since the Alberta NDP was able to take 53 seats on 44% of the vote. Combined PC and Wildrose vote was 52%. The same happens at the federal level where a minority vote can form government. Maher is looking at the implications of true proportionate representation. http://www.canada.com/news/national/Stephen+Maher+Alberta+false+majority+because+outmoded+electoral/11041962/story.html
Toronto Star – Rachel Mendleson
Women leaving jail face housing problems in struggle to move on
On Friday past, Elizabeth Fry (Toronto) held a conference to review the circumstances of re-entry for women inmates and Mendleson reports that the lack of housing and other barriers are real obstacles to women who come out of jail and try to put their lives back together. The barriers often puts these women at risk of re-offending. “The needs of criminalized women, meanwhile, are often complex, with many suffering from physical and sexual abuse as well as battling mental illness.” http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/08/women-leaving-jail-face-housing-problems-in-struggle-to-move-on.html