Does anyone remember Premier Danielle Smith’s handpicked administrator of Alberta Health Services confidently predicting that wait times for surgeries in this province were about to fall and fall dramatically? 

Reduced surgical wait times would be the biggest single mark of success for the health care system under the United Conservative Party, Dr. John Cowell said in February 2023 when he gave his interim report as Alberta Health Services’ interim administrator. 

“It is my hope, and I actually believe, that we will be at zero waiting outside of clinical wait time by March of 2024,” Dr. Cowell predicted boldly. “My team and I are absolutely confident that this is achievable.”

Good one!

Dr. Cowell was appointed AHS administrator in November 2022 when the UCP purged the entire AHS board. The same day, then health minister Jason Copping announced there would be a big push to reduce surgical wait times. 

Dr. Cowell is gone from that role now. He slipped away so quietly late last year that no one seems to have noted his departure. Premier Smith has since found new ways to reform the health care system. 

In the meantime, though, March 2024 came and went and it seems that clinical wait times for surgeries in Alberta hospitals are not getting better and better despite the vast amount of money sunk by the UCP government into getting private clinics to do publicly funded surgeries. 

Alas, as a report published yesterday by the respected Canadian Institute of Health Information shows, the spending on private surgical clinics is not delivering the results promised the UCP’s privatization enthusiasts. 

According to CIHI’s data, for example, patients who need hip replacement surgery in Alberta only get their surgery done on time 59 per cent of the time – somewhat worse than back in those distant pre-pandemic days when premier Jason Kenney was pumping up private surgical clinics as the answer to Alberta’s wait times. 

Indeed, that was the main point of the CIHI report: That Canadians everywhere are waiting longer for priority surgeries and diagnostic imaging than they did before the pandemic. 

You’re likely to do better if you need a new hip, though, than if you require knee surgery in Alberta – in which case only 49 per cent of the folks needing surgery are getting it within the recommended time frame. 

When it came to cataract surgery, Alberta lags the national average with only 61 per cent getting their eyes fixed on time, compared with 83 per cent in B.C., which also does a little better getting hip and knee replacements too.  

Well, as Dr. Luanne Metz, the NDP’s health critic, observed in a news release, “the UCP’s expensive gamble with private surgical clinics isn’t helping patients.”

“The UCP’s contracts with private surgical centres are not helping patients get access to timely, critically needed surgeries nor clearing the backlog to access care,” she said – which, of course, is exactly the point advocates of public health care have been making about private clinics for years.

Dr. Metz, a physician, defeated Mr. Copping in the Calgary-Varsity riding in the 2023 general election. 

“Private health care does not provide the health care that Albertans need,” she concluded. “Danielle Smith and the UCP need to abandon their ideological drive towards privatization, invest in public hospitals and commit to publicly-provided surgeries.”

True, but good luck getting the UCP to do that. They’ve got their ideology to guide them, and they’re not going to let any facts get in their way. 

Indeed, one could argue there are two ways to interpret the CIHI data published yesterday. 

One is that the UCP meets the famous Einsteinian definition of insanity: to wit, it’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 

The other is that the party is perpetrating a cynical grift: adopting policies that UCP insiders know perfectly well won’t help ordinary citizens but which will result in big profits for their friends and probably generous donations for them. 

I’ll leave it to you, my dear readers, to figure out which is the most likely. 

A few friends of mine have a challenge of reading a new book each month, so I tried to find 12 that I could recommend to our readers. These were curated from finds at the Barrie Public Library, the Innisfil ideaLab & Library, and Goodreads. I have not read all of these, so I cannot … Continue reading "12 Books for 2024 Challenge"

When I first watched Mindy Kaling’s hit show ‘Never Have I Ever…’ or Marvel’s Disney+ series ‘Ms. Marvel’, I finally understood what it meant to be visible. Similarly, the implications of Dees Rees’s 2011 film, ‘Pariah,’ ring true for the young, Black, queer women in our society and unearth an avenue for more nuanced discussions … Continue reading "Diversity Behind the Scenes of Film and Television"

Dear Readers, Happy New Year and welcome to 2024! We are Journey to Diversity Workplaces, a non-profit organization that advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety in the workplace. We believe that everyone deserves to work in an environment where they feel valued, respected, and empowered. As we enter a new year, we are excited … Continue reading "Meet the Board of Justice Journeymakers: Our New Identity and Vision for 2024"

When you consider newspaper articles, television broadcasts, think pieces on global and domestic issues, or reports on current events, how often have you thought about the person behind its delivery? The foundation of journalism lies in the hands of the voices that are brave enough to step up, unearth the unspoken topics, and bring them … Continue reading "The Hidden Costs of Diversity and Inclusion in Journalism"

You were wondering about that ethics investigation into the way former Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw was immediately re-fired after she was hired as a member of Alberta Health Services’ Indigenous Wellness Core last June?

It turns out no rules were broken. 

So there’s nothing to see here folks. Please move along …

On Monday, The Globe and Mail and other media reported that Alberta Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler was looking into the way Dr. Hinshaw was fired before she’d even started her new duties at the AHS Indigenous health program.

That Globe story suggested Dr. Hinshaw was fired because United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith, a vocal opponent of public health measures during the pandemic who had fired her as chief medical officer of a few months before, demanded it.

In the story, the Globe quoted the resignation letter of former AHS vice-president Braden Manns to AHS Administrator John Cowell. “The decision implemented by you to rescind Dr. Hinshaw’s contract after what I understand to be your personal discussions with the Premier, her Chief of Staff and others in the government of Alberta,” Dr. Manns told Dr. Cowell, “will have a long-lasting effect on our ability to have trusting relationships with our Indigenous leaders and communities. This type of political interference in hiring should not be permitted.” (Emphasis added.)

This interpretation of the events is widely believed, significantly by both supporters and opponents of the UCP, because it is entirely on brand for Ms. Smith, a former right-wing talk radio host known for her advocacy of quack COVID cures and vaccine skepticism on the air before she returned to politics in 2022, not to mention her lack of patience with the rule of law since becoming premier.

Dr. Hinshaw was fired the first time as CMOH in mid-November 2022 about a month after Ms. Smith was sworn in as premier. She was fired the second time at the start of June 2023, hours after word she had been hired became public, throwing the UCP’s anti-vaxx base into a tizzy. .

Yesterday, various news media published a new story stating that Ms. Trussler’s investigation is already over and the ethics commissioner had concluded, in the phrase that really should be the motto on Alberta’s coat of arms, No Rules Were Broken. 

In a letter to Health Minister Adriana LaGrange dated Monday that was handed out to media yesterday by staff from the Premier’s Office, Ms. Trussler said she had stopped her investigation into the role in the firing played by Dr. Cowell, who had been appointed by Ms. Smith to single-handedly run the agency.

“I am providing you with notice that I have ceased an investigation into an allegation against Dr. John Cowell with respect to his involvement in the decision to revoke an offer of employment to Dr. Deena Hinshaw,” Ms. Trussler wrote in the letter. 

“Although he had input into the decision, I found no evidence that Dr. Cowell directed the termination of Dr. Hinshaw’s employment,” the letter said. “The evidence showed that Dr. Hinshaw’s employment was terminated through proper process.” Anyway, Ms. Trussler added, Dr. Cowell is no longer a senior official as defined by the Conflicts of Interest Act.

“I also received complaints against the Premier with respect to the same matter. However, given the evidence in the investigation of Dr. Cowell, I did not pursue an investigation of the Premier.” 

So who did direct the termination of Dr. Hinshaw’s employment? And what was the premier’s role?

If you feel there are still some huge gaps in this story, you’d be right.

But don’t look for any answers to be forthcoming from the government of Alberta. 

“No rules were broken when the former chief medical officer of health was hired for — then promptly fired from — a new job with the province,” Dean Bennett of The Canadian Press summed up the letter in the traditional Alberta phrase. 

“Ms. Trussler examined events around the dismissal under the Conflicts of Interest Act, which is designed to prevent elected politicians and senior government officials from taking action that financially benefits them or their family,” the Globe explained. “The act’s narrow focus means Ms. Trussler’s decision not to investigate the premier has failed to quell allegations that AHS ripped up Dr. Hinshaw’s contract after Ms. Smith interfered inappropriately.” 

There is nothing mildly surprising, let alone shocking about this outcome. 

It is the way these things work, and not only in Alberta. 

Legislative ethics rules are written by politicians who, understandably if not ethically (as it were), would prefer to shield themselves from the consequences of actions that most of us severely normal Albertans would consider unethical. 

That is why it can never be said that a legislatively constrained investigation of this sort has vindicated anyone, as the premier’s political staff is certain to try to persuade us the letter means for their boss’s tattered reputation. 

Readers can believe whatever they wish, but the known facts – Ms. Trussler’s uninformative letter notwithstanding – strongly suggest it was Ms. Smith who gave Dr. Hinshaw the shove. 

Far out! Alberta won’t let red tape harsh your mellow, man!

Groovy! Rules for cannabis retailers are changing! Red tape’s such a bummer, says The Man, but everything’s gonna be cool starting next month. So don’t harsh your mellow! Tune in, turn on, and make sure your dealer has a licence. 

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s deal with Google on Bill C-18 for an annual $100 million contribution has sparked some unsurprising crowing from partisans who insist the fears that the government had mishandled the Online News Act failed to recognize a well-executed negotiation strategy. Yet the response from industry supporters of the bill has been noticeably muted: News Media Canada did not issue a press release with CEO Paul Deegan noting that the impact would depend on the forthcoming regulations, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters said it was relieved there was a deal and that links would not be blocked, Quebec broadcasters are already calling for more support, and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting said the deal did not deliver the support it originally hoped for. These comments come closer to reflecting the reality of the deal, namely that the government misread the market, passed deeply flawed legislation, and was ultimately forced to row back core elements of the law and accept payments consistent with what was on the table over a year ago.

The case that this has been a successful outcome is a weak one, but would largely emphasize that there is some new money coming into the news sector. It is reasonable to argue that Google and Meta’s one-off deals with many Canadian news outlets in advance of Bill C-18 were part of their failed strategy to stop the introduction new legislation, so the mere prospect of a new law generated some financial support. The Meta support has now disappeared and Google’s financial agreements will be cancelled as they are rolled into the $100 million payment, but there is no denying that the payment will inject some new additional funding.

But additional funding alone is not sufficient to make the case that the government handled this issue well. Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is not wrong when it says that many hoped for far more. In fact, so did the government. As recently as a few months ago it said it expected to generate $172 million from Google alone. There were various estimates raised throughout the legislative process: the government said $150 million last December, later raised it to $215 million and then to 35% of actual costs by Senator Peter Harder. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated the value at $329 million by comparing the expected Canadian benefits with Australia. No matter the number, the $100 million is far below any of the promised estimates.

A more realistic assessment of the Bill C-18 outcome involves more than just the failure to meet the expected targets, however. There are at least two important issues. First, critics argued that the structure of Bill C-18 with mandated payments for links and an unworkable process made link blocking likely on Meta and a real possibility (though not a certainty) on Google. I think that remains the case. Meta has blocked news links for months in Canada and continues to maintain that is the only way it can comply with the law. As for Google, this deal completely alters the Bill C-18 process.

The government once claimed it would not negotiate directly with Google or any platform. Rather, it said it was creating a framework to allow the media companies to do so with the CRTC in the role of arbiter to determine if the various deals met the government’s policy objectives. Instead, it ended up negotiating with Google on a single payment rather than the individual deals promised by the bill, creating what amounts to a fund model that Google supported from the outset. Even the independence of the CRTC in the process is long gone with the government striking a deal and dictating to the Commission that it must exempt Google provided it cuts the $100 million cheque. This is a near complete reversal of Bill C-18 and provides confirmation that the law was unworkable.

Second, even the $100 million is far less than meets the eye, particularly for print and digital publications who were broadly viewed as most in need of assistance. As noted above, Google already has deals with many of these publications. While the precise value is unknown, it is rumoured to be in the tens of millions. The monetary value of those deals will be rolled into the $100 million payment, meaning that it is not entirely $100 million in money. Further, the bill has created some obvious losses including the lost Meta deals and the cost of lost news links. The estimates of those losses are similarly in the tens of millions and must be considered in assessing the overall Bill C-18 outcome.

Perhaps most notably for the print and digital publications, the majority of the $100 million will likely be going toward broadcasters such as Bell, Rogers and the CBC (unless the government uses regulations to specify how the money should be allocated which would further whittle away at the bill and the independence of the sector). The PBO estimated that it would be a 75/25 breakdown, suggesting that all of Canadian print and digital would share in just $25 million. That amount won’t even offset the lost Google deals and Meta links. It appears the government has recognized that this is the likely outcome since its $129 million media bailout announced in the Fall Economic Statement is only available to Canadian print and digital outlets that are eligible as Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations. In fact, by more than doubling tax credit for journalist costs from $13,750 to $29,750, the government has clearly used the bailout to compensate for the costs of its own media policy. In judging the outcome of Bill C-18, it is instructive to note that even the government seems to admit that it needed to find additional funding to make up for what is far more legislative fail than negotiating brilliance.

The post Skillful Negotiation or Legislative Fail? Taking Stock of the Bill C-18 Deal With Google appeared first on Michael Geist.

The federal government has quietly backed down from its plans to implement a new digital services tax as of January 2024 that the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated would generate billions in revenue. It did not make the headlines or receive much promotion, but after months of insisting that a digital services tax would take effect in Canada in January 2024, the government has now removed that implementation deadline in the Fall Economic Statement. The battle over the proposed tax had sparked increasing anger between Canada and the U.S., with dozens of U.S. Senators and Representatives signing letters urging the government to delay its plans. The Canadian plan remains to establish a retroactive three percent tax that will hit a wide range of businesses, but given fears moving ahead now would jeopardize a global agreement that is designed to address the digital services tax issue, Canada has seemingly faced the obvious reality and backed down.

For months, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland insisted that the deadline would not be changed. For example, in the summer she stated:

Canada’s priority and preference has always been a multilateral approach. We continue to strongly support the two-pillar plan agreed to in 2021 and we have been actively working with our international partners to bring it into effect. As confirmed in Budget 2023, we are moving ahead with legislation to implement the Pillar Two global minimum tax in Canada, starting at the end of 2023. Two years ago, we agreed to pause the implementation of our own Digital Services Tax (DST), in order to give time and space for negotiations on Pillar One. But we were clear that Canada would need to move forward with our own DST as of January 1, 2024, if the treaty to implement Pillar One has not come into force.

Earlier this month, Freeland said she was “cautiously optimistic” that an understanding could be reached with the U.S., but appears that the optimism came from a decision to simply remove the January 1, 2024 start date, replaced with the following in the FES:

in order to protect Canada’s national economic interest, the government intends to move ahead with its longstanding plan for legislation to enact a Digital Services Tax in Canada and ensure that businesses pay their fair share of taxes and that Canada is not at a disadvantage relative to other countries. Forthcoming legislation would allow the government to determine the entry-into-force date of the new Digital Services Tax, as Canada continues conversations with its international partners.

While the government plans to move ahead with legislation to facilitate a digital services tax, the “entry-into-force” date has been removed and left for a later decision. This buys time for a potential international agreement on implementing a global approach to the issue and should relieve some of the external pressure.

As I’ve previously written, a digital services tax is preferable to the cross-industry subsidy model found in Bills C-11 and C-18. However, moving ahead now would have created significant risks, including the prospect of billions in retaliatory tariffs. Led by Bill C-18 and the digital services tax, the government talked tough for months about regulating big tech. But with the FES providing a massive bailout to compensate for the harm caused by the Online News Act and the decision to hold off on implementing the DST, it would appear that the tough talk has been replaced by much-needed realism on what amounted to deeply flawed policies and a weak political hand.

The post Canadian Government Quietly Backs Down on its Implementation Plans for a Digital Services Tax appeared first on Michael Geist.

The government plans to release its final policy direction on Bill C-11 today just days ahead of the start of a weeks-long series of hearings at the CRTC on the Online Streaming Act (I am scheduled to appear in early December). Ahead of the release, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge tries to re-write history, urging fast enactment of the legislation and blaming the Conservatives for the delays. Yet here is the reality: Bill C-10, the predecessor to Bill C-11, would have become law back in 2021 had the government not opened the door to regulating user content. Instead, the bill rightly became a source of concern, leading to years of legislative delays that virtually guarantees that nothing will take effect until 2025 at the earliest.

The debate over Bill C-11 was notable for the continuous gaslighting from then Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who when he wasn’t lying to committee on what he knew about funding an anti-semite, was misleading committee and the broader public about the implications of Bill C-11. St-Onge continues that approach with her comments about the Bill C-11 policy direction. First, the claims of crisis are absurd. The legislation is focused primarily on film and TV production, which has been experiencing record investment in Canada. The attempt to conflate challenges in the news sector, which have made worse by the government’s Bill C-18, is really an attempt to mislead.

Second, the Bill C-11 process was never going to be fast specifically because the government left so much to regulatory processes and CRTC hearings. Despite numerous efforts to include greater specificity in the bill, the government rejected most amendments, leaving it to the CRTC to figure things out. I wrote about the CRTC approach here, noting that there are at least nine consultations planned. The upcoming series of hearings are only the first tranche of many more issues that require resolution. In other words, it was the government’s own choices that ensured there would be no fast implementation to Bill C-11.

Third, while St-Onge says that the concerns regarding regulating user content were misinformation, the policy direction confirms that the opposite is true. For months, the government insisted that regulating user content was out, yet the need for a policy direction on the matter proves that the law as written includes user content. In fact, the government rejected a Senate amendment that would have addressed the concern. Today’s final policy direction again demonstrates that the issue was real and it was largely the sustained criticism that pressured the government into a policy direction limiting the application of its own law. No amount of gaslighting will change the reality that the Bill C-11 process will be a lengthy one as a result of the government’s legislative choices and the concerns about over-broad regulation will linger throughout.

The post Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s Tries to Re-Write Bill C-11 History: There Is No Quick Implementation and the Government is to Blame appeared first on Michael Geist.

Have I got this straight? Preston Manning just made a recommendation to give politicians absolute authority over public health that was so excellent the Alberta government accepted it a week before they got it? 

Can someone remind me why we gave the superannuated godfather of the Canadian right a budget of $2 million and paid him $253,000 in personal pin money if we weren’t going to wait for his recommendations and at least talk about them for a day or two before implementing them? 

Yesterday, Mr. Manning, 81, dropped his 116-page doorstopper report and another 253 pages of appendices advising us to stop putting doctors in charge of public health emergencies and quit listening so much to scientists and medical researchers in the event of another pandemic so we can give equal time to “alternative scientific narratives.” 

The six-member “Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel” chaired by the former Reform Party leader and son of a Social Credit Alberta premier, would like us to strengthen individual rights at the expense of collective survival rights in the face of another deadly pandemic.

The panel’s recommendations included such gems as calling for the government to be “expressly forbidden” from halting in-person school classes during a public emergency, unless there are undefined “exceptional circumstances.”

Another recommendation calls for amending the Employment Standards Code and Health Professions Act to make it easier for anti-vaccine health care workers to endanger their patients and co-workers in health care facilities.

Seven days earlier the government announced its plan to dismantle Alberta Health Services and put all the responsibility for running it in the Premier’s Office, which is pretty much the same thing as the Manning Panel wants. Please don’t tell us the government’s right hand didn’t know what its left hand was doing! 

That said, the panel also recommended “streamlining system administration,” and the UCP plans to do the opposite, so there’s that.

We don’t have to list all of the panel’s 90 recommendations, a few of which may even make sense, to know that this is nutty and dangerous talk from a guy who only a decade ago was saying he saw need for Green Conservatism if conservative parties were going to survive.

But that was before Canadian Conservatives downed the MAGA potion – so I guess as goes Preston Manning, so goes the conservative movement. 

Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement to media by her press secretary that her United Conservative Party government will “will review and analyze the report and consider the panel’s recommendations as we prepare for future legislative sessions.”

But you’ve got to know that since Mr. Manning has pretty much delivered what Ms. Smith was looking for to satisfy the wound-up rage machine that engineered her entrée to the Premier’s Office last year, she’s likely to follow up on at least some of this stuff with dangerous legislative changes.

During the pandemic, and presumably since, the premier was an enthusiastic booster of such quack COVID cures as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

“This report marks a clear deviation from scientific integrity and rational public policy, suggesting that conspiracy theories and pseudo-science be given the same legitimacy as evidence-based medical treatment,” Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said in response. “This is not only irresponsible but also incredibly dangerous.”

It’s pretty hard to argue with that assessment. 

“The report’s recommendations pave the way for fringe extremists, like David Parker and Artur Pawlowski, to have control over the health and safety of Albertans,” she continued, naming two prominent anti-vaccine allies of the premier. “By undermining the expertise of dedicated experts, health professionals, and front-line workers, the UCP is failing Albertans all over again.

“Recommending that ‘alternative scientific narratives,’ such as Danielle Smith’s promotion of a horse de-wormer for treating COVID-19, will undoubtedly harm Albertans,” she added. “Such an approach to public health undermines the hard work and dedication of our health-care professionals.”

Again, all true, but equally unlikely to dissuade Ms. Smith and her anti-vaxx cabinet and caucus. 

University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young, who is bravely trying to read the entire report, noted last night that “the word ‘death’ appears 6 times. And the word ‘freedom’ appears 262 times.” A telling detail. 

As for Mr. Manning, I guess the question now is what he’ll do next to keep himself occupied? 

This time last year he was stepping away from his fake “national citizen’s inquiry” into the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act to end border blockades and city occupations by the Convoy crowd. Whatever happened to that thing, anyway? An “interim report” attracted little attention in September.

Before that, in 2019, Mr. Manning was taken on by then premier Jason Kenney as a member of Alberta’s so-called Fair-Deal Panel, a nine-member committee struck to overcome Alberta’s perpetual case of péquiste envy.

Well-regarded pension expert debunks Alberta pension scheme 

The loud thud created when Mr. Manning’s doorstopper dropped yesterday unfortunately drew attention away from the release of a scathing report by pension lawyer Murray Gold on the Smith Government’s Alberta pension plan scheme.

The report by the well-regarded expert in pension and benefits law – Big Risks, No Rewards, Debunking the Alberta Government’s Plan to Secede from the Canada’s Pension Plan – deserved more attention than it got. 

The report, published by the Alberta Federation of Labour, concludes that “an APP would be smaller and riskier than the CPP. It would also be exposed to the whims of a single government in a way that the CPP is not.” By contrast, changes to the CPP may only be made with the support of two-thirds of the provinces representing two-thirds of the population, which is an even higher bar than the amending formula of the Canadian Constitution. 

The report demonstrates that Albertans are not “over-contributing” to CPP, as the government falsely and repeatedly claims. All Canadian workers contribute the same amount to CPP and get the same benefits.

“The Alberta government’s plan hinges on the notion that Alberta would be entitled to pull $334 billion out of the CPP fund – 53 per cent of the total, even though Alberta represents only 12 per cent of Canada’s population and 16 per cent of CPP contributions,” Mr. Gold’s report says. “There is absolutely no way that the federal government and other provincial governments – who, along with Alberta, run the CPP – would ever allow this to happen. 

“Without this fantasy number, none of the Alberta government’s claims about lower contribution rates or higher benefits would be possible.”

A week ago, Canada’s premiers ended a meeting in Halifax agreeing that they shouldn’t poach health care workers from one another.

There’s a shortage all round, they seemed to be saying, let’s poach from poor countries instead of each other!

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston seemed to be the one who got the ball rolling on this thought. “I’m not a fan of trying to go to another province and trying to recruit some of their health-care professionals,” he told reporters at the provincial legislature a few days before. “I think there are other places to recruit from.”

To be fair, not all the places where Nova Scotia has been trawling for nurses and other health care professionals are what we still think of as being in the Third World, a term that’s starting to sound seriously dated nowadays. 

When the premiers got together three days later, there seemed to be a mood of genial amity on the topic.

Mr. Houston, who appears from out here in Wild Rose Country to be an old-timey Progressive Conservative, was of the opinion the premiers should all just try to get together, smile on each other, try to love one another, right now. 

“Trying to poach workers from another jurisdiction is not really supporting each other,” he said at the meeting’s closing news conference. “Actively recruiting health care workers that are already working and engaged in a health care system is something that Nova Scotia’s not going to do.”

“There was a significant unity amongst ourselves to prevent an aggressive act of recruitment campaign in other people’s backyards,” agreed Newfoundland’s Andrew Furey, a Liberal. “We all recognize that health care professionals right now are in high demand. They’re mobile. But Canada has an absolute imperative to continue to provide top-notch care in our own jurisdiction and robbing Peter to pay Paul does not help advance that agenda in any way, shape or form.” (Note to readers: Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a Biblical metaphor that has nothing to do with PayPal.)

Canada’s newest premier, Manitoba’s Wab Kinew, a New Democrat, sounded like he was in accord with that thought, too. “In the absence of that sort of collaboration, we may compete against one another into a future in which none of us can afford to staff our health-care systems, in which none of us can sustainably do so,” he told reporters at the newser. 

Not counting Danielle Smith, who we’ll get to in a moment, Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe was the only other provincial premier to speak at the newser about that topic before the moderator shut it down, and he didn’t really have anything useful to say.

Well, I’m here to tell you that this isn’t going to be as easy to do as it might appear to be around the table with all these cordial provincial and territorial premiers. 

It’s true that not just in Canada, but around the world there’s a shortage of nurses and physicians – with the possible exception of the Philippines, where the government appears to be treating nurses as an export. So until we get serious about educating more nurses and doctors here in Canada, and see the results as graduates trickle into the job market a number of years later, provinces are going to find themselves in competition with one another no matter what their premiers say. 

That will require more spending, and possibly more taxes to pay for it, something the modern Canadian premier, regardless of what political party or philosophy he or she is supposedly associated with, will resist – often to the point of doing real damage to the commonweal. 

So it also matters a lot what a province’s health care policies are. Even intangible matters like expressions of respect for health care professionals may turn out to be significant. 

So whether or not Manitoba goes out and starts putting advertisements on bus shelters near hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton – or better yet, holding job fairs in Red Deer – it’s going to enjoy a significant recruitment advantage over Alberta when it comes to nurses in particular. 

Mr. Kinew campaigned and won on a platform of repairing the province’s battered relationship with its health care workers. “We are resetting the relationship right now,” he said during one of his first news conferences after the province’s Oct. 3 election.

Appearing with his new health minister, Uzoma Asagwara, he vowed Manitoba will hire more nurses and physicians and end mandatory overtime for nurses. He indicated he has a schedule for recruitment in mind. 

“We look forward to providing opportunities to front-line health care providers, doctors, nurses, to allied health care professionals, to have their voices heard and their expertise respected and to be part of the way we address things moving forward,” Mx. Asagwara said.

“If we want to keep health care professionals, nurses, physicians, engaged in working on the front lines, we need a comprehensive approach which includes, of course, compensation,” Mr. Kinew said at the closing newser in Halifax. “It includes better working conditions.”

Alberta just can’t compete with that. Here, the government is embarking on a massive and incoherent reorganization of the health care system that seems principally designed to exact revenge on Alberta Health Services for enforcing public health regulations during the pandemic and to make bits and pieces of the public system easier to sell off to the private sector in the future. 

And there’s been no consultation with nurses – only “briefings.” 

Never mind even the middle-term future, many nurses right now don’t know who they’ll be working for in a few months’ time – Alberta Health Services, as they do now, or one of the new bureaucracies being set up by the government. 

Confusion reigns in a health care system in deep trouble, and chaos lurks. 

Oh, and the United Conservative Party government also wants to wreck the Canada Pension Plan, after already messing with public service pensions, so Alberta health care workers’ retirements appear less secure as well. 

And what does Ms. Smith have to say about that? (Other than promising Albertans exactly what the creators of AHS promised them a decade and a half ago – that everything will work out fine … eventually.)

Well, in Halifax she seemed to try to blame past AHS policies and nurses themselves for the shortage of nurses, claiming that in Alberta “we only have 38 per cent of our nurses willing to work full time.”

This is a misrepresentation of the true situation. It’s true that mandatory overtime, cancelled vacations, threatened pay cuts under Jason Kenney, and abuse at work from anti-vaxxers encouraged by the UCP government have all contributed to a desire by some nurses to be able to have more control over their own lives.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not willing to work full time in jobs with reasonable time off, appropriate market-based pay, and a degree of respect. Almost everyone understands the seemingly unplanned chaos now being introduced by the UCP will only make things worse. 

If you were a nurse on the Prairies, where would you rather work? Wab Kinew’s Manitoba or Danielle Smith’s Alberta? 

No premier’s no-poaching agreement can keep health care professionals from talking to one another! 

Danielle Smith’s Alberta: Where bad ideas go to live forever

Service Alberta (and red tape reduction) Minister Dale Nally is off to Texas today to attend the 2023 North American Blockchain Summit.

That crypto collapse? Sam Bankman-Fried’s massive crypto fraud? Don’t worry about ’em!

You’d think that a minister of red tape reduction would be needed at home to persuade his cabinet colleagues not to set up massive new bureaucracies to replace Alberta Health Services, but Mr. Nally will be talking to “blockchain experts” instead, about how “to attract blockchain technologies to Alberta.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday, he’ll tour cryptocurrency “mining” operations – which use vast amounts of energy to magically generate an electronic currency that appears to have no purpose other than abetting crime and tax avoidance. 

On Thursday, he’ll take part in a cryptocurrency roundtable discussion at the trade show. 

In other words, on top of everything else, the UCP’s not giving up on the crypto hustle. 

Yes, Alberta’s where bad ideas go to live forever.

The government’s funding of Laith Marouf, a known anti-semite, sparked anger and condemnation last summer as many wondered how Canadian Heritage failed to conduct the necessary due diligence to weed him out as part of its anti-hate program. While government MPs such as Anthony Housefather urged action, then-Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussein was slow to respond and then-Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez inexplicably remained silent. I posted repeatedly on his silence, leading his Parliamentary Secretary, MP Chris Bittle, to suggest that I was racist and a bully. Yet as we have witnessed in recent days, when it comes to antisemitism, silence is not an option. The threat is literally playing out in our streets and campuses and we need everyone – Jews and non-Jews alike – to speak out against it and take action where necessary.

Even after Housefather pleaded with his fellow MPs to speak out, it still took Rodriguez days to say anything. And when he did, he pointedly did not issue a public statement. In fact, repeated requests for the statement he apparently provided to a single news outlet were ignored. The failure to speak out against antisemitism – the notion that it “wasn’t his file” – displayed an utter lack of awareness of the need to counter hate and stand in solidarity with affected communities. That display of weak moral character alone may not be a fireable offence, but lying to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is.

Rodriguez initially refused to appear before the committee on the Marouf affair. But when he came to committee to discuss Bill C-18 (yes, that Bill C-18), opposition MPs had questions, including this exchange with NDP MP Peter Julian:

Mr. Peter Julian: So at no point were you informed between July 19 and August 22, even though Minister Hussen was consulting with the department, looking at procedural next steps and confirming the organization’s project funding details. Is that correct?

Hon. Pablo Rodriguez: That’s correct.

That claim was never credible, but there is now evidence it was a lie. I previously posted on an Access to Information request that revealed that his officials were engaged on the issue well before August 22^nd. According to a report in the Globe and Mail, Rodriguez was personally copied on emails with titles such as “Laith Marouf and antisemitic hate speech.” These emails, which were not included in the ATIP records, involved multiple colleagues and went to his personal email. Rodriguez might suggest that he didn’t read any of those emails, but when he appeared before the Committee two months later claiming he was not informed about the issue, that was a lie. He was informed, said nothing for days, and then lied about what and when he knew about it.

What kind of person fails to speak out on antisemitism and then lies about it before a House of Commons committee? A person who is not fit to serve as a government minister. Now more than ever we need accountability on matters involving hate and antisemitism. Pablo Rodriguez should resign.

The post Pablo Rodriguez Failed For Weeks to Say Anything About Funding for an Anti-Semite and Then Lied About What He Knew. He Should Resign. appeared first on Michael Geist.

Day 5, Part 1

The sun came up on the fifth day. I had been holding my arms close about my chest for hours in a feeble attempt to fight off the cold air. The storm from yesterday had moved on and the sun hung bright in the morning sky, but it gave no warmth. I staggered forward a few more paces before falling to my knees. My brain barely registered the pain. We made progress through the night as best we could in the darkness of the woods, neither one of us had even a headlamp to help light the way. We never stopped, never rested, though both of us fell and struggled to get back up more than once. Little Foot was flagging more than I was by the end; for the past hour, her pace was no faster than a crawl. Her head was drooping and lulling to the side, her arms hanging limp. Little Foot’s face did seem to soften with the first light of dawn, as though the sun could hold the terror at bay.

Little Foot slumped down next to me on the trail, I was still on my hands and knees, “We can rest here. I have to stop for a moment. Sorry.” The word “Sorry” escaped her lips in a breathless whisper.

I pushed myself into a sitting posture, using my arms to pull my legs into a tolerable position in front of me. “Don’t be.” I replied. “I’m exhausted too. My ankle feels like it’s on fire, I can’t go on either.” 

Instinctively, I reached for my pack, I reached for my few remaining pain killers. But, they were gone. They were miles behind me in the woods somewhere. I sighed and rested my head on the tree to my back.

Little Foot sat down on my right side, leaning her left side into me. “Just a few minutes, okay.” She said, not looking at me. A certain measure of peace had come over her and (by extension me) with the rising sun. Hope had taken a foothold where there was only dread an hour before. I had parked my car at the next trailhead, and we had to be getting close by now. We just had to reach it today. We ended up resting against that gnarled tree for twenty minutes before setting out again. A small measure of resolve restored with the rest. Little Foot became the de facto leader of our two man group; she would set the pace and call our breaks. Both of us kept our heads moving side to side in a sweeping motion as best we could, always trying to peer into the woods as deeply as possible. Straining to see just beyond the last shadow. Both of us would jump and tense at every snapping branch or running deer or crying bird. But, at least, I wasn’t alone. 

Our morning moved along in such a fashion. Neither of us had any food, and my stomach began a slight protest. If Little Foot was hungry, she never said it. We were able to drink from a fast moving rain fed stream that ran near the trail. At little past noon, we stopped for our third break of the day. Exhaustion filled my entire body. My right leg visibly shook under the strain of lowering my body to the ground, my left leg extended in front of me so as to not take any of the weight. Little Foot sat (fell) down next to me. Her face was pale and drained. The gash on her forehead had reopened, a trickle of blood was mixing into her eyebrow. Her eyes looked dim with dark circles around them, her face was drawn. 

“Just a few minutes, okay?” she said to me.

I replied with a nod. And, with that, she leaned into me in the way we had become familiar. She put more of her weight into me than usual. The hope that had clawed its way into my mind was slipping away. Little Foot very well might die out here, even if we never see that monster again. She seemed so frail, so very close to death already. She fell asleep. “Just a few minutes” she had said, but I knew she needed more sleep than that. Little Foot needed so much more than rest, but that was all I could give her. 

I’ll keep watch and let her sleep. She needs rest. Hopefully we can spare an hour. We’ve got to be getting close. 

Day 5, Part 2

A whistling crept through the darkness. My eyes blinked heavily as sunlight edged out the darkness. My mind was simultaneously groggy, incoherent, and spinning in terror. Why was I afraid? Why does my entire body ache? Was someone whistling “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay?” My eyes shot wide open as the full weight of my circumstance came crashing down. I could suddenly feel my heart rapidly pounding in my chest. Wincing, I twisted in an attempt to locate the direction of the whistler. Little Foot gently shifted on my shoulder, still peacefully asleep. I shook her shoulder, forgetting about the deep raking gashes on her back. Little Foot’s face sprung to life with equal parts pain and fear. 

“We’ve got to go, now!” I said to her in an urgent whisper. “I can hear him, I think he’s getting close.”

Little Foot managed to get to feet and helped me to mine, both of our faces pulling back in pain. With walking stick in hand, we made our way down the trail. The whistling still faintly clinging to the air, always lingering in the background. After a while of walking, Little Foot asked, “How long was I asleep, and why did you let me sleep? I can’t believe you did that.” She finished with a shake of her head. 

“You needed rest.” I responded. “I was going to stay awake and let you sleep for an hour or so. But, you needed it. You’ve lost too much blood.” I could feel her disappointment, but I didn’t know what to do about it. “Look at you, you’re pale. You look like death.” And, with that, her face shot toward me with a harsh glare.

“You look like crap too!” Little Foot responded in a slightly higher tone. “Come on. We’ve got to move faster.” And so the pace quickened; I had to work hard to not be left behind.

After a mile or so, the whistling faded away. The sun had firmly settled into the western half of the sky, and it was slipping quickly toward the horizon. Little Foot’s frantic pace had slowed and I had caught back up with my hobbling gate. The trees seemed to be crowding the path again, old trees that seemed to crouch over us and cast deep shadows all around. There was a certain amount of comfort in hearing the whistling, we knew that it was some ways behind us. Now, there was no way to know. 

“Back there, when you woke me up,” Little Foot broke the silence. “you said ‘he is getting close.’ What did you mean? Who’s ‘he?’”

“Harry.” I responded without taking my eyes from the trees. “You met Harry on the trail, right?” Little Foot looked confused and shook her head. “He’s the one that chased you out of that campsite. He’s the one that attacked you!” 

“No.” She responded. I left the campsite that night because I saw some sort of bear prowling around. Sniffing at our tents. It wandered off behind the shelter and I got out of there. It was that bear that attacked me.” Her voice broke at the end, and she offered no more information.

I let the silence hang in the air, afraid to break it, but I finally offered “Harry has been following me. He’s always going the other direction, but he keeps popping up. That was him humming back there. He was sitting in the shelter when I got up that morning. Idly humming that same song.” 

We followed a bend in the trail, which put the sun fully behind the mountain. Dark shadows consumed everything. Night started its slow grip on the mountainside. And that’s when the quiet of the forest was broken by a third human voice. “That’s so nice of you to tell her about me. Though I thought you’d mention that we’re friends, I thought we had truly bonded over the past few days. You trying to offer me hiking advice and all.” He chuckled as he finished. “Be careful of the rocks. Thanks for that tidbit” He chuckled. 

Harry had easily overtaken us, and now he was casually sitting in front of us on a log next to the trail. He stood and took a few steps toward us. Little Foot and I had stopped in our tracks. She impulsively reached for my hand, I could feel her trembling. Every hair on my body stood on end. We both took a step back.

“Oh, let’s not do that.” Harry said, “Just sit down.” He gestured to the log he had just left. “Don’t make me chase you, how far could you really get anyway? Plus, I think safety is that way.” He pointed over his shoulder. “Night will be here soon. Sit down, we can talk while we wait.”

With her free hand, Little Foot pulled out her small pocket knife, and brandished it  toward Harry. The knife looked pathetic as it quaked in her fist. “Just let us go! Leave us alone!” She shouted. Tears had welled in her eyes.

Harry put up his hands in mock surrender as he moved aside. “By all means.” Harry said, now gesturing with a little bow down the trail he was no longer blocking.

We slowly walked past Harry, never taking our eyes off of him. He looked like a coiled spring ready to pounce, but he just stood there in his cruel mock bow. Little Foot and I eyed Harry over our shoulders until we reached the next bend in the trail. He straightened but never moved. He just watched us go, like a cat watches a mouse that it will soon play with. The turn took Harry out of sight, and that’s when the whistling picked back up.

Little Foot and I did our best to run. A pathetic sight. We couldn’t put enough distance between us and Harry. The sun was falling into the west, and there was nothing we could do. Night would be here soon. As evening blended into twilight, a glimmer of hope came to us in the form of a sign post. It read, “Parking lot trail 1.5 miles.”

Day 5, Part 3

The shadows stretched longer until dusk overtook everything. Trees were reaching out and clawing at our faces, roots and rocks grabbed at our feet. The dark woods swallowed us. The moon hung full in the sky casting devilish shadows and teasing pools of sickly pale light. Our shuffling run had slowed as we struggled our way through the dark. I jumped at every noise that came from the blackened forest. Owls cried in the night and deer crashed through the brush. I heard all of it as impending doom. A silence crept about the forest, but still “Sittin on the Dock of the Bay” cascaded around my mind. The silence was worse. It held a tenseness that my body strained against. My ears, my eyes, my nose all strained in search of danger. I was now coaxing Little Foot along. She had become even more pale with the moonlight, and she was drained. We had to stop, we needed to stop, but stopping was death. And so, I pulled her along, stumbling along roots and weakly pushing branches away.

Little Foot collapsed to the ground. “I can’t…I can’t…just go” she said through shallow panting breaths. “Leave me.”

“Get up! I’m not leaving. We’ve got to go!” I pulled up on her arm and she cried out in pain. “We can’t stop.” 

I hauled her back to her feet, and she stood slump-shouldered with her head down. I started to lead her down the trail, when Harry’s distant blood curdling scream pierced our ears like daggers. Little Foot lifted her pale face, her eyes locked on to mine, “He’s coming.” Her words should have been a scream, but they came out as an accepted fact.

I found a spurt of new energy. A last push to safety. Surely, my car had to be close by now. My right leg strained to drag my useless left leg into a run, my upper body bearing down on the walking stick for support. Little Foot managed to keep pace. Harry crashed through the woods behind us and a little higher up the mountain. Moonlight pooled on the trail up ahead. Like a divine light, it illuminated a trail junction with a sign post. The downhill path surely leading to the parking lot and to safety. The post was a hundred yards off, one-fifty at most. Burning hot pain shot up my left leg in jolts of agony as I put more and more weight on my left ankle. Little Foot tripped on an unseen root and fell to her hands and knees. “Get up!” I yelled as I pulled mercilessly on her ruined shoulder. “We’re almost there, we can make it!” And, with that, she struggled, for the last time, to her feet.

Harry let out a primal roar. He was closing fast. A crashing noise of crushing bramble and snapping branches exploded from our left. He burst from the forest in front of us, and landed in a pale pool of moonlight. No longer a man, a monster stood in front of us. Red saliva dripped between jagged teeth from his elongated snout. His own blood fell from his mouth to stain thick mats of fur on his chest. Harry stood poised on the balls of his back feet which had transformed into gigantic paws; long nails jutting out and digging into the mud. His eyes, blazing yellow in the moonlight, stared at us in anticipation of the chase. A monstrous werewolf basking in the pale light of the full moon.

Our screams mingled in the air as Little Foot and I clumsily backed away, not daring to look anywhere but at the terror in front of us. I tripped over a hidden root, landing hard on the ground. The werewolf took a single step, its massive paws pushing deep into the mud. Its mouth twisted into a snarl, exposing huge blood stained canines. The stench of carnage and death oozed from that savage muzzle. Once I fell, the beast pounced. In a blur it closed the gap between us. Little Foot, screaming and swearing, was pulling at my shoulders “GET UP! GET UP!” But there was no time, no chance to flee. Little Foot unconsciously took a step back as the monster leapt into the air. Without thought or conscious decision, I brought my walking stick up in front of me. One end buried itself deep into the werewolf’s stomach and the other slammed hard into the ground under my left arm. The werewolf’s terrible muzzle gaping with thick saliva dripping into my face, his eyes popping from their sockets. He hung in the air for a second or a minute (time seemed to have lost all meaning) before the beast came crashing down on top of me. I could hear its ragged and wheezing breaths, the smell of blood swarmed my senses, the werewolf’s sheer bulk crushing my right side. My left hand sunk deep into coarse brown fur as I pushed with whatever strength was still in me. After a moment, Little Foot came to my side and was weakly trying to roll the monster off. Finally, with a last heave and jerking of my own body, I was free.

My walking stick lay broken under the monster, and, without a second thought, that’s where I left it. I scrambled to my feet, primarily balancing on my one good foot, and took in my first deep breath. A new pain filled my body, it exploded in my chest, it erupted in my brain. I doubled over clenching my side. My very lungs seemed to be scraping against my ribs. The weight of the werewolf came down solidly on my chest. 

“Com’on” I gasped for breath, “we’ve got to go.” I said to Little Foot.

 She put an arm around my shoulder and gave a little push to get me moving down the trail as I gasped for another breath. Without my stick for support, my walk was pathetic; a run was beyond me. But, I limped a hopping, shuffling limp as quickly as I could. “He’s not staying down.” Little Foot said, offering for me to put my left arm over her shoulder. Her face, which she was still not lifting up, visibly curled into a wince. We made it to the sign post before I stole a look behind us. The monster was stirring, trying to force himself back to his feet. His breathing, like mine, was labored and painful. He stooped in a half crouching position, one knee on the ground and both wicked hands clutching his abdomen. Our eyes met, and he let out a low growl that seemed to shake the very ground. The last thing I saw was my broken walking stick discarded in the dirt. Half of it was wet with blood.

We turned down the access trail, my car now only a short walk away. A singular howl, weaker but with no less malice, broke the night air. My back stiffened at that sound, and I could feel my skin tighten. The echo of the howl faded away, but it was replaced with the sound of the werewolf rampaging through the woods. The crashing was slower but more ferocious. What had been a twisted game of cat and mouse, had now become something else. Something truly and purely horrifying. 

We trekked on, without hope that we could ever out run the monster. Wounded as he was, the deliberate noise coming from the dark woods was consistently growing closer. Little Foot, still supporting me under my left shoulder, stumbled and fell to her knees. Rocks digging deep into her palms. I looked down at her, my savior, and noticed drops of blood glistening in moonlight as they mingled into the dirt and rocks. She was breathing heavily. I saw her forearms flex and strain to lift her own body, but she didn’t budge. I reached down to help her up, but, as my fingers grazed her torn coat, her strength gave out and she collapsed onto her side. I fell to my knees, never minding the pain, to hold her, to coax her back up. We had to go, there was no time. My hands reached her cheeks, and a wet warmth covered my fingers. Gently I pulled her face out of the dirt to see the new horror. Little Foot’s scalp wound had reopened and blood oozed from it. But now, there was a new wound stretching from her brow to the crook of her lip. Deep tissues hung limply. Though the lids were squeezed shut, her right eye was most likely gone. 

“He got me when he fell.” She said in a cold and distant voice. Weariness and shock were all that Little Foot had left.

I cradled her head, weeping. My chest burned with pain as it heaved uncontrollably. “Why didn’t you say something? You supported me this whole time! You should of told me!” I cried. Tears freely falling. 

“It wouldn’t change anything.” Little Foot responded. Emotion started to break through her distant stare. “Now go!” She cried. A tear dropped from her eye. “While you have time. GO!” She gave me a weak shove. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” A cold grin touched her lips. I looked down to her clenched hand that held her pitiful pocket knife.

I bent down, pressing my forehead to her’s. 

 ***

I don’t remember much else. I did hear a demon’s howl as I drove away, but I didn’t hear the werewolf attack Little Foot. I didn’t hear her screams. Her cries don’t haunt me every night; especially if I’m outside at night with a full moon looming above. 

I made a police report. I was forced back into those cursed woods to show the cop and park ranger the torn remains of Little Foot’s camp. I showed them where the werewolf attacked us. I was even forced to show them where I left Little Foot on the trail. In the end, it was ruled a bear attack. “In these woods” they said “people get attacked by bears more often than you’d think.” And that was it. I assume her family was told some fabricated story about an aggressive bear. I was never told. I was never given any of her personal information, so I couldn’t even try to find the family she left behind. I don’t even know her real name.

As for me, I haven’t been able to get myself back on the trail. I cannot hardly go outside at night. But, on the rare occasion that I have to, I swear I can still hear a soft whistling carried on the wind.

The post A Hike in the Woods, Day 5 first appeared on This Little Light.

In 2017, I filed an access to information request with Global Affairs Canada seeking records related to the creation of the WIPO Internet Treaties more than 20 years earlier. The timing of the request was not accidental. The exception for cabinet confidences in the Access to Information Act no longer applies after 20 years and my hope was to gain insights into the government’s thinking during the negotiation process that might have previously been publicly unavailable. The request took a long time to process and the department still withheld many records on a range of grounds. I rarely appeal to the Information Commissioner, but in this case I did.  Last week, the Information Commissioner determined that my complaint was well-founded, but Global Affairs and its Minister, Melanie Joly, have thus far refused to abide by the ruling.

The Information Commissioner recommended the release of most of the information at issue, yet the government seemingly won’t comply. According to the decision:

On August 31, 2023, I issued my initial report to the Minister of Foreign Affairs setting out my recommendation. I also asked the Minister to give me notice as whether she plans to implement my recommendations and, if so, what specific actions she would be taking in that regard. The Minister of Foreign Affairs did not give me notice whether she would be implementing my recommendation. It is very regrettable that Global Affairs does not take its obligation under the Act seriously and, in addition to ignoring the complainant’s right of access, ignores the Act’s requirement to respond to my initial report. This is a clear sign of a lack of commitment to transparency and a failure of leadership.

I have the right to apply to the Federal Court for review. While I consider that option, the failure of the Access to Information system becomes even more readily apparent. These records are literally decades old and have now been the subject of years of review. The Information Commissioner rightly notes that the department exhibits “a clear sign of a lack of commitment to transparency and a failure of leadership.” For a government that once campaigned on greater transparency, failing to abide by its own (inadequate) law sends a discouraging signal on its respect for access to information and undermines efforts to encourage the governments of other countries to commit to transparency.

The post “A Lack of Commitment to Transparency and a Failure of Leadership”: Melanie Joly and Global Affairs Ignore Information Commissioner Ruling in My Request for Decades-Old Copyright Records appeared first on Michael Geist.

Voters elect Wab Kinew, 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party and a former rapper and broadcast journalist

Manitoba has elected Canada’s first provincial First Nations premier, handing the progressive leader a legislative majority following a contentious election campaign.

Wab Kinew, the 41-year-old head of the leftwing New Democratic party (NDP), has led the province’s party since 2017. A former rapper, broadcast journalist and university administrator, Kinew said his newly elected government will focus on reopening three emergency rooms shuttered in recent years. He also said the province would invest in more social housing.

The past few days have been painful to watch as Canadian politicians grapple with the aftermath of recognizing and applauding a Nazi in the House of Commons. The episode and its response brings back memories from last year’s discouraging response to revelations that Canadian Heritage’s anti-hate program had provided funding to Laith Marouf, a known anti-semite. While there are obvious differences, the commonality lies in the pain to the Jewish community and the reticence for full-throated apologies and public engagement, misplaced hope that the issue will just recede from public attention, slow commitments to ensure it does not happen again, and reluctance to accept accountability for the inexcusable error. 

In the case of Marouf, it took weeks for the government to take action and so many MPs remained silent that Liberal MP Anthony Housefather felt obligated to issue a public call for his fellow parliamentarians to speak out. Months later, the Canadian Heritage committee conducted woefully incomplete hearings on the matter and never issued a report. Indeed, then Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez tried to avoid discussing the matter altogether, arguing that responsibility for the program lay with his colleague Ahmed Hussen. Yet when he appeared on Bill C-11 in October 2022, opposition committee members made a point of asking him the questions he had previously avoided. In particular, NDP MP Peter Julian asked him when he was informed about the situation:

Mr. Peter Julian: So at no point were you informed between July 19 and August 22, even though Minister Hussen was consulting with the department, looking at procedural next steps and confirming the organization’s project funding details. Is that correct?

Hon. Pablo Rodriguez: That’s correct.

As I blogged soon after, that claim seemed completely implausible given that the issue had been percolating for weeks. Now new documents obtained under the Access to Information Act indicate that it was more than just implausible. It was almost surely false with the only possible excuse being the old stand-by for shirking responsibility, namely that his own people – including his chief of staff and deputy minister who were aware and had raised the issue – failed to inform him of the situation.

The first notable email came from then Chief of Staff John Matheson to Heritage Deputy Minister Isabelle Mondou on August 16, 2022, nearly a week before Rodriguez says he learned about the situation. Matheson sends a link to a tweet from CIJA about the situation. One minute later, Mondou forwarded it to the responsible Director-General within the department, who quickly responded that she was aware of it and taking action. For Rodriguez’s claim to be truthful, his chief of staff and deputy minister would have had to have kept the issue from him for nearly a week even as the issue attracted growing attention.

Access to Information A-2022-00220

The second email links Rodriguez even more directly. About an hour before the Matheson email to the deputy minister, Rodriguez’s Grants and Contributions Coordinator sent an email to the Heritage department stating that the Minister’s office was seeking information about the same allegations found in the tweet. Their concern was particularly acute since they were holding an antisemitism roundtable that same day and were concerned the issue might be raised. In fact, Rodriguez tweeted about the roundtable later that day and his tweet shows that CIJA’s Richard Marceau was in attendance along with MPs Housefather, Taleeb Noormohamed (the new Heritage Parliamentary Secretary and one of the first MPs to speak out on Marouf) and Ya’ara Saks, who chaired the event. The issue was clearly known to many, if not all, in attendance. 

Access to Information A-2022-00220

Of course, it is possible that Rodriguez’s staff, fellow MPs, and deputy minister shielded him from the news as others ran interference for him in other ways. But as with this week’s events, I’d like to think that Canadian leaders would not want to be kept in the dark about these events but rather want to engage, take responsibility, and address them. The wake-up call that arises from both the Marouf affair and a Nazi in the House of Commons is that when the issue involves antisemitism there are still too many willing to remain silent in the hope that the issue blows over.

The post The Need for Truthful Accountability: What ATIP Records Tell Us About Pablo Rodriguez and Canadian Heritage Funding an Anti-Semite appeared first on Michael Geist.

Despite being born in the summer, I must admit fall is my favourite season. The scenery at this time is unmatched and with the temperature slowly dropping it’s a great time to wear your most comfortable knitted sweaters and sip on some warm beverages (and yes, I am a sucker for a Pumpkin Spiced Latte – how cliché, I know).

I would say that my love for autumn comes from all the family fun adventures I had with my younger sisters and parents growing up. So, with the official start of autumn soon underway, I wanted to share a list of some of my favourite family-friendly activities to do this fall.

Outdoor Fun Fall Activities

Take a Hike

I’ve already mentioned that the fall scenery is one of the reasons why I enjoy this season so much, and the best way I experience it is through hikes. What I like about hiking in the fall is that the weather isn’t too hot or too cold. So long as you bundle up with a jacket, pack a thermos filled with your favourite warm beverage and lace up your hiking shoes, it’s sure to be a great time for people of all ages.

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls…

…Is a lyric from the song “Waterfalls” by TLC. I of course am advocating for chasing waterfalls this season. Just like hiking, going out to a park or trail that leads to a waterfall can be a magical experience. While we typically think of Niagara Falls as the pinnacle of all waterfalls, there are plenty of others to see across Canada. Wikipedia has a list of all waterfalls across the provinces to help plan your next adventure in the great outdoors.

Visit a Farm and/or Farmer’s Market

When I think of fall, I am immediately transported to the elementary school trips to Downey’s Farm in Caledon, Ont. Whether you’re based in the Greater Toronto Area and interested in going to Downey’s, or live anywhere else across Canada, many towns offer their own farmer’s market or farm filled with plenty of activities for kids to enjoy. These can include a petting zoo, going through a pumpkin patch, getting lost in a corn maze, apple picking and so much more! There are plenty of activities to keep your young ones happy and will create memories that’ll last a lifetime.

Have a Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is a great way to keep the kids occupied. Develop a list of items to search for in a park, share the list with your children and their friends, and let the hunt begin. I recommend visiting a place that you haven’t been before – that way with every search, you’ll discover something new. Just be sure to accompany any young children as they explore.

Start a Leaf Collection

As a kid, I was obsessed with nature (who am I kidding, I still am!) and one of my favourite activities was collecting leaves. I was always fascinated by the varieties and an endless supply to keep me occupied. Consider purchasing a scrapbook to house all the findings, and every year see how many new leaves can be found! 

Go Treetop Trekking or Ziplining

Another remnant of my school field trips. Treetop trekking involves exploring bases found amongst the trees. Many of these places also offer high ropes courses as well as ziplining. If you’re not a fan of heights I wouldn’t recommend it; however, if you are looking for a bit of excitement, I highly suggest trying it out. 

Go to an Amusement Park

Many people view amusement parks as a summertime activity, but you may be pleasantly surprised to know that many amusement parks are open until October. What I like most about going during this time of year is that prices can generally be cheaper, and all the rides (except of course any of the water-based rides) are still active.

Indoor Fall Activities

Learn a New Skill

Have you considered using autumn as a time to learn a new skill? While my ideas so far have involved going outside, you may want to explore an indoor activity. Consider learning how to knit – I would recommend starting off small with a scarf (which may come in handy for the winter) and gradually tackling a more complex project. A new one I recently discovered is candle making and you can learn how to make your own fall-scented candle.  

Decorate

If you’re looking for more activities to do at home, consider decorating. There are many choices for fall crafts that won’t break the bank. Many dollar stores will have chic items that you can include in your home. I recommend asking each family member what they would like to see around the house, pick up said items, put together your favourite playlist, make a cup of warm cider and get to decorating!

Halloween Movie Marathon

Once you’re done setting up your home for the fall season, organize a Halloween movie marathon. What I love about Halloween movies is the vast selection. Whether you’re looking for a cartoon, horror, gore, camp, or something else, there is a Halloween movie for everyone. And don’t let September stop you from getting into the Halloween spirit a bit early.

Bake

If you visited a farm and found yourselves with pumpkins and apples, consider baking them into a pie. There are so many recipes to choose from and you don’t need to limit yourselves to just pies. Cakes, muffins, and tarts are among my favourite to bake. I’m also a sucker for candy apples too. Just be sure to wait until they are cool to eat and brush your teeth thoroughly to avoid any cavities.

Host a Costume Party

If you want to wrap up the fall season, you can’t go wrong with hosting a costume party. It’s a great way to get people together to celebrate Halloween and fall. However, fall can be a popular time for events, so if you intend on booking a venue or simply want to ensure that your friends will make it, be sure to plan early.

Disclaimer: This information and the websites referenced are provided for your convenience only and should not be construed as providing legal or insurance advice. Allstate does not control or guarantee the accuracy of any content on any third-party site.  Allstate is not responsible for the privacy practices of any third-party site.

12 Fun Activities for the Family to Do This Fall

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The post Free Advice Part 2 first appeared on This Little Light.

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The Online News Act has quickly emerged as one of the government’s biggest policy failures with Canadian news outlets facing lost traffic, lost revenues, and lost competition. The source of the Bill C-18 failure was the government’s seeming inability or unwillingness to game plan the potential outcomes of the law, rejecting criticisms and calls for a “Plan B” by instead relying on the hope that the policy measures would simply unfold as they did in Australia. That obviously has not happened, leading to the growing realization that Meta’s blocking of news links, which has already gone on far longer than it did in Australia, is not a bluff. With Meta out of news in Canada, the government is hoping to salvage the law by convincing Google to pay at least $172 million for news links. Unfortunately, the draft regulations released by Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge suffer from the same failures as the law, namely an inability to game plan the potential outcomes of the regulations. 

I’ve already written about how the draft regulations will do little to ensure more spending on journalism and how they are stacked against small, independent and digital first news outlets. But as I read analysis that suggests that Google got what it wanted – a cap on liability – I fear that the regulations are badly misunderstood. In fact, if you assess the competing policy objectives in the regulations and consider how they might actually play out, it becomes hard to avoid the conclusion that they don’t work and may well lead Google to walk away from news in Canada.

First, to be clear, the draft regulations do not create a cap on liability. As I noted in my first post on the draft regulations, they create a floor. In other words, the requirement to contribute the equivalent of 4% of search revenues in Canada – a number pulled out of thin air and never once raised at committee – is the minimum that Google or Meta must contribute to potentially qualify for an exemption from final offer arbitration under Bill C-18.  The 4% figure alone will be problematic given that it sets a minimum standard that is likely to be replicated in countries around the world and lead to billions in new liability.  However, the number is likely to be higher in Canada than the 4% minimum and there is little of the certainty the government promised.

The key to understanding how the draft regulations are likely to play out is to assess three policy choices in the regulations on obtaining an exemption from final offer arbitration that individually may have made sense to the government, but don’t work when applied together:

• The first is the regulation on “fair compensation”, which requires that all deals fall within a 20% band. In other words, the value of the best and worst deals presented to the CRTC must all be within 20% of each other. 
• The second is the regulation on how to determine what constitutes “relative compensation” when comparing deals. As discussed in this post, the relative compensation is based on full-time journalist positions, an approach that is advantageous for larger, more established outlets such as the CBC.
• The third is the regulation on what constitutes a “significant portion” of independent, indigenous or official language community news outlets. The regulations state that a significant portion is met where there is no group of 10 or more independent or official language community outlets or 5 or more indigenous news outlets that have been excluded. 

Why are these regulations unworkable in practice?

Start with the definition of a significant portion of news outlets. The law requires that a significant portion of independent, indigenous, and official language community news outlets benefit from platform agreements and opens to the door to any eligible news business to respond to a mandated “open call” to express interest in a deal. The effect of that regulation is that CRTC’s approval of the platform’s deals can be held up if any ten independent or official language community news outlets (or any five indigenous news outlets) object to the platform offer since without their agreement, the “significant portion” criteria is not met. Therefore, even if Google presents $172 million in deals with all the large news outlets and hundreds of smaller ones on board, just ten independent outlets can scuttle the entire process.  

If a group of ten outlets hold out, the platform can’t simply offer them more money due to 20% band on fair compensation. For example, if they offer a 30% increase, the effect would be to increase the value of many other agreements to restore the 20% band. Once that happens, others may come forward to demand more money and start the cycle anew. Since the 4% is a floor and not a cap, there is no limit to how high the number can go.

Now why might independent news outlets hold out? That’s where the second regulation that defines relative compensation based on full-time journalists comes in. If you are the CBC, that approach works well. But if you’re a small outlet with only a couple of full-time journalists but a large number of freelancers or community contributors, you might reasonably argue that the payment system does not reflect the value of your investment in journalism and you would therefore seek higher payments. But in order to do so, the relative compensation per journalist would increase and, with it, the corresponding 20% band on fair compensation. That would then require other agreements to be renegotiated and this cycle can continue as other groups (including five indigenous or ten official language community outlets) emerge and the number keeps going higher. 

The net effect is a set of draft regulations with understandable policy goals (fair compensation, ensuring smaller outlets are not left out) that may not work in practice. The combination of a 4% floor and regulations that can lead to a steady cycle of increased payments, means that the actual number is likely to be much higher and that there are no assurances of a cap on liability. And without that, Google has already stated that is likely to stop linking to news in Canada. If the government’s goal with the Bill C-18 regulations was to get Google onside and salvage its law, it may be headed the wrong way.

The post Why the Government’s Draft Bill C-18 Regulations Don’t Work: The 4% Link Tax is Not a Cap. It’s a Floor. appeared first on Michael Geist.