The Hook: Political news, freshly caught
Harper government acknowledges climate change in new report
The world is 0.78°C warmer than it was prior to the industrial revolution, according to a Canadian report being released today by David Johnston, the new Governor-General, and Environment Minister Jim Prentice.
"Climate change is not just a theory. It's taking place now," Robert Page, who chairs the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, said in a statement. "We must start adapting our behaviour, our communities, and our economic activity to the emerging reality of climate change." Read more…
Should There Be More Regulations on Big Tech?
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- No.
- I don’t know.
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Are you watching the winter Olympics this year? Read the results of that poll here.
'BP crud' afflicts Gulf Coast residents
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have caused serious health consequences for coastal residents, according to a recent report. If the cases are confirmed, a spill on the B.C. coast could be a major health hazard as well as an environmental disaster. Read more…
- Health and
- Environment
Enbridge sponsors the fight against cancer
Enbridge, Canada’s largest transporter of crude oil, is now also the largest sponsor of the Ride to Conquer Cancer, an annual fundraising event that raises millions toward cancer research. Read more…
British Columbians among least likely to get H1N1 shot: StatsCan
British Columbians were vaccinated against H1N1 influenza at one of the lowest rates in Canada, according to a Statistics Canada report released today. Read more…
Problems with government phone line amount to 'negligence': advocate
A change to the housing and social development ministry's phone system has made it even harder to get help, said Renée Ahmadi, an advocate with the Action Committee of People with Disabilities.
“The word negligent comes to mind,” said Ahmadi. Read more…
Outsourcing firm Accenture recommends more health authority outsourcing
A prominent provincial government initiative to find cost-savings at Lower Mainland health authorities has been troubled by significant problems.
This, according to a review conducted by Accenture Inc., an international firm known for outsourcing public services.
"What we have is a company ideologically predisposed to outsourcing, trying to overturn the decisions by the people in the field," New Democrat critic Adrian Dix said. Read more…
Court ruling clears way for health clinic audits: Dix
The provincial government should push ahead immediately with audits of private health clinics after a court ruling last week, NDP health critic Adrian Dix said today. Read more…
Homeless shelter in Kamloops gets a makeover
The Ministry for Human Resources and Skills Development announced today that it will finance improvements to a youth homeless shelter in Kamloops. Read more…
Ottawa has 'abandoned health': Canadian Medical Association Journal
An editorial appearing today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal has attacked the Harper Conservative government for its lack of leadership on health issues. Read more…
Air quality advisory issued for Metro Vancouver
Air quality in the lower mainland triggered an advisory this morning: "Air quality in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Regional District has deteriorated due to smoke transported from forest fires in the interior of the province." Meanwhile the interior is seeing dramatically worse air quality. Read more…
- Health and
- Environment
Superbug from India is already in BC
A new “superbug” has already appeared in B.C., and could become a major health problem worldwide. Read more…
WHO declares pandemic over; ancient history in BC
The World Health Organization today declared the H1N1 flu pandemic officially over. But it's ancient history in B.C., where the B.C. Centre for Disease Control stopped reporting it almost six months ago. Read more…
Maximus was fined $156,000 for performance failings in 2005
The B.C. government’s health information manager, Maximus BC, was penalized $156,000 for performance failures in 2005. Although the company took several months to get fully up to speed after signing its controversial contract in November 2004, the health ministry says its performance has much improved since then and it was never fined again. Read more…
Anti-violence groups critique mediation alternative
The director of an organization which provides support for female victims of abuse has expressed grave misgivings about changes proposed to the B.C. Family Relations Act last week. Angela Marie MacDougall says that dispute resolution processes are "not safe for women". Read more…
- Health and
- BC Politics
Drug crack-down needed in small-town BC, study says
A recent study by SFU health sciences researcher, Dr. Benedikt Fischer, uncovers alarming statistics about crack use in small-town British Columbia. These non-urban communities, says Fischer, are urgently in need of prevention and treatment programs. Read more…
Metro committee pushes incinerator plans, Fraser Valley fumes
A Fraser Valley councillor is fuming over the Metro Vancouver Solid Waste Management Committee's recommendation to incinerate more of the region’s garbage at a meeting July 21. Read more…
BC AIDS group endorses decriminalizing drug users
The Vienna Declaration, announced at the XVIII International AIDS Conference now under way, is a call for the decriminalization of drug users “as a matter of urgent international significance.” And the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS is one of its key sponsors. Read more…
'War on drugs' fuels HIV epidemic, experts say
Two Vancouver-based groups that do research on HIV-AIDS and drug policy say the war on drugs waged by many governments, including the government of Canada, has failed to curb illegal drug use and is actually fuelling the spread of the disease. Read more…
New immigrants at higher risk of drowning than those born in Canada: study
Newcomers to Canada have a higher risk of drowning in boating and swimming mishaps than those born in the country, a study has found. Read more…
Health Canada asked to relax pot distribution rules
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is calling on the federal government to relax its grip on medical marijuana distribution. Read more…
