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Trump tempers talk of emergency at border, but eyes California projects for wall funds
Money intended to pay for raising the height of Folsom Dam on the American River in Northern California might be tapped for President Trump’s border wall, according to members of Congress.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
By Sarah D. WireStaff Writer
Reporting from Washington —
As the federal government’s partial shutdown became tied on Friday for the longest one ever, President Trump tempered his talk of declaring a national emergency on the southern border that could free him to spend money on a wall there.
The president insisted on his power to make the declaration, which could allow him to divert federal funds for other purposes to a wall. Yet after days of resistance from some congressional Republicans, he no longer sounded notes of urgency about taking such action.
“I’m not going to do it so fast,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“We want Congress to do its job” he added. “What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency.”
Still, the president has been considering diverting billions of dollars in funds designated for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in California and Puerto Rico. By declaring a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, he could claim power to tap such previously approved military funds.
On his way to the border in Texas on Thursday, Trump was presented with a list of 13 Corps of Engineers projects for which Congress has allocated money, but which have not yet been put under contract, according to Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove).
The president first suggested a week ago that he might declare a national emergency, and while in Texas he said several times that he was strongly inclined to do that, declaring it his “absolute right.”
Members of Congress in both parties have said that would be an abuse of executive power, but many also have noted that a declaration would seem to make moot the issue at the center of the government-funding impasse that’s shuttered many federal agencies for three weeks — Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a 234-mile stretch of wall.
Once the president got his money elsewhere, Congress could pass -- and he could sign -- legislation funding the quarter of the federal government for which spending hasn’t been approved for the remainder of this fiscal year, through Sept. 30.
Yet White House officials on Friday could not say whether Trump would do so. On Saturday, the shutdown will be in its 22nd day, making it the longest ever. The previous record was set by a shutdown that began in late 1995 and extended into the new year.
This week, for the first time, about 800,000 federal employees did not receive a paycheck; several hundred thousand of them are considered essential to public safety and must work anyway.
The House voted 411 to 7 on Friday to provide back pay to workers furloughed by shutdowns; the Senate had already passed the bill, and Trump said he would sign it. The House Republicans who opposed the bill were Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Chip Roy of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida.
Administration officials confirmed Thursday that they were looking at a range of government accounts that Trump potentially could tap into if he declares an emergency, but they would not comment on which projects were being eyed.
Garamendi, who serves on the House committee that oversees water projects, said he had been told that specific California projects totaling $2.46 billion were targeted, including some in his district north and west of Sacramento, as were $2.5 billion worth of projects in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. He would not say who provided the information.
Several of the projects on the list, Garamendi said, have been in the works for years if not decades, and some are in their final stages. They include raising the height of Folsom Dam on the American River in Northern California, protecting Lake Isabella in Kern County from leaking as a result of earthquakes, enlarging the Tule River and Lake Success in the Central Valley and building shoreline protections in south San Francisco.
“Each of these flood-control projects are specifically designed to save the lives of millions of Americans,” Garamendi said. “If it’s not done this year, or next year, will it make a difference? Maybe not, or maybe it will make all the difference.”
“Word came to us” that Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, “accompanied the president to Texas to specifically discuss projects that could be reprogrammed to provide $5 billion for Trump’s wall,” Garamendi said. “I know that these projects were identified. I do know that these projects were presented to him.”
Dozens of water projects across the country are funded with Army Corps money, and other lawmakers on the House committee that has jurisdiction say they have concerns about which ones might lose appropriations.
“Floods usually do not follow political boundaries, so I think you would have ... a lot of bipartisan concern,” said the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).
Democratic and Republican representatives said they had received little to no guidance from the White House.
The latest from Washington »
The ranking Republican on the House tax-writing committee, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, says the administration is looking at a variety of places for money, but he’s confident that Army Corps disaster relief or disaster prevention projects will not be the source.
“They are assessing throughout the breadth of government what are the unobligated funds and what could be tapped in the short term,” Brady said.
Californians in Congress from both parties said Thursday they’d oppose taking funds from the state projects.
“It’s a declaration of war on Californians if he were to do that,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), has contacted the Army Corps about the importance of the projects to strengthen levees along the American and Sacramento rivers and to raise the level of Folsom Dam. She said, “Sacramento really needs this lifesaving funding to increase our resiliency against flooding.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) said he was concerned about taking money from projects in Puerto Rico as well as from flood control in California, and that any move needs careful consideration.
“Let’s do a cease-fire on this stuff — have everyone turn off their Twitter for seven days,” LaMalfa said.
Trump has remained adamant that a wall is needed to solve what he calls a “crisis” at the border, fighting harder than he has at any time in the last two years, when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress. Democrats, now a majority in the House, are just as dug in that a wall would be costly and ineffective.
Negotiations to resolve the shutdown broke down earlier this week, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s closest Republican allies, urged the president in a statement Friday to “declare a national emergency now. Build a wall now.”
In his comments Friday, the president said he could easily issue an emergency order, but inevitably a court battle would ensue, as it did with the travel ban on people from Muslim-majority countries that he imposed after taking office. That order was initially blocked by federal courts but, after significant revisions, was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Democrats have said they will challenge any such move in court. Several of Trump’s advisors and Republican members of Congress have cautioned against it, fearing he would lose in court or that the attempt to use emergency powers would set a precedent that a future Democratic president could use to bypass Congress.
Trump asserted that his opponents would go to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California and is known as liberal-leaning, and that it would overturn an emergency order.
“Fortunately, we have a Supreme Court that’s treated us very fairly,” he added, referring as he often does to the high court’s conservative majority, solidified by Trump’s two appointees.
Pictures in the News | Friday Jan. 11, 2019 »
The president emphasized that he’d prefer that Congress act. “I don’t care what they name it,” he said of a wall, reiterating that he doesn’t care if it’s made of cement or steel, if that’s what his opponents want. “They can name it Peaches,” he said.
Political advisors and media figures who favor Trump’s hard-line immigration positions have been telling him since his election that his political fate was tied to the wall, and that now he has no choice but to act alone, given not only Democratic opposition but also tepid support from Republicans.
“I said this in the first three weeks: ‘You do not have a wall and you will not be president in 2020,’” said Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former campaign chief and White House strategist. “There is zero probability you will be elected.”
“There’s no doubt he’s going to declare the emergency,” Bannon added. “The traditional appropriations process has shown him that he’s not going to get a penny for the wall.”
Times staff writers Noah Bierman and Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.
More stories from Sarah D. Wire »
sarah.wire@latimes.com
Twitter: @sarahdwire
Get our twice-weekly Politics newsletter
Sarah D. Wire
Sarah D. Wire covers Congress with a focus on the powerful 55-member California delegation. She’s currently chair of the Standing Committee of Correspondents.
Trump’s lawyers say no crime in impeachment charge. Democrats call it “absurdist”
Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz says no constitutional basis for abuse of power charge. Democrats say that’s because president has no defense.
Column: The world according to Bernie
With Bernie Sanders rising in the polls, it’s time to look at his foreign policy. Some of it aligns with Trump’s more than you might expect.
Trump’s lawyers decry House impeachment case as ‘defective’
President Trump’s legal team accuses House Democrats of trying to overturn the 2016 election in an angry response Saturday to the impeachment trial.
Text messages point to Rep. Devin Nunes in Ukraine scheme at heart of Trump impeachment
Messages released this week indicate Rep. Devin Nunes’ office was aware of efforts to gather dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine, an issue at the heart of the impeachment of President Trump.
Supreme Court takes up case on bans of state money to religious schools
The Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could make it easier to use public money to pay for religious schooling in many states.
U.S. officials say they are highly confident to have reached tally on separated children: 4,368
Attorneys are still trying to reach hundreds of parents of separated children as part of San Diego litigation
Democrats announce new criteria to qualify for first debate after primary voting starts
The Democratic National Committee announced criteria for the first debate after voting begins in the 2020 presidential campaign, including a pathway to the stage based on delegate pledges.
California voters may not see Michael Bloomberg’s financial disclosure until after 2020 primary
Billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg gets an extension on his financial disclosure until late March, well after more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday.
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BOTANY WORSTED MILLS v. UNITED STATES.
278 U.S. 282 (49 S.Ct. 129, 73 L.Ed. 379)
Reargued: Nov. 20, 1928.
Decided: Jan. 2, 1929.
opinion, SANFORD [HTML]
Mr. Nathan A. Smyth, of New York City, for petitioner.
The Attorney General and Mr. W. D. Mitchell, Sol. Gen., of Washington, D. C., for the United States.
Argument of Counsel from page 283 intentionally omitted
The Botany Worsted Mills, a New Jersey corporation engaged in the manufacture of woolen and worsted fabrics, made a return of its net income for the taxable year 1917 under the Revenue Act of 19161 and the War Revenue Act of 1917.2 By section 12(a) of the Revenue Act it was provided that in ascertaining the net income of a corporation organized in the United States, there should be deducted from its gross income all 'the ordinary and necessary expenses paid within the year in the maintenance and operation of its business and properties.' Under this provision the Mills deducted amounts aggregating $1,565,739.39 paid as compensation to the members of its board of directors, in addition to salaries of $9,000 each. It paid an income tax computed in accordance with this return. Thereafter, in 1920, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue assessed an additional income tax against it. Of this, $450,994.06 was attributable to his disallowance of $783,656.06 of the deduction claimed as compensation paid to the directors, on the ground that the total amount paid as compensation was unreasonable and the remainder of the deduction as allowed represented fair and reasonable compensation. The Mills after paying the additional tax filed a claim for refund of this $450,994.06. The claim was disallowed; and the Mills thereafter, in September, 1924, by a petition in the Court of Claims sought to recover this sum from the United States, with interest-alleging that the disallowance of part of the compensation paid the directors was illegal.3 After a hearing on the merits the court, upon its findings of fact, dismissed the petition upon the ground that the additional tax was imposed under an agreement of settlement which prevented a recovery. 63 Ct. Cl. 405. And this writ of certiorari was granted.
The first question presented is whether the Mills is precluded from recovering the amount claimed by reason of a settlement.
Section 3229 of the Revised Statutes4 provides that: 'The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the advice and consent of the Secretary of the Treasury, may compromise any civil or criminal case arising under the internal-revenue laws instead of commencing suit thereon; and with the advice and consent of the said Secretary and the recommendation of the Attorney-General, he may compromise any such case after a suit thereon has been commenced. Whenever a compromise is made in any case there shall be placed on file in the office of the Commissioner the opinion of the Solicitor of Internal Revenue, * * * with his reasons therefor, with a statement of the amount of tax assessed, * * * and the amount actually paid in accordance with the terms of the compromise.'5
The Government did not claim that there had been a compromise under this statute, but contended in the Court of Claims that, irrespective thereof, an agreement of settlement had been entered into between the Mills and the Commissioner under which the Mills had accepted the partial disallowance as to the compensation paid the directors, and had also received concessions as to other disputed items the benefit of which it still enjoyed, and was therefore estopped from seeking a recovery.
As to this matter the findings of fact show that after the Mills had paid the amount of the tax shown by its original return an investigation of its books disclosed to the Commissioner the necessity of making an additional assessment, to be determined by the settlement of questions relating to the compensation (or, as it was termed, bonus) paid to the directors, depreciation charged off on its books, and reserves charged to expenses. After much correspondence and numerous conferences extending over several months between the attorney and assistant treasurer of the Mills and the chief of the special audit section of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and others of his official associates, a compromise was agreed to as to all the differences, by which the amount to be allowed as reasonable compensation to the directors and as depreciation were agreed upon, and the claim as to reserves was allowed. Thereupon the Mills prepared and filed an amended return based upon the figures agreed upon in the conferences, with documentary evidence which it had agreed to furnish; and the additional assessment was made in accordance with this return.6
The court, in sustaining the Government's contention, said: 'With the payment of the tax under the circumstances surrounding this case the agreement, which is mentioned in the record as a 'gentleman's agreement,' became in legal effect an executed contract of settlement;' and that, as the Mills was seeking to recover on account of the particular item which it regarded as unfavorable to its interests, and at the same time hold to the advantage derived from the settlement of other items in dispute involved in the same general settlement, it should not be allowed a recovery.
The Mills contends that the Commissioner had not been given, at the time in question, any authority, either in express terms or by implication, to compromise tax cases except as provided in section 3229; that this statute in granting such authority under specific limitations as to the method to be pursued, negatived his authority to effect a valid and binding agreement in any other way; that as the Government could not have been estopped by the unauthorized transactions of its officials, the Mills likewise could not be estopped thereby; and further, that the findings are insufficient to establish an estoppel.
The Government does not here challenge any of these contentions. In the brief for the United States filed in this Court the Solicitor General states that the question whether such an informal adjustment of taxes as was made in this case is binding on the taxpayer, is submitted for decision in deference to the opinion of the Court of Claims and the importance of the question-but no argument is made in support of the Government's previous contention that the Mills was estopped from questioning the settlement. And, on the contrary, it is stated that-'Before and since the date of the alleged settlement in this case Congress has evidently proceeded on the theory that no adjustment of a tax controversy between representatives of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and a taxpayer is binding unless made with the formalities and with the approval of the officials prescribed by statute. The authority of officers of the United States to compromise claims on behalf of or against the United States is strictly limited. * * * The statutes which authorize conclusive agreements and settlements to be made in particular ways and with the approval of designated officers raise the inference that adjustments or settlements made in other ways are not binding.' And further, that 'No ground for the United States to claim estoppel is disclosed in the findings.'
Independently of these concessions, we are of the opinion that the informal settlement made in this case did not constitute a binding agreement. Section 3229 authorizes the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to compromise tax claims before suit, with the advice and consent of the Secretary of the Treasury, and requires that an opinion of the Solicitor of Internal Revenue setting forth the compromise be filed in the Commissioner's office. Here the attempted settlement was made by subordinate officials in the Bureau of Internal Revenue. And although it may have been ratified by the Commissioner in making the additional assessment based thereon, it does not appear that it was assented to by the Secretary, or that the opinion of the Solicitor was filed in the Commissioner's office.
We think that Congress intended by the statute to prescribe the exclusive method by which tax cases could be compromised, requiring therefor the concurrence of the Commissioner and the Secretary, and prescribing the formality with which, as a matter of public concern, it should be attested in the files of the Commissioner's office; and did not intend to intrust the final settlement of such matters to the informal action of subordinate officials in the Bureau. When a statute limits a thing to be done in a particular mode, it includes the negative of any other mode. Raleigh & G. Railroad Co. v. Reid, 13 Wall. 269, 270, 20 L. Ed. 570; Scott v. Ford, 52 Or. 288, 296, 97 P. 99.
It is plain that no compromise is authorized by this statute which is not assented to by the Secretary of the Treasury. Leach v. Nichols (C. C. A.) 23 F.(2d) 275, 277. For this reason, if for no other, the informal agreement made in this case did not constitute a settlement which in itself was binding upon the Government or the Mills. And, without determining whether such an agreement, though not binding in itself, may when executed become, under some circumstances, binding on the parties by estoppel, it suffices to say that here the findings disclose no adequate ground for any claim of estoppel by the United States.
We therefore conclude that the Mills was not precluded by the settlement from recovering any portion of the tax to which it may otherwise have been entitled.
This brings us to the question whether on the findings of fact the Mills is entitled to recover the portion of the additional tax attributable to the disallowance of $783,656.06 of the amount paid to the directors which it had claimed as a deduction.7
Under section 12(a) of the Revenue Act of 1916 the Mills was not entitled to this deduction unless the amount paid constituted a part of its 'ordinary and necessary expenses' in the maintenance and operation of its business and properties. And in this suit the burden of establishing that fact rested upon it, in order to show that it was entitled to the deduction which the Commissioner had disallowed, and that the additional tax was to that extent illegally assessed. The Court of Claims, however, made no finding that the amount disallowed by the Commissioner constituted a part of the ordinary and necessary expenses of the Mills. The findings are silent as to this ultimate fact-essential to a recovery by the Mills-and only show certain circumstantial facts relating to the payment made to the board of directors.
Where the Court of Claims does not make a finding upon the ultimate question of fact upon which the rights of the parties depend, but merely makes findings as to subsidiary circumstantial facts which bear upon it, such findings will not support a judgment unless the circumstantial facts as found are such that the ultimate fact follows from them as a necessary inference and may be held to result as a conclusion of law. See United States v. Pugh, 99 U. S. 265, 269, 25 L. Ed. 322; Winton v. Amos, 255 U. S. 373, 395, 41 S. Ct. 342, 65 L. Ed. 684.
The findings show that for many years it has been the practice of many corporations engaged in the woolen manufacturing business to base the compensation of the directors and executive officers upon a percentage of profits. Upon the organization of the Mills in 1890 the stockholders adopted a by-law providing that at the close of the business year the net profits should be distributed by paying a dividend of 6 per cent. to stockholders and applying the balance remaining as follows: (a) Placing 5 per cent. in a reserve fund; (b) paying 25 per cent. 'as a bonus to the board of directors;' and (c) paying 70 per cent. as additional dividend to the stockholders. The stockholders amended this by-law in 1903 by increasing the bonus of the board of directors to 40 per cent.; in 1905, by providing, instead of a 'bonus,' that 'compensation' equal to 40 per cent. should be 'paid to the board of directors for their services'; and in 1908, by reducing such compensation to 32 per cent. (that is, 30.08 per cent. of the net profits). This by-law remained in force until after the taxable year 1917; and during the entire period 'compensation' was paid to the directors in accordance therewith. From the outset the determination of the total amount of profits and of the aggregate amount payable to the board of directors was made by the board itself; and it likewise determined the basis of the apportionment among the several directors of the aggregate amount payable to the board as a whole. No contract was made with any director as to what his compensation should be other than such as was implied from his election ans service as a member of the board in accordance with the by-law and the customary practices of the company, which each knew. At all times each director also held a position as an executive officer or manager of a department of the Mills.
The gross assets of the Mills increased from.$1,114,149.63 in 1890 to $28,893,777.12 in 1917; and its net assets, including reserves, from $37,136.35 to $10,999,862.48. Its net income increased from $784,334.44 in 1910 to $7,953,512.80 in 1917; and the amount paid the directors in pursuance of the by-law, increased, with some fluctuations, from $268,444.19 in 1910, to $400,935.18 in 1915, $693,617.16 in 1916, and $1,565,739.39 in 1917.8 In 1917 there were ten members of the board, so that if the total amount had been apportioned ratably, each would have received $156,573.93. And in that year each member of the board, in addition to the part of the aggregate in fact apportioned to him individually, also received a salary of $9,000.
The findings do not show the nature or extent of the services rendered by the board of directors or its individual members, either as directors, executive officers or department managers-the amounts apportioned and paid to each director-the basis of apportionment, whether the nature and extent of their individual services, the amount of their stockholdings, or otherwise-the value of their services-or the reasonableness of the purported compensation.
We do not find it necessary to determine here whether the amounts paid by a corporation to its officers as compensation for their services cannot be allowed as 'ordinary and necessary expenses' within the meaning of section 12(a), merely because, and to the extent that, as compensation, they are unreasonable in amount.9 However this may be, it is clear that extraordinary, unusual and extravagant amounts paid by a corporation to its officers in the guise and form of compensation for their services, but having no substantial relation to the measure of their services and being utterly disproportioned to their value, are not in reality payment for services, and cannot be regarded as 'ordinary and necessary expenses' within the meaning of the section; and that such amounts do not become part of the 'ordinary and necessary expenses' merely because the payments are made in accordance with an agreement between the corporation and its officers. Even if binding upon the parties, such an agreement does not change the character of the purported compensation or constitute it, as against the Government, an ordinary and necessary expense. Compare 20 Treas. Dec., Int. Rev., 330; Jacobs & Davies v. Anderson (C. C. A.) 228 F. 505, 506; United States v. Philadelphia Knitting Mills Co. (C. C. A.) 273 F. 657, 658; and Becker Bros. v. United States (C. C. A.) 7 F.(2d) 3, 6.
In the light of this principle it is clear that the findings do not show, as a matter of necessary inference resulting as a conclusion of law, that the amount paid the directors in excess of the $782,083.33 allowed by the Commissioner,10 constituted part of the ordinary and necessary expenses of the Mills. On the contrary, as this amount so greatly exceeded the amounts which, as a matter of common knowledge, are usually paid to directors for their attendance at meetings of the board and the discharge of their customary duties, and was much greater than the amounts that had been paid in prior years,11 and as there is no showing as to the amounts paid the individual directors, in addition to the salaries of $9,000 which each received-presumably for his services as an executive officer or department manager-or as to the nature, extent or value of their services, the findings raise a strong inference that the unusual and extraordinary amount paid to the directors was not in fact compensation for their services, but merely a distribution of a fixed percentage of the net profits that had no relation to the services rendered.
Therefore, as the Mills has not sustained the burden of showing that the amount disallowed by the Commissioner was in fact part of its ordinary and necessary expenses, the judgment must, for this reason, be
Mr. Justice HOLMES agrees with the result.
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39 Stat. 756, c. 463.
40 Stat. 300, c. 63.
Section 3226 of the Revised Statutes had been previously amended by section 1318 of the Revenue Act of 1921, 42 Stat. 227, 314, c. 136 (26 USCA § 156), so as to provide that no suit or proceeding should be maintained in any court for the recovery of any internal-revenue tax alleged to have been erroneously or illegally assessed or collected until a claim for refund or credit had been duly filed with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue; and further amended by section 1014(a) of the Revenue Act of 1924, 43 Stat. 253, 343, c. 234 (26 USCA § 156), so as to provide that such suit or proceeding might be maintained, whether or not such tax had been paid under protest or duress. And the right of the Mills to maintain this suit, although the tax had not been paid under protest or duress, is not questioned by the Government.
U. S. C. tit. 26, § 158.
Since the date of the settlement here involved sections 1312 and 1313 of the Revenue Act of 1921, section 1006 of the Revenue Act of 1924 (26 USCA § 1249 note), and section 1106(b) of the Revenue Act of 1926 (26 USCA § 1249 note) have dealt specifically with agreements in writing made by a taxpayer and the Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary, that the previous determination and assessment of a tax shall be final and conclusive.
The findings indicate inferentially that some tax claims of the Mills for two other years were also included in the settlement; but the precise facts do not appear.
This is claimed in the brief filed for the Mills; and in the oral argument its counsel specifically stated that the Mills relied on the sufficiency of the findings and made no request that the case be remanded to the Court of Claims for additional findings, as the Solicitor General had suggested.
The figures for some other years are also given in tabulated statements included in the findings.
Later, by section 214(a) of the Revenue Act of 1918, 40 Stat. 1057, c. 18, it was specifically provided that 'the ordinary and necessary expenses' should include 'a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation for personal services actually rendered.'
The amount allowed, it may be noted, was, in itself, $481,934.02 more than the average of the amounts that had been paid in the seven years immediately preceding, and $88,466.17 more than the greatest amount that had been paid in any one year.
See note 10, supra.
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Title 12. BANKS AND BANKING
Chapter 3. FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Subchapter II. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Section 248a. Pricing of services
12 U.S. Code § 248a. Pricing of services
(a) Publication of pricing principles and proposed schedule of fees; effective date of schedule of fees
Not later than the first day of the sixth month after March 31, 1980, the Board shall publish for public comment a set of pricing principles in accordance with this section and a proposed schedule of fees based upon those principles for Federal Reserve bank services to depository institutions, and not later than the first day of the eighteenth month after March 31, 1980, the Board shall begin to put into effect a schedule of fees for such services which is based on those principles.
(b) Covered servicesThe services which shall be covered by the schedule of fees under subsection (a) are—
currency and coin services;
check clearing and collection services;
wire transfer services;
automated clearinghouse services;
settlement services;
securities safekeeping services;
Federal Reserve float; and
any new services which the Federal Reserve System offers, including but not limited to payment services to effectuate the electronic transfer of funds.
(c) Criteria applicableThe schedule of fees prescribed pursuant to this section shall be based on the following principles:
All Federal Reserve bank services covered by the fee schedule shall be priced explicitly.
All Federal Reserve bank services covered by the fee schedule shall be available to nonmember depository institutions and such services shall be priced at the same fee schedule applicable to member banks, except that nonmembers shall be subject to any other terms, including a requirement of balances sufficient for clearing purposes, that the Board may determine are applicable to member banks.
Over the long run, fees shall be established on the basis of all direct and indirect costs actually incurred in providing the Federal Reserve services priced, including interest on items credited prior to actual collection, overhead, and an allocation of imputed costs which takes into account the taxes that would have been paid and the return on capital that would have been provided had the services been furnished by a private business firm, except that the pricing principles shall give due regard to competitive factors and the provision of an adequate level of such services nationwide.
Interest on items credited prior to collection shall be charged at the current rate applicable in the market for Federal funds.
(d) Budgetary consequences of decline in volume of services
The Board shall require reductions in the operating budgets of the Federal Reserve banks commensurate with any actual or projected decline in the volume of services to be provided by such banks. The full amount of any savings so realized shall be paid into the United States Treasury.
(e) Parity in clearing
All depository institutions, as defined in section 461(b)(1) of this title, may receive for deposit and as deposits any evidences of transaction accounts, as defined by section 461(b)(1) of this title from other depository institutions, as defined in section 461(b)(1) of this title or from any office of any Federal Reserve bank without regard to any Federal or State law restricting the number or the physical location or locations of such depository institutions.
(Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, § 11A, as added Pub. L. 96–221, title I, § 107, Mar. 31, 1980, 94 Stat. 140; amended Pub. L. 100–86, title VI, § 612(a), Aug. 10, 1987, 101 Stat. 652.)
1987—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 100–86 added subsec. (e).
Pub. L. 100–86, title VI, § 612(b), Aug. 10, 1987, 101 Stat. 652, provided that:
“The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect on the date of enactment of this title [Aug. 10, 1987].”
Section effective on first day of sixth month which begins after Mar. 31, 1980, see section 108 of Pub. L. 96–221, set out as an Effective Date of 1980 Amendment note under section 248 of this title.
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Three Australians detained in Iran
Three Australian citizens have been detained in Iran, the Australian Lebanon, news ,lbci ,أخبار Iran,Australia,Three Australian citizens have been detained in Iran, the Australian
Three Australian citizens have been detained in Iran, the Australian government said on Wednesday, adding that it was helping the families of the three but gave no further details.
The brief statement from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade came after the British newspaper the Times reported that two British-Australian women and the Australian boyfriend of one of them had been jailed in Iran.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the families of three Australians detained in Iran. Due to our privacy obligations, we will not comment further," a department spokesman said in emailed comments.
The detentions have come amid heightened tension between Western powers and Iran after the United States withdrew from a deal that imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear program and then imposed sanctions on it, aiming to halt its oil exports.
The Times said a blogger who had been traveling in Asia with her Australian boyfriend, as well as an academic who had studied at Cambridge University and was lecturing at a university in Australia had been detained in separate incidents.
They are being held in the same prison in Tehran where a British-Iranian aid worker, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has been jailed since 2016 on spying charges, the Times said.
The newspaper did not name the dual British-Australians at the request of the British Foreign Office and said the Australian government was taking the lead in both cases.
The Australian government's official travel advice for Iran overall is for people to reconsider the need to travel to Iran "due to the risk that foreigners, including Australians, could be arbitrarily detained or arrested. Dual nationals are also at risk".
"We can't guarantee access to consular services or legal representation if you're detained or arrested," the government says.
The Times said the blogger was arrested about 10 weeks ago with her boyfriend.
It was unclear when or why the lecturer was arrested, the Times said. She is being held in solitary confinement and has been sentenced to 10 years, according to a source cited by the Times.
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Police Killings and Race: Do the Numbers Tell the Whole Story?
By Agata Blaszczak-Boxe 2016-07-26T18:17:08Z
(Image: © arindambanerjee/Shutterstock.com)
Police officers in the U.S. are more likely to stop or arrest black, Hispanic and Native American people than they are to stop or arrest non-Hispanic white people, a new study finds.
The researchers also found that more blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans were killed and injured by police over the study period than non-Hispanic whites.
"Both blacks and white Hispanics are four times as likely to be killed by the police as white non-Hispanics are," said lead study author Ted Miller, a senior research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Maryland. "Native Americans are six times as likely to be killed by the police as whites." [How to Talk About Race to Kids: Experts' Advice for Parents]
Live Science reached out to the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) for a comment on the new findings, but NAPO's representatives did not provide a comment by press time.
The new study "is only the second study to analyze health data on nonfatal injuries caused by police, and the first to do so using a national U.S. data set," said Justin Feldman, a graduate student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, whose research focuses on using data about injuries and fatalities to monitor police violence.
"This in itself is a welcome development," said Feldman, who was not involved in the new study. However, Feldman and other experts who were not involved in the study pointed out that there were certain limitations concerning some of the study's findings.
In the study, the researchers looked at injuries and deaths that resulted from legal police interventions in the U.S. during 2012. Those interventions included arrests, stop-and-search incidents that occurred on the street, and traffic stops that involved a search.
To conduct their study, the researchers analyzed national data from several sources: the 2012 Vital Statistics Mortality Census, the 2012 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, nationwide inpatient and emergency department samples, two newspaper censuses of police-related deaths, FBI reports for arrests and the 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey.
The researchers found that, during 2012, there were 12.3 million arrests, 2.8 million street stop-and-search incidents and 1 million traffic stops involving searches. Police officers were more likely to stop or arrest black, Hispanic and Native American people than they were to stop or arrest non-Hispanic white people. The rate of stops and arrests was about 500 per 10,000 people for non-Hispanic whites. In comparison, the rates were 1,400 per 10,000 people for blacks; 1,000 per 10,000 people for Hispanics; and 1,140 per 10,000 people for Native Americans, Miller said.
But to find out how often such incidents resulted in a death, the researchers turned to two news publications (The Washington Post and The Guardian), which have compiled statistics on such deaths by searching for news reports about these incidents. That's because previous research on federal databases shows that these databases tend to undercount deaths from police interventions, and other previous research has suggested that the news publications' reporting is reliable, the researchers said.
The researchers estimated that during police interventions in 2012, the police killed a total of 1,000 people in the U.S. and injured another 54,300 people, who required hospital treatment for their injuries.
When the researchers looked at how people died during police interventions, they found that almost all (95 percent) were killed with firearms. The remaining 5 percent of the deaths involved the use of tasers, the researchers found.
Most of the people in the study with nonfatal injuries were harmed by blows or by being hit with blunt objects, the researchers found. Less commonly, a police officer's use of tear gas, mace or pepper spray led to someone being hospitalized, the researchers said in their study, published July 25 in the journal Injury Prevention.
Together, those findings meant that 1 in 291 stops or arrests led to the injury or death of a suspect or bystander, the researchers said. [Fight, Fight, Fight: The History of Human Aggression]
When the researchers looked at the number of people who were killed or injured as a result of police interventions per 10,000 stops and arrests — that is, the rate at which these incidents occurred — they found that the rates did not vary by the ethnicity of the people involved. In other words, black, Hispanic, Native American and non-Hispanic white people who were stopped or arrested were all equally likely to be killed or injured as a result of these interventions.
"Consistent with our findings, simulation studies find police are no more likely to fire on unarmed blacks than unarmed whites, and high rates of black speeding citations per capita result from high violation rates," the authors wrote in the study.
However, the numbers of black, Hispanic and Native American people who were killed or injured during interventions during the study period were still higher than the number of non-Hispanic white people killed or injured, because black, Hispanic and Native American people were stopped and arrested much more frequently than white people, Miller said.
Limitations and racial bias
Feldman and other outside experts noted that the study had certain limitations.
For example, Feldman said, "The authors conclude that black people who are arrested are no more likely to be injured or killed than white people who are arrested," he said. "They interpret this as evidence that there is no racial bias in use of force."
However, Feldman said, the researchers did not take into account important differences between the populations of black people who typically get arrested and the white people who typically get arrested.
"Black people are much more likely to be arrested for nonviolent, low-level offenses such as drug possession or public transit fare evasion," and in police interventions for such nonviolent offenses, the use of force by the police is largely preventable, he said.
Conversely, white people are much less likely to be scrutinized by the police for low-level offenses than black people, "so, while [white people] are arrested at lower rates, the average white arrestee is more likely to stand accused of a violent crime," Feldman said.
"Comparing these two populations of arrestees is akin to comparing apples and oranges, and doing so will inevitably underestimate racial bias," he said.
Moreover, the authors cherry-picked examples from scientific literature to support some of their statements, said Hannah Cooper, an associate professor of behavioral sciences and health education at Emory University who was not involved in the study. [Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]
For instance, the authors cited some research suggesting that black people are stopped for traffic infractions in a way that is proportionate to their violations of traffic laws, Cooper said. "That's just not true," she said. "There is a lot of literature on the fact that officers disproportionately target black men, in particular, when [black men] are driving and stop them for having a broken taillight or things that they don't stop white drivers for."
Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, a professor of clinical sociomedical sciences and psychiatry at Columbia University who was not involved in the study, said the authors didn't provide an adequate discussion of some of the findings presented in the study. For example, the authors did not discuss why black, Hispanic or Native American people are stopped and arrested more often than white people in the first place.
This lack of discussion "sidesteps the racism that is involved in the excess rate of stops and arrests," of people of color, she said. For example, policies such as Stop and Frisk have been known to target young people of color, but the authors didn't discuss that, she said.
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KieranTimberlake
KieranTimberlake Associates is an award-winning and internationally recognized architecture firm noted for its research, innovation and inventive design. Founded in Philadelphia in 1984 by Stephen Kieran, FAIA, and James Timberlake, FAIA, the firm is comprised of fifty-four professionals. Their work has been described as beautifully crafted, thoughtfully made designs which are holistically integrated to site, program and people.
KieranTimberlake has practiced sustainability since its inception, long before green design became mainstream. The principles of sustainable design are a key component of their core beliefs. This is an approach that seeks balance for the ideals of resource conservation, energy efficiency and pollution prevention with the realities of performance criteria, constructability and budget. The firm is a nationally recognized innovator in sustainable design with dozens of initiatives to their credit. The firm is experienced with the LEED certification process, as over 95% of their architectural staff, including the two partners, are LEED Accredited Professionals.
To further its understanding of architecture and develop new ways to see, design and make products, KieranTimberlake has committed substantial resources to ongoing research, development and innovation. The firm developed SmartWrapTM: The Building Envelope of the Future, a mass customizable, high-performance building facade, that was initially exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. At the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science, the firm designed and installed a ventilated curtain wall, the first of its type in the United States. KieranTimberlake is one of five firms commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art to display an offsite fabricated home in the Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling exhibition in July 2008.
The firm has received over eighty design awards, including the 2008 Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects. Their work has been published in Architect, Architectural Record, Interior Design, I.D. Magazine, Metropolis, TIME, Wired, and The New York Times.
Standard Homes by KieranTimberlake
KieranTimberlake - KT1.5
Projects by KieranTimberlake
KieranTimberlake - KT1.5, Newport Beach, CA
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Movie Review: Nature of the Beast
April 22, 2005 Lucy A. Snyder movie, movie review, Uncategorized 0
Nature of the Beast is a 1995 horror thriller written and directed by Victor Salva, who is also the writer/director of Jeepers Creepers and the director of Powder.
The film stars Lance Henriksen as an uptight, alcoholic businessman and Eric Roberts as a charismatic drifter. One man has stolen a million dollars from a Vegas casino, and the other is a hatchet-wielding serial killer. The film aims to keep the audience guessing as to which man is which while the pair play a deadly game of cat and mouse across deserted desert highways.
Even astute viewers who figure out the ending halfway through the film should have fun watching this one. The suspense builds and doesn’t let up after a leisurely start. The script is sharp and intelligent. But the best thing about the movie is the acting: Henriksen is great as always (though his prosthetic beer gut looks a bit silly) and Roberts proves that he can actually act, and extremely well. Both their performances are riveting.
Nature of the Beast spent about five minutes in movie theaters before it went to video. It’s a worthy addition to any thriller fan’s Halloween movie marathon.
Lloyd Alexander’s The Iron Ring
Pitching for Star Trek
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tisdag 30 september 2014 | conference
International Conference on Biodiversity in Jönköping
In October 2014 the annual TDWG Conference will be held at Elmia Congress Centre in Jönköping, Sweden. Around 200 participants from all over the world are expected to attend. The organizer is the Swedish part of the international network GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) that works on freely available information about the Earth's species. GBIF-Sweden has its seat at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.
"GBIF-Sweden has proposed to hold the conference in Jönköping because of the successful UNESCO meeting MAB ICC at Jönköping University in June 2014. Even TDWG 2014's main topic of sustainable data collection can be seen as a conceptual complement to this. Furthermore we will be able to expand existing contacts with the East Vättern Scarp Landscape Biosphere Reserve," said Anders Telenius, Node Manager at GBIF-Sweden.
"We are very pleased to welcome TDWG 2014 in Jönköping and thereby put Sweden's contribution to global research on biodiversity and sustainability in focus this year. Moreover, people and organizations working with East Vättern Scarp Landscape will be given the opportunity to inform about the biosphere reserve and to build on their international network," said André Petzold, project manager at Jönköping Convention Bureau.
"The non-profit and independent international organization Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) is an important component in efforts to promote research and implementation of methods related to biodiversity and sustainable development. TDWG holds annual conferences since 1985. The last five meetings have been held in Montpellier (2009), Woods Hole (2010), New Orleans (2011), Beijing (2012) and Florence (2013)."
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MACH Welcomes Patricia Faulkner AO as new Council Chair
On behalf of the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (MACH) I am pleased to announce that we have appointed Ms Patricia Faulkner AO as Chair of the MACH Council.
The MACH Council Chair requires experience of the health care sector at a senior level with a deep knowledge of the Victorian health system and with a passion for public service. We are confident Patricia’s experience is more than ideal for the role.
Patricia’s career has spanned the most senior levels of both the public and private sectors. She has been the CEO of Victoria’s largest and most complex government department (Department of Health and Human Services) and a Global Lead Partner (Health) in a major advisory firm (KPMG). She now has a portfolio of Board and advisory roles and has developed high-level skills in the governance of complex organisations across a broad range of industries.
Until December 2018, Patricia was the Deputy Chairman of St Vincent’s Health Australia, and is currently Chairperson, St Vincent’s Health Australia board subcommittee on the Royal Commissions into Aged Care and Mental Health (Vic). She formerly chaired the Board of Peter Mac, the CRC on Safety and Alertness and the Federal Government’s Health Infrastructure Fund.
“Patricia brings a wealth of experience to the MACH partnership,” said Professor Sir John Savill, Executive Director of the MACH. “Her skills will be of great help as the MACH seeks to deliver tomorrow’s healthcare today, by translating research for patient benefit,” Sir John added.
We extend a warm thank you to outgoing MACH Council Chair Professor Richard Fox, former Director of Research at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (2007-2013) and Director of the Department of Clinical Haematology and Oncology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (1985-2006).
Prof Shitij Kapur
Chair, MACH Board
For more information, please contact the MACH office:
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By Dan Moren, Contributor, Macworld |
Analyzing Apple's next moves
Google and Microsoft moves that signal opportunities for Apple
With the fall tech events behind us, it’s time to see what Google and Microsoft have brought to the table.
In the fall, a technology company’s fancy turns to new products. As we pass the midpoint of October, the holiday buying season has started to solidify, and we’ve gotten our requisite annual announcements from not only Apple, but from Google and Microsoft as well.
Now that these three big tech companies have all laid their cards on the table, we have a chance to look over what each of them discussed and compare and contrast approaches: where are they working on technology in the same vein, and where do their paths diverge. And, of course, there’s an opportunity to look at what Cupertino’s competitors are doing and see if they point out areas that might also be of interest to Apple.
Feel the motion
The Pixel 4 launch felt in some ways underwhelming, as many of its highlights were leaked ahead of time, but the biggest bet from Google in its latest flagship phone is probably the addition of Motion Sense, the gesture feature developed under the codename Project Soli. This miniaturized radar system’s applications are fairly limited so far, with features like controlling music playback, silencing alarms and phone calls, and, uh, waving to Pokémon.
Google says Motion Sense lets you “skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls, just by waving your hand.”
But Motion Sense does point to a whole possible interaction model that could be useful in cases where touch is challenging. For example, when your phone or hands are wet, a touch interface can often have trouble working. Or if you’re working out, and you want to go to the next trap without trying to hit a small tap target on a screen. And, of course, for users who might have vision or fine-motor challenges, the potential for such a technology is high.
Broadly speaking, I think the most promising example of this tech’s future use case is the fact it can detect when you walk away from your phone and turn off the screen. This idea of presence is one that’s going to become more key to our use of technology—especially mobile devices. Apple has introduced similar concepts using the Apple Watch, which can, for example, unlock your Mac if you’re nearby. But the feature is limited, since it’s based on Bluetooth, so it can’t currently be used to, say, lock your Mac when you walk away.
The U1 chip built into new iPhones, which can detect directionality as well as proximity, might allow for similar presence-based applications, but we just haven’t seen enough about Apple’s plans for it yet.
The pen is mightier
During Microsoft’s press event, the company demoed a small but impressive feature: pen input for Excel. Numbers written into cells in the spreadsheet application can be automatically converted into text.
[ Further reading: The best universal remote controls ]
Now, on its own, it might not sound like much, but it does help point out that Apple’s adoption of pen-based input has been sorely lacking. Steve Jobs’s prejudice against styluses has apparently remained alive and well, even in the age of the Apple Pencil.
Could Microsoft's announcements led to Apple expanding the abilities of its Pencil?
That’s because for so much of what Apple does, the Pencil is all about drawing. While it’s a great tool for that pursuit, it only scratches the surface (sorry—Microsoft joke!) of other abilities the Pencil could develop. It could, for example, be a godsend to those of us who see the appeal of a stylus for text input, but have atrocious handwriting—Apple has a long history with handwriting recognition, but it’s let the technology lie fallow for many years now, and it’s possible that it’s still haunted by the spectre of egg freckles.
It’s particularly strange since the iPad now offers a feature where it can recognize handwriting as text in some cases. For example, if you use the Apple Pencil to write something in the Notes app, the system will recognize it as text and even let you search for it; if it’s near the top of the note, it’s also used as the title and excerpt for that note as well. That seems a mere step away from converting pen input into real, malleable text, and perhaps a way-station on the path to allowing for Pencil input anywhere you can use a keyboard.
Re-routing smart speakers
Time for me to climb back on this old hobby horse: I’m still mourning the death of Apple’s line of AirPort routers. The company abandoned the category a couple years back, but I’d make a strong case that it deserves to return now more than ever—and Google’s latest announcement in the Wi-Fi router arena points to one way that could happen: smart speaker integration.
Yep, I’m dragging the HomePod into this. The smart speaker hasn’t hardly been the success that I imagine Apple wanted it to be. As someone who owns a pair, I can say that the sound is solid, but that they’re too big, lack rich support from the rest of Apple’s ecosystem, and are overly expensive for what they do. (Unsurprisingly, they have repeatedly been available for much less than their initial price tag.) Apple, for its part, doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to improve them or roll out new features.
What if Apple released a new HomePod with Wi-Fi router functionality?
Google, meanwhile, has decided to merge a smart speaker into its Wi-Fi router product, and to my mind, the HomePod would be a great candidate for that. As Google points out, Wi-Fi routers work better when they’re not closeted away, and making them both less unsightly and more useful are ways to fix that.
Plus, with companies like Google and Amazon in the router business, users may be on the lookout for alternatives from companies with strong track records on privacy. (Recent Siri gaffes notwithstanding.) Apple announced HomeKit support for third-party routers at WWDC this year, but we haven’t seen any of those products on the market yet, despite the company touting support from the likes of Linksys and Eero. Maybe it’ll be up to Apple itself to pave the way.
Dan has been writing about all things Apple since 2006, when he first started contributing to the MacUser blog. He's a prolific podcaster and the author of the upcoming sci-fi novel The Aleph Extraction, as well as The Bayern Agenda and The Caledonian Gambit.
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A brief look at the NATO summit declaration
WATFORD, England (AP) — NATO leaders played down their differences on Wednesday, issuing a communique after a short summit near London underlining their commitment to defend each other in times of trouble.
NATO heads of state attend a ceremony event during a NATO leaders meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg rejected Wednesday French criticism that the military alliance is suffering from brain death, and insisted that the organization is adapting to modern challenges. (Steve Parsons/PA via AP)
President Donald Trump speaks during a working lunch with NATO members that have met their financial commitments to the the organization, at The Grove, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, in Watford, England.
The short document was published after about four hours of talks at a luxury hotel and golf resort just outside London. Following are its main points:
Marking the 70th anniversary of NATO, which was founded in 1949 to confront the security threat posed by the then Soviet Union, the leaders said the trans-Atlantic alliance is the cornerstone of their collective defense. They also underlined their commitment to Article 5 of NATO’s Washington Treaty, saying “that an attack against one Ally shall be considered an attack against us all.”
The leaders then pledged to boost their military budgets in line with previous promises to move toward spending 2% of their annual GDP on defense by 2024. They noted that European allies and Canada have increased spending for the last five years in a row and have invested an extra $130 billion since 2016. “We are making good progress. We must and will do more,” they said.
The leaders noted that NATO faces a multitude of threats, including from Russia and terrorism. “Russia’s aggressive actions constitute a threat to Euro-Atlantic security; terrorism in all its forms and manifestations remains a persistent threat to us all,” they said. They also noted that “instability beyond our borders is also contributing to irregular migration.”
Arms control was also a theme, given the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty between Washington and Moscow. “We are fully committed to the preservation and strengthening of effective arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation,” the leaders said. They added: “We remain open for dialogue, and to a constructive relationship with Russia when Russia’s actions make that possible.”
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan, where NATO has its longest and most ambitious security operation. They also underlined that they are increasing cooperation with the United Nations and the European Union. North Macedonia’s imminent membership was welcomed as a sign that NATO’s door remains open to European countries who want to join.
Turning to modern challenges, the leaders vowed to protect critical infrastructure, including 5th generation telecommunication networks, to ensure energy security and work together to counter cyberattacks and hybrid warfare. They declared that space is now an “operational domain,” after land, sea, air and cyber space. They said they must also address the “opportunities and challenges” posed by the rise of China.
To counter concerns about poor political decision making, the leaders accepted to set up a “reflection group” led by Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg “to further strengthen NATO’s political dimension including consultation.”
After three consecutive years of summits, the leaders agreed to meet again only in 2021.
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Home › Information › Cases › St Ivel Ltd & Uniq Prepared Foods Ltd v Wincanton Group Ltd (200
St Ivel Ltd & Uniq Prepared Foods Ltd v Wincanton Group Ltd (200
St Ivel Ltd & Uniq Prepared Foods Ltd v Wincanton Group Ltd (200
On a proper construction of an agreement, which required a supplier of warehouse services to give credit to the user for additional business secured by the supplier in order to utilise spare capacity, the additional business did not include business conducted from an extension to the warehouse.
The appellants, a company (S) and a third party, appealed against a decision ((2008) EWCA Civ 1286)) that on a proper construction of an agreement, which required the respondent supplier of warehouse services (W) to give credit to S for additional business secured by W in order to utilise spare capacity, the additional business did not include business conducted from an extension to the warehouse. At one time all three parties had been subsidiaries in the same group. W had constructed a national distribution centre and had entered into an agreement with S to provide warehousing services at the centre to S. Later, W was demerged from the group and the centre became a multi-user site. Under a revised agreement between S and W, S agreed to put a minimum amount of goods through the centre annually, failing which S would be liable to make a volume shortfall payment to W. That payment was to be reduced to the extent that W secured additional third party business. Parts of S's business were then sold and the revised agreement was replaced by new agreements. A side letter provided that W should use reasonable endeavours to develop and secure additional business with a view to utilising spare capacity and throughput in the warehouse. By that time there was an extension to the warehouse at the centre. Unlike the original warehouse, which was a chilled facility and contained automated handling machinery, the extension was only partly chilled and had no automated handling machinery. A dispute arose when the threshold volume of goods under the agreement was not met and W claimed shortfall payments. The issue was whether the reference to the warehouse in the side letter was to the warehouse as originally constructed and not as extended. S contended that to have to distinguish between third party custom in two different parts of an integrated warehouse was uncommercial and unrealistic. S submitted that W had itself regarded all new business wherever it was sited within the extended warehouse as within the concept of additional business.
For the purposes of the instant appeal, it was sufficient to consider the third new agreement, the essential structure of which was the same as that of the revised agreement and, as was common ground, it was permissible to construe the new agreement and the side-letter against the background of that revised agreement, HIH Casualty & General Insurance Ltd v New Hampshire Insurance Co (2001) EWCA Civ 735, (2001) 2 All ER (Comm) 39 and Electrosteel Castings Ltd v Scan Trans Shipping & Chartering Sdn Bhd (2002) EWHC 1993 (Comm), (2002) 2 All ER (Comm) 1064 considered. Not only did neither the revised agreement nor the new agreement state that the warehouse services were to be provided in the extension to the warehouse as well as in the original warehouse, whether expressly or impliedly, but both agreements consisted of terms that only made sense on the basis that the services were to be provided only in the original warehouse. In particular, the original warehouse was both chilled and automated, which were requirements of the services to be provided and governed the parameters of those services; the provisions in the agreements repeatedly reflected the size and capacity of the original warehouse; a growth in S's requirements which would put a strain on that capacity would require fresh agreement, and for that purpose the extension and alternative sites were spoken of as pertaining to the same subject matter but that was entirely opposite to the proposition that warehouse included the extension; there were detailed provisions in both agreements for material change in either services or charges without any reference to the extension; and it was further significant that the revised and new agreements addressed the new situation created by the demerger of W and its pursuit of new third party business without reference to the extension. Also, the warehouse was not as integrated as suggested by S. The extension was only partly chilled and not at all automated. Different services suggested different customers. Further, as the judge had suggested, it was uncommercial that S should be entitled to participate, where a volume shortfall occurred, in the profits generated by the extension without any contribution to the cost of the extension, which would be borne entirely by W. Those considerations made a powerful case that the reference to the warehouse in the side letter was to the warehouse as originally constructed and not as extended.
Appeal dismissed
Rix LJ, Richards LJ, Stanley Burnton LJ
Judgment date
LTL 26/11/2008
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Thompson, DeGette, Johnson Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Reauthorize USADA Bill helps to promote Anti-Doping efforts in sports
Washington –Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05), Rep. Dianna DeGette (CO-01) and Rep. Bill Johnson (OH-06) announced introduction of a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and promote clean competition in national sporting.
“Our incredible American athletes who compete at the highest levels deserve the highest anti-doping standards and our youngest athletes deserve a chance to compete without pressure to use dangerous and unauthorized performance drugs,” said Thompson. “That’s why I am proud to join with my colleagues to introduce this bipartisan bill to reauthorize our nation’s anti-doping agency and ensure it has the tools to promote clean sporting, particularly among youth athletes. Let’s ensure American sports represent our nation’s highest ideals of integrity, teamwork, respect and responsibility.
“Our nation’s Olympic athletes train their entire lives for the opportunity to compete on the world stage. They dedicate their lives to representing our country and we have a responsibility to ensure they’re able to compete on a level playing field,” said DeGette. “By reauthorizing the U.S. anti-doping agency, our nation will continue to lead the global anti-doping effort and will help ensure that all those involved with our Olympic sports are focused on putting the health and well-being of our athletes above all else.”
“I’m pleased to be the Republican sponsor of this legislation in the House. It is imperative that the USDA has what it needs to ensure drug-free athletic competition,” said Johnson. “With the 2028 Summer Olympics coming to the United States, now is the time to instill healthy ideals in our young athletes.”
The United States Anti-Doping Agency Reauthorization Act of 2019 funds the agency through Fiscal Year 2027 with resources for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, directs USADA to expand efforts to promote clean and healthy sporting among young athletes, and directs Federal law enforcement agencies to coordinate with USADA to promote anti-doping efforts where appropriate.
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The Summer of 1973 - Part VII
San Diego Comic Con Part III
Recapping last issue: once the dealer's room had been rearranged at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con due to Fire Marshall demands, I found my one dealer's table converted from being the least visable in the room, to having the premiere location, right at the front entrance. This wonderful turn of events allowed me to have a great deal of success at the convention. I don't remember my sales numbers any more, but I do know that when I got home I had nearly $1,000 in the bank (that would be equal to about $3,000 in today's dollars...), plus I had doubled my inventory of high grade Silver Age comics during that three convention (Detroit, Dallas, & San Diego) tour of 1973. That wasn't too bad for a kid who was just barely past his 18th birthday.
Before I move on to other topics, I want to mention a few small rememberances from the San Diego Convention. First, the 1973 convention was relatively small, with only about 1,000 attendees. That was enough, however, for the convention to pass from being just a small event in the rund down hotel San Diego, to being a real convention. Even more important, the trend was already beginning of the LA comics and animation celebrities showing up at the convention in droves. I remember that the 1973 convention had an organized celebrity breakfast, where you could enter a drawing to see which celebrity would share your breakfast table. Like most other rabid comics fans, I was hoping to draw Jack Kirby, but instead I found myself eating with June Foray. For those of you who don't remember, Ms. Foray was one of the premiere voice actors of all time, with dozens of great credits ranging from both Rocky and Natasha in the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, to Magica de Spell in DuckTales. Meeting Ms. Foray was a highlight of my show, as she was both incredibly kind and remarkably charming. It has been over 30 years since I had breakfast at her table, and I still remember that morning with exceptional fondness.
Two other people I met from the animation community were Willie Ito and Jerry Isenberg. They were sharing a dealer's table, and generally just hanging out as fans. Aside from the fact that they were both veterans of the Hana-Barbara Studio, they were also both huge Carl Barks fans. If I recall correctly, both of them had been on the list for a Carl Barks painting, and their paintings were delivered to them at the convention. I think that I remember that one was $900, and that the other was bigger, so it was $1,100. Those numbers stuck in my mind because they were such a jump upwards from the $400 that was paid for the "Sherriff of Bullet Valley" door prize at Multi-con '72, in Oklahoma City. That wonderful painting was auctioned off at the end of Multi-Con '72 because the winner of the door prize drawing was a non-attending member, who had no interest in Barks. She said "sell it!," so the conclusion to that great 1972 show was a live auction for one of the first-ever Carl Barks paintings. I sure wish I would have had the money to bid $425...
Another story from the 1973 San Diego convention was already told (in part) by Mark Evanier. A couple of years ago he wrote in his column about a thief who entered the room on Saturday morning, and shoplifted a great number of expensive comics. Where I can add to Mark's story is that the titles and issue numbers of the stolen books were broadcast around the room. Later that day, the thief was so dumb that he came up to me and tried to sell all the stolen books to me as his "father's collection." I stalled the guy long enough to get the attention of convention organizer Richard Buttner. Richard confronted the guy about where he got the books, and then we forced the guy to empty the big shopping bag he was hauling. Not only were all the books that had been listed as stolen in the bag, but more than a hundred additional rare issues were also in the bag, many with dealer price stickers still on them!
As word spread quickly through the room that we had the thief in custody, angry dealers began drifting toward my booth from all around the room. Suddenly, with no warning, the guy bolted for the hotel lobby. Since my booth was now closest to the door of the dealer's room, this was relatively easy. What the guy didn't factor in, however, was the anger of the dealers he had ripped off. As he sprinted out of the room, several dealers ran after him. In a scene right out of the movies, one dealer leaped forward, tackled the guy by his knees, and dropped him to the carpet. Hotel security then hauled him away to a small room, to await the police. I never received any thanks from the dealer's whose books I had recovered, but that was no big deal. Making that one contribution finally made me feel like I had become an active member of the comics dealer community. That was more than enough reward for me.
My final recollection about that 1973 San Diego convention was my friend Torger coming up to me with a plastic bag containing Jack Kirby's used cigar butts (!). He had been following Jack all around the convention, and had collected an almost full bag of Jack Kirby "treasures." Now I've always been more than a bit obsessive compulsive (not to mention very anal rententive), and I genuinely hate to throw anything away, but Torger's claim that he would one day sell Jack Kirby's cigar butts for a fortune seemed just a little bit too insane. Hah! Was I ever wrong. Just think what they would bring on eBay today! Who knows, with a little prodding, maybe CGC will even establish a grading standard for used cigar butts. With proper DNA testing, this could become a whole new subset of comics collecting! It took 30 years, but Torger is now completely vindicated.
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Ausmus thinks Iglesias play affected '17 path
Tigers manager: 'I'd like to see how the season went if that one play was different'
By Owen Perkins
DENVER -- It's not easy to put a finger on a single factor that changed the Tigers' fate in 2017, but manager Brad Ausmus has a candidate.And despite high-impact injuries to the likes of J.D. Martinez (strained foot) and Jose Cabrera (ongoing back issues), it's not an injury that surely
DENVER -- It's not easy to put a finger on a single factor that changed the Tigers' fate in 2017, but manager Brad Ausmus has a candidate.
And despite high-impact injuries to the likes of J.D. Martinez (strained foot) and Jose Cabrera (ongoing back issues), it's not an injury that surely changed the course of Detroit's season.
"Out of the gate, J.D.'s injury hurt us," Ausmus said before Wednesday's rubber match with the Rockies. "We're talking about seven weeks for one of the best offensive players in the game. And Miggy's had the recurring back issues where he's missed some time and probably hampered him from a performance standpoint."
For Ausmus, it's a much more specific moment that affected the team's sense of themselves and deflated the momentum they'd been building early in the season.
Going into the April 19 game against the Rays in St. Petersburg, the Tigers had been in first place for more than a week, owning sole possession of it for three days.
Detroit led 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth with closer Francisco Rodriguez starting the inning. After a leadoff walk and a double, Rodriguez intentionally walked the bases loaded and struck out Steven Souza Jr. to face Logan Morrison. Morrison grounded to second, Ian Kinsler threw to Jose Iglesias for the first out, but Iglesias tripped on the bag, making a wild throw to first and allowing the tying and winning runs to score.
"I would like to see how our season went if Iggy doesn't trip turning the double play in Tampa," Ausmus said. "I'd like to see how the season went if that one play was different.
"They ended up with the bases loaded. We had a ground ball that would have been a double play to end it. We'd have won the game. Instead, we lost the game, lost four in a row. He hit the bag funny and he ends up tripping and falling and trying to make the throw. The ball gets away. They score two runs and we lose the game.
"If that double play got turned, if you could go back in time, it would be interesting to see what the team trajectory was after that."
Ausmus was clear that he wasn't assigning any blame for the freak error. But it was the last day the Tigers held sole possession of first place, and it contributed to a 4-8 end of April that found them in fourth place, just 10 days after the key game.
"We were doing pretty well," Ausmus said. "Now, maybe it wouldn't have made a lick of difference, but I wish I could go back and see what the team trajectory would have been after that."
• Ausmus expects to add a couple Minor League players when rosters expand on Friday, and expected a "standard number" of additions after the Triple-A season ends on Monday.
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLB.com based in Denver and covered the Tigers on Wednesday.
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Letter to the Editor 4/3/2019, 11:42pm
Letter to the Editor: Renaming campus buildings
The University needs more democracy and less royalty.
By Letter to the Editor
American professors, even famous ones, pick up their office phone themselves. That was one fascinating lesson I learned when I called the U.S. as a graduate student in Germany, long before the advent of email. Apparently, they didn’t use secretaries to fend off students like their colleagues in the Old World. Even more surprising, the Americans talked to you like a fellow human being, no matter how low you ranked on the academic food chain.
Not just for me but for many of my European friends, encounters like this, over the phone or face-to-face, had a big impact on how we imagined American universities – as true academic republics, classless and self-governed, free of attitude and arrogance.
In reality, of course, campus grass wasn’t that much greener on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, specifically not on the Twin Cities campus where I interviewed for a job more than 10 years ago. It was a faculty position with part-time responsibilities as an associate dean. One of the first questions I was asked by a search committee member was, “Whose side will you be on, faculty or administration?” Back then, I had no idea what that meant. Where I came from, faculty and administration were one and the same. Positions for deans, rectors, vice rectors or presidents were assignments that professors would take over for a limited time. The professors were voted in by fellow faculty or the broader university community, without giving up research and teaching — and, most importantly, without getting paid a whole lot extra.
I now know that there is a strange dichotomy on many American campuses. There is the real university with professors, students, lectures and laboratories where the actual teaching and research happens. And then there is the parallel universe of academic administration that is run by an army of professional administrators whose offices have Orwellian-sounding names, like “institutional improvement,” “student life” and “student success.” The University of Minnesota is no different and has managed to take those bureaucratic euphemisms a notch higher. I really wonder who came up with the idea to publish the University’s monthly newsletter under the ridiculously self-celebratory title “M Pride.” Probably somebody with a corporate background in leadership and personal branding. This brings me to the Board of Regents, another peculiarity in governance at the University.
The term “regent” can be translated from Latin in various ways. King-maker or elector would probably come closest since their main task is to select the president and spare the University community the trouble of a democratic vote. All of this has a very medieval or even feudal ring and reminds me more of the Holy Roman Empire than a modern university. Yes, I am aware that there is a morbid fascination in the U.S. with Old World nobility and aristocrats, but even American universities were founded to worship reason, not royalty — and certainly not regents.
Lately, it seems that, for some regents, bringing entrepreneurial glitz and glamour to academic governance doesn’t cut it anymore. They want to take over as scholars too, preferably in history, and particularly in the history of racism and segregation at the University. They have recently threatened a “regal veto” to research outcomes and recommendations made by a faculty and student task force to remove names of disgraced bureaucrats from University buildings. This is none of the regents’ business. Naming buildings should be another matter for the University community to democratically vote on, just like the presidency should be.
Henning Schroeder is a professor in the College of Pharmacy and former vice provost and dean of graduate education at the University of Minnesota.
Ventaka: After Iran, attention turns to the draft
By Uma Venkata
Letter to the Editor: Welcome Week from a Welcome Week leader’s perspective
Editorial: Lessons in health education are now more accessible for youth and young adults
By The Minnesota Daily Editorial Board
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Russian commentary no empathy, no truth
By Greg Yoder | trends | No Comments
Mission Network News has learned that there is a growing conflict between Russian evangelical Christians and Ukrainian evangelical Christians. The accusations between the two sides are astounding.
On March 9, Dr. William Yoder (no relationship to me, that I know of) wrote an article and commentary about the schism between the two. Unfortunately, he sided with the Russian pro-Putin church.
I’ve decided to give equal time to Ukrainian evangelical church who are in the cross-hairs of Yoder. Here is the response to Yoder’s accusations.
Ukrainian Christians believe some Russian Christians are aligning themselves with pro-Putin radicals in Russia. Russian Christians are accusing Ukrainian Christians be being ultra-nationalist revolutionaries. Dr. William Yoder, representing the interests of the Russian Baptist Union, came to the defense of Russian policy regarding Ukraine.
In his mailing on March 18th, 2014 he criticized the Ukrainian Maidan protesters and their defenders for not being democratic enough, and not waiting for the next elections, but instead seizing power and provoking the secession of the Crimea.
Additionally, Yoder compares Ukraine’s claims to the Crimea to a former spouse, who was never actually legally married, but after splitting up claims a right to the other’s belongings. Crimea was given away by Khruschev illegally in 1954, therefore no one owes Ukraine anything.
Justifying Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, Yoder criticizes Ukrainian church leaders who have come to the defense of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of their country. He corrects of the vice president of the Ukrainian Baptist Union, Valery Antonyuk, and states that Kiev Protestants have no right to talk about their country’s integrity because the eastern part of the country wants to be part of Russia.
He also commented on the “illegal” interim government of Ukraine and acting president Oleksandr Turchynov, a Baptist, who is supposedly hurting the reputation of Baptists in Russia. William Yoder defends Yanukovych’s regime from accusations of cruelty by saying, “Was Yanukovich’s administration more despicable than Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge?” It seems that all regimes any less despicable than the Khmer Rouge must be acknowledged as fully democratic.
But the height of cynicism from Yoder’s side was his criticism of a Christian organization for supporting the family of Alexander Khropachenko, who was killed by a sniper on the Maidan. Yoder believes that this is evidence of one-sided sympathies. Yoder suggests equal assistance for the families of police who lost their lives (who killed over 100 Maidan activists and injured hundreds more), in order to show a non-partisan and peacemaking front. And because some of the ministry’s leaders took a clear stand on the side of the unarmed protesters instead of the armed killers, Yoder accused them of criticism of Russia and anti-Russian viewpoints. However there is a distinction between disagreement between Russia’s policy, which is natural for the civilized world, and truly unacceptable Russophobia.
The commentary of Dr. William Yoder is a mix of naïve faith in the authority of Russia, loyalty to his employers, and lack of understanding in the sphere of politics, history, and culture. You cannot talk about peacemaking while avoiding the truth and failing to distinguish between the aggressor and the victim, right and wrong. Peace can only be achieved after truth – acknowledgement of and repentance from crimes committed. Therefore the comments of William Yoder should have begun with an acknowledgement of the obvious fact of Russian intervention, without which everything written is a manipulation of facts. But what is even more noticeable and sad is his lack of empathy and sympathy for the tragic events in Ukraine. It is a bad sign – without empathy you cannot hope to come to the truth, let alone achieve peace.
M. Kuznetsov
Special Report: World Water Day
By Katey Hearth | india, special reports | No Comments
Gospel for Asia “Jesus Wells” are drilled deep enough so that the water supply doesn’t dry up during hot, arid summer months.
(Image, caption courtesy GFA)
South Asia (MNN/GFA) — Today on World Water Day, our friends at Gospel for Asia share the following report:
Millions across Asia are considered Dalits or “Untouchables,” those deemed inferior simply because of their caste. “Untouchables” are likely barred from using village water wells, placing these individuals and families in desperate and life-threatening situations.
Gospel for Asia plans to drill 5,000 water wells across India and South Asia over the course of 2014 for those struggling to find clean water. GFA is highlighting its “Jesus Wells” ministry today on World Water Day.
Jesus Wells are often the only water option for “Untouchables” and countless others. The wells not only provide critical access to drinking water, but they also ensure villagers have clean water essential for cooking and other necessary household chores.
“It is our heart to provide clean water to all people regardless of their background,” said Dr. K. P. Yohannan, founder and international director of Gospel for Asia. “Wherever we place our ‘Jesus Wells,’ all people can drink clean water freely.”
An adequate water supply is not only a challenge for Dalits. Millions of others across Asia struggle daily to find sufficient water resources. Traditional village wells often dry up because they were not drilled deep enough. Or they dry up during the hot, arid summer months, putting entire villages at risk. It’s also common for families to walk several miles just to find enough water for basic household needs.
To help address these challenges, Jesus Wells are drilled deep into the ground. They are strategically placed in villages accessible to the greatest number of people. In addition, local contractors are hired to drill numerous wells at a time, ensuring great cost savings.
In Andhra Pradesh, India, one GFA worker said the summer drought is a crisis point for his village. They have to wait more than six months for the rain to arrive again. In another village, a GFA worker said people travel at least four miles during the summer to the closest village to retrieve water.
The 5,000 wells GFA plans to dig this year will help address water scarcity for tens of thousands. As villagers receive this precious gift of water, they are able to experience the love of Christ, and they seek to learn more about Him.
Through the Jesus Wells project, hundreds of villages have already received clean water for all in the community. Village life has literally been transformed. By the end of 2014, GFA hopes many more villages will find respite from their thirst.
“I am so grateful for every village that can now have access to clean water for all,” said Yohannan. “It’s another opportunity for people to experience the love of Jesus and know His grace in their lives.”
Donations to the project can be made and additional information is available at www.gfa.org/water.
Ukraine In Crisis
By Greg Yoder | missions, MNN, news, special reports | No Comments
Ukraine (MNN) — I have been watching with dismay the situation in Ukraine. The ouster of the government, now the Russian troops that have invaded Crimea, and now an illegal referendum vote, have left the region in chaos. This is Ukraine in crisis.
(Image courtesy Sergey Rakhuba via Facebook)
It reminds me a little of the Cold War days when the Soviet Union would do things that were only in their interests, not the interests of the people. This situation, though, could have serious repercussions for the world both politically and spiritually. How?
Let’s talk about the political side first. Ukraine is wrestling with a new government that has basically divided the country. The pro-Ukrainian side appears to outnumber the pro-Russia side. Unfortunately that divide could cause the country to lose a portion of a treasured region, Crimea. This pro-Russian mindset may be the spark of sussession. Ukraine is mobilizing troops to try and defend its sovereignty, but they don’t stand a chance.
That leads to other questions. If Ukraine attempts to defend itself, will it ask for help from the United States and he European Union? If those nations respond, will China get involved? If the United States assists Ukraine, what will that mean for the future of USA/Russian relations?
If the United States and the EU are asked to help and they don’t, what kind of message are we sending to the rest of the world? Is it a sign of weakness? Is is a sign of disinterest? Will Ukraine ultimately fall into Russian hands, creating another Soviet-like state? If the U.S. doesn’t respond, will this be the end of U.S. Influence in the region? Will Russia continue it’s invasion into Ukraine, eventually taking over the entire country?
On the spiritual side, the crisis in Ukraine is creating an uncertainty that this generation in Ukraine hasn’t seen before. Openness to the Gospel has never been better. Russia has a similar openness, which I witnessed while I was in Russia this past week.
Will the strained relations between Russia and the U.S. prevent American Christians from being able to go to Russia to help people understand the Gospel? Will short-term mission trips to socially needy parts of the country end?
These are all questions that have no answers, yet. Because there are so many questions we MUST pray. Don’t just pray for the country, pray specifically for the following:
1. Pray that Russia will leave Crimea and that peace would be restored to a sovereign nation.
2. Pray the newly appointed Ukrainian government will be given wisdom from God to be able to handle this difficult situation.
3. Pray that God would use this uncertainty to help Christians share the certainty that can only come though the Gospel.
4. Pray that the EU and the USA would be used by God to help the situation end it peace.
5. Pray each nation’s leadership would be given divine inspiration on what they should do.
6. Pray that God would use this crisis to lead entire cities and communities to Christ.
7. Pray that planned ministries would be allowed to move forward despite the uncertainty.
While these are the requests of men, pray that these requests are also the desires of our Might And Holy God.
Mission Network News will continue to cover the unfolding situation in Ukraine, including the Crimean Penninsula.
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3rd-person (Other)
The protagonist is controlled using a third-person view, but one that does not fit the other options or is open to interpretation.
[edit description | view history]
Viewing Page 82 of 490 (items 2026-2050 of 12236) Previous | Next
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Cute Things Dying Violently
Linux (2015), Windows (2012), Xbox 360 (2011), Macintosh (2015), iPhone (2015), Android (2015) and iPad (2015)
Cute Witch! Runner
Nintendo DSi (2013)
The C word
Browser (2008)
Edmund McMillen's fascination with the themes of death and reproduction in games is continued in The C word also known...
Cyberchase Shape Quest
Cyber Citadel
You have been captured by cyber droids and scheduled for cybernetic upgrade. They didn't contend with your willpower, however. You...
Windows (2018) and PlayStation 4 (2017)
CyberDome!
Windows (1996)
CyberDome! is a single player shoot 'em up that was originally released as shareware but has since been made available...
Cyber Driver
CyberGladiators
In a freak accident, Alliance members of a Gy Djin terrorist attack were transformed into CyberGladiators, a powerful cyborg fighting...
Linux (2015), DOS (1994), Windows (2015), PlayStation (1996), SEGA Saturn (1996), 3DO (1996), Macintosh (2015), PC-98 (1995) and FM Towns (1995)
In the year 2027, the world is controlled by two rival superpowers, the western-bloc Free World Alliance and the east-bloc...
Cyberia: Mission Norway
DOS (1994)
Cyberia: Mission Norway is a partial version of the original Cyberia. It only contains about half of the game and...
Cyber Knight II: Chikyū Teikoku no Yabō
SNES (1994)
Following the events of the first Cyber Knight in the 24th century, the crew of the Swordfish have returned to...
Cyber Marine
Cyber Marine is a single player, 3rd person shareware shooter in which the player has five lives in which they...
Cybermercs: The Soldiers of the 22nd Century
This game is an action game with RPG elements similar to Diablo with a sci-fi setting: Evil aliens want to...
Cybermorph
Cybermorph was the first game released for Atari's Jaguar console. It's a 3D sci-fi shoot-'em-up. The story goes like this:...
Cybernetic Empire
PlayStation (1999)
A mysterious ancient artifact called "The Cube" has been unearthed in northern Russia. However, this strange object has fallen into...
Cyber Police is a Final Fight-inspired arcade game set in the future. As a member of Cyber Police, your mission...
CyberSpace Crossword
Windows 3.x (1992)
CyberSpace Crossword is a freeware three dimensional crossword puzzle. The player starts at a point in cyberspace some distance above...
CyberStrike 2
Unleash an arsenal of weapons to save your clan from exploding enemy fire in the most intense cyber battle ever....
Windows (1997), SEGA Saturn (1996) and Arcade (1995)
Get it on with Virtual On! The home port of Sega's arcade hit where you take control of gigantic, fully...
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Marz
PlayStation 2 (2003) and PlayStation 3 (2013)
The world is just a business, especially when it comes to making money out of entertainment. For many, the creation...
Cyber Troopers Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram
Dreamcast (1999), Xbox 360 (2009), Xbox One (2017) and Arcade (1998)
The game is set in the distant future where a mysterious gate has been discovered and has been used to...
DOS (1994) and PlayStation (1995)
Cyberwar is based on the movie The Lawnmower Man and is set after its ending. The player takes the role...
Cyborg Invasion Shooter 2: Battle Of Earth
Cycling Manager 2
Cycling Manager 2 is a sequel to Cycling Manager . In the game you manage a cycling team and have...
Goto Page: 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89
Top games by as rated by the press:
96 Super Mario Galaxy 2
96 Super Mario Galaxy
96 SoulCalibur
95 Super Mario 64
95 Gran Turismo
95 Final Fantasy VII
93 Zen Bound
93 Super Mario 3D World
93 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Games must have at least a Critic Score of 80 to be considered.
MobyScore
Top games as rated by our users:
4.73 Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition (2012)
4.71 StepMania (2001)
4.67 The Longest Journey: Special Edition (2006)
4.64 Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (2005)
4.62 Metroid Prime Trilogy (2009)
4.55 Rock Band 3 (2010)
4.53 Thimbleweed Park (2017)
4.54 Bust a Groove 2 (1999)
4.53 Xenoblade Chronicles (2010)
4.52 Tales from the Borderlands (2014)
Games must have at least 5 votes and a User Score of 4.0 to be considered.
3rd-person (Other) is part of Perspective. This group of genres contain:
1st-person
Audio game
Text-based / spreadsheet
"Big Money! Big Prizes! I love it!"
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Home / Nightlife / Clublife / Common Ground
Interview with DJ Mandrill
by Will Doig
Getting the bartender’s attention isn’t much of a problem at the Deep End. Except for a few stray patrons parked on the stools, the crowd seems determined to remain on the dance floor. The bass is so loud and so deep that even the flames of the tea lights are driven to dance, bounding up from their wicks with each dark, rhythmic thud. Though at first glance the clientele appears to be exclusively African-American, it gradually becomes apparent that the Deep End is more diverse than most people may expect.
In a culture that prefers to view itself in simple black and white, DJ Mandrill has spent a career espousing the merits of thinking in shades of gray. His party, The Deep End, which celebrated its first anniversary on January 16, is where Mandrill tries to make that sentiment materialize.
“After twenty-two years of experience, I’ve found there’s a place in the middle, that gray area, that works,” he says.
But twenty-two years ago, Washington was a city without much to offer those seeking a middle ground. Dupont Circle was a place many gay black people felt unwelcome, forcing them to form their own scene independent of the area, and gay newspapers like the Washington Blade still largely ignored communities of color.
“I know 45-year-olds who still won’t read the Blade,” says Mandrill. “They don’t know that it’s changed. They only know that when they tried to pick it up way back then, they weren’t there.”
“It was pretty bad back in the Seventies,” he continues, recalling a time when clubs often made blacks of any age show three forms of ID, even as white adolescent twinks sporting peach-fuzz entered with hardly a second glance. “As culturally diverse as it is, mixing has always been very difficult. Washington tends to be very culture conscious and politically conservative.”
With the Deep End, Mandrill hoped to attract older gay black men, a demographic he sees as the most disenfranchised. His goal was to reestablish “the connection of the older teaching the new,” a passing on of legacy he feels is fading.
“A lot of people were saying to me, ‘You think you’re going to get 40-year-old men to go clubbing on a Wednesday?'” he laughs. “But so many bars cater to the younger audience. It makes people feel old, unwanted and insignificant. And what’s worse is the people in charge of those clubs are of that older age. It boggles the mind.”
Mandrill’s success in convincing middle-aged black men to abandon pragmatics and party on a work-night has not, however, overcome the unalterable fact that many older men are closeted and do not go to gay clubs. Helping these men come to terms with their sexuality may be something neither he, nor possibly anyone, can do anything about.
“I don’t think anyone is as homophobic as gay men,” he says. “But even more so, I don’t think anyone is as homophobic as black gay men. That’s an exaggeration, but in my experience in the black community, [homophobia] is overwhelming.”
Mandrill also points out that the perception that more blacks are closeted than whites is probably false, comparing it to the illusion that the welfare rolls are fully stocked with black teenage mothers of four. Therefore, he tries to make the Deep End neutral ground to encourage a motley crowd. To do this, he’s learned to take into account what the crowd wants to hear when choosing music, rather than simply play god at the turntables.
“You can’t just play brand new music and the stuff you like,” he says. “And you can’t just play what they want to hear, because you’re a jukebox if you do that. You’ve got to fall somewhere in between.”
Pushing the musical envelope is one more technique Mandrill uses to open people’s minds, forcing his audiences to at least sample something unfamiliar before they declare their distaste for it. It’s simply an extension of his philosophy for life. He does say, however, that he “no longer wants to shove music down people’s throats.”
As for those who get a little uneasy at the idea of attending a party where their color or gender may be a minority, Mandrill considers that even more reason to check it out.
“It’s important for people to put themselves in a space where they feel what other people, particularly people of color, have to deal with every day. It’s empowering.
“The way we grow, the way we change, the way we broaden our perspectives is by putting ourselves with who we are most uncomfortable.”
He pauses a moment, and then smiles, and like a doctor reassuring a patient about the size of the needle, adds, “It’s only uncomfortable for a minute.”
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Posted on August 1, 2015 by Pomeroy Daily Sentinel
The move from Mulberry Pond
Mulberry Pond chairman Jim Smith, a staple in the restoration and cleanup of the pond, leaves Meigs County
By Lindsay Kriz - lkriz@civitasmedia.com
Some of John Smith’s friends, Charlene Hoeflich, former reporter for the Pomeroy Daily Sentinel, Pomeroy Mayor Jackie Welker, Smith, Dave Jackson, of Meigs Industries, and Margaret Parker, president of the Meigs County Historical Society, gathered to wish Smith the best of luck before his departure.
Smith feeds the white and mallard ducks cracked corn during one of his final days as a Meigs County resident.
The mallard ducks swim toward the back of the pond, which provides cooler temperatures on a hot summer day.
POMEROY — When one thinks of Mulberry Community Pond, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to not think of Jim Smith, the man who can be seen at all hours of the day feeding the animals along the edge of the water.
However, as of Aug. 1, residents will see less of Jim, who moved to Columbus after an 11-year legacy in Meigs County.
Smith grew up in Meigs County and lived there until 1969, when he moved to Columbus. He made his way back to the Ohio Valley in 2004, and it was then that he became involved with the pond.
He learned about the pond while attending an event at the Maples apartment complex. That’s when he expressed his concern about the state of the pond to former Mayor John Musser, who informed him that the village had cleaned the pond once but didn’t have the resources to keep treating it.
“I did it free of charge,” Smith said.
He took it upon himself to clean out the large amount of brush and overgrowth in the back part of the pond that was causing the culvert to dam up and create green slime. Smith said he also received help from the Gallia-Meigs Community Action Agency, who helped cut down the trees that were causing blockage problems.
“I waited until the next time it rained, and I could just see the green slime going down that drain,” he said. “I got rid of it and it’s never come back. Just cleaning that up got rid of the green slime.”
Thanks for former Mayor Musser, the pond received its first grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The pond received a 70-30, which meant that if the village did 30 percent of the work that would count toward the village’s portion of the grant. Village workers were able to cut all shrubbery on the bank near Beech Grove Cemetery. The pond itself used to be known as Beech Grove Cemetery Pond, but has come to be known as Mulberry Pond thanks to Smith.
Charlene Hoeflich, former editor of the Pomeroy Daily Sentinel, said the pond brought her and Smith close thanks to her coverage of stories about the area.
“It will be difficult to find anyone who has the interest in or the time to devote to taking care of the Mulberry pond and park area like he did,” she said. “Jim did much of the work along with volunteers he sought, solicited funding grants for needed improvements, asked organizations for contributions and seemed never to tire of working to make the place where he fished as a boy a place where today others can enjoy. He deserves a vote of thanks from the community.”
Along with providing fun for families, the donations from local businesses allowed the pond to hold an event called God’s NET, a local fishing tournament for children. One of the donations came from Smith himself, who found two bicycles and, after cleaning them, brought them as prizes to the competition. There he met two young girls who said they’d walked quite a ways from home to see the competition. They went home with two new bikes — the first bikes the girls ever owned.
“When you hear they don’t have a bicycle — everybody has a bicycle,” he said. “This is a poor county and these kids don’t have a recreation center. They like to fish, to come up to this pond, and that’s why I wanted to get it fixed up for them.”
Smith said he also held local events for nursing home patients as well, which gives them a chance to get outside more often and into nature.
For the next few years, the ODNR grants helped to keep the pond in good condition. Smith also began writing letters to area businesses and politicians, hoping for grant money or donations to keep the pond in check. To this day, Smith is proud to say that no pond additions or upkeep have come at the expense of the taxpayer. Smith has even sent letters to former Gov. Ted Strickland and current Gov. John Kasich. Once Strickland’s office acquired Smith’s letter, they sent it on to ODNR, which started the years-long process of ODNR grants for the pond.
Since its cleanup, Smith has helped add a gravel pathway, benches and picnic tables on which patrons can sit. They were created or restored by local student organizations and schools, along with a wheelchair turnabout. The work was completed by a Logan County contractor between May and July of last year.
Along with helping the animals at the pond, Smith is passionate about the people the pond has helped. He recounted one of the first times he encountered a family at the pond after the cleanup. On an Easter Sunday years ago, Smith said he was at the pond when a man, a woman and two children got out of a van and commented to Smith that the pond was nice, and that they even planned to cook food on the grill provided at the pond. Smith said he never told them his involvement with the pond.
Smith also spoke about a handicapped boy attempting to get to the pond to fish. After Smith helped him, the boy was able to catch a fish after only 10 minutes. Lastly, Smith told the story of two parents who came to him and said that because he had cleaned up the pond, their two sons, whose grades were dropping and were having a hard time at home, had become better students and were having an easier time because the pond gave them something to do — fish.
“That makes it worthwhile, knowing that you helped somebody out like that,” he said. “Maybe it changed those kids’ lives forever. Maybe it was a big relief to those parents.”
In Smith’s absence, the animals at the pond will be fed by Janet Cleland, who comes to the pond in the mornings and evenings to provide the critters with food. He said he’s also researching how to keep a heated pool by the pond in winter so that the ducks will have a place to swim, as the pond freezes easily.
About three weeks ago, Smith said he also sent out another batch of letters asking for help with pond funds with the help of Whitney Thoene of the Meigs County Chamber of Commerce, Brenda Roush of the Meigs County Economic Development Office, Judge Scott Powell, Pomeroy Mayor Jackie Welker, former Mayor Musser and others. The last time he checked, Smith said he had $1,000 in a Mulberry Pond account that’s a part of Pomeroy Parks and Recreation. Future projects include repairing warped wood and cutting down a dead tree looming over the turnabout.
In the future, Smith would like to see the gravel pathway extended and to see a bridge across the back of the pond so that visitors can see its full beauty.
While Smith said he’s moving, he hopes to be back every two months to visit friends and his pond.
“I’m hoping a lot of people (will) make sure it’s taken care of,” Smith said.
Reach Lindsay Kriz at 740-992-2155 EXT. 2555.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/08/web1_IMG_1280-001.jpgSome of John Smith’s friends, Charlene Hoeflich, former reporter for the Pomeroy Daily Sentinel, Pomeroy Mayor Jackie Welker, Smith, Dave Jackson, of Meigs Industries, and Margaret Parker, president of the Meigs County Historical Society, gathered to wish Smith the best of luck before his departure.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/08/web1_IMG_1294-001.jpgSmith feeds the white and mallard ducks cracked corn during one of his final days as a Meigs County resident.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/08/web1_IMG_1297-001.jpgThe mallard ducks swim toward the back of the pond, which provides cooler temperatures on a hot summer day.
By Lindsay Kriz
lkriz@civitasmedia.com
Hi! A visitor to our site felt the following article might be of interest to you: The move from Mulberry Pond. Here is a link to that story: https://www.mydailysentinel.com/news/857/the-move-from-mulberry-pond
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Sights and Attractions by Type
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, Palazzolo-Acreide
Palazzolo Acreide - Sicily
Are you a business owner in Sicily?
Promote your business 365 days a year with the #1 Guide to Sicily.
Directions to Palazzolo Acreide
Palazzolo Acreide is an ancient town, rebuilt in Baroque style after the big earthquake in 1693, where once stood the Greek city of Akrai.
It is a town where the new blends with the old, creating an enchanting cityscape. This little town is to be discovered step by step, there are many beautiful buildings to visit. Two churches are UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Basilica of San Paolo and the Basilica of San Sebastiano. Besides these two magnificent masterpieces of the Sicilian Baroque there are many other churches that are worth a visit. Same as the Medieval castle, the catacombs of Saint Lucia, the grotto Senebardo, the Town Hall, the Greek Theatre, Palazzo Judica, the Casa Museo Antonino Uccello, and near the town the archaeological site of Akrai.
Address: , Sicily
Castello di Scaletta Zanclea
The imposing three-storey-building Castle of Scaletta Zanclea was originally built as a military fortress to defend Messina...............
Cantine Russo srl
Mount-Etna, Sicily
The vineyards of Cantine Russo stretch between 650 and 1000 m at the slopes of Mount Etna - perfect for a tasting tour when you are in the area of Taormina...............
Cattedrale di Palermo
The majestic building of Palermo's cathedral is appealing for its dramatic look and the way it rises at the end of the cathedral square................
Museo Civico Torre di Ligny
The Museum of Prehistory and Marine Archaeology is housed in the old watchtower Torre di Ligny in Trapani............
Museo Ibleo Arti e Tradizione Popolare
Modica, Sicily
The Hyblaean Museum of Art and Popular Traditions is dedicated to the ancient Sicilian crafts - a great place to visit for tall and small people............
Museo Diocesano Catania
The Diocesan Museum of Catania displays artworks and furnishings of the churches of the Diocese and can be booked for events.............
Castello di Falconara
The Castle of Falconara boasts antique furnishings and precious ceramics - here visitors can feel the atmosphere of a noble time..................
Torre di Ligny
Built in 1671, the Tower of Ligny is a sturdy but elegant tower shaped like a truncated pyramid.............
Ipogeo - Hypogeum
Just some steps south from the Cathedral an unimpressive entrance next to the Bishop's Palace leads to a very impressive underworld - the Hypogeum of Syracuse............
Museo Mandralisca Cefalu
Amongst all the precious collections and pieces of the Museo Mandralisca you'll find the wonderful painting "Portrait of an Unknown Man" by Antonello da Messina..........
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Shopping by Type
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The Society of Black Sheep
#B1-64 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands 10 Bayfront Avenue, Marina-Bay, 018956
The Society of Black Sheep - Singapore
Directions to The Society of Black Sheep
If you're looking to break away from your favourite labels that you and everyone else unfalteringly love, head to the multi-label boutique, The Society of Black Sheep to discover various unexpected designers from around the world. From an artistic British label, Antoni and Alison and romantic Australian label, Blessed Are The Meek, here you'll unearth countless statement and quirky dresses and accessories. All of which are set to become your conversation starters at the next cocktail event. Nestled in between high-end luxury labels in Marina Bay Sands, The Society of Black Sheep is indeed your compelling black sheep of the mall.
Along with international labels, the spacious store also stocks various local designers including, Hansel, AWOL and Carrie K.
Address: #B1-64 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands 10 Bayfront Avenue , Singapore, 018956
Art-2 Gallery
River-Valley, Singapore
Artworks by talented artistes are exclusive and come in very limited numbers at Art-2 Gallery................
Shang Antique
Dempsey-Hill---Tanglin, Singapore
This is one of the favorite shops for both locals and tourists interested in antiques..........
Little-India, Singapore
One of the most crowded shopping centers that opens 24 hours a day and well known for its bargain buys and Indian style shoes, saris and decorations.............
iPRECIATION
Central-Business-District, Singapore
iPRECIATION showcases exquisite contemporary Asia art works that are stunning and unique.............
East-Coast, Singapore
The Japanese department store is well-known and popular in Singapore as a one-stop solution for all the fashion and household needs.............
Li Bai Arts and Antiques
West-Jurong, Singapore
A hidden gem for Chinese antiques and Tibetan furniture..........
11.12 Gallery
Get engrossed in art masterpieces from Russia in this tranquil gallery setting................
Inhabit - The Other Store
Inhabit is a contemporary multi-label boutique carrying mid range to high end designers from all over the globe................
SECTS SHOP
Singapore's 1st Multi-Style & Multi-Label boutique that carries International Menswear fashion labels and unisex accessories.............
Marketed as the lifestyle and fashion mall, Millenia Walk is a one-stop haven for the stylish shoppers and gourmands..........
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Picture-perfect pleasure grounds
Take time to sit and reflect at the pond in the pleasure grounds National Trust Images / Mark Bolton
The thirty acres of grounds that surround the house at Arlington are set in picturesque style. The planting was carefully designed to give views and vistas mainly from the house but also from carriage drives and footpaths.
Picture(sque) perfect
The picturesque style was very fashionable in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century; hence the Chichester family choosing to have their grounds landscaped this way. Features and follies were often used to create interest for visitors to discover on trips through the gardens. Contrasts between areas of light and shade, formal and informal, natural and unnatural were all important within a picturesque garden. The easiest way to think of it is as if stepping into a picture of a wonderful view.
A sea of purple camassias in the grounds at Arlington Court
National Trust/ Natalie Savage
Early changes
During the remodelling of the medieval manor house south of the church, in 1790, Colonel John Chichester redesigned the old Tudor gardens into picturesque parkland. When the current house was built in the 1820s, Colonel Chichester continued to develop the area around his new house in the picturesque style. This involved removing hedgerows and cultivated land and moving towards more clusters of trees and shrubs with grassland between.
Tea time in the gardens with all tools abandoned
National Trust/ Yvonne Beer
Unfulfilled ambitions
Colonel John’s son, Sir John Chichester, had grander plans for the gardens and estate. He rebuilt some of the gate houses and Home Farm in a more gothic style to create interest when visitors arrived. From the gate houses, visitors would have travelled to the house on long winding carriage drives with a number of views and points of interest en route. One drive would have crossed the lake on a suspension bridge, which was left unfinished when he died in 1851; the bridge piers are still visible to anyone venturing to the old lake.
The estate passed to his son Sir Bruce Chichester, who introduced monkey puzzle trees to the grounds and gardens as a wedding present to his wife, Lady Rosalie.
Monkey-puzzles were first brought back to Britain in 1795, their nuts eaten as an after-dinner delicacy.
Reclaimed by nature
Miss Rosalie Chichester, daughter of Sir Bruce and Lady Rosalie, took control of the estate in 1881 and seems to have maintained the grounds and gardens as her father left them until the 1920s. At this time, nature was allowed to take control. This was in part caused by Rosalie’s love of wildlife, but financial and social circumstances may have contributed. After the Second World War, outer areas of the pleasure grounds not regularly visited by Miss Chichester would have been completely left to grow wild. In 1949 she died and the estate passed to the National Trust.
Trust ownership
In the 1970s John Sales, then Chief Gardens Adviser for the National Trust, advised Arlington to adopt a more historically informed approach to the gardens and grounds. The Victorian garden was developed further with a long border introduced on the top tier of the gardens. A ha-ha was created on the south and west edge of the pleasure grounds to replace a fence which had prevented deer and livestock entering the park.
Vibrant azaleas bring the borders to life in early May
Protecting the garden for the future
The 21st century has seen further changes. Phytopthora was found on a number of large rhododendrons within the grounds and all affected plants needed to be removed. Today the gardeners work with nature to create natural beauty, using native plants where possible. Introduction of spring and autumn interest plants is one way the gardeners are replacing the lost colour from the rhododendrons.
Discover more at Arlington Court and the National Trust Carriage Museum
Walking on the Arlington estate
There are walks for all abilities on the Arlington estate.
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Biology, Chemistry, Energy, Environment, Gravity, Life, Physics, Space, Time
Space-Age Rocket
May 25, 2015 QuarX
Salad Growing… in Space?
Ever since the early days of human space travel, back in the 1960s, astronauts have run experiments involving plants in space. Over a million seeds of rocket (two kilograms of rocket seeds) are shortly due to take off from Florida, bound for the International Space Station, as part of British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s six-month Principia mission.
Experiments have so far shown how plants respond to very low levels of gravity. Germinating seeds send their roots towards the pull of gravity and their shoots away from it, even when its tug is 10,000 times weaker than on Earth. Plants actually feel which way is up!
The ISS being fully operational, international space agencies can now study the effects of radiation and weightlessness on plant life in precisely controlled conditions.
Light and Plants
In green plants, both photosynthesis and respiration occur. Photosynthesis is a natural process whereby plants and other live organisms convert light energy from the Sun, into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the organisms’ activities. This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, synthesised from carbon dioxide and water.
Oxygen is normally released as a by-product of the chemical reaction that takes place. Photosynthesis maintains atmospheric oxygen levels and supplies all of the organic compounds and most of the energy necessary for life on Earth.
Plants meet Quantum Mechanics
In Photosynthesis, sunlight is captured and transported by highly specialised antenna proteins. Surprisingly these proteins act as quantum machines and use a quantum transport mechanism to efficiently guide the light and finally store the energy in their reaction centres. Researchers from ICFO – the Institute of Photonic Science in Barcelona – have tracked this energy flow in individual proteins and discovered that the quantum coherences makes the light flow in the antenna protein immune to the ubiquitous external natural turmoil.
Photosynthesis and respiration are essentially “competing” processes. The former producing glucose C6H12O6. The latter consuming glucose. Source: tomatosphere.org
In relatively bright light, photosynthesis is the dominant process (meaning that the plant produces more food than it uses during respiration). At night, or in the absence of light, photosynthesis essentially ceases.
Under such conditions, the plant consumes food (for growth and other metabolic processes). Respiration is the dominant process.
Aerobic respiration requires oxygen O2 in order to generate ATP – Adenosine Tri-Phosphate, often called the “molecular unit of currency”, a nucleotide used to transport chemical energy within cells for metabolism. The products of this respiration process are carbon dioxide and water.
The level of photosynthetic activity in a green plant can be estimated by placing the plant inside a sealed container and measure the rate at which oxygen is produced. When such an experiment is performed, it is found that increasing the brightness (intensity) of the light increases the rate of photosynthesis, but only up to a certain point, beyond which increasing the brightness of the light has little or no effect on the rate of photosynthesis.
Conversely, reducing the brightness of the light causes a decrease in photosynthetic activity. The light intensity at which the net amount of oxygen produced is exactly zero, is called the compensation point for light. At this point, the consumption of oxygen by the plant due to cellular respiration is equal to the rate at which oxygen is produced by photosynthesis.
The compensation point for light intensity varies according to the type of plant, but it is typically 40 to 60 W/m2 for sunlight. The compensation point for light can be reduced by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide available to the plant, allowing the plant to grow under conditions of lower illumination.
For this reason, special techniques need to be developed to increase yields in space. If the response to light is decreased, will the plants behave and grow in the same way as they do on Earth? If we colonise the Moon or Mars, would we be able to cultivate crops in the same way?
Survival of the Species
Each astronaut on the ISS requires 5kg of food and water everyday, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). They receive regular supplies from Earth.
“The human race is expanding and exploring further and further afield and one day – we don’t know when – we will have human beings exploring the rest of the Solar System. It takes a long time to get to the other planets and this means we will have to be able to provide food for astronauts on long duration missions and the only way to do that is to grow it,” Tim Peake told BBC News.
Turning Half a Million Students into Space Biologists
After spending several months on board the ISS, the rocket seeds will return to land in the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 2016. After returning to the UK, the space rocket seeds will be packaged up with batches of identical seeds that have remained on Earth.
The rocket seeds will then be distributed to 10,000 schools where students will use them in scientific experiments and ultimately find out whether their six-month stay in space affected them at all. They will plant the seeds that have been in orbit, and compare the growth of rocket leaves with normal plants.
Participating schools will each receive two packets of 100 seeds to grow and compare, and a collection of fun and inspiring curriculum linked teaching resources and posters, tailored according to the age of your pupils (Key Stages 1 and 2 or Key Stages 3, 4 and 5).
The Royal Horticultural Society and UK Space Agency will run the experiment. The mission is called ‘Rocket Science‘.
Previous PostThe World Outside My Window… What a Window!!Next PostZeno’s Paradoxes or What Happened When Achilles and the Hare Decided to Outfox the Legendary Tortoise
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HBO Horseracing Drama “Luck” Canceled After Third Thoroughbred Death
The series will not return for a second season.
By Associated Press • Published at 10:38 pm on March 14, 2012
The horseracing series "Luck" was canceled by HBO after a third thoroughbred died during production of the drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, the channel said Wednesday.
"Luck," about the seedier side of racing, will air the final two episodes of its first season now in progress, HBO said. But the series won't return for the second season that began production last month, it said.
"While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won't in the future," the channel said. "Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision."
The move was made with David Milch, the show's creator, and Michael Mann, his fellow executive producer on the drama that brought film actor Hoffman to series TV. It was a high-profile project for the premium channel that stakes its reputation on such fare.
HBO said it was "immensely proud" of the series and those involved in it, and the producers said in a joint statement that they "loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers."
Retired jockey Gary Stevens, who co-stars on "Luck" and was in the racehorse movie "Seabiscuit," tweeted his support to the HBO series: "So bummed. Peace out to all my family in (hash)luck."
The American Humane Association, which oversees animal welfare on Hollywood productions, said that in light of the three deaths "this is arguably the best decision HBO could have made."
The group said it will work with HBO to ensure that horses used on "Luck" are "retired properly."
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which had been sharply critical of the production, welcomed the cancellation and offered advice to HBO and the producers if they decide to resume it.
"PETA will be calling on them, as we have done from the start, to use stock racing footage instead of endangering horses for entertainment purposes," the group said in a statement.
On Tuesday, a horse was injured and euthanized at Santa Anita Park racetrack, and HBO agreed to suspend filming with the animals after the American Humane Association issued an immediate demand "that all production involving horses shut down" pending an investigation.
The animal was being led to a stable by a groom when it reared and fell back, suffering a head injury, according to HBO. The horse was euthanized at the track in suburban Arcadia.
During season-one filming in 2010 and 2011, two horses were hurt during racing scenes and euthanized. HBO defended its treatment of the animals, saying it's worked with the humane association and racing industry experts to implement safety protocols that exceed film and TV industry standards.
The humane association had called for a production halt at Santa Anita after the second horse's death. Racing resumed after new protocols were put in place and proved effective, Karen Rosa, the AHA unit's senior vice president, said in February.
On Tuesday, Dr. Gary Beck, a California Horse Racing Board veterinarian, said he had just examined the horse as part of routine health and safety procedures before it was to race later in the day. The horse passed the inspection, the AHA said.
When the horse was injured, an attending veterinarian determined that euthanasia was appropriate, he said.
Dr. Rick Arthur, medical director of the state racing board, said such injuries occur in stable areas every year and are more common than thought. A necropsy will be conducted, he said, which is routine with all fatalities at racing board enclosures.
The necropsy and toxicology testing will be done despite the show's cancellation, the board said.
The first two horse deaths drew criticism from PETA, which said that safety guidelines used in filming failed to prevent the deaths "so clearly they were inadequate."
Kathy Guillermo, a PETA vice president, said at the time the group didn't consider the matter closed.
"Racing itself is dangerous enough. This is a fictional representation of something and horses are still dying, and that to me is outrageous," she said.
On Tuesday, Guillermo said PETA sent complaints about "Luck" to Arcadia police and an animal humane society in nearby Pasadena.
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Free: Old Sacramento’s Theatre of Lights
Watch "A Visit from St. Nicholas" shimmer before your eyes in the historic district.
By Alysia Gray Painter • Published at 6:05 pm on November 8, 2017
Sacramento Historic District
IF YOU'VE EVER LINGERED... around K and Front Streets in Old Sacramento, and taken in the vintage buildings, the ones from a couple of centuries back, you likely said something like "if these places could talk." Or you thought it, at least, because the walls and doors and windows of the district really have seen the generations go by, not to mention plenty of famous characters from our state's early years. The tales, then, do flower around the river-close, museum-filled area, and finding them is as easy as jumping into an underground tour in the summertime or calling upon a local institution for a look at a train- or automobile- or Gold Rush-related exhibit. But right around Thanksgiving? The tale changes up for a few weeks, all to tip a hat to the coming yuletide and all of the cheer and merriment it delivers. That's when Macy's Theatre of Lights, a multi-night presentation from "...the Old Sacramento Department of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership in cooperation with Downtown Sacramento Foundation (DSF), with the City of Sacramento and Old Sacramento merchants" sweeps grandly into the neighborhood.
IT'S FREE, and with large-scale illuminations, and complementary music and sound, it presents "A Visit from St. Nicholas," or, as many of us usually refer to it, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." But Clement C. Moore's iconic, know-every-word treat isn't the only part of the 20-minute performance; onlookers will also "(d)iscover how early pioneers experienced the calamities — and revelry — that befell the new city in the 1850s," with the exteriors of the surroundings "light(ing) up with color." The cost to see this unusual and historical and alfresco holiday presentation? It's free, as mentioned, but that's worth mentioning twice. Night #1 in 2017 is Thanksgiving Eve, the final evening is Christmas Eve, and while it won't run every evening, Theatre of Lights will glimmer on multiple November and December nights. Check out the schedule, then go Old Sac for a very 19th-century expression of the holiday, with some contemporary techno dazzle adding a hefty amount of wow.
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NCAA.com | September 9, 2017
How Hurricane Irma will affect college football's Week 2
Hurricane Irma is scheduled to reach to the Florida coast this weekend, forcing college athletic programs to make tough decisions. Some of the football games planned for the upcoming weekend have been canceled or postponed, while others have been moved to earlier kickoff times.
Here's which games will be affected by the hurricane in Week 2 of college football:
No. 16 Miami at Arkansas State — Canceled
Worried about traveling back to Miami this weekend after the game, Hurricanes' athletic director Blake James decided not to risk his players' safety. "We made the collective decision that we simply cannot put our student-athletes, coaches and staff in danger travelling to and from contests," James said. The game will not be made up in the 2017 season.
It was also announced Saturday night that Miami's game against Florida State, originally set for next Saturday, Sept. 16, has been moved to Oct. 14.
No. 9 Florida State vs. Louisiana-Monroe — Moved to Saturday at noon
The game was originally scheduled for a 7 pm kickoff, but now the game will be played in the afternoon.
“We have moved the game time after consulting with a number of state agencies and based on the information we have on the potential impact on the state,” said FSU President John Thrasher. “The earlier start will give ULM the opportunity to travel safely after the game, and provide many of our fans a chance to come to the game and return home in time to make any necessary preparations.”
On Saturday night, the ACC also announced that Florida State's game with rival Miami will be moved to Oct. 7.
No. 20 South Florida at Connecticut — Canceled
USF at UConn will not be played due to Hurricane #Irma 's threat to state of Florida & safe travel.
https://t.co/ITmSlDrNvI pic.twitter.com/Wcllgr1VEh
— USF Football (@USFFootball) September 7, 2017
The game was originally scheduled for a noon kickoff.
No. 24 Florida vs. Northern Colorado — Moved to Saturday at noon
#UNCvsUF has been moved to 12 p.m. on Saturday due to Hurricane Irma.
: https://t.co/dt3N3CUHOU pic.twitter.com/j9rOaEmH7X
— Gators Football (@GatorsFB) September 6, 2017
The game was originally scheduled for a 7:30 pm kickoff.
Central Florida vs. Memphis — Moved to Friday at 6:30 pm
The game was originally scheduled for Saturday at 8 pm, but now will take place on Friday night and air on ESPNU.
UPDATE: Our @American_FB opener on Friday night will now air on @ESPNU. pic.twitter.com/QJNcajhODk
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) September 6, 2017
Florida International vs. Alcorn State — Moved to Friday at 7:30 p.m. at UAB
Florida International will still get to play on Friday night, but not in Miami. The team will travel to Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday and play Alcorn State University.
"We have decided to relocate a number of our teams to Birmingham, Alabama," said FIU Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment Pete Garcia. "I want to thank UAB Director of Athletics Mark Ingram, the University of Alabama Birmingham and the Birmingham community for their tremendous help and assistance. The UAB family has gone above-and-beyond to make us feel welcome."
Florida vs. Northern Colorado — Canceled
Since the schools do not share a common open date, the game will not be rescheduled, Florida announced on Thursday.
"We have been in constant communication this week with University and government officials," said Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin. "As the Hurricane's track has approached the state of Florida, it's become obvious that playing a football game is not the right thing to do. The focus of our state and region needs to be on evacuations and relief efforts. There is a tremendous amount of stress currently on the roads of this state, and the availability of gas, water and other supplies are at critical levels. Playing a college football game Saturday would only add to that stress.
"Gainesville is also close to some of Florida's heaviest traffic points this week, specifically Interstate 75, which is a key statewide evacuation route."
Georgia Tech vs. Jacksonville State — Continuing as scheduled, Tech offering free tickets
Georgia Tech's home opener against Jacksonville State will not be affected by the hurricane, but the Yellow Jacksets are offering free tickets to the game for all evacuees.
The Yellowjackets' road trip to Miami, originally set for Oct. 12 will now be played Oct. 14.
Here are the nine winningest college football programs in the history of the sport.
Here's an early look at a preseason Top 25 college football rankings for 2020.
West Florida wins the 2019 DII football championship in a record-setting 48-40 thriller
West Florida defeated Minnesota State 48-40 for the 2019 DII football championship. Quarterback Austin Reed led a record-setting offensive attack, throwing for 523 yards and six touchdowns.
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Olympic gold medalist to share recovery story with Governor, First Lady at ‘Recovery Reinvented’
Olympic gold medalist Riley Salmon will share his story of addiction and recovery with Gov. Doug Burgum and First Lady Kathryn Burgum at the third annual “Recovery Reinvented.” Registration is now open for the Nov. 12 event in Bismarck, which will include opportunities for the public to share personal videos of addiction and recovery and connect with recovery resources and services.
In addition to the recently announced keynote speakers, the governor and first lady will host a fireside chat during the event with current University of Jamestown men’s volleyball head coach Riley Salmon about his addiction and recovery journey. A native of League City, Texas, Salmon was a gold medalist for the U.S. men’s Olympic volleyball team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
“My journey illustrates that the disease of addiction does not discriminate,” Salmon said. “I represented our nation at the highest level of competitive athletics but continually struggled with alcohol and opioid addiction throughout my professional career. Now I am walking the path to recovery and want to share with others that recovery is possible.”
The governor and first lady are inviting the general public, Native American communities, business and community leaders, behavioral health providers, university and college representatives, health care providers and administrators, addiction recovery advocates, faith-based communities, first responders, law enforcement, families and more to attend the event, held in partnership with the North Dakota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division.
The daylong event from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bismarck Event Center will feature state and national addiction and recovery experts who will focus on reinventing recovery by empowering communities to take action, creating recovery-friendly workplace environments and eliminating the stigma surrounding the disease of addiction.
The event will also include a Recovery Resources Expo, which will connect people to a wide variety of addiction, recovery, and mental health organizations and resources from across the state. Information and resources will be available to family members to help guide conversations around addiction and recovery. Recovery Reinvented awards will honor local individuals and groups that are making a tremendous impact in the field of addiction and recovery.
“The Recovery Resources Expo is a tremendous opportunity to help connect individuals struggling with addiction, people in recovery, and their family members to resources that can help,” First Lady Burgum said. “In talking with communities across North Dakota about addiction, a central location to engage with resources is something that people are always asking for. This is about our community and service providers coming together to reduce barriers and empower recovery in others.”
Recovery Reinvented is free and open to the public. Tickets are limited and registration is required. Volunteer opportunities are available for the event. For more information, to register or to volunteer, visit recoveryreinvented.com/2019/.
An opportunity is available for people to submit videos of themselves sharing their stories of addiction, recovery, and how they eliminate stigma. Videos may be published on the Recovery Reinvented website, social media, newsletters, and at the Recovery Reinvented event. To share your personal story to end stigma visit recoveryreinvented.com/events/2019/#getinvolved.
“Recovery Reinvented started in our state because of the first lady’s courage to start sharing her story of being in long-term recovery,” Gov. Burgum said. “Since she began inspiring others as a face and voice of recovery, countless others have begun to come forward to talk about the struggles of addiction and the hope and promise of recovery. Extending this opportunity for others in North Dakota provides a platform to share their stories and end the stigma of addiction.”
The Behavioral Health Conference will be held the following days on Nov. 13-15, also at the Bismarck Event Center. More information is available at recoveryreinvented.com, with frequent updates shared through social media on Facebook at @GovernorDougBurgum, @FirstLadyND, and @RecoveryND and on Twitter at @DougBurgum, @FirstLadyND, and @Recovery_ND.
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> Uncategorized > Village teacher wins international conducting competition
Village teacher wins international conducting competition
Published on: 22nd January 2018 | By: Tim Green | Category: Uncategorized
A teacher from a Kings Langley school has won first prize in an internationally renowned competition.
Claudio Di Meo, who teaches at the Rudolf Steiner School, was awarded first prize for his work conducting the London Classical Soloists at a competition coordinated by Achim Holub, the world’s leading organiser of conducting masterclasses.
Along with 16 other entrants, Claudio was given the opportunity to conduct his own selection from specific Mozart and Schumann symphonies during the event, which took place in London last month. Each entrant was then asked to lead a 95-minute session on the podium, where they worked with the London Classical Soloists, a world-class orchestra, before partaking in two concerts, one of which was formally judged for the competition.
Claudio said he was delighted to have won.
He commented: “To be able to conduct alongside such incredible talent from all over the world was rewarding in itself, but to then be awarded first prize is truly amazing, I’m honoured. I have learned a lot from the other conductors there and the London Classical Soloists, and I’m eager to share my knowledge with my students.”
Tim Byford, principal of RSSKL added: “Claudio’s success follows many years as an accomplished pianist, as well as his experience conducting the Dacorum Youth Orchestra, Lumina Choir, and in the Kings Langley Concerts series. We’re really lucky to have him at Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley and we wish him all the best for his recently published original classical music score, Memories – Ten Pieces for Piano Solo.”
Bushey protestors delighted as power plant application withdrawn
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Operation to support rough sleepers and tackle anti-social behaviour in St Albans
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Sector(s): Arts, media and sport
National Audit Office report: Review of the data systems for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Review of the data systems for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Review of a sample of the data systems underpinning the input and impact indicators in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Business Plan, Common Areas of Spend and wider management information.
The purpose and scope of this review
Our examination of the data systems used to report performance for this department involved a detailed review of the processes and controls governing:
the selection, collection, processing and analysis of data;
the match between the department’s stated objectives and the indicators it has chosen; and
the reporting of results.
Our conclusions are summarised in the form of a score between 0 and 4. The ratings are based on the extent to which departments have:
put in place and operated internal controls over the data systems that are effective and proportionate to the risks involved; and
explained clearly any limitations in the quality of its data systems to Parliament and the public.
Our assessment does not provide a conclusion on the accuracy of the outturn figures included in the Department’s public performance statements. This is because sound data systems reduce but do not eliminate the possibility of error in reported data.
2011-12 is the first year in a rolling programme which will present a complete picture over the next three years.
Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Progress report December 2011
(Dec 2011)
Departmental Overview: A summary of the NAO’s work on the Department for Culture, Media & Sport 2010-2011
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Financial management
Data assurance summary reports
PSA data systems validation
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Sheriff: Drunk driver hit Passaic County Administration Building
An alleged drunk driver crashed into the Passaic County Administration Building early Friday morning in Paterson.
Sheriff: Drunk driver hit Passaic County Administration Building An alleged drunk driver crashed into the Passaic County Administration Building early Friday morning in Paterson. Check out this story on northjersey.com: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2020/01/03/passaic-county-administration-building-hit-drunk-driver-sheriff/4417874002/
Joe Malinconico, Paterson Press Published 10:04 a.m. ET Jan. 3, 2020 | Updated 5:10 p.m. ET Jan. 3, 2020
Car crashes into Passaic County Administration Building: Photos
Damage is shown after a man, who police say was intoxicated, drove into the Passaic County Administration Building early Friday, Jan. 3, 2020. Photo courtesy of the Passaic County Sheriff's Office
PATERSON – An alleged drunken driver crashed into the Passaic County Administration Building early Friday morning, damaging a skylight for underground parking, a cement flower pot and a fence, officials said.
The crash happened about 3 a.m. near a side entrance on DeGrasse Street, Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik said in a news release.
Jeffrey Conception, 34, of Haledon, was charged with driving while intoxicated, officials said. After being treated for injuries at St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center Campus, Conception was taken to the Passaic County Jail, authorities said.
Officials have not announced the cost of the damage.
Read or Share this story: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2020/01/03/passaic-county-administration-building-hit-drunk-driver-sheriff/4417874002/
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Ban All Guns, Anti-Second Amendment People Say
In typical collectivist fashion, The New York Times editorial board recently labeled an entire generation as gun control supporters and demanded, “It’s time, once again, for America to listen to its children.” While touting her latest bill to ban commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, Senate Bill 2095 (S. 2095), Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., declared, “We owe it to these students to listen.” The Washington Post editorial board blared, “Students walking out of school taught the nation a lesson.”
All Americans, and especially gun rights supporters, should pay careful attention to what gun control advocates, both old and new, are actually saying. Doing so offers little in the way of intelligent policy, but it offers valuable insight into what the ultimate goal of gun controllers really is.
Swept up in what the Los Angeles Times called an anti-gun “moment that must be seized,” in recent months some gun control supporters have felt free to reveal the full measure of their ambition. Instead of confining themselves to the poll-tested talking points of the past and hiding behind terms like “common-sense gun laws” and “preventing gun violence,” they are now emboldened to advocate for their real goal.
As recently as 2016, anti-gun politicians and gun control advocates were assuring the public that they weren’t seeking a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms. A June 16, 2016, Politico article contended that gun control supporters and their allies in Congress “want to emphasize measures that have broad support … rather than trying to take America’s most popular rifle … off the shelves.” A spokesperson for Michael Bloomberg’s gun control apparatus went so far as to tell the news outlet, “The [semi-automatic] ban isn’t part of the Everytown for Gun Safety’s platform.”
In 2018, however, every radical gun control measure the American people have rejected for more than a half-century is being openly advocated. Gun bans, gun registration, gun owner licensing, ammunition background checks, waiting periods, gun confiscation—even the repeal of the Second Amendment—have all been put forward.
This ambitious push was on full display at the March For Our Lives on March 24 in Washington, D.C. Demanding that politicians re-enact a version of the Clinton administration’s failed semi-automatic ban, one of the more prominent teen gun control supporters took to the podium to proclaim, “Welcome to the revolution. … The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons. The people demand we prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines.” Another made clear that the gun control supporters are not interested in any sort of “reasonable” or “common-sense” compromise with gun owners, telling the audience, “When they give us that inch … we will take a mile. We are not here for bread crumbs. We are here for real change.” Another speaker went further, telling the cheering crowd, “I have a dream that enough is enough. And that this should be a gun-free world. Period!”
A survey of the anti-gun crowds told a similar story. Attendees waved signs that said, “Repeal the 2nd Amendment,” “I wish Obama had taken your guns,” “Yes, in fact, I am here to take your guns,” and “Ban all guns.” Other marchers took umbrage with the mere fact that gun owners would organize to use the democratic process to defend their fundamental rights. Anti-NRA signs stated that “The NRA is a terrorist organization.”
Moreover, the unrestrained rhetoric extended to gun control supporters’ accounts of the event. While organizers claimed that 800,000 had participated in the D.C. march, CBS placed the number at a mere quarter of that total, citing an analysis of aerial photos from a digital imaging firm.
Public transportation data bolsters the lower figure. Metro reported that just over half the number of people rode the D.C. train system as rode it the day of the 2017 Women’s March, which, according to The New York Times, had about 470,000 attendees. In response to the gun control march organizers’ inflated total, Metro Spokesman Ron Holzer told The Washington Post, “Our ridership did not reflect that.”
Stevens’ proposal has created significant debate within the gun control community—not about substance, on which they clearly agree, but about tactics.
Even the notion that it was a youth march proved false. Research by University of Maryland Sociology Professor Dana R. Fisher found that a mere 10 percent of attendees were under 18. The average age of participants over the age of 18 was about 49.
Whatever the scope and character of the gun control march, the prohibitionist message of those gathered was not lost on former Associate Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Three days after the event, The New York Times published an opinion piece that Stevens wrote headlined “Repeal the Second Amendment.” As you probably remember, Stevens wrote the dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller decision, arguing that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms.
In his op-ed, Stevens lauded the “civic engagement” of the gun control advocates and contended that the “demonstrations demand our respect.” Stevens went on to urge the anti-gun advocates to move past their former, piecemeal approach to dismantling the Second Amendment and to start working toward a “more effective and more lasting reform.” According to Stevens, “They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.”
Recognizing the ultimate goal of these gun control supporters, the former Supreme Court justice concluded, “[T]hat simple but dramatic action would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform.” Leaving little mystery as to where the Old Gray Lady stands on the matter, Stevens’ piece followed a 2015 New York Times frontpage editorial that called for the confiscation of certain categories of semi-automatic firearms. More recently, Times columnist Bret Stephens has twice called for the repeal of the Second Amendment.
Polls have consistently shown that the individual-rights interpretation of the Second Amendment enjoys broad public support. However, recent polling from the Economist and YouGov found that 21 percent of Americans (and nearly 40 percent of Democrats) favor a repeal of the Second Amendment.
Stevens’ proposal has created significant debate within the gun control community—not aboutsubstance, on which they clearly agree, but about tactics.
On the one hand, there are those who welcomed Stevens’ candor. Jack Holmes of Esquire wrote a piece titled, “More Democrats Should Be Calling for the Repeal of the Second Amendment.” Some soon obliged. Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Carter Peterson tweeted, “Repeal the Second Amendment” with a link to Stevens’ column. Democratic Executive Committee member for Florida’s Miami-Dade County Christopher M. Norwood penned an op-ed for the Miami Herald that called on Florida to “[lead] the charge” for repeal.
Knowing the damage such honesty could inflict on their political prospects, other gun control supporters have attempted to move the conversation away from repeal. Aaron Blake of The Washington Post called Stevens’ piece “supremely unhelpful” in that it “lent credence to the talking point that the left really just wants to get rid of gun ownership” and threatens “the recovery of the Democratic Party.”
Gun control supporter and President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law Michael Waldman wrote in the Los Angeles Times that Stevens’ piece “gives cover” to the allegedly “false notion that gun control advocates want to ‘take our guns.’” Waldman called any attempt to repeal politically “unwise” but also “unnecessary,” in that, according to his interpretation, the Second Amendment doesn’t really prevent firearm restrictions anyway.
Gun rights supporters should find it telling that even those gun control advocates who have publicly opposed Stevens’ position have done so entirely as a matter of political strategy, rather than out of any legitimate concern for our Second Amendment rights. Despite what they might say about tactics, they don’t disagree with Stevens on substance.
Modern gun control advocacy was born out of a desire to abolish the private ownership of handguns. That has never changed. Avid gun rights supporters who judiciously follow the gun debate have long understood anti-gun activists’ efforts to lay the infrastructure for confiscation and either repeal the Second Amendment or render it a nullity. The gun rights community now must use gun control advocates’ recent honesty to warn our family, friends and other freedom-minded individuals of the future our opponents are seeking for America. We can’t afford to sit on the sidelines and watch our freedoms disappear.
Chris W. Cox
Delaware: Gun Ban Legislation Fails to Pass Senate Committee
Working Together to Save the Second Amendment Part II: State Success Stories
NRA Applauds Attorneys General and Governors Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Challenge
With Proposed Federal Legislation, Anti-gun Advocates Seek to Impose May-Issue Gun Ownership
NRA Slams Bernie Sanders' Tyrannical Assault on American Gun Rights
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Macur review: lengthy process could deter victims from coming forward
Anyone who's suffered abuse, must have full confidence that their allegation will be dealt with quickly and thoroughly, says Desmond Mannion
Lady Justice Macur has published her two-year review into the 2000 Waterhouse inquiry. The Macur review backed the inquiry's findings of "no evidence" of historical abuse by establishment figures in former north Wales children's homes.
Desmond Mannion, Head of NSPCC Wales has welcomed the publication of the review but fears the length of time it has taken risks deterring victims from coming forward.
"We welcome the long-overdue publication of the Macur review today. It is surprising that, 4 years after the Government launched a review into the Waterhouse report that was so widely criticised, there are so few recommendations.
"The horrors of the north Wales child abuse scandal will haunt our country for many years to come and undoubtedly, many of those who voiced their concern at the time those, including those who have taken the brave step to disclose their experiences will be surprised and disappointed by today's findings.
"The publication of the Macur review has been a lengthy, drawn out process, revealing barely anything and our worry is that this risks deterring victims from coming forward. We hope that, in the future, such reviews will be conducted as swiftly as possible. There is still an ongoing criminal investigation into historic allegations that needs to ensure survivors voices are heard and perpetrators brought to justice.
"Anyone who has suffered abuse, either current or historical, must have full confidence that their allegation will be dealt with as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, we hope that Operation Pallial does not inadvertently suffer from today's publication."
If you were abused in childhood, you may be struggling with difficult feelings and unwanted memories. We've got information and advice to help.
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Home > Content > Michael Bloomberg
PRESIDENTIAL IMMIGRATION VOTER GUIDE ON FOREIGN WORKER & ENFORCEMENT POLICIES
➙
Tighten labor markets through lower overall immigration
Approx. 7 million illegal foreign workers hold non-farm jobs in construction, manufacturing, hospitality and other service occupations. Mandatory E-Verify (electronic verification) -- including special provisions to deal with identity theft -- would block most illegal workers from payroll jobs. This would open most of those jobs to be filled from the nearly 60 million working-age Americans and legal immigrants already here who are not working. The Americans who would benefit the most are those with lower skills and educational levels similar to that of the illegal workers. Instead of depending on government benefits, charities and family, these currently non-working Americans would begin to support themselves.
Require all businesses to use E-Verify
The key action in every effort for "comprehensive immigration reform" or other form of amnesty has been to immediately give work permits to the illegal population. The question for every elected official is whether they favor allowing employers to legally hire illegal border crossers and visa overstays ahead of jobless Americans.
Entry/Exit & other actions to reduce visa overstays
The visa lottery and extended family chain migration categories add hundreds of thousands of permanent immigrants each year. Each gets life-time work authorization, with no regard to their skills and whether there are jobs that need their skill and labor, or how they would affect Americans with similar skills and education. These categories were not traditionally part of our immigration system. The lottery is restricted to people in countries with the least historic connections with the United States. Chain migration allows immigrants to bring in not only their spouse and minor children but also to petition for their adult children, brothers, sisters, and parents, with each of them able to do the same, resulting in petitions for the original immigrant's aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, plus in-laws and cousins of all kinds in unending chains.
Punish businesses that violate immigration law
Because most refugees compete for jobs with America's most vulnerable citizens, it is important that every refugee admission is free of fraud and security risk and that there not be other effective options less harmful to economically vulnerable Americans. With tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons in the world, it can be easy to overload local communities with larger and larger levels of resettlement while making no dent in the total challenge, which can ultimately be met only in the home regions of those needing help.
Oppose work permits for unauthorized migrants
The presence of higher-skilled foreign workers in larger numbers can depress the wages and decrease employment of Americans in the same occupations. Higher-skill immigration can make it more difficult for older, experienced American workers to retain their jobs or gain new employment. More difficult for American students to begin their careers, while discouraging younger Americans from pursuing education for those careers. Government investigations have found visa programs for higher-skilled foreign workers to be full of fraud and abuse by employers.
Oppose other enticements for illegal migration
The highest levels of non-work are found among Americans with lower skill levels. There simply are not enough lower-skilled jobs for the number of lower-skilled Americans. The presence of large numbers of low-skilled foreign workers creates pressure for even lower wages and higher unemployment for workers who already may have poverty and near-poverty incomes.
Deter border surges and asylum abuse
Around half of the foreign citizens who illegally hold U.S. jobs crossed our borders illegally. The flows declined during the recession but have grown steadily the last couple of years. Several border control measures signed into law have not been implemented.
Reduce visas for lower-wage jobs
Successive Presidents have refused to implement the law requiring a computerized, bio-metric check-in/check-out system for foreign citizens entering the U.S. Without a system to track every foreign citizen who enters the U.S. by air, sea or land, our government has little idea whether the more than 40 million foreign visitors a year are living up to the promises they made in obtaining their temporary visas. These visitors account for nearly half of the illegal foreign workers taking jobs from Americans.
Reduce visas for higher-wage jobs
Hundreds of thousands of foreign citizens are given lifetime U.S. work visas every year through the practice of granting automatic citizenship to every birth to a tourist, visiting student, temporary worker or illegal alien. Although they obviously don't immediately begin competing for jobs, they eventually do. In the short-term, these children of foreign citizens harm American workers because they are used to excuse their parents' illegal presence here, allowing many to continue to illegally hold U.S. jobs and creating pressure to give the parents amnesty and lifetime work permits to compete with any American for any job.
End the visa lottery
Bloomberg (DEM)
Tell Michael Bloomberg he can do
better on immigration:
Website: https://www.mikebloomberg.com/
Favors MORE Foreign Workers
Strongly Favors LESS Enforcement Protection
STRONG NO – Bloomberg has called for significant increases in legal immigration. Therefore, he receives a rating of Strong No.
San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2020: In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bloomberg said, "this country needs more immigrants and we should be out looking for immigrants... for those who need an oboe player for a symphony, we want the best one. We need a striker for a soccer team, we want to get the best one. We want a farmworker, we want to get the best one. A computer programmer, we want to get the best one. So we should be out looking for more immigrants. And other countries are doing this and we’re not. SOURCE: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-01-05/q-a-mike-bloomberg-talks-immigration-iran-and-policing-with-union-tribune
Associated Press, Nov. 2019: During a campaing stop in Arizona, Bloomberg said, "we need immigrants to take all the different kinds of jobs that the country needs — improve our culture, our cuisine, our religion, our dialogue and certainly improve our economy." SOURCE: https://apnews.com/1042e97333ad4df7b2a9c06968411c73
Op-ed, March 2017: "The solutions are not complicated ... increase the number of visas and restructure them around our economic needs, offer a path to permanent status for those here illegally and willing to pay fines and learn English, and create a biometric identification for all legal." U.S. workers."SOURCE: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-03-08/fix-immigration-without-sacrificing-innocent-children
Partnership for New American Economy, July 2010: Bloomberg was co-founder of this bipartisan think-tank, which lobbies Congress for increases in legal immigration. SOURCE: https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/
LEANS YES – Bloomberg has not called for mandatory E-Verify, but Bloomberg highlighted the need for better workplace verification. Therefore, he receives a rating of Leans Yes.
U.S. Senate Testimony, July 2006: "Every current job holder or applicant would be required to obtain a card, and every business would be required to check its validity against the Federal database. In theory, we already have such a card - it’s called your Social Security card. But being a government product, naturally, its technology is way behind the time.
"By taking advantage of current technology, we can provide the Federal government with the tools necessary to enforce our immigration laws and protect workers from exploitative and abusive conditions. I want to be clear that this is not a national ID card, as some have suggested. This would be an employment card for the 21st Century. If you don’t work, you don’t need a card. But everyone who works would need to have an employment card." SOURCE: http://www.nyc.gov/
MIXED – Bloomberg has highligted the need to track visa overstayers, but, as mayor of New York, has also supported ordinances that impede interior enforcement. Therefore, he receives a rating of Mixed.
NYC Press Release, May 2013: "Today, Mayor Bloomberg signed into law critical new legislation to prevent unjust deportations of New Yorkers. The new City legislation, Intros. 982 and 989, stops the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using NYC’s criminal justice system as a pipeline to deport thousands of New Yorkers. Today's legislation strengthens and expands these protections to more immigrants and also extends this directive to the NYPD by limiting the department's participation in ICE's fatally flawed deportation dragnet known as "Secure Communities." SOURCE: https://maketheroadny.org/victory-for-immigrant-families-preventing-unjust-deportations-in-nyc/
San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2020: In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bloomberg said: "Technology helps. The truth of the matter, incidentally, is that most people who are here undocumented, got a visa and flew here. So your wall should really be around the local airport, rather than along the Rio Grande and through some mountains, which is impractical to build." SOURCE: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-01-05/q-a-mike-bloomberg-talks-immigration-iran-and-policing-with-union-tribune
Washington Examiner, August 2012: "If you want to come to America illegally, don’t waste your time going across the border and through the desert. It’s dangerous. Just get in an airplane, fly here, and overstay your visa. We have absolutely no ability to track who you are and get you back. ... We have to make sure that we have intelligent policies. For example, if you get a visa, you come here, we don’t track when you leave, so we have no idea how many people are here." SOURCE: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mayor-bloomberg-to-illegal-immigrants-just-fly-here-and-overstay-your-visa
LEANS YES – Bloomberg has yet to take a position on punishing businesses that hire illegal workers, however he has called for increasing penalities. Therefore, he receives a rating of Leans Yes.
U.S. Senate Testimony, July 2006: "There must also be stiff penalties for businesses that fail to conduct checks or ignore their results. Holding businesses accountable is the crucial step, because it is the only way to reduce the incentive to come here illegally. Requiring employers to verify citizenship status was the promise of the 1986 immigration reform law. But it was an empty promise, never enforced by the Federal government." SOURCE: http://www.nyc.gov/
STRONG NO – Bloomberg has called for granting lifetime work permits to most of the illegal aliens living in the United States. Therefore, he receives a rating of Strong No.
San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2020: In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bloomberg said: "Well it’s a no brainer. You give pathway to citizenship to 11 million people. We’re not going to deport them anyways, it’s outrageous." SOURCE: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-01-05/q-a-mike-bloomberg-talks-immigration-iran-and-policing-with-union-tribune
Bloomberg speech, February 2019: "And yet the President is trying to block those children from staying here. He continues to fight the Obama-era program that granted work permits to those who arrived here as children. He refused to support Democratic legislation that would legalize their status. And he has refused to deal with an immigration system that is broken through and through." SOURCE: https://www.mikebloomberg.com/news/mike-bloomberg-delivers-keynote-americans-immigrant-justice-23rd-annual-awards-dinner
NO ACTION – Bloomberg has not taken a position or made any recent statements regarding providing enticement for illegal aliens.
NO ACTION – Bloomberg has called for strengthening border security, but has offered no specifics, so we can't determine if his policies would deter or encourage border surges. Therefore, he receives a rating of No Action.
Bloomberg op-ed, May 2019: "The U.S. should ... spend more on its overstretched asylum and immigration court systems, and on Border Patrol facilities, so that applicants can be processed as speedily, humanely and fairly as possible." SOURCE: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-31/mexico-tariffs-trump-s-latest-move-on-trade-is-dangerous
Bloomberg op-ed, May 2017: "The surge in asylum cases has fed a backlog in the court system, and without adequate detention facilities, many asylum seekers are released until their hearings can be held – which can take years. That time lag has fed the perception, encouraged by smugglers, that getting across the border amounts to permanent legal status." SOURCE: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-03-08/fix-immigration-without-sacrificing-innocent-children
STRONG NO – Bloomberg supports an increase in the number of low-skilled foreign workers. Therefore, he receives a rating of Strong No.
San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2020: In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bloomberg said: "this country needs more immigrants and we should be out looking for immigrants... We want a farmworker, we want to get the best one. ... So we should be out looking for more immigrants. And other countries are doing this and we’re not." SOURCE: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-01-05/q-a-mike-bloomberg-talks-immigration-iran-and-policing-with-union-tribune
Immigration Statement, June 2011: "We must ensure that major industries, such as agriculture and tourism, that rely on those workers just starting up the economic ladder have access to foreign workers when they cannot fill the jobs with American workers. These employers want a legal work force, but our current system makes that extremely difficult. Farmers have to go through multiple levels of approvals to do basic hiring, and in Georgia, where they have cracked down on illegal farm-workers, farm owners are experiencing severe labor shortages. That’s driving up their costs and leaving crops un-harvested. At a time when food prices are rising, this is the last thing American consumers – and farmers – need." SOURCE: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/210-11/mayor-bloomberg-need-immediate-passage-immigration-reforms-fuel-econonmic#/0
STRONG NO – Bloomberg has called for increases in higher-wage foreign workers, and co-founded the Partnership for a New American Economy for the purpose of pressuring Congress to increase immigration. Therefore, he receives a rating of Strong No.
San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2020: In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bloomberg said: "this country needs more immigrants and we should be out looking for immigrants... A computer programmer, we want to get the best one. ... So we should be out looking for more immigrants. And other countries are doing this and we’re not." SOURCE: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-01-05/q-a-mike-bloomberg-talks-immigration-iran-and-policing-with-union-tribune
Immigration Statement, June 2011: "The ability to attract and keep high-skilled labor is essential for American companies competing on the world market. That’s true not only for high-tech industries, but also for banks, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and even manufacturing firms with large research and development operations, like Boeing and Caterpillar. But right now, the cap on H1-B visas and green cards is much too low, and caps on green cards are set by country. So Iceland gets the same number of visas as India. That may be fair to each country, but it’s not fair to American businesses. We should end these arbitrary limits and end the cap on the high-skill H1-B visas. Let the market decide. It’s basic free-market economics – and both parties ought to be able to get behind it." SOURCE: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/210-11/mayor-bloomberg-need-immediate-passage-immigration-reforms-fuel-econonmic#/0
NO ACTION –Bloomberg has not taken a position or made any statements regarding chain migration.
NO ACTION – Bloomberg has not taken a position or made any statements regarding the visa lottery.
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'He's Never Treated Chronic Pain Patients': Protesters At Opioid Trial On State's Expert Witness
Wednesday, June 12th 2019, 6:10 PM CDT
By: Storme Jones
CLEVELAND COUNTY, Oklahoma - The state's trail against Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical manufacture entered into day 12 Wednesday afternoon.
A small group of protesters gathered outside the Cleveland County Courthouse as arguments resumed. Protesters voiced concern with the state’s expert witness on the stand, Dr. Andrew Kolodny.
“The state’s expert witness is one of the most-cruel human beings. His attitude is so egregious,” Donna Hill said.
“He’s never treated chronic pain patients,” Protester Tracy Kennedy said. “He’s treated people with addiction, but not with chronic pain. So, we are out here to let them know we don’t agree with that.”
In a statement to News 9, a spokesman for the state says, "his background speaks for itself."
Kolodny is a senior scientist at Brandeis University. According to the university’s website, Kolodny previously served as Chief Medical Officer for an addiction treatment agency. It lists his current position as Co-Director of opioid policy research at the university.
Many at the rally say they rely on opioids to cope with pain to perform daily functions.
Don’t control what we can do and what we can’t do, Elisha Grove said. “Understand that we have pain, some of us look like we don’t have pain, but we do.”
The state's attorneys have said they understand there are people who need these medications and this trial is not about them.
“We matter. We are chronic pain patients,” Kennedy said. “We have conditions that can’t be seen. But we need our opioids.”
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Former NFL player Kellen Winslow II charged with rape, kidnapping, sodomy
By: Allison Horn
<p>TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 25: Kellen Winslow #82 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on during a game against the Atlanta Falcons at Raymond James Stadium on September 25, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)</p>
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Former NFL player Kellen Winslow II was arrested for the second time in one week Thursday on charges including kidnapping, rape, and sodomy.
Winslow, a former member Pro Bowler with the Cleveland Browns and the son of legendary Chargers tight end Kellen Winslow, was originally booked on a residential burglary charge on June 7.
The new charges filed Thursday include:
Kidnapping with intent to commit rape - 2 counts
Forcible rape - 2 counts
Forcible sodomy - 1 count
Forcible oral copulation - 1 count
Residential burglary - 2 counts
Indecent exposure - 1 count
Deputies conducted a search warrant at Winslow's home in connection with the arrest.
A woman called the San Diego County Sheriff's Department last week to report a possible burglary at the Park Encinitas Mobile Home Park on El Camino Real.
The resident said she heard a loud vehicle pull up outside her home and looked out to see a black Hummer. The man inside got out and walked toward her neighbor's home, then went inside, likely through an open sliding-glass door. The woman said the man was inside about 10 minutes before he left, carrying the t-shirt he had been wearing.
"I confronted him and said 'Hi, can I help you with anything'," she told reporter Jim Patton. "He said, 'Nope, just looking for my dog.' I go, 'What dog?' and he said, 'Well, it's a red dog, Clifford.' and I went, 'There's no dog here.' I said, I'm not comfortable with this, you need to leave. And he just stood there and he went, 'Alright then.'"
The man, who the woman later identified as Winslow, drove off. Deputies later arrested him in a strip mall parking lot on El Camino Real.
Winslow was booked last week into the Vista Detention Facility but posted a $50,000 bail June 8. He will be in court Friday for an arraignment.
Winslow was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, and later played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots and New York Jets.
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Koola, an 18-year-old western lowland gorilla, holds her newborn infant in her enclosure. Photo: Getty.
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Apes with big brains: Richard Dawkins on what makes us human
Superficially we humans have much in common with other species - but no other species makes cars, computers, and combine harvesters.
Human beings are animals. We aren’t plants and we aren’t bacteria, we are animals. Among animals we are apes, specifically African apes. The other African apes – chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas – are closer cousins to us than they are to the Asian apes: orang-utans and gibbons.
So, one way to understand what makes us human is to ask: “What makes us different from the other apes, and from the rest of the animal kingdom?” What makes us special? For instance, unlike all the other apes, we walk on two legs and this frees our hands to do all kinds of things that other apes can’t do. And (perhaps the two are connected) we have much bigger brains than the other apes.
There’s another way to interpret the question “What makes us human?” which I won’t be dealing with, although it is important. What makes us humane? What are the qualities that we admire and aspire to: qualities that make us human as opposed to brutish?
We have big brains. Other species are marked out by other qualities. Swifts and albatrosses are spectacularly good at flying, dogs and rhinoceroses at smelling, bats at hearing, moles, aardvarks and wombats at digging. Human beings are not good at any of those things. But we do have very big brains; we are good at thinking, remembering, calculating, imagining, speaking. Other species can communicate, but no other species has true language with open-ended grammar. No other species has literature, music, art, mathematics or science. No other species makes books, or complicated machines such as cars, computers and combine harvesters. No other species devotes substantial lengths of time to pursuits that don’t contribute directly to survival or reproduction.
Our uniquely big brains evolved after our habit of walking on two legs. We can now trace our ancestry through a pretty continuous series of fossils, and are confident that our ancestors of three million years ago were members of the genus Australopithecus. The best-known australopithecine is Lucy – so called because the camp record player in Ethiopia was blaring out the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” when the fossil hunters returned to camp with the momentous news of her discovery. Lucy had a chimp-sized brain but she walked on her hind legs. It is probably no accident that our brain started swelling like an evolutionary balloon after our hands were freed from the burden of walking and could concentrate on carrying food or manipulating tools.
But human beings have only recently shown how very special they are. Fifty thousand years ago we had the same bodies and brains as today and we probably had language. But we didn’t have much by way of art, and our artefacts were limited to the functional – stone tools for hunting and butchering, for instance.
That changed around 40,000 years ago, when the archaeological record shows a sudden magnificent flowering of art and even musical instruments. Cultural evolution – which outpaces by orders of magnitude the superficially similar genetic evolution that had given rise to our big brains in the first place – went into overdrive. Next came the transition from the hunter/gatherer to the settled agriculture way of life, soon to be followed by cities, markets, governments, religion and war. The Industrial Revolution expanded cities to megalopolises, propelling our species to worldwide (and potentially disastrous) domination, and even to reach out to the moon and planets.
Simultaneously, the human mind has reached out to the wider universe, and far beyond the time constraints of a human lifespan. We now know that the world limiting our ancestors’ brief lives is a tiny speck orbiting a small star among some hundred billion stars, in an average galaxy among some hundred billion galaxies. We know that the world began 4.6 billion years ago, and the universe 13.8 billion. We understand the evolutionary process that generated us and all DNA-based life.
There’s plenty that we still don’t understand, but we are working on it. And the urge to do so is perhaps the most inspiring of all the unique qualities that make us human.
Richard Dawkins’s latest book is “An Appetite for Wonder: the Making of a Scientist” (Bantam Press, £20). He is a former New Statesman guest editor
This essay is part of a series in collaboration with Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show
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Book Review|The President and the Prosecutor
The President and the Prosecutor
Credit...Photographs by The New York Times (Bill Clinton) and Doug Mills/Associated Press (Kenneth W. Starr)
By Richard L. Berke
See how this article appeared when it was originally published on NYTimes.com.
Is anyone still fixated on the escapades of Linda Tripp and her motives for ratting out Monica Lewinsky? Or on what Lewinsky’s high-powered lawyers advised her to do with the semen-stained blue dress? (Don’t give it to Goodwill.) Or on whether Vincent Foster, the deputy White House counsel, actually committed suicide? (Yes, he did.)
Even amid the blazing intensity of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, the political controversy and sexual scandal it grew out of felt at once momentous and trivial — unbearably so, at times. It was only the second impeachment of a president in American history (Andrew Johnson was the first). Newspapers published keepsake reprints of the report by Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel, as though it had the historical import of the Pentagon Papers. More than one million copies of the report were printed in book form. Yet the entire episode stemmed not from matters of war and peace, but from the question of whether Clinton, when he was governor of Arkansas, had bared himself to a young woman, Paula Corbin Jones, in a Little Rock hotel room in 1991.
In today’s world of suicide bombers and a ravaged economy, it all seems not merely frivolous, but ludicrous. And it’s especially disconcerting to think that while so many were preoccupied by Clinton’s “distinguishing characteristic,” Osama bin Laden was most likely preoccupied with attacking the United States.
“The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr,” by Ken Gormley, recreates it all, from the Clintons’ investment in the Whitewater development in rural Arkansas to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky, culminating in the impeachment trial. This hefty volume, going beyond the sordid details, provides helpful context for the larger story, the fractionalization of American politics that defined the Clinton years.
Gormley, a professor at the Duquesne University School of Law, approaches his subject with scholarly detachment. If anything, he is too detached. He refrains from exploring the motivations of the two central figures, Clinton and Starr, even when their conduct invites scrutiny. He also could have concentrated even more on the broader political theater, much of it driven by the media and particularly by cable television and Web sites like the Drudge Report that gleefully covered the misbehavior of the “celebrity in chief” down to every salacious footnote in the Starr report.
Yet the sobriety of “The Death of American Virtue” also offers a relief from the familiar overheated chronicles. Unlike some other commentators, Gormley allows for the possibility that even the most rabid-seeming players might have acted out of honorable considerations. Starr, for one, comes across not as a zealous partisan but as the wrong choice to prosecute the case. Despite his impressive résumé — he had been a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then solicitor general under George H. W. Bush — he had never run a major criminal investigation. His missteps handed both sides in the case ample cause to distrust him. Yes, he gave running room to a clique of lawyers driven by a deep antipathy toward Bill Clinton. But he also initially opposed subpoenaing the president, invoking the duty “to be respectful of the presidency.”
Gormley’s account gains credibility and freshness for another reason: He interviewed all the crucial participants, some of whom disclosed valuable nuggets. Most surprising, perhaps, is that Susan Webber Wright, the federal judge who oversaw the Jones case, considered finding Clinton in criminal contempt during the Senate trial following his impeachment by the House. Had she done so, it might have “ended his political career in a nanosecond,” Gormley writes, giving the Senate all it needed to convict.
This was a rare instance of restraint. Although the author never explicitly makes the point, he has in effect written a case study in excess, as outrage at Clinton’s actions prompted people to overreact. Gormley turns up suggestions of possible misconduct on both sides. These include the assertion by Lewis Merletti, the former director of the Secret Service, that the F.B.I. improperly grilled him in an effort to prove that Merletti’s agents had tried to cover up Clinton’s flings and had even helped facilitate them. And Monica Lewinsky is quoted as saying she believed Clinton lied under oath to a grand jury.
Did the Clinton-Starr entanglement change how we look at politicians or morality? Probably not. Have the subsequent presidents gone out of their way to show off their happy personal lives? Perhaps, but then politicians have long pushed their blissful families front and center. Nor does it seem that the Clinton scandal has made the public either more or less forgiving of John Edwards’s trespasses, this season’s most titillating political news.
“The Death of American Virtue” dispenses important lessons. One is that the investigation was a colossal diversion — not only for the president but also for his aides (despite their insistence then that it was not a distraction). It also eclipsed the administration’s genuine accomplishments. No wonder that years later, Clinton’s “eyes flashed with anger” at the very mention of the independent counsel.
It’s not surprising that both Clinton and Starr agreed to be interviewed multiple times for this book. They come off the better for it, especially when admitting to their miscalculations. You don’t have to be sympathetic to Clinton to understand how he felt under siege at every turn. You don’t have to be a Starr loyalist to see how the Clinton drama blotted his own reputation and his dream of landing on the Supreme Court.
Reflecting on his mistake in acquiescing to the appointment of an independent counsel, Clinton told Gormley, “I was so naïve.” This is a refrain echoed by others. Wesley Holmes, one of Paula Jones’s lawyers, remembering his assumption that her litigation could be handled with dispatch, ruefully told Gormley, “How naïve we were.”
In retrospect, it is tempting to see the Clinton impeachment as having ushered in the feral reality of politics today: the birthers, the Tea Party movement, a Congress where old-fashioned legislative victory has given way to the insatiable appetite for annihilation. But in reality, the case belongs on the continuum that began with the toppling of Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court, continued through the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill fracas and was followed by the contested 2000 election. Indeed, the most consequential result of both Clinton’s behavior and the Starr investigation was the election of George W. Bush. Clinton’s would-be successor, Vice President Al Gore, was embarrassed to campaign alongside Clinton, especially in the Bible Belt, and ended up losing states where Clinton was still popular.
Shortly before his death in 2007, Henry Hyde, the Illinois congressman who led the impeachment, defended the Republicans’ actions as honorable and added, “I take consolation in comments that George W. Bush would not have been elected if we had not impeached President Clinton.”
There has been no equivalent satisfaction for Monica Lewinsky or for many other participants who still view the events with despair. Even Kenneth Starr, dean at the Pepperdine University School of Law, who this week was named president of Baylor University, regrets that his office wound up as the authority investigating the Lewinsky matter. Recalling his emotions as he watched the impeachment proceedings on television, Starr told Gormley that he asked himself: “Why did all of this have to happen? Why did we get to where we are? This is all so unnecessary.” More than a decade later, very few will disagree.
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Politics|Trump Hits China With Tariffs on $200 Billion in Goods, Escalating Trade War
https://nyti.ms/2NhlcTz
Trump Hits China With Tariffs on $200 Billion in Goods, Escalating Trade War
A carbon fiber production line at a factory in Lianyungang in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. President Trump has ordered a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods, meaning nearly half of all Chinese imports into the United States will face tariffs.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Jim Tankersley and Keith Bradsher
President Trump, emboldened by America’s economic strength and China’s economic slowdown, escalated his trade war with Beijing on Monday, saying the United States would impose tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods and was prepared to tax all imports.
Mr. Trump, in a statement released late Monday, showed no sign of backing down from the type of full-blown trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has rattled financial markets, saying he was prepared to “immediately” place tariffs on another $267 billion worth of imports “if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries.”
The tariffs on $200 billion worth of products comes on top of the $50 billion worth already taxed earlier this year, meaning nearly half of all Chinese imports into the United States will soon face levies. The next wave of tariffs, which are scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 24, will start at 10 percent before climbing to 25 percent on Jan. 1. The timing of the staggered increase will partially reduce the toll of price increases for holiday shoppers buying Chinese imports in the coming months.
“For months, we have urged China to change these unfair practices, and give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies,” Mr. Trump said. “We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.”
The tariffs are aimed at pressuring China to change longstanding trade practices that Mr. Trump says are hurting American businesses at a moment when the administration believes it has an advantage in the trade dispute. China’s economy is slowing, with consumers holding back and infrastructure spending slowing sharply. The Chinese slowdown is expected to worsen as America’s tariffs ramp up. The United States, by contrast, has continued to experience robust economic growth, including the lowest unemployment rate since 2000.
White House officials said on Monday that China could win relief from the tariffs by acceding to the administration’s trade demands, including allowing American companies greater access to the China market and dropping its requirement that American companies hand over valuable technology to Chinese partners. Officials said the United States would only continue trade negotiations if the Chinese were “serious” about giving ground on those issues.
The tariffs are aimed at hurting China, but they could hamper the American economy and bring pain for consumers. Unlike the first round of tariffs, which were intended to minimize the impact on American consumers, this wave could raise prices on everyday products including electronics, food, tools and housewares.
Retailers, manufacturers and a wide swath of other American businesses have warned that the new tariffs could hurt their profits, hiring and growth. The administration held six days of public hearings on the proposed $200 billion round of tariffs last month, which were dominated by companies warning that the United States no longer had the capacity to produce replacement products for the Chinese imports that would be hit by tariffs.
Economists warn the tariffs could chip away at economic growth in the United States. Morgan Stanley researchers estimate that the latest round could reduce economic growth in the United States this year by 0.1 percentage points, adding to another 0.1 percentage-point drag from tariffs currently in place. And the effects are likely to grow if China retaliates again, as it has threatened to do.
How China Became Trump’s Trade Nemesis
China’s explosive rise was a shock to the global trading system. For decades, Western economies like the United States have struggled with the growth of this economic powerhouse.
“If you look at what’s happening with trade in China, it hasn’t been fair for many, many years.” When President Trump rails against China, he says things like, “Our country is being taken advantage of,” or, “We lost years ago by presidents and others allowing this to happen.” He’s probably referring to the past four decades, when China has grown faster than any major economy in history and gone from a poor, developing country to an economic powerhouse that is challenging America’s spot at the top of the international food chain. “Its emergence as a global power was so sharp and so extreme, faster than the world can handle, in some ways faster than China can handle.” The U.S. and other Western nations kick-started much of China’s rise by opening up trade. What they haven’t figured out is how to get this fundamentally different economic system to play by free market rules. A pivotal moment came in 2001 after 15 years of negotiations. China joined the World Trade Organization, which sets the rules for free and fair trade between member countries. “All of the countries that were in the club at the time put enormous demands on China for what they needed to do.” The Chinese committed to sharply lower tariffs and reduced some of the government’s role in how business gets done. But they argued then, as they still do now, that China is a developing country and so should be held to less stringent free trade standards. The hope was that these first steps would lead to even more sweeping changes. “Why did we assume that? The experience of communism was through the lens of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, which was ultimately not a success. And so the presumption was, China’s going to want to become like us, more market oriented.” “After China joined the W.T.O. in 2001, you saw this enormous surge of Chinese exports to everywhere in the world, and to the United States in particular.” “They were kind of an elephant hiding behind mice with respect to other countries in global trade negotiations at the time.” The U.S. and other countries complained that China was not opening its markets enough, and keeping the value of its currency artificially low to make Chinese exports more attractive. “China has been making great strides using tools that are really not acceptable under the global trade system.” China has continued to operate as a centrally planned economy. The government owns, influences or subsidizes major industries, giving them an artificial competitive edge. There are heavy restrictions on foreign investment, and foreign companies are pressured to share their technologies. “China has become more market oriented, but dating back to probably 2007, 2008, I think it was recognized that China wasn’t on the path to become more like us. And so then countries began to think about, well, what do we do instead?” “Some view the rise of Asia-Pacific with suspicion and fear. America doesn’t.” Enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership, initiated by Bush, signed by Obama. “When implemented, It won’t just boost trade and support jobs in our 12 countries. It will help set stronger rules for trade across the Asia-Pacific.” Put less politely, It was also supposed to be a bulwark to China’s growing economic power. “The idea was that China would want to join this great trading pact, and so they would have this incentive to reform their economy.” “This is the one that President Trump ripped up on his third day in office.” “The first one is withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” “I had seen the erosion of popular and congressional support for trade for many years. But I’d never seen anything like Donald Trump.” “Our founding fathers understood trade much better than our current politicians, believe me.” Trade is generally accepted by economists as win-win for countries on the whole. But Trump says that China is winning and the U.S. is losing. “He and people in his administration argue that past approaches to dealing with China haven’t worked. It’s not actually that profitable to negotiate with them. We need to focus on this much bigger trade measure, and then we can really hit them with a very aggressive, forceful action.” “He seems intent on generating a moment of crisis.” “We put a $50 billion tariff on, then we put a $100 billion tariff on. And you know at a certain point, they run out of bullets.” But dynamics have changed. Today, China sees its economy as strong enough to withstand almost anything the U.S. can throw at it.
China’s explosive rise was a shock to the global trading system. For decades, Western economies like the United States have struggled with the growth of this economic powerhouse.CreditCredit...Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The administration did remove roughly 300 product lines — and some individual products — from the list after companies objected. Among the items dropped are smart watches, Bluetooth devices, bike helmets, plastic gloves, high chairs, play pens and certain chemicals. But, in some cases, partial product lines will be taxed while other parts are not. For example, high tech network routers and smart watches share a product line, but under the United States trade representative plan, the routers would be subject to tariffs while watches are not.
“It will be a lot of money coming into the coffers of the United States of America. A lot of money coming in,” Mr. Trump said during remarks at the White House on Monday. He added that the United States cannot tolerate the trade gap between what it exports to China and what it imports from that country.
“We can’t do that anymore,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s decision is a significant escalation of an already serious trade dispute — one with seemingly no end in sight. After months of failed trade talks, top officials from China and the United States were tentatively scheduled to talk later this month in Washington. But it is unclear whether Beijing will agree to come to Washington with the new tariffs set to go into effect.
“We are open to talk if there are serious talks,” Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said in an interview on Monday.
Mr. Trump also indicated he was willing to end the trade war — if China agreed to his demands. “China has had many opportunities to fully address our concerns,” Mr. Trump said. “Hopefully, this trade situation will be resolved, in the end, by myself and President Xi of China, for whom I have great respect and affection.”
“The Chinese are livid and drafting their own battle plan — they won’t take this sitting down,” said James Zimmerman, a longtime lawyer in Beijing and the former four-time chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce there.
Trade analysts said Mr. Trump’s approach risked further confrontation with the Chinese.
“Washington’s view seems to be that tariffs and threats of more tariffs will soften up the Chinese and make them more amenable to negotiations,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell economist who specializes in trade issues. “The evidence that, in response to U.S. bullying tactics, China just stiffens its spine and strikes back with proportionate tariffs against U.S. imports has had no discernible effect on the Trump administration’s take-no-prisoners approach to this rapidly escalating trade war.”
China is expected to further retaliate against the United States, and top officials have warned that could include penalizing American companies that rely on Chinese components for phones, cars, televisions and other products. China’s commerce ministry has said that it is ready to put similar tariffs on $60 billion a year of American goods in response to the threat from the United States. China has matched previous tariff moves dollar for dollar, but the number of American goods to tax is dwindling because, for many years, it has only imported about a quarter as much as it exports to the United States.
Lou Jiwei, China’s finance minister until his recent retirement and now a senior Communist Party adviser, delivered an unexpectedly strong threat to the United States in a lunch speech at the forum, which is organized by a government agency reporting directly to the cabinet. Mr. Lou said that, if necessary in the trade war, China could halt exports to the United States of components that are crucial to American companies’ supply chains.
Mr. Lou said that it would take years for American companies to find alternatives to China. “To take a step back, the United States can establish an alternative supply chain in a third country, but it takes time — what about the pain of three to five years? This is enough to cross a political cycle,” he said.
How Trump’s Trade War Went From 18 Products to 10,000
The battle began when the United States imposed tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. It has led to a global tit-for-tat targeting billions of dollars of goods.
American businesses — which have warned that tariffs could hurt profits, force job cuts and, in some cases, destroy companies, said the taxes were going to hurt the United States more than the administration realized. The National Association of Chemical Distributors released a study this month that predicted nearly 28,000 chemical distributor and supplier jobs would be eliminated because of higher prices from the $200 billion round of tariffs.
“These tariffs are going to be paid for by the working families who drive our economy,” said Jonathan Gold, a spokesman for a business group formed to fight tariffs called Tariffs Hurt the Heartland. “Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple. By choosing to unilaterally raise taxes on Americans, the cost of running a farm, factory or business will grow. In many cases, these costs will be passed on to American families.”
The tech industry, while spared on certain products, called the administration’s approach “misguided” and said it would hurt American consumers while doing little to change China’s trade practices.
“Today’s retaliatory tariffs are not an effective trade policy and may violate U.S. law,” Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association, said in a statement. “We urge the administration to reconsider its misguided approach of increasing tariffs, as they are directly paid for by American companies and consumers.”
The total wave of tariffs thus far has not been large enough to meaningfully affect consumer prices broadly across the economy — only narrowly, for certain products. Economists warn that the effects could grow noticeably larger if Mr. Trump follows through with his threat to subject nearly all Chinese imports to tariffs.
Asked about Mr. Trump’s tweets in the morning, regarding the lack of an impact on prices across the economy from tariffs, Mr. Kudlow stuck with the president. “With respect to the impact of tariffs, we’ll see,” he said. “We’re following it. We don’t see any problems so far.”
“I don’t see any reason to believe at the present time that the president’s trade reforms are going to damage the economy.”
The Trump administration has demanded steep cuts in Chinese tariffs and investment restrictions but has particularly focused on stopping the Chinese industrial policy initiative known as Made in China 2025.
Chinese policymakers have long said that they are willing to cut tariffs in particular, but want concessions from the United States, such as curbs on the Commerce Department’s ability to impose steep tariffs on imported goods that are government subsidized or are dumped below the cost of producing them. The United States has long refused, under the Obama administration and now under the Trump administration, contending that the American market is already so open that further concessions are not needed.
As for Made in China 2025, Chinese officials dismiss its importance. “We do not think this is such an important strategy for us or our industries,” said Wang Yiming, a vice president of the Chinese cabinet’s Development Research Center.
Chinese officials have expressed a willingness to get rid of the Made in China 2025 name, but they have been much more cautious about accepting limits on some of the key features of Chinese industrial policy, like enormous loans from state-owned banks at very low interest rates to favored industries.
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UN General Assembly.
Questions (94, 95)
Jan O'Sullivan
224 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the Irish ministerial address to the UN General Assembly in September 2004; his views on whether the UN is on target to produce its report on UN reform expected in December 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25322/04]
353 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the speech made by his predecessor at the UN General Assembly in September 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25367/04]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 224 and 353 together.
My predecessor, Deputy Cowen, delivered Ireland's national statement in the general debate at the start of the 59th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on 23 September 2004. The statement reflected the Government's view that the session just commenced will be one of the most important in the history of the United Nations. After the serious divisions that arose in 2003, and confronted by continued war, terror, ethnic violence and abuse of human rights, the organisation is now engaged in a period of serious reflection. A strong momentum for reform of the United Nations now exists, generated in no small part by its Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, whom we were pleased to welcome to Ireland last week. In addition, preparations are in train for a review of the commitments undertaken at the millennium summit, and of progress to date in the implementation of the millennium development goals.
During this session, therefore, the groundwork must be laid for a new compact by which the member states will invest the United Nations with the strength and capacity it needs to meet the threats and challenges of today, and rededicate themselves to the task of achieving by the target date of 2015 the goals established at the millennium. These goals, as the Secretary-General reminded us last week, include such important aims as halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and ensuring universal primary education.
Our national statement to the General Assembly called for bold decisions, that would restore the determination and idealism of the founding fathers of the United Nations, and provide a more effective system of collective security. Such a system required the unique legitimacy offered by the United Nations and its charter.
A high-level panel on threats, challenges and change was established by the Secretary-General last year. The panel's mandate is to examine and analyse current and future threats and challenges to international peace and security, to identify the contribution that collective action can make in addressing these challenges, and recommend necessary changes, including a review of the principal organs of the United Nations. The panel is on course to deliver its report to the Secretary-General by 1 December. Secretary-General Annan, when he receives the report of the high-level panel, will embark on a series of consultations to establish a basis for consensus. I assured him when I met him last Friday that he would have Ireland's support and help in this complex task.
Our national statement to the General Assembly drew attention to the EU contribution to the panel's work, co-ordinated by Ireland during its recent Presidency. EU partners agreed that security and development are intimately connected and that there should be no hierarchy of threats. The EU contribution pointed to the need for enhanced early warning systems that identified states or societies at risk of instability and for sustained engagement with such states to ensure that they do not descend or relapse into conflict, as well as new structures to ensure such engagement by the UN system and the international community in general. It called for enhanced involvement by the Security Council in addressing the threats posed by terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and pointed to the need to establish a basis for a common assessment of threat and to agree on criteria for intervention. It also pointed to the increasing contribution that regional organisations, including the European Union itself, can make to the maintenance of international peace and security under the overall authority of the Security Council.
There is no consensus among European Union partners on the specific means by which the Security Council itself might be reformed. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, however, told the General Assembly that Ireland favoured a regionally-balanced increase in the membership, in both categories, permanent and non-permanent, which would mean more legitimacy and, therefore, more effectiveness for the Security Council. He also pointed out that an effective Security Council required more than a change in structures, it also required a change in attitudes. Those who aspired to world leadership bore a particular responsibility to act in the global interest.
Ireland's national statement this year could not but condemn the dreadful terrorist attacks that had recently taken place, particularly at Beslan in southern Russia, where hundreds of innocents — men, women and especially children — were ruthlessly slaughtered. It also recalled that terrorism can rarely be defeated exclusively military or security means alone and that it was necessary to address root causes and maintain due regard for international law and human rights norms.
The statement dealt with non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear non-proliferation. We signalled our intention to work with our New Agenda Coalition partners to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at its forthcoming review, noting the mutually reinforcing nature of disarmament and non-proliferation. The importance of dealing with the threat posed by conventional weapons and land mines was also stressed.
The Minister, Deputy Cowen, offered the General Assembly the Government's perspectives on a range of regional issues. He urged the authorities in the Sudan to fulfil the obligations imposed by the Security Council, to co-operate closely with the monitoring mission of the African Union, to bring the Janjaweed militias under control and disarm them, to bring to justice those responsible for serious violations of human rights and bring about secure conditions so that people can return voluntarily to their homes. He called on all parties, including the rebel groups, to show flexibility and good will so that the underlying problems of Darfur can be resolved peacefully.
The Minister welcomed the passage of Security Council Resolution 1546 on Iraq, which represented a coming together of the international community on the importance of reconstruction, saying that it was vital that the interim Iraqi government be able to establish a full democratic mandate. He called for an end to the lethal violence that was disrupting the normal development of the country. Ireland has always seen the United Nations as central to reconstruction and, with its EU partners, will seek to ensure that the UN mission is provided with the necessary security to carry out its tasks.
The national statement described the violence that the people of Israel and Palestine suffer as futile and tragic. It called on Israel to halt the expansion of settlements and criticised the line taken by the security fence, which creates severe hardship for Palestinian communities and will perpetuate facts on the ground that will make a resolution of the conflict, which is fundamentally a struggle over land, more difficult. It also called on the Palestinian Authority to assume its responsibilities under the roadmap and to exercise effective and responsible leadership. The statement recalled the Tullamore Declaration, in which EU Ministers acknowledged the impetus that could be given to the peace process by Prime Minister Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza, as long as it took place in the context of the implementation of the roadmap for peace.
The Minister, Deputy Cowen, also availed of the opportunity to brief the General Assembly on ongoing work to consolidate peace and stability in Northern Ireland, saying that the complete implementation of the Good Friday Agreement was the best way forward. While it had not been possible to achieve agreement among the parties on the operation of the political institutions of the Agreement at Leeds Castle, he noted that Dr. Ian Paisley had made the point immediately after the talks that "a golden opportunity has been available to realise a stable and entirely peaceful future".
In conclusion, the Minister exhorted the members of the General Assembly to make 2005 the year in which the United Nations was reborn, strong, effective and respected, as its founding fathers intended it to be.
Question No. 225 answered with QuestionNo. 195.
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Social and Affordable Housing Provision
Noel Grealish
333. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government when an affordable housing scheme will be announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42803/19]
Freagraí scríofa (Ceist ar Housing)
Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government
Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 was commenced in June 2018 to provide a statutory basis for the delivery of affordable housing for purchase. Regulations in respect of the making of Schemes of Priority were signed on 12 March 2019, and these were issued to local authorities on 22 March 2019. The purpose of a Scheme of Priority is to set out the affordable purchase arrangements at local authority level. This includes the methodology that will be applied by local authorities to determine the order of priority to be accorded to eligible households where the demand for such affordable dwellings exceeds the number available. In line with the legal requirements of the Affordable Dwelling Purchase Arrangements, further regulations will be put in place over the coming months regarding eligibility and other matters. When the operational procedures for the scheme are finalized, and before affordable dwellings are made available for purchase under the scheme, a programme of communication will be undertaken by my Department and local authorities.
In order to support the delivery of affordable homes to buy or rent, the Government has committed €310 million under the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF), from 2019 to 2021 to provide infrastructure support for the delivery of some 6,200 affordable homes. To date, two calls for proposals have been made under the SSF, resulting in funding of €127 million, in support of 35 projects in 14 local authority areas, being allocated for infrastructure works on sites that will support the delivery of almost 3,200 homes. Of these 35 projects, two of them are in Galway; one in Galway City Council and one in Galway County Council with the potential to support the delivery of a cumulative total of 125 affordable homes.
Details of all SSF funded infrastructure projects can be found on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following links:
https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-approves-10-local-authority-sites-affordable-housing-serviced-sites-fund/.
https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-approves-funding-of-e84m-to-support-delivery-of-1770-affordable-homes-under-the-ssf/.
The overall cost and the timing of delivery for these projects is contingent upon the completion of design, planning and procurement in the first instance, and local authorities are working to achieve delivery as quickly as possible.
In addition to making discounted homes available for purchase, the Government is also committed to the development of ‘Cost Rental’ in Ireland. Under the Cost Rental model, rents cover the cost of delivering, managing, and maintaining the homes only, less both the profit margin seen in the private rental sector and any financial supports provided by the State/local authorities. With the resulting rents significantly below market levels, this would mean that many households on moderate incomes will have access to a more affordable and stable form of rental tenure than would otherwise have been the case.
In order to drive delivery, two early mover pilot projects are being advanced, one at Enniskerry Road, in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, and the other at Emmet Road in Inchicore. In tandem with these pilot projects, my Department is developing a national policy approach to Cost Rental for Ireland to ensure future projects can be delivered at a scale and in a manner that will have the desired positive impact on the Irish housing sector.
These new schemes are complemented by other key Government affordability initiatives, including the Rebuilding Ireland home loan and the Help to Buy Scheme. In addition, the Land Development Agency's initial portfolio of sites will have the potential to deliver 3,000 affordable homes and the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) will support more than 2,300 affordable homes on mainly publicly owned lands, while 5,600 further homes will benefit from a LIHAF related cost reduction, some of which have already come on stream.
In overall terms, programmes are in place under which some 18,000 affordable homes or homes with a LIHAF related reduction will be delivered, with some 15,000 households already supported under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan or the Help to Buy Scheme.
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> NHS GREATER GLASGOW AND CLYDE WELCOMES HCV ACTION PLAN
NHS GREATER GLASGOW AND CLYDE WELCOMES HCV ACTION PLAN
Public health experts from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are today welcoming the announcement by Health Minister Andy Kerr of a new £4 million Action Plan to tackle rates of Hepatitis C infection.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's Interim Director of Public Health Dr Linda de Caestecker said: "The Hepatitis C Action Plan for Scotland sets out a national response to what is a significant public health challenge, and that's very encouraging. This funding of almost £1.4 million over the next two years is particularly welcome, as it will allow the existing portfolio of services to be enhanced in a co-ordinated way.
"We now plan to set up a multidisciplinary group, to include a broad range of stakeholders, who will be asked to make decisions and set targets for primary prevention, treatment, care and support in accordance with the new Action Plan's recommendations.
"Approximately 40% of the total diagnosed cases of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Scotland are people who live in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Most of these cases of infection were acquired as a consequence of injecting drug use and therefore a wide range of prevention, treatment and support services currently exists. This includes extensive needle exchange services, comprehensive addiction services delivered through the joint Health and Social Care Community Addiction Teams; the C-Level peer education and support service; testing, treatment and care.
"Most recently an Outreach Programme has been set up to offer support and assessment for treatment in the community. A Managed Care Network for Hepatitis C has also recently been established in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and it is anticipated that this will have a significant and important role to play in future treatment, care and support."
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> August
> Response to Vale of Leven Hospital Unscheduled Medical Care Independent Review Panel Report
Response to Vale of Leven Hospital Unscheduled Medical Care Independent Review Panel Report
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Chief Executive, Tom Divers, today welcomed the report from the Independent Review Panel chaired by Professor Chris Dodds (Royal College of Anaesthetists in England) into the future of unscheduled medical care at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire.
The new model of care they have identified would allow a significant number of patients to continue to get their care at the hospital whilst removing certain types of emergency care that gave us concern about patient safety.
The community hospital approach would see emergency patients who might require the skilled support of anaesthetic staff go directly to an acute general hospital.
Mr Divers said: “It is now for this Board to take forward these new ideas to help inform a consultation that will secure a sustainable and safe long term future for the hospital backed with a programme of investment.
“I today commit to the local community that the Board will rapidly produce proposals for detailed public scrutiny on the future services that can be developed and delivered at the Vale of Leven site. This work will also include proposals for a significant investment in a new purpose built Primary Care Centre on site costing in the region of £17million.”
For further information please contact the Press Office on 0141 201 4429.
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Texas trip stirs memories for Montgomery
Former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith was on the verge of history when Ty Montgomery’s Pop Warner team played a halftime scrimmage at Texas Stadium in 2002.
Texas trip stirs memories for Montgomery Former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith was on the verge of history when Ty Montgomery’s Pop Warner team played a halftime scrimmage at Texas Stadium in 2002. Check out this story on packersnews.com: http://pck.rs/2ipK0YJ
Ryan Wood, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 4:44 p.m. CT Jan. 12, 2017 | Updated 10:25 p.m. CT Jan. 12, 2017
Green Bay Packers receiver Ty Montgomery runs as Jordy Nelson blocks Dallas Cowboys cornerback Anthony Brown following a reception in the second half at Lambeau Field.(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-W)
GREEN BAY – Former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith was on the verge of history when Ty Montgomery’s Pop Warner team played a halftime scrimmage at Texas Stadium in 2002.
Montgomery, the Green Bay Packers' starting running back, remembers breaking a 60-yard touchdown run in the scrimmage.
“I went right up the middle,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery also remembers a shorter run in the fourth quarter. Smith took a handoff and picked up 11 yards over the left guard, breaking Walter Payton’s record to become the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.
It wasn’t the only time Montgomery has watched the Cowboys play in Dallas. When he was growing up there, Montgomery would work a small, side concession stand at Texas Stadium, selling hot dogs and water.
With the Packers traveling to Dallas for their NFC divisional round playoff game Sunday, those memories have filled Montgomery’s mind this week.
“I always had dreams of playing in Cowboys Stadium,” Montgomery said. “I remember, specifically up to this day, I remember having a dream of playing running back in Texas Stadium. I didn’t know that AT&T (Stadium) was going to be built. This was back in the old Texas Stadium.”
Montgomery, a third-round pick in 2015, was still a wide receiver when the Cowboys traveled to Lambeau Field earlier this year. He led the Packers with 10 catches for 98 yards in the loss. Four days later, he moved to running back to replace injured Eddie Lacy and hasn’t looked back.
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Now, Montgomery will realize his boyhood dream, albeit against the Cowboys. It’s been a whirlwind second season for Montgomery. At times, he said, it’s been hard not to reflect on his journey.
But he’s focused on what lies ahead.
“Once the season is over,” Montgomery said, “I’ll reflect on that. But at times, I’ve caught myself.”
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Seven Days in South Korea
On a recent fam trip sponsored by Korea Tourism Organization, we explored both the new and old Korea, and saw everything from pagoda temples to K-Pop performances.
by Jennifer N. Dienst
The infinity pool at the beachfront Hilton Busan.
The Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in Gwanghwamun was the ideal place to recover from my nearly 24-hour travel day. The rooms are cocoons of luxury, with remote-controlled blackout shades that muffle the city’s haze of lights, soaking tubs prepped with a tray of bath salts, and beds so comfortable they’re bested only by the womb. When I finally emerged, awaiting me downstairs was the breakfast buffet equivalent of Disney’s Epcot.
After breakfast, feeling crisp and rested, I met the two-dozen other journalists in town for the weeklong media familiarization tour hosted by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). The fam was being held in conjunction with the 19th annual Korea MICE Expo (KME), and the timing couldn’t have been better. The summit between North Korea and the U.S. was scheduled for just a few days into the trip, and earlier in the year, PyeongChang hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics. These events put a spotlight on South Korea, one that officials hope will also draw the eye of tourists and meeting planners.
Gyeongbokgung
Our first stop in Seoul was Gyeongbokgung, a 14th-century palace compound where young Koreans don candy-colored hanboks and stage elaborate photo shoots. It’s a beloved Korean custom that foreigners can also partake in at the nearby K-Style Hub, essentially a base camp for tourists. Here, they can pose with cutouts of their favorite K-Pop star, or learn how to make classic dishes like bibimbap, a hearty bowl of beef or pork smothered with a fried egg, rice, vegetables, and, of course, kimchi.
If there was one flavor that sums up my time in South Korea — and there were many — it would be the spicy fermented goodness of kimchi. There are more than 200 kinds, ranging in hue and ingredient, so if you’re not a fan of one it doesn’t mean you won’t like another. The flaming red baechu is the classic variety, and the first I tried during a nine-course welcome lunch at Korea House. A private residence in the 15th century, the complex has functioned as the venue of choice for high-profile events since 1957. Besides offering several spaces for meals or receptions, Korea House can complement the experience with performances and cooking classes.
After lingering over dessert and enjoying a moment of stillness in the garden, we picked up the pace and hopped a train to Busan. Just two-and-a-half hours south on the high-speed Korea Train Express (KTX), South Korea’s second-most populous city has one of the largest ports in the world. Driving over Busandaegyo Bridge, the port seemed to stretch beneath us for miles, a ribbon of multicolored shipping containers that wrapped around the bay’s blue-green water. When we reached BEXCO, the country’s second-largest exhibition facility, we were immediately greeted by Busan Expo 2030 banners — the city is hoping to bid on a future World Expo.
It certainly has the hosting chops and the infrastructure. The BEXCO campus is massive, comprising two exhibition centers, a convention center, and an auditorium. A short distance away, the Nurimaru APEC House, host of the APEC Summit in 2005, is also managed by BEXCO. Unique for its modern spaceship-like design that amplifies its oceanfront views, the three-story venue is surrounded by a park thick with camellia and pine trees.
McQueens Bar
It’s here that I began to see why Koreans have long flocked to this southern beach respite. Recently, Busan has attracted a larger international crowd for its design and film scene. Both converge at the Busan Cinema Center, the official venue of the Busan International Film Festival. Besides multiple indoor theaters, the center offers a show-stopping 4,000-seat outdoor theater covered by the world’s longest cantilever roof. Almost as arresting is the beachfront Hilton Busan, in the nearby Ananti Cove tourist development. The vibe here is cool and sleek, inspired by the owner’s love of Steve McQueen. The 310-room property opened last year with two ballrooms and seven meeting rooms, along with unique amenities like infinity pools that peek out over the shoreline, an indoor hot-spring spa, a skincare clinic, and a library.
There is a stark contrast between the old and new South Korea, and perhaps the most black-and-white example is Busan and Gyeongju, just a 30-minute drive north. It can take days to properly see the Gyeongju Historic Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site packed with well-preserved pagoda temples, palaces, and many other ancient treasures. We managed to squeeze in a respectable number of them in less than 24 hours — a night tour of Donggung Palace; a brief but beautiful hike up to Seokguram Grotto and Temple of Bulguksa; a tea ceremony at Gyochon Hanok Village; and a traditional dinner at Yosokkoong, a restaurant whose recipes have been passed down over 12 generations.
Seoul Fortress Wall
Back on the train, we headed north to experience yet another city distinctly different from the one we had just visited — brand-new, squeaky clean, and shiny Incheon. Bordering Seoul, the city is a free economic zone with a solid resume and a lofty goal of becoming Northeast Asia’s largest business hub. It’s already home to Incheon International Airport, the country’s largest and the world’s seventh-busiest, as well as the business district of Songdo, a very young “smart city” with international appeal. All together, the package is a tempting sell to multinational companies and organizations, as South Korea already has the world’s 10th-strongest economy and ranks No. 1 in the Bloomberg Innovation Index.
The next morning, we arrived at Incheon’s recently expanded Songdo Convensia. “The Korean Peninsula is becoming a symbolic place of world peace,” said Ahn Young-bae, president of KTO, as he kicked off KME 2018’s opening ceremony. It was just one day after President Donald Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore, and everyone’s hopes were high. It helped that K-Pop boy band Shinee had just made a surprise appearance, becoming official ambassadors for KME and eliciting a crowd response that rivaled what The Beatles probably experienced in the ’60s. From where I sat, I couldn’t help but stay upbeat, too.
The past week, although scheduled down to the minute, had been nothing but positive experiences. Regardless of the time of day or place, travel here is safe and easy, and the hospitality always gracious and genuine.
Coex’s Starfield Library hosts cultural events.
On our final day in South Korea, we checked off the remaining must-sees of Seoul — Coex, Seoul’s largest convention center, conveniently attached to Asia’s largest underground shopping mall; the Floating Island Convention event spaces that light up the Han River; and Seoul Dragon City, which has four Accor-branded hotels within its massive 1,700-room footprint. Then, finally, there was just one thing left to do — celebrate the end of a long week with Korean barbeque and soju with all of my new old friends.
Jennifer N. Dienst
Contributing Editor Jennifer N. Dienst is a freelance writer based in Charleston, South Carolina.
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Lucky Charm Farms
Weyers Cave, VA
Spotlight on Lucky Charm Farms in Weyers Cave, Virginia
Bud Shaver Jr., of Lucky Charm Farms in Weyers Cave, VA, is one of three Pilgrim’s growers awarded the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award for his exemplary environmental stewardship.
The farm, which supplies the Pilgrim’s plant in Broadway, VA, is composed of 1,755 acres with three broiler chicken houses, producing 950,000 chickens a year. The Shaver family uses a nutrient management plan for applying litter to their land, using approximately half for their own use and selling the other half third parties. The farm has eliminated run-off through conservation practices and the use of a three-mile fence. A 10-acre flood plane was planted with planted 1,100 trees and native grasses, providing a natural boundary for wildlife.
Shaver started as an employee of his farm 26 years ago. In 1993, the farmer he worked for built turkey houses and Bud managed them. In 2006, Bud purchased the property, renamed it Lucky Charm Farms and converted from turkey to chicken houses.
“I did a lot of research and this was the perfect fit for me. To be honest with you, chickens are about half the work of a turkey. At that time we were raising a 40-pound bird versus a six-pound bird. Chickens are easier on the back,” Bud explained.
A True Family Farm
Bud and his wife, Misty, live on the farm with their two daughters, one of whom is involved in the Future Farmers of America program. Misty is very involved on the farm and also runs a bookkeeping business.
A Healthy Environment Produces Healthy Chickens
When he’s not farming, Bud is active in the local agricultural and environmental community. He serves as the vice president of the Augusta County Farm Bureau and sits on the boards of the Augusta Cooperative Farm Bureau and the Agricultural Industry Board for Augusta County. He also serves on a steering committee for Friends of the Middle River, an organization with the mission to improve water quality through voluntary measures.
“I used to have a bumper sticker on my tractor that said, ‘Farmers were the first environmentalists,'” Bud said. “The way I feel about it is, if we don’t leave something a little bit better than we received it, then what are we doing to society? If you don’t take care of the land, the land is not going to take care of you,” said Bud.
“The way I feel about it is, if we don’t leave something a little bit better than we received it, then what are we doing to society? If you don’t take care of the land, the land is not going to take care of you,” said Bud.
Jeffrey Bushong, grower manager for Pilgrim’s in Virginia and West Virginia, has high praise for Bud.
“He is a very conscientious grower. He’s truly is concerned about the environment and tries to do what’s right. He’s aggressive and looks ahead on issues around growing chickens, nutrient management and erosion. That’s just the way he farms. I would say he is truly a leader in environmental farming. It’s not just about making money for him, but doing what’s right for the birds,” Bushong said.
The environmental measure Bushong most appreciates is the biosecurity of his operation. Limiting visitors to the chicken houses and providing disinfecting pans that everyone must step in, including Bud himself, prior to entering the houses prevents the spread of disease. Keeping the area in and around the houses neat and mowed to keep rodents at bay, planting trees and fencing around the chicken houses, keeping the ventilation and the air quality good in the chicken houses, Bushong says, “all add up to a better environment for the chickens.”
Bud believes farmers should be more vocal about the invaluable contribution they make to the world.
“I have three chicken houses on 10 acres of land and raise more than 5 million pounds of chicken a year. You couldn’t free range those birds and do that. We’re helping to feed the world,” Bud said.
In addition to being a contract chicken grower for Pilgrim’s, Bud also raises 300 beef cows, manages a developmental program for the Hereford Association and plants 100 acres of hay.
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Karen Bradley: “I’m not here for the headlines. I’m here to get the best thing for the country”
Sebastian Whale
Karen Bradley has enjoyed a steady rise to the Cabinet since entering parliament in 2010. Trusted by the Prime Minister to take on the Northern Ireland brief in January, the Tory MP has been exposed to some of the region’s “intractable” challenges. Can she help break the deadlock at Stormont? Sebastian Whale travels to Belfast to see if any progress has been made
Karen Bradley became Northern Ireland Secretary in January
Kelvin Boyes
Karen Bradley and I have something in common; until this year, neither of us had visited Northern Ireland. We are two unlikely people, then, to be congregated at Hillsborough Castle, the 100-acre palace and royal residence whose walls are dripping with references to the region’s history.
Our meeting room is where the Queen greeted Martin McGuinness in 2016. When the Sinn Féin politician asked Her Majesty how she was, she replied: “Well, I’m still alive.” At the base of the garden overlooking a pond is Lady Alice’s Temple, where Mo Mowlam, the former Northern Ireland Secretary, took stock of developments in the peace negotiations during the late 1990s. The castle also witnessed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 and the Hillsborough Agreement on devolution in 2010.
The fact that we find ourselves in such surroundings on a stunning September day speaks to the unpredictable nature of British politics. This time last year, Bradley was Culture Secretary and considering Rupert Murdoch’s proposed takeover of Sky. In January James Brokenshire resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary due to illness. Theresa May asked Bradley to step in.
“I had no idea how wonderful Northern Ireland was,” Bradley confesses. “I was slightly scared of Northern Ireland because of my impression and images from 20 years ago. That is not the place that it is today.”
Bradley could hardly be too grateful for the situation she inherited. The stalemate at Stormont had run for a year following the collapse of the power-sharing deal between the DUP and Sinn Féin. The vexed issue of the Northern Ireland border dominated the Brexit negotiations. And a highly charged debate over investigations into killings during the Troubles was brewing. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But as the people of Northern Ireland enter their 19th month without an assembly, the initial goodwill that was afforded to Bradley is starting to wane.
“Karen has come in with little or no experience of Northern Ireland. So obviously it’s been a steep learning curve for her,” Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the DUP, tells me in his North Belfast constituency office.
“She’s come in at a time when we haven’t got devolution and we don’t have direct rule and her approach has been – it’s not her approach alone, it’s been the approach given to her by No10 – basically ‘wait and see and hope for the best’. But I think the time has now run out on that policy.”
So why has the PM placed such trust in Bradley? And can the MP for Staffordshire Moorlands, who covets policy detail over headlines, succeed where others have failed?
Karen Bradley grew up in Buxton, Derbyshire along with her two brothers. They lived above their parent’s pub, which has been in the family for 51 years spanning three generations. Pub work became second nature and instilled a “small business mentality”. During a recent visit to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, a guide tried to instruct her on how to pour the perfect pint. “Oh, you actually know how to do this,” he said.
Bradley was told never to discuss religion, politics or football with patrons – a challenge for the devout Manchester City fan. “Behind the bar, your job is to smile sweetly and serve the customer and don’t get involved in their discussions and arguments. So, it’s a bit odd really that I’ve found myself doing what I do.”
One of her earliest political recollections took place on polling day in 1979. She had entered the kitchen dressed in a red jumper and red kilt from Marks & Spencer before her mum instructed her: “Go back and put your blue on. We’re voting for Margaret Thatcher today.”
Bradley studied mathematics at Imperial College London, becoming the first member of her family to go to university. She went on to work for Deloitte and then KPMG as a tax manager.
September 11, 2001 completely altered the course of her career. Plans for Bradley to run the UK tax desk in KPMG’s New York office were put on ice as the fallout from the terror attack gripped the financial services sector. To go for partnership at the firm, she needed a secondment. Along came an opportunity to work as a technical adviser to the then shadow chancellor, Michael Howard. Here she worked on the Tories’ response to Gordon Brown’s 2003 budget. Her amendment to the subsequent finance bill was accepted by the Labour government. The experience took Bradley aback. “It was like, ‘I’ve changed the law’,” she says. “’I can actually make a difference.’”
It proved contagious. “The fact is that when I went back to KPMG and I had a choice of going for partnership or going into politics, one was definitely more financially rewarding but not as personally rewarding,” she says.
“And while my poor husband, who says he married this accountant who drove a BMW and lived in Chelsea, now he’s got a politician who lives in Staffordshire with a Volvo, a 15-year-old Volvo at that, it’s not quite the same for him financially. But he knows I’m a happier person because I’m doing something I love and something where I can really make a difference to people’s lives.”
Bradley was elected MP for Staffordshire Moorlands in 2010. At the first PMQs of the parliament, she asked David Cameron if he would consider the case of her Albanian constituent who had been wrongly accused of murder and faced extradition to Italy. Theresa May, then Home Secretary, took up the issue and the Italians withdrew the extradition order. “I then helped him to apply for UK citizenship and he and his family are living happily in Leek still,” she says.
This counts as one of Bradley’s two proudest moments as an MP (“I feel like I genuinely made a difference to his life”). The second relates to her work on the Modern Slavery Act as Home Office Minister, which was the last piece of legislation passed by the Coalition government.
The common thread running through these achievements is Theresa May. They seem to be political kindred spirits; two people who prefer the behind-the-scenes aspect of politics than hogging the limelight.
“I think that we’re both ‘get on, do the job, get your head down, get into the policy detail’. My job in the Home Office was a very technical, policy-driven job. It was really quite dry stuff. You can’t just do it superficially,” she says.
“That really involved knuckling down. It’s not about being showy. It’s not about big announcements the whole time. It’s about understanding the detail, so you can deliver a really good piece of work that works for everybody.”
She adds: “If you look at people like Damian Green and James Brokenshire, who also worked with her in the Home Office, we were all politicians that really got into the detail and she appreciates that.”
Is this genre of politician the one that Bradley too admires? “I admire people who are able to get on and get the job done. As I say, I’m not here for the headlines. I’m here to get the best thing for the country.
“I’m here to get the best thing for my constituents… it’s about putting public service above personal gain and personal satisfaction, I suppose.”
The PM has placed great value in politicians cut from Bradley’s cloth; both she and Brokenshire enjoyed promotions to the Cabinet when she entered No10. Close allies like David Lidington, who hold leading positions in her top team, are unlikely to trouble the scorers from a media stand point but are often thought of as being competent and policy-focused.
All told, May knows what she is getting with Bradley; a capable politician who she can trust. A rare and, in these turbulent times, much coveted loyalist.
“It’s a joke,” says my taxi driver. The conversation has inevitably turned to Stormont as he catches wind of why I’m in Belfast. Originating from Holywood in County Down, my driver embodies much of the progress in Northern Ireland. He, a protestant, is married to a catholic. But as we tour the many murals of the city, passing the one of George Best on Blythe Street, he seems concerned by the political climate. “People want to get on with their lives and not go back to the past.”
Sinn Féin collapsed the executive in January 2017 after Arlene Foster, the First Minister, refused to resign over the so-called ‘Cash for Ash’ scandal. A deal seemed within reach in February 2018 to restore power sharing but talks collapsed.
Sinn Féin blames the breakdown on disagreements over an Irish Language Act and on opposing views over same-sex marriage. DUP sources say Sinn Féin are opportunistically trying to take advantage of the Brexit vote to further their cause for a united Ireland.
“Obviously we want to see devolved government in Stormont again,” says Bradley. “I am as frustrated as anybody, perhaps more so. I do lie awake at three o’clock in the morning thinking ‘what can I do now?’ I can’t understand how people who could make a difference don’t do something about it and deal with it, because getting devolved government in Stormont is the only solution for Northern Ireland. There is no alternative.”
So no direct rule from Westminster? “No. I mean if I speak to businesses about their desire to invest in Northern Ireland, they want to invest on the basis of stable devolved government,” she says.
“Direct rule, people think it would be very easy to get into, it’s very difficult to get out of. But it’s not even easy to get into. You’re talking about having to legislate in Westminster to suspend the institutions that are set up under the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. That is a major step.
“The idea that we would willingly and openly choose to turn back on what we achieved over 20 years in those institutions is just something that I think people, if they really think about it, they really don’t want to see that happen. They want to see devolved government.
“Whilst there’s a chance of devolved government, whilst I think it can be achieved, I think we need to make that our priority.”
Given that, should we judge Bradley by whether Stormont gets up and running again? “Clearly getting devolved government up is my priority… It is the thing that we need to do.”
While the stalemate rumbles on, Bradley is facing calls to intervene. The DUP’s Nigel Dodds says: “Time has come for her to actually take decisions and bring forward legislation in the House which will actually tackle the current limbo we have in Northern Ireland in terms of governance.”
Does he mean direct rule from Westminster? “We want to see devolution. That’s the main thing. But given the fact that Sinn Féin are boycotting both the assembly, the executive and Westminster and show no signs – before Brexit is sorted out anyway – of wanting to have devolution restored. We can’t continue to have civil servants in this position where they are the ultimate authority.
“She has to now intervene, bring forward legislation which will allow decisions to be made in the interests of everybody in Northern Ireland. This is just stuff to do with health, education, not controversial constitutional issues, but the normal day-to-day things that other parts of the UK would like to see happening.”
After our interview, Bradley signals that she has been listening. She announces that following the court ruling in the Buick case, which found that a Stormont department had no legal power to sanction a new waste incinerator without a minister in place, she will bring forward primary legislation later this year that will “include provisions to give clarity and certainty to enable decisions” to be taken in Northern Ireland and ensure the “continued delivery of public services”. “I intend to consult parties in Northern Ireland over how this might best be done,” she tells MPs. She also outlined plans for a potential independent facilitator who could “play a constructive role in the next round of talks”. MLAs’ salaries, she added, would also be cut by 27.5%.
Bradley explains to me that she wants the parties to “come together” and deal with the “sticking points” over language and other areas in a “separate space” while running schools and hospitals. “You could deal with the more symbolic issues about identity and culture, sustainability of the executive, deal with the issues about the role of minority parties within the executive, all of those things I think should be dealt with separately and get on with government,” she says.
The confidence and supply agreement between the Conservatives and the DUP, secured after last year’s election, has prompted concerns about the UK government’s impartiality in matters Northern Ireland. Both Bradley and Dodds roundly dismiss this claim, with the latter arguing that Sinn Féin are trying to make political capital out of the situation.
But Sinn Féin MP Elisha McCallion says Bradley and the Conservative government “have no interest in or concern for the people of the north of Ireland”. “The price of the Tory government’s voting pact with the DUP is no assembly, no executive, the denial of rights and a Brexit process that will be devastating for the island of Ireland.”
The spectre of Brexit has dominated mainland debate on Northern Ireland since the referendum. Last weekend David Davis argued that the issue of the border in Northern Ireland has been “overemphasised” in the negotiations. Boris Johnson, his fellow Brexiteer, used a newspaper op-ed to criticise the government’s approach to the issue.
“With all due respect to my colleagues, you cannot possibly understand the issues of Northern Ireland from Westminster. It’s just not possible, you have to be here,” Bradley says. “I think they need to come and meet some of the businesses and people that I speak to and come and see it for themselves.”
The interventions are not going down well in Northern Ireland, she adds. “People feel slightly offended, actually.”
To the surprise of no one, Bradley is signed up to the Chequers proposals set out by the PM. She argues it “deals with the concerns” of the Irish border in a way that works for the UK. The same cannot be said, she continues, for a Canada-style trade deal with the EU, which she claims would lead to a border down the Irish sea. It would also make it harder for businesses to trade with Europe, she says. “The proposition is we move to rest of world customs arrangement for our EU trade. That seems to me to be madness. I didn’t come into politics to impose burdens on business.”
On Chequers, she adds: “Let’s all get behind it and get a good deal for the United Kingdom rather than now trying to come up with different approaches and different proposals that might mean that Brexit simply doesn’t happen. I want to see Brexit happen, my constituents voted for it, the country voted for it. But I want to see it happen in a way that’s a success for the UK.”
Is Bradley, who campaigned for Remain, frustrated by Brexit? She pauses. “That’s an interesting question; does it frustrate me? It frustrates me that people get distracted from all the good work that we’re doing as a government.”
It is not only the Stormont impasse and Brexit that dominates Bradley’s in-tray. The proposed historical investigations unit into the killings during the Troubles has got Tory backbenchers worked up, as they fear the military or police could be targeted disproportionately. There are growing calls for a statute of limitations to prevent the prosecution of former soldiers.
Bradley wants to see a more proportionate system that would look at all the killings where there has not been a conclusion. But she says a statute of limitation is a “bad idea” as it would have to apply to all sides and could mean that prosecutions could not be carried out for terrorists behind atrocities such as the Enniskillen bomb.
Bradley is “absolutely sure” that much of the backlash is a hangover from the controversial IHAT investigations into the Iraq War. “I understand completely. I do not want to see veterans being hounded. They’re being hounded today, and I want to change that,” she adds.
Notwithstanding the major obstacles she faces, Bradley’s immediate task is to host the annual summer party at Hillsborough Castle, which has been the official home of the Northern Ireland Secretary since the 1970s. The place is a hive of activity as staff prepare for the soiree, with 2,000 of Northern Ireland’s finest due in fewer than 24 hours.
In light of the obdurateness of the issues she faces, and given her initial unfamiliarity with the brief, is this Bradley’s biggest challenge of her career?
“I don’t know. There’s been a challenge in everything that I’ve done. There are certainly intractable challenges sometimes it feels in Northern Ireland and there’s a lot to understand about Northern Ireland,” she says.
“As I said earlier, I freely admit that when I started this job, I didn’t understand some of the deep-seated and deep-rooted issues that there are in Northern Ireland.
“I didn’t understand things like when elections are fought for example in Northern Ireland, people who are nationalists don’t vote for unionist parties and vice-versa. So, the parties fight for the election within their own community. Actually, the unionist parties fight the elections against each other in unionist communities and nationalists in nationalist communities. That’s a very different world from the world I came from.”
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Nashville Talcum Powder Cancer Lawyer
Defective Products Overview
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Talc Ovarian Cancer
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Talcum Powder Ovarian Cancer Risks
Talcum powder is made primarily from talc, a mineral containing the elements magnesium, silicon, and oxygen. Used in baby and facial powders, cosmetics, and other consumer products, talc absorbs moisture and can be used to reduce chafing against the skin. But despite its wide use for decades, talcum powder has been linked to an increased risk of ovarian cancer in some women.
If you or your mother, sister, daughter, or other loved one developed ovarian cancer after using talcum powder, our defective product attorneys want to help. You may be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost wages. Don’t wait, give us a call or fill out our free contact request form to get the legal representation you need today.
Talc and Ovarian Cancer
Although talc can contain asbestos—a cancer-causing substance—in its natural form, consumer products containing talc have been asbestos-free since the 1970s. But researchers have noted that even modern, asbestos-free products containing talc may increase the risk of ovarian cancer when used in the genital area. Talc doesn’t break down in the body and can travel through a woman’s vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes into her ovaries, causing irritation and increasing the risk of ovarian cancer.
In addition to baby powder, products used in the genital area that may contain talc include:
Vaginal deodorants
Based on current research, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies the genital use of talc-based body powder as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
Landmark $72 Million Verdict for Talcum Powder Cancer Victim’s Family
In 2016, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $72 million in damages to the family of a 62-year-old woman who died from ovarian cancer after using talcum powder products for feminine hygiene for more than 35 years.
During the trial, lawyers for the victim’s family claimed Johnson & Johnson knew about the talc powder cancer risk for decades, but failed to warn consumers to protect profits.
Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $55 Million in Second Trial Loss
Months after the landmark $72 million verdict, a Missouri jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $55 million in damages to a woman who developed ovarian cancer after using the company’s talc powder products on her genitals for decades. As a result of her diagnosis, she had to undergo a hysterectomy and related surgeries.
Johnson & Johnson is still facing almost 1,200 talcum powder cancer lawsuits.
When a corporation’s products make you sick, you shouldn’t be left to pay the bill. If you’ve developed ovarian cancer after using a product containing talcum powder, you deserve an experienced team of lawyers protecting your rights. Contact our law firm today.
This law firm is not associated with, sponsored by, or affiliated with the International Agency for Research on Cancer or Reuters.
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In A Land Of Confusion
The California Supreme Court accepts briefing from Poole & Shaffery in support of efforts to obtain clarification regarding environmental regulations for land development projects.
When evaluating proposed land development projects, it is unquestioned that matters of environmental protection and conservation are of critical importance and must receive great consideration. Exactly what conservation measures are required and how those protections should be implemented, however, is unclear, especially given the ever-evolving understanding of issues such as greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, as well as constant technological advancements aimed at addressing environmental concerns. As a result, parties throughout the state are continuously looking for guidance. The California Supreme Court recently issued an opinion regarding environmental challenges to a major development project. Unfortunately, rather than clarity, the opinion risks creating further confusion.
The California Environmental Quality Act
Most Californians are justifiably proud of the fact that our state is at the forefront of environmental protections. Certainly one of the reasons the state is a leader in environmental protections is the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA is a statute that requires state and local agencies to identify the environmental impacts of their actions and to take steps to avoid or mitigate those impacts, if feasible. Virtually every development project that requires a discretionary governmental approval will require at least some environmental review pursuant to CEQA. Depending on the potential environmental effects of a project, a substantial review of the project's impacts may be conducted in the form of an environmental impact report (EIR). A project may not be approved as planned if feasible alternatives or mitigation measures can be implemented to substantially lessen the significant environmental effects of the project.
The Proposed Newhall Ranch Development
Newhall Ranch is a major development proposed for north Santa Clarita County on the Interstate 5 corridor, adjacent to the City of Santa Clarita and the planned community of Valencia. Encompassing 12,000 acres, with housing for nearly 60,000 people, and an estimated creation of approximately 19,000 permanent jobs, the Newhall Ranch project is one of the largest in state history.
With a project of this magnitude, environmental review represented a considerable challenge. Environmental review of the Newhall Ranch project was initiated in 1996. Over the ensuing years, several EIRs were prepared for the project. Finally, in 2010, after five years of preparation, including three public hearings, a 120-day public review period, and a year of responding to comments and revising the documents, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the current EIR in 2010. No fewer than eight different governmental agencies, representing every level of government, studied the EIR and approved the project, and each of the agencies imposed conditions on the project to protect the environment. Ultimately, the Newhall Ranch project was deemed to be remarkably "green," having instituted a wide array of conservation measures as well as protections designed to limit any environmental impacts, which are far too numerous to list here. Indeed, the EIR, which was more than 5,800 pages long, was deemed to be state of the art at the time.
Litigation Regarding Newhall Ranch EIR
Soon after the EIR was approved, it became the subject of extensive litigation. The plaintiffs, led by several environmental groups, challenged several different aspects of the EIR, including the sufficiency of the analysis regarding greenhouse gas emissions anticipated from the project. The plaintiffs claimed that the methodology used to determine the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the project was not legally permissible under CEQA. After a ruling by the Superior Court, followed by a ruling from the Court of Appeal, the Newhall Ranch project was appealed to the California Supreme Court in 2014.
On behalf of the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation (SCVEDC), Poole & Shaffery submitted a brief to the Supreme Court as an amicus curiae – a term that literally translates to "friend of the court" – to address issues raised by the case, specifically those relating to the greenhouse gas emissions analysis, as well as the anticipated impact that the Newhall Ranch project would have on the Santa Clarita Valley.
The California Supreme Court's Opinion
On November 30, 2015, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Case No. S217763). Importantly, the Court rejected the plaintiffs' argument about the greenhouse gas emissions, finding that the methodology employed in the EIR was legally permissible. Nevertheless, the Court went further – beyond the issues raised by the plaintiffs – and found that even though the methodology was proper, the EIR's conclusion that the greenhouse gas emissions would be "less than significant" was not properly supported and, therefore, the EIR was legally deficient.
The Court's ruling is troubling for several reasons. Notwithstanding the problematic procedural issues, namely ruling on issues that were not properly briefed and argued, the opinion also appears to presents a template for efforts to obstruct – and potentially kill – development in California. Critically, even though the 2010 EIR was properly based on goals for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at that time, the opinion hints that it may now be necessary for the EIR to meet new, stricter environmental regulations. If so, the ruling would effectively indicate that all developments must comply with ever-emerging technological advances – even those that come well after the project is designed and approved, provided there is any ongoing legal challenge to the development. This would assuredly incentivize litigation – regardless of merit – to block any development. As Justice Chin pointed out in his dissent, "Delay can become its own reward for project opponents. Delay the project long enough and it has to meet new targets, and then perhaps new targets after that."
Furthermore, potential economic impacts of the ruling are quite significant. Without new developments, it will be extremely difficult – if not impossible – to accommodate the state's growing population. A recent Wall Street Journal article indicated that housing costs in California are the highest in the country because the demand far exceeds the supply, stating that median house price in the Santa Clarita metro area is $507,000, compared with $210,000 in Dallas, $290,000 in Miami, $388,000 in Washington, D.C., and $412,000 in New York. Absent additional development, the demand for existing properties will only continue to grow, thereby necessarily increasing the costs for those properties – whether residential or commercial – and pricing many out of the market. It is not difficult to imagine that, if left unaddressed, this would have significant impacts on the California economy by forcing industry out of the state, thereby reducing the tax base and increasing demands for social welfare.
It is unquestioned that environmental protections and conservation efforts are crucial. However, as the California Supreme Court has previously cautioned, rules regulating the protection of the environment must not be subverted into an instrument for the oppression and delay of social, economic, or recreational development and advancement. Notwithstanding this warning, the Newhall Ranch project has been mired in regulatory procedures and litigation for twenty years since the environmental review process was first commenced, and for six years since the "state of the art" EIR was finalized. Based on the Supreme Court's ruling, litigation will invariably continue. This obstacle to development – not just of the Newhall Ranch project, but of projects across the state – is certainly not what was envisioned by the enactment of CEQA.
On behalf of the SCVEDC, Poole & Shaffery has recently submitted a letter to the California Supreme Court in support of the Newhall Ranch developer's petition for rehearing.
About the SCVEDC
The SCVEDC is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation established in 2009 to represent the united efforts of regional industry and government leaders in the Santa Clarita Valley area of Santa Clarita County, to provide an integrated approach to attracting, retaining, and expanding a diversity of business and industry in the Santa Clarita Valley. The SCVEDC has become a recognized voice of the business community in the Santa Clarita Valley. Learn more at www.scvedc.org.
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Part 9 of the Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002 provides details of the law as it applies to wrecks. The Receiver of Wreck is a post defined under article 128 of this law.
Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002
The Receiver is an official of the Jersey government whose main task is to process incoming reports of shipwrecks in order to give legitimate owners the opportunity to retrieve their property and ensure that law-abiding finders of wreck receive an appropriate reward if applicable.
There are several Receiver of Wreck officials throughout the world. Each of the Channel Islands, along with the Isle of Man, have their own laws of wreck and salvage and their own Receiver of Wreck.
What is wreck?
According to the Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002, wreck includes the following definitions:
flotsam are goods lost from a ship which has sunk or otherwise perished which are recoverable because they have floated
jetsam are goods cast overboard (jettisoned) in order to lighten a vessel which is in danger of sinking, even if they ultimately perish
derelict is property which has been abandoned and deserted at sea by those who were in charge without any hope of recovering it. This includes vessels and cargo
lagan (or ligan) are goods cast overboard from a ship, which are buoyed so that they can be recovered later
Reporting wreck or removing anything from a wreck
Any wreck material found in local or UK territorial waters, or from outside the UK and brought within these waters, must by law be reported to the Receiver of Wreck, even if the finder is the owner. In Jersey, the Receiver of Wreck is the Harbourmaster.
All wreck material discovered must be reported, however small or seemingly insignificant.
It is up to the Receiver to decide whether any wreck that is reported is important. Nothing may be removed from a wreck without the approval of the Receiver and to do so is an offence in law. This applies to valuable items such as:
The Receiver may take advice from others to identify whether the wreck or any part of a wreck is of historical or archaeological interest.
The Receiver of Wreck will investigate ownership of any reported wreck. An owner has one year in which to come forward and prove title to the property. During this period it is common for the finder to hold the wreck on behalf of the Receiver of Wreck while investigations are carried out.
Unclaimed wreck
In Jersey, wreck which remains unclaimed after a year becomes the property of the Minister and the Receiver of Wreck may be required to dispose of it. Often the finder is allowed to keep items of unclaimed wreck in lieu of a salvage award.
Example of wreck
A recent, infamous wreck was that of the MSC Napoli, which ran aground off Branscombe Beach in Devon. The containers that the ship was carrying ended up on the beach, and goods within the containers were taken.
Further Pages within Jersey Harbours
Ships' Registry
Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002 Revised Edition on Jersey Legal Information Board website
Stricken cargo ship run aground on BBC News website
Scavengers grab what they can on BBC News website
The great scavenging beach party on BBC News website
Police crack down on scavengers on BBC News website
Download form to report wreck and salvage (size 424kb)
Download Report of Wreck & Salvage Form
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Thérèse Raquin
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Dimensions: 198mm x 16mm x 129mm
Adam Thorpe (Translator)
A BRAND NEW TRANSLATION BY ADAM THORPE
‘Adam Thorpe's version deserves to become the standard English text’ Daily Telegraph
‘[Adam Thorpe] brings an unusual freshness and zip to the task, which goes some way towards returning us to that sense of unnerving immediacy which the young Zola's novel would have given its readers in 1867’ Times Literary Supplement
Mysterious disappearances, domestic cases, noiseless, bloodless snuffings-out… the law can look as deep as it likes, but when the crime itself goes unsuspected… oh yes, there's many a murderer basking in the sun...
When Thérèse Raquin is forced to marry the sickly Camille, she sees a bare life stretching out before her, leading every evening to the same cold bed and every morning to the same empty day. Escape comes in the form of her husband’s friend, Laurent, and Thérèse throws herself headlong into an affair. There seems only one obstacle to their happiness; Camille. They plot to be rid of him. But in destroying Camille they kill the very desire that connects them…
First published in 1867, Thérèse Raquin has lost none of its power to enthral. Adam Thorpe’s unflinching translation brings Zola’s dark and shocking masterwork to life.
"Adam Thorpe's version deserves to become the standard English text"
The Debacle
The Drinking Den
Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies' Delight)
Émile Zola (1840-1902) is the author of Les Rougon-Macquart – a cycle of 20 novels written over a period of 22 years including Nana(1880), Germinal (1885) and The Drinking Den (1877)- which provides a panoramic view of life under Napoleon III. He was the leading figure in the French school of naturalistic fiction. Zola campaigned for justice over the Dreyfus affair – ‘it is up to us poets to nail the guilty to the eternal pillory’ – and his open letter to the President ‘J’accuse’ landed him a prison sentence that he evaded only through exile in England. He is buried in the Panthéon alongside Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Adam Thorpe was born in Paris in 1956. His first novel, Ulverton, was published in 1992, and he has written nine others, two collections of stories and six books of poetry – most recently Voluntary. Thorpe’s translation of Madame Bovary, ‘stunning and heartily recommended’ (Scotsman), is available in Vintage Classics. He lives in France with his wife and family.
Vintage Summer Podcast
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If You Give Money to PETA, You Contribute to Pet Killing
Posted on July 12, 2013 at 9:21 am
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal liberation group made notorious by its providing financial support to arsonists; giving money to the Earth Liberation Front, a group then-Deputy Assistant Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Carson Carroll testified was one of “the most active extremists movements in the United States” in 2005; and killing roughly 2,000 pets per year at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters has launched another attention-grabbing advertising campaign. USA Today reports:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is about to shed the sexy models for an in-your-face campaign aimed at eliciting shock — and guilt.
Striking photos of animals being skinned have been doctored to show well-to-do consumers on-the-scene at the skinning — even as they wear or tote products made from the skinned animal.
The ads are supposed to shock consumers into trading in real products for vegan fakes, but it’s not clear whether anybody actually will. And two can play PETA’s “When you buy it, you become part of it” game.
Following PETA’s logic, when you donate to PETA, you become part of killing homeless pets. That PETA kills the overwhelming majority of the pets in its care is undeniable: The state of Virginia says so; the New York Times says so; shoot, even PETA boss Ingrid Newkirk says so.
By PETA’s logic, then, every person who contributed to the group’s $30 million budget “became part of” sticking a lethal needle in dozens of unfortunate dogs and cats. If that’s what PETA’s donors want, they can keep funding PETA’s pet slaughterhouse.
Check out our new site that calls out PETA for killing so many pets even as it campaigns to ban all uses of animals by people. Even caring for pets is against PETA’s principles: PETA President Ingrid Newkirk has said, “It would be lovely if we stopped this whole notion of pets altogether.”
We will continue to expose PETA for its hypocrisy and extremism. Head over to Petakillsanimals.com to see the full, graphic truth—if you can stomach it.
Posted In: Animal Rights Extremism, From CCF, The Green Fringe
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Americans Divided on Whether Recent Science Protests Will Benefit Scientists’ Causes
More Democrats and younger adults believe the science marches in April will lead to public support for science; Republicans and older adults tend to disagree
(Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
In the wake of last month’s marches for science and climate in Washington and around the country, Americans are divided in their support of the events’ goals and their sense of whether it will make a difference. In particular, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that most Democrats and younger adults are convinced that these public events will help the causes of scientists. By contrast, Republicans and older adults believe the marches will not raise public support for scientists, aid efforts to increase government funding of science, enhance the role of scientists in policy debates or lead to increased efforts to combat global climate change.
Overall, 44% of adults think the protests, marches and demonstrations will boost public support for science, while an equal share believe the protests will make no difference and 7% believe the demonstrations will actually hurt the cause. But on this and other questions about the marches there are consistent divides along political and generational lines. For example, 61% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believe the marches will increase public support for science, while only 22% of Republicans and those who lean Republican say the same. Instead, 60% of these Republican backers think the protests will make no difference, compared with just 32% of Democratic partisans who think that.
Younger adults (ages 18 to 29) are particularly likely to think the marches will increase public support for science (55%). In contrast, 54% of seniors 65 and older believe the recent science marches will make no difference to public support for science; just 29% say the marches will help.
These are some of the findings from a Pew Research Center survey conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,012 adults, ages 18 or older from May 3-7, 2017.
Americans are divided along political lines about the impact of the recent science protests
The March for Science, which took place on April 22, stemmed from a Reddit thread made on President Donald Trump’s inauguration day. A number of groups were involved in planning the event held in Washington, D.C., and some 600 other locations around the world. The People’s Climate March was organized before the 2016 election and held April 29 to voice support for action to address global climate change. Rather than being in support of one specific policy outcome, marchers said there were a number of reasons they participated in the two science marches held in close sequence at the end of April.
Americans render a split verdict about the marches and their impact, though a majority (59%) thinks that the protests will be effective in encouraging scientists to be more active in civic and public affairs. But on this and other possible impacts from these marches, there are consistent divides between political party groups:
73% of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic think the marches will encourage scientists to be more active in civic affairs, while Republicans and those who lean to the GOP break the other way: 52% think the marches will not be effective in encouraging more activism by scientists.
60% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say the protests will be effective in raising support for government funding of science, while only 31% of Republican and Republican leaners hold this view.
58% of Democrats and independents leaning to the Democratic Party say the marches will be effective in encouraging policymakers to rely more on the advice of scientific experts, compared with 37% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who think that.
62% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say the demonstrations will be effective in increasing efforts to address global climate change, while just 32% of Republicans and Republican leaners agree.
By one main measure, the marches about science have registered with Americans: They have drawn a share of public attention. Roughly six-in-ten Americans say they have heard a lot (24%) or a little (37%) about the protests, marches and demonstrations about science held this April. More than a third (37%) say they have heard nothing at all.
Overall, 48% of Americans say they “support” or “strongly support” the goals of the pro-science marches, while 26% “oppose” or “strongly oppose” the goals of the demonstrations and 26% say they don’t know how they feel about them.
Support for the goals of the science marches is divided by political party. Republicans and Republican leaners oppose the goals of the science marches by a 47%-25% margin; some 29% are undecided about their views. Democrats and Democratic leaners support the goals of the marches by a 68%-14% margin, with 18% undecided.
People who have heard about the recent science marches are largely supportive of the protesters’ goals. Those who have heard at least a little about the recent science marches support the goals of the science marchers by a margin of 61% to 27%.
Americans are closely divided on the issue of whether the marches will increase public support for science: 44% think they will help and 44% think they will make no difference. Another 7% believe they will hurt public support. Most Democrats and Democratic leaners (61%) believe the marches and demonstrations held in April will benefit public support for science. By contrast, just 22% of Republicans and independents who lean to the GOP say the marches will help drive public support for science, while six-in-ten (60%) of this group believes the marches will have no impact on public support and 13% say the marches will hurt public support.
Younger Americans hold different views on protests and their impact
While there are sizable partisan divisions on these issues, the differences between younger and older adults are also striking.
When it comes to backing the goals of the protesters, 56% of those ages 18 to 29 “support” or “strongly support” the goals of the marchers, while just 36% of those 65 and older say they back the goals of the marchers.
And in terms of perceived impact, 72% of those ages 18 to 29 think the marches will encourage scientists to be more active in civic affairs, compared with 47% of those ages 65 and older. Some 62% of younger adults believe the protests will raise support for government funding of science, while only 36% of those 65 and older say this. Additionally, 61% of younger adults think the protests will encourage policymakers to rely more on the advice of scientific experts, versus 43% of adults 65 and older.
Younger adults are also more likely to think the protests and demonstrations will lead to public support for science: 55% of adults younger than 30 believe the recent marches and demonstrations will help public support for science, compared with 29% of those ages 65 and older.
These differences by age hold even when accounting for the tendency of older adults to identify with the GOP. There are no notable demographic differences in views about the recent science protests by gender or education.
Trump’s handling of science issues brings out partisan judgments
President Trump’s election signaled major changes to federal policy connected with science, particularly for climate and environmental policies but also for funding science research at NASA, the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Many in the scientific community have voiced concern about Trump’s views about science issues, particularly childhood vaccines and climate change, and have raised concerns about the appointment and role of science advisers in guiding policy decisions in the coming years.
Asked whether the pro-science demonstrators were driven to act by the Trump administration’s handling of science issues, 48% say they think opposition to Trump was a major reason people participated, 22% say it was a minor reason, 17% say it was not a reason at all and 13% say they do not know. Fully 63% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say opposition to Trump was a major reason for marchers’ participation, compared with 36% of Republicans and Republican leaners who say this.
Those following news about the recent science marches are particularly likely to believe that opposition to the new administration’s handling of science issues is a motivating factor for the recent protests. Some 55% of those who had heard at least a little about these marches say opposition to the Trump administration’s handling of science issues was a major reason for the protests, compared with 37% who had heard nothing about these science marches.
Split views on how the media cover protests
When asked about news coverage of protests, marches and demonstrations these days – whether the cause is related to science or something else – 41% of Americans say the media give too much coverage to demonstrations these days compared with recent years, 31% believe the coverage is about the right amount and 24% think there is too little coverage.
Here, too, there are differences in views by party and age. Fully 68% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think there has been too much media coverage of demonstrations, while 18% think the amount of coverage has been about right and 11% say there has been too little coverage. By contrast, 43% of Democrats and Democratic leaners think there has been the right amount of coverage, 29% think there has been too little and 26% say there has been too much media coverage of demonstrations these days.
Half (50%) of those ages 65 and older believe there has been too much media coverage of protests, marches and demonstrations these days; in contrast, 34% of those 18 to 29 think there has been too much coverage.
Next: Methodology
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Complete Report PDFToplineMay 3-7, 2017 – Science Marches and Environment/Energy Issues Dataset
Science and InnovationEnergy and EnvironmentPolitical Issue PrioritiesFederal GovernmentDemocracyProtests and UprisingsDonald Trump
Pew Research CenterMay 11, 2017
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PMI: World No Tobacco Day Should Be World No Smoking Day
Philip Morris International Makes a Bold Call to the Public Health Community: People Who Smoke and Do Not Quit Deserve Access to Less Harmful Smoke-Free Alternatives
NEUCHÂTEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2019-- Philip Morris International (PMI) is marking World No Tobacco Day by publishing a call to the global regulatory and public health community to leave aside ideological differences and instead leverage technology, science and innovation to more rapidly improve public health.
World No Tobacco Day is meant to improve public health by addressing the serious issues related to smoking and tobacco use. It is clear, however, that despite the well-known health risks associated with smoking, many people continue to smoke and will do so in the near future. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that there will be more than 1 billion people who smoke in 2025, about the same number as today. While the best choice would be to quit, many people who smoke don’t.
“In the late 1990’s, some of our company’s fiercest critics challenged us to produce less harmful smoke-free products. We listened—and accepted the challenge,” said Jacek Olczak, PMI’s Chief Operating Officer. “It’s taken hundreds of scientists, thousands of tests and billions of dollars to invent products without cigarette smoke: Smoke-free products that don’t burn tobacco, products that adult smokers can switch to completely and not return to cigarettes.”
These smoke-free products contain nicotine and are not risk free. However, the science shows they are a better choice than continuing to smoke. PMI shares its science and data openly with the scientific and medical communities, as well as with governments throughout the world.
Old ideological fights are confusing smokers and those who care about them. While many health experts and governments today clearly support the adoption of smoke-free alternatives for adult smokers who would continue smoking, others prefer to focus on past issues. This just misdirects the conversation.
“Adults who smoke deserve access to smoke-free alternatives backed by solid science. They also deserve current information in order to make their own choices,” said Olczak. “By encouraging the men and women who don’t quit to completely adopt smoke-free alternatives, we can eventually leave cigarettes behind. That’s the smoke-free future.”
Put simply: It’s time to unsmoke.
To learn more about the “It’s Time to Unsmoke” initiative, visit www.PMI.com/ItsTime.
Philip Morris International: Who We Are
Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company and its shareholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the U.S. PMI is building a future on a new category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities and scientific substantiation, PMI aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements.
Philip Morris International
E: Ryan.Sparrow@pmi.com
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41st Parliament, 2nd Session
L043 - Tue 21 Feb 2017 / Mar 21 fév 2017
Tuesday 21 February 2017 Mardi 21 février 2017
Private members’ public business
Consideration of Bill 27
Safer School Zones Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 sur la sécurité accrue des zones d’école
Quebec mosque shooting
Appointment of House officers
Member for York–Simcoe
Resignation of member for Sault Ste. Marie
Tabling of sessional papers
TVOntario
Visit to Israel
Daughters of the Vote
Bangladeshi community
Royal Canadian Legion Scarborough Centennial Branch 614
Grant Howes
Reports by Committees
Standing Committee on Government Agencies
Stopping Electricity Disconnections in the Winter Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 visant à arrêter les débranchements en hiver de l’approvisionnement en électricité
School Boards Collective Bargaining Amendment Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 modifiant la Loi sur la négociation collective dans les conseils scolaires
Gasoline Tax Fairness for All Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 sur l’équité pour tous à l’égard de la taxe sur l’essence
1049491 Ontario Inc. Act, 2017
Prosper Legal Management Inc. Act, 2017
Highway Traffic Amendment Act (School Bus Camera Systems), 2017 / Loi de 2017 modifiant le Code de la route (systèmes photographiques reliés aux autobus scolaires)
Statements by the Ministry and Responses
International Decade for People of African Descent
International Mother Language Day
Remarks in other languages
Medical Assistance in Dying Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 modifiant des lois en ce qui concerne l’aide médicale à mourir
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: A point of order, Speaker.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader on a point of order.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Good morning, Speaker. I believe we have unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice regarding changes to the memberships of standing committees.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader is seeking unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice. Do we agree? Agreed. Minister?
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Speaker, I move that the following changes be made to the membership of the following committees:
That on the Standing Committee on Estimates, Mr. Milczyn replaces Mr. Dong, and Mr. Mantha replaces Miss Taylor;
That on the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, Ms. Malhi replaces Mr. Rinaldi;
That on the Standing Committee on General Government, Mr. Anderson replaces Mr. Rinaldi, Madame Des Rosiers replaces Ms. Malhi, and Mrs. Munro replaces Mr. McDonell;
That on the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, Madame Des Rosiers replaces Mr. Potts, Mr. McDonell replaces Ms. Scott, and Mr. Walker replaces Mr. Hillier;
That on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Mr. Dhillon replaces Ms. Malhi, Mr. Dong replaces Mr. Milczyn, and Mr. Hillier replaces Mrs. Munro;
That on the Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly, Ms. Malhi replaces Mr. Anderson, Mr. Dickson replaces Mr. Dhillon, and Ms. Scott replaces Mr. Clark;
That on the Standing Committee on Social Policy, Mr. Rinaldi replaces Mr. Anderson;
That on the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills, Mr. Rinaldi replaces Mr. Dickson, and Mr. MacLaren replaces Mr. Walker; and
That on the Standing Committee on Government Agencies, Mr. Anderson replaces Mr. Kwinter, and Mr. Oosterhoff replaces Mr. Cho.
Mr. Gilles Bisson: Dispense.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’ve got to start it. The government House leader moves that the following changes be—
Interjection: Dispense.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Dispense? Dispense.
Do we agree? Carried.
Motion agreed to.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Point of order.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Government House leader on a point of order.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice regarding private members’ public business.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader seeks unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice. Do we agree? Agreed. Government House leader.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Speaker, I move that, notwithstanding standing order 98(b), the following changes be made to the ballot list: Ms. Hoggarth and Madame Des Rosiers exchange places in order of precedence such that Ms. Hoggarth assumes ballot item number 75 and Madame Des Rosiers assumes ballot item number 31; and
That notwithstanding standing order 98(g), notice for ballot item 34 be waived.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader moves that, notwithstanding standing order—
Agreed? Carried.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Point of order, Speaker.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Again?
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice to fast-track Bill 27 in committee.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader seeks unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice. Do we agree? Agreed. Government House leader?
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: I move that, notwithstanding any standing order or special order of the House relating to Bill 27, An Act to reduce the regulatory burden on business, to enact various new Acts and to make other amendments and repeals, that the Standing Committee on General Government be authorized to meet on Wednesday, February 22, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and on Thursday, February 23, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the purpose of public hearings on the bill; and
That the Clerk of the committee, in consultation with the committee Chair, be authorized to arrange the following with regard to Bill 27:
—Notice of public hearings on the Ontario parliamentary channel, the Legislative Assembly’s website and Canada NewsWire; and
—That witnesses be scheduled to appear before the committee on a first-come, first-served basis; and
—That the deadline for written submissions be 6 p.m. on Thursday, February 23; and
—That the deadline for filing amendments to the bill with the Clerk of the committee shall be 9 a.m. on Friday, February 24; and
That the committee be authorized to meet on Monday, February 27, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., for the purpose of clause-by-clause consideration of the bill; and
On February 27, at 5 p.m., those amendments which have not yet been moved shall be deemed to have been moved, and the Chair of the committee shall interrupt the proceedings and shall, without further debate or amendment, put every question necessary to dispose of all remaining sections of the bill and any amendments thereto. At this time, the Chair shall allow one 20-minute waiting period pursuant to standing order 129(a); and
That the committee shall report the bill to the House no later than Tuesday, February 28. In the event that the committee fails to report the bill on that day, the bill shall be deemed to be passed by the committee and shall be deemed to be reported to and received by the House; and
That, upon receiving the report of the Standing Committee on General Government, the Speaker shall put the question for adoption of the report forthwith, and at such time the bill shall be ordered for third reading, which order may be called that same day; and
That, when the order for third reading of the bill is called, one hour of debate shall be allotted to the third reading stage of the bill, apportioned equally among the recognized parties. At the end of this time, the Speaker shall interrupt the proceedings and shall put every question necessary to dispose of this stage of the bill without further debate or amendment; and
The vote on third reading may be deferred pursuant to standing order 28(h); and
That in the case of any division relating to any proceedings on the bill, the division bell shall be limited to five minutes.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader moves that notwithstanding any standing order or special order of the House relating to Bill 27, An Act to reduce the regulatory burden on business, to enact various new Acts—
Carried? Carried.
Mr. Del Duca moved second reading of the following bill:
Bill 65, An Act to amend the Highway Traffic Act in respect of speed limits in municipalities and other matters / Projet de loi 65, Loi modifiant le Code de la route relativement aux limites de vitesse dans les municipalités et à d’autres questions.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Further debate?
Hon. Steven Del Duca: I’m delighted to have the opportunity to discuss this particular piece of legislation. I’m also delighted to know that I’ll be sharing my time with the member from Kitchener Centre, who we all on this side of the House have the privilege of working closely with. In particular, she serves as the parliamentary assistant at the Ministry of Transportation.
I was giving some thought this morning to the remarks that I’ll be providing on this legislation, and I think it’s entirely fitting that we are debating this today, on a day that follows Family Day. There is a lot in this legislation that is so important to families right across the province.
Before I delve into the legislation itself, I do want to mention that we are joined in the gallery today by some individuals who are here on behalf of organizations that work very closely with the Ministry of Transportation and have done so for quite some time. We are joined by Elliott Silverstein, the manager of government relations at CAA, and Scott Watson, manager of government relations at Parachute Canada. I want to thank them both for being here.
I understand we’re also going to be joined by Brian Patterson, who is the president and CEO at the Ontario Safety League. I believe Brian is on his way here.
Hon. Steven Del Duca: As is being pointed out perhaps ironically, he’s stuck in traffic, but I’m sure Brian will be here just as soon as he can possibly get here.
As I was mentioning just a second ago, we are here today to talk about Bill 65. There’s a lot that’s captured by this bill. There are three main elements to the legislation itself. As many in the House will recall, a number of weeks ago I joined with the Premier here in Toronto, in a community known as Leaside, to make the formal announcement relating to our government’s decision to move forward with the elements in this legislation. Just to point them out off the top of debate this morning—first of all, this legislation, which is known as the Safer School Zones Act, would, if passed, provide municipalities with the option to use three particular road safety tools. I’ll highlight those quickly, Speaker.
The first one is something we call automated speed enforcement. It is also known, of course, as photo radar. This would provide municipalities across the province with the power and the authority, should they choose, to proceed with implementing automated speed enforcement, using technology to deal with some of the challenges around drivers who still, notwithstanding all of the great efforts made by our government and others, including our road safety partners—to encourage people to drive more responsibly through two critical areas of communities: school zones and community safety zones.
Speaker, I want to stress that through this legislation, automated speed enforcement or photo radar will not be implemented on provincial highways. This is unique in that it will provide power to the municipalities, should they choose to deploy this technology, to help deal with challenging road safety issues in school zones and community safety zones.
The second element is reducing default speed limits, regarding what municipalities will have the power to deal with. Again, this is all about empowering municipalities, enabling them, giving them the tools to make decisions for themselves and their residents when it comes to the default speed limits.
Many in this House will know that the default speed limit in the province of Ontario in urban settings is 50 kilometres an hour. But there is very clear recognition from our Premier and our government that our municipal partners, our municipal leaders, will often—in fact, in almost all cases—know better than we will here at Queen’s Park what the unique requirements are in their neighbourhoods and in their communities. Again, this is about empowering them to make decisions as it relates to that particular point.
The third element deals with the red light camera program, a program that has existed for some time in the province of Ontario. It provides municipalities with the opportunity to gain access or entry to the program. It smooths out the transition, or it smooths out the efficiency, making it easier for them to gain entry into the program. The red light camera program, as I mentioned, has existed in the province for some time. This simply strengthens it and makes it easier for municipalities to participate.
Speaker, there are a couple of things I should mention now that I have laid out what the key points are in the legislation. First of all, we have heard from a number of municipalities across the province over the last couple of years. Literally since the first few weeks that I was on the job as Minister of Transportation starting back in June 2014, not only have we heard from municipalities, but a number of members on the government side have been talking about some of these issues for a number of years. I don’t want to limit it to just this individual, though he is a good friend and a seatmate, but—I’m talking about the Attorney General, the member from Ottawa Centre, who has been talking not only to me, but also been talking with his community, with neighbourhoods, with parents and with other community groups in Ottawa Centre about the importance of making sure that we provide municipalities with those powers, those tools, to make decisions for themselves.
I know that in the case of Ottawa Centre and in communities right across the province of Ontario, we have heard from municipal leaders who say, “We understand that there needs to be an overarching requirement to set the rules of the game, to set the table, as it were.” But very often, when you’re sitting in Queen’s Park, despite your best intentions, despite wanting to make sure you build on the phenomenal track record that the Ministry of Transportation has and has had historically as it relates to road safety, we often confront challenges, particularly in school zones and community safety zones, particularly as it relates to default speed limits that need to be sculpted and need to be nimble, because of the challenges we’re facing.
Whether we’re talking about Ottawa Centre, or whether we’re talking about communities like Leaside that have unfortunately witnessed their own tragedies historically as it relates to these issues, or about communities right across the province of Ontario, the notion is that we can work closely with our municipal partners and provide them with the tools so that they can go through a process to determine at a grassroots level, at a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood level, what makes the most sense for them. Again, I want to acknowledge the contribution and the relentless pursuit, the relentless advocacy, of the Attorney General on behalf of his community, and all others on this side of the House who recognized very early on that this was the right way for our government to move, or the right way for our government to go.
I talked off the top about the fact that there are a number of communities for which this is extremely important. I should say that there are a number of communities very specifically—and I think it’s important for us to recognize which communities. Whether we’re talking about the automated speed enforcement piece or we’re talking about the requests regarding reducing, amending or sculpting the default speed limit, literally the list of communities that asked us for this power, this support, this authority, would include the cities of Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton; Oxford county; Chatham-Kent; Oshawa; York region, which, of course, has a number of communities that are part of York region, including Markham, Richmond Hill, Georgina, East Gwillimbury, my own home city of Vaughan, Nottawasaga; and the region of Waterloo. Those are the communities that made the request regarding automated speed enforcement. On the default speed limits, in addition to that list I just gave, Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston and Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield are some of the communities that talked to us about the importance of moving forward on default speed limits.
Many times in this Legislature over the last two years, in response to questions and in debate, I have talked at length about the very proud track record that we have here in the province of Ontario as it relates to road safety. One of the lines that I know members on all sides of the House have heard me say repeatedly is that for the last 13 years, as it relates to road or highway safety, Ontario ranks first or second across all North American jurisdictions. You don’t have a track record like that by accident. In fact, in one of those years, the only jurisdiction that was better off in some respects than the province of Ontario was the District of Columbia, which goes to show that when you compare Ontario, with its road network and with its population, we are only in that particular area beaten out by a much smaller jurisdiction, the District of Columbia.
By and large, as I said, you don’t amass a record like that by accident. Regardless of partisan strife, regardless of which particular provincial government we’re talking about, you do it when your Ministry of Transportation, working very closely with all of our road safety partners, including those who are represented in the gallery today—when you are focused exclusively on those outcomes, and, when you recognize that there are significant challenges within the system, that you work together, that you partner and collaborate together, so that you can produce positive outcomes.
Of course, one of the first—in fact, the first piece of legislation that I introduced in this House was Bill 31, the Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act, which, when you look at the component parts of that legislation, pulls together much of what had previously been contained in two other pieces of legislation brought forward by predecessors of mine in this ministry. We consolidated those elements into one bill. We added some other pieces, particularly around dealing with sanctions for drug-impaired driving for the first time ever. We consolidated all of those elements and brought forward Bill 31. We had significant debate here in this Legislature, and certainly at committee and elsewhere, on Bill 31. I would say that perhaps my proudest moment over the last two and a half years as Minister of Transportation was the day that that legislation passed in this House and did so unanimously. Members from all three caucuses stood in their places to support Bill 31. I think that was a very clear recognition on the part of members on all sides that when it comes to not only maintaining but enhancing and improving upon our road safety record, there’s a requirement to consistently do more.
From my perspective, it’s an evolutionary process. It’s an evolutionary process that means, among other things, that we have to continue to listen to our municipal partners, who, as I said at the outset of debate this morning, understand in many respects more clearly than we might here in this Legislature what is needed in some of the neighbourhoods that we’re talking about. That would be true whether we’re here in the city of Toronto or, for example, we’re in Waterloo region, which, we have heard, is one of the communities that made the request to the province for more authority to make some of the decisions that are germane to its neighbourhoods and its communities. It’s one of the reasons that we’ve been responsive.
At the same time, Speaker, we’ve also decided to move forward because we’ve heard loudly and clearly from law enforcement and from our road safety partners about the importance of that evolutionary process, of never resting on our laurels. It’s one thing for a Minister of Transportation to talk about the last 13 years, but we have to consistently look for new and creative and innovative ways to make sure we are ahead of the next challenge. We know—I think everyone here in this House knows, and I’ve certainly heard it in the course of debate over the last number of months—what a significant challenge we face, for example, as it relates to the ongoing struggle against alcohol-impaired driving.
I mentioned that Bill 31 contains provisions, for the first time ever, introducing sanctions for drug-impaired driving, which is not necessarily a new phenomenon but a growing phenomenon, unfortunately, that we are experiencing here in the province of Ontario.
Speaker, of course, everyone here will know very clearly about the significant challenge that we face as it relates to distracted driving. That’s one of the reasons that we not only toughened the penalties for distracted driving in Bill 31, as I mentioned, but a number of months ago, the Ministry of Transportation also deployed perhaps the hardest-hitting public relations campaign in the province’s history, a campaign known as Put Down the Phone, to try to drive home, in a compelling way, the message very clearly to our motorists, and I would say, particularly our youngest motorists: When you get behind the wheel of a car or the wheel of any vehicle on our roads and highways in the province or elsewhere, you need to be very focused on the task at hand, which is to keep your hands on the wheel and to keep your eyes on the road, and to not be distracted by hand-helds or other distractions or devices. The consequences, unfortunately, Speaker, are potentially far too great.
I mention these elements, and there are others that I’ll probably touch upon, to help illustrate how the fight to constantly improve road safety is literally an evolutionary process, because we know that the challenge continues to persist. I think here, with this particular legislation, we see very clearly that we are taking the next important step forward in that evolutionary process.
I did mention this at the outset: To me, it is fitting that we are debating this particular legislation the day after Family Day. That day that the Premier and I stood along with Mayor Tory, members of law enforcement and representatives from our road safety partners—we actually did the announcement at an elementary school in Leaside. I have to say that Leaside is a community, as I mentioned, that was particularly touched by an extraordinary tragedy as it relates to speeding on quiet residential streets near schools, adjacent to schools. The level of awareness on the part of the parents and the school kids of the importance of making sure that we work with our municipal partners to put in place these kinds of initiatives to help make their own travel from home to school and back again—safer for them, safer for their friends at school and safer for the other parents in the neighbourhood—is something that was truly compelling to them. You could actually see that sort of visceral feedback coming from the community to the Premier, to myself, to the mayor, and to members of law enforcement. There was recognition that these steps, perhaps overdue, were at least steps going in the right direction.
I should also point out that another colleague of ours on the government side, the member from Eglinton–Lawrence, is someone who has not only served in this Legislature with distinction for a number of years, but on road safety issues, he is someone who has literally been at the leading edge himself, who has consistently spoken to me about the importance of making sure that we hold our own feet to the fire, that we push that envelope a little bit and look at creative ways. I know in the past, and currently, this particular member from Eglinton–Lawrence has brought forward private members’ legislation proposed specifically because he shares that passion that I do, as minister, that we do at the Ministry of Transportation. He shares that passion to make sure that we are striking that right balance and getting it right.
I know I’ve mentioned the member from Ottawa Centre, the Attorney General, and the member from Eglinton–Lawrence, but there are a number on this side of the House. Frankly, even members of the opposition, both the Conservative and NDP opposition, have spoken to me about the importance of making sure that we get these critical elements right. I know that we’re going to have debate over the course of the day today, and over the course of the coming weeks, on this particular legislation, Speaker. I can’t imagine there being stiff opposition. I don’t want to presuppose the outcome of debate. Obviously, this is legislation that we aspire to and hope to pass, and I suspect that it will, because it’s so important for it to land, and it’s so important for us to provide these powers to enable our municipal partners to make these decisions that are mostly relevant to the challenges they are facing in their own communities. So I do look forward to hearing from members of both the Conservative and NDP opposition—and frankly, members from the government caucus—about their feelings with respect to this legislation.
I would hope, as I mentioned, that with Bill 31, when we had some vigorous debate, as should be the case in this chamber, that at the end of the day, members on all sides of the House saw the importance of that evolutionary process as it relates to road safety, saw that we had positive outcomes top of mind in Bill 31, and were therefore able to put partisanship aside and support that legislation.
I would hope, Speaker, number one, when you consider the requests that came from municipalities, and number two, when you would consider that nothing in this legislation compels any of Ontario’s 444 municipalities to do any of what is included in this bill that simply empowers them to make decisions locally that matter most to their neighbourhoods—because, again, in some respects I would argue that being closest to their neighbourhoods, they would understand the needs of individual neighbourhoods better than we would here at Queen’s Park.
Again, I want to stress, for the purposes of debate here, that nothing in this legislation compels a municipality to move in a particular direction, and that we take into account that there is a lot of new technology out there. In this case, we’re talking about photo radar, or automated speed enforcement, that helps make it easier for us to make sure that in terms of providing a penalty for those who would continue to speed through a school zone or a community safety zone despite signage—despite it being, I would argue, second nature to know that when you’re in a school zone, you should not be speeding—in addition to the penalties that would be levied, there is also a deterrent factor, because people would know over the course of time that they were entering a school zone or a community safety zone where there would be automated speed enforcement like what currently exists for our red light camera program. There would be that impediment, and there would be that notion, that public awareness.
When you combine that with what I would argue should be an innate or inherent understanding, when you’re entering a school zone, of all things—whether we’re talking about school-age children, elementary school-age children, or their parents or grandparents who are walking them to school—that at all times somebody would want to drive through one of those zones at or below the speed limit is second nature, I think, to all of us in this House. But it’s evident from what we hear from law enforcement, from tragic examples that we’ve seen in a number of communities, that we need to do more.
When you take that into account, combined with what I’ll call the effective or the efficiency measures we’re dealing with on the red light camera program, and the notion that we’re empowering municipalities to make decisions for themselves as it relates to their default speed limit, I would be hard pressed to understand exactly what an opposition—well, not a critique, Speaker, because I understand that this is exactly the place for opposition parties and opposition members to lend their voices to debate and to come forward with questions or concerns they might have. So it’s not criticism, particularly of a constructive nature, that I would be surprised by, but any strident opposition to this particular bill would be a surprise to me, and I think it would be a surprise to our partners in law enforcement. I think it would be a surprise to our road safety partners, like CAA and Parachute and the Ontario Safety League and many others.
I think it would be a shock to our municipal partners, who would look at this particular legislation and understand that at its core, there are two objectives in this legislation. One is moving the yardsticks forward and demonstrating significant progress in terms of achieving the very important road safety outcomes that we collectively want to achieve and, at the same time, based on that very collaborative and constructive partnership that we have with our municipalities across the province, providing them with the power and the authority to move forward with any or all of these initiatives, should they choose to do so.
Whether we’re talking about the importance of a constructive, collaborative relationship and providing more support and more enabling power to our municipalities, or we’re talking about those really critical road safety objectives and outcomes that I know everyone here shares—and I know it, Speaker, because there was unanimous support for Bill 31, as I mentioned, and frankly, there have been calls from opposition with respect to pushing the envelope further and looking for more creative ways to drive road safety outcomes. I would be surprised if we didn’t have broad-based support at the same time as vigorous discussion around this particular bill.
Of course, I would certainly use this opportunity at this particular moment of this debate to encourage members on the other side of the House to engage in that vigorous debate that I expect of them, that we expect of them, but at the end of the day, understanding those crucial twin objectives, to be supportive of these initiatives.
If they see ways for us to improve the legislation—of course, Speaker, I always want to keep an open mind and have that discussion, as I know we will over the course of the legislative process.
I think understanding, at the end of the day, that those twin objectives, particularly the objective of making sure that even though statistically we have done well over the last 13 years—we can’t afford to rest on our laurels. We have to keep pushing the envelope forward. The ministry is absolutely determined to consistently look for ways to drive home that message, and also make sure that we have a legislative and regulatory framework in place, working with our municipal partners to make sure that we can produce those outcomes.
Again, I would sincerely hope that the debate, as it always is in this place, would be rigorous, would be exciting, but at the end of the day, that we would all see a way to be supportive of this particular legislation. As I mentioned earlier, I have heard, not only from colleagues on this side of the House, but from members of both the Conservative and NDP caucuses, about the importance.
It’s interesting, because when you’re in a large city like Toronto or Ottawa, you hear a certain perspective on many of the issues that we confront in this chamber. When you move to some of our medium-sized and smaller and more remote communities—and I’m not talking about this bill necessarily; I’m talking about generally—you often hear very different perspectives. That’s something that helps all of us do our job better. It’s a fascinating by-product of all of us being in this chamber to debate legislation.
On road safety initiatives, I would say, it’s interesting to me that the perspective—because something that might work in the city of Toronto may not work in a particular other part of the province—while there is nuance, at its core, the fundamental objectives that we try to pursue when it comes to road safety initiatives are felt in many respects equally across the province.
I think that goes right to the heart of this particular bill, to Bill 65. We are not in this legislation requiring any particular municipality to do what we are demanding needs to be done. I know often there’s a concern in different parts of the province that there are directives coming from Queen’s Park. People say, “Hey, look, down here on the ground in neighbourhood X or community Y, maybe you didn’t contemplate what that outcome would be.” I understand that tension. I understand that dynamic. Here, with this legislation, what we are particularly doing is saying to municipalities, “We understand there is a challenge.” There is a challenge in communities like Ottawa, like Toronto, like York region, like Oxford county, like Chatham-Kent, like Oshawa, like Nottawasaga and a number of other communities that have taken the time to write in to the government to say, “Provide us with these powers.”
At AMO conferences and at ROMA/OGRA conferences in the past, I’ve heard directly from many of these municipalities that confront these challenges. They say, “We love the work that MTO is doing as it relates to road safety. We respect that you passed Bill 31, but there are additional tools in the tool kit that are available to you, but we are hampered. We can’t do them without your support, without you enabling us, without you providing us with the authority to proceed.” We have some examples that are embedded in this particular legislation. It’s why, after considerable consultation on a number of these initiatives, we’ve decided to move forward with this legislation.
I know I’ve said this before in debate this morning, but I think it bears repeating that it really is important for us to understand that this legislation has two philosophical underpinnings:
(1) Moving forward with initiatives that will, at the end of the day, when municipalities—I am going to say “when” because I know a number of municipalities very strongly desire having the power to move forward and implement some of these initiatives. When municipalities have, should this legislation pass, taken the tools that would be provided, they will actually experience road safety outcomes in their communities that will benefit the population at large. That’s one, and as the Minister of Transportation, that is my most fundamental goal with this legislation.
(2) There is a very clear recognition here that one level of government working alone, one level of government saying, “We know what is best for you as it relates to matters that impact your own neighbourhoods in this road safety respect,” is not always the best way for us to proceed. Taking that into account, and taking into account the significant and profound input that we have received—from a number of organizations, from law enforcement, from our road safety partners, from mothers and fathers and grandparents across the province, who have spoken to us both informally and formally and said:
“When I leave my house in the morning in whatever community I reside in in this wonderful province of Ontario and I’m walking my son or my daughter or my grandchild to school, and I’m doing it in a neighbourhood where it’s apparent—the school is right there. I’m in a school zone or we’re in a community safety zone and I am literally the dictionary definition of a vulnerable road user, or my child or my grandchild is, and there is somebody out there driving—maybe they’re late to get to work, maybe they have a delivery that they’re dropping off somewhere in the city and they’ve decided to cut through our neighbourhood; maybe, frankly, they live in the neighbourhood, but they’re late, they’re behind schedule, and they decided on this particular day of all days that they’re going to gun it, that they’re going to exceed the speed limit and they’re going to put themselves and passengers in their vehicle and, worst of all, other users of our roads, including those vulnerable road users, at risk, that’s not acceptable.
“We have an expectation that our political leaders, whether they’re provincial or municipal or, best of all, working together, will come up with creative solutions that recognize that technology has evolved, that we have a clear need in our particular neighbourhood or our community that we have to move forward with initiatives like this.”
That’s a message that we can’t ignore, that we won’t ignore. It’s a message that’s right at the heart of Bill 65. It’s why, after this consultation, after listening to those voices, working closely with our municipalities and working closely our road safety partners, we have come together, we have created this legislation and we have brought it forward.
I have certainly heard from community representatives in every corner of the province that they are happy to see we are moving forward. I think each of our road safety partners would say very clearly that this is an important step forward in that evolutionary process that I referenced a second ago. I fully expect that this will not be the last time that I’m on my feet in this Legislature to talk about how we continue to move that evolutionary process forward.
I know there are other challenges that we still face on road safety. I know there will be, I expect there will be other initiatives that we’ll bring forward. But at this particular point in time, dealing with these particular elements that are contained in Bill 65, and given that we’ve had historic support externally from law enforcement, municipal partners and road safety partners and, frankly, internally in this chamber from members of the opposition as it relates again to the passage of Bill 31, which passed unanimously, I think we’ve struck the right balance. I think we are moving forward in the right direction.
I do look forward to the rest of the debate that will occur today and beyond on this bill, but I would close off, before handing it off to the member from Kitchener Centre—I would strongly urge every member in this House to think of our vulnerable road users, to think of the requests that have come in from municipalities and to understand that we’ve struck the right balance, that with Bill 65, we have gotten it right. I would call on them to support this legislation.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Thank you very much, Minister. Since you are sharing your time, I now turn continuation of the debate over to the member from Kitchener Centre.
Ms. Daiene Vernile: Thank you, Speaker, and good morning and welcome back.
I’d like to thank the minister for the leadership that he is showing on this very important issue and also say that as a parent of two young children, I know that Bill 65 is of personal interest to him.
While many of you have heard the minister and me say that people in Ontario deserve to have safer roads, this government is fully committed to making sure that our roads continue to be among the safest in North America. This proposed legislation, the Safer School Zones Act, if passed, is going to ensure that we do maintain safe roads in Ontario. This legislation is going to protect children and other vulnerable road users, and it’s going to reduce collisions and fatalities in urban and rural areas, making our communities safer.
We know that many municipalities have asked for more tools to improve road safety so that they can be active road safety partners. When I assisted the minister a few weeks ago at the ROMA conference—and for people who are watching at home right now, ROMA is the Rural Ontario Municipal Association; we meet every year and they tell us what their concerns are—I heard from a number of mayors, reeves and councillors from across Ontario who were advocating on ways to slow down drivers who speed through their towns. In fact, one mayor, Margaret Lupton—she’s the mayor of Zorra township— told me, and this is an exact quote and she gave me permission to use this: “Daiene, we are frustrated beyond belief with speeders.” I called her up on Friday to let her know that we would be discussing Bill 65 and she told me something that was very distressing. She said that she was in a coffee shop and this man came up to her and started mocking the speed bumps that they had put in in the town in order to slow down speeders. He said to her, “You know, I can still take these speed bumps at 110 kilometres per hour in my truck.” So clearly, the speed bumps are not working.
Mayor Lupton and other municipal leaders in Ontario are looking to us for ways to help them make the roads safer. They’re looking for more effective measures. The legislation that we have introduced will, if passed, give municipalities more tools to improve road safety. We are giving them the exact tools that many have asked for. This means that we’re empowering municipalities to implement measures that will work best in their communities.
We’re very enthusiastic about the support that we’re hearing from municipal leaders across Ontario. That includes support from Waterloo region, my home community. Our police services wrote to our government to request automated speed enforcement, and they’ve shown support for the action that we’re taking through this piece of legislation.
We recognize that no two municipalities are alike, Speaker; that’s why this legislation is all about giving towns and cities across Ontario lots of different options.
If passed, the Safer School Zones Act will remove the regulatory approvals process currently in place for the red light camera program to make it easier for municipalities to opt in. This means if they want to do this, they can. They don’t have to come and ask us for permission. This is going to help municipalities enforce red light laws in their communities.
The Safer School Zones Act will also help municipalities reduce speeds in high-risk areas. Municipalities can create their own safety zones, with lower default speed limits. That’s going to make it easier for them to reduce speeds, thereby making it safer in their communities for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike.
Finally, the Safer School Zones Act will allow municipalities to use automated speed enforcement technology in school zones and community safety zones if they choose to do so. This technology has been around for years. It’s proven to reduce speeding and improve road safety, and it’s going to help keep vulnerable road users safe in these high-risk areas. That’s one of our mandates, to ensure road safety for all road users, particularly in high-risk areas. That includes places where there are high numbers of children and seniors.
Bill 65 is the latest step our government is taking to provide road safety options to protect those communities as well as vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
As we saw in Bill 31, road safety is not a partisan issue. That is why we hope to see support for the Safer School Zones Act on both sides of the House. This is about making communities safer. It’s about protecting our children and our families from dangerous driving behaviours, where they play and where they walk to and from school.
For many years, our family lived in a neighbourhood just down the street from a school, five doors down, and it used to infuriate me as a mother when my kids were walking home from school—or really at any other time—when I’d see cars speeding up and down the street. We were so close to a school, and I was always concerned about the children in the neighbourhood.
It’s simply unacceptable that we have drivers speeding in these areas. Drivers should always be proceeding with care. An extra degree of care can be the difference between life and death, especially in high-risk areas that are frequented by young children or seniors.
Speaker, in 2013 alone there were nine pedestrians under the age of 18 who were killed in collisions in Ontario—nine children killed by drivers while they were walking in their communities. Clearly, more needs to be done to make certain that people can get to and from home safely. This legislation, if passed, is going to give municipalities the tools that they need to make their journey safer.
Seniors are another vulnerable group. The number of seniors who are being injured and even killed while walking is quite alarming. In 2013, 45 pedestrians over the age of 64 were killed in Ontario. That is a distressing number. This is a vulnerable segment of our population, and one that we know is quickly growing. Soon many of us are going to be in that age bracket; right? Seniors deserve to feel safe on our streets. They deserve to be able to walk in their communities without fear. I urge everyone to support this legislation to make that happen.
In my home community of Waterloo region, in 2013, we saw four pedestrians struck and killed by motorists. Municipalities and police boards, including Waterloo region police, have reached out to us for help. They want the tools that they need to best address the road safety concerns that they are seeing and feeling in their communities.
We understand that these issues may not be the same everywhere, and that’s why these measures proposed in this piece of legislation would not be implemented province-wide. I’ll say that again: It’s not going to be implemented province-wide. We’re not proposing that red light cameras be installed at every intersection, or that automated speed enforcement be on every municipal road, and we are not putting automated speed enforcement technology on Ontario highways or changing the default speed limits in Ontario. Instead, what we are proposing is to give municipalities greater autonomy to use these measures at a local level only if they choose. It is entirely up to them as to whether or not they want to use these measures, and believe me, they are telling us that they want this.
Municipalities know what road safety concerns need to be addressed, and they know the areas in their communities that are of the highest risk, so why shouldn’t they have the ability and the power to address this? They’ve asked us to put in a framework so that they can make necessary changes based on their respective needs. This means that we’re empowering municipalities to make their communities safer in the way that they see fit.
Speaker, we know that there is a direct correlation between speed and death on municipal roads. Three out of four collisions on local roads occur because of speed. It has been proven that lowering speed limits and implementing other measures which deter speeding do improve road safety. Bill 65 includes two measures that will help municipalities reduce and enforce speed limits on their roads. The first is to reduce default speed limits. It’s going to give municipalities the ability to create special zones in urban areas where the speed limits are lower than the standard default of 50 kilometres per hour. There is a significant amount of research which shows that lowering speed limits even by 10 kilometres per hour can lead to significantly fewer collisions, injuries and deaths. It gives drivers more time to react to emergency situations such as children running onto the streets. Have you ever been driving down the street and suddenly you see a ball bouncing onto the road, and quickly a child follows behind that ball to retrieve it? Well, if you’re going at a slower speed, the chances of you stopping in time are going to be better.
Not only do lower speed limits help prevent collisions; they also reduce the severity of injuries that happen when collisions do occur. Lower speeds in urban areas can save lives. We know that. Municipalities have asked us to make it easier for them to do this, to save lives, and that is exactly what we’re looking at doing with this legislation. It’s going to help them make their communities more walkable and more user-friendly.
Lowering speed limits is one way to make communities safer. Another is finding ways to deter people from speeding, and that’s where automated speed enforcement comes in. With automated speed enforcement technology, cameras can take a picture of a licence plate of someone who is speeding, and then that person is issued a ticket. That’s how it works. The technology is used in a number of jurisdictions already, and it is proving to be very effective. We did have this in Ontario back in the early 1990s for a few years on our highways; we don’t anymore. However, at the municipal level, leaders in communities are asking for a return in order to calm speeding. People are less likely to exceed the speed limit in areas where there is this technology, and less speeding means safer streets.
Since this proposed legislation would give municipalities the ability to use this technology in school zones and community safety areas, it also means more protection for children and other vulnerable users. The technology also means more efficient enforcement by freeing up police resources to address other local safety concerns while at the same time making sure that road safety is never disregarded. This is something that we heard about at ROMA from many municipal leaders: that they would rather take their well-trained, well-skilled policing force and address them to issues within the community where there could be crime or other matters, and leave the business of issuing tickets to speeders up to automation.
It’s a similar technology for the red light cameras that’s proposed for the legislation. Both technologies use cameras to target dangerous driving habits. For automated speed enforcement, we’re proposing to allow municipalities to use this technology in specific high-risk zones on municipal roads. For the red light cameras, we’re making the approvals process easier and eliminating the red tape to make it simpler for municipalities to opt in if they wish to.
Speaker, all three parts of this proposed legislation will help make our roads safer, and that alone should be enough reason for everyone to support it, like they’ve supported similar road safety measures in the past. I think that everyone in this Legislature would say that they’re in favour of safer roads.
We have a great track record in Ontario when it comes to improving road safety. We’ve done a lot, but we still have more to do. Keeping communities safe requires everyone to do their part. It’s not just about one group using our roads; whether it’s drivers, cyclists or pedestrians, everyone needs to be safe and play an active role in promoting road safety.
When it comes to road safety, our goal is always a balance of measures and actions which encourage everyone to stay safe, from penalties to increased awareness. When you look at recent road safety legislation, that’s clearly evident. In the Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act, which passed in 2015, there were a number of measures that focused on improving road safety—including school bus safety, distracted driving, cycling safety, tow truck safety, school crossings, pedestrian crossovers and impaired driving. That legislation was a major step forward for road safety in Ontario, and it has helped to make our province a safer place. It, like other road safety legislation passed before it, is one of the reasons why we have the road safety record that we do in this province.
Again, it’s extremely important that we don’t stop working toward improving safety. Someone is killed on our roads every 17 hours in Ontario. With the Safer School Zones Act, we’re continuing to push Ontario’s road safety forward, we’re helping to make our communities safer, and we’re sending a message to municipalities that we are listening and we’re committed to being their road safety partners—partners such as Mayor Margaret Lupton of Zorra township, who is looking for ways to reduce speeding in her community. I promised her that I would stand and advocate for her and ensure that she will see changes in her community.
That’s why it’s so important that everyone support this legislation. It is a crucial step forward. I know that keeping our roads safer for our children is something upon which we can all agree.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Questions and comments?
Mr. Michael Harris: Thank you, Speaker. Welcome back.
I want to also quickly acknowledge our road safety partners. I see Elliott from CAA over in the corner. I know Brian Patterson from the Ontario Safety League is now here. He fought traffic in. Of course, there’s a gentleman from Parachute, whom I have not had a chance to meet. Welcome to the Legislature.
Speaker, I want to thank you for the opportunity to rise. I welcome everybody back after a long winter break, perhaps. I know there were lots of happenings in your constituencies. Of course, things don’t just stop over the course of the winter.
Hopefully, everyone had a great Family Day weekend. I know I did.
Being back, I miss the opportunity to take my son to the school bus sometimes in the mornings and pick him up in the afternoon. We live off a busier street, and I did have the experience of taking him out to the bus and witnessing, unfortunately, a few close calls in the last little while. So I think it’s important that we’re talking about safety in our school areas.
I was hoping that the minister would have—he did miss that opportunity to speak to the toll bill. I know we had a lot of discussion over the break on tolls. Hopefully, we’ll save that for another time. I know there’s a speech that he wasn’t able to give previously, but I hope we’ll be able to hear that down the road.
I’m going to have an hour here. I’m going to focus a little bit, right off the bat, on our concerns related to what we will call the photo radar act, a more appropriate title than the Safer School Zones Act, given that this bill, while indeed impacting school safety, is really more about photo radar, a technology with a long—and, as we will discuss, not so favourable—history in the province of Ontario. For those of us who have trouble recalling its history, when the divisive issue of photo radar was addressed in this House, a short two decades ago—I’ll take a few minutes to take you down memory lane.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further questions and comments?
Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: Thank you, Speaker, and welcome back to all the members of the Legislature. Today, of course, we’re talking about Bill 65, which is going to allow municipalities to have the discretion over speeding limits in their towns, cities and urban centres.
Speaker, that is something that I hear about all the time, about the speeding limits in school zones. We had a very serious accident a few years ago where a child in a neighbourhood was walking on the sidewalk and the vehicle actually came up on the sidewalk. It was a tragic situation. The child was injured, with very serious life-long injuries. In that case, Speaker, that person was impaired. There were all kinds of other factors that contributed to that.
Regardless, when I was campaigning back in 2014, everywhere you would hear people complaining about speeding. It wasn’t just in school zones; it was people averting other traffic-congested areas coming down side streets. So it is very important that we look and address those concerns for speeding. Children’s lives are at risk.
We know that today many kids are transported from their neighbourhoods in school buses to other neighbouring schools, and it becomes a heightened issue with school buses and kids walking to school as well.
In London, I know there was a council that brought forward a bylaw that wanted to address speeding zones, specifically in school areas. I think this will help, of course, but we also need to make sure that distracted driving and other issues are also part of these contributing factors when there are accidents and unsafe drivers. Speeding is probably one of the main concerns and it is a good idea to allow and empower municipalities to set their own guidelines around the unique characteristics of their city.
Hon. Kevin Daniel Flynn: It’s a pleasure to be back and a pleasure to see you in the chair. I understand I have a new critic as Minister of Labour, the member from—what is it, Renfrew? I’ve got to learn this now. Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke is my critic.
Mr. John Yakabuski: Oh, you’ll learn it.
Hon. Kevin Daniel Flynn: I look forward to the time that he and I will spend much more closely together.
Getting to Bill 65, Speaker, I think this is certainly a bill that is worthy of support of the entire House. I think a lot of us who serve here, before coming here, served at the local level of government, either on a town council or a regional council.
Despite what you might read in the Star, the Globe, the Sun or wherever, the number one phone call you get as a local elected official is about speeding, traffic, safety and school zones. It’s about all those things that matter to people in the areas where they live, in the neighbourhoods where they come from. They often find out when they go in to investigate who is doing all the speeding in these neighbourhoods—I think the people in the neighbourhood think it’s people coming from outside and doing the speeding. Every time they do any licence plate checks or that type of thing, they find out that the vast majority of speeding comes from right within the neighbourhood itself. A lot of the culprits don’t understand that, I think.
What we’re doing here is we’re providing municipalities in the province of Ontario with tools to ensure that their communities can be made safer. We are doing it in a way that allows the municipalities themselves to implement this in a way that is customized to their own community, to their own neighbourhood, to the areas which they know a lot better than anybody in this chamber. These people are on the ground. They have the traffic experts that know their communities better than everybody.
What this does is to provide them with the tools and the options, and quite frankly, Speaker, at the end of the day, this is going to make our communities safer. It’s going to save lives. It’s going to prevent injuries. Why anybody would be opposed to that is beyond me. I hope it enjoys the support of the whole House, because it really is a bill that is aimed at the heart of public safety in the province of Ontario.
Mr. John Yakabuski: I want to thank the Minister of Labour for recognizing my new critic responsibilities. I’m sure he’ll get to know my riding really well over the next several weeks. In fact, you’re probably going to be repeating my name in your sleep.
Anyway, on the issue of the bill: Look, what could be more important than the safety of our children and our grandchildren? I’m not going to look into the talk about the attributes of the bill right here and now because we might have another opportunity, and I’m sure our critic is going to be speaking about it at length. But I did want to talk about how important that is to all of us.
Just a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to be down in Orlando, at Disney World. We had five of our grandchildren with us.
Mr. John Yakabuski: Oh, we had their parents too; we’re not quite that crazy.
What a wonderful time it was. To spend some time with the little ones—I think you understand even more just how important they are and what a priority they must be for all of us. So if there are ways that we can keep our children and our grandchildren, depending upon our personal circumstances, safer, we’re always going to be looking at that and we’re always going to be supportive of those ways.
I know there are parts of the bill that we want to make sure we understand better, about its limitations, but keeping our children safe in school zones is something that I personally support, obviously. If this is something that the communities are supportive of—and I believe they are—it’s something that I would personally be very much in favour of. We want to make sure that this doesn’t become a political football that gets kicked around.
Also, the challenges that municipalities have: I know that my municipality is concerned that they would have to lower the speed limit beyond where they want to go, if it’s established, and they want some clarification on that.
Mr. John Yakabuski: The minister is shaking his head saying no, that won’t be necessary. We’ll be looking for that clarification when it comes to what municipalities do and do not have to do with regard to this bill.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Back to the minister for final comments.
Hon. Steven Del Duca: I want to thank members, of course, starting with the member from Kitchener Centre, who followed me in debate; the member from Kitchener–Conestoga, my critic; the member from London–Fanshawe; the Minister of Labour; and the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke for their contribution to the debate this afternoon.
I know that much additional debate will take place. I’m looking forward in particular to the contribution of my critic from the Conservative caucus to the discussion. I think it’s entirely fitting that both he and his colleague from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke chose to start off their questions and comments back to me with very clear recognition from both of them about the importance of making sure that we do place a significant emphasis on producing those additional safety outcomes. I think that’s encouraging.
Certainly, to have heard the member from London–Fanshawe talk about experiences that have taken place in her community—tragedies—is also something that I think would resonate because it has happened in communities right across the province.
To the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke, I would say: I know we will have discussions regarding what this legislation requires or doesn’t require of municipalities. I just want to stress really quickly that there is nothing in this legislation that requires the municipality to do anything. So if it’s one of the communities in his riding or it’s my community of Vaughan or York region or Waterloo region—nothing in this bill requires a municipality to touch their default speed limit if they choose not to. Nothing in this bill requires them to deploy automated speed enforcement if they choose not to. Nothing requires them to enter the red light camera program if they choose not to. We are certainly enabling municipalities.
On that note, Speaker, I’ll finish off by saying that I think we also have to be very careful in this debate to not, for what might be considered partisan reasons, try to confuse the issues of the history of photo radar with what we’re actually discussing in this particular debate.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further debate?
Mr. Michael Harris: Getting back into the routine here—I forgot about the questions and comments cycle—now I’ve got an hour and two minutes. We’ve got a lot to cover, of course. My colleague talked about his trip away with his grandkids. Of course, I think of my little guys. I know my guy is safe at school this morning. My other little guy was not feeling too well last night. He’s just at home, hopefully watching SpongeBob or something and not the legislative channel. If he is, good morning, and welcome.
I do think it’s important, as I have an hour here to go through the bill in its entirety— we’ll compliment the government, obviously, on addressing some issues that I think we all have heard in our communities, but there will be opportunities to question the details of the particular bill.
I do think it’s important, when I have this opportunity, to go back and perhaps give a little history lesson. I think it’s important for all of those, whether you’re here or at home—a history lesson—because it was back in August 1994 that the then NDP Premier and soon-to-be eventual Liberal MP, Bob Rae, flush with his excitement at forming the first and, to this point, last NDP government in the province, introduced us to the concept of photo radar, a new safety tool that motorists soon came to know as a government “cash grab.”
Now, to be clear, Speaker, the photo radar program introduced in August 1994 by the then NDPer, Mr. Rae, was much larger in scope than what we hear government discussing today, and I think that’s an important distinction to note. The initial program was introduced on the 400-series highways across the province, as opposed to the school zones, as is the stated focus of today’s bill.
As my colleague has made mention here, I want to again acknowledge our road safety partners. Brian Patterson is here, Elliott Silverstein is here from CAA and, of course, the gentleman from Parachute. Welcome again to the debate.
As I had said, the initial program was introduced on 400-series highways across the province, as opposed to the school zones, which we’re talking about. That said, there have been many who have noted that today’s bill may open the door to questions that could take us back to the future.
Within three months of the 1994 project launch, the provincial program was churning out around 12,000 or close to 13,000 tickets a month, leading the forefathers of today’s Ontario Liberals criticizing the NDP photo radar pilot as “nothing but a cash cow.”
As ticket fines surpassed $2 million in November of that first year, with the OPP confirming some people were getting dinged for driving less than 10 kilometres an hour over the speed limit, many shared the Ontario Liberals’ concerns.
That said, Speaker, while the Liberals were criticizing the cash grab, we got to work to eliminate it. Former Premier Mike Harris both promised to put the brakes on the controversial program and then immediately acted to eliminate it, following the 1995 election.
In the words of our former colleague and then-Solicitor General Bob Runciman as to the concerns for the NDP’s photo radar program: “We believe having officers on the front lines is much more effective in terms of curtailing this form of activity than photo radar”— calling it “a cash cow for the NDP.” Without a doubt, those are the two main concerns or questions when it comes to photo radar programs: Is it having an effect on improved road safety, and at what cost?
The fact is, at the time, there were varying reports on the amount of safety improvements, but there was a pretty clear consensus on what this was costing motorists. For instance, photo radar advocates cited a January 1995 MTO preliminary four-month study showing photo radar had reduced speeding on highways. On the other hand, that same year, there was an overall drop in speeding drivers across Canada, when those other areas did not have photo radar. Still others cited the fact that photo radar did nothing to catch other dangerous driving behaviours, such as distracted driving. We have that problem still on our roads today. In fact, one of the leading causes of fatalities on our highways, of course—unfortunately, we still have drunk driving or driving while impaired, both with substance and with alcohol.
I know we had a consensus in this House on Bill 31 recently that improved the fines and penalties for driving while impaired. It’s an important mechanism to stop people from doing that. Unfortunately, we’ve still had instances across the province where we have seen fatalities, just tragic fatalities, for the senseless use of a substance while operating a motor vehicle.
Of course, there’s operating a vehicle without a licence or even insurance. Dangerous driving: I think I heard on the radio just this morning that there was a young gentleman—24, I believe—nabbed for speeding over 200 kilometres an hour in a 60 zone. That’s a significant charge. We still have all of these behaviours happening on our roads.
Many questioned then, and continue to question today, the impact on driver behaviour when ticketing through photo radar is assigned to the vehicle’s owner and not necessarily the driver.
I had an experience only a few months ago in my community. I was picking my son up from the bus. He got off, the bus pulled away, and there was a speeding car going down our street at probably at least double the speed limit. I was so upset by that. It was a young driver, of course. Ideally, I would have loved to have had a police officer there to deal with that behaviour. Of course, who knows? The vehicle may have been owned by his parents, and if this were the case, he would have received a ticket a few months down the road—or not even actually himself.
These things are happening, and as a parent, it’s upsetting, knowing this. It’s that behaviour change that needs to happen. We do question whether that behavioural change will come with ticketing at the moment of the alleged infraction, and that is, of course, through the use of front-line officers, which we feel are still so important, especially in these school zones in the morning hours and afternoon hours when the kids are getting off the bus and walking home from school etc.
The fact is that while we see the Liberal government introducing a return to photo radar today, there has also been long acknowledgment on that side of the House of the list of concerns that accompany photo radar, and I think it’s important to bring these up. I’m going to have an hour, so we’re going to get through the bill in its entirety. But I wanted to bring a few of these up, because when I read some of these quotes, I just couldn’t not share them with my colleagues today.
Former McGuinty government Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, in this very House, called photo radar “the most arbitrary, objectionable, obnoxious... one of the most repulsive pieces of legislation that the government has brought in”—that being the NDP—“because it just completely abrogates our very long-standing tradition in this province of being innocent until you’re proven guilty in a court of law.” That was Greg Sorbara in, I believe, the seat now occupied by the now Minister of Transportation, who would know Greg well.
He further noted, “If you set the precedent with photo radar, then, the precedent having been set, you arbitrarily move into a whole bunch of other areas, without due process, without the normal procedures for identifying and apprehending and charging the person who committed the offence.”
Or how about former Liberal Minister of Natural Resources and Aboriginal Affairs David Ramsay, who told the House, “I think that’s what the problem is: The government sees this type of thing, this type of apparatus as policing and that’s the last type of thing I consider to be policing.” That was David Ramsay, a former Liberal minister.
A former energy minister, Liberal Gerry Phillips, said that “it is a revenue-grab; it is a tax grab. It heads down a very dangerous route. I don’t know where the government is going to draw the line, because if you do it with speeding, you can do it with all sorts of other things, and we won’t have that debate.” That was Gerry Phillips, then-energy minister under the Liberals.
What about the former Premier himself, who, after much back-and-forth, said in 2006, “We looked at it in our first year and we have rejected it so it is not part of our plans.” That was back in November 2006, from Premier McGuinty himself.
Those plans, or lack thereof, made headlines the following year, in 2007, in a report: Ontario Premier Says No to Photo Radar. Quoting Mr. McGuinty, “There seems to be a stronger consensus around making sure that there are tougher penalties associated with speeding.”
Further, “More needs to be done to crack down on speeding, but photo radar is not the answer.” He said that in 2007.
I will say, because I know I only have a few seconds left—one minute—that we will have an opportunity to get back into this, and I look forward to doing so.
I want to thank the minister for bringing today’s bill forward, and thank him for allowing us to go over the rich history of photo radar here in the province of Ontario. I’ll have more to say about that as we continue our debate.
But I think it’s important that we keep in mind the pitfalls of the past and the concerns that remain today, as outlined by my colleagues, as we look forward to further debate focusing on the application of photo radar in school zones specifically as well as the extended community safety zones that this bill will target, to ensure that Ontarians remain safe in the province of Ontario.
Thank you, Speaker, for the time.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Thank you very much—
Mr. Michael Harris: By the way, I want to just acknowledge—you’re going to shut me off now—that I’ll continue on—
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): I’ll get that. I want to thank the member. You will have opportunity. There is lots of time left on the clock. When this bill is called again, you will have the opportunity to continue debate.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): But since it is now 10:15, this House stands recessed until 10:30.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Speaker, I believe you will find that we have unanimous consent to observe a moment of silence before question period in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Quebec mosque shooting on January 29, 2017.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader is seeking unanimous consent to observe a moment of silence before question period in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Quebec mosque shooting on January 29, 2017. Do we agree?
I would ask all members in the House to please rise for a moment of silence.
The House observed a moment’s silence.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: Point of order.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order, the leader of the third party.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to move a motion that would sever schedule 10 from Bill 27 and introduce it as a separate bill to be considered by the House.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The leader of the third party is seeking unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice. Do we agree?
I heard a no.
Mr. Todd Smith: Point of order, Speaker.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order, the member from Prince Edward–Hastings.
Mr. Todd Smith: Thank you, Speaker. Winter disconnections in the electricity system are becoming a critical issue. Therefore, I seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 30(a), I be permitted to introduce a bill at this time.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Prince Edward–Hastings is seeking unanimous consent to put forward a bill. Do we agree? I heard a no.
Mr. Monte McNaughton: I’m really honoured to have a good friend of mine, who is participating in Daughters of the Vote, here at Queen’s Park today. Kayla Tiller, welcome to Queen’s Park.
I also would like to welcome a new page from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex, Anellah Orosz. Welcome to Queen’s Park.
Ms. Ann Hoggarth: I would like to introduce my new legislative intern, joining us from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound: Stephanie Lowe.
Ms. Laurie Scott: I’d like to welcome Jillian Hawley from my riding of Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock, who is here with Daughters of the Vote. We’re thrilled to host them today at Queen’s Park.
Hon. Jeff Leal: I’d like to welcome Hillary Scanlon from Peterborough, here today as the Peterborough–Kawartha delegate for Equal Voice and Daughters of the Vote.
Ms. Catherine Fife: I would like to welcome Karley George. She’s the delegate for Daughters of the Vote from the riding of Kitchener–Waterloo.
Hon. Reza Moridi: Please join me in welcoming the students from the McMaster University Iranian association. Pardis Balari, Seyed Aryan Ghaffarizadeh, Pouya Tayyari and Maryam Vaseghi-Shanjani are sitting in the members’ gallery. Please join me in welcoming them.
Mrs. Gila Martow: I want to mention that Leslie St. Amour is here for the—hopefully we’re going to be taking a picture, all of us, at 11:45 with Daughters of the Vote—as well as my constituent Elliott Silverstein from CAA.
Hon. Deborah Matthews: Good morning. I am delighted to welcome Blake Weber, a student at Fanshawe College, here today to watch question period. Welcome, Blake.
Hon. Michael Coteau: It is my distinct honour to welcome Bruce Davis here to the Ontario Legislature, a good friend of many members in the Legislature and also the former chair of the Toronto District School Board.
Mr. Steve Clark: Speaker, I want to introduce to you, and through you, to members of the Legislative Assembly, a constituent from my riding who is here with Daughters of the Vote. I would like to welcome Michaela Rutherford-Blouin, who is representing the new name for my riding, Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.
Mr. Arthur Potts: I’m delighted to see an old friend, Brian Patterson, in the House from the Ontario Safety League. Welcome to Queen’s Park.
Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: On our first day back I’m very pleased to introduce somebody who is proud to call Huron home: Regan Preszcator. She’s here with Daughters of the Vote.
Hon. Indira Naidoo-Harris: I would like to welcome a group of young women from across the province to Queen’s Park today. Equal Voice is here and so is the Ontario delegation for the Daughters of the Vote initiative. Welcome to Queen’s Park. We hope you enjoy your day.
For my colleagues, there will be a reception this evening in rooms 228 and 230. I invite you all to stop by and meet these amazing young women.
Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: I would like to welcome Luca DiPietro from St. John Catholic Elementary School, who is the legislative page here from my riding.
Ms. Sophie Kiwala: I would like to welcome Leslie Anne St. Amour from Kingston and the Islands, who’s here for Daughters of the Vote.
Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Speaker, it’s great to be back. I want to welcome all members.
I would like to introduce Nancy Peckford, the executive director of Equal Voice, and Denise Siele, who has been incredibly important to the Daughters of the Vote initiative, as well as all the young ladies here who are going to not only change the Ontario Legislature but certainly the federal House of Commons in March.
Hon. Yasir Naqvi: The first day of the Legislature also means the kickoff to Kindness Week in Ontario. I’ll just remind all members to join the members from Dufferin–Caledon and Nickel Belt for some Kindness Week cookies right outside the chamber after question period.
Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: Welcome back, Speaker.
I want to welcome a guest, here today on behalf of Equal Voice and Daughters of the Vote. It’s Floranda Agroam.
Hon. Eleanor McMahon: Speaker, welcome back. Please join me in welcoming, from Burlington to Queen’s Park today, Marilyn and Murray Heintz and Gloria Reszler. Welcome to Queen’s Park.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I do have some housekeeping. I’m happy to advise the House of an appointment of two House officers. Trevor Day has been appointed Deputy Clerk. He has also absorbed the responsibility of executive director of legislative services.
Also in the House, Jacquelyn Gordon has been appointed Sergeant-at-Arms and executive director of Precinct Properties. I would respectfully remind the members and suggest to the members that you won’t mess with her any more than you would have messed with Dennis.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Another important announcement: I also want to let the House know that late last month the member from York–Simcoe, Mrs. Munro, became the longest-serving female MPP in the history of the Ontario Legislature. And, yes, she kind of snuck that one in. First elected in June 1995, the member now has served a period of 21 years, eight months and 16 days, and we will be announcing every day you’re here that you’re the longest serving. What an accomplishment.
On behalf of the entire House, we want to thank you for your stellar service to the assembly, to your riding and to the people of Ontario. Please welcome her.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Also in the Speaker’s gallery, we have the Sergeant-at-Arms’ family: her husband, Don Gordon; her daughter Holly Gordon; her sister Leslee Remigis; her brother-in-law Marty Remigis; and her friends Patty Hayman, Cheryl Linger, Darlene Fisher, Lina Crawford, Kim Duncan, Mackenzie Viviani and Robert Viviani.
Congratulations, and thank you for joining us here in support of our Sergeant-at-Arms.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I beg to inform the House that, during the adjournment, a vacancy has occurred in the membership of the House by reason of the resignation of David Orazietti, the member from the electoral district of Sault Ste. Marie, effective December 31, 2016.
Accordingly, I’ve issued my warrant to the Chief Electoral Officer for the issue of a writ for a by-election.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I also beg to inform the House that, during the adjournment, the following reports were tabled: the 2016 annual report of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth and a report from the Financial Accountability Officer.
Therefore, it is now time for question period.
Mr. Todd Smith: Speaker, point of order.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order; the member from Prince Edward–Hastings.
Mr. Todd Smith: Now that everybody’s settled in and we’re warmed up after our long winter break, I was wondering if I could seek unanimous consent to bring forward, notwithstanding standing order 30(a), a bill at this time to deal with winter disconnections in the province of Ontario.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member is seeking unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice regarding the passing of a bill. Do we agree? I heard a no.
It is now time for question period.
Mr. Patrick Brown: My question is for the Premier. I want the Liberals to be aware of the F.J. Davey Home, a long-term-care home with 374 beds, in Sault Ste. Marie. Their hydro bill has gone up 39%, and that’s an additional $165,000—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I have—
Interjection: Disrespectful.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Well, quite frankly, I’m hearing the member’s comment, and it seems to be going around from everybody nicely. It reminds me of something I used to have to do to start something.
Please put your question.
Mr. Patrick Brown: Mr. Speaker, the government may laugh and heckle, but this is a seniors’ home. This is a long-term-care home where their hydro bill has gone up 39%, $165,000 in a year. It is not a laughing matter.
Seniors in Sault Ste. Marie are having critical services cut. The home said they had no choice; it’s hydro or cut services for seniors. So rather than heckle, I would like an answer from the Premier: How can you allow this to continue to seniors in our province?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I want to just welcome everyone back, and I want to say that it is no laughing matter. It’s absolutely essential that the Leader of the Opposition and the people of Ontario understand that we understand that there are issues around the cost of electricity in this province. I don’t know the specific instance that the Leader of the Opposition is talking about at that particular home, but I certainly would be happy to get more information from him.
I have made a commitment that the affordability of electricity in this province is of paramount concern. We have made a number of changes, including the most recent 8% reduction across the board. But I have committed, Mr. Speaker—and our Minister of Energy is working to bring forward a proposal before our budget that would further reduce electricity costs across the province.
Mr. Patrick Brown: Back to the Premier: The F.J. Davey Home is just one example of how electricity is hurting even more than family households.
Katherine Craine, executive director of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, told the Huntsville Forester about a returned fundraising email card that she received. I’ll quote what the card said: “Sorry, no donation this year. The money went to paying my Hydro One bill.”
Mr. Speaker, it’s unbelievable. How can the Premier justify the fact that families have gone from being able to donate to charity to now needing charity simply to pay their hydro bill? It is unacceptable.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Well, Mr. Speaker, the reality is that I have been talking to people across the province, I have made a commitment that we will be bringing forward further decreases to electricity costs. The reality is that over the last number of years, we have made billions of dollars of investments into our electricity system. We inherited an electricity system that was degraded, that had not been invested in, that had not been kept up, and electricity in this province was unreliable.
We’ve made those investments, and now we’re confronting the reality that people have across the board seen unacceptable increases. We’ve made reductions. We know that there’s more to be done, particularly for people living on fixed incomes and low incomes and people who are dealing with delivery charges that are out of whack, people in rural and northern communities. We know that there’s more that has to be done.
Mr. Patrick Brown: These rehearsed talking points are getting tired, and the people of Ontario aren’t believing them.
The Premier said she gets what ratepayers are struggling with in rural Ontario. Let me share an example. Matt recently tweeted a picture of his hydro bill from Lanark Highlands to the Premier, so I’m sure you’ve seen it. It was tweeted to you. His bill listed $4 worth of hydro used and a shocking $110 used for delivery.
How can the Premier justify that an individual here has a hydro bill where only $4 is for electricity and $110 in delivery charges? It’s out of whack.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I appreciate the Leader of the Opposition quoting me, because I just said that. I just said that delivery charges that were out of whack, that were disproportionate, that that’s one thing that I have heard about repeatedly, as has the Leader of the Opposition and as has the leader of the third party and—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): That brings me to my comment that I am going to tighten things up a little if I have to, and I will.
Finish, please.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: —as has every member in this House. We recognize that the investments that have been made to make sure that this electricity system is clean and that it’s reliable, that there’s a cost associated with those investments—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: So we know that there’s more that needs to be done across the board to help people with their electricity bills, to deal with the disproportionate costs of distribution in particular parts of the province and to help people living on low incomes to deal with their electricity prices.
Those affordability issues are what are driving the changes that we have already made and that we will bring forward before the budget.
Mr. Patrick Brown: The Premier said that they’re going to get to delivery charges. They’ve been in office for almost 14 years. What’s their new line? “Just give us another 14 years and we’ll try to get to it”? People are tired of waiting.
But since I can’t get an answer on delivery charges, let’s talk about winter disconnections. I am disappointed, Mr. Speaker, that a motion was put forward to the House today and the government said no. They could have ended it today. I don’t want to delay a week. I don’t want to delay another day. We need action on winter disconnects today.
So my question is—we’ll put this motion forward right again after question period—rather than partisan games, will you support the motion? Yes or no? Yes or no?
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Be seated, please.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Let me just say that for a good portion of the time that this government has been in office, we’ve been fixing the electricity mess that was left by the previous government.
Let me just say, on disconnection, there are two things that have happened this morning. As one of the first orders of business today, the government House leader actually introduced a motion that fast-tracked Bill 27. So I appreciate the support.
But on top of that—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke, second time.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: On top of that, the Minister of Energy has actually been reaching out to send letters to all of the local distribution companies in the province. The vast majority of them are already in compliance with “no winter disconnections.” But what we have said is if there are any out of compliance, then—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. I’m moving to warnings.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: If there are any that are still out of compliance by midnight tonight, then we will bring forward a piece of legislation that we hope would get support, and we’ll move to get those disconnections stopped.
Mr. Patrick Brown: Again to the Premier. The Premier says she has been fixing hydro bills for 14 years. Let me say: Please stop trying to fix it. You’ve taken competitive energy bills to among the highest in North America.
Back to winter disconnects: A source at the Ontario Energy Board told Global’s Alan Carter that the minister could issue a directive to stop winter disconnections—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. The deputy House leader is warned.
Mr. Patrick Brown: We know from Alan Carter that the minister could have issued a directive to stop winter disconnections, according to the Ontario Energy Board. Rather than actually act immediately, he doesn’t seem to realize he has a majority; he doesn’t realize he has this power; he doesn’t want to support the motion put forward today.
What I’m asking is, no more games. Will you support the motion today? We can’t afford to wait another day. Will you do the right thing and support the motion today—not tomorrow, not in a week, not in six months—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Stop the clock.
Be seated, please.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Energy.
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: I’m very pleased to be able to rise and welcome everyone back to the House. As the Leader of the Opposition should know, I can actually send tasks to the OEB, but I can’t give them directives. He should actually—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. The member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound is warned.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I wouldn’t tempt it.
Finish.
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: So maybe the Leader of the Opposition could talk to the new Clerk and find out the information about the process that we can do in this House, because he does not have the information.
Talking about playing games—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. The member from Nepean–Carleton is warned.
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Talking about playing games: The Leader of the Opposition is doing just that. We had a bill in front of this House that could have stopped winter disconnections in June, but they didn’t support it in June, Mr. Speaker. They didn’t support it in September—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’m sorry. Stop the clock. The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke is warned.
How many more before you realize I’m going to get this stopped?
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: They didn’t support it in October, November or December. We now have our motion brought forward by the House leader that actually will see Bill 27 come to fruition by next week. If we get everyone’s support, we can have it passed by then and ensure that we’ll have the law of the land taking care of our winter disconnections.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Final supplementary.
Mr. Patrick Brown: Directly to the Premier: We don’t want to wait another week. We’ve been hearing that same tune for a year now. This needs to be addressed. Seniors are hurting. Families are hurting in Ontario.
Let me share the story. On Friday, a 76-year-old man told listeners on Andrew Lawton’s radio program that he’d been without power for four months. The Minister of Energy is saying to wait another week. How many other seniors is the Premier going to let freeze in the dark before we do the right thing? Mr. Speaker, directly to the Premier—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The Minister of Municipal Affairs is warned.
Mr. Patrick Brown: Directly to the Premier: I don’t want to hear the Minister of Energy blame the opposition, blame seniors for not understanding their hydro bills, or blame Alan Carter for getting it wrong.
My question is directly for the Premier: Will you support the motion in an hour when it’s before us? You can end this in an hour. You can end winter disconnects in an hour if you do the right thing. No more games, Premier. No more games.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. Be seated, please. As a reminder: to the Chair, please.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: No, it’s to the Minister of Energy.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’m sorry. Minister of Energy.
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The only one I’m blaming is the Leader of the Opposition for not actually passing this in June. We have a bill ready to go; we have by the end of the day today. I asked all LDCs to voluntarily comply. We have a significant number of them doing so, and if they choose not to do that we will make sure that the law of the land will be brought forward tomorrow and there will be no more winter disconnects.
The only party that has been playing games with this issue is the Leader of the Opposition and his party. Rather than talking up programs that are available or talking about ways that we can actually help people avoid disconnects, he just stands up and shakes his fist and offers no plan.
We have plans. We’re bringing forward issues that will address winter disconnects. We’re going to make sure that this is taken care of by tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. Be seated, please.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is for the Premier. I met a woman named Charlene who lives in Sault Ste. Marie and she has three kids. Charlene has two jobs, a full-time job and a part-time job, and her husband has a full-time job. They try to do the laundry and cooking during off-peak hours but their work schedules and their kids make it pretty hard to have that happen. Every month they end up with a $400 hydro bill and a disconnection notice. They’re living off their overdraft. When I met Charlene, she was almost in tears.
Can the Premier tell Charlene, and people like her all across Ontario, what she thinks she should be doing about it?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: There are two issues in that question that the leader of the third party raised, the first being that electricity prices are very burdensome for many people across the province. I recognize that. I have spoken with people like Charlene, the person the leader of the third party references, and I recognize that on top of what we have already done—the latest thing is the 8% reduction that is on all bills now—we need to do more. I have committed that we will bring forward a plan to further reduce electricity bills before the budget.
On the disconnection issue, I’ve been very clear: It’s unacceptable. We’ve had a piece of legislation before the House. The Minister of Energy has been reaching out to local distribution companies. Most LDCs have already got the message; there are no disconnections in the majority of them. If there are any outstanding by midnight tonight, we will bring forward a stand-alone piece of legislation to ban that practice.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, I’ve talked with people who get to the end of the month and have to decide between buying the groceries and paying the hydro bill to keep the lights on. This is 2017 and we live in a province with huge potential. Nobody should be faced with that sort of choice.
What does the Premier expect people to do?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: As I’ve said, I know that there are people in Ontario who are struggling with their electricity bills. I know that. We have been working very hard, and by that I mean we’ve been meeting with organizations, with individuals, whether it’s the Minister of Energy or me or my staff. We’ve been looking for solutions that can make real changes in the electricity system that are sustainable, that over time will continue to reduce electricity costs and in the immediate term will give relief across the board, because we know that the investments that we have made in the system to make it clean, to make it reliable, to make it a system that everyone can count on across the province—there was a cost associated with those changes. We need to take more costs out of the system, we need to reduce those bills, and that’s exactly the proposal that we will bring forward before the budget.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, people are hurting and the Liberal government still doesn’t seem to get it. They won’t stop the sell-off of Hydro One which is going to make things even worse here in Ontario. The Premier, in fact, said that the only way to build transit was with money, so she sold off Hydro One to get that money, the hydro money. Now we’re hearing that she’s going to take money from schools, from hospitals and from transit to subsidize hydro. No wonder people are cynical, Speaker.
When is the Premier going to start fixing the problems that people face rather than the problems that the Liberal Party faces, stop the sell-off of Hydro One and begin fixing our electricity system?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I know that the leader of the third party knows that there is absolutely no relationship between the broadening of the ownership of Hydro One and electricity prices. I know she knows that. What she’s trying to do is conflate those issues and make it sound as though somehow there is a connection.
Then she’s setting up the next piece of her strategy, which is that anything we do is going to be to the detriment of something else in government—not true, Mr. Speaker. The reality is that we are investing in transit. We must invest in transit in order to foster economic growth in this province. At the same time, we need to deal with electricity prices, which have increased across the board because of the investments that we have made over the last number of years to make sure that our grid is clean and that it’s reliable.
We’re going to continue to reduce electricity costs.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: To the Premier, Speaker: If the Premier wanted to stop people from having their hydro cut off, she could do that. I already said that to the Premier. Instead, she won’t do it unless she also gets her way on a 158-page omnibus bill, or the latest political grandstanding by her Minister of Energy.
Can the Premier explain why political credit is more important than stopping people from having their hydro cut off?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s extremely important to me that we have action on this. That’s why it was included in the bill that was before the House in June.
We’ve said very clearly that if all of the LDCs—the local distribution companies—in the province have not moved to stop winter disconnections by midnight tonight, then we will bring forward a stand-alone piece of legislation, which I hope would get expeditious passage in this House. That would then be the rule: that there will be no winter disconnections across the province.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: The Premier had an opportunity just a few minutes ago to pull that section out of Bill 27 and pass it today, not tomorrow. She had that opportunity a few minutes ago, but because it was coming from the opposition, not from the government, she refused to do it. It appears that the Premier will only agree to keeping people’s power on if she and her Liberal Party get the political win. Shame on her.
Can this Premier explain to someone facing a disconnection notice in the province of Ontario why she’s putting the interests of her political party—the Liberal Party—before the interests of Ontarians?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: The point is a procedural one. The reality is that it amounts to exactly the same thing: that people across the province will no longer be subjected to disconnection orders. My expectation, actually, would be that by midnight tonight, all of the LDCs would have agreed to stop this practice, so that neither piece of legislation is actually necessary because they will already be in compliance.
Ms. Andrea Horwath: It should not be about the whim or the good nature of the utilities. It should be the law in the province of Ontario that people’s electricity does not get cut off. That is her job; that is her responsibility. It’s not up to the companies.
Last year, 60,000 people had their hydro cut off. Suddenly today, facing immense political pressure, the Premier has apparently seen the light—well, not the light today; maybe the light tomorrow.
Once again, this is politics at its worst. That’s what this Liberal Premier dishes up regularly in this province. That’s why the people of Ontario are so disappointed and so fed up with the Liberal Party and this Premier. When is she going to start making decisions that are based on the best interests of the people of Ontario and not the best interests of her Liberal Party?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I would say to the leader of the third party that this issue was before the House in June. The leader of the third party did not make an issue of this in June, nor did she work to expedite the piece of legislation. This is of great concern to us, which is why the Minister of Energy has communicated with all of the local distribution companies in the province and has said that winter disconnections are unacceptable. My expectation is that they will be in compliance by midnight. If that’s not the case, we will bring a piece of legislation tomorrow to make that the case if we get expeditious approval by the House.
Mr. Jeff Yurek: My question’s to the Premier. Speaker, three-year-old Madison Ambos’s family has to raise over $140,000 to receive life-changing surgery out-of-country. This government has created a rationed health care system through their scandals and mismanagement, and Madison and many other children are unable to access the health care they need. Instead, families are left on their own to rely on the generosity of others to raise the much-needed funds to travel out-of-country.
The Premier and Minister of Health already know the results of the recommendations from their expert panel regarding this surgery. Families cannot wait any longer on OHIP’s dithering. Will the Premier direct her minister to fund Madison’s surgery today?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: First of all, let me just say that I can imagine no more trying and tragic situation than a family that has an ill child looking for support and looking for procedures that will alleviate that child’s suffering. There just is no worse situation I can imagine.
The reality is that in Ontario we have a health care system that is based on evidence, that looks at the scientific evidence behind procedures. I don’t know the specifics of the case of Madison, but I will certainly make sure that any information the member gives me will be passed on to the Minister of Health. But in situations where there is not a surgery available here in Ontario, and it is available elsewhere, if it’s something that is supported by evidence, then there is support for that surgery out of country. But the decisions we make in Ontario have to be based on medical evidence.
Mr. Jeff Yurek: Back to the Premier. This isn’t an experimental surgery. This is actually a surgery that’s covered by the ministry website. However, the ministry does not fund it in Ontario. The red tape and the layers of management they have created in the health care system have made it an impossible nightmare for Madison’s family to actually apply for the financial assistance the Premier is just referring to.
This surgery, again, is not experimental, and it is an approved surgery on the ministry’s website. Her minister is unwilling to fund the surgery in Ontario. Will the Premier make a commitment today to fund the surgery when Madison goes to St. Louis?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, what I’d like to do is to get the information from the member opposite. I will say that in my own constituency office, I can remember situations where there was a need to connect a family with the ministry and with the minister’s office to have a further conversation. I’m quite happy to do that for the member opposite, and I would like to have the information. I just don’t have enough information.
It’s interesting to me that it is something that is covered, but is not being funded. I’m not sure how that is happening, and what the questions or concerns are around this particular situation. I’ll need more information. I’ll certainly take it up with the Ministry of Health, and I appreciate the member opposite raising it.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question. The member from—the member from—
Mr. Gilles Bisson: You know this, Speaker.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): You’re going to make me do this, aren’t you?
Mr. Gilles Bisson: After 28 years, you’ve got to get it right. Sorry, Speaker.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I am sorry to the member from Timmins–James Bay.
Mr. Gilles Bisson: All right. It was just bad humour on my part.
Mr. Gilles Bisson: The serious question is to the Premier. Every party in this House has expressed support for legislation to stop winter disconnects, but the Premier refused to support Andrea Horwath’s motion this morning that would have dealt with it first thing today. Instead, she would rather hold those vulnerable people hostage, refusing to help people and, rather, help the Liberal Party.
My question is this: Why is it that you always choose to do what’s good for the Liberal Party and not necessarily what’s good for the people of Ontario?
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: We brought forward this issue back in June. We wanted to address this issue in the spring. Now we’re getting close to that again, but unfortunately the opposition parties didn’t want to play nice on this one. We could have had this passed by then.
But we’ve now acted. I’ve written a letter to all the LDCs asking them to comply with no more winter disconnects. We sent that letter out last week and we have a majority of those LDCs acting on that and respecting that right now.
However, if a few LDCs don’t act by midnight tonight, we are more than happy to bring forward legislation that will end this winter disconnection program as soon as this legislation is passed, and we expect we would get support from the opposition on this.
Mr. Gilles Bisson: Mr. Speaker, back to the Premier: This House couldn’t deal with it in June, why? Because you prorogued the House in June. Who are you trying to kid?
The issue here is very simple. We’ve been pointing out since last November that people are being disconnected. We’ve asked for legislation that was introduced—a motion this morning by my leader, to fast-track legislation—so we can deal with it today. Instead, what do you do? You say, “Oh, no, no. I don’t want to do it and give anybody else credit. I’ve got to do it so I can help the Liberal Party get some good press tomorrow. So we’re going to wait for another day and we’re going to do what’s good for the Liberal Party.”
I’m going to ask you once again: Why does it always come down to what’s good for the Liberal Party and not good for the people of Ontario?
Minister?
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I need to remind the honourable member that the prorogation happened on a Thursday and we were back on the Monday in September. They could have easily passed this bill then. But again, I know there are alternative facts on the other side. On this side of the House, we recognized that this was an issue for the people of Ontario in June. Why didn’t they, Mr. Speaker? They need to ask themselves why they didn’t see that back in June when we did as a government. We made sure that this bill was brought forward, making sure that we can end winter disconnects. Unfortunately they played political games with it, not this side of the House.
We’ve now made sure that there will be no more disconnects by all LDCs complying with the letter that I sent. We will know by midnight tonight, and if there are a few that don’t comply, we will make sure the law of the land will make them comply.
Mr. Arthur Potts: My question is to the Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. A key promise of our government’s mandate was to create high-quality and high-paying jobs for Ontarians. To do that, the Minister of Research, Innovation and Science has made a number of very strategic investments to grow the innovation economy.
At a time when the term “bailout” was being used frivolously by members of the opposition, this government made the strategic decision to loan MaRS the capital they needed to finish their innovative research hub.
If the opposition had their way, MaRS would be a gigantic sinkhole at the corner of University and College, or maybe have been sold off to the private sector at an incredible loss. This government showed an immense amount of leadership in the face of very ardent criticism, and that leadership has paid off, Speaker.
I would like to ask, would the minister please inform this House on the very great successes of the MaRS Discovery District?
Hon. Reza Moridi: I want to thank the member from Beaches–East York for that very important question.
It is my distinct pleasure to inform the members of this House that the decision to bridge-finance MaRS has been an incredible success. The MaRS Discovery District loan will be paid three years ahead of time at zero cost to the people of Ontario—paid off with interest.
Thanks to our investment, MaRS has created over 6,000 jobs and is responsible for an increase in our annual GDP of $1 billion. It has attracted leading technology firms that are opening innovation labs right here in the city of Toronto.
I want to take a moment and thank the Premier for her extraordinary leadership in investing in the future of the economy of this province. Its impact will be seen for years and decades to come in this province.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary? The member from Trinity–Spadina.
Mr. Han Dong: Minister, this is great news for our government’s efforts to build a globally competitive innovation hub here in Trinity–Spadina. I’m pleased to hear that MaRS is not only paying off its loan but has also become a commercial success.
As I recall, the opposition were quite short-sighted in their criticism of this project. I was very glad that our government didn’t take their advice on this matter and made this investment happen despite the political risk involved.
Minister, can you advise this House as to why this investment and others like it are important to Ontario’s efforts in becoming a world leader in innovation?
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Minister?
Hon. Brad Duguid: The member is absolutely correct. The Leader of the Opposition once blatantly called MaRS a money pit and a bad fiscal decision. Today we see, Mr. Speaker, just how ill-informed and misguided he was. Ontario is emerging as a global strength, as an innovation leader, and key to those efforts to transform Ontario to a new global economy is a strong and healthy MaRS. MaRS is a true success story that is helping to establish Ontario as a force to be reckoned with in the global innovation economy.
Our decision to boldly press ahead to build the MaRS tower in the face of unrelenting political opposition has proven today to be the right decision. I want to thank our Premier and my colleagues for having the courage to step up in the face of political risk and opposition rhetoric. We place building a strong economy and creating new jobs ahead of partisan politics.
Mr. Todd Smith: My question this morning is for the Premier. On Friday last week, Bacardi announced that it was closing its Brampton location due to the changing business environment and to ensure the company’s future competitiveness.
My question, Speaker, is this: How many more jobs have to leave Ontario before this Premier does something about the electricity crisis that she and her government have created in Ontario?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: To the Minister of Economic Development and Growth.
Hon. Brad Duguid: Mr. Speaker, any time a job is lost in this province, we are concerned for the workers that are involved, and we will continue to reach out to those workers to ensure that we do everything we can to help them find alternative employment.
But the member has got to deal with the facts. We’ve created almost 700,000 net new jobs here in this province since the recession. The unemployment rate in Ontario is at the lowest level it’s been in eight years. We are outpacing the G7 in growth. That means we’re growing faster than the US, faster than Italy, faster than the UK, faster than France, faster than Germany, faster than Japan. Mr. Speaker, we’re leading this country in growth. We will continue to do that to ensure any of those workers impacted will have alternative employment for them to be able to pick up where they’ve left off.
Mr. Todd Smith: Speaker, we’ve lost 350,000 manufacturing jobs in the province of Ontario since this government took office. Electricity is a crisis situation here in Ontario, and this minister, this Premier and this government don’t seem to get it. They are the reason that the business climate is where it’s at in Ontario. There is a smattering of applause over there, because I don’t think the Liberal caucus even believes the numbers that the minister just put out there.
This company, Bacardi, had operated in Brampton for almost 50 years: an international business. They said the business environment and competitiveness has challenges in Ontario—this after the government just gave them $350,000 last year so they could keep the lights on. If the Premier doesn’t want to blame her electricity costs, which we all know is a problem, which of her government’s other policies does she believe is responsible for the uncompetitive business environment in Ontario?
Hon. Brad Duguid: Mr. Speaker, how dare the member opposite talk down our manufacturing sector when we’re up 5,700 net new jobs since last year alone? We’re proud that we’ve invested $1.9 billion in support for Ontario manufacturers. That has leveraged $18 billion in private sector support. It has helped to create or retain over 80,000 jobs.
Where was the member opposite when we made those investments? He was on the exact other side, opposing every cent that we invested in this sector.
We’re going to keep investing in our manufacturing sector. We’re going to ensure we have one of the most competitive manufacturing sectors in North America, and we’re going to keep growing jobs in that sector, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Peter Tabuns: My question is to the Premier. Under the transit funding formula that was put in place by Bill Davis, the province paid 50% of the TTC’s operating costs. The Davis funding formula helped make the TTC the envy of the world.
The Progressive Conservative government cut that funding in 1998, and the funding has stayed cut under the Liberal government. Instead, the government has offered indirect funding with the gas tax, at a fraction of the previous funding.
Will the Premier help make the TTC the envy of the world again? Will she restore the TTC operating funding, as proposed by the NDP?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Transportation.
Hon. Steven Del Duca: I thank the member from Toronto–Danforth for the question. I think that member will know that at the current time, our government is investing more in public transit in the city of Toronto, in the 416, than any other government in provincial history.
He cited in his question that not that many weeks ago, the Premier announced that over the next four years, we’ll be doubling the amount of gas tax money that cities like Toronto receive. That means, for the city of Toronto, an estimated additional $170 million rolled out by 2022, per year. That will bring their total to roughly $340 million.
That’s on top of the literally billions of dollars that we are currently investing—again, more than any other government in Ontario history—in the expansion of transit in the city of Toronto, in the 905 communities around Toronto, and in the 99 communities across Ontario that are eligible to receive gas tax funding.
Mr. Peter Tabuns: Speaker, it’s great for ribbon cutting, but it’s real tough when you’re in an un-air-conditioned subway car in the middle of summer.
Under the province’s traditional 50-50 funding formula, the TTC and Wheel-Trans would have received about $345 million in direct provincial funding, based on Toronto’s most recently passed budget. With this level of provincial funding, the TTC could improve service, boost ridership and give people another good reason to leave their car at home.
Provincial funding for transit operations would allow for fare integration across the GTA. It would allow us to avoid the Metrolinx proposal to charge people from Etobicoke and Scarborough for the distance that they travel.
Will the Premier restore direct provincial funding for TTC operations, as the NDP has proposed?
Hon. Steven Del Duca: As I mentioned in my first answer, as we are standing here today, this provincial government, under the leadership of Premier Wynne, is investing billions of dollars in the city of Toronto alone: for example, $3.7 billion in the 416 for GO regional express rail; $416 million for the Toronto streetcars; $870 million for the Spadina subway extension; $5.3 billion for the Eglinton Crosstown, the single largest transit construction project in Ontario history.
But interestingly, from my perspective as Minister of Transportation, when Andrea Horwath, the leader of the NDP, talked about providing support for the city of Toronto’s transit, she was completely silent about the transit needs of every other community across the province of Ontario.
That’s why our initiative doubles gas tax money for nearly 100 communities, in every corner of this province. That’s transit leadership. That’s getting the job done right.
Mr. John Fraser: My question is for the Minister of Education.
Minister, TVO is truly one of our province’s gems, one that we in this Legislature, and all Ontarians, can all be truly proud of. Over the last several weeks, I’ve heard from many constituents about the importance of TVO to their families. Whether it’s TVOKids, educational platforms, in-depth current affairs shows or documentaries, TVO plays an important part in their everyday lives.
Most were concerned, over the last couple of weeks, about the potential loss of over-the-air transmission and the impact that that would have on those who did not have access to, or who could not afford, cable and Internet.
Minister, could you please let this Legislature know about the additional support that was provided to TVO in last Friday’s announcement?
Hon. Mitzie Hunter: I want to thank the member from Ottawa South for his advocacy on behalf of his constituents.
We heard that Ontarians value TVO’s dynamic educational programming. Someone talked about Polkaroo. We all love Polkaroo. That’s why our government has stepped in and taken steps to ensure that we can continue to enjoy this programming in these communities.
This additional investment by our government of $1 million will help TVO to continue to be accessible over the air in Ottawa, Belleville, Thunder Bay, Chatham, Cloyne, Kitchener, London and Windsor. This investment builds on the support that the Ministry of Education already provides to TVO for their innovative educational products and learning tools for students across Ontario.
We support TVO, and that’s why we’ve committed to this.
Mr. John Fraser: I’d like to thank the minister for that answer, and I’d like to thank the minister for listening to the concerns that I expressed on behalf of my constituents. It’s not just myself; I know that the member from Ottawa Centre and many members of the Legislature raised this. It really is a very important part of people’s everyday lives.
We’ve all been impacted and touched by TVO—those of us who have had kids or who are young enough to have been impacted by shows. I’m a little older, so I remember my kids’ shows. Although I really enjoy The Agenda, I have to say that I have a personal affinity for Polkaroo—as many of us do here; I can hear it in the Legislature.
I’m really pleased to hear that over-the-air transmission will be continued. I think it’s an important part of equal access. But I also know that TVO was also the educational extension of the Ministry of Education’s effort to educate our children. I’d like the minister to please talk to us about the support we have for the technical extension of Ontario’s education.
Hon. Mitzie Hunter: Thank you again to the member from Ottawa South.
We continue to assist TVO in providing innovative educational products. I just heard from the member from Ottawa Centre that his two children watch TVOKids, and that’s really terrific.
For 2016-17, the organization received more than $48 million to better support the learning needs of all of our students. This includes support for TVO’s Homework Help, which is free, online math tutoring by teachers for students in grades 7 to 10; mPower, a new math learning tool for kindergarten to grade 6 students based on Ontario’s math curriculum that is supporting our renewed math strategy; and the provision of distance learning education through its Independent Learning Centre, the ILC.
We will continue to support TVO so that it can deliver innovative programs to support 21st-century learning for all students, so that they can have the talents and the skills needed to thrive in today’s global economy.
Mr. Steve Clark: My question is also to the Minister of Education. The minister was in eastern Ontario last month visiting Upper Canada District School Board schools targeted for closure. She told local media she was confident the board’s accommodation review process would create better learning opportunities for students. I want to provide her with an update.
Last week, the final report recommended closing seven schools in Leeds–Grenville—12 overall. That’s one in four of the elementary schools that the board has in my riding. It’s a disaster for rural education in these communities. Does the minister actually believe that closing so many schools is creating better learning opportunities for students?
Hon. Mitzie Hunter: I want to thank the member opposite for this question.
During the wintertime, I had an opportunity to travel across this province. I do that because it’s what I love to do the most, which is to visit schools, talk to students and talk to educators. I visited Glengarry, Ottawa, Cornwall, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, just to name a few.
I had a chance to see first-hand how investments in programming for students like specialist high-skills majors are allowing students to learn the skills that align with their unique learning styles and their interests. Every student in Ontario deserves to have access to the best education possible so that they can reach their full potential. That is why we support the local boards as they are making decisions to strengthen their programming for students, and that includes having meaningful input from communities.
Mr. Steve Clark: Back to the minister: Her answer was unbelievable. Ontario’s Minister of Education is sitting on the sidelines talking platitudes while the future of rural education is being totally dismantled. As I feared, the ridiculous process that she’s so confident in ignored alternatives brought forward by school communities in my riding. They’re actually proposing to close two schools in the two fastest-growing communities in Leeds–Grenville.
I called for a moratorium on school closures last fall to give us time to develop a provincial rural education strategy. You know, it’s hard to plan for the future of rural education when there’s no tomorrow for these schools.
Speaker, my question is simple: Will the minister act before it’s too late by stopping these closures and forming an all-party committee to set up solutions for keeping rural schools open?
Hon. Mitzie Hunter: Mr. Speaker, I want to stress to the member opposite that every student in this province deserves to have access to the best education possible so that they can achieve their full potential. Our students in rural areas are an integral part of that.
We understand that boards are moving forward. There are no easy solutions. With the pupil accommodation review process, boards are required to receive input from municipalities, from coterminous boards, from community members, from students, from parents and from their local organizations, and that’s exactly what they’re doing.
We cannot have a one-size-fits-all solution to this issue. It has to be a local decision, and that’s why we support the pupil accommodation review process and we support local boards in making that decision.
At the same time, we are providing the investments in our education system that are necessary to ensure that our students have the best possible investments in their education.
Mr. John Vanthof: My question is to the Premier. Ontarians are concerned about proposed public sector CEO pay hikes that could see some executive salaries increase by 50%. These high-priced executives, who are already making six figures, are going to see their salaries increase by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
Most Ontarians haven’t seen a real pay increase in years. A lot of Ontarians can’t pay, for example, their hydro bills.
It makes you wonder what this government’s real priorities are, and if they would rather spend limited public dollars on high-priced executives than on supporting needed public services.
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: The President of the Treasury Board.
Hon. Liz Sandals: Obviously, when we think about our partners in the broader public sector, we want to make sure that we have two things happening. We want to make sure that our partners in the broader public sector can pay their executives adequately and that they can attract the best people, because we want the best people running our public services. But we also understand that they need to pay the broader public sector in a responsible manner and to get good value for money.
I would point out that the group of people we are talking about with broader public sector pay, or in this group of broader public executives, have actually had their salaries frozen since 2012.
The issue that we have looked at has been, how do we come out of the freeze in a responsible way? The way we do that is to make sure they are paying no more than the 50%—
Supplementary?
Mr. John Vanthof: Speaker, years of Liberal austerity budgets have underfunded our hospitals and schools to the point of crisis. Funding for the front-line staff who make a difference in people’s lives has been cut, possibly to make way for massive CEO pay hikes. This is money that could be used for hiring back the 16,000 nurses who have lost their jobs in the last two years as a result of damaging Liberal spending priorities.
When will this government stop letting the people of Ontario down and invest in programs and services that matter to Ontario families?
Hon. Liz Sandals: For the BPS executives who have had their salary frozen, the organizations have been asked to set out a salary framework where they are compared to Canadian public sector comparatives. They are not legally allowed to pay more than the midpoint of those comparators.
If in fact they have reasonable comparators and reasonable salary increases, we will approve that. If they have unreasonable comparators that don’t comply with the regulation, we’ll send them back to the drawing board. That has happened. If they have unreasonable increases, we will send them back to the drawing board.
We are only going to approve those salary increases which are reasonable and allow us to get good value for money and good people to run our public services.
Ms. Daiene Vernile: My question is for the Minister of International Trade. With recent world events taking shape, we’re beginning to see a shift in the trade landscape, especially here in North America. Ontario does have a long history, with our partners in the United States and Mexico, of strong and mutually beneficial trade relations that are measured through our deeply integrated economies. This economic integration has largely come as a result of trade deals like NAFTA, which now links 450 million people, producing over US$20 trillion worth of goods and services every year. NAFTA effectively eliminated almost all tariffs on goods and provided clear rules that govern trade in goods, services and investment throughout the continent.
Speaker, given the fact that the new US administration has vowed to tweak NAFTA, could the minister please elaborate on what this is going to mean for businesses here in Ontario?
Hon. Michael Chan: I want to thank the honourable member from Kitchener Centre for asking this important question.
As minister responsible for international trade, my job is to sell Ontario while at the same time ensuring access to our existing key markets.
Simply put, Ontario supports free trade and understands the value of our NAFTA partners.
Speaker, we have a 24/7 pipeline of communication with the federal government to ensure Ontario’s interests are at the forefront of any negotiation. Recently, Prime Minister Trudeau met with the US administration for the very first time. All indications point to the notion that both countries value our similarities and that deepening our trade relationship is mutually beneficial for now, the medium term and long term.
Ms. Daiene Vernile: It’s very encouraging to hear that our Minister of International Trade and our government have been actively engaged with our NAFTA partners. The Premier should also be commended for taking action to name a dedicated committee for Ontario-US economic and trade relations.
Last month, our Premier also issued letters to 27 governors of American states that rank Ontario as a top customer, spotlighting the positive impact that our trade creates for workers on both sides of the border.
However, face-to-face engagements are where meaningful connections are made. That’s why our Premier has committed to asserting her presence in key US states, beginning in March.
Speaker, could the minister please give us more insight on the direction that Ontario needs to take from a trade perspective in order to continue competing globally?
Hon. Michael Chan: NAFTA has always been the greatest pillar of growth for our three countries. Since its implementation, the total GDP for Canada, US and Mexico reached $US20.7 trillion in 2015.
Speaker, we will continue to work with our NAFTA partners to deepen our relationships, but we must also diversify. Diversification in trade is twofold: We must diversify our trade to include new emerging markets like Brazil, India and China, and in our established trading markets, we must diversify the sectors and regions with which we trade.
Speaker, our government is committed to working with businesses to reduce trade risk and to help Ontario protect and promote its strong economy.
Mr. Norm Miller: Mr. Speaker, I’d first like to point out that the Minister of Energy said we voted against Bill 27. We actually supported Bill 27.
My question is to the Premier. Muskoka Meats and 100 Mile Store is a small business in my riding. It’s just the kind of business you’d like to see succeed in Ontario. They promote high-quality local food. I can attest to the quality of the delicious Ontario lamb they sell myself.
Unfortunately, the owner, Dave Purdon, is struggling to replenish his stock after being forced to launch a half-price sale of frozen meats on Facebook in order to pay his hydro bill and keep his business running. As a butcher, Dave knows that his freezers require substantial electricity to run. However, when faced with a $1,700 hydro bill and a $5,000 security deposit, he had no option but to sell his quality products at a loss.
Speaker, will the Premier explain how she expects small rural businesses like Dave’s to succeed and prosper while paying Ontario’s outrageous hydro rates?
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: I thank the honourable member for the question. The important thing for us, as the government, to recognize is—you know what, Mr. Speaker, we put forward a few programs to help small businesses, and they’re actually seeing help when they know about those programs, so we’re going to continue to promote those programs and make sure that those businesses can find out that information and save those dollars, because I do hope that the honourable member let that company know about many of those programs.
But as the Premier has said quite a few times, Mr. Speaker, we’ve come forward with programs. We’ve had that 8% reduction that’s just been in place since January 1. That 8% reduction applies to all retail price plan customers, which includes farms, which includes small businesses and includes residents. That 8% is coming off the bill, but we know we need to do more. We’ll continue to work hard at that and we’ll make sure that we find other ways to help those businesses.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary? The member from Huron–Bruce.
Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Snobelen Farms is a local Huron–Bruce grain-drying operation and exporter supporting good rural jobs. On Snobelen’s January hydro bill, there was a delivery charge of $9,006 before HST, while their electricity cost was $3,312.
Speaker, Snobelen Farms wants the Premier to listen and understand—this is very, very important—that if she doesn’t start standing up for Ontario businesses, the only thing drying up in this province will be more good-paying jobs. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier admit that her careless spending is perpetuating the ongoing gouging of Ontario businesses through her outrageous delivery charges?
Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Minister of economic trade.
Hon. Brad Duguid: Mr. Speaker, we’re proud of the investments we’ve made with Ontario small businesses through the years. I wish the opposition would have been as supportive of small businesses when we made those investments.
Our regional economic development funds have seen us invest $145 million. That’s leveraged $1.7 billion of private sector investments and created and supported 35,000 jobs in small businesses in eastern Ontario and southwestern Ontario, areas that have struggled to keep up with Ontario’s burgeoning economy.
We’ve also made Ontario one of the most competitive places for small businesses to operate. We’ve cut the capital tax out. We’ve reduced corporate taxes from 5.5% to 4.5%. That saved businesses $4.5 billion. Our corporate income tax is 13% lower than the average US—that’s saving significant amounts of money. We brought in the HST, saving $4.7 billion. This is the most competitive jurisdiction in North America for small, medium and large businesses to operate. We’re going to keep growing, Mr. Speaker. It’s—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Stop the clock. Be seated, please. Be seated, please. Thank you.
New question.
Ms. Catherine Fife: My question, of course, is to the Premier. Premier, last month StatsCan data revealed that women in this province are far more precariously employed than men. Women are less likely to be employed than men. Women between age 24 and 55 are employed at a rate 10% lower than men. Women are roughly twice as likely to be working in part-time jobs and more likely than men to have to work multiple jobs.
To add insult to injury, Premier, full-time working women in Ontario earn $167 less per week than their male counterparts across all industries. We know this because it comes from Stats Canada, their 2016 survey.
What Ontarians don’t know is why the Premier doesn’t have a plan to address employment inequality. Premier, why don’t you have a plan to address this serious issue?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of the Status of Women.
Hon. Indira Naidoo-Harris: Thank you so much for this question. I want to really say that this is a very important issue for all of us. As we all know, women make up more than 50% of the workforce in Ontario, and so they are key players when it comes to building our economy in Ontario. Because of that important role, they are contributing to a healthy economy, and we’re committed to ensuring there are economic opportunities for women and all Ontarians.
In fact, we’re doing a number of different things. We support programs that help low-income women gain new skills and new opportunities, such as the Women in Skilled Trades and Information Technology Training Program that has trained more than 2,600 women. We also have a micro-lending program for women in Ontario which is designed to help low-income women. The Employment Training for Abused/At-Risk Women Program helps women who are facing challenges in their lives. And we’re doing so much more to promote gender equality and address the gender wage gap. Of course, I’m more than happy to talk about how child care is assisting with that too.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Leeds–Grenville.
Mr. Steve Clark: I just saw Bruce Davis in the gallery. I know he has been introduced before, but he does brew great beer at the Gananoque Brewing Company, so I want to make sure I introduce him.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke on a point of order.
Mr. John Yakabuski: I apologize; I missed this earlier. Joining the group from Equal Voice and Daughters of the Vote today, from my riding of Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke, we have Martina Witt. Welcome to Queen’s Park, Martina.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. I do want to remind all members that a request has been put out by Equal Voice and Daughters of the Vote that we are having a major photography opportunity on the staircase. Everyone is invited to attend and partner with them so that they can be sent to Ottawa as our Ontario representatives for the model Parliament. I just put that reminder out to you.
Mr. Victor Fedeli: I’d like to introduce Myriam Faucher from my riding of Nipissing, hometown of Corbeil. She’s here with Equal Voice and the Daughters of the Vote.
Mr. Peter Tabuns: It’s my pleasure to introduce David Sanders, Suleman Basharat, Jemilie Adajar, Patrice Callaghan, Jamuna Kakunthan, Terry-Anne Morle and Anne Cuevas. All of these striking food service workers are from U of T Scarborough and York University. Welcome to the Legislature.
Hon. Reza Moridi: Please join me in welcoming Ms. Sussan Ekrami, founder of Nowruz Foundation, visiting the House today. Welcome.
Mr. Percy Hatfield: Welcome back, Speaker. A lovely young lady from my riding, Marcaila Taylor, is here with the Daughters of the Vote today as well. Welcome to Queen’s Park.
Mr. Granville Anderson: Speaker, join me in welcoming Nikki Clarke from the Black History Society. She has some other guests along with her as well. Welcome.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Further introductions? Seeing no further introductions, it’s now time for members’ statements.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Sorry. I just got a last wave at the last second, just in time. The Minister of Education.
Hon. Mitzie Hunter: Thank you, Speaker. I too want to welcome the guests who are here today. I see Liben from the Taibu Community Health Centre in Scarborough is here, and other colleagues from the board as well. Welcome.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Now it is time for members’ statements.
Mr. Victor Fedeli: Over the winter break, I was able to join a number of MPPs on an instructional and quite emotional visit to Israel. And no, Speaker, there were no taxpayers’ dollars involved. Thanks to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs for hosting our group.
Sara Lefton, Madi Murariu and Rachel Chertkoff gave us great insight into the past and current situation involving both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Our guide, Lyana Rotstein, gave us a detailed profile and analysis over the course of the eight-day trip to Jerusalem, the Golan Heights overlooking Syria and Tel Aviv. We heard from political scientists, Canadian embassy representatives, the former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, journalists from all sides, security experts, members of Parliament, various ministry staff and several high-tech companies.
Thanks to their collective depth of knowledge and ability to share this information, what I knew going in and what I knew when I left are two very different things. This was an important and informative event for me and, I’m sure, for my colleagues as well.
Ms. Catherine Fife: I am thankful that I have a mother who encouraged me to challenge the status quo and encouraged me to enter politics. I am thankful for women who march and women who mentor. I’m thankful for leaders who challenge misogyny, individuals who hold established powers to account and organizations such as Equal Voice that are working to change the political landscape for the better. I am thankful for Daughters of the Vote who will experience the emotions and energy of politics and, because of this experience, will not allow gendered barriers such as harassment to interfere with this intense call to public service.
I see ambition, assertiveness and restlessness in these daughters, and it inspires. I see it in all of you even when you don’t see it yourselves: the power of a principled voice, the drive for real change. I see in these Daughters of the Vote hope: hope as we establish male allies for equality; hope for a society where every child, regardless of gender, race, religion, creed or economic status, can reach their potential; hope for an electoral system where every vote will count and women will see themselves reflected in the governments they elect and where women’s rights are not debated for politic points.
I see the Daughters of the Vote as the beginning of this movement towards equality and justice. I am thankful for this small but mighty revolution. It is long overdue and just in time.
Mr. Granville Anderson: I rise today to tell you about how grateful I am that the province officially recognizes February as Black History Month. Personally, I am grateful because it reinforces the pride and satisfaction I have about the many important contributions the black community has made to Durham region, to the province and to our great country.
Over the course of the month, I have had the pleasure of attending various events in my riding of Durham as well as throughout Durham region to celebrate Black History Month and its significance in our community. I am so proud of our tradition of gathering to celebrate the hard work and contributions of black people to the province of Ontario.
There are so many examples of the contributions made to Ontario by people from the Caribbean and African diaspora. I personally think of Lincoln Alexander, the first black MP, the first black cabinet minister and the first black Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and of Leonard Braithwaite, the first black MPP, elected in 1963, paving the way for people like me.
From a cultural perspective, our community has groups such as the Canadian Jamaican Club, Club Carib and UOIT’s African Students Association, to name a few, that have done so much to celebrate the vibrant black culture we have in the riding of Durham. These groups and the many more exemplary black individuals we have in Durham have helped to build a stronger region and province, and we should be proud to celebrate that throughout this month and throughout the rest of the year.
Mr. Monte McNaughton: Gong Hay Fat Choy.
On behalf of the Ontario PC caucus and our leader, Patrick Brown, I want to take this opportunity to offer warmest wishes to everyone celebrating the lunar new year.
The Year of the Rooster officially began January 28, so for the last several weeks, festivities have been under way for Canadians of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese heritage. Many of my colleagues and I had the opportunity to participate in celebrations across Ontario. As always, it has been an honour to be a part of the wonderful traditions of Chinese New Year, Seollal and Tet.
While the form of the celebration may differ from culture to culture and place to place, it is always an occasion for communities to gather, enjoy wonderful food, express gratitude and celebrate the opportunity of a new beginning. Here in Ontario, the spring festival enriches our culture, brightens our winter and reminds us of how blessed we are by the diversity of Ontario.
I hope this Year of the Rooster will bring happiness, health and prosperity for all.
Remarks in Mandarin and Vietnamese.
Mr. Gilles Bisson: Last Friday, I decided I would let people know by way of Facebook that the Legislature was coming back and encourage people to send me their stories in regard to what’s happening with their hydro bills. Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable—the anger that people express when they’re communicating their frustration with hydro is beyond the pale. I’m not going to read word for word, but there’s a couple that I thought I would share.
One particular individual says that, aside from what’s happening in his house where his hydro bill has gone up in price, he’s a volunteer at a Kamiskotia ski hill. To pay the hydro to run the ski hill is getting to the point where will the ski hill remain open? He raises the issue of what happens to arenas. Keeping arenas open in small communities across Ontario so our kids can go out and skate, play hockey and do figure skating is getting to be quite onerous because of the price of electricity.
I have another lady who writes to me and says, “My hydro bill used to be about $250 a month.” Bianca Duhn says her bill was about $250 a month, somewhere around there. The long and the short of the story: She’s not electrically heated; she’s heated by gas. But she uses a pellet stove in order to save on that. Her hydro bill was $420 last month, compared to what it used to be.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have got to do something to bring hydro prices down, because people have had it. They can’t pay it any more.
Mr. Arthur Potts: At midnight last night, I found myself on Danforth Avenue, in my great riding of Beaches–East York, celebrating with my Bangladeshi community. You may know that Bangla is the second-largest first language spoken in my riding. I was there with representatives from the federal government, Bill Blair and my own counterpart Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. Mayor John Tory took the time to show up. It was fantastic to have them out there in support of the community.
Earlier in the day, I was at a centre called the Bangladesh Centre and Community Services with my good friend the Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. It was wonderful to have him there to celebrate with Dr. Reza Mahbub and Hasina Quader, who is the executive director. Dr. Moridi was the keynote speaker. He was so appropriate to be there because this is the individual who, in a private member’s bill a number of years ago, had us recognize unanimously in this House International Mother Language Day.
Earlier in the day, I was out in Scarborough with the Bangladesh Literary Resource Centre and Subrata Kumar Das. There, I had a chance to speak at length about the trials that indigenous people have faced in our country, where we too tried to remove culture from our indigenous people by depriving them of the right to speak in their language. This is what faced the people in Bangladesh when the Pakistani government said that the official language would be Urdu; you’ll be hearing more about that later.
I just wanted to rise to say thank you to the community for the great support they had in recognizing mother languages all across this world.
Remarks in Bangla.
Mr. Steve Clark: It wasn’t much of a Family Day for parents from seven elementary schools in my riding. That’s because they didn’t spend the day having fun with their children. Instead, they worked on presentations to save their children’s schools from being closed by the Upper Canada District School Board. Unfortunately, that’s not new for them.
Parents have spent thousands of hours away from their families since the board’s accommodation review process began last fall. They’ve done incredible work developing ideas to keep our rural schools viable. But as I feared when this process began, they were ignored. Last week the board tabled recommendations that would devastate rural education in Leeds–Grenville.
If trustees approve this short-sighted plan next month, seven elementary schools in my riding will close. That’s one in four of the board’s elementary schools in Leeds–Grenville. That’s right, Speaker: one in four.
Today, on behalf of these communities that stand to lose so much, I’m calling on the Minister of Education to put a stop to this. It’s time to get off the sidelines, Minister, and stop professing confidence in this ridiculous process. She must act immediately and put a moratorium on school closures. We need a provincial strategy on the future of rural education, but we can’t plan for the future if this minister does nothing and allows trustees to close schools today. For seven school communities in my riding, there is no tomorrow.
Ms. Soo Wong: I rise today to share an important milestone in Scarborough–Agincourt. This Saturday, February 25, the Royal Canadian Legion Scarborough Centennial Branch 614 will be celebrating their 50th anniversary.
The Royal Canadian Legion is Canada’s largest veteran support and community service organization. With over 400 branches across Ontario alone, the Royal Canadian Legion advocates on behalf of veterans, including serving military and RCMP members. Since 1967, branch 614 has been a central community partner in providing support for Scarborough veterans, many of whom valiantly served Canada in World War II. Branch 614 is over 400 members strong and one of the most diverse Legions in Canada.
I recently met with veterans who served under the British in Hong Kong during the Second World War. They included John Fung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Ex-Servicemen’s Association, and the vice-chairman, Chin Tam.
For over 30 years, branch 614 has collaborated with other Scarborough Legions in donating over $100,000 to support Scarborough Hospital.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to recognize Legion branch 614 president Wayne Hayes and the Legion members for their service to the community. This year also marked Mr. Hayes’s 10th anniversary as Legion branch 614 president.
I look forward to this Saturday’s celebration.
Mr. Todd Smith: I want to tell the House about the man from Waupoos. In many ways, he’s the man who built Waupoos in Prince Edward county. If you go down County Road 8 past the Waupoos pub and marina, you hit the intersection with Bongards Crossroad. It’s at this intersection of the world that Grant Howes plied his trade. Unfortunately, we lost Grant over the winter break.
It’s at that intersection, though, that the County Cider Company stands as testament to my friend and his hard work, to prove not only that good things grow in Ontario but that you can’t beat the things that grow here.
Canadian legend is full of these larger-than-life characters. When Grant died, I said that he reminded me of a character from a Stompin’ Tom Connors song. Everything about him was as Canadian as the apples that he grew. From that big hand of his that was always outstretched in a friendly handshake to his pride in the community that he called home, Grant dedicated every waking hour—and I think Jenifer would probably tell you some of his sleeping ones, too—to making sure that he produced only the best cider.
He was so proud of the county, Mr. Speaker, that he put it right there on the label of his ciders. It was on the tap whenever Grant was pouring from a keg, either here at the Legislature or at trade shows across the province.
Since 1995, only the best came from the farmhouse where the Bongards Crossroad meets County Road 8.
He was a giant, and not just because of his stature. When I wrote in to the Picton Gazette after his passing, I said that an MPP has a thousand teachers. There are people in your community who do their level best to stay in your ear and educate you on any given topic. For me, that was Grant. He produced County Cider, Mr. Speaker, renowned around the world.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I thank all members for their statements. It’s now time for reports by committees.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I beg to inform the House that today the Clerk received a report on intended appointments dated February 21, 2017, of the Standing Committee on Government Agencies. Pursuant to standing order 108(f)(9), the report is deemed to be adopted by the House.
Report deemed adopted.
Mr. Smith moved first reading of the following bill:
Bill 91, An Act to amend the Electricity Act, 1998 and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 / Projet de loi 91, Loi modifiant la Loi de 1998 sur l’électricité et la Loi de 1998 sur la Commission de l’énergie de l’Ontario.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.
All those in favour, say “aye.”
All those opposed, say “nay.”
In my opinion, the ayes have it.
Call in the members. This will be a five-minute bell.
The division bells rang from 1518 to 1523.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Would all members please take their seats. All members, please take your seats.
Mr. Smith has moved that leave be given to introduce a bill entitled An Act to amend the Electricity Act, 1998 and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998.
All those in favour, please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.
Ayes
Albanese, Laura
Anderson, Granville
Arnott, Ted
Barrett, Toby
Bisson, Gilles
Cho, Raymond Sung Joon
Clark, Steve
Coe, Lorne
Coteau, Michael
Damerla, Dipika
Des Rosiers, Nathalie
Dickson, Joe
Duguid, Brad
Fedeli, Victor
Fraser, John
French, Jennifer K.
Gates, Wayne
Gélinas, France
Gretzky, Lisa
Hardeman, Ernie
Hatfield, Percy
Hoggarth, Ann
Horwath, Andrea
Hunter, Mitzie
Jones, Sylvia
Kiwala, Sophie
Lalonde, Marie-France
Leal, Jeff
MacCharles, Tracy
MacLaren, Jack
MacLeod, Lisa
Mantha, Michael
Martow, Gila
McNaughton, Monte
Milczyn, Peter Z.
Miller, Norm
Moridi, Reza
Munro, Julia
Murray, Glen R.
Naidoo-Harris, Indira
Naqvi, Yasir
Natyshak, Taras
Nicholls, Rick
Pettapiece, Randy
Potts, Arthur
Sandals, Liz
Scott, Laurie
Smith, Todd
Thompson, Lisa M.
Vanthof, John
Wilson, Jim
Wong, Soo
Wynne, Kathleen O.
Yakabuski, John
Yurek, Jeff
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): All those opposed, please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.
The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 57; the nays are 0.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I declare the motion carried.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Prince Edward–Hastings on a point of order.
Mr. Todd Smith: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Since we’re all getting along here this afternoon—we’ve got the first one down—I seek unanimous consent that the order for second reading for Bill 91, an act to stop electricity disconnections in the wintertime, be called immediately, and, in the event that Bill 91, an act to stop electricity disconnections in the wintertime, receives second reading, that the order for third reading immediately be called and the question put without debate or amendment.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Prince Edward–Hastings seeks unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice. Do we agree? I heard a no.
Ms. Hunter moved first reading of the following bill:
Bill 92, An Act to amend the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014 and make related amendments to other statutes / Projet de loi 92, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2014 sur la négociation collective dans les conseils scolaires et apportant des modifications connexes à d’autres lois.
Hon. Mitzie Hunter: I’m pleased to introduce the School Boards Collective Bargaining Amendment Act, 2017. This bill proposes amendments to the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014. If passed, the proposed amendments will improve the consistency and transparency of the collective bargaining process, provide more flexibility to all parties, and address technical issues to enhance the already effective two-tiered bargaining framework.
Mr. Yakabuski moved first reading of the following bill:
Bill 93, An Act to amend the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act with respect to matching rebates of gasoline tax that the Minister provides to municipalities / Projet de loi 93, Loi modifiant la Loi sur l’aménagement des voies publiques et des transports en commun à l’égard des remboursements de la taxe sur l’essence similaires consentis aux municipalités par le ministre.
Mr. John Yakabuski: It’s not the first time I introduced this bill, but with the announcement by the Premier a few weeks ago, I think it’s more than appropriate.
The bill amends the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act. If the minister, under section 116 of the act, enters into an agreement with a municipality to provide a rebate of tax under the Gasoline Tax Act to the municipality for the purpose of constructing, maintaining or operating a rapid transit or public transportation system, the minister shall not refuse to enter into an agreement to provide a rebate of tax under that act to any other municipality for a purpose related to public highways under the jurisdiction of the latter municipality. The amount of the rebate that the latter municipality receives shall be based on the number of inhabitants in the municipality and the total distance of public highways under the jurisdiction of the municipality.
Mr. Gates moved first reading of the following bill:
Bill Pr58, An Act to revive 1049491 Ontario Inc.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Pursuant to standing order 86, this bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills.
Ms. Hoggarth moved first reading of the following bill:
Mr. Delaney moved first reading of the following bill:
Bill Pr57, An Act to revive Prosper Legal Management Inc.
Mr. Nicholls moved first reading of the following bill:
Bill 94, An Act to amend the Highway Traffic Act with respect to evidence obtained from school bus camera systems / Projet de loi 94, Loi modifiant le Code de la route en ce qui concerne la preuve obtenue au moyen des systèmes photographiques reliés aux autobus scolaires.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member for a short statement?
Mr. Rick Nicholls: As I look in the gallery today, I see a lot of students here. Of course, this particular bill was introduced earlier and is being reintroduced. It’s designed to have a video camera mounted on a stop arm on a school bus to catch the number of “blow bys.” Pilot projects within the province of Ontario have revealed that blow bys—cars passing school buses while the lights are flashing and the stop arm is out—are increasing. Hopefully this bill, if passed, will improve this and lessen the danger to our students today.
Hon. Michael Coteau: Today, I’ll speak as Minister of Children and Youth Services but also as the minister responsible for anti-racism. Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise in the House today to formally recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent.
Before I start, I just want to thank MPP Hunter and also MPP Granville Anderson for the work that they’ve done to get to this point. It was the three of us and many members of this caucus who worked hard over the last year to get to this point today. And, of course, I would like to thank the Premier.
In recognizing this decade, we’re acknowledging that people of African descent represent a distinct group of people whose human rights most be promoted, they must be protected, and whose history, culture and contributions must be respected and celebrated.
I’d like to take a moment to recognize and thank our community partners that are here to join us today. The men and women whom you see in the east members’ gallery and other parts of the Legislature here today are folks who have been working hard to advocate on behalf of the community and the rights of racialized people here in Ontario. I just want to say thank you so much for being here. Without your help we couldn’t do what we’re doing here today.
Mr. Speaker, around the world there are around 1.3 billion people of African heritage. Outside of Africa, it’s roughly 200 million people. Over half a million people identify as members of the African community or people of African descent here in Ontario, the province we call home.
The International Decade for People of African Descent calls for the international community to join together with people of African descent to raise awareness, collect statistics, preserve historical memory and celebrate the achievements of black people in the spirit of recognition, justice and development. The objectives of this decade, which started back in 2015 and runs until 2024, are to:
—promote the respect, protection and fulfillment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of people of African descent, as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
—promote greater knowledge of and respect for the diverse heritage, culture and contributions of people of African descent; and
—adopt and strengthen national, regional and international legal frameworks according to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and ensure their full and effective implementation.
The Canadian government invited a delegation of United Nations human rights experts to assess anti-black racism here in Canada. During their visit last October, the group raised concerns about systemic anti-black racism in the criminal justice system, the education system, the underemployment of black workers and the damaging legacy of Canada’s history of slave trade, racial segregation and marginalization. At the same time, the UN delegation welcomed the establishment of Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate to address this systemic racism and promote fair practices and policies.
We know that racism takes many forms. Sometimes it’s subtle, and sometimes it’s overt and intentional. Systemic racism harms our entire society, but black and African Canadians are among the most uniquely, and immediately, affected by it. It is true that we have come a long way, but there is so much more that we know we can do as a society to eliminate systemic racism. Together, every single person in this province has a role to play to build a multicultural society that everyone can be proud of.
Our government is committed to fighting systemic racism faced by indigenous and racialized people, including specifically anti-black racism impacting people of African descent. To inform our work, as the minister responsible for this file, I travelled across the province between June and December of last year and listened to people share their stories around racism. We interacted with over 4,000 people across this province, and I have to say that the stories that came out were just incredible. People spoke about the fact that they landed in a new country and they couldn’t find employment that was connected to their professional credentials. We heard about people expressing the disproportional number of black families involved in the child welfare system and how their children, once going into that system, lose their identity. We listened to people talk about their educational experiences and the need for change there. There were many thousands of people that shared their stories and talked about how racism impacted their lives.
This government, our people and all of Ontarians are committed to working towards eliminating systemic racism and building a society characterized by racial equity. Recognizing the UN’s International Decade for People of African Descent as we celebrate Black History Month this February is part of that commitment.
This province first proclaimed Black History Month back in 1993, marking the 200th anniversary of a law banning the importation of slaves to here in Upper Canada, which we now refer to as Ontario. Last year, Ontario passed legislation to formally recognize February as Black History Month on an annual basis.
Black History Month is an opportunity to reflect on the history that has collectively shaped us. It is important to share these challenges faced by black Canadians and to celebrate their accomplishments and outstanding contributions to this province and this country.
Mr. Speaker, as the minister responsible for children and youth and the minister responsible for this government’s Anti-Racism Directorate, I am committed to engaging with communities in every corner of this province and working with my colleagues across the aisle as we address systemic racism to create opportunities and equitable outcomes for all. Moving forward, we will break down those barriers, and we’ll help every Ontarian, regardless of where they are from, to reach their full potential. Thank you very much.
Hon. Laura Albanese: Today, February 21, is International Mother Language Day. It was on this day in 1952 that university students in Pakistan held a demonstration protesting the Pakistani government’s decision to make Urdu the country’s national language. At that time, the majority of Pakistani citizens were Bengali, and the students wanted that language recognized as well. Police opened fire, killing several of the protestors. Those students died defending their mother tongue. These protestors died defending a language they believed was under threat. They wanted to preserve their language for themselves and for future generations.
In 1999, the United Nations proclaimed February 21 as International Mother Language Day. Ontario is proud to join with nations around the world in marking this important day thanks to a private member’s bill presented in the past by my esteemed colleague the MPP for Richmond Hill in 2009.
Today is a day to reflect on and celebrate peace, diversity and multiculturalism. It is also a day to remind ourselves that some of the most basic freedoms we enjoy are freedoms that others have died to secure and died to defend. The right to communicate in one’s mother language is one of these freedoms.
Many of us learn one or both of Canada’s two official languages, English and French, growing up. But both Canada and Ontario were built by a great many people whose mother language was not English or French. Today, Ontario is blessed to be home to people from 200 different countries who speak more than 250 different languages and dialects. Here in Ontario, we welcome the mother languages of our newcomers, and they welcome the chance for themselves and their children to learn English and French in school or tuition-free ESL and FSL adult classes. This generous linguistic accommodation is what makes Ontario a beacon to the rest of the world.
This past year, the attention of the world has been fixed on the plight of refugees, particularly Syrian refugees fleeing the terrible civil war unfolding in their country. Ontario, like many other jurisdictions around the world, has stepped up to help. From November 2015 to the end of 2016, Ontario welcomed more than 20,000 refugees. Approximately 17,000 of these were refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria. We cherish these and the 100,000 immigrants who make our province their home every single year. We cherish everything they bring: their hopes, their dreams, their diversity and their language. Ontario is not a place which asks newcomers to stop speaking one language to learn another; Ontario is a place for all cultures, all races, all beliefs and all languages.
As many of you know, my mother tongue is Italian. A special kind of beauty exists, which is born in language. We bond together over language, and Ontario gives us the opportunity to promote that awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity in multilingualism. On this International Mother Language Day, we proudly say, in 250 different languages and dialects, “You are welcome here.” Thank you.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Further ministerial statements? There being none, it is now time for responses.
Mr. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to speak in honour of International Mother Language Day in Ontario. Also, I would like to thank the honourable minister for making such a good speech.
At this time, I would like to say a few words in my mother tongue, which is Korean.
Remarks in Korean.
As someone who has been living in Ontario for many, many years, but whose mother language is neither English nor French, I recognize the importance of celebrating my cultural heritage through my mother tongue on commemorative days such as this. I feel so fortunate to live in such an accepting and diverse society as Ontario. It is rare to find a place where you can be proud of the culture and language that makes you who you are while also being in such close contact with people of other cultures and other languages.
Ontario’s multiculturalism is the envy of the world, expressed vividly through food, art and language. Throughout the province, over 250 languages are spoken daily by people from all over the world. From every corner of the globe, people of different tongues come not only to share their stories and their lives, but also to write new chapters and build new beginnings here in Ontario. By celebrating our diversity on occasions such as International Mother Language Day, we honour and uphold the values that this province stands for.
Language is the backbone of any culture, and by preserving a language, we preserve culture. In preserving a culture, we preserve the individuals and people that make it up.
It is up to us, Mr. Speaker, to continue to support and celebrate our diversity through language so that the voices of the world may be heard in Ontario, a great province.
Mr. Ted Arnott: On behalf of the Ontario PC caucus, I am honoured to respond to today’s statement by the Minister of Children and Youth Services and the minister responsible for anti-racism in recognition of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, and in recognition of Black History Month, and in celebration of the outstanding achievements of Ontario’s black community.
An understanding of history is vitally important if we are to understand the present and how we came to today. Knowledge of history is in many ways a guide to the future, for it was once said: “The only new thing under the sun is the history you don’t know.” It’s so true.
We all need to take an interest in the extraordinary history of this province and our beloved country. We have been hearing this month the compelling stories of brave war heroes, courageous civil rights pioneers and determined trailblazers. Hearing these stories, we come to better realize that black history is Ontario history. It is the history of Ontario as a beacon of freedom for those escaping the cruelty of slavery in the American South. It is a story of the black Loyalists and the War of 1812 veterans who fought courageously for their freedom with the hope of one day calling Canada home. It is the legacy of a people’s perseverance and determination forged in the face of great challenge and adversity.
We hear the stories of former slaves who found freedom here in Ontario, like Josiah Henson and Richard Pierpoint, which remind us of slavery’s inhumanity and also that liberty and tolerance are central to the character of the province of Ontario.
We hear the story of civil rights pioneers like Viola Desmond, which remind us of what prejudice and injustice look like, and also inspire the next generation of Canadians to stand up for the courage of their convictions.
We hear the story of Canadians like Lincoln Alexander, whose birthday we acknowledged on January 21. We do this not simply as a reminder of the trials and challenges of bigotry, but also to encourage the next generation of Canadians to strive for excellence, to never give up and to give back in service to the country.
Black History Month is a time to recognize these stories of heroism, bravery and triumph over adversity. Together, all of us can work to ensure that the values we champion—freedom, democracy and human rights—are what unite Ontarians of all backgrounds.
In this, the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, we say this: Racism in any form is unacceptable. We stand together to condemn racism in any way it may appear and in any way it manifests itself, for in the 21st century it is our diversity that will continue to be one of our greatest strengths, showing Canada to be a beacon for the world.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Further responses?
Ms. Andrea Horwath: It’s my honour to rise and speak on behalf of Ontario’s New Democrats. As the leader of my party, I’ve had the privilege to travel all over the province of Ontario. Everywhere I go, I’m reminded of just what an important role the black community has played in shaping this province and, in fact, our country.
As Canada marks its 150th anniversary, Ontario celebrates its 39th Black History Month, and of course I think we’re into the third year of the International Decade for People of African Descent. It is a time for us—everywhere, everyone in this province—to take part in the celebration of black and African history and culture in our country and in our province.
When we talk about Black History Month, what we’re really talking about is, in fact, Canadian history. From cowboys in Alberta like John Ware to business entrepreneurs like Thornton Blackburn in Toronto, black and African Canadians have been building and shaping this country since the earliest days of its history.
Of course, as a Hamiltonian, I feel a close connection to one such community-builder, a true pioneer for the black community in Ontario and in Canada. Of course, I’m talking about Lincoln Alexander.
Born on Draper Street, just three kilometres from here, Linc had to travel a long road before he eventually found his way to Queen’s Park, where he served as Lieutenant Governor. He overcame many challenges, including significant discrimination, to become a highly respected lawyer, politician and community leader, accruing many firsts along the way, including being elected as Canada’s first black member of Parliament, representing Hamilton West.
Inspirational leaders like Lincoln Alexander, whose example is still so relevant today, remind us that Black History Month is more than just a curriculum subject for school classrooms; it is a celebration for all Ontarians. Ontario, Canada and communities around the world have been profoundly influenced and enriched by the black community.
Black History Month is a time for all Ontarians and Canadians to celebrate the contributions the black community has made and to honour its role models and leaders past and present. Ontarians of all backgrounds owe it to themselves to take time to learn about the challenges and triumphs of black and African Canadians and Americans, as well as those from the continent and the diaspora. It is important that this history never be forgotten or ignored.
Of course, using the word “history” risks implying that this is all just in the past. It is critical that while celebrating historic figures and achievements, we never downplay or ignore the challenges still being faced by the black community. Despite some improvements, the black community still bears a disproportionate burden of violence, poverty and lack of opportunity.
There is overrepresentation of young black men in our criminal justice system and overrepresentation of black families in our children’s services system. We see what’s happening in some of the school boards in this very province, where our minister has had to step up to deal with the racism that continues to occur there.
We have situations where I meet with black families and they tell me that they see their sons being suspended and kicked out of school much more frequently than any other children, and that’s not acceptable. That’s what we call systemic racism, and unfortunately it exists in many, many of the institutions that we have and that we are responsible for here in this chamber.
You can recall that back in the early 1990s we had an Anti-Racism Secretariat, and I look forward to the minister responsible for anti-racism in his role—I sometimes wonder what it would be like here in the province of Ontario had the subsequent government not gotten rid of the Anti-Racism Secretariat back in the 1990s.
However, thankfully, contemporary black community activists and leaders are carrying on the tradition of human rights pioneers like Stanley Grizzle, Bromley Armstrong and Viola Desmond. These community leaders, past and present, are standing up to make the promise of Canadian multiculturalism, diversity and, in fact, acceptance a reality. Their ongoing struggles and leadership are a call to action to all Ontarians to confront injustice wherever we see it and to build a fair and inclusive society, where everyone can build a future for their family.
Ontario’s New Democrats are proud to stand in solidarity with these community activists against anti-black racism and to celebrate the leaders and activists who have come before. The black and African Canadian community, its history and its past struggles should always hold an important place in our schools, in our literature and in our culture. Otherwise, we will not be able to change the present or the future.
Alongside all Ontarians, New Democrats are proud to celebrate Black History Month this year and every year.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I thank all members for their comments.
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’m going to broach a delicate and a sensitive moment. The standing rules indicate that we’re only allowed to use two languages: either English or French. When people say “hello” or make a single comment, Hansard is okay with that and they make that. But when you move into a paragraph in another language, you’re actually breaching the rules of the House. I would request some sensitivity to that as we do not know, nor do we expect Hansard to know, what was said in that paragraph.
I would kindly remind all members that the standing rules are such. It will be simply referred to by Hansard as “Spoken in Korean.” I’m using the member as an example, but I want to remind all members: French and English only.
Mr. Ted Arnott: I have a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and it reads as follows:
“Whereas the price of electricity has skyrocketed under the Ontario Liberal government;
“Whereas ever-higher hydro bills are a huge concern for everyone in the province, especially seniors and others on fixed incomes, who can’t afford to pay more;
“Whereas Ontario’s businesses say high electricity costs are making them uncompetitive, and have contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs;
“Whereas the recent Auditor General’s report found Ontarians overpaid for electricity by $37 billion over the past eight years and estimates that we will overpay by an additional $133 billion over the next 18 years if nothing changes;
“Whereas the cancellation of the Oakville and Mississauga gas plants costing $1.1 billion, feed-in tariff (FIT) contracts with wind and solar companies, the sale of surplus energy to neighbouring jurisdictions at a loss, the debt retirement charge, the global adjustment and smart meters that haven’t met their conservation targets have all put upward pressure on hydro bills;
“Whereas the sale of 60% of Hydro One is opposed by a majority of Ontarians and will likely only lead to even higher hydro bills;
“To listen to Ontarians, reverse course on the Liberal government’s current hydro policies and take immediate steps to stabilize hydro bills.”
I agree with this petition and have also affixed my signature to it.
Mme France Gélinas: I would like to thank the residents of the Elizabeth Centre—it’s a long-term-care home in my riding—for collecting these petitions, which they gave to me on Friday. It reads as follows:
“Whereas Ontario’s 627 long-term-care homes play a critical role in the support and care for more than 100,000 elderly Ontarians each and every year;
“Whereas nine out of 10 residents in long-term care today have some form of cognitive impairment, along with other complex medical needs, and require specialized, in-home support to manage their complex needs;
“Whereas each and every year, 20,000 Ontarians remain on the waiting list for long-term care services and yet, despite this, no new beds are being added to the system;
“Whereas over 40% of Ontario’s long-term-care beds require significant renovation or to be rebuilt and the current program put forward to renew them has had limited success;
“Whereas long-term-care homes require stable and predictable funding each year to support the needs of residents entrusted in their care;
“We, the undersigned, citizens of Ontario, call on the government to support the Ontario Long Term Care Association’s Building Better Long-Term Care pre-budget submission and ensure better seniors’ care through a commitment to improve long-term care.”
I fully support this petition, will affix my name to it, and usually I would give it to a page, who is quickly—
The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Further petitions.
Mr. John Fraser: I’m reading a petition I received from Lindsey Barr of World-Changing Kids at the kickoff to Kindness Week in Accora Village. It reads as follows:
“Whereas there has been an increase in fear and hate towards people in our communities who practise different religions and who are from different cultures and races than the majority of the population; and
“Whereas many of our friends are feeling frightened and alone in the face of any form of discrimination and hate; and
“Whereas we want to show the world that the hate seen in Ontario does not reflect the people of our province; and
“Whereas we believe that everyone should feel welcome and safe in our communities. It is the diversity of our province that makes it so wonderful;
“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:
“That all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario stand up and speak out against all forms of hate and discrimination and stand together in love and kindness.”
I agree with this petition, and I am affixing my signature to it and giving it to page Elizabeth-Anne.
Mr. Ernie Hardeman: Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here that has been signed by literally thousands of constituents.
“Whereas electricity rates have risen by more than 300% since the current Liberal government took office; and
“Whereas over half of Ontarians’ power bills are regulatory and delivery charges and the global adjustment; and
“Whereas the global adjustment is a tangible measure of how much Ontario must overpay for unneeded wind and solar power, and the cost of offloading excess power to our neighbours at a loss; and
“Whereas the energy policies of this Liberal government ignored the advice of independent experts and government agencies, such as the Ontario Energy Board and the Independent Electricity System Operator, and resulted in Ontarians’ electricity costs rising, despite lower natural gas costs and increased energy conservation in the province; and
“Whereas the implementation of cap-and-trade will drive the cost of electricity even higher and deny Ontarians the option to choose affordable natural gas heating; and
“Whereas more and more Ontarians are being forced to cut down on essential expenses such as food and medicines in order to pay their increasingly unaffordable electricity bills;
“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to take immediate steps to reduce the total cost of electricity paid for by Ontarians, including costs associated with power consumed, the global adjustment, delivery charges, administrative charges, tax and any other charges added to Ontarians’ energy bills.”
Thank you very much for allowing me time to present this petition.
Mr. Percy Hatfield: “Petition Supporting a $15 Minimum Wage.
“Whereas a growing number of Ontarians are affected by the growth in low-wage, part-time, casual, temporary and insecure employment; and
“Whereas too many workers are unprotected by current minimum standards outlined in employment and labour laws; and
“Whereas the Ontario government is currently engaging in a public consultation to review and improve employment and labour laws in the province;
“Implement a minimum wage of $15 an hour.”
I fully agree. I’ll give it to page Nicholaus to bring up to the desk.
Ms. Soo Wong: I want to thank 2,000 Ontarians who signed this petition, from Kitchener-Waterloo to London, Ajax and Grimsby.
“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
“Whereas the events in Asian countries during the Second World War are not well-known;
“Whereas Ontarians have not had an opportunity for thorough discussion and examination of the World War II atrocities in Asia;
“Whereas Ontarians are unfamiliar with the World War II atrocities in Asia;
“Whereas Ontario is recognized as an inclusive society;
“Whereas Ontario is home to one of the largest Asian populations in Canada, with over 2.6 million in 2011;
“Whereas some Ontarians have direct relationships with victims and survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, whose stories are untold;
“Whereas the Nanjing Massacre was an atrocity where over 200,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers alike were indiscriminately killed and tens of thousands of women were sexually assaulted in the Japanese capture of the city;
“Whereas December 13, 2017, marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre;
“Whereas designating December 13 each year as a Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day in Ontario will provide an opportunity for all Ontarians, especially the Asian community, to gather, remember and honour the victims of families affected by the Nanjing Massacre;
“We, the undersigned, residents of Ontario, urge the members of the Ontario Legislative Assembly to pass Bill 79, declaring December 13 as Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day.”
Mr. Speaker I support this petition. I will give my petition to page Kyra.
Ms. Laurie Scott: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas electricity rates have risen by more than 300% since the Liberal government took office; and
“Whereas many rural customers will see delivery charges soaring by as much as 25% in 2017, which will increase their total hydro bills by up to 11.5%; and
“Whereas more and more Ontarians are being forced into energy poverty, having to cut down on essential expenses such as food and medicines in order to pay their increasingly unaffordable electricity bills;
“To take immediate steps to reduce the total cost of electricity paid for by Ontarians, including costs associated with power consumed, the global adjustment, delivery charges, administrative charges, tax and any other charges added to Ontarians’ energy bills.”
Signed by many people in my riding from Fenelon Falls, Little Britain and Kirkfield today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Miss Monique Taylor: I’d like to thank Shannon Kyle, who worked so hard putting this petition together and getting the hundreds of names on it. It’s named “Add Restoration of Existing Doors and Windows to any Grant Tax Incentive or Funding Projects Initiated to Aid in Energy Conservation.”
“Whereas it has been widely demonstrated that properly restored or rehabilitated old wooden windows fitted with storms, where needed, are as energy-efficient as new replacement products, and restored windows and doors take up a fraction of the carbon footprint of new products, which do not have the lifespan of older windows, it is the request of the undersigned that any funding made available for replacement of doors and windows also be made available for the restoration of existing doors and windows.
“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly as follows”—
I will affix my name to this and give it to page Luca.
Ms. Sophie Kiwala: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas payday loans are the most expensive source of credit in Canada and can create the risk of an additional financial burden for the 3% of Ontario households that borrow payday loans; and
“Whereas in Ontario a two-week payday loan carries an annualized interest rate of approximately 547.5%; and
“Whereas these loans are typically marketed to financially vulnerable consumers;
“Mandate the Ontario government incrementally reduce the cost of borrowing a payday loan, first to $18 per $100 advanced in 2017 and then to $15 per $100 advanced in 2018.”
I agree with this petition. I sign it and give it to page Connor.
Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas household electricity bills have skyrocketed by 56% and electricity rates have tripled as a result of the Liberal government’s mismanagement of the energy sector;
“Whereas the billion-dollar gas plants cancellation, wasteful and unaccountable spending at Ontario Power Generation and the unaffordable subsidies in the Green Energy Act will result in electricity bills climbing by another 35% by 2017 and 45% by 2020; and
“Whereas the Liberal government wasted $2 billion on the flawed smart meter program; and
“Whereas the recent announcement to implement the Ontario Electricity Support Program will see average household hydro bills increase an additional $137 per year starting in 2016; and
“Whereas the soaring cost of electricity is straining family budgets, and hurting the ability of manufacturers and small businesses in the province to compete and create new jobs; and
“Whereas home heating and electricity are a necessity for families in Ontario who cannot afford to continue footing the bill for the government’s mismanagement of the energy sector;
“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately implement policies ensuring Ontario’s power consumers, including families, farmers and employers, have affordable and reliable electricity.”
I totally agree. I will affix my signature and send it to the table.
Mme France Gélinas: I would like to thank Eileen Thompson from Capreol in my riding for this petition, and it reads as follows:
“Whereas frail elderly patients needing long-term-care placement in homes within the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE LHIN) have been pressured to move out of the hospital to await placement, or stay and pay hospital rates of approximately $1,000 per day; and
“Whereas frail elderly patients needing long-term-care placement in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie have been pressured to move to homes not of their choosing, or to ‘interim’ beds in facilities that don’t meet legislated standards for permanent long-term-care homes; and
“Whereas the practice of making patients remain in ‘interim’ beds is contrary to Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) policy which identifies ‘interim’ beds as intended to ‘ensure a continuous flow-through so that interim beds are constantly freed up for new applicants from hospitals’;
“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:
“Ensure health system officials are using ‘interim’ beds as ‘flow-through,’ in accordance with fairness and as outlined in MOHLTC policy;
“Ensure patients aren’t pressured with hospital rates and fulfill promises made to hundreds of nursing home residents who agreed to move temporarily with the promise that they would be relocated as soon as a bed in a home of their choosing became available.”
I fully support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask my nice page Quinn to bring it to the Clerk.
Ms. Ann Hoggarth: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas ice machines are found everywhere throughout the health care system, including long-term-care facilities and hospitals; and
“Whereas numerous bacteria and viruses are known to contaminate ice cubes, including cholera, typhoid fever, salmonella, legionella, E. coli, shigella, hepatitis A and norovirus I and II; and
“Whereas the lack of regulation increases the probability of consuming ice from ice machines with unhygienic levels of bacteria and/or viruses, putting public safety at risk; and
“Whereas individuals consuming ice from a contaminated ice machine in a hospital or long-term-care facility are at a greater risk due to potentially weakened immune systems; and
“Whereas the inherent risk and rate at which both bacteria and biofilm grow inside ice machines have caused other countries to mandate the cleaning of ice machines; and
“Whereas there are currently no mandates or guidelines on the frequency or thoroughness of cleaning for institutional ice machines in hospitals, long-term-care or other health care facilities;
“That the province of Ontario establish and enforce cleaning and hygiene standards for all institutional ice machines in provincially funded and/or operated facilities.”
I agree with this. I will sign my name and send it down with page Nolan.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): The time for petitions has now expired.
Mr. Murray, on behalf of Mr. Hoskins, moved second reading of the following bill:
Bill 84, An Act to amend various Acts with respect to medical assistance in dying / Projet de loi 84, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’aide médicale à mourir.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Back to the minister. Actually, I recognize not the minister but, this go-round, the member from Ottawa South.
Mr. John Fraser: Thank you very much, Speaker. It’s good to be back. Good to see you in the chair.
I’m pleased to rise and discuss Bill 84, the Medical Assistance in Dying Statute Law Amendment Act. If passed, this legislation would support the implementation of medical assistance in dying in Ontario, which is also referred to as, and as I will in the speech, MAID.
The bill will provide more protection and greater clarity for the implementation of MAID for patients, their families and their health care providers. As I will outline, the bill as proposed aligns with the federal legislation regarding medical assistance in dying, which was enacted following a Supreme Court of Canada decision in the case that challenged the prohibition of assisted dying.
Speaker, I’d like to begin by providing you with the context under which we got to this point. The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in Carter v. Canada on February 6, 2015. In the Carter decision, the court unanimously struck down the Criminal Code prohibition against physician-assisted dying for “a competent adult person who ... clearly consents to the termination of” his or her “life ... has a grievous and irremediable medical condition,” and is “enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.”
The Supreme Court suspended its decision in Carter for 16 months to allow federal, provincial and territorial governments and regulatory bodies, should they choose, to develop an appropriate response, including potentially enacting legislation consistent with the decision. During this time, our government led a process with the provinces and territories to engage and consult with key stakeholders and Canadians on this complex and personal issue, and make recommendations.
Following the 16-month suspension of the court’s declaration in Carter, the federal government passed Bill C-14, which came into force on June 17, 2016. It’s just a little over eight months old. I’d like to point that out and will say a bit more about that later in my remarks. The federal legislation provides a national framework to support the implementation of MAID. The legislation outlines the eligibility criteria required to obtain MAID, requires procedural safeguards to be followed, requires that a monitoring regime be established, and promotes a safe and consistent approach to medically assisted dying across the country.
Under the federal legislation, to obtain medically assisted dying, an individual must first be eligible to receive health services funded by a government in Canada, be at least 18 years of age and capable of making health care decisions, have a grievous and irremediable medical condition, voluntarily request medical assistance in dying and give informed consent to receive MAID. Safeguards in the legislation include a requirement that two independent physicians or nurse practitioners determine a patient’s eligibility, a mandatory reflection period and a requirement that a request for MAID be produced in writing in the presence of two independent witnesses.
Speaker, I’ve just briefly outlined the Supreme Court decision and the accompanying federal legislation. Before I describe the details of the proposed bill before us today and its role in light of these developments, let me provide an overview of the steps we have already taken to support the implementation of medically assisted dying in Ontario. These steps reflect our commitment to providing Ontarians with the best possible information and assistance they need when making decisions about their care. That is why the ministry implemented a number of initiatives in the months immediately following passage of Bill C-14. These initiatives include information, tools and training to help patients, health care providers and health care facilities understand how to access or offer medical assistance in dying.
We’ve been working closely with the province’s health regulatory colleges that regulate physicians, nurses and pharmacists to provide guidance on MAID and their respective members. We have moved forward with funding the cost of drugs for MAID so that they are available to Ontarians at no cost. A clinician referral service has been launched that helps clinicians locate other clinicians willing to provide or assist in the provision of MAID. This service is used in cases where doctors and nurse practitioners may object to providing MAID on moral or religious grounds, and are looking to refer patients to willing providers. This service is also used for locating a clinician to provide a second assessment, which is required under the federal legislation.
Finally, we have taken steps to ensure information sharing and monitoring of any implementation issues through regular webinars with system leaders, stakeholders, including health professional associations, sector associations, LHINs and patient groups.
Mr. Jim Wilson: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Point of order: I recognize the member from Simcoe–Grey.
Mr. Jim Wilson: I’m sorry to interrupt the speaker, but I’m just wondering if we have quorum.
The Deputy Clerk (Mr. Trevor Day): A quorum is not present, Speaker.
The Acting Speaker ordered the bells rung.
The Deputy Clerk (Mr. Trevor Day): A quorum is present, Speaker.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): A quorum is present. I return to the member from Ottawa South.
Mr. John Fraser: With these initiatives in place, we are now proposing further steps through this legislation that, if passed, support the implementation of medical assistance in dying in a manner that aligns with the federal legislation. This proposed legislation, which introduces amendments to a number of provincial acts, is necessary to further support and protect providers and patients.
Although the federal legislation—and this is important, Mr. Speaker—is comprehensive and contains important safeguards, there are some issues that it does not address since they fall under provincial jurisdiction. That is why I’m pleased to speak today about Bill 84, the Medical Assistance in Dying Statute Law Amendment Act.
It provides clarity and direction for clinicians and patients navigating MAID and ensures there is appropriate oversight for MAID deaths in this province. The bill contains a narrow series of amendments to existing legislation, including amendments to the Excellent Care for All Act, which, if passed, would include the following two provisions. First, medical assistance in dying would not affect a right or benefit that would otherwise exist under a contract or statute, whether it be life insurance or survivor benefits. That’s a very key part of this legislation and I’m glad it’s there. Second, physicians, nurse practitioners and persons assisting in the lawful provision of MAID would have immunity from civil liability.
Amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act would ensure that claims under the act would be determined based on the illness or disease for which the worker was determined to be eligible to receive medical assistance in dying.
An amendment to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act would, if passed, protect clinicians and facilities willing to provide MAID from being identified under access-to-information laws and requests.
Further, an amendment to the Coroners Act would, if passed, ensure the effective monitoring of medical assistance in dying by:
(1) requiring the coroner to be notified of all MAID deaths—certain information would be required to be disclosed by clinicians so that the coroner is able to properly exercise discretion in determining whether to investigate;
(2) clarifying that the existing requirement under the Coroners Act to investigate any death from any cause other than disease does not apply to medical assistance in dying;
(3) clarifying when the coroner is required to complete death certificates for MAID deaths;
(4) requiring a review of the coroner’s oversight role.
The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services would establish this review process within two years of passage of this bill.
Finally, an amendment to the Vital Statistics Act would clarify requirements respecting the coroner’s documentation of medical-assistance-in-dying deaths, consistent with the proposed Coroners Act amendments.
Speaker, you will see from the proposed legislation that we have outlined steps necessary to safeguard the rights of patients and health care professionals. It is important to point out that the steps we have already taken to facilitate MAID and the proposed amendments—changes that respond to the Supreme Court ruling and that we must therefore put in place—were built through the hard work of our government, in consultation with our stakeholders.
This process involved thousands of Ontarians and health care providers who shared their views. For example, we conducted surveys, invited submissions through a dedicated email account, and held in-person and online consultation. This process reflected our commitment to undertaking changes to our health care system in a manner that best meets patient needs.
Further, the government has heard concerns expressed by clinicians who have conscientious or religious objection to providing medical assistance in dying. I want to make it clear that the bill, if passed, does not require a clinician to perform MAID or assess a patient for MAID. Thus, in addition to the clinical referral service already in place, the government is working to establish a care coordination service which would assist patients and caregivers in accessing additional information and services for medical assistance in dying and other end-of-life options. We would be working closely with our health care delivery partners to ensure that the service meets the needs of patients and clinicians.
Just as important, Mr. Speaker, we are committed to doing this while supporting alternative end-of-life options. Ontarians deserve to have a health care system that provides seamless, consistent and compassionate care that includes information and access to the fullest range of choices possible. I want to point out that the care coordination service would also provide patients and their families with information on palliative care so they can make the choice that is right for them.
As I’ve carefully outlined here today, Ontario is taking a thorough and thoughtful approach to medical assistance in dying, in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling and subsequent federal legislation. What our government is proposing to do with Bill 84 is to introduce amendments that are necessary in light of the fact that medical assistance in dying is both legal and practised. Between June and December 2016, a total of 187 medically assisted deaths occurred in Ontario. We have made every effort to propose the best possible legislation in light of these developments. The bill, if passed, would provide additional clarity and protections to patients and clinicians.
The goal here is to support patient choice while protecting the vulnerable and respecting the rights of health care providers and institutions. The proposed amendments would do just that. If the bill is passed, we would continue to monitor stakeholder and public opinion. As part of this process, we would continue to rely on our partners in health care for input and additional feedback.
We would also continue to monitor for operational changes. For example, we identified issues that include timely access to MAID drugs and assessments, as well as sufficient clinical capacity to service medical-assistance-in-dying requests. The Ontario government continues to engage with the federal government on these and other important issues regarding MAID.
Our government remains as committed as ever to the goal of putting patients at the centre of all we do in health care. The proposed medical-assistance-in-dying statute law is needed to deliver on this commitment. Our job at the provincial level is to ensure that we are providing the information, the tools and the training to help patients, health care providers and health care facilities understand medical assistance in dying. We are providing more protection and greater clarity for patients and their families and health care providers, and we have taken steps to ensure that the bill before us today aligns with the federal legislation and addresses areas that fall under provincial jurisdiction.
We know that medical assistance in dying is an important issue for people. Because of the Supreme Court decision, it is now legal in Canada, so we need to look at how we provide these services to people when they need them. Death and dying is a difficult topic. We don’t really ever want to talk about it very much. It’s important to recognize that there are differences of opinion on medical assistance in dying—for some people, at a very, very fundamental level.
Part of my mandate as the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care is to oversee our government’s efforts in the area of palliative and end-of-life care, so for many months now I’ve been talking to stakeholders. I think we had about 350 at our consultations last year and continuing through this year with health care stakeholders, caregivers and families, talking about death and dying and how we care for each other at the end of our lives and how we need to provide comfort and compassion to people at the end of their lives.
Just to back up a little bit, if I can, Mr. Speaker, I was very fortunate to be made the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health at the same time, in August 2014, that the Carter decision was being discussed. It was actually, I think, just before the decision. When I became parliamentary assistant, the minister said, “What would you like to do?” I said, “I’d like to work on palliative and end-of-life-care issues because I think they’re critical.” I was fortunate enough to be given that as part of my mandate in that letter, a very important part. So I’m really very thankful for that.
Not often do you get an opportunity in your job to work on something that you really care about and that is important to you and that you have some understanding of. I’ve been doing work as a volunteer and through government for about 20 years, always maintaining a connection to that. So I feel very fortunate, and equally as fortunate last summer to have continued on in the PA shuffle—not having been shuffled—to be able to continue to work on this. I want to assure all members of the House that I am continuing to work on it.
Because of these responsibilities, I spent a great deal of time reflecting on death, dying and end-of-life care and the need for us to act in compassion, mercy and love. I had to ask myself the question—I’m not a health care provider, but I had to think about the question because I had spoken to a number of providers on different sides of the issue about how they felt about it. Some had strong objections; some had concerns—on both sides. I still haven’t come to the answer myself, but I do know we have to act out of compassion and love and mercy.
I went to the person who I trust most: I spoke to my mom. My mother, Mary, is a registered nurse. She’s 84—sorry, mom; I guess I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud. She’s somebody who I know I can trust for her insight and wisdom. She’s an incredibly practical person and very devoted and committed. I asked my mom, “Mom, you’re a nurse. I know you’re not practising anymore, but do you think you could participate?” She spent 35 years as a registered nurse at the National Defence Medical Centre in Ottawa, which is no longer operating as a hospital. Her response to me—and this is really telling. My mom is a person of really deep faith, and her answer was, “I don’t think I could, because I believe God gives and takes life away,” and in the next breath she said, “but there are extreme circumstances.” So what she said to me as I understood it was, “You just asked me a question—it’s a hypothetical question—to which here is my answer. But it’s a question which I have no proximity to. It’s not in front of me. I don’t see it.”
So it’s important for all of us to realize that—not just as individuals, because we’re not all going to be put in that situation. I think we have to take that approach. This is what we’re doing in this bill. We have to come through this together. As we gain proximity to the thing, as we have in identifying things like the need to protect people’s insurance rights, the need to protect their WSIB rights, the need to protect them from litigation—as we get that proximity and we get closer, this will evolve and develop so we have an understanding, a common community understanding of how to move forward.
Medical assistance in dying is a difficult and very personal choice. As I said, it’s important for us to move forward as a society with respect for everyone’s choices, opinions and decisions. It’s more than just an academic discussion; it’s about the way we feel. It’s about the way we view the world. It’s about compassion and mercy and love. Ultimately, we need to consider, when we look at the Supreme Court’s ruling on medical assistance in dying and the federal government’s amendments to the Criminal Code, that at its core, the decision is about choice. To have real choice you need to have choices. That’s why, on this side and, I know, across this Legislature, we’re advocating for better palliative care: because those other choices are access to quality end-of-life and palliative care. I know that the minister is committed to that. I know I’m committed. I know all members of the House are committed to that.
Last year, when we announced some of the initiatives we had for community-based palliative care and the Ontario Palliative Care Network, members on all sides of this House, during that budget speech, applauded that one part. I will never forget that, because you don’t see that happen very much in a budget speech. So I’m very proud of all the members in this Legislature. When I have an opportunity to visit their ridings, and I have, to make some hospice announcements or be there to meet with—when I was in Windsor, I met with Darren Cargill, who I have a lot of respect for. He’s doing some really great work.
I guess I’d better not be listing people off, although I do have an hour.
Mr. Grant Crack: Keep going.
Mr. John Fraser: I’m going, thanks.
It’s just incredible to me how engaged members are in their communities on this issue, whether it’s with visiting a home hospice or bereavement. I think almost all of the members in this House have either raised that issue or are passionate about that, so I just want to say thank you to all of the members for their support for those initiatives.
Our government is working hard to make sure that patients have access to quality palliative care. We’ve committed to supporting high-quality palliative care and end-of-life care for all Ontarians who need it. We understand that making end-of-life decisions is a both challenging and sensitive topic for patients, their families and health care providers, and we want to support them by promoting dignified palliative and end-of-life care—care that relieves suffering and improves the quality of living. That’s what it’s all about: It’s about living. The things that are most important at the end of life are really the things that are important during life. It’s just that they become more important and we focus on them. Those are the things that it’s important, as a community, we start to recognize.
I beg your indulgence, Speaker.
This change is a community change—and I’ll talk a bit more about this later. It’s about a culture change. It’s about how we approach end-of-life and suffering, and how we take responsibility for each other, not just as governments, but as communities and communities of practice, families, friends, volunteers. It’s a big change, and it’s going to require everybody rowing in the same direction.
When you go to communities like Windsor, Sudbury, Ottawa or Kingston, you find that those programs that are most effective in relieving pain and suffering are those programs that more parties are involved with. That level of collaboration and that working together is a thing that’s making a difference in those communities, and as a government we have to do what we can to support and build on that. As members in this Legislature, we have to do what we can—not just from a resource perspective from government, but with our time and attention—to talk to people inside our community about the importance of coming together and working together to provide the kind of comfort that people need.
Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Take your time.
Mr. John Fraser: I’ve got lots. I might take a second drink of water. Are you all paying attention now? There you go.
We’re taking action to help more people get better palliative and end-of-life care that respects their wishes and is provided where they want it, which usually means at home.
It is important for Ontarians to plan now for the end of life by talking with family, friends and health care providers about their wishes. This is a critical part of that culture change. We don’t often talk about it at home.
I’ll relate to you two experiences. I think my wife, Linda, is listening, so it’s good I’m not back home for three days. I just want to say that we talk about it at home, and it’s easy for me to talk about it. I say, “Well, if this happens, this is what I would like. These are what my wishes are. Here’s how I’d like it handled.” To be fair, Linda doesn’t want to hear that, and I don’t think that’s an uncommon experience. She doesn’t want to have that conversation, because we don’t want to think about our own mortality, and we don’t want to think about how that’s going to affect other people. We don’t want to think about what we think is the unthinkable, but the reality is it’s thinkable, because we’re all going there.
But it’s a difficult conversation to have. It’s an important conversation to have. It takes an effort to do that. You don’t have to do it all at once. There are all sorts of tools out there for advance care planning that help people to define what it is and what’s important—because it’s really about what’s important to you, right? It’s really about what’s important to you in your life.
A clinician said to me once, “You know, the thing I ask when I’m talking to a patient who is palliative is, ‘What are you afraid of? What are your fears? What’s important to you? And what would you do to get that thing that’s important to you?’”, which is a pretty basic human conversation. It’s important because it informs your health care provider, to make sure that you can get access to those things that are important to you, that you can have some confidence that you’ll be able to experience those things.
So often, people end up in an emergency room when that’s not really where they wanted to end up, because they were not going to be able to deal with those things or have access to those things that are important to them. Or they end up with interventions that, if they fully understood the impact of that on their lives and what was important to them, they would not have otherwise taken. It is important for us, and it’s important, as a gift to someone you love, to someone who’s going to make that substitute decision for you, to have some idea about what’s important to you, because it’s very difficult for people, when they have to make a substitute decision.
I’m going to tell a story about my mom. I’m sorry, Mom. My mom and I—I know this will be okay with her—have had numerous conversations. My mom is 84—I did it again. About a year and a half ago, she had a heart attack, and she had two stents put in her heart. My mom is very practical, and she started talking about, “Well, you know, here are the things that I want.” She started thinking more about dying, so we’d have conversations back and forth. She said to me, “I don’t want any extreme measures. Here is how, when I pass, I’d like you to do these things.”
So this Christmas, just before Christmas, I walked into the house, and there on the table was, in my mom’s script, which is typical nursing-type script, a list of instructions—quite legible, because nurses’ instructions are very legible; that’s a thing I’ve learned, growing up with a nurse. She went through all these things. It was hard to read, but I was happy that I saw it. It was harder for some of my siblings. We had conversations.
One day, I’m walking down Bay Street and I call Mom, because I try to call my mom as often as I can when I’m here—not as often as I should. I say, “Mom, we’re talking,” and we start talking about it again. We’re on the phone and we’re talking about her wishes at the end of life, on the phone, walking down the street in the cold of winter. And she repeats it: She says to me, “I don’t want any extreme measures.”
I said, “Okay, Mom.” This is the importance of the conversation, and it’s really important to underline that it’s an ongoing conversation. She said, “I don’t want any extreme measures.” “Okay, you don’t want any extreme measures. Okay. Mom, you have a heart attack in the house right now. Do you want CPR?” Pause. It’s really important to have these conversations, because that was not included in what she felt was an extreme. So they’re really important conversations to have. I wanted to share that personal story. I know my Mom’s okay with it—or I’m 90% sure she’s okay with it.
Ms. Ann Hoggarth: You’ll find out.
Mr. John Fraser: I know she is.
It’s important. I know we’re discussing this very important bill that’s addressing some very specific and narrow definitions, narrow things that need to be corrected in certain acts here. But I think it’s an important opportunity for us to talk about things like this, and the impact of advance care planning on our personal lives and on informing the health care system so it can do what is important to the patient. That’s critical.
Many of us have had the talk with loved ones about who would make critical decisions that need to be made in the event that we are unable to because we had become ill or had been in an accident. We all know we need to do this while capable of doing it so that we can ensure the right decisions get made in keeping with our wishes, yet we hesitate. As my former boss said, we often confuse the immediate with the important. These discussions about advance care planning are critical. I’ll leave you with that thought. Maybe you’ll answer it at the end.
Advance care planning is about making clear how you wish to be cared for and about giving someone you trust the authority to act on those wishes for you if the need arises.
The government recognizes that we also have an important role to play when it comes to palliative and end-of-life care. Our approach is to ensure that the services we deliver will improve the quality of life and, Mr. Speaker, the quality of death. We are improving the health care experience so that patients and caregivers understand their palliative care options and how the system works. This will help alleviate their stress and help them focus on what’s important.
We’re building a palliative care system that is coordinated, equitable, accountable and sustainable. Starting last year we increased our investments in hospice and palliative care. I mentioned that earlier—$155 million over three years for very important services. I know that of the 34 hospices in Ontario, we increased their operating funds and we’re going to support up to 20 new hospices in Ontario.
There are supports for caregivers and supports for visiting home hospice. The Ontario Palliative Care Network, through Cancer Care Ontario, is there to ensure that we can measure, that we can have quality and that we can ensure access. It’s not a widely known piece but it’s a really critical piece in ensuring that we continue to move forward on this, that we ensure that there’s a coordinated effort.
The growth of hospice and palliative care was based on coalitions. The eventual grand coalition was seen in the Declaration of Partnership and Commitment to Action. I think there are over 80 agencies and regulatory bodies and associations that have signed on to this to say, “Here are the things that we need to do.”
The Ontario Palliative Care Network, in collaboration with them—that declaration of partnership continues to grow. It was important for that to be solidified and given a space inside government, inside the health care system, in order to make sure that we continue to move forward in a way that is going to ensure access to quality palliative end-of-life care.
We’re also providing services and resources for caregivers and volunteers because we recognize the important role they play in palliative care and we want to ensure that they remain healthy too, because we understand that the toll for caring for someone near the end of life can really have a great impact on a person.
Many of you know my own experience with my father, who was diagnosed with an inoperable oral cancer just after my first election—it was about three months after my election. It was kind of tough news. His journey we went through together as a family, and it was a journey that informed the work that I do right now. It had some really great moments—excellent care—and then it had moments where things fell between the cracks. There were problems in transitions from one setting to another. There was not great communication. But at the end of the day, if I go the way that my father went, in that way, I’ll think I’ve won the lottery, because it was a fairly big effort where we all came together, and there was a lot more good than there were things that were negative. But there were things that I knew needed to be fixed.
What remained with me is that I think it’s incumbent on all of us that we ensure that families have that choice, have that option, that we are able to provide care for people whose families may not be able to make that kind of commitment. It’s not just family; it’s as communities that we have to look after each other.
We were very fortunate: A year to the day after my father’s death was our first grandchild, and we’ve had two more since then. My theory is, one in, one out. That experience was something else that informed me, because with the babies coming into the world I realized that all of us, as families, as health care providers, as educators, if you’re coming into this world, the nursery is set up, we’ve got schools going, we’ve got whatever we need in hospitals, we’ve got great midwifery practices—as a community, we’re all ready, we’re all there. We’re all thinking about that. At the end of life, it’s not so much; it’s not really the same way. What really occurred to me is that the end of life deserves the same kind of attention that we give to the beginning of life, and I think that should inform all of us. They’re not really different. They’re just opposite ends of the same string. There are a lot of similarities in the experience. That’s part of what informs me, as we go forward on working on palliative care.
I want to thank all those who took the time to participate in that consultation I mentioned earlier. They helped us by sharing their insight and experiences, and it has really helped us to shape and inform the report that I wrote and the future direction of palliative care in Ontario. There’s a lot of work to do; there’s no question about that. The things that I heard and saw in the consultation with all of those people—the health care providers, the families, the caregivers—really did resonate with me. It resonated with me because it was reflective of my own personal experience.
Mr. Speaker, it’s important that we have those important discussions about what we want in the event that we cannot speak for ourselves later. Medical assistance in dying, as I said, has provided the context to have that conversation. Again, the imperative is, since the Supreme Court decision and subsequent legislation is really about choice, that we have to make sure the choices are there and we have to talk about those choices. It’s given us an opportunity to talk about something that’s really a very critical part of our lives, which we don’t talk about enough and which we don’t share with loved ones.
Medical assistance in dying is only one part of the larger conversation on how we provide care for people at the end of their lives, and we’re working hard to provide that care. It’s going to take a lot of work, but I know that we’re all, in this Legislature, committed to doing it. We know that we want to give people choices about end-of-life care, and we know that 70% to 80% of Canadians would prefer to die at home if the right supports were available. We have to work to make sure those supports are available, not just from a perspective of government and the health services we fund, but also from the perspective of the communities that we live in and how we come together over those things that are important in our lives: our service organizations, our churches, our municipal governments.
One of those things that we have to focus on is—look, it’s something we do through our municipal governments for kids coming into the world, and we do that provincially. We need to put a focus on that. We need people to understand what it means to support someone at the end of their life. It can be a really big family effort and it takes more than just family sometimes; it takes community. We have to think about our neighbours and we have to think about what resources we have in our community that we can bring to bear to help provide comfort and compassion and love and mercy to people.
Although we know that about 80% of Ontarians want to die at home, we know that’s far less than what actually happens; most people die in hospital. About 6% of people die in hospice, and we’re trying to increase that. Hopefully we’ll be able to double that number.
We’re doing some work right now on consulting with people in long-term care about some of the great things that are happening in long-term care and how we actually expand that and make that grow. I think that’s critical because long-term-care homes are home. As I’ve seen by going around, there are some really incredible things that are happening in many places in this province, but we need to have more of that.
There is some work to do. We have to ensure that the high-quality supports Ontarians expect and want are available to them at the end of life’s journey. We’re going to ensure that people have options so they can make the choices that are right for them.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to recap here, if you’ll give me a moment, the provisions included in this bill—the very specific provisions. You’ll just have to give me a second here.
Mr. Han Dong: It’s very important stuff.
Mr. John Fraser: It is.
Again, we’re providing clarity and direction for clinicians and patients navigating MAID and ensuring there is proper oversight for medically assisted deaths in this province. The bill contains a narrow series of amendments to existing legislation, including amendments to the Excellent Care for All Act, which, if passed, would include the following two provisions: first, that MAID would not affect a right or a benefit that would otherwise exist under a contract or a statute, whether it be life insurance or survivor benefits; second, the physicians, nurse practitioners and persons assisting in the lawful provision of MAID would have immunity from civil liability.
Again, amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act would ensure that claims under the act would be determined based on the illness or disease for which the worker was determined to be eligible to receive medical assistance in dying.
There is also an amendment to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that would, if passed, protect clinicians and facilities willing to provide MAID from being identified under access-to-information laws and requests.
I did mention as well a number of provisions under the Coroners Act. Again, just to restate those: requiring the coroner to be notified of all MAID deaths, and also certain information would be required to be disclosed by clinicians so that the coroner is able to properly exercise discretion in determining whether to investigate; clarifying that the existing requirement under the Coroners Act to investigate any death from any cause other than the disease does not apply to MAID; also clarifying when the coroner is required to complete death certificates for MAID deaths; and requiring a review of the coroner’s oversight role. The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services would establish this review process within two years of passage of this bill.
Finally, there’s an amendment to the Vital Statistics Act that would clarify the requirements respecting the coroner’s documentation of medical-assistance-in-dying deaths consistent with the proposed Coroners Act amendments.
Again, you’ll see that in this proposed legislation we’ve outlined the steps necessary to safeguard the rights of patients and health care professionals. It is important that we take these steps to facilitate MAID. As you can see, they are a very narrow swath of what’s in our provincial jurisdiction, and what we need to do to make sure that patients and providers are protected.
I want to congratulate the minister and the Attorney General, who worked on this act. I know there’s been a lot of work. As I said, we’ve done a fair amount of consultation in advance of this. As I said earlier, individually most of us have no proximity to this, and we need to have proximity so that we come through it together. It’s a really critical thing about how we display compassion, mercy and love as a society.
I’m encouraged by what’s in this bill. I’m encouraged by the work and the support of all members of this Legislature to improve palliative and end-of-life care. I’d like to thank everybody very much for their time.
Mr. Steve Clark: I’m pleased to provide a comment, and I’d like to ask the member for Ottawa South a question. First of all, my comment is that I want to thank him for his advocacy on palliative care. He mentioned that he had attended a number of ridings, and Leeds–Grenville was one of the ridings that he visited. Ottawa South is very close to a municipality in my riding, the municipality of North Grenville, which borders the city of Ottawa. Mr. Fraser was very—sorry; the member for Ottawa South was very accommodating. He came and toured the Beth Donovan Hospice, both their office and their new “forever home.” I know that I’ve advocated to him many times that it’s high time that the Champlain LHIN looked outside of the city of Ottawa for the next hospice funding. So I appreciate his advocacy.
In terms of the question, I know that Minister Hoskins has received a number of letters regarding C-14 and the fact that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has adopted a protocol that requires an effective referral for medical aid in dying. This issue has come up in constituency offices. I spent a lot of time in my constituency office last week, and I saw a number of letters from my constituents asking me about an amendment to Bill 84 that would protect the conscience rights of physicians and other health care workers.
So I’d like to, through you, ask the member for Ottawa South if the government is going to support an amendment. As I said, my inboxes have been filling up over the last week with constituents asking me to ask this question of the government, and I would appreciate if, in his final response, he would give me some indication of whether the government would support that.
Mr. Percy Hatfield: My friend from Ottawa South talked about Mother Mary, compassion, love and mercy. I take you back, Speaker, to May 1996, 21 years ago, and Dr. Death—Dr. Kevorkian of Detroit. In Windsor, a 53-year-old tool-and-die maker, Austin Bastable, wanted to die. He had MS. He could only move his head and his left hand. He tried to get Canadian doctors to help him out. Of course, at that time in Canada you were facing 14 years in prison if you did something like that. He tried suicide. It didn’t work; his wife found him and called 911. Anyway, a couple of years later, he went over to Detroit. Dr. Kevorkian was there, was in the home of the local president of the Hemlock Society. There were five other medical doctors from Michigan there. Austin Bastable was given a face mask and a cylinder of carbon monoxide. At 53 years of age in Detroit, instead of in Canada, he passed away.
At that time in Canada, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien didn’t want anything to do with it, even though 75% of Canadians polled at that time agreed with medical assistance in dying. It has taken from then, in the Canadian experience, until now to get to this point and to have this discussion today.
I remember well, as a reporter in Windsor at that time with the local CBC, all of the stories we did on Austin Bastable and Dr. Kevorkian and this debate and everybody wondering how long in Canada before we would see where we are today, what was taking place in Michigan in those days.
I want to give applause to the member from Ottawa South for his contribution this afternoon.
Hon. David Zimmer: Speaker, if you will permit me a slight deviation from the debate, I wanted to say this this morning: I was saddened and alarmed to hear of the shocking anti-Semitic acts that took place in my riding of Willowdale this past weekend, when notes of hatred were left outside Jewish homes and their doors vandalized.
Anti-Semitism and other acts of hate have no place in our society and do not represent the diverse and caring community of Willowdale. Our government takes incidents of hate crimes and discrimination seriously, and we vigorously uphold the laws which will protect our society from them. We work together as a society to create opportunities and remove barriers. We aim to make Ontario a place where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and everyone can live feeling safe and free from discrimination.
I want to recognize Willowdale’s 32 division of the Toronto Police Service for their swift action to investigate this ugly incident. For anyone listening to this who has any information about this awful thing, I urge you to contact 32 division.
Mr. Jim Wilson: Back to medical assistance in dying: Along with some of my caucus colleagues—and as the member from Leeds–Grenville just pointed out—I met with the College of Physicians and Surgeons representatives and some of their executive before Christmas on this bill. They were setting up a process for conscientious objectors—that there had to be somebody on the premises. If the doctor or the nurse wasn’t going to tell you what the process was or a phone number to contact, for the family or the patient, there had to be somebody available to the patient for the referral or for the information referral. But it’s unclear. And I shouldn’t have to, as a parliamentarian, learn this stuff from the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
I think you guys—and it’s the same thing as the member for Leeds–Grenville was saying. The Minister of Health needs to explain this legislation further to us so that we know that conscientious objectors are dealt with. As a Catholic—conscientious objectors are dealt with in our Catholic hospitals. I’d like to hear there’s something similar on the table before I vote on this legislation. I tend to want to vote on the legislation, but we feel very strongly about this. We mentioned it before Christmas. It’s back again now the first day after the break. Before we vote, I just ask that that whole matter of how it’s going to be dealt with be cleared up. There are a number of us in the House who are very, very concerned about that.
I do want to thank the member for Ottawa South. He helped a hospice in Alliston get its funding. He came up in the summer, and he was a real gentleman about the announcement—and also the member for Barrie, who is the moneybags who comes into my riding from time to time. Ann, any time you’re available to bring another bag of money, you’re welcome.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Back to the member from Ottawa South for final comments.
Mr. John Fraser: I want to thank the member from Leeds–Grenville, the member from Windsor–Tecumseh and the member from Simcoe–Grey. I have been to all of your communities, so it was nice to hear you speak on this. I know about your commitment to palliative care.
What I do want to say about this bill is that it very specifically addresses some things that the federal legislation does not address. Federally, if you look at the protections that exist inside the federal law, they’re very clear that providers will not be forced to participate in medical assistance in dying.
As far as amendments go in this process, please put amendments forward. That’s what we do in this process, and I know that you will.
It is important to remember—and again, this is the proximity thing that I talked about—that this is something we have to come through together. So it is a balance, and it is a difficult balance because which right has supremacy? So we have to find a way through.
I know that the minister—and I’m sure he will want to talk to this. We did the clinician referral service and the care coordination service, which is something that was specifically put out there for patients and families and for those providers. So there’s a lot of work being done on that.
We are very conscious of the concerns that you’re raising. I’m very conscious of it. I think we have to find a way to balance all those rights. It’s critical to act with compassion and love and mercy. As I said, the government’s always open to amendments. Again, if you take a look at that, remember that it’s a balance of those two rights. If you’re going to insert something, you may end up having a challenge between those two rights that I think are important and critical to be balanced, and that’s why we have to come through this together.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further debate? The member from Elgin–Middlesex–London.
Mr. Jeff Yurek: Thank you, Speaker. Welcome back from being home for the last few months. I welcome everyone back to the Legislature. It’s great to be back here in Toronto debating the legislative orders of the day. I hope everyone had an opportunity to enjoy their Family Day weekend.
Just before I get into my talk, I have to note that St. Thomas was the home of the World Tubing Championships this weekend. With the 10-degree-plus weather, we were still able to clock people coming down the hill with the snow that was created the week prior. All the money raised that day went to our hospital, St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital. They raised over $60,000. I think it was great. I want to thank Paul Jenkins, who is the executive director of the St. Thomas foundation, for coordinating this event.
I do have to say, I put in a team with my fellow MP, Karen Vecchio, for the day. However, feeling that we think we’re getting a little bit old for tubing, we put our kids in the event. So my daughter, Maggie, and her friend Hannah, and Karen’s son, Christian, and his friend Clark provided the action for the team. They did well. They finished about the middle of the pack, but they had a lot of fun, and we had a lot of fun watching them go down the hill.
It’s a great opportunity for the hospital to still pull off an amazing event when it was spring-like weather and we had barely any snow available. Thanks to all the coordinators and volunteers who made that event happen. As I said, over $60,000 is a great amount of money that will definitely be going to not only our addition that’s ongoing at the hospital, but for other activities that the foundation supports. Congratulations to everyone who participated.
Mr. Speaker, I’m here today to have the lead-off for the PC Party on Bill 84, the Medical Assistance in Dying Statute Law Amendment Act, 2016. It’s a great bill to start discussing in the Legislature. The way I view the bill is basically that it’s a housekeeping bill to clean up the implications from the federal legislation that occurred last year with regard to medical assistance in dying.
Back in February 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Criminal Code prohibiting assistance in dying. In the court’s view, assistance in dying should be granted to a competent adult person who clearly consents to the termination of their life, and has a grievous and irremediable medical condition, including an illness, disease or disability, that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.
The Supreme Court of Canada stated that “it is for Parliament and the provincial Legislatures to respond, should they so choose, by enacting legislation consistent with the constitutional parameters set out,” with the above reasons. As such, assisted dying became legal in Canada last June, on the 6th. Today, Ontario has introduced Bill 84, which we are starting to debate today, which, as I said before, I see as a housekeeping bill to add protections to various groups, organizations and individuals in the province.
So what does Bill 84 do? Bill 84 provides clarity and legal protections for health care professionals and organizations that provide access to medical-assistance-in-dying services in Ontario in accordance with the federal legislation, Bill C-14. A doctor or nurse practitioner who provides medical-assistance-in-dying services shall notify the coroner with the necessary information to determine whether or not an investigation into the death is necessary. Basically, the Coroners Act is going to be amended to require that the coroner is notified, but it also allows the coroner to determine whether or not to investigate these deaths.
Also changing in this legislation: Death certificates for medical assistance in dying do not need to be signed by the coroner, unless the coroner is investigating the death.
A civil claim against doctors or nurse practitioners or others who provide medical-assistance-in-dying services is being prohibited except in cases of alleged negligence. This is, again, going to be protecting health care providers who will be participating in medical assistance in dying from any lawsuits, which, from the federal legislation, is part of that piece of legislation.
The other part that they’re making amendments to: Benefits or other sums provided under contract or statute—basically payouts from insurance or other types of benefits—shall not be denied if the deceased person receives medical assistance in dying. So there we are. This legislation is protecting those families whose loved one has decided to choose medical assistance in dying. It protects those families so that they’re able to access the life insurance policy or any other benefit that they’re deemed worthy of. Also, the legislation points out that even with workers’ compensation, if the medical assistance in dying is due to a condition caused by the workplace where they worked, again, the family can’t be denied access to the benefits entitled to them, if they do so choose medical assistance in dying. It also allows for protection of information of the patient and the health care provider in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
What this bill is actually doing is setting out some protections and cleaning up the legislation brought forth by the federal government.
Medical assistance in dying it is a controversial issue, no matter who is talking about it, on one side or the other. It is now legal in Canada. To many, it will be a valuable tool, a valuable option for them come the end of their life. However, there are other options out there that also need to be looked at.
As pharmacists, very often we deal with people who are in palliative care—who are receiving palliative care either at a hospice in the community or in a hospital—and ensure that they have access to the necessary supports they need in order to facilitate the end-of-life journey in dealing with the pain and suffering that they’re undergoing. As noted, it was very important at the time that we were able to give them the pain medications and supports that they needed when visiting a home. Our pharmacy provided supports to the community care access centre nurses, part of their palliative care team. We developed the palliative care medical box. It was a box of various narcotics, antiemetics, and sedatives that would be needed by somebody who is dying at home. This facilitated easy access to the medications, if the proper forms were filled out by the doctor. I think that was a step in the right direction. We were able to get that started in Elgin county, and we’ve seen many changes since then.
But as mentioned by our House leader, we do have to be cognizant that there will be some health care professionals out there who object to providing medical assistance in dying. We feel it’s a right that needs to be protected, and we are looking at making an amendment to this legislation that protects that right, provided there’s a quick and accessible process for people to obtain medical assistance in dying. We can find that balance that was mentioned previously by the opposite member, ensuring there’s access and quick provision of the services of medical assistance in dying and also protecting the conscience rights of those medical professionals who choose not to participate in medical assistance in dying.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, if we look at, from committee, Bill 41, Maureen Taylor spoke at committee and was the co-chair of the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying set up by the Ontario government. Her husband, Dr. Don Low, passed away from a brain tumour. He gave an exquisite, emotional plea on YouTube about the need for assistance in dying being legalized in Canada.
She did say at committee, and I’ll quote her, “I want to stress, too, that I totally support the rights of individual health care practitioners not to participate in assisted death if that goes against their conscience.”
I think there’s a balance out there that we can look at. Even the strong advocates of medical assistance in dying provided expert advice to the government that they too share in the common thought that people’s conscience rights are something we need to ensure we can protect out there.
The Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience has stated that the right to freedom of conscience in religion is enshrined in section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The protection of rights against discrimination is enshrined.
Many other provinces, such as Alberta, have adopted alternatives to effective referral, and no foreign jurisdiction that allows assisted suicide or euthanasia requires effective referral.
The member opposite is saying there’s a balance we have to trend toward. I think there’s a balance already out there, an example that we could emulate here in Ontario and ensure that we have quick access to medical assistance in dying while protecting those who have conscientious objections to MAID.
A couple of the jurisdictions that were mentioned—Washington state has a provision in their medical assistance in dying that basically no one will be subject to “censure, discipline, suspension, loss of license, loss of privileges, loss of membership, or other penalty for participating or refusing to participate in good faith compliance” with medical assistance in dying.
In California, the health care provider, professional organization or association “shall not subject an individual to censure, discipline, suspension, loss of license, loss of privileges, loss of membership, or other penalty for participating in good faith compliance with this part or for refusing to participate in accordance with subdivision (e),” which is participation in activities authorized pursuant to voluntary medical assistance in dying.
Oregon, another state, and Vermont have ensured that the balance is there for those who need to access medical assistance in dying and those whose objections of conscience prevent them from participating.
I’ve reached out to a few of the stakeholders and I’m still talking to many as we go forward. I’m glad the government took the opportunity to meet with as many organizations as possible. It’s good to see that there was some outreach on their part here. I’m waiting to hear back from a few patients’ groups.
However, speaking with the Canadian Medical Association, their policy is to support those who will choose to provide/participate in medical assistance in dying and also those who will not. Their position articulates a duty that is widely morally acceptable and allows physicians to act as moral agents without in any way impeding or delaying patient access to assisted dying. They support the freedom-of-conscience choice.
They have advised the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to revise their effective-referral approach. Basically, they want to say that if Canada is to emerge with a consistent, pan-Canadian framework, they should be working with what’s going on with the other colleges in this country. By revising their effective referral approach, the CPSO is encouraged to support the creation of systems and resources that would facilitate access for those seeking medical-assistance-in-dying services.
The College of Nurses of Ontario: Medical assistance in dying only allows nurse practitioners and physicians to administer medications to cause the death of a client. RNs and RPNs can participate in providing nursing care in aiding the nurse practitioner or physician to provide a person with medical assistance in dying. The college recognizes a nurse’s freedom of conscience. This legislation does not compel an individual to provide/assist in medical assistance in dying, but the nurse’s conscience objection must not be directly conveyed to the client, and their personal judgments regarding beliefs/lifestyle/identity are not to be expressed to the client. The client must be transferred to another nurse or health care provider who is willing to fulfill the client’s medical-assistance-in-dying request. Until a replacement nurse is found, said nurse must remain with the client and continue providing nursing care.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, which has been the topic of a bit of my sentences here: When the physicians limit the health service they provide for reasons of conscience or religion, the CPSO requires that they provide patients with an effective referral. An effective referral ensures a patient is connected in a timely manner to another physician who is non-objecting, accessible and available to the patient. An effective referral does not guarantee a patient will receive treatment. It ensures access to care and demonstrates respect for patient autonomy.
I mentioned the coalition for health care and conscience rights. They represent over 110 health care facilities, which includes over 18,000 beds, 60,000 staff members and 5,000 doctors in Canada. Their members come from diverse perspectives, but agree that taking a patient’s life or referring this procedure violates one of the following: the Hippocratic oath, religious convictions, missions and values, professional ethics, creed or their deeply held conviction that health care should heal people and not hasten death.
Now, a benefit is that I’ve heard the government is working with this group to try to facilitate a solution for this controversy that has flowed from a certain segment of the medical professions in this province. I’m hoping they work towards ensuring that there’s a process that can take over for these doctors who want to object for conscientious rights, one which does allow for quick access to medical assistance in dying.
The Ontario Medical Association: supporting a patient self-referral option for medical assistance in dying in addition to current clinician referral service. OMA supports the efforts to ensure patient access, but recognizes that some physicians believe the act of making a direct referral conflicts with their fundamental beliefs. The OMA does not support CPSO’s effective-referral policy.
RPNAO, Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario: Their principal concern remains how medical assistance in dying will impact the quality and funding of Ontario’s palliative care services. The RPNAO wants to ensure that we still have a good, strong support in growing access to palliative care throughout this province.
As I mentioned earlier, Alberta has a process in place which basically—I have it here. I’m going to go from my notes here. Alberta has adopted an alternative to effective referral, and we have to note that no other jurisdiction that allows assisted suicide or euthanasia requires an effective referral.
Alberta offers care-coordinated services. Patients will have access to a single point of contact for all end-of-life options. These services connect patients to health care providers who can best meet their unique needs.
Alberta Health Services advises patients to speak with their normal health care providers about receiving medical assistance in dying. However, if the physician does not provide this service, they can contact the Medical Assistance in Dying Care Coordination Service through telephone or by email. This process protects a physician’s conscience rights as well as ensuring a patient will be able to access the services they’re requesting.
I’ve had many conversations over the last year with a number of doctors. One is Dr. Ramona Coelho. She’s a doctor in my region of Ontario, who works in London and loves her job thoroughly. She’s been a loving doctor, helping people, and loves being with them to find solutions to their problems. She has a strong marginalized patient practice. Many of her patients are on permanent disability. However, Mrs. Coelho is right straightforward with all her patients at the start that she doesn’t believe in providing medical assistance in dying.
She’s been practising for 10 years and, through her 10 years, her ethical limits have never been a problem with her patients due to her upfront discussions with them when they become her patients. She has never experienced an argument with a patient, nor has a patient complained about her with regard to her conscience beliefs.
Dr. Coelho convenes meetings at the London Catholic doctors’ guild, and has spoken up in defence of conscience rights for doctors on a number of occasions.
As a young doctor, Ramona was asked to teach medical students about family medicine, and was even encouraged to apply for a faculty position before she and her urologist husband made the move to London. Somehow, that accommodating, respectful and practical spirit began to evaporate after Dr. Ramona and her husband moved to Ontario.
All she wants is a solution, preferably something that protects her conscience rights and respects her right to freedom of choice, and not to be punished by the college of physicians and surgeons. She fears that the next generation of Catholic medical students will be steered out of family medicine, which to her is terrible. Every faith and creed should have the right to practise medicine, provided access is available to those who need the services they need.
We believe, as I mentioned earlier, that there’s room for improvement. This bill does a great job of cleaning up certain aspects created by the federal legislation in protecting health care professionals, protecting families. We feel that we have an opportunity to ensure that a process is put in place to ensure access to medical assistance in dying in a timely fashion at the same time as providing protection of conscience rights.
The government plays a big role in ensuring that this process is in place. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a lot coming out of this government in terms of communications to health care professionals and to the opposition parties at this Legislature. That’s unfortunate. We need to see medical-assistance-in-dying services in Ontario. However, we believe we need to find the common ground we mentioned much, much earlier.
Legislation processes should be put in place to allow doctors to continue to serve their patients while having their conscientious objections legally provided, provided, as I said earlier, that there’s a process put in place for easy access to medical assistance in dying.
Mr. Speaker, diagnosis of a terminal disease is a reality that many have experienced in one form or another. Through our significant others, extended families and friends, each one of us, I think, has been affected by this tragedy at one point in our lives. It’s very devastating when someone is diagnosed with a condition that our medical advances cannot cure.
The federal government has added a new avenue for patients to access medical assistance in dying. However, we must remember that that isn’t the only option out there. We can’t lose sight that there are other options that we can take a look at.
Palliative care is a great option which is aimed at relieving suffering and improving the quality of life for persons living with or dying from an advanced illness. Palliative care is to help the journey at the end of someone’s life. It’s a journey for the patient and the family to take together. The goal of palliative care is to provide comfort and dignity for the person living with the illness and for their families. Palliative care helps with the need for physical care, as well as psychological, social, cultural, emotional and spiritual care.
Palliative care will not prolong someone’s life. It is commonly used as an option for families who have exhausted all other options and, again, are ending the journey of life. Palliative care can be given at home, it can be given at a hospital, and it can be given in a hospice.
Unfortunately, in my riding of Elgin–Middlesex–London, Elgin county does not have a hospice. I’m currently a part of a committee with the LHIN, health care providers and community members to prepare our county for a hospice. We’ve partnered with St. Joseph’s Hospice of London, who is paying for our RFP to look at the services actually needed in Elgin county, so that when the government comes around with funding for the next batch of hospices, Elgin county is prepared to break ground and build that hospice.
We’re hoping to have funding in place, and a hospice built sometime next year is our goal. We’re hoping the government does well with its commitment to expanding hospices. Unfortunately, many in St. Thomas and Elgin county have access to seven beds out of London, so you can see the lack of availability of hospice beds.
I toured the Kensington Hospice, which isn’t far from here, a few month ago. What a beautiful place—a home environment, a caring environment, that is welcoming to patients and families and helps them through their journey at the ends of their lives.
I do want to give special mention to two groups in Elgin county, HOPE and Serenity House. Both have been very supportive of palliative care and hospice care in our region for a long time. HOPE has recently expanded their services for grief counselling for youth.
As I mentioned earlier, palliative care and hospice care incorporate support for the families not only during times of sickness and end of life, but when a loved one has passed on and has died, the support is still there to help those people deal with their grief. I think it’s great that HOPE has taken the time to create a program to help the youth of our area deal with the loss of a loved one.
Canada is not the only area or the first jurisdiction to offer medical assistance in dying. I’ve already mentioned a handful of others, but it should be noted that other countries in Europe have been dealing with medical assistance in dying for years upon years. I think it’s an opportunity. If the government wants to reach a balance, we need to look at other jurisdictions and what is occurring, and maybe get to that balance a lot quicker than what is going on right now—to alleviate the concerns of the health care professionals, but also ensure that the access is there for them.
Speaking of other jurisdictions in the health care system, it’s interesting to take a look and compare our health care system with regard to other jurisdictions in the world. The Commonwealth Fund report, which is an accepted report globally, ranks health care systems country by country. Unfortunately, Canada ranks 10th overall among 11 industrial countries on measures of health system quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and healthy lives. We’re 11th in timeliness of care.
While we are debating the bill on medical assistance in dying, we should not forget that other issues affect patient care, such as the length of time it does take to see that specialist, to get that diagnosis, or the length of time it takes for a patient to get the palliative care services they receive. I know I’ve mentioned Elgin county, without a hospice, is left to a newly formed physician-nurse group for community palliative care, but that’s just new.
I visited northern Ontario a week ago, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins. The health care accessibility for them is extreme. The doctors in Chapleau were mentioning how hard it is for people to access palliative care and mental health care in a timely manner, and the burden it’s putting on the lone doctors in the area.
We have to take a look that when we measure our health care system, we need to start comparing ourselves to other countries to see where we really do sit and where there are other jurisdictions that are performing much better than we are. We can do much better than we are doing right now. And the more we quarrel with our doctors, as this government has been doing for three years now, and demoralizing our nurses, the harder and longer it is for the patients to access the health care services they need. So when we’re talking about access to medical assistance in dying, we also need to be talking about access to palliative care, access to a family physician, access to that specialist and access to that test in order that they receive care in a timely manner.
Many palliative care physicians in this province are lacking in the support needed from this government. They’ve made some mentions and some announcements, but this government, over 15 years, has really accomplished very little in terms of quality palliative care.
Mr. Speaker, what are the top three challenges Ontario faces today in the health care system? I’ve mentioned wait times and access to care. The Auditor General’s report noted a few months ago that operating rooms are closed. In southwestern Ontario, if you want knee or hip replacement surgery, the financial year starts in April, and by October they’re out of money. It’s a rationed, underfunded system, which is compounding the wait-list.
The second-highest challenge Ontarians face is the financial and emotional burden of supporting a loved one at home. The government has moved to create a larger bureaucracy. A year ago, the government came out with an Auditor General’s report which showed that 39% of the money going into the CCACs stays in the management and bureaucracy administration. It doesn’t reach front-line care.
This government has utilized Bill 41 to merge the LHINs and the CCACs, and, two weeks ago, created 84 new vice-president positions throughout the province. They’ve created 78 sub-LHINs. The level of management is growing at the expense of patient care. It’s growing at the expense of access to palliative care, access to medical assistance in dying, access to that heart surgery, access to the knee surgery you need.
Mr. Speaker, the third point of what Ontarians need and are experiencing the challenge in is the lack of available services in northern and rural/remote areas. As I mentioned earlier, with the northern Ontario tour in Sault Ste. Marie, at the physician clinic we visited, due to government cutbacks, the amount of mental health supports is gone. They’re unable to provide the supports. I was speaking to a doctor at London Health Sciences Centre who has provided much of the mental health supports outside in the rural parts of the riding. The cuts this government has imposed on the system—there’s a lack of support for youth mental health in the area.
In Chapleau, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, the Chapleau doctors—there are three of them working full-time and there’s a fourth doctor, who is in his 80s, who is pulling his own weight. Two of the doctors are married. In order to have the full coverage, many times these doctors do not get time off, in order to provide after-hour emergency, weekend coverage. You’ll find these doctors are burning out because they’re working seven days a week the majority of the year, 24 hours on call. And these doctors have been demoralized over the last three years with how this government has vilified doctors to the public. It’s unfortunate.
This government, over 13 years, has attempted many experiments on the health care system. Each one of those experiments has been costly to the patients of Ontario, because much-needed money for front-line patient care has been spent on management and administration growth. They created the LHINs. They’ve changed the structure of their own ministry five times. They’ve changed the role of the CCACs. They’ve changed the structure of the CCACs. They were responsible for one of the biggest scandals of all time, eHealth, which is currently at $8 billion spent on eHealth with no timeline to completion and many, many problems. They created hospital hubs. They increased Ministry of Health management structure by 500%. They increased departments within the ministry by 500%.
When the Auditor General announced that, as I mentioned earlier, 39 cents of every home care dollar is going towards administration, they created Bill 41. Bill 41 does nothing for patient care, even though it’s called the Patients First Act. Bill 41 creates a larger management structure. It merges CCACs with the LHINs and creates 78 sub-LHINs, as I’ve mentioned.
We’ve got to be wary with every announcement this government makes with regard to the titles they use in legislation. The Patients First Act and many pieces of legislation and acts are really about how they can create a higher, more burdensome bureaucracy. As we mentioned earlier today—in the question I mentioned about three-year-old Madison, who needs surgery so that she can walk—the ministry has approved the surgery, but they don’t fund it. The minister has a report on his desk and recommendations from their health experts on what to do with this surgery. I don’t know why the government isn’t acting on it. But, unfortunately, this poor three-year-old has to go to St. Louis for surgery. Unfortunately, because of the bureaucracy’s red tape that has been created, it’s virtually impossible to get through the entire paper—I wish somebody on the Ministry of Health side would help this poor family out to ensure that we can get some funding for them. They have to raise $140,000 to get the surgery that’s needed. They’ve made it difficult, almost impossible, for this family to gain access.
The Premier’s answer spoke volumes to this government: “I don’t understand why it’s listed but not funded.” It’s because they’ve gotten so large in the management structure of the Ministry of Health that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.
What we need to do is to ensure that health care policies going forward benefit patient care, that we’re focusing our work on direct patient care, that we’re working with our health care professionals—our doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists, physician assistants, RPNs—ensuring that they have the tools and support they need to provide the patient care that’s needed in this province.
This bill on medical assistance in dying brings forth cleaning-up legislation, but we have to ensure that we are protecting the public and that we’re protecting health care providers. We have an opportunity to protect the conscience rights of health care professionals with some amendments, for which I think we can find a suitable solution between the three parties. But we also have to ensure that we don’t forget the other aspects, the other options out there for people who are on their end-of-life journey: to ensure that there is sufficient hospice care available to people; to ensure that hospitals have the correct numbers of staff and funding to deal with palliative care; to ensure our community care and community support system—that the management is minimized and more money is flowing to support the health care professionals that are calling on a loved one’s home to take care of them in their end-of-life journey; and just to ensure that palliative care and medical assistance in dying get equal share and equal support as options from this government.
I think we can get there, Mr. Speaker. I think we can find a path. The experiments have to stop on the other side of this House. The government needs to start working with those involved with direct care. They need to look at other jurisdictions instead of creating everything in-house, like they tend to do. We can get there, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank all the members here today for joining us this afternoon and listening. I appreciate your willingness to listen. I look forward to debate and amendments at committee. As I said, I think we can get to shared ground, a level playing field here. We’ll be supporting the legislation, and we hope that at committee we can ensure that patients will get access to timely care and medical assistance in dying, while also protecting the rights of our medical professionals.
I just want to reiterate that we need to ensure that we have the supports in place in our health care system so that people have access to all the services that they need to access during their lifespan, from birth to death, and that we have a quality funded health care system that ensures the respect of our health care providers, but also ensures the respect and wishes of our patients.
Mme France Gélinas: It was very interesting to listen to the member. It’s pretty hard to talk about medical assistance in dying without making the jump to good-quality palliative care. He gave the example from his own riding where they do not have a hospice. This is something that many communities in Ontario do not have.
We’ve had promises of more hospice beds coming to Ontario. Actually, we still have a promise on the books. From the last promise, there are 10 hospices that we still haven’t seen, and now the government is making new promises of hospice beds coming.
At the end of the day, good palliative care is part, as he said, of the continuum of care. If you want to have a robust health care system, this has to be a part of it. Palliative care has to be there. It has to be accessible to where people live. It’s not reasonable to ask somebody from my riding to travel 400 kilometres to go to a palliative care bed. That means the family is not around. That means you will live your last days in isolation.
I want to put a pitch out, though, for a very good home that we have. It used to be called Maison Vale Hospice; it’s now called Maison McCulloch Hospice. It has just been renamed. They do fantastic work. They’re located in Sudbury, and a lot of people from Nickel Belt use them.
It makes a world of difference when you have access to good palliative care. I agree with my colleague on that.
Mr. John Fraser: I want to thank the member for his remarks in support of the bill. Before we get into some of the things that he was talking about, I do want to congratulate him and thank him for—I know he’s a pharmacist by profession. Working on things like the palliative care box for your community is a really critical thing—and also supporting a hospice in your community. I want to thank him for his involvement in that. I’m sure his community is very grateful.
There are a few things you said that I take issue with, that I don’t agree with, but I don’t want to talk about those things right now. I just want to go back to what I said earlier. This is a really difficult issue. It’s an issue that is potentially very divisive. If we take hardened positions on either side, we are not going to do ourselves good service. I know the minister has been working hard with those physicians and practitioners of conscience who are concerned about a care coordination service very similar to the model they have in Alberta. I want to assure the member that that work is going on and that we are very aware of those things, and communicating. Again, they’re not simple things.
I just want to reiterate that we need some proximity to this issue. There are a lot of different opinions on this issue, and some of the opinions you get are from people who you would not expect to get them from. It’s critical that, as a society, we come through this thing together and not be polarized, on opposite sides, not fully respecting the other’s opinion.
Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: I’m pleased to add my voice to debate today as we come back to kick off the next session.
A lot of work has been done on this file, and I really appreciate the heart and the effort that our health critic has put in to make sure that he is well informed—and not just well informed from his own personal riding, but from across the province. He is working very, very hard to make sure all stakeholders are respected and heard, and I thank him for doing a great job in that regard.
I do have to say, we heard him talk about raising funds in his riding with regard to a tubing event. I would suggest that our member from Elgin–Middlesex–London actually should be on that tube with his daughter. I think he can still do it. He was saying that he was too old, but I’m pretty sure—I’ll challenge him to get on that tube next time around with his daughter. We want to see that. I know you won’t end up in the hospital because you’re pretty young yet, and flexible.
Setting that aside, he did bring up some very important aspects in terms of hospices. We all care about a respected journey. I know I’ve had discussions across the floor, as well, with regard to the importance of respecting communities that are working hard to have hospices geographically distributed—that is fair to communities throughout the ridings.
With regard to Bill 84 specifically, we can’t stress enough, from the PC Party of Ontario: Objectors need to be heard in a respectful way, and we need to have confidence that this government is going to have a process in which people are respected—providers, specifically, who may not want to provide medical assistance in dying.
Mr. Percy Hatfield: It’s a pleasure to follow the comments by my friend from Elgin–Middlesex–London. He knows a lot about this file, and I know many of us in this Legislature do.
I suppose down in my area we’re more familiar with it because we go back to 1990, when Jack Kevorkian was in Detroit. Jack Kevorkian, Speaker, for your information, eventually took credit for helping out 130 patients who were terminally ill and wanted to end their lives on their own terms.
I mentioned before a man from Windsor, Austin Bastable. He was 53 and had MS. He was the first Canadian who was assisted by Dr. Kevorkian. Austin Bastable thought he was given a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, and he just wanted to get out of it.
Michigan kept taking Dr. Kevorkian to court, I think four times. He beat them three times; the fourth one was declared a mistrial. They kept changing the law. Eventually, they convicted him of second-degree murder. He served eight years of a 10-to-25-year sentence. He was paroled, and part of the conditions of that parole was that he could no longer participate in or be present at any type of suicide involving euthanasia. He wasn’t allowed to even talk about it or promote it or even tell any other stories about his experience. He did get into politics, though. He ran for Congress. Even though he was well known, he didn’t get that many votes. I think he got less than 3%. He got about 9,000 votes when he ran for Congress.
His claim to fame, I guess you could say, is that he ignited an international debate on this issue. After all those years, from 1990 to now, it has brought that debate to this House. I thank the member from Ottawa South and the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London for bringing it to our attention this afternoon.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Back to the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London for final comment.
Mr. Jeff Yurek: I would like to thank the members from Nickel Belt, Ottawa South, Huron–Bruce and Windsor–Tecumseh for their comments with regard to the comments that I made previously on medical assistance in dying.
I think we’ve laid out a good start for this debate, and I’m looking forward to hearing what comes forth from all three parties going forward as we deal with this issue. As I said, the bill is cleaning up a lot of the tidbits that needed to be cleaned up from the federal legislation—ensuring that families are protected and health care professionals are protected from litigation; that families have access to the rights and benefits that they truly need; and that information is protected from those who participate in medical assistance in dying.
As I said earlier, we can hopefully reach common ground. I’m hoping the government is open to listening to amendments and debate at committee and will judge each amendment as it comes forward—as opposed to what has been the history of dealing with this government over the last two years: They don’t listen to what’s going on in committee, nor do they ever support any amendments brought forward by the opposition. I’m hoping that, at the end of the day, we can work for the betterment of the patients of Ontario, ensuring timely access to medical assistance in dying while at the same time ensuring the conscience rights of our health care professionals are respected.
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): It’s now 6 o’clock. This House stands adjourned until 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.
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NEIGHBORHOODS ASSOC
About Old Orchard
The Old Orchard Neighborhood is an active and historic community with over 1200 households in an area of less than a square mile. Look around and you will see kids playing with other kids outside, people walking their dogs, riding bikes, gardening, and much more. Old Orchard is roughly bordered by Bancroft St, Secor Rd, Central Ave, and Douglas Rd, but there are parts that cross Secor Rd and Central Ave.
Old Orchard is bisected from east to west by Kenwood Boulevard, a landscaped boulevard. Kenwood is fronted by many stately homes which are generally larger than most in the neighborhood. Many homes in Old Orchard are brick and in the English Tudor style, further relating to the English street names. This architectural style, popular in the 1920s, fits well with the Gothic styled University of Toledo which sits on its southern edge and was built at about the same time (University Hall was constructed in 1931).
Streets in Old Orchard are platted in a simple grid pattern with several ending with a small triangular grassy island at the terminus. These triangular islands nicely compliment the boulevard on Kenwood. Additional islands once existed at most of the Bancroft intersections but were removed at some point.
The neighborhood derives its name from the large orchards that existed on the land prior to being developed in the 1920s. It was developed by the B.C. Bowen Co. (one of the founders of the present day Welles-Bowen Realty Company) who is credited with selecting the Old Orchard name. Accounts tell of a large apple orchard near the corner of Densmore and Bancroft and a peach orchard near Pemberton and Middlesex. Mr. Bowen is also credited with selecting the English-sounding street names, although no information exists as to why. One potential explanation is that Mr. Bowen had also developed the Westmoreland neighborhood (about 1 mile east of Old Orchard) around 1917 and selected those street names from areas in Virginia (Mount Vernon, Richmond, Potomac), as the rolling terrain reminded him of that part of the country. This strategy of using quaint street names probably carried over to his next project, Old Orchard.
One of Old Orchard's more famous residents was Millie Benson (1905 - 2002) who was one of the original ghost writers of the Nancy Drew Mystery books penned under the name Carolyn Keene. She wrote 23 of the original 30 books first published. In 2001, Benson received a Special Edgar Award for her contributions to the Nancy Drew series. She was also a columnist for the Toledo Blade and the Toledo Times.
Why are there so many forsythia bushes around the neighborhood? The tradition was that a forsythia bush was planted in the tree lawn after a new home was built.
Send an email with any interesting information you know about the neighborhood.
Join OONA/Pay Dues
Old Orchard Neighborhoods Association
Old Orchard Family Group
Email us Toledo, Ohio
Old Orchard Toledo
Old Orchard!
Old Orchard Block Watch
Know someone who prefers paper communications? Click Here
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Freya Ridings Is Poised for Stardom with Poignant Self-Titled Debut Album
It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Freya Ridings, whose 2018 “Lost Without You” propelled her to the top of the charts and earned her over 200 million streams to date. The starlet quickly achieved rising artist status, but she didn’t stop there. A year later, she has returned with a self-titled debut album whose poise, poignance, and well-roundedness reveals Ridings as a dynamic vocalist and songwriter well beyond her years.
Adorned with soft, complex, and haunting piano melodies accompanied by low, sweeping vocals, the new LP is a carefully-crafted masterpiece evocative of Adele’s 21. The collection opens with “Poison,” an ode to that love who you know is going to destroy you. Ridings’ husky voice croons, “I need your love like/ Vampires crave blood/ And I know, it’s never enough,” as she surrenders to the pitfalls of love’s blindness. Her career-making single “Lost Without You” occupies the second slot on the album, followed by her recent 2019 single “Castles” (check out our take on the new “Castles” music video here.) Later, on the LP’s final track, she wishes on a sunrise, a birthday candle, and a “Wishbone” to be reunited with a love who seems to be long gone.
The release of the highly-anticipated debut album, which was written exclusively by Ridings herself, is complemented by a long list of UK tour dates as well as the announcement of a North American tour with Hozier. Ridings is only starting her reign as queen of singer-songwriter pop with her exquisite new release. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for her next step towards musical world domination.
Author: Miranda Hyman
Freya Ridings album reviews Singer songwriter Pop
Freya Ridings’ “Castles” Music Video Is A Monochrome Masterpiece
July 10, 2019 The utter strength of her empowering melody seems to draw her skywards, symbolizing her ability to rise from the ashes of a destructive relationship.
Castles Freya Ridings pop singer-songwriter
Freya Ridings Finds Redemption After Heartbreak With “Castles”
May 31, 2019 You wouldn’t want to sleep on a pop artist whose earliest work has been praised by the likes of Florence Welch and Taylor Swift, would you?
Author: Brady Moses
freya ridings castles pop bastille adele rag n bone man charli xcx lewis capaldi halsey ariana grande hozier yeah yeah yeahs lady gaga
5 Lessons Singer-Songwriter Freya Ridings Teaches In ‘You Mean The World To Me’ EP
March 5, 2019 The stunning five track EP follows Ridings’ failed relationship, and her longing for the love to come back.
Author: Alyssa Yung
freya ridings you mean the world to me lost without you pop listicles
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Jewish Quarter Sights | Prague Sightseeing
Prague-Stay.com > Lifestyle > > Jewish Quarter Sights | Prague Sightseeing
A section of Old Town traditionally inhabited by the Jewish community in Prague who started settling in this area around the 10th century; this former Jewish ghetto, which housed over 18,000 people, is no longer present as people were mistreated during pogroms throughout the centuries, the first creating the ghetto in 1096 and the worst being in 1389, when 1,500 were massacred on Easter Sunday. The Jewish Community, however, began to flourish in the 16th century under their Jewish Mayor, Mordecai Maisel, who in turn, became the Minister of Finance. The legend of Golem also surfaced around this time. In 1850, the district was renamed Josefov in honor of Josef II, Holy Roman Emperor, who issued the Tolerance Patent in 1781, which guaranteed religious equality to the Jewish population. During 1893-1913 the majority of buildings were demolished in order to make the district more Parisian; the remainder of Josefov included six synagogues, the Old Jewish Town Hall, and the Old Cemetery. During WWII, Hitler left Josefov alone, even expanded its wealth with Jewish artifacts, as he wished to house ‘an exotic museum of an extinct race’ at the end of the war. Josefov today is home to the Prague Jewish Museum, The Museum of Decorative Arts, high-end shopping, and fine dining and is also the birthplace of the great Franz Kafka.
Old-New Synagogue
The oldest of Prague's Jewish Quarter sights, the Old-New Synagogue is the oldest surviving Synagogue in all of Europe, and is surrounded by history, mysteries and legends; its attic is purported to be the home of Prague's Golem, a creature created and animated by Rabbi Loew to protect the Jewish citizens of Prague, another legend claims that its foundations stones hail from the ruined Temple of Jerusalem and were loaned by angels on condition that they be returned when the...
Spanish Synagogue
The Spanish Synagogue is by far the most spectacular temple in the Jewish Quarter. It was inspired by the Alhambra in Spain, hence the title Spanish Synagogue. The Synagogue is stunning with an abundance of Moorish tile motifs of flowers and geometric patterns in brilliant reds, blues and greens with gold trim. The interior boasts color on the ceiling, walls, and stained glass windows.
Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia
Founded by Princess Agnes of the Premyslid dynasty in 1231, the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia is the oldest Gothic building in Prague and was used by the Order of Saint Clare, also known as the Order of Poor Ladies (the second Franciscan order established, founded by St. Clare and St. Francis of Assisi in 1212). The convent was influential as a spiritual center in Prague and also was used as the burial spot for the Premyslids. The Dominicans...
Pinkas Synagogue
Located in Prague’s evocative Jewish Quarter is the Pinkas Synagogue. Rabbi Pinkas founded the synagogue in 1479, as he was a wealthy member of Prague’s Jewish community. The Pinkas Synagogue today is an important memorial for the victims of the Nazis. On the walls of the synagogue, specifically the wall of the main nave were written after WWII names of 77,297 Jewish victims from Bohemia and Moravia that did not survive the Terezin Camp. The memorial was designed and created...
The Old Jewish Cemetery
This evocative cemetery was created in the 15th century when the Jewish community was prohibited to bury their deceased outside the ghetto walls. It is estimated that there are around 12 layers of graves, as space was very scarce. Over 100,000 people were compactly buried in the Jewish Cemetery, which is nestled in Old Town among huge trees; the tranquility of the area and the numerous lopsided tombstones create an extraordinarily mystic atmosphere.
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Tim Ho Wan — 83 decibels
It’s really hard to get a table at Tim Ho Wan. This New York City outpost of a well-known and well-rated Hong Kong dim sum chain always has a line. Probably because it is the least expensive restaurant to earn a Michelin star. So if you want to go, expect a wait. And don’t forget to bring your ear plugs, because the noise levels are uncomfortably high.
Is the food good? Yes, that’s why it’s jammed. But we won’t be visiting again. In the end, no matter how good the food is, it’s impossible to enjoy your meal–don’t even try to have a conversation–when the music is so loud (and unforgivably bad).
The other customers didn’t seem to care about the noise level, but since the age range appeared to span early-20’s to mid-20’s, we weren’t surprised. It was clear from the moment we stepped in that we were not in their preferred demographic. The music made that quite clear.
Maybe the folks behind this popular chain might consider opening an adult location where the grownups can have a nosh and a conversation? Until then, avoid.
Sunday through Thursday: 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
85 4th Avenue (at the corner of E. 10th Street), New York, NY 10003
Tim Ho Wan
Nancy Whiskey Pub — 86.4 decibels
When we entered Nancy Whiskey Pub we wanted to love it. It appears to be the perfect neighborhood dive bar–not contrived or styled, it simply is a place you go to drink with your buddies. And we did fall in love with the place, for five, maybe ten minutes. But after our brief love affair, things quickly turned ugly when a bartender began feeding bills into the jukebox and destroyed what had been a lovely relaxed atmosphere.
No one asked the bartender to play music, so either management requires the bartenders to turn it on at a certain time or maybe she was bored. We don’t know. What we do know is that the volume was punishing.
We also don’t know if deafening music is played every day or whether the bartender just wanted to hear some tunes, but when we asked if the volume could be lowered, the bartender shouted, “go upstairs,” which we understood to be “no.”
We did go upstairs and found a smaller space crammed with people who were not quite drunk and already screaming–not surprisingly, this space was only slightly quieter than below. We threw back our drinks and left, emerging onto the comparatively serene street, and continued our search for the perfect bar.
So, sadly, we must advise that you avoid Nancy Whiskey Pub if you cherish your hearing more than finding a genuine neighborhood bar. The prices were good, the physical space was perfect, but it’s just too damn loud.
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. every day (sometimes close earlier on Sundays and Mondays)
1 Lispenard Street (on the corner of 6th Avenue), New York, NY 10013
Nancy Whiskey Pub
Brooklyn Roasting Company (Dumbo Headquarters) — 70.5 decibels
We visited the Jay Street location of Brooklyn Roasting Company on a late Saturday afternoon and found it very busy but relaxed. This location is the company’s headquarters and “roastery,” so there is a lot of space. Large bags of green coffee beans were piled artistically around the space. It was a bit disconcerting to see some people use them as seating, but they seemed to serve that purpose.
Because it’s a big space so you should always be able to find a relatively quiet corner. Something that is almost guaranteed as it’s very popular with people who are beavering away on their computers. In fact, there are always lots of laptop brigade members here, which is always a good sign.
Music played softly in the background during our visit, but as it was truly in the background we did not mind. The coffee, unsurprisingly, is excellent and reasonably priced for Dumbo. It should be, since they roast their own beans and sell them.
We highly recommended this location of Brooklyn Roasting Company. There usually are savory and sweet snacks on offer, but the cupboard was a bit bare in the late afternoon. We remember their version of a pop tart with some fondness, so if you want a snack to go with your coffee try visiting a little earlier in the day.
If you like the feeling of a big lofty space in the middle of a very industrial looking part of Brooklyn–a Con Ed transmission substation is across the street–you will be in your element. The Dumbo location of Brooklyn Roasting Company is well worth a visit.
7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day
25 Jay Street (at the corner of John Street), Brooklyn, NY 11201
Brooklyn Roasting Company
Good Stuff Diner – 65.4 decibels
On a recent morning, I’d been running errands in Manhattan and decided to try the Good Stuff Diner on West 14th Street before heading home to Brooklyn. I love diners and was drawn to the place’s gleaming retro design and warm tones. A manager greeted me at the door and accommodated my request for a booth, which doesn’t always happen with solo diners. I sat in the back among a mix of other solo diners, pairs, and groups. Two men sat alone at separate tables eating breakfast and reading newspapers, then said goodbye to each other when one of them left.
It was just after 10:00 a.m. when I arrived, so it was somewhere between the end of the breakfast rush and the start of the lunch rush; around half of the tables were occupied in each dining area. I ordered eggs with toast and home fried potatoes, orange juice, and coffee. All were good, and the service was fast and friendly, but not rushed.
There was no music playing in the back section of the diner while I was there. The average sound level was only 65.4, but the ambience wasn’t hushed. The predominant sound was that of lively conversation. It was only when I walked to the front of the diner as I was leaving that I heard music, but the music was playing softly in the background and didn’t distract.
The Good Stuff Diner is recommended to tourists and other travelers, as evidenced by online reviews. But on this weekday morning I could tell by nearby conversations that many of the diners were locals, some were regulars, and most were New Yorkers, which says good things about the place. Given the sound level when the restaurant was just over halfway occupied, I wouldn’t hesitate to schedule a meeting or meet up with friends during a busier time. It was good to find an aesthetically appealing, affordable, friendly restaurant with a robust menu in a part of the city where I often find myself wishing for exactly this kind of eatery.
Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week
109 West 14th Street (near 6th Avenue), New York, NY 10011
B & H — 71.3 decibels
B & H is a longstanding kosher dairy restaurant located in the East Village. Essentially it’s pescatarian, as they don’t serve meat but fish is on the menu, and it’s really more of a lunch counter than a restaurant. An open grill is located behind the counter which runs the length of the space; the counter is lined with stools. Someone decided there was enough room for a handful of small tables for two that hug the opposite wall (there isn’t), so navigating your way in the space is a challenge but it’s worth it.
Soups reign at B & H. A big bowl of whatever soup you choose (choices include hot borscht, mushroom and barley, vegetable, and matzoh ball) is only $5.50 with bread and butter. Definitely get the bread–it’s soft and slightly sweet and comes pre-buttered. Service is very efficient and friendly. If you order soup, your order will be placed in front of you within a minute or two.
We found the space to be calm even with the counter man shouting phone orders to his co-worker. A radio played in the background but the volume was very low. There were some sharp kitchen sounds of dishes being thrown into a bin, but basically the soundscape was comfortable. And even though we visited on a Monday night, the place was pretty packed, so we think the reading and this review reasonably reflects what one can expect when B & H is busy.
If you want to experience a bit of old school New York City, come to B & H. After you finish your meal, head on over to nearby Moishe’s Bake Shop (where everything looks kind of stale but it’s actually pretty good).
Highly recommended. Cash only.
Frirday and Saturday: 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.
127 2nd Avenue (betw. St. Marks Place and 7th Street), New York, NY 10003
B & H Dairy Kosher Restaurant
Govinda’s — 65.9 decibels
Located on the bottom floor of the Hare Krishna Temple on Schemerhorn near Nevins, Govinda’s is not to be missed. On the Temple’s website they extoll the virtues of Govinda’s, inviting the public to enjoy “great Vegetarian food at affordable prices and served to you in a peaceful stress free environment.” And they delivered on what they had promised.
Govinda’s is located in a large meeting room. A buffet style counter is set up by the entrance, to the space. You wait in line, tell the server what you want, pay, and find a free seat at one of the large shared tables throughout the roomy space. It feels like a church basement and not a restaurant for good reason, but this church basement restaurant is packed with believers and non-believers who enjoy a good vegetarian nosh.
Govinda’s features one entree that changes every day–eggplant parmagiana was offered when we visited–and a number of side dishes. You pay for the number choices you want: two choices are $7, and a combo plate of eggplant Parm, string beans, cabbage and potatoes, and a very tasty slaw set us back $10. A “complete meal,” which must feature everything, is only $12 and apparently is enough food for two people. Free bread and unlimited water or orange lemonade (very good and refreshing) come with the meal.
There were lots of coworkers (it’s located near city government buildings) or friends chatting as they ate during out visit, and music playing in the background, but it the soundscape was mostly comfortable. The room was half full when we first entered but quickly filled up; it was nearly full by the time we left. Because the space is roomy and there is a drop ceiling, the sound level was more than manageable. The only thing that made the space less than perfect was the sitar music, which can be a bit trebly–if high-pitched sounds are your personal nemisis, you may want to avoid Govinda’s. That said, the space is very comfortable and it’s easy to carry on a conversation here.
If you enjoy a good vegetarian meal in a fairly relaxed setting, you must stop by Govinda’s. Note that Govinda’s is only open for lunch Monday through Friday, and it is cash only.
Monday through Friday: 12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
305 Schermerhorn Street (betw. Nevins and Bond Streets), Brooklyn, NY 11217
Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch
Archestratus Books + Foods — 70.7 decibels
Archestratus Books + Foods is a very calm space, even with unnecessary music playing in the background. It should be calm, as it is a cafe burrowed into the back of a bookstore. There is a short menu offering a few savory and sweet treats during the day, and a selection of coffees and teas. Service is friendly and relaxed.
Archestratus Books + Foods offers a well-liked dinner on Thursday nights. We’ve never been, but given the rave dinner reviews on Yelp and other rating sites, it’s on our short list to try for this year.
The bookstore portion of the space features books on food and cooking–it’s easy to get lost in the space for hours. There is also a small selection of interesting gift items on offer. Overall the entire space is quiet and comfortable.
There were only a couple of people sharing the cafe when we visited, so we can’t say conclusively that the space would be comfortable when full. Still, the cafe soundscape should be fine even when crowded, as it only seats 12.
Archestratus Books + Foods is highly recommended.
Monday and Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday through Saturday: 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Dinner is available Thursday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
160 Huron Street (betw. Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street), Brooklyn, NY 11222
Archestratus Books + Foods
Raclette — 78.7 decibels
February 4, 2018 January 27, 2018 Leave a comment
The restaurant was packed when we got there, even though our reservation was set for a time squarely between the end of brunch and beginning of dinner. Yes, the place is that popular that a reservation is a must. As a conseqence, the small space was louder than we would have liked, at first, but the noise level improved.
About halfway through our visit, the sound level became a lot better. The tenor changed after a couple of tables left and someone appeared to have lowered the unnecessary music. In fact, the room was perfect. The second half of the visit made up for the first half, helped in no small part by the food. If you love cheese–particularly melted cheese–Raclette is a must visit. Perfect on a cold winter’s afternoon.
Sunday: 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: 12:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Friday: 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
Saturday: 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
511 E. 12th Street (betw. Avenues A and B), New York, NY 10009
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Property For Sale In Cambridgeshire homepage
You are here: Home / Home Buyer Activity Picking Up Across UK
Home Buyer Activity Picking Up Across UK
Home buyer activity is increasing fastest in parts of the UK where prices have been the most depressed, an industry survey says.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said that buyers were now returning to the market in their biggest numbers for four years.
The largest rise in activity came in the West Midlands and the North East.
Overall, Rics said prices rose faster in July than at any time since the housing market peak in November 2006.
Every region saw prices rise, Rics said, although London and the areas around it continued to see the biggest price increases.
Revival spreads
Rics said that both the West Midlands and north-east England had seen their highest levels of interest amongst buyers for 14 years.
For the West Midlands it was the highest level since the figures were first collected, in April 1999.
Wales also saw a surge in demand, as measured by the number of people registering with estate agents, and Scotland too saw an increase.
“Growth in buyer numbers and prices have been happening in some parts of the country since the beginning of the year,” said Peter Bolton King, from Rics.
“But this is the first time that everywhere has experienced some improvement.”
Scotland, Wales and north-east England saw some of the largest house price falls during the recession.
When asked about values, more surveyors in the North East said prices were rising than surveyors who thought prices were falling.
That is the first time that a majority of surveyors in the region have taken that view since January 2012.
Surveyors in Scotland were more positive on prices than in any other area outside London and the South East.
Cheaper loans
Government help for the housing market is one reason for the pick-up in activity, said Rics.
The Help to Buy scheme, which began in April 2013, allows buyers of new-build homes to put down a 5% deposit, and take out a government loan for up to 20% of the value of the property.
From January next year, it will be extended to help buyers of existing homes, and the government will guarantee a proportion of the loan to give the banks greater confidence to lend.
But Rics said that the Funding for Lending (FLS) scheme – where banks can borrow money cheaply from the Bank of England, providing they lend it on to businesses or individuals – has had a particular effect on improving mortgage availability.
It said FLS had improved so-called loan-to-value ratios, or the amount that banks and building societies are prepared to lend on any property.
On average, loans are now 83.6% of the value of a property, compared with 81.6% a year ago
Mortgage rates have also fallen, making repayments cheaper.
Last week’s announcement by the Bank that interest rates are likely to remain at their record low for several years to come, is also likely to improve the number of cheaper mortgages on offer.
Courtesy of BBC News
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The Cambridgeshire village of Murrow is located south west of Wisbech, close to March and the borders of Lincolnshire and Norfolk and only 30 minutes drive from Peterborough.
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You know that you're in love when can't sleep without hugging your pillow.
You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Funny Quotes In Love Top 100
He that is jealous is not in love.
One is in love when one realizes that the other person is unique.
There has never been a day in my life when I was not in love.
Edward Abbey
Best Love In Love
To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia - to mistake an ordinary young woman for a goddess.
We are most alive when we're in love.
In Love Live to Love
When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before.
About Love In Love
In love, unlike most other passions, the recollection of what you have had and lost is always better than what you can hope for in the future.
About Love In Love Lost Love
When I watch you sleep or we're just looking at each other, I feel so grateful that I have a wonderful, loving, sweet, and funny boyfriend like you.
PureLoveQuotes.com
For Him In Love Sweet
Time has no meaning when you're in love.
About Love In Love Time
When a man is in love he endures more than at other times, he submits to everything.
Being in love never goes out of style.
I knew I was in love when all those love songs started to make sense.
Falling In Love In Love
Happiness is not a priority for me. I prefer the dangers of being madly in love.
Any home can be a castle when the king and queen are in love.
It's not that I can't live without you, it's just that I don't even want to try.
Live to Love Top 100
If a hug represented how much I loved you, I would hold you in my arms forever.
I love your hugs so much that I hug you in my dreams.
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Rob Carver
Email: rob.carver@qmul.ac.uk
Robert Carver is an independent systematic trader, writer and research consultant. He is the author of "Systematic Trading: A unique new way to make investment and trading decisions" and "Smart Portfolios: A practical guide to building and maintaining intelligent investment portfolios"
Robert's last corporate role was as a portfolio manager and researcher at AHL, a quantitative hedge fund. Robert was responsible for the inception of AHL's fundamental strategies group and subsequently managed the fund's $5bn fixed income portfolio. Before that he worked for CEPR, an economics think tank, as a research manager; and as an exotic derivatives trader for Barclays Capital.
Robert is interested in portfolio optimisation, behavioral finance and the use of heuristics to improve financial decision making. He has a BA from the University of Manchester and an Msc from Birkbeck College, University of London, both in Economics.
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AUTO RACING | Scott Dixon races to 6th victory at Mid-Ohio
By CRAIG MERZ Associated Press
Jul 28, 2019 at 8:20 PM Jul 28, 2019 at 8:25 PM
LEXINGTON, Ohio — Scott Dixon’s victory Sunday was a lot closer than his previous five at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Scott Dixon held off rookie teammate Felix Rosenqvist by 0.0934 seconds in the Honda Indy 200 to put himself back in contention to defend his IndyCar season championship.
It was the closest finish at Mid-Ohio and the third-closest on a road course in IndyCar history. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver from New Zealand is third on the career victory list with 46
"I would have preferred winning by 10 seconds instead of banging wheels for a few laps," Dixon said. "It feels really good for the sheer fact we haven’t won here since 2014."
The final lap on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course featured an epic battle with Rosenqvist — and a failed maneuver by points leader Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. Newgarden tried to get around third-place Ryan Hunter-Reay in the keyhole part of the course, but ended up bumping Hunter-Reay and spinning off the track. Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport was third, 1.16 seconds behind Dixon.
Newgarden blew a chance to add to his points lead over Alexander Rossi. Rossi struggled to fifth, but still reduced Newgarden’s advantage to 16 points.
Newgarden, who finished 14th, blamed himself for the incident.
"I was trying to get on the podium," he said. "It was my fault to force the issue."
Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, who was sixth, is 57 points off the lead. Dixon is 62 back. There are four races left.
"It’s a big shift," Dixon said. "These are the kind of weekends you need."
The race to the checkered flag included lapped cars that put some space between Dixon and Rosenqvist, who has not won on the Indy circuit.
Team owner Chip Ganassi gave the go-ahead for the two to race to the finish. Rosenqvist and Dixon bumped but not enough to cause an accident that would have prevented a 1-2 team finish.
"If it was someone else, I’d go a bit harder," Rosenqvist said. "Being Scott, you know he’s going to be fair. ... Chip says the first rule is don’t take out your teammate."
Dixon finished on the red alternate tires that run faster but are less durable and he was losing seconds off his lead in the closing laps.
"We were closing on them but we came up a little short," Hunter-Reay said.
Dixon sensed his advantage was slipping away.
"With about 15 (laps) to go, I was moaning to the team I have to pit again," he said.
Rosenqvist got a closeup look at why Dixon is third in Indy victories.
"He was on poor tires and low on fuel and came out on top," Rosenqvist said. "If we had another lap, we might have passed him."
WHO’S HOT
Pagenaud has finished first, fourth and fourth in his past three races and has quietly crept into contention to win his second championship (2016).
WHO’S NOT
Newgarden certainly has made things interesting with his ill-advised pass attempt. "I’m not really sure what Josef was thinking doing that," Hunter-Reay said.
NO HOME COOKING
Those with Ohio connections did not fare well. Graham Rahal, the 2016 winner from New Albany, was ninth; Jack Harvey of the Columbus-based Meyer Shank Racing was 10th and Stockdale’s Zach Veach finished 20th of 23 drivers.
Dixon, fourth in points, knows he will become a father for the third time in December. He also knows offseason surgery on his ailing left elbow is in the offing. "It’s not good. It’s still an issue," he said.
Rossi will be the defending champion again at the Pocono Raceway 500-mile race 500 on Aug. 19. Two of his seven wins have been on ovals, including the 2016 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie. Newgarden finished second in 2015 and ‘17.
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PRO TENNIS | Venus Williams upsets Bertens; Serena withdraws
Aug 13, 2019 at 11:01 PM Aug 13, 2019 at 11:02 PM
MASON (AP) — Going small paid off big for Venus Williams.
Tuesday didn’t go as well for sister Serena.
On a day when back problems forced the younger Williams to withdraw before her second-round match, Venus Williams reached the third round of the Western & Southern Open with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) upset of defending champion Kiki Bertens. Her key? Not going for it.
"I just tried not to go too big, because I can go so big and I have a lot of power and it’s not always easy to control it," the 39-year-old Williams said. "So I’m trying to play smart instead of going hog wild, which is extremely easy to do."
Hours before her match was scheduled to begin, Serena Williams withdrew, citing the same back injury that forced her to retire from the Rogers Cup final on Sunday in Toronto. The injury raises questions about Serena’s fitness ahead of the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 26.
"I came to Mason on Sunday and have tried everything to be ready to play tonight, and was still hopeful after my practice this morning, but unfortunately, my back is still not right, and I know I should not take to the court," Serena, winner of 23 Grand Slam titles and a two-time champion at Cincinnati, said in a statement.
Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, is the oldest woman in the draw. She has made her deepest Cincinnati run since reaching the 2012 semifinals.
"It was just a second round, though," Venus said. "For me, it’s just round-by-round. I have a third round to play. I’m ready for the next round."
Bertens, seeded fifth, rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 5-2 in the third set to force a tiebreaker. The 2-hour, 17-minute match ended when she sailed a forehand wide.
"I didn’t do the things I was doing well coming back — playing aggressive, going for my shots," Bertens said about the tiebreaker. "I didn’t do that anymore in the tiebreak, so there she could play her game again, which she did pretty good, I would say."
On a star-studded day that was scheduled to include Serena and Roger Federer in the evening session, top-seeded and defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised into the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 win over wild card Sam Querrey.
Federer, the third seed who was playing for the first time since Wimbledon, needed 61 minutes — not including a 61-minute rain delay — to defeat Juan Ignacio Londerom 6-3, 6-4.
Djokovic felt a little rusty in his first match since his epic Wimbledon final triumph over Federer on July 14.
"It was kind of a nervous start," he said. "I hadn’t played in weeks. It took time to adjust. It was a tricky match against a qualify opponent. He’s a big hitter. I was happy to be tested."
Two-time Grand Slam-champion Petra Kvitova didn’t weather the rain delay as well as Federer. The sixth seed lost to Maria Sakkari 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
Counting Serena Williams, Kvitova was one of six seeded women to withdraw or be eliminated on Tuesday in this U.S. Open tuneup. Thirteenth-seeded Angelique Kerber was knocked out by unseeded Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (7), 6-2, and 15th-seeded Qiang Wang lost to Su-Wei Hsieh 6-3, 6-4.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, who won Cincinnati in 2013, reached the second round after 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic retired because of an injured left foot while trailing 6-4, 1-0.
Madison Keys, the 16th seed, pulled out a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over two-time Grand Slam winner and 2017 Cincinnati champion Garbine Muguruza.
On the men’s side, Stan Wawrinka advanced with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Grigor Dimitrov, and fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem withdrew because of illness.
In a match that lasted 2 hours, 34 minutes, Dimitrov fought off two match points in the eighth game of the third set and forced a tiebreaker. Wawrinka closed out the match with an ace.
Wawrinka next faces qualifier Andrey Rublev, who advanced with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 victory over 15th-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Daniil Medvedev, the ninth seed and runner-up to Rafael Nadal at last week’s Rogers Cup in Montreal, beat Kyle Edmund 6-2, 7-5.
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Prof Peter Higgs awarded Royal Commission Medal
For outstanding influence on science
London, 29th March 2017 – Professor Peter Ware Higgs CH FRS FRSE, the British physicist who predicted the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, has been awarded the 1851 Royal Commission Medal for his outstanding influence on science.
The Medal was presented to Professor Higgs by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, President of the Commission, at its biennial Presidential Dinner at Armourers’ Hall on the 28th March. It is only the third time the Medal has been awarded since its introduction in 2006. The first was awarded to His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh on the fortieth anniversary of his Presidency. The second was presented to Sir Alan Rudge on his retirement as Chairman after eighteen years of service to the Commission. The Commissioners were unanimous in their decision to award the third to Professor Higgs.
The presentation of the Commission’s Medal comes almost 65 years after Professor Higgs was awarded a Research Fellowship from the Commission, in 1953. The Commission’s Research Fellowships are intended to give scientists or engineers of exceptional promise the opportunity for early independence with the objective of contributing to the knowledge base of UK institutions.
Professor Higgs had originally chosen to conduct research in the theory of molecular vibrations at King College London for his Research Fellowship but, at the end of his first year, he asked to change the subject to the quantum theory of fields, and move to the University of Edinburgh; fortunately the Commissioners agreed.
“Peter’s work has had a huge impact on our understanding of the universe ... and ... has unlocked entire new fields of study"
Professor Higgs went on to further his studies at Edinburgh and in the 1960s, he developed the theory of the Higgs Field and Higgs Mechanism. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1983 and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 1991. He retired in 1996, becoming Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh. In 2013, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with François Englert, for “the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles”; a discovery that was confirmed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.
Bernard Taylor, Chairman of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, said: “Peter’s work has had a huge impact on our understanding of the universe around us and his work has unlocked entire new fields of study that will continue to shed light on fundamental physics for years to come. Now, almost 65 years after he first embarked on his career through an 1851 Royal Commission Research Fellowship, it is a great pleasure for us to present our highest honour, the Commission’s Medal, to Professor Higgs, as an individual who embodies the spirit of scientific advancement that Prince Albert sought when founding the Commission.”
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“Khodorkovsky has blood on his hands”
Russia’s answer to Wall Street swindler Bernie Madoff, Sergey Mavrody, says the accusations against the jailed Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky don’t go far enough.
Sergey Mavrody (RT Photo / Irina Vasilevitskaya)
In an interview with the Russia.ru TV channel, Mavrody claims that Khodorkovsky and Leonid Nevzlin (former top managers of the Yukos oil company) gave orders for people to be murdered.
Mavrody, who notoriously organized the MMM financial pyramid – the largest in Russian history – says he learnt about Khodorkovsky’s guilt from fellow prisoners.
Russia’s greatest fraudster
Sergey Mavrodi and his company MMM appeared on the scene in the beginning of the 1990s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Russians weren’t experienced with joint stock companies and few understood their mechanism, but many wanted to invest their money and get a profit.
An aggressive advertising campaign on national TV made millions buy shares in MMM.
The company was a pure and classic financial pyramid. The dividends were paid from the money collected from fresh converts. Up to ten million people are believed to have been dragged into what was probably Russia’s biggest ever fraud. Prices of MMM shares skyrocketed and the hardest task for the company was to print enough of its valueless shares.
When the authorities finally decided to look closer at the pyramid, Mavrodi dropped the prices a hundred-fold and stopped paying dividends, claiming his company was being attacked by the government.
Thousands of his cheated investors came out to the streets demanding the cabinet and police leave MMM alone. Even ten years after the court’s sentence, some of them still believe Sergey Mavrodi’s claims.
The swindler himself used his almost hypnotic influence on his investors to get elected to the State Duma and obtain the diplomatic immunity of MPs. Although he was stripped of his status just one year later, he remained free until 2003, when he was finally arrested.
He was sentenced for four-and-a-half years and a $400 fine. Sergey Mavrodi was freed from jail in May 2007.
After that he decided to become a writer, but the pressrun of his debut book ‘Temptation’ was halted during a presentation in May 2008, due to lawsuits by cheated investors.
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The Lancet: fossil fuels are killing us… quitting them can save us
By Jon Queally, originally published by Common Dreams
The bad news is very bad, indeed. But first, the good news: "Responding to climate change could be the biggest global health opportunity of this century."
That message is the silver lining contained in a comprehensive newly published report by The Lancet, the UK-based medical journal, which explores the complex intersection between global human health and climate change.
The wide-ranging and peer-reviewed report—titled Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health—declares that the negative impacts of human-caused global warming have put at risk some of the world’s most impressive health gains over the last half century. What’s more, it says, continued use of fossil fuels is leading humanity to a future in which infectious disease patterns, air pollution, food insecurity and malnutrition, involuntary migration, displacement, and violent conflict will all be made made worse.
"Climate change," said commission co-chairman Dr. Anthony Costello, a pediatrician and director of the Global Health Institute at the University College of London, "has the potential to reverse the health gains from economic development that have been made in recent decades – not just through the direct effects on health from a changing and more unstable climate, but through indirect means such as increased migration and reduced social stability. Our analysis clearly shows that by tackling climate change we can also benefit health. Tackling climate change represents one of the greatest opportunities to benefit human health for generations to come."
Put together by the newly formed Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change—described as a major new collaboration between international climate scientists and geographers, social and environmental scientists, biodiversity experts, engineers and energy policy experts, economists, political scientists and public policy experts, and health professionals—the report is the most up-to-date and comprehensive of its kind. Though many studies have been performed on the subject, the commission argues the "catastrophic risk to human health posed by climate change" has been grossly "underestimated" by others.
The four key findings of the report include:
1. The effects of climate change threaten to undermine the last half-century of gains in development and global health. The impacts are being felt today, and future projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human health.
2. Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century.
3. Achieving a decarbonized global economy and securing the public health benefits it offers is no longer primarily a technological or economic question – it is now a political one.
4. Climate change is fundamentally an issue of human health, and health professionals have a vital role to play in accelerating progress on mitigation and adaptation policies.
"Climate Change is a medical emergency," said Dr. Hugh Montgomery, commission co-chair and director of the UCL Institute for Human Health and Performance. "It thus demands an emergency response."
With rising global temperatures fueling increasing extreme weather events, crop failures, water scarcity, and other crises, Montgomery says the report is an attempt to make it clear that drastic and immediate actions should be taken. "Under such circumstances," he said, "no doctor would consider a series of annual case discussions and aspirations adequate, yet this is exactly how the global response to climate change is proceeding."
In a companion paper published alongside the larger report, commission members Helena Wang and Richard Horton explained why human health impacts are an important part of the larger argument regarding climate change:
When climate change is framed as a health issue, rather than purely as an environmental, economic, or technological challenge, it becomes clear that we are facing a predicament that strikes at the heart of humanity. Health puts a human face on what can sometimes seem to be a distant threat. By making the case for climate change as a health issue, we hope that the civilizational crisis we face will achieve greater public resonance. Public concerns about the health effects of climate change, such as undernutrition and food insecurity, have the potential to accelerate political action in ways that attention to carbon dioxide emissions alone do not.
Responding to the findings and warnings contained in the report, Mike Childs, the head of policy for the Friends of the Earth-UK, said the message from one of the world’s foremost institutions on public health has given powerful new evidence to the argument that "radical action is urgently required" to avoid further climate catastrophe.
"When health professionals shout ’emergency’," Childs said, "politicians everywhere should listen."
Going from diagnosis to prescribing a remedy, the doctors and scientists involved with the report—who equated the human health emergency of climate change with previous physician-led fights against tobacco use and HIV/AIDS—argue the crisis of anthropogenic climate change demands—as a matter of "medical necessity"—the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels (with special emphasis on coal) from the global energy mix. In addition, the authors say their data on global human health support a recommendation for an international carbon price.
"The health community has responded to many grave threats to health in the past," said another commission co-chair, Professor Peng Gong of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. "It took on entrenched interests such as the tobacco industry and led the fight against HIV/AIDS. Now is the time for us to lead the way in responding to another great threat to human and environmental health."
The Commission argues that human health would vastly improve in a less-polluted world free from fossil fuels. "Virtually everything that you want to do to tackle climate change has health benefits," said Dr. Costello. "We’re going to cut heart attacks, strokes, diabetes."
The following video, produced by the Commission and released alongside the report, also explains:
As Wang and Horton conclude in their remarks, "Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation. Health professionals must mobilize now to address this challenge and protect the health and well-being of future generations."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Photo (2000) from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia’s national science agency. "CSIRO scientists estimate that the gases released by savanna burning make up 2 percent of Australia’s contribution to the Greenhouse Effect. Although it may be possible to change burning practices to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, this reduction would be small because of the high frequency of natural fires in northern Australia." Via Wikimedia Commons.
Tags: climate change, Health
Harold Hedelman
PCI’s important work, like so many NGO’s working on climate, is needed
McKibben: It’s time to declare war on climate change
By Jon Queally, originally published by Climate Code Red
As ‘This Changes Everything’ Debuts in US, Leave Your Climate Despair at the Door
World’s Oceans Could Rise Higher, Sooner, Faster Than Most Thought Possible
Harvard embattled as students, faculty and alumni join forces for divestment
World Bank: Climate change and inequality brewing global social upheaval
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OSHA tells companies to report injuries. There’s no website for that yet
By Jennifer Gollan / May 9, 2017
Construction workers work on a new home in Pittsburgh earlier this year. The National Association of Home Builders was among organizations filing suit over a new rule by OSHA requiring certain employers to report worker injuries.
Credit: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
The nation’s top workplace safety regulator has directed scores of companies to begin submitting their injury records, but with the impending deadline less than two months away, there is still no website set up for these workplaces to comply.
“Because the secretary of labor is not allowing OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) to post this website, it means tens of thousands of employers will be in violation of the law,” said David Michaels, who headed OSHA under President Barack Obama and is now a professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Michaels was referring to Alexander Acosta, whose first day as secretary of labor was Friday. “Law-abiding employers are asking where to send their information in. OSHA is ignoring the law.”
The new rules, which went into effect on Jan. 1, are to be phased in over two years. Employers must electronically submit data from their injury and illness logs by July 1. In addition, companies are barred from retaliating against workers who report such incidents.
Some of the data they submit is to be posted on a public website. But there’s just one problem. “OSHA is not accepting electronic submissions at this time,” the agency’s website says.
The requirements are intended to encourage employers to improve their injury rates, allow workers to understand the risks associated with their workplaces and help federal investigators prioritize investigations.
But industry groups have challenged the new requirements in federal courts in Oklahoma and Texas.
In January, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Home Builders and other industry groups sued OSHA in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma, arguing that the new rules would force employers to disclose private information.
They also contend that OSHA is overreaching its authority. Other industry groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers have argued in federal court in Texas that the anti-retaliation provisions are unjustified.
In March, Justice Department attorneys filed requests to stay both cases to allow for a regulatory review by the Trump administration.
“Not only does OSHA not have the authority to do this, it also exposes a business to significant reputational harm, all without demonstrating any evidence that it would effectively reduce workplace injuries and illnesses,” Ed Brady, immediate past chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, wrote in a statement in January. “Workplace safety is of the utmost concern of our members, however the rule is unlawful and does not serve its intended purpose of improving workplace safety.”
A representative for the Labor Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Starting in the 1990s, OSHA sent letters each year soliciting data from roughly 80,000 employers in high-risk industries. The regulator collected the number of injuries recorded and the number of hours worked, allowing it to calculate injury rates.
The agency made this data, which ran through 2011, available on its website. OSHA ended the program in anticipation of launching the new reporting requirements, which were intended to make public more comprehensive data on injuries for more employers.
By Jennifer Gollan Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting May 9, 2017
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KIIT University Bhubaneswar Reviews
Written By: Gaurav
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneshwar is known to be a World-Renowned University that is located in Odisha. Incepted in the year 1992 by Dr.AchyutaSamanta, an eminent social entrepreneur, and scholar, the university started offering its degree courses in the year 1997.
KIIT provides a plethora of UG, PG as well as doctoral programs in a variety of disciplines. Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, a deemed to be university has been honored with the University Rankings 2019 by times higher education world by as one of the Most Renowned University.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is accredited by AICTE as well as NAAC with grade ‘A’.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has as many as 19 schools that are imparting quality education to as many as 27000 and more students.
Admission to UG & PG Programs of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is provided on the basis of the scores secured in KIIT 2019 which is followed by counseling.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Highlights
The university got its establishment in the year 1992
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is deemed to be the university
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is approved by MCA, NBA, DCI, NAAC, ‘A’, AICTE, UGC, BCI and INC
The university boasts of a campus that is at par with the international universities
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is offering quality programs by collaborating with many national as well as international institutions
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology offers separate hostel facility for girls and boys with a great Wi-Fi facility and intranet facility. Approx. 30% of all the hostel rooms are equipped with air conditions. All hostels have canteens attached to them where students can enjoy high quality Indian as well as continental foods.
The university also offers an international hostel facility which is dedicated to foreign students. Every hostel has a reading room with 24 hours availability and also the facility for outdoor as well as indoor games.
The central library is the center of all the important learning resources. The library is offering valuable information resources since 1992. Not only it caters library facilities to the students, but also for researchers & faculty members of business management, engineering, law, biotechnology, social sciences, medical sciences of the university.
The Library of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has a great collection of books, journals, newspapers, magazines and other resources such as project reports of the students and also videos, CDs, etc.
The library of the university offers valuable digital resources to business and management, engineering, medical science with the help of its 17 e-databases and as many as 12,000 e-journals that consist of scholarly contents available round the clock across the campus through Wi-Fi network.
There are a large number of classrooms on every campus for almost 20,000 students who take Admission in Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology. All the classrooms of the university are equipped with AC and are designed at par with the international standards. The teaching is done by using an LCD projector as well as other ultramodern teaching aids.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is offering world-class sports facilities to its students. The institute, due to its excellent sports facilities and training prepares many sportspersons every year. Excellent indoor, as well as outdoor games facilities, are available for the students.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has its own stadium, 12 sports complexes with swimming pools as well as indoor stadiums. KIIT Stadium is spread over a large area of 29 acres and is the best for day and night matches. This stadium is a regular place for Ranji Trophy matches.
The canteen at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology offers very hygienic and quality food to the students. The food served is very delicious and the menu includes south Indian, continental dishes, Chinese dishes, etc. The cafeteria located in the campus serves ice creams, snacks, hot drinks, and soft drinks.
The 15 food courts of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is specialized in cuisines from distinct parts of the world. There is a wide variety of national as well as international dishes that are served here.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has managed to set up the best health care facilities for its students. It has set up all many things such as game, recreation, fitness, and yoga to develop the student’s mind and body.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has set up a large hospital of 1300 beds that offers free medical consultancy services to the students.
Apart from that, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has set up an excellent health club which is at par with the international standards where students can shape their body and maintain their fitness.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has set up the best facilities for conducting national as well as international seminars and conferences. Its convention center has an ultramodern auditorium with 1600 seating capacity, guest houses with modern amenities, exhibition ground, conference halls as well as a banquet hall.
The university has best auditoriums as well as conference halls on every campus. In addition to it, the university also has twenty open-air theatres in a number of campuses with a large seating capacity.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has managed to offer a plethora of amenities for supporting any renowned event of international level.
KIIT has 3 beautiful guest houses for the purpose of accommodating the delegates. One guest house is equipped with the 5-star amenities which is situated in the convention center.
There is a provision of 24x7 power supply as well as network connectivity to support the organization of an event.
Students, as well as delegates, can also use other excellent amenities of the institute such as canteens, railway reservation center& post office.
Apart from that the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology also offers banking facilities and ATM facilities of many nationalized as well as private banks.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Faculty
The faculty at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is extremely talented. They are the leaders in their field who better know as to how to stimulate the learning environment in the campus and set excellent standards for imparting teaching.
KIIT is a self-financing institution with top functionaries being the renowned academicians.
Schools at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology
The schools operating at Kalinga Institute of industrial technology are as follows:-
School of Electrical Engineering
School of Architecture and Planning
School of Civil Engineering
KIIT Polytechnic
Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences
Kalinga Institute o Nursing Sciences
Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences
School of Buddhist Studies
School of Fine Art
School of Language
Film and Media
School of Fashion Technology
School of Film and Media Sciences
School of Mass Communication
Law and Management
School of Leadership
School of Rural Management
Yoga and Sports
School of Sports
School of Yoga and Spiritualism
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Entrance Exam (KIITEE)
The entrance exam name of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is KIITEE. This exam is a national level entrance exam which is organized by the institute to offer admission into its undergraduate & Postgraduate Engineering Programs which also includes BCA/BBA and MCA.
The application form for this exam can be found by the candidates on the official website of the university. Once the students pass the exam, they get the admission keeping in mind their rank received in KIITEE.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Courses
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology proffers a large number of UG as well as PG courses to the students and it offers admission to these courses on the marks secured in KIITEE.
Following are the courses that are offered by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology: -
B. Arch
Candidates must be passed in intermediate exam and have secured 50% marks in mathematics, chemistry and physics. He alsomust have also secured 50% aggregate marks
NATA test which is taken by Council of Architecture
He must have passed intermediate exam with 60% marks in chemistry, mathematics & physics
B.A LLB/B.Sc LLB/BBA LLB
He must have passed 10+2 with minimum 45% marks
B.Sc LLB candidates must have passed intermediate in science stream with minimum 45% marks
He must have passed in any of the streams with minimum 50% marks and having mathematics as a subject in 10+2
The candidate must have passed in 10+2 in any discipline with minimum 50% marks and having Economics/Business Mathematics/Mathematics as a subject in his 10+2
Bachelor of Film & Television Production
Bachelor of Design(Fashion /Textile)
He should have passed 10+2 in any discipline and must have secured 50% aggregate marks
EntranceExam
Candidate must have graduated with at least 50% marks in his graduation having mathematics subject in his 10+2 or graduation
A candidate must have obtained a B.Tech or B.E degree in the particular branches of technology and engineering with a first class MCA or first class M.Sc in IT/ETC/Comp
Candidate must have passed BBA LLB/B.Sc LLB/B.A. LLB/B.L. degree from a legally recognized university and must have obtained minimum 55% aggregate
M.Sc (Applied Microbiology/Biotechnology)
Bachelor’s degree in any stream of science/pharmacy/Medicine/Technology/Engineering/Veterinary/BDS/MBBS with minimum 55% marks
M.Sc Nursing
The candidate must have passed B.Sc Nursing/Post Basic B.Sc Nursing/B.Sc Hons. Nursing with at least 55% aggregate marks ( 5% marks relaxation for SC and ST candidates
Graduation in the relevant stream
Admission to BDS and MBBS programs
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has a school of medical sciences through which it offers BDS and MBBS Programs to the students. These programs are recognized by MCI as well as DCI. Students passed with minimum 60% marks in their 10+2(PCB) can apply for these programs.
Admission to these programs are offered via NEET UG Exam and the students are required to qualify in NEET PG to get admission in MS and MD programs.
KIITEE Exam
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology conducts KIITEE Exam for offering admission to the students in various programs such as undergraduate, postgraduate, law and engineering courses.
Every year, almost 1.5 lakh candidates, come forward to appear in this exam which is a computer-based test.
KIITEE Highlights
The complete name of this examination is the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Entrance Exam which is also known as KIITEE.
The exam is organized by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology.
This exam is a national level exam which is held every year.
Candidates can apply for this exam online and the exam is also online.
KIITEE is comprised of 120 questions which are objective and the KIITEE Score is valid for one year.
KIITEE Exam offers undergraduate, postgraduate, law & Engineering Courses.
How to apply for KIITEE?
First, you need to go to the official website of the exam
After visiting the website, choose the option ‘Online Application/Download’
Now fill the required details in the form and then submit it
After filling your details, you can print out your application form by mentioning the number of the application
After that paste your photo on the form and sign on it
Next, post your application form along with your 10th mark sheet/certificate on the address of the university
You can retain the application form’s photocopies for future correspondence
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Scholarships
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology offers excellent scholarships to the students under many categories. Of all the scholarships, a few are as following:
Pradyumna Bal Memorial Scholarship
This scholarship is started in the memory of founder president of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Late Pradyumna Kishore Bal. Under this scholarship scheme, 2 poor, as well as meritorious students, are offered free education every year.
KIIT Poverty-Cum-Merit-Scholarship
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has started this scholarship for the needy as well as poor students. The money and scholarship period are decided on the basis of the requirements of chosen candidates.
KIIT Merit Scholarship
This scholarship is offered to the toppers of the University every six months semester.
KIITEE Merit Scholarship
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology offers free education to KIITEE Toppers.
Apart from this, KIIT offers a scholarship to the topmost 1000 rank holders of the Institute subject to the requirements of the criteria.
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology aims to help the students to reach the zenith of their career. For this purpose, the institute offers best campus placement facilities to the students. The institute has academic collaboration with world-renowned companies such as Siemens, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Tata Steel, IBM, Accenture, Dassault Systems, etc.
The training and placement cell of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology has set up a placement and training cell that has 500+ renowned recruiters along with a strong alumni network of 50,000+ having a placement record of 100%.
The institute has great placement facilities to offer to its students. The institute has a wonderful record in providing best placements which is one of the USPs of the institute. KIIT has always been the best platform for corporates to find the best talent. The institute has a placement team that is extremely talented and offers a great recruitment process.
Students of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology get their desired job in the campus placement in the best companies in the world.
The placement training offered by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology is given through career advisory and augmentation services i.e. CAAS. The main purpose of the training is to impart the right knowledge, aptitude, and skills to the students and to cater to the manpower needs of today’s industry.
Placement training imparted by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology offers a placement training module for the students of MBA, MCA, B.Tech and the students of other KIIT Schools to handle the selection process of diverse corporates.
As the industry always looks for the students who are energetic, vibrant, attentive, fast learners and have a nice academic background, so the placement cell of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology puts great emphasis on developing these skills in the student to let them become best professionals.
The placement training involves the training on verbal ability, IT & soft skills, technical training and so on.
Career advisory and Augmentation Services of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology
The CAAS is a department of KIIT that aims for the holistic development of the students through placement training that includes the enhancement of reasoning skills, tuning soft skills & aptitude training by a team of experienced faculty.
This department takes care of shaping the careers of the students by training them for pursuing higher studies in various areas such as GMAT, CAT, GRE, XAT & others.
The team aims for sharpening the intellect of the students but also progresses towards developing their human potential so that they can explore their critical intelligence, thinking abilities, and ideas.
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AAA: All Artist's Albums Review #1: Ween
In a recent e-mail with a friend, I found myself discussing every single album by one of my favorite bands of all time: Ween.
"Wow," I thought to myself, "I sure do offer a comprehensive beginner's look at all of this band's albums! Why not share this with the rest of the world, for the sake of the children?" And so I provide to you the first of what I hope will be a vast series of tours through the works of my favorite artists. Today we have the absurd experimental musical duo, Gene and Dean Ween.
They're twin brothers! With rhyming names! ...No, actually neither of those is true.
(1990) GodWeenSatan: The Oneness: Ween’s first official album (they released their first album at the age of 15, all by themselves) and possibly the most wide-ranging. Contains about 30 songs, in a seemingly random order of really poppy tunes, folk, hard rock, and more. This was more of a novelty record than most of their other stuff, but it’s still good. I recommend “Don’t Laugh (I Love You)” and “L.M.L.Y.P”
(1991) The Pod: This is the one with the really slow tempos. This is the fan favorite, Ween’s version of They Might Be Giant’s Apollo 18, where they made some of their craziest songs. I would recommend not starting with this one unless you have very high patience and/or tolerance for Ween’s style. Seriously, some of these songs can give you a headache or make you feel nauseous at a first listen. The whole thing sounds like it was recorded underwater. I recommend “Dr. Rock”, “Captain Fantasy”, and “Pork Roll Egg and Cheese”.
(1992) Pure Guava: This was Ween’s first truly successful album, getting them signed with Elektra records and a stint on Beavis and Butthead. Probably Ween’s most poppy early record, it still has plenty of “Ween-style” songs. I recommend “Push th’ little daisies” and “Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)”
(1994) Chocolate & Cheese: Widely considered by most non-hardore fans to be Ween’s greatest album, it was the first to be recorded in a studio, and you can really hear the difference. Every song on this album is gold, it dosen’t miss a beat. I would compare it to TMBG’s “John Henry” album, for making their sound much more concise. Or “Demon Days” by Gorillaz. I recommend the song “Freedom of ‘76”, “Roses Are Free”, “Voodoo Lady” and “What Deaner Was Talking About”
(1996) 12 Golden Country Hits: Ween’s one and only one-genre album. And guess what that genre is? Yup, country. Seriously, you will not enjoy this album unless you like hard-core country or really really like Ween. The subject matter is typical country stuff with a dash of Ween. This album basically proves that when Ween want to do something well, they can really deliver. They’re not just goofballs. I would recommend “Mister Richard Smoker”, and “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain” which is surprisingly good.
(1997) The Mollusk: This marks Ween’s second most successful attempt at creating an album that has one distinct sound, and in this case it is the sound of the ocean, or rather, art rock/pop with nautical themes. This album sprawled their most well-known song ever (because it was the one that played in the credits of Spongebob: The Movie), “Ocean Man”. From an artistic standpoint, this may be Ween’s greatest work: a semi-concise and well-thought-out album that can stand on it’s own. The best songs include “Ocean Man”, “Waving My D*** In The Wind”, “The Mollusk”, and “Buckingham Green”
(2000) White Pepper: Ween’s most accessible album. There is very little profanity in this one compared to the old records, as it is the transition record to the new Ween. This is undoubtedly their most poppy album, and their 3rd highest selling. Anyone who likes the Beatles can enjoy this. I would recommend “Exactly Where I’m At”, “Flutes Of Chi”, “Even If You Don’t”, and “Falling Out”.
(2003) Quebec: This album is like a combination of the more mature, sedate new Ween of White Pepper and the old-school charm of Chocolate & Cheese.
Whereas the first few Ween albums were absolute madness, and the next few sounded a bit like typical song lyrics made to mimic certain genres, This album feels like Ween really thought about each and every lyric. This includes some of Dean’s finest guitar work and Gene’s finest vocalization. Ween dosen’t lose themselves within this album, like in White Pepper, they just try a new approach. Every song on this album is of the utmost quality and therefore it is impossible to choose the best, but some good ones to start with are “Chocolate Town, “If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All)”, “Among His Tribe”, and “Transdermal Celebration”.
(2005) Shinola (Vol. 1): [Note: currently there is no Shinola (Vol. 2]. This is not technically a studio album, it is a collection of B-sides that go remarkably well together, but as it contains previously unreleased material I will still cover it. This is the full tour of Ween’s styles, and the closest thing fans have to another Chocolate & Cheese. Here Ween is at their most Weenish once again, with songs about messed-up love, religion, and foodstuffs.“Gabrielle” is the highlight of this album and it’s only single, with a selfish narrator and a funky tune. Whereas the album also contains songs like “Israel” that is some Jewish guy reading the Torah set to music. I would recommend the aforementioned “Gabrielle”, “Transitions”, and “Boys Club”.
(2007) La Cucaracha: Ween’s most recent album, it’s a little short after all this wait but it’s definitely a step back from whatever direction Quebec was heading, which is probably good for Ween’s fanbase (and Ween themselves). It has some old-school Ween charm in “Shamemaker” but is also reminiscent of their more recent style in “Lullaby” and “Your Party”. Speaking of parties, this albums associated EP, The Friends EP as well as some songs such as “Fiesta” and “Friends” show us a new side of Ween: the party side. It may or may not be the right direction for them, but the new party songs are
very catchy and better yet, one can actually play them at a party. I would recommend “Learnin’ To Love”, “Your Party”, and “Sweetheart”.
Well, that's it for today! And if you don't know who "They Might Be Giants (aka TMBG) are, don't worry. I'll cover them next.
THIS HAS BEEN: THE AAA MUSIC REVIEW TOUR SHOW (ACTUALLY JUST A BLOG THINGY)! TUNING OUT!
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Learn About Lowcountry Nature at the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center
Chauncey Smith | 12 Mar 2018
The South Carolina coastal region around Pawleys Island features a beautiful and diverse ecosystem that is truly unique. Even without venturing into less developed or populated areas, you're likely to see majestic cranes expertly spearing fish in area ponds or even alligators patrolling marshes and inlets.
But by exploring further out, you will be rewarded by witnessing the unspoiled beauty of this intricate ecosystem. On your next vacation to Pawleys Island, slow things down and learn about the nature behind this special area with a trip to Georgetown to the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center.
Centered around a large plantation, Hobcaw Barony was one of 10 coastal baronies (estates ran by barons of the British empire) established by King George I in 1718. The name Hobcaw was bestowed on the area by local Waccamaw tribes, meaning "between the waters" as the 16,000 acres of the estate is nestled between the Winyah Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
The rich soil and abundance of wetlands made the area ideal for rice and indigo cultivation, and by the mid-19th century the estate was one of the most productive plantations in the region. Following the Civil War rice production continued and many emancipated slaves remained on the plantations in the area. Large-scale production was replaced by subsistence farming, with some of the slave villages of Hobcaw remaining populated by estate workers until World War II.
In 1905, Bernard Mannes Baruch, a thriving Wall Street stockbroker, purchased the estate and during his ownership the grounds were frequented by high-powered friends like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Bernard's eldest daughter, Belle, was an avid outdoor enthusiast who enjoyed hunting, horseback riding and hiking throughout the estate grounds. She loved the area so much that beginning in 1936 she began purchasing the land from her father, becoming the sole owner in 1956.
Following Belle's death in 1964, her will instructed for the grounds to be left as an outdoor laboratory for the coastal plains to be researched and studied in an undisturbed environment.
Today, the estate grounds serve as vital research grounds for the higher learning institutions of South Carolina. The lush landscape of the Waccamaw peninsula that Hobcaw Barony sits on offers the perfect situation for learning and researching lowcountry wildlife and ecosystems. Both Clemson University and the University of South Carolina have permanent research centers established that aim to better understand the management of coastal and wetland resources.
If you're a lover of nature, you are sure to be delighted by a tour of the grounds of Hobcaw Barony. The estate is open Monday to Saturday for tours beginning at 10 AM. Advance reservations are highly recommended for the tours. Guests will enjoy transport by bus throughout the sprawling property, with stops at the grounds of Northfield Plantation, the North Inlet salt marsh, Friendfield Village and the main floor of the Hobcaw house.
Tours are recommended for those 8 years of age and up and the cost is $20 per person. In addition to the standard tour, Hobcaw Barony hosts Behind the Scenes tours that go more in-depth to additional areas of the estate, hikes to the area beaches, excursions exploring the cemeteries of the estate and much more!
Hobcaw Barony provides a truly unique look at South Carolina's colonial past and the present of an unspoiled lowcountry ecosystem. On your next Pawleys Island vacation, a short drive to Georgetown is all it takes to explore this natural paradise. Be sure to check out our amazing deals on Pawleys Island vacation rentals at resorts like True Blue Resort, Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort or Pawleys Plantation Resort and make plans for your beach vacation today!
Pawleys IslandLitchfield BeachSouth StrandNatureEducationFamily-Friendly
Set Sail for the 30th Annual Wooden Boat Show in October
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in Legends of Light Music
Enrique Renard remembers the Englishman who became one of the ‘Greats’ of American Light Music
A BUNCH OF HOLIDAYS – THE DAVID ROSE STORY
It was in 1942, the year the USA had just entered World War II, that a totally unknown young jazz pianist brought to RCA producers a few light pieces he had composed. He played them in the piano, but explained that his intention was to orchestrate and record them with a full ensemble, including strings.
The A & R people at RCA must have been impressed with what they heard, because a session was arranged to record Holiday for Strings, Dance of the Spanish Onion, Our Waltz and One Love. As everyone knows, recording techniques of those days were very far from what we hear today, or even from what we heard in the fifties, where the studios’ technological jump was enormous. However, and whoever that recording engineer was at RCA, he came with the idea of adding echo effect to the sound by slightly retarding the signal. The result was a novelty sound that added life to the dull sound recordings of the period under the primitive technology available. Nothing of the sort had ever been heard before in popular light music, not even in classical recordings. Everyone was impressed, and David Rose’s illustrious musical career was launched then and there.
Columbia Records, always a pioneer in sound achievement under men like Goddard Lieberson during the 40s, had a remarkable recording studio called Liederkranz Hall on 115th E. 58th St. in Manhattan, NY, famed by its excellent acoustics. By the late 30s and early 40s Andre Kostelanetz used to record in that studio using musicians from the NY Philharmonic playing arrangements from popular tunes as part of the Kostelanetz effort to acquaint the average American public with symphonic orchestral sounds. His material was pop, but his arrangements were symphonic in that he used an 80 piece orchestra with a huge string section. He openly achieved his purpose… in the east coast, that is. In the west coast the first one to attract attention in that direction was David Rose.
At the time, swing was in full blast in the USA spearheaded by Benny Goodman and his Swing Band, but the times, with all that nostalgic effect on wives and fiancées with their men overseas fighting a tough war, popularized sentimental music. Hence the enormous success of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and that of a young skinny singer called Frank Sinatra. The romantic, sentimental quality of David Rose’s tunes and string arrangements, evident even in his faster pieces like My Dog has Fleas (1944), fit perfectly the mood of the times. But it was Holiday for Strings, a million seller, that brought him into public consciousness. Given which, he wrote several other "Holidays": Holiday for Flutes, Holiday for Trombones, Autumn Holiday, Blue Holiday, etc. (An aunt of mine who was a pianist, remarked after hearing Holiday for Strings: "It’s called ‘holiday’ for strings but the only thing you hear in it is strings!). Tune titles aside, the thing is Rose can and should be credited with having started Light Music in the western USA.
David Rose was in fact British, born in London, June 15th, 1910. He was only 4 when his family migrated to the USA and settled in Chicago. By age 16 he was receiving musical training at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and starting to play piano professionally. His first contract was with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra, but someone at NBC Radio caught his sound and in 1936 he was hired as a pianist-arranger by the network. By 1938 he was hired by the Mutual Broadcasting Service, in Hollywood, where he set up an orchestra for that network. There he met singer/comedian Martha Raye and married her. He provided the arrangement for her only hit, a song with a telling title:Melancholy Mood. He divorced Raye in 1941.
The US musical scene suffered a crippling blow through a strike by the Musicians Union that lasted more than two years. But through that time, Holiday for Strings, recorded shortly before the strike, became a huge hit. The 78 carried Poinciana on the other side with a slow, sensual arrangement that contributed to the success of the single. He then did for RCA a set of Cole Porter tunes masterfully arranged and featuring the same echo chamber sound that so distinguished his output. Those 78s were transposed into 45 rpms in a box set issued in the early 50’s, when 45s became popular, and later into LP. Both sets are almost impossible to find. He recorded Holiday for Strings, his signature song that sold millions worldwide, about six times, including an extended concert version he did in 1955 for a long forgotten MGM movie called "Unfinished Dance" but released on an LP called "David Rose plays David Rose", MGM E-3748, long out of print.
But it was not only the sound per se that made his music sound "different". It was the way he arranged. Steeped in jazz since his early youth, he phrased the strings using jazz chords and tempos, enlarging and sometimes bending phrases and scoring the strings in several voices so as to achieve a sort of uniform sound particularly pleasant to hear and very apt in establishing a romantic atmosphere. Many of my generation of those days felt a debt of gratitude towards David Rose and his music. Our seductive efforts were amply rewarded when we placed a Rose 78 rpm record on the turntable. The problem was one had to get up too often to change the record, thus spoiling things to some extent…
In 1941 Rose married Judy Garland, of all people! That an extraordinary ballad singer and the best ballad arranger in the business would never record together during the three years their marriage lasted is something difficult to explain. There were probably contractual situations that made it impossible, but they would have been a perfect match. Garland’s heartfelt style coupled with the Rose strings would have been something difficult to forget. But that perfect matching did not extend to their marriage. They were divorced in 1945.
Meanwhile, Rose’s career and fame continued to climb. He was busily arranging for movies and he had his own radio show California Melodies. For that one he wrote one of his well known tunes of that same name. The original, seductive way in which he arranged old songs making them sound new and different, attracted MGM executives, and he was offered a contract to write music for movies and record for the label. At MGM, however, the main preoccupation was with movies, and Rose ended up scoring over 36 of these! Aware of his talent and his commercial appeal, MGM gave him the opportunity to arrange and record several LPs from American standards by Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Moose Charlap and others, plus his own compositions including re-recordings of the tunes he had done for RCA, all in a mood, seductive but vital style that sold very well. Above all, Rose and his engineers invariably aimed for the best in sound and his talent, added to the lilting sound of his arrangements, brought him a measure of popularity, especially amongst advertisers and broadcasters. Whenever they wanted something catchy for the public’s ear, they would use excerpts of David Rose tunes. A survey done around 1963 showed that at every minute of every day at least one radio station in the USA was playing a David Rose selection! And his music was being used as theme songs for 22 different TV shows!
But despite all his musical talent and his success, few people would imagine that his first love was notmusic. It was trains, all sorts of trains! More than everything he wanted to be a railroad engineer! He owned what was probably one of the largest collections of miniature trains in the world, and he had a scale railroad track surrounding his estate in Sherman Oaks, California, with a train on it, of course.
With his career well launched and his talent in huge demand from television shows as successful asThe Red Skelton Show, Bonanza, the High Chaparral, The Bob Hope Show, The Jack Benny Show, etc., plus several movies and new LPs, he found time to marry once more, this time to Conover model and actress Betty Bigelow, with whom he had two daughters, Melanie and Angie.
By the mid fifties, MGM engineers Phil Ramone and Don Frey engineered Rose’s tour-de-force album in keeping with his permanent fascination with state-of-the-art recording technology: 21 Channel Sound. This was one of the first recording efforts done on a multi channel basis, and the results were spectacular by any means. Especially a Duke Ellington piece called In a Sentimental Mood, and another by Bishop & Jenkins, Blue Prelude, represent two of the most extraordinary arrangements of tunes ever recorded in Light Music. For the occasion Rose used an orchestra comprised of 58 musicians (30 strings: 20 violins, 5 violas and 5 celli, plus percussion, reeds and brass), and the post mix phase (a novelty those days) was a painstaking process by him and his engineers. An electronic gimmick was also used which, in my view at least, detracts from the brilliance of the record: the music sweeps from one speaker to another, left to right and right to left. I feel there was no need for this in an album where stereo separation was splendidly achieved. Still, later on Ray Martin did likewise with a couple of LPs recorded for RCA in the early sixties in the USA.
Then, when it was expected his popularity would wane under the growing impact of rock-n’-roll, MGM paired him with another talent: Andre Previn, then in his 30s. They recorded a set of tunes for an LP titled Like Young. It was so successful they were asked to do an encore: Like Blue. Previn was an excellent jazz pianist and arranger, and Rose used only a string orchestra for the sessions. Both albums stand as a shining example of light music with a jazz feeling. Shortly after, something more unexpected came up. The writer has never found anyone who can explain why Rose, a master of mood music, wrote The Stripper, a hoochi-coochi strip-tease song if there ever was one! But the fact is that the thing shot up to the top of the charts in the USA and even today there are people who know and remember Rose only for that song! Public taste is sometimes suspect. But we all know that. The success was of such magnitude, Rose recorded The Stripper a whole LP album of standards arranged in that style, and then a second one, More Music of The Stripper, to satisfy the demand!Well, one must admit the man had versatility. He probably wrote the song as a lark, without imagining it would become a hit.
It is a fact that great musicians, especially great arrangers, will be imitated. Well… let’s say that some will be "influenced" by them. It is not merely a question of imitating that which sells well, but also of being inspired by originality borne in genuine talent and taste. Humoresque, a song written by Anton Dvorak, the great classical composer, was classified by my ears as one of the most trite and boring things they ever heard. And when I saw the song included in an RCA LP LPT 1011 (the first compilation of 78s by Rose by the label transposed into 33⅓ rpm.) I couldn’t believe my eyes! There was nothing anyone could do for that regrettable song! I surmised. Boy, was I wrong! Rose picked up the slow, narcotic main theme, changed it into a fast tempo played by pizzicato strings, orchestrating the central motive in the manner of that of his Dance of the Spanish Onion, adding a romantic twist to it, and a dull song picked up life and beauty. That requires imagination, an outstanding feature in David Rose’s musical talent. It was inevitable that he would be copied. And he was.
By the early 50s when he had scored well with some mood albums, he started to receive phone calls where all he heard was his own recordings being played by the caller. This went on for quite a while and he said it drove him nuts. He just couldn’t figure out who would do such a weird thing. Suddenly, in one of the calls a familiar voice came in. "This is Jackie Gleason, Dave… How are ya!... I just figured I told you we’ve been listening to your records. They sound wonderful…"
Gleason was known more as a comedian than a musician. He had never studied theory, to begin with, and couldn’t read music. He was a good bass player though (he can be spotted as the bass player in the Glenn Miller Orchestra Wives movie -1942). The fact is he was a natural musician and also a shrewd businessman, as we shall see. Fascinated with the Rose mood sound, he decided to do something similar. He tried to sell the idea to Mitch Miller, A&R man for Columbia those days. Miller laughed at it. "Strings and a trumpet? Are you crazy? I have shelves full of Harry James stock I cannot sell! Take a walk!" Gleason did, and that was a major faux pas by Miller, similar to the one he took with Sinatra before. Gleason went into hock, got together with arrangers George Williams and Dick Jones and made them listen to David Rose. "I want it to sound like that…" he explained to them, "and I got Bobby Hackett to do the trumpet part". The thing was Hackett played cornet, that smaller kind of trumpet with the conic tubing that mellows the sound and makes it languid and intimate. In short, ideal for Gleason’s concept. Gleason went ahead and recorded a few tunes. Upon hearing them, the Capitol A&R people got interested and released the album Music for Lovers Only. It was a smash hit, worldwide. It sold millions but it was a bad imitation of David Rose.
The thing was, however, that Rose included variety in his arrangements and a wide selection of different material. Tempos, colorings, fast and slow percussion and tone alternated brilliantly in his records. But Gleason understood that for wide appeal he had to play the melody straight. Average people simply did not understand nor musically relate to anything else. Add a romantic tone to it, and you got it made, he figured. He recorded over thirty "for lovers" albums, made millions, and he did change orchestration, sometimes even omitting strings (his best work, I think), but always playing the melody, and he got to be better known than Rose himself, who unwittingly gave him the idea.
The 60s were the last successful decade for David Rose. By then he recorded again many of his first hit compositions, using now the better technology available. By 1970 he recorded a couple of albums in London for Polydor, Portrait and The Very Thought of You, the latter including one of the best instrumental versions of the Ray Noble standard that I have ever heard. There is no indication of any other recordings after those.
I met David Rose at Epcot Center, in Disneyworld, Orlando, Florida, in 1985. He had been invited to do a few concerts with the local orchestra, a relatively small group (no more than 12 or so strings) that could not fully show his brilliance as an arranger. I found him to be a person who did not take himself seriously, humorous and funny. The only sad note came when he was asked why he wasn’t recording any more. There was a tone of sadness and frustration in his answer: "I don’t play rock n’ roll", he said. He was 75 at that moment, but one could sense he was still young inwardly. He was physically short, but a giant in talent. And his influence in all light music arrangers, including British composer/ arrangers such as Melachrino, Ray Martin, Stanley Black (the mood albums), William Hill-Bowen, Malcolm Lockyer, etc., was undeniable.
The distinctive Rose sound reached a lot of people, but it was difficult for me to determine clearly my predilection for it above all other light music composers. Added to his taste and brilliance there was another factor I could never pinpoint, but that attracted me. Then, by 1973, while I was living in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a while, I was playing one of his records and a neighbor heard and came to knock at my door. He introduced himself: "My name is Tom Schaeffer, and I am a professor at the local university here, and would you mind telling me what is it that you are playing? It sounds great". I said, "That’s David Rose, and if you wish to come in and listen please feel free. He did, and as we listened, he turned to me and asked me if I had a song called June in January arranged by Rose. I said I did and I played it for him. And when the strings were picking up the main theme with the typical full sound Rose got from them, Tom turned to me and said: "You know, Enrique, the thing with David Rose is that his was always such a happy sound! I smiled in full agreement and thanked him for identifying the main reason why I liked David Rose above almost all others: his music made me happy! It conveyed a bubbly feeling of happiness! And $3 for an LP was an insignificant price to pay for it. I didn’t pay only for the beauty of his compositions and arrangements. Unwittingly, I was also paying for happiness.
Davis Rose died in Burbank, California, on 23 August, 1990, leaving behind not only the David Rose Foundation he set up in the 1960s, but a splendid collection of recorded music. His talented output was honored with six gold records and 22 Grammys. Not bad for a British-born kid who would have preferred to be a railroad engineer. Happily, he went the way of music to our benefit and listening pleasure.
This article appeared in ‘Journal Into Melody’ December 2005.
Read 19037 times Last modified on Wednesday, 04 June 2014 10:05
Alison Balsom Royal Fireworks
Jess Gilliam: Rise
One More Time – documentary about 60s and 70s session players
The MGM Sound & Hollywood Melodies
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Sen. John McCain on July 11, 2017, at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA/TNS)
John McCain, war hero, political maverick and GOP standard-bearer, dies at 81
Montse Reyes
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who survived 5 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to become one of the highest-profile, most confounding and pugnacious personalities in American politics — a one-time Republican presidential standard-bearer who alternately trampled and embraced GOP orthodoxy — has died. He was 81.
McCain, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2017, died at 4:28 p.m. Saturday, his office confirmed in a statement.
Although he spent more than three decades in Congress representing his adopted home state, McCain was hardly a stamped-from-the-mold politician. At a time when the country grew increasingly tribal and partisan, he drew admiration and antagonism from both parties.
“Warts and all, he was an iconic figure,” said Charlie Cook, a nonpartisan campaign analyst who followed McCain’s political career from the lawmaker’s arrival in Washington in the early 1980s. “As irascible and curmudgeonly as he could be, he was real. There was an authenticity.”
With a volcanic temper and almost demonically willful streak — “one who doesn’t mind getting up on the high wire and doesn’t mind fighting,” McCain once said of himself — his career as a hell-raiser in the Navy and iconoclast in the Senate often read more like a picaresque novel than the shelf load of books inspired by his harrowing life story.
In addition to his confinement as a prisoner of war, marked by years of torture and solitary confinement, McCain survived near-banishment from the Naval Academy, three plane crashes, a divorce caused by his philandering, a career-threatening Senate scandal, two unsuccessful tries for the White House and a legislative record marked by at least as many setbacks as victories.
He was described (and described himself) as a charmer, a wise guy, an underachiever, a warrior, a hero, a coward, a straight-talker, a shape-shifter and, perhaps more than any label, a maverick.
He was conservative in coloration and stood firmly by his beliefs, even when it contravened the wishes of his party’s leadership. He fought bitterly with right-wing elements of the GOP — over immigration, gay rights, global warming.
In July 2017, he cast the decisive vote killing Republicans’ long-cherished hope of repealing the Affordable Care Act — or Obamacare, as they derided it — marching onto the Senate floor, turning a thumb down and delivering a forceful “no” as the chamber erupted in gasps.
His relationship with President Donald Trump was not good. Trump derided his wartime heroism during the 2016 campaign — “I like people who weren’t captured” — and McCain did not hide his contempt.
“Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory,” McCain tweeted of Trump’s kid-gloves approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a July meeting.
Trump responded in kind. A month later, he pointedly made no mention of Arizona’s ailing senator when he signed the 2019 military appropriation bill — the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act — into law.
McCain unburdened himself at length in “The Restless Wave,” the last of several books he wrote, which was published in May and served as his last political testament.
“He seems uninterested in the moral character of world leaders and their regimes,” he said of Trump. “The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness seems to matter more than any of our values. Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity.”
A fixture on Washington’s political talk shows and eagerly sought interview in the halls of Congress — ever-ready with a quip or snide observation — McCain’s power extended beyond his role as a committee chairman and aggressive investigator of military spending, influence peddling and pork-barrel spending, among other causes.
He became a leading voice in the Republican Party, especially on military and foreign affairs. (During Senate breaks, he often passed the time visiting war zones and other foreign hot spots.)
And though he faced a number of unsuccessful primary challenges back home, the only time he ever lost an election was when he reached for the White House.
His first run, in 2000, was a joyful, insurgent romp that saw him nearly upset the prohibitive GOP favorite, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, in the primaries. His second try, as the Republican nominee in 2008, was more of a cheerless grind, ending in a decisive loss to Democrat Barack Obama.
Despite his beet-red outbursts — “My temper?” he joked. “I was just exploding about it this morning” — he engendered deep loyalty, forging a bipartisan cadre of friends and trusted advisers who remained close to him for decades. One of them was fellow Vietnam veteran John F. Kerry, the former Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, who briefly considered McCain as his running mate, a highly unconventional move.
To a considerable degree, McCain’s career reflected the Nietzschean notion that which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Tarred by an influence-peddling scandal, McCain emerged as a champion of open government and campaign finance reform.
As a twice-defeated presidential candidate, he used his new celebrity to heighten his influence in Congress and emerge as one of the GOP’s most prominent leaders.
Although he wished to be known for more than his service in Vietnam and, especially, his hellish captivity, it became the leitmotif of his public life — an irrefutable testament to his personal bravery and excuse for everything from his irksome explosions to the fact he was relatively new to Arizona the first time he sought political office.
Attacked as an outsider in that 1982 run for the House of Representatives, he brought opponents up short with a blunt and unassailable rejoinder: “The longest place I ever lived in was Hanoi.”
John Sidney McCain III was born Aug. 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father, a Navy officer, was temporarily stationed. At that instant, his future was seemingly ordained.
As the son and grandson of acclaimed admirals, with a military lineage dating to 17th-century Britain, there was never a question what McCain would do once he grew up, though at times it seemed he was bent more on self-sabotage than extending his family’s proud service.
Relatively small — as an adult he topped out at 5-foot-7 — and often the new kid in class, he compensated with a snarling attitude and flying fists. In high school, he was known as “Punk” and “McNasty.” When he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1958, he finished fifth from the bottom of his class but near the top in demerits.
“I was an arrogant, undisciplined, insolent midshipman,” he wrote years later with typical candor. “In short, I acted like a jerk.”
He trained as a naval aviator, surviving three crashes and acquiring a reputation as a pilot who tended toward recklessness. In July 1967, serving in Vietnam’s Tonkin Gulf, he lived through another disaster when a stray electrical charge ignited a missile on the aircraft carrier Forrestal, killing 134 sailors and injuring 161.
McCain could have returned home but, fatefully, refused. A few months later, on a bombing mission over Hanoi, his A-4E Skyhawk was hit by a missile, which sheared the right wing. McCain ejected and landed, with a broken leg and two broken arms, in a lake in the middle of the North Vietnamese capital.
His captors soon realized they had lucked into a prize possession: the son of a famous American admiral. Seeking a public relations coup — a seeming show of humanitarianism — they offered McCain his freedom. That, however, would have breached the American military code of conduct that required the release of POWs in the order they were captured.
When he refused the offer, his jail keepers were infuriated. “Now, McCain,” he recalled being told, “It will be very bad for you.”
He endured years of torture and solitary confinement; at one point, after being beaten for days and bound with ropes forcing his head between his knees, McCain broke and signed a taped confession that was broadcast to fellow prisoners: “I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate.”
He took years to forgive himself, though eventually his dark humor won out. Decades later, a reporter for Esquire was with him when a staffer sought McCain’s advice regarding her son, who was acting up in school.
“Tell him to confess,” McCain told her. “Say, ‘I am a black air pirate and I have committed crimes against the peace-loving people at my school.’ It always worked for me.”
When McCain was finally freed in March 1973, after the signing of the Paris Peace Accord, he walked with a limp that persisted the rest of his life. He also had limited range of motion in his arms — he couldn’t raise them high enough to comb his hair; worse, from McCain’s perspective, the handicap thwarted his desire to return to the cockpit as a Navy pilot.
After years of recovery, McCain was rewarded with an assignment as the Navy’s liaison to the U.S. Senate, where he got his first taste of political power. He forged a number of bipartisan friendships, including a father-son relationship with Republican Sen. John Tower of Texas, who urged him to run for Congress, saying he could “do more good there” than the Navy.
By then, McCain had divorced his first wife, Carol, after multiple admitted affairs on his part, and married Cindy Lou Hensley, the daughter of a wealthy Phoenix beer distributor. It was there, in the burgeoning desert of the Southwest, McCain finally rooted himself, working as public relations executive for his father-in-law’s liquor business.
In 1982, when a shot at an open House seat arose, he jumped at the opportunity. He knocked on some 15,000 doors in Arizona’s beastly summer heat and blanketed the local TV airwaves with an ad touting his military record that showed him hobbling on crutches soon after his release as a POW. He narrowly won the GOP primary and trounced his Democratic opponent.
After two terms in the House, McCain was elected in a 1986 landslide to replace retiring Sen. Barry Goldwater, another crusty, speak-his-mind Republican. McCain was re-elected five times, the final time in 2016.
He kept a mostly low profile during his early years in Congress, voting a faithfully conservative line. In the 1990s, in a move with great symbolic and political resonance, he worked across the aisle with Kerry to end the U.S. trade embargo on Vietnam and renew diplomatic ties.
Perhaps his greatest notoriety, however, came as a member of the “Keating Five.”
In the late 1980s, Charles H. Keating Jr., the owner of Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan, spread cash donations to five U.S. senators — including McCain — in hopes of thwarting a federal investigation into Lincoln’s questionable investments and lending practices.
After a lengthy court-like procedure, McCain was found guilty by the Senate Ethics Committee of showing “poor judgment” for twice meeting with regulators at Keating’s request. Although there was no sanction, McCain called the experience worse than anything he suffered as a war prisoner.
“The Vietnamese,” he said, “didn’t question my honor.”
The experience changed McCain in two ways. He became increasingly accessible to reporters, figuring the best path to political rehabilitation was openness and unvarnished authenticity. He also took up campaign finance reform, opposing leaders of his own party and working with Wisconsin’s Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold to pass legislation restricting the flow of unregulated campaign cash and limiting political advertising.
In January 2010, however, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key aspects of the McCain-Feingold bill, ruling curbs on political spending were an unconstitutional infringement of free speech. “The worst decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21st century,” McCain called it.
By then, McCain had established himself as a national figure, after two tries for the White House.
His 2000 bid was an upstart effort that pitted him against Texas Gov. Bush and most of the GOP establishment. McCain wrote off Iowa, where voters cast the first ballots in precinct caucuses, and camped out for more than a year in New Hampshire, staging more than 100 town halls.
His ask-me-anything style appealed to voters demanding accessibility and reporters who loved McCain’s freewheeling personality. (“My base,” he jokingly called the political press corps.)
McCain’s walloping of Bush in New Hampshire’s leadoff primary stamped him as a serious contender for the nomination. Bush supporters responded with a smear campaign, including false allegations that McCain fathered an African-American child out of wedlock. That helped Bush prevail in South Carolina’s do-or-die primary, but opened a deep personal chasm; when McCain finally came around to endorsing Bush after the primaries, he likened it to swallowing a bitter pill.
If McCain’s 2000 run for president was mostly a joy ride aboard the aptly titled “Straight Talk Express,” his 2008 campaign was a slog. Though he began as the presumptive front-runner, his open disdain for Christian conservative leaders, promotion of campaign-finance reform and moderate position on immigration alienated much of the Republican base.
He quickly fell behind in polls and fundraising and retreated in desperation once more to New Hampshire, where his familiarity and another blitz of town halls helped lift him to victory and an eventual path to the GOP nomination.
McCain entered the general election as a distinct underdog against Obama. After eight years of Bush, voters were inevitably ready for change and, as the first African-American to seriously vie for the White House, the Illinois senator was the living embodiment of new and different.
Charismatic and 25 years younger than McCain, Obama also capitalized by portraying his GOP rival as old and out of touch. McCain’s slow, diffident response at the onset of the Great Recession didn’t help.
Trying to shake up the contest, McCain gambled by choosing little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Her rocky performance left campaign aides publicly lamenting the selection, though McCain expressed no regrets until death began its approach.
Only then did he reveal his second thoughts, writing in his final memoir and stating in an HBO documentary that he was sorry he did not select his close friend, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent.
McCain said campaign advisers told him the move would outrage hard-core Republicans and cost him the election. “Sound advice,” he wrote. “But my gut told me to ignore it, and I wish I had.”
After losing to Obama, McCain returned to the Senate and became one of his harshest critics, especially on defense and foreign policy matters. He continued to break with Republicans when it suited him, most recently pushing Trump for a tougher stance against Russia and repeatedly opposing efforts to repeal Obama’s signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act, without ensuring coverage for the millions of Americans it added to insurance rolls.
Although both his White House bids fell short, McCain seemed awed and genuinely grateful for the mere chance to vie for the nation’s highest office.
“This is the noblest experience in the world,” he told a firehouse crowd as he campaigned one night in 2000 in New Hampshire. “It’s marvelous, and I can’t tell you how uplifting it is. … I seize every moment, every moment I can, to be in this campaign.
“In my darkest days, long ago and far away, I never, ever believed that I would have this golden opportunity.”
Trump now facing legal assault on two fronts as prosecutors in New York and Washington take aim
Thousands of SF’s poorest residents could lose access to food stamps
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https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Chef-Cindy-Pawlcyn-savors-storied-career-4342672.php
Chef Cindy Pawlcyn savors storied career
SUNDAY PROFILE / Cindy Pawlcyn
By Janny Hu
Updated 11:10 pm PST, Saturday, March 9, 2013
The sophisticated comfort food at Cindy Pawlcyn's Mustards Grill has been a hit in Napa since 1983.
Photo: Jason Henry, Special To The Chronicle
She's been heralded as a culinary pioneer and a Napa Valley legend. But ask Cindy Pawlcyn how she's changed since bursting onto the Bay Area dining scene more than three decades ago, and she cuts to the heart of it.
"I'm older," she said. "Maybe a little wiser."
Pawlcyn is decked out in a pink chef's coat and red-rimmed glasses, with gray hair that's become as much a signature as her beloved Mongolian pork chop. At 57, she's also two years past her intended retirement age, though she isn't exactly slowing down.
This year, Mustards Grill celebrates its 30th anniversary, cementing its status as the grande dame of Pawlcyn's trio of Napa Valley restaurants. In April, she'll open Cindy's Waterfront at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a project that's been in the works for two years.
The focus, naturally, will be on local and sustainable food, but there's also a very personal connection at work. Not only did the aquarium open in 1984, a year after Pawlcyn and her partners opened Rio Grill in nearby Carmel, but a visit there helped heal her mother's broken heart after the passing of Pawlcyn's father.
"It made her happier again," Pawlcyn said.
Teenage caterer
Cynthia "Cindy" Pawlcyn got her cooking start helping her mother at home in suburban Minneapolis. She knew she wanted to be a chef when she was 13, and rather than babysit for extra money in high school, she ran a catering business out of her family's kitchen. She also worked at Le Crevette, a local shop where she met Julia Child.
Pawlcyn graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a degree in hotel and restaurant management, but it wasn't her first choice for school. She had applied to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., but was rejected because the school had already filled its quota for women.
Consider it the first of many trials she'd face as a female in the kitchen.
"I had a lot of crap, guys that wanted me to sit in their lap if I wanted a promotion, or said, 'There's the pantry,' " she recalled, referring to the entry-level position. "But I was stubborn and determined and wanted to be a chef."
After college, she landed a cooking job at the famed Pump Room in Chicago, where she met her future business partners Bill Higgins and Bill Upson. Higgins, then the Pump Room general manager, remembers Pawlcyn as a dynamo who'd get as much done in half the time as other cooks and chefs. Her food, meanwhile, showed intelligence and restraint.
"She didn't overdo it," Higgins said. "She had a real sensibility about what flavors went together."
Pawlcyn and the two Bills became fast friends, bonding over work and dinner parties. Spurred by a few particularly nasty Chicago winters, they decided to move west to San Francisco, where Higgins' grandparents lived.
Their first order of business when they arrived in 1979 was helping restaurateur Larry Mindel turn San Francisco's MacArthur Park into a rib joint. Soon, a connection was made with another Bill, real estate mogul Bill Harlan, who was opening Meadowood Resort in St. Helena and tapped Pawlcyn as the opening chef.
So began her reign in the Napa Valley, though it wasn't particularly glamorous. Far from being the culinary mecca it is today, the valley in 1980 was still largely pasture, with few restaurants and even fewer chefs showcasing local produce that matched the caliber of the region's wines.
Pawlcyn helped change that with the opening of Mustards Grill in 1983. The menu offered her take on American cuisine, and the Mongolian pork chop, shaved onion rings and seafood tostada became instant hits.
It was simple food, but cooked and presented in a sophisticated, yet unfussy way. Pawlcyn, then just 28 years old, was also among the first to plant an organic garden outside her restaurant.
Best ingredients
"She absolutely transcended the culinary scene," said Beth Nickel, the Far Niente winery owner who moved to the valley in the 1970s. "She had (the) latest, greatest ingredients, and she always did it better than it had been done before, whether it was fried onion rings, hamburgers or pork chops."
The Nickels were at Mustards at least once a week. So too, it seemed, were all the valley's movers and shakers, from the Mondavis on down.
"Mustards just became the clubhouse for all the people," Higgins said. "You could look at the tables on any night, and it read like a wine list."
Meanwhile, Real Restaurants, Pawlcyn's partnership with the Bills, steamed ahead. They opened Fog City Diner in San Francisco in 1985, Tra Vigne and Bix in 1988, and Buckeye Roadhouse in 1990, among others. For about a decade, it seemed like the trio had a new restaurant every year.
"I don't know how we did it," Higgins said, before answering himself. "We were young, that's how."
'The mother hen'
"We were most of all having a great time," Mindel adds of the Bay Area's blossoming restaurant scene. "Bill and Bill were like wonderful and wild guys, and I was, too, and Cindy was the mother hen."
It was work hard, play hard, and the successes kept coming. Cookbooks. James Beard Award nominations.
It was not, however, sustainable. Pawlcyn had been driving some 60,000 miles a year keeping up with restaurants from Napa to San Francisco and Carmel.
The heavy commute came to a head one night in 2000 as she was leaving Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley. She'd just merged onto the freeway when a driver sped past her and smashed into a car ahead of her, causing a chain reaction.
"It was just a domino effect, cars flipping over. I remember this SUV with these three women with long blond hair, and they were seat-belted in, upside-down, the car spinning around," said Pawlcyn, who somehow avoided the crash.
"I just thought, you know, that was really close. I'm done with commuting. I called my partners the next day and said 'My lawyers are coming to talk to you. Buy me out.' I was just done."
Any breakup is difficult, much less a successful 20-year venture that produced some of the Bay Area's renowned restaurants. Mindel, who remains a mentor and confidant, says he sensed "a vulnerable person that was on her own for the first time."
It didn't help that another split was in motion. Pawlcyn's 17-year marriage was failing, and despite renewed efforts to fix the relationship, "it was the wrong person, so it was not fixable," she said.
Pawlcyn had nearly lost Mustards in the split from the Bills - she retained ownership by giving up her share of two other restaurants - and nearly lost her two stepchildren after her divorce from her first husband.
The woman who'd already blazed a dozen trails? She had to do it all over again.
Professionally, going solo brought a slew of challenges. Pawlcyn had always designed the kitchens for her restaurants; now the mysteries of dining room layouts and wine lists and legal compliance were also part of her domain.
She opened Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena in 2003. Her third venture, which opened as Go Fish in 2006, has struggled. The seafood-specific restaurant never quite caught on, and Pawlcyn flipped it into the Mediterranean-inspired Brassica two years ago. She changed it again last year to Cindy's Wood & Grill Bar, which circles back to her American comfort fare.
Lissa Doumani, a close friend who opened Terra with her husband, Hiro Sone, in St. Helena in 1988, has been along for many of the ups and downs. There was a time when the two made pottery together at Pawlcyn's home, but the rigors of running multiple restaurants eventually sapped their free time.
'Not sure how she does it'
These days, catching up happens during chance meetings on the stoops of Terra or Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, which are in neighboring buildings.
"We think she's a ghost - whichever restaurant we're in, she's there," Doumani says of Pawlcyn, who still does daily rounds of her restaurants. "I'm not sure how she does it unless she clones herself."
That would make her superhuman - a quality Pawlcyn would never claim. The restaurant industry demands brutal hours, and there are sacrifices galore, particularly for women.
"I mean, look at it," she said. "There aren't that many women chefs that have restaurants. Most of them have gone the hotel route, because the schedule is different. And at best, the ones who have been successful have had one kid, maybe two.
"I could never figure it out," she added. "You give up a lot. If I had a kid, I'd never be around. I have stepkids, and that helped ... but I was more successful at that point, and could take more time and spend a weekend with them. You have to get to the point where psychologically, you can do that."
Slow down and enjoy life
To that end, Pawlcyn says she's made a conscious effort to slow down and enjoy her spoils. She met her second husband, John Watanabe, a former human resources executive, on eHarmony six years ago.
"I told my girlfriends I met him on eBay. They said, 'How much?' " she joked. The two dated for a year before marrying in 2008 and share a stepchild from Watanabe's first marriage.
Their sanctuary is Pawlcyn's stunning home off Silverado Trail North. A complete remodel opened the floor plan and turned her kitchen/dining room into an entertaining mecca. Outside, there's a pool and patio, a pottery studio, a second library, and a separate office space, to say nothing of the acre-plus garden packed with everything from citrus to cactus.
Thousands of books
Pawlcyn's library is among her greatest treasures, thousands of volumes strong, organized by region from France to Italy to the Mediterranean, Asia and beyond. There are whole sections of books on vegetarian cuisine, wine, even decanters and more in the tented cottage outside.
Her own artwork - she took up pottery as a child - adorns her home and restaurants. And while she wishes she had more time for ceramics, for reading, and for hikes with the couple's rescue dog, Lucy, a chocolate Labrador, she recognizes that the comforts she enjoys are part of what she passes onto her customers.
"When you feel like you're at home, get what you want, and it's delicious, then I did good," she said.
Janny Hu is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jhu@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janny_hu
Tommy's Mexican Restaurant
Latest recipes from the San Francisco Chronicle
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"Violent Felonies" Under California Three Strikes Law
Penal Code
Penal Code 667.5 PC - Violent Felonies
For purposes of California's three strikes law, "violent felonies" are listed in California Penal Code Section 667.5(c). Along with serious felonies, a conviction for any of these crimes will count as a strike prior. A violent felony under PC 667.5 is any of the following offenses:
Murder or voluntary manslaughter.
Mayhem.
Rape as defined in paragraph (2) or (6) of subdivision (a) of Penal Code Section 261 or paragraph (1) or (4) of subdivision (a) of PC Section 262.
Sodomy as defined in subdivision (c) or (d) of Penal Code Section 286.
Oral copulation as defined in subdivision (c) or (d) of Penal Code Section 288a.
Lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 years as defined in Penal Code Section 288.
Any felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison for life.
Any felony in which the defendant inflicts great bodily injury on any person other than an accomplice which has been charged and proved as provided for in Penal Code Section 12022.7, 12022.8, or 12022.9 on or after July 1, 1977, or as specified prior to July 1, 1977, in PC Sections 213, 264, and 461, or any felony in which the defendant uses a firearm which has been charged and proved as provided in subdivision (a) of PC Section 12022.3, or Section 12022.5 or 12022.55.
Any robbery.
Arson in violation of subdivision (a) or (b) of Penal Code Section 451.
Sexual penetration as defined in subdivision (a) or (j) of Penal Code Section 289.
Attempted murder.
A violation of Penal Code Section 12308, 12309, or 12310 (with regard to destructive devices or explosives).
Kidnapping.
Assault with the intent to commit a specified felony, in violation of Penal Code 220 PC.
Continuous sexual abuse of a child, in violation of Penal Code Section 288.5.
Carjacking, as defined in subdivision (a) of Penal Code Section 215.
Rape, spousal rape, or sexual penetration, in concert, in violation of Penal Code Section 264.1.
Extortion, as defined in Penal Code Section 518, which would constitute a felony violation of Section 186.22 of the Penal Code (relating to criminal street gang sentencing enhancements).
Threats to victims or witnesses, as defined in Penal Code Section 136.1, which would constitute a felony violation of Section 186.22 of the Penal Code (relating to criminal street gang sentencing enhancements).
Any burglary of the first degree, as defined in subdivision (a) of Penal Code Section 460, wherein it is charged and proved that another person, other than an accomplice, was present in the residence during the commission of the burglary.
Any violation of Penal Code Section 12022.53.
A violation of subdivision (b) or (c) of Penal Code Section 11418 (relating to weapons of mass destruction).
If you or a loved one is charged with a violent felony and you are looking to hire an attorney for representation, we invite you to contact us at Shouse Law Group. We can provide a free consultation in office or by phone. We have local offices in Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Pasadena, Long Beach, Orange County, Ventura, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Diego, Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and throughout California.
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Home SHIPBUILDING China's first aerotropolis to be built within the Zhengzhou Airport
China's first aerotropolis to be built within the Zhengzhou Airport
CHINA's Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone plans to a develop an aerotropolis with multiple high-tech projects now that it has set up an international experts committee during a talent recruitment event held in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province
CHINA's Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone plans to a develop an aerotropolis with multiple high-tech projects now that it has set up an international experts committee during a talent recruitment event held in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province.
Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone is among the first aviation economic pilot zones to be given the green light by China's State Council in March 2013, with a planned area of 415 square kilometres, the Xinhua Silk Road Information Service announced.
After several years of development, it has formed a three-dimensional transportation hub that connects China with the rest of the world. It encompasses eastern and western China and features modern service industries.
Led by chief adviser of the airport zone John Kasarda, who is also a professor at the University of North Carolina and the founder of the aerotropolis theory, the newly established expert committee is an international think-tank team that brings together aviation experts from international organisations, enterprises and research institutions.
Zhengzhou's aerotropolis is intended to serve as a model for building aerotropoli in China, in a bid to improve its overall appeal to technology, industries, capital and other resources.
Ten high-end industrial projects are expected to be carried out in the wake of the recruitment event, covering high-end manufacturing, biomedicine and other fields.
Communist Party Working Committee of Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone secretary Ma Jian said that it will stick to the goal of 'building a new city in a decade' and take on the responsibility of leading Henan's opening-up to the outside world.
The Second Talent Recruitment & Project Matching Event for Innovation and Development held in Zhengzhou offered 157,432 positions across 65 industries, in an effort to attract talents to either work at or start a business in Henan province.
This news 243 hits received.
chinas first aerotropolis to be built within the zhengzhou airport
China's civil aviation market hits CNY1 trillion level...
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KHALED ABOU EL FADL
Honors and Recognition
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on beauty and reason in Islam
"Shari'ah and Human Rights," in Routledge Handbook on Human Rights and the Middle East and North Africa, ed. A. Tirado Chase (Routledge, 2016).
Shari‘ah and Human Rights
by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl*
This chapter identifies some of the main obstacles that hinder serious Islamic engagement with the field of human rights, and analyzes potentialities within Islamic doctrine for realizing a vision of human rights. This chapter will focus on potentialities—the doctrinal aspects in Muslim thought, and particularly Shari’ah, which could legitimize, promote, or subvert the emergence of a human rights practice in Muslim cultures. Doctrinal potentialities exist in a dormant state until they are directed by systematic thought, supported by cumulative social practices, toward constructing a culture that honors and promotes human rights.
Introduction: Human Rights Discourses in the Modern Muslim World
The construct of human rights has achieved notable symbolic significance in the modern world. Politically, whether a nation regularly violates the rights of its citizens or not, most nations go through the pretense of claiming to honor some version of human rights. In the past half-century, human rights have become a significant part of international relations, as there has been a globalization of human rights concerns and discourses.[i] At least since the widespread adoption of what has been referred to as the International Bill of Rights,[ii] the idea of human rights has become established as a powerful symbolic construct often used to shame or embarrass governments into exhibiting a higher degree of restraint in dealing with their citizens.[iii] Importantly, in the case of the Muslim world, the human rights movement has, so-to-speak, won indigenous converts, and as a result, it is not unusual to observe the language of human rights being used as a medium for expressing dissent and making demands on local governments. This is the case particularly with women’s rights activists in the Muslim world who frequently cite international standards and obligations as a means for exerting pressure upon their domestic governments.[iv] More significantly, the revolutions of the so-called Arab Spring demonstrated the widespread utilization of the language of rights (huquq), demands for dignity, and social justice. There were persistent efforts such as the document called Wathiqat al-Azhar hawl mustaqbal fi Misr (Azhar Statement on the Future of Egypt) in which the Azhar theological seminary recognized that all citizens have basic and fundamental unwavering rights.[v] However, the tumultuous conditions into which the countries of the Arab Spring deteriorated have made attempts at deriving conclusions from these chaotic lived socio-political experiences problematic.
A number of Arab countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Tunisia actively participated in drafting the aspirational language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as other international human rights documents.[vi] Nevertheless, a considerable tension remained between traditional Islamic law and the normative demands of human rights. This was particularly the case in matters relating to personal status laws, equal rights for women, freedom of religion, and harsh Islamic criminal penalties for offenses such as theft, adultery, and apostasy.[vii] However, the primary intellectual and theological response to the challenge of international human rights followed a pattern that had become well ingrained since the onslaught of colonialism and the taunting criticisms of Orientalists against the Islamic tradition and systems of belief. Colonialism, and its accompanying institution of Orientalism, had not only played a pivotal role in undermining the traditional institutions of Muslim learning and jurisprudence, but it had also posed a serious challenge to traditional Muslim epistemologies of knowledge and its sense of moral values.[viii] Although international human rights law was enshrined in various treaties during a period in which most Muslim countries gained political independence, the experiences of colonialism and post-colonialism influenced the Muslim intellectual response in several important respects. Muslims did not first encounter Western conceptions of human rights in the form of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, or in the form of negotiated international conventions.[ix] Rather, Muslims encountered such conceptions as part of the “White Man’s Burden” or the “civilizing mission” of the colonial era, and as a part of the European natural law tradition, which was frequently exploited to justify imperialistic policies in the Muslim world.[x] There is considerable irony in the fact that 1948, the year the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued, is the same year that Palestinians lost their homeland. These experiences have had a significant impact on the understanding of human rights in the Muslim social imaginary and on the construction of Islamic discourses on the subject.[xi] Although in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there were several systematic efforts to come to terms with the Western natural law tradition in general,[xii] and human rights more specifically, the Muslim intellectual response to the emergence of the human rights tradition tended increasingly to range between two predominate orientations: apologetics and exceptionalism.
The apologetic orientation consisted of an effort by a large number of Islamists to defend and salvage the Islamic system of belief and tradition from the onslaught of Westernization and modernity by simultaneously emphasizing both the compatibility and supremacy of Islam. Apologists responded to the intellectual challenges of modernity and to universalist Western paradigms by adopting pietistic fictions about the presumed perfection of Shari‘ah and eschewed any critical evaluation of Islamic legal doctrines. A common heuristic device of apologetics was to argue that any meritorious or worthwhile modern institutions were first invented and realized by Muslims. Therefore, according to the apologists, Islam liberated women, created a democracy, endorsed pluralism, and protected human rights, long before these institutions ever existed in the West. [xiii] The apologetic orientation raised the issue of Islamic authenticity in relation to international human rights, but did not seriously engage it. By simply assuming that Islam presented a genuine and authentic expression of international human rights, the apologetic orientation made those international rights redundant. According to the apologetic orientation, all society needed to do in order to fully attain the benefits of human rights was to give full expression to real and genuine Islam. But what naturally flowed from this position was an artificial sense of confidence, and an intellectual lethargy that neither took the Islamic tradition nor the human rights tradition very seriously.
An incidental effect of the apologetic movement was that it contributed to the secularization, and therefore to the marginalization, of human rights movements in the Muslim world. It is notable, for instance, that human rights activists in Muslim countries, most often belonged to a Western educated secular elite, who typically possessed no more than a superficial familiarity with the Shari‘ah tradition. I am not arguing that all human rights activists in Muslim countries are committed to a secular paradigm, or that they entirely ignored the Islamic tradition. The point is that activists who articulated human rights demands in society did so while armed with Western categories and paradigms, but their demands did not arise from a dynamic engagement with Islamic Shari‘ah imperatives. As discussed later, in contrast to speculative theological works of classical Islam, and the often complex rights conceptions of pre-modern Islam, contemporary Islamist approaches remained superficial. For instance, during the heyday of socialist ideologies in the third world, a large number of Islamists insisted that the essential character of the Islamic approach to rights is collectivist, and not individualistic. But in the 1980s, with the increasing influence of the United States on the world scene, a large number of Islamists claimed that Islam emphasized individualistic conceptions of rights, and guaranteed the right to private property. Unfortunately, as a number of commentators pointed out, even the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, and others mentioned above, would have to be considered apologetic in nature. Typically, these international instruments affirm the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and are modeled after the so-called International Bill of Rights. But they have been criticized for failing to resolve any of the real tensions between Shari‘ah law and international human rights such as the hudud punishments, and the unequal treatment of women.[xiv]
In the 1970s, much of the Muslim world witnessed an Islamic resurgence, which took the form of a powerful puritan movement demanding a return to an authentic Islamic identity through the re-implementation of Shari‘ah law. The return to an authentic Islamic identity as well as the call for the reassertion of Shari‘ah law were recurrent themes during the colonial era. Both the Wahhabi[xv] and Salafi[xvi] theological movements, the main proponents of puritan Islam, had emerged during the Colonial era, and remained active throughout the twentieth century. But for a variety of reasons, including the aggressive proselytizing, and generous financial support of Saudi Arabia, these two movements became practically indistinguishable from each other, and they also became a dominant theological force in contemporary Islam. Puritanism resisted the indeterminacy of the modern age by escaping to a strict literalism in which the text became the sole source of legitimacy. It sought to return to the presumed golden age of Islam, when the Prophet created a perfect just polity in Medina. According to the puritans, it was imperative to return to a presumed pristine, simple, and straightforward Islam, which was believed to be entirely reclaimable by a literal implementation of the commands and precedents of the Prophet, and by a strict adherence to correct ritual practice. The puritan orientation also considered any form of moral thought that was not entirely dependent on the text as a form of self-idolatry, and treated humanistic fields of knowledge, especially philosophy, as “the sciences of the devil.” It also rejected any attempt to interpret the divine law from a historical or contextual perspective, and, in fact, treated the vast majority of Islamic history as a corruption or aberration from the true and authentic Islam. The dialectical and indeterminate hermeneutics of the classical jurisprudential tradition were considered corruptions of the purity of the faith and law. In that puritanical context, this movement became very intolerant of the long-established Islamic practice of considering a variety of schools of thought to be equally orthodox, and attempted to narrow considerably the range of issues upon which Muslims may legitimately disagree.
In some of its more extreme forms, the puritans explicitly demanded that Muslims must show enmity and hostility towards the unbelievers (mushrikun)—insisting that a Muslim should not adopt the customs of unbelievers, and should not befriend them. According to these puritans, Muslim displays of enmity and hostility towards the unbelievers must be visible and unequivocal. In this particular puritan orientation it was argued that it is entirely immaterial what a non-Muslim might think about Muslim practices, and in fact, it was a sign of spiritual weakness to care about whether non-Muslims were impressed by Muslim behavior or not.[xvii] In general, the puritans espoused a self-sufficient and closed system of belief that had no reason to engage or interact with the other, except from a position of dominance.[xviii] This is plainly evident in many of the fatawa (non-binding legal opinions) issued by Saudi jurists in favor of the institution of slavery, and patriarchy. It is also tragically evident in the thought of movements such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and the ISIS. All of these movements drink from the same spring well of puritanical Wahhabi thought, and all exhibit a contemptuous attitude towards the institutions and ideas of universal human rights. It is not entirely accurate to describe the puritan orientation as exceptionalist because the puritans did not seek a relativist or cultural exception to the universalism of human rights. Rather, the puritan claim was that whatever rights human beings are entitled to enjoy, they are entirely within the purview of Shari‘ah law. It is important to realize that the puritans did not deny, in principle, that human beings have rights; they contended that rights could not exist unless granted by God. Therefore, one finds that in puritan literature, there is no effort to justify international rights on Islamic terms, but simply an effort to set out the divine law, on the assumption that such a law, by definition, provides human beings with a just and moral order.
Shari‘ah and Human Rights: Between Ambiguity and Determinism
In this chapter, I am primarily interested in human rights as a convictional paradigm—human rights is a moral and normative belief about the basic worth and standard of existence that ought to be guaranteed for any human being.[xix] Whether this belief is founded on a vision of human dignity, rational capacity, or freedom from harm and suffering, in its essence, it expresses a commitment to the well-being of the human being. Even collectivist or communitarian visions of rights are often forced to justify their commitments by claiming to provide for the well-being of most of the members of the imagined community or collectivity.[xx] Importantly, visions of human rights do not necessarily seek to exclude subjective or contextual perceptions of rights or entitlements. Such visions are not necessarily premised on the idea that there is a fixed set of human rights that is immutable and unevolving from the dawn of history until today. However, human rights visions do tend to objectify and generalize the subjective experiences of human beings.[xxi] By evaluating the socio-historical experience of human beings—the demands made for protection, and the resistance offered to these demands—and by evaluating the impact of practices that cause suffering, degradation, or deny people the ability to develop, it becomes possible to articulate objectified visions of a universal set of rights that ought to be enjoyed by all human beings.[xxii] At the legalistic level, arguably the so-called Bill of International Human Rights has already recognized what ought to be objective standards for human conduct, and such standards are binding on all nations of the world, even as to states that have not become signatories to the two human rights covenants.[xxiii] But whether the legal argument is valid or not, the universal human rights schemes have the unmistakable characteristic of an ideology that, as noted above, resembles a religious faith in that it believes that human beings ought to be treated in a certain way because, quite simply, as a matter of conviction, it is what is right and good.[xxiv] Once a claim of right is objectified, unless it goes through a process of deconstruction and de-objectification, as a matter of commitment and belief it becomes binding to all, and it also becomes a measure by which to judge the behavior of violators.[xxv]
One of the major aspects that human rights schemes share with the Shari‘ah is the objectification of subjective experience. The tension between religion and human rights, as systems of convictional reference, is not in the subjective experience. Genuine regard for human rights may be subjectively experienced in a fashion that is entirely consistent with one’s religious convictions.[xxvi] Put differently, a religious person’s unique set of experiences may resolve all possible tensions between his/her own personal religious convictions and human rights. At the subjective level, individuals may feel that they have not experienced any irreconcilable conflicts between their commitment to human rights and their religious convictions. Rather, the tension between the convictional systems of religion and human rights exist in the objectified standards and realities that each system claims.[xxvii] Put rather bluntly, which of the two generalized and objectified systems warrants deference, and which constitutes the ultimate frame of reference? Unless one argues, as was claimed in the classical natural law tradition, that God willed that human beings have a particular set of rights; the tension between the two systems becomes inevitable.[xxviii] If the generalized and objectified set of human rights asserted by people just happen to be exactly the same as the divinely ordained set of rights, then, in effect, the tension is resolved, or such a tension never really existed in the first place. The tension is most pronounced, however, when the objectified religious experience is inconsistent with the objectified claims to human rights. This is especially the case when, as is the situation today, such claims arise from a fundamentally secular paradigm.[xxix]
The ambiguity one finds in modern Muslim discourses regarding a commitment to human rights is due to the failure to confront the two objectified experiences of Shari‘ah and human rights. The apologetic discourse avoided the issue by assuming that the two experiences must be one and the same, and that God has granted human beings the same set of rights found in the international human rights discourse. But such a claim was not made out of a process of re-objectifying, or reconstructing Islam so as to engineer such a consistency. However, in light of the colonial experience, and the perception of the vast hypocrisy in human rights practices, many Muslims did not take the human rights discourses seriously enough to effectuate such an engineering of the objectified experience of Islam.[xxx] The puritan orientation, exemplified in the Wahhabi movement, Al Qaeda, or ISIS, on the other hand, opted out of the process altogether, and asserting the supremacy of Islam as a convictional system, rejected, as a matter of principle, the process of the re-engineering or re-objectifying of Islam in order to resolve such a tension. This is what accounts for the puritan orientation’s defiant stance towards contemporary international human rights claims, and its assumption that Islamic imperatives must necessarily be very different from the imperatives set by human rights commitments.
What is the Shari‘ah?
According to Muslim legal theory, the purpose of Shari‘ah is to achieve the welfare of people by seeking after the righteous path—to try to come as close as possible to it, and in doing so promote goodness or Godliness. In Islamic law, achieving the welfare of the people (tahqiq masalih al-'ibad) is a term of art that is intended to acknowledge that the pursuit of abstract values, such as justice, compassion and mercy, is supposed to translate into concrete and tangible benefits to be enjoyed by human beings. Muslim and non-Muslim writers often refer to Islamic law as Shari‘ah, which is not entirely accurate. Linguistically, the word shari‘ah literally means the fountainhead that quenches the thirst of living beings or the way to goodness. Jurisprudentially, the Shari‘ah is the revealed guidance of God—perfect, complete, incorruptible, immune and immutable. In a sense, the Shari‘ah provides the skeletal ethical and moral norms of the Islamic legal system. The Shari‘ah is comprehended, absorbed, and expressed through a jurisprudential process known as the fiqh (the human understanding of Shari‘ah). While Shari‘ah is Divine, fiqh was recognized to be only potentially so, and it is the distinction between Shari’ah and fiqh that fueled and legitimated the practice of legal pluralism in Islamic history.
The conceptual distinction between Shari‘ah and fiqh was the result of recognizing the limitations of human agency, and also a reflection of the Islamic dogma that perfection belongs only to God. While Shari‘ah was seen as an abstract ideal, every human effort at understanding or implementing this ideal was considered necessarily imperfect. Muslim jurists debated whether in the final analysis on every point of law there is a single correct position, but this position is known only to God and it is only in the Hereafter that this truth will be revealed. Much of this debate tended to revolve around a number of traditions attributed to the Prophet. According to one group of legal theorists, those who are ultimately proven to be wrong will still be rewarded for their due diligence but those who prove to be right will receive a greater reward. The alternative point of view, however, argued that on all matters of fiqh there is no single truth to be revealed by God in the Hereafter. All positions held sincerely and reached after due diligence are in God’s eyes correct. This classical debate had an impact upon the development of various doctrines and institutions in Islamic jurisprudence the most important of which was negotiating the dynamics between Shari‘ah and fiqh.
In the Islamic legal tradition, there is only one Shari‘ah (Shari‘at Allah) but there are a number of competing schools of thought of fiqh (madhahib fiqhiyyah). Even the most ardent of the process-oriented jurists did not go as far as claiming that there are no objective and ultimate values to Shari‘ah. Process-oriented jurists contended that the search for the Divine Will is the ultimate moral value but only as to matters open to a fiqh inquiry. At the same time, although all jurists embraced the theological dogma that God’s perfection cannot be reproduced or attained by human beings, this did not mean that they considered every aspect of Shari‘ah to be entirely unattainable or inaccessible until the Hereafter. In many regards, one could say that Shari‘ah is the unwritten constitutional law of the Islamic common law system but because of the particular historical practices of the schools of fiqh such a re-conceptualization would need to be developed analytically. For instance, it is firmly established in the Islamic legal tradition that Shari‘ah seeks to protect and promote five fundamental values: 1) life; 2) intellect; 3) reputation or dignity; 4) lineage or family; and 5) property. Furthermore, Muslim jurists overwhelmingly held that there are three basic levels of attainment or fulfillment of such values: the necessities, needs, and luxuries. Under Shari‘ah law, legal imperatives increase in proportion to the level demand for the attainment of each value. Thus, when it comes to life, for example, the legal duty to secure a person’s survival is a priori to the obligation of guaranteeing human beings any basic needs that are above and beyond what is necessary for survival. Nevertheless, alongside these broad fundamental principles, historically, Muslim jurists developed specific positive commandments that were said to be necessary for the protection of the values mentioned above. These laws include, for instance, the laws punishing slander, which were said to be necessary for the protection of reputation or dignity, or the laws punishing fornication, which were said to be necessary for the protection of lineage and family. I will discuss the hudud penalties below, but for now it is important to emphasize that many of the positive legal determinations purportedly serving the five values were often declared to be a part of Shari‘ah, and not just fiqh, or were left in a rather ambiguous and contested status between Shari‘ah and fiqh. Claiming that a positive legal commandment is not a byproduct of fiqh, but is essentially part of Shari‘ah effectively endowed such a commandment with immunity and immutability. The boundaries between Shari‘ah and fiqh were negotiated in a variety of highly contextually contingent ways in the course of Islamic history but the dynamics and processes of this history remains grossly understudied.
The application of fiqh (human understanding) to Shari‘ah allows the jurist to emerge with determinations about God’s will and law. Essentially, through the mechanics of fiqh, the values and virtues of Shari‘ah are translated into a set of duties, obligations, and rights that allow for the realization of Shari‘ah through learned and considered judgments. In classical theory, no one can pretend that his/her opinion or judgment is the will of God or the fulfillment of Shari‘ah unless it is based on the literal word of God that cannot withstand different interpretations or ambiguity in meaning. In the classical tradition, the so-called hudud offenses were cited as the typical example of laws that are Divinely stipulated without ambiguity or vagueness.
The Challenge of the Hudud Punishments
The so-called hudud punishments—which include lashing, stoning to death and the severing of hands—are the most controversial aspect of Shari‘ah law in the modern age. For many Muslims, they have become the indisputable proof of the unique identity of the Islamic legal system and also the symbol for Muslim cultural and political autonomy. For many non-Muslims and Muslims, however, hudud punishments are considered medieval, draconian and barbaric. Furthermore, many non-Muslim and Muslim scholars and writers, who are poorly informed about Islamic jurisprudence, treat these laws as if they are the very heart and core of the Islamic legal system. Consequently, many have come to the rather inescapable conclusion that Shari‘ah law is fundamentally incompatible with modern conceptions of human rights.
The example of criminal penalties that include corporal punishments, maiming, and mutilations are of special interest because they are irreconcilable with contemporary human rights paradigms, but they are also significant because they put us squarely before the challenge of the immutability of Qur’anic law. Qur’anic laws, or the special class of specific ethical commandments, although a small and narrow part of the legal system, are of considerable symbolic significance. This particular set of laws includes the group of criminal sanctions that have become known as the hudud punishments.[xxxi] Underscoring the significance of the hudud punishments is the fact that most of these laws, as explained below, implicate the mixed rights of God and human beings (huquq mukhtalita).
There is no question that most medieval Muslim jurists considered the hudud punishments to be part of the immutable and eternal Shari‘ah and, therefore, they rendered the hudud punishments not subject to change, modification, or abrogation. Whether intentionally or not, most medieval Muslim jurists created the impression that it is not possible to implement Shari‘ah law without enforcing the hudud punishments and that, in general, the hudud are integral to the Islamic legal system. Interestingly, however, hudud punishments were hardly ever implemented in Islamic legal history, for the most part because Muslim jurists made the evidentiary requirements and the technical pre-conditions for the enforcement of the hudud practically impossible to fulfill, or because they admitted so many mitigating factors to the point that only a criminal who was most determined to be punished could be made to suffer the hudud penalties.[xxxii]
Whether the so-called hudud crimes ought to be considered an immutable and permanent part of Shari‘ah warrants re-thinking. As mentioned earlier, generally, the Shari‘ah embodies the characteristics and attributes of Divinity, which consist of general ethical and moral teachings. However, Muslim jurists treated specific laws, which are explicitly commanded by God, to be a part of the eternal Shari‘ah as if these laws are in and of themselves ethical precepts that by their nature are not subject to contingency, context, or temporal variations.
Dealing with the hudud, Muslim jurists focused on the punishments and not on the behavior or conduct that warranted the penalties. In doing so, they erroneously rendered some of the punitive measures mentioned in the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions sacrosanct and eternal. But there is no plausible reason to believe that the attributes or characteristics of Divinity or that the ethical precepts of Islam are embedded in specific punishments—whatever these punishments may be. If the Divine Will was to safeguard the hudud punishments, either as embodying the attributes and characteristics of God or essential ethical and moral values, it would be incongruous for such punishments to be contingent, contextual, or subject to mitigation.
In my view, the classical approach, which tended to sanctify particular punitive measures, and treat them as if part of the immutable and eternal Shari‘ah, is quite unfortunate. What ought to be considered immutable and eternal are the ethical values that the punitive measures were intended to safeguard, and not the punitive measures themselves. The severity of the punishments mentioned in the sources is an indication of the importance of a particular value to the Shari‘ah.
Therefore, the punishments prescribed for fornication or stealing are powerful indicators of the value that the Shari‘ah places on chastity and on not stealing. The punishments themselves, however, are contextual—they depend on a variety of factors such as: mitigation; evidentiary certitude; the intent and purpose of the individual perpetrator; the reliability and accountability of the judicial system at a particular time and place; community standards; sociologically dependent and shifting notions of cruelty, barbarity and mercy; and the possible deterrence value of such punishments within the context of a certain age and place.
As already noted, the classical jurists were keenly aware that to the extent possible, an Islamic judicial system ought to avoid applying the hudud punishments. In fact, in a well-known set of traditions, the Prophet is reported to have taught that in criminal matters any doubt must be construed in the light most favorable to a defendant.
Moreover, in the case of hudud, the Prophet instructed that Muslims ought to seek out the shadows of doubt in order to avoid having to inflict a hadd (singular of hudud) punishment against a defendant. According to the Prophet, if a person knows that someone has committed a hadd crime, it is better to help the criminal repent than to expose the criminal by turning him in to the authorities. Furthermore, bringing hadd charges against a suspect that the accuser is ultimately unable to prove might in some circumstances subject the accuser to punishment, and sneaking and spying are not valid ways of proving a hadd crime.[xxxiii]
This principled recalcitrance and various safeguards against a wide application of the hudud are a clear indication that the hudud punishments themselves do not embody an ethical or moral value. The value is in the unethical and immoral behavior that the hudud are intended to deter. Therefore, for instance, it is the ban against the consumption of alcohol that is immutable and eternal and a part of the Shari‘ah, and not the punitive measure prescribed in the text for the commission of such an offense.
I do realize that this argument requires something of a paradigm shift in the way that Muslims think about the so-called hudud punishments. Nevertheless, I believe that this paradigm shift is critically important for the internal coherence of the Shari‘ah system. It is reasonable to deal with the ethical and moral values of the Shari‘ah as immutable, eternal and absolute, but any positive and context-based laws are temporal and changeable.[xxxiv]
Beyond puritanism and apologetics, there have been some serious efforts by contemporary Muslim scholars to deal with the conflicts between the two systems of Shari‘ah and human rights paradigms.[xxxv] Methodologically, many of these efforts have tried to locate a primary Islamic value, such as tolerance, dignity, or self-determination, and utilize this value as a proverbial door by which the human rights tradition may be integrated into Islam. Other efforts, however, have relied on a sort of original intent argument; namely that God’s original intent was consistent with a scheme of greater rights for human beings, but that the socio-historical experience was unable to achieve a fulfillment of such an intent.[xxxvi] My point here is not to critique these methodological approaches, and I do not necessarily even disagree with them. I do think, however, that Islamic discourses need to go further than either identifying core values or constructing arguments about a historically frustrated divine will. It is not an exaggeration to say that what is needed is a serious rethinking of the inherited categories of Islamic theology. Nonetheless, in my view, what is needed is not a human centered theology, but a rethinking of the meaning and implications of divinity, and a re-imagining of the nature of the relationship between God and creation. It is certainly true that in Qur’anic discourses, God is beyond benefit or harm, and therefore, all divine commands are designed to benefit human beings alone, and not God. One of the basic precepts of Shari‘ah is that all laws are supposed to accrue to the benefit of human beings, who are ultimately charged with fulfilling the Divine Covenant.[xxxvii] But in and of itself, this avowed goal of Islamic law is not sufficient to justify a commitment to human rights. Rather, the challenge is to re-imagine the nature of the Divine Covenant, which defines the obligations and entitlements of human beings, in order to centralize the imperative of human rights, and to do so from an internally coherent perspective in Islam.
From an internal perspective, the question is: Is the subjective belief of human beings about their entitlements and rights relevant to identifying or defining those entitlements and rights? May human beings make demands upon each other, and God for rights, and, upon making such demands, become entitled to such rights? As Islamic theology stands right now, the answer would clearly be that, in the eyes of God, the demands of human beings are irrelevant to their entitlements. God is not influenced one way or the other by human demands, and it is heretical to think otherwise. The response given by traditional Islamic theology does not necessarily preclude a recognition of human rights, but I do believe that such a response creates the potential for foreclosing the possibility of giving due regard to the evolving field of universal human rights. As I noted earlier, in this article, I am dealing with potentialities, and not absolute determinations. Therefore, as argued below, giving a different response to these questions could contribute to, or could create a potential for resolving what I described as the problematic tension between human rights schemes and Shari‘ah law. I will argue that in order to create an adequate potential for a realization of a human rights commitment in Shari‘ah law, it is important to visualize God as beauty and goodness, and that engaging in a collective enterprise of beauty and goodness, with humanity at large, is part of the realizing of the divine in human life.
The Rights of God and the Rights of People
The very notion of individual rights is elusive both in terms of the sources and the nature of those rights. Furthermore, whether there are inherent and absolute individual rights, or simply presumptive individual entitlements that could be outweighed by countervailing considerations, is debatable.[xxxviii] In addition, while all constitutional democracies afford protections to a particular set of individual interests, such as freedom of speech and assembly, equality before the law, right to property, and due process of law, which exact rights ought to be protected, and to what extent, is subject to a large measure of variation in theory and practice. In this context, I am using a minimalist, and hopefully a non-controversial, notion of individual rights. By individual rights, I do not mean entitlements, but qualified immunities—the idea that particular interests related to the well-being of an individual ought to be protected from infringements whether perpetuated by the state or other members of the social order, and that such interests should not be sacrificed unless for an overwhelming necessity. This, as noted, is a minimalist description of rights, and in my view, a largely inadequate one. I doubt very much that there is an objective means of quantifying an overwhelming necessity, and thus, some individual interests ought to be unassailable under any circumstances. These unassailable interests are the ones that, if violated, are bound to communicate to the individual in question a sense of worthlessness, and that, if violated, tend to destroy the faculty of a human being to comprehend the necessary elements for a dignified existence.[xxxix] Therefore, for instance, under this conception, the use of torture, the denial of food or shelter, or the means for sustenance, such as employment, under any circumstances, would be a violation of an individual’s rights. For the purposes of this chapter, however, I will assume the minimalist description of rights.
It is fair to say, however, that the pre-modern juristic tradition did not articulate a notion of individual rights as privileges, entitlements, or immunities. Nonetheless, the juristic tradition did articulate a conception of protected interests that accrue to the benefit of the individual. However, as demonstrated below, this subject remains replete with considerable ambiguity in Islamic thought. As noted earlier, the purpose of Shari‘ah in jurisprudential theory is to fulfill the welfare of the people. The interests or the welfare of the people is divided into three categories: the necessities (daruriyyat), the needs (hajiyyat), and the luxuries (kamaliyyat or tahsiniyyat). The law and political policies of the government must fulfill these interests in descending order of importance: first the necessities, then the needs, and then the luxuries. The necessities are further divided into five basic values (al-daruriyyat al-khamsah: life, intellect, reputation or dignity, lineage or family, and property).[xl] But Muslim jurists did not develop the five basic values as conceptual categories and then explore the theoretical implications of each value. Rather, they pursued what can be described as an extreme positivistic approach to these rights. Muslim jurists examined the existing positive legal injunctions that arguably can be said to serve these values, and concluded that by giving effect to these specific legal injunctions, the five values have been sufficiently fulfilled. So, for example, Muslim jurists contended that the prohibition of murder served the basic value of life, the law of apostasy protected religion, the prohibition of intoxicants protected the intellect, the prohibition of fornication and adultery protected lineage, and the right of compensation protected the right to property.[xli] Limiting the protection of the intellect to the prohibition against the consumption of alcohol or the protection of life to the prohibition of murder is hardly a very thorough protection of either intellect or life. At most, these laws are partial protections to a limited conception of values, and at any case, cannot be asserted as the equivalent of individual rights because they are not asserted as immunities to be retained by the individual against the world. It is reasonable to conclude that these five values were emptied of any theoretical social and political content and were reduced to technical legalistic objectives. This, of course, does not preclude the possibility that the basic five values could act as a foundation for a systematic theory of individual rights.[xlii]
To argue that the juristic tradition did not develop the idea of fundamental or basic individual rights does not mean that that tradition was oblivious to the notion. In fact, the juristic tradition tended to sympathize with individuals who were unjustly executed for their beliefs or those who died fighting against injustice. Jurists typically described such acts as a death of musabarah, a description that carried positive or commendable connotations. Muslim jurists produced a formidable discourse condemning the imposition of unjust taxes and the usurpation of private property by the government.[xliii] Furthermore, the majority of Muslim jurists refused to condemn or criminalize the behavior of rebels who revolted because of the imposition of oppressive taxes or who resisted a tyrannical government.[xliv] In addition, the juristic tradition articulated a wealth of positions that exhibit a humanitarian or compassionate orientation. I will mention only some of these positions, leaving the rest to a more extensive study.
Muslim jurists developed the idea of presumption of innocence in all criminal and civil proceedings, and argued that the accuser always carries the burden of proof (al-bayyinah ‘ala man idda‘a).[xlv] In matters related to heresy, Muslim jurists repeatedly argued that it is better to let a thousand heretics go free than to wrongfully punish a single, sincere Muslim. The same principle was applied to criminal cases; the jurists argued that it is always better to release a guilty person than to run the risk of punishing an innocent person.[xlvi] Moreover, many jurists condemned the practice of detaining or incarcerating heterodox groups that advocate their heterodoxy (such as the Khawarij), and argued that such groups may not be harassed or molested until they carry arms and form a clear intent to rebel against the government.[xlvii] Muslim jurists also condemned the use of torture, arguing that the Prophet forbade the use of muthlah (the use of mutilations) in all situations,[xlviii] and opposed the use of coerced confessions in all legal and political matters.[xlix] A large number of jurists articulated a doctrine similar to the American exculpatory doctrine—confessions or evidence obtained under coercion are inadmissible at trial. Interestingly, some jurists asserted that a judge that relies on a coerced confession in a criminal conviction is, in turn, to be held liable for the wrongful conviction. Most argued that the defendant, or his family, may bring an action for compensation against the judge, individually, and against the Caliph and his representatives, generally, because the government is deemed to be vicariously liable for the unlawful behavior of its judges.[l]
But perhaps the most intriguing discourse in the juristic tradition is that which relates to the rights of God and the rights of people. The rights of God (huquq Allah) are rights retained by God, as God’s own through an explicit designation to that effect. These rights belong to God in the sense that only God can say how the violation of these rights may be punished and only God has the right to forgive such violations.[li] These rights are, so to speak, subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and dominion of God, and human beings have no choice but to follow the explicit and detailed rules that God set out for the handling of acts that fall in God’s jurisdiction. In addition, in the juristic theory, all rights not explicitly retained by God, accrue to the benefit of human beings. In other words, any right (haqq) that is not specifically and clearly retained by God becomes a right retained by people. These are called huquq al-‘ibad, huquq al-nas, or huquq al-adamiyyin.[lii] Importantly, while violations of God’s rights are only forgiven by God through adequate acts of repentance, the violation of people’s rights may be forgiven only by the people. For instance, a right to compensation is retained individually by a human being and may only be forgiven by the aggrieved individual. The government, or even God, does not have the right to forgive or compromise such a right of compensation if it is designated as part of the rights of human beings. Therefore, the Maliki jurist Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 543/1148) states:
The rights of human beings are not forgiven by God unless the human being concerned forgives them first, and the claims for such rights are not dismissed [by God] unless they are dismissed by the person concerned...The rights of a Muslim cannot be abandoned except by the possessor of the right. Even the imam [ruler] does not have the right to demand [or abandon] such rights. This is because the imam is not empowered to act as the agent for a specific set of individuals over their specific rights. Rather, the imam only represents people, generally, over their general and unspecified rights. [liii]
In a similar context, the Hanafi jurist al-‘Ayini (d. 855/1453) argues that the usurper of property, even if a government official, will not be forgiven for his sin, even if he repents a thousand times, unless he returns the stolen property.[liv] Most of these discourses occur in the context of addressing personal monetary and property rights, but they have not been extended to other civil rights, such as the right to due process or the right to listen, to reflect, and to study, which may not be abandoned or violated by the government under any circumstances. This is not because the range of the rights of people was narrow—quite to the contrary, it is because the range of these rights was too broad. It should be recalled that people retain any rights not explicitly reserved by God. Effectively, since the rights retained by God are quite narrow, the rights accruing to the benefit of the people are numerous. The juristic practice has tended to focus on narrow legal claims that may be addressed through the processes of law rather than on broad theoretical categories that were perceived as non-justiciable before a court. As such, the jurists tended to focus on tangible property rights or rights for compensation instead of focusing on moral claims. So, for instance, if someone burns another person’s books, that person may seek compensation for destruction of property, but he could not bring an action for injunctive relief preventing the burning of the books in the first place. Despite this limitation, the juristic tradition did, in fact, develop a notion of individual claims that are immune from governmental or social limitation or alienation.
There is one other important aspect that needs to be explored in this context. Muslim jurists asserted the rather surprising position that if the rights of God and rights of people (mixed rights) overlap, in most cases, the rights of people should prevail. The justification for this was that humans need their rights, and need to vindicate those rights on earth. God, on the other hand, asserts God’s rights only for the benefit of human beings, and, in all cases, God can vindicate God’s rights in the Hereafter if need be. As to the rights of people, Muslim jurists did not imagine a set of unwavering and generalizable rights that are to be held by each individual at all times. Rather, they thought of individual rights as arising from a legal cause brought about by the suffering of a legal wrong. A person does not possess a right until he or she has been wronged, and as a result, obtains a claim for retribution or compensation. Shifting paradigms, it is necessary to transform the traditional conceptions of rights to a notion of immunities and entitlements. As such, these rights become the property of individual holders, before there arises a specific grievance regardless of whether there is a legal cause of action. The set of rights that are recognized as immutable and invariable are those that are necessary to achieve a just society while promoting the element of mercy. It is quite possible that the relevant individual rights are those five values mentioned above, but this issue needs to be re-thought and re-analyzed in light of the current diversity and particularity of human existence. The fact that the rights of people take priority over the rights of God, on this earth, necessarily means that a claimed right of God may not be used to violate the rights of human beings. God is capable of vindicating whichever rights God wishes to vindicate in the Hereafter. On this earth, we concern ourselves only with discovering and establishing the rights that are needed to enable human beings to achieve a just life, while, to the extent possible, honoring the asserted rights of God.[lv]
Shari‘ah and the Promise of Human Rights
I have argued that God’s sovereignty is honored in the pursuit of a just society, and that a just society must, in pursuit of mercy, respect human diversity and richness, and must recognize the immunities that are due to human beings. I have justified this position on Islamic grounds; while acknowledging that this approach is informed by the interpretive traditions of the past, it is not the dominant approach to the subject or even a well-established approach among Muslims in the modern era. Unfortunately, the only well-established approaches to the subject today are the apologetic and puritan approaches. As far as contemporary discourses are concerned, they are replete with unjustified assumptions, and intellectual shortcuts that have seriously undermined the ability of Muslims to confront such an important topic as human rights. In addition, partly affected by Muslim apologists, many Western scholars repeat generalizations about Islamic law that, the least one can say, are not based on historical texts generated by Muslim jurists. Among those unfounded generalizations are the claims that Islamic law is concerned primarily with duties, and not rights, and that the Islamic conception of rights is collectivist, and not individualistic.[lvi] Both claims, although they are often repeated, are somewhat inconsistent, but more importantly, they are not based on anything other than cultural assumptions about the non-Western “other.” It is as if the various interpreters, having decided on what they believe is the Judeo-Christian, or perhaps Western, conception of rights, assume that Islam must necessarily be different.[lvii] The reality, however, is that both claims are largely anachronistic. Pre-modern Muslim jurists did not assert a collectivist vision of rights, in the same way that they did not assert an individualistic vision of rights. They did speak of al-haqq al-‘amm (public rights), and often asserted that public rights ought to be given preference over private entitlements. But as a matter of juristic determination, this amounted to no more than an assertion that the many should not be made to suffer for the entitlements of the few. For instance, as a legal maxim, this was utilized to justify the notion of public takings or the right to public easements over private property. This principle was also utilized in prohibiting unqualified doctors from practicing medicine.[lviii] But as noted above, Muslim jurists did not, for instance, justify the killing or the torture of individuals in order to promote the welfare of the state or the public interest. Even with regard to public takings or easements, the vast majority of Muslim jurists maintained that the individuals affected are entitled by the state to compensation equal to the fair market value of the property taken. In addition, pursuant to a justice perspective, one can argue that a commitment to individual rights, taken as a whole, will accrue to the benefit of the many (the private citizens) over the few (the members of ruling government). I do believe that the common good is greatly enhanced, and not hampered, by the assertion of individual rights, but this point needs to be developed in a more systematic way in a separate study.[lix] My point here, however, is that the juristic notion of public rights does not necessarily support what is often described as a collectivist view of rights.[lx] Likewise, the idea of duties (wajibat) is as well established in the Islamic tradition as the notion of rights (huquq); the Islamic juristic tradition does not show a proclivity towards one more than the other. In fact, some pre-modern jurists have asserted that to every duty there is a reciprocal right, and vice versa.[lxi] It is true that many jurists claimed that the ruler is owed a duty of obedience, but they also, ideally, expected the ruler to safeguard the well-being and interests of the ruled. The fact that the jurists did not hinge the duty to obey on the obligation to respect the individual rights of citizens does not mean that they were, as a matter of principle, opposed to affording the ruled certain immunities against the state. In some situations, Muslim jurists even asserted that if the state fails to protect the well-being of the ruled, and is unjust towards them, the ruled no longer owe the state either obedience or support.[lxii]
The widespread rhetoric regarding the primacy of collectivist and duty-based perspectives in Islam points to the reactive nature of much of the discourse on Islamic law in the contemporary age. In the 1950s and 1960s, most Muslim countries, as underdeveloped nations, were heavily influenced by socialist and national development ideologies, which tended to emphasize collectivist and duty-oriented conceptions of rights. Therefore, many Muslim commentators claimed that the Islamic tradition necessarily supports the aspirations and hopes of what is called the Third World. But such claims are as negotiative, re-constructive, and inventive of the Islamic tradition as any particular contemporaneous vision of rights. In my view, however, from a theological perspective, the notion of individual rights is easier to justify in Islam than a collectivist orientation. God created human beings as individuals, and their liability in the Hereafter is individually determined as well. To commit oneself to the safeguarding and protecting the well-being of the individual is to take God’s creation seriously. Each individual embodies a virtual universe of divine miracles in body, soul, and mind. Why should a Muslim commit himself/herself to the rights and well-being of a fellow human being? The answer is because God has already made such a commitment when God invested so much of the God-self in each and every person. This is why the Qur’an asserts that whoever kills a fellow human being unjustly, it is as if he/she has murdered all of humanity – it is as if the killer has murdered the divine sanctity, and defiled the very meaning of divinity.[lxiii] The Qur’an does not differentiate between the sanctity of a Muslim or non-Muslim.[lxiv] As the Qur’an repeatedly asserts, no human being can limit the divine mercy in any way, or even regulate who is entitled to it.[lxv] I take this to mean that non-Muslims, as well as Muslims, could be the recipients and the givers of divine mercy. The measure of moral virtue on this earth is who is able to come closer to divinity through justice, and not who carries the correct religious or irreligious label. The measure in the Hereafter is a different matter, but it is a matter that is in the purview of God’s exclusive jurisdiction.
* Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law, and the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law. I am very grateful to my students Holly Robins and Dana Lee, and my wife, Grace Song, for their invaluable feedback and assistance.
[i] Jack Donnelly, “The Social Construction of International Human Rights,” in Human Rights in Global Politics, eds. Tim Dunne and Nicholas J. Wheeler (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 71-102; Donnelly, International Human Rights: Dilemmas in World Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2nd ed. 1998), 3-17, 86-114; David P. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 139-60, 217-36; Peter Schwab and Adamantia Pollis, “Globalization’s Impact on Human Rights,” in Human Rights: New Perspectives, New Realities, eds. Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000), 209-23; Paul Gordon Lauren, The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 241-80. For useful anthropological studies on the “globalization of human rights,” see Richard A. Wilson, ed., Human Rights, Culture and Context (Chicago: Pluto Press, 1997). For a study that analyzes this phenomenon, but is critical of the American contribution, see Diana G. Zoelle, Globalizing Concern For Human Rights: The Failure of the American Model (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000).
[ii] The so-called International Bill of Rights is comprised of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. See Jimmy Carter, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, and Tom J. Farer, The International Bill of Rights (Glen Ellen, CA: Entwhistle Books, 1981). Also, see Johannes Morsink, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting, and Intent (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999).
[iii] See Michael Ignatieff, The Rights Revolution (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2000); Carl Wellman, The Proliferation of Rights: Moral Progress or Empty Rhetoric? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999); Kristen Sellars, The Rise and Rise of Human Rights (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2002); Norberto Bobbio, The Age of Rights (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996); Louis Henkin, The Age of Rights (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990).
[iv] For instance, see Susan E. Waltz, Human Rights and Reform: Changing the Face of North African Politics (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995), esp. 14-34, 216-30; Kevin Dwyer, Arab Voices: The Human Rights Debate in the Middle East (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991); George Black, ed., Islam and Justice: Debating the Future of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa (New York: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, 1997); Eugene Cotran and Mai Yamani, eds., The Rule of Law in the Middle East and the Islamic World, Human Rights and the Judicial Process (London: I.B. Tauris, 2000). A particularly insightful analysis is: Katerina Dalacoura, Islam, Liberalism and Human Rights (London: I.B. Tauris, 1998).
[v] Wathiqat al-Azhar hawl mustaqbal fi Misr, June 20, 2011, available at: http://www.bibalex.org/Attachments/arabic/elazhar%20arabic.pdf; English translation of the Azhar statement available at: http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Templates/Articles/tmpArticles.aspx?ArtID=56424#.U_QYI1bwvwI. Also, see Khaled Abou El Fadl, “ The Shari‘ah,” in The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics, eds. John L. Esposito and Emad Shahin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 23-24.
[vi] These documents include: Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (1981), Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990), and Arab Charter on Human Rights (1994; 2008).
[vii] On the issue of the general tension between Islamic law and human rights law, see Bassam Tibi, “Islamic Law/Shari‘a and Human Rights: International Law and International Relations,” in Islamic Law Reform and Human Rights: Challenges and Rejoinders, eds. Tore Lindholm and Kari Vogt (Oslo: Nordic Human Rights Publications, 1993), 75-96. On the response of several Muslim countries to international human rights obligations, see Ann Mayer, Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics (Boulder, CO.: Westview Press, 3rd ed. 1999). Mayer critiques the practice of several Muslim countries of entering reservations to human rights treaties providing that they are bound by human rights law only to the extent that such international obligations are consistent with Shari‘ah law. On Islamic criminal punishments, and human rights, see Abdullahi An-Na’im, “Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining International Standards of Human Rights: The Meaning of Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” in Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, ed. Abdullahi An-Na’im (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), 19-43. Also, see Ann Mayer, “A Critique of An-Na’im’s Assessment of Islamic Criminal Justice,” in Islamic Law Reform and Human Rights, 37-60. On freedom of religion in Islam, see Nathan Lerner, Religion, Beliefs, and International Human Rights (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000), 47-48.
[viii] See J.N.D. Anderson, Islamic Law in the Modern World (New York: New York University Press, 1959); Anderson, Law Reform in the Muslim World (London: Athlone Press, 1976); Wael Hallaq, A History of Islamic Legal Theories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 207-11. On the adoption of secularized law, and the emergence of Western legal professionals in Egypt, see Farhat J. Ziadeh, Lawyers, The Rule of Law, and Liberalism in Modern Egypt (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Publications, 1968), 3-61.
[ix] See Lynn Hunt, “The Paradoxical Origins of Human Rights,” in Human Rights and Revolutions, eds. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Lynn Hunt and Marilyn Young (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2000), 3-17.
[x] The classic studies on orientalism and its effects remain those of Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Random House, 1979), and Culture and Imperialism (New York: Vintage Books, 1994). For a probing survey of orientalism and its practices, see Bryan S. Turner, Orientalism, Postmodernism and Globalism (London: Routledge Press, 1994), 3-114.
[xi] See David Rieff, “A New Age of Liberal Imperialism,” in Human Rights and Revolutions, 177-90.
[xii] This period has been described by some scholars as the liberal age of modern Islam, see Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age: 1798-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); Leonard Binder, Islamic Liberalism: A Critique of Development Ideologies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988); Daniel Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
[xiii] For a critical, and similarly grim, assessment by a Muslim intellectual of the impact of apologetics upon Muslim culture, see Tariq Ramadan, Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity, trans. Said Amghar (Markefield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 2001), 286-90.
[xiv] See Ann Mayer, “Universal versus Islamic Human Rights: A Clash of Cultures or a Clash with a Construct?” Michigan Journal of International Law 15, no. 2 (1994): 307-429. The International Commission of Jurists, which works under the auspices of the Human Rights Commissioner, has strongly criticized the Arab Charters and the Cairo Declaration. See International Commission of Jurists, The process of “modernizing” the Arab Charter on Human Rights: a disquieting regression, December 20, 2003, available at: http://icj.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2004/03/MENA-modernising-Arab-Charter-position-paper-2004-eng.pdf.
[xv] The foundations of Wahhabi theology were set into place by the eighteenth century evangelist Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1206/1792). With a puritanical zeal, Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab sought to rid Islam of all the corruptions that he believed had crept into the religion – corruptions that included mysticism, including the doctrine of intercession, and rationalism. The simplicity, decisiveness, and incorruptibility of the religious thought of Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab made it attractive to the desert tribes, especially in the area of Najd. Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s ideas would not have spread even in Arabia had it not been for the fact that in the late eighteenth century, the Al Sa‘ud family united itself with the Wahhabi movement, and rebelled against Ottoman rule in Arabia. The Wahhabi rebellion was considerable, at one point reaching as far as Damascus in the north and Oman in the south. Egyptian forces under the leadership of Muhammad Ali in 1818, however, after several failed expeditions, quashed the rebellion, and Wahhabism seemed to be on its way to extinction. Nevertheless, Wahhabi ideology was resuscitated once again in the early twentieth century under the leadership of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz b. Al Sa‘ud (r. 1319-73/1902-53) who adopted the puritanical theology of the Wahhabis and allied himself with the tribes of Najd, thereby establishing the nascent beginnings of what became Saudi Arabia. On the relationship between Wahhabism and the Saudi state, see Khaled Abou El Fadl, Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shari’ah in the Modern Age (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), 227-48.
[xvi] Salafism is a creed founded in the late nineteenth century by Muslim reformers such as Muhammad ‘Abduh (d. 1323/1905), Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1314/1897), Muhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1354/1935), Muhammad al-Shawkani (d. 1250/1834), and al-Jalal al-San‘ani (d. 1225/1810). Salafism appealed to a very basic and fundamental concept in Islam, and that is Muslims ought to follow the precedent of the Prophet and his rightly guided companions (al-salaf al-salih). The founders of Salafism maintained that on all issues, Muslims ought to return to the original textual sources of the Qur’an and the Sunna (precedent) of the Prophet. In doing so, Muslims ought to re-interpret the original sources in light of modern needs and demands without being slavishly bound to the interpretive precedents of earlier Muslim generations. Methodologically, Salafism is nearly identical to Wahhabism except that Wahhabism is far less tolerant of diversity and differences of opinions. By the 1980s, however, Wahhabism co-opted the language, symbolisms, and even the very name of Salafism, and therefore, was able to spread in the Muslim world under the Salafi label.
[xvii] For instance see Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “al-Risalah al-ula,” in Majmu‘at al-tawhid, collected by Hamad b. ‘Atiq al-Najdi (Damascus: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1962), 30-31, 68; Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab,, “Bayan al-najah wa al-fakak: al-risalah al-thaniyyah ‘ashrah,” in Majmu‘at al-tawhid, 394, 400, 421-23, 433.
[xviii] This was, for instance, reproduced in Sayyid Qutb’s notion that the world, including the Muslim world, is living in jahiliyya (darkness and ignorance associated with the pre-Islamic era). See Sayyid Qutb, Milestones on the Road (Indiana: American Trust Publications, 1991); Ahmad S. Mousalli, Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideological and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1993). This intellectual and moral isolationism was resisted, perhaps not very successfully, by a variety of jurists in the first half of the twentieth century. For instance, many of the articles published in the Azhar Journal, Nur al-Islam, in the 1930s and 1940s attempted to engage, interact, and discourse with world thought. It is clear that many Muslim scholars, at that time, tried to stay informed about the latest in European thought, and attempted to discuss how the latest ideas in philosophy and sociology would impact upon Muslim culture.
[xix] See the discussion on this point by Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights: As Politics and Idolatry (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 53-94.
[xx] See, for instance, William F. Felice, Taking Suffering Seriously: The Importance of Collective Human Rights (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).
[xxi] Charles Taylor, “Conditions of an Unenforced Consensus on Human Rights,” in The Politics of Human Rights (London: Verso Press, 1999), 101-19; Brian Tierney, “Religious Rights: An Historical Perspective,” in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives, eds. John Witte and Johan van der Vyver (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996), 17-45. Also, see Michael J. Perry, The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 57-106.
[xxii] For instance, one can speak of a right to education because of the fact that such a right has been demanded and often denied. On the other hand, one normally does not speak of a right to go to the toilet because that function is normally not demanded and then denied. However, one might start articulating such a right if, for instance, state or non-state actors are torturing a prisoner by denying him or her access to such facilities. I am not necessarily articulating a sociological understanding of human rights. A right could exist as a perennial right for eternity, but it is not recognized or claimed until human experience demonstrates the need to recognize or claim it. On the social recognition and promotion of rights, see Rex Martin, A System of Rights (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 24-97.
[xxiii] Reference here is typically made to jus cogens or customary international law as the reason that non-signatory states are still bound by international human rights standards.
[xxiv] See A.J.M. Milne, Human Rights and Human Diversity: An Essay in the Philosophy of Human Rights (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986), 62-78. Also, see Richard Falk, “A Half Century of Human Rights: Geopolitics and Values,” in The Future of International Human Rights, eds. Burns H. Weston and Stephen P. Marks (Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers Inc., 1999), 1-24. Criticizing what he calls “personalisms”, Yves Simon argues that the Natural Law tradition is at its weakest when it functions as ideology, instead of as philosophy. He asserts that there is a tendency to use the Natural Law tradition in highly politicized ways, and that this trend has greatly damaged the credibility of this moral tradition. See Yves Simon, The Tradition of Natural Law: A Philosopher’s Reflections (New York: Fordham University Press, 1992).
[xxv] This is well exemplified by the unfortunate practice of retaliatory “political” rapes that exist in some countries. Once a woman’s right to be free of sexual molestation is recognized, political rapes become indefensible regardless of the applicability of the legal argument. Whether rape is mentioned in an international declaration or treaty, and whether a particular country is a signatory to a particular covenant or not is treated as irrelevant to assessing the moral wrong of retaliatory rapes. On retaliatory rapes, see Shahla Haeri, “The Politics of Dishonor: Rape and Power in Pakistan,” in Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World, ed. Mahnaz Afkhami (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995), 161-74.
[xxvi] By an exercise of personal volition, an individual may resolve most, if not all, conflicts between religious conviction and human rights claims. For instance, although the divine law may decree that the hands of a thief be severed, I may refuse to sever anyone’s hands, or even refuse to prosecute anyone if the punishment is so harsh. Likewise, I may abstain from stoning an adulterer or adulteress to death, or refuse to take part in a proceeding that would result in a stoning. Of course, the more a system is compulsory and the more it denies individual volition, the more exasperated the tension becomes between the subjective experience and human rights standards.
[xxvii] On the dynamics between religion and human rights, see Martin Marty, “Religious Dimensions of Human Rights,” in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives, 1-16.
[xxviii] See Basil Mitchell, Law, Morality and Religion in a Secular Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967), 103-18; Richard Tuck, Natural Rights Theories: Their Origin and Development (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 5-31. On the religion and the natural rights tradition, see Paul E. Sigmund, Natural Law in Political Thought (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1971), 36-89; Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), 81-164.
[xxix] See Mahmood Monshipouri, Islamism, Secularism, and Human Rights in the Middle East (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998), 207-35.
[xxx] On the issue of hypocrisy in international human rights practices and its impact upon the credibility of the field, see Richard Falk, Human Rights Horizons: The Pursuit of Justice in a Globalizing World (London: Routledge Press, 2000).
[xxxi] Although the hudud are often equated with Qur’anic law, not all the hudud penalties were even mentioned in the Qur’an. Most notably, stoning as a punishment for adultery and death in cases of apostasy are not derived from the text of the Qur’an. The Qur’an neither mentions stoning nor apostasy. Moreover, corporal punishment for the consumption of alcohol is considered to be among the hudud although it is not Qur’anically based.
[xxxii] See Intisar A. Rabb, Doubt in Islamic Law: A History of Legal Maxims, Interpretation, and Islamic Criminal Law (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015); Rabb, “Islamic Legal Maxims as Substantive Canons of Construction: Hudud-Avoidance in Cases of Doubt,” Islamic Law and Society 17 (2010): 63-125; Rabb, “The Islamic Rule of Lenity: Judicial Discretion and Legal Canons,” Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 44 (2011): 1316-51.
[xxxiii] See Qur’an 49:12 which prohibits spying on people (“O you who have believed, avoid assumption [amanu ujtanibu kathiran min al-zann]. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other [wa-la tajassasu wa-la yaghtab]”) and Qur’an 24:27 which prohibits entry into another person’s home without the owner’s permission. There is an often quoted tradition about ‘Umar b. al-Khattab (the second caliph) entering the house of a man without permission because he heard singing in the home. When ‘Umar entered the house by climbing over the wall, he found the man in the company of women and drinking wine. The man in the house told ‘Umar: “O Commander of the Faithful, do not make haste. If I have disobeyed God once, you have disobeyed [God] three times. God has said: ‘Do not spy’, and you have spied; God has said: ‘It is not righteous to enter homes from the back’, and you have climbed over my wall; and God has said: ‘Do not enter houses other than yours’, and you have entered my home without my permission…’ Then ‘Umar said: ‘Forgive me.’ Then the man said: ‘I will. O Commander of the Faithful, if you forgive me, I will not repeat my offense.’ ‘Umar forgave him and left.” See Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ihya’ ulum al-din (Aleppo: Dar al-Wafi, 1998), 2:323. Also, see Rabb, Doubt in Islamic Law, 108; Rabb, “Islamic Legal Maxims as Substantive Canons of Construction: Hudud-Avoidance in Cases of Doubt,” 63-65, 78-79, 81-83, 101-102, 107-108.
[xxxiv]On contingency and temporality in law, see Khaled Abou El Fadl, Reasoning with God, 222-58, 295-300; Abou El Fadl, “The epistemology of the truth in modern Islam,” Philosophy and Social Criticism 41, no. 4-5 (2015): 473-86.
[xxxv] For the Iranian context, see Abdolkarim Soroush, Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam, trans. M. Sadri and A. Sadri (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 61-4, 122-30, 132-33; Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).
[xxxvi] For instance, see Abdulaziz Sachedina, The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Farid Esack, Qur’an, Liberation, and Pluralism (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997); Abdullahi A. An-Na’im, Toward An Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996); Abdullahi An-Na’im, “Islamic Foundations of Religious Human Rights,” in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives, 337-59; Mohammad Hashim Kamali, The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2002); Ahmad Moussalli, The Islamic Quest for Democracy, Pluralism, and Human Rights (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001).
[xxxvii] For elaboration on this, see Khaled Abou El Fadl, Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority, and Women (Oxford: Oneworld Press, 2001), 32-33.
[xxxviii] Debates on individual rights raise questions about the nature, foundations, and universality of such rights. The historical discontinuities of individual rights suggest that, despite the absolutist-moral overtones of some rights-talk, individual rights are the product of complex historical processes. See Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns, eds., Legal Rights: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997); Louis Henkin, The Age of Rights (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990); Carl Wellman, A Theory of Rights: Persons Under Laws, Institutions, and Morals (Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Allanheld Publishers, 1985).
[xxxix] See Virginia Black, “What Dignity Means,” in Common Truths: New Perspectives on Natural Law, ed. Edward McLean (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000), 119-50.
[xl] Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, al-Mustasfa min ‘ilm al-usul (Beirut: Dar al-Arqam, n.d.), 1:286-87; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, al-Mahsul fi ‘ilm usul al-fiqh (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risalah, 1997), 5:159-60.
[xli] Abu al-‘Aynan Badran, Usul al-fiqh (Cairo: Dar al-Ma‘arif, 1965), 430-31; Wahbah al-Zuhayli, al-Wasit fi usul al-fiqh al-Islami (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1969), 498-99.
[xlii] I would argue that the protection of religion should be developed to mean protecting the freedom of religious belief; the protection of life should mean that the taking of life must be for a just cause and the result of a just process; the protection of the intellect should mean the right to free thinking, expression and belief; the protection of honor should mean the protecting of the dignity of a human being; and the protection of property should mean the right to compensation for the taking of property.
[xliii] See Khaled Abou El Fadl, “Tax Farming in Islamic Law (qibālah and ḍamān of kharāj): A Search for a Concept,” Islamic Studies 31, no. 1 (1992): 5-32.
[xliv] See Khaled Abou El Fadl, Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 234-94.
[xlv] ‘Ali Ahmad al-Nadhwi, al-Qawa‘id al-fiqhiyyah (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam, 3rd ed. 1994), 400-01; Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Zarqa, Sharh al-qawa‘id al-fiqhiyyah (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam, 4th ed. 1996), 369-89.
[xlvi] Ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani, Fath al-bari bi-sharh ṣahih al-Bukhari (Beirut: Dar al-Ma‘rifah, 1963), 14:308.
[xlvii] See Abu Ishaq Burhan al-Din b. Muhammad b. Muflih, al-Mubdi‘ fi sharh al-muqni‘ (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1980), 9:168.
[xlviii] Muslim jurists, however, did not consider the severing of hands or feet as punishment for theft and banditry to be mutilation. Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘azim (Beirut: Dar al-Khayr, 1990), 2:56-57; Abu Bakr Ahmad b. ‘Ali al-Razi al-Jassas, Ahkam al-Qur’an (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-‘Arabi, 1986), 2:407-08; Abou El Fadl, Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law, 32, 50-57, 73-77, 340-41.
[xlix] A considerable number of jurists in Islamic history were persecuted and murdered for holding that a political endorsement (bay‘ah) obtained under duress is invalid. Muslim jurists described the death of these scholars under such circumstances as a death of musabarah (under perseverance). This had become an important discourse because Caliphs were in the habit of either bribing or threatening notables and jurists in order to obtain their bay‘ah. See Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddimah (Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath, n.d.), 165; Khaled Abou El Fadl, Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law, 86-87. On the Islamic law of duress and on coerced confessions and political commitments, see Abou El Fadl, “Law of Duress in Islamic Law and Common Law: A Comparative Study,” Islamic Studies 30, no. 3 (1991): 305-50.
[l] Abu Bakr Ahmad b. ‘Amr b. Munir al-Shaybani al-Khassaf, Kitab adab al-qadi, ed. F. Ziyadah (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 1978), 364-65; Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali b. Muhammad al-Mawardi, Adab al-qadi (Baghdad: Matba‘at al-Irshad, 1971) 1:233.
[li] Some modern Muslim commentators tried to equate the rights of God with the idea of public rights. Muhammad Abu-Hassan, “Islamic Criminal Law,” in Justice and Human Rights in Islamic Law, ed. Gerald E. Lampe (Washington, D.C.: International Law Institute, 1997), 79-89, 81-82; Shaikh Shaukat Hussain, Human Rights in Islam (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1990), 38-39; Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Freedom of Expression in Islam (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1997), 10. This argument is untenable and it is based on misunderstanding the theory behind the concept of God’s rights. For a Muslim critique of God’s rights as the equivalent of public rights, see Fazlur Rahman, “The Concept of hadd in Islamic Law,” Islamic Studies 4, no. 3 (1965): 237-51.
[lii] Abu Zahrah, Usul al-fiqh (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-‘Arabi, n.d.), 256-58.
[liii] Abu Bakr Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah b. al-‘Arabi, Ahkam al-Qur’an, ed. ‘Ali Muhammad al-Bajawi (Beirut: Dar al-Ma‘rifah, n.d.), 2:603; Khaled Abou El Fadl, Conference of the Books (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001), 105-08. Also, see Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Ansari al-Qurtubi, al-Jami‘ li-ahkam al-Qur’an (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1993), 6:103.
[liv] Abu Muhammad Mahmud b. Ahmad al-‘Ayini, al-Binayah fi sharh al-hidayah (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1990), 6:482.
[lv] This idea is reflected in the well-known tradition attributed to the Prophet that whenever God commands humans to do something, then they should do of it as much as they can. This tradition represents further recognition of the contingent and aspirational nature of human ability, and that while humans may strive for perfection, God is perfection, itself.
[lvi] For this often-repeated claim, see Lawrence Rosen, The Justice of Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 7, 79-80, 156-57; Rhoda Howard, Human Rights and the Search for Community (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995), 92-104.
[lvii] For the claim that the human rights tradition is Judeo-Christian in origin, see Claudio F. Benedi, Human Rights: The Theme of Our Times (St. Paul, MN: Paragon House Publishers, 1997), 27-32.
[lviii] Salim Rustum Bazz, Sharh al-majallah (Beirut : Dar Iuya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, 1986), 31. Muslim jurists also asserted that specific rights and duties should be given priority over general rights and duties. But, again, this was legal principle that applied to laws of agency and trust. Bazz, Sharh al-majallah, 43-44. Although the principle could be expanded and developed to support individual rights in the modern age, historically, it was given a far more technical and legalistic connotation.
[lix] On this, see Simon, The Tradition of Natural Law, 86-109; Alan Gewirth, Human Rights: Essays on Justification and Applications (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 218-33; John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), 205-18.
[lx] It might be that someone would want to argue that collectivist rights schemes are superior to individual rights schemes. But a collectivist rights scheme would need to be justified on Islamic grounds as much as an individualist rights scheme. Both types of rights schemes are equally alien, or familiar, to the Islamic tradition. In addition, I do not dispute the morality of some collectivist rights, such as the rights of indigenous people, the right to culture, or development, and that these rights could be justified on Islamic grounds. But from an Islamic perspective, it is much harder to justify the sacrificing of the safety or well-being of individuals in pursuit of a collective right. It seems to me that the collectivist rights mentioned above are justifiable largely when a collectivity is trying to protect its individuals and collective interests from aggression coming from outside the collectivity. In other words, it is justifiable when a community of people, sharing common interests, are trying to protect themselves from external dangers. But it seems far less justifiable when the community is turning inwards, and trying to target individuals within its own membership, under the auspices of protecting the character of the collectivity against the dangers of dissent. On this issue, see James Crawford, ed., The Rights of Peoples (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995); Alexandra Xanthaki, “Collective Rights: The Case of Indigenous Peoples,” in Human Rights in Philosophy and Practice, eds. Burton Leiser and Tom Campbell (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2001), 303-13; Emily R. Gill, “Autonomy, Diversity, and the Right to Culture,” 285-300 in the same source.
[lxi] On the relationship between duty and right in Roman law, and the subsequent Western legal tradition, see Finnis, Natural Law, 205-10. The dynamic that Finnis describes is very similar to that which took place in classical Islamic law.
[lxii] On this subject, see Abou El Fadl, Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law, 280-87.
[lxiii] Qur’an 5:32.
[lxiv] Some pre-modern jurists did differentiate between Muslim and non-Muslim especially in matters pertaining to criminal liability and compensation for torts.
[lxv] Qur’an 2:105; 3:74; 35:2; 38:9; 39:38; 40:7; 43:32.
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Seattle Foundation offers competitive grant opportunities to support local community organizations.
Seattle Foundation runs a variety of competitive grant cycles throughout the year that are open to eligible local nonprofits. This page is updated regularly with all our open grant cycles along with currently closed, but scheduled to repeat grant cycles. Please email grantmaking@seattlefoundation.org or call 206.515.2109 with any questions.
If you have received funding, please complete and return the Grant Status Report (docx) to grantmaking@seattlefoundation.org within a year of receiving a discretionary grant.
Vibrant Democracy Initiative Partnership Mobilization Grants
Proposals are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.
Through the Partnership Mobilization program, part of Seattle Foundation's Vibrant Democracy Initiative, nonprofit partnerships can apply for a total of up to $30,000 to fund partnerships that strengthen the civic voice and participation of underrepresented communities to increase racial and economic equity. Grants range from $2,000 - $10,000 per partner organization. These grants are flexible, one-time investments to existing and emerging partnerships and coalitions to develop or strengthen organizational relationships and collaboration and to reduce the barriers in building partnerships and relationships. Groups may self-define the nature of their partnerships (e.g., ethnicity, geography, service area, issue, etc.). Grant dollars will support planning, coordination, staff time, facilitation and other costs associated with building partnerships.
Proposals are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions within 60 days of submitting a proposal.
For more information, view the Request for Proposal (RFP) or visit the online application to apply. Please contact Bao-Tram Do for any questions at 206-515-2133.
N2N awards grants on a quarterly basis. The deadlines for submitting applications are January 30, April 30, July 30 and October 30.
Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) supports grassroots efforts that increase engagement, power and influence of community members affected by poverty and racial disparities. Priority is on efforts led by people from diverse and under-invested communities. Begun in 1991, the grant and technical assistance program is a key strategy of Seattle Foundation’s Center for Community Partnerships. Serving community-based organizations in South Seattle, White Center and Kent and focused on organizations with small budget sizes, N2N plays a crucial role in supporting the Foundation’s mission: to ignite powerful and rewarding philanthropy to make Greater Seattle a stronger, more vibrant community for all.
N2N awards grants on a quarterly basis. The deadlines for submitting applications are January 30, April 30, July 30 and October 30. Organizations are eligible for funding once per calendar year.
Read more about the application process.
The Whitehorse Foundation
Letters of inquiry can be submitted on an ongoing basis to grantmaking@seattlefoundation.org
The Whitehorse Foundation was established in 1990 as a supporting organization of Seattle Foundation. The mission of The Whitehorse Foundation is to fund organizations working to improve the quality of life for residents of Snohomish County, Washington. The Foundation focuses on programs that address prevention of problems and community challenges rather than later interventions.
In particular, it funds comprehensive services that respond to the full range of child, youth and family needs. The Foundation seeks funding requests for programs and projects that:
Strengthen families’ capacity to support, nurture and guide their children
Promote responsive parenting to improve children’s emotional, economic and social well-being
Help families acquire the knowledge and skills to be self-sufficient
Involve families and residents in program design, development and management
Are responsive to cultural, gender, ability and racial differences
Preference is also given to funding requests for programs and projects that include other sources of funding and have strong community support.
There is a two-step application process. The first step is to submit a concise two-page letter of inquiry describing your project and request. The second step is to be invited to submit a full application if your request meets the Foundation’s funding criteria.
Closed Grant Cycles
The most recent application cycle closed on November 1, 2019.
Seattle Foundation is committed to creating an inclusive community where all residents have equitable access to the benefits of a thriving and prosperous region. As Seattle Foundation has evolved, we have focused and prioritized our investment strategy on achieving greater racial and economic equity in the region so that all residents have fair and equitable opportunities to reach their full potential.
This evolution includes modifying our approach to our Nonprofit Effectiveness program. Going forward, while we will continue to support local capacity-building organizations, we will specifically prioritize investing in programs that increase the effectiveness and long-term stability of nonprofit organizations serving or based in communities of color. This approach ensures that our investments align more closely with our commitment to advancing racial equity and economic inclusion. It also allows us to explicitly address philanthropy’s chronic and historical under-investment in organizations for and led by communities of color and communities most impacted by injustices.
For questions, please email Ceil Erickson at c.erickson@seattlefoundation.org.
Regional Census Fund
The most recent application cycle closed on October 16, 2019.
The Regional Census Fund maximizes the impact of public and philanthropic resources to support the desired outcome of a robust, fair and accurate 2020 Census count across King County, Washington and to create a model for community mobilization beyond. Funding partners include Seattle Foundation, City of Seattle, City of Bellevue, City of Kirkland, City of Redmond, and King County. The fund is administered by Seattle Foundation.
Funding amounts range from $5,000-$20,000 and supports organizations in raising awareness around the 2020 Census, including outreach, education, and questionnaire assistance. This funding can support events, tabling, or other integration of census related activities. Organizations can request any amount within the range. Grant amounts will depend on scope of work.
For questions, please email Bao-Tram Do at B.Do@seattlefoundation.org.
Birkenfeld Memorial Trust Fund at Seattle Foundation
The most recent application cycle closed on August 30, 2019.
Before applying, please contact Claire Bishop at 206-799-8563 or barnacle96@outlook.com to ensure that your organization is a strong fit for our funding strategies.
The C. Keith Birkenfeld Memorial Trust was established in 2006 as an Area of Interest Fund of Seattle Foundation. We award capital campaign grants with priority given to projects in Kitsap, Mason Thurston and Jefferson Counties in Washigton and Columbia City in Oregon. We look for organizations that are working in the arts, horticulture, wildlife, maritime and human service sectors. The Trust continue Mr. Birkenfeld's philanthropy and his desire to inspire others to give.
Following thirteen years of grantmaking, The Trust will complete its work after the 2019 funding cycle.
The Medical Funds
The most recent application cycle closed on September 23, 2019.
Seattle Foundation administers the Medical Funds program to support medical research of potential benefit to the community and to address specific healthcare needs. All applicant organizations must be located primarily in King County and qualify as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.
A total amount of $175,000 is available for grants annually. Typically no more than $25,000 is disbursed to any one organization.
Resilience Fund
The Resilience Fund supports and strengthens community organizations that are working to increase the protections and resilience of vulnerable residents in King County. This fund is similar to rapid response funds developed around the nation by other communities and organizations to address increasing needs and concerns. Developed by Seattle Foundation with support from King County, Medina Foundation, Stolte Family Foundation, Bank of America, The Fund for New Citizens in The New York Community Trust, Sheng-Yen Lu Foundation, Emerald Fund and individual philanthropists, the Resilience Fund will provide grants up to $20,000 to King County, community-based nonprofits.
Communities of Opportunity Systems and Policy Change
COO Systems & Policy Change RFP invites proposals from community-led and community-engaged efforts to transform systems and policies for stronger community connections, economic opportunity, better health, and/or housing that will decrease and/or prevent continued inequity in communities of color in King County. This is a two year grant cycle, organizations can apply for up to $100,000 annually, coalitions may apply for up to $200,000 annually.
If you have questions, please contact Dionne Foster, d.foster@seattlefoundation.org for additional information.
Engagement Pipeline
The most recent application cycle closed on February 1, 2019. Stay tuned for any upcoming rounds of funding.
As part of our Vibrant Democracy Initiative, the Engagement Pipeline program focuses on strengthening the voice and participation of underrepresented communities to ensure more equitable systems change. The Engagement Pipeline invests in programs that build community power by strengthening individual leaders who participate in community change activities that mobilize the broader community. Three-year grants ranging from $75,000 to $125,000 per year will support organizations or networks of organizations working to increase the power of specific communities through leadership development and community mobilization.
Robert Chinn Foundation Grant Program
The most recent application cycle closed on June 28, 2019. Stay tuned for any upcoming rounds of funding.
Robert Chinn founded United Savings and Loan in 1960, the first Asian-owned bank in the United States. The family established a foundation in 1986 to honor Robert Chinn and continue his work of helping local neighbors through its mission to improve the civic, educational and cultural quality of life of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. The Asian Resource Center was built in 1994 to further this mission and provide a location in the community for cultural, athletic, civic and educational programs. In 2004 the Asian Hall of Fame was established to honor achievement, inspire the next generation and build the national community of Asian Pacific Americans.
With the sale of the Asian Resource Center in 2014, the foundation transitioned to a grant-based philanthropic organization. The Robert Chinn Foundation (RCF) Grant Program awards funds for specific projects and programs devoted to art, culture, health and youth development. Requests for operating grants, capital campaigns or to individuals will not be considered. The fund supports nonprofit organizations nationally serving children and families.
The RCF Grant Program will consider requests for program funding in the following areas:
Art, Culture and Performing Arts: support programs that provide equitable access to diverse arts experiences.
Health: support programs that provide outreach, access and education to Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Youth Development: support athletics, mentoring and leadership programs.
Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded. Organizations may apply every two years.
The Morgan Fund – Investment Grant Opportunity
The most recent application cycle closed on September 30, 2018. Stay tuned for upcoming rounds of funding in 2019.
The Morgan Fund, a Family Foundation at Seattle Foundation, supports performing arts organizations located in the Seattle/Western Washington and Washington, DC regions with a focus on dance and theatre. Proposals for Investment Grants ranging from $1,500 to $15,000 will be considered across a wide range of needs, such as equipment purchases and strategic business development, to help advance and deepen artistic quality. Applicant organizations must be a tax exempt nonprofit under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code or be fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization. The Morgan Fund awards approximately $250,000.
Please visit www.themorganfund.com to view full details.
Benjamin N Phillips Memorial Fund
The most recent application cycle closed on May 31, 2019. Stay tuned for any upcoming rounds of funding.
This Fund awards grants annually to a broad range of charitable organizations serving Clallam County and is a legacy gift of Benjamin Phillips.
Phillips was born in Akron, Colo., in 1888. After graduating from the University of Washington, he moved to Port Angeles in 1913 at the age of 25. The following year he opened the Port Angeles Trust & Savings Co., which became First National Bank, and was later absorbed by Bank of America. In addition to being a successful banker, he became an established community leader in Clallam County. A long-time member of the Library Board, Phillips enjoyed classical music, particularly through Seattle Opera and the Port Angeles Symphony. The Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial Fund was established to benefit Clallam County residents following the death of Phillips’ second wife.
Phillips Fund grantees are required to submit a grant status report at the conclusion of the grant period. Current grantees are ineligible to apply for funding if they have received two years of Phillips Fund support. Previously-funded organizations may re-apply after a one-year hiatus.
Voter Education Fund
The most recent application cycle closed on April 1, 2019. Stay tuned for any upcoming rounds of funding.
Seattle Foundation and King County elections are partnering to increase engagement and voter participation through the Voter Education Fund. The partners have committed $950,000 in grants over the next two years to organizations working to address low voter turnout within marginalized communities. Selected organizations will be funded for two years and are expected to do voter outreach and activities for the 2019 and 2020 election cycles.
The Voter Education Fund will provide grants to organizations that work to reduce inequities in voting access in historically marginalized communities including, but not limited to, communities of color, people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, limited English speaking (LES), LGBTQ residents, formerly incarcerated individuals and residents in South King County. Applicants can apply for up to $40,000 to develop and implement a strategic, ongoing campaign to engage voters or potential voters, or up to $15,000 to provide a series of targeted events.
For questions about the Voter Education Fund, contact Jonathan Cunningham at j.cunningham@seattlefoundation.org.
Youth Grantmaking Board RFP
The most recent application cycle closed on March 27, 2019. Stay tuned for any upcoming rounds of funding.
Supported by Foundation staff and community experts, the Youth Grantmaking Board (YGB) helps young people learn how philanthropy can create positive change in their community by giving them the opportunity to take the lead on all phases of grantmaking.
The 2019 Youth Grantmaking Board invites proposals from established 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, or those under the fiscal sponsorship of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, focused on reducing homelessness and its related issues amongst youth and other communities in King County.
Creative Equity Fund
The most recent application cycle closed on August 17, 2018. Stay tuned for upcoming rounds of funding in 2019.
The Creative Equity Fund supports arts- and cultural-based strategies that build racial justice and address the structural racism impacting our communities. Arts and culture are powerful tools for engaging the community in collective change. They ignite civil discourse, inspire action, and help us imagine and advocate for a just world.
The Creative Equity Fund is administered by Seattle Foundation and made possible thanks to the generous support of a collective of funders, including ArtsFund, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Foundation, Macklemore, Nesholm Family Foundation and The Boeing Company. The Creative Equity Fund aims to direct at least $100,000 per year to support both arts and cultural groups and other community-based organizations located within King County that are by, for and about people of color and which use arts and culture strategies to work toward racial equity.
To apply, organizations must be based in King County, have 501C(3) status or be fiscally sponsored by one and must have two-thirds people of color on the board and staff, OR for a volunteer-led organization, leadership must be at least two-thirds people of color.
Please review this FAQ for a full list of criteria below before applying for a grant of no more than $25,000.
To help evaluate and measure how Seattle Foundation's support helped your organization, please complete and return the Grant Status Report within a year of receiving funding.
If you have any questions about the application process, please contact us at grantmaking@seattlefoundation.org or call 206.515.2109.
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Tag Archives: passion
ALBUM REVIEW: Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano
Posted on November 9, 2015 by maestrobeats
by Rachele Hales
I was excited – well, excited and scared – to be given the opportunity to review Anthony de Mare’s latest album of Stephen Sondheim “re-imaginings.” Excited because Sondheim’s impact on me was very strong as I was one of many children who listened; scared because I didn’t want to find flaws in the interpretations that might underscore my devotion to the originals. After listening to Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim From the Piano several times, I can calm similar worries other listeners may have by entreating you to remember that “the way is clear, the light is good/ I have no fear, nor no one should.”
Thirty-six composers from a wide variety of backgrounds were commissioned by Anthony de Mare to re-imagine a Sondheim song of their choice as a solo piano piece. The result proves that things change – but they don’t, when you make something that lasts. Mark Eden Horowitz, author of Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions, puts it this way: “One of the reasons Liaisons succeeds so brilliantly is because Sondheim’s music is such a rich source for sounds, ideas, and approaches.” Too true. The pleasure of Liaisons is hearing how thirty-six other Sondheim fans engage with his music in their own ways. There are thirty-seven selections in the 3-CD collection. So many worth exploring, just one would be so boring. Alas, it’s impossible to review them all here but you can listen to samples of each glorious one at the Liaisons Project website. With that said… Curtain up! Light the lights! Play it, boys!
Once upon a time, all your favorite fairytales were combined into one story about loss and confusion. Oh yeah, and nearly everyone dies. Sondheim’s original prologue to Into the Woods acts as both exposition by introducing us to each character and also provides a path through the show. Andy Akiho’s version takes us into the woods, where witches, ghosts and wolves appear, by maintaining the driving rhythm of the original but allowing each character’s narrative/personality to speak with the clever use of a prepared piano. Dimes were used on the strings for the cow scenes, door knocks and narration utilized poster tack, and the witch is portrayed by clusters of credit cards. Akiho’s use of these found objects to alter the timbre is just as effective and innovative as Sondheim’s witty spoken narrative.
When asked about his intent with the Into the Woods’ climactic ballad “No One is Alone,” Sondheim replied, “What I truly mean is that no action is isolated.” One action you can take is to write a musical, only to find its score the subject of a landmark commissioning twenty-nine years later. Fred Hersch drew from his jazz background to make subtle changes to the piece. In doing so, he’s maintained the purity and simplicity of the original but plumped it up to create a lusher sound. It feels less like an arrangement and more like a fantasia.
With Kenji Bunch’s selection we attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of fleet street. Sweeney Todd is based on an urban legend (though some claim the story is true) from Victorian London about a barber who seeks revenge upon the corrupt judge who sentenced him to unjust incarceration, raped his wife and caused her insanity, and eventually kept Todd’s daughter Joanna as his ward for lustful reasons. Todd’s revenge of choice? Slitting the throat of the judge (and other clients) and partnering with his amoral landlady to grind the flesh, use it as fillings for her meat pies, and turn a handsome profit. It’s a musical thriller that wonderfully sustains fear and anxiety throughout, which Bunch amplifies to horror-show levels with “low register rumblings, shrieking high clusters, and insistent rhythmic ostinato patterns.”
Venezuelan composer Ricardo Lorenz turns those meat pies into spicy empanadas with his “Worst Pies In London”/”A Little Priest” combo. Mrs. Lovett’s cheeriness shines through here with help from a range of Latin American styles including tango, salsa, and merengue. But is it any good? Sir, it’s too good, at least.
“Green Finch and Linnet Bird” is Joanna’s song to the caged birds she identifies with while sequestered in the judge’s home. Toward the end of the original number there’s a trill notated for the singer and Jason Robert Brown found his way into the arrangement through that trill. Rather than focusing on Joanna, he’s chosen instead to paint pianistic portraits of the birds. A charming notion, but the aviary became too complex. He thought one was enough; it’s not true. It takes two to play his “Birds of Victorian England.”
Hopping across the pond to a bit of American history now, we get a couple arrangements from Assassins, a show that’s about exactly what it says on the tin. “The inverse of the American Dream is the American Nightmare, which confuses the right to pursue happiness with the right to be happy,” writes Horowitz. In Sondheim’s opening song, “Everybody’s Got the Right,” our presidential assassinators/assassination attempters sing out this misguided philosophy (aim for what you want a lot/everybody gets a shot/everybody’s got a right to their dreams…) as they purchase their weapons from the gun proprietor. Michael Daugherty inserts snippets of “Hail to the Chief” as reminders of the show’s subject and ends the piece by spinning out the opening chords until they “explode like a volley of gunfire.”
Sondheim turned the poem Charles Guiteau wrote the morning of his execution (“I Am Going to the Lordy”) into a cakewalk march to the gallows in “The Ballad of Guiteau.” Guiteau’s trial was famous not just because he assassinated President Garfield, but also because he was, as one doctor testified, a “morbid egoist” who delighted in the attention he received during the trial. A media sensation, he smiled and waved at spectators throughout the trial (and even as he walked up to the gallows, where he stopped to read said poem, going so far as to request that an orchestra play behind him while he read). Right up until his conviction he thought he’d have a good chance of becoming president himself and considered running. Why am I writing about history instead of music? Because the way Jherek Bischoff plays Sondheim’s original histrionic promenade against moments of emptiness perfectly suits the sad, ridiculous insanity of Guiteau’s mindset.
Having just a vision’s no solution, everything depends on execution. Anthony de Mare’s work on this project has, bit by bit and piece by piece, amounted to a thoroughly enjoyable collection that sounds like thirty-six composers having a musical conversation with America’s preeminent composer of musical theatre. Liaisons offers up something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone.
Anthony de Mare, left, and Stephen Sondheim pose in New York. (Nan Melville/ECM Records via AP)
Posted in New Releases, Reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, a little night music, andy akiho, annie gosfield, anthony demare, anyone can whistlea, assassins, bernadette speach, company, daniel bernard roumain, david rakowski, david shire, derek bermel, do i hear a waltz?, duncan sheik, eric rockwell, ethan iverson, eve beglarian, evening primrose, follies, fred hersch, frederic fzewski, gabriel kahane, gypsy, into the woods, jake heggie, jason robert brown, jherek bischoff, john musto, kenji bunch, mark-anthony turnage, mary ellen childs, Mason Bates, merrily we roll along, michael daugherty, musical theatre, nico muhly, nils vigeland, passion, paul moravec, peter golub, phil kline, piano, putting it together, ricardo lorenz, ricky ian gordon, rodney sharman, stephen sondheim, steve reich, sunday in the park with george, sweeney todd, tania leon, thomas newman, william bolcom, wynton marsalis | Leave a reply
LIVE PERFORMANCE FEATURE: Seattle Pro Musica sings David Lang
Posted on July 25, 2014 by maestrobeats
David Lang‘s the little match girl passion won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for music, and was recently performed by Seattle Pro Musica under the direction of Karen P. Thomas:
[this track is no longer available]
A little bit of background on the piece, by David Lang:
“My piece is called The Little Match Girl Passion and it sets Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Little Match Girl in the format of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, interspersing Andersen’s narrative with my versions of the crowd and character responses from Bach’s Passion. The text is by me, after texts by Han Christian Andersen, H. P. Paulli (the first translator of the story into English, in 1872), Picander (the nom de plume of Christian Friedrich Henrici, the librettist of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion), and the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. The word ”passion” comes from the Latin word for suffering. There is no Bach in my piece and there is no Jesus—rather the suffering of the Little Match Girl has been substituted for Jesus’s, elevating (I hope) her sorrow to a higher plane.”
A few of Seattle Pro Musica’s concert-goers offered up their reactions to this moving piece:
“What has stayed with me most from LMGP is the last line, “Rest soft, rest soft”. Boom. “Rest soft, rest soft”. The weight of that single drum beat. The weight in the silent lift of Karen’s hands following that drum beat. The weight and beauty of such a ‘simple’ phrase. “Rest soft, rest soft”.
Silence.” –Miriam Gnagy
“the little match girl passion is one of those pieces that’s very difficult for performers. Besides being technically demanding, the story is so moving that you could easily get carried away by your emotions and become lost. It’s a delicate balancing act – being in the moment enough to make it powerful for the audience without losing control of the performance. It was an unforgettable experience.” –Wes Kim
“Evocative. Poignant. Difficult. Heartbreaking. David Lang’s the little match girl passion causes the singer—and the listener—to experience viscerally the shivering of a little girl on the last evening of the year, and mourn her passing in a forgotten corner of the village. The Hans Christian Anderson fairytale brought to musical life—a 21st century artistic masterpiece.” –Marilyn Colyar
“The music was mesmerizing. It made me FEEL cold. The blend and balance of the voices was perfection, the halting rhythms dropped me into a focused suspended listening state, so that the sudden shift to the intense soprano solo swept me up and broke me open. What a piece! The stamina of the performers and their complete engagement was extraordinary. The use of instruments (that low drumbeat, the tubular bells, the chain on the hub) was powerful and haunting.” –Elly Hale
“The LMGP performances were haunting. The austere walls of St. James’ made the repetitions in the music even more relentless, providing a suitably cold and eerie atmosphere for the piece to grab the listener by the throat. And so it ended: the candle died with our last breath.” –Isabelle Phan
Many thanks to Karen P. Thomas and David Lang for the allowance of this streaming on-demand!
Posted in Concerts, On Demand Clips | Tagged 2008 Pulitzer, choral, composer, david lang, drum beat, Gospel, Hans Christian Andersen, karen p. thomas, little match girl passion, live recording, new music, passion, Pulitzer Prize, Pulitzer Prize Winner, seattle, seattle pro musica, st. james cathedral | Leave a reply
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‘Say goodbye to the office, and hello to The Clubhouse’: a smarter way to work and meet in London.
www.theclubhouselondon.com
Categories: Property Non-Digital B2C
Funded 18 Dec 2015
The Clubhouse is one of London’s leading business clubs, lounge and meeting spaces offering a new way of doing business, and the smarter alternative to a London office.
Designed to meet the requirements of growing businesses of all shapes and sizes, we provide a luxurious, professional space with complimentary WiFi, refreshments, tea, Nespresso coffee, and a dedicated team on hand to attend to our members' every need.
At The Clubhouse you can meet and work in an inspiring and productive environment, where business gets done and professional relationships can grow and flourish.
Are cafés, coffee shops and hotel lobbies really the right place to be meeting important clients? Perhaps you have an office outside London, work from home or just need alternative meeting space in the heart of town?
This was the problem faced by the Founder & CEO, Adam Blaskey who for years met his clients, contacts, partners and investors in hotel lobbies and coffee shops around central London.
At The Clubhouse our aim is simple: To make our members and their businesses more successful by giving them everything they need from a central London office - and more - but without the overheads typically associated with a premium office location.
Having launched in October 2012, The Clubhouse currently operates from two locations in Mayfair and is home to some 250 companies, from start-up and early stage businesses through to fast growth SME's and successful multi-national organisations such as Samsung and Tesla.
We have a number of revenue streams which we feel is important to the success of any business: we don't place all our eggs in one basket.
Our largest revenue stream (c.50%) is through the sale of annual memberships which provide access to The Clubhouse. Our memberships range from £2,450 pa (for an Individual Club membership offering access 1-2 days pw / 75 days pa through to £7,950 pa for a Corporate House membership which provides daily access for a company or team of up to 5 people.
Our second largest revenue stream (c.30%) is derived from our meeting room business, where we charge £50 - £75ph for a meeting room. We also allow the use of our meeting rooms by non-members who pay a £10ph supplement and who currently account for c.20% of our meeting room sales. We have hosted regular meetings for Arcadia Group, Mondelez, UBS, Lazard, Victoria Beckham, and Smith & Williamson.
The remaining 20% of sales are derived from our virtual office solution which provides members with a London address and telephone number, events, catering and affiliate partnerships formed with other businesses.
From the funds raised, we will continue to develop and grow The Clubhouse by securing a new location in St James's along with opening The Clubhouse in The City, where we have found a potential site close to Bank and Cannon Street Station.
At the same time, we will grow our team and invest in further marketing to build awareness of The Clubhouse, our brand and our offering.
Please note that the company has two share classes: Ordinary Shares and A Ordinary Shares. Investors in this round will be receiving Ordinary Shares which have full voting and equity distribution rights. The Founder holds the A Ordinary Shares, which carry a limited right to be paid a dividend separately and in priority to the holders of the Ordinary Shares subject to the following: (i) it can only be paid for the purpose of remunerating the A Ordinary Shareholder; (ii) it must be approved by the board; and (iii) it cannot be more than £250,000 per year.
We have identified six archetypal members of The Clubhouse:
CLIENT GREETERS:
They have important clients and want somewhere impressive and business-like to meet them in the heart of London.
HOMEWORKERS:
They want to get out of the home environment into a professional working environment and meet like-minded people.
BASECAMPERS:
They need a well-located London base from which to go and have client meetings and work at in between meetings.
These are natural networkers and use The Clubhouse for the connections they can make, in order to grow their businesses.
MONEY SAVERS:
These are people who are looking to save money by closing or down-sizing their London office but still want a central London presence, or don’t have sufficient meeting room space at their current offices.
STOP-GAPPERS:
Start-ups and early stage companies who want an office base whilst in the early stages of growth, and who will move on to take their own offices.
The market opportunity is significant:
- There are 4.5m self-employed people in the UK.
- Circa 550,000 new business started up last year
- Mobile technology and cloud computing have changed the way people work, allowing for much more mobile and flexible working.
- In The City of London, the amount of serviced office space has quadrupled since 1995 and is set to double again over the next 10 years.
- 2,250 businesses employing 18,000 people (average of 8) are currently based in serviced offices in The City – with many more using coffee shops and hotel lobbies.
Since we launched in 2012, The Clubhouse has largely grown by word of mouth. Currently home to 250 companies, and 825 individual members, we have also welcomed around 15,000 people through our doors.
More recently we have looked built awareness further by:
- Proactive marketing campaigns with carefully placed adverts in The FT, British Airways Business Life magazine, Management Today and others.
- Committing further resources to PPC campaigns and digital marketing
- Marketing regularly to our proprietary database of 15,000 people who have been to The Clubhouse.
- We host monthly guest speaker events for our members, guests and prospective memebrs and have hosted evenings with Luke Johnson, Nick Jenkins, Sinclair Beecham, Justin King, Paul Lindley and Lord Bilimoria to name but a few.
- We have sponsored prestigious awards such as the UK Private Business Awards and have aligned ourselves with a number of business networks.
The Clubhouse has quickly become one of London's leading business clubs, lounge and meeting spaces at a time when the traditional serviced office market has undergone significant change due to the number of new entrants offering creative and affordable co-working spaces such as WeWork ($10bn valuation) giving the incumbents such as Regus a run for their money.
However, The Clubhouse is predominantly a 'flexible meeting space' rather than a 'co-working space' and we see very little direct competition by others doing what we do, in the way we do it.
By appealing to more established businesses rather than start-ups, focusing on everything a business needs, being driven by the needs of our members, and offering the very highest levels of service to our members, we have just been shortlisted as a finalist in the London Venue Awards in the categories of ' Best Business Club' and 'Best Board Room, Meeting or AGM Venue'.
To access the The Clubhouse team biographies, including current ownership
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James Otto LIVE with Donnie Reis
Fri. Apr 19, 2019 at 7:00pm MDT
Doors open at 5:30 PM | Show starts at 7 PM
*Please note: All seating is high top tables, except for the ADA seats at tables 9 & 39.
Come enjoy dinner before the concert. To view the menu, Click Here.
Join us for an evening featuring hit, Nashville songwriters Donnie Reis and James Otto. An exclusive Pre-Show Meet and Greet Opportunity is available for $15 at checkout.
There’s a certain chemistry that happens when a great vocalist collides with a hit song. Magic just explodes from the speakers and the impact is undeniable. It’s a phenomenon James Otto knows well. His breakthrough hit, “Just Got Started Lovin’ You,” topped the country chart and was the Most Played Country Single of the Year in 2008, according to Billboard magazine. Otto’s bluesy, muscular voice and dynamic stage presence has earned him the respect of industry gatekeepers and the adoration of legions of country music fans.
Donnie Reis performs his indelible compositions with a rocking urgency that reflects the focused work ethic that's central to this front-man's approach to music and life. He writes catchy, emotionally resonant songs that capture the trials and triumphs of real life, and he performs them with a level of passion and precision that's as aspiring as it is infectious. Whether he's singing about the challenges of life ("Start Over") love ("A Dozen Roses") and self-esteem ("I'll Be Alright"), or channeling the consciousness of a soldier fighting overseas ("6000 Miles"), Donnie's songs consistently carry the unmistakable ring of truth, and they're delivered with the insight of one who's lived a rich and eventful life.
Boot Barn Hall at Bourbon Brothers 13071 Bass Pro Drive
© 2020 ShowClix on behalf of Boot Barn Hall at Bourbon Brothers. All sales are final. Tickets are non-refundable.
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A new Conservative government will close the loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement
Scheer to restore order, fairness, and compassion to Canada’s immigration system
A new Conservative government will restore public confidence in Canada’s immigration system by stopping the flow of illegal border crossers from the United States and prioritizing newcomers from the world’s most dangerous countries, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said.
“Canadians’ confidence in the immigration system has been rocked by Justin Trudeau’s chaos and mismanagement,” Scheer said. “When everybody follows the rules and the laws are enforced, immigration is good for the economy, good for jobs, and good for the people who have chosen to come to Canada.
As Prime Minister, I will take steps to restore confidence in the system and make sure Canada’s immigration system prioritizes those who need Canada’s help the most.”
As Prime Minister, Andrew Scheer will:
Prioritize funding to support immigration services like language training, credential recognition, as well as services specifically designed for vulnerable newcomers like women, girls, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Prioritize those who apply to come to Canada through the appropriate immigration streams, especially in the family reunification program.
Close the loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement.
Move existing Immigration and Refugee Board judges to common illegal border crossing points, speeding up the process and therefore making it less attractive to enter Canada illegally.
Hire an additional 250 CBSA enforcement officers.
Listen carefully to provinces on immigration issues, with an aim to work closely to best accommodate their needs and priorities. A Conservative government would be ready to negotiate with the Government of Quebec to discuss the selection of those who wish to settle in Quebec. We will be open to requests to amend the Canada-Quebec Accord on Immigration.
“These measures will restore fairness and compassion to our immigration system while providing stronger enforcement of the law at the border,” said Scheer. “If these measures aren’t taken, confidence in immigration will continue to slide and legitimate refugees will wait longer and longer for Canada’s help.”
In 2017, Justin Trudeau created an illegal border crossing crisis in Canada with his #WelcomeToCanada tweet, resulting in more than 50,000 illegal border crossers entering Canada and costing taxpayers $1.6 billion.
A poll in August 2018 found that 65% of Canadians believed the massive influx of illegal border crossers was a “crisis.”
Justin Trudeau has compensated Roxham Road residents $400,000 of taxpayer money for “disruptions” from those crossing the border illegally.
Canada is built on a rock-solid foundation of enduring values, democratic institutions, the rule of law, and fundamental and universal human rights, and these values must be reflected in our immigration system.
Only a Conservative government will restore compassion and fairness to Canada’s immigration system while protecting and securing our borders.
Expand the Age Credit, benefiting the lowest income Canadians the most and giving a senior couple up to $300.
Boost government-matching to RESPs by 50%, helping parents get more for their kids’ education.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION:
– Backgrounder
– PBO Costing
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Entertainment & News
Articles Entertainment & NewsThe history of the Queen’s Christmas speech
By The Press Association Dec 22, 2019
The first Christmas radio broadcast was by George V in 1932, while the speech was first televised in 1957
The Queen’s Christmas broadcast is a traditional feature of the festive season where the head of state can express her thoughts about the past year.
The monarch made her first Christmas broadcast live on the radio in 1952 – the year of her accession – and the annual message was first shown on TV in 1957.
She has made a Christmas Day speech every year except in 1969, when she decided the royals had been on TV enough after an unprecedented family documentary.
The Queen making her first Christmas Day radio broadcast from Sandringham House in 1952
Instead, her greeting took the form of a written address.
The first televised broadcast was transmitted live from the Long Library at Sandringham, and the Queen told how she hoped “this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and more direct”.
The Queen is seen on a television screen as she delivers her first televised Christmas message in 1957
You can watch The Queen’s first televised Christmas broadcast from 1957 here – http://t.co/0pzDQomLjK #SMInfoAge
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 24, 2014
The Queen’s first pre-recorded speech was in 1959.
The monarch – a consummate professional – usually completes her delivery in one take.
But footage from an ITV documentary earlier this year revealed that that her 2017 speech had to be re-recorded after a chirruping bird outside the palace window interrupted the proceedings.
Her Majesty The Queen. Ever the professional #QueenOfTheWorld pic.twitter.com/arfR0vbs5u
— ITV (@ITV) September 25, 2018
In her 1991 message, the Queen silenced rumours of abdication as she pledged to continue to serve.
She also issued a writ against The Sun newspaper after it published the full text of her 1992 broadcast two days before transmission.
She later accepted an apology and a £200,000 donation to charity.
The Queen in the State Dining Room of Buckingham Palace, London, after recording her Christmas Day television broadcast in 2014
The Queen’s grandfather, King George V, delivered the first royal Christmas broadcast live on the radio from Sandringham in 1932.
He read a message composed by author Rudyard Kipling.
The original idea was suggested by Sir John Reith, the founding father of the BBC, to inaugurate the Empire Service, now the BBC World Service.
George V was at first unsure about using the relatively untried medium of the wireless, but eventually agreed.
King George V, pictured with wife Queen Mary, delivered the first Christmas Day radio message
The fixed time of 3pm each year was chosen in 1932 because it was considered the best for reaching most of the countries in the British Empire by short wave.
King George V’s eldest son, who became King Edward VIII, never delivered a Christmas speech, as his reign lasted less than a year, ending in abdication.
King George VI, the Queen’s father and Edward’s brother, made his first broadcast in December 1937 in which he thanked the nation for their support during the first year of his reign.
There was no Christmas broadcast in 1936 or 1938, and it was the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 that firmly established the tradition.
The speech is written by the Queen herself and is one of the rare occasions when she does not turn to the Government for advice and is able to voice her own views.
Each message has a strong religious framework and reflects current issues.
She chooses a theme, drawing sometimes on her own personal experiences and sometimes from global events such as wars, terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
In 2003, the Queen recorded her annual Christmas message entirely on location, away from a royal residence, for the first time.
The Queen at Combermere Barracks in Windsor recording her Christmas Day message to the Commonwealth during the Iraq war
With a military backdrop of armoured fighting vehicles at Combermere Barracks in Windsor, she paid tribute to British servicemen and women who had fought in the Iraq war.
The Queen sometimes watches her own speech alone on Christmas Day.
The Duke of York revealed the monarch can prefer to leave the room to scrutinise her work as the rest of the royal family gather around the television together at Sandringham on December 25.
The royals at church on Christmas Day, before they head to Sandringham House for lunch and to watch the Queen’s speech
Andrew recalled: “I do remember that sometimes the Queen watches it and sometimes sits in another room thinking ‘Has it come across in the right way?’”
He added: “As children we were always encouraged after lunch to behave ourselves and wait for the Queen’s message, because lunch would usually finish within one or 15 minutes of quarter to three, and three o’clock is the time we all sit down and watch it.”
The duke spoke of how other members of the royal family have taken part in the broadcast over the years.
“I think all of us have taken part in it in one form or another over the years,” he said.
During the Falklands War when the duke served as a helicopter pilot, Andrew and his fellow servicemen were the focus of the Queen’s 1982 message.
“The fact that the Queen, their Commander in Chief, had a concern and was thinking about what they’re doing, and as it were, was with them for those few minutes, gives you a tremendous buzz and a feel that ‘Oh we’ve been mentioned, we’ve been thought about’,” he told ITV.
The Press Association
News from the Press Association - the national news agency for the UK and Ireland
Latest posts by The Press Association (see all)
Penguin Awareness Day: Test your knowledge with our penguin-themed quiz - January 19, 2020
10 places to see dazzling drifts of snowdrops this February - January 18, 2020
Parsnip dahl topped with roasted parsnips and pink pickled onions - January 15, 2020
Pam Ayres: ‘Writing is a great way of offloading troublesome feelings’ - January 15, 2020
Every question you’ve ever wanted to ask about the flu - January 14, 2020
More Nostalgia Articles
Down memory lane: The Great British love affair with the seaside
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Keyra Believes “I Can Do Anything” as Summer Search Changes the Odds for Her and 2,000 Low-Income Students
Categorized as: Stories on July 10, 2012.
This story, published by a local Silicon Valley newsjournal, shares the growing success of a student mentoring and adventure program we seed-funded in its startup years: Summer Search Silicon Valley.
reprinted from:
by Melissa Wen
Seven miles in, and Keyra Galvan was on the ground.
She began running at 6 a.m., through thick summer air, lush green forest, sweet bird songs and narrow mountain trails that sloped down on both sides. Singing to pass the time, with flowers in her hands, she ran all the way to a sprained ankle on this hill, where dry orange dirt coated her knees and the sun beat down from a perfect blue sky. No one else was there to pick her up, so she did it herself. Then, with a few helping hands and six more miles, she jogged across the finish line.
“It was like a challenge,” Galvan says, of the 13-mile run. “Like, if you’re able to do that, then you’re able to do pretty much anything.”
Now, as a Santa Clara University sophomore and aspiring lawyer, Galvan has proven her own statement to be correct. She admits, though, that she couldn’t have done it by herself. Her story of resilience and success is one of the many fostered by Summer Search, an organization designed to help low-income students graduate college and become altruistic leaders.
“Summer Search is trying to provide opportunities and to build skills and create certain types of characteristics in our students that will enable them to not only finish high school, but to get into college, finish college and then become altruistic leaders by giving back,” Summer Search Silicon Valley Executive Director Carlin Politzer says.
Founded in 1990 by adolescent counselor Linda Mornell, Summer Search now serves 2,000 at-risk students, 90% of which are first generation college attendees, from 7 sites in the country: Silicon Valley, San Francisco, North Bay, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. After an extensive application process involving teacher nominations, interviews and essays, Summer Search selects a group of sophomores each year and equips them with college and financial-aid advising, personal mentoring, and scholarships to two summer programs, one wilderness trip and one international or academic enrichment program.
Like many of her 2,000 counterparts, Galvan started Summer Search with a phone call: to her new mentor, Irene Nyavor. Galvan initially dreaded the required weekly check-ins, which she described as awkward and full of silences. “I’ve always had a wall up…I don’t like showing people my emotions,” she says.
But Irene was relentless, pushing her to share. Gradually, Galvan reached out to Irene, crying on the phone sometimes, when she was alone with her sisters. Galvan’s parents divorced when she was nine and she ended up living with her dad, who raised three daughters as a single parent. Irene, she says, became almost like a mother to her.
Galvan says she first began opening up to Irene after her first Summer Search trip, a wilderness expedition to North Carolina, where she spent a month rock climbing, white water canoeing, backpacking. In addition to the physical exertion, she had to endure living on dried cereal and powdered milk, and without showers.
“You reflect a lot about your own life. You learn how to not take things for granted,” she says.
Her second to last day there, she ran the thirteen miles. In the reflection she was required to write afterward, she remembers writing a lot about the experience, in which she jogged six miles despite a sprained ankle.
“I had to just push through,” Galvan says.
The end of the 13 miles brought celebration, relaxation, and the luxury of a real shower. But it wasn’t the only challenge Galvan would have to push through. She called Irene multiple times a week as she struggled through junior year.
“I didn’t know what the SATs were. I didn’t even know how to get into college,” she says.
According to the 2010 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, J.P. Morgan summit on U.S. education, only 71% of low-income students get a high school diploma or general education diploma, and only 41% start a two- or four-year college. Summer Search helped Galvan change those odds, by providing her with numerous resources to prepare for college, including SAT, interview, and financial aid workshops.
And so Galvan finished junior year, and tackled yet another challenge: her second Summer Search trip, this time to Tanzania. As per all Summer Search international trips, the experience had a community service element. Galvan volunteered at an orphanage for a while, and then worked on construction at Lerai primary school in Arusha. She went on to stay a tribe called the Hadza, where she adopted the tribe’s way of life.
“The cool part about it is that you’re living next to these animals,” she says. “You just see the elephant drinking from the same pond that you’re trying to get water from.”
Throughout the trip she built relationships with the people she encountered, which included Africans, Summer Searchers from around the country, and a few international students. According to Politzer, Summer Search purposely tries to connect its students with others from a variety of places. Marie from Versailles, for example, slept under the same tarp as Galvan, talking to her like a best friend through her thick French accent.
“She’s always like ‘Come visit me I’ll show you everywhere’ and I’m like ‘I wish!’” Galvan says.
In addition to writing a reflection after the trip, Galvan wrote a speech to present at the Silicon Valley Summer Search spring event, one of two events that Summer Search holds every year to celebrate its students. At the time Irene went on maternity leave, so Galvan had to seek help from other mentors.
“Everybody in the office is your mentor because they all want to help you out. They all want to see you succeed,” she says.
The mentors, and Galvan, would get their wish. As her 18th birthday party came to a close, Galvan received a call from Santa Clara University, to tell her that they’d decided to give her $15,000, just what she needed to pay her tuition. She cried when she told her family.
“I worked my butt off. I applied to every scholarship I could,” she says. “You just got to keep working hard. Like if you don’t get it the first one, you go for the second one. If you don’t get the second one you go for the third one.”
Finally, Galvan’s senior moment had arrived. At the spring event, where Summer Search celebrates its outgoing seniors, she acted as both master of ceremonies and a student speaker. In front of 500 people, she talked about her personal struggles, her experiences in Africa, the value of uncomfortable moments and the importance of connecting to others. The spotlight shone down on her like the North Carolina sun, but this time she stood up tall. The wall had gone down, and Keyra had emerged.
“So many people came up to me after I finished and they were like you know what, honestly, your speech touched me,” Galvan says. “I was just really happy to hear that people were able to relate to my story.”
Thus, Galvan moved on to become an alumna, and joined the more than 90% of Summer Search graduates every year that attend college. Her experience with Summer Search, however, hasn’t ended. Each year Summer Search Silicon Valley holds several events involving alumni, to keep them connected. It also provides career and college help for students who have moved on to college and beyond.
“Our motto is once you’re a summer searcher, you’re always a summer searcher,” says Summer Search Alumni Board member Danielle Bicknell.
Currently, Summer Search Silicon Valley serves 217 students, a number that it hopes to increase. The entirety of Summer Search plans to grow from 2,000 students to 3,500 in the next 5 years, with the ultimate goal of helping nearly 3,000 students obtain bachelor degrees and become altruistic leaders.
Galvan is growing along with Summer Search. An economics major with a minor in international business, she is considering going to law school and pursing a career in immigration, or at a non-profit.
“I like seeing people change and succeed, so I want to do something where I can help people just like Summer Search helped me,” she says. Galvan continues to face challenges, and continues to use the lessons she’s learned from Summer Search.
“People are going to knock you down,” she says. “And if you know how to overcome that, you’re golden.
For more information on Summer Search, click here to visit the national program and here to visit the Silicon Valley branch.
← Self-Determination for Families: More Power to Melinda Gates! Social Entrepreneur Creates Dairy Jobs Where No One Else Dares to Go →
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ABOUT OLTL
Everything you need to know about OLTL
The latest OLTL news
Llanview family trees
20+ years of OLTL recaps
OLTL and the Daytime Emmys
One Life to Live's Jonathan Groff (ex-Henry Mackler) stopped by Live! with Kelly and Ryan and shared why starring on a soap opera -- although fun -- wasn't exactly his jam.
Monday's episode of Live! with Kelly and Ryan featured a blast from the past for One Life to Live fans. Jonathan Groff, who played Henry Mackler as part of the soap's 2007 teen storyline, dropped by to discuss season two of his Netflix series Mindhunter and, while doing so, also shared some tidbits about his soap opera days.
Host Kelly Ripa was keen to hear about Groff's first day on the set of OLTL, confessing that she has always been a huge fan of the ABC soap (and used to play All My Children's Hayley Vaughan, as daytime fans know).
"I do remember my first day because I was doing Spring Awakening on Broadway at the time, and One Life to Live was my first time ever being on TV," Groff recalls. "So I got this offer, and I was like, 'Yes, I would love to be in a soap opera,' and we finished Spring Awakening at 11:00 p.m. and I woke up the next morning at 4:0 a.m. to walk uptown to go to do One Life to Live, and I called my agent and left a message, and I said 'You have to get me out of this, I can't wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning!'"
RELATED: ABC exec shares more details about possible AMC and OLTL reboots
Live! with Kelly and Ryan then aired a clip of Groff making his TV debut on One Life to Live, where he showcased his robot dance moves. Check out the video below and let us know what memories you have of Groff's OLTL stint.
After leaving OLTL in 2007, Groff went on to star in shows like Boss, Glee, Looking, and Mindhunter. In 2016, he received a Tony Award nomination for his performance as King George III in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of Hamilton on Broadway. Groff made his Broadway debut as Melchior in Spring Awakening, for which he received a Theatre World Award, as well as Tony, Drama Desk, and Drama League Award nominations. He's set to return to the New York Stage in the off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors! and will return as the voice of Kristoff in Disney's highly anticipated Frozen 2, which is being released this November.
What do you think about Groff's OLTL memories? Have you ever regretted taking a job after you'd already committed? Did you know AMC's Kelly Ripa was a huge fan of OLTL? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
Post a Comment Share on Facebook Tweet this Submit Feedback
's OLTL FrontPage.
One Life to Live, General Hospital star Jessica Tuck heads to The Resident
Soap opera alums Blair Underwood, Cornelius Smith Jr. join Octavia Spencer in Self Made
Kassie DePaiva exits Days of our Lives, shares goodbye to fans on social media
Chase Coleman joins The Young and the Restless as recording artist Tanner Watts
One Life to Live alum Jonathan Groff joins Matrix 4 opposite Keanu Reeves, Jada Pinkett Smith
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Eddie Melcer
Assistant Professor, Computational Media
UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Campus, Room 3241
Email for appointment
I am an independent game developer, director of the Alternative Learning Technologies and Games (ALT Games) Lab, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Computational Media. My primary teaching and research interests are at the intersection of games, human-computer interaction, and learning science where I explore the usage of novel interfaces, alternative controllers, and physical gameplay mechanics to enhance learning outcomes in educational games. Specifically, my work examines how different forms of physical embodiment and interaction (e.g., tangibles, augmented reality, DIY custom interfaces, and so forth) impact the learning process and related social/emotional factors in educational games. I also do research in the area of game studies, conducting large-scale meta-analyses to better understand overall trends within games research and industry. My serious games have won awards in venues such as the 2016 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge and 2nd Annual Games for Learning Design Competition. My independent games have also been featured in a number of venues such as IndieCade 2017, IndieCade East 2016, 2015 New York Come Out & Play Festival, 2013 World Science Festival, MoMA, and NYU 2nd Annual Integrated Digital Media Student Showcase.
Educational games, STEM education, Programming games, Alternative controllers, Embodiment, Tangibles, AR, VR, Human-computer interaction
Ph.D. in Computer Science, 2018, New York University Tandon School of Engineering
M.S. in Computer Science, 2016, New York University Tandon School of Engineering
B.S. in Computer Science, 2013, Polytechnic Institute of New York University
Are you Eddie Melcer? If so, you can update your directory information.
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Become a Custodian Patron (Active)
Recognising our donors
The Story Behind The May Gibbs Collection
Make an annual donation
Custodian Patrons play a special role in the growth of the State Library by making an annual donation.
Custodian Patrons are a special group of supporters who make an annual donation to the Foundation. Each year, these donations support a specific project including the acquisition of new collection items, the preservation of rare artefacts, and the development of innovative public programs and exhibitions. Custodian donors have generously contributed more than $2.4 million to the Library since the program's inception.
2018-19 Appeal
Last year we asked our Custodian donors to support the establishment of a special Children’s Library in the Macquarie Street building, offering direct access to the best works for children and young adults written and published in Australia, with a representative sample of classic works from beyond our shores. The new Children’s Library opened on 12 October 2019.
Make a tax-deductible Custodian Patron donation using our secure online payment system. We accept online payment with Mastercard, Visa and American Express.
You can download the Custodian Patron Donation Form by clicking here and returning it to us with your details.
We have a range of vital projects which need funding support and would love to hear from Trusts and Foundations to discuss specific goals and interests.
The Library is constantly expanding its collections and considers offers of material.
Your donation will help sustain the vital work of the Library, supporting acquisitions, conservation exhibitions, education programs, awards and fellowships.
Updated on 20 November 2019
Since 1989 the Foundation has supported acquisitions, conservation, education programs, exhibitions, events, and the digitisation of the Library's collections.
Collection Care ensures that the Library’s rich and extensive collections are available to all those who wish to use them.
Caring for photographs
Each photographic process is unique but general guidelines may be given about their care, storage and use.
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‘Stillwater’ Will Team Matt Damon with ‘The Cobbler’ Director Tom McCarthy
Posted on Friday, July 19th, 2019 by Chris Evangelista
Tom McCarthy, director of the Adam Sandler magic shoes movie The Cobbler (and also Spotlight) has found his next project. Sadly, it’s not a sequel to The Cobbler. Instead, it’s a film called Stillwater, and it stars Matt Damon as a guy who finds magic shoes. Oh, I’m sorry, that’s the plot to The Cobbler again. My mistake. Instead, Damon will play an oil worker who goes to France to visit his estranged daughter. The catch: the daughter is in prison for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. Sounds like she could use some magic shoes.
Variety broke the news about Stillwater, the new Matt Damon movie from director Tom McCarthy. Here’s how they’re describing it:
“Stillwater” follows an American oil-rig rough neck from Oklahoma, played by Damon, who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter. In the process, he develops a friendship with a local woman and her young daughter and embarks on a personal journey of discovery and a larger sense of belonging in the world.
That is one wild synopsis. The “daughter in jail for murder” plot sounds completely removed from the “friendship with a local woman” storyline, and I’m curious to see how this all fits together. All jokes about The Cobbler aside, McCarthy is a talented director, and I’m a huge fan of Spotlight. Damon actually came very close to starring in Spotlight, but scheduling got in the way. Now they’ll get to work together after all. McCarthy wrote the Stillwater script with Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré. Participant Media is producing.
“The opportunity to reunite with Tom after Spotlight and to partner with our friend and colleague Jonathan King for the first time in his new role makes Stillwater a very special film for everyone at Participant,” said Participant CEO David Linde. “This is a wonderful script, centered on universal themes of connection and the search for truth, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring it to audiences around the world.”
“Tom, Thomas and Noé have written a complex, surprising and emotional story, and Tom is crafting a film that asks us to consider how we engage with each other in an increasingly connected but also fragmented world,” added producers Liza Chasin and Jonathan King.
‘Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made’ Trailer: Tom McCarthy Has a Disney+ Movie
Why Did Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Wait So Long Before Writing Together Again with ‘The Last Duel’?
‘The Last Duel’: Adam Driver Could Join Matt Damon in Ridley Scott Film, Ben Affleck Takes a Supporting Role
The Morning Watch: The History of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, ‘Men in Black International’ VFX & More
Casting, Drama, Matt-Damon, Stillwater, Tom Mccarthy
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‘Toy Wars’ Limited Series Coming From Josh Gad, Josh Schwartz & ‘King of Kong’ Director
Posted on Tuesday, September 20th, 2016 by Peter Sciretta
If this doesn’t sound like a television series made just for me, then I don’t know what does. Actor/writer Josh Gad (Frozen, Jobs) will be co-writing and star in a new limited television series set up at Amazon called Toy Wars. The story follows the real-life battle between American toy giants Hasbro and Mattel in the 1980s and 1990s. Ryan Dixon (Triplets, Curious George) is attached to co-write with Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Gossip Girl, Chuck), who will be the showrunner for the series with The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters director Seth Gordon expected to direct the pilot episode. Hit the jump to learn more.
Hasbro is the company behind toy franchises like GI Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony, while Mattel produces Fisher-Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls and board games. Anyone who knows anything about the battle between these two toy companies during the 80’s and 90’s knows that there is a compelling story to be told in a television series. The companies have had a long and fascinating history and most recently we reported on the rumblings of a possible merger.
The limited television series will be based on the non-fiction book Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies that Make Them by G. Wayne Miller. The official book description follows:
This is the real toy story, an unprecedented behind-the-scenes journey through a world of influence, fantasy, and multimillion-dollar Hollywood deals, a world where the whims of children make millionaires and topple titans. This is also the story of an unusual man. Alan Hassenfeld, the chief executive officer of Hasbro, never intended to run a Fortune 500 company. A free spirit who dreamed of being a writer and exploring Asia, he was content to remain in the shadow of his older brother Stephen, a marketing genius who transformed a family firm established by immigrant Jews into powerhouse and Wall Street darling. Then tragedy struck. Stephen, and intensely private man, died of AIDS, a disease he had not acknowledged he had, even to his family. Alan Hassenfeld was named CEO, just as Hasbro was facing a daunting onslaught of challenges. Toy Wars is about Alan’s struggle to balance the demands of the bottom line with his ideals about the kind of toys children deserve, as well as the ethical obligations of management.
Miller was granted unprecedented access to Hasbro and for five years sat in on design sessions, marketing meetings, and focus groups, and interviewed employees in every part of the company. He witnessed a major corporate restructuring; crucial deal with Dreamworks SKG; a hostile takeover bid by archrival Mattel; the collapse of a $45 million virtual reality game; and the company makeover of G.I. Joe, Hasbro’s flagship product and one of the most popular toys of all time. The book is still available for sale on Amazon. The news of this new show comes thanks to Deadline.
Gad, Dixon, and Gordon sold the project to Amazon and Schwartz was asked to board the project afterwards because of his personal connection to the material. One of the characters in the book is Stephen Schwartz, one of late CEO Steven Hassenfeld’s “Three Musketeers,” who helped turn Hasbro into the number one toy company in the world. Some of the other characters in the book include directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, as well as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers creator Haim Saban.
‘Avenue 5’ Trailer: Josh Gad Invites You on a “Luxury” Space Experience
VOTD: Daisy Ridley Gets Ambushed with ‘Star Wars’ Spoiler Questions by Josh Gad and Other Disney Stars
‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ Director Joe Johnston Returning for ‘Shrunk’ Reboot
Amazon, Casting, Drama, Screenwriting, Television, True Story, G. Wayne Miller, Josh-Gad, Josh-Schwartz, Ryan Dixon, Seth Gordon, Toy Wars
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Stuart Law signs on as West Indies coach
Updated January 28, 2017 — 10.09am first published at 10.05am
JAMAICA - Former Australia batsman Stuart Law is the new West Indies head coach.
The 48-year-old joins West Indies having acted as Australia's batting coach for the 2016 Sri Lanka tour.
Law completes the new-look West Indies coaching team, headed by director of cricket Jimmy Adams and chairman of selectors Courtney Browne.
The former one-day specialist batsman has signed a two-year contract, starting work on February 15.
Stuart Law in his playing days. Credit:Tony Feder
"I am excited at the opportunity to contribute to what I think is an interesting time for West Indies," said Law.
"I think this assignment has come at an important time of my career."
The departing cricket director Richard Pybus helped appoint Law, and hailed the addition.
"He has great experience and breadth of knowledge as a player and coach and his cross-cultural experience and winning attitude will be key assets in the development of the team," Pybus said.
-PA
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From space tourism to robo-surgeries, the future is here, and investors are betting on it like there’s no tomorrow
Victor Ferreira, Postmedia News (vferreira@postmedia.com)
Published: Dec 27, 2019 at 7 a.m.
Updated: Dec 27, 2019 at 8:02 a.m.
Retail investors have never had as many options to hedge their portfolio toward the future.
But with little stock history or fundamentals, investing in early stage technology comes with challenges
It may be difficult to envision, but there is a potential future — be it 10, 20 or even 30 years down the line — where humans are able to plan a cozy vacation into space, blast by a series of satellites that now provide them with Internet access and have their most serious illnesses treated by allowing bioengineers to alter their DNA.
It’s one possible future that proactive investors, even those in typically reactive institutional settings, have begun to place large and risky bets on becoming a reality.
In April, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan created a new department called the Teachers’ Innovation Platform that has a mandate to invest in disruptive tech and made its first big splash in June by backing Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The pension plan has particular interest in the company’s Starlink project, one that aims to fire more than 11,000 satellites into low orbit, interlink them all and have them act as a new provider of Internet connectivity.
For investing ... you want to look 15 to 20 years down the line and say: 'Is this still going to be impacting peoples' lives?
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has put a similar emphasis on investing in disruptive technology, announcing in late 2018 that it had made a private investment in Zoox, a California-based company that aims to operate a fleet of robo-taxis. Only months ago, the pension plan bought US$162 million worth of Skyworks Solutions Inc., a semiconductor firm creating chips that will allow the next wave of phones to work in 5G networks.
As for retail investors, they’ve likely never had as many options to hedge their portfolio toward the future. The 2019 IPO market offered them even more, bringing a basket of futuristic options to the market, including Beyond Meat Inc., a producer of plant-based meat, and Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., the latest brainchild of Richard Branson, which is developing spacecraft that may allow for the development of a space tourism sector.
But the investors buying these stocks aren’t buying them with the hope that they’ll hit their peak in 2020.
“You have to recognize the world is changing,” said Hans Albrecht, the portfolio manager for Horizons ETFs Industry 4.0 fund. “There’s nothing wrong in investing in Pokemon cards if they’re hot now or whatever the latest trend may be, but that’s a trade. For investing … you want to look 15 to 20 years down the line and say: ‘Is this still going to be impacting peoples’ lives?'”
It won’t be long, Albrecht suspects, before his coffee maker is able to receive signals from his mug that tell it to begin brewing a new serving once he’s three-quarters of the way through his first cup in the morning.
If that scenario sounds too futuristic, it’s one that only scratches the surface, he said. When he’s running low on espresso packages, a chip in his pantry keeping track of stock may be able to automatically order more from Amazon, which at that point, may have implemented one-hour shipping, to ensure he’ll never run out.
Thousands of consumers already have access to smart home technology through Google Home or Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa, which allow for the linking of devices such as thermostats, lights and televisions. It’s advancements in artificial intelligence and edge computing, which will effectively replace the cloud and allow for individual items in a home to process data, that will bring this technology into the future.
Figuring out how to play technology like edge computing which may very well become mainstream in a decade isn’t exactly simple.
Investors will have two options: they can bet on the end point user of the technology — in Albrecht’s coffee scenario, that would mean investing in the company that produces the coffee maker — or they can look to the firms that are developing the components that power it.
Albrecht leans towards the latter, suggesting that there would be far too much competition among the end point companies while there would only be a handful of leaders on the components side. A company like Analog Devices Inc., may play a central role in the implementation of that technology because it’s building everything from the sensors and their networks to processors.
Investors may be able to apply similar logic with 5G, according to CIBC World Markets tech strategist Todd Coupland.
Consumers will likely only begin to see the wide rollout of 5G, which would enable devices to operate at speeds that as much as 100 times faster than the current 4G tech, in 2020. That means that it might be a bit early to invest in device producers such as Apple Inc. or Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. for that exposure. Instead, Coupland suggested investors eye a company like Keysight Technologies Inc. which builds the equipment that carriers have been using to test out their services ahead of launch.
Goldman Sachs expects 50 million to 120 million 5G devices to be active in 2020 and if that should be the case, components manufacturers in Qualcomm Inc. and Marvell Technology Group Ltd. may warrant attention as would providers such as Nokia Ovj, which already has 50 deals in place to install its radio access equipment, AirScale, around the world. The equipment supports multiple frequencies and allows for a quick transition over to 5G.
That list doesn’t include the Canadian telcos — and for good reason.
“In Canada, Rogers and Bell, their attitude is: ‘See how it goes in the U.S. and we’ll be at least one year behind,'” Coupland said.
5G’s full potential likely won’t be reached for a decade, he said, and the futuristic possibilities it opens up will likely only be reached in the second half. When combined with the power of quantum computing, managing a fleet of self-driving cars and, who knows, removing traffic lights from the streets becomes a possibility, according to Christian Weedbrook, the CEO of Toronto-based quantum computing company Xanadu.
Weedbrook’s company has gained the attention of Georgian Partners, a private-sector venture capital firm that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in upstart Canadian tech companies.
What makes quantum computing, a draw for Jason Brenier, Georgian’s vice-president of strategy, is its ability to “solve previously unsolveable problems.”
Weedbrook imagines a future where quantum computers control hundreds of autonomous vehicles for Uber Inc. or Lyft Inc. and provide each individual car with the fastest route to its destination, analyzing traffic, time a trip perfectly so that red lights can be mostly or completely avoided, and in the case of a pool scenario, figure out how to do that with multiple stops.
Investing in early stage technology comes with its challenges. Because Georgian focuses on private investments, there is no stock performance to point to and not much in the way of fundamentals to rely on.
Many of these tech companies that are seeking funding from the firm may show promise but won’t pan out in the future. Brenier knows this and says that’s one of the reasons why Georgian has its own scientists on staff.
Instead of making blind bets on the future, Georgian turns to its applied research and development team to identify new opportunities based on new academic research and to even conduct their own in order to determine whether a new idea is actually viable.
“That gives us some unique insight into how some of these things are taking off, how practical they are from an investment perspective and determining the timing of some of them,” Brenier said.
The Georgian team is futurist, but there’s still a limit on how far in advance they want to support a new wave of tech. “We don’t want to work on things that take 20 years to make a breakthrough,” Brenier said.
Where breakthroughs may be even more rare for futurist investors, but the potential returns all the sweeter is in health care. The possibilities here, especially when tech plays a part of the equation, appear to be boundless.
Albrecht sees the potential in robots being able to perform surgery on humans. The portfolio manager highlighted Intuitive Surgical Inc. and its da Vinci Surgical System as an example of how this is already occurring. Through a console that offers them a 3D view of the surface area they’ll be operating on, surgeons can use controllers to perform procedure with four robotic arms that offer a greater range of motion than human limbs.
Intuitive doesn’t just sell the machines, it sells the accessories like scalpels which are replaceable and need to be repeatedly ordered. So the more da Vinci units it sells, the more it opens itself up for further gains to its bottom line through accessory sales.
The next step, Albrecht said, is for this technology to allow surgeons to perform surgeries around the world remotely. After that’s accomplished, humans may be removed from the equation altogether with AI.
“You take the smartest doctors in the world and they might just have the slightest tremor in their hand and might not get it perfect, but a machine will come as close to that as possible,” he said.
Heathcare now makes up about a quarter of the CIBC Global Technology Fund, which is co-managed by Michel Marszal, who has a particular interest in gene therapy.
The technology may still be in development, but Marszal said scientists will soon be able to treat certain conditions, specifically those that plague humans as a result of mutated genes, by biologically engineering new sequences to replace them.
Take haemophilia, a condition that reduces the ability of a person’s blood to clot. Treating haemophilia A, which is caused due to a deficiency of a protein called factor VII, may soon be possible by removing cells from the patient, biologically engineering gene sequences with the protein in them and reinserting them.
Gilead Sciences Inc., a company that is in Marszal’s mutual fund, is working on gene therapy that might even be able to fight cancer. According to Marszal, the process involves removing immune cells from a human body and genetically modify them so that they become supercharged and are better positioned to fight cancer.
“The returns on investment in successful therapies are extremely high,” Marszal said. “That’s really the next decade or 25 years in medicine.”
Thinking that far ahead may be difficult for the average investor, who is often concerned with year-end returns. But it might be worth stopping as some futurists do, even during a quiet moment like a morning coffee, to consider just how different the world will look in a decade — and perhaps selfishly, how there’s profit to be made from it.
• Email: vferreira@nationalpost.com | Twitter: VicF77
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
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SGTC News > Jets and Lady Jets split GCAA conference games with Georgia Highlands College
Jets and Lady Jets split GCAA conference games with Georgia Highlands College
Niya Guudelock, 3, was the leading scorer for the Lady Jets against Georgia Highlands in Rome.
Rome, GA – For the third time in as many conference games, the South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets split decisions in a Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) contest. The nationally ranked Lady Jets captured their third consecutive and ninth conference victory with an 80 – 62 win over the Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers while the Jets dropped their third straight conference decision in a 73 – 66 battle on the Chargers home court in Rome, GA.
“It is tough,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett. “We have lost two games by three points and lost this one by seven points. We have just got to find a way to finish strong and win.”
The Jets and the Chargers were tied at 42-42 at the half. The two teams traded leads back and forth in the second half but the Chargers were finally able to pull ahead for good on a three point shot to make it 60 – 57 midway through the half. They maintained that lead to capture the 73 – 66 victory.
The Lady Jets, which are undefeated in the GCAA, took their second consecutive win over Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers. Georgia Highlands is currently in second place behind the Lady Jets with a 5 – 2 record. Their only conference losses this season are to South Georgia Technical College.
Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers started off strong and were up 12 – 9 at the end of the first quarter. They scored seven unanswered points in the second quarter to pull ahead 19 – 9. The Lady Jets were scoreless until the last 5:35 minutes in the half. South Georgia Tech had a 14 – 3 run to retake the lead 23 – 22 with 1:25 left in the second quarter. The Lady Jets scored five unanswered points in the final minute and a half to go up 29 – 24 at the half.
The Lady Jets outscored Georgia Highlands 29 – 19 in the third quarter and 22 – 19 in the fourth quarter to capture the 80 – 62 victory. “It is always good to get a win against Georgia Highlands, especially in their gym,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “We knew that this was an important game for our conference play and I am proud of the ladies for coming back and finishing strong. We still have to work on playing 40-full minutes if we want to continue to win against good teams.”
Sophomore transfer guard Niya Goudelock was the top scorer for the Lady Jets with 22 points. Another sophomore guard Shamari Tyson added 15 points and then freshman center Femme Sikuzani scored 11 points while sophomore forward Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din closed out the double-digit scoring with 10 points. Goudelock had five rebounds, seven assists and two steals to go with her 22 points. Tyson had five rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Sikuzani had seven rebounds, and one blocked shot before fouling out. Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din led the team in rebounding with eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Jets was Flore Ngasamputu with eight, Oumy Gueye with four, Anna McKendree with three, Moe Shida had two points and Hope Butera closed out the scoring with one point.
The Lady Jets are 9 – 0 in the conference and 19 – 2 overall. They are currently ranked 17th in the National Junior College Athletic Association and working toward earning their fifth trip to the national tournament in six years.
Sophomore Justin Johnson was the top scorer for the Jets in their loss with 13 points. Toriano Lewis and Jairus Carroll were tied for the second highest scorer position with 11 points each. Lewis was three of seven from the three-point line. None of the Jets had over four individual rebounds in that contest.
Lamont Sanders scored nine points, Jalen Reynolds had eight, Denari Garrett and Tabais Long both contributed five points, Brice Paster scored three points and Austin Hadden closed out the scoring with one point.
The loss by the Jets in the second half of the double-head dropped them to 1 – 3 in the conference and 8 – 10 overall. They are currently in seventh place in the GCAA. Albany Tech is leading the men’s league with a 4 – 0 record and Georgia Highlands is second at 2 – 0. South Georgia State College is third at 3 – 1, followed by Central Georgia Tech, 2 – 1; Gordon College at 2- 2, and Andrew at 1 – 2. Southern Crescent is eighth at 0 – 2 and East Georgia is ninth at 0 – 4.
The Jets and Lady Jets will host Southern Crescent Technical College in Americus at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 18th. The Jets will host South Georgia State College on Wednesday, January 22nd at 7 p.m. and then the two teams host Albany Technical College on Saturday, January 25th at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Hangar on the SGTC Americus campus.
Justin Johnson, 5, had 13 points for the Jets in the loss to Georgia Highlands.
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Universe Expansion 'Detective Story' Examined with New Tool
By Nola Taylor Redd 2018-07-19T10:55:08Z
New research may help shed light on why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.
(Image: © NASA/ESA/LEGUS team)
A new technique that analyzes clashing observations may help solve the mystery behind the expansion of the universe.
The universe doesn't sit calm and placid; it's expanding at an accelerating rate. Why the expansion is speeding up, however, remains a mystery. Some scientists argue that dark energy, the theoretical force that makes up most of the universe, is countering the pull of gravity, while others make the case that Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity itself may need to be modified. Under Einstein's theory, the gravity of the universe appears weaker than scientists expect to see if it is made up of regular matter.
To attempt to solve the mystery, a team of researchers is looking not at the universe, but at the data collected by multiple observations — or, more specifically, the inconsistencies in these data.
"This is like a detective story, where inconsistent evidence or testimony could lead to solving the puzzle," Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, a professor of astrophysics at The University of Texas at Dallas, said in a statement.
Working with graduate student Weikang Lin, Ishak-Boushaki has developed a new tool to examine those inconsistencies. Their findings could help shed light on the long-standing mystery of cosmological expansion. Ishak-Boushaki presented the results June 5 at the 232nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society, in Denver. [The Universe: Big Bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps]
A new tool
When Einstein was formulating his theory of general relativity, he included the term "gravitational constant" in his equations, to account for a mathematical discrepancy. In 1929, when Edwin Hubble observed that other galaxies moved away from the Milky Way, the idea of an expanding galaxy gained ground. Decades later, in 1998, researchers realized that the expansion was actually speeding up — a discovery that earned them the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics. Since then, evidence has continued to support that acceleration.
Astrophysicists rely on a standard model of the universe to describe its history, evolution and structure. This model helps them calculate the age of the universe and the speed of its expansion. Its equations contain several cosmological parameters — variables that are determined by observations.
But the numbers for those variables can come from a wide range of experiments, and sometimes, the results of those experiments don't agree. These discrepancies can create systematic errors in data sets and cause uncertainty in the standard model.
"Our research is looking at the value of these parameters, how they are determined from various experiments, and whether there is agreement on the values," Ishak-Boushaki said.
Ishak-Boushaki and Lin developed a new measure, called the index of inconsistency (IOI), which can assign a numerical value to how much two or more data sets disagree. An IOI of more than 1 means the data sets are inconsistent, while an IOI greater than 5 ranks them as "strongly inconsistent."
For example, the Hubble parameter relates to the rate the universe is expanding. Ishak-Boushaki compared five techniques for determining the Hubble parameter. One method relies on measuring the distance to supernovas that lie relatively nearby, while others observe different phenomena at much greater distances.
"We found that there is an agreement between four out of five of these methods, but the Hubble parameter from local measurement of supernovae is not in agreement. It's like an outlier," Ishak-Boushaki said. "In particular, there is a clear tension between the local measurement and that from the Planck science mission, which characterized the cosmic microwave background radiation."
Even more confusing, the multiple methods used to calculate that local method disagree with the Planck results and others.
"Why does this local measurement of the Hubble parameter stand out in significant disagreement with Planck?" Ishak-Boushaki said.
Ishak-Boushaki and Lin also applied the IOI to five sets of observational tools in the solar system and found that they were in strong disagreement, both with each other and with Planck.
"This is very intriguing. This is telling us that the universe at the largest observable scales may behave differently from the universe at intermediate or local scales," Ishak-Boushaki said. "This leads us to question whether Albert Einstein's theory of gravity is valid all the way from small scales to very large scales in the universe."
The researchers have made their IOI tool available for other scientists to use.
"These inconsistencies are starting to show up more now because our observations have progressed to a level of precision where we can see them," said Ishak-Boushaki, who published his first paper about the inconsistencies in 2006. "We need the right values for these cosmological parameters because it has important implications for our understanding of the universe."
Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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India Football Tour
5-a-side football is a smaller version of “the beautiful game” we are all so passionate about. It started in UK in the1950’s when was it was played by professional teams. For the past two decades it has been growing the fastest with an estimated 5 million people playing the sport regularly across the world.
Five a side football is played on a smaller pitch than the traditional football pitch and has smaller goals with reduced game duration. It is a 5 member team sport which has 4 outfield players, 1 goalkeeper with 3 or less substitutes. There are also some differences in the rules, such as no offside rules, unlimited rolling substitutions etc.
So why is 5-a-side football as exciting as 11-a-side football?
Let’s be honest, when it comes to having a full experience it’ difficult to compete with 11-a-side football with heading, slide tackling, long balls all being part of the game but there are some reasons why 5-a-side football is just as exciting –
1. More touches, more skills, more play!
Since the length of the pitch is smaller with fewer players being part of the game, you’re never really far from the action. A study found that players have over 4 times the touches in 60 mins of game time of 5-a-side than a full 90-min game of 11-a-side football.
Because of the format, every player is more involved in the game and the focus of the game turns to the core principles of football – passing, dribbling, possession and shooting.
2. Better for fitness
Yes, because you’re constantly involved when you’re playing 5-a-side, you’re required to repeatedly perform bursts of high-intensity exercise which has been shown to rake up your fitness levels quicker. 5-a-side football is an incredible game for developing fitness and as well as lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. It’s not just about physical fitness, it also serves to be a great mental release.
The dynamic nature of the game, unique puzzles like breaking the formation, anticipating the ball and the inherent challenges associated with the game makes it as much a mental workout as it is a physical one. It significantly contributes to a player’s mental wellbeing.
3. Better facilities
When it comes to amateur level football there’s no debate as the facilities on offer to 5-a-side players are far superior to the 11-a-side game. The number of arenas across cities are a lot more. Many of them are all well-lit for evening football, so people don’t have to worry about playing in the hot sun or have to worry about not getting the ground to play at all.
The quality of the turf is generally good with astro grass which also leads to fewer injuries. All you need to worry about is honing your skills, improving your game and having a quality time!
4. Less dependent on weather
5-a-side is an all season sport. It is almost immune against light spells of shower or sun. Infact, it is a game that can be enjoyed in rains. Worried about getting a sun tan? The option of playing evening football gives you the luxury of playing when the sun isn't there. We are familiar with the misery of having games being called off in an 11-a-side football because the pitches tend to become soggy and the game can’t be played at a level you wish to because of the pitch being affected by adverse weather conditions.
5. More convenient and easier to organize
We are now spoilt for choice in terms of 5-a-side grounds available. Most urban dwellers will have a ground functioning within a 10 km radius of their homes.
Also, in terms of getting a team and participating in the numerous leagues and tournaments that are present, you only need 4 more friends to get started. It might still feel like hard work rounding up a squad of 5 players at times, but be thankful that you’re not trying to find a team of 11.
6. Informal taking a professional front
5-a-side football is usually played informally but there are world bodies being set up which are trying to bring a professional structure to 5-a-side. F5WC i.e. Football Fives World Cup is the largest governing body for this. It is the world's largest amateur five a side football tournament with more than 32 nations participating that happens every year in Thailand.
Getting more region specific, we have UK mini football association, American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), United States Youth Soccer Association (U.S. Youth Soccer or USYSA) to name a few. 5-a-side football has also been played at the Summer Paralympics since 2004. Clearly a sport for all!
In India we have India Football Tour which is a 5-a-side amateur tournament happening across 8 major cities with about 250 team participating. The winners of the India Football Tour 2016 will directly reach the India qualifying bench for the F5WC 2017.
At any given point in a month there are numerous leagues and tournaments also happening at local levels. These are the kind organised by turf owners to keep their clientele engaged and entertained.
Apart from all of these benefits, playing 5-a-side football is a lot of fun and, if you love football, 5-a-side gives you the most intense experience, with more involvement in the game, better facilities at an amateur level and more value for money. No wonder it proves to be popular with millions of people all over the world.
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Sunil Chhetri vs Baichung Bhutia: Comparing the Torchbearers of Indian Football
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4 reasons for the downfall of Indian women's football
Twitter reacts as Indian Football Team captain Sunil Chhetri is conferred Padma Shri
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Future looks promising for Indian Football team Despite Asian Cup Disappointment
Lhendup Dorji: The 'other' Bhutanese in Indian Football is a Lone Star at Kashmir
Major loopholes in Indian Super League's quest to revolutionize football
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New ‘Superbug’ Antibiotic Approved For Use In Australia
DIFICID® (fidaxomicin) TGA-approved to treat Clostridium difficile infections
Breakthrough therapy ‘to save lives’
DIFICID® to be available from 14th May 2013
MELBOURNE, Australia – April 26, 2013 – An effective new antibiotic designed to specifically treat the common superbug* infection Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea will be available to patients in Australia from 14th May 2013.
Melbourne biopharmaceutical company Specialised Therapeutics Australia Pty Ltd (STA) has received Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval to market the drug DIFICID (fidaxomicin) in Australia. Until now, it has only been available in Australia under the Special Access Scheme.
DIFICID is indicated for the treatment of confirmed Clostridium difficile (CDI) infections in adults.1
The macrocyclic antibiotic therapy, taken in tablet form, is regarded as a breakthrough treatment to help fight serious CDI, which typically develops in patients following broad-spectrum antibiotic use. CDI targets the large intestine, causing diarrhoea which can range from moderate & debilitating to severe & life-threatening. It is extremely common in hospitals and aged care facilities as older patients are particularly vulnerable, and can be fatal.2
A recent media report indicated 14 Victorians died from the infection during a 15-month period in 2010 and 2011.3 According to data generated by the Quebec provincial hospitalisation database, there were 7004 cases of C. difficile across Quebec from April 1st 2003 to March 31st 2004, and 1270 people died after contracting CDI.4
Medical experts say Australian infection rates have at least doubled in recent years in major public hospitals, but concede the incidence of CDI is under reported.
STA Chief Executive Officer Mr Carlo Montagner is excited about the valuable treatment alternative DIFICID offers Australian patients who contract CDI.
“DIFICID is a potentially life saving drug for this extremely serious infection plaguing public hospitals and the wider community,” he said. “Unfortunately, it is estimated that almost 30% of patients can have a recurring infection. DIFICID is the only approved drug on the market which studies have shown will lower the risk of that infection returning.”
DIFICID is the first in a new class of antibiotics which are minimally absorbed by the bloodstream and have been shown to fight CDI while leaving healthy gut flora untouched.5
Hypervirulent strains of C. difficile, including the PCR ribotype 027 strain recently identified in Australia, have been associated with epidemic spread and high rates of severe disease and death.6
Risk factors for CDI include exposure to antimicrobial drugs, gastric acid-suppressive therapy, advanced age, prolonged hospitalisation, cancer chemotherapy, co-morbidity and immuno- suppression. Although most cases have been in hospital inpatients, increasing numbers of community-associated cases are now being reported.2
Leading Australian CDI expert Professor Thomas Riley from The University of Western Australia, acknowledged that studies had demonstrated patients treated with DIFICID were significantly less likely to develop recurrent infections.7,8
He regarded DIFICID as an important new treatment alternative, with infection rates of C. difficile climbing substantially in public hospitals around the country.
“Introducing DIFICID to Australia basically means we have another drug in the arsenal to treat this infection. Until now, we have had only two drugs available.
“Fewer recurrences will help contain the spread of the illness. Most importantly, DIFICID will benefit individual patients, who become weaker and more vulnerable with each recurrent infection, enormously.”
STA licenses DIFICID for the Australian market from US-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals. Optimer Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board, Dr Henry McKinnell, said he was confident DIFICID would provide a valuable new treatment option for an unmet medical need in Australia. “With the recent approval in Australia, fidaxomicin is now approved by four regulatory agencies, broadening access to patients in need across the globe,” said Dr. Henry McKinnell. “CDI infections represent a global healthcare challenge, and we believe an innovative drug like DIFICID that can deliver a substantial clinical improvement over existing therapies is an important new option that should be widely available to patients.”
About DIFICID®
Fidaxomicin is a novel antibiotic agent and the first of a new class of antibacterials called macrocycles. Fidaxomicin is bactericidal against C difficile in vitro, inhibiting RNA synthesis by RNA polymerases.1
DIFICID was studied for the treatment of CDI in two randomised Phase III studies and was found to have equivalent efficacy to vancomycin. Notably, DIFICID was associated with significantly greater improvements in the rate of sustained clinical response and significantly lower rates of CDI recurrence (than vancomycin).1,7,8
Contraindications and side effects:1
Like all medications, DIFICID may cause side effects. DIFICID should not be used in patients who are hypersensitive to any ingredient in the formulation or component of the container. As there is minimal systemic absorption of DIFICID, it should not be used for the treatment of systemic infections. Most common side effects (≥1/10) caused by DIFICID include nausea, constipation and vomiting.
For further information regarding DIFICID and potential side effects, physicians should review the DIFICID Approved Product Information available from www.specialisedtherapeutics.com.au/index.php?q=clinician-resources.html and patients should consult their prescribing physician or the DIFICID Consumer Medicine Information available in the pack or via www.specialisedtherapeutics.com.au/index.php?q=dificid.html
About CDI
CDI has become a significant medical problem in hospitals, long-term care facilities and the community. CDI is a serious illness resulting from infection of the inner lining of the colon by C. difficile, which produces toxins that cause inflammation of the colon, severe diarrhoea and, in the most serious cases, death. Patients typically develop CDI following the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics which disrupt normal gastrointestinal (gut) flora, possibly allowing C. difficile to enter the gut and flourish. Older patients in particular are at risk for CDI, potentially because of a weakened immune system or the presence of underlying disease. Approximately two-thirds of CDI patients are 65 years of age or older. Historically, approximately 20 - 30% of CDI patients who initially respond to treatment experience a clinical recurrence.7
Specialised Therapeutics Australia Pty Ltd (STA) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to working with leading pharmaceutical companies worldwide to provide acute care therapies for high unmet medical needs to people living in Australia and New Zealand. The STA therapeutic portfolio and pipeline at present encompasses oncology and infectious diseases. STA also has interests in the therapeutic areas of respiratory, dermatology, endocrinology and central nervous system (CNS). Additional information can be found at www.specialisedtherapeutics.com.au
About Optimer Pharmaceuticals
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising innovative hospital specialty products that have a positive impact on society. Optimer developed DIFICID (fidaxomicin) tablets, an FDA-approved macrolide antibacterial drug for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) in adults 18 years of age and older and is commercializing DIFICID in the US and Canada. Optimer also received marketing authorisation for fidaxomicin tablets in the European Union, where its partner, Astellas Pharma Europe, is commercialising fidaxomicin under the trade name DIFICLIR™. The company is exploring marketing authorisation in other parts of the world where C. difficile has emerged as a serious health problem. Additional information can be found at www.optimerpharma.com.
OPTIMER and DIFICID are trademarks of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
* Superbug is a common term to describe a bacterium that is resistant to multiple antibiotics.
DIFICID Approved Product Information
Cheng AC, Ferguson JK, Richards MJ, et al. Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Clostridium difficile infection. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 353-358.
The Age, Saturday 26 May 2012.
Eggertson, L. CMAJ 2004; 171: (11) 1331-1332
Duggan ST. Fidaxomicin: In Clostridium Difficile Infection. Drugs 2011
Stuart R, Marshal C. Clostridium difficile infection: a new threat on our doorstep. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 331-332
Louie TJ, Miller MA, Mullane KM et al. Fidaxomicin versus Vancomycin for Clostridium difficile Infection N Engl J Med 2011;364:422-31.
Cornelly OA, Crook DW, Esposito R, et al. Fidaxomicin versus vancomycin for infection with Clostridium difficile in Europe, Canada, and the USA: a double-blind, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2012
Carlo Montagner
Specialised Therapeutics Australia
Emma Power
Monsoon Communications
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© 2018 David Rousell
Engagement: learning to be affected
THINK: Engagement can be broadly defined as a pedagogical encounter with something other than the self. This encounter may be with a human, it may be with a plant, animal or environment, or it may be an encounter with a film, an artwork, a book, or an idea. What is crucial to engagement is its materiality: the body's time and place within which a pedagogical encounter occurs. Ingold (2000) refers to this as an ‘education of attention’, also common to many Indigenous peoples, which involves a sensory apprenticeship and attunement to the cultural landscape that surround us. Deleuze (1995, p. 165) similarly describes this as an ‘education of the senses’, in which the process of learning establishes the ‘bond of a profound complicity between nature and mind’. This active form of engagement as a deep correspondence between self and environment is different from passive interactions with a device or apparatus that simply captures our attention momentarily.
When a learner is genuinely immersed within a multi-sensory space, the distance between human and environment can be diminished or even erased. This kind of close encounter with the environment offers an intimacy with other beings through direct sensations which are crucial to learning. The 'experience of the learning self' emerges at those pedagogical pivot points which are 'the times and places of knowledge in the making' (Ellsworth, 2005, p. 2). These pivot points are what Winnicott (1971) refers to as 'transitional spaces': potential spaces that are activated when learners engage with immersive environments in playful and noncompliant ways. This means that we can never really know in advance how or why someone will come to learn (Deleuze, 1995, p. 165). Rather, the very possibilities for learning are activated by experimentations with the pedagogical affordances and constraints of a learning environment at a certain place and time. This is what Ellsworth describes as the 'paradox at the heart of pedagogy' (2005, p. 54).
READ: The Wicked Problem of Pedagogy (Ellsworth, 2011)
"When learning is noncompliant, it opens the future to difference" (Ellsworth, 2011).
EXPLORE: http://thepedagogicalimpulse.com/category/residencies/
WATCH: Artist Maya Lin speaking about her art and architectural practices
"I create places in which to think, without trying to dictate what to think" (Lin, 2000, p. 2).
DO: Design a prototype learning environment for noncompliant learning. It could be a classroom, an outdoor space, a museum, a website or something else. What would your learning environment look like? What would it sound like? What would it feel like? How would it operate? What kinds of features would you design to allow for different modes of engagement?
Put together a 'map' of your prototype learning environment using words, images and drawings. Then record yourselves describing how your learning environment works, and how it creates spaces for diverse forms of engagement. Post your maps and recordings using the text/photo/audio/video portal provided below:
DISCUSS: What was it like designing a new kind of learning environment for student or public engagement?
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Van for GSU art department gets 'Vanbomz' treatment
California artist Kenny Scharf "Vanbombz's" the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art van, while students attended the Art Basel Miami Beach show earlier this month.
Special to the Herald
In early December, nine Master of Fine Arts graduate candidates from the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at Georgia Southern University drove to Miami to attend one of the largest art shows in the world.
And after going to Art Basel Miami Beach, a large international art fair that connects artists, gallerists and collectors from around the globe, the students returned with a greater understanding of the art world, and a department van that was transformed into a work of art itself.
Each year, Art Basel shows significant work from the masters of modern and contemporary art as well as work from emerging artists. There are sculptures, paintings, installations, photographs, films, large-scale artworks, films and performances.
Gallery Director and GSU Professor Jason Hoelscher, M.F.A., and the students attended Basel and several other art fairs including Ink, Aqua, Untitled, Scope, Pulse and NADA. In all, they took in about 600 galleries worth of exhibitions.
Hoelscher introduced students to several regional and New York City-based gallerists, artists and curators, helping students to begin establishing their professional networks.
"They all seem to have had their minds suitably blown," Hoelscher said. "It was a great opportunity for us to introduce them to the great, wide world of art. I think it helped them to understand what they can do in the real world once they complete their M.F.A."
The group also had an opportunity to meet well-known, Los Angeles artist Kenny Scharf and see him in action.
A few weeks before the trip to Miami, M.F.A. candidate Courtney Ryan learned about Scharf's work during a class. She mentioned him in an Instagram post, he responded, and they began corresponding.
"He does these things he calls ‘Karbombz'," Ryan said. "For him, they're a way to bring smiles to the roads, so if people are stuck in traffic and getting angry, well then they have something fun to look at."
When Ryan learned Scharf would have pieces presented at Art Basel and would be in Miami working on a mural, she asked if he would be interested in painting a Karbombz on the "Betty Bus," a van donated to the Department of Art by benefactor and former First Lady of Georgia, Betty Foy Sanders.
He agreed and the students met him during their final day in Miami. He took a break from the mural to paint the van.
"He was asking us questions about the bus and how it worked," Ryan said. "When he asked what color we wanted our Yikies, we showed him Betty's picture and told him she has these amazing red glasses. So all of the faces painted on the bus are red to represent her glasses."
After the show, Scharf, posted this to Instagram: kennyscharf The nicest MFA students from Georgia Southern University drove down in their "Betty Bus" to ArtBasel and got a Vanbombz! before heading back north.
This trip and others like it are made possible by The Betty Foy Sanders Student Travel Fund.
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Live Music Round-Up February 16
Thursday, February 16, 2017 by Ali
If you’re looking to catch some live music, there’s plenty of opportunities and variety in the Stevens Point area. Here’s what’s coming up the next week:
Fruition, with Gin Mill Hollow, will perform from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday at The Encore, 1015 Reserve St., on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus. Admission is free with a UW-Stevens Point ID, $5 without.
Sunset Point Winery, 1201 Water St., will hold an open mic night from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday.
Courtney Cordova will perform from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday in the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Basement Brewhaus, 1015 Reserve St., as part of the Quit-N-Time Music Series. The event is free to attend. Drink specials, along with free snacks will be available.
The Oxleys and Ish Jimenez will perform at 7 p.m. on Friday at The Landmark, 102 S Main Street in Amherst. There is a $5 cover charge.
Red Ben & the Missing Miles will perform from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday at the Elbow Room, 1321 2nd St.
Rocker will perform from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday at Rookies SportsPub, 3425 Church St.
The Rumble Roots will perform from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday at Guu’s on Main, 1140 Main St.
Hammer Entertainment will offer music and karaoke from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday at the 2nd Street Pub, 925 2nd St.
Lou and Peter Berryman will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Lettie Jensen Community Center, 487 N Main Street in Amherst, as part of the Tomorrow River Concerts Series. Tickets are $12, $10 for seniors and students, and can be purchased at the Jensen Center, Stevens Point Area Co-op and Kindred Spirit Books.
Eric Glaze will perform from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sunset Point Winery.
Gumbo will perform from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday at Central Waters Brewing Company, 351 Allen Street in Amherst.
DJ Max Traffic, MC Rated R, Kendall, Apollo Renegade, Noah Limits, AR Wesley, and Mike Regal will perform as part of the Divine Rap Connection from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday at The Encore, 1015 Reserve St. Admission is free with a UW-Stevens Point ID, $5 without.
Polka Pak will perform from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday at Whitetail Lanes, 3689 Portage County Q in Amherst Junction.
Point Area Bicycle Service, 1311 Strongs Ave., will host a Bob Marley Birthday Bash and benefit for Standing Rock from 8:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Saturday. Music starts at 9 p.m. with DJ Jazzmaster Jake spinning records followed by two full sets of Marley music by Kyerokaya. Suggested donation is $5, with half of all proceeds from the event going to support the efforts at Standing Rock.
Mak’s Bar, 1236 Portage County HH, will have music and karaoke by Hammer Entertainment from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday.
First Avenue will perform from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday at Bootlegger’s, 3703 Portage County Q in Amherst Junction.
Mike McABee will perform 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Elbow Room as part of Sunday Funday.
Information from Nate Vine and the Stevens Point Journal. Click here to view the full story. If you have a live music event coming up that you’d like to promote, please contact Nathan Vine at nvine@gannett.com and promote your event here.
Categories: Things to Do, Events, Music, Arts & Culture
Tags: events live music
Author: Ali
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Missions to Haiti
Sts. Peter & Paul, St. Francis Xavier, St. Wendel, Zion Lippe U.C.C.
Mission Trip - June 2018
The June mission trip to St. Albert the Great and St. Cyprian in Haiti was another huge success. The sights, the sounds, the aromas, and the tastes were all wrapped in the warm hugs, kindness, and the tremendous hospitality of all the Haitians. The mission team consisted of 12 volunteers with ages ranging from 12 years old to senior citizens. There were 2 from St. Francis Xavier in Poseyville, 3 from St. Wendel, and 7 from Sts. Peter & Paul.
The men concentrated on installing the second phase of solar panels to provide electricity to the school and water system. The women focused on the clinic and the school with a new blood machine being installed and craft projects with the young children.
The Yam and Livestock pay-it-forward programs are also doing well. Our volunteers have a lot of talent and hard work to offer, but our successes in Haiti are only possible because of the prayers and financial support from our Parishioners. So much progress is being made but so much more to do.
On behalf of Father Marcel, the people of Ravine Trompette, and the local Haiti Committee, a very sincere thank you to all our supporters!
Fr. Marcel Janvier
St. Albert the Great is a Catholic parish in Ravine Trompette. The pastor is Father Marcel Janvier, a native Haitian from Boyne, Haiti. There are about 2,300 parish families and 700 students at the Notre Dame de Grace parish school.
St. Cyprien is a Catholic parish 5 miles from Ravine Trompette in the mountains. Father Marcel is also their pastor. There are about 400 parish families and 250 students at the parish school.
Letter from Fr. Marcel
Learn more about Haiti
Helping St. Albert the Great
The goal for the mission trips is to focus on short-term and long-term needs and solutions.
Die Kirche Auktion Fest Funded Item - Sts. Peter & Paul designates the funded item at the end of the Die Kirche Auktion to support to our Haiti efforts.
Helping Haiti Help Themselves - Our goal is to help Haiti start to end the cycle of poverty. In 2015, we started a pay-it-forward yam farming program that gave about 25 families from St. Albert the Great Parish starter plants to grow. After about 9 months, they use the mature yam plants as food for their families, sell them at the market for income, and give a portion of the harvest to new families as starter plants. The program is designed to grow each year without additional financial investment. The farmers created a co-operative organization and inspect each other’s progress and monitor their sharing.
Education – Sts. Peter & Paul is partnering with St. Francis Xavier by providing $5,000 from our financial budget to improve education in Ravine Trompette.
School Food Program - Parishioners from Sts. Peter & Paul participate in a sponsorship program to help feed the 925 students at Notre Dame de Grace and St. Cyprian schools. The cost to feed one child is about $5 per month. This provides each student with one meal per day of rice and beans. Our goal is to achieve annual contributions for the total parish of $10,000. This level of contribution would feed 200 students per year or about 22% of the total need with St. Francis Xavier covering the rest. The hunger of the students in Haiti cannot be described with words as they sometimes eat mud to stop the pains. The comfort of daily nutrition helps them focus on their school activities.
Learn How to Donate
Mission to Haiti
Learn More About the Mission
St. Francis Xavier in Poseyville and Sts. Peter & Paul in Haubstadt have joined together along with St. Wendel and Zion Lippe United Church of Christ to participate in a Twinning Program with St. Albert the Great in Ravine Trompette in Haiti.
Mission Trip October 2015
Mission Trip November 2016
A Prayer for the People of Haiti
All powerful and all-loving God of mercy, Look kindly on the people of Haiti in their suffering. Ease their burdens and make their faith strong so that they may always have confidence and trust in your care. Help them face the difficulties with courage. Bring us all an abiding sense of your care and compassion that we may respond with generous hearts, open hands and a renewed sense of solidarity with all your children, especially those in greatest need. You are our all-merciful God, forever and ever. Amen.
Haiti committee members
For more information or to learn more about how you can help, please contact your parish office or one of the Haiti Committee members.
Download our 2017 Haiti Newsletter for an overall update on all the progress made!
Haiti Newsletter
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