Archive for the ‘Federal Government’ Category
US Veterans getting better compensation for Agent Orange exposure
The Royal Canadian Legion has become concerned about the budget allocated for Agent Orange compensation.
Legion First Vice Pat Varga places a wreath at the Cassino War Cemetery assisted by youth representative Mélanie Morin. (photo Tom MacGregor)
Letter to the Editor, Daily Gleaner – It would seem that the allocated funds, which have not all been spent through the ex-gratia payments made by the federal government as compensation for exposure to the chemical, will lapse with no benefits for veterans.
The legion was at the forefront in advocating for this compensation and applauded the federal government for its initiative on this issue.
But it was concerned on two fronts – the period of eligibility was much too restrictive, and the criteria to allocate these payments was much broader than the test applied to compensate veterans through the disability benefit system where the cause must be proven rather than inferred.
Regardless of our concerns on these issues, we considered this a good first step. Read the rest of this entry »
Disability Community Needs PALS in 2011
Scrapped mandatory census cuts even deeper for disability advocacy group
Laurie Beachell, national co-ordinator of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities
Council of Canadians with Disabilities – Statistics Canada’s Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) is the most important and comprehensive source of disability statistics in Canada and is seen as a best practice model internationally. CCD is concerned that Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has not yet committed funding for a PALS for the 2011 census.
It is crucial that PALS continue so that governments and community have the information and research needed to develop good policy and programs. It should be noted that upon ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Canada will be obligated to collect data on the socioeconomic status of persons with disabilities.
PALS and its predecessor HALS have been, and remain, extremely valuable survey tools. No other survey provides the range and depth of statistically reliable information about:
Eureka Harper to build wind test site at West Cape
New project to build small wind power site on Prince Edward Island
West Cape, PEI wind farm, don't tell the Prime Minister it's already built (photo: David Grenier)
It’s Old Home Week on Prince Edward Island so Prime Minister Harper has come here to announce a $12 wind test site for West Cape.
Two years ago PEI had a wind turbine development company and the Liberals were promising a 500 megawatt project.
Someone we’ve slipped back in time and a small wind test site is big news. It’s true: PEI wind projects are dead in the water
Perhaps Prime Minister Harper is so far behind the news about PEI he didn’t know that. He came to hand out beads and trinkets. Why not another wind test site for PEI?
The Calgary Herald reports: Read the rest of this entry »
Parks Canada add some accessible parking
4 new parking places at Brackley Beach are a start thank you
Parks Canada wheelchair ramp at Brackley Beach not accessible
On Sunday morning I checked out the disabled parking at the Prince Edward Island National Park. I am pleased to report that 4 new accessible parking spots were painted in at Brackley Beach. Thanks to Parks Canada for responding to Why is Parks Canada not accessible to disabled ?
That only leaves Stanhope Beach, Ross Lane, Dalvay and all the other beaches in that section of the park to be upgraded. The situation is more or less the same at Cavendish so it would be a kindness for Parks Canada to just upgrade the lot of them.
Unfortunately, our luck ran out with Minister Jim Prentice and Fisheries Minister Gail Shea. Ernie Hudson replied from Shea’s office that the Brackley Beach wheelchair ramp is accessible. That’s a joke. Read the rest of this entry »
Government lying about long form census, concedes to French
Political pressure yields small concession from Harper Government to Francophones
Tony Clement, Minister of Industry and Commerce.
After weeks of pressure from almost every political, religious, business, ethnic and advocacy group in Canada, the Harper Tories made a small concession yesterday in the long form census.
Assailed as a liar by the NDP and Liberals, Clement will face a motion from the Parliamentary Standing Committee to restore the long-form census when the House of Commons sits in the fall.
Minister Tony Clements said he will add two questions about French heritage on the short form census. This was no doubt in response to the court challenge mounted by the Francophone community.
“The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada, which is now slated to argue its case in Federal Court on Sept. 27, has argued that Ottawa’s changes will yield a poorer picture of their presence and undermine the delivery of government services in French. The group declined comment late Wednesday on the new development, saying it had not received “any formal proposal.”” Read the rest of this entry »
French language culture short changed by Ministers
Announcement hides lack of support for French school in Rustico
Heritage Minister James Moore and Education Minister Doug Currie
We read with interest the press release by Heritage Minister James Moore that promises assistance with French Language education on Prince Edward Island. Government of Canada Announces its Support for Official Languages in Prince Edward Island.
However, the announcement is hiding the fact that the St. Augustin’s school in Rustico is being underfunded. Both governments are refusing to provide what they promised the organizing committee.
The preamble sounds great “Our Government is a leader in Canada on official languages,” said Minister Moore. “The important agreements we are announcing today are crucial to the development of Prince Edward Island’s Acadian and Francophone community and the promotion of our two official languages.” Read the rest of this entry »
Ignatieff knocks Gail Shea but what does he know
Ignatieff touring the Island with inane statements for the media
Michael Ignatieff on PEI and saying the dumbest things (image: CBC)
Liberal leader and wannabe Prime Minister Ignatieff shows all finesse of the proverbial bull in the china shop during his “bus tour” of PEI.
He was quoted on CBC radio as saying all Islanders want is some fresh lobster and mussels this summer when asked about our views on the coming election. Where does he get that from, did extensive polling tell him Islanders just want a feed of lobsters? Sounds like “just fix up a mess of friend chicken and watermelon” to me. He is a condescending person even up close.
Even weirder is his statement that Liberals would make a better MP from Egmont than Gail Shea. First he’s insulting an Islander who has brought a lot of money to PEI since she got elected. Read the rest of this entry »
Harper’s attack on the census: bad news for the poor
Scrapping census will allow Harper Conservatives to shape policies that make the rich richer
Linda McQuaig, writer and social commentator
By Linda McQuaig, Rabble.ca – We hear a great deal about the lives of the rich, much of it sympathetic and often fawning.
Even Conrad Black, despite his history of anti-Canadian outbursts, is treated almost fondly by commentators who generally have a hard-hearted, tough-on-crime attitude toward less well-heeled felons.
The poor rarely get such sympathetic attention; indeed they rarely get much attention at all. And they’re soon to get even less.
That is the real reason for the Harper government’s decision to scrap the long-form census matters, and why the debate over it is more than a bizarre obsession with statistics in this overheated summer. Read the rest of this entry »
Harper Government makes direct attack on Canada’s disabled
Cancellation of PALS 2011 will set back the process of providing human rights to 4 million Canadians with disabilities
Prime Minister Stephen Harper getting ready to kick cripples
PRLog – Losing PALS 2011 is a major blow to Canadians living with disabilities. It can only indicate that Prime Minister Harper intends to dismantle the existing supports for Canada’s disabled.
What kind of a bully picks on cripples?
The long-form census controversy is stirring many Canadians. The Globe and Mail reported a small part of the cancellation that will hurt the 4 million Canadians living with Disabilities. Scrapped mandatory census cuts even deeper for disability advocacy group
The Participation and Activity Limitation Survey known as PALS has a long, wordy name that belies its importance.
It is a comprehensive profile of the 4 million Canadians living with disabilities: who they are by age, sex, province, by disability, income level, etc. It also tells us what they need which is vital in setting effective social policy. Statistics Canada issues the report every 5 years. Read the rest of this entry »
20th Annivesary of the Americans With Disabilities Act
54 million Americans have a disability and are protected by the ADA, 4 million Canadians are still waiting
President Bush signed the ADA into law
PRLog - The civil rights of Americans living with disabilities were passed into law 20 years ago on July 20, 1990 by President George Bush Sr in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The law was meant to ensure that people with disabilities would not be discriminated in their employment, government services, housing and in the community. It granted them rights similar to the Civil Rights Act.
During the intervening years, the US Courts narrowly restricted the application of the ADA. President George Bush Jr. pushed through Congress and the Senate 1,100 pages of amendments to the ADA to ensure the law did protect them. The ADA Amended was signed by President Obama in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Charlottetown Convention Center based on thin study
Decision to spend $18 million not based on market analysis
Proposed $18 million convention centre
There are no marketing or business studies that support moving the Department of Fisheries and the Coast Guard to build a convention centre.
The decision was made in advance and the facts were concocted to support the spending.
The convention business on PEI, like most places in Canada and the US, is going down not up. Long term the growth in trade fairs is expected to return to pre-recession levels but PEI is not building a trade fair facility.
When the idea of a new convention centre was floated years ago, many people were skeptical. The existing convention centre in the Delta Hotel is not fully booked. The Delta like many hotels in Charlottetown is running barely at break even occupancy. You can drive a truck through the convention centre during most of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Where is the Green Party on dead rivers
Massive anoxia of PEI’s waterways draws nary a comment from Green Party
Richard Brown with environmental employees (PEI Government photo)
PEI rivers and bays are suffering from an increase in anoxia this year. Green slime has taken over the rivers and killed thousands of fish.
It happens every year but this year is worse. Suspected causes are run off from fertilizers and chemicals for the land and sewage from waste systems.
Provincial environment minister Richard Brown has issued a press release. Federal Minister of Fisheries Gail Shea wants to partner with the Province to study the problem.
There hasn’t been a peep, not a press release or a Tweet from the Green Party, who are supposed to be dedicated to environmental issues. We must assume they have moved on to bigger and more vital topics like the gun range near Sharon Labchuck’s home.
“Anoxic conditions have been reported in a number of areas already this summer including portions of Brackley Bay, Covehead Bay, Barbara Weit River, Indian River, Bentic Cove, Southwest River, Hunter-Clyde River, Wheatley River, Chapel Creek, Hills (Mill) River, Cardigan River, Trout/Stanley River (including Founds River and Granville Creek), Hope River, Anderson’s Creek and Montrose River.” (Charlottetown Guardian)
Scrapped mandatory census cuts even deeper for disability advocacy group
Disability advocacy groups have major challenge ahead following cuts to the census and StatsCan’s disability survey
image: Abilities.ca
Campbell Clark, Globe and Mail
Making the long-form census voluntary instead of mandatory is not the first change to the way Statistics Canada collects data since the Conservatives took office. Several surveys have been discontinued.
The Participation and Activity Limitation Survey, Statscan’s major data collection on individuals with disabilities, was cut by the government department that paid for it, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
The Harper government has told advocacy groups a census-related survey that gathers statistics about disabilities will eventually be replaced by a database culled from tax information, welfare rolls and similar databanks – but there’s skepticism about whether that information will be as reliable.
“We’ve got a huge challenge here. We had something that was working,” said Laurie Beachell, national co-ordinator of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities. The government has promised the new database will provide information more often than PALS, which was conducted every five years, with the next one scheduled for 2011. “We don’t know how reliable it will be yet,” Mr. Beachell said. Read the rest of this entry »
