Life in Canada

US Household Debt Falls to 29-Year Low
While politicians in Washington stumble toward the fiscal cliff, American households have really cleaned up their act. After consumers build up a massive debt load during the housing bubble of the early 2000′s, they went on a money diet. According to the Federal Reserve, one key measurement of household debt in the third quarter plunged to its lowest level in 29 years. The share of loan payments to disposable personal income fell to 10.61 percent. This means that if the economy improves many consumers may have more money to spend.

Right now though that could be a big “if.” Unless there’s a deal the fiscal cliff could do real damage to the economy. The first and best-known impact would be sweeping tax hikes: “By jacking up taxes on so many taxpayers it will squeeze purchasing power,” says Greg Ip, US economics editor of The Economist Magazine. Many consumers and businesses would cut back on spending. “They just decide to pull back, not to spend, not to buy that house, not to initiate that new business venture and that would multiply the negative impact.” The third effect would come from sharp and sudden government spending cuts. “You’ll see layoffs in the defense industry layoffs in any industry that does business with the federal government as federal spending is cut back sharply.”

Shipping companies costs could rise. A possible strike by thousands of dockworkers may bring commerce to a near standstill along the East Coast and the Gulf coast. More than 14,000 longshoremen at 15 large ports are threatening to walk out on Sunday after their contract expired in September. Some shippers have diverted imports to the West Coast or sent goods by air or rail. The two sides agreed to extend it once already, for 90 days, but they have so far balked at extending it again when it expires at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Another threat to shipping comes from the falling level of the Mississippi River. Barge industry trade groups warn that because of the drought, river commerce could almost come to a halt as early as next week in an area south of St. Louis. The Coast Guard remains confident that the nation’s largest waterway will remain open. But officials with two trade groups — the American Waterways Operators and Waterways Council — say that even if the river is open, further limits on barges will bring commercial traffic to a halt.

Where are we Canada ?

Homicides up 7% in Canada
Most of the increase in 2011 was accounted for by two provinces: Alberta, which had 32 additional homicides, and Quebec, which had 21 more. The homicide rate in Ontario, which had 28 fewer homicides compared with 2010, reached its lowest point since 1966.

Among the provinces, Manitoba reported the highest homicide rate for the fifth year in a row, followed by Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The census metropolitan area (CMA) of Winnipeg, where police reported 39 homicides in 2011, had the highest rate among Canada's CMAs, followed by Halifax and Edmonton. Homicide rates in Winnipeg and Halifax were the highest recorded in those CMAs since data became available for CMAs in 1981.

Is Nova Scotia power in collusion with Emera?

Here is my query to the UARB: if NSP has been found to be in collusion with Emera in setting prices for natural gas and other fuels that they trade internally- name the 'negotiators', and lets see some criminal charges for what surely amounts to feaudulent practice.

Here is the gist of it if Liberty Was correct:

NSP meets with it's parent company and agrees to pay slightly higher than market rate for gas. This deal costs NSP nothing as it is passed on to rate payers, and benefits the bottom line at Emera (twice in fact since the extra profits due to the fuel surcharge are passed to Emera anyway). Emera gets a profit windfall. And as a result, huge bonuses are paid out to the executives (see where this is going?). Then they get caught. The auditor sees the game at play and blows the whistle. Emera and NSP double up (literally) the fight against the auditor (hoping to avoid more than just paying back the overcharge, I suspect).

In the meantime, we have heard sound bites from the lawyers, but where ARE the execs? Mum's the word and close ranks as they try to maintain a low profile and hope we won't see where this leads.

Follow the money.

And thanks in advance to the good conscionable folks at NSP and Emera for the 'down' votes. It shows you might be worried.

All the way to the BANK

Nova Scotia Power audit hearing set to begin

Full audit says NSP negligent in gas price negotiation big bully N.S. Power accused of overcharging by $21M

The Utility and Review Board is set to hear about a controversial audit claiming Nova Scotia Power overcharged its customers by $21.8 million over two years.The Utility and Review Board is set to hear about a controversial audit claiming Nova Scotia Power overcharged its customers by $21.8 million over two years. (CBC)

A public hearing studying a controversial audit that says Nova Scotia Power overcharged customers for fuel costs by $21.8 million is set to begin Monday.

The week-long hearing at the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board is set to review an audit report by Liberty Consulting Group, which accused the utility of overcharging millions of dollars over the last two years because of poor fuel purchasing.

Nova Scotia Power has been vigorously objecting to the report and its conclusions, calling the claims false and defamatory and spending $2 million to refute the findings.

Don Regan, head of the Berwick Electric Commission, said he's noticed the strident tone used by Nova Scotia Power.

"It's quite unusual for a company such as Nova Scotia power to impugn the motives and the competence of an auditor hired by the regulator," he told CBC News.

"I found that quite remarkable."

Pennsylvania-based Liberty Consulting Group was critical of how Nova Scotia Power hedged natural gas prices last year and why it didn't get a lower price now that its parent company — Emera Inc. — owns a pipeline in New Brunswick.

If the Utility and Review Board accepts the audit, Nova Scotia Power may be forced to lower power bills by $21.8 million or 1.5 per cent next year.
Portions of audit blacked out

Several portions of the 263-page report were blacked out, which prompted a months-long battle between the utility and members of the public, who argued they had a right to see the full audit.

In September, Nova Scotia Power lost its bid to suppress the audit and Liberty Consulting Group was ordered to provide an unredacted version of its report.

Regan said he's interested in whether the consultant can support its claim that because Nova Scotia Power's parent company profits from natural gas, it may have prevented the power company from negotiating a better price for the fuel.

"Big things are at stake," he said.

"I think that the issue of imprudent transactions, particularly on affiliate transactions, is something Nova Scotia Power is very sensitive to."

Nova Scotia Power has also asked the Utility and Review Board for a rate hike of three per cent in each of the next two years for residential customers. The utility said the increase will add about $3.50 a month to an average household's power bill in both 2013 and 2014.

If the increase is approved, residential customers will pay Nova Scotia Power an additional $37.6 million over the next two years — $18.6 million in 2013 and about $19 million in 2014

75,000
Square kilometres of Arctic sea ice that melted every day in August 2012. That’s like losing ice the size of New Brunswick every 24 hours.

10
Number of years in which Arctic sea ice could vanish. “Very soon we may experience the iconic moment when, one day in summer, we look at satellite images and see no sea ice coverage in the Arctic, just open water.”

2050
The year leading water scientists say humans may be forced to shift to a vegetarian diet due to population growth and limited water supplies.

2
Percentage of Canadians who doubt climate change is happening.

16
Percentage of Americans who deny climate change is happening.

32
Percentage of Canadians who believe climate change is happening because of human activity. Only nine percent believe climate change is occurring due to natural climate variation. (Source 1, 2)

#4
Canada has the fourth highest greenhouse gas emissions, per capita, in the world.

22
Tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted per capita in Canada in 2008. America emitted 22.8 tonnes per capita that year.

51
Percentage of Canadians who believe electricity production in Canada will still rely on fossil fuels by 2050. That belief is highest in Alberta (66%) and lowest in Quebec (37%).

#3
Due to the tarsands, Canada’s proven oil reserves are now the third largest in the world, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

10
Number of years Canada’s proven crude oil and natural gas reserves are expected to be entirely depleted.

14.3
Percentage by which Canada might fall short of its promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Canada committed to a 17 per cent reduction by 2020 but will likely only cut emissions by 2.7 per cent.

For all sources please email me

Eating organic food will not make you healthier, according to researchers at Stanford University, although it could cut your exposure to pesticides.

They looked at more than 200 studies of the content and associated health gains of organic and non-organic foods.

Overall, there was no discernable difference between the nutritional content, although the organic food was 30% less likely to contain pesticides.

Critics say the work is inconclusive and call for more studies.

The research, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 17 studies comparing people who ate organic with those who did not and 223 studies that compared the levels of nutrients, bacteria, fungus or pesticides in various foods - including fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, milk and eggs.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

There isn't much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you're an adult and making a decision based solely on your health”

Dr Cyrstal Smith-Spangler Lead researcher

None of the human studies ran for longer than two years, making conclusions about long-term outcomes impossible. And all of the available evidence was relatively weak and highly variable - which the authors say is unsurprising because of all the different variables, like weather and soil type, involved.

Fruit and vegetables contained similar amounts of vitamins, and milk the same amount of protein and fat - although a few studies suggested organic milk contained more omega-3.

Organic foods did contain more nitrogen, but the researchers say this is probably due to differences in fertiliser use and ripeness at harvest and is unlikely to provide any health benefit.

Their findings support those of the UK's Food Standards Agency, which commissioned a review a few years ago into organic food claims.
Continue reading the main story
Organic

Organic food is produced to standards designed to keep the production more "natural", using environmentally and animal-friendly farming methods
Fewer, if any, chemicals are used and most pesticides are banned or very carefully controlled
Various bodies in the UK, including the Soil Association, certify food and producers as organic
Food certified as organic is not allowed to contain genetically modified ingredients

Prof Alan Dangour, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who carried out that work, said: "Consumers select organic foods for a variety of reasons, however this latest review identifies that at present there are no convincing differences between organic and conventional foods in nutrient content or health benefits.

"Hopefully this evidence will be useful to consumers."

Dr Crystal Smith-Spangler, the lead author of the latest review, said there were many reasons why people chose to eat organic, including animal welfare or environmental concerns.

"Some believe that organic food is always healthier and more nutritious. We were a little surprised that we didn't find that.

"There isn't much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you're an adult and making a decision based solely on your health."

But the Soil Association said the study was flawed.

"Studies that treat crop trials as if they were clinical trials of medicines, like this one, exaggerate the variation between studies, and drown out the real differences.

"A UK review paper, using the correct statistical analysis, has found that most of the differences in nutrient levels between organic and non-organic fruit and vegetables seen in this US study are actually highly significant."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Evidence has not yet emerged that there are nutritional benefits from eating organically produced foods compared to conventionally produced foods. We will continue to review research on this subject."

According to a known computer security researcher, Microsoft's SmartScreen feature implemented in Windows 8 reports information to Microsoft about every application installed, in an insecure manner

Known computer security researcher Nadim Kobeissi has posted up some interesting information on the behavior of Windows 8 whenever you install an application. According to some quick researching he did, the Windows SmartScreen feature reports every application a user installs to Microsoft, and does so in a way that could be intercepted by malicious hackers.

The Windows SmartScreen feature is enabled by default and is designed to tell end users whether the application they have downloaded from the internet is safe to install on their machine. It does this by gathering some info upon opening the installer, sending it to Microsoft and then waiting for a response to see if said installer has a valid certificate. As Kobeissi mentions, this means information about every single application downloaded and installed is sent to Microsoft.

He dug further to discover the information sent could potentially be intercepted by a malicious hacker, as Microsoft uses an "outdated and insecure" method of HTTPS encrypted communications. If a hacker did manage to steal all the information on a user's application installation habits, they could make a profile of the user and use that to find other exploitable weaknesses.

The issue with SmartScreen is currently only prevalent in Windows 8 as it's the first time Microsoft has integrated SmartScreen at an OS level (Windows 7 only features SmartScreen in applications like Internet Explorer). You can disable SmartScreen so you are no longer reporting your installation habits to Microsoft, but this is apparently not easy to do and results in periodic nags to re-enable it.

Chances are Microsoft will not do anything about their implementation of SmartScreen, so as it stands now it could be a privacy and security risk.

So stick to windows 7 or earlier..OK

Asians made up more than 36% of all US newcomers in 2010, compared to 31% with Hispanic origins in the same year.The study found Asian immigrants to be the most educated group of immigrants in US history.

Analysts say the trend reflects a slowdown in illegal immigration as employers boost their demand for high-skilled workers.

"For an economy that requires higher skills, Asian-Americans are very well positioned," said Elaine Chao, a former US Secretary of Labor.

More than 6 in 10 adults who recently arrived from Asia have at least a bachelor's degree, twice the rate of recent non-Asian immigrants.

Ms Chao, who served for eight years under President George W Bush as the first Asian-American female cabinet member, warned that issues for the foreign-born population still remain.

"Their first concern is to make a living, survive in this country, take care of their kids and put them in the best schools possible," said Ms Chao at a Pew-sponsored event in Washington DC.
Heterogeneous group

The fact that this milestone happened in 2009 and went largely unnoticed startled many experts, who attributed it to cultural differences.

Brands have found a new interest in the growing Asian American community

"There has been an argument to keep your head down and study hard and succeed more in the private sector than in the public sphere," said Neera Tanden, a former senior advisor in the Obama administration and herself a daughter of Indian immigrants.

Asian-Americans are still considered a small minority in the US, representing less than 6% of the total population.

But the US Asian community consists of more than a dozen subgroups speaking almost as many different languages.

In the study, Pew found that the six largest immigrant Asian immigrant groups to the US were Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Vietnamese, Koreans and Japanese.
Diplomatic opportunity

The fact that 74% of Asian-American adults are foreign-born trickled down to many other findings.

Pew found that 19% describe themselves as "Asian-American" and only 14% as "American", with 62% preferring their country of origin or the hyphenate of that country, for example, "Chinese-American".

One interesting trend could be the development of Asian-Americans born in the US, said Elaine Chao.
Gary Locke and Hu Jintao US Ambassador to China Gary Locke shakes hands with China's President Hu Jintao

"The median age of the second generation in this community is 17 years old so their chapter has yet to be written."

The rise of Asian-Americans in US society is seen by many experts as a chance to build bridges with emerging economies in Asia.

Both the US ambassador to China, Gary Locke, and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy in Beijing, Robert Wang, are Chinese-American.

"Having in China two Chinese-Americans representing the United States is very powerful," said Benjamin Wu, vice chair of the US-Asia Institute

What are we doing in Canada I ask..? Will it be too little too late as usual and then throw money at the idea.

War of 1812: Violence, glory and a new Canadian-ness
Canada today is often erroneously seen as a harmonious nation of hockey, mounties and maple leaves, in peaceful contrast to its often fractious and noisy neighbour to the south. But Canadian-ness itself was born amid the blood, gunpowder and glory of the War of 1812, writes Grant Stoddard.

As a British-born newcomer to Canada, I've observed that often Canadians see their Canadian-ness as the sum total of their shared values, interests and beliefs.

By contrast, in other countries and places national identity is more typically linked to battles, popular uprisings and improbable triumphs in the face of adversity: the Boston Tea Party, the storming of the Bastille, the October Revolution etc.

This led me to assume that while Canada is a wonderful place to live, it lacked a rousing origin story.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the story of the birth of Canadian-ness - which began 200 years ago this week - is as rollicking, bloody, stirring and inspiring as they come.

Canadians famously cannot bring themselves (not all by a long chalk) to brag, so I am taking it upon myself to recount the series of events that paved the long road to Canadian nationhood.

In the years after the American Revolution, Britain set about creating a mirror-state to the north of the 13 rebellious former colonies. Hoping in part to entice the US back into the empire, Britain aimed to demonstrate that life in North America could be happier and more stable under her administration.

There were challenges: the territory in what is now Canada was rugged, under-developed and thinly populated. Furthermore, the main groups of people living there did not like each another very much.

First Nations tribes resented the unrelenting European expansion into the heart of the continent. Disaffected French Catholics had settled along the St Lawrence River in the early 1600s and remained after Britain finally wrested control of Canada from France in 1763. British inhabitants of Nova Scotia, known as the "14th Colony", had not joined their sister colonies in revolt.

"Some Canadians were uninterested in receiving liberty and prosperity at the point of an American sword. So they took up arms”

And tens of thousands relocated north after the American War of Independence: refugee crown loyalists and former black slaves rewarded with their freedom for fighting alongside the British.

The new arrivals were so numerous that Britain carved a new colony - New Brunswick - out of Nova Scotia to accommodate them. Yet even after the influx, the US still had about 20 times the population of what was now called British North America.

The British government encouraged even more immigration from the US by offering free land and low taxes. These opportunist migrants, who had little loyalty to the British crown, were euphemistically called the Late Loyalists.

At the dawn of the 19th Century, what is now Canada was no melting pot or even patchwork quilt but rather a hodgepodge of disparate groups who held wildly varying opinions on British rule and American republicanism and a deep distrust of one another.

By 1812, with the British embroiled in war with France, US hawks moved to take advantage of their northern neighbour's disunity, finish the job of the revolution and kick the British off the North American continent once and for all.

Proponents of war were confident that the fractious Canadians would greet US forces as liberators, with former President Thomas Jefferson quipping that annexing the vast territory would be "a mere matter of marching" and could be completed within a few months.

One of the leaders of the invasion force was US General William Hull, a 58-year-old veteran of the revolution who had been reluctant to take part.

He promised the Canadians liberty and prosperity, while also threatening "instant destruction" and a "war of extermination" at the first whiff of collusion between the Canadians and the natives.

Though some Canadians took heed, others, regardless of their allegiances, were uninterested in receiving liberty and prosperity at the point of an American sword.

'So they took up arms.'
'Bravery and patriotism'

In battles on both sides of the border, vastly outnumbered Canadian militiamen, British regular troops and First Nations warriors inspired by Shawnee warrior Tecumseh overcame the Americans.

A force led by British Maj Gen Isaac Brock and Tecumseh captured Detroit from Gen Hull, taking almost 2,500 American regulars and militiamen captive with only 300 hundred British regulars, 400 Canadian militiamen and 600 natives.

At the Battle of the Chateauguay near Montreal, French Canadians repelled a US attack. Under the leadership of Charles de Salaberry, 50 regulars, 400 volunteers, 900 militiamen and 180 Mohawks drove off 4,000-strong US force.

Despite their difficult history with British rule, Les Canadiens had proved their bravery and patriotism beyond a doubt.

Their victory inspired yet another improbable defence of Canada just over two weeks later at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, in which 900 British regulars and Canadian militiamen repulsed 8,000 US troops.

By the war's end, both York (now Toronto) and Washington DC had been put to the torch by invaders; the British bombardment of Ft McHenry in Baltimore had inspired a new national anthem; and Gen Andrew Jackson had routed the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans.

But the map of North America had hardly changed.
Three native men who fought with the British, photographed in 1882 Canada's First Nations tribes' hopes for an independent state died after the War of 1812; above, three men who fought with the British, photographed in 1882

The US withdrew to well within the boundaries of the 13 colonies. Inexperienced British diplomats gave away her territorial gains at the negotiating table, while bullish and skilled US negotiators rejected the British-backed idea of an independent "buffer state" for the indigenous tribes between the US and British North America.

This betrayal of the natives hastened the demise of native autonomy in North America, as the US turned its attention from annexing lands in the north to pushing west toward the Pacific Ocean.

The War of 1812 was declared in Washington 200 years ago yesterday.

The British and Americans drew and the natives lost, leaving the fledgling Canadians with the best claim to victory.

In the spirited defence of their way of life, they surprised both the invaders and one another with their resourcefulness, co-operation and tenacity in the face of an invasion force with an overwhelming numerical advantage.

In that sense, their struggle was not unlike the American Revolution a generation earlier.

What Canadian-ness actually means continues to evolve and remains a perennial topic of discussion both domestically and internationally.

Nevertheless, its beginnings can be traced back to 18 June 1812, when her fractious inhabitants stood together against subjugation by a foreign power.

The 33.5 million people living in Canada today - fully one-fifth of whom are foreign-born - have this patchwork vanguard to thank for their country's steady path to progressive prosperity.

Canada never rejected the British Crown as America did, and remains a loyal part of the Commonwealth

Personality testing to screen out teachers who lack social skills or cannot cope under pressure. Will this ever happen in Canada? I hope so.

Trainee teachers face personality tests to weed out those who lack social skills or cannot cope under pressure.Students will be asked to fill in questionnaires before they can begin training courses in a drive to boost the caliber of staff.The tests are designed to gauge applicants’ abilities to manage their time, relate to pupils and handle pressure and criticism.

Toughening up: New tests being introduced this September will attempt to weed out trainee teachers who lack the necessary social skills or cannot cope under pressure

The new checks – introduced from September – are part of an overhaul of teacher training with the aim of raising standards in state education.An estimated £68million is spent each year by the Government on training teachers who quickly move on to other jobs.Officials said ‘easily measurable competencies’ are already assessed during recruitment to teacher training courses.

But the ‘more difficult competencies’ which are ‘also deemed essential to becoming a successful teacher’ are not covered.From September, training providers will be supplied with an approved list of ‘non-cognitive assessments’ to use during the recruitment process. The tests will be used to ‘complement’ existing procedures such as interviews and group exercises.

Taking a stand: Other measures announced by Education Secretary Michael Gove (above) include a toughening up of literacy and numeracy tests for trainee teachers
Tests used in trials assessed criteria such as interpersonal skills, time management and emotional resilience, including the ability to ‘perform when under pressure’, ‘keep emotions in check’ and ‘handle criticism and learn from it’.

Sample questions included ‘Which of the following best describes you?’, with candidates asked to tick one of six boxes on a spectrum between ‘methodical’ and ‘flexible’.

About 35,000 students are accepted on to teacher training courses each year, but around one-third drop out of teaching soon afterwards. While some quit for personal reasons, many are simply ill-suited to the job.Earlier this year, the Department for Education demanded ‘better testing of candidates’ interpersonal skills’ before teacher training.Following trials, the Government this week announced that screening tests will be available to all recruiters for training courses.

While the personality tests will not be compulsory, most course leaders are expected to insist their candidates take them.Ofsted will for the first time be inspecting teacher training providers for the quality of their selection processes.

Further measures already announced by Education Secretary Michael Gove include a toughening up of literacy and numeracy tests for trainee teachers.Ministers are concerned that existing tests are too easy and allow trainees with a poor mastery of English and maths to slip through.

A spokesman for the Government’s Teaching Agency said: ‘By screening applicants for a range of attributes and behavioural competencies that are considered essential to good teaching, we will reinforce what is already a rigorous selection process.’

He added that the testing would ‘help select and recruit the most suitable, high-quality trainee teachers’.

Throughout the 2008-2010 financial crisis, Canadian banks were touted by the federal government and the banks themselves as being much more stable than other countries’ big banks. Canadians we assured that our banks needed no bailout. However, in reality, Canada’s banks received billions in cash and loan support during the 2008-2010 financial crisis—and the Canadian government has remained resolutely secretive about the details. This report examines the nature and extent of government support to Canada’s big banks, estimated on the basis of partial information provided by Canada’s public institutions, and an analysis of the banks’ own financial reports. Related News Releases Canada’s secret bank bailout revealed OTTAWA—A study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) estimates the previously secret extent of extraordinary support required by Canada’s banks during the financial crisis. According to the study, by CCPA Senior Economist David Macdonald, support for Canadian banks reached $114 billion at its peak—that’s $3,400 for every man, woman, and child in Canada.... Harper and company (the financial experts self made)will never ever admit this..anyone know why they might not..smile

It's been said that through chequing account banking fees Canadians are being taken to the cleaners annually. In fact, it's more like to the tune of about $185 per year but that's still $185 that could be put to better use arguably.

So suggests a 2010 study by Vision Critical commissioned by ING DIRECT Canada that finds more than half of Canadians (55 per cent) have a fee-based chequing account and on average, they dole out $185 per year in fees for these accounts.

"That average includes people that are paying monthly fees and most banks charge monthly fees in the range of $10-$15 per month. In some cases, these accounts are subject to additional fees on top of that," explains John Davis, head of product management and market research at ING DIRECT Canada in Toronto. "You might find other charges such as buying cheques for your account or viewing cheques online, a lot of banks charge for that. These types of things add up."

ING DIRECT has been in front and centre for many months pushing its no-fee chequing account message on Canucks through billboards, television ads, and Internet banner ads. According to Davis, the marketing campaign is working.

"Ultimately banks benefit when people deposit money into their accounts. This is how chequing accounts used to work in Canada. Not only would you not pay any fees but you'd actually get interest on top of that," he says. "We've had more than 100,000 Canadians set up a THRiVE Chequing account.

"Overall, we're also finding our clients are really happy with this account. We do regular surveying to see if they'd recommend this account to a friend or family member and the scores are quite high."

ING DIRECT Canada's no-fee daily chequing account, known as THRiVE Chequing, has reportedly saved Canadians over $18 million in unnecessary bank fees, and paid more than $100,000 in interest. "There's no minimum balance required to use THRiVE Chequing. This account actually pays you interest and it doesn't charge fees for daily banking," he adds.

Consumers can help themselves too by using cash instead of debit cards to make purchases or by avoiding a rival institution's ATM machines. But when it comes to fees imposed on investing in mutual funds for instance, Davis says those charges can be reduced by taking the time to shop around.

"Canadians are paying the highest mutual fund fees in the world," he says. "We pay substantially more than Americans do for essentially the same product. There's no connection between the amount of fees people are paying for investments and the market performance that those investments are going to get.

"Canadians should be looking at what they're paying in fees in the first place. The other thing they can do is shop for investments the same as you would for a car, TV, or anything else."

To that end, credit unions generally offer lower fees, higher interest rates and more personal service.

In any event, there are annoying, unnecessary fees for just about everything it seems. And one can't help but to wonder if former Goldman Sachs executive director Greg Smith's remarks on making the client the focal point of business again might be sound advice for financial institutions on this side of the border.

"With respect to banking fees, Canadians are operating under a myth that most of these transactions are being manually handled when in fact they're automated," Davis remarks. "We have a call centre that wins awards globally in terms of providing excellent customer service . . . that's a client experience we want people to have. We're also using technology to give Canadians better value."

Used to free U.S. soldiers for combat a disgrace.
March 15, 2012
Since the Canadian training mission in Afghanistan began last year, the federal government has said the purpose is to help Afghan army and police develop the skills needed to take responsibility for the country's security in 2014.

But shortly before visiting Afghanistan this past Christmas, Governor General David Johnston was told of another reason 950 Canadian troops have been deployed to Kabul and two other central Afghan cities: to free up United States soldiers for combat.

The statement is found in notes that were prepared in advance of Johnston's visit to Afghanistan, Kuwait and HMCS Vancouver in the Mediterranean and obtained by Postmedia News through access to information.

Since the end of the combat mission, Canada has become the second-largest contributor to the NATO training mission in Afghanistan after the U.S.

Shortly before the federal election call in March 2011, Defence Minister Peter MacKay authorized the deployment of Canadian military trainers to about a dozen locations around Kabul as well as to the towns of Mazari-Sharif and Herat.

The goal is to train 352,000 Afghan soldiers by the time Canada and its NATO allies leave in 2014.

According to the briefing note for Johnston, "locations and billets were based on ... where it was assessed that Canada could get the greatest effect on the ground and free up American forces to move to a combat role."

It's the first time such an objective has been mentioned. The Department of National Defence did not respond to questions Wednesday.

NDP MP Jack Harris said when the government announced the training mission, "it was all about setting up military colleges and classrooms."

"If what you're doing is freeing up soldiers to fight, then you're obviously contributing to the military mission," he said. "In our view the Canadian role should have moved to one of nationbuilding."

Mark Sedra, an expert on Afghanistan at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, did not know whether the redeploylot ment of U.S. forces would have an impact on that long-term goal.

However, he said the idea of Canadian troops deploying so Americans can hunt the Taliban has been controversial since NATO first arrived on the scene in 2001.

"They must have calculated that that sort of message would not be taken lightly by the Canadian public," he said.

"It's certainly not something that the Canadian government has been upfront about, the fact that the training mission would be used in that way."

Most Liberals probably didn't think Canadian troops would be freeing up U.S. troops to fight when the party supported the new training mission last year, Liberal defence critic John McKay said Wednesday.

But the revelation wouldn't have changed the party's position.

Rather, he said the bigger concerns are the actions of American soldiers in Afghanistan in recent weeks - such as burning Qurans, urinating on bodies and the massacre of 16 civilians - that put Canadian lives indirectly at risk.

"Those things to me are far more egregious and less anticipated consequences" of Canada staying in Afghanistan, he said.

HALIFAX – The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS) released a new report today showing that standards for Nova Scotia’s non-unionized workers are well behind the standards in other provinces.

“Workers in Nova Scotia are some of the poorest paid in Canada and this report shows that their basic conditions at work don’t fare any better,” said report co-author Larry Haiven. “If the NDP government is actually dedicated to making life better for Nova Scotia families, strengthening working conditions is one of the best and least expensive things they can do.”

The report, Labour Standards Reform in Nova Scotia: Reversing the War Against Workers, makes almost 40 recommendations for reforming the Labour Standards Code, including

Implementing overtime pay after 40 hours of work in a week;
Extending the Pay Equity Act to cover all workers;
Increasing statutory holidays from six to nine;
Increasing paid vacation from two weeks to three.

The report also recommends protection for workplace whistle-blowers, banning the use of lie detectors at work, the right of restaurant workers to keep their tips, stronger enforcement of the Code, better severance pay for laid-off workers, more and better leave availability, prorated benefits for part-timers and the right to refuse unreasonable overtime.

“All workers, regardless of whether they are union members, deserve dignity and fairness at work,” said Kyle Buott, co-author and President of the Halifax-Dartmouth District Labour Council. “The government needs to step up and protect workers from being exploited by employers. Changes to help the 68 percent of workers who are not in a union are long overdue.”

The report is now available: http://www.policyalternatives.ca

For more information or to arrange interviews in English or French, contact Christine Saulnier at (902) 477-1252 or (902) 240-0926.

The CCPA-NS is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice.

Reversing the War Against Workers
This report by Kyle Buott, Larry Haiven and Judy Haiven, confirms that standards for Nova Scotia’s non-unionized workers are well behind the standards in other provinces. The report makes almost 40 recommendations for reforming the Labour Standards Code in Nova Scotia and also recommends protection for workplace whistle-blowers, banning the use of lie detectors at work, the right of restaurant workers to keep their tips, stronger enforcement of the Code, better severance pay for laid-...

18
Minimum number of riding's in which Canadian voters were allegedly harassed or deceived about voter information during the 2011 federal election, spawning an Elections Canada investigation into voter suppression tactics. (Source)

43
Total number of riding's, to date, which Liberals and New Democrats claim received “false or misleading” phone calls during the 2011 federal election. (Source)

51
Number of close races in the 2011 federal election. (Source)

11
Number of House of Commons seats buffering the Conservative Party’s majority rule. (Source)

2
Number of companies linked, to date, to potential voter suppression-related election-time calls (RackNine and RMG). (Source 1, 2, 3)

0
Number of fake calls voice broadcast company RackNine claims it knowingly facilitated during the 2011 federal election, though Elections Canada allegedly traced fraudulent phone calls to a RackNine number. RackNine claims no knowledge of such tactics and is cooperating with Elections Canada’s investigation. (Source 1, 2)

10 million
Number of robocalls RackNine claims it made, out of 200 accounts, during the 2011 federal election. (Source)

94
Number of Conservative candidates who allegedly paid for RMG’s services in the 2011 campaign. Election-time staff from a Thunder Bay-based RMG call centre allege they were instructed to make calls to voters relaying false information.. (Source 1, 2)

1
Number of Conservative staffers publicly associated with the robocall scandal to date, though he claims no involvement. (Source 1, 2, 3)

5
Number of years a person can spend in prison for breaking Canada’s Election Act (or up to a $5,000 fine, or both. (Source)

More to come....

Police will get much easier access to the web-surfing habits and personal information of all Canadians if a new law - expected to be introduced in the House of Commons next week - passes.

They also do not have to give reasons for the need for information relating to a subscribers personal data. I guess Canada gets what it deserves? If the police have reasonable grounds for illegal online activity, they can get a warrant, not go on phishing expeditions by snooping in the computers of ordinary Canadians. However Canadians, like fluffy lambs will be led to the slaughter of privacy .. and like it

At issue is the government's "lawful access" legislation tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The last nail in the Canadian media coffin perhaps?

The legislation, newly branded by the government as the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, but dubbed "online spying" by critics, is expected to pass under a Conservative majority government.

Privacy watchdogs caution if the so-called Lawful Access law is passed, it would give police access to web-browsing history and sensitive personal information, and would grant greater permission to track the cellular phones of suspects - much of it without the requirement of a warrant.

The bill, which is on the order paper for this week, would require Internet service providers and cellular phone companies to install equipment that would monitor users' activities so that the information could be turned over to police when requested.

It would also grant greater permission to law enforcement authorities to activate tracking mechanisms within cellphones so they can follow the whereabouts of suspected criminals. Its seems all suspects are guilty before the law. BIG BROTHER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER If there is a suspicion of terrorist activity, the law would allow such tracking to go on for a year, rather than the current 60-day limit.

This isn't the first time this law has been introduced. The most recent incarnation of the Lawful Access bill died on the order paper when the federal election was called last year.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the law will give the tools to police to adequately deal with 21st-century technology, and said anyone opposing the laws favours "the rights of child pornographers and organized crime ahead of the rights of lawabiding citizens."

However, Canada's privacy commissioner raised a red flag about the law late last year, writing a letter to Toews saying she was concerned about the permission it will grant police.

"In the case of access to subscriber data, there is not even a requirement (in the bill) for the commission of a crime to justify access to personal information - real names, home addresses, unlisted numbers, email addresses, IP addresses and much more - without a warrant," Jennifer Stoddart wrote.

"Only prior court authorization provides the rigorous privacy protection Canadians expect."

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and an outspoken critic of the law, said he's worried about all the information police will be able to obtain without a warrant. "The ability to use that kind of information in a highly sensitive way without any real oversight is very real," Geist said.

As an example of the new powers, Geist said authorities would be able to use equipment to find the cellphone numbers of people attending a protest, and then be able to ask a cellphone company to disclose personal information on the people linked to those phones. Police could then track their web behaviours and monitor their movements by tracking their cellphones.

Geist said Canadians should also be concerned that the information obtained by police here could be shared with their counterparts around the world.

Geist added this could also be a tremendous waste of money, because ISPs would be required to spend a lot to put in place the advanced monitoring infrastructure proposed. "One thing (the government) has never provided is the evidence to show how the current set of laws has stymied investigations or created a significant barrier to ensure that we're safe in Canada."

He argued recent investigations into child pornography and the Sûreté du Québec's recent tapping of BlackBerry Messenger communication to make an arrest of suspected mobsters in a murder case in Montreal show the current laws already work well.

In my opinion:
In Canada if there exists a law requiring a private company, or person to do something, then that law also applies to the government as well. Furthermore the government does NOT have the right to exclude itself from any law it passes. That is the very basis of the Magna Carta. And as long as the Queen is still head of state, then NO government in Canada has the right to pass a law that excludes itself. Something that is all too frequent in this country. It’s time it was stopped and our courts reminded of the facts.

Please read on: to learn more about government fraud?

My Understanding:
In 1999, Parliament passed legislation, Bill C-78, amending the superannuation acts and enacting the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act. The passing of Bill C-78 followed stalled negotiations between the bargaining agents, the pensioners’ representative and the employer in 1998. At the core of those stalled negotiations was how to address the matter of surplus pension funds.

The effects of the bill were to create a new pension fund for benefits earned after April 1, 2000; to create an investment board to manage amounts transferred to the government under the superannuation legislation for market investment; to improve the annuity by basing the pension calculation on the five consecutive best-paid years of service; to separate employee superannuation and CPP contributions; and to change the manner in which contribution rates are set. A key provision of the bill allowed excess amounts accumulated before April 2000 to be debited from the Superannuation Accounts. This last point is the crux of the pension surplus debate.

Under the superannuation legislation, employees contribute a proportion of their salaries to the pension fund each working year, and the government makes a payment in kind on behalf of the employee. An employee is generally entitled to a pension at retirement, based on his or her years of service and annual salary. Since pension contributions are made over the course of a career, and only paid out once an employee retires, it is possible for a surplus of funds to accumulate. It was estimated that between 36.9 and 42.2% of the surplus in the Public Service Pension Account alone was attributable to employee contributions and the interest thereof. It was also estimated that the total pension surplus grew to more than $30 billion by 1999.

A portion of Bill C-78 allowed the government to amortize the surplus funds from the CF, PS and RCMP superannuation accounts during the 1990s, and to withdraw the remaining surplus amounts. Over the course of 15 years, beginning in 1991, $28 billion in surplus pension funds were amortized and assigned to purposes other than pension funding. The unions and pensioners argued that this method of accounting allowed the government to pay down its deficit by using monies that had been set aside for pensions, while taking contribution holidays. They argued that by virtue of its role as pension plan administrator, the government had a fiduciary duty to keep the funds segregated, and to use contributions solely for the purpose of funding the pension plan.

On the government side, Mr. Southey argued that the only obligation that the government has to employees in this regard is to pay them the appropriate pension amount at the right time. There is no general right to funds that are paid in to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, other than what was promised under the pension legislation. As long as pensioners receive the pensions promised, the government is meeting its obligations. He also argued that the private law concept of fiduciary duty does not apply where the Crown has not explicitly created the duty in legislation.

Projects & Initiatives: Alternative Federal Budget
January 26, 2012

OTTAWA—The twin claims by Conservative political leaders that the damage done by the recession to the Canadian economy and labour market have been repaired and that Canada survived the recession much better than other countries are both false, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The study, by economist and CCPA Research Associate Jim Stanford, finds that, after adjusting for population growth, neither GDP nor employment growth have yet to recoup the ground lost during the 2008-09 downturn.

“In the labour market, in particular, the pace of employment-creation has lagged far behind the pace of population growth. After adjusting for population growth, less than one-fifth of the damage from the recession has been repaired, and things have gotten worse in the last 18 months, not better,” says Stanford.

“No wonder most Canadians think we’re still in a recession. From the perspective of the labour market, we still are.”

According to the study, real per capita GDP remains 1.4% lower as of the third quarter of 2011 than it was at the beginning of 2008—and several thousands of dollars per person below where it could be today on the basis of pre-recession growth trends.

“Real per capita GDP is still lower in Canada than it was at the beginning of 2006, when the Harper Conservative government first took power,” Stanford says. “By this measure, during almost six years of Conservative ‘economic stewardship,’ Canadians have experienced no economic progress whatsoever.”

Failing to take account of population growth also distorts international comparisons of economic and employment performance. Adjusting for differential population growth shows Canada’s GDP performance is only mediocre when compared to other OECD countries. Of the 34 countries in the OECD, Canada ranks only 17th—right in the middle—for growth in real per capita GDP since 2007. And after adjusting for growth in the working age population, Canada also ranks 17th (out of 33 reporting countries) in terms of employment growth.

“The claim that we’ve done better than other industrialized countries in surviving the recession is false. In fact, we’ve barely kept up with the pack,” Stanford says.

“The incomplete and relatively weak state of Canada’s economic recovery should make policy-makers think twice before embarking on a campaign of fiscal austerity,” Stanford concludes. “To do so would clearly further undermine output and employment, which are still weak. Instead, the top priority should be placed on expansionary measures to strengthen the economy.”

The Obama administration's decision this week to impose a further delay in approving TransCanada Corp.'s $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline project brought howls of outrage from Republicans and the oil industry, and “profound disappointment” from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The State Department did invite the company to reapply when it has completed the rerouting of the pipeline around the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region in Nebraska – essentially punting the final decision until after next November's elections.

Stung, the Harper government has lashed out at foreign environmental groups, characterizing them as “radicals” and “jet-setting celebrities” fuelling pipeline controversies in Canada. Federal regulators are now holding a public review of Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway pipeline, and the government has warned that foreign groups are financing delaying tactics to undermine the development in the oil sands.

The Harper government itself has actively lobbied in state, federal and European capitals to oppose policies that it views as detrimental to Canadian oil. Yet it has good reason to worry about the globalization of the opposition. The stakes are enormous, and not only for the Prime Minister's home province.

Oil is now Canada's largest export by far, and the country ranks third in total crude reserves behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Meanwhile critics worry that the oil boom is transforming the country into something of a petro state, driving the loonie higher at the expense of Central Canadian manufacturing.

In the U.S., activists have targeted fossil-fuel production and use, with campaigns against coal, oil and the controversial “fracking” extraction of shale gas. But oil is the most politically divisive.

U.S. groups such as the NRDC have been active in Canada, and foreign foundations have funnelled money to Canadian environmental groups and activists, in some cases specifically to organize opposition to the Gateway pipeline through B.C.

Even in Europe, the Canadian government is battling an effort within the European Parliament – backed by well-organized activists – to pass low-carbon fuel regulations that would rate oil-sands crude as the world's worst from the standpoint of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Yet the environmental community is simply following the pattern of the international oil industry, which seeks to influence policy wherever it has operations. And they are also following a known script for global campaigns, whether to save the Brazilian rain forest, to protect tiger habitats in Asia or, indeed, to halt logging in British Columbia's Clayoquot Sound.

Canadian oil producers are now finding they have to respond to the heightened international campaign against them, said David Collyer, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, speaking from Washington, where he was meeting U.S. colleagues, Canadian embassy staff and analysts to assess the political climate for Canadian oil exports in the 2012 election year.

“It's a global business, and it's hard to draw boxes around these things,” he said. “Ultimately, it is for Canadians to decide whether those voices are relevant to the debate or not.”

Who's winning?

International groups have seized on the Alberta development as a potent symbol in the much bigger fight over climate change. Mr. Collyer argued that the groups have been acting out of fear, trying to win a battle to show that they are not losing the war.

Since the optimistic days of the Green Group summit, the U.S. Senate has failed to pass climate legislation, Mr. Obama has proved disappointing on emission regulations and international climate talks have faltered.

In turn, the environmental campaign has provoked a public-relations response in Canada: the founding of EthicalOil.org, a group with close ties to the Harper government and the industry. The group has been highly critical of the foreign groups that have financed campaigns in Canada.

“These groups unfairly target Canada and our oil sands because it's an easy, risk-free target for them,” EthicalOil spokeswoman Kathryn Marshall said.

But Rick Smith, executive director of Toronto-based Environmental Defence and an attendee at the 2009 Green Group summit, said the Canadian activists sought out the support of U.S. colleagues to help even the playing field against the hugely powerful oil industry.

“Canadian environmentalists were working on these issues long before we saw any greenbacks,” Mr. Smith said. “It was really the aggressive expansion of the tar sands themselves that has made this into a continental issue and an international issue.”

Canadian officials play down the climate impacts, saying the oil sands represent only 5 per cent of total emissions in Canada and that this country accounts for only 2 per cent of global emissions. But critics say the country's per-capita emissions are among the highest in the world, and Ottawa will not be able to reduce them if oil-sands production grows as expected.

Choke point

Shortly after the Airlie meeting, the NRDC's Ms. Beinecke visited Fort McMurray, Alta., along with Margie Alt, president of Environment America, a green umbrella group. Both women say they were awed by the sheer scale of the bitumen mines run by Suncor Energy and Syncrude.

“Clearly the overriding concern of the environmental community globally is climate change,” she said. “And it really doesn't matter where it comes from or where you burn it.”

But she said it is wrong to assume that the NRDC has an inordinate focus on Alberta's oil producers. The sprawling environmental charity – with a annual budget of $100-million (U.S.) – has offices across the United States and one in Beijing. It works on the full range of environmental issues, including coal mining, shale gas and hydraulic fracturing, renewable energy and clean oceans.

But Ottawa and Alberta can expect environmentalists across borders to keep up the pressure, whether on a Keystone revival, the Gateway project or any future proposal. Having gotten nowhere persuading governments to rein in oil-sands growth in the first place, they will keep looking to block the infrastructure it takes to get the oil to market.

Of heroes and cowards

By Janice Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen
January 21, 2012
Right now it's not a great time for anyone harbouring a belief in the fundamental goodness of human nature.

This week, a ship's captain is said to have abandoned his sinking vessel before his passengers. In Montreal, a respected retired cop is alleged to have tried selling a list of informants' names to the Mafia. An officer in the Royal Canadian Navy is charged with espionage.

The implicit betrayal of trust is breathtaking.

A few months ago, video from China showed 18 passersby deliberately ignoring the battered body of a toddler hit by a car - betrayal of trust on a whole other level, breaching humanity's deepest common bonds.

It is tempting to wonder just what the heck is going on. Has our natural sense of honour or morality been so eroded by the impersonal world we've created - where real communication is subsumed by the superficial shorthand of cybergadgetry - that we're losing touch with our humanity?

Or are those deeply conservative voices right, after all? Could it be that this postmodern landscape of liberals and loonies really is an amoral place, devoid of the social and spiritual ethos that once shaped our civilization?

So much hand-wringing to do. So little time.

Follow the mainstream news, and you could get seriously depressed, convinced that the human race is headed only one place. And it's getting there in a handbasket.

Which is why an occasional dose of therapeutic perspective is indicated. With it, you realize that, dismaying news stories notwithstanding, the awful is actually aberrational.

Look around, as I did this week after an email got me thinking, and you realize there are in fact a lot of people on this planet who keep the faith every day, sometimes almost heroically.

One of them is Ottawa's Patrick McDougall, the indefatigable oneman crusade who provided my email dose of perspective. I wrote about McDougall, a retired CBC announcer, some years ago, when he was in the thick of his battle against charlatanism and those who would exploit the vulnerable.

He had taken up arms in the name of his beautiful daughter, who died of breast cancer in 2003. Desperate and willing to try anything, McDougall's daughter had gone to a local company that made extravagant claims about its products for cancer patients. She put much of her money, and even more of her trust, into an "alternative" approach that derided conventional medical therapies as it plied her with what were essentially vitamin and mineral supplements.

It was an obscene abuse of hope, the one delicate thing that drives and supports cancer patients. Because McDougall understands that so well, he insists that the hopers must never be dismissed as "naive, cowardly, stupid or even hasty." If you've ever received that terrible diagnosis, he says - as he has himself - you know that "it's terrifying beyond all description. You are more than ready to consider any alternative to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, no matter how expensive or outlandish."

Which makes you easy pickings. For 10 years, McDougall has worked tirelessly to expose those who would prey unscrupulously on the vulnerability of others. He has researched exhaustively and lobbied tirelessly - by letter, in person, on air - trying to persuade provincial and federal governments that "alternative therapies" should be regulated and snake-oil salesmen should not be allowed the free rein they have.

But he has not prevailed. In fact, his email this week claims he's conceding defeat. He's 82 and tired of banging his head against the wall.

Since Ontario loves self-regulating professional "colleges" so much, he says, it should establish a CCCC (College of Cancer Cure Charlatans). He sounds almost bitter.

But I don't believe him. In his daughter's memory, he has made it his life's mission to protect cancer patients from those who would exploit their fragile hope. As long as that exploitation continues, it's difficult to imagine Pat McDougall staying quiet.

Is that heroic? Probably. It's also a nice antidote to recent nasty news stories, and a good dose of perspective.

For every spectacular coward in command of a sinking ship, there is a Capt. Sully Sullenberger, landing a stricken Airbus on the Hudson River in 2009 and guiding 155 people to safety. For every corrupt cop and treasonous officer, there are countless good, and sometimes heroic, men and women in police and military uniforms.

Even that horrific story out of China has its ray of light, a 58-year-old woman who stopped and tried to help the dying child. This week, she brushed off the notion that her actions were special, saying, "I just think we should save others."

Clearly, she is not alone. After this week's dismaying reports apparently signalling the end of civilization as we know it, her comment is a calming corrective.

Janice Kennedy writes here Saturdays.

Here is a deal: You set aside a dollar for your retirement and, in return, Canadian taxpayers will give you $23.30 to supplement that nest egg. When you turn 55, you can begin collecting this pension, provided you have worked for six years.

It might sound like fantasy, but it is not. This is the gold-plated pension plan enjoyed by members of Parliament. MPs earn a base salary of $157,731 a year but, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the annual contribution to their parliamentary pension fund adds up to $248,000 a year.

At a time when many Canadians have no pension plans at all, and those who do are seeing them eroded, the sweet pension deal enjoyed by MPs at the expense of taxpayers is a colossal embarrassment and should quickly be reformed.

In case MPs haven not got the message that they need to lead by example when it comes to pensions, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the C.D. Howe Institute are there to reminded them.

Gregory Thomas of the CTF put it succinctly: “This is a ripoff on a massive scale.

It certainly is unbecoming for federal politicians to have a pension plan that is outside the stratosphere of what any ordinary Canadian — the very person whose taxes pay for the parliamentary pension plans could even dream of.

Not only that, but it is, in some ways, a fantasy pension plan. With essentially no assets set aside to pay future benefits, according to the C.D. Howe Institute, it has a deficit as high as $1 billion. Which also falls to taxpayers.

This plan subjects taxpayers to financial risks few appreciate, and undermines the federal government"s authority to lead Canada"s search for a better retirement income system, says a C.D. Howe institute report.

The institute also argues that since MP pensions represent a hidden salary, that pension reform must take place, but MPs should be compensated for the loss in actual income. That will be a tough sell, the institute rightly notes.

It is important that politicians are adequately compensated in order to attract high quality candidates to the job. However, anyone seeking office simply because of the pension plan should probably be ruled out anyway. How would one know this.?

It is encouraging to see signs that some MPs, notably richer members of the Conservative caucus, are getting the message about how the public views their pension plan.

Just over 50 per cent of elderly patients in British Columbia residential-care facilities were prescribed anti-psychotic drugs over a two-month period last year, according to a report commissioned by the provincial government.

And the most commonly used anti-psychotic drugs were “atypical” medications – drugs developed over the past few decades that have been linked to serious side effects, including strokes and heart attacks, and that Health Canada in 2005 said were not approved for use in elderly people with dementia.

“I had a fit when I read in [the report] that 50 per cent of patients are on anti-psychotics, some of them being the ones that are not supposed to be prescribed to old people,” Gloria Gutman, research associate with Simon Fraser University’s Gerontology Research Centre, said this week.

B.C. Health Minister Michael de Jong was not available for comment.

But in an e-mailed statement Thursday, his ministry said it was developing province-wide guidelines for the medications.

The pending guidelines will ensure consistent provincial standards for how and when to prescribe anti-psychotic medications and “will also address the use of atypical anti-psychotics, particularly in relation to the Health Canada warning for use in seniors,” the statement said.

The report – A Review of the Use of Anti-psychotic Drugs in B.C. Care Facilities – was quietly released in December and includes six recommendations, including “increased oversight” of medication practices. The province commissioned the study last year following media reports about a family who said their mother had been drugged without her own or family members’ consent.

Anti-psychotics were developed primarily to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but are increasingly being used to treat aggression and other symptoms of seniors’ dementia.

The use of atypical drugs noted in the report is part of the broader, complex issue of how to care for the increasing number of seniors with dementia who live in residential-care facilities, said Martha Donnelly, who heads the University of British Columbia’ geriatric psychiatry program.

With health authorities focusing on the cost-savings and health benefits of helping elderly people stay at home as long as possible, long-term care facilities are increasingly home to those with moderate to severe dementia.

“You have a very sick population in these facilities to deal with – and the staff have not necessarily had all the training that’s necessary,” Dr. Donnelly said. That problem is compounded by some older facilities that don’t have private rooms or secured outdoor space.

While saying there is a place for anti-psychotic drugs, even atypical ones, in long-term care settings, Dr. Donnelly said she’d like to see their use decline – but that it takes time, staff expertise and training to fully consider and implement the alternatives, and those are all in short supply.

Dr. Gutman also cited staffing issues as a factor in the high rate of anti-psychotic use.

“If you’re so short-staffed that all they can do is keep somebody dry and fed, they’re not going to have time to give the person-centred care,” she said, referring to an individualized approach.

The report does not address the rising use of anti-psychotic drugs, said Doreen Bodnar, who went public with her concerns about her mother, Hilda Penner, in 2011. Ms. Penner died last year.

The report found 50.3 per cent of seniors in long-term care facilities had been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in the study period, compared with 37 per cent in 2001/02 and 47 per cent in 2006/07

But Ms. Bodnar is encouraged by the report’s recommendation that the ministry should educate doctors, facility staff and the public around the issue of consent.

“What was in our favour is that all of these people – doctors, nurses, whatever – they need to have consent to use a chemical restraint,” Ms. Bodnar said.

In preparing the report, researchers also heard concerns about staff safety. In a November bulletin on dementia and caregiver safety, WorkSafeBC said one in 10 long-term-care workers suffers a work-related injury each year; being hit, grabbed, bitten and kicked was second most-common cause of injuries. The first was over-exertion, usually from lifting.

An estimated 80 per cent of people in long-term care have dementia and the condition currently affects more than 70,000 people in B.C.

Public opinion

The public have been very critical of Nova Scotia Power since it has been privatized. There have been eight rate increases over the last decade, with a more increases currently proposed.

These rate increases have been proposed with the claim to cover investments in renewable energy, grid maintenance, environmental efficiencies in its coal generating stations and increased costs of purchasing cleaner coal.[19] With each increase, however, stockholder dividends have increased and the power outage frequency has not improved. In some cases, the utility has lost power in otherwise normal seasonal weather blaming such things as "salty fog" and "wet snow" for outages, leading to further frustration among the public.[20]

While debates on Nova Scotia's electricity industry usually focus on Nova Scotia Power as a vertically integrated near-monopoly, there are six communities entirely outside its distribution area, all of which have the authority to buy wholesale from other sources. These cooperate as the Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia. These are increasingly active advocates of community economic development, and have consistently opposed granting NS Power more control of the province's electric rate structure and regulatory system. They seem to be impotent in my opinion.

Infrastructure updating has been an ongoing issue since privatization leading the utility to fall behind its neighbours in New Brunswick and Newfoundland in creating a "smart grid" to allow more competition into the market, ability to offer other services and efficient method for transmitting energy.[21] Given the monopoly held by the utility on providing power, the rate increases are seen as a way to increase profit share to its stockholders at the cost of businesses and private ratepayers in the region. The utilities largest energy customer, NewPage in Cape Breton has recently laid off workers citing inability to make a profit in the current environment, specifically citing the constant power rate increases as the number one concern.[

The deteriorating health of Canadian pensions in 2011 is likely to convince more employers to shift burdens to employees this year and force an increase in retirement ages, according to pension consulting firm Towers Watson.

The company said Wednesday that low interest rates and plunging stock markets weighed heavily on defined benefit pension plans, which promise to pay a certain level of post-retirement income.

And that "double whammy" of poor performance is likely to continue in 2012, it said.

Data from the firm's tracking index found that the funded ratio of a hypothetical defined benefit plan in Canada fell 16.2 per cent from 86 per cent at the start of last year to 72 per cent at year-end.

For Canadian employers that offer defined benefit plans —including some of the country's best known companies — the drop means larger plan deficits for 2011 and higher pension costs in 2012, said Ian Markham, a senior actuary at Towers Watson.

"The employer side of it will be saying we are having to put an absolute ton of money into our pension plans and it has to come from somewhere," he said.

If pension plan values do not recover over the long term, retirees may face lower pensions and benefits.

"What that means is either Canadians are going to have to face a lower standard of living in retirement, or they're going to have to keep working longer," Markham said.

An aging workforce that may not only weaken workplace morale, but result in an even higher youth unemployment rate, he added.

"With so many people hanging around, then there's going to be less young people being hired," he said.

Research from Statistics Canada released late last year found that a 50-year-old worker in 2008 could expect to stay in the labour force another 16 years — 3.5 years longer than would have been the case in the mid-1990s.

Only about 4.5 million Canadians now have guaranteed benefits, most in the public sector. Many companies in the private sector have found the cost of guaranteeing benefits under defined benefit plans too expensive and, in some cases, a threat to their survival.

Many companies have already opting out of defined benefit plans in favour of defined contribution plans, which don't provide a guaranteed level of retirement benefits.

Some of Canada's largest companies —including Air Canada (TSX:AC-B.TO - News) and Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP.TO - News) have been vocal about problems they face due to massive pension plan deficits.

Markham said RRSPs and defined contribution plans are in the same rough shape as defined benefit plans, but are not measured by the index because it focuses on effects on corporate Canada.

To compile its index, Towers Watson tracks the performance of a hypothetical defined benefit pension plan that was fully funded in 2000 and uses a typical model that allocates 60 per cent to stocks and 40 per cent to bonds.

The financial heath of the plan is based on investment returns, which indicates the amount of assets the plan holds, and long-term interest rates on corporate bonds, which determines the amount of assets needed to pay future benefits to current plan members.

Towers Watson said the typical plan would have generated a 0.5 per cent return in 2011, while liabilities would have increased by 20 per cent, due to the decline in interest rates.

OTTAWA - The richest of the rich have gained more ground in Canada, and are now making 189 times the average Canadian wage, according to a new report.

The 100 highest paid chief executives whose companies are listed on the S&P/TSX composite index made an average of $8.38 million in 2010, according to figures pulled from circulars by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a left-leaning think-tank.

That's 189 times higher than the $44,366 an average Canadian made working full time in 2010, the report says.(latest available figures)

And it's a 27 per cent raise from the $6.6 million average compensation for the top 100 CEOs in 2009, the report says.

Regular Canadians, on the other hand, have seen their wages stagnate over the past few years. In 2010, after adjusting for inflation, average wages actually fell.

"The gap between Canada's CEO elite 100 and the rest of us is growing at a fast and steady pace, with no signs of letting up," says economist Hugh Mackenzie, who authored the report.

"The extraordinarily high pay of chief executive officers is more than a curiosity. It actually is a reflection of a troubling redistribution of society's resources in Canada and the United States, and in most of Western Europe," he said in an interview.

He points out that in 1998, the top 100 CEOs were paid 105 times the average wage. Since then, the ratio has generally climbed up.

In 2008, it was 174, dropping back to 155 during the recession in 2009. The high-water mark was 2007, when it peaked over 190.

It means that by noon on Jan. 3, the average top executive will have already made as much money as the average Canadian worker makes in a year.

The driving forces behind the inequality gap are complex, and lie in the structure of executive compensation packages, Mackenzie says.

Consultants giving advice to corporate boards on how much to pay their CEOs only compare to other CEOs, perpetually driving up the average in the race to be above-average, he explains.

The corporate board members all run in the same circles.

And many companies use stock options for a large part of their executives' bonuses, a practice that not only drives up pay packages but also ties compensation to share price rather than company performance, Mackenzie notes.

"The process of paying CEOs is really quite incestuous."

Solutions are equally complex. Debate in the United States has raged over this subject since the sub prime fiasco of 2008, and the consensus seems to be that regulating the structure of compensation packages won't really work, Mackenzie says.

Instead, taxation is a better way to go, allowing corporate boards to compensate as they please, but putting governments in a position to claw back excesses and redistribute them as they see fit.

While Mackenzie does not expect Prime Minister Stephen Harper to hike taxes on the rich tomorrow, he does see some kind of policy response eventually.

"I actually see this kind of growing income inequality as inherently unstable. I think there will be a response," he said.

"The people at the very top of the income scale — and CEOs are at the top of the top — have really launched themselves into a kind of economic interplanetary travel. If the rest of us are on earth, they're off somewhere else in a different world. I think that's unstable."

The top earner on the list is definitely in a galaxy of his own. Frank Stronach, the honorary chairman of auto-parts manufacturer Magna International Inc., took home almost $62 million in 2010.

Excluding Stronach from the Top 100 calculation would bring the average pay package down by about $62,000, Mackenzie said. He did not say where....?

Number two on the list — Donald Walker, also of Magna — made $16.7 million in 2010.

The top banker was Richard Waugh of Bank of Nova Scotia, pocketing $13.8 million in pay, bonuses, options and perks.

But Mackenzie points out that the compensation information companies include in their circulars don't catch the pay packages of investment bankers, whether or not they work for publicly traded companies.