Excerptcize

Recently the Prime Ministers Office has been engaging in some populist pandering as part of the ongoing Conservative  electoral tactic of ‘getting tough on crime’.  Last month the hubbub was over reports that convicted child killer Clifford Olson has been receiving his federal pension while he continues to serve his life sentence.

This week the garment rending continues, this time about the recently come to light fact that Graham James, a former hockey coach, received a pardon for his sexual assault convictions in 2007.

The news has sparked a tsunami of indignation across the country, from hockey parents to the Prime Minister’s Office.

A spokesman for Stephen Harper called it a “deeply troubling and gravely disturbing” development that demands an explanation from the parole board.

The problem here is with people’s conception of the word ‘pardon’, which can be thought of as ‘formal forgiveness’. If a pardon is issued before one is finished serving their sentence, eyebrows are often raised (the pardon that Gerald Ford issued to Richard Nixon comes to mind). This does not happen in Canada. From the Parole Board of Canada’s webpage:

A pardon allows people who were convicted of a criminal offence, but have completed their sentence and demonstrated they are law-abiding citizens, to have their criminal record kept separate and apart from other criminal records.

A pardon does not ‘erase’ one’s criminal record. The pardon process is a regular aspect of the Canadian justice system; Graham James, or any other criminal who has served out their sentence, is eligible to, and should, apply for one. One could certainly argue that the pardon process needs re-evaluation, but that is not what is happening here. The mechanics of our judicial process have unfolded as they were designed to do. The only thing that is “disturbing”, is the Conservatives willingness to exploit the 24 hour news cycle at any available opportunity to make political fodder.

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Last week I noted some ways that healthcare reform in the States could adversely effect Canada. While that possibility is there, the potential to benefit Canada, indirectly, is there as well. Reform in the US takes a two-pronged approach; extending coverage, which has received the bulk of attention abroad for it’s moral implications, and controlling costs, which, while not being ‘sexy’, is a measure that does have some potential relevance for Canada and other countries.

Medical advancements, like other technological innovations, are not zero-sum propositions; pharmaceuticals that were first researched and developed in the States now benefit people around the world. When it is shown that a 50% reduction in surgical mortality rates and a 36% decline in complications can be attained by following a basic checklist, those checklists can be implemented at a larger scale. The same goes for improvements in cost effectiveness.

Just as I imagine that in the long run cost effectiveness measures developed in the US will be a boon to other countries, the US will also hope to be the benefactor of efficiencies gained elsewhere. As Ezra Klein noted:

Even if the bill does a better job than CBO projects, health-care costs will still bankrupt us. This is one small step for cost, one giant leap for coverage. My great hope is that the bill makes thenext steps easier. But there’s still no guarantee we’ll take them.

The same can be said about Canada, and really any industrial country. This graph from the Parliamentary Budget Officers recent Fiscal Sustainability Report features a pretty scary forecast for our future federal debt:

Not all of that sharp upwards climb will be due to increases  in healthcare expenditures, but a lot of it is. The first members of the baby boomer generation are turning 65 this year; couple that with an ever rising life expectancy and you have a perfect formula for endlessly escalating healthcare outlays. For my part, I am an optimist that these are problems that can be solved, and having the US as part of “the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor” is a necessary part of the puzzle.

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Amidst my general happiness for our American friends in joining the rest of the western world in providing access to health insurance for all of it’s citizens, there are a few aspects of this story concerning Canada that I want to take a look at. Yesterday I heard from a few people that while they too were happy for the American people, they didn’t really care as it would have no effect on them. There’s a few reasons why this is not true, but what immediately jumps out to my mind is the twofold effects of ‘brain drain’.

First, new provisions in the law will allow over 30 million people to gain access to health insurance/care for the first time. Hospitals are going to be adding doctors and nurses to their staffs, and Canada is, and will continue to be a fertile recruiting ground to fill those spots.

Compounding this is the new ability for those who are self-employed to purchase insurance on ‘exchanges’, which will effectively give individuals the same purchasing power as large groups. This will finally make purchasing health insurance for oneself a tenable position. There are many folks who in the past have been turned off from emigrating to the States based solely on the fact that buying healthcare insurance on the individual market was next to impossible. That is no longer the case, meaning that there is that much more intellectual/entrepreneurial talent flowing south.

This country already has a doctor shortage as it is and we should be aware that they will be sought out even more so now by US hospitals. This fact highlights that we need to continue in our efforts to train more physicians as well as increase our acceptance of foreign trained care providers. US health care reform also holds the possibility to have some positive effects on Canada, and I will look at those in post to follow shortly.

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It has been a big week from a political standpoint; Parliament reconvened with a Speech from the Throne on Wednesday and Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his governments latest federal budget on Thursday. Before taking a look through the federal budget, I would like to take some time to examine the BC Provincial Budget that was unveiled by Provincial Finance Minister Colin Hansen on Tuesday.

The first thing to always remind oneself of when paying any heed to a budget, whether it is a provincial or federal one, is that it is a hybrid of a policy document and a political one. A good example of this fact can be found by reading through the 2010 Budget Highlights. Only once in that document does the word ‘deficit’ appear, and that is as an axis label in this graphic:

BC Provincial Budget: 2001-2009, with 2010-2014 forecasts

Well, at least they used the word once! This graphic does get to the crux of any budget; is there a surplus or a deficit and how big is it? For the fiscal year of 2010/11 a deficit of $1.715 billion dollars is projected.  This is a figure that is 38% lower than last years deficit of $2.775 billion and represents about 1% of provincial GDP*. The budget forecast sees that deficit dropping to $945 million the next year (45% less than the projection for this year) $145 million in 2012 and turning to a surplus of $410 million by 2013. Considering the depth and breadth of the just now turning around recession, especially in the US housing market (the primary destination of much of BC’s forestry products) I’d say these numbers look rather good on balance. My very limited economics sense tells me that with interest rates as low as they are now and no strong signs pointing towards a spike in inflation an even higher short term deficit could be in order. All and all though, these forecasts seem reasonable to me.

Next, let’s take a look over the goodies contained within the budget. ‘Goodies’ are new spending announcements or reallocations for very specific programs. These specific allocations will serve as the basis for a whole years worth of generic talking points: “Our Government believes in X, that’s why we created the Y program in this years budget, funding it with Z dollars over the next year(s).” Every single one of these expenditures may be warranted, and perhaps many deserve more funding,  and none of this suggests that these programs should be cut. I just feel it is important to remember the political aspect to them. So what are the goodies? By far the largest share of funding increases comes in the form of a $2 billion dollar increase from the 2009/10 budget levels for healthcare over the next three years, with over half of that number going directly to health authorities for front line expenditures. Pivoting off of the just finished Olympic Games, $30 million in new funding was announced for youth participation in sports, and another $30 million for provincial art investments. The LiveSmartBC program, designed to assist homeowners in improving energy efficiency, returns with $35 million in funding. A big item in the budget, for homeowners with kids at least, is the new ability to defer payment on property taxes until one sells their home. It’s hard to put a price tag on this item, but I imagine it will prove to be extremely popular. The last ‘goody’ I can pick out easily is a grant of up to $200 for homeowners outside of the Lower Mainland and the Victoria area.

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The Canada Line - A beautiful jewel in Vancouver's transportation network

The cauldron in Coal Harbour has been extinguished, the Olympic flag has been lowered and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have ended. That means  two things; it’s time for me to start doing some blogging again, and some of those posts will be in reference or reaction to all the articles and editorials now asking the question ‘What will the legacy of these Games be?’ It’s Tuesday already, so I am behind already. As a lowly, pajama clad blogger though I feel that I was more than entitled to some rest; I figure the pros out there will have the necessary bases covered. Derek Moscato is assuredly a pro. He has a regular column in Metro Vancouver that focuses on urban issues, transportation, architecture and economics. I always enjoy his work and generally find myself in agreement with most of his assessments.  His column from Monday is no different, as he gets directly to the point and says that the legacy of these games should be transit.

The points that he makes are clear and concise, but the most important one is the first one he lists:

Rapid transit — in the form of light metro — is pivotal to the growth of this region. Let’s stop arguing about the merits of rapid transit technologies in the Tri-Cities, or out to UBC, and get on with expanding our already successful SkyTrain network. In the end, it was the Canada and SkyTrain lines that did the heavy lifting for the Olympics, with the Canada Line moving millions between competition sites and downtown destinations. Ditto for SkyTrain, especially close to the stadiums

I couldn’t agree more. The Canada Line was a shining workhorse throughout the games and everyone in Vancouver should be extremely proud of this piece of backbone infrastructure. It seems that the Vancouver Games won’t be able to shake the ‘$6 billion’ price tag that the media has afixed to it. If people realize and appreciate that a third of that cost is associated with the Canada Line I won’t be so perturbed by the fuzzy math that generates that $6 billion figure.

What I am really looking forward to is seeing some transit numbers post games. Typically TransLink moves some 750,000 people around on any given day. During the Olympics that number more than doubled to 1.6 million. Myself, Derek and anyone else concerned with transportation policy in the GVRD eagerly hope to see some numbers showing that people who switched to transit during the games are sticking with it afterward. Hopefully TransLink will have some of those numbers for us by the end of the week.

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The flame screams out "Let me free!" photo courtesy of Steven Johnson

Today is certainly a big day for Canada at these games as the Womens hockey team will go for gold later this afternoon. Womens curling semifinals have just finished, the men will play later today, three Canadian men will jump in the aerials final tonight and Joanie Rochette will skate in the final flight in the ladies individual figure skating competition. Three more days of competition remain after today that are sure to also contain many Olympic highlights. As we near the end of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, the retrospective analysis has begun.

In a piece in yesterdays Vancouver Sun, Jeff Lee notes the surprise of VANOC officials over the exuberant outpouring of national pride from Canadians and their enthusiastic support of the games. It’s nice that they’ve been pleasantly surprised, but it’s important to note that their surprise is at least partially a function of the huge amount of negative (often inaccurate or misleading) press coverage the games have received, both before and during their execution. As someone who is generally pro-Olympics and has put some effort into push back against false arguments from Olympic detractors, I may have spent more time than most listening to negative press. But if the organizing committee, by default the games biggest cheerleaders, were apprehensive that Canadians wouldn’t get behind winning gold medals at home and Olympic hockey, I think it’s fair to say that the negative stories had reached a saturation point.

Something else Lee noted that  illustrates this story very specifically is the handling of the Olympic Cauldron. Fearing all the press about protesters, VANOC felt the need to hide the cauldron behind a chainlink fence extremely far back from the Cauldron with a large phalanx of police officers milling about, both within the enclosed area (along with the lucky few who due to volunteering or knowing the right people are able to have an unobstructed view) and outside. VANOC CEO John Furlong said they were blown away by the desire of the people to see the flame. I say that’s baloney. The flame is an enduring symbol and being drawn to fire has to be one of the oldest human instincts around. I think VANOC had higher expectations of the numbers of protesters and demonstrations that would occur based on the media narrative and needlessly increased security based on that. The enormous outcry from the public about the cauldron forced VANOC to act, although their fix, installing a plexiglass section in the fence and constructing an elevated viewing platform is still wanting. Paul Sullivan writing in the Metro had a much better idea last week suggesting completely removing the fence, putting up a velvet rope and staffing as many serge clad mounties as needed to provide security directly around the flame. Let VANOC’s shortsightedness due to media distortions serve as a lesson to future hosts (I’m looking at you London.)

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I am a newer resident of Vancouver, and was only 10 years old when the Vancouver Canucks lost game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in ’94 and rioting erupted throughout the streets. I don’t have any direct memories of that event, but it is easy to feel the remembrance of that shameful incident this city collectively has as we inch closer to the one of the most anticipated hockey games this country has ever seen; Canada’s mens hockey team wraps up Olympic round robin play this afternoon at 4:30PT/7:30ET when they face the United States of America. I feel that it is no accident this particular game was scheduled for a Sunday, as opposed to a Friday or Saturday; liquor stores close earlier and I presume officials are also hoping that many revelers will remember to go to work Monday morning and restrain their intake of celebratory libations (a futile hope in my mind).

The nervousness of Olympic officials was put on display before Sunday as a jittery Vancouver Police Department made a request to the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Branch to order the closing of liquor stores city wide at 7pm as opposed to the typical time of 11pm. The order affected both public and private stores, but did not extend to off rack sales at pubs and bars. This measure was apparently in response to the events of Friday night in downtown Vancouver. The particulars of those ‘events’ are another matter. I was downtown on Robson and Granville on Friday night. It was busy. There were plenty of people in the streets. Many of those folks were drunk. As far as I know from my own anecdotal gatherings, as well as what I can find in published news reports there was no inciting event that turned the large, festive and yes, intoxicated crowd disruptive or violent. They simply remained a large, festive and drunken crowd; and that’s it. I am sure that there would have been some individual isolated incidents of assaults of varying natures, but that is par for the course for a weekend night on Granville Street. More notable to me is what appears to be an extremely low level of unfortunate events given the massive influx of people celebrating in the city.

There is no doubt that the police have been lenient in terms of enforcing public intoxication laws. I think they are to be commended for this. It is a good thing for police to be able to exercise their powers with a certain amount of discretion. If the police are becoming concerned that they levels of public intoxication are approaching levels that are becoming dangerous then why would they not begin to enforce intoxication laws just a bit more than the stance they have previously taken? Did we not spend an obscene level of money on security for reasons just like this? For his part, convicted drunk driver Gordon Campbell told CTV News the early store closures were necessary, saying:

“There’s a huge number of people downtown and we have to make sure everything goes well for everyone [...] I think an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

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With one run remaining in the womens skeleton, Great Britain’s Amy Williams is ahead of Canada’s Melissa Hollingsworth by 0.54 seconds. This is an extremely large lead in a gravity sport such as the skeleton. I’m hoping that if Williams is able to hold on for the gold, the British press can stop taking a shit on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I’ve been to busy and engaged with the city of Vancouver and the fabulous party that has been going on that is the games to follow much of the media response to the games so far, but I have still been hearing peripherally that Fleet Street’s knives are out. The only way possible to be covering these games thus far in a completely negative light would be if one went in with the intention to do so. Paul Sullivan had a nice piece in this morning’s Metro Vancouver noting that the US media has certainly changed their tune since American domination of the medal count has become the normal day to day story. Great Britain’s medal drought will soon be over. One hopes that will also be the case for the negative coverage for the sake of negative coverage from the British press.

Update: Amy Williams of Great Britain laid down an excellent 54 second flat fourth run in the womens final run of the skeleton just now to capture the gold medal. Kerstin Szymkowiak of Germany had a fabulous final run to jump into 2nd place to claim the silver, with Anja Huber, also of Germany finishing in the bronze medal position. Canada’s Melissa Hollingsworth had an amazing start to her final run, but had a few sketchy turns. She still managed to place 5th in an extremely strong womens field. The final two runs in the mens skeleton are up next. CTV’s Olympic webpage will have the coverage live in HD, where Canada’s Jon Montgomery currently sits in second place after two runs 0.26 seconds behind Martins Dukurs of Latvia.

Update II: After the third run Canada’s Jon Montgomery sits in second 0.18 seconds behind Latvia’s Martins Dukurs in the mens skeleton. CTV will broadcast the final run live or you can watch in almost real time at CTV’s webpage.

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Alexandre Bilodeau of Rosemere, Que. skis to second place in dual moguls competition at the Canada Post Freestyle National Championships at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, Sunday, March 29. 2009. Photo by Mike Ridewood/Canadian Freestyle Ski Association

A lot of Canadians (myself included) were predicting that the gold medal drought on home soil would end on the first full day of competition by Jennifer Heil in womens freestyle skiing competition. That was not to be, as the American skier Hannah Kearney was just that much better, edging Jen out for the gold. Heil is still a champion, she has WON an Olympic silver medal to go with her gold from Torino and all Canadians should be very proud of her.

Day 3 brought another great chance for Canada’s gold medal drought to end with four Canadians in the mens freestyle final, including Alexandre Bilodeau, who was expected to challenge for the top of the podium. The reigning mens champion from Torino, Dale Begg-Smith had skied before Bilodeau, laying down an excellent run, but it was not flawless and there was room for Bilodeau to surpass him. Alexandre started off in spectacular fashion, laying down a nearly perfect double twisting backflip before launching himself through the middle section of moguls with  barely controlled reckless abandon. Holding form throughout, Alex was set up huge iron cross backflip. Crossing the finish line, Alexandre and the rest of Canada knew that his run was good enough to put him in first place. Anxious moments passed, but finally the judges scores were posted and they concurred with the entirety of Canadian national opinion; Bilodeau was in first place with one competitor left.

I watched the competition on Robson St. in downtown Vancouver with my brother, his girlfriend and one of my dearest friends, packed together with hundreds (thousands?) of other excited Canadians. When the scores were posted for the final skier and it was a done deal that not only was Canada’s first gold of the games secured, but also a long drought of not winning at home was over, the crowd lost itself. Decades worth of pent up frustration were released into the beautiful Vancouver night sky (no rain either!) Alexandre appears to be nothing but an exemplary young man and all of Canada is extremely proud of his accomplishment. In both post race interviews I saw with Bilodeau, he was quick to note that his gold is only the first of many to come for Canada at these games as the Canadian team is extremely strong. I could not agree with him more. Make sure to tune in this afternoon to the mens snowboard cross, where Canada entertains further medal hopes.

CTV does not allow for embedded videos, but you can watch Alexandre’s gold medal run in great streaming quality here.

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Jennifer Heil of Canada jumps off the ramp to take first place during the finals Women's Moguls at Sauze d'Oulx, Italy, 2006. (AP / Peter Dejong)

In just over an hour the womens mogul competition’s final round will begin. At the conclusion of the event Canada stands an extremely strong chance of winning it’s first Olympic gold medal, both of these games and on home soil. Should that be the case, it would most likely be from Jennifer Heil claiming first place. Jen is the reigning Olympic champion, as well as being currently ranked first in the World Cup standings. Jen is an amazing athelete and accomplished young woman. She currently lives in Montreal where she is an economics student.

Canada has two other women competing in the final round who are both medal threats. After the qualifying round Kristi Richards was in fourth place, with Chloe Dafour-Lapointe sitting in ninth. The qualifying round merely sets the start order for the finals, so it is a brand new competition, and there are even multiple podium places possible for Canada. Should Heil (or one of the other Canadian ladies) win gold, look for a party tonight in Vancouver that will be talked about many years from now. Go Canada Go!!

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Paint stained broken window at Hudsons Bay Company in downtown Vancouver (my picture)

This morning while watching the luge training runs and having breakfast, James Duthie (CTV daytime host) interrupted to tell me they were receiving reports of rioting at the Hudsons Bay Company downtown location, even referencing the ’94 riots that occurred in this city when the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup riots. Figuring that CTV would not interrupt their broadcast to mention a small protest from only a few score of people (the number of protesters I’ve been expecting) I grabbed my camera and walked on over.

Whatever had been happening had already moved on by the time I reached the HBC building; all that remained were some red paint splashes, a few broken eggs and a handful of smashed display windows. After snapping a few pics I tried to find someone who had been there when the protesters were; the one person I was able to talk to guessed there were between 100 and 200 protesters, which is rather modest, but around what I would have expected. It should of course be noted that this is a secondhand estimate and people in general are terrible at estimating the size of a crowd.

Making my way back to my cold bacon, I passed a group of police, and just as I did a call came through on the radio for any available officers to go to Pender and Cordova Streets. The officers were able to commandeer a cab, but having run out the door without any cash I hopped on the next bus. This did afford me a lovely chance to chat with two extremely sweet elderly ladies, but once again any crowds that had been formed had already been dispersed by a swath of officers in riot gear by the time I had arrived. The only protest sign I could still see was one decrying the noise at night that hosting the games will cause.

Do these protesters not realize that violent and destructive protests do nothing but undermine their positions? Vancouverites as a whole are extremely sympathetic to the urban issues that Olympic protesters say they are advocating for, but have little patience for groups (many who are not residents of the city) resorting to destruction to underline a point (which neglects to account for those protesters who have no point to make and are purely interested in clashing with authorities.) My note to protest leaders; ‘Break Stuff’ is a mediocre song from a mediocre band, not a dissenting opinion. Should you continue to make it a plank of your protests, any relevant points you may have to make will be lost.

Police in riot gear congregate on Cordova St. after dispersing Olympic protesters (my photo)

• In Response To Paul Sullivan's '5 Reasons' Against The Vancouver Games [/caption] In an editorial comment from Wednesday's Metro Vancouver, Paul Sullivan outlined his five reasons to not 'Believe' in the Olympic Games. While I can appreciate the jab at CTV, the Canadian broadcaster for the...
• A Mixed Day For Olympic Impressions I strongly believe that judgement on the success of the upcoming Winter Games should be on based upon the actual execution of them, not based upon issues that have arisen at past games. Prior incidents,...

• Top 4 Reasons for the Rising Silver Coin Value Silver coins are among the most valuable of the coins people collect year to year. There are a few different reasons for this. Knowing the...
• Tea Parties vs. G20 Protests - Hypocrisy of the Left Sunday Paper - September 27th, 2009 by Kimberly Morin Comparing the Tea Parties to the G20 protests - the violence, destruction and hypocrisy of the...