Canada's big cities headed for financial crisis

CFIB report demands an urgent conversation among local government leaders on overspending

VANCOUVER, May 29, 2013 /Canada NewsWir/ - With municipal leaders from across the country gathering in Vancouver later this week for the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling on them to take action on municipal overspending. CFIB today released a report showing that spending has grown more than three times the rate of population over the past 12 years in Canada's three largest cities - Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver - and in Canadian municipalities overall.

"Most of us can appreciate that the cost of running our cities must keep pace with population growth, and factor in the cost of inflation," says CFIB executive vice president Laura Jones. "But our research shows spending is increasing by as much as three to eight times the rate of population growth in Canada's largest cities. Municipal officials claim they lack sufficient revenue, and argue that cities need even more revenue and increased taxing authority. Our report shows the real problem is overspending."

This spending problem is not just confined to Canada's largest cities. From 2000 to 2011, inflation-adjusted spending grew by 55 per cent in all Canadian municipalities while population only grew by 12 per cent. The increases in spending are largely driven by public sector wages and benefits which consume between 52 to 67 per cent of local government operating spending in the three big cities.

"From 2000 to 2011, city staff in all Canadian municipalities increased by 25 per cent, more than double population growth," says Mike Klassen, CFIB BC director of provincial affairs. "Combine that with wages and benefit packages that are more than one-third higher than comparable occupations in the private sector, and you can begin to understand the causes of overspending by our cities. It adds up to a cost of over $10,000 per Canadian family of four during the same period."

"It's time that we changed the conversation to move away from the persistent requests for new tax revenues from our local governments to one that addresses spending challenges—responsible policy-making depends on it," suggests Laura Jones. "CFIB hopes this report is a catalyst to start this critical conversation."

To read Big City Spenders report, please visit www.cfib.ca.

CFIB is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region of the country.

New Book CATALYST - A Collection of Commentaries to Get Us Talking

VANCOUVER, May 20, 2013 /Canada NewsWire/ - An awareness of the problems around us isn't enough.

Understanding the issues - how they connect and affect and ripple out to the edges of our lives - is the only hope for a better tomorrow. Catalyst: A Collection of Commentaries to Get Us Talking is a tool to encourage conversation about subjects that are sometimes hard to talk about.

Alex Sangha has produced a critical, yet positive, book that covers a range of table topics from environmental conservation to reconciling religion and sexuality, to depression and arranged marriage.

What sets Sangha apart is that he doesn't just want readers to agree blindly with everything he says; he encourages critical thinking and debate by posing a question at the end of each article.

Catalyst is a great conversation starter and social discussion book designed for the informed citizen, as well as for parents and teachers who want to get young adults thinking and talking about the world around them.

Catalyst is a companion to The Modern Thinker, Sangha's well-received book of 2011. All the articles in The Modern Thinker have been revised and 10 new articles have been added.

About the Author

Alex Sangha is an award-winning social worker and human rights activist who lives and works in the Metro Vancouver area of BC. Sangha has advocated for marginalized people including those with mental illness, South Asian immigrants, and gays and lesbians. Sangha is always interested in meeting new people, developing new friendships and relationships, and learning new things. He believes anyone can bring about social change and make a difference; all it takes is effort.

Hospital CEO salaries continue to rise while frontline healthcare workers struggle to make ends meet

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, March 28, 2013 /Canada NewsWire/ - Today's Sunshine List reveals that many of the CEOs of Ontario's hospitals continue to receive generous wage increases while salaries for frontline healthcare workers remain frozen.

"It's completely unacceptable that rich CEOs and administrators paid from the public purse should see their salaries increase while many on the frontlines of health care have had their $12 to $14 an hour wages frozen," said Sharleen Stewart, President of SEIU Healthcare, which represents more than 50,000 healthcare workers in Ontario.

"To fix the healthcare system in Ontario we need to start making investments on the frontline, not the bottom line, by putting a hard cap on the salaries of healthcare CEOs who have been pocketing millions, and close loopholes so that the wealthiest 1% pay their fair share toward public healthcare," continued Stewart.

The Sunshine List reveals the tremendous amount of money being spent on administration in the healthcare sector, which, if put into frontline services, would result in better care for patients. In fact, of every public dollar invested in homecare, only 35 cents goes to actual care.

In one of the most outrageous findings, the list reveals that Kevin Mercer, former CEO of the Waterloo Wellington Community Care Access Centre, collected a whopping half-million dollar pay package in 2012 despite being terminated after a government-commissioned report found "dysfunctional" management practices that led to long waiting lists and poor use of funds.

"With more than 6,000 people on waiting lists for homecare, families want to hear care will be there when they need it, not that CEOs have made off with the loot," said Stewart.

Meanwhile, hospitals continue to cut their budgets on government orders but still pay exorbitant salaries to their CEOs and senior managers.

"It's unconscionable that under budget cuts hospitals eliminate beds and lay off the front-line staff who deliver care to patients, while at the same time continuing to pay hospital CEOs and senior administrators hundreds of thousands of dollars," concluded Stewart.

Selected highlights of the 2012 Sunshine List of wages / benefits:

...$753,992 / $74,560 Robert S. Bell, President & CEO of the University Health Network, Toronto.
...$737,003 combined - William Reichman, President & CEO Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto.
...$714,999 / $45,627 Barry McLellan, President & CEO Sunnybrook Health Science Centre (A 2% increase in salary from ...$703,311 and nine fold increase in benefits from $5,184) Mr. McLellan's benefits alone are the equivalent of the annual salary of a full-time Registered Practical Nurse working 35 hours a week for 52 weeks.
...10 Vice Presidents at Sunnybrook collected $3,588,622 in total compensation.
...$690,201 combined - Joseph Mapa, President & CEO Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto.
...$453,180 - Gillian Kernaghan, President & Chief Executive Officer, St. Joseph's Health Care, London. (A 6% increase in base salary from $428,700)

2013 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts - National Gallery of Canada exhibition celebrates recipients

Marcel Barbeau

On view from March 22 to June 23, 2013

OTTAWA, March 20, 2013 /Canada NewsWire/ - From Friday, March 22 to Sunday, June 23, 2013, visitors to the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) will be able to admire outstanding works by the seven recipients of the prestigious 2013 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, in an exhibition that pays tribute to the laureates. The exhibition is organized by the NGC in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts and His Excellency The Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.

Significant pieces by painter and sculptor Marcel Barbeau; performance artist Rebecca Belmore; filmmaker and director William MacGillivray; sound artist and composer Gordon Monahan; artist-potter Greg Payce, recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award; and sculptor Colette Whiten are showcased in the exhibition, as is the outstanding contribution of curator and art critic Chantal Pontbriand. The exhibition includes both loans from the laureates and works from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

"Once again this year, we are proud to present an exhibition that unites the outstanding works of these great Canadian artists, whose powerful artistic contributions have been shaping our visual arts landscapes for decades," said NGC director and CEO Marc Mayer.

The Awards, funded and administered for the 14th year by the Canada Council for the Arts, were announced March 12 during a press conference held in Montreal. They recognize distinguished career achievements in the visual and media arts by Canadian artists, as well as outstanding contributions through voluntarism, philanthropy, board governance, community outreach or professional activities.

United Church Says Limits to Freedom of Religion Are Reasonable

TORONTO, Ontario February 27, 2013 /Canada NewsWire/ - In a statement released this afternoon, the Moderator of The United Church of Canada, the Right Rev. Gary Paterson, welcomed today's Supreme Court ruling that says there are limits to freedom of religion when it comes to hate speech.

"Freedom of religion is not absolute," says Paterson. "It does not include the right to engage in religiously motivated hate speech, and it does not extend to conduct that harms or interferes with the rights of others."

Today's court decision, explains Paterson, confirms the position taken by the United Church when it appeared before the Supreme Court in October 2011 as an intervener in the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission versus William Whatcott appeal.

That appeal originated with a human rights complaint that was filed in Saskatchewan against William Whatcott, an activist who was found guilty and fined for distributing anti-gay flyers that he said expressed his religious beliefs about homosexuals. This ruling was later overturned by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.

For over 30 years the United Church has publicly condemned discrimination against gays and lesbians and has advocated for the inclusion of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination in human rights legislation.

The church's long history of commitment to gays and lesbians placed it in a unique position to assist the Supreme Court by bringing different philosophical, religious, social, and moral perspectives from those being offered by other parties.

In its oral presentation to the court the church said,

"The United Church strongly supports the robust protection of freedom of religion for all Canadians, including Mr. Whatcott. However, the United Church recognizes the difference between the expression of a religious view—even a controversial and unpopular view—and hate speech. A prohibition on the latter does not prevent anyone from exercising their freedom of religion."

The church argued

"that all Canadians, including Mr. Whatcott, have the right to hold whatever beliefs their conscience dictates, no matter how abhorrent those beliefs may be to others. Likewise, all Canadians, including Mr. Whatcott, have the right to engage in public debate and to reasonably express their religious views, including views that are critical of homosexuals and other identifiable groups—provided that the words and expressions used are not so extreme, hateful, and dehumanizing that they cross the line into hate speech."

The United Church also argued that hate speech causes real and lasting harm to its victims and to Canadian society. That harm, said the church, is not reduced or mitigated simply because of a claim that the hate speech was motivated by religion. The harm is the same.

"Hate speech encourages derision, hostility, and abuse of already vulnerable persons, causing them pain, indignity, and loss of self-worth," says Paterson. "It encourages others to share in a hateful and discriminatory point of view, which damages Canadian society and threatens social stability."

WestJet's Christmas Flash mob takes centre stage at Calgary airport

Airline's employees spread the love with impromptu holiday celebration

CALGARY, December 11, 2012 /Canada NewsWire/ - WestJet today unveiled the company's first ever flashmob video on its YouTube channel. The three-minute WestJet Christmas Flashmob captures WestJet employees singing a variety of holiday favourites and spreading Christmas cheer throughout the D-wing boarding area of Calgary International Airport.

The celebration took place moments before the departure of WestJet flight 652, December 4 sold-out flight travelling to Toronto at 11:30 p.m. Prior to pre-boarding, guests were welcomed by elves, carolers, snowmen breaking into song and and even ballerinas exiting the bridge. There was a visit from Santa, all dressed in - well - WestJet's signature blue. After the songs and dances had finished, guests were treated to a photo with Santa and a stocking filled with gifts from WestJet, including a new iPod.

"We can't think of a better way to wish our guests the very best this holiday season than with the WestJet Christmas Flashmob," said Corey Evans, WestJet Manager, Sponsorship and Community Investment. "Events like these directly align with WestJet's fun and friendly image and our commitment to deliver a remarkable guest experience."

"I want to thank all WestJetters who volunteered their time and took part in planning this wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season. We believe we are the first airline to implement something to this level of planning and co-ordination at a secure area of an airport and we're thankful for all the support from the Calgary Airport Authority for making this possible," concluded Corey Evans.

To celebrate the success of the flashmob, WestJet's community investment program, WestJet Cares for Kids, will donate flights to reunite a family in need through one of the airline's partner charities, should the video generate 25,000 views on YouTube.

The airline hopes the video will mirror the viral success of Kargo Kids, it's April Fool's Day video from earlier this year.

About WestJet

WestJet is Canada's most preferred airline, offering scheduled service to 81 destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Powered by an award-winning culture of care, WestJet has pioneered low-cost flying in Canada. Recognized nationally as a top employer, WestJet now has more than 9,000 WestJetters across Canada. Operating a fleet of 100 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft with future confirmed deliveries for an additional 35 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft through 2018 and plans to launch a low-cost regional airline in 2013, WestJet strives to be one of the five most successful international airlines in the world.

Connect with WestJet on Facebook at www.facebook.com/westjet Follow WestJet on Twitter at www.twitter.com/westjet Subscribe to WestJet on YouTube at www.youtube.com/westjet

Patient Care Not a Numbers Game

National health human resources plan badly needed, physician groups say

OTTAWA, December 6, 2012 /Canada NewsWire/ - Canadian associations representing doctors, residents and medical students agree that Canada needs a better way to anticipate the future supply of physicians. A new national health human resources plan is critical to ensuring that the health care system is able to meet the future needs of Canadians.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA), the Canadian Association of Internes and Residents (CAIR) and the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) see a number of contradictory trends, all of which underscore the need for better planning so that Canada has the right number, mix and distribution of health professionals.

New data indicates that the number of physicians in Canada has increased faster than the size of the population. Yet many communities across the country, particularly those in rural and remote areas, face shortages of family doctors and specialists. In another apparent paradox, many new specialists complete years of training only to face a lack of job opportunities.

"Total numbers of physicians don't tell the whole story," says Dr. Anna Reid, President of the Canadian Medical Association. "Whether we have an adequate supply of doctors depends completely on the demand for their services. We need better plans and strategies to meet changing and growing patient demands."

Fiscal constraints are also inhibiting the hiring of physicians to the point that the prospects for employment are a real concern in some specialties. A recent survey by the CAIR found close to one-third of resident physicians to be less than confident about their job prospects.

"We are seeing that residents in some specialties are having employment challenges," said CAIR President Dr. Simon Moore. "Job prospects are a growing concern for residents, but they should also be a concern for policy makers. If we want the right health care providers to match our future needs, we need a national response to health human resources now. Patients depend on access to specialists in their communities."

One of the problems faced by medical students and residents is a lack of information on the job prospects for the various specialties, said Canadian Federation of Medical Students President Robin Clouston.

"This is not only about finding ways to match how we train physicians and where they practise to meet the needs of patients," Clouston said. "It also makes good economic sense to not waste the extensive investment of time and money that go into physician training."

The CMA, CAIR and CFMS are working together to gather and share the most up-to-date data on employment prospects and other information on medical and surgical specialties to ensure that future physicians are able to find work where patients need them most.

Reid noted that getting the right number and mix of doctors, as well as of other health professionals such as nurses and physician assistants, is a complex issue that requires all levels of government, medical schools and national physician organizations to work together. The goal would be to develop a framework that would ensure Canadians have adequate health care services where they need them and that costly, high quality medical training isn't squandered.

"There's no question that the planning work being undertaken by associations representing doctors, residents and medical students must be matched by a commitment from the federal, provincial and territorial governments," Reid said.