Climate change report

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Ree a report by Health Canada was released, which explored the effects of
Climate Change and Health in Canada. The report is available to the general public;
however, unlike other reports released by the Government of Canada, this report is
not available online.

Instead, all those interested have to send away for this report via regular mail.
This adds a significant waiting period for receiving the document.

In a recent press release, D.J. MacKinnon, operator of the Smog Blog, an
environmentally conscious Internet blog, said that this is because Health Canada
claims that the document is “too big.”

However, MacKinnon believes that this report was actually “suppressed by the
Harper government because of its damning evidence.” Much of these allegations
stem from the fact that the report was delayed for over a year before Health Canada

finally released it. Even then, to finally receive the report, any interested party has
to use a much older system that is less used by the government these days.

Regardless of any controversy that may now surround this document,
MacKinnon has made the report available online at www.desmogblog.com. Thus,
any interested party can view the information and judge for themselves.

 

New Abbotsford hospital to be a P3B »siiies seins

The B.C. Health Coalition is concerned about the new Abbotsford Regional
Hospital and Cancer Centre. The Hospital will be a private-public partnership (P3).

The particular concern they have is with John Laing plc, the company that the
government has partnered with in this venture. The government has also partnered
with this company for the Vancouver Hospital’s Leslie and Gordon Diamond
Health Centre.

The Coalition’s pessimism stems from Laing’s record in Britain. According to
the Coalition in a recent press release, “two hospitals operated by Laing in Britain
have faced severe financial problems, and cuts to services as a result of high-cost
P3 debt.”

The B.C. Health Coalition believes that there are inherent dangers in using
the P3 model. They have, in the past, been strong advocates for a return to a pure
public system. So far, the government has continued with this system and it is
doubtful that this will change.

A private-public partnership is a system wherein a project is carried out by
a government and one or more private sector companies in tandem. Many public
works projects undertaken by the B.C. Liberal government have been private-
public partnerships.