Live Long and Prosper

In Canada, that is:

Newborn Canadians may live to celebrate nearly 81 birthdays on average, a Statistics Canada report on life expectancy suggests.

Tuesday's report on births and deaths showed life expectancy at birth reached 80.7 years for the three-year-period between 2005 and 2007, up 0.2 years from an average of 80.5 between 2004 and 2006.

In 1995 to 1997, life expectancy at birth was 78.4.

"People are living longer, longer than ever," said Shiang Ying Dai, senior analyst with Statistics Canada's health statistics division in Ottawa.

Amazing what a bit of socialized health care can do for you, isn't it.

Washington, are you listening?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Will Stephane Dion Step Down as Liberal Leader?

CBC says he may do it today: Dion planning to quit, report says

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Canada's Election - What Does it Mean?

A few random thoughts on yesterday's Canadian election, which returned Stephen Harper's Conservatives to Ottawa with another minority government:

• Canada is by and large a centre-progressive country according to the popular vote. The nation's centre-left, however, now finds itself in the same electoral predicament that daunted the fractured right during the Chrétien era. During that time, vote splitting between the Reform/Alliance and old Tory party (along with the Bloc in Quebec) virtually locked the Liberals into power.

• As the NDP and Greens have now done well at the polls, and the Liberals less well, the sole beneficiary has been the Harper Tories. This is likely to continue until such time as one of the parties implodes (as did the old PC's previously), and merger fever is thus ignited. Until then, absent a defining and polarizing election issue (such as free trade in 1988), the centre-left may find itself permanently sidelined.

• Canadians seem to like minority government. While a Harper majority might scare many, if not most, popular sentiment seems to be that a minority will keep the Prime Minister mostly in check. If not, another election may happen sooner than later.

• In that event, the Prime Minister will have to hope his sense of timing has improved. This election call proved to be a massive misfire for Mr. Harper.

• For me, the headline of this election is Voters Deny Harper Majority. Given the numbers at the outset and the trend until about ten days ago, this was quite an accomplishment by opposition parties.

• The demands for Stephane Dion's head will nonetheless continue, which is unfortunate. I think he hit a good stride in the last weeks of the election, and could continue to mature into quite a formidable leader, given adequate time to grow into the job (which he might not get). I personally am quite a bit more impressed with him after this election than I was before it.

• The Canadian election had a great deal of trouble getting noticed in a non-stop news cycle dominated by Presidential debates, crashing markets and pit bulls with lipstick. This was for the most part Canada's invisible election, featuring very little that was compelling. In fact, the only issue that seemed to create any durable water-cooler talk was Green Party leader Elizabeth May's ultimately-successful quest to be included in the leadership debates. Beyond that, yawn.

• On balance, very little has changed. Politically, Canada is in a stable, holding pattern. According to the popular vote, most Canadians would have preferred a different outcome, but in the absence of any truly inspiring leadership option, the country as a whole has opted for business as usual.

• The net result? Stephen Harper is still Prime Minister. Soon there will be snow. And, it is now hockey season.*

(* One eye, of course, will remain firmly fixed on that other election that's still ongoing and rapidly moving toward its own November 4 crescendo).

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Vote Canada

For information on where you will be able to vote, go to this Elections Canada voter information site and input your postal code.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Conservative Deregulation and Listeria

Sometimes, I wonder whether 'deregulation' is just a nicely-spun euphemism for negligence-in-waiting.

I'm not just talking about Wall Street, here.

A report today from CBC suggests that deregulation of Canada's food safety inspection procedures my have precluded early detection of the deadly listeria outbreak that has now taken the lives of at least 20 Canadians.

See: Policy change delayed alarm signal over listeria, inspectors say:

Months before the tainted meat from the Maple Leaf Plant in the Toronto area began claiming lives, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency adopted a new policy that meat inspectors now say removed clear language that required companies to report any positive listeria tests directly to inspectors.CFIA inspectors have told the CBC and the Toronto Star that on April 1, they essentially became auditors of the companies' paperwork, which is part of the compliance verification system. CVS details the measures the country's 198 meat processing plants must adopt to ensure they're operating safely."Prior to April 1, [any positive listeria tests] would have had to have been, not only brought to the inspector's attention, but the inspector would have been involved in overseeing the cleanup," said Bob Kingston, head of the union representing CFIA inspectors.

Disappointingly, the CBC's report fails to delve more deeply into how, and why, this policy change ocurred.

A July 11, 2008 article from Canada.com, however, may shed additional light on the issue. From Food inspection 'disaster' looms - Expert calls planned deregulation 'unfathomable:

OTTAWA - A government plan to transfer key parts of food inspection to industry so companies can police themselves will put the health of Canadians at risk, according to leading food safety experts who have reviewed the confidential blueprint. The plan, drafted by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and approved by the Treasury Board details sweeping changes coming to food inspection in Canada.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is also ending funding to producers to test cattle for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, or Mad Cow Disease) as part of a surveillance program, the document indicates, a move that is expected to save the agency about $24 million over the next three years.

The new system, part of a push to trim the agency's budget by five per cent, was approved last November, but a public announcement "has been deferred owing to significant communications risks," according to the confidential Treasury Board document obtained by Canwest News Service.

The document, addressed to the president of the agency, details how the inspection of meat and meat products will downgrade agency inspectors to an "oversight role, allowing industry to implement food safety control programs and to manage key risks.

At election time, Canadians need to better understand the root causes of these disturbing events that have seriously undermined national confidence in the safety of our food.

To what extent are these increasingly-regular food crises being enabled by deregulatory, Conservative government policies?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Canadian Election Race Tightening

According to at least one new poll, Canada's October 14th federal election may well be turning into a horse race, after all.

Scott Tribe points to a current CPAC-Nanos Daily Election Tracking poll with the numbers for the period ending October 4:

Conservative Party: 34 %

Liberal Party: 30 %

NDP: 19 %

Bloc Quebecois: 10 %

Green Party: 7 %

And, over at Macleans, even Andrew Coyne says The Tories are in Trouble.

UPDATED:

In the same vein, CTV reports tonight:

The Conservatives are losing steam in key swing ridings in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, a development that could put a majority government out of arm's reach for Stephen Harper.

See: Conservatives losing support in key ridings: poll

Simlarly, CBC reports on a current Harris-Decima poll showing a similar decline in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's electoral fortunes. See: Conservative support slipping, poll suggests

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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