Prime Minister Harper has named 5 new Senators who, he says, are tough on crime and will support his important “tough on crime” agenda.  That’s the list of legislation that he left standing at the alter when he prorogued parliament.  Tough on crime seems to be a lower priority than his “weak on accountability” agenda, but that’s a story for another time.

Do we actually need to get tough on crime?  Is crime – especially violent crime – on the increase? Canada’s violent crime rate has gone from 1,060 incidents per 100,000 residents in 1991 to 932 incidents in 2008 – a decrease of 12 percent.  In Ontario it has decreased from 1,043 per hundred thousand to 732 – a decrease of 30 percent.  That’s some crime wave.

Okay, so it’s not about combating crime; maybe it’s about making sure that convicted criminals are less likely to re-offend.  Give them a tough sentence the first time and they’re likely to think twice before offending again when they get out.  Right?  Wrong. 

Research by Canada’s own Ministry of the Solicitor General shows that harsher punishment increases recidivism by about 3%. 

So here’s the deal.  In order to satisfy the Harper’s core constituency, which mistakenly believes that violent crime is increasing and that longer sentences decrease crime, the government is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build more prisons to house criminals for longer periods of time, and the payoff is that they will be more likely to offend in the future.

What’s this guy been smoking?

A study released today by Statistics Canada compares the fitness of Canadians today compared to 1981.  The study looks at a number of physical characteristics of 45 year olds in 1981 and in 2007-2009.  The average male is an inch (2.3 cm) taller and 20 pounds (86.6 kg) heavier.  His waist has gone from 35.7 inches (90.6 cm) to 38.2 inches (97.0 cm).

Women haven’t done any better.  Their height has remained the same at 5′4″, but their weight has increased from 139 pounds (63.2 kg) to 151 pounds (68.4 kg).  Waist size has gone from 30 inches to 32.8 inches.

It’s interesting that after almost 30 years of Participaction, walking and biking trails, Canada food guides, and billions of dollars in weight-loss products and equipment, our fitness is going in the wrong direction.  As the report says, in its analysis, “Overall, the prevalence of suboptimal fitness levels has increased markedly since 1981.” 

Now, if I could strap my laptop to my ski machine…

The irony is just too great.  On the same day that four solders and a reporter were killed in Afghanistan, where we have invested too may lives to help establish a government that is responsible and accountable, our Prime Minister prorogued parliament to escape responsibility and accountability.

How have we come to this?  Section 91 of the Constitution Act of Canada begins: “It shall be lawful for the Queen, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate and House of Commons, to make Laws for the Peace, Order, and good Government of Canada”.  Peace? Maybe.  Order? In some places.  Good government?  Not by a long shot. 

Before December 2008, the last time a minority government in Canada used prorogation was almost 50 years ago.  Harper has now used it twice in 12 months.  The work of the session wasn’t done – more than half the legislation introduced this session was still to be passed.  “Tough on Crime”, it appears, is not as important as weak on accountability.

Prorogation is not supposed to be a “‘Get out of jail free” card for the government.  We have a Primer Minister who showed up in Copenhagen just in time for dinner.  We have a Prime Minister who sanctions using Israel as a wedge issue in ridings with large Jewish populations.  We have a Prime Minister who crafts crime legislation based on “It’s what the public wants” instead of what has been empirically shown to work.  We have a Primer Minister who panders to the basest instincts of his followers.  And it appears he is willing to pull the plug on Parliament whenever the going gets tough.  I can only imagine what he would do if he had a majority and no longer had to pretend he believed in the environment, arts, social equity, and human rights.

At least in phoney democracies the people know the government is phoney.  Harper makes me ashamed to be Canadian.

Which Canadian economic sector is bigger than retail trade, bigger than mining, oil, and gas, and has virtually no clout with government?  It’s the nonprofit sector, which Statistics Canada reports today had a GDP of $100B in 2007.  Isn’t it time we had federal and provincial ministers whose mandate would be the health and welfare of the nonprofit sector?

How many of Canada’s wealthiest families would it take to equal the total net wealth of Canada’s bottom 40% of the population?  Each quintile of Canada’s total families equals 2.7 million families. So, the bottom two quintiles (a quintile is one-fifth) equal 5.4 million families. 

Extrapolating from two different years – 2005 for the bottom two quintiles and 2009 for Canada’s richest – I am making a major assumption.  It is that since the poorest Canadians have been getting poorer for some time, using 2005 statistics for the lower quintiles over-estimates their 2009 wealth.  So, if anything, I am erring on the side of the rich. 

So, if we use the 5.4 million lowest income families in Canada, how many of our richest Canadians (as reported by the Financial Post today) does it take to equal the wealth of those families?  Three.  That’s not a typo.  I didn’t leave off all the zeros.  The number is three.

The bottom two quintiles have total wealth of about $34 billion.  According to the Financial Post, the Thomson family is worth $21.99 billion.  James Arthur and John Irving are worth $7.28 billion.  Galen Weston is worth $6.47 billion.  At $35.7 billion, the three are worth a bit more than the poorest 5.4 million Canadian families.

We know that a growing gap between rich and poor is not good for society in general.  If people at the low end feel that they don’t have a real stake in society - that it’s rigged against them - the bonds of community break down and violence increases.  We have been moving in the wrong direction in wealth distribution for some time and we need to take a hard look at what’s not working.  It’s in the best interest of all of us.

I finally found the job that’s perfect for me.  I thought I had found it this summer when there was a road crew working on a stretch of road close to my home.  I shop along that strip several times a week, so I had a number of chances to watch the work.  Most of the crew had a job that must be called something like “dirt looker”.  A few would be engaged in digging, raking, sweeping, or operating machinery.  Most, however, (I counted nine out of thirteen one day) stood around in groups looking at the dirt.  I’m not sure what was so interesting about the dirt, but they would look at drawings and then spend long periods of time looking at dirt and pointing. 

It’s not a bad job if you can get it.  It’s no wonder it’s hard to get on a road crew.  You’re out-of-doors, it’s not hard work, and you earn decent pay without putting yourself out.

Today I saw an even better job.  I’ve seen it before, but I was reminded again today of what a sweet job it must be.  It’s a hole watcher.  It involves road crews again, but this time doing major re-construction with lots of digging of deep holes.  This, too, has a division of labour.  A few people operate large machinery, some of them digging big holes.  Lots more, however, are standing around looking into the holes, talking to each other, looking into the hole again, and pointing.

This is better than dirt looker because the scene changes more often as the hole gets deeper or more shallow.  Again - good pay, not too hard to do, and there’s always another hole.

If anyone is looking to hire a hole watcher, please let me know.

Of the $434 million drop in charitable donations Canada-wide between 2007 and 2008, Ontario accounted for $317 million.  That’s 69% of the total loss for the country.  In 2007, donations in Ontario were already down $65 million from the 2006 high, so in total Ontario’s charities have lost $382 million in two years.

The total amount of tax-receipted donations to charities by Waterloo Region residents fell significantly in 2008 from our most generous point in 2006.  While the number of donors decreased by 1,430, total donations went down $21,000,000 according to a report released today by Statistics Canada.  This 13% drop in total donations is a significant challenge to the stability of charities in our community.  Nationally donations were down 4%, and provincially they were down 9%, so we took a bigger hit than most.  The high point for donations nationally was in 2007 ($8.65B); provincially it was 2006 ($4.1B).  The decline in 2007 for Ontario was probably due in large part by the decrease in manufacturing jobs that began before the recession.  Even after the impact of job losses in Waterloo Region, manufacturing jobs still led local employment sectors – over one-in-five jobs still being in manufacturing in 2008, so we continue to be vulnerable.

The trend will most probably be continued through 2009 with even lower donations for this year.  What does $21,000,000 mean to local charities?  Spread around equally, it would provide about $14,000 for every charity in the Region.

Because I have asthma, I fall into the high-risk category for H1N1.  After all the news about lines that stretched forever, I dreaded going for my shot.  I had tried to make an appointment with my doctor, but although he was making appointments, after many attempts to get through I was told he was booked, so I should call back in about two weeks. 

The public clinic seemed the best bet, but who has all day to stand in line?  The local health unit had announced one clinic for all of Kitchener-Waterloo for Saturday, so I decided to give it a try.  If the line stretched around the block, I would just go home and try again sometime.

The parking lot at the high-school clinic location was almost full, but to my surprise, the line – half an hour after the clinic opened – was non-existent.  The professionals who were staffing the clinic were well organized; the screening, directions, and assistance were extremely well done.  The time from parking  the car to getting the shot was under 10 minutes.  I couldn’t believe it.

Given the time to prepare since the SARS episode, the Government of Canada has seemed to be all but completely incompetent.  Messages were mixed, time-lines changed almost hourly, who would get what, and when, was constantly revised.  And, of course, there was that lack of supply.

When it came to actually implementing the front-line inoculation, however, the Waterloo Region Public Health Department excelled.  There’s plenty enough blame to spread around for the confusion, but the professionals on the ground in Waterloo Region deserve high praise for their organization, sensitivity to those who were upset, and their efficiency.

Recent research on the impact of the recession on Ontario’s nonprofit community service providers shows the need for an integrated government/ charitable funder/ community service provider strategy to protect valuable community services.

The research found that:

• Many organizations fear for their future
• More than one-third have already been seriously affected
• Many ongoing funders will be reducing funding
• Organizations’ endowment funds have been depleted
• Businesses are often cancelling their support
• Service demand for basic needs – food, shelter – are increasing

The study’s authors call for a planned approach to protecting vital community services.

Unfortunately, federal and provincial stimulus funding is now focused directly on job creation, with little or no attention to job retention which, in the community sector, means service retention.  Somehow, community services are expected to “make-do” with less, or raise more from the community (community fundraising is suffering, not growing), or just work harder. 

The recession may be over in GDP terms, but its impact has only begun to be felt.  We are in for a rough ride.