Connecting the dots…

It’s with great hesitation a journalist enters the fray of abortion debate. We don’t take it lightly, we don’t do it for shock value, it doesn’t sell newspapers.

Discussing abortion makes people angry on both sides of the issue.

Leave it to Premier Dalton McGuinty to pick the scab off this old wound by pressing PC Leader Tim Hudak to clarify his position on public funding for abortion.

Hudak admitted he may have signed a petition calling for an end to public health abortion, but he clarified it’s not part of the PC agenda or platform as he prepares to unseat McGuinty’s Grits. Case closed, for now, and McGuinty didn’t gain any political ground. In fact, with McGuinty being a Catholic and his wife being a Catholic school teacher, I’d argue that slinging abortion mud reduced his own political foundation a wee bit — if that’s possible.

Earlier this month, in North Bay, a group of anti-abortionists raised a stir by lining a couple major city streets with protesters holding posters of abortions in progress or the results thereof. You’ve seen the photos before, it happens every year, sometimes more often than that. It’s hard to hold down lunch after running a visual gauntlet of blood.

There was outrage, as usual, from parents upset their children were exposed to such disgusting illustrations of reality. Keep your religious and political campaign where it belongs, no need to shock kids while you’re trying to make a point.

Defenders of publicly funded abortion argue it’s a woman’s right to decide what happens within her body and there’s justifiable reasons for abortions. Providing them as part of the health care system was a battle won over decades with legal and moral rationale tried and tested.

Protecting the physical health of a woman and killing a doomed child as quickly as possible is merciful, they say.  Considering how we treat our fellow humans when they’re alive and kicking, I support the concept of abortion in those instances. The majority of people do.

Turning back the clock to debate those points is a waste of time and energy. Saying only God can kill and punish, that we sheep can’t make such decisions, is every person’s right. Forcing others to believe the same only leads to more war and suffering.

Do I believe abortion for convenience should be publicly funded? Should impregnated females have to pay for lifestyle cosmetic alterations? If so, would they seek cheaper and more dangerous blackmarket, backstreet options? Is forcing a woman to bring a baby to term ultimately good for either the woman, baby or society?

No. Yes. Yes. No. It seems we always return to the point where we started. Taking away an individual’s right to make big decisions puts the result back on the lap of society . . . and we don’t take care of that responsibility well enough. There’s already thousands of children dealing with the fact nobody wants them because they’re a burden and an anchor.

It’s not right, it’s not nice. But unless society is prepared to raise every child as if it’s their own, keep your noise out of other people’s business.

And the next time you see the anti-abortion zealots waving their placards to shock you into thinking about their point of view . . . just give your kid a hug and you’ll achieve more good for society than any religion or political party.

-30-

North Bay and area has been beating their collective head against the wall over the ONR losing the Metrolinx contract to refurbish GO Transit passenger rail cars. Until yesterday, I couldn’t grasp the province’s line of thinking.

It just didn’t make sense to spend $120 million out of province to save $2 million on the contract. In real terms, Ontario loses $8 million in payroll deductions plus tens of millions to keep 109 ONR refurbishment workers busy for a while — and possibly $15 million in severance when it comes time to close up the shop that cost $5  million to build seven years ago.
The decision to put the contract to tender in the first place baffles most observers, knowing the rules of engagement create a legal quagmire and give advantage to companies which pay lower wages.

Metrolinx’s decision to award the contract to a company that’s looking for a buyer without inspecting its facilities is just lazy and lame.
MPP Monique Smith said she’s been working hard behind the scenes to support the ONR’s need for investment and alternative work. Unfortunately, her Liberal cabinet friends haven’t exactly shown her a lot of support. I guess they didn’t like her quitting the team after two terms. She announced plans in late November to retire after the upcoming Oct. 6 election.
Until yesterday, all we heard from Smith and others was that Metrolinx followed a fair and transparent procurement procedure with references to Free Trade legalities.
After two weeks of desperate political saber rattling, it becomes clear Premier Dalton McGuinty isn’t answering calls for his intervention for a reason — vacation takes precedence. It was left up to Minister of Transportation Kathleen Wynne to offer some rationale for the situation, finally we have some morsel of logic to debate.
She said, basically, giving companies in other provinces a fair chance to win contracts benefits the province in the long run by giving our companies a fair chance to get work in other provinces.

OK. That sounds reasonable, on the surface. Better than stone-faced silence on the matter. It’s fair game, however, to debate if this strategy is working. Anecdotal evidence suggests Quebec has a long history of not giving Ontario companies or workers a fair chance at cross-border business opportunities.
Has that changed in the past decade? Is there new and improved trade relations that we don’t know about?
I’d like to hear from companies that benefit from getting work out of Quebec.
The economy in Ontario isn’t doing that well, we’ve lost thousands of jobs in recent years. Our unemployment rate is not stellar. We’re a have not province with a big budget deficit.
I somehow doubt Ontario’s “play fair” stance is winning the economic war.
There’s also the argument that two Crown agencies like Metrolinx and the ONTC should already have strategic relationship, allowing the province to keep up the appearance of fairness while actually achieving some efficiency by doing some government work in house.
No matter how you cut it, the GO Transit refurbishment work is a lost opportunity for Ontario.

Quebec is so much smarter than Ontario.
When a city in La Belle Province is attracting an aircraft manufacturer, it would be unusual if politicians and bureaucrats wouldn’t join hands to prime the pump during the bidding war against their “have not” competitors.
Ontario, it seems, waits until the cows are out of the barn before granting a few token make-work projects after the fact to make amends for the losing city.
A corporation has to close two out of three factories and move the bulk of the work to a third-world nation before someone at Queen’s Parks signs off on research and innovation loans — it often seems too little, too late.
Quebec trade groups learned long ago to fix their own wagons by requiring strict certification that’s difficult for non-residents to keep or earn, virtually eliminating cross-border competition.
Ontario, so much more eager to jump into bed with Americans, prefers to weaken unions and leave it to the open market to decide if its better to make midgets in Georgia or Mexico.
Electricity costs more here because Canada convinced the old Ontario Hydro to concentrate on nuclear energy — a debt difficult to bury or ignore.
Quebec, meanwhile, finds the will and ability to expand cheap hydro generation while we spend decades muddling around with privatization schemes and green dreams.
Our politicians and bureaucrats spend their time fighting each other, playing games and standing in each other’s way.
Empire-building public servants stymie, stall and stifle one government’s actions while hoping the next crew rubber-stamp pet projects and grand visions.
If not, the elected officials blow up perfectly good programs to pave the way for their own ideological parking lots.
It’s like watching Ontario kids play King of the Dung Heap, one pulling on the other’s leg while a third scrambles to the peak for a short sting on top — only to be toppled by a brief coalition or foul public mood after economic disaster.
Anyone keeping a pulse during the past three decades would agree Queen’s Park has been riding a roller coaster of political circles heading nowhere fast. Two steps backward, one forward, three to the side. Repeat.

There are moments when you want to crawl into a hole and hide.
And screwing up basic word usage in a story about literacy qualifies for top-10 embarrassing moments.
Headline: “Literacy requires mix of modern mediums . . .”
Should have read, “. . . modern media.”
Same problem in the introductory paragraph of the story.
Not a good Monday for a veteran scribbler recently dubbed a Multi-Media Journalist.
I should know better by now.
Ever have one of those brain farts you just can’t explain? Is messing up the English language in a story about literacy the most ironic thing you’ve seen or do you have a better example to share?
Oh, by the way, we’re having trouble with the technical program for commenting in this blog . . . which kinda takes away from the whole blogging concept.
Guess we’ll have to settle for the Facebook forum for now. : )

North Bay’s $11.7-million Steve Omischl Sports Complex is a great development for the city. Not perfect, not as good as expected, but pretty good for this neck of the woods.
The financing plan, however, is getting harder and harder to swallow.
Provincial and federal taxes covered more than half of it — infrastructure money taken from general tax revenues and loans.
And municipal property taxes will cover the remainder, plus whatever fees and surcharges are set.
A public meeting Monday about the fees and surcharges will attract many of the user groups. It’s a big deal because the city is increasing rental fees and adding a $12 surcharge to the costs for all fields throughout the city — with HST stacked on top.
Minor league baseball, for example, will end up paying in 2012 more than $30,000 to rent the same ball diamonds it used to rent for $20,000.
Another example is the annual Strike Out Hunger showcase tournament the baseball association held each July to promote the sport and help the North Bay Food Bank. Instead of renting Veterans and a couple other fields for $1,700 for the weekend, it will cost about $3,000 next year.
Basically, as things are going, young parents with young players are being forced to pay more to fund a complex they’ll likely never use — until the kids graduate to beer league slopitch.
Sounds twisted to me.

Here’s the raw data from recent federal elections in Nipissing-Timiskaming. You can read what you want into it. To me, it looks like strategic voting by some NDPish people has been propping up Anthony Rota and the Liberals . . .

2011 compared to 2008

66 more eligible voters
70,178 in 2008
70,244 in 2011

654 more people voted this time
41,703 in 2008
42,357 in 2011

3,017 fewer people voted for Rota
18,510 in 2008
15,493 in 2011

2,075 more people voted Tory
13,432 for Joe Sincrope in 2008
15,507 for Jay Aspin in 2011

2,225 more NDP supporters
6,582 for Diane Allen in 2008
8,807 for Rona Eckert in 2011

258 fewer Green supporters
2,808 for Craig Bridges in 2008
2,550 for Scott Daley in 2011

7.96%
Percentile drop in Liberal support – 44.56% to 36.6%
4.3%
Percentile increase in Tory Support – 32.22% to 36.6%
4.96%
Percentile increase in NDP support – 15.84% to 20.8%
0.76%
Percentile drop in Green support – 6.76% to 6%

2005
48,081 people voted out of 71,136 eligible

Liberal Anthony Rota
21,393 at 44.68%
Conservative Peter Chirico
16,511 at 34.49%
NDP Dave Flurri
8,268 at 17.27%
Green Meg Purdy
1,698 at 3.54%

2004
43,364 people voted out of 69,438 eligible
Liberal Anthony Rota
18,254 at 42.31%
Conservative Al McDonald
16,001 at 37,08%
NDP Dave Flurri
7,354 at 17%
Green Les Wilcox
1,329 at 3.08%
Can Action Ross MacLean
204 at 0.47%

News about the U.S. Navy Seals killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan gave me chills.
My first thought was this isn’t going to help matters much. He’s now a martyr and there will be suicide bombers activated from dozens of sleeper cells very soon.
The world, mostly America, spent billions upon billions fighting the al Qaida over 10 years.
But I’m pretty sure they planned for his eventual death by American hands.
A helicopter raid and a shoot out grand finale, followed by a quick burial at sea, raises his mythical stock exponentially.
I’m cynical, of course, but I just don’t get how a tall man among short people could hide so well for so long.

And in a millionaire compound near the Pakistan capital a grenade throw from a military academy? No big surprise, considering the complexity of U.S. relations in that part of the world.

Regardless, it’s obviously a good time to be a tourist sipping tea at a Moroccan deli. And I’m worried about our soldiers in Afghanistan.

P.S. Comments are closed due to the election, will open again after the election results are released.

Canada is a proud hockey nation, almost too proud at times. Half the country was getting ready to jump off a cliff after the U.S. beat us last Sunday, the other half wanted to hang poor old Martin Brodeur.

I heard there was one guy at the arena this week who was so disappointed in the team he was daring people to bet him that the Russians would spank us. And nobody had the brass to lay down some coin. Typical fair-weather fans.

North Bay and area is already caught up in the annual rumour mill about who is coaching which AAA and AA teams. My young puckster is 11, so I hear mostly about the peewee stuff.

Most recently, the talk is about who is coaching the Nipissing District ‘AAA’ Peewee Trappers and, once that is settled, what about the major and minor West Ferris AA Blades. The single A teams come next. Lots of chatter, lots of rumours.

The AAA peewee Trappers are entering the third year next fall and the board, made up of representatives of all the minor hockey associations in the area (it mirrors the Nipissing District Hockey League board), has decided to pick a coach by committee.

Ideally, they want someone who doesn’t have a kid eligible to tryout, which makes sense. The best case scenario, in my view, would be someone who wants to stick around for a while and offer consistency at the level.

I don’t know if it will lead to more success related to future OHL draft picks, but it sure will remove a lot of the static parents and kids face as they enter the AAA world.

The two primary candidates in most peoples’ thoughts this winter were player parents, each with their own following, which was setting the stage for a split in talent. If a dark horse enters the race with the extended application deadline and different selection system, and this person offers expertise without the baggage of cliques, I’d expect a very strong turnout at the tryouts.

Otherwise, there will be two major AA teams next year, although one of them will be called Trappers and the other Blades.

Kudos, by the way, to the Nipissing University Lakers for their first season and making the playoffs. Apparently, judging by the paltry 1,600 spectators at the final game, I wasn’t the only one who had already made plans for that night.

Hopefully, the Lakers don’t think we don’t support them based on the final attendance. This is a hockey crazy town, but we’re pretty busy.

Dylan’s peewee team, for example, has to go to South River for a two hour practice this Friday night. How crazy is that?

-30-

Everybody has their own personal reason for getting involved in the Terry Fox Run.
If you go down to the North Bay waterfront Sept. 13, you’ll see families and individuals register and then set off for whatever length of walk, run or roll suits them.
As a reporter, I’ve been there to ask people one simple question: Why?
Usually, it’s because a close friend or family member have fought or died fighting cancer.
They want to honour the memories of the loved ones and help find a cure.
Some people haven’t missed a run since it started 29 years ago. Some watched Terry limp-run along the highways and were inspired for the rest of their lives.
Every little bit helps and Terry was only asking for a dollar from every Canadian.
The foundation in his name has become respected for its frugal spending policies and it directs almost all of what is raised toward research.
And there’s been big strides in cancer medicine and treatment due to the fundraising effort. Take a quick peak at the www.terryfox.org website and see for yourself.
But that doesn’t really tell you why I’m getting involved with the Terry Fox run this year.
Of course, I decided to get my long locks snipped to help bring extra focus to the event. I skipped out on walking the event the year I helped coordinate it as a Kinsmen in Kapuskasing in 1991 and have felt guilty ever since.
I just hoped some people might also get involved and collect their own pledges. If Dave Dale can do it, anybody can.
But the real, honest to goodness truth of the matter is that I’m scared one of my own family members will one day get that bad news. They’ll wake up one day and like Terry Bond shared with our readers, went from being healthy to very sick within hours.
Like he said, it changes your whole world when the doctor says the odds are not in your favour.
And, while we’re being truthful, I’m scared I’m going to be one of those statistics we quote in our news stories.
Cancer-causing toxins were the last thing on peoples’ minds in the early 1980s when I worked at gas stations, did maintenance at an old folks home, cut a million yards and loaded trucks at a furniture factory.
We washed up with leaded gasoline and sprayed buckets of pesticides without a thought.
And the things we burned in our bonfires, standing in the smoke to keep the flies at bay, would give environmentalists and doctors fits.
I could say more, but you can get the drift. I’d be shocked if I get into the 70s without going through chemo and radiation.
So I’m getting involved this year before I have to get involved . . . or wish I did.
I’m registered online for anybody who wants to make a donation and doesn’t have a friend taking pledges.
Better yet, grab a few bucks from a couple of friends and bring it down to the waterfront next Sunday morning. Go for a walk or run.
It can’t hurt and every dollar makes a different.