Canada failing with Internet threats: report
Cyber security and online threats are top of mind for many Canadians these days – especially for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.
So it will be interesting to see if, given his experiences this past week, the government will move to do more to handle Internet threats, given recent high profile reports of cyber security failings – Nortel Networks being allegedly targeted by Chinese hackers and a breach at the Treasury Board, to give examples.
A number of experts from Queen’s University released a broad report Wednesday looking into security threats facing Canada over the coming years. The report – Evolving Transnational Threats and Border Security – from the Centre for International and Defence Policy, has one chapter devoted to cyber security concerns, written by The Canada Centre for Global Security Studies’ Ron Deibert. (He also heads up the Citizen Lab, which is worth checking out.)
Not that we’ll have much of a choice, but still
Apparently the majority of Canadians are planning to work past the age of 66. This will include me – I’m sort of loosely planning to croak on the job at the tender age of 95 or something (can’t imagine being idle – “retirement” is a thoroughly foreign concept to me).
Most Canadians expect to work beyond the age of 66, according to a new poll from Sun Life Financial released Wednesday.
Sun Life Financial’s fourth annual Unretirement Index found that only three in 10 Canadians plan to be fully retired at the age of 66, and nearly half of those surveyed (48%) plan to phase in their retirement by working part-time or freelance.
“Canadian retirement expectations are changing with many planning to work longer and almost half of Canadians looking to phase in their retirement,” said Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Financial Canada. “These results are not surprising given the current economic volatility, increasing consumer debt loads, rising health care costs, longer life expectancy and lack of planning. We’re also finding that some Canadians believe they’ll have to work longer to be able to pay for basic living expenses.”
Of those who said they plan to phase in retirement, 43% said they expect to start the process between the ages of 60 and 65, 21% said they plan to start between the ages of 50 and 59 and 8% said they plan to start the process between the ages of 66 and 70.
Among the 70% of respondents who said they don’t expect to be fully retired at 66, 20% said they expect to be working full-time, and 34% said they expect to be working part-time. Fourteen per cent of respondents said they hadn’t thought that far ahead, and 2% said they thought they’d be dead.
Marie Colvin’s last report from Syria
She, along with French photojournalist Remi Ochlik and a Syrian blogger, was killed in Homs. Below is her last TV report. Warning: contains graphic scenes.
The magic of public health care
A Daily Telegraph story about futile efforts to wish away abuse of the elderly in Britain’s health care system underlines that if you get fundamental ideas wrong, no amount of clever fiddling or pious declarations can ward off disaster.
Defenders of socialized medicine insist that in addition to removing financial obstacles, it is morally superior because it banishes “greed” by excluding the profit motive. The gaping hole in this argument is that the profit motive forces people in private business to worry about customer satisfaction instead of their own. It may not be the only thing that does so, but it is the most reliable because it functions on good days and bad and it weeds out the people and firms who consistently act selfishly in commercial interactions.
Two minutes of politics, February 22
This is a subject that is sure to get your blood boiling. It certainly had that effect on mine. When you support Canada’s troops, you want to make sure you treat them right when they get injured on the job.
A Quebec Jew
My friend Richard Marceau (yes, I have a former Bloc MP as a friend), discusses his excellent book with Michael Coren.
Dropping out of the statistics
An extraordinary story in today’s Ottawa Sun reveals that the Quebec ministry of education is hiding data on the poor performance of its schools on the apparent theory that it’s OK to fail but your feelings might be hurt if someone notices. Can this be serious?
Two minutes of politics, February 21
So far in the race for the Republican presidential nomination I’ve been mostly uninspired. Now I’m positively depressed. The race has become a two-way match between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, and I’m reduced to being grateful that at least we’re not having to pretend we should take Newt Gingrich seriously.
Frugality is just this word
Although in theory governments are perilously overextended and those in power are yanking hard on the purse strings, Ottawa’s sometimes-frugal mayor Jim Watson just told reporters on Thursday that the city shouldn’t be afraid to borrow to redevelop Lansdowne Park. As usual the implicit argument is that government’s wisdom and foresight mean any money put into such things will create so much cultural and economic vitality that a veritable tax bonanza will ensue down the road. But the explicit argument was odd enough to be worth noting.
