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Phillips: Justin Trudeau has not learned from Hillary Clinton's infamous 'deplorables' gaffe
Good advice:
Remember Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables?"
She came up with that peculiar turn of phrase in September, 2016, when she was campaigning for the U.S. presidency against Donald Trump. Half of Trump's supporters, she declared, were among those deplorables — people who are "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic."
There were plenty of reasons why Clinton lost to Trump, but pretty much everyone agrees that dismissing maybe a quarter of American voters as racist, sexist, etc., was one of them. Even Clinton conceded the point in the end. In her memoir of the campaign, "What Happened," she said she regretted handing Trump "a political gift" by insulting millions of well-intentioned (but wrong) voters.
The lesson — a pretty basic one, you'd think — is that while it's fine to attack your opponent it's hardly ever fine to attack their supporters. In the end, you're after their votes. Not all of them, certainly. Some will never be won over, and some no doubt will be "deplorable" in one way or the other.
But you want to persuade the persuadables, and tarring them with labels like racist and sexist is bound to push people away, not bring them over to your side. At least, that's how it turned out for Clinton, with tragic results for the United States and the rest of us as well.
In light of that, what to make of Justin Trudeau's most recent diagnosis of what's fuelling support for his Conservative rival, Pierre Poilievre?
In a revealing interview with the Star's Susan Delacourt, the prime minister was eager to take on Poilievre. Trudeau, Delacourt wrote over the weekend, accuses the Conservative leader of "whipping up the anger to appeal to those Canadians who are nostalgic for a country that worked well for them, maybe not so much for others."
In Trudeau's words: "He's playing and preying on the kinds of anger and anxieties about some Canada that used to be — where men were men and white men ruled."
This is red meat for Poilievre and his core supporters, so it was no surprise to see him jump right on those words. The Conservative leader posted a three-minute video, one of those, "Hey Justin" jobs he's become so expert at, accusing Trudeau of saying "the reason you claim you're so unpopular with Canadians is that Canadians are racist."
So, basic fact check: is that what Trudeau said? Certainly not. Is Poilievre distorting his words for crass political advantage? Of course.
But is there something to what Poilievre says? Well, kind of. Trudeau didn't say Canadians are racist; he didn't even say Poilievre's supporters are racist. But he did link Canadians' anger and anxieties to something that could reasonably be interpreted as racist — a fond memory, or nostalgia as Delacourt put it, for a once-upon-a-time Canada where "white men ruled."
At this point there are people who will be thinking something along the lines of: Right on, Justin. That's what Poilievre's really all about. Good for you for "calling out" him and his sleazy supporters.
To those people, all I would say is — fine, go ahead and think that. But to Trudeau and those around him I would say — don't go there. If you didn't actually cross the line into accusing Conservative supporters of being racist, you did edge up to it and took a good look.
Trudeau is actually very thoughtful on these issues. After living through the pandemic and the convoy protests he's had plenty of opportunity to reflect on what animates the anger across the country — including the fury directed at him personally.
He's quite right that many people are upset at the way society has changed, and not always for good reasons. But his job isn't to be a political analyst; it's to manage that change in a way that unites people and brings as many as possible over to his side.
To succeed at that, he needs to take on board the lesson Hillary Clinton learned the hard way. Don't insult people on the other side. It'll only come back and hit you in the face.
Source: Justin Trudeau has not learned from Hillary Clinton's infamous 'deplorables' gaffe
Filed under Multiculturalism, Politics Tagged with Andrew Phillips, PM Trudeau
Trudeau says Quebec has the 'tools' to welcome 112,000 immigrants, more than double its goal, Trudeau forcé de clarifier ses propos sur les seuils d'immigration
Correct. Not a question of having or not having the tools but Quebec takes a more more critical look at immigration rathe than the "more the merrier" approach in the rest of Canada. Have included an article from Le Devoir on the false controversy his remarks caused, forcing him to clarify his remarks (even if I found them clear).
But the divergent approaches to immigration, and the resulting dilution of Quebec's weight in the federation, are a cause for medium-and-longer concern:
Quebec's immigration minister has responded to comments from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying his assertion that the province could welcome up to 112,000 immigrants every year instead of the planned 50,000 is "insensitive" to Quebec's challenge of protecting the French language.
Trudeau told The Canadian Press Monday afternoon in a year-end interview that Quebec had the resources to host more than double the immigration threshold it has set for itself and that the province already has "all the tools" for those people to be francophones.
Earlier this year, the federal government set a goal of welcoming 500,000 new immigrants by 2025 — 112,000 represents 22.3 per cent of that number, which is the equivalent of Quebec's population within Canada.
He said immigration is an "important solution" to the labour shortages Quebec and the rest of the country face.
But provincial Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette shot back in a statement Tuesday that it's up to Quebec, "and only Quebec to determine its immigration threshold."
She added that, "Quebec has a double challenge that is unique in Canada: to reduce the labour shortage, while curbing the decline of French, which Mr. Trudeau seems to remain insensitive to."
For more than 30 years, following agreements ratified with the federal government, Quebec has had the power to decide which economic immigrants to get stay — and, ultimately, how many.
Premier François Legault said in a speech at the National Assembly two weeks ago that, to his government, it is important to link immigration with the future of the French language in Quebec.
He said he wants all economic immigrants moving to Quebec to be francophones by 2026. Recent Statistics Canada census data showed a decline in the share of French-speaking immigrants to the province from 60.5 per cent in 2016 to 54.5 per cent in 2021. In 2006, the share was 54.2 per cent.
The premier came under fire in late September, days ahead of being re-elected, for saying that welcoming more than 50,000 immigrants per year would be "a bit suicidal," alluding to the need to protect French.
The comments came shortly after former Quebec immigration minister Jean Boulet said "80 per cent of immigrants go to Montreal, don't work, don't speak French or don't adhere to the values of Quebec society."
Legault said Boulet could no longer have the immigration file following the remarks and replaced him with Fréchette when he chose his cabinet after the provincial election.
All provincial parties in Quebec appear to agree the province shouldn't welcome more than 100,000 new immigrants in a year, citing integration capacity.
The concept has oft been referred to by politicians as the argument for Quebec's low immigration threshold; though it's seldom been defined, officials have pointed to shortages in housing stock and education resources as examples of what's needed to integrate newcomers into Quebec society and for them to learn French.
The comments from Trudeau and Fréchette are the latest in tensions between the federal government and Quebec under Legault, who often reiterates the province's need for independence from federal interference.
The two leaders met at the Francophonie Summit in Tunisia in mid-November, where Legault said they spoke about the decline of French in Quebec.
In the interview with CP, Trudeau said increasing the number of immigrants to the province would help prevent it from losing economic weight in Canada.
"It's a reflection the government of Quebec can and should make," he said.
The portion of Quebec's population within Canada has declined by 5.5 per cent in 50 years, going from 27.8 per cent in 1972 to 22.3 per cent in 2022.
Ontario's, on the other hand, rose three per cent in that time — from 35.8 per cent to 38.8 per cent. According to the Ontario government's website, Ontario received 66,691 immigrants in the fourth quarter of 2021, representing 48.3 per cent of all immigrants to Canada in that period.
Source: Trudeau says Quebec has the 'tools' to welcome 112,000 immigrants, more than double its goal
Le premier ministre Justin Trudeau a tenu mardi à préciser ses propos voulant qu'il fasse le « constat » que le Québec « a la capacité », selon lui, d'accueillir jusqu'à 112 000 immigrants par année, face aux commentaires désapprobateurs de la ministre québécoise de l'Immigration et de certains partis d'opposition aux Communes.
En entrevue de fin d'année avec La Presse canadienne, M. Trudeau avait, dans sa réponse à une question dans laquelle ce chiffre lui était présenté, répété ce dernier.
« Le Québec a actuellement la pleine capacité d'accueillir 112 000 immigrants par année. […] C'est un constat », avait-il dit lundi.
Le premier ministre était interpellé sur le fait que les Québécois représentent 22,3 % de la population canadienne et que ce chiffre de 112 000 correspond donc à la proportion des 500 000 immigrants que son gouvernement a récemment annoncé vouloir accueillir annuellement d'ici 2025.
Mardi, M. Trudeau est revenu sur ses propos durant la période des questions, bloquistes et conservateurs l'accusant de s'immiscer dans la décision de Québec de fixer ses propres seuils d'immigration.
« Je n'ai pas proposé de chiffres pour le Québec, a-t-il soutenu. J'ai reconnu que le Québec avait la capacité d'augmenter ses seuils d'immigration s'il le voulait. Ils ont ces pouvoirs parce que nous reconnaissons l'importance que le Québec a dans la protection de la langue française et de la nation québécoise. »
Pourtant, au cours de l'entrevue de fin d'année, il a bel et bien mentionné nommément « 112 000 » en réponse à une question.
« Je ne suis pas en train de le recommander [les 112 000 immigrants] non plus », avait ensuite nuancé M. Trudeau.
Les journalistes de La Presse canadienne venaient alors de porter à son attention l'écart entre le chiffre de 112 000 immigrants et les seuils de 50 000 et 70 000 qui ont été évoqués respectivement, en campagne électorale provinciale, par le gouvernement de François Legault et le Parti libéral du Québec. Québec solidaire a pour sa part proposé que la province reçoive entre 60 000 à 80 000 nouveaux arrivants par année.
Le premier ministre fédéral a expliqué son « constat » en faisant référence à l'accord entre le Québec et Ottawa en matière d'immigration qui donne tous les outils nécessaires au Québec pour l'accueil de 112 000 immigrants.
Dans ses échanges aux Communes, M. Trudeau a insisté que « c'est une décision pour le Québec et nous respectons les compétences à ce niveau-là ».
Or, l'opposition officielle conservatrice a plutôt interprété les propos du premier ministre comme une « directive », a résumé en mêlée de presse son lieutenant politique pour le Québec, Pierre Paul-Hus.
« M. Trudeau dit : "On peut avoir jusqu'à 112 000 immigrants au Québec". Le gouvernement du Québec dit : "Non. On a calculé que nous, pour bien accueillir des immigrants, c'est 50 000''. Donc M. Trudeau fait de façon indirecte une forme d'efforts d'imposer un seuil d'immigration pour le Québec, ce qu'on considère qu'il ne devait pas se faire », a-t-il dit.
Le chef bloquiste Yves-François Blanchet estime aussi que M. Trudeau veut imposer sa vision.
« En 24 heures, le premier ministre dit qu'il faut que le Québec accueille 112 000 immigrants. "Oh ! Je ne l'impose pas", mais toutes les autres fois il a dit qu'il voudrait bien l'imposer », a-t-il mentionné durant la période des questions.
Il a, de plus, suggéré que le fédéral était bien mal placé pour parler en raison des arriérés dans le traitement de dossiers d'immigration.
« Est-ce qu'il devrait refaire ses devoirs et laisser le Québec gérer tant l'immigration que le français ? », a tonné M. Blanchet.
Du côté du gouvernement de François Legault, la ministre de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration, Christine Fréchette, a déclaré par écrit que les propos de M. Trudeau lui paraissent « insensibles ».
« C'est au Québec, et au Québec seul, de déterminer ses seuils d'immigration », a-t-elle souligné. La ministre n'était pas disponible pour une entrevue mardi.
Selon elle, le Québec a « un double défi, qui est unique au Canada », soit de s'attaquer à la pénurie de main-d'oeuvre tout en arrêtant le déclin du français, « ce à quoi M. Trudeau semble rester insensible », a-t-elle ajouté.
Source: Trudeau forcé de clarifier ses propos sur les seuils d'immigration
Filed under Immigration Tagged with levels, Minister Fréchette, PM Trudeau, Quebec
Pierre Poilievre is demanding it — but insiders reveal why Canada won't brand this Iran military group as terrorists
The same day the Globe publishes commentary arguing the government should explain itself (it should publicly rather than indirectly), The Star provides a good explainer, and there have been a number of articles in various publications regarding some Iranian Canadians who have not been able to enter the USA given their having been low-level conscripts in the IRGC:
The Canadian government has not yet designated Iran's revolutionary guard corps as a terrorist entity over concerns the action would be overbroad, difficult to enforce and unfairly target potentially thousands of Iranians in Canada who may have been conscripted by Iran's military, sources tell the Star.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday his government will hold the "bloodthirsty regime to account," and that Canada will continue to sanction the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but he stopped short of answering yes or no to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's demand he recognize the IRGC as a terrorist group.
Faced with growing calls for action by the Conservatives, families of Canadian victims killed when Iran shot down flight PS752 and now in the face of a global uproar over the death of a young Iranian woman who wasn't wearing a hijab, the federal Liberal government says it intends to "do more" to sanction human rights abuses by the Iranian regime.
"Everything is absolutely on the table," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday.
"Some of this is very complicated, getting the details right is complicated, avoiding collateral damage is important," Freeland said, the day after meeting with families of the 2020 plane crash victims.
Freeland added, "But from my perspective, there's actually something very simple at the heart of this, which is Canada and Canadians need to be on the side of women — women and students who are brave enough to protest, and not on the side of misogynist repressive theocrats."
Canadian government officials have "for years" looked at the question of putting the IRGC, a branch of Iran's armed forces, on the terrorist list under the Criminal Code, three sources said.
But ministers this week have repeatedly declined to state why Canada has not done so already.
Canada listed Iran as a state supporter of terrorism under the State Immunity Act in 2012.
A formal designation of a terrorist group makes it possible to freeze or seize an entity's property and requires banks and financial institutions to block and report any transactions.
Yet multiple sources said a terrorist listing of the IRGC would have an impact potentially on Iranian-Canadian citizens and permanent residents drafted into military service in Iran who would no longer be able to travel or send money to support family still living there.
The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces, and therefore a state actor, and there is no precedent for listing a state as a terrorist organization.
A senior government source acknowledged there would be challenges to monitoring and enforcing such a terrorist listing, but declined to elaborate.
Government officials declined to disclose numbers or estimates of how many Iranians in Canada could be affected by such a designation.
One official said it would also mean any person who ever served in the IRGC would be deemed inadmissible to Canada.
In 2012, the previous Conservative government expelled Iranian diplomats, closed Canada's embassy in Tehran, and listed the IRGC's Quds Force as a terrorist entity. The Quds Force is the clandestine branch of the IRGC responsible for funding, arming and training extremist operations of external groups like the Taliban, Hezbollah, or Hamas.
Since cutting diplomatic ties, Canada has had to rely on proxies like Italy and Switzerland to aid in consular emergencies, such as when Concordia University professor Homa Hoodfar was imprisoned.
The U.S. under former president Donald Trump listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity in 2019 after accusing Iran of continuing nuclear weapons development. President Joe Biden has retained that designation.
In 2018, MPs unanimously supported a motion urging Canada to do just that.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong this week accused the government of doing nothing once the headlines faded.
Freeland and other ministers were heckled at a rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday. She said Wednesday, "their fight for justice is Canada's fight, and it's very important for them to know that."
Thomas Juneau, a former policy analyst at the federal defence department now with the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said in an interview there may be "rhetorical symbolic value" for Canada to take the step of putting the terrorist label on the IRGC, but if it cannot enforce it, there is also a cost to government credibility.
He said even if Ottawa wanted to carve out an exemption for low-level conscripts, "some conscripts have blood on their hands" while others don't, "and how do you know that?"
The Iranian government is not going to "open their databases for us to verify if this individual actually was a conscript, was really a cook, and what kind of combat training did he have, and what mission was he deployed on, and so on," he said.
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, said in an interview, "if it were simple to do, it would have been done already."
Oliphant said the government needs to "make sure that we don't cause more pain and suffering to Canadians who are here, who are contributing or engaged." He said Ottawa also doesn't want to limit opportunities "for people to get out of Iran in the future who may be trying to escape that tyrannical regime" or limit its already diminished ability to help Canadians in consular emergencies in that country.
"We hear the call from Iranian Canadians — it's a strong call to list, so we're obviously trying to find a way to do it that causes the least amount of damage possible," Oliphant said. "How do we do that and carve out something legislatively that has more subtlety and more finesse than a simple listing?"
He pointed to an exchange he had last week, when an Iranian-Canadian sought his help, asking: "'Can't Canada negotiate something with the United States so I can travel to the United States for work; I cannot go because I was conscripted into the IRGC as a young Iranian. I did my military service there, I cannot go to the United States. I am allowed to come to Canada. I became a PR (permanent resident), I became a citizen. I'm engaged in society here. I passed every security clearance for Canada. United States has said I'm not allowed to go there because I'm a terrorist.'"
This week, the Liberal government levied new sanctions against 25 individuals and nine entities in response to the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's so-called morality police over the alleged crime of not wearing a hijab. To date, Canada has levied sanctions on a total of 66 individuals and 170 entities.
Jessica Davis, a former analyst with CSIS and an expert in counterterrorism money-laundering, said there is very little public transparency on just how effective previous Iran sanctions have been, or to what extent they have been violated.
Source: Pierre Poilievre is demanding it — but insiders reveal why Canada won't brand this Iran military group as terrorists
Filed under foreign policy Tagged with Iran, IRGC, Pierre Poilievre, PM Trudeau
Trudeau promises complete review of funding to anti-racism group after 'vile' tweets
Needed. Will be interesting to see how comprehensive the review will be and the degree to which the the findings will be public and candid:
The federal government is conducting a "complete review" of funding to an anti-racism group whose senior consultant sent a series of tweets about "Jewish white supremacists," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
The government has put a stop to all funding to the Community Media Advocacy Centre and is putting in place procedures "to make sure this never happens again," he said at a press conference.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that federal dollars have gone to this organization that has demonstrated xenophobia, racism and antisemitism."
Last week, Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen, who was also at the press conference, cut $133,000 in government funding to the Community Media Advocacy Centre and suspended an anti-racism project it was overseeing after "reprehensible and vile" tweets posted by its senior consultant, Laith Marouf, came to light.
Trudeau's comments come as other past funding for the organization is scrutinized.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said this week that he wants money provided to CMAC under the Canada Summer Jobs program in 2018 to be clawed back.
He said a grant application by CMAC for $2,882 under the program, which offers work experience to people aged 15-30 and is run by Employment and Social Development Canada, was reviewed at the time by his constituency office in Ville-Marie, Que.
CMAC was approved to receive that amount, but ultimately only got $795, according to a spokesman for Marci Ien, the minister for women, gender equality and youth, who publicly launched the program this year.
"Not a single cent of government money should go to organizations that harbour anti-Semitic views," Miller said on Twitter. He said he has never met Marouf, whose views he called "despicable."
A spokeswoman for Miller's federal department said "clearly, this organization should not receive additional funding."
"After funding had been allocated, Laith Marouf made antisemitic comments that are reprehensible and inconsistent with the objectives of the Canada Summer Jobs program," Miller's office added.
Shimon Koffler Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his organization appreciates Miller's "clear and unambiguous statement regarding the importance of government funding not going to groups harbouring and espousing antisemitic views."
"We call on the ministries involved to be transparent and provide details about their investigations into the systemic failures that led to this inappropriate funding in a timely fashion," he added.
Opposition MPs are calling for a full audit of funding to CMAC from government departments and through federal programs, including for its involvement in proceedings run by Canada's federal broadcasting regulator.
CMAC describes itself on its website as a non-profit organization supporting the "self-determination of Indigenous, racialized and disabled peoples in the media through research, relationship-building, advocacy and learning."
The Twitter account for Marouf, a consultant for the organization, is private. But a screenshot posted online shows a number of tweets with his photo and name.
One tweet said: "You know all those loud mouthed bags of human feces, aka the Jewish White Supremacists; when we liberate Palestine and they have to go back to where they come from, they will return to being low voiced bitches of (their) Christian/Secular White Supremacist Masters."
Stephen Ellis, a lawyer for Marouf, distinguished between Marouf's "clear reference to 'Jewish white supremacists"' and Jews or Jewish people in general.
Marouf does not harbour "any animus toward the Jewish faith as a collective group," Ellis said in an email.
"While not the most artfully expressed, the tweets reflect a frustration with the reality of Israeli apartheid and a Canadian government which collaborates with it," Ellis said.
Public records show that CMAC has received about $500,000 in funding since 2016 to act as a public interest group in proceedings run by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The money came from the Broadcast Participation Fund, an independent body that was stood up by the CRTC to pay for public interest groups' participation in CRTC matters.
In 2021, CMAC also took part in CRTC consultations on regulations amending the accessibility reporting requirements for broadcasters and telecommunications companies.
According to publicly available documents detailing payments, Marouf and his wife, Gretchen King, whose name also appears on CMAC company filings, were both paid for taking part in the proceedings.
They were paid using money from a deferral account held by Bell, which the company agreed to have the CRTC distribute to public interest groups on its behalf. Bell declined a request for comment.
CMAC did not respond to requests for comment.
But Ellis, Marouf's lawyer, said the centre's work had been valuable and contributed greatly to the proceedings.
The lawyer said what "is very clear from CMAC's filing and the CRTC decision is that if it were not for CMAC's efforts, Indigenous, racialized and women disabilities groups would have been absent from the proceedings to rewrite CRTC policies to comply with the Accessible Canada Act and its clauses reaffirming the intersectionality of oppressions."
Peter Julian, the NDP heritage critic, is calling for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez and CRTC officials to appear at the House of Commons heritage committee when Parliament returns to discuss an apparent lack of "due diligence" before paying CMAC.
"It is obvious there was no vetting at all, and that raises a bunch of disturbing questions," he said.
John Nater, the Conservative critic for Canadian heritage, also said the minister should answer questions before the committee. "We believe it imperative that the minister provide answers at committee and explain how this was allowed to happen."
Fellow Tory MP Melissa Lantsman said she will present a petition from her constituents to the House of Commons asking for a public inquiry. She said an independent body should examine all historical funding to CMAC.
She criticized Rodriguez for not speaking out about the tweets. "The most vile thing about this is the silence," she said.
Rodriguez declined to comment.
Tory MP Dan Albas, who sits on the Commons finance committee, said the government needs to examine all funding of CMAC.
"There has been radio silence over what they are going to do to get to the bottom of it," he said.
Source: Trudeau promises complete review of funding to anti-racism group after 'vile' tweets
Canadian Jewish community expectations:
"What I know is that the minister now has all the information, appreciated the challenge it poses, and has publicly committed to a series of remedies. We will judge him on what flows from that commitment over the coming days."
During a press conference on Aug. 29, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino (Eglinton—Lawrence, Ont.) announced that the Heritage Department will conduct an extensive review of the funding being distributed through Ottawa's anti-racism strategy to ensure no additional funds are directed to organizations or individuals who promote hateful content.
Fogel said the review will need to determine what deficiencies in the department's decision-making process led to a grant being awarded to the CMAC. He added that CIJA will judge Hussen and the Liberal government based on the outcome of that review.
Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, says his organization will be satisfied if Housing and Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen's 'actions support his undertaking and commitment' regarding the CMAC funding scandal. Photograph courtesy of the CIJA
"If, over the coming days, [Hussen's] actions support his undertaking and commitment, I think we would be quite satisfied with his management of the issue. But there are many moving pieces," said Fogel in the email.
On Aug. 23, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal, Que.) told the National Post thathe alerted Hussen about Marouf's anti-Semitic social media posts before the issue was reported on widely, and argued action could have been taken more quickly.
Fogel suggested that an appearance by Hussen before the House Heritage Committee would provide a valuable opportunity to address the issues in an open and accountable way.
"There are many dimensions of the issue regarding which there is conflicting information, including when the minister became aware of the problem and what steps were taken to address it," wrote Fogel. "I cannot speak to the timeline regarding when [Hussen] was first made aware of this specific issue. However, there are many possible explanations for the absence of visible action for a number of weeks. He may have referred it to the department. He may have required legal advice, since a legal contract had to be considered."
Fogel said the federal government's response to this funding scandal must include full disclosure about how the grant was awarded to CMAC, and a new protocol regarding future grants that shows the government "has translated its learning into a better way forward."
"The goal should be not just the identification of where the process went wrong—and in this case, it went very wrong—but more importantly, what generic procedures should be put into place that will ensure such things do not happen in the future," said Fogel in the email.
The Hill Times reached out to Hussen to ask about Housefather's claim that swifter action could have been taken in regards to suspending the CMAC funding. A spokesperson for the minister responded that anti-Semitism, hate, and racism in all its forms have no place in Canada, and that Hussen's office is leaving no stone unturned in this matter.
"We thank MP Housefather for bringing this individual to our attention, as our government does not tolerate this hatred, and we have informed CMAC that their funding was cut and their project was suspended," read the emailed statement. "We have also instructed the department of Canadian Heritage to identify how CMAC was able to access funding in the first place, and to look for immediate solutions when it comes to properly vetting funding applicants, including any individuals they employ or partner with. Minister Hussen is working with his colleagues to ensure that programs that are both within and outside of his purview are assessed with strong processes, in order to ensure nothing like this ever happens again."
The Hill Times contacted Canadian Heritage to ask about the vetting process in awarding government grants for organizations, and about how the process might be refined going forward, but did not receive a response by deadline.
Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, Ont.), who is Jewish, told The Hill Times that the funding scandal is indicative of a systemic issue.
"Anti-racism in this government doesn't seem to include anti-Semistism," said Lantsman. "There is a trust issue now here."
Lantsman said that she favours a full review of Heritage, the vetting process behind awarding grants, and the timeline of when Hussen was made aware of Marouf's social media posts.
"There's a culpability of the government trying to take what they think is quick, corrective action to sweep this under the rug while not addressing the actual problem," said Lantsman. "I want to be clear. The government has not addressed this as a wider issue, [other] than to cut funding after more than a month after they've been caught."
NDP MP Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, Ont.), his party's ethics critic and a member of the Parliamentary Black Caucus, told The Hill Times it would be strange for anyone to pin the blame for the funding scandal specifically onto Hussen, given the decision was made before Hussen assumed responsibility for the diversity portfolio that falls within the Department of Heritage. Hussen was sworn in as minister of housing and diversity on Oct. 26, 2021.
Green said it is the Liberal government's responsibility to "take meaningful action beyond individual people."
"What I'm looking for out of this government is not about individual actors within the government, but an actual commitment that they're going to follow through on the outcomes around anti-racism," said Green. "This goes well beyond Minister Hussen, who, in the right moments, has said the right things, and I think has supported the right initiatives."
Green said he supports a review of Heritage Canada, and any government department that deals with "the procurement of outside organizations who may be engaged in harmful behaviours."
"What we have found within the Liberal government [is] that they speak the language of equity, diversity and inclusion, but it's often the case that they fail to have the corresponding outcomes in their actual governing, and that is certainly not constricted to Minister Hussen," said Green. "I think it speaks to the culture of the seriousness of the issue. My hope is that [the Liberals] would hold a high standard of scrutiny and due diligence on funding for all agencies, in all departments, that are government funded … and learn from this situation, and move forward."
Source: Diversity Minister Hussen will be judged based on result of review into CMAC funding, says Jewish advocacy group
Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with Canadian Heritage, CIJA, Community Media Advocacy Centre, PM Trudeau
Prime Minister announces new task force to improve government services for Canadians: When in doubt, appoint a task force…
Hard to know whether to laugh and cry.
Given that IRCC is responsible for both immigration and citizenship backlogs, and has the policy and program responsibility for the passport program with Service Canada providing in-person service and processing, hard to see this as anything else but communications spin.
PCO could simply have weekly meetings at the DM or ADM level with IRCC and Service Canada to monitor and keep the pressure on. Happened during my time over 20 years ago at PCO on certain high profile issues and unlikely that this approach has changed drastically.
Cabinet task forces mean more time preparing for meetings and briefings and less time on the concrete operational changes needed to address backlogs.
The government ended its "deliverology" unit in PCO in 2020 but its focus was more on government priorities and commitments than existing programs (covered by departmental reports and TBS).
And as others have noted, perhaps a pause in policy initiatives and expanded immigration levels until the backlogs are sorted out:
Canadians deserve high-quality and efficient government services that are accessible, timely, and make their lives easier. The delays in immigration application and passport processing are unacceptable and the Government of Canada is urgently working to resolve them as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the creation of a new task force to improve government services, with a focus on reducing wait times for Canadians. The task force, a Committee of Cabinet ministers, will review service delivery, identify gaps and areas for improvement, and make recommendations to ensure Canadians from coast to coast to coast receive the highest quality of service.
As we recover from the pandemic and increasingly adjust to a fast-moving world where more Canadians are once again relying on government services, they have experienced delays in delivery that are far from acceptable. The task force will drive action to improve the processing of passports and immigration applications by identifying priority areas for action and outlining short- and longer-term solutions, with a focus on reducing wait times, clearing out backlogs, and improving the overall quality of services provided to Canadians. As labour shortages continue to lead to air travel delays around the world, the task force will also monitor the situation at Canadian airports.
The Government of Canada is working hard to improve the delivery of services that Canadians rely on every day.
"We know service delays, particularly in recent months, are unacceptable. We will continue to do everything we can to improve the delivery of these services in an efficient and timely manner, and this new task force will help guide the work of the government to better meet the changing needs of Canadians and continue to provide them with the high-quality services they need and deserve."The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
The members of the task force on Services to Canadians are:
The Hon. Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth (Co-Chair)
The Hon. Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations (Co-Chair)
The Hon. Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance
The Hon. Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board
The Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion
The Hon. Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development
The Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities
The Hon. Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue
The Hon. Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development
The Hon. Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada
Ministers responsible for the relevant departments, including the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and the Minister of Transport, will be ex-officio members of the task force.
Other members of Cabinet may be invited to participate in task force meetings to provide advice and recommendations on issues related to their respective portfolios.
Source: https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/06/25/prime-minister-announces-new-task-force-improve-government-services
Filed under Immigration, Passports Tagged with PM Trudeau, service delivery, task force
Trudeau says passport delays are 'unacceptable,' promises the government will 'step up'
Unacceptable that government did not act in advance on its knowledge that demand would surge post-pandemic. Undermines overall government credibility when it cannot deliver on its core responsibilities (passport, alas, not the only example):
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising to do more to fix what he calls an "unacceptable" state of affairs at the country's passport offices that have been overwhelmed in recent days as thousands of Canadians scramble to get their hands on the necessary documents before travelling abroad.
Speaking to CBC Radio's The House in an interview that will air Saturday, Trudeau said he understands there's a lot of anxiety among would-be travellers right now.
"This situation is unacceptable," he said. "There's a real concern among families facing these things and we have to step up."
Pressed by host Chris Hall to say why the situation is so tenuous when it was obvious to most observers that passport demand would spike with the lifting of COVID-related travel restrictions, Trudeau said the government did hire more than 600 passport workers in January and they're prepared to hire even more to help chip away at the backlog.
"There's a lot of disruptions as the world comes back from COVID. But that's why we're working night and day to make sure that people get their passports," Trudeau said.
"We're processing tens of thousands of them every week. We're making sure we're delivering as fast as possible what people need and expect from their government."
With processing times slower than usual, many Canadians are opting to get a passport or replace an expired passport through an in-person visit to one of the 35 passport offices nationwide that accept applications.
The government has launched a new online tool to tell people just how long they can expect to wait to see an agent to process a standard passport application or an "urgent" or "express" application for people travelling in the near future.
As of Wednesday, the wait times exceeded five hours at many locations.
In Ottawa, the website advised applicants they can expect to wait nearly seven hours, which means some people in line won't be seen by the time the office closes at 4 p.m.
The limited office hours and lengthy lines have forced some travellers to camp out overnight to score a time slot when these offices open at 8:30 a.m.
'Just pure anarchy'
Frustrated travellers have taken to Google Maps to air their grievances via online reviews of passport offices.
"It was a horrible experience! We went to apply for the passport around 7 a.m. and the line up was already too long," Taghrid Chahine said in a recent post about their experience with Ottawa's only passport office.
"I felt bad for moms who were with their kids waiting for hours and then did not get served!"
"Shame upon every man, woman and child that created this monstrosity of a system," said Luke McCutcheon, another Ottawa-area traveller. "No appointments, no tickets when you line up — just pure anarchy."
"Wait times are ridiculous. You have to take the whole day off work to line up and wait and wait and wait," said Eireann Aldrich.
"This government is a joke," said Emma Ayetor, who said she waited all day only to be turned away when the office closed at 4 p.m.
In Montreal Tuesday, the situation at the Guy-Favreau complex passport office became so chaotic that police had to intervene to conduct crowd control as well over 750 people queued up to be seen by an agent.
'The passport office can handle it,' minister says
Families Minister Karina Gould, the minister responsible for passport services, said Wednesday that while there may be trouble at some passport offices, others are working just fine.
"What we're seeing in other parts of the country are, yes, lines before the passport office opens, but those lines move throughout the day and people are being seen," she told reporters.
"It's a lot, but the passport office can handle it. They're stressed, they're strained, but they can," she said.
Asked if the federal government has failed travelling Canadians by subjecting them to such long waits, Gould said Ottawa "predicted that there would be an increase in demand" but they didn't expect so many passport applications would come in at one time.
"What we didn't anticipate is that all the applications would come at the same time in March and April, and also that so many of the applications would be new applications and not renewals," Gould said.
She noted that 85 per cent of applications are new ones, which take longer to process than renewals.
Passport training can take 15 weeks
She said they're adding staff but noted that because passport processing is a sensitive issue with security considerations the training program for new workers can take up to 15 weeks.
In January, 1,500 employees worked for the passport program.
Since then, the government has hired 600 workers and redeployed another 600 former passport officers or other clerks, and it's actively recruiting another 600 people, according to government data supplied to CBC News.
A spokesperson for Gould said the department has identified 200 federal employees working for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) who may be reassigned to help process passports, and Canada Revenue Agency is also determining if any of its employees can be seconded to the task.
Source: Trudeau says passport delays are 'unacceptable,' promises the government will 'step up'
Filed under Citizenship, Passports Tagged with backlogs, PM Trudeau
Closing Roxham Road border crossing will not stop arrival of asylum seekers: Trudeau
For the record:
Closing an unofficial border crossing in southern Quebec will not slow the arrival of asylum seekers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.
"If we close Roxham Road, people will cross elsewhere," he told reporters in Ottawa. "We have an enormous border, and we're not going to start arming or putting fences on it."
On Wednesday, Quebec Premier Francois Legault called for Trudeau to close the makeshift crossing south of Montreal, saying that the province doesn't have the capacity to care for migrants as they wait for their refugee claims to be processed.
Trudeau said intercepting irregular migrants at Roxham Road, where an RCMP post has been set up, allows Canadian authorities to conduct security verifications and to ensure that migrants are not "lost and illegal inside Canada."
Negotiations are ongoing with the United States, Trudeau said, to change the Safe Third Country Agreement, which has led to the irregular crossings.
Under that agreement, which has been in place since 2004, asylum seekers who enter the U.S. must claim refugee status there and can be turned back if they attempt to enter Canada through an official border crossing to make a refugee claim. However, asylum seekers who cross the border irregularly can make a refugee claim once they are in Canada.
Discussions with the U.S. to change the agreement are "advancing well," Trudeau said, but he added that the subject is delicate for the Americans, because they are worried about the impact any changes could have on the country's border with Mexico.
The RCMP have intercepted 7,013 asylum seekers who have crossed irregularly into Quebec from the United States since the beginning of the year, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. In 2019, more than 16,000 asylum seekers were intercepted by the RCMP after crossing irregularly into Quebec.
Source: Closing Roxham Road border crossing will not stop arrival of asylum seekers: Trudeau
Filed under Immigration Tagged with asylum seekers, PM Trudeau, Roxham Road
Trudeau promet « un examen détaillé » du refus d'étudiants africains francophones
PM comment of note:
Le premier ministre Justin Trudeau assure procéder à « un examen détaillé » des répercussions qu'ont les critères des programmes fédéraux sur la composition de l'immigration. Faisant référence au refus massif d'étudiants africains francophones, il a affirmé lors de la période des questions à la Chambre des communes mercredi « que ces rapports sont particulièrement inquiétants ».
Le Devoir révélait récemment que les taux de refus de permis d'études pour les ressortissants des pays du Maghreb et de l'Afrique de l'Ouest ne cessent de grimper. Certains candidats qui répondent à tous les critères sont ainsi empêchés de poursuivre leurs études au Québec.
M. Trudeau répondait mercredi à l'intervention du chef du Bloc québécois, Yves-François Blanchet. Sous le « prétexte » que les agents d'immigration ne croient pas que ces étudiants rentreront chez eux après leurs études, ils sont refusés, a-t-il dit. « C'est un grave procès d'intention. Une forme de discrimination à dénoncer, qui nuit aux échanges et au développement de l'Afrique », a ajouté M. Blanchet, exhortant le gouvernement à intervenir.
« Nous n'allons tolérer aucune discrimination systémique », a rétorqué le premier ministre, rappelant qu'il a reconnu qu'il en existe « dans toutes nos institutions à travers le pays ». L'examen détaillé des répercussions des programmes d'immigration servira à garantir que tous les demandeurs sont traités « de manière équitable », a-t-il avancé.
Le taux de refus pour tous les pays d'origine est en outre beaucoup plus élevé dans la province que dans le reste du Canada, un phénomène qui préoccupe toute la classe politique québécoise. Il est « inacceptable » qu'Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) « nous prive d'étudiants africains francophones correspondants en tout point au profil d'immigrant qu'on souhaite attirer au Québec, notamment pour développer nos régions, soutenir nos cégeps et pallier […] la pénurie de main-d'œuvre », a notamment écrit sur Twitter la députée du Parti québécois Méganne Perry Melançon.
Des problèmes documentés
Le nouveau ministre fédéral de l'Immigration, Sean Fraser, a également promis la semaine dernière de vérifier « personnellement » que les préjugés inconscients des fonctionnaires de son propre ministère ne font pas en sorte de discriminer les Africains francophones souhaitant venir étudier au pays.
Un rapport fédéral publié en octobre révélait que son ministère fait face à des problèmes de racisme à l'intérieur même de sa bureaucratie. Des fonctionnaires utiliseraient des clichés ouvertement racistes dans leurs conversations et des préjugés guideraient les embauches et les promotions.
IRCC échoue par ailleurs toujours à atteindre les cibles fixées pour l'accueil d'immigrants francophones au Québec et hors Québec, a aussi alors rappelé M. Fraser, malgré la pénurie de main-d'œuvre que connaît le pays.
Mardi, un nouveau rapport du commissaire aux langues officielles, Raymond Théberge, en a remis une couche : le Canada aurait dû admettre au moins 75 839 immigrants francophones de plus hors du Québec depuis 2008 pour maintenir le poids démographique du français dans les provinces à majorité anglophone.
Au Québec, les principaux bassins de recrutement des étudiants francophones africains font face à des taux de refus de permis d'études de plus de 80 %. La France arrive souvent en tête de liste des pays d'origine des étudiants étrangers. Depuis 2018, elle partage toutefois la première position avec l'Inde, d'où la majorité des ressortissants choisissent plutôt de poursuivre des études en anglais.
Source: Trudeau promet « un examen détaillé » du refus d'étudiants africains francophones
Filed under Immigration Tagged with Francophones, international students, PM Trudeau, Quebec
Statement on the 50th Anniversary of the Multiculturalism Policy
PM statement. No statement by Conservatives (not surprising given silence in platform) or NDP (more surprising given extensive section in platform):
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the 50th anniversary of Canada's multiculturalism policy:
"On this day in 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced multiculturalism as an official government policy – the first of its kind in the world – to recognize the contribution of cultural diversity and multicultural citizenship to the Canadian social fabric.
"The diversity of Canadians is a fundamental characteristic of our heritage and identity. For generations, newcomers from all over the world, of all backgrounds, ethnicities, faiths, cultures, and languages, have been coming to Canada with the hopes of making it their home. Today, in addition to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, people from more than 250 ethnic groups call Canada home and celebrate their cultural heritage with pride – they are at the heart of our success as a vibrant, prosperous, and progressive country.
"Canada's multiculturalism policy was implemented based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. These recommendations were made upon the urging of diverse ethnocultural groups throughout Canada, a reminder of the lengthy and ongoing struggle for equality in this country. The policy promotes respect for cultural diversity, acknowledges the freedom of all members of Canadian society to preserve, enhance, and share their own cultural heritage, and considers their cultural contributions throughout the country as essential to Canada. The policy received constitutional sanction in 1982, with an explicit recognition that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be interpreted in a manner consistent with the multicultural heritage of Canadians. Multiculturalism was then further enshrined into law in 1988 through the passing of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act,which was adopted unanimously by Parliament. This was an important step toward promoting the full and equitable participation of individuals of all backgrounds in shaping a strong, diverse, and inclusive society.
"While the policy continues to give vitality to Canadian society, reflect its multicultural reality, and inspire people and countries around the world, we still have work to do to make Canada inclusive, fair, and equitable for all. This year, several disturbing and divisive incidents motivated by hate have reminded us that prejudice, systemic racism, and discrimination continue to be a lived reality for many Indigenous and Black peoples, religious minorities, and racialized communities. Many also continue to face barriers to social and economic participation, which have only gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Today, Canada strives to be a respectful, prosperous, and compassionate country thanks to the tremendous contributions of people of all backgrounds who call it home. As we continue to build a more inclusive and open country, we recognize that a multicultural society is a work in progress. We must continue to promote the values of respect and inclusion that the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, the Charter, human rights legislation, and many other commitments have sought to promote. Along with Canada's strong multiculturalism policy, we must also recognize the rich cultures of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, and our commitments to respecting their Aboriginal, treaty, and human rights and advancing reconciliation. This requires us to confront painful truths about our history and society, learn from them, and take meaningful action together to address systemic discrimination and ensure everyone is treated with respect and able to participate equitably in economic, social, cultural, and political life in Canada.
"On behalf of the Government of Canada, I invite all Canadians to find out more about multiculturalism in Canada, celebrate the cultural diversity that makes us who we are, and continue to learn from one another. By appreciating our differences as the source of our strength and resilience, we can build a truly inclusive, vibrant, and multicultural society."
Source: https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2021/10/08/statement-prime-minister-50th-anniversary-canadas-multiculturalism
Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with anniversary, PM Trudeau, statement
Douglas Todd: 'Get real' estate! Five reasons to doubt Trudeau's housing promises
Of note. Leave it to the housing experts for a comparative assessment of party housing promises and their electoral positioning:
Justin Trudeau has abruptly switched into the role of housing-affordability radical.
But it remains to be seen how many Canadians will buy the Liberals' brazen new wave of promises — including a ban on foreign purchases, a tax on property flipping and restrictions on exploitive real-estate agents — since there is much cause for skepticism.
Weighing the party's credibility is crucial since polls are suddenly showing housing affordability (not COVID) is one of the electorates' top concerns. That's like the B.C. election in 2017, which saw provincial Liberal leader Christy Clark, who relied heavily on developer donations, turfed in favour of the NDP.
All federal parties' housing platforms require scrutiny, but here are five reasons voters are justified in feeling suspicious about the prime minister's sudden conversion to housing activist, a persona he adopted last week to profess: "You shouldn't lose a bidding war on your home to speculators. It's time for things to change."
1. Trudeau has done remarkably little to address an expanding housing crisis
Housing prices across the country have jumped more than 50 per cent cent on average under Trudeau's watch.
This glaring reality was captured in a recent devastating sound bite, when a heckler at a Trudeau rally in Ontario bellowed: "You had six years to do something. You've done nothing. These houses are worth $1.5 million. Are you going to help us pay $1.5 million? Are you, buddy?"
While in power, Liberal promises to address soaring prices have added up to zero. Take, for instance, the commitment Trudeau made in B.C. during the 2019 campaign, to bring in a one-per-cent tax on purchases by "non-resident, non-Canadians." Nothing happened.
Similar vacuous pledges came to mind last week when the Trudeau stole the Conservatives' idea to place a two-year ban on all foreign property purchases. Only two months earlier, the Liberals had voted against a Conservative opposition-day motion to do just that.
Many Liberals, federal and provincial, have long claimed it's xenophobic to restrict foreign buyers in Canada. They're only now toning down their race-baiting.
The Liberals have long failed to address foreign capital flooding into real estate — as revealed, yet again, this week. A South China Morning Post article by Ian Young showed Ottawa spent five years covering up an old Canada Revenue report detailing how "rich migrants made more than 90 per cent of luxury purchases" in Burnaby and Coquitlam "while declaring refugee-level incomes."
It also became even harder in the past few days to accept Trudeau's authenticity on taxing house flipping when it was uncovered the Liberals' star candidate in Vancouver-Granville had flipped 21 properties. Liberals' coziness with real-estate insiders runs deep (as it does for many politicians).
2. The Liberals have purposely increased 'demand' for housing
It was more than odd when Trudeau came to Vancouver in August and said "you'll forgive me if I don't think about monetary policy … You'll understand that I think about families."
It's impossible to believe the prime minister doesn't comprehend that monetary policy — in the form of extremely low interest rates and his government's rapid printing of money in response to the pandemic — have helped jack up prices.
While the Liberals are joining the Conservatives and NDP in making big pledges to increase the construction of housing, many analysts are shocked that some promises Trudeau is making will further inflate prices.
Trudeau's talk about tax-free housing accounts for first-time buyers, along with other credits, will super-charge demand even more, particularly among young people who can't afford to stretch further. The size of new mortgages in Canada are soaring far into the danger zone.
It looks, however, like many millennials aren't buying the new Liberal rhetoric; Leger polling has found the party has been losing support among young adults.
3. Ottawa has done little to combat money laundering via real estate
Prominent housing analyst Stephen Punwasi says former Vancouver Sun reporter Sam Cooper's book, Wilful Blindness: How A Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated The West, is "the most important book on Canadian real estate you'll read this year."
Wilful Blindness describes how transnational multi-millionaires and criminals, rooted in China, Mexico and elsewhere, have exploited the country's real estate, which is "Canada's soft spot for economic infiltration." Cooper's book describes many egregious examples of how "dirty" offshore money has been transformed into "clean" money through Canadian housing, especially via property flipping.
What have the Liberals done to crack down on money laundering in urban real estate? Though the Liberals said they would gradually direct $69 million into strengthening RCMP investigation of money laundering, B.C. Attorney General David Eby and others have urged Ottawa to go much further — and institute U.S.-style racketeering laws, which are credited with dismantling Mafia families.
4. The Liberals keep hiking immigration levels
Economists — from banks, universities and developers' organizations — have in recent years acknowledged one of the biggest factors affecting Canadian housing and prices is population growth through immigration.
Despite, or because of, this, Trudeau has steadily increased Canada's immigration target since being elected in 2015, hiking it from 250,000 to 400,000 a year, with B.C. an especially popular destination.
UBC geographer Dan Hiebert has found the typical value of a detached Metro Vancouver home owned by a new immigrant in 2017 was $2.3 million, $800,000 higher than a dwelling owned by a Canadian-born person.
An SFU study found "hidden foreign ownership," particularly through satellite families in which breadwinners make their money offshore, is a significant reason prices have no connection to local wages. It all adds up to help cut into the hopes of both domestic Canadians and newcomers with modest resources.
Source: Steve Saretsky, Vancouver housing analyst
5. It's worse than ironic Trudeau now says, 'The deck is stacked against you'
In light of the prime minister showing almost no interest in protecting the young from soaring prices, it was more than perplexing to last week see him act like a white knight taking on an out-of-control real-estate system.
Who knows if the identity switch will get votes? But Trudeau's latest self-image echoes that of the Liberals' talkative housing secretary, Adam Vaughan, who in April let slip that Canada is "a very safe market for foreign investment, but not a great market for Canadians looking for choices around housing."
While Vaughan revealed the Liberals' strategy has been to support "a very good system of foreign investment creating a lot of new housing in Canada as we add immigrants and grow the population," he cautioned it would be terrible to bring in any policy that could cause homeowners to see "10 per cent of the equity in their home suddenly disappear overnight."
There it is. Two months ago the Liberals were firmly on the side of homeowners wanting to profit. Last week Trudeau suddenly became a champion of those frozen out of ownership.
You're forgiven for thinking you are witnessing pure electoral posturing.
Source: Douglas Todd: 'Get real' estate! Five reasons to doubt Trudeau's housing promises
Filed under Immigration Tagged with #Election2021, campaign promises, Douglas Todd, housing, PM Trudeau


text:
Q: How many seven digits can we form with four 1's and three 2's? The answer says that it is $35$ due to choosing $4$ out of $7$ slots.
Is this because once we have chosen where the four $1$'s go, the $2$'s have to fall into the gaps or is there another reasoning?
I ask because at first I thought the answer would be ${}_7 C_4 + {}_7 C_3$?

A: Yeah. It's $ ^7 C_4 $ or $ ^7 C_3 $ whatever you wish to say as both have same value equal to 35. You choose the gaps for any one number in that many ways and the other number goes in the remaining positions.

A: It is just $7 \choose 4$: you can think of it as there being $7$ locations for the digits, and choosing $4$ of those for a $1$ to go into.  However, ince the $1$'s are in place, all the $2$ have to go in the remaining spots, so there are no further options.
Of course, you can also start with the $2$'s and choose $3$ out of the $7$ spots for the $2$'s to go into.  That gives you $7 \choose 3$ possibilities. Once the $2$'s are in their location, the $1$'s are now fixed as well, so again that's it.
So, the answer is either $7 \choose 4$ or $7 \choose 3$. Fortunately (well, logically they had to to be the same) they both evaluate to $35$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Welcome to the Hometown Heritage (the branded name used by Fullhart Carnegie Charitable Trust) blog! My name is Jared Bloom, and I am the new intern here at Hometown Heritage. Since this is my first appearance on the blog, it seemed appropriate that I should introduce myself to you all, and tell you a little about who I am, what my goals are, and why I am with Hometown Heritage.
Let me start by saying a little more about myself. I graduated from the Perry High School in 2011, and I spent most of my childhood here as well, so I have many fond memories of our little town. I can remember the summer days of Friday Fest, with its stands of local products, live music, inflatable rides and more. I can remember when Shopko was still Pamida, and when Alco was still open for business. Even though some of these things have changed, there are plenty of familiar faces and places here in Perry, so the town feels like home. After High School, I chose to attend Iowa State University, and found that I was extremely interested in history. After spending four years there, I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in History. During my time in the History department, I found that I was quite interested in Classical history (which generally involves the ancient Greeks and Romans). As part of this, I learned a little bit of Latin (how to write and read it at least), and spent 3 weeks in Italy in May of 2014. I went to see all the major landmarks like the Colosseum, and we even had a trip down to Pompeii. I also saw many of the minor landmarks (a cat sanctuary called the Largo di Torre Argentina comes to mind), and even managed to miss a bus and get lost for a while. The trip was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Looking toward the future, as a recent college graduate many opportunities have come knocking on my door and questioned what I was doing or where I was going. Often the response was "I haven't thought about it yet" or "I'll just go with the flow", but eventually I had to sit down and think more seriously about the idea. As I did, a loose plan started to form in my head. After talking with a few professors and professionals, I decided that I am interested in working in a Museum setting, either as something like a Curator, or in a collections/preservation sort of role. I discovered that for me, this meant getting some good experience in the right kind of setting, and then going to a graduate school for a degree in Museum Studies. This is the part where Hometown Heritage enters into my plans.
Hometown Heritage is providing me with a wonderful opportunity to earn the kind of experience that I am looking for, and much more. I get to work not only with the kind of software that many museums use, but I also have the opportunity to earn some event managing experience, as there are various events coming up in this area that I am excited to have a hand in. However, experience is not the only reason I am here at Hometown Heritage. There is also the fact that this town, although not the first place I have memories of, is still my hometown, and it holds a special place in my heart. There is also plenty of history here in this town, even if it is not Classical History. I am aware of Hometown Heritage having one of the most extensive collections in the central U.S. for a small town. Within this collection, all of the stories that are told, the old photos and documents, the vintage collectables and works of art, and even the loose odds and ends have within them a special piece of this town's history that I believe is worth preserving.
Preserving Perry's history is a multifaceted job. Whether it be using our museum software, upcoming events, or simply digging through the mountains of boxes in our vault and backroom, I look forward to discovering new and exciting stories and experiences that I can share, with the rest of you, on this blog.
I grew up in Dawson, Iowa – my entire small and happy world was a tiny town, with neighbors that looked out for one another. Together my sister and I attended school in Dawson, walked to the grocery store and post office (located in the back of the building), and faithfully attended Sunday school at the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Looking back, with the kindness time allows, I remember my neighbors, teachers, and pastors with fondness. I'm not so sure they'd think the same of a scrappy girl and her two brothers who frequently seemed to find mischief.
Let's fast forward about 50 years, and return to Dawson, Iowa. I arrive in Dawson by bicycle, thanks to the incredible Raccoon River Valley Trail; from Perry it is 6 easy miles through woods and farm fields. That landscape has changed – 50 years ago there were many more small farmsteads between Dawson and Perry; evidence of these farms and families remains only in old photographs and aging memories. I spot the immense West Central Cooperative grain facility before arriving in Dawson; the smaller grain elevator of my youth is gone, as is the lumber yard, the school, and the gas station. The church remains, but is now a United Methodist Church, the parsonage was sold to a private individual. While I ride my bike around town, I see only change, so I return to the Raccoon River Valley Trail and ride west a little further. There, I wander through the small rural cemetery, nestled appropriately among farm fields; with the sound of the wind and bird song, I find the names of family, friends, teachers, and neighbors of my youth.


text:
Regular Use of Nonaspirin NSAIDs May Increase Kidney Cancer Risk
Renal Cancer
Renal Cancer Survivorship
Long-term users of nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may have an increased risk of developing renal cell (kidney) cancer. These findings were recently reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used to reduce inflammation and pain; they include drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Some studies have suggested that NSAIDs may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. When it comes to kidney cancer, however, some data have shown that NSAIDs may increase rather than reduce risk.
To further investigate the link between NSAID use and kidney cancer, researchers tracked aspirin, nonaspirin NSAID, and acetaminophen (also a pain reliever) use among 77,525 women and 49,403 men participating in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Data were collected beginning in1990 for the Nurses' Health Study and in 1986 for the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and again every two years through follow-up at 16 and 20 years, respectively.
333 cases of kidney cancer were diagnosed among participants in both studies combined.
Regular use of nonaspirin NSAIDs appeared to increase risk of kidney cancer, with an increase in relative risk of 51%.
Regular use of aspirin and acetaminophen did not appear to increase risk of kidney cancer.
Longer use of nonaspirin NSAIDs was associated with increasing risk of kidney cancer: Use for less than four years was associated with a 19% decreased relative risk of developing kidney cancer, whereas use from four to 10 years was associated with a 36% increased relative risk and use for 10 years or more with an almost threefold increase in relative risk.
The researchers conclude that because regular use of nonaspirin NSAIDs may increase risk of developing kidney cancer, "Risks and benefits should be considered in deciding whether to use [pain relievers]." Regular nonaspirin NSAID users may want to be especially aware of the risks and benefits, given the increased risk associated with long-term use.
Reference: Cho E, Curhan G, Hankinson SE, et al. Prospective evaluation of analgesic use and risk of renal cell cancer. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2011;171(16):1487-1493. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.356.
Siblings of Kidney Cancer Patients at Increased Risk for the Disease
Siblings of Kidney Cancer Patients at Increased Risk for the Disease.
Obesity and Hypertension May Increase the Risk of Kidney Cancer
The probability of a person developing cancer depends on both genetic and non-genetic factors.
Esophageal Cancer Survivorship
NSAIDS Reduce Risk of Esophageal Cancer
Regular use of NSAIDS can reduce the risk of esophageal and other cancers.
Lung Cancer Survivorship
NSAIDs May Decrease Risk of Lung Cancer
No Link Between NSAID Use and Lung Cancer Risk
Renal Cancer Treatment
More Frequent Use of Partial Nephrectomy May Benefit Kidney Cancer Patients
Blood Pressure Monitoring Recommended for Kidney Cancer Patients
Blood Pressure Monitoring Recommended for Kidney Cancer Patients Treated with Nexavar®
Radical Nephrectomy Increases Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease
Thalidomide May Increase Effectiveness of Proleukin® in Advanced Kidney Cancer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This one goes out to my clients who are using the Kip app in between sessions: Your app may look different today. This blog post from the developers (below) explains the changes and upgrades! If you're working with me and not yet using this app, let me know next time we meet! It's super cool and free to you.


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Q: Is it possible to combine two entities with different PKs? I'm new to the entity framework so hopefully this is a really simple question...  Can I combine these two entities?
alt text http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9684/entz.jpg
Here is the db...
alt text http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/851/52477698.jpg
I want the final to be something like this...
alt text http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/88/entss.jpg

A: I think that you are asking, "Is it true that I cannot use a related entity as a discriminator field for table per hierarchy inheritance?" And that is correct. You would need a separate discriminator field to use table per hierarchy inheritance. However, you would probably not need the ResourceType entity in this case, since the specific type of an entity itself is enough to tell you which icon to use.
However, I would question whether inheritance is the correct design here.
Using inheritance in an O/R mapping is always a bit of a compromise, because you will either use a design like table per hierarchy which does not map naturally to a well-formed relational schema, or a design like table per type, which means the DB server has to work harder to serve up even a simple list. I think that the common design guideline to "Favor composition over inheritance" is even more true for O/R mappings in particular than it is for OOD in general.
I understand that the images you've added are just examples to illustrate your question, and that your real design may be more complicated, but let's use it as an example:
The subtypes in the diagram (Application, File, etc.) have only one property which is not in the parent type. For many of the subtypes, the "extra" property is the same, Link. One of them has a different property (Filename), but I will note that filenames can be expressed as URIs.
In addition to the inheritance design you showed in your illustration, you could also model this design without using inheritance. In this case, you would remove the subtypes, but keep the ResourceType entity.
Now let's consider what some sample queries might look like with each design:
// get books with inheritance:
var bi = from b in Context.RelatedResources.OfType<Book>()
         select b;

// without
var bc = from b in Context.Resources
         where b.ResourceType.ID == ResourceType.Book // static property you define on ResourceType
         select b;

Neither one strikes me as terribly bad. For me, that's reason enough not to use inheritance. The most compelling advantage of inheritance in an O/R mapping is to be able to easily retrieve entities of different subtypes in a single list. But you can already do that with this design. Because the composition design is easier to implement, less complicated, and will use your database more efficiently, I would prefer it unless there is a compelling advantage to inheritance, which I don't see here.


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We all know seafood and Mexican food are two of the best kinds of cuisine. At this unassuming shack in Albuquerque, you can experience the best of both worlds. This little seafood shack might only have outdoor seating, but in New Mexico that's no problem. With amazing service, addicting tacos, and unique finds, you'll want to come back to this shack again and again.
Welcome to Sharky's! This unassuming shack serves up the best seafood in Albuquerque.
This Mexican seafood spot is growing in popularity, and it's not hard to see why.
The little blue shack doesn't have any indoor seating, but sitting outdoors is the preferable choice in New Mexico anyway.
Sharky's has some of the best, unique street tacos in town, and pairing it with fried calamari is a dream come true.
Another favorite is their pepper hot dogs, which are the perfect lunch for any New Mexican.
From octopus burritos to shrimp tostadas, Sharky's is the perfect mix of seafood and all of our Mexican favorites.
You can complete your meal with a perfect shrimp cocktail, and you'll be in seafood heaven.
Lunch time truly doesn't get any better than an amazing meal from Sharky's walk up window. Try their tacos today.
Sharky's is located at 5420 Central Ave SW, Albuquerque, NM.
Have you visited Sharky's? How was your experience? Tell us all about it in the comments!
Looking for some more unassuming spots? These restaurants are microscopic, but their food is full of huge flavors.


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Access MAP Data
MAP User Guide
File Transfer Protocol (FTP))
Alternative Application Student Record School File Layout
All Monetary Award Program processing will take place through ISAC's Gift Assistance Program (GAP) Access portal, the Internet application that allows schools to electronically process and manage information for MAP. The GAP Access internet application will eventually be the point of entry for electronic data and processing functionality for all of ISAC's gift assistance programs.
ISAC imports ISIR data into the MAP system from the Central Processing System (CPS) on a daily basis. Data from students with an Illinois address, who indicated Illinois as their state of legal residence or who indicated an Illinois school choice on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or FAFSA on the Web, is added to the school's database in the MAP system and can be viewed by the school immediately.
The GAP Access Administrator authorizes privileges for users at his/her school to access data for all Gift Assistance Programs on the GAP Access portal. The financial aid director is the primary GAP Access Administrator, however, the director may select others to act as GAP Access Administrators. GAP Access Administrators are responsible for monitoring passwords, security and staff access to the portal and the MAP system. The financial aid director should select the administrators based on the confidential nature of, and the access to student data. Refer to the GAP Access User Guide for general questions, user name and password maintenance, and technical information about accessing programs in GAP Access.
To access MAP data:
and select 'Programs" from the blue ribbon across the top of the screen and select MAP from the drop-down menu;
select one of the tabs at the top of the MAP screen to access any of the functions; i.e., select the "Student" Tab to access the Student List Eligibility: View or
The MAP system will be available each day between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. (CT).
Payment request records submitted by 7 p.m. will be included in that night's processing with results available the next business day. Records submitted after 7 p.m. will be included with processing for the next business day with results available in the MAP system the following business day. (Example: Records submitted at 6:45 p.m. on a Tuesday would have results reflected in the MAP system on Wednesday morning, while results for records submitted at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday would appear in on Thursday morning.)
The MAP User Guide is broken down into smaller PDF chapters by function, which can be viewed online, printed or saved to your computer for future reference. The User Guide provides detailed information about MAP functions, processing routines and MAP processing code definitions.
Payment (The MAP Payment Results, Reject Reasons, Late and Disqualify codes and the NSLDS® Default Release override can be found at the end of the Payment chapter.)
This MAP 160 Byte File Layout Specifications is pertinent to schools utilizing the file extraction features of the MAP system, or sending MAP payment requests to ISAC via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Changes made to the specifications are highlighted in gray.Refer to the Electronic Tools page for both 2020-21 and the 2021-22 file specifications.
Field 5: College Year is 22 (for the 2021-22 academic year)
The Alternative Application Student Record can be uploaded to colleges' internal system(s) to identify which students applied for MAP via the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid. The order of the data in the file layout follows the order in which the questions are asked on the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid, and generally follows the order of the questions on the paper version of the FAFSA. The values and the formatting used on the Alternative Application Student Record are the same as those used on the ISIR provided by ED for FAFSA applicants, unless otherwise noted.
Creating or uploading Alternative Application Student Record files to colleges' internal systems is not required. Instead, the relevant student applicant data that is provided in GAP Access may be relied upon to administer MAP for both FAFSA and Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid applicants.
The Alternative Application Student Record School File Layout Specifications were updated with the implementation of the first phase of the correction process as announced in a March 10 e-Message. The specifications reflect the fields/codes that are used when ISAC has initiated and applied a change/correction to a record (ISAC pushed correction). File layout changes that were made are bolded and the date on the most recent version as of February 28, 2020. The next phase of the corrections process allows dependent students to complete and submit their application without parental information. These records are identified with a dependency status of "X" and a special circumstances flag of "1". Fields used in the correction process are included on the Student Record Layout. Refer to the April 14 e-Message for details.
The MAP File Specifications, FTP process instructions and the Alternative Application Student Record School File Layout is available on the Electronic Tools page in the e-Library. There is also a link to File Specifications in the right menu of this page.
The GAP Access portal, including the MAP system, is available each day between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. (CT).
The MAP system via GAP Access works best using Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher.
Enter a date range to reduce the processing time of an extraction file. Entering a date range means fewer records are included, thus reducing the amount of time it will take to processing the file; and
Schedule reports to run when MAP is not needed for other functions (for example at the end of the day or during off-peak hours).


text:
Vectorscope
A type of oscilloscope used to measure a video signal's chrominance performance.
A vectorscope is a special type of oscilloscope used in both audio and video applications. Whereas an oscilloscope or waveform monitor normally displays a plot of signal vs. time, a vectorscope displays an X-Y plot of two signals, which can reveal details about the relationship between these two signals. Vectorscopes are highly similar in operation to oscilloscopes operated in X-Y mode; however, those used in video applications have specialized graticules and accept standard television or video signals as input (demodulating and demultiplexing the two components to be analyzed internally).
In video applications, a vectorscope supplements a waveform monitor for the purpose of measuring and testing television signals, regardless of format (NTSC, PAL, SECAM, or any number of digital television standards). While a waveform monitor allows a broadcast technician to measure the overall characteristics of a video signal, a vectorscope is used to visualize chrominance, which is encoded into the video signal as a subcarrier of a specific frequency. The vectorscope locks exclusively to the chrominance subcarrier in the video signal (at 3.58 MHz for NTSC, or at 4.43 MHz for PAL) to drive its display. In digital applications, a vectorscope instead plots the Cb and Cr channels against each other (these are the two channels in digital formats which contain chroma information).
A vectorscope uses an overlaid circular reference display, or graticule, for visualizing chrominance signals, which is the best method of referring to the QAM scheme used to encode color into a video signal. The actual visual pattern that the incoming chrominance signal draws on the vectorscope is called the trace. Chrominance is measured using two methods—color saturation, encoded as the amplitude, or gain, of the subcarrier signal, and hue encoded as the subcarrier's phase. The vectorscope's graticule roughly represents saturation as distance from the center of the circle, and hue as the angle, in standard position, around it. The graticule is also embellished with several elements corresponding to the various components of the standard color bars video test signal, including boxes around the circles for the colors in the main bars, and perpendicular lines corresponding to the U and V components of the chrominance signal (and additionally on an NTSC vectorscope, the I and Q components). NTSC vectorscopes have one set of boxes for the color bars, while their PAL counterparts have two sets of boxes because the R-Y chrominance component in PAL reverses in phase on alternating lines. Another element in the graticule is a fine grid at the nine-o'clock, or -U position, used for measuring differential gain and phase.
Often two sets of bar targets are provided: one for color bars at 75% amplitude and one for color bars at 100% amplitude. The 100% bars represent the maximum amplitude (of the composite signal) that composite encoding allows for. 100% of bars are not suitable for broadcast and are not broadcast-safe. 75% of bars have reduced amplitude and are broadcast-safe.
Some vectorscope models have only one set of bar targets. The vectorscope can be set up for 75% or 100% bars by adjusting the gain so that the color burst vector extends to the "75%" or "100%" marking on the graticule.
The reference signal used for the vectorscope's display is the color burst that is transmitted before each line of video, which for NTSC is defined to have a phase of 180°, corresponding to the nine-o'clock position on the graticule. The actual color burst signal shows up on the vectorscope as a straight line pointing to the left from the center of the graticule. In the case of PAL, the color burst phase alternates between 135° and 225°, resulting in two vectors pointing in the half-past-ten and half-past-seven positions on the graticule, respectively. In digital (and component analog) vectorscopes, color burst doesn't exist; hence the phase relationship between the color burst signal and the chroma subcarrier is simply not an issue. A vectorscope for SECAM uses a demodulator similar to the one found in a SECAM receiver to retrieve the U and V color signals since they are transmitted one at a time (Thomson 8300 Vecamscope).
On older vectorscopes that use cathode ray tubes (CRTs), the graticule was often a silk-screened overlay superimposed over the front surface of the screen. One notable exception was the Tektronix WFM601 series of instruments, which are combined waveform monitors and vectorscopes used to measure CCIR 601 television signals. The waveform-mode graticule of these instruments is implemented with a silkscreen, whereas the vectorscope graticule (consisting only of bar targets, as this family did not support composite video) was drawn on the CRT by the electron beam. Modern instruments have graticules drawn using computer graphics, and both graticule and trace are rendered on an external VGA monitor or an internal VGA-compatible LCD display.
Most modern waveform monitors include vectorscope functionality built-in, and many allow the two modes to be displayed side-by-side. The combined device is typically referred to as a waveform monitor, and standalone vectorscopes are rapidly becoming obsolete.
In audio applications, a vectorscope is used to measure the difference between channels of stereo audio signals. One stereo channel drives the horizontal deflection of the display, and the other drives the vertical deflection. A monoaural signal, consisting of identical left and right signals, results in a straight line with a gradient of +1. Any stereo separation is visible as a deviation from this line, creating a Lissajous figure. If a straight line appears with a gradient of −1, this indicates that the left and right channels are 180° out of phase.
Color vectorscope
chrominance
chrominance subcarrier
differential gain
digital television
subcarrier
Waveform monitors and vectorscope on adobe.com
What is a Vectorscope? How They Work and Why You Need One on studiobinder.com
How to Use VECTORSCOPES in 2 Minutes on youtube.com
Adobe Premiere Color Correction with Vectorscope on youtube.com
A real-time waveform & vectorscope image monitoring utility on vectorscope.co
Image By No machine-readable author provided. Denelson83 assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0 — from wikimedia.org
Last modified on June 5, 2021, 11:27 am


Scientists at UMass Medical School have developed a strategy for editing and repairing a particular type of genetic mutation associated with microduplications using CRISPR-Cas9 and a seldom-used DNA repair pathway. Described in Nature, this approach to programmable gene editing overcomes prior inefficiencies in gene correction.
"It's like hitting the reset button," said Scot A. Wolfe, Ph.D., professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology. "We don't have to add any corrective genetic material, instead the cell stitches the DNA back together minus the duplication. It's a shortcut for gene correction with potential therapeutic appeal."
Dr. Wolfe, a co-investigator of the Nature study, is an expert in CRISPR-Cas9 and other programmable nuclease-based methods of gene editing. Most of these techniques require both generating a break of the DNA strands at the defective gene and the introduction of corrective genetic material. The new sequence is inserted into the break and repaired by an innate DNA repair mechanism found in cells known as the homology-directed repair pathway. Though therapeutically promising, this method of correcting genes can be inefficient and has other technical challenges.
Wolfe and co-investigator Charles P Emerson Jr., Ph.D., professor of neurology, director of the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center at UMass Medical School, and an expert in skeletal muscle development and muscular dystrophies, believed that there might be a more direct approach to correct diseases caused by microduplications. They reasoned that if the microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ) pathway could be effectively harnessed, instead of the homology-directed repair pathway, it would remove the duplicated sequence and restore the gene's functional sequence. Less efficient and rarer than other cellular repair mechanisms, the MMEJ pathway often results in deletions on either side of the break and is responsible for performing a small percentage of DNA repairs – less than 10 percent according to some estimates.
Dr. Emerson had a promising disease target for evaluating the feasibility of this editing approach – limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2G (LGMD2G) caused by a microduplication in the TCAP gene. The Emerson and Wolfe labs treated pluripotent stem cells generated from a LGMD2G patient with a Strepetococcus pyogenesCas9 (SpCas9) nuclease to target a DNA break near the center of the microduplication in the TCAPgene. As they predicted, the MMEJ repair mechanism deleted one copy of the microduplication – effectively stitching the DNA back together again with remarkably high efficiency, leaving out the mutated genetic material and restoring the gene to enable normal TCAPprotein to be produced.
How many diseases are caused by microduplications that might be treated by MMEJ nuclease gene editing? Collaborating with Christian Mueller, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, the team demonstrated that microduplications in the HPS1gene associated with Hermanksy-Pudlak syndrome type 1 could be corrected in patient cells. Oliver King, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology, then developed computational tools to search human genome databases and remarkably identified 143 diseases associated microduplications that would be treatable using their Cas9-MMEJ approach.


The Falls Prevention Program is designed to identify patients at risk for falling in the home and to provide the appropriate plan of care to manage that risk. The program will coordinate care for patients under the direction of their physician, and provide ongoing assessment, education, and treatment for patients at risk for falls with any diagnosis. The Falls Prevention Program of Catholic Home Care follows guidelines created as a collaborative effort involving all Catholic Health Services of Long Island's entities.
Case management by experienced nurses and therapists who will coordinate the care prescribed by the physician.
Assessment of the patient's status through individualized visits by the home care clinicians.
Interdisciplinary approach to identify patients at risk for falls through the use of rehabilitation staff and development of fall prevention strategies to reduce risk.
Evaluation and education by qualified Physical and/ or Occupational Therapist, including home exercise programs individualized to improve patient's function, strength, and endurance.
Physical Therapist/Occupational Therapist provider will do a home assessment for safety and make recommendations to improve safety at home.
Balance assessment using multiple tools such as the Tinetti Gait and Balance Assessment Tool, Gait Speed, and the Missouri Falls Assessment Tool in order to monitor progress throughout the patient's program.
Vestibular screening done by a core group of specially trained Physical Therapists.
Education about the importance of exercise in treatment of balance disorders.
In-depth instruction of medications by our RN staff with identification of specific medications that place the patient at risk for falls.
Education related to dietary impact on medications, as well as meal planning, label reading, and food choices to manage other co-morbidities.
Patient's ability to verbalize understanding of disease process and medications that may contribute to patient's risk for falls.
Patient's compliance with rehabilitation program and assistance with outpatient placement when patient is stabilized.
Patient's compliance with risk reduction strategies such as medication compliance, co-morbidity disease management, daily exercise, and weight reduction.


2-3 years nursing experience, urology preferred. Recent ambulatory/medical office experience preferred. Proficient in use of computer software to include electronic patient records. Must have ability to use internet for literature searches regarding care for patients.


Bernie Sanders has a plan to pay for every spending program he has introduced to date.
Rebuild America Act: Sen. Sanders has proposed a $1 trillion plan to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and put 13 million Americans to work.
Paid for by making corporations pay taxes on all of the "profits" they have shifted to the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens, which the Congressional Research Services estimates may currently create losses that approach $100 billion annually, and other loopholes.
College for All: Sen. Sanders has proposed making public colleges and universities tuition-free and substantially reducing student debt, in a plan that would cost about $75 billion a year.
Paid for by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculators that would generate about $300 billion in revenue.
Expand and Extend Social Security: Sen. Sanders has proposed expanding Social Security and extending the solvency of this program until 2065.
Paid for by lifting the cap on taxable income above $250,000 so that the wealthy pay the same percentage of their income into Social Security as working people.
Youth Jobs Program: Sen. Sanders has proposed a $5.5 billion youth jobs program to create 1 million jobs for disadvantaged young Americans.
Paid for by ending the carried interest loophole that allows billionaire hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than nurses and truck drivers.
Paid Family and Medical Leave: Sen. Sanders has proposed at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave to all workers.
Protect Pensions: Sen. Sanders has introduced a plan to prevent cuts to the pensions of over 1.5 million Americans.
Paid for by closing two tax loopholes that allow the wealthy to avoid taxes on money they inherit and expensive artwork they collect.
Renewable Energy and Clean Jobs Transition: Sen. Sanders has a plan to invest in clean, sustainable energy sources powered by the sun, wind and Earth's heat. He also has a plan to provide comprehensive benefits to workers as they transition to making the solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries of tomorrow.
Paid for by stopping taxpayer-funded giveaways to oil, gas and coal companies.
Sen. Sanders has introduced a plan toexpand health care coverage to every American.
Paid for by a 6.2 percent income-based health care premium paid by employers, a 2.2 percent income-based premium paid by households, progressive income tax rates, taxing capital gains and dividends the same as income from work, limiting tax deductions for the rich, adjusting the estate tax, and savings from health tax expenditures.