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Issues & Experts Archive > Week of February 25 - March 4/2002
Week of February 25 - March 4/2002
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Feb 26, 2002
Canada’s golden moment…Canada’s win over the U.S. in Sunday’s Olympic hockey final may be a sweet victory to Canadians and "a great excuse for a party," but there’s more to the story than magic, says SFU communication professor Martin Laba, who has studied the culture of hockey in Canada. While Laba concedes that Canadians have "a deep and abiding emotional investment" in the game, its significance may be overblown. He also questions the lack of similar spontaneous reaction when the women’s team won gold. "It’s about marketplace and the strength of marketplace," Laba suggests. Colleague Irwin Shubert of SFU’s centre for Canadian studies says headlines following Sunday’s game mean that Canada's female hockey players will continue to struggle for recognition and funding. "They will be relegated to the back pages of the sports section while we are assaulted with endless stories about the over-paid athletes that made everything right in Canada — for one day at least."
Elderly lack proper care…According to a new U.S. federal study, more than 90 per cent of American nursing homes have too few staff members to take proper care of patients. In Canada, the story is not much better, says Gloria Gutman, director of SFU’s gerontology research centre and president of the International Association of Gerontology. "In Canada many care facilities are understaffed. When families complain their relatives are not getting the attention they require, they feel pressured to hire a personal attendant. Most people have no idea of the patient-to-staff ratios in our care facilities, or that more staff are care aides than nurses." Gutman says many of those start their jobs with minimal training. "As a society, we need to think hard about our values. It’s our moms and dads, and in future, us, who suffer when we don't speak up and tell our politicians this is just not acceptable."
Electricity reform should proceed — with caution…Fall-out from the electricity crisis that hit California in 2000 should not lead Canada to abandon its own reform trend, says SFU energy expert Mark Jaccard In a report for the C.D. Howe Institute, Jaccard says Canadians should not turn their backs on the benefits of electricity reform and says competitive electricity markets are achievable. "If it is to succeed, such reform should proceed in a cautious manner that recognizes the special characteristics of electricity as a commodity, and preserves some of the financial advantages that Canadian electricity consumers already enjoy from their resource endowment." Jaccard is a former chair of the B.C. utilities commission and has advised governments around the world on energy issues, including global warming.
- Martin Laba, 604.291.3383; Irwin Shubert, 604.291.3056
Elderly lack proper care…According to a new U.S. federal study, more than 90 per cent of American nursing homes have too few staff members to take proper care of patients. In Canada, the story is not much better, says Gloria Gutman, director of SFU’s gerontology research centre and president of the International Association of Gerontology. "In Canada many care facilities are understaffed. When families complain their relatives are not getting the attention they require, they feel pressured to hire a personal attendant. Most people have no idea of the patient-to-staff ratios in our care facilities, or that more staff are care aides than nurses." Gutman says many of those start their jobs with minimal training. "As a society, we need to think hard about our values. It’s our moms and dads, and in future, us, who suffer when we don't speak up and tell our politicians this is just not acceptable."
- Gloria Gutman, 604-291-5063; gloria_gutman@sfu.ca
Electricity reform should proceed — with caution…Fall-out from the electricity crisis that hit California in 2000 should not lead Canada to abandon its own reform trend, says SFU energy expert Mark Jaccard In a report for the C.D. Howe Institute, Jaccard says Canadians should not turn their backs on the benefits of electricity reform and says competitive electricity markets are achievable. "If it is to succeed, such reform should proceed in a cautious manner that recognizes the special characteristics of electricity as a commodity, and preserves some of the financial advantages that Canadian electricity consumers already enjoy from their resource endowment." Jaccard is a former chair of the B.C. utilities commission and has advised governments around the world on energy issues, including global warming.
- Mark Jaccard, 604.291.4219; mark_jaccard@sfu.ca
Milosevic’s trial: a political laboratory…Events in the Middle East and South Asia have overshadowed ongoing political strife in the Balkans. However, SFU political scientist Lenard Cohen notes that the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic is an "important laboratory for strategies of nation building, and of how the world deals with human rights atrocities." Back from his third trip to Yugoslavia since the fall of Milosevic’s dictatorship, Cohen adds, "Milosevic’s trial before the The Hague tribunal is the largest war crimes trial since Nuremberg. Certainly Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders who are still at large will pay close attention to the fate of Milosevic." The former dictator is accused of genocide and other crimes in connection with the Balkan wars in the 1990s. Cohen is also preparing to write a new book.
- Lenard Cohen, 604.291.4518; lenard_cohen@sfu
Onward march…Did Saturday’s demonstration in Victoria against the provincial budget accomplish anything? SFU labour historian Mark Leier says if protests, rallies, petitions and strike didn’t work, we would all still be working 10 hours a day, six days a week. "There would be no holidays, no employment insurance, no health care and no legal aid," says Leier, who can look at opposition to the government’s spending cuts. "These, and much more, were won using those same tools. "
- Mark Leier, 604.291.5827; leier@sfu.ca