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#871
[DIV id=headline][H2]Liberals unwilling to prop up Harper[/H2][H3 id=deck]Graham says onus now on Bloc and NDP to support Conservative minority [/H3][/DIV][DIV id=author][P class=byline]CAMPBELL CLARK

[P class=source]From Thursday's Globe and Mail

[UL class=columnistInfo][/UL][/DIV][DIV id=article style="FONT-SIZE: 100%"][!-- dateline --]Ottawa[!-- /dateline --] — Opposition Leader Bill Graham said he will not be afraid to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government, even though the Liberal Party will spend much of the year in a leadership race.

Mr. Harper must either accommodate Liberal positions on key issues such as child care and income-tax cuts or turn to the New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois for support in the House of Commons, Mr. Graham said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

He placed the onus for avoiding a quick election on the New Democrats and the Bloc, saying they triggered the last election out of political opportunism.

[DIV class="bigbox ad" id=boxR][SCRIPT type=text/XXXXscript ads="1"]aPs="boxR";[/SCRIPT][SCRIPT type=text/XXXXscript]var boxRAC = fnTdo('a'+'ai',300,250,ai,'j',nc);[/SCRIPT][/DIV]"We're not in the business of propping up the government," he said. "We're the Official Opposition. And that is our role, and we will stick to our points where they are important to the future of the country.

"Other parties will have to decide whether they want to compromise on this, because they're the ones — the Canadian public very well knows — that put us in this position. They're the ones that created the Harper government. They're the ones that are going to have to accommodate it."

Mr. Graham said he believes Canadians do not want to go to the polls again soon, and he recognizes the possible consequences of his warning: "It could lead to an election."

His comments put the other parties in the position of deciding whether the Liberals can afford to force another election, or whether it is more bluster than warning.

The Liberal Party is set to embark on a wide-open leadership race that will not be decided until November or next February — depending on rules to be set next month — and it is not clear who would lead the party into an election if Mr. Harper's government fell before then.

Former prime minister Paul Martin remains the titular leader of the party, but Mr. Graham, as Leader of the Opposition, has taken on all of the leader's duties.

Mr. Graham said the party leadership has assured him that they could make a quick decision on electing a leader, if necessary, and it would not necessarily be him or Mr. Martin. "It could be anybody," he said.

Mr. Harper's party won 124 of the 308 seats in the Commons in the Jan. 23 federal election, but will have 125 members when Parliament resumes because of the defection of Trade Minister David Emerson, who was elected as a Liberal.

"Mr. Harper is not a majority government," Mr. Graham said. "So he has to accept the fact that he's in a position that has to look for accommodations if he wants to continue to be the government of Canada."

He said the Liberals intend to push their vision of child care — transfers to provinces to create subsidized daycare spaces — over the Conservative plan to send monthly cheques to parents.

He sharply criticized the NDP, which now says it will propose a subsidized plan in the coming session of the Commons, saying the New Democrats killed such a plan by forcing the election.

"To some extent, I'm admiring of the chutzpah of it," he said. "But in other respects I'm astonished that they have the courage to do it."

The Liberals will also oppose Mr. Harper's pledge to cut the GST, if it means a reversal of Liberal government income-tax cuts, he said. "When they find out the consequences of this, people are going to be astonished."

Mr. Graham said his early days in the job have been consumed with organizational matters. He said he expects to move into Stornoway, the Opposition Leader's official residence.

"I'm learning as I go," he said in the wood-panelled Opposition Leader's office on Parliament Hill, which still showed some signs of his weekend move.

"Two weeks ago, I was the defence minister. Today, I'm doing a totally different job."

Yesterday, Mr. Graham appointed Jane Stewart, who held three cabinet portfolios under Jean Chrétien, as his chief of staff, citing her experience and her good relations with members of the Liberal caucus, which she chaired from 1993 to 1997, as key qualities for the job.

Mr. Graham said part of his job will be keeping the opposition together despite the tensions created when its members split into leadership campaigns.

"Some of us have to be there to be the glue that holds the party together while the constituent parts are all fighting one another to see who is going to end up being the new leader."

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#872
Always the outlaw, Willie Nelson releases homage to gay cowboys [!-- END HEADLINE --][DIV id=ynmain][!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --][DIV id=storybody][DIV class=storyhdr][EM class=timedate]Tue Feb 14, 8:41 PM ET[/i]

[DIV class=spacer][/DIV][/DIV]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Country music outlaw Willie Nelson sang Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys and My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys more than 25 years ago.

He released a very different sort of cowboy anthem this Valentine's Day.

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other) may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist. But it was written long before this year's Oscar-nominated Brokeback Mountain made gay cowboys a hot topic.

Available exclusively through ITunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson's deadpan delivery of lines like, "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out."

The song, which debuted Tuesday on Howard Stern's satellite radio show, was written by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette in 1981. Sublette said he wrote it during the Urban Cowboy craze and always imagined Nelson singing it.

Someone passed a copy of the song to Nelson back in the late 1980s and, according to Nelson's record label, Lost Highway, he recorded it last year at his Pedernales studio in Texas.

Nelson has appeared in several western movies

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#873
Cheney Could Face Charges in Shooting [!-- END HEADLINE --][DIV id=ynmain][!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --][DIV id=storybody][DIV class=storyhdr][SPAN]By MATT CURRY, Associated Press Writer[/SPAN][EM class=recenttimedate]2 hours, 5 minutes ago[/i]

[DIV class=spacer][/DIV][/DIV]If the man wounded by Dick Cheney dies, the vice president could — in theory at least — face criminal charges, even though the shooting was an accident.

Dallas defense attorney David Finn, who has been a state and a federal prosecutor, said Wednesday that a Texas grand jury could bring a charge of criminally negligent homicide if there is evidence the vice president knew or should have known "there was a substantial or unjustifiable risk that his actions would result in him shooting a fellow hunter."

To indict Cheney, the grand jury would have to conclude that a reasonable person in the vice president's place would say to himself, "I am not pulling the trigger because this other guy might be in front of me," Finn said.

The charge carries up to two years behind bars, but with no previous felonies Cheney would be eligible for probation, the former prosecutor said.

Manslaughter, a more serious charge, would require a prosecutor to prove Cheney was reckless, which would be "virtually impossible under the facts we know today," said Michael Sharlot, professor of criminal law at the University of Texas at Austin.

"With recklessness, the defendant has to be aware of the risk, but choose to ignore it. With negligence, he doesn't have to be conscious of the risk, but a reasonable person would have been," Sharlot said.

As vice president, Cheney has no immunity from prosecution.

Mark Skurka, first assistant district attorney of the three-county area where the shooting took place, said prosecutors did not have an investigation under way.

"If something unfortunate happens, then we'll decide what to do, then we'll decide whether we're going to have an investigation or not," Skurka said.

If District Attorney Carlos Valdez decided to pursue charges, he would forward the matter to a grand jury, which would determine whether to indict Cheney. Valdez, a Democrat, is best known for his prosecution of Yolanda Saldivar, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1995 slaying of Tejano singer Selena.

Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old lawyer, was struck in the face, neck and chest with shotgun pellets over the weekend while Cheney was shooting at quail. Whittington suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday after a pellet traveled to his heart.

On Wednesday, hospital officials said he had a normal heart rhythm again and was sitting up in a chair, eating regular food and planned to do some legal work in his hospital room. Doctors said they are highly optimistic he will recover.

In a TV interview Wednesday, the vice president accepted full blame for the shooting and defended his decision not to publicly disclose the accident until the following day. He called it "one of the worst days of my life."

If Whittington recovers, Cheney could still face a felony charge of negligently causing injury to an aged person, Sharlot said. But he said such a charge would be "quite unusual" in the case of a hunting accident.

In the only other case of someone being shot by a vice president, Aaron

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#874
[DIV class=logo][img height=34 alt="BBC NEWS" src="http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/printer_friendly/news_logo.gif" width=163] [/DIV][DIV class=headline]New Abu Ghraib images broadcast [/DIV][DIV class=ibox]
[TBODY]
[TD width=5][/TD][TD class=fact][!--So--][!--Eo--][!--Smva--][!--Emva--][!--Smvtb--][A onclick="jvascript:launchAVConsoleStory('4717912'); return false;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3681938.stm" target=_blank]Abuse footage [/A][!--Emvtb--][!--Smva--][!--Emva--][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE]An Australian TV channel has broadcast previously unpublished images showing apparent US abuse of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail in 2003. The images on SBS TV are thought to be from the same source as those that caused an outcry around the world and led to several US troops being jailed. The new images show "homicide, torture and sexual humiliation", SBS said. The US has said the images could only "incite unnecessary violence" and endanger US military personnel.

[/DIV][DIV class=bo]The broadcast of the images comes at a time of increased tension between Muslim nations and the West over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. 'Live rounds' One of the videos broadcast on the SBS programme Dateline on Wednesday appears to show prisoners being forced to masturbate for the camera.

[/DIV][DIV class=ibox]
[TBODY]
[TD width=5][/TD][TD class=fact][!--So--][!--Eo--][!--So--]
[!--Eo--][!--Smiiib--][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE][/DIV][DIV class=bo]Other video footage appears to show a prisoner hitting his head against a wall. The channel said he was a mentally disturbed patient who became a plaything of guards who practised ways of restraining him. Some photos are said to show corpses. There are also images of prisoners with body and head wounds. Some of the pictures have now been re-broadcast on US networks and on Arab satellite channels al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera. SBS journalist Olivia Rousset told the BBC one of them showed a senior Iraqi officer being treated for a throat wound received after he resisted being transferred within the camp.

[/DIV][DIV class=ibox]
[TBODY]
[TD width=5][/TD][TD class=fact][DIV class=sih]HAVE YOUR SAY [/DIV][!--Smva--]The pictures will further blur and confuse this already tricky situation
[!--Emva--][!--Smva--]Jonathan Christian, London [!--Emva--][!--So--]
[!--Eo--][!--Smiiib--][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE][/DIV][DIV class=bo]Some of the new photos showed soldiers who have already been convicted for their part in the abuse, including Lynndie England and Charles Graner, the man prosecutors said was the ringleader in the scandal. A number are versions of the photographs that caused outrage when they were initially leaked in April 2004, including the prisoner wearing a hood and hooked to wires. SBS also said it had received reports that some prisoners were killed when US soldiers ran out of rubber bullets during a prison riot and started using live rounds instead. Convicted US defence department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the images "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world". He said: "[The images] would endanger our military men and women."

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[TBODY]
[TD width=5][/TD][TD class=fact][DIV class=sih]ABU GHRAIB SCANDAL TIMELINE [/DIV][!--Smva--][DIV class=bull]28 Apr 04: CBS shows images from 2003 of inmates being subjected to abuses by US soldiers [/DIV][DIV class=bull]30 Apr 04: Six US soldiers are charged. Three more are charged later. [/DIV][DIV class=bull]6 May 04: President Bush apologises for abuse [/DIV][DIV class=bull]19 May 04: First soldier to be court-martialled in this case is sentenced to jail. More convictions will follow [/DIV][DIV class=bull]21 Jul 05: Government files court papers to try to stop more images of abuse being made public [/DIV][DIV class=bull]29 Sept 05: Judge rules 87 unseen pictures of Iraqi inmates abused by US troops should be released [/DIV][DIV class=bull]15 Feb 06: Australia's SBS TV broadcasts previously unpublished images [/DIV][!--Emva--][!--So--]
[!--Eo--][!--Smiiib--][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE][/DIV][DIV class=bo]Analysts say the reaction in the Muslim world may depend on how widely the images are shown. In Iraq, the emergence of the images come amid tension caused by the release of a video appearing to show UK troops beating Iraqi civilians. The BBC's Jon Brain in Baghdad says al-Arabiya is broadcasting half a dozen of the new Abu Ghraib images, though it has refrained from showing the most shocking. The images are part of a group of more than 100 photographs and four videos taken at Abu Ghraib and later handed to the US army's Criminal Investigations Division. In September a New York judge ruled in favour of a request from the American Civil Liberties Union for the pictures to be released. The judge rejected the government's arguments that publication could fuel anti-US feelings. The Dateline programme says the government is appealing against the decision. US state department legal adviser John Bellinger said the images showed "conduct that is absolutely disgusting". But he said the government had opposed publication as it felt the images were "an invasion of the detainees themselves... and would simply fan the flames around the world". US President George W Bush has said the Abu Ghraib abuse was a "disgrace". Nine junior soldiers have been convicted - some are serving jail sentences. All senior US commanders were cleared except the commander in charge of Abu Ghraib at the time, Janis Karpinski, who was reduced in rank from general to colonel.

[/DIV][DIV class=footer]Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4715540.stm

Published: 2006/02/15 19:24:43 GMT

© BBC MMVI[/DIV][DIV class=footer] [/DIV][DIV class=footer] [/DIV][DIV class=footer] [/DIV][DIV class=footer] [/DIV][DIV class=footer] [/DIV][DIV class=footer] [/DIV][DIV class=footer]click the link to see the video.
[/DIV]
#875
[DIV class=headline]CBC cancellations blamed on lockout[/DIV][DIV class=subheadline]Wonderland, Da Vinci, Tournament axed CBC says viewership

`in steady decline'[/DIV][DIV class=pubdate]Feb. 14, 2006. 06:14 AM[/DIV]
[DIV class=articlebody][!-- icx_story_begin --]Cancellation of three CBC series without naming replacements is a short-sighted decision that will cost hundreds of jobs and imperil Canadian English-language TV drama, the union representing Canadian actors said yesterday.

The public broadcaster announced yesterday it is chopping two critically praised, but low-rated, one-hour dramatic series, This is Wonderland and Da Vinci's City Hall, and one of its comedy series, The Tournament.

"CBC management is punishing these shows for a decline in ratings — a decline clearly brought on by its own brutal decision to lock out 5,000 professional workers last fall," Stephen Waddell, executive director of the 21,000-member Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, said in a statement.

ACTRA condemned the cancellations as "a startling display of incompetence by irresponsible CBC brass."

Da Vinci's season finale is scheduled for Feb. 28 and Wonderland's on March 15. The hockey comedy The Tournament has already wrapped up its second year.

CBC spokeswoman Ruth-Ellen Soles, who said Da Vinci had been averaging 394,000 viewers, Wonderland 376,000 and Tournament 268,000, disputed the claim that low ratings resulted from the lockout. She says the numbers decline had started well before that.

"These are three programs that CBC believed in and attached significant resources to," she said. "Unfortunately the audiences for all three have been in steady decline and did not resonate with Canadians. These decisions are always difficult, but they had to be made.

"It's a shame because they're terrific programs. It just doesn't seem to be what Canadian viewers want to watch," Soles said. "We're in continuing discussions now regarding all of the arts and entertainment programming, everything."

Sources told the Canadian Press that the cancellations were not the work of the English network's new programming executive director, Kirstine Layfield, who was brought in from the private sector recently to replace the departed Slawko Klymkiw. Klymkiw had championed the two drama shows.

Sources said the decisions to cancel were made by executive vice-president Richard Stursberg.

"It was just a year ago that ... Stursberg proclaimed that `only the CBC can be the cornerstone of a solution' to the crisis in Canadian drama,'' said Waddell. "I'd like to know to how Mr. Stursberg feels his cancellation of three acclaimed series without naming replacements is going to end the drama crisis. One has to ask whether there can ever be responsible decision-making with the current regime."

The CBC has reportedly ordered 13 episodes of a new series called Intelligence. In addition, negotiations are underway for a TV movie spinoff of Da Vinci, similar to what happened when the North of 60 series was cancelled.

staff/canadian press[/DIV][DIV class=articlebody] [/DIV][DIV class=articlebody] [/DIV][DIV class=articlebody] [/DIV][DIV class=articlebody]And It gets worse taken from dv.[/DIV][DIV class=articlebody]CBC is cutting CBC Sports by 2010 (No more hockey, curling, or CFL)[/DIV][DIV class=articlebody][A href="http://www.canucksource.com/news2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1139869680&archive=&start_from=&ucat=9"]http://www.canucksource.com/news2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1139869680&archive=&start_from=&ucat=9[/A]&

#876
[DIV id=headline][H2]When will you Boomers die? Take this test[/H2][/DIV][DIV id=author][P class=byline]SCOTT DEVEAU

[P class=source]Globe and Mail Update

[UL class=columnistInfo][/UL][/DIV][DIV id=article style="FONT-SIZE: 100%"]By asking 12 simple questions, researchers claim they can determine with surprising accuracy whether someone over the age of 50 is going to die in the near future.

The questions, designed by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, assess various mortality risks, like whether someone smokes, or if they have diabetes. By using a simple point system, researchers claim an 81 per cent accuracy in determining whether someone over the age of 50 will die in the next four years.

"I would never say it's black or white," said lead author of the index Dr. Sei J. Lee. "It's 81 per cent accurate, which means that it's 19 per cent inaccurate. We won't ever get to the point where we can predict 100 per cent."

[DIV class="bigbox ad" id=boxR][SCRIPT type=text/XXXXscript ads="1"]aPs="boxR";[/SCRIPT][SCRIPT type=text/XXXXscript]var boxRAC = fnTdo('a'+'ai',300,250,ai,'j',nc);[/SCRIPT][/DIV]The test was developed in part because of Dr. Lee's concern for his own aging patients.

"I realized fairly early on as a doctor that one of the most basic questions patients ask of me is, 'What is going to happen to me?" he said. "Prediction is hard and I wanted to find a way to talk accurately with my patients."

The questionnaire was developed from information collected between 1998 and 2002 from nearly 20,000 adults over the age of 50. The patients were divided into three broad categories; age and gender, illnesses, and ability to do everyday tasks, like washing, dressing, and managing finances. Researchers then noted who died by the end of 2002, and assessed common factors in their demise.

The aim in the test is to have a low score. Men already have two points against them based on their gender. But if they smoke, there is another two points added, and if they getting winded walking a few blocks, they get another two points.

Oddly enough, risk factors like being overweight are not factored directly into questionnaire, but Dr. Lee notes that both diabetes and things like difficulty walking several block are, which are both often indicators of obesity. Being underweight is also a larger problem in older people than it is in younger people, so if someone is underweight, they actually get another point.

According to the test, someone who scores zero on the index has only a 1 per cent chance of dying in the next four years, according to Dr. Lee. Someone who scores a 14, has a 64 per cent chance of dying in the next four years.

Of course, there are other mitigating factors that could be altered to lower your score, like quitting smoking, but Dr. Lee said it gives a very fairly accurate indication of type of care a patient may require.

Dr. Lee said the information would be potentially useful for policy makers, health care providers, and researchers, and he said he would like to see it as a standard intake form in doctor's offices. He said his researchers are attempting to extend the test's accuracy to six or eight years in the near future.

The findings will appear in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

TAKE THE TEST:

The test as it appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association:

1. Age: 60-64 years old 1 point;

65-69 2 points;

70-74 3 points;

75-79 4 points;

80-84 5 points;

85 and older 7 points.

2. Male or Female: Male 2 points.

3. Body-Mass Index:

Less than 25 (normal weight or less) 1 point.

(Calculate by multiplying height in inches by itself; then divide weight in pounds by that total; then multiply the total by 703.)

4. Diabetes: 2 points.

5. Cancer (excluding minor skin cancers): 2 points.

6. Chronic lung disease that limits activities or requires oxygen use at home: 2 points.

7. Congestive heart failure: 2 points.

8. Cigarette smoking in the past week: 2 points.

9. Difficulty bathing/showering because of a health or memory problem: 2 points.

10. Difficulty managing money, paying bills, keeping track of expenses because of a health or memory problem: 2 points.

11. Difficulty walking several blocks because of a health problem: 2 points.

12. Difficulty pushing or pulling large objects like a living room chair because of a health problem: 1 point.

Score:

0 to 5 points: less than a 4 per cent risk of dying;

6-9 points: 15 per cent risk:

10-13 points: 42 per cent risk

14 or more points: 64 per cent risk.

[/DIV]
#877
[DIV id=headline][H2]B.C. Throne Speech tackles medicare[/H2][/DIV][DIV id=author][P class=byline]STEVE MERTL

[P class=source]Canadian Press

[UL class=columnistInfo][/UL][/DIV][DIV id=article style="FONT-SIZE: 100%"][!-- dateline --]Victoria[!-- /dateline --] — The B.C. government positioned itself for a potential confrontation over health care on Tuesday, signalling it wants changes to the Canada Health Act to make medicare more sustainable.

In a Throne Speech opening the spring legislative sessions, the government said it will start a "provincewide conversation" on how to protect the public-health system over the long term.

The speech offered no specific reforms but posed a series of questions that suggest its direction.

[DIV class="bigbox ad" id=boxR][SCRIPT type=text/XXXXscript ads="1"]aPs="boxR";[/SCRIPT][SCRIPT type=text/XXXXscript]var boxRAC = fnTdo('a'+'ai',300,250,ai,'j',nc);[/SCRIPT][/DIV]"Does it really matter to patients where or how they obtain their surgical treatment if it is paid for with public funds?" asks the speech, which was read by Lt.-Gov. Iona Campagnolo on behalf of Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberal government.

"Why are we so afraid to look at mixed health care delivery models," when they work in Europe?

"Why are we so quick to condemn any consideration of other systems as a slippery slope to an American-style system that none of us wants?"

Mr. Campbell and Health Minister George Abbott will also tour several European countries to learn how they're transforming their health-care systems.

The speech also promises to make education more flexible and responsive to parent's wishes and offered a new low-cost housing strategy to help reduce B.C.'s homeless population.

With the inquest into the beating death of toddler Sherry Charlie under way in Port Alberni, the government said it will renew efforts to improve and modernize child protection services, including regionalization of aboriginal child and family service delivery, and by strengthening the coroner's office.

And after a groundbreaking deal to preserve the so-called Great Bear Rainforest, the government said it will act to make the kermode or spirit bear the official animal of British Columbia.

The speech says British Columbia has the best health care in the country based on research by the Conference Board of Canada.

Yet people are dissatisfied with long waiting lists and other problems, while the needs of the aging Baby Boom generation and the rising costs of drugs and technology are creating a cost crunch.

Any medicare changes that British Columbia makes would be consistent with the Canada Health Act, but the national law covering universal medicare needs to be updated, the government said.

"Your government will advance that goal in Ottawa and here in B.C.," says the speech. "It will lead an extensive discussion with British Columbians to guide this assembly in furthering fundamental health reform within its mandate."

The government promised to enshrine in law the Canada Health Act's principles to provide universal, accessible, comprehensive, portable and publicly administered care.

"And it will add to those a sixth — the principle of sustainability."

Changes don't require a new study or royal commission but a discussion on what's meant by terms such as universality and accessibility.

The government also promised to push ahead with its ActNow initiative aimed at making British Columbians fitter and healthier eaters by purging junk food from schools and ensuring some level of physical activity for all students.

Acknowledging the criticism the government has taken on child protection from the fallout over Sherry Charlie's death, the government said it will learn from the independent reviews now under way.

Meanwhile, the government will regionalize delivery of services in aboriginal communities to help close the gap faced by aboriginal children and families in line with the Kelowna accord. It promised a new relationship between the government and natives.

On education, Mr. Campbell and Education Minister Shirley Bond have promised to visit every school district in the province to hear ideas for change from teachers, parents and students.

Four months after a bitter teachers' strike, the government said it will hold the first-ever teachers' congress later this year and continue the learning roundtable, which includes parents.

It wants to address issues such as class size and composition, as well as curriculum.

It also promised to complete the introduction of high-speed Internet access to 366 communities and extend that to native communities with help from the federal government.

The province will also push the federal government for tough new minimum sentences for drug traffickers and immediate extradition for foreign dealers. The government said central American dealers plague Vancouver's drug-infested Downtown Eastside.

As well, the province will look into setting up community and aboriginal courts to take pressure off the mainstream court system.

And to help address homelessness in B.C.'s buoyant economy, it promised a flexible new housing strategy to help those in need more quickly.

The Throne Speech offered little in the way of economic policy beyond reiterating the government's commitment to its Pacific Gateway Strategy, aimed at expanding B.C.'s trade and investment footprint.





HIGHLIGHTS

— Province will enshrine the five basic principles of the Canada Health Act and add a sixth — sustainability — as part of fundamental health reform.

— A "provincewide conversation" will be held to protect public health care in the long term.

— An independent foundation for health innovation and renewal will be created to study other successful health care models in the world.

— Premier and Health Minister to visit Scandinavia, France and the United Kingdom to observe their reform efforts.

— Fitness to be bolstered through more physical activity in schools, expanded bicycle networks, barring junk food from schools.

— Premier and Education Minister to tour every school district seeking ideas for improvements from teachers, parents and students.

— Legislation promised to ensure school districts adhere to class-size limits, with variations that can be justified.

— One World Scholarship program will be set up to help post-secondary students study in other Pacific Nations.

— The delivery of children and family services for aboriginal communities will be regionalized.

— A new flexible housing program is promised to help deal with homelessness.

[/DIV]
#878
If Arcade Fire doesn't win I'm protesting. There will be anarchy in the streets.
#879
I bought Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. And Orwell's 1984.
#880
And I'm proud![/DIV]this has to be some kind of record.[/DIV]from zero posts to 78 and counting in 24hrs.Time for me to retire for the evening and go to sleep.
#881
Its like the ultimate big brother I'm watching you stuff. hehe.  Or the marauder's map on harry potter. This site rocks!
#882
And it feels good.
#883
I don't know whats going on nor really care but I can't post anymore. Oh well I'm suprised I lasted this long over there. Anyway all I wanted to do one last time was post an article on Harper should that he's the biggest crook on the planet.  But what can you do.
#884
My question is why did you do it?