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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-08-17, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, August 17, 2016 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com ikon Expositor PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 69, 8 Main Street Seaforth Ontario NOK 1 WO phone: 519-527-0240 fax: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor E POSTMEDIA NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist shaun.gregory@sunmedia.ca DIANNE MCGRATH Front Office seaforth.classifieds@sunmedia.ca NANCY DEGANS Media Sales Consultant ndegans@postmedia.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GS1) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. 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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada We need an honest talk about terrorist attacks Phil Gurski Wednesday, in the Ontario town of Strath- roy, a man known to police for having terrorist connections was killed by security forces after he appeared to explode a device, and had another in his possession. Aaron Driver had been arrested in June 2015 after expressing sup- port for Islamic State and praising the October 2014 terrorist attack on Parliament Hill. Driver had been bound by a peace bond and had had several restrictions placed on him, including no online access and no possession of firearms or explosives. He was required to live at a specific address in Strathroy. Peace bonds are used by law enforcement to keep tabs on peo- ple when the police have reasona- ble grounds to believe the person is engaged in criminal activity but do not have enough evidence to lay charges. They are a less oner- ous measure than arrest and trial, but even this tool has been criti- cized as a violation of Charter rights by some. Indeed, Driver's lawyer had sought to have his conditions eased. In the wake of this incident, it would be surprising if there was not a hue and cry over whether peace bonds are the right approach in terrorism cases. With what we know so far, it is fairly clear that the peace bond issued on Driver was not sufficient to stop him from preparing a terror- ist act. It is only thanks to the RCMP and its partners that no one was hurt or killed by whatever action Driver was planning. So where do we go from here? There are several other Canadians on peace bonds for terrorist activi- ties. What if one of these follows Driver's lead? Should the police lay charges now before itis too late? John Nuttall and Amanda Korodywere released a few weeks ago when a British Columbia judge ruled they had been entrapped by the RCMP in an apparent plot to bomb the B.C. legislature. The Crown and police immediately applied to put them under a peace bond. Is that enough? Do we need to treat terrorism differently than other crimes? Does the fact that terrorism is ideologically moti- vated violence make it distinct from other crimes? Furthermore, is a person on a peace bond adequately moni- tored? Are they given any interven- tion? With respect to a terrorism suspect, does this include counsel- ling or mentoring? If nothing is done to address the underlying ideology, why would we expect the individual to change? Canadians expect their secu- rity intelligence and law enforce- ment agencies keep them safe, and these bodies do a stellar job. But are the current measures available to them adequate? There is a huge debate going on right now about C-51, the anti- terrorism bill passed by the pre- vious Conservative government and now under review by the Liberal government. Many see this law as a step too far. Is it? All I know is that people don't Invest in personal support workers Everyone's talking about Ontario doctors these days, and whether they are being offered a fair contract. But the provincial government's health-care reforms also depend in part on sick or frail people being able to receive relia- ble, quality, ongoing care in their own homes. The key players here are the personal support workers (PSWs) who provide unglamorous but essential services such as bath- ing, dressing, meal preparation and help in managing medications. To attract and retain good peo- ple, the government has increased PSW pay by $4 an hour, to a cap of $19. That sounds like good news, but the reality on the ground is less reassuring. The Ontario Personal Support Workers Association reports many of its 21,000 members are making less money now than they were before the pay raise. For example, the association says, the prov- ince's rowince's Community Care Access Centres have decided some ser- vices that used to take one hour can now be done in 45 minutes, leaving PSWs no further ahead and reducing the volume and quality of service to clients. While the hourly raise sounds good, PSWs are typically employed on a part-time, casual basis, often travelling from client to client. They have no guarantee of consistent hours and no benefits. They are paid only for services they perform. Most client demand is in the mom- ing and evening, so hours tend to stretch over the day. The province's $19 rate applies only to work con- tracted through the CCACs. People who pay out of their own pockets typically are charged less. Meanwhile, the raises for PSWs have disrupted the wage scale in this sector, with supervisors now sometimes making no more than those working for them. As has so often been the case with the provincial government, good intentions have been ham- pered by a lack of research. Health Minister Eric Hoskins has said, "When we went into this, we had so little information about our We all need to take allergies seriously anada has come a long way when it comes to recognizing that food allergies are a life -and -death matter. But the case of a Sherbrooke waiter who might face criminal negligence charges after the near -fatal reaction of a patron is a reminder that there is more to be done when it comes to pro- tecting the severely allergic. Police are recommending charges and have arrested the 22 -year-old server. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to proceed. The facts of the case have not been proven in court, but Simon -Pierre Canuel alleges he informed his server at Le Tapa- geur of a seafood allergy during a visit to the restaurant in May, but was handed a plate of salmon tartare instead of the beef he ordered. When he took a bite in the dimly lit bistro, he want to hear excuses after a suc- cessful attack. They want assur- ances events like these cannot happen. Yet they balk at giving our agencies the host of tools they need to do their jobs. We need a mature, reasoned debate about what instruments to give our security organiza- tions. We need to discuss what is absolutely necessary and what goes too far. There has to be an acceptable compromise. Come on, we're Canadians: We are the masters of compromise. If Canadians decide the RCMP and CSIS should not be given cer- tain powers and an act of terror- ism takes place that perhaps would have been stopped had those powers been granted, we are going to face a lot of soul- searching in this country. I am not trying to be dramatic, just a realist. No, we don't have to sacrifice eve- rything in the pursuit of safety, but we do have to make sure we don't hamstring our protectors. Phil Gurski is president and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting. PSWs in the province, including, quite frankly, how many of them there were and how they were being compensated." The government has saved a lot of money by helping people stay in their own homes instead of in hos- pitals or long-term care. Most peo- ple prefer home care to being in an institution, so it's a sound principle. The correct course of action is to reinvest the savings in more and better home care. But that means supporting the PSWs prop- erly, too. They're essential, human faces on our system and we need them badly. Let's iron out the wrinkles in their compensation, so no one loses in this attempt to streamline health care. immediately felt his throat begin to close. He wound up in hospi- tal, where he suffered cardiac arrest and fell into a coma. The case is an allergy suffer- er's nightmare; they well know they are taking their lives into their hands every time they eat out. SEAFORTH HURON EXPOSITOR — HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-527-0240 • FAX: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com