Stephen Harper made history this month as he was the first sitting Prime Minister to ever make an appearance at Niagara college. He was there to support the governments new budget program called the Knowledge Infrastructure program. This budget plans to strengthen infrastructures of colleges and universities across Canada, giving students the resources they need to suceed. Niagara College is one of the many post secondary schools that is currently benefiting from the 1.5 billion governmentally run budget. The expansion of the post secondary schools will allow students to have more academic opportunities within their school . I believe that this idea is a great way to improve the quality of higher learning.
The infrastructure plan for Niagara college is to add a new addition to the school called the Niagara College Applied Health Institute. The expansion of the school is said to bring in around 1,000 new students to the college next year. This project hopes to bring economic benefits to the city of Welland as they have been hit the most with the economic recession.
This new addition is providing space for high-demand programs such as Pratical Nursing, Personal support worker, and Dental Health programs. The economic impact expansion of the school to make room for these programs is said to create 1,200 jobs in the Niagara region. By adding the new addition the governemnt is then bringing in more jobs to the city which will help the Niagara region through this reccession. I believe that the Knowledge Infrastructure Budget that the government has implemented is a positive step forward. It will give students more resources and tools to work with, and also it will create more jobs that will not only benefit the region but the students who will be going into the workforce as well.
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2097928
Brock Post
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Scandal reaches the OLG
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation have been caught. In late August early September the transactions of the OLG spending was displayed. Needless to say the OLG board was spending like they themselves just won the lottery.
The results of this spending led to the resignation of the entire OLG board. The board was temporarily replaced by civil servants whose first order of business was to fire Kelly McDougald the CEO of the OLG. In following the scandal the OLG released 2 years worth of spending by the board. I was surprised to find that this spending consisted of restaurant bills of $3,700, bar tabs of $1,500, $500 gym memberships (including weight watchers), golf memberships, and help for around the house such as nanny services. Now although these costs are fairly high my main concern is how has this been going on for 2 years?! It is clear that the finance minister has not been doing his job. These expenses were definitely not a necessity but a luxury at the expense of lottery payers.
The results of this spending led to the resignation of the entire OLG board. The board was temporarily replaced by civil servants whose first order of business was to fire Kelly McDougald the CEO of the OLG. In following the scandal the OLG released 2 years worth of spending by the board. I was surprised to find that this spending consisted of restaurant bills of $3,700, bar tabs of $1,500, $500 gym memberships (including weight watchers), golf memberships, and help for around the house such as nanny services. Now although these costs are fairly high my main concern is how has this been going on for 2 years?! It is clear that the finance minister has not been doing his job. These expenses were definitely not a necessity but a luxury at the expense of lottery payers.
The OLG obviously recognized that these expenses were unacceptable for a government run public agency. The government is now launching an accountability report to further legitimize the OLG. The scandal really exposed the illegitimacy of the whole gambling industry. Some lottery earnings go to charities, hospitals and education so basically the OLG was stealing from charity, if you want to look at it that way. The people who are paying for lottery tickets are the ones getting hurt the most. I myself have bought lottery tickets in the past and if I knew that there was a slight possibility that my money would go towards bar tabs, I would obviously not participate.
The OLG also have been issuing untendered contracts, such contracts were present during the EHealth scandal as well. In light of this new scandal Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak stated that the McGuinty government isn't in control especially with the recent Ehealth scandal. The OLG’s and McGuinty's creditability is at stake as no one wants to get robbed of their money. Tax payers already feel that they are not getting enough for their money. The last thing that I want and tax payers want is for the OLG to be illegitimate.
Gambling is a risk already, and I’m not ready to give my money away. This scandal has brought light to what is really going on in the OLG and hopefully the government can learn from this mistake and can work further to make the creditability of the OLG more legitimate. There should not be more of a gamble to gambling.
The OLG also have been issuing untendered contracts, such contracts were present during the EHealth scandal as well. In light of this new scandal Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak stated that the McGuinty government isn't in control especially with the recent Ehealth scandal. The OLG’s and McGuinty's creditability is at stake as no one wants to get robbed of their money. Tax payers already feel that they are not getting enough for their money. The last thing that I want and tax payers want is for the OLG to be illegitimate.
Gambling is a risk already, and I’m not ready to give my money away. This scandal has brought light to what is really going on in the OLG and hopefully the government can learn from this mistake and can work further to make the creditability of the OLG more legitimate. There should not be more of a gamble to gambling.
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090831/OLG_changes_090831/20090831?hub=Toronto
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Think Before You Post?
By now i'm sure everyone has heard of Facebook or even has Facebook. But how many people are aware of their legitimacy when it comes to their privacy policy. Well Canada's privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart presented her annual report to parliament today. Her words of wisdom towards Facebook users, was to "think twice" before sending any messages or wall posts. In 2008 a report was presented to Parliament on the importance of Youth privacy under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Working from this the commissioners main objective this year was to further protect the rights of youth by looking into Facebook.
She stated that many opportunities can be lost from posting a harmless message to your friends. How? Well first of all it can ruin your future job interview, your current job or even school. Your account can be easily obtained by these institutions through Facebook. I think that personal information should not be viewed by anyone else other than yourself. What Facebook is doing is illegitimate they should not be able to display peoples personal lives for their own benefit. They are exposing vulnerable users to the people who are going to judge them the most. Anything can be used against you a wild night out, a harmless post anything!... I find it morally wrong however I guess thats the risk when your dealing with the internet
She stated that many opportunities can be lost from posting a harmless message to your friends. How? Well first of all it can ruin your future job interview, your current job or even school. Your account can be easily obtained by these institutions through Facebook. I think that personal information should not be viewed by anyone else other than yourself. What Facebook is doing is illegitimate they should not be able to display peoples personal lives for their own benefit. They are exposing vulnerable users to the people who are going to judge them the most. Anything can be used against you a wild night out, a harmless post anything!... I find it morally wrong however I guess thats the risk when your dealing with the internet
Conservative Party Logo
So the new logo of the 2010 Olympic games came out the other day, and its causing some heads to turn. It seems to resemble the Conservative's party logo. Now the Canadian Olympic Committee claims that its just a coincidence and that the Conservative party had nothing to do with it. However others seem to think otherwise such as the Liberal Mp Hedy Fry as he had this to say about the logo,
"Canada's Olympic Games belong to all Canadians. While it is clear that the Conservative government's multimillion-dollar infrastructure campaign is crassly partisan, can the prime minister at least stop trying to politicize the Canadian Winter Olympics?"
I must say I agree with him. After reading the article and comparing the logo I came to the conclusion that its as close as you can get to being the same. Why not? If I was the governing party of Canada I would definitely try to use propaganda of that sort. When you think of it it makes sense, our Olympic team does represent Canada. So what better way to get party recognition/representation then by putting it in the world Olympics . If they can get away with it why not! Even though the Conservatives are a minority government they sure don't want to be recognized as one. Hey you never know maybe they're just really supportive of our Canadian teams!
Anyways I'll let you be the judge
http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=2056136
"Canada's Olympic Games belong to all Canadians. While it is clear that the Conservative government's multimillion-dollar infrastructure campaign is crassly partisan, can the prime minister at least stop trying to politicize the Canadian Winter Olympics?"
I must say I agree with him. After reading the article and comparing the logo I came to the conclusion that its as close as you can get to being the same. Why not? If I was the governing party of Canada I would definitely try to use propaganda of that sort. When you think of it it makes sense, our Olympic team does represent Canada. So what better way to get party recognition/representation then by putting it in the world Olympics . If they can get away with it why not! Even though the Conservatives are a minority government they sure don't want to be recognized as one. Hey you never know maybe they're just really supportive of our Canadian teams!
Anyways I'll let you be the judge
http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=2056136
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