I am looking forward to meeting and mentoring with the InterVivos crowd June 8 at their "Business Plan Your Lunch" event in Edmonton. Joining me in this event is Ruth Kelly, the President and CEO of Venture Publishing and Cory Janssen, the co-founder of www.investopedia.com.
Check it out and come out and join us. It will be fun and practical too.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Stelmach Hands out the Pork - to Brian Mason
This is the kind of "stimulating" post partisanship we need in a modern democracy. Here is Premier Stelmach on the Legislature Grounds today "dishing out the pork" for a goods cause and to none other than the Leader of the NDP, Mr. Brian Mason. Eat pork Alberta...just like Ed and Brian.
CBC Radio Show Now on Bill 44 on You Tube
Yesterday I was on CBC Radio Wildrose programme about Bill 44. We were talking about the new Human Rights Act for Alberta. It was a great conversation with Albertans especially on the issues of expanded and extended parental rights to exempt children from classroom discussion about religion, sexuality and sexual orientation. I was amazed and reassured by the level of awareness and breadth of concern express of the callers to the show.
If you missed it we put the program up on the Cambridge Strategies Channel on You Tube. It is in three parts and feel free to comment on this blog on the You Tube Channel.
If you have more time, check out the Dr. Bill Gunter interview on carbon too. He is an expert from the Alberta Research Council.
If you missed it we put the program up on the Cambridge Strategies Channel on You Tube. It is in three parts and feel free to comment on this blog on the You Tube Channel.
If you have more time, check out the Dr. Bill Gunter interview on carbon too. He is an expert from the Alberta Research Council.
Top Ten Countries for Internet Speed.
Here are the Top Ten countries for Internet speed:
1. South Korea; 2. Japan; 3. Hong Kong; 4. Romania 5. Sweden 6. Switzerland 7. Holland 8. Belgium 9. Slovakia 10. Norway.
Why isn't Canada on this list? Why isn't Canada even more wired into small towns and rural areas?
What is more, where is Alberta on this Top Ten list of Internet Speed? We have the SuperNet but is has not lived up to its potential for speed or distribution to Albertans.
It is time to get serious about realizing the potential of the Alberta SuperNet. It is a 21st century infrastructure but stuck in a mid-20th century political mindset. We need SuperNet access for every Albertan and the "last mile" to rural communities must be solved too. We can do all this without anymore delay or capital costs.
The key to making that happen is the good old fashioned telephone lines that exist all over Alberta now. What that takes is Telus seeing the business case to provide this infrastructure. Telus has not been inclined to provide access to their copper wire so now the matter is before the CRTC and a decision is expected soon.
If the CRTC directs Telus to provide Albertans access to the copper wire phone lines then Alberta citizens, organizations and businesses can get fibre-quality connectivity to the SuperNet. That is a game changer and can put Alberta on the Top Ten list of high speed Internet access.
Stay tuned to this blog for more developments.
1. South Korea; 2. Japan; 3. Hong Kong; 4. Romania 5. Sweden 6. Switzerland 7. Holland 8. Belgium 9. Slovakia 10. Norway.
Why isn't Canada on this list? Why isn't Canada even more wired into small towns and rural areas?
What is more, where is Alberta on this Top Ten list of Internet Speed? We have the SuperNet but is has not lived up to its potential for speed or distribution to Albertans.
It is time to get serious about realizing the potential of the Alberta SuperNet. It is a 21st century infrastructure but stuck in a mid-20th century political mindset. We need SuperNet access for every Albertan and the "last mile" to rural communities must be solved too. We can do all this without anymore delay or capital costs.
The key to making that happen is the good old fashioned telephone lines that exist all over Alberta now. What that takes is Telus seeing the business case to provide this infrastructure. Telus has not been inclined to provide access to their copper wire so now the matter is before the CRTC and a decision is expected soon.
If the CRTC directs Telus to provide Albertans access to the copper wire phone lines then Alberta citizens, organizations and businesses can get fibre-quality connectivity to the SuperNet. That is a game changer and can put Alberta on the Top Ten list of high speed Internet access.
Stay tuned to this blog for more developments.
Monday, May 11, 2009
GOA Goes After Big Tobacco to Recover Health Care Costs.
The Alberta government through the Minister of Health and Wellness just introduced Bill 48 today, Crown’s Right of Recovery Act. It is a great move and aimed at enabling the province to recover health costs incurred in a number of situations. They include car accidents but the law will use a wrongdoer’s insurance to recover health costs. That could get complicated in how to calculate the health costs associated.
The essence of the Bill is in section 2(1) that says in effect if someone receives health services for personal injuries due to wrongful acts or omission of a wrongdoer, the province then has the right to recover the health care costs, both current and future costs, from the wrongdoer. If someone, who is a victim receiving care due and contributory negligent, the wrongdoer is off the hook for that portion of the health care costs the victim is responsible for.
Bill 48 deals with convicted criminals who are hurt in committing a crime. They will be paying their health care costs. And it also goes after the tobacco industry to recover the health costs associated with the damage done by their products. The tobacco sections are very complex and I will need more time to study and digest what they mean and if second hand smoke is involved too. Overall - Wow! As a citizen and taxpayer, on first blush, I'm loving this Bill.
The province makes a direct claim for recovery of health care costs against tobacco companies so the patient is not involved in any messy litigation. The province looks like it is actually pursuing the tobacco companies on an aggregated basis to recover all health costs caused by and associated with tobacco produces. With tobacco, it looks like it is not dealt with on case by case approach but in the aggregate. That is smart.
Lots of detail to consider here but this is a great step in the right direction. It was impossible to get the Klein government to accept a ban on smoking in public and work places. There were numerous tries and all were rebuffed by Ralph Klein. That smoking ban was finally accomplished by Dave Hancock when he was Minister of Health and Wellness in the first Stelmach government.
His good work is being carried on by the current Minister, Ron Liepert. Full disclosure, I worked with a consortium of health professionals and advocacy groups to get the smoking ban in Alberta last year. There are lots on blog post in the archives if you want to know more about that initiative.
Bill 44 sucks but Bill 48 makes great sense.
The essence of the Bill is in section 2(1) that says in effect if someone receives health services for personal injuries due to wrongful acts or omission of a wrongdoer, the province then has the right to recover the health care costs, both current and future costs, from the wrongdoer. If someone, who is a victim receiving care due and contributory negligent, the wrongdoer is off the hook for that portion of the health care costs the victim is responsible for.
Bill 48 deals with convicted criminals who are hurt in committing a crime. They will be paying their health care costs. And it also goes after the tobacco industry to recover the health costs associated with the damage done by their products. The tobacco sections are very complex and I will need more time to study and digest what they mean and if second hand smoke is involved too. Overall - Wow! As a citizen and taxpayer, on first blush, I'm loving this Bill.
The province makes a direct claim for recovery of health care costs against tobacco companies so the patient is not involved in any messy litigation. The province looks like it is actually pursuing the tobacco companies on an aggregated basis to recover all health costs caused by and associated with tobacco produces. With tobacco, it looks like it is not dealt with on case by case approach but in the aggregate. That is smart.
Lots of detail to consider here but this is a great step in the right direction. It was impossible to get the Klein government to accept a ban on smoking in public and work places. There were numerous tries and all were rebuffed by Ralph Klein. That smoking ban was finally accomplished by Dave Hancock when he was Minister of Health and Wellness in the first Stelmach government.
His good work is being carried on by the current Minister, Ron Liepert. Full disclosure, I worked with a consortium of health professionals and advocacy groups to get the smoking ban in Alberta last year. There are lots on blog post in the archives if you want to know more about that initiative.
Bill 44 sucks but Bill 48 makes great sense.
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