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CitizenX: Arts & Culture

I have to put a disclaimer on top of this post, because I’m a writer and my partner Diana Durrand is an artist. So, if what follows seems slanted, all I have to say is: It’s about bloody time somebody slanted things in favour of Canada’s artists, who have been, for a long time, at the wrong end of a very long table, where everyone else gets served first… CS

Citizen X is Mid-Island Focus’s survey of issues heading into the Oct. 21 Canadian Federal Election. MiF is providing background  and asking questions a typical voter might ask.

Painters, musicians, dancers, writers, actors – all those captured under the term ‘artists’ in its broadest sense – have much to be grateful for. The federal government’s contribution to the Canada Council for the Arts has been increasing incrementally, with the goal of growing the CC’s ‘investments in the arts’ to $310 million annually as part of its five-year strategic plan – that’s a doubling of funding for artists and arts organizations by 2021.

As part of that plan, the Canada Council has ‘drastically’ simplified programs and lightened ‘administrative processes’ so it will be able to channel ’88% of the federal government’s $550 million over five years directly into the arts sector.’

A bit of redistribution is taking place, too. New recipients will be eligible for 25% of the funding, indigenous peoples’ art funding will be tripled, and $88.5 million will be channeled into initiatives to ‘increase the quality, range and sharing of art through digital’ means.

A lot of thought has gone into realigning priorities at Canada’s go-to national funding organization for Arts & Culture with the creative challenges and opportunities of the times. So would the arts community be pulling an Oliver Twist by begging “Please Sir, I want some more?”

Let’s look at the picture from a different perspective:

  • $310 million is less than one tenth of one percent of the $355.6 billion 2019 federal budget;
  • In an era of rapid technological and social change, it is increasingly difficult for individual artists to innovate and make a living;
  • The world needs creative visions and challenging portrayals from outside the mainstream now more than ever.

So, on the one hand, it can be argued that significant increases in arts funding have been put on the table; on the other, a case can be made for continued and increased investments, if we want to sustain a vibrant, stimulating arts sector.

Another area where the federal government could make a significant difference is amendments to the Canadian Copyright Act, which is currently under review. This is an incredibly complex and contentious process, but one thing is clear: artists – particularly literary and visual artists – do not feel well-served by the current Act.

One idea that has been proposed is secondary royalties for artists on resale of copyrighted works. Books, for instance, are resold much faster these days than was ever the case a quarter century ago. Online resellers like Amazon are flogging used copies of recent releases before the appies have been digested at the official book launch.

Writers do not receive royalties on those resales, but the of new books is almost certainly dampened when used copies flood the online shelves before the bloom is off.

Painters and other visual artists often have to sell their works at less than subsistence rates when they are unknown, only to see the same works sell at inflated values after the artists have achieved recognition. A secondary royalty on resale would ameliorate that situation.

Nothing’s ever simple when it comes to the arts economy in general, copyright in particular, but…

CitizenX would like to know:

  • Would your party likely reduce, maintain or seek to improve Arts & Cultural funding during its mandate? How?
  • Do you and your party believe mechanisms have to be considered to ensure artists are fairly compensated for their work?
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Citizen X: Health Care

Citizen X is Mid-Island Focus’s survey of issues heading into the Oct. 21 Canadian Federal Election. MiF is providing background  and asking questions a typical voter might ask.

If we want to judge the efficacy of Canada’s Medicare system, a comparison of a few fairly recent indicators from above and below the 49th parallel gives pause for thought. Here’s some relevant stats from a Healthcare in Canada article in Wikipedia:

In 2015, life expectancy in Canada was 82.2 years, in the US 79.3; under five mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 4.9 vs 6.5 (2016); maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births, 7.3 vs 26.4 (2015); physicians per 1,000 people, the same at 2.6 (2013); nurses per 1,000 people 9,5 vs 11.1 (2013); per capita expenditure on health, $4,735 vs $9,892 (2016); healthcare costs as a percentage of GDP, 10.1% vs 17.2% (2016); percentage of government revenue spent on health, 18.1% vs 21.3 (2014)%; percentage of health costs paid by government, 70.3% vs 49.1% (2016).

Canadians strongly prefer their health care system to what is offered in the United States, but polls also show we are not satisfied with the level of service being offered.

A 2016 study by the U.S. based Commonwealth Fund (also cited on Wikipedia) found that Canada’s wait times for all categories of services rank either at the bottom or second to the bottom out of the group of eleven surveyed countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States).

Canada’s wait time on emergency services is the longest among the eleven nations, with 29% of Canadians reporting that they waited for more than four hours the last time they went to an emergency department. Canada also has the longest wait time for specialist appointments, with 56% of all Canadians waiting for over four weeks.

Canada ranks last on all but one of the other wait time categories, including same or next-day appointments, same-day answers from doctors, and elective surgeries. Canada ranked second to last for access to after-hour care. The study noted that Canada’s wait time improvements have been negligible over the last decade, despite government investments .

Another gripe about the cost of medical care in Canada is the largely unsupported cost of prescription drugs. The final report of the advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare, titled, A Prescription for Canada: Achieving Pharmacare for all says:

“Canadians spent $34 billion on prescription medicines in 2018. Drugs are the second biggest expenditure in health care, after hospitals. We spend even more on drugs than on doctors. On a per capita basis, only the United States and Switzerland pay more for prescription drugs.

“Yet for all that spending, there are huge gaps in coverage. One in five Canadians struggle to pay for their prescription medicines. Three million don’t fill their prescriptions because they can’t afford to. One million Canadians cut spending on food and heat to be able to afford their medicine. Many take out loans, even mortgage their homes. Sadly, far too many Canadians die prematurely or endure terrible suffering, illness or poor quality of life because modern medicines are out of reach for them.”

The report notes that Canada is the only county in the world with a universal health care plan that does not also provide universal coverage for prescription drugs. That renders the health care system in Canada ‘critically flawed’ says the advisory council report.

It recommends Ottawa work with provincial and territorial governments and stakeholders – who deliver health care – to establish universal, single-payer, public pharmacare in Canada that is:

  • Universal: all residents of Canada should have equal access to a national pharmacare system;
  • Comprehensive: pharmacare should provide a broad range of safe, effective, evidence-based treatments;
  • Accessible: access to prescription drugs should be based on medical need, not ability to pay;
  • Portable: pharmacare benefits should be portable across provinces and territories when people travel or move; and
  • Public: a national pharmacare system should be both publicly funded and administered.

Citizen X would like to know:

  • Do you think the federal government, through the Canada Health Act, is doing enough to make health care affordable and accessible to all Canadians?
  • If your party forms government, what measures would be taken to improve health care for Canadians?
  • Do you and your party support recommendations contained in the final report of the advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare?

 

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What we’ve asked the candidates

Below is a listing of all questions CitizenX has asked of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford candidates in the Oct. 21 Canadian federal election so far. The questions are grouped under links to the original background posting.

The Q&A tally to date: 12 questions asked / 0 answered

Foreign Affairs Questions posted August 13 – No responses

  • What are the main foreign affairs issues are heading into 2020?
  • How Canada should position itself in the global context?
  • How Canada should respond to immediate challenges?

Poverty & Homelessness Questions posted August 22 – No responses

  • What would your party’s strategy be with regard to homelessness and poverty, if you formed government?
  • Do you believe the widening income gap is contributing to poverty and homelessness in Canada?
  • If so, what measures would you take to restore healthy income balance?

First Nations & Reconciliation Questions posted August 23 – No responses

  • What efforts will your party, and you personally, be making in response to the 94 calls to action contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 report?

Health Care Questions posted August 25 – No responses

  • Do you think the federal government, through the Canada Health Act, is doing enough to make health care affordable and accessible to all Canadians?
  • If your party forms government, what measures would be taken to improve health care for Canadians?
  • Do you and your party support recommendations contained in the final report of the advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare?

Arts & Culture Questions posted August 29 – No responses

  • Would your party likely reduce, maintain or seek to improve Arts & Cultural funding during its mandate? How?
  • Do you and your party believe mechanisms have to be considered to ensure artists are fairly compensated for their work?
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CitizenX: First Nations & Reconciliation

Citizen X is Mid-Island Focus’s survey of issues heading into the Oct. 21 Canadian Federal Election. MiF is providing background  and asking questions a typical voter might ask.

As long as reconciliation is just something we read about in the news or watch on TV – and we’ve been doing that way too long – we are not going to achieve the goals set out in the 94 calls to action contained in the Dec. 15, 2015 Truth And Reconciliation Commission report.

Reconciliation is a national priority which, more than any other, has to be taken personally, because if we don’t personally commit to addressing the consequences of a genocide that occurred within living memory, and the ongoing effects of continuing colonialism, we have to accept the blame that is our national heritage.

Are those harsh words? Not nearly so harsh as the reality lived by hundreds of thousands of First Nations people in Canada, be it on their traditional lands, or in the cities that have been built on their traditional lands.

Most of us would agree now that European ‘discovery’ and settlement of North America wasn’t the expansion of a progressive civilization into unoccupied, unproductive lands; it was an invasion of territories that had been inhabited and adroitly lived on by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. In BC the onslaught commenced in earnest less than 200 years ago – that’s in the space of three lifetimes.

We have to know where, on the spectrum, our political representatives stand when it comes to truth and reconciliation. Do they believe we, as a nation, have an obligation to assist First Nations rebuilding their communities and economies in the 21st Century, based on the strengths of evolving and adapting indigenous cultures?

Do our political representatives agree that: the appropriation of First Nations lands; the sequestering of hunting and gathering peoples onto reserves; the decimation of First Nations populations by European diseases; the denial of First Nations citizens of their democratic rights; the outlawing of First Nations cultural practices; the attempted genocide of the residential schools system… and so on, confer an obligation on the nation?

Again, most would go at least that far. But reconciliation isn’t only about deal-making. That’s just a start. It’s about healing, too. And that’s where things get personal. Friendship isn’t something proclaimed in an official document; it’s a feeling of mutual respect, curiosity, trust and concern shared face to face. Until we can look one another in the eye, and see relationships that go way beyond anything you could put into a contract, reconciliation will not be fully achieved.

So:

  • What efforts will your party, and you personally, be making in response to the 94 calls to action contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 report?
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Citizen X: Poverty & Homelessness

Citizen X is Mid-Island Focus’s survey of issues heading into the Oct. 21 Canadian Federal Election. MiF is providing background  and asking questions a typical voter might ask.

Homelessness and poverty are issues that gnaw away at the public conscience. So I have to ask: Are there countries that take necessary steps to ensure no-one is forced to live on the streets, and families have enough to feed, clothe and educate their children?

A quick check reveals that Canada might be doing better than most – including the world’s affluent nations – when it comes to preventing homelessness. According to a 2015 Habitat for Humanity listing, Canada had a homeless ratio of .09% in 2013. The United States was higher on the spectrum, with a ratio of .17% in 2017. Even countries we tend to think of as socially progressive, like Sweden and Denmark had more homelessness per capita than Canada in the Habitat survey.

Is better good enough, though? According to the Homelessness Hub, a 2016 State of Homelessness in Canada report estimated that 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness in a given year – and that figure might be lowball, because many ‘unhoused’ people couch surf, and don’t show up in the official count.

Be sure to check out the Myths & Questions about homelessness link to get a quick grasp of who the homeless are. In short they are not a bunch of shiftless, lazy, drug addicted misfits; they are simply people without a secure place to live.

Poverty was a reality for one in seven Canadians, that’s 4.9 million people according to Canada Without Poverty. But to understand who’s affected, you have to break down that raw statistic:

  • 1.3 million children live in poverty, that’s one in five;
  • People with mental or physical disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty;
  • 21% of single mothers raise their children in poverty;
  • Indigenous people – 4.9% of the population – represent 29 to 34% of shelter users in Canada; 40% of indigenous children in Canada live in poverty
  • About 20% of ‘racialized families’ live in poverty, compared to a national ratio of 1 in 20.

It seems obvious to say that income distribution is a key factor when it comes to homelessness and poverty. What needs to be highlighted, however, is that overall wealth is increasing in Canada; but the rich are getting vastly richer while the poor are getting desperately poorer.

In 2012, according to a video produced by the Broadbent Institute, the richest 20% of Canadians owned nearly 70% of the nation’s wealth; wealth of the poorest 20% ‘barely registers’ on the Institute’s chart, at less than 1%; the bottom 50% of Canadians owned less than 6% of the country’s wealth.

“Canada is now a place where the richest 86 families own more than the bottom 11 million people combined,” concludes the video.

So with that information in front of us, Citizen X would like to know:

  • What would your party’s strategy be with regard to homelessness and poverty, if you formed government?
  • Do you believe the widening income gap is contributing to poverty and homelessness in Canada?
  • If so, what measures would you take to restore healthy income balance?

 

 

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Citizen X: The world seems to be an increasingly dangerous place

Citizen X is Mid-Island Focus’s survey of issues heading into the Oct. 21 Canadian Federal Election. MiF is providing background  and asking questions a typical voter might ask

Cancellation of the Nuclear Proliferation treaty; Russian probings of North American air-space; Canadians arrested in China as retaliation for Canada abiding by the terms of an extradition treaty with the USA; North Korea’s continued belligerence and development of nuclear capabilities; an intensifying trade war between the US and China; Russian interference in the 2016 US election…

It seems global tensions are ratcheting up, and Canada is caught between the muscling and jousting of superpowers. Are we a proxy in a much bigger game? If so, what is the best strategy for Canada in the coming three to five years and longer?

Should we double-down on our alliance with the US – by doing things like updating NORAD ( North American Aerospace Defence Command) and beefing up our military? Are we prepared for the punitive retribution if Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is extradited to the US? Will Canada join other members of the ‘Five-Eyes’ alliance, and ban Huawei from participating in development of this country’s 5G network? What kind of leverage would a path of closer ties to the United States give President Donald Trump?

Citizen X would like to know:

  • What are the main foreign affairs issues are heading into 2020?
  • How Canada should position itself in the global context?
  • How Canada should respond to immediate challenges?

What do you think? Are these the right questions?

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Who is Citizen X

In a word, You.

Mid-Island Focus is launching its ongoing coverage for the Oct. 21 federal election. The objective is to capture the important questions people want answered, and get them to the politicians before it’s time to mark our ballots.

The list may change, but here’s some questions we’d like candidates in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding to respond to in the coming weeks:

As these questions are formulated and posted, you will see a tick appear next to the items in the bulleted list, along with a link to the original explanatory posting. A running list of all questions will also be maintained for quick reference.

As candidates respond, their party affiliation will be noted next to the topic area, along with a link to their responses. The idea is to add to a running tally of candidates’ and parties’ views on matters that concern you.

If you want to be notified as information about the 2019 Federal Election becomes available, check out the ways you can Connect with MiF. If you feel something needs to be added to the list, or coverage could be improved in any way, let MiF know…

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Election 2019, T-Minus 82 days and counting!

 

So, who wants to think ‘federal election’, when summer’s just warming up – it’s the season for barbecues and suntan lotion, not hobgoblins and ghosts, isn’t it?

Well, we all should be looking hard and asking questions of the candidates who are running for office Oct. 21. Thanks to a broken promise after our last trek to the polls, we’re still focused too much on parties and party leaders, instead of real issues and opportunities. But flawed or not, our democratic process is the best option we’ve got for making a difference.

Word has it amongst the experts in such things, that it’s going to be a real down and dirty campaign, with tons of mud (to use the polite term) flung around to obscure anything resembling intelligent dialogue and debate. As is becoming increasingly usual, the objective will be to smear your opponent, rather than expose yourself to ridicule with a clearly defined and articulated platform.

Love him or hate him, there aren’t too many politicians out there who haven’t been paying close attention to what’s going on south of the border, orchestrated by the maestro of the outrageous and the controversial (to make a very short list of his virtues) Donald Trump. The populist surge is still in full-freshet, and we can be certain there will be politicians north of the 49th, who will be pulling pages out of the ‘Great Again’ manual.

There’s only so much local media can do to change the tenor and tone of a federal election; but it’s important that we do what we can to raise the profile of Mid-Island candidates, and the implications of their parties’ positions on the issues of the day. Look for increasing coverage in MiF over the coming weeks, and participate by commenting on the stories and suggesting ways MiF coverage can be improved.

Every election is important, but it’s not an overstatement to tag this as the most important a majority of Canadians have faced in their lifetimes. Eighty-two days is not a lot of time to get informed, let’s use it wisely so we’ll know who we’re voting for and why when we go to the polls Oct. 21.

Craig Spence, Editor

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Looking up to young voters

We’ve got an election coming on in three months time, and like every other election, it’s the most important in our history… only this time I really mean it.

The people we put in power will likely be governing for the next three to five years. That’s a quarter to third the time the International Panel on Climate Change and a long list of organizations, scientists and environmentalists have allowed for the world in general, developed economies in particular, to get their acts together and treat climate change as the crisis it’s become.

There will be lots of issues to think about as October 21 approaches, but I ask you to give the parties’ leadership on climate change the most weight when you mark your ballot, and to spend time between now and then getting up to speed on the complex issues involved.

As a certified senior, I fear for the futures of my children and grandchildren – global warming is an unacceptable threat. But I won’t be around to experience the worst catastrophes that will result, if we continue in the profligate lifestyles my generation has brought into vogue. If you’re a young voter, you will be.

It’s your future we’re talking about here. So by all means, blame my cohort for the place we’re at; but take full responsibility for the direction we’re going to take as the second quarter of the 21st Century approaches, before it’s too later that it already is.

MiF will be doing federal election coverage from a Mid-Island perspective between now and Oct. 21. If you have suggestions about what we should cover, or questions you would like candidates to respond to, please get in touch…