Breaking the chrysotile habit: Track the decline of Canada’s asbestos industry

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Leslie Young, Global News

In last week’s budget, the federal government promised $50-million over seven years to help diversify the economies of two Quebec towns: Thetford Mines and Asbestos.

Both communities historically relied on asbestos mining as the biggest driver of their economies. And with the decline of the asbestos industry, the local economies have suffered.

But how far has the asbestos industry fallen? According to Industry Canada, the value of Canada’s raw asbestos exports has dropped 94 per cent between 1990 and 2011. Exports alone were worth $645-million in 1990 and fell to $41-million in 2011.

The government’s promised $50-million over seven years represents about 8 per cent of what asbestos exports were in 1990.

Track the fall in an interactive graphic here.

One company, two drugs, two takes on pill safety

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Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News

Purdue Pharmaceuticals markets a long-acting, non-tamper resistant opioid in Canada but argues that another long-acting, non-tamper resistant opioid in the U.S. is too dangerous to approve.

In an 80-page submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last July – quoting Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews, among several others – Purdue argued that allowing generic versions of OxyContin on the market without tamper-proofing mechanisms “would have a number of detrimental effects and would be flatly inconsistent with the Agency’s mission to promote and protect the public health.”

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Who you gonna call? For noise complaints in Toronto, probably the police

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Patrick Cain, Global News

The neighbours’ stereo is pounding, midnight has come and gone, you’re mad as hell and you’re not going to take it any more.

Who are you going to call? Mostly, after 6pm or so, Toronto residents pass up the chance to talk to the helpful folks at the 311 line – the municipal one-stop-shop service for a range of issues from potholes to parking – and just call the police, hoping to bring an abrupt and (from one point of view) satisfying end to the party.

Read the full story here.

Caribou in trouble, whales resurgent: A census of B.C. species

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Leslie Young, Global News

The past few decades have been good to British Columbia’s humpback and sperm whales. But the province’s boreal caribou and a tiny, vital smelt species are not doing so well.

The data, released in February 2013 on the province’s Data BC website, ranks vertebrates by their conservation status. Species are assessed on three major factors, according to Eric Lofroth, manager of the B.C. Conservation Data Centre: their population numbers, threats to the organism, and trends in the organism’s population and habitat.

But declining population numbers don’t necessarily mean an animal’s protected: A high-risk ranking might place an animal on the lists of species that require special consideration – meaning flagging them for further investigation, but wouldn’t confer “endangered” status.

Read the full story here.

Childbirth economics: What older moms and teenage pregnancy say about opportunity in Ontario

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Patrick Cain and Carmen Chai, Global News : Wednesday, February 20, 2013 1:57 PM

TORONTO — Jodi Aslin is 41 years old and seven months pregnant.

In Ontario, she’s no longer an anomaly.

Ms. Aslin was in no rush to start a family: She spent her 20s studying social work and teaching English in Korea, and met her husband at 34. A year later, they decided they wanted children.

It took almost five years and more than $20,000 in fertility treatments, but her daughter Jamie is now two years old. Ms. Aslin’s second child is due in April.

“We recognize that we’re in the older crowd, but we’re happy. I feel great.”

Full story and interactive here.

For Ontario students, teachers college losing its lustre

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Patrick Cain and Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News : Wednesday, February 13, 2013 11:09 AM
The number of applicants to Ontario teacher’s colleges has dropped in half since 2007, hitting its lowest point in sixteen years.

Data was published in January by the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre, which serves as a clearinghouse for university applications, indicate that 8,199 people applied to Ontario teacher’s colleges this past January, compared to 16,042 in January 2007.

Full story and interactive here.

Ottawa won’t cover costs of new mentally ill offender law

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Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News : Tuesday, February 12, 2013 1:05 PM

The federal government has no plans to help provinces with costs associated with its new rules on how to deal with mentally ill offenders.

Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled legislation that would crack down on people found not criminally responsible due to mental disorders. It would establish a “high risk” classification for those who have committed serious crimes and shift emphasis to victim impact when determining how long someone should stay in custody.

If courts and review boards take this legislation to heart it could mean more offenders in provincial forensic hospitals for a longer period of time.

Ottawa won’t pay for them.

Full story here.

Crackdown on mentally ill offenders could overwhelm strained system, critics charge

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Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News : Tuesday, February 12, 2013 1:00 PM

Ottawa’s plan to crack down on mentally ill offenders could accomplish the opposite of its intent, critics say – pushing more people with mental illness into a prison system unable to treat them, and putting seriously ill patients in makeshift, less secure accommodation in overflowing forensic hospital wings.

Full story here.