| New heritage rivers
The Clearwater and Christian Rivers in northeastern Alberta have been designated heritage rivers under the Canadian Heritage Rivers System.
The system is a national river conservation program to protect and manage rivers that are deemed to have outstanding natural, cultural and recreational features.
The remote Clearwater and Christina Rivers have waterfalls, foaming rapids, sand bars and mineral springs.
User-pay health
Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft is criticizing Health Minister Gary Mar for comments he made at the Health Policy Summit in Toronto earlier this week.
"A new perspective on who pays how much for what can open doors to shorter waiting lists and more options," Gary Mar said in his speech.
After his speech Mar was reported to have told journalists that the amount Canadians pay for health care should be dependent on how much income they make and how much they use the system.
"Making people pay for health care in proportion to their usage is in fact, a tax on the sick," says Taft. "People fighting cancer or suffering a heart attack now potentially face another blow from the Tories: the financial blow of health care bills."
Taft says that would be a "betrayal" of the Canada Health Act and would go against Canadian values of fairness and compassion.
Education funding
The Calgary Faculty and Student Alliance released a report earlier this week calling for more government investment in post secondary education.
The report emphasizes the importance of "accessible, affordable and high-quality" higher learning institutions.
The association represents over 50,000 students and faculty at Calgary’s public post-secondary education institutions.
Association chair Anton Colijn says Calgary has led the country in economic growth largely because of its educated labour pool.
"Both the number of PSE (post-secondary education) seats and the cost of those seats are hampering Calgary’s ability to remain one of the most highly educated and innovative cities in the nation," he says.
Vice-chair Jennifer Wietzel points out that Calgary has about 7,000 fewer post-secondary institution spaces than Edmonton.
"The government treats the dollars allocated to PSE as a cost to be minimized rather than an investment," says Wietzel. "This approach runs the risk of creating an Alberta disadvantage in the new knowledge economy." |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.