Archive
Autres Nouvelles - Other News
|
25 juillet / July 25
|
L’Auto-Show Aylmer aura lieu du 10 au 12 août 2007
Aylmer Auto Show is coming, August 10th to 12th
|
Gatineau a un programme de pipes à crack qui marche
Julie Murray
Tandis qu’Ottawa mettait fin à son programme de pipes à crack gratuites le 11 juillet, malgré la controverse, à Gatineau, le programme devenait permanent l’an dernier. « Le projet pilote est en place depuis 2005, » dit le porte-parole à l’Agence de santé de l’Outaouais, Martin St-Louis. « Comme nous sommes satisfaits des résultats visant à réduire la transmission de maladies telles que le VIH ou le SIDA, le programme est permanent depuis l’an dernier. Nous sommons toujours en faveur de ce programme. »
« Il est important de prévenir les infections et les maladies, mais la réalité veut que les personnes aux prises avec cette dépendance le soient et le demeurent. Il faut cesser de jouer à l’autruche. Si le programme des pipes de crack était suspendu, la transmission de maladies augmenterait », dit Huguette Perron, porte-parole au Centre d’intervention et de prévention en toxicomanie de l’Outaouias (CIPTO). « Notre but est de prévenir la maladie », dit M. St-Louis. « Les toxicomanes fumant du crack se brûlent souvent les lèvres, ce qui peut entraîner des saignements. Les risques de conta mination sont donc élevés quand les gens partagent une pipe. »
Les pipes occasionnent une interaction avec les travailleurs sociaux
Le programme qui coûte actuellement 4 000$ par année à Gatineau est subventionné par le Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux. Le bureau régional d’Action SIDA, en collaboration avec CIPTO et BRAS, distribue environ 350 pipes de crack par mois, soit 4 000 pipes de crack par année, surtout à la clientèle du centre-ville de Hull. « La distribution de pipes permet aux travailleurs sociaux de rencontrer les toxicomanes et de les éduquer », dit madame Perron, ajoutant que la distribution de pipes a réduit l’usage des seringues. « Nous avons remarqué que l’injection au moyen d’ai guilles a diminué de moitié, tandis que l’usage des pipes a augmenté. Ce sont de bonnes nouvelles puisque le VIH et le SIDA sont plus facilement transmis par des aiguilles. »
Les opposants au programme du côté d’Ottawa soutiennent que la disponibilité de pipes de crack peut mener à une augmentation du nombre de nouveaux utilisateurs. Toutefois, un rapport conjoint préparé par CIPTO et BRAS démontre que seulement 1% des 2 733 pipes de crack distribuées en 2005-2006 l’ont été à de nouveaux utilisateurs. (Trad.: C.B.)
|
|
Opinion:
What is at stake with the proposed “Continental Resource Pact”?
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), or what some refer to as the coming North American Union, has been virtually ignored by the media. The SPP plan will be under discussion by the three North American nations leaders at their August meeting in Montebello, in the Outaouais.
Corporations set gov’t policy
A plan of deep integration of this magnitude, which would affect social policy right down to the regional level, should be a top media concern. Instead, the public remains mostly ignorant of a plan directed by a corporate agenda (the North American Competitiveness Council made up of 30 CEO’s)—a plan that values profits over people.
The SPP’s overriding message is one of resource integration and harmonization of standards. Unfortunately, the new common standard will be the lowest common denominator, the standard that best suits the U.S economy. For example, to facilitate food importation from the U.S, Canada is attempting to raise the amount of allowable pesticides on food in Canada. Harmonization will include many other measures of ‘levelling’ the playing field in this way. The question becomes, who are the recipients of this promised “prosperity” and “security”? How can the SPP promise an increased quality of life for Canada, the U.S, and Mexico, when the citizens of these countries are all passively led by a corporate agenda totally void of public concern? The Council of Canadians, a national citizens’ watchdog group not connected to any political party or corportate lobby, emphasizes that each country should set their own independent policies and regulations, retain sovereignty over their resources and governance, and engage in trade when it is in the best interests of their people.
Hungry for Canada’s water
Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians, told the media that like oil, water is considered part of U.S. visions for a “North American Resource Strategy” that treats Canadian resources as its own. Deep integration is not just on an economic alignment with questionable U.S standards, it includes a resource pact. In a document entitled, “North American Future 2025 Project”, compiled by CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies), the Conference Board of Canada, and the Mexican CIDE as a research project into the future of a North American Union, water is treated as an economic commodity. It states that Canadian fresh water ought to be available for bulk water exports to the U.S in order to ensure a “joint optimum utilization of the available water.” Translation: the U.S is running out of resources and they see a deep integration with Canada as their chance to acquire control of resources valuable to their economy. According to the Council of Canadians, bulk water exportation of the kind proposed in the SPP is a bad idea because:
• water is not a renewable resource, and as such should be protected;
• water is a human right and a necessity: it is wrong to treat it as an economic commodity;
• water can be threatened by trade agreements, that perceive it as an “investment” they can take advantage of (foreign trade);
• water is NOT a profit-bearing commodity; to treat it as such is to ignore the problems presented by urban sprawl and wastage.
In terms of energy integration, Canada is fast becoming the U.S’s main source of oil. The Canadian oil sands will be steadily exploited under the SPP to meet growing U.S demand. We currently export 65% of our oil to the U.S and import 55% for our own needs.
Canada locked into supplying US
NAFTA’s Proportional-sharing clause says that Canada is locked into its initial export trade deal, regardless of future changes in its own domestic needs. This means that bulk water and oil export agreements cannot be modified if Canada, five years down the line, suffers from shortages, which is inevitable in the long run at our current rate of environmental exploitation. The SPP would put Canada in a precarious position concerning its energy security and the use of its resources for the benefit of Canadian citizens. Our emphasis should be on renewable energy sources and the adoption of independent energy and water plans not tied to the U.S economy.
Canadians deserve to be informed about the inner workings of the SPP—as things stand now, these sweeping deep integration strategies led by big business are occurring with absolutely no public consultation or debate. Again, whose prosperity will this plan ensure? Certainly not the public.
For more information on what citizens can do, check the Council of Canadians website at www.canadians.org and for information from the SPP itself, visit www.spp-psp.gc.ca
Erika Steeves
Aylmer
|
