News Articles, Post X

(All pictures have been removed from the articles because they take up so much memory in each post. To see the pictures use the web address and visit the sites of the newspapers.)

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/world/critics+furious+carves+lion+pulls+intestines+front+children/11440568/story.html

Critics furious as zoo carves up lion, pulls its intestines out in front of children

KERSTIN SOPKE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 10.14.2015

The dissection of a dead male lion at the Odense zoo in Denmark.

Denmark Lion

This year the zoo has killed three of its lions, saying they had failed to find new homes for them despite numerous attempts.

Lotte Tang Berg, left, and Rasmus Kolind at work Thursday.

"The reason we are dissecting it is that we believe there is a lot of education involved in dissecting a lion," Michael Wallberg Sorensen, a zookeeper at the Odense Zoo in central Denmark, told AFP before.

Children react during the operation Thursday.

Children reacts to the dissection of the male lion in Odense Thursday.

ODENSE, Denmark — A Danish zoo publicly dissected a year-old male lion Thursday, pulling out its blood-red organs to show a few hundred people including children — an event met outside of Denmark with criticism and online protests.

Adult spectators brought scarfs to their noses to ward off the pungent smell as they watched the dissection, considered by many in this Scandinavian country of 5.6 million to be an educational program. The event was deliberately scheduled to take place during the annual fall school holidays.

A Brussels-based animal protection group, however, sharply criticized Odense Zoo, 170 kilometres west of Copenhagen, for killing three healthy young lions this year.

Joanna Swabe, head of the Humane Society International/Europe, said in a statement that “zoos routinely over-breed and kill lions and thousands of other animals deemed surplus to requirements.”

She said zoos have “an ethical responsibility” and can use contraceptive options “to manage reproduction, prevent inbreeding (and) maintain genetically healthy populations.”

One of central Denmark’s most popular tourist attractions, Odense Zoo has done public dissections for 20 years. On Thursday, scores of children stood around a table where the zoo had displayed a stuffed lion cub next to the lion being dissected.

Odense Zoo employee Lotte Tranberg said the male lion and its two siblings were killed in February because they were getting sexually mature and could have started mating with each other and the zoo wanted to avoid inbreeding. They also could have killed each other because they would have been kept in the same enclosure, she said.

Tranberg talked about the lives of big cats before cutting up the stiff carcass of the lion, which had white tuffs of fur on its legs and stomach. She also held up the lion’s blood-red organs to show the crowd. Children raised their hands to ask questions during the operation, which she answered.

Ole Hanson, a 54-year-old military officer, carried his 5-year-old grandson Frej on his shoulders so he could watch the dissection as it started.

“But he wanted to get down and have a closer look. So he ended up front, right before the lion,” Hanson said.

“For all the kids living in towns, it’s wonderful for them to see and it’s only natural,” said Gitte Johanson, 28, another visitor who grew up on a farm.

The zoo said it decided to dissect a male lion this time because it was bigger than its female sibling.

Zoo officials say the lions were killed after they had failed to find new homes for the animals despite numerous attempts. The remains of the two other siblings — another male and a female — are still in a zoo freezer, and officials have not decided what to do with them, said Jens Odgaard Olsson, manager of the zoo.

On Facebook, a few dozen people on Thursday accused the zoo and Denmark of having a lack of compassion. But on the zoo’s Facebook page, ordinary Danes defended the dissection, asking English-speaking commentators whether they ever had been to a slaughterhouse.

“Life isn’t the Disney Channel. Get over it …” Mikael Soenderskov, one of the Danes defending the dissection, wrote.

Public dissections are common in Denmark. The Funen Village, an open-air museum in Odense, slaughtered and dissected a pig Wednesday before children while explaining which parts of the animal are eaten.

Odense Zoo itself was elected “Best in Europe” in the category of zoos with up to 500,000 visitors per year in 2013 and 2015.

In February 2014, however, Copenhagen Zoo faced international protests after a giraffe was killed, dissected and fed to lions in front of children. 

http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/quebec-teachers-optimistic-about-negotiations-once-irritants-purged

Quebec teachers sound optimistic note about labour talks

CAROLINE PLANTE, MONTREAL GAZETTE

Published on: October 15, 2015 | Last Updated: October 15, 2015 7:46 PM EDT

French-language public school teachers demonstrate in Montreal, Wednesday, September 30, 2015, where they protested against government austerity cuts.

French-language public school teachers demonstrate in Montreal, Wednesday, September 30, 2015, where they protested against government austerity cuts. GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Quebec — They may not be ready to claim victory just yet, but teachers in the province say they have gotten rid of several “irritants” during negotiations with the government on a new collective agreement.

Richard Goldfinch, president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT), told the Montreal Gazette on Thursday that the tone at the bargaining table has changed. “What we did this last week was we came back with our global proposal and they accepted it quite well. They looked at it and went ‘wow’ there’s some really interesting stuff here. And there was some excitement at that point,” he said.

According to Goldfinch, the Couillard government has abandoned the idea of increasing teachers’ workweek from 32 to 35 hours in the collective agreement, and will not increase the student-teacher ratio in elementary schools. The province also allegedly agreed to maintain allocated funds and hundreds of resource-teacher jobs to help children with special needs.

Treasury Board President Martin Coiteux did not confirm the information, but his press attaché, Marie-Ève Pelletier, said discussions around the negotiating table are indeed constructive. “We wish for a positive outcome, to reach a negotiated agreement which respects taxpayers’ capacity to pay and which does not lead to an increase in taxes or compromise achieving a balanced budget in 2015-16,” she said.

QPAT, which represents 8,000 teachers in the province’s English schools, is partners with the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE) representing 65,000 teachers. Another 30,000 teachers are represented by the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement. All of these unions have rotating strike mandates, which they threaten to use toward the end of October.

Teachers from at least 10 schools in the Quebec City area have also cancelled Halloween celebrations as part of their pressure tactics, the media learned on Thursday.

“We have this large strike mandate, we also have parents supporting us because parents want to see a reinvestment in the school system. We’re out there constantly … and I think what happened is the government woke up and went, ‘Oh, we need to do something here, we need to make ourselves look a little better right now’,” Goldfinch said, adding the larger question of salaries and pensions still needs to be addressed.

Teachers, together with all public sector workers, are asking for a 13.5 per cent raise over three years, while the government has offered a two per cent salary increase over five years.

“You need to show teachers that they’re respected and this is attached to salary,” argued Goldfinch. “Younger teachers, new teachers coming into the system could progress along the salary scale a little faster so you can attract good teachers to the system and retain them. That’s still up for grabs.”

“It’s a roller-coaster ride,” he said.

cplante@montrealgazette.com

twitter.com/cplantegazette

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/seclusion-rooms-1.3264834?cmp=rss&cid=news-digests-canada-and-world-evening

Seclusion rooms in schools do more harm than good, experts say

Group urges B.C. government to ban controversial practice

By Jennifer Clibbon, CBC News Posted: Oct 12, 2015 8:00 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 12, 2015 8:53 AM ET

The use of so-called "seclusion rooms" in schools seems like a throwback to another era. But they were in the news this week amid a report by CTV about a child in B.C. with Down Syndrome who, it was revealed, was regularly locked in a room when he was judged to be disruptive.

Many Canadians may be unaware that seclusion rooms are, according to experts in special education, used by school boards across the country as a place to send kids with special needs for "time-outs."

Should 'isolation rooms' be banned in B.C. schools?

School seclusion rooms concern Autism Society

Autistic boy kept in 'isolation rooms' at Peel schools, lawsuit alleges

The non-profit advocacy group Inclusion BC was the first to publish data about this practice in its 2013 report Stop Hurting Kids: Restraint and Seclusion in BC Schools.

'One of my colleagues was in tears.'

— Sheila Bennett

But the organization said last week the provincial government has done almost no followup since the report came out, and that seclusion rooms should be banned.

CBC News asked three Canadian experts in special education about the use of seclusion rooms and the argument against them.

Pat Mirenda is an expert in special education at the University of British Columbia, Sheila Bennett is a professor in teacher education at Brock University, and Jacqueline Specht is director of the Canadian Research Centre on Inclusive Education at Western University.

Just what exactly is a seclusion room?

Mirenda: A room or space in which a child is involuntarily confined and from which he or she is physically prevented from exiting, usually because the door or exit is locked or blocked in some manner.

Bennett: Sometimes called "isolation rooms" or "calming rooms" — at their most extreme they are locked rooms with padded walls and oftentimes can be an available nurse's room, empty office or another available space.

Seclusion room at New Westminster Secondary School

According to Inclusion BC's 2013 report, this photo shows a seclusion room at New Westminster Secondary School. (Inclusion BC)

What's your own reaction to the fact that they exist in Canada?

Specht: I was saddened when I first read the report [by Inclusion BC] in 2013 … In a bygone era perhaps we did not know better. We know better now and our institutions of learning should not participate in activities that we know are physically and psychologically harmful.

Bennett: The existence of rooms like this pose a particularly disturbing problem for teachers. If you are in a school where one is built there is an unconscious or conscious support for its use. As educators the notion that dollars would be spent on such a thing must suggest to us that we should use it and that it must be of benefit to students. That is the real danger of these rooms.

How prevalent is their use across Canada?

bennett

Sheila Bennett is a professor in teacher education at Brock University. (Brock University)

Mirenda: We don't know, as data collection and reporting requirements about its use are school-district specific in Canada.

But in July 2015, a report entitled How Safe is the Schoolhouse? found that seclusion was used at least 110,000 times in one school year in the United States, based on data collection is the states where this is a requirement. So, this is a common practice in most school districts, it would seem.

Bennett: In Canada the use of seclusion rooms would be specific to jurisdictions and individual school boards. Indeed schools themselves would vary in terms of school practices and usage. In Ontario, school boards that have isolation rooms are required to have plans in place for their use.

Describe one you have encountered.

Bennett: I have seen more than one example. In the EU on an inclusive education research trip I saw a small house as part of a residential school for students with special needs with one boy who spent his days and nights alone there with centre staff. In Ontario, in the middle of a high school I also saw an isolation room. One of my colleagues was in tears just seeing that they still existed.

Mirenda: It was a small room, maybe five feet by six feet, with a padded mat on the floor and padded walls, and a locked door with a small Plexiglas window for observation. It was in a high school in B.C. in 2012, and was used specifically with a student with autism.

When were they introduced and why are they used?

Mirenda: Seclusion rooms are not new; they have been around for years, probably as long as schools have existed … Ironically, they are often referred to as "calm down" rooms, although it is unlikely that a student will calm down when he or she is locked in a room and prevented from leaving it. 

What's the argument for banning seclusion rooms?

mirenda

Pat Mirenda is an expert in special education at the University of British Columbia. (UBC)

Specht: They are not in keeping with the dignity of the human person. They tell students that they are bad people and need to be punished. The punishment destroys any attempt that has been made to develop a healthy relationship with that child. Punishment does not teach children more socially desirable behaviours. If a child could monitor and self-regulate, he/she would. Clearly children that escalate need teaching on what they can do to control their own behaviours.

Mirenda: They are not educative at all; at best, the student who is placed in seclusion might learn what not to do but they provide no supports designed to teach the student what to do. They are traumatizing, both for the student who is placed in such a room and for classmates who observe their friend being treated in this way and probably wonder if the same thing can happen to them. Finally, they are a violation of the student's right to autonomy and dignity as a human being.

What is the thinking among special needs experts about the alternatives to seclusion and isolation?

Specht: As social beings we need people. We need to belong … Much of the research in this area tells us that when schools implement programs that help children develop social and emotional regulation and the whole school is working together, children thrive. A healthy environment is key.

What kind of support do teachers need in order to make that happen?

specht

Jacqueline Specht is director of the Canadian Research Centre on Inclusive Education at Western University. (Western University)

Specht: Teachers need to believe that they are capable to teach all students, and given the support to work with students who have behavioural challenges in a positive rather than punitive manner. When the whole school has the same perspective and some expertise in implementing positive behaviour supports, all teachers can learn. 

Mirenda: Teachers need training in functional behaviour assessment and positive behaviour support, and they need ready access to a district- or board-level team with specific expertise in these procedures, for back up.

In most cases, teachers place students in seclusion rooms out of desperation, when they don't know what else to do, so the real solution is to prevent behaviour from escalating to the point where seclusion is even on the radar screen — and we know how to do this.

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/opinion/editorials/long-inquest-has-bad-start/article_6e38faea-6ba3-11e5-b12f-bf52d80c374d.html

Long inquest has bad start

Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 6:00 am

AN INQUEST is defined as a legal inquiry led by a coroner, usually with a jury to determine the cause of a sudden death where there is a possibility that the death was the result of a crime or of a situation that could be dangerous to others. The largest inquest in Ontario’s history finally got under way in Thunder Bay Monday. It deals with seven deaths, not one. If crimes were involved they likely have more to do with the vast inequities in Canada’s remote First Nations reserve system and the expectation that needed secondary education simply means moving young people to cities and expecting them to cope with the culture shock. It is a situation that has proven dangerous more than these seven times and surely will again if we do not find a way to ease the transition. Hopefully, this inquest will do that when the jury issues its recommendations in an estimated six months’ time. But the process did not get off to an auspicious start.

Despite three years of planning, the inquest was late in starting Monday and did not have enough seats for family members. A lawyer for the families complained about the cramped quarters — in Thunder Bay’s gargantuan new courthouse — prompting the coroner to promise a bigger room today.

The delays in planning and starting are themselves a form of crime against the families of seven young people — mothers, fathers and siblings who have waited all this time to find out why they died here, far from home. Aside from the direct causes of deaths, the inquest is also expected to examine police response to them and the wider issue of often strained relations between First Nations people and the rest of the Thunder Bay community.

This repeated pattern of death by drowning and also, allegedly, by drugs, has caused some to question the need for an inquest at all. Don’t we already know essentially what happened? Haven’t First Nations leaders been saying for years that expecting teenagers from tiny fly-in communities in Ontario’s Far North to fit into boarding homes and attend a big, new school hundreds of miles from home is expecting too much — expecting trouble?

Plans for a First Nations student residence in Thunder Bay close to Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School will provide like companionship and guidance. That such a setup might also magnify the excesses typical of student residences is a challenge for its creators but it is a challenge worth taking.

The real value of this inquest is that we will have examined the problems in this distance education experiment and probably ways to fix them. Most important of all is that the jury recommendations will have legal standing. They will have to be addressed, politically. It will be up to all Ontarians to decide if reasonable recommendations result in realistic solutions for the benefit and safety of First Nations youth who must pursue an education if they have any hope of succeeding in life and, ideally, making life better on the difficult and sometimes dangerous reserves they come from.

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5954886-waterloo-firm-promises-porn-free-schools/

Waterloo firm promises porn-free schools

Jeff Outhit

Waterloo Region Record  |  Oct 10, 2015

WATERLOO REGION — A Waterloo technology firm says it can bar schoolchildren from seeing pornography online, but it's been unable to interest the local public school board or the province after reaching out.

Netsweeper says schools around the world use its website-blocking products, as does the Kitchener Public Library. The firm says it can tailor a system to let each local school decide its Internet filtering, without slowing network access.

"We only make a tool that allows them to choose what they want to stop, block, or do, according to the policies of that school system," said Perry Roach, chief executive. "Some schools are very strict. Some countries care a lot about what their children see, and some don't care anything about what they see."

He said the firm would happily let the public board test its technology.

Local school boards filter the Internet, but education trustee Cindy Watson says some children at the public board are accessing pornographic or racist material, on purpose or by accident. She wants the Waterloo Region District School Board to consider letting individual schools apply stronger filtering. Trustees are expected to debate her call in November.

The public board does not let schools choose their own Internet filtering, concerned in part that some schools might go too far and begin to censor. Watson would not comment on Netsweeper, but does not see barring pornography from children as censorship. "To me, this is just another safeguard. It's another protection," she said.

Netsweeper attracted controversy for selling its technology to autocratic regimes that may use it to censor online speech or information that Canadians consider democratic. The firm says it's up to clients to decide how to use its products. "We don't pull the trigger. We just make the tool," Roach said.

jouthit@therecord.com

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5955365-back-to-the-farm-ontario-urging-students-to-consider-careers-in-agriculture/

Back to the farm: Ontario urging students to consider careers in agriculture

Keith Leslie

Waterloo Region Record  |  Oct 11, 2015

Rori Schaefer feeds a Rhode Island Red hen at Kitchener's Steckle Farm in 2013. Ontario politicians want more young people to pursue careers in agriculture.

TORONTO — Ontario politicians are taking steps to get more young people to consider careers in the province's agricultural and food sector, including some high-tech options.

Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa Thompson lined up all-party support for her motion to add a component on the agriculture-food sector to the "careers and guidance curriculum" for Grades 9 and 10 students.

"The reality is, for every graduate from the University of Guelph (agricultural programs), three jobs are waiting for them," said Thompson.

"We need to educate our young people about the amazing opportunities that are out there in terms of agri-food careers."

New Democrat MPP John Vanthof, who owned a dairy farm for 30 years, said there are huge opportunities in the sector, and not just in traditional ways.

"It's not just on the farm and it's not just in the elevator," said Vanthof. "I don't have a dairy farm any longer, but my daughter designs GPS systems for agriculture."

The Liberal government signalled its intention to act on Thompson's motion, and said young people should be told about the job possibilities in the sector.

"Students need to know that a career in farming is not just about long hours and hard physical toil," said Liberal MPP Arthur Potts, parliamentary assistant to the minister of agricultural and rural affairs. "Modern farming requires advanced knowledge of science, economics, marketing and much more to be successful."

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, which represents 37,000 farm families, said the sector is vital to the economy, and students should know it's also about protecting the environment and using the latest science and technology to increase production.

"I don't only need kids in my own labour force that know how to splice barbed wire on a fence, but (I need them to) know how to splice genes to make the next hybrid that's going to revolutionize things here in Ontario," said federation president Don McCabe.

The non-profit Ontario Agri-Food Education Inc. said too many students do not have a realistic idea of where their food comes from and need to learn "the truth" about agriculture and farm practices.

"Until that happens, none of them are going to want careers in this sector," said executive director Colleen Smith. "They're all driven by a social conscience that is very refreshing these days in high school students, and we want to make sure that agriculture is there to answer those questions for them in the classroom."

Labour shortages are a top issue for agriculture businesses, and Smith predicts there will be about 74,000 job openings in Canada's agri-food sector by 2022, but warns one in three will go unfilled because of a shortage of applicants.

Vanthof frequently had students tour his dairy farm, and said he realized the need to better educate young people about farming during a visit by a high school class.

"One of the kids said: 'Boy, I'm glad we get our milk from the store because we sure wouldn't want to get it from cows,' and he was serious," he said. "We changed the focus of our tours to talk about GPS and (technology), and kids got very interested."

The Canadian Press

http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5949296-another-view-preparing-for-a-grey-tsunami/

Another view: Preparing for a grey tsunami

Editorial

Waterloo Region Record  |  Oct 08, 2015

An editorial from the Winnipeg Free Press:

There is a reason federal party leaders are meeting elderly Canadians on their campaigns. Older people vote in high numbers; much higher than younger Canadians.

And now, Statistics Canada figures show, the country is aging, slowly but surely, giving senior citizens power at the polls.

The number of people 65 and older crossed a threshold in 2014, comprising just a slightly greater proportion than Canadians 14 and younger. That means public policy — and vote-buying promises — are increasingly focused on the realities and demands of an aging population. Older Canadians marking ballots Oct. 19 will choose among party pledges that boost tax credits and incomes for senior citizens, ensure they can live longer in their own homes or, when the time comes, be assured there's a bed in a nursing home waiting for them.

Canadians should get used to seeing their taxes spent on services to elderly people, because the trend shows that age group is where the growth is. In fact, demographers forecast in a decade's time, those 65-plus will make up more than 20 per cent of the population.

The rise of the grey wave — a tsunami some have said — has implications, such as fewer young people working, paying the taxes and pension premiums that fund services and programs for everyone, including the retired.

Top of mind is the health-care system, which will have to serve a larger number of Canadians at the ages when the use of hospitals and family doctors intensifies. By 2036, the Canadian Medical Association predicts, 62 per cent of health budgets in the country will be spent on the elderly.

There was no surprise, then, that Tom Mulcair homed in on dementia as a priority for an NDP government, forming a strategy to screen for and treat it and to help families care for the afflicted.

Manitoba appears to have a little more time to prepare for an aging population. Rising immigration and a high First Nations population (disproportionately young) have helped keep the province young as baby boomers move into retirement age. And so this province has to work to ensure young people are educated, trained and ready for the jobs.

But it also has work to do to ensure the health system, most immediately, can meet the demand. A new survey done by the Canadian Institute of Health Information shows that might be a challenge, especially as it relates to the elderly. Manitoba saw more physicians than other provinces leave to work elsewhere in the country, and most of them were family doctors — the go-to medical professional right now for the elderly.

That's remarkable in that family doctors are paid better here, on average, than in other provinces. (Alberta paid the most in 2014, but that was also true of specialists, who seem to be staying in Manitoba.)

But there's only so much the health system — and the provincial treasury that sustains it — can do. The evidence is the elderly today are healthier, and wealthier, than were their parents. Keeping fit and sticking to a healthy lifestyle while aging is the best bet for living longer in good health. And that is where more effort of government departments and health professionals should be focused — pushing exercise, not pills.

It's natural for Canadians to look to their governments to direct spending on services and programs suited to the needs of the country. And that is particularly true of the big priorities — meeting the need for skilled labour, preparing for chronic diseases, adequate and appropriate housing or income supports.

But no one needs a politician to tell us what happens to spending — and taxes — if a disproportionately older population is a sicker, disabled population.

News Articles, Post IX

https://www.tasb.org/Services/Legal-Services/TASB-School-Law-eSource/Personnel/documents/conflict_int_nepotism_sept2013-pdf.aspx

Conflicts of Interest: Nepotism

Please note that a law passed in 2007 changed how the nepotism laws affect hiring in large districts. These changes apply to all hires made after September 1, 2007. This document describes the nepotism laws currently in place.

Q: What is nepotism?

A. A public official may not appoint, confirm the appointment of, or vote for the appointment or confirmation of the appointment of an individual to a position that is to be directly or indirectly compensated from public funds if the individual is related to the public official or another member of the board by blood (consanguinity) within the third degree or by marriage (affinity) within the second degree. Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 573.002, .041. School district officials who have the power to appoint or employ these persons are subject to the nepotism rules.

Q: Which relatives by blood (consanguinity) are affected by the nepotism prohibition?

A. Relatives within the third degree. An individual is related to the public official by blood within the third degree, if the public official is the individual’s:

1. Parent or child (first degree)

2. Grandparent, grandchild, sister, or brother (second degree)

3. Great grandparent, great grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew (third degree)

Q: Which relatives by marriage (affinity) are affected by the nepotism prohibition?

A. Relatives within the second degree. The marriage prohibition applies if the public official’s spouse is the prospective employee (first degree); or if the public official’s spouse is the prospective employee’s:

1. Parent or child (first degree)

2. Grandparent, grandchild, sister, or brother (second degree)

The marriage prohibition also applies if the prospective employee’s spouse is the public official’s:

1. Parent or child (first degree)

2. Grandparent, grandchild, sister, or brother (second degree)

A relationship by marriage extends only to blood relatives of a board member’s spouse and the spouses of a board member’s blood relatives. It does not include a relative-in-law of board member’s spouse.

Q: Who is considered a “public official” under the nepotism prohibition?

A. For nepotism purposes, a public official of a school district is a member of the school board or an officer of the school district. Tex. Gov’t Code § 573.001(3). Depending on the county population and your district’s delegation of hiring authority (see below) the term public official could include school board trustees, the superintendent, and sometimes both.

Q: When is the superintendent a “public official” for the purposes of the nepotism prohibition?

A. A superintendent is a public official for purposes of nepotism if he or she has final hiring authority for the employment position. The Texas Education Code permits a school board to delegate some or all of its hiring authority to the superintendent. Tex. Educ. Code § 11.1513(a)(2). Commonly, this delegation of hiring authority is limited to at-will employees.

If the school board has delegated hiring authority, the superintendent is subject to the nepotism laws to the extent of that delegation. If, for example, a board delegated final hiring authority for at-will employees to a superintendent, the superintendent could not hire his wife for an at-will position at the district. The board, however, could hire the superintendent’s wife for a contract position.

To the extent the board has retained hiring authority, the superintendent is merely an employee or agent and is not a public official subject to prohibitions under the nepotism statutes. Pena v. Rio Grande Consol. Indep. Sch. Dist., 616 S.W.2d 658 (Tex. Civ. App.— Eastland 1981, no writ).

Q: When is a trustee a “public official” for the purposes of the nepotism prohibition?

A. Generally, a trustee is always going to be a public official for nepotism purposes. Therefore, the school district in which the trustee serves is not allowed to hire a trustee’s relative within a prohibited degree of relationship.

A limited exception to this definition of public official applies only to districts in “small counties,” counties with a population of fewer than 35,000 people. For districts in small counties, the term public official does not include a school board trustee when the superintendent is filling an employment position for which the superintendent has hiring authority. Tex. Educ. Code § 11.1513(a), (f)-(g).

Q: What constitutes a “small county” for the purpose of the nepotism prohibition?

A. A small county is one with a population of fewer than 35,000 people. According to the law, the nepotism prohibition does not apply to a relative of a trustee if the board delegates hiring authority to the superintendent and the school district is either completely within a county with a population of fewer than 35,000, or in more than one county, if the county in which the largest portion of the school district is located has a population of fewer than 35,000.

Tex. Educ. Code § 11.1513(g).

http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-last-scrutiny-for-public-union-deals-1432249699

At Last, Scrutiny for Public-Union Deals

A growing movement is opening labor negotiations so taxpayers can see how their money is being spent.

By MATTHEW J. BROUILLETTE

May 21, 2015 7:08 p.m. ET

57 COMMENTS

If you’ve ever spent hundreds on a smartphone or thousands on a new car, you know what it’s like to hunt for the best deal. Yet when paying for state and local government services worth billions, Americans often hand politicians a blank check without ever knowing if they could get more for their money. 

Year after year, elected officials behind closed doors negotiate labor contracts for 19 million state and local government workers. The result? Skyrocketing salaries, health-care costs and pension benefits are making services like public schools and policing unaffordable for taxpayers. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, compensation for government workers nationwide has grown 21% since 2000, compared with only 9% in the private economy.

Fortunately a growing list of states now shine light on secretive contract negotiations with public-employee unions—putting taxpayers back in charge. In April, Idaho’s governor signed a bill requiring open meetings and records in all executive labor negotiations. Colorado did the same last fall for public-school district contract talks. Similar legislation is advancing in Washington, and the Pennsylvania Senate passed two transparency bills this month.

The first of the Keystone State’s bills provides the public with independent cost estimates of the state’s government union contracts before ratification. Separate legislation requires such contracts to be made accessible on government websites at least two weeks before they’re signed. A similar bill awaits the governor’s signature in Nevada.

Giving the public advance notice and cost estimates on billion-dollar agreements might seem like basic reform, but it has been met with some opposition. “It’s simply anti-labor, anti-worker legislation,” Tom Herman, the president of Service Employees International Union Local 668 told the news website PennLive. Of course the union stands to profit from keeping the process secret.

To date, 12 states offer some kind of public access to the negotiating room. More state and local governments should offer a clear view of what taxpayers are on the hook for. After all, taxpayers supply the money to employ government workers, and labor contracts can be years- and even decades-long financial commitments.

It’s natural for people who hire representatives, like real-estate agents or attorneys, to monitor their performance—and the price at which it comes. The same should be done with elected officials who often have incentives to serve themselves rather than their constituents.

The public pension crisis facing states from California to New Jersey to Illinois is a great illustration of politicians and union leaders making backroom deals that taxpayers could never afford. Overly generous benefits aren’t the only concern: A conflict of interest exists when elected officials bargain with public unions behind closed doors.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf must negotiate contracts worth $3.4 billion with 16 labor unions by this summer. Six of these unions contributed more than $2.6 million to Mr. Wolf’s election campaign, and so the governor has a strong incentive to reward his financial backers.

Despite the state’s budget deficit, Gov. Wolf this week agreed to one-year extensions for two unions with pay increases and no concessions in health-care benefits. Taxpayers learned about the deals, which will cost $23 million more than the previous year, from a news release.

Surprisingly enough, transparency is beginning to garner support even among some labor leaders. When Maryland’s Howard County decided in 2013 to open talks for school workers, the head of the local teachers union, Paul Lemle, supported the change. “Great public schools are not built just with bricks, but with a good contract and good relationships between the school system and its employees,” he said. And in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Teachers Federation offered open contract meetings as a way for the public to understand union positions.

In the end, open collective bargaining is a growing national movement because it’s good government. Allowing public access to contract negotiations will tame spending and shift control back to citizens, where it belongs.

Mr. Brouillette is president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank in Harrisburg, Pa.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/greg-selinger-accused-of-making-union-deals-to-win-ndp-leadership-1.2987662

Greg Selinger accused of making union deals to win NDP leadership

Leadership contest was a 'drive-by attack on democracy,' says PC Leader Brian Pallister

CBC News Posted: Mar 09, 2015 12:54 PM CT Last Updated: Mar 10, 2015 6:04 AM CT

The NDP leadership race is over and Greg Selinger staying on as premier and party leader, but Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister says he believes Selinger cut deals with union leaders to secure the win.

Selinger fended off challenges from former cabinet ministers Theresa Oswald and Steve Ashton to keep his job at the party's leadership convention in Winnipeg on Sunday.

Pallister said the fact that New Democrats voted back Selinger, who faced a revolt from former members of his own cabinet last year, reflects poorly on the party.

Furthermore, he said NDP members didn't have a say in the outcome of the leadership race, but the unions did.

"This was a drive-by attack on democracy," Pallister told reporters.

"We need a province where everybody feels like they're equal and they have an equal opportunity for success. And I don't think if you ask the NDP members who were in that hall this weekend, they feel that way, and I know Manitobans don't feel that way."

Part of Selinger's success came from union support. He came into Sunday's convention with the backing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

He later gained delegates from the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg after Ashton was dropped from the ballot following the first round of voting.

"The premier of Manitoba is now the premier because he cut deals with public-sector union bosses in a back room last week and he guaranteed himself … the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, he somehow got the firefighters to support him, and he did that with taxpayers' money and he needs to come clean on what he promised those groups," Pallister said.

"Those are union boss leaders who, quite rightly, are fighting for the best interest of their members, and they would have directed their votes to go in support of Premier Selinger for a reason. They didn't do it for a lark."

Selinger committed to 'treat people fairly'

Selinger said Pallister's claims are not accurate.

"I made it very clear that I would not be making any specific commitment to anybody other than to treat people fairly and make sure that whatever we do serves the best interests of Manitobans," he said.

United Fire Fighters president Alex Forrest agreed that no deal was made.

Premier Greg Selinger talks with CBC's Marcy Markusa after winning the Manitoba NDP leadership election Sunday.

"It was a very tough decision to begin with whether we were going to support Greg Selinger or Steve Ashton, but there were no backroom deals. There was none of that," Forrest told CBC News.

"Premier Selinger has been a tremendous advocate for firefighters — for resources, for assisting us to be able to do our job, making tremendous changes to workplace health and safety — so that's why we went to Greg Selinger on that second ballot."

Selinger will take the party into the next provincial election, scheduled for April 2016.

​Flin Flon NDP MLA Clarence Pettersen said the internal turmoil and the leadership race were tough on everyone in the part, but he looks forward to the future.

"I think Greg himself has changed," Pettersen said.

"I think we needed a shakeup, we got a shakeup, and because of the shakeup we're going to move forward in a unified team."

Pallister said now that the NDP leadership race is over, he hopes MLAs can "get back into the business that matters to Manitobans instead of watching this curious infighting."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/union-deals-led-to-45m-windfall/story-e6frg6nf-1227049582945

The Australian

Union Deals Led to $1.4 million Windfall

Brad Norington

September 6, 2014

Source: News Corp Australia

THE Electrical Trades Union in Victoria scored a $4.5 million bonanza in “management fees” and other payments in just 12 months, by pushing employers across the state into preferred supplier deals negotiated by its then leader Dean Mighell.

The extraordinary arrangement meant the ETU pocketed a 20 per cent commission on the premiums paid by employers to cover their workers for income­protection insurance in the 2013 financial year.

The employer group representing firms in the industry, the National Electrical and Communications

Association, also benefited, receiving almost $330,000 in directors’ fees and other income in the same period.

When Mr Mighell quit as secretary of the ETU’s Victorian branch in March last year, the company given exclusive rights by his union to procure income­protection insurance hired him as a consultant. He was paid a $100,000 upfront fee and a $15,000­a­month retainer by ATC Insurance Solutions to “open doors” by securing introductions to other unions.

With Mr Mighell’s help, the Maritime Union of Australia came on board with a similar scheme to the ETU’s. Mr Mighell had a “falling out” with ATC this year and ceased working as its consultant.

A fortnight after the termination of his contract, Mr Mighell sent the company an invoice for a $165,000 “bonus payment”.

Details of the lucrative payments for the ETU and Mr Mighell were revealed during proceedings of the royal commission into union corruption in Sydney yesterday. The ETU, now led by Mr Mighell’s successor, Troy Gray, continues to receive the payments.

The commission’s counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar SC, said the focus of investigations was why the

ETU had chosen specific service providers, what payments were received, the extent of disclosure and whether the union scheme unnecessarily inflated employer costs and building project costs. He said “management fees” were really commissions paid to the union. The ETU had been able to secure preferred supplier agreements beneficial to the union by signing employers, in wage negotiations led by Mr Mighell, to “framework” enterprise­bargaining agreements. Each pro­forma agreement reached with electrical contracting firms required that they used providers associated with the union to make payments for workers’ income­protection insurance, severance­pay fund, long­service­leave fund and superannuation.

The Australian Industry Group said last night the ETU scheme was the “most glaring” example of the millions of dollars paid each year to unions by insurance companies and brokers. The Ai Group, in a submission to the commission, said insurers and brokers offered income­protection insurance products to employers at inflated prices and paid a percentage of the takings to unions. Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox accused unions of coercing employers to buy insurance products from organisations with which they had financial arrangements.

“Some construction unions appear to have a business model of deliberately engaging in unlawful industrial conduct, and budgeting for the consequent fines,” Mr Willox said.

“The revenue streams from redundancy funds and insurance products need to be closed off to break this business model and restore the rule of law.”

In the 2013 financial year, the ETU received $3.7m in management fees for its involvement in

income­protection insurance. It also received more than $500,000 in trust income and $330,000 in directors’ fees.

Mr Mighell, who attracted attention in 2007 when Kevin Rudd forced him out of the Labor Party for swearing, told the commission that his union had made full disclosure in accounts.

Challenged by Mr Stoljar, Mr Mighell disagreed that individual employers were not made aware the

ETU was the beneficiary of preferred­supplier deals when they signed up to enterprise agreements.

He said management fees were “no secret” in the union. He had often talked with members about using the income to finance ambulance or funeral funds.

The former ETU leader disagreed with Mr Stoljar that the union did nothing in return for receiving a 20 per cent surcharge on insurance premiums. Apart from administration, he said the ETU played an important role in compliance when employers failed to pay owed entitlements.

ATC Insurance Solutions chief executive Chris Anderson said he held discussions with Mr Mighell in 2010 about his employment prospects with the company after the ETU, but they were “completely separate negotiations” from those related to the scheme. Mr Anderson confirmed Mr Mighell introduced his company to the MUA.

Additional reporting: Ewin Hannan

News Articles, Post VIII

(All pictures have been removed from the articles because they take up so much memory in each post. To see the pictures use the web address and visit the sites of the newspapers.)

http://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/5824829-scouts-canada-registration-starts-in-huntsville/

Scouts Canada registration starts in Huntsville

Huntsville Forester, Sep 03, 2015

SCOUTS CANADA REGISTRATION BEGINS IN HUNTSVILLE

Submitted by Shawn Forth

Scouts Canada

HUNTSVILLE-LAKE OF BAYS – As the summer comes to an end, and children go back to school, Scouting groups in Whispering Pines Area (Muskoka, Almaguin Highlands, Parry Sound, Simcoe) are preparing for another busy year.

In Huntsville, the registration night will be Thursday, Sept. 17, at Trinity United Church, 33 Main St. E., from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and Friday, Sept. 18, at the Huntsville Place Mall. Contact Judy at 705-789-9406 for information.

You can also register online at www.myscouts.ca

The 2015-2016 registration fee is $190 per youth (financial assistance is available). You can register for scouting all year round.

Parents can find out more information by visiting our Facebook page www.facebook.com/CottageCountryScouting

Programs are offered to youth – both boys and girls – from ages 5 to 17. Beavers, Wolf Cubs, Scouts, and Venturers are the four Scouting programs that aim to challenge the youth:

Beavers — Sharing, Sharing, Sharing

A positive group experience for children aged 5-7 designed to develop in them a love of nature, an ability to share and play together, and an ability to express their creativity.

Wolf Cubs — Do Your Best

Cubs is a program for children aged 8-10 designed for maximum enjoyment and learning through activities in such areas as outdoors, acting, games, music, Badge and Star work, handicrafts, and stories.

Scouts — Be Prepared   Venturers — Challenge!

Scouts and Venturers are adventurous programs for young people aged 11-14 and 14-17 in which the members develop skills, earn Badges and awards, and have fun in the outdoors through hiking and camping, all designed to help guide them as they move towards good citizenship.

Scouting is recognized world-wide for its role in helping young people to develop physically, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. Scouting is all about building confidence and self-esteem, learning important life skills and leadership skills, team building, outdoor adventure, education, and fun!

All of the local Scout programming is done by volunteers, who recognize the value of Scouting in the lives of our youth. These dedicated individuals put together exciting, challenging, and fun programs that keep the youth motivated throughout the year.

  

http://www.kenoraonline.com/local/14705-struggling-students-get-second-chance-with-new-ace-program

Struggling students get second chance with new ACE program

Category: Local News

Published: Friday, 16 October 2015 06:00

Written by Grace Protopapas

Guests take a look at the new classroom space for the ACE program inside the Kenora Attendance Centre.

Students who struggle with attending classes in high school are being given a second chance.

The Keewatin Patricia District School Board has introduced a new program called the ACE program. Steve Quin is the director, and he explains what it is.

"ACE stands for academic connections through empowerment. It's a classroom for at risk youth that are referred through Beaver Brae. They are here to have a combination of life skills, education, mental health programming and we do a lot of certificates through partnerships with other agencies," he said.

The program launched this September in partnership with the school board, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and WJS. Joan Kantola is the Superintendent of Education and she explains what types of students they work with.

"The students have a variety of challenges. I think one of the significant challenges is that they struggle with feeling that they are part of the typical school environment that they may have been a part of at one point in time. That may be for a variety of reasons but one of them is that they may have had some interaction with the law," she said.

The program is run at the Attendance Centre on Lakeview Drive. Bright colours and glass walls adorn the building, to make it feel less like a stuffy classroom. Quin talks about what a typical day can look like.

"We run the regular school days. Part of their day will be in the classroom, and the other part will be doing programming with the transition leader. It could be something like substance abuse, anger management, we have a girls group, cultural awareness programs or something like that," he said.

Quin adds that the main goal is the transition them back into high school, or help them graduate and then transition them back into society. The program currently has nine children enrolled. Quin says they're already seeing some success.

"One of our youth we have attending right now is actually going back to Beaver Brae part time. She spends half her time here and the other half there. Depending on how she does here this semester, she may be back at Beaver Brae full time next semester," he said.

The program has room for ten students. The Director of Education, Sean Monteith, and the CEO of WSJ Canada, Peter Farnden, were both very impressed with the work of the staff.

The KPDSB received a $160,000 from the Ministry of Education to launch the program. The ministry was looking for school boards to partner with community agencies and find innovative ways of reaching out to the youth who sometimes slip through the cracks of the regular school system.

http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/federation-calls-plan-to-cut-school-board-elections-sexist

Plan to abolish school board elections 'sexist', federation says

CAROLINE PLANTE, MONTREAL GAZETTE

Published on: October 15, 2015 | Last Updated: October 15, 2015 8:13 PM EDT

Signs for English school board elections last year. MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER / MONTREAL GAZETTE

Quebec — The federation representing francophone school boards in the province said Thursday it believes the government’s decision to abolish school board elections is “sexist” and will lead to the creation of “boys’ clubs.”

Josée Bouchard, president of the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec, argued school democracy in Quebec is the only democracy that has achieved gender parity, in other words, electing the same number of women and men.

She said 51 per cent of elected school board officials are women, while 49 per cent are men, and the same numbers apply to anglophone school boards.

“I want to get the premier, the education minister, all the MNAs and the rest of society thinking,” she said. “Do we want to tell women ‘bravo for your hard work carving out your place in school politics, now it’s over?’ ”

Élaine Hémond, the founder of Femmes, politique & démocratie, a group helping more women get involved in politics, said only 27 per cent of the members of the National Assembly are women.

Education Minister François Blais is expected to table a bill abolishing school board elections — which cost $20 million — by Nov 15. The minister has already made public his intention to create a new nomination process in which parents would be more involved. Commissioners could be appointed at annual parent meetings, or through governing boards, instead of by universal suffrage, Blais suggested.

This nomination process would lead to the creation of boys’ clubs, Bouchard said. “If we proceed through nomination, if I look at nominations for boards (in general in Quebec), if we look at statistics, we can fairly deduce that it will be more natural to name men,” she said.

Bouchard said that on the off chance the new nomination process produces parity, it will not have the same value because representatives will not be properly elected by the population.

Blais’s press attaché, Julie White, said the government’s objective is to empower parents, and they include women. “We are confident that the new model we will soon table will meet their needs,” White said.

Bouchard and Hémond were accompanied Thursday by three other female leaders, including Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, who said she has been working — unsuccessfully — for seven years on a federal bill to force publicly-traded companies to have women make up at least 40 per cent of their board members.

“Women are a tad more dedicated than their male counterparts for the simple reason that they have had to work harder to get there,” she said.

Hervieux-Payette recounted how when she served on the Le Gardeur de Repentigny school board, between 1973 and 1979, that her male colleagues would often not look at their files. Inside the Senate, she said men “are in their offices” while women sit in the Senate chamber and do their work.

The senator said she wants to see school board elections maintained in Quebec, because they promote “gender equality in public life and are excellent springboards to launch women into politics.”

cplante@montrealgazette.com

twitter.com/cplantegazette

http://montrealgazette.com/news/world/opinion-its-dangerous-to-accept-school-shootings-as-routine

Opinion: It's dangerous to accept school shootings as routine

PATRICIA ROMANO, SPECIAL TO MONTREAL GAZETTE

Published on: October 8, 2015 | Last Updated: October 8, 2015 1:36 PM EDT

People hold a prayer circle outside Snyder Hall on the campus of Umpqua Community College on October 5, 2015 in Roseburg, Oregon. Despite crime scene tape still being stretched around large areas of the school, the campus was open to staff and students today for the first time since last Thursday when 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer went on a shooting rampage in Snyder Hall killing nine people and wounding another nine before he was killed. Classes are not scheduled to resume until next week.

People hold a prayer circle outside Snyder Hall on the campus of Umpqua Community College on October 5, 2015 in Roseburg, Oregon. Despite crime scene tape still being stretched around large areas of the school, the campus was open to staff and students today for the first time since last Thursday when 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer went on a shooting rampage in Snyder Hall killing nine people and wounding another nine before he was killed. Classes are not scheduled to resume until next week. SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES

I remember where I was on Dec. 6, 1989, after the Polytechnique massacre. And I remember where I was on Sept. 13, 2006: meeting in my Dawson College office with a student to talk about an assignment, when the first terrified students came running down the hall.

But I doubt I will remember much, if anything, about the recent shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.; it will fade into the background along with the many others. U.S. President Barack Obama is quite right — these shootings have become so routine, though seeing them that way is dangerous, resulting in an acceptance of their inevitability.

This is a serious problem in the United States. A recent study by the Boston Globe identified 294 mass shootings — defined as four or more people having been shot — so far this year. But this epidemic of mass shootings is not only a U.S. problem. The phenomenon of copycat shootings is very real; the Dawson shooter was inspired by Columbine; the Virginia Tech shooter by Dawson. The easy access to guns is a significant contributing factor to the violence in the United States, but, despite stronger gun laws here, military-style weapons and ammunition are not hard to obtain. The Dawson shooter entered the college with three legally obtained weapons and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Violence, however, is not “normal” or “routine.” Reducing violence both locally and globally is an attainable goal. Meeting people’s basic physical and psychological needs, creating inclusive communities and providing opportunities for education and employment are essential; give people something meaningful to lose, and few will embrace violence or be seduced by violent extremist ideologies.

So, why, despite the suffering it leaves in its wake, the repeated examples of the failure of violent solutions, and the fact that human beings flourish in conditions of peace, can we so easily be convinced that violence is normal, inevitable, effective and even empowering in the real world and harmless fun in our virtual ones? The school shooter has much in common with the latest Western recruit to ISIS; one may have some vague political goals, but both find extreme acts of violence to be justified and emotionally appealing. While most of us are appalled by their acts, few of us inherently reject violence as a failed strategy.

Even after years of teaching about the worldwide suffering caused by violence and the limits to military solutions, I often find myself thinking, when Western forces are about to be deployed, that maybe this time our use of violence will provide the needed solution. Certainly, deep skepticism about violence does not mean that the use of force is never needed; few of us would oppose sending armed forces to protect people who are in immediate risk of being killed or the gunning down of a school shooter on a rampage. But, it is the ease by which violence is accepted that we should find problematic.

Of course, this acceptance is not surprising; cognitive science has revealed how so much of our thinking and our responses to particular situations occur unconsciously, rooted in the frames, narratives and metaphors that we have picked up since childhood. And, in a culture filled with brutally violent imagery and emotionally powerful narratives that extol the value of violence, accepting violence has become too easy. To view 294 mass shootings in a supposed peaceful country as routine is simply one further illustration of the need to begin to ask some fundamental questions about violence. The classroom seems like the right place to start.

Patricia Romano is a Humanities teacher and founder of Inspire Solutions, a Dawson College peace initiative that seeks to foster a college-wide reflection on the problem of violence and the possibilities for creating a more peaceful world.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-story-about-union-deal-with-builder-an-unfair-smear-20150611-ghleiu.html

Bill Shorten: Story about union deal with builder an 'unfair smear'

June 11, 2015

Latika Bourke

National political reporter

Bill Shorten has described as an "unfair smear" a news report that says he oversaw a controversial deal to boost union members during his time as boss of the Australian Workers Union.

The article published by Fairfax details evidence provided to the royal commission into trade unions established by the Coalition. Invoices show the AWU invoiced builder Winslow Constructions $38,000 in union fees. The practice of companies paying workers union fees is frowned upon.

The Opposition Leader said he would be happy to appear before the royal commission but said he had done nothing wrong.

"The story in today's paper is an unfair smear," Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney.

"Any implication that I am not completely motivated and committed to getting a better deal for workers, for productive relations at companies and for standing up for people is completely unfair and false," he said.

When pressed why a private company would pay members' union fees – Mr Shorten said the agreement the union struck delivered pay rises for workers and said the question was a matter for the company.

When asked if he would be happy to appear before the royal commission if called, Mr Shorten said: " I have indicated I'm more than happy to co-operate".

But he refused to say if it was right for his successor at the AWU and factional ally, Ceaser Melham, to quit his position as Victorian government whip.

"I left the union at the end of 2007. It is matter for him," he said.

Mr Shorten challenged Mr Abbott to a town hall debate to compare their records in standing up for workers.

Cabinet Minister Christopher Pyne on Thursday said Mr Shorten should shine a light on the deal between the AWU and Winslow Constructions.

"What the Australian people want to know is what he knew and when, about these arrangements with Winslow Constructions," he said.

Shadow employment minister Brendan O'Connor defended the integrity of the Labor leader.

"He has fought for Australian workers his entire adult life. He did so as a leader of the union movement. He's doing so now as the Leader of the Opposition."

Mr O'Connor accused the government of conducting a "witch hunt" through the royal commission.

"The bigger question in all of these matters is, why is the government in a position to spend tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars to just go after the political opponents as it sees it. We think that's unconscionable and indeed it's improper and the government really of course who are seeking to smear us will indeed have to account for that now and at a later date," he said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/international-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503226&objectid=11467416&ref=rss

Union deals threaten to sink Shorten

By Kathy Marks

5:00 AM Friday Jun 19, 2015

Bill Shorten's position as Australian Opposition Leader is looking increasingly shaky after another round of harmful revelations about deals struck by the trade union he ran before entering Parliament.

The Labor leader's political judgment is also being questioned amid a dreadful week that has seen him forced to beat an embarrassing retreat over people-smuggler payments, and that left his party the sole opponent of pension changes designed to benefit the less well-off.

And as Shorten's popularity ratings plummet to an all-time low, the Sydney Morning Herald has called on him to "consider his future", saying his "continued tenure [as leader] is damaging his party and the interests of the people he claims to represent".

The revelations relate to his lengthy service as Victorian state secretary, then national secretary, of the influential Australian Workers Union (AWU), and to large sums paid to the union by companies after he struck deals perceived as favourable to employers and disadvantageous to workers.

According to Fairfax Media yesterday, AWU Victoria received payments totalling nearly A$300,000 ($335,735) from a construction company, Thiess John Holland, following an agreement in 2005 to cut wages and conditions for workers on a major Melbourne road project, the A$2.5 billion East Link tollway.

The deal, which enabled the company to work around the clock and complete the project five months early, reportedly saved it up to A$100 million.

The union branch was also given hundreds of thousands of dollars by a global chemical manufacturer, Huntsman, to employ a worker whose duties included "stopping trouble" and helping to close down a factory without industrial unrest, according to the Australian.

The implication is that the AWU bolstered its fortunes, and the clout of its leaders within the labour movement, at the expense of workers - an accusation explicitly levelled by Prime Minister Tony Abbott this week.

Shorten has denied any impropriety, and said he would respond in detail when he testifies before a royal commission into trade union corruption. His lawyer Leon Zwier said Shorten had asked the commission to fast-track his appearance to July during Parliament's winter break, rather than have it in August or September as scheduled.

But history is also haunting Shorten in the shape of The Killing Season, a three-part ABC TV documentary investigating the troubled Rudd and Gillard Labor era. This week's episode alleged that Mark Arbib, a key Labor factional player, told Gillard that "you couldn't trust Bill Shorten". Arbib has denied the claim.

Now Shorten, who played a pivotal role in the knifing of both Rudd and Gillard, is facing a possible mutiny himself, or so some are claiming. Labor MPs complain he is obsessed with the 24-hour news cycle and disregards the advice of senior colleagues, according to Dennis Shanahan, a columnist with the Australian. The MPs see a "frightening parallel [with Rudd]" and fear Shorten is "doing a Kevin", he wrote yesterday.

This week, Shorten abruptly abandoned his pursuit of the Government over payments to an asylum-seeker boat crew, after it emerged that Labor governments repeatedly paid money to "disrupt" people smuggler operations.

He also faced criticism of his refusal to back pension cuts for people with assets of more than A$1.15 million. The Greens' decision to support the Government left Labor completely isolated on the issue.

The documentary's title refers to the time of year when both Rudd and Gillard were toppled - this time of year, just before the parliamentary winter break After Rudd returned to power in June 2013, he changed the party's rules to give grassroots Labor members an equal say with parliamentarians in electing leaders.

Australian columnist Peter Van Onselen yesterday quoted a Labor frontbencher as telling him that, had that not happened, "Bill could have become a victim of the killing season himself".

- NZ Herald

https://www.propublica.org/article/union-buried-evidence-of-firestone-support-of-warlord-after-labor-deal

Union Buried Evidence of Firestone Support of Warlord After Labor Deal

During a bitter strike in the 1990s, the United Steelworkers of America found Firestone supported warlord Charles Taylor, but never released its findings.

In 1996, Firestone, one of the world's largest tire-makers, was locked in a grueling labor dispute with the United Steelworkers of America. The union portrayed it as a struggle between blue-collar workers and a company that was aiming to slash the pay and benefits of its employees. Thousands of workers went on strike, and the union mounted a consumer boycott of Firestone products and those of its Japanese-owned corporate parent, Bridgestone. There were protest demonstrations, too, including a "black flag" motorcycle brigade at the nation's most famous auto race, the Indianapolis 500.

The steelworkers – who had begun representing Firestone employees after a merger with another union, the United Rubber Workers, in 1995 – also began looking into the company's activities abroad, most notably its rubber operations in Liberia. With the help of private investigators, the union uncovered evidence that in the early 1990's Firestone had been the source of money and logistical support for Charles Taylor, the notorious Liberian warlord whose violent bid for power had ensnared the country in a horrific civil war. The union then developed plans to use what it believed might have been criminal conduct by Firestone as leverage in the contract negotiations.

Plans were hatched to hold press conferences. A secret briefing was prepared for Vice President Al Gore. Importantly, there were also discussions about using the evidence of dealings with Taylor to demand that Firestone permit the steelworkers to play an active role in monitoring labor standards in Liberia. The union's documents from the time suggest it saw a greater good in revealing Firestone's history with Taylor — that doing so might make the company "accountable to the Liberian people and to the world," as the union stated in the introduction of the 43-page confidential report detailing their findings.

But the steelworkers union never made its findings public. Instead, it buried the investigation of Firestone's role in the Liberian civil war, and the company's actions remained secret for more than 20 years. What happened to the investigation is not clear. But just two weeks after the union completed its inquiry, Firestone and the steelworkers met in confidential negotiations, and soon reached a deal. The union won concessions on pay and benefits. But any formal notion of improving working conditions in Liberia was abandoned, and Firestone's dealing with Taylor would not be aired until a ProPublica and PBS Frontline investigation late last year.

The steelworkers would not comment at all — on their investigation into Firestone's activities in Liberia, what role the investigation had played in the negotiations, or why the union had decided to keep the information secret. In an email, Wayne Ranick, a spokesman for the steelworkers, said the union could not comment on the matter because key leaders from that time period, including the union president and general counsel, are now dead. Other figures involved in the investigation had retired, he said.

A Firestone official said the company could not shed any light on the episode. Paul M. Oakley, a spokesman, said the company is now focusing on returning its rubber operations in Liberia to a relative level of normalcy in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak. Company officials, he said in an email, "are not inclined to spend a lot of time and effort combing through archives that may or may not have relevant information."

Joe Uehlein, a longtime labor activist who served on the steelworkers' global campaign strategy team, said Bridgestone Firestone was well aware of the union's investigation and that it had helped prompt the eventual deal.

The Liberia investigation "played a big role in bringing Bridgestone Firestone back to the negotiating table," said Uehlein, who is now retired.

Last November, ProPublica and PBS Frontline detailed for the first time the role Firestone played in the early stages of Taylor's bloody rise to power, a set of findings that in several key respects echoed the evidence the union's investigators had uncovered decades earlier.

The ProPublica and PBS Frontline story drew on hundreds of interviews, copies of documents found in court records, once-secret diplomatic cables, trial transcripts and work done by Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Firestone, whose Liberian rubber plantation was regarded as the largest in the world, signed a formal deal with Taylor in 1992, agreeing to pay the warlord millions in exchange for being able to operate in the country during the early, brutally violent years of its civil war.

Taylor, who later was convicted of war crimes for atrocities carried out in Sierra Leone, testified under oath during his trial at The Hague that Firestone's money and cooperation had been critical to his insurrection.

Firestone maintains that it dealt with Taylor only under threat of violence and in order to preserve its investment and provide for thousands of its Liberian workers. It insists the company broke no laws, and that Liberia to this day benefits from its presence in Liberia.

Liberia has long been exploited for its rich natural resources and its occasional geopolitical usefulness – by its own leaders, as well as by foreign powers and global businesses. The country's historians have argued that the interests of the Liberian people have routinely lost out to the political or business deal of the moment.

To Edwin B. Cisco, news of the union's 1996 decision to make peace with Firestone and stay quiet about the company's dealings in Liberia carries a familiar sting. Cisco, the vice president of the union that represents employees on the company's rubber plantation outside the capital city of Monrovia, said he wished the steelworkers had made their findings about Firestone and Taylor public in order to hold the company accountable for its actions.

Cisco, though, was reluctant to criticize the American union too harshly, noting that he and his workers have received extensive training and support from the steelworkers over the last decade. And, as a union boss himself, he recognized the obligations the steelworkers had to their American members during the 1996 standoff.

"To be frank, they've recently done immensely well in providing moral and financial support toward the Liberian workforce, not just for Firestone workers, but other workers as well," Cisco said. 'They need to be commended for that."

ProPublica was given access to the union's boxes of Liberian material by a person who thought the union erred in not releasing the information at the time to help Liberian workers, and believes that Firestone still needs to improve its treatment of workers.

The boxes contained a formal investigative report, videos of scenes from the Firestone plantation, and internal union memos and correspondence. ProPublica disclosed the nature of the material to the steelworkers and Firestone in seeking explanations for the events of 1996.

The labor showdown between Firestone and its workers traced its roots to 1994, when Bridgestone, through its American subsidiary, Firestone, along with several other foreign tire companies, began demanding substantial wage and benefit concessions from American rubber workers.

In the summer of 1994, thousands of American rubber workers walked off the job at Firestone factories in five states. Numerous bargaining sessions were held, but the environment only worsened. Permanent replacement workers were hired by Firestone. Unfair labor practice complaints were filed by both sides.

The protracted strike depleted the treasury of the United Rubber Workers, which represented the Firestone workers, and in 1995 the union was forced to merge with the United Steelworkers of America. Once the steelworkers came on board, leaders assembled a strategy team to identify potential vulnerabilities for Bridgestone Firestone. Then union president George Becker later described his game plan to academic researchers.

"The last thing I wanted the company to think about before [they] went to bed at night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, is all the problems and difficulties we caused them that day," said Becker. "And the first thing I wanted them to think of when they woke up is, oh Christ, I've got to go out and face them sons of bitches again."

Through the spring and summer of 1996, investigators with the steelworkers and the James Mintz Group, a private investigation firm, began gathering evidence of Firestone's relationship with Taylor. Investigators conducted interviews with former U.S. diplomats, academics, journalists and Liberian government officials, obtaining thousands of pages of documents.

Taylor, a onetime member of the government of Liberian President Samuel K. Doe, had launched a bid to topple Doe's regime in 1990. He assembled a rag tag army, one populated by child soldiers who became infamous for their atrocities and efforts at the ethnic cleansing of certain tribes in Liberia.

Taylor gained control of much of the country, and declared himself the de facto president. But he was not formally recognized by the United States, and the American State Department, among other agencies, chronicled his human rights abuses.

The documents the union turned up showed Firestone officials had initially embraced the idea that Taylor and his men were "freedom fighters," not terrorist rebels. The union's investigators asserted they had found evidence that Firestone had used humanitarian aid as a means to gain commercial advantages in Liberia from Taylor's rebels. And the investigators also obtained a "memorandum of understanding" between Firestone and Taylor's guerilla organization in which the company agreed to use Taylor's fighters to safeguard the company's assets on the plantation. The investigators, in their reports to the union, noted that the company had never spoken publicly about the agreement with Taylor.

The union also claimed to have obtained credible proof that a Firestone comptroller had wired $230,000 to a Taylor rebel bank account in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 22, 1992, shortly after Taylor's forces launched Operation Octopus, a surprise attack on Monrovia that plunged the country into years of additional conflict.

The records show that investigators also purchased video footage that they intended to circulate as part of their evidence of Firestone's dealings with Taylor. One clip appears to show a relaxed Taylor and his rebels on the Firestone rubber plantation in the early days of the 1992 assault on Monrovia.

Another clip shows a member of a West African peacekeeping force showing journalists evidence of a mass grave of alleged victims of Taylor's army, a grave located on the Firestone plantation.

By September 1996, the steelworkers had pulled together their material, concluding in their report that, Bridgestone Firestone's, "role in the Liberian civil war is a stunning example of a transnational arrogance in the pursuit of profit, heedless of the human cost of its actions."

"[Bridgestone Firestone], in its rush to resume operations of its plantation, ignored the consequences of its collaboration with Taylor, which led to slaughter of its workers, their families and other civilians on the plantation," Jerry Fernandez, the union's head of corporate campaigns and the director of the 10-month investigation of Firestone, wrote in an Oct. 14, 1996 memo.

The documents reviewed by ProPublica make clear the union was confident that the material would influence negotiations.

"We are one of the few institutions, outside of the mass media, that has the resources, contacts and ability to target this information worldwide," Fernandez wrote in one memo. "Certainly [Bridgestone Firestone] knows the impact that this would have on sales and corporate relationships."

"[Bridgestone Firestone] must be convinced that we have the resources and the will to carry out the above," Fernandez wrote in another internal memo. "They must understand our resolve on this will be played out in terms of impacting their markets, reputation and sales as well as disrupting their normal business relationships."

Fernandez suggested the steelworkers prepare a "hard-hitting, professionally done, pamphlet" for public distribution, laying out the evidence of Bridgestone Firestone's complicity in prolonging the Liberian civil war and urging American consumers and retailers to stop using rubber products that, "are made a by company that, literally, has blood on its hands," Fernandez wrote.

Upon publication of the pamphlet, the union would hold a press conference to announce its findings or, alternatively, leak materials to a major U.S. newspaper. The campaign, Fernandez suggested, should culminate in a high level contact between the steelworkers and Bridgestone Firestone representatives. The Japanese government, he suggested, should also be looped into the campaign "so they can gauge some of the trade and international aspects of the actions of one of their biggest corporations."

Fernandez did not respond to requests for comment.

On Oct. 30, 1996, the union's corporate campaign department prepared a document that briefly explained the key findings from their investigation into the company's actions in Liberia during the civil war to present to Vice President Al Gore, who was visiting the Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh. It is unclear whether Gore ever received the documents. Efforts to speak to Gore were not successful.

The next day, Oct. 31, the steelworkers entered into secret talks with Bridgestone Firestone. Soon, a deal was done, and then announced. As part of the agreement, the company agreed to rehire all workers dismissed during the strike and to give employees their first across-the-board raises since 1982 as well as partial back pay. In exchange, the union agreed to end the strike and its highly visible negative campaign against the company.

On the day of the announcement, Becker, the union president, called it a "historic day for the union and the entire labor movement," according to news reports at the time. For Firestone's Liberian workforce, the new accord would do nothing to help address their own grievances against the company, which included demands for better wages and back pay.

In September of 1997, less than a month after Taylor became president of Liberia, Firestone workers launched a strike on the rubber plantation. Taylor responded in typically harsh fashion, sending in police to quash the demonstration. According to the Associated Press, the police opened fire on the protestors and several strikers were killed.

"It was basically a police state during Taylor's time," said Edwin Cisco, vice president of the union representing Firestone workers in Liberia. "The government wasn't interested in labor standards."

Today, Bridgestone remains one of the largest manufacturers of tires and rubber products in the world. The company has, by and large, been able to avoid strikes in factories across the U.S. in recent years.

In Liberia, Firestone remains the largest taxpayer and private employer in Liberia. The company says that it offers some of the best wages and benefits in the region to the company's employees and their families, including free housing, subsidized food, paid time off and a pension. The company says that since 2004, it has injected more than $1 billion into the Liberian economy.

Firestone also recently revamped the Firestone Natural Rubber website, a kind of online history of the company that was largely silent on its role in the Liberian civil war. The site now includes a detailed defense of the company's actions.

In May 2013, the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia and management signed to a three-year collective bargaining agreement. The contract expires at the end of the year.

Cisco commended Firestone management for addressing some of workers' concerns regarding wages, benefits, and living conditions.

Still, Cisco said, many Firestone rubber workers to this day find themselves forced to enlist family members to complete their daily workload on the plantation. He said union leaders intend to make that one of the issues in the next round of negotiations.

"These workers have to pay others who assist them out of their own pockets," Cisco said. "Firestone should be paying for that, not the workers out of their own pockets."

Help us investigate: If you have experience with or information about the United Steelworkers of America campaign or the Firestone companies dealings in Liberia, email t.christian.miller@propublica.org.

News Articles, Post VII

(All pictures have been removed from the articles because they take up so much memory in each post. To see the pictures use the web address and visit the sites of the newspapers.)

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/200-schools-would-be-enough-to-satisfy-nonreligious-parents-34114245.html

200 schools 'would be enough' to satisfy non-religious parents

Katherine Donnelly

PUBLISHED

16/10/2015 | 02:300 

Small number of non-religious schools: Dr Ken Fennelly

Just 200 of the existing 3,300 primary schools would be needed to serve parents who want a non-religious education for their children, according to the secretary of the Church of Ireland board of education, Dr Ken Fennelly.

Dr Fennelly said figures from the Central Statistics Office indicated that 27,238 parents with a child of between five and 12 were "expressly no religion", which equated to the number of Protestant children in the same age-bracket in the country.

"Given that less than 200 schools is enough to serve the Protestant minority then it would not be, in my estimation, too much of a leap to say that the same number would serve non-religious parents," he said.

Speaking at the same event, organised by the pro-religion organisation, the Iona Institute, Professor Eamonn Conway of Mary Immaculate teacher training college, Limerick, described as "bizarre", proposals to teach a compulsory world religions course in primary schools, including faith-based schools, called 'Education about Religions and Beliefs' (ERB).

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is at an advanced stage of preparation on the proposed new ERB programme but Professor Conway said its introduction in faith-based schools "would undoubtedly adversely affect religious instruction and characteristic ethos".

Meanwhile, sociologists in Trinity College Dublin say religious education in Irish primary schools should not promote any particular religion.

Growing secularisation and the arrival of new culturally and religiously diverse migrants are posing new challenges, particularly in primary schools under Catholic patronage, according to the paper published in the British Journal of Religious Education. The research was undertaken by Prof Daniel Faas, Beata Sokolowska and Dr Merike Darmody.

Meanwhile, Dublin City University (DCU) president Professor Brian MacCraith told the annual conference of National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) that the education debate in Ireland was still centred on a lot of the things that were being discussed 40 years ago, including Junior Certificate reform and religious education.

He said that as Ireland emerged from a lengthy period of austerity, it was time for a step-change in the approach to education and it was "imperative that we develop a bold, new ambition for the system".

Irish Independent

http://bcc.rcav.org/canadian/2461-low-birth-rate-threatens-our-future

Low birth rate threatens our future

Tuesday, 26 February 2013 12:32

New study warns that 'population aging is key demographic issue'

By Deborah Gyapong

Canadian Catholic News

OTTAWA — The country's social safety net could be in trouble as the population continues to age warns a new study by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC).

 “Population aging is the key demographic issue in Canada today,” wrote IMFC researcher Derek Miedema in a study released in Feb. 2013 entitled “Forty years below replacement: Canada’s population is aging. What we can—and can’t—do about it.”

“Many still worry about a population explosion. There’s a lingering picture of people hanging on to the edge of the globe for lack of space that remains in peoples’ minds,” wrote Miedema. “The reality is that we need to pay attention to an explosion of senior citizens instead.”

 Even if the nation's population grows through immigration, that growth does not take aging into account, he says.  The country-wide birthrate has been below replacement rate for the past 40 years.  In 2010, Canada was short 109,000 babies to replace its population. Miedema said 1,022,971 more babies were needed since 2002. 

In the next 25 years, as baby boomers hit their 80s, there will be a decline in the labour force that is already seeing shortages in areas such as health care, mining, engineering and science, he said.

“Tax dollars pay for our EI benefits, healthcare and pensions,” Miedema wrote. But the impact is more than financial, he warned, pointing to the 2010 rioting in Greece over austerity measures.

 Other social consequences will be fewer relatives, including grandchildren, and friends to support elderly seniors.  “There’s also a question of what it means for children to grow up with fewer siblings, cousins and friends.”

The last time Canada met a 2.1 replacement fertility rate was 1971, about 40 years ago, he wrote.

Miedema pointed out how closely the abortion rate tracks with Canada’s replacement rate, noting “if every aborted baby had been born in 2006, 2009 and 2020 a replacement fertility rate would have been reached or surpassed. In 2007 and 2008, the replacement rate would have come close to being met. He noted abortion statistics are underreported. 

In addition to abortion, delayed childbirth and the birth control pill are also responsible for the low fertility replacement rate of 1.63 children per woman of child-bearing age.  Each woman would need to bear 2.2 children to replace the existing population.

Immigration cannot solve the problem, he said, noting the Baby Boomer generation is “so large that no realistic number of young immigrants could balance them out.”

There is “no quick fix” for the problem, Miedema said, especially government intervention.

“Governments need to step back and allow for family freedom,” Miedema wrote. “They can do this by leveling the playing field between families and individuals.”

 He urged government to institute a delayed promise to introduce income splitting so that one income married couples would be taxed at the same rate as dual-income couples. 

Japan is a case study for problems Canada will face soon with an aging population.  Elderly Japanese over 65 make up one fifth of population.

“Where Japanese workers used to be able to carry the cost of the social safety net for one retiree on the shoulders of many, by 2050 the cost for one retiree will be borne by a single worker,” he wrote.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadas-birthrate-falls-for-3rd-year-in-a-row-to-161

FAMILY , POPULATION CONTROL

Thu Jul 11, 2013 - 4:00 pm EST

Canada’s birthrate falls for 3rd year in a row, to 1.61

Thaddeus Baklinski

OTTAWA, July 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) ­ The recent increase in Canada's birthrate has receded again, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada.

In its Fertility Overview of the years 2009 to 2011 released yesterday, StatsCan reported that in 2009 the total fertility rate dropped to 1.67, then to 1.63 in 2010, and to 1.61 in 2011, the most recent year for which numbers are available.

In 2011, there were 377,636 births in Canada, up slightly from the previous year when 377,213 were born. Both are lower than 2009, when there were 380,863 births.

With a total fertility rate of 1.61, Canada is falling further and further away from the 2.1 children per woman required to replace the population in the absence of migration.

"It’s been more than 40 years since Canadians had enough children to replace themselves," said Derek Miedema, a researcher with the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.

"In 2010, Canada was 109,000 babies short of replacement.

Since 2002, we’re behind a whopping 1,022,971," Miedema observed.

Click "like" if you are PRO­LIFE!

A table from StatsCan showing total fertility rates from 1926 to 2011 reveals that the last year when Canadian women had enough children to keep the population stable was 1971.

In 2008, StatsCan reported that the total fertility rate had inched up for a sixth consecutive year, rising from 1.53 children per woman in 2003 to 1.68 in 2008. In 2008 there were 377,886 live births in Canada. This was well up from the 328,802 babies born in 2002, which was an all­time low and represented 10.5 live births per 1,000 population, the lowest since vital statistics were recorded nationally in 1921.

In 1926, the average number of children per woman was 3.36. This dropped to 2.64 in 1937 at the height of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The baby boom that followed the Second World War saw the birth rate rise to more than 3 children per woman again, with the apogee being reached in 1959 with a birth rate of 3.94.

With some variation, which StatsCan attributes to economic influences, the table shows a steadily declining birth rate.

Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories had the highest fertility rates in the country, with only Nunavut's rate of 2.97 meeting replacement level.

By contrast, British Columbia had the lowest fertility rate of the country, at 1.42. It was followed by Newfoundland at 1.45 and Nova Scotia at 1.47.

StatsCan reports that the overall decrease in the total fertility rate in Canada over the past four decades is due to steady declines in fertility rates of all age groups under age 30. In contrast, the fertility rates of those aged 30 and over have generally increased.

The report says that in 2011, the age­specific fertility rate for women aged 30 to 34 was the highest of all groups with 105.9 births per 1,000 women, while for 25­ to 29­year­olds it was 95.2.

"In general," StatsCan reported, "the period throughout the 1980s to the present has seen the lowest fertility rates for young women in the data observed since 1926."

Derek Miedema explained that the drop in fertility rates among younger women and the rising rates among women in their 30s and 40s has also contributed to the dearth of children born in Canada.

"Another reason we aren’t having more kids is that we’re having kids later," Miedema said.

"Waiting to have kids means fewer kids for people who don’t want to be a 50­year­old parent chasing a toddler. We’re having kids later, in part, because we are marrying later. We’re having kids later and marrying later, in part, because sex and babies are no longer connected, courtesy of oral contraceptives, aka the Pill."

Miedema said the answer to the problem of Canadian demographics lies not in immigration or "baby bonus" cash incentives, but in government policies that allow parents to have the number of children they want to have.

A World Values Survey, conducted by a network of social scientists, found Canadians’ ideal number of children is actually 2.7.

"Canadians say in polls that they want to have more kids than they actually have," Miedema said. "Governments should allow families to keep more of their money, since finances are a top concern for most. Income splitting, promised but not yet instituted federally, is a huge step in that direction."

"Reality calls all of us to make a choice: Have more kids or deal with lower healthcare coverage, lower pensions and a smaller economy," Miedema concluded. "In that light, we might just consider having more kids."

The Statistics Canada birth rate report is available here.

A report on Canada's demographic situation by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, released on February 15, 2013 and titled, "Forty years below replacement. Canada’s population is aging. What we can—and can’t—do about it" is available here.