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news
WEEKEND, JANUARY 27-29, 2012
C-sections not being delisted, says Matthews
Costa. Concordia
BERNARD WEIL/TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
A Taiwan-based animator created a YouTube video that marries the Titanic with the doomed voyage of the Costa Concordia and turned it into a comedy bit, releasing it while rescue efforts were still underway. METRO SCREENGRAB
Taiwanese twist on ship disaster Blaming the Costa Concordia tragedy on “Captain Coward Francesco Schettino,” a 90-second animated clip by Taipei-based Next Media Animation shows him performing dangerous stunts, including navigating the ship through flaming hoops. Then after the hull is sliced open by a reef, and the Concordia begins to take on water, he bolts past women and children to jump on a lifeboat.
Ontario ripped off by equalization: Duncan Finance minister demands release of report revealing Ontario gets shortchanged Feds say study is outdated Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is demanding Ottawa release a classified federal report that reveals Ontario gets shortchanged by the national equalization wealth-sharing scheme. In the wake of revelations in the Star, Duncan wrote Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Thursday urging the federal government to lift the veil of secrecy shrouding the 67-page study. “The report makes it increasingly clear that because of the policies of the government of Canada, Ontario families are subsidizing programs and services in other parts of Canada
Counterattack Federal officials countered that the study had been surpassed by other research. “The report in question was prepared in 2005-06, well before our Conservative government’s landmark changes to the transfer system and before Ontario qualified for equalization for the first time ever,” said a senior official.
that Ontarians themselves do not enjoy,” the Ontario treasurer wrote. Duncan fired off his letter after the Star obtained
an uncensored version of a 2006 report entitled, “An Operational Expenditure Need Equalization Formula for Canada.” Written by Peter Gusen, then director of federalprovincial relations at the finance department in Ottawa, it concluded Ontario and B.C. are at a severe disadvantage to Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. That’s because the federal government does not take into account that it’s more expensive to live and work in some provinces than others when doling out funds from the $15.4billion equalization pool.
Ontario's Liberal government scrambled Thursday to clarify it will not force pregnant women to pay for caesarean sections, after suggesting earlier this week that the procedure would no longer be covered by medicare. Health Minister Deb Matthews said Wednesday that research shows Ontario doctors perform more C-sections than colleagues in other jurisdictions, and suggested the procedure could be delisted from OHIP to help save money and trim a $16-billion deficit. Matthews clarified her position at a news conference Thursday, but left the door open to having C-sections covered only when they are deemed to be medically necessary. “I want to make this very clear: we are not delisting caesarean sec-
28%
The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences indicates more than 28 per cent of hospital births in Ontario are Csections. Health Minister Deb Matthews
tions,” she told reporters. Matthews declined to comment on the suggestion the government would always pay for a Csection recommended by a doctor, but doesn't want to pay when the procedure has been scheduled for convenience sake. “We are not delisting caesarean sections,” she said when pressed. The province's health quality council will talk
with experts and review all the evidence before recommending what services should or should not be publicly funded, added Matthews. The Ontario Association of Midwives wants the government to fund the creation of free-standing birthing centres, which it says would have to perform far fewer C-sections than hospitals and give women a communitybased option for having their baby. THE CANADIAN PRESS
Two charged Soldiers, in child pilot feted porn probe for valour
Breast implant boss arrested
Two Bruce County men are facing child pornography charges. Provincial police and Saugeen Shores police executed search warrants at two homes after an undercover investigation online. William Mason, 45, of Chesley and Ryan Clendinning, 29, of Port Elgin are charged with accessing child porn and possession of child porn. Investigators say five computers and external media were seized in the raids. THE CANADIAN PRESS
Seven members of the Canadian Forces received the Medal of Military Valour from Governor General David Johnston in a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Thursday. The country's third-highest valour decoration was awarded to pilot William Todd Fielding and six soldiers, including MasterCpl. Adam Holmes, MasterCpl. Gilles-Remi Mikkelson, Pte. Philip Millar, MasterCpl. Paul Mitchell, Pte. John Nelson, and Sgt. Graham Verrier. THE CANADIAN PRESS
The former head of a French company at the centre of a breast implant scandal affecting tens of thousands of women worldwide has been arrested in southeast France. Jean-Claude Mas, who founded and ran the nowdefunct Poly Implant Prothese, was detained Thursday as part of a judicial investigation in Marseille into manslaughter and involuntary injuries, an official close to the investigation said.
calls the cramped interior of the brand new AW 139 helicopter a “high-risk environment.” His findings? Tough to do CPR. Hard to prop up a patient who is having difficulty breathing. Takes too long to load and unload a patient. Risky, too. Many equipment malfunctions. Even though paramedics have been warning the province and ORNGE for more than a year, it
took until this week for somebody to act. That came after new ORNGE Dr. Bruce boss Ron Sawadsky McKerlie discovered that the service’s medical director had never examined the problem.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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ORNGE patients at risk: Doctor ORNGE’s top doctor has checked out the medical interior of the air ambulance’s multi-million dollar helicopters and found a disaster waiting to happen. Dr. Bruce Sawadsky, in a report written Monday,
TONY BOCK/TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
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