A British Columbia Call To Action: Because Everyone Matters

BC Politics

COUNT-ME-IN

The countdown to the 38th British Columbia election is underway, the official dropping of the writ mere hours away.
Over the course of the next 30 days, VanRamblings will post daily opinion on issues surrounding this most important mid-decade provincial election.
To kick things off, VanRamblings offers the following clickable links:

  • Tommy Douglas: Standing just five foot six and weighing just 148 pounds, Tommy Douglas’ voice booms and echoes with passion in this radio broadcast, where the, then, federal NDP leader tells the story of Mouseland. Although the speech was originally given some 43 years ago, the sentiments expressed are relevant still today.
  • The Hospital Employees Union: Across British Columbia, over the last four years, Gordon Campbell’s Liberals have closed 1,464 long-term care beds, 1200 hospital beds, while waiting lists are up by 30 percent, and hospitals and emergency rooms have closed in communities across British Columbia despite fervent opposition — including St. Mary’s Hospital in New Westminster and the only hospital in Kimberley. For a more graphic illustration of the cuts to health, click here.

Over on the right-hand side of the screen at the top, please find a series of links to election-oriented websites. In the coming days, the list of websites and blogs will continue to grow. See you back here often.

An Idea On The Shelf: Cancer Prevention In Canada

Environment

CANCER-IN-CANADA

In 2005, why isn’t addressing the environmental causes of cancer in the Canadian government’s official cancer control strategy? Andrea Smith, writing in The Dominion, reminds us that in 2002 the federal government announced it had devised the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control, a federal initiative designed to improve the co-ordination and delivery of treatment, prevention, palliative services and research in Canada.
To date, though, the federal agency developed to implement the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control has yet to put into place any sort of co-ordinated cancer control strategy, and the work of the National Cancer Leadership Forum (NCLF) — an organization representing cancer care and advocacy agencies across the country — remains an idea left forgotten on a dusty shelf somewhere in Ottawa, deep within the bowels of government.
While Paul Martin’s federal Liberal government dithers, this year alone approximately 68,000 Canadians will die from cancer.

And The Academy Awards Should Go To …

Cinema

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With the 77th annual Academy Awards nearing, and not having posted regularly for almost three months now (heck, I’ve been busy), perhaps now is as good a time as any to post VanRamblings’ very own Academy Awards.
In alphabetical order, VanRamblings’ five Best Pictures nominees for 2004 demand your attention, touch the heart, and seek to cause a fundamental shift in how you see the role of film in contemporary culture …

  • Closer: One of the best written, most well-acted and best directed films of 2004. If you don’t fall in love with Natalie Portman, appreciate the music of Patrick Marber’s script and Mike Nichols’ peerless cinematic composition of this tour-de-force work, TV may be right up your alley as the medium of choice.
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: With tour-de-force performances from Jim Carrey (yes, Jim Carrey) and the always exquisite Kate Winslet, and a knock it out of the ballpark script by Charlie Kaufman (not to mention, outstanding direction by Michel Gondry), it’s nothing short of criminal that Sunshine will not be one of the Best Picture contenders on Sunday night.
  • Man on Fire: Simply because there was no more honest relationship captured onscreen in 2004 than that which exists within this film between Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington.
  • Metallica - Some Kind of Monster: Riveting and endlessly fascinating, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s documentary look at America’s pre-eminent heavy metal group ranks as one of the must-see films of 2004.
  • Million Dollar Baby: Lean, spare and unlike any other Hollywood film released in 2004, this is the movie that should win the Best Picture Oscar, simply because it’s the only worthy contender among the nominated films.