Romanow Report ignores what makes Canadians sick “
That's why Ron Colman wants people to look beyond "The Future of Health Care In Canada," and start thinking about getting healthier. Colman, director of GPI Atlantic, a non-profit research group dedicated to measuring sustainable development, says Romanow has produced "a very powerful and first rate report on one of three burning health questions, and that's how to treat people who are sick. The other two are how do you improve the health of Canadians, and how do you curb spiraling health care costs?"
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October 24, 2002, New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal ~ Roger LeBlanc
Anti-tobacco coalition unveils initiatives, including helpline, Web site “
The coalition's literature says tobacco use kills 1,300 New Brunswickers annually. As well, people here smoke more cigarettes per day than other Canadians at a rate of 19 cigarettes. Data presented at the meeting by researcher GPI Atlantic also showed a total of 27 per cent of all New Brunswickers smoke, with 21 per cent of New Brunswick workers being exposed to second-hand smoke and 26 per cent of children exposed to second-hand smoke.
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Saturday, October 19, 2002, The Daily News, Halifax ~ Peter McLaughlin
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Nova Scotians battling the bulge and their unhealthy lifestyles should give up their remote controls and fatty diets if they want to help the province save the $3 billion it costs taxpayers to battle chronic illness, Health Minister Jamie Muir said Friday.
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Friday, October 18, 2002, The Daily News, Halifax ~ Beverley Ware
Study finds preventable illnesses are creating an 'enormous economic burden' “
Chronic illness costs each Nova Scotian $3,200 a year, according to a new study released in Halifax yesterday.
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But nearly half of those diseases are preventable, the study’s author says, and so if people started living healthier the province could save nearly $3 billion a year.
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We currently measure our progress and gauge our well-being according to a narrow set of indicators -- our economic growth rates. "The more the economy grows, the better off we are" or so the theory goes. Yet vital social and environmental factors remain invisible in these measures.
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Colman isn't the first guy to look askance at the GDP. Groups all over North America and Europe are trying to develop a comprehensive wellness index of one sort or another. Colman's group is a little different in two ways. One is that he attaches dollar figures to his calculations, the second is that he isn't driven by a political agenda. He has used research from both the far right Fraser Institute and the union-funded Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in his work. He has looked at costs of crime, which is a hot-button issue for the Canadian Alliance, and the depletion of natural resources, which is an issue dear to the NDP.
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Friday, September 6, 2002 from The Daily News ~ Stephen Bornais
GPI agriculture reports put a high value on diversity, both domestic and natural “ Nova Scotia needs greater integration of ruminant livestock production with row crop farming. That's the common thread linking two reports released this September by the non-profit research group GPI Atlantic. ”
Friday, September 6, 2002 from The Halifax Herald
Combining animals, crops key to wealth?
Farmers group criticizes parts of report on soil quality as impractical
September 6, 2002 ~ Linda Pannozzo, BSC, BEd, BJ
GPI Atlantic response to questions from Andrew Howard, KPMG
Inactivity is a burden on society and our cities should be tailored towards hoofing it or biking it “
Physical inactivity is taking a terrible toll on the health of our city, our province our country - and our economy. This toll is spelled out clearly in a new report prepared by GPI Atlantic for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia, The Cost of Physical Inactivity in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
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Nearly half of Halifax's population over the age of 12 is inactive, and this costs Nova Scotia $68 million a year in direct and indirect costs. It is also the cause of 200 premature deaths a year.
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June 13, 2002, The Halifax Herald
Inactive Nova Scotians cost medicare millions - study
June 12, 2002
GPI Atlantic Response to N.S. Tourism Coalition Statement
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When you think about your well-being, the national gross domestic product is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But politicians, industry and the mainstream media regularly use the GDP, and other measures of economic activity, to indicate social progress. Ron Colman says we value what we measure. So in 1997 he founded Genuine Progress Index Atlantic, a non-profit research group in Nova Scotia, to develop a more holistic measure of progress. By next year, Colman hopes to be able to paint a picture of Nova Scotia's progress that places economic activity alongside the environmental and social factors that shape community and well-being. Last month, Colman and I met in a Buddhist community center in Tantallon, Nova Scotia. Sitting with his arm thrown over the back of the couch, glancing out at the spring woods beyond the open window, Colman's eyes grew wider when he talked about how the GPI can help create a better world.
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Clearly, we need to have a longer vision of government in Nova Scotia if we want to leave our children a better tomorrow. The long-term vision of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party is centred on improving the health and wellness of Nova Scotians. We look forward to a day when Nova Scotia sets the standard in health and wellness in Canada. This goal makes economic and social sense, and will have a long-lasting positive impact on all Nova Scotians.
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Tuesday, May 7, 2002, The PEI Guardian ~ Doug Gallant
Report states that province could save $16 million a year if it implemented smoke-free legislation municipalities want “
Findings released Monday by Dr. Ron Colman of GPI Atlantic on the economic impact of smoke-free workplaces suggests smoke-free legislation could save P.E.I. $16 million a year in health costs and productivity losses.
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Colman, director of the non-profit research group, made his findings public at a press conference hosted by the Council for a Smoke-Free P.E.I. in Charlottetown.
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“ THERE'S TOO much clearcutting going on in Nova Scotia's forests. ¶ That's what I heard from almost every person – including a government official, woodlot owner, contractor and several environmentalists – that I interviewed recently. ¶ There's a lot of debate over whether we're overcutting but, perhaps surprisingly, the people I talked to basically agreed that the level of clearcutting – representing between 94 and 99 per cent of all harvesting, depending on whose figures you accept – needs to be reduced. ”
“ If the powers that be accepted that even a significant fraction of forest activity should be selection cutting, it might break the ice and be considered the beginning of progress. It might also ease the pressure for protected areas, since a select-cut forest is an intact forest even while being cut. But money, big technology and old Nova Scotia politics – an unfortunate mix – dictate otherwise. Meanwhile, watch for the next round. The tensions necessarily rise as the slaughter progresses. ”
April 9, 2002, The Daily News, Halifax ~ David Swick
Money from a tax on junk food could go to health care “
Nova Scotians, by and large, are lousy eaters. We guzzle pop by the gallon, are the king of donairs. Hundreds of thousands of us eat bad food a lot of the time. And this is a major factor in our health-care crisis.
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Thursday, March 7, 2002, The Daily News, Halifax ~ Ronald Colman
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No wise decision, and no accurate reckoning of costs and benefits are possible when we ignore half the equation, when we ignore the costs of not controlling our blood pressure, and of not curbing our greenhouse gas emissions. When a risk is potentially catastrophic, we err on the side of caution. We follow the doctor's advice. We wear seat belts and bicycle helmets, even when the risk of death and catastrophe is remote. And we carry that logic forward to future generations. We regularly make sacrifices for our children to ensure their safety, security and wellbeing.
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“ A recent report says Nova Scotia has done little to stop the squandering of its forest resources. GPI Atlantic, a non- profit research group, released its Forest Accounts in November, 2001. The document proposes a new way of measuring success in forest management, based on a broad range of economic, social, and ecological criteria. It concludes that we are failing mightily. ¶ The study blames high-grading, land-clearing, and clearcut harvesting for the diminished quality of Nova Scotia forests overall. It cites data indicating dramatic reductions in mature and old-growth forests, and losses in age-class and species diversity. It says our forests are becoming less economically valuable and more vulnerable to disease and insect infestation. ”
Mar. 5, 2002, The Halifax Herald ~ Paul Schneidereit
“ TO SAY that environmentalists and industrial foresters are not on speaking terms took on a literal – and extremely unfortunate – new reality last week. ¶ Last Tuesday, three groups pushing to reduce clearcutting in Nova Scotia's forests quit the only organization where environmentalists, industry, government and private woodlot owners directly discuss, together, the issues that concern them all. ”
“ Two centuries of removing the best trees and clear cutting have severely degraded Nova Scotia's natural forest wealth, said Mr. Ron Colman, head of GPI Atlantic, in the February 4th meeting called by local protesters Brad Armstrong and Rudy Haase in Chester. ¶ Ninety nine percent of the forest cutting in the province is clear cutting, he emphasized. ”
Feb. 6, 2002, Progress Enterprise. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
“ Brad Armstrong of the Kaiser Meadow Brook Conservation Group called for the meeting of environmentalists, municipal and provincial government representatives, Bowater Mersey representatives and the media to discuss the issue of clear-cutting in the Kaiser Meadow Brook area. ¶ An overflow crowd packed council chambers. However, according to Martin Rudy Haase of the Friends of Nature Conservation Society, Bowater declined the invitation to attend. ”
Tuesday, February 5, 2002, The Globe and Mail ~ Kevin Cox
“ International forestry giant Bowater Mersey Paper Co. took some of the steam out of a news conference called by environmental groups yesterday by announcing over the weekend that it had temporarily ended its logging operations in a remote area north of Chester. ¶ The company, which operates a large pulp mill in Liverpool, N.S., has been criticized by some local residents and environmentalists who accuse loggers of cutting century-old trees and disrupting habitat for everything from moose to Atlantic salmon. ”
Tuesday, February 5, 2002, The Halifax Daily News ~ Brian Flinn
“ Bowater Mersey wants the province to review the way it’s been cutting trees in a disputed area near Chester, but environmentalists say it would be meaningless. ¶ The pulp and paper company has stopped clear cutting trees in the Kaiser Meadow-Timber Lake area until June. In the meantime, it wants government bureaucrats to determine if it’s meeting logging regulations. ”
February, 2002, The Masthead News, St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia
“ Two centuries of removing the best trees and clear cutting have severely degraded Nova Scotia's natural forest wealth, said Mr. Ron Colman, head of GPI Atlantic, in the February 4th meeting called by local protesters Brad Armstrong and Rudy Haase in Chester. ¶ Ninety nine percent of the forest cutting in the province is clear cutting, he emphasized. ”
January 21, 2002, The Halifax Herald
Group urges realistic fish assessment
Sunday January 20, 2002, The Halifax Herald ~ Silver Donald Cameron
Dividing our economy into two sectors ignores an important third component “ The main obstacles to progress usually lie between our ears. Job creation and "development" provide a prime example. We are told that job-creation is driven by the "private sector" - privately-owned enterprises, motivated by profit. The role of the government - the "public sector" - is to assist the private sector. If the private sector succeeds, it will create a light rain of jobs, falling on the parched population. ¶ This seems an oblique policy at best. The private sector fundamentally has no interest in job creation. Its objective is profit, and jobs are merely a byproduct. The fewer workers it can hire, the happier it is. Worse, this simplistic public/private model completely overlooks a powerful third sector which is neither private nor public, a sector which seems invisible to theory and is constantly ignored by policy-makers. ”
Friday, January 18, 2002, The Daily News, Halifax ~ Richard Dooley
“ Charles said 37 ecological, social and institutional indicators may provide a more accurate picture of the health of fish stocks and coastal communities. ¶ The indicators — including such things as measuring how many commercially unacceptable fish are dumped overboard, measuring debt levels and bankruptcies among fishermen, and determining contamination levels in fish — should be weighed with estimates of the size of fish stocks to get a better picture of the health of the industry. ”
Friday, January 18, 2002, The Globe and Mail ~ Kevin Cox
Briefing Determining fish stocks complex, expert says
“ The recently released two volume report, The Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index Forest Accounts, highlights two Victoria County forestry related enterprises. ”
January 7, 2002, The Halifax Herald
Man fighting to protect forest from clear cutting
GPIAtlantic
535 Indian Point Road
Glen Haven, NS
Canada B3Z 2T5
Phone: (902) 489-2524
Fax: (902) 826-7088 info@gpiatlantic.org
