Newsclips

Two news links:

• Anti-semitic remarks from an NDP candidate. So I've been pretty unforgiving of offensive statements from the Conservatives. Why can I overlook this? Partially, Jack Layton's response to the comments was the right response (in my opinion), and differs significantly from Harper's response to, say, Gallant. Malcolm Azania appears to be accepting the right amount of blame for his words, and I generally believe that he doesn't believe what he said ten years ago.
  
  
• Here's an interesting commentary on hate speech laws, and the sort of arguments that the right is using regarding them. I found the stats interesting: 16 cases in Ontario in 3 years.
  
  

Health Care

Here's yet another study of cost differences between Canadian and US health care.

According to the authors [of one of the papers], if the U.S. were to adopt Canada's single-payer system, it would save approximately $286-billion a year in administrative costs ($982 per capita). The thorny problem of 43 million Americans without health insurance -- whom it would cost about $69-billion a year to insure -- could be eliminated, with money to spare.

(She adds, politically: this is the healthcare that Harper wants more corporate involvement in).

One line of argument that isn't pursued in the article (and which, sadly, I can't cite any research on): a government that must pay the health care expenses of its citizens necessarily takes a different view of such things as food testing and administration.