German doctors' union urges against drug imports from China and India

In response to drug shortages, German doctors' union calls for expansion of production in Europe

26.12.2022


BERLIN

Faced with shortages of medicines, a German doctors' union is calling on the government to change course away from Chinese and Indian imports.

"For supply security, there needs to be significantly more transparency and completely new supply chains for medicines and their basic materials: Away from dependence on Chinese and Indian producers, and towards the expansion of medicine production in the EU," Susanne Johna, chair of the Marburger Bund union, told newsmagazine Der Spiegel.

"This isn’t just a matter for the health minister, this is also a matter for the economics minister," Johna added.

She said the measures recently presented by German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to combat the medicine shortage were "important first steps," but did not solve the basic problem.

"Higher prices for generics can be an incentive to increase production. But the fundamental reason for the drug shortage is not rebate contracts for individual drugs, but insecure supply chains," Johna added.

In light of the worsening COVID-19 situation in China, she said she expects supplies in this country to worsen.

"The high numbers of coronavirus infections in China has resulted in temporary local production stoppages, which is likely to further exacerbate our supply of basic medical ingredients and finished products."

Johna called for strengthening the EU as a pharmaceutical location.

"Relocating pharmaceutical production to Europe would not only result in supply security, but also in higher labor and environmental standards."

Shortly before Christmas, Federal Health Minister Lauterbach presented proposals for a better supply of, for example, antibiotics.

In a press release last week, the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices complained of a drug shortage, blaming hoarding by some pharmacies and wholesalers.

Another cause is that there are currently a lot of respiratory infections in children, which increases demand.

According to the institute, there are currently 330 reports of supply shortages of preparations.

How chosen families can be a lifeline for LGBTQ+ immigrants over the holidays

Sun, December 25, 2022

A group of people is pictured at a dinner gathering. For many members of the queer community, especially immigrants, Christmas is a holiday spent with their chosen families. (Mediteraneo/Adobe Stock - image credit)

The holiday season is synonymous with tree trimmings, turkey dinners and families coming together.

But for many queer immigrants, Christmas can be stressful and lonely. They say a chosen family can be a lifeline at these times.

"These are friends, your tribe that you find along your way as an immigrant. You slowly filter people out. And those that really stay are your soul mates," Ritesh Matlani, a filmmaker and floral designer based in Surrey, B.C., told CBC's The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn.

From Diwali to Christmas, Matlani says he celebrates all holidays with his chosen family.

"I didn't grow up with snow and with this kind of winter, so I appreciate it every year ... Christmas is the culmination of the good times," Matlani said.

He is not alone in this tradition.

Ben Nelms/CBC

Fredy Mendoza, a Vancouver-based movie art director and production design instructor at the Vancouver Film School, says he spends the holidays with his chosen family — a group of friends that have supported him "through thick and thin."

He recalls growing up in Cartagena, Colombia, feeling discriminated against as a queer Christian who didn't fit the mould during the holidays.

"It could be a really triggering moment in time for people in our community, but reclaiming it and making it ours and having a little bit of queerness to it is, I think, something powerful and beautiful," he said.

Both Mendoza and Matlani have found a way to brighten the holidays through their work.

As a floral designer, Matlani says his flowers always make it to the table when he visits his chosen family during Christmas parties and dinners.

"I ain't going to anyone's home without flowers that I've made or put together," he said with a laugh, adding that his friends now expect him to bring flowers for their tables.

"We have a set of skills, we're all artists and creative. And so we find ways to infuse the holidays with our own creativity."

Mendoza, who worked as an art director on three Christmas projects this year, says all his shows featured a queer person.

"I think that's such a powerful ... message for our community," he said.

"I really love that we are getting the chance to see more shows on TV that showcases different couples, different people and different skin tones."

Importance of chosen families

According to Jen Marchbank, chosen families are really important for queer people, especially queer seniors, also described as rainbow seniors.

The professor of gender, sexuality and women's studies at Simon Fraser University and vice president of Surrey Pride Society says rainbow seniors have less contact with families of birth than the majority of the population.

"Even if they do have family, if they do have children, they're less likely to be supported by them," she said.

Submitted by Jen Marchbank

She says rainbow organizations hold functions around this time of year to ensure there is connection and community for people who feel isolated.

"And that doesn't mean that you're choosing people to become an adopted granny or whatever," she adds.

She says it is an opportunity to build community, make connections and allow people to share some elements of their lives together.

"Whichever holiday you're celebrating, Hanukkah to Kwanzaa to Christmas, people can feel isolated. So providing opportunities where that isolation can be lessened, is a great opportunity."

Over the years, Marchbank and her wife, both immigrants to Canada, have organised Christmas get-togethers and dinners for LGBTQ+ youth who have been alienated from their families.

"This isn't just a piece of altruism," she said.

"It was a delight to be able to offer a celebrated community meal. An absolute privilege

Opinion: I’m a Muslim immigrant, and my Canadian-born children changed my perspective on Christmas

My children helped Christmas and its festive traditions find a place in my heart

Anam Latif·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada
Sun, December 25, 2022 

Muslim immigrant to Canada changes views on Christmas after having kids

Christmas music makes me cringe, unless it’s “Last Christmas” by George Michael. 

The sounds of strange old songs blaring through loudspeakers in retail stores doesn’t ring nostalgic for me, it just grates, like those cheesy tunes you would rather forget but aren’t given the opportunity to.

I may sound like a Grinch but nothing about North American Christmas traditions is sentimental to me because I grew up Muslim, in a Muslim country. Dec. 25 was just another day of winter break in my house, when my brother and I would watch endless hours of television as most '90s kids did on days off from school.

When I first came to Canada, I was charmed by Christmas light displays, and festive markets selling handmade ornaments and hot cider. That charm wore off as expectations to participate fully were thrust upon me by friends and Catholic in-laws.

For those who have known Christmas their entire lives, it is difficult to try to understand the perspective of someone like me, who did not grow up with the same traditions.

Eid-al-Fitr, the feast day that marks the end of Ramadan, was the equivalent of Christmas for me growing up. We ate delicious food every night during Ramadan, and on Eid we gobbled up sweets and wore new clothes. I wanted to recreate these traditions for my own children who were born in Canada and will grow up far from their Muslim relatives. It felt like an impossible challenge because Christmas was too overpowering to compete with.

So when my husband and I bought a house with our first baby in tow, I didn’t want to a put up a Christmas tree or lights. “It can’t overshadow Eid,” I said. Eid is not as flashy as Christmas, so the sparkly lights, presents and chocolate advent calendars would surely make Christmas seem more exciting to a child. When I was growing up, there were no Eid-specific objects to decorate one’s home with because Eid was a feeling, celebrated through food and togetherness.

This internal battle raged inside me as my children grew into observant toddlers. I soon realized I couldn’t deny them the joys of Christmas: I felt myself get excited with them as December neared and we shared new experiences together.

So I softened my rigid ideals: “Sure, let’s put up a Christmas tree,” I said. “I can knit some cute ornaments for it.”

We listened to Christmas music and baked Christmas cookies. We crunched on candy canes and watched Christmas movies like “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” and some I had never seen before like “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”



I also discovered that Canadian Muslims are incredibly resilient in the way they maintain their own traditions in this country, and so innovative. I found online shops that sold all kinds of Eid decorations. I started some new Eid traditions for our family and bought Ramadan-themed countdown calendars and decorative lanterns to hang around the house during Ramadan.

Turns out, my children love Eid just as much as they love Christmas.

Eid and Christmas do not have to be at war: We can enjoy and celebrate both holidays equally.

Christmas music still makes me cringe and maybe it always will, but my children helped Christmas and its festive traditions find a place in my heart.

Maybe next year we’ll put up Christmas lights.

XMAS QUAKE

Small earthquake hits Quebec's Charlevoix region early Sunday morning

Sun, December 25, 2022


MONTREAL — Earthquakes Canada confirmed that a 3.1 magnitude earthquake was felt in Quebec’s Charlevoix region this morning.

The federal agency reports that the small earthquake occurred at 4:51 a.m. on Sunday morning, about 10 kilometres southeast of Baie-Saint-Paul.

The agency says the tremor was “lightly felt” in the Charlevoix region.

It says no damages have been reported and none are expected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 25, 2022.

One B.C. professor is on a quest to understand women's love affair with true crime podcasts



Mon, December 26, 2022

Kathleen Rodgers is a sociology professor at the University of the Fraser Valley. (Mitch Huttema/University of the Fraser Valley Communications - image credit)

For Kathleen Rodgers, and like for so many women, listening to true crime podcasts started off as an escape from everyday life.

But Rodgers is a sociologist, so as she followed the exploding popularity of the genre, she couldn't help but notice the growing communities of fans online, and how they were responding to the grisly murders they were hearing about.

"There's a basic human interest in stories, and true crime stories are the best stories. They have mystery and crime and villains and justice," Rodgers told CBC.

"I also came to realize that I was interested in it for the same reason that a lot of other women were interested in it, which was that the fear of violence is something that a lot of women have on a daily basis."

That curiosity has become an academic fixation. Rodgers, an associate professor at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C., has now focused her research on women-centred true crime podcast fandoms and how they've become centres of debate and activism.

This summer, she published her first paper on the topic, titled "'F*cking Politeness' and 'Staying Sexy' While Doing It: Intimacy, Interactivity and the Feminist Politics of True Crime Podcasts."

It focuses on Facebook groups, Twitter accounts and Reddit communities connected to the popular podcast My Favorite Murder, and how fans use memes, jokes and personal stories to process what they're hearing, push back on victim-blaming narratives and find comfort in shared experiences.

She saw women stressing the importance of personal safety over the "politeness" referenced in the title of her paper, and even providing hyper-local tips about things like specific bus stops to avoid and suspicious strangers to watch out for.

'Catharsis' when justice is done

Rodgers was also able to speak to fellow true crime fans about why they're so attracted to stories about violence. As she had suspected, many women said they felt reassured to learn they weren't alone in their fears about strangers, dark alleys, domestic violence and sexual assault.

"There is also some catharsis to hearing about the fact that the kind of person that you fear, that was responsible for the kind of crime that you're afraid of, has been brought to justice," she said.

At the same time, Rodgers explored how online communities address some common criticisms of the true crime genre, including the "trauma porn" label.

For families of victims, it can be disturbing to hear strangers treating a loved one's death as entertainment. There are also criticisms of what sometimes feels like a celebration of serial killers, dehumanization of victims and the focus on victims who are young, white and pretty.

Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock

Rodgers found that fan communities are pushing back on these tropes and demanding a more thoughtful approach.

"For instance, a lot of hosts of traditional true crime might have used language like 'prostitutes,' and the community of listeners said, hey, that's not a helpful way of talking about women who are victims of crime," she said.

In response, she said she's seen a recent shift away from that language.

Rodger's research on My Favorite Murder goes on to describe a "series of explosive Facebook controversies" over the show's focus on white middle class victims.

"The podcast communities really broke this down and said, hey, yep, those are tragic stories. But what about the stories of the marginalized, racialized women who are much more likely to experience violence in the first place?" she said.

Since then, Rodgers writes that she has seen the podcast's hosts pay more attention to the risks faced by women of colour.

Her next research paper is tentatively titled "Are True Crime Podcasts Feminist?"

Right now, she's trying to quantify some of the trends she's observed, to see how the feedback and criticism directed at true crime podcasts is actually changing the way these stories are presented.

At the moment, Rodgers says she's between podcasts, but some of her all-time favourites include The Teacher's Pet, an Australian production that led to a conviction in a cold case murder, the Canadian podcasts Dark Poutine and Canadian True Crime, CBC's Uncover, and the podcast that kicked off the true crime craze, Serial.

Review of RBC's $13.5B takeover of HSBC Canada shows limits to system: critics

Mon, December 26, 2022 


TORONTO — Royal Bank of Canada's proposed $13.5-billion takeover of HSBC Bank Canada will face scrutiny from Canada's competition watchdogs in the year ahead, but critics say their leash is too short while efforts in the U.S. point to potential ways of doing it better.

The proposed deal comes amid a widespread rethink in how corporate consolidation has been treated for decades, with potential new rules in the works both in Canada and the U.S.

Current Canadian laws generally don't challenge an acquisition over market power concerns if it leaves the company with less than 35 per cent of market share, which means many smaller deals don't face enough scrutiny, said Keldon Bester, a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation who studies competition and monopoly power.

“A key issue is that our competition law really only pays attention to the big guys, and often misses the value that the small players play.”

He said the loss of HSBC’s Canadian division would remove a player that has offered fairly aggressive rates on mortgages along with other advantages offered by a smaller player trying to increase market share.

RBC is well aware of the bureau's guidelines, with chief executive Dave McKay noting when announcing the deal that HSBC Canada only makes up about two per cent of the domestic banking market.

“It doesn't take us anywhere close to the normal Competition Bureau threshold, therefore there's no areas of concern that we're aware of.”

The acquisition of a smaller player may appear to be of minor significance on its own, said Denise Hearn, a senior fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, but it comes after many smaller players have already been swallowed up after decades of permissive mergers and acquisitions.

She said that one of the biggest challenges to blocking mergers in Canada has been that other competition concerns have sometimes been overridden when the acquirer says it can create efficiencies of any degree.

“Even it’s very obvious it's going to have anticompetitive effects, or harms, the efficiencies defence is kind of a veto power saying, 'Well, it doesn't matter.'”

The U.S. is already less accepting of that rationale and overall the country is moving fairly quickly to strengthen its review process, said Hearn, including an executive order from President Joe Biden emphasizing the need to protect and encourage competition in federally regulated industries such as banking.

It's in that atmosphere of heightened scrutiny that TD is trying to close its US$13.4 billion takeover of Tennessee-based First Horizon bank, and BMO is looking to close its US$16.3 billion deal to acquire California-focused Bank of the West.

The deals are still expected to go through, in part because the two Canadian banks are moving into new markets rather than taking out a competitor where they already operate.

To help placate regulators though, the banks have made numerous commitments including that neither plan to close branches, which provide a physical commitment to maintaining choice in a neighbourhood.

RBC, meanwhile, has made no commitments on keeping HSBC's 130 Canadian branches and it is still unclear what will happen to HSBC's roughly 4,000 staff, although RBC has said it hopes to hire many of them.

Heightened scrutiny in the U.S. has also helped bring back to prominence the use of community benefit agreements, which outline specific, voluntary commitments banks make as part of their takeover.

BMO set out its benefits plan in late November, outlining more than $40 billion in lending commitments to low and moderate income households, minorities, small businesses, and community development opportunities. TD is also working through its own deal.

The revival of the agreements in recent years has been spearheaded by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition as a way to ensure U.S. laws around fair lending are carried out.

“When a merger takes place, it should increase access to financial services and community reinvestment,” said Catherine Petrusz, a senior analyst at the coalition.

She said the benefits agreements help to make sure a bank merger doesn't just help shareholders and investors, and that she's especially excited about the part of the BMO deal that has the bank forming an advisory group to understand and serve the needs of Indigenous communities in the bank's footprint.

“It's a great model for ensuring that the consolidation of the banking industry doesn't result in communities being left out, or have a negative impact on underserved communities.”

When announcing the merger, McKay said HSBC clients will benefit from coming into RBC's fold, while others will benefit through the higher profits of RBC, as he noted that it’s one of Canada’s highest taxpayers and that each year it donates one per cent of pre-tax Canadian net income to communities in need. The bank also distributes a significant portion of its earnings to shareholders, he said.

Asked to clarify the bank's position on wider benefits, spokeswoman Gillian McArdle said in a statement that the acquisition is a commitment to invest more in clients, communities and staff, while the deal would see more tax revenue staying in the country.

"We are confident our agreement to acquire HSBC Canada will deliver a strong net benefit in communities that we already know well," she said.

The U.S. system also allows for public meetings where community issues with banks can be raised. The step isn’t required, but both TD and BMO were ordered to go through them where they heard from groups concerned about their lending patterns to minorities and low income households.

In Canada it's not clear where bank lending patterns on such issues stand, because there are no laws requiring them to disclose them.

RBC did launch a lending program for Black entrepreneurs late last year after a co-ordinated effort between banks and the federal government to create a wider program fell apart. The bank however wouldn't say how much they've lent out through the initiative other than to say they've had thousands of "client engagements."

"We remain committed to taking action to help create an equitable and inclusive economy for all," said McArdle.

While much of this is well outside what the Competition Bureau will be able to review, the deal is also subject to approval from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, which can take a more holistic view, said Bester.

He said that since HSBC hasn't said it's committed to leaving Canada, only that it's looking to sell the unit, a blocked merger could just maintain the status quo.

"It really is a question of, I believe at least, what does the minister say?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 26 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RY)

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

'Not good enough': Lisa LaFlamme supporters aren't happy with Micheal Melling's CTV News reassignment

CTV News has faced widespread backlash since the abrupt termination of the long-time female anchor

Abhya Adlakha

·Editor, Yahoo News Canada

Thu, December 22, 2022 at 3:35 p.m. MST·2 min read

Many are questioning the abrupt termination of longtime CTV anchor Lisa LaFlamme after a new memo revealed that former vice president of news at Bell Media, Michael Melling, has been permanently replaced.

"Michael Melling has been reassigned to VP Shared Services, and will not be returning to CTV's news operations," read an internal memo from Bell Media. Richard Gray, Interim VP, has been assigned to Melling's role on a permanent basis.

After LaFlamme's termination, Melling received backlash and was accused of sexism and ageism in the role of the shakeup.

Since the release of the memo, many are wondering why Melling was reassigned to a new role instead of getting fired like Lisa LaFlamme was. People are also questioning whether this means Lisa LaFlamme would be returning to CTV News.

Audiences aren't happy with CTV's decision

ANOTHER NEOLIBERAL FAILURE
Alberta no longer using P3 approach as preferred way to build schools

Mon, December 26, 2022 

Infrastructure Minister Nathan Neudorf says the province is taking a step back from aggressively pursuing public-private partnership arrangements when building and replacing Alberta schools. (Nathan Neudorf/Facebook - image credit)

A 2019 UCP government promise to be aggressive in pursuing public-private partnerships (P3s) for building public facilities has fizzled in the education sector, with just five of 48 projects having used the model so far.

Infrastructure Minister Nathan Neudorf says P3s will no longer be the preferred method for major construction projects on Alberta schools. The model sees government agencies and private-sector companies collaborate on major infrastructure projects.

"Money, though very important, is not the only consideration," Neudorf told CBC News in an interview earlier this month. "There are other considerations that we want to adopt into this process and give value to."

Neudorf, who was appointed infrastructure minister and deputy premier in October, said he has nixed a plan to build six new school construction projects as a P3 bundle.

Alberta school capital projects status 2019-22

Government bundles, then unbundles, school projects

P3s make economic sense when a project costs more than $100 million, Neudorf said.

Since building a school can cost anywhere from $10 million to $90 million, depending on the size and complexity, governments often enter into P3 contracts to build "bundles" of the buildings, which usually use similar designs and materials, to save money.

In late 2019, former infrastructure minister Prasad Panda announced the United Conservative Party government intended to build five schools as P3s, including public and Catholic K-9 schools in Edmonton's Keswick area, an early elementary years school in Calgary, a francophone school in Legal and a Catholic K-9 school in Cochrane. Panda said, if they found it would be good value for money, even more of the 24 school projects promised in the 2019 budget could be P3s.

The news came after former premier Jason Kenney said the province would be "very aggressive" in pursuing the P3 approach to building public infrastructure.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the government to back away from its first P3 school bundle plan in 2020. Construction projects were financed and managed by the province.

That same year, Panda said five new high schools, including two in Edmonton, would be built using the P3 model. These buildings are now under construction and expected to be complete by 2024.

Of the 10 new school construction projects the province agreed to fund in 2022, Neudorf said the government had planned to bundle six together as a P3.

P3 schools in Alberta under construction

Neudorf, a carpenter who worked for years in commercial construction, said it would be challenging to find contractors who worked as far north as Valleyview and far south as Raymond, which would limit the competition, and potentially elevate the price of any bids.

Communities are also asking to build schools in combination with municipal amenities, such as recreation centres, theatres and libraries, Neudorf said.

Those types of joint projects don't work well for P3s, which usually use a common design between schools.

Edmonton public school board chair Trisha Estabrooks says schools need more flexibility to modify their spaces than most P3 arrangements allow.

"We need to be responsive to the needs of the students we have in our schools," she said in an interview last week.

She points to Dr. Anne Anderson High School, which opened in southwest Edmonton in 2021, and includes a community recreation centre. That kind of partnership wouldn't have been possible if the school was a P3, Estabrooks said.

Submitted by Edmonton Public Schools

Sometimes, a private company's control over the buildings is so restrictive, children have sweated in classrooms while Edmonton school staff had no control over the thermostat.

Some of the 40 P3 schools built by the former Progressive Conservative government were left with muddy fields fenced off and inaccessible for years while school boards were powerless to fix the problem. The private maintenance contracts can be as long as 30 years.

And while some governments sell P3 arrangements as a bargain for taxpayers, not all of the deals lead to long-term cost savings.

Highways, bridges, and hospitals could still be P3s, minister says

Estabrooks was at an Alberta School Boards' Association meeting last month, where Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told hundreds of trustees that P3 projects would no longer be the province's preferred method to build schools.

"She received overwhelming applause," Estabrooks said.

Urban trustees, especially, have raised concerns about P3 projects for years, she said.

In an email, Edmonton Catholic Schools spokesperson Christine Meadows said division leaders were pleased to learn a new Catholic K-9 school in west Edmonton and high school in Castle Downs will not be P3 builds.

"Our Division is not looking for changes to the P3 model, but rather to move away from it entirely," Meadows wrote.

Edmonton Catholic wants to have the freedom to manage all of its own school construction projects rather than rely on the province, she said.

NDP infrastructure critic Rod Loyola said, should his party form government after the 2023 provincial election, it would avoid P3 school builds.

"Even contemplating P3s has just led to loss of time," he said.

Loyola said the UCP government isn't building schools quickly enough for growing suburban neighbourhoods — a concern Estabrooks echoed.

The NDP committed in September to funding a $78-million Grade 7-12 school in Glenridding, and a public K-9 school in Edgemont, both in southwest Edmonton, where classroom space is sparse.

Although the P3 model may be out of vogue for schools for now, Neudorf doesn't rule out using the arrangements for building and financing other major public projects, such as hospitals, highways, overpasses and bridges.

His press secretary said in an email there hasn't been a deviation from the 2019 philosophy, saying each project is reviewed for the best value for Albertans.

Loyola didn't rule out a potential NDP government using the method for other builds, either.

CALL THE ELECTION!

Alberta premier says she has to rebuild relations with First Nations people

Mon, December 26, 2022

Premier Danielle Smith says she recognizes she has work to do to improve relations with Indigenous people after some First Nations leaders were angered by her Sovereignty Act. (Samuel Martin/CBC - image credit)

Alberta's premier says she will work to repair relationships with First Nations people after her landmark sovereignty act prompted outrage and pushback.

"I regret that my relationship with the chiefs has started off on a bad foot and I know it can be repaired," Premier Danielle Smith said in a year-end interview with CBC News earlier this month.

However, she said her "principal focus" will be ensuring Ottawa doesn't adopt more policies the newly minted premier perceives as harmful to Alberta.

Her signature policy aims to do just that.

Bill 1, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, became law earlier this month. It allows the legislature to pass motions instructing cabinet to take actions to prevent federal laws and policies from being enforced in Alberta. It also empowers cabinet to order provincially funded organizations to ignore federal laws and policies.

Smith said an Indigenous adviser told her to ensure the act spells out that any cabinet actions will respect Indigenous people's constitutional rights.

"The entire purpose of the act was to make sure that it really was just about resetting our relationship with Ottawa, and has absolutely nothing to do with changing our relationship with First Nations," Smith said during the interview. "It was a communications issue on my part."

Many Indigenous leaders see it differently.

Last week, the Onion Lake Cree Nation launched a legal challenge of the bill, alleging it infringes their treaty rights and was crafted without proper consultation.

"As nations, we are deeply concerned that the state of Canada has let such an unconstitutional bill to move forward unchecked," Onion Lake Chief Harry Lewis said at an Edmonton news conference on Dec. 19.

The allegations have not been tested in court. Smith says she believes the bill is constitutional.

Provincial election looms large

While Smith says priorities are standing up against the federal government's plans to restrict firearms ownership and curb greenhouse gas emissions, recent polling suggests many Albertans have other problems.

An Abacus Data online survey of 1,000 Albertans in early December suggests the cost of living, improving health care and managing the province's economy are the most common top-three concerns.

The survey, which does not have a margin of error, suggests seven per cent of Albertans list federal-provincial relations as a pressing concern.

Similarly, a Leger online poll of 1,001 Albertans conducted in late November suggests 32 per cent of Albertans think the Sovereignty Act is necessary for the province to stand up against Ottawa. Another 42 per cent disagreed.

Both polls suggest slightly more Albertans would vote for an NDP than UCP government if an election were held today. And more respondents liked NDP leader Rachel Notley than found favour with Premier Smith.

Smith, who has been in the premier's office for less than three months, stares down a fixed election date of May 29, 2023. Can voters expect to see the leader, who campaigned for UCP leadership on her Sovereignty Act and protecting the rights of people unvaccinated against COVID-19, pivot to policies with more broad appeal?

The premier says she's already doing that by trying to find solutions for the besieged health-care system and introducing relief measures for Albertans' mounting expenses.

Concern about the cost, value and performance of the health system unites everyone, Smith said. She's determined to continue with the Alberta Surgical Initiative, started under Jason Kenney's UCP government, to outsource more routine surgeries to private clinics to tackle a backlog of 69,000 people on waiting lists.

Finding solutions to a shortage of family doctors will be another focus during the next six months, she said.

Don't expect big spending come budget time

After a three-year battle, the government has inked a new master agreement with Alberta doctors.

However, patients are sometimes faced with lengthy and frightening waits for ambulances, emergency room processing and hospital bed admittance.

"We know that we're going to be judged on a few things," the premier said. "When people get into an ambulance, are they going to be able to get dropped off quickly or are they going to be waiting for hours in the back of an ambulance? When they go to an emergency room, are they going to wait 29 hours before they get treated?"

The new year will also bring one-time cost relief to Alberta parents, people who receive government benefits, drivers and utility consumers.

Samuel Martin/CBC

An anticipated $12.3-billion surplus this fiscal year makes it possible as record non-renewable resource revenues gush into government coffers. Yet Smith warns people not to expect any long-term spending increases to public services in the upcoming budget, which the finance minister must table by February.

Any spending increases won't exceed inflation and Albertans should expect one-time investments like debt repayment, socking away savings or building infrastructure, Smith said.

"We still have a structural deficit because so much of our resource revenue still has to go to support operational spending," she said.

"We still have some work to do to make sure that … if we ever get back into a volatile revenue situation, we don't want to go back into deficit."

SMITH FALSELY CLAIMED TO BE PART CHEROKEE PISSING OFF FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES

OVERPRODUCTION; THE CURSE OF CAPITALI$M

Adidas is stuck with Yeezy sneakers worth more than $500 million after parting ways with Kanye West, report says


Jyoti Mann
Fri, December 23, 2022 

Adidas ended its partnership with Yeezy in October.Adidas

Adidas is stuck with Yeezy stock worth about $530 million, the Financial Times reported.

It is now trying to sell the items under its own brand name to reduce potential losses.

Yeezy accounted for around 7% of Adidas sales this year, per the FT.

Adidas is stuck with Yeezy sneakers worth more €500 million ($530 million) after it cut ties with Kanye West, the Financial Times reported.

The German sportswear giant is now trying to sell the items under its own brand to minimize potential losses, according to the report.

Yeezy accounted for about 7% of Adidas sales this year to the value of 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion), the newspaper said.

The Adidas-Yeezy partnership came to an abrupt halt in October after the rapper made antisemitic remarks on Twitter. Adidas said it would take a $247 million hit to its profits as a result.

Several other companies dropped Yeezy products from their stores as a result of West's comments, including Balenciaga, Gap and Footlocker.

Last month Adidas announced it was investigating West, also known as Ye, following a Rolling Stone report that said he'd acted inappropriately around Yeezy staff.

It claimed that West showed workers explicit material of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian in a meeting, based on interviews with more than two dozen former Yeezy and Adidas staff.

The Rolling Stone report included claims by a former Yeezy worker that she witnessed Ye tell a young woman of color to sit on the floor during an hours-long meeting. He allegedly told the designer that she didn't "deserve to sit at the table."

Adidas did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

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