2006 XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Needs Hard Dose Of Reality
Prime Minister should make life-and-death decisions based on evidence, not ideology, says Legal Network…"The Canadian government's head is in the sand on the problem of HIVamong people who use drugs and prisoners," said Joanne Csete. Click for full article (a)

The ABCs of Kenya's war on AIDS.. The HIV/AIDS strategy of the government of Kenya emphasizes an evidence-based approach rooted in "ABC": abstain, be faithful, and the correct and consistent use of condoms. Americans, through President George W. Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, support Kenya's prevention strategy. Click for full article (b)

Why is Uganda Interesting Uganda is one of the few African countries where rates of HIV infection have declined, and it is seen as a rare example of success in a continent facing a severe AIDS crisis. Uganda's policies are credited with helping to bring adult HIV prevalence (the proportion of adults living with HIV) down from around 15% in the early 1990s to around 5% in 2001. At the end of 2005, UNAIDS estimates that 6.7% of adults had the virus. The country is seen as having implemented a well-timed and successful public education campaign. Click for full article (c)

Dr. Alex Coutinho, a Ugandan-born public health physician, has been working with HIV since 1983. From 1989–2001, he worked in various capacities in Swaziland and was involved in setting up the early responses to the HIV epidemic there. From 2001 to present, he has served as the Executive Director of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), the largest HIV care and treatment organization in Africa. Click for interview (d)

What exactly is the ABC approach?
     "Avoiding AIDS as easy as...                       A bstain
                                                                      B e faithful
                                                                      C ondomise"

Canadian Internet Use Survey
Excerpts from Stats Canada Survey ~2005

Two-thirds of adult Canadians surfed the Internet in 2005, and those living in larger cities were much more likely to have done so than those in rural areas and small towns, according to the new Canadian Internet Use Survey.

An estimated 16.8 million adult Canadians, or 68%, used the Internet for personal non-business reasons during the 12 months prior to the survey.

Only 58% of residents living in small towns or rural areas accessed the World Wide Web, well below the national average. In contrast, rates in Canada's largest census metropolitan areas ranged from 68% in Montréal to 77% in both Ottawa–Gatineau and Calgary.

The survey also showed that the Internet has changed the way many Canadians do banking and access news. Roughly 6 of every 10 Internet users used it to read news or sports, or to conduct their banking online. Even so, three-quarters of Canadians expressed strong concerns about privacy and security.

The new survey, which replaces the Household Internet Use Survey, was redesigned to focus on individual Internet use. The CIUS did show that in 2005, an estimated 7.9 million Canadian households (61%) were connected to the Internet, up slightly from the nearly 60% reported in 2004 by the Survey on Household Spending.

Among home users, over 4 out of 10 (43%) men aged 18 to 24, and about one-third (34%) of their female counterparts, spent 10 hours or more on-line during a typical week.

The majority of home users reported accessing the Internet over a high speed connection, according to the survey (only home users not accessing the Internet by cable or satellite were asked about high speed).

About 50% who accessed the Internet at home did so using a cable line connected to a computer, while 44% used a telephone line connected to a computer.
However, of the group that used a telephone line, about 59% reported it was a high-speed connection (cable Internet service providers typically offer a range of package options with various speeds, all faster than conventional dial-up service).

An estimated 2.7 million individual home users reported that they did not use a high-speed connection to access the Internet in 2005. They accounted for about 18% of all home users.

Among these individuals, just over one-third (922,250) reported that a high-speed Internet service (either cable or phone) was not available in their area. Almost 70% of these people lived in smaller towns and rural areas.

Almost three-quarters of survey respondents (both Internet users and non-users) said that they were either concerned (33%) or very concerned (40%) about privacy and security. More than one-half (57%) of all Canadians were very concerned about Internet credit card use.

Some differences by language of use were reported. Among Internet users who indicated English as their preference, over 97% reported obtaining information in the language of their choice. Among those indicating French as their preference, just 83% did so.

Canadians with a personal computer or another device to access the Internet but who did not use the Internet from home last year, or had never used it, gave a variety of reasons. Many said they had no interest (29%) or no need for it (25%) while others said it cost too much (16%) or it was too hard to use (12%).
Even so, almost one-third of these non users said they plan to use it during the next 12 months from one location or another.

Canada not doing enough to help poor: study
From: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/

Canada is not doing enough to help the world's poor -- thanks in part to its miserly foreign aid -- a new study released Sunday says.

Canada ranks 10th among the world's 21 richest countries, thanks in part to its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and miserly foreign aid, said the study, published in Centre for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine.

The Netherlands came out top, but even that country wasn't doing a particularly good job of improving life for the 2.7 billion people who subsist on less than $2 a day, said David Roodman, lead author of the third annual Commitment to Development Index.

"Indeed, the main reason the Netherlands came out on top is because others stumbled," Roodman states in the report.

Japan, which came bottom in the ranking, is described as the most inward-looking nation in the group.

It offers the least aid for its size, imposes high tariffs on imports, does little peacekeeping and welcomes few immigrants, the report says.

Two-thirds of the 21 countries, including Canada, scored slightly higher than in the first index, which was published in 2003.

The ranking is based on a complex mix of data and national policies and is divided into seven areas: aid, trade, investment, migration, technology, security and environment.
Mark Fried, spokesperson for Ottawa-based Oxfam Canada, said Canada deserves its mediocre rank.

"The quality of Canada's aid is good, the quantity is abysmal," he told the Toronto Star.
Canada scored better for policies that promote the spread of technologies and support investment in poor countries.

It also scored well in the technology category, mainly because of tax breaks for investments in research and development that benefit poor countries.

But, like most of the nations ranked on the index, Canada still imposes high tariffs on the few goods poor countries would most likely be able to sell, the report says.

Those tariffs, along with subsidies to farmers in rich nations, lead to lower prices that damage poor-country farmers, the study adds.

Canada lost points for only giving a small amount of aid as a proportion of its national income, and because it often insists receiving countries spend much of that aid buying goods made in Canada.

It also lost points for aid that does little humanitarian good.

In 2004, Canada donated $72 million to Iraq -- its largest support for any country.

However, Iraq and the other top recipient, Afghanistan, aren't on the list of 25 most-needy priority countries designated by Ottawa.

Housing Starts Will Slow in 2007
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2006/2006-08-14-0815.cfm

OTTAWA, August 14, 2006 — Housing starts will register another strong year in 2006, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) third quarter Housing Market Outlook, Canada Edition report. Starts will reach 227,900 units in 2006, before decreasing to 209,100 units next year. Although residential construction will ease, 2007 will mark the sixth consecutive year in which housing starts exceed 200,000 units.

“Housing starts this year will be stronger than previously forecast, mainly due to persistent strong demand in Alberta where starts will increase by 20 per cent in 2006,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC.“Higher mortgage carrying costs, due to modest increases in mortgage rates and rising house prices, will temper housing demand in Canada in the latter part of this year and next.”

Existing home sales, as measured by the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®), will register their second best year on record with 481,700 units in 2006, a slight decrease compared to the previous year. A rising supply of listings will give home buyers more choice thereby reducing the spillover effect into the new home market. The level of MLS® sales will remain high in 2007 at 462,200 units, their third highest level on record.However, marginally higher mortgage carrying costs will ease demand for existing homes in many centres across Canada.

Strong MLS® price growth in the western provinces will push the Canadian average price increase to a 17-year high of 12.0 per cent in 2006. In 2007, higher listings and lower MLS® sales will move the resale market toward more balanced conditions, and growth in average MLS® prices will slow to 6.4 per cent.

On Pope Benedict’s visit to his homeland in September
Excerpts from pre-visit interview

In an exclusive interview with German media conducted last week, Pope Benedict XVI addressed issues of marriage and family, world peace and intercultural dialogue as well as the future of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI: "We Have a Positive Idea to Offer"
See full text at : http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2129951,00.html

Excerpts:
The purpose of the visit is precisely because I want to see again the places where I grew up, the people who touched and shaped my life. I want to thank these people. Naturally I also want to express a message that goes beyond my country, just as my ministry calls me to do. I simply let the liturgical recurrences suggest the themes to me. The basic theme is that we have to rediscover God, not just any God, but the God that has a human face, because when we see Jesus Christ we see God. Starting from this point we must find the way to meet each other in the family, among generations, and then among cultures and peoples as well. We must find the way to reconciliation and to peaceful coexistence in this world, the ways that lead to the future.

Today there are Indian and African priests in Europe, even in Canada, where many African priests work in a very interesting way. There's this reciprocal give and take.

It's become more difficult to believe because the world in which we find ourselves is completely made up of ourselves and God, so to speak, doesn't appear directly anymore. We don't drink from the source anymore, but from the vessel which is offered to us already full, and so on. Humanity has rebuilt the world by itself and finding God inside this world has become more difficult.

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