THIS MAGAZINE
March-April, 2009
As many as 265,000 new, legal immigrants will have arrived in Canada by the end of this year, the majority of whom will call Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver home. For some, the first 90 or so days in-country may prove the most onerous because Ontario, Quebec and B.C. all require that new immigrants wait three months before getting public health-care insurance.
What to do if you're from, say, Jamaica, employed in a minimum-wage job in Toronto and, after just 45 days in the country, you break your arm or have an appendicitis attack? Carolyn Morris provides the answer to this question here in "Your Money or Your Life," a detailed examination of the impact the three-month hiatus has had on some of the most vulnerable new Canadians.
Of course, sundry coalitions and health-care professionals have responded to the plight of the uninsured but it's been a patchwork approach where a systematic solution is required. Another complication is the estimated 300,000 undocumented workers living here without health-care insurance: "if they get sick, they can't go to the hospital unless they pay up front. Or they can go without money - as long as it's an emergency - and wait for the bill in the mail."
MOJO
March, 2009
Like a lot of rock fans, I muttered a "Gor blimey" when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced it would include the Dave Clark Five among its 2008 inductees. Surely there are more worthy outfits, I thought. Like Canada's the Guess Who. And why the continued neglect of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy?
Well, Mat Snow's article here is something of a comeuppance for the DC5 nay-sayers. Sure, in the grand scheme of Britpop, the Beatles and the Stones reign supreme, now and forever - but between the spring of 1964 and early 1967, the Five were a force to reckon with, stomping out 17 consecutive Top 40 hits in the U.S. alone. They also appeared on the highly influential The Ed Sullivan Show 18 times - a feat neither the Fabs nor Mick 'n' Keef can claim.
Of course, going forward, many acts from back then failed to capitalize on the initial flash of their success. Not so the DC5 - or at least Dave Clark himself. Now 66, this son of a post-office security guard and kindergarten teacher smartly held on to pretty much all the group's copyrights. As a result, he lives the royalty-enriched life of a London gentleman in a huge terraced dwelling near London's Hyde Park. Good on ya, mate!
ROLLING STONE
March 19, 2009
Drug traffickers, like professional athletes, have a penchant for nicknames, often of the goofy variety. This is really noticeable in "The Making of a Narco State," an in-depth look at Mexico's brutal drug war by Guy Lawson, whom some of you may remember as the host of TVOntario's Imprint. Lawson's yarn is peppered with code-names and the noms de narcotique of various no-goodniks - there's El Pozolero (the Stew Maker), El Conejo (the Rabbit), El Mochomo (Red Ant) . . .
The article presents a depressing picture of contemporary Mexico which the U.S. Joint Forces Command recently warned was in danger of becoming a failed state like Pakistan. As Lawson notes, corruption is so pervasive, with "the influence of the drug cartels reaching all the way to highest levels of Mexico's political elite," that seemingly anyone with any authority is automatically suspected of being on the take, including the administration of the Specialized Investigation of Organized Crime, the government's anti-narcotics force.
The military was brought in last month to fight the drug war. But this shouldn't be seen as a sign of Mexico "getting serious" about the situation. As one of Lawson's interviewees remarks, it's an indication "the justice system here doesn't work."