Canadian Social Research Newsletter

Canadian Social Research Newsletter
February 11, 2007

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter,
a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1751 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian Content

1. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Labour Force Survey, January 2007 - February 9
--- Why are youth from lower-income families less likely to attend university? 2003 - February 8
--- What else is new so far in February 2007?
--- Annual Demographic Estimates: Census Metropolitan Areas, Economic Regions and Census Divisions, Age and Sex, 2001 to 2006 - January 31
--- Study: Low-income rates among immigrants entering Canada, 1992 to 2004 - January 30
2. 2007-2008 Budget of the Northwest Territories - February 8
3. Canada’s New Government Launches Nationwide Pre-Budget Consultations (Department of Finance Canada) - February 7
4. The Current State of Canadian Family Finances - 2006 Report (Vanier Institute of the Family) - February 7
5. Raising the Minimum Wage in Ontario (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - February 1
6. BC Solutions Budget 2007 (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - January 31
7. Urban Poverty Project 2007 (Canadian Council on Social Development) - launched January 26
8. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - Jan. 26 - Feb. 9, 2007

International Content

9. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
10. Fiscal Year 2008 Budget of the United States Government (Government Printing Office) - February 5
11. Securing Equal Justice for All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States (Center for Law and Social Policy) - January 2007 (Rev.)
12. U.S. Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines for 2007 - January 24
13. CRINMAIL 853 - (Special Edition on the 44th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) (Child Rights Information Network) - February 2007
14. Climate Change 2007 Report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) - February 2
15. Canadian Social Research Links reaches a milestone - one million page views in 2006!

Have a great week!

Gilles Séguin
Canadian Social Research Links
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net

E-mail:
gilseg@rogers.com

1. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Labour Force Survey, January 2007 - February 9
--- Why are youth from lower-income families less likely to attend university?, 2003 - February 8
--- What's new in February 2007
--- Annual Demographic Estimates: Census Metropolitan Areas, Economic Regions and Census Divisions, Age and Sex, 2001 to 2006 - January 31
--- Study: Low-income rates among immigrants entering Canada, 1992 to 2004 - January 30

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

February 9, 2007
Labour Force Survey, January 2007
Employment increased by an estimated 89,000 in January, continuing the upward trend that began in September 2006. January's employment increase was largely driven by growth in the two westernmost provinces. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points in January to 6.2%, the result of more people entering the labour force in search of work.

Related Link:

Online Pre-Budget Consultations for Budget 2007
NOTE this consultation ends at midnight on February 28, 2007.

Source:
Department of Finance Canada

Also from Finance Canada:

Remarks by the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance
January 30

Minister of Finance Stands Firm on Tax Fairness for All Canadians
January 30

- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm
- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm

4. The Current State of Canadian Family Finances - 2006 Report - February 7
(Vanier Institute of the Family)

Over a Million Canadian Households are Millionaires –
But Probably Not Yours
February 7, 2007
News Release
Ottawa— You may wonder how Canada’s families are faring these days. Not surprisingly, the answer depends on which families you have in mind. Those at the top seem to be doing very, very well. In fact, most of the income and wealth gains recorded over the last fifteen years have gone into their pockets, savings accounts and investment portfolios. But the rest of us – almost 10 million households – have struggled to keep up. With the average hourly earnings of all employees up by only 25 cents in real terms since 1991 (a paltry two dollars a day), many families are struggling just to make ends meet. More are working and the second earner, in couples with children, has never provided more income support than they do currently. And they are doing so based on need, not greed.

Complete report:

The Current State of Canadian Family Finances - 2006 Report
HTML version
PDF version (329K, 33 pages)
- incl. Social Impacts of Financial Stress - I Really Did Give at the Office - Second Earners Coming Through in Record Way - Not Getting There - Growing Inequality - Ka-Ching! Debt Keeps Climbing - Mostly Need and not Greed - and much more...

Source:
Vanier Institute of the Family

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

5. Raising the Minimum Wage in Ontario - February 1
(Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Raising the Minimum Wage in Ontario (PDF file - 167K, 3 pages)
February 2007
By Hugh Mackenzie
"(...) Ontario’s minimum wage used to be more in line with the province’s industrial wage. In fact, the minimum wage in Ontario was as high as $9.97 in 1976 (adjusted to 2007 dollars, based on the Toronto area consumer price index)."

Minimum Wage Fact Sheets (PDF file - 958K, 8 pages)

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

- Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm
- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

6. BC Solutions Budget 2007 - January 31
(Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

BC surplus to top $3 billion this year and next
CCPA calls for bold action on poverty and homelessness
Press Release
January 31, 2007
(Vancouver) BC’s budget forecasts have become more fiction than fact, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in its BC Solutions Budget 2007. Since 2002, provincial budgets have underestimated the year-end balance by a total of $10 billion (based on financial reports from the Ministry of Finance) due to extremely pessimistic revenue projections.

* BC Solutions Budget 2007 - PDF file, 330K, 16 pages

* SUMMARY: BC Solutions Budget 2007 - PDF file, 218K, 4 pages

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

7/ Urban Poverty Project 2007 - launched January 26
(Canadian Council on Social Development)

Urban Poverty Project 2007
Poverty is not only about the numbers. It's about the stark realities of daily life for millions of Canadians. We hope that the numbers provided here will help communities share information, leverage resources and create solutions to the blight of urban poverty in Canada. Products in the Urban Poverty Project include community profiles, a time-series analysis of urban poverty trends over the 1990s, and a detailed snapshot of urban poverty using the 2001 Census data. All UPP materials will be released in the first half of 2007, and will be available on-line and free of charge, as part of the CCSD’s commitment to provide accessible, reliable data to the widest possible audience.

* Measuring Poverty
* Media Release
* Community Profiles
* Snapshot of Urban Poverty (release date: Spring 2007)
* Time-series Analysis (release date: Spring 2007)
* A Tale of Three Cities (release date: Spring 2007)
* Summary Report (release date: Spring 2007)
* Poverty Data Tables (release date: Spring 2007)
* From the CCSD Archives: Urban Poverty Project 2000

Source:
Canadian Council on Social Development

- Go to the Municipalities Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/municipal.htm
- Go to the Social Research Organizations (I) in Canada page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/research.htm

8. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit - Jan. 26 - Feb. 9
(University of Toronto)

What's New - from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

NOTE:
The Childcare Resource and Research Unit offers a free weekly "e-mail news notifier" service. The content below is but a sample of the items included each Friday. For information on the CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing, see http://www.childcarecanada.org

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
RECENT POSTINGS AVAILABLE ON THE
CHILDCARE RESOURCE AND RESEARCH UNIT'S WEBSITE
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Selections for Jan. 26 - Feb. 9, 2007

EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CHILDCARE SERVICES FOR SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Report for the European Commission looks at school-age child care across the EU; points to the wide disparities across countries and the varying approaches taken by the Member States to address the issue.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=96375

CHILD CARE REPORT CARD: HARPER DOESN’T MAKE THE GRADE
Report card from Code Blue for Child Care evaluates Prime Minister Harper’s performance on ELCC after his first year in office.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=96374

Family income splitting still possible in budget: Flaherty [CA]
CBC News, 9 Feb 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=96386

Tory social policy fails [CA]
Letter to the Editor, The Record, 8 Feb 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=96360

PM gets failing grade for his government's child care plan [CA]
CanWest News Service, 5 Feb 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=96362

Alberta crying for child care: Parents face waiting lists stretching years [CA-AB]
Calgary Herald, 4 Feb 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=96356

THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT 2006
Report from the World Economic Forum measures inequality between men and women in four critical areas – economic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival. Canada ranks 14th, lagging behind most European nations.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=95937

Income splitting isn't fair [CA]
Ottawa Citizen, 2 Feb 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=95930

Child care promises have been forgotten [CA]
Waterloo Chronicle, 31 Jan 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=95901

CIRC Online
CIRC is the Childcare Information Resource Collection. It is the catalog of CRRU's resource collection on early learning and child care policy. CIRC contains a comprehensive collection of 20,000 print materials on early learning and child care policy and related topics.
The new CIRC Online is available at:
http://www.circonline.ca

SUMMARY OF BC CHILD CARE PROGRAM FUNDING REDUCTIONS
Fact sheet from UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership “summarizes the trends in public financing for child care in BC, within the context of BC’s overall financial position”.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=95492

Child care groups say Harper's Conservatives failing them [CA-MB]
Winnipeg Free Press, 24 Jan 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=95471

Quebec's baby boom [CA-QC]
Montreal Gazette, 24 Jan 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=95473

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was forwarded through the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit e-mail news notifier. For information on the
CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing,
see http://www.childcarecanada.org

The Childcare Resource and Research Unit
University of Toronto, Canada
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Related Links:

Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

Link to the CRRU home page:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm

9. Poverty Dispatch:
U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs

Poverty Dispatch - U.S.
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
NOTE: this is a link to the current issue --- its content changes twice a week.

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 1 (2006) when the Dispatch acquired its own web page and archive.

Poverty Dispatch Digest Archive - weekly digest of dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and redistributing the digest to my mailing list with IRP's permission.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older articles expire.

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

10. Fiscal Year 2008 Budget of the United States Government - February 5
(Government Printing Office)

Budget of the United States Government: Main Page
Fiscal Year 2008 Budget
February 5, 2007
Covers the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2007

Browse the FY08 budget - links to: Budget Documents | Appendix | Supporting Documents | Related Documents | Spreadsheets
Description of FY08 budget documents

Sample content from the 2008 budget:

Overview of the President's 2008 Budget (PDF file, 299K)
The Nation's Fiscal Outlook (PDF file, 379K)
Department of Health and Human Services (PDF file, 434K)
Department of Housing and Urban Development (PDF file - 322K)
Social Security Administration (PDF file, 295K)

Detailed Budget Estimates by Agency

Historical Tables, Fiscal Year 2007-(PDF file - 2.9MB) links to dozens of historical tables showing budgetary items as far back as the 1930s to 2006 and, in some cases, projections up to 2010

Previous Budgets - back to 1996

Source:
Government Printing Office (GPO)

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From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

DESPITE THE RHETORIC, BUDGET WOULD MAKE NATION'S
FISCAL PROBLEMS WORSE AND FURTHER WIDEN INEQUALITY
http://www.cbpp.org/2-5-07bud.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/2-5-07bud.pdf 2pp.

THE SKEWED BENEFITS OF THE TAX CUTS, 2008-2017
With the Tax Cuts Extended, Top 1 Percent of Households Will Receive More Than $1 Trillion in Tax Benefits Over the Next Decade
By Aviva Aron-Dine
This analysis finds that if the President's tax cuts are extended, the value of tax cuts for people with incomes over $1 million will exceed the total amount that the federal government devotes to priorities like K-12 and vocational education or medical care for veterans.
http://www.cbpp.org/2-5-07tax.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/2-5-07tax.pdf 10pp.

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From the Center for Law and Social Policy:

February 7, 2007
Families Forgotten: Administration's Priorities Put Child Care Low on List (PDF file - 70K, 4 pages)
by Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews.
Despite evidence that child care assistance is critical to helping low-income families to work and to succeed financially, the President's FY 2008 budget proposal freezes discretionary child care funding for the sixth consecutive year. According to the Administration's own estimates, 300,000 children will lose child care assistance by 2010. This is in addition to 150,000 children who have already lost assistance since 2000.

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Related Web/News/Blog links:

Google Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following search terms (without the quote marks):
"2008 US federal budget"
Web search results page
News search results page
Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca

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- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm
- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm

11. Securing Equal Justice for All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States - January 2007 (Rev.)
(Center for Law and Social Policy)

Securing Equal Justice for All:
A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States (3.2MB, 71 pages)
January 2007 (Revised)
by Alan W. Houseman and Linda E. Perle.
This document chronicles civil legal assistance for the low-income community in the United States from its privately funded beginnings, through its achievement of federal funding, and to its expansion and growth into a national program operating throughout the U.S. It also describes some of the political battles that have been fought around the legal services program and the restrictions that have come with government funding. It concludes with some brief thoughts about the future.
Source:
Center for Law and Social Policy

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm

12. U.S. Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines for 2007 - January 24

Annual Update of the
Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines - 2007 (U.S.)
Released January 24, 2007

"There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: the poverty thresholds and the poverty guidelines.

The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau (although they were originally developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration). The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes — for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year. (In other words, all official poverty population figures are calculated using the poverty thresholds, not the guidelines.) Poverty thresholds since 1980 and weighted average poverty thresholds since 1959 are available on the Census Bureau’s Web site. For an example of how the Census Bureau applies the thresholds to a family’s income to determine its poverty status, see “How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty” on the Census Bureau’s web site.

The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes — for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs. (The full text of the Federal Register notice with the 2007 poverty guidelines is available.)

The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the “federal poverty level” (FPL), but that phrase is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important.

Key differences between poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines are outlined in a table under Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
See also the discussion of this topic on the Institute for Research on Poverty’s web site.."

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COMMENT:
This is a distinction between the Canadian and American government poverty measurement --- in the U.S., a person's or household's eligibility for certain programs is actually tied to an official federal government poverty measure. (However, eligibility for state welfare programs that fall under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families umbrella is means-tested and not related to any poverty measure.) In Canada, eligibility for all provincial and territorial welfare programs for individuals and families is "needs-tested". Needs-testing and means-testing mean the same thing in this context --- they both involve a test that takes into account a household's financial resources and its needs. The needs test and income test are discussed in more detail on the Welfare Reforms in Canada page of this site - http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welref.htm (near the top of the page).

-------------------------------------------
Related Reading:
- highly recommended!
-------------------------------------------

Further Resources on Poverty Measurement, Poverty Lines,
and Their History
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Background Paper on the Poverty Guidelines
- Programs That Do — and Don’t — Use the Poverty Guidelines
- The Official Federal Statistical Definition of Poverty
- Mollie Orshansky’s Development of the Poverty Thresholds
- Research on Alternative Approaches to Poverty Measurement
- Papers by ASPE Staff Relating to the History of Poverty Lines
- For Further Questions

The Development and History of the Poverty Thresholds
By Gordon M. Fisher
Social Security Bulletin
Volume 55, Number 4
1992

Prior HHS Poverty Guidelines
and Federal Register References - from 2005 back to 1996

Source:
Office of Human Services Policy
[Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation ]
[ Department of Health and Human Services ]

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Google Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following search terms (without the quote marks):
"2007 poverty guidelines, United States"
Web search results page : http://tinyurl.com/22adky
News search results page : http://tinyurl.com/269nzm
Blog Search Results page : http://tinyurl.com/2ffeek
Source:
Google.ca

-------------------------------------------

- Go to the Poverty Measures - International Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty2.htm

13. CRINMAIL 853 - (Special Edition on the 44th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) - February 2007
(Child Rights Information Network)

CRINMAIL 853 - February 2007
Special Edition on the 44th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Table of contents:
- Committee on the Rights of the Child: 44th session closes
- State reports and Alternative reports
- Committee on the Rights of the Child issues its Concluding Observations
- General Comment No. 10: Children's Rights in Juvenile Justice
- Elections to the Committee on the Rights of the Child to be held this month
- Montenegro becomes the 193rd State Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Subscribe to CRINMAIL - or view it online

Source:
Child Rights Information Network

- Go to the Children's Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm

14. Climate Change 2007 Report - February 2
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

Wakeup Call from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

IPCC adopts major assessment of climate change science
News Release
Paris, 2 February 2007
"Late last night, Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) adopted the Summary for Policymakers of the first volume of “Climate Change 2007”, also known as the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). “Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis”, assesses the current scientific knowledge of the natural and human drivers of climate change, observed changes in climate, the ability of science to attribute changes to different causes, and projections for future climate change. The report was produced by some 600 authors from 40 countries. Over 620 expert reviewers and a large number of government reviewers also participated. Representatives from 113 governments reviewed and revised the Summary line-by-line during the course of this week before adopting it and accepting the underlying report."

Climate Change 2007
4th Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Summary (PDF file - 1.3MB, 18 pages)
NOTE: Only the summary is released on February 2, and it is the first of four major reports expected this year. The second report (due in April) will focus on the impacts of global warming and vulnerable regions, the third report in May will look at ways policy makers and scientists might mitigate climate change, and a final report due in November will synthesize the work of the previous three reports.

Source:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

Related links:

Paris report calls climate change 'unequivocal'
February 2, 2007
"International scientists and officials hailed a UN report Friday that said human activity was "very likely" the cause of global warming and that higher temperatures and rising sea levels would continue for centuries, regardless of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. (...) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, created by the UN in 1988, releases its assessments every five or six years, and is used as a major source of information for government policy makers."
Source:
CBC News

Also from CBC:

Climate Change - CBC News Indepth
- includes links to background and contextual information, charts, tables, photos and links to more detailed related info online.

Editorial Comment:
So what does climate change have to do with Canadian social research, you ask?
Everything.
If we can't muster the political will to do something soon about the causes of global warming, all of the social justice initiatives in the world won't help us as Mother Nature wreaks her vengeance against humanity.
This past Monday morning, I sat with two other middle-aged guys at the Canadian Blood Services office in Ottawa, waiting for our scheduled donations.
By way of comment concerning the frigid temperature that day, the receptionist said to the three of us: "Well, so much for global warming, eh?"
"Yeah," I replied without hesitation, in the same vein, "let's forget about it and just pass it on to our kids!"
"Global warming, humph!", snorted one of my fellow donors. "You can't believe any of that stuff that comes from the CBC."
"And don't forget that Suzuki guy, added my other companion."
Three days after the release of an international report on climate change.
Never mind those 600 scientists from 40 countries - just remember what Rona A. and John B. and Steve H. tell you.
Oh yeah, and be careful that you don't step in 6000-year-old dinosaur poop.
Argh.

15. Canadian Social Research Links reaches a milestone - one million page views in 2006!

For the first time since Canadian Social Research Links was launched in 1997, the annual number of pages viewed has exceeded the one million mark.
1,000,000+ Page Views in 2006!
- the link takes you to a monthly site stats summary for 2006, guaranteed to bore anyone except others who have websites and like to compare stats!

In this, the tenth year of Canadian Social Research Links, I'm reminded of the motto of the chip truck guy on Montreal Road in Vanier (who enthusiastically fed my childhood obesity problem):
"If you like our french fries, tell others. If not, tell us". <Like that, only substitute "social research links" for "french fries">

Thank you so much to all who have made this hobby/passion/obsession so much fun and so gratifying...

Gilles Seguin

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

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The e-mail version of this newsletter is available only in plain text (no graphics, no hyperlinks, no fancy bolding or italics, etc.) to avoid security problems with government departments, universities and other networks with firewalls. The text-only version is also friendlier for people using older or lower-end technology.

Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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U.S. Signs of the Times

At a Santa Fe gas station:
We will sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container.

On the wall of a Baltimore estate:
Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. --Sisters of Mercy

On a long-established New Mexico dry cleaners:
38 years on the same spot.

In a Los Angeles dance hall:
Good clean dancing every night but Sunday.

In a Florida maternity ward:
No children allowed.

In the offices of a loan company:
Ask about our plans for owning your home.

In a New York medical building:
Mental Health Prevention Center

On a New York convalescent home:
For the sick and tired of the Episcopal Church.

On a Maine shop:
Our motto is to give our customers the lowest possible prices and workmanship.

At a number of military bases:
Restricted to unauthorized personnel.

On a display of "I love you only" Valentine cards:
Now available in multi-packs.

In the window of a Kentucky appliance store:
Don't kill your wife. Let our washing machine do the dirty work.

In a funeral parlor:
Ask about our layaway plan.

In a clothing store:
Wonderful bargains for men with 16 and 17 necks.

In the window of an Oregon store:
Why go elsewhere and be cheated when you can come here?

In a Maine restaurant:
Open 7 days a week and weekends.

On a radiator repair garage:
Best place to take a leak.

On the grounds of a public school:
No trespassing without permission.

Source:
http://www.cyberslayer.co.uk/jokes/joke1029.html

******************************

The Bottom Line:

CAVEAT EMPTOR

Puerto Vallarta is beautiful at this time of year, and my wife and I are very fortunate to be able to afford a week in a classy all-inclusive resort.
This was the first time since 1995 that she <coerced> cajoled me into forking over some dough to "get away from it all".

Here's where we stayed:
http://tinyurl.com/28ejlg - Barcelo La Jolla de Mismaloya
(you can scroll down the page to read some recent reviews --- note the repetitive use of the words "sick" and "illness".)

Here's our review of our stay:
http://tinyurl.com/36d3ad
"Big bucks to worry all week" Feb 4, 2007 by ottawagal-7
(you have to scroll down the page a bit to read this review)

Epilogue/Sequel:

We arrived back in Ottawa in the evening of Saturday Feb.3, looking forward to a hot shower. I was A-OK until Monday at 11PM, over 48 hours later, when all H*ck broke loose every which way - this being a family-oriented newsletter, let's just say it wasn't very pretty. I actually had to go see my doctor mid-week because I lost my voice and had a sore throat all week from the experience of evacuating the contents of my stomach so quickly and, yes, violently, during my Monday night misadventure.

Did we have a nice time at the Barcelo in Puerto Vallarta?
You mean aside from our ongoing concerns about the food we were consuming at our resort and the rumblings of our fellow resort guests concerning who was sick and for how long?
No. Don't go there.

Glad to be back,
Gilles