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Unanswered questions
Answered questions
Question:
I’d like to find out the exact quote and where/when Rob Ford said, “A doctor is there to be a doctor, not to advocate for the poor…You can’t have people in the medical field doing that.”
The article it is taken from is here:
http://mostlywater.org/ontario_doctor_threatened_loss_licence_over_helping_impoverished_patients
Answer:
It looks to me like the quotation first appeared in this article in
the Canadian Medical Association Journal (news section):
Laura Eggertson. “Mayoral candidate assails activist doctors.” CMAJ
2010; 182: E401-402E. (http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/182/9/E401?ijkey=4579507e0bd8664b80a378741fdf4a02d4f7270e&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha).
I believe it’s behind a subscription wall, but I can send a PDF.
In addition, someone wrote a letter to the journal in response to the article:
Brian L Simchison. “Misguided Mayoral candidate’s actions constitute harassment.” (7 July 2010). http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/eletters/182/9/E401
However, it’s not clear in the article when or where Ford “went on record” with the statement in question. Press conference? Interview? Something else? I checked a newspaper database called Canadian
Newsstand to see if other newspapers reported it, but all I found was this article in the Globe and Mail in December 2009 which doesn’t mention that quotation:
“Doctor under fire for allegedly abusing welfare requests.” Anna Mehler Paperny, Josh Wingrove. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Dec 9, 2009. pg. A.1
There was also this story, but the quote wasn’t included:
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/GAM.20091210.GEE10ART2300/TPStory/TPComment
This blog also picked up the quote a few days ago:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/09/should-physicians-be-activists/
Anyway: I think at this point the best thing to do is to write to the author of the article in CMAJ or to the journal editor and ask for clarification about where they got Ford’s statement.
Question:
About a month ago I read an article on the CBC website announcing the Tories plans to fund prison expansion.
Part of the $155.5 million, $60 million to be exact, is going to fund new beds. Here is the link to the article for more specific information: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/10/06/toews-prison-construction.html
My question is who is building these beds? What company?
Answer
As a start, the Canadian Trade Index lists four Canadian companies that supply prisons: http://www.ctidirectory.com/search/product_company_list.cfm?prod_code=6011550. These four are not necessarily the only possibilities, but Max-Secure Security Systems and Engineered Plastics Incorporated, both in Oakville, ON, sound likely in terms of geography.
I received this information from Correctional Service Canada:
The Government of Canada uses the MERX system to post contracting opportunities. See:
It looks like the calls for contractors have posted but not yet selected.