Parents urged to keep kids active this summer

By SHARON LEM,Toronto Sun

The majority of kids in the GTA won’t be getting enough exercise once school’s out for summer, a survey indicates.

Only one-quarter of 500 parents contacted in May said they had summer activities arranged for their children, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario said Monday.

About 49% of the parents said they were too cash-strapped to afford programs for kids, while 26% said they didn’t fit into their schedules.

“The situation is quite serious when you think about the acceleration of unhealthy behaviours we’ve seen in children and youth in terms of unhealthy eating and poor physical activity,” Dr. Marco Di Buono, director of research for the foundation, said.

Di Buono said Ontario has seen a 300% increase in high blood pressure rates among teens and people in their 20s over the past decade. He said he is seeing cholesterol levels in 20-year-olds that normally are seen in 60-year-olds.

Unlike past generations, kids nowadays play sedentary computer and video games and live in a calorie-dense society with nutritionally poor foods.

In 2006, the foundation identified childhood obesity as a critical issue with 28% of Ontario’s children being overweight and obese, and at risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes at an early age.

Programs need to become accessible and affordable — whether the children live in Toronto or in rural areas, Di Buono said.

He said parents don’t need to sign their kids up for structured programs, but could instead accompany them to the park to play.

According to the 2010 Active Healthy Kids Canada report, only 14% of Ontario children and youth are meeting Canada’s guidelines of 90 minutes of physical activity per day.

Colleen Hill and her husband Sean Farnel have registered their seven-year-old son Jimmy and six-year-old daughter Tess into a Toronto day camp for $2,000 a month.

“My husband and I both work, so some of the challenges we faced were affordability and fitting the camps into our schedules,” Hill said.

“But it’s a sacrifice we felt was important to make so they can be physically active and be outside.”


Response
This is sadly true. My generation is not getting enough exercise or going outside during the summer. It is even harder because of the recession and other financial issues. It makes me think that the government needs to open more free programs for us children to stay active and not have an excuse.(Put those taxes to good use :P). We need to keep ourselves healthy and active it is an essential in life, but life is not the same as it was 50 years ago. The weather is harsh because of global warming so it does make it harder for us kids to go outside and play and enjoy ourselves in the icky humid heat. The weather is a huge problem and so are our parents being too busy because they have to work their butts off in order to provide for us. We would enjoy going out with our parents and participating in summer based activities, (even though we do not show it) but money is hard to make and frankly it is just not as safe as it use to be outside as well. So opening or providing us with free physical activities would make us more able to enjoy summer and get active. It will help lower our health problems. This topic is a hard one because there is so many things we could do, it's just the money is the big necessity that is hard to get and keep. I am concerned for my own health because I am guilty of staying inside because of the weather and other issues and I do hope they will open some more free places for us to go. So this will remain an issue for many kids and families for awhile.

Police add water cannon to G20 arsenal

Expect more traffic congestion, police warn




Jesse McLean
Staff Reporter Police have added a water cannon to their arsenal as they step up security ahead of this week’s G20 summit in Toronto.

Provincial police Const. Michelle Murphy of the Integrated Security Unit says the water projection system will be used to control large crowds if there are riots.

Workers were busy all weekend building the zigzag of steel fencing that will surround the leaders and delegates during this week’s G20 summit and have put the finishing touches on the three-metre-tall fence that surrounds the security zone.

Security preparations for summit are becoming more and more noticeable. Scores of police — some, brought it from cities coast to coast, still wearing their out-of-town uniforms — were patrolling the downtown core Sunday.

Meanwhile, three bronze elephant statues that decorate Commerce Court near King and Bay Sts. were temporarily removed because of the G20.

“The bike locks. The benches. They’re taking everything,” said a guard at the Court, a popular lunch spot for those working in the nearby bank towers.

The city has removed trash cans, bus shelters and even young saplings from the summit area out of concern the street furniture might be ripped out and used as arsenal by violent protesters.

Const. Wendy Drummond, spokesperson with the summit’s Integrated Security Unit. said the decision to move the matriarch elephant and her two calves was done by the property owner and not recommended by police.

The statues, however, could become targets, she said.

“They could spray paint. They could damage it that way.”

The portion of fence erected on Bay St., between Front and Wellington Sts., is causing “noticeable traffic congestion” that’s spreading to nearby streets around the security zone, Drummond said.

Busloads of out-of-town police were reportedly being shepherded inside the former Toronto Film Studios on Eastern Ave., where police have set up a hush-hush temporary jail for processing detained protesters.

Drummond said the increase in officers, in part, is to make citizens used to seeing so many police, and said the number of officers will grow “progressively” until it’s in the thousands.

Larger demonstrations are expected to begin Monday afternoon at Allan Gardens on Jarvis St., where protesters pledge to take “action against the agenda of the rich to marginalize and criminalize the poor.”

Demonstrations are planned throughout the week, including a block party and a tent city on Friday.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/826245--police-add-water-cannon-to-g20-arsenal







I chose this article because it just shocked me on the kinda things they are doing just because of this G20 thing. I really thought it was some sort of joke but they really are bringing out the water guns.



Response
Personally I believe it was wrong in the first place to spend so much money on protection, it drawed more attention to the G20 event and made it seem like they have so much to hide. Although the protestors are abusing their "freedom of speech" and are acting in ways they should'nt it is still wrong that the police are taking action in this way as well it is just a waste of water that other people need in the world. The Police should take regular action and procedures. We are already losing money we do not need to waste a precious resource as well. They can conduct this way better than they already are.

2,000 meals for the poor cancelled due to G20

Osgoode Hall program shuts down for the week, citing security concerns


Denise Balkissoon
Staff Reporter
For 12 years, Toronto’s poor have eaten in the tony recesses of Osgoode Hall.

The Lawyers Feed the Hungry program dishes out more than 2,000 meals every week — dinner on Wednesday and Friday, and breakfast on Thursday and Sunday. Diners also get a bagged meal to take with them.

Except this week, when the needs of international dignitaries trump the needs of the city’s hungry.

Although the corner of University Ave. and Queen St. is north of the official G20 security perimeter, the potential for traffic snarls and general upheaval has prompted Osgoode Hall to discourage non-essential visits to the building.

Which means its dining room wasn’t open Sunday for the 350 people that eat a breakfast, and will be shut Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

“The G20 is affecting more than our entertainment options and traffic patterns,” said David Bronskill, a partner at Goodmans who has volunteered with the program for a decade.

“This means that people who have to budget very carefully are not going to have a much-needed source of food and nutrition for almost 10 days.”

A spokesperson for the Law Society of Upper Canada said patrons of Lawyers Feed the Hungry were given $10 vouchers last week to cover food costs during the shutdown.


Response

I chose this article because it is really sad. All I see is more and more negative outcomes because of the G20.
Many people are suffering because of the G20 and its location. 2000 people are straving and possibly will be for 10 days. It is truely sad. I am in digust with what is happening. I am in disgust with the actions being taken. It has not only impacted the hungry it has an impact on entertainment and traffic. I have yet to see any positives of this event. I am sticking to the anti-G20 right about now.







http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/826618--2-000-meals-for-the-poor-cancelled-due-to-g20

Canada's route out of Afghanistan will be bumpy

Best-laid plans could be derailed by a change in government in Ottawa

Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA – The Canadian military’s plans to get every last soldier and tank out of Kandahar by the end of next year are detailed and well-advanced, even as it plans for contingencies ranging from exit routes to snap elections at home.

Internal documents obtained by the Star show the highly-secretive Mission Termination Task Force is grappling with the cost of an exit strategy that could be thrown into chaos if a new government in Ottawa decides to recommit to Afghanistan.

Between July and December 2011, when the withdrawal is to be completed, the Taliban insurgency is still expected to be active – despite a series of major offensives planned this year – and a substitute force to take Canada’s place has yet to be found.

Then there’s the physical path out of war-torn Afghanistan. It’s a dusty, dangerous unpaved route laden not only with roadside bombs and bandits, but despotic regimes, rough terrain and enemies.

The military is also aware of the possibility that governments could use the country’s need for a 2011 withdrawal as a bargaining chip for their own commercial gain.

And if that weren’t enough of a headache, throw in the turbulent political situation back home, where a snap federal election could lead to a head-spinning decision to recommit to the decade-old war.

“It must be understood that such commitments (to a civilian effort after 2011) and any future change to the current Government of Canada parliamentary motion could result in an adjustment in (Canadian Forces) direction,” reads a military blueprint for the withdrawal.

“Accordingly, CF planning must remain flexible.”

But two internal documents, dated Sept. 22, 2009 and Dec. 9, 2009, show how advanced the planning has become.

It’s a top-secret effort. Included in the instructions are strict orders to give up as little information as possible about what is being dubbed the Mission Termination Task Force.

“Our focus is now on campaign execution and due to political sensitivities, our public affairs approach is to be reactive. The importance of this cannot be underscored, particularly as we interact with allies and (other government department) partners,” the September memo warns.

For the moment, the plans are being laid in Ottawa by a team that has been ordered to forecast and calculate the answers to a host of “critical” questions that will have an impact on the withdrawal.

• How many people will be required to complete the task?

• What equipment can be left behind for coalition forces, what must be destroyed in Afghanistan and what can be brought home?

• How strong will the insurgency be next year, and what about possible refugee movement blocking the roads?

• And, above all else in these deficit-driven days, what will it all cost?

“Financial considerations remain paramount in the planning and conduct of mission termination,” the December memo says. “It is likely that CF resources will be constrained and courses of action must withstand best financial practices scrutiny.”

Already there are plans to lean heavily on private sector contractors to haul equipment out of Afghanistan and back to Canada, but even there it will be tricky.

Though Canada is the only country withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011, the December end date coincides with the American pullout from Iraq. That unfortunate calendar collision could result in a bureaucratic battle.

“There may be competition for common resources,” like airplanes, ships, and foreign airbases to be used as stopping points on the long road home, the memo says.

“We must be prepared to leverage civilian contractors to the maximum extent possible,” wrote Brig. Gen. Alain Parent, chief of staff to the head of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command, in September.

The Star reported earlier this month that Canada has asked Pakistan for permission to use its military facilities to conduct a staged withdrawal from Kandahar. But the documents show that is just one of a series of problematic paths out of Afghanistan.

The others are laid out in a political and security analysis of the region, where the actual names of neighbouring countries are blacked out by military censors. Any casual observer of Middle Eastern and Asian politics, though, would quickly identify them as Iran, Pakistan, the Central Asian countries (known as the ‘Stans) that border Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates, where Canada maintains an airbase known as Camp Mirage.

Pakistan is the hub for many of the supplies coming into Afghanistan to support coalition forces and the supply convoys are an easy and attractive target for insurgents hiding along the Afghan border. Plus, moving valuable equipment along “rugged terrain” amid often harsh winter weather is not ideal.

The UAE has threatened to revoke Canada’s use of Camp Mirage if Ottawa doesn’t agree to its wish to land more flights at Canadian airports. Other options are necessary, the December memo says, “if a resolution that is satisfactory to both sides is not reached.”

Iran is “not being considered” given the hostility of the regime there. The threat of conflict over the country’s nuclear ambitions “could destabilize parts of the Middle East as well as South and Central Asia.”

That leaves the ‘Stans in the north of Afghanistan – Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

“Although threats along these corridors vary by country, they are mostly criminal,” the document says.

The drawbacks? “Dealing with repressive regimes, being required to provide political concessions, or being used as leverage to gain regional advantage.”



Response
Personally I never wanted Canada do get so involved with the war in Afghanistan but they did and now that they finally really want to get our troops out of there, there is so much troubles and difficulties in doing so. I personally wish the government could really work something out quickly but that sadly is not the case. I would honestly like to know more about this issue and more about the whole case on when and why Canada participated in the war.