On Friday, doctors in several cities across Canada protested the changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) announced by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenny. The changes come as part of new tougher reforms to refugee legislation. The IFHP gives health-care coverage to refugee claimants and protected persons who do not qualify for provincial or territorial coverage. Most of these people are fleeing war, torture or rape and as such, these cuts will leave the most vulnerable people in our society more disenfranchised.

The changes will go into effect on June 30 2012, after which claimants will be denied access to a range of hospital services, medications and vaccines unless their situation is deemed urgent as defined by the new policy. In scenarios given by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, individuals will only be treated if their condition poses a risk to public health or safety. Individuals with chronic diseases such as lung disease, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease will not be covered since they do not pose a public health or safety risk. The Conservatives have justified the cuts with claims that it saves money, promotes fairness, and protects public health.

Canada has always been known as a global leader of humanitarian concerns. It seems that the changes made by the Government are inconsistent with Canadian values. Do we want to be a society that will not take care of the most vulnerable among us? As Ghandi once said: “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members”. Perhaps this is a step in the wrong direction, what do you think?

Why are we obsessed with his eating habits? 

Fast food has been in the news lately. This Tuesday a Torontonian filmed our Mayor Ford entering a KFC on Jane St. near Wilson Ave and mocked him for eating there. The video was feature prominently on http://www.thestar.com. The video was rude and The Star was being TMZ like in its promotion of the video … but it did make me reflect on the prominent role that fast food plays in our lives.

A recent study looked at six major fast food chains, Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Subway, operating in 6 different countries, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.  The study found that Canada is one of the countries that serves the saltiest food, United States being the first and the worst.  Research indicates that too much salt intake leads to high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.  If other countries can serve food with less salt, then what is wrong with our country?

Popeyes deep fried chicken – a Toronto favourite

I propose that our government collect studies  comparing levels of blood pressure in countries and it’s correlation with Fast Food consumption. Then I propose that a tax be levied on fast food and foods with trans fats to discourage consumption. In the long term it may even help reduce health care costs … and it may motivate me to curb my own cravings of Hero Burgers (one of the few halal burger joints in the GTA).

Toronto - Ontario Place

Ontario Place is temporarily closing until its expected revitalization in 2017.  Some areas of Ontario Place will be ready for the 2015 Pan Am Games, and privately run attractions (Atlantis, the Molson Amphitheatre and marina) will remain open throughout the redevelopment.  Ontario Place was opened on Victoria Day in 1971 and was welcomed as a ‘beacon of the future’, an achievement which represented Ontario’s richness and untouched potential. Four decades ago, newspapers acclaimed the ‘futuristic playground’ made into Lake Ontario on manmade islands and creative pods.  Its closure and revitalization is due to its inability to make a profit since its opening year when 2.5 million people visited the attraction.  Last year,  Ontario Place saw about 1 million visitors and half that number only walk through it to get to the Molson Amphitheatre.

My wife and I enjoyed the attraction in 2010 and we had quite an adventure that saw a bag I was carrying with food and my glasses drop into the propeller of a bumper boat. The food was lost, the glasses got scratched and the boat’s motor started releasing smoke … good times. I’m  looking forward to going back in 2017 when Ontario Place becomes a futuristic Toronto attraction again.

Amina and me

Life completely changes when you become a parent, especially when you become a parent 6 ½ weeks earlier than expected.

My daughter, Amina will be 6 months old this week and it’s about time I wrote this blog post about our experience being the parents of a premature baby.  Amina  was born on August 1, 2011, 6 ½ weeks premature weighing just over 5 pounds.   My wife Farzana woke up one day crying that contractions have started, but it was too early – only 33 weeks.  Coincidentally, just before sleeping,  we had attended our pre-natal class and the instructor had taught us about “fake contractions” called Braxton-Hicks and stressed that they are common and that we  shouldn’t worry if we encounter them.  I thought that she was experiencing Braxton Hicks with the lessons of our class fresh in my mind. I tried to get her to relax and did not take them very seriously.  When the contractions kept getting closer and closer towards  the morning, she called her doctor and they told her to get assessed at the hospital.  We got to the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga and the contractions were not fake  …  they were the real ones.

Farzana was admitted in the hospital and closely monitored.  I slept on the bench/couch beside her bed for 4 days and took time off work.  She was given a drug, Indocin, to stop the contractions and was told it could suppress contractions for as little as a day or last until full term .  She was also given Celestone injections to develop the baby’s lungs because before 34 weeks of gestation, babies’ lungs aren’t fully matured.  On the fourth night the contractions had stopped so they discharged her the next morning. We felt pretty confident and were hoping the drug would continue to work but the contractions started again the next day and Baby Amina was ready to push her way out.

The labour ended up taking almost 12 hours in the hospital and I was pretty scared to see my wife looking like she was possessed and in extreme pain . I tried to convince her to get the epidural or try laughing gas but she refused due to what she had read about side effects and recovery times. All I could do was feed her cold water and encourage her throughout the process. It was scary, but at the same time exciting and I was really proud of my wife.

Farzana and I wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise but I was pretty sure we were having a boy from one of the ultrasound printout we got at the hospital months earlier.  When Amina came out, I was surprised when I saw it was a girl.  Amina is the cutest thing I ever saw.  Thankfully the drugs the hospital had injected had worked and she was able to breathe on her own but required a feeding tube through her nose.  My daughter was in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) for 11 days.  She was poked with several needles and had an IV drip feeding her for the first couple of days.  It was really hard to see her like that and not the way we would have pictured seeing our baby shortly after birth. As a first time father, I was clueless about how to take care of her.  Farzana and I visited her every day while rushing to get together all the baby stuff we hadn’t bought since we thought we had lots of time before the baby would come.   The Credit Valley Hospital nurses were generally nice and taught us how to change diapers, swaddle her, bathe her, and feed her.  While there, I was really grateful that we live in a country with free and equal access to healthcare for everyone.

Amina improved every day, became more reactive and started to regain the weight that she had lost over the first few days.  The final step was to pass a car seat test before being released.  She had to sit in her car seat for 1 ½ hours while being hooked up to the monitors to monitor her breathing.  She was able to breathe well so they discharged her.  My baby was finally coming home and I was so excited!

My life has completely changed.  I am a parent!  I feed Amina, change her diaper (only number 1 when possible because number 2 is just too gross), enjoy playing with her, and rock her to sleep.  She is doing really well and already reaching some milestones.  She started this weird back crawl at 4 months but according to her adjusted age (since she is premature), she really started crawling at 2 ½ months!  She started flipping over at 5 ½ months but according to her adjusted age, she really started flipping over at 4 months!  We started solids with her (rice cereal) and it’s going ok so far.  I fed her the first spoon.   The only downside of being a parent is the sleepless nights because of a crying baby who seems to wake up a million times in the night to feed or play.  She’s a handful even during the day now that she is developing a strong personality.  It’s okay though because I love her so much! My job keeps me really busy and doesn’t allow me as much baby time as I want so I’m going to take 2 months of paternity leave  this summer to help out more.  I eagerly look forward to spending time with my baby girl.

I totally see the Resemblance …  not sure if it is LaToya or Janet.

After some inactivity due to the birth of our baby and some crazy times at work, I’m back in the blogosphere! I recently spent a great weekend with a group of bloggers I took down to the Detroit auto show and their enthusiasm and dedication shamed me into reviving my own blog.  So here we go:

Infrastructure Ontario and Waterfront Toronto announced today that they have signed a $514 million  contract for the development of the Athletes’ Village during the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games. The village is set to be built on the West Don Lands — an area triangulated by  the Port Lands, Corktown and the southern terminus of the Don Valley Parkway.

The project is expected to create and support 5,200 jobs, including employment of approximately 700 workers on the construction site.

I’m excited by any activity that brings more visibility to Toronto within the international community and cultivates Tourism. What do you think?

After moving to Toronto my wife introduced me to the Toronto Public Library system and I was blown away. They had pretty much every popular book and movie I was interested in.  I think the Library system is one of the few things out there that work smoothly and make me  glad to pay my taxes.

Recently, the city called for an assessment of all city services to make strategic budget cuts.  As a result, our City Council wants to privatize some or all of Toronto Public Libraries’ (TPL) operations and close down branches.   The private operator would decrease the degree of public funding that currently aids our libraries, but in order to make a profit, would make some changes that would make library access difficult for many.  We would have higher user fees, fewer books, less access to the libraries because of local branches closing or hours of operation being limited, and more staff cuts. This type of cut would be a blow to many, especially lower income families who use the library system as their only means of internet access.

If the city wants to cut expenses they should look at the hourly rates they are paying to big businesses and the expensive contracts they have out there.  I suggest that instead of cutting jobs and services they analyze the $100+ / hour they pay to external vendors and control costs that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t payed KPMG over $140 /hour to help them strategize on how to cut costs.

I encourage you to reach out to  City Council and politely inform them that we want to continue enjoying what TPL offers us today and not to privatize. A list of your local city councillors can be found at: http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp  

vitaminwater has a sense of humor ... That eyemask in the package is lol worthy

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting the super-cool Lauren O’Nizzle while spending a day with some of Toronto’s biggest bloggers  as part of a  media event for Ford where I work.   Turns out that besides running a popular Blog, she’s a community manager for Glaceau vitaminwater.

I told her how much I love the taste of vitaminwater and she sent over a whole case  of it for me to try out. To my surprise there’s a new type of vitaminwater out there that only has 10 calories per 591 ml bottle. That’s a huge benefit! I’ve been cutting calories recently ahead of my yearly physical (ugh) by dropping sodas and juice which have more than 100 calories per glass.

With vitaminwater 10, you have almost no excess calories plus the added goodness of a whole slew of vitamins.    It’s going to be a staple at my home bbq’s from now on … I don’t drink since I’m Muslim and neither do most of my friends and family. Our usual drinks at parties are vast amounts of soda’s and juice but this is bound to become a new staple for us once more people hear about it!

Taking into account the variety of flavors and the nutritional value of vitamins without a caloric hit, I am going to go out on a limb and declare it my favorite low calorie drink out there besides water. 

Standard Disclaimer:  I was  not paid nor asked to write this product review and all opinions are my own.