When Mayor Ford and City Council clashed over transit issues, many Torontonians witnessed for the first time, a political standoff that has delayed many important decisions.  Toronto’s gridlock and congestion can’t afford a delay to action and many Torontonians are concerned about the future of this city.  The standoff prompted Toronto’s longest serving mayor, Senator Art Eggleton to write an op-ed in the Globe and Mail emphatically arguing that “this is no way to run a city”.

On May 28th, WSIC will welcome Senator Eggleton as he explains his issues with the current leadership and how he thinks conflicts in council can better be avoided. After sharing his unique perspectives about the challenges this city faces and how a mayor could better deal with council, Senator Eggleton will answer your questions from the floor. The evening promises to be a lively one.

Senator Eggleton’s record of public service includes the Senate, House of Commons, and Toronto City Council.

Please RSVP using our Eventbrite page. Doors open 7:00, discussion starts at 7:30.

At last night’s WSIC event, we heard from a pair of experts whose passion—and job description—is making innovation happen.

Up first: Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS Discovery District, an innovation centre located in Toronto. Dr. Treurnicht oversees development and operations at MaRS, meaning she’s in charge of providing people-power, funding, and physical space to entrepreneurs looking to do business, or provide products and services, in new ways. For her, innovation is an everyday concern.

Dr. Treurnicht spoke only briefly. Innovation allows Canadians to get maximum value from the industries we’re in, she said; it also allows us to develop new industries and exploit their value. It helps us adapt to change.

But the issue for Canada, right now, is job creation. Not just how many jobs we can create, but how fast. Dr. Treurnicht explained to us that the majority of new jobs are created by just a few young, high-growth companies. These companies develop and thrive in communities that celebrate and encourage innovative thinking. In turn, innovation gives us the toolkit to built vibrant communities. It’s ultimately about creating value and opportunities for our children and grandchildren.

Mark Sales took the mike next. Sales is founder of Prodal G, a company benefitting from MaRS support. Prodal G is an environmentally progressive company, developing the means to profitably produce biofuels from microalgae. “Our theme is clean air, clean water, clean fuel,” he said. The idea had its roots at the University of Waterloo, but without use of the wet lab provided by MaRS, Prodal G would have struggled to get off the ground. Only at MaRS could he use the CO₂ tanks, spill the algae, and leak and drain the materials he needed, for a reasonable cost.

Sales, like Dr. Treurnicht, spoke for only a few minutes. Then the floor was opened to questions, and there were many.

The first audience member to speak asked an obvious, but crucial question: how successful are the companies that benefit from MaRS resources? The companies’ combined revenue is over $100 million now, Dr. Treurnicht replied, but patience is required. “I’m not a patient person myself,” she said, to laughter. But the fact is that businesses like this must be given time to develop, without the pressure of demands for immediate results. Already, she added, we’re seeing these entrepreneurs—as young as they are—mentoring the generation following them.

Another audience member wanted to know how we can create a true Culture of Innovation in this country. Dr. Treurnicht suggested that the readiness and willingness to embrace change is a good start—and that an economic crisis can trigger such a shift in attitude. She doesn’t quite buy the stereotype of Canadians being risk-averse, over-cautious; but insofar as it is true, we can defeat it by celebrating entrepreneurship among the young.

The questions continued. One gentleman wanted to hear more about a stat Dr. Treurnicht mentioned earlier: that 52 per cent of companies are started by foreign grad students. Another brought up federal government interests in continued fossil-fuel development, and how that might conflict with some of the speakers’ goals.

Following up on an earlier question, another audience member asked about the challenges of managing a project with an expected payoff far down the road. Sales fielded this one, explaining that Prodal G’s first plant probably wouldn’t be operational until 2017 or 2018.

“That can be tough to get your head around,” he said. “It requires conviction and confidence.” But the people at MaRS aren’t a bunch of cynics, he added. They look forward to the opportunity to create thousands of new jobs, and to do it in a way that benefits the planet too.

The Ontario government recently cut $66 million from university and hospital research funding. In tough economic times, austerity measures must be taken, but if Canada is to thrive economically, we must ensure our place as a leader in innovation. Doing so will foster the development of high-growth companies that will create the jobs of the future.

Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District, with the upcoming addition of its Phase 2 property, will soon be one of the largest urban innovation hubs in the world. MaRS CEO Dr. Ilse Treurnicht will discuss how the development of this innovation ecosystem will help to build tomorrow’s knowledge-based economy.

Join us on April 16, at 7pm, at the Duke of York pub (39 Prince Arthur Avenue) to add your thoughts, or just listen in. Doors open at 7pm, discussion starts at 7:30.

As usual, the event is free; but please RSVP to let us know you’re coming (and to be entered into our door prize).

For people suffering from mental illness, the solutions are often far more complex. For some, getting the help they need seems nearly impossible.

On March 19, Dr. Paul Garinkel, a practicing psychiatrist and former CEO of CAMH, and Elaine Flis, past Chair of the Margaret Frazer House, joined us to discuss the state of mental health treatment in Ontario—explaining how things have improved, but also, where serious problems remain.

Despite mental illness being quite common in our society, the issue is often neglected, Garfinkel said. Individuals suffering from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia often face discrimination. Proper treatment can be difficult to obtain, in part because those who it them fear the social stigma of being identified mentally ill. This stigma must be eliminated, Garfinkel argued. Only then can we provide people the quality of care they need.

How to break that stigma? Garfinkel asked us to consider three words: protest, education, and contact.   We should protest the poor treatment those with mental illness receive right now; we should educate ourselves and the public about the frequency of mental illness in the population; and we should make contact with those who have such illnesses, rather than avoiding them out of discomfort or fear.

Flis followed with a moving personal story about mental illness—her own. Flis suffered from bipolar disorder, which disrupted her sleeping patterns and her moods. At times she found herself too exhausted to perform even small tasks.

These issues had existed for Flis since she was young. In university she’d been diagnosed with depression, but due to the embarrassment she felt, she chose to ignore the problems. And so they worsened. Only with the support of family and friends was she able, finally, to move beyond her discomfort and seek treatment. Flis believes that, had she not finally addressed her illness, she’d have lost her job, and possibly her home. In time, it would have killed her.

Many of us in the audience wondered about the services our provincial government provides the mentally ill. Those services are quite modest, the speakers explained. And they often fall victim to budget cuts. So while we’re breaking stigmas, we need to pressure our policymakers to do their part.

Cuts to mental health services are an easy sell, but a bad idea. For all of us.

According to the chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, mental health and addiction issues account for approximately 35 per cent of Canada’s disease burden. Yet, they receive only about 5 per cent of the (funding) resources.

Many doctors believe that the burden on our health care system could be reduced by providing better mental health care before patients are really ill. Dr. Paul Garfinkel, a practicing psychiatrist and former CEO of CAMH, will share his expertise on the matter, as will Elaine Flis, past Chair of the Margaret Frazer House. Their combination of theoretical, practical and front-line expertise will be enlightening for everyone.

Please join us on Monday, March 19^th at 7pm at the Duke of York (39 Prince Arthur Avenue) to be part of this event.

And please RSVP to be eligible for our door prize!

This past Monday, one of the largest crowds I’ve witnessed at a WSIC event squeezed its way into the Duke of York pub, just to hear Trinity-Spadina MPP Rosario Marchese give his thoughts on the state of the condo business in Toronto. The evening proved a lively one, too.

That’s partly because Marchese goes way back on the condo issue. He opened the evening by describing his proposed private member’s bill, intended to amend the current Condo Act. Almost everyone agrees that the Condo Act needs reform, but it has gone unchanged since the late 90s.

This is not due to lack of effort on Marchese’s part. The MPP continued his brief remarks by explaining the various challenges his bill has faced over the years (this is not the first time, nor even the third time, that he’s tried to make it law). There appears to be no clear villain in this debate; just a lot of people defending their own interests and communicating poorly with one another. And some of the blame, Marchese admitted, rests with condo owners themselves.

While they’re the chief victims of bad design, inflated prices, and false advertising, condo owners rarely see themselves as part of a bigger group. If they did, Marchese said, they could advocate with a lot more strength. Turnouts like the one he saw on Monday give him hope.

Indeed, many members of the audience were condo owners, and they highlighted many of the issues that cause them concern. Among them: the lack of standardization in condo agreements; the lack of impartial oversight and/or regulation when it comes to condo construction and sales; power imbalances between owners and developers; politicking on condo boards; and the difficulty in distinguishing good developers from bad ones—at least, if you’re an average condo buyer without specialized knowledge.

Not everyone agreed on how the problems could be solved—or even if the problems really were problems. Some audience members disagreed with Marchese’s solutions and proposed their own. The presence of Condo Owners Association President Linda Pinizzotto, Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario President Dean McCabe and Todd Hafley of the Liberty Village Residents Association—not to mention the press—kept the energy-level particularly high. Marchese agreed to stay an extra 30 minutes, to ensure everyone’s questions and comments could be addressed.

A big night for a big issue—and a big one WSIC, too.

The truth is, condos can be anything from dream homes, both affordable and green, to overpriced energy hogs, or worse. Even the smartest consumer can be fooled into making a bad purchase.

That’s why MPP Rosario Marchese proposes the Condominium Owners Protection Act–designed to protect would-be condo buyers and their neighbours alike. Mr. Marchese will be explaining his proposal, and offering perspectives on how we can grow our urban communities in healthy ways, at February’s WSIC event.

Want to be part of the discussion? Or just learn about your neighbourhood?

Join us on February 27 at the Duke of York (39 Prince Arthur Blvd) at 7pm.

Please RSVP on our Eventbrite page for a door prize entry.

Dr. Kim Pressnail, this month’s WSIC guest speaker, made it clear that when it comes to building requirements in this province, form and function are seriously out of balance. And he had a lot of ideas about how to right them.

There are two big reasons to reduce energy use, he explained. The first is cost: it’s cheaper to conserve what we’ve got than to build the new power plants we need to maintain our current energy needs. The second is climate: the trapped energy in our atmosphere is having devastating effects on people (higher frequency and severity of tornadoes, floods, etc).

Saving begins at home, of course. Dr. Pressnail provided us with a number of tips on how to reduce our energy use in the home: insulating walls, replacing damaged windows, and turning down the thermostat.

Dr. Pressnail also made the case for reforming building codes. A building less apt to waste energy is a force for conservation, even if its occupants fall short. And many of our current problems boil down to pretty designs that under perform.

Chief among the culprits: our beloved glass towers, which look futuristic but actually lose heat at a far greater rate than towers built well in the past. Dr. Pressnail emphasized the need to think about future generations—why do we spend so much time pushing for things like legalized marijuana at party conventions while ignoring issues like conservation, which will impact us for generations to come?

He also expressed his dismay at the cancellation of eco retrofit programs, and the lack of logic behind it. The there are government programs that provide stimulus money for citizens to replace granite counter tops but none to insulate our walls? It is always cheaper to build an energy-efficient building than retrofit an inefficient one, but we must make it as easy and cheap as possible to solve problems.

As usual, the WSIC audience responded with lots of questions and comments. Many offered their own ideas on how to reduce energy use; others had suggestions for reforming the codes. Several argued, as Pressnail himself did, that the issue isn’t politically very “sexy,” and therefore requires more effort from those who care about it.

On Monday, we’ll take a look at Energy needs in Ontario.  Ontario’s population is growing,so its energy needs are too. But no one wants a new gas-fired power plant if it’s going to be in their own backyard. In WSIC’s first event of 2012, U of T’s Dr. Kim Pressnail will tell us how Ontario can reduce its need for more power plants in local communities.  His solution is to decrease the burden on our energy grid by mandating better buildingrequirements.

Do you agree? Disagree? Do you just want to learn more?

The event will be held at the Duke of York at 7pm, Monday January 16.

If you haven’t done so already, please RSVP to our eventbrite page for a chance to win
our doorprize.
http://wsicinfrastructure.eventbrite.com/

Terence spoke to us about prescription drug safety, a subject that hit him far too close to home. In 2000, Terence’s 15-year-old daughter, Vanessa, died after being prescribed the Johnson & Johnson drug, Prepulsid. Since then, he has researched the industry in-depth, and advocated for both a more transparent drug-approval process and plain-language labeling. As he explained to us, the Americans have far clearer labels than us, because they’re more willing to sue.

A seasoned public speaker, Terence told his story quickly. But the audience encouraged him to keep going. Soon the discussion turned to the ‘legalese’ found on drug labels. He warned us to watch for terms like “narrow therapeutic index,” “potential association with behavior changes including self-harm,” and other euphemisms that obscure the real danger of these drugs. Blunter language, like “this drug can lead to suicidal impulses would allow users to better weigh their risks.

Terence noted that while a mere 27 drugs have been taken off Canadian shelves since 1997, this is no indication that our drug approval process is a good one. Most of those drugs are taken off the market ‘voluntarily’ by the drug companies themselves.  Terence explains that many countries lack sufficient budgets to run their own approval process and depends on the FDA for safety information.  Voluntary market withdraw prevents the drug from being stricken off ‘approved’ lists from abroad.  With no Independent Drug Agency (IDA) in this country, Health Canada is called upon to police itself, potentially critiquing its own approval of drugs—a conflict of interest Terence suggests would not be allowed in other industries. An IDA, if developed, would not be responsible for approving new drugs—but it would be an independent body supervising Health Canada’s decisions.

There was a lot of audience response, as usual with these events. Terence contended that partial results received in drug trials should be published right alongside the most positive results (negating the appearance of a flawless drug); researchers in the audience argued that sometimes, a non-result is just that. It remains unpublished because it has no scientific merit. Dr. Paul Sandor, of CAMH, pointed out that drugs are often held back because their safety cannot be proven.

Terence also expressed concern over the pharmaceutical industry’s enormous expenditures on marketing, its willingness to ‘repurpose’ less-effective drugs to capitalize on their side effects (e.g. Viagara), and its sponsorship of medical journals. All food for thought, and the discussion could have lasted much later into the night, had we the time.

Terence Young is the founder and Chair of Drug Safety Canada, a research and public advocacy organization based in Oakville. He is author of Death by Prescription. [http://www.deathbyprescription.com/author.php]