Conversations That Matter

Ep 429 - Sounding the Ambulance Alarm Guest: Troy Clifford

Ep 429 - Sounding the Ambulance Alarm

Guest: Troy Clifford

By Stuart McNish

 

Imagine that a loved one in your family has fallen and hurt themselves. They can’t move. You call 9-1-1 and ask for an ambulance to be sent to your home – at least, that’s what you thought was the best way to care for your cherished family member. “Now, you can’t help but wonder if an ambulance will arrive,” says Troy Clifford, the Provincial President of the Ambulance Paramedics and Dispatchers of British Columbia union.

 

From the streets of Vancouver to Valemount and everywhere in between, calling for an ambulance and having one arrive in a timely and life saving manner is becoming iffy. Clifford says, “It’s the service that is on life support and we’re sounding the alarm.”  Simply put, paramedics are in the business of helping people when they are having one of the worst days of their lives.

 

Clifford says, “It’s the system that is failing at the bureaucratic and operational levels; it’s not because our members can’t treat patients.”  The union says over 30% of staff are either off work getting treatment for PTSD or still working while traumatized and seeking treatment. The union is asking for public support, by asking you to go to SoundingTheAlarm.ca.

 

We invited Troy Clifford of the BC Ambulance Paramedics and Dispatchers Union to join us for a Conversation That Matter about one of our most precious public safety and healthcare services.

Ep 428 - HIV/AIDS is still a Pandemic Guest: Dr Julio Montaner

Ep 428 - HIV/AIDS is still a Pandemic

Guest: Dr Julio Montaner

By Stuart McNish

 

In 1996, Julio Montaner hosted the Vancouver International AIDS Conference and, at the same time, shared the HAART antiretroviral treatment that he and a team of committed scientists were pioneering in Vancouver. Since then, he has pioneered the concept of Treatment as Prevention (TasP). Dr Montaner was the first person to advocate for the expansion of HAART coverage to curb the impact on the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to decrease progression to AIDS and death.

 

Dr Montaner says, “It’s more than that – the antiretroviral treatment is also decreasing HIV transmission”. So effective have been Dr Montaners efforts that TasP has been implemented with great success in British Columbia and it is progressively been embraced in countries around the world; in 2013, it was fully incorporated into the World Health Organization’s Consolidated ARV Guidelines.

 

We invited Dr Julio Montaner to join us for a Conversation That Matter about HIV/AIDS, where we are in treatment, where we need to go and what roadblocks still need to be removed.

Ep 427 - Working with Artificial Intelligence Guest: Thomas Davenport

Ep 427 - Working with Artificial Intelligence

Guest: Thomas Davenport

By Stuart McNish

 

“The world does not lack for management ideas [sic]. Thousands of researchers, practitioners, and other experts produce tens of thousands of articles, books, papers, posts, and podcasts each year. But only a scant few promise to truly move the needle on practice, and fewer still date to reach into the future of what management will become. It is this rare breed of idea – meaningful to practice, grounded in evidence, and built for the future – that we seek to present,” says Robert Holland, the Editor-in-chief of MIT Sloan Management Review.

 

“Working with AI, Real Stories of Human-Machine Collaboration” endeavours to show that the needle can and will move through the addition of artificial intelligence to the complex work of today’s world. Thomas H. Davenport, one of the co-authors of the book says, “There is no shortage of commentary on what artificial intelligence will do to human jobs. It’s easy to find a multiplicity of predictions, prescriptions, or denunciations. It is not so easy, however, to find descriptions of how people work day-to-day with smart machines.”

 

We invited Thomas Davenport to join us for a Conversation That Matters about our emerging and ever-expanding relationship with a technology that scares a wide range of people, including Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

Ep 426 - Can Farming Survive Gov Policy? Guest: Kritjan Hebert

Ep 426 - Can Farming Survive Gov Policy?

Guest: Kritjan Hebert

By Stuart McNish

 

Farming is a risky business and it’s even riskier when bad government policies undermine good farming and agricultural practices. Kristjan Hebert says, “I can deal with a bad year, a bad crop, and even Mother Nature, but I can’t insure against bad policy.” He is speaking to the federal government’s plan to cut back on the amount of nitrogen Canada emits by use of fertilizers.

 

That plan would see a 30% reduction in emissions from fertilizers – a plan that farmers warn will result in a dramatic reduction in food production coupled with a dramatic increase in the cost of food. Kristjan Hebert says, “Villainizing farmers is counterproductive because farmers are committed to protecting the environment.” He points to the fact that farmers invest heavily in scientific practices in soil testing, crop rotation, nutrient management, and chemical applications.

 

Adding to that, during the crop rotation process many farmers grow pulses that naturally return nitrogen to the soil. Hebert says, “It all adds up to a care for the land and the environment and farmers do that because the land is their lifeblood.”

 

We invited Kristjan Hebert to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the myriad ways in which agriculture benefits the environment and how farmers are constantly striving to improve best practices.

Ep 425 - Is Breast Cancer Research Flawed? Guest: Paula Gordon

Ep 425 - Is Breast Cancer Research Flawed?

Guest: Paula Gordon

By Stuart McNish

 

If you are a woman in your 40s, don’t worry about a mammogram. At least that’s what Canadian research has been saying since the 1980s. Dr. Paula Gordon, a renowned radiology researcher and clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, says, “The research is wrong!” In a commentary paper that was published in the Journal of Medical Screening, Gordon and colleagues point out the Canadian National Breast Screening Study classified women incorrectly.

 

Gordon says, “Two trial groups were created – one group where women were given a mammogram and other not. The intent was to determine if a mammogram in women under 40 would reduce the likelihood of death.

 

Here’s the problem, according to Gordon: “All of the women had a breast examination before the program started. And to complicate matters, the women with existing breast lumps were placed in the study group that would receive a mammogram.”

 

The result was that the mammogram group saw a higher mortality rate. The women were supposed to be randomly selected, but they weren’t. As a result, the disproportionate death rate diminished the apparent value of a mammogram. Those results led many provincial governments to not fund nor recommend mammograms for women under 50.

 

We invited Dr. Paula Gordon to join us for a Conversation That Matters about providing women with the best possible information about their health.

Ep 424 - YVR - Gateway Airport Guest: Tamara Vrooman

Ep 424 - YVR - Gateway Airport

Guest: Tamara Vrooman

By Stuart McNish

 

Anyone who passes through Vancouver’s YVR airport recognizes that the facility – like the city, the region and the province it services – is beautiful. So many other airports around the world are utilitarian structures designed to move people with no regard for the aesthetics that make people feel as if they are in a special place.  Tamara Vrooman, the CEO of YVR agrees: “It’s spectacular!”

 

YVR is not only beautiful – it's functional as well. Tourism and cargo facilitate 20.2 billion dollars in total economic output and 10.4 billion in total GDP, along with 1.4 billion in revenue to the government. More than 26,000 people work at the airport and another 126,000 indirect jobs are linked to the airport. In other words, YVR is a big deal.

 

The airport is also a vital part of British Columbia’s role as a gateway between North America and Asia, and North America and Europe. Going forward, the airport’s 2037 Master Plan envisions “strengthening the non-passenger side of the business by putting land assets into productive use in cargo and logistics and activating digital opportunities.”

 

We invited Tamara Vrooman, the CEO of YVR, to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the airport’s role as a diverse global hub.

Ep 423 - Canada’s Gateway Port Guest: Duncan Wilson

Ep 423 - Canada’s Gateway Port

Guest: Duncan Wilson

By Stuart McNish

 

Dock workers, truck drivers, forklift operators, tug boat deck hands, ships pilots, and crane operators rarely make the news. In fact, the only time we hear about them is when, in rare cases, something stops working the way it does 99.9% of the time.

 

Duncan Wilson, the VP of Environment and External Affairs at the Port of Vancouver says, “These are the people whose work makes our lives work. They are the lifeblood of the country, the province, the region and our city and they are so good at their jobs that sometimes that gets forgotten.” While their work has an impact in Europe, Asia and North America, it is work that doesn’t sparkle the way high tech does, so it is easily overlooked.

 

Wilson says, “The Port of Vancouver is a shining jewel on the west coast of North America. No other port is as diversified nor has a gateway network like Vancouver.” The Port is so vital to Canada that it generates close to 1% of the national GDP.  The Port employs more than 40,000 people and it is linked to more than 100,000 supply chain jobs.

 

We invited Duncan Wilson to join us for a Conversation that Matters about the role and value of our gateway port.

Ep 422 - Can Genomics Save the Taz? Guest: Carolyn Hogg

Ep 422 - Can Genomics Save the Taz?

Guest: Carolyn Hogg

By Stuart McNish

 

The Tasmanian devil is a less than cuddly carnivorous marsupial with an international reputation, thanks to Looney Tunes. The “Taz” appeared in cartoons in 1954 and was still on television well into the 90s. The devil is important to Tasmania as a tourism attractor because people come from all over the world to see it.

 

In 1941, the devils became officially protected by the government of Australia. Unfortunately, that protection isn’t protecting their health. Since the late 1990s, devil facial tumour disease has dramatically reduced the devil’s numbers and now threaten the survival of the species. In 2008, the devils were declared an endangered species. In an effort to save them, the Australian government started to send Tasmanian devils to zoos around the world as part of the government’s Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.

 

For the past 12 years, Dr. Carolyn Hogg has been working with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, utilizing genomics as a vital tool to save  this endangered marsupial. Dr. Hogg is a conservation biologist who has been working with threatened species for over twenty five years. Hogg is the science lead for the national Threatened Species Initiative, a program generating genomic resources for Australia’s threatened species, as well as co-lead of the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group at the University of Sydney. 

 

We invited Dr Hogg to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the role genomics is playing in an all-out effort to save the Tasmanian devil.

Why Canada Needs Immigrants

Ep 421 - Why Canada Needs Immigrants 

Guest: Patrick MacKenzie

By Stuart McNish

 

Even with uncertain economic conditions ahead, Canada’s labour market is still hot – unemployment is running at 4.9%, which is, in essence, full employment. There are more than one million job vacancies across the country. Some sectors, like health care and social services, are seeing vacancies and demand for workers climb higher and higher.

The Immigrant Employment Council of British Columbia develops and promotes solutions for BC employers to attract, hire, and retain immigrant talent that can meet current and future labour force needs. Its employer-focused resources and programs help businesses of all sizes and sectors across BC integrate skilled immigrants into workplaces.

Immigrant Employment Council of BC CEO Patrick MacKenzie recently attended a meeting of high-level international officials in Berlin, where they examined migration issues and policymaking processes across Europe, North America, and Australia.

With Canada on track to bring in a record number of immigrants in 2022, MacKenzie says, “It’s worth asking whether non-humanitarian admissions reflect employer and sector needs, whether immigrants will be set up for success if economic conditions worsen, and how we can make BC the number one destination for the talent we need.”

We invited Patrick MacKenzie to join us for a Conversation That Matters about filling staff shortages with high quality talent from around the world.

Join us at a Conversations Live event, sign up for advance notice about upcoming events at conversationslive.ca

Has Canada Lost Its Way?

Ep 420 - Has Canada Lost Its Way?

Guest: Ken Coates

By Stuart McNish

 

“Canada is a country without a centre, without a purpose”, says Ken Coates, a Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Indigenous Affairs Program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a Canada Research Chair at the University of Saskatchewan. It’s a jarring statement, one Coates says is, “an apt description of the state of the country.”

 

Coates says, “on one level, the idea that Canada’s future is uncertain seems absurd. The country routinely places well in global comparisons.” While that is true it also masks the reality of crumbling sectors of the economy, investment in education, investment in natural resources and infrastructure projects that are stalled or mothballed. Coates adds, “Canadians don’t seem to care.”

 

I invited Ken Coates to join me for a Conversation That Matters about Canadians need to turn our attention to the issues that are bubbling to the surface and could dramatically change our quality of life.

Join us at a Conversations Live event, sign up for advance notice about upcoming events at conversationslive.ca