To kick-start National Nursing Week and highlight the province’s announcement to introduce another 14 nurse practitioner-led clinics in Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty dropped in on a group of nursing students at York University Monday, May 10, wrote the North York Mirror May 11.
In a room set up like a hospital or clinic, McGuinty went from bed to bed chatting with students practising different medical procedures before sitting down for a round-table discussion with undergraduate nursing students and graduate students in the nurse practitioner program.
The government announced Monday it is accepting applications to create 14 more nurse practitioner-led clinics, with a goal of having 25 such clinics by 2012. The first 11 clinics are scheduled to begin opening this month.
Meanwhile, students shared their stories about why they are studying nursing.
“Nursing chose me,” said Crystal Van Leeuwen, who decided on her career while holding a girl infected with HIV during a trip to a Thailand clinic.
Deana Ruddell-Thomson said she was a retail manager in Walkerton when the tainted water tragedy struck a decade ago. “I felt helpless watching friends and family becoming ill and I didn’t have any power,” she said.
Thomas McCormick said he will be working on a placement in Toronto before heading to northern Ontario to help more remote communities.
Several international students told McGuinty how thrilled they were to be able to study nursing in Ontario. The premier told the students that they have chosen an important career.
Newfoundland rejects calls for major change to oil industry regulator
Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural resources minister is rejecting calls for the overhaul of the agency that regulates the province’s offshore oil industry, even as the United States moves to distance its regulator from the companies it oversees, wrote The Globe and Mail May 12.
Scientists and environmentalists argue that the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) suffers the same conflicts of interest that have afflicted the US regulator.
“The regulator has all this expertise for developing and promoting oil and gas but also is mandated to protect the environment,” said Gail Fraser, a professor of ecology and biology in York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies who is studying Canada’s offshore regulations. “I think there’s more than a conflict of interest.”
Fraser said the board lacks transparency on industry waste and spills into the ocean, and is too cozy with industry, running land sales as well as regulating offshore drilling.
Food store targets the growing ranks of ethnic shoppers
The battle over okra and karela is just heating up, wrote The Globe and Mail May 12.
Sobeys Inc., angling for a bigger share of the discount grocery market, is taking aim at Loblaw Cos. Ltd. with a store format called FreshCo, which will focus on fresh foods, while catering to budget-conscious multicultural customers.
If successful, FreshCo will give Sobeys an important weapon in the increasingly crowded battle for the ethnic grocery shopper. That segment is being hotly contested as retailers attempt to take advantage of a massive change in Canadian demographics. By 2031, one in three Canadians will belong to a visible minority – and one in four will be foreign-born, according to Statistics Canada.
“It’s a bold move,” said Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University. “Now they have got to deliver on being lower cost.”
Schulich grad to run for mayor in Midland
Councillor Gordon McKay (MBA ’88) ended speculation about his political plans Monday by announcing he will be a candidate for mayor of Midland, wrote the Midland Free Press May 12.
McKay’s challenging of Mayor Jim Downer means voters in all four North Simcoe municipalities will be going to the polls Oct. 25 in election contests for a local mayor.
McKay, who earned an MBA in international business at the Schulich School of Business at York University, has worked in banking, was a principal with the auditing firm KPMG and a general manager with the Ontario Research Foundation. He operated two of his own companies before moving to Midland.
The executive MBA: the perfect fit
All executive MBA programs in Canada allow students to learn directly from business professionals with ample experience in their chosen field and in the global business environment, wrote Canadian Business Review May 11.
The experience gained with the EMBA programs may allow students to land a high-paying leadership position after graduation. Graduates of the EMBA program at York University’s Schulich School of Business have a reputation for securing high-paying jobs after graduation due to extensive training and networking opportunities that prepare them for leadership roles in global business.
Some Canadian universities work closely with other universities abroad to enrich the global study experiences of their students. The EMBA program at York University works in conjunction with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois, offering weeklong residency periods at each campus.
On air
- Joe Baker, professor in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health, spoke about a study into how size of community affects athletes’ success at becoming elite players, on CBC Radio May 11.
- Marcel Martel, Avie Bennett Historica Chair in Canadian History in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, spoke about the 50th anniversary of the pill, on TFO’s “Panorama” May 11.