TANNIS TOOHEY/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
Health Minister George Smitherman announced Monday that a new $500,000 fund will help families meet expenses incurred while waiting for organ transplants. "I can't pretend this is a perfect fix for the situation, but it's a good beginning," he said.
Provincial Health Plan will cover “Sex- Change” operations...
It was 10 years ago that the previous Progressive Conservative government declared the operations were no longer eligible under the taxpayer-funded Ontario Health Insurance Plan, which had covered the surgery since 1971.
Now the Liberal Government will again cover the Procedure..Health Minister George Smitherman said the decision to resume coverage will only cost the Plan $200 thousand (at approximately $20 thousand per procedure) as only 8 to 10 individual will pass the ‘very rigorous’ psycological evaluation required before sex reassignment surgery...(well what happenes if more than 20 or 50 passed the VERY RIGOUROUS psycological evaluation, George?)
It's a very serious medical condition that affects a very small number of people," he told reporters, noting that other provinces including Alberta pay for the surgery.
Smitherman acknowledged the coverage could be controversial in some circles, given the heavy demands on Ontario's health-care system from people with rare, life-threatening diseases, for example.
"I think that people should be careful not to use what is $200,000 on a $40.2 billion health budget as an excuse to try a bit of a `them and us' conversation," he said
More on if you want to be woman johnnyhere
In a Majority Decision 5-4 Canada’s Supreme Court struck down another provision of the law which deal with Young Offender’s Act which require young offenders convicted of Serious Crimes why they should be sentenced as Juveniles.
"Young people who commit crimes have historically been treated separately and distinctly from adults," said Justice Rosalie Abella, in writing for the majority.
"This does not mean that young people are not accountable for the offences they commit. They are decidedly but differently accountable," she said.
The ruling is seen by many legal experts as one of the most important judgments on youth justice in Canada in a century, solidly affirming the concept that young offenders do not have the moral culpability of adults and are entitled to be dealt with in a separate justice system.
The case before the Supreme Court involved a Hamilton teenager identified only as "D.B.," who was convicted of manslaughter for sucker-punching and jumping on another youth at a shopping mall in Dec. 2003. The victim, who'd been standing on the sidelines watching a fight, died of his injuries.
D.B. was on probation at the time.
The Crown was seeking an adult sentence of five years in light of the seriousness of the offence. The youth court judge, however, concluded a youth sentence of three years would be sufficient to hold D.B. accountable for manslaughter.
Writing for the minority Justice Marshall Rothstein said there is "no consensus" within Canadian society that violent young offenders must be subjected to lesser penalties for justice to prevail.
youths are different SC rules...
