[photo courtesy of CBC.ca]"Starting April 1, child abuse registry checks will be mandatory for all cabbies to make sure they've never been convicted of an offence against children."
Seems reasonable, no? I mean, does anyone believe it's okay for any convicted child abuser to have regular, routine, and unsupervised contact with children? Who could possibly be against this? Who would actually assert it is a non-issue if convicted pedophiles are in regular contact with the children of this city? Well apparently the manager of Winnipeg's largest taxi fleet, Unicity Taxi's Gurmail Mangat, would do just that - - not only is he against it, he's said his company will not comply with the new regulations. Really Gurmail? You're fighting this? Cripes. YOU SIR, are an idiot!
Unlike the recent absurd battle over the unnecessary mandatory safety shield regulations, the adoption of a mandatory child abuse background check for all cabbies is both prudent and reasonable. Gurmail's faux argument that the vast majority of taxi fares are not children simply doesn't hold water. As one Winnipeg School Board has pointed out, it has children who take cabs to and from school every day. Translating into literally thousands of trips every year, one is hard pressed to see why any of these children should be placed in potential danger if even one driver is, in fact, a convicted sexual predator. To claim it is a non-issue is simply indefensible and borders on willful negligence. Gurmail Mangat is a moron.
Think what would happen if a representative of a daycare, teacher, and/or hockey coaching group came out against mandatory child abuse registry checks? Would we stand for that? I think not. By virtue of their job, Winnipeg Taxi drivers become privy to both the home addresses of children and to the child's daily routine; who among us believes a convicted pedophile should have a right to this information? Anyone?
If Gumail Mangat and Unicity Taxi persist in ignoring this law and, in fact, do fail to comply with its measures by April 1st, then the powers that be should use all powers at their disposal to take immediate punitive actions against the transgressors. On this issue, unlike the mandatory safety shield issue, Unicity Taxi does not have a leg to stand on. Without delay the government needs to send a simple but powerful message: Comply or else!
I'll be brief.
See Ontario's ban of fruit flavored tobacco.
Manitoba, not even on the radar.
Nice solution you guys proposed, at the end of this very entertaining rant, er, I mean essay.
We've just got a ban on smoking in cars-with-kids here in the Yukon too, though not with out a whole lot of "it's my right to do what I like in my personal space" sabre-rattling. Two drugstores have now "voluntarily" stopped selling tobacco products (a ban? Goodness me no, that would infringe the rights of business people to get rich while we get sick). Too bad so many other Whitehorse shops still sell cigarettes, including one of the two local bookstores.
There is evidence that legislative action to reduce access to tobacco products actually stops children from taking up smoking
No it doesn't. Kids are getting hooked and they have access to all the product they want.
"Respected anti-smoking organizations such as MANTRA have already recommended such steps "
MANTRA is a few years behind the times. Sent them an email, About the 4th one in 2 years. Lets see if they get off their collective arses and do something for a change.
"Sorry to inform you but both my sons are now addicts. So are about 20 of their friends.
Whats even sadder is that unlike Ontario, which banned fruit flavored tobacco in less then a month, we Manitobans , as usual are a decade behind and have our heads comfortably shoved in the sand.
I've emailed everyone about my concerns, and yet not one word of feedback.
All these kids got hooked smoking easy to inhale Prime Times. I can understand politicians being weak kneed about attacking this issue. But I don't believe organizations like yours are doing enough.
This issue is as easy as it can get. You have precedence all over the country. Prime Minister Harper has mentioned it. Judy Wasylycia Leis ( sp. ) has tabled a private members bill at the federal level which is stuck in limbo.
But here, nothing. What are you waiting for ?
Thanks."
@Mr. Nobody(1): You misunderstand the point.
Yes, "kids are getting hooked and they have access to all the product they want," which is why *restricting access* (along with economic measures) is the way to go (i.e. versus other interventions).
That's what the international evidence says