Canada's Foreign Minister Urges Restraint, Says Talks Are Best Path to Peace
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Medscape
9 minutes ago
- Medscape
Experts Oppose Expanding Alcohol Access in Nova Scotia
Controversy is brewing over the proposed expansion of alcohol sales outlets in Nova Scotia. The proposal would make alcohol available at retail locations like grocery and corner stores. Its advocates assert that consumers, retailers, and alcohol producers would benefit from the new retail framework, while health experts strongly oppose the move. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is lobbying for increased retail access points for alcohol purchases, asserting that Ontario, British Columbia (BC), and Quebec have already made the move with successful results. 'The government is looking to modernize how alcohol is sold interprovincially, and they're reviewing direct-to-consumer trade,' Duncan Robertson, director of legislative affairs (Nova Scotia) for the CFIB, told Medscape Medical News , describing what prompted the proposed policy change. 'Nova Scotia is really a laggard compared with many other Canadian provinces.' Convenience stores argue that the proposal would ensure that consumers can choose where they spend their dollar. 'Rather than [supporting] a faceless government monopoly, they can support a small business owned by members of their community,' said Robertson. In a recent survey sent to CFIB members in all Atlantic provinces, out of a sample size of 390, including 130 from Nova Scotia, 78% of respondents either strongly supported or somewhat supported the idea that some private retail sales points, such as convenience stores, grocery stores, and large retailers, should be permitted to sell alcohol. 'For consumers, having greater choice is important, but the possible impact on local producers is important as well,' said Robertson. He noted that the success of craft breweries, cideries, and wineries depends on their ability to get their product on Nova Scotia liquor corporations' shelves. 'When we look at agency stores, if a local brewer wants to sell at an agency store down the street, if their product isn't on the predetermined local product list, they can't sell at that agency store.' With expanded access, private retailers would be able to provide these products directly to the community. The CFIB isn't advocating for hard alcohol because that's not in the works in other provinces. Ontario, for example, caps what can be sold at corner stores based on the amount of alcohol by volume, which is 7.1% in that province. Experts' Opposition Mounting The proposal is facing strong resistance from public health organizations and doctors, who cite a potential increase in disease and mortality rates, along with the overloading of hospital emergency rooms, which already are overtaxed. In Ontario and BC, after alcohol sales were expanded to grocery stores in 2015, an additional 24,000 hospital visits were attributed to alcohol annually, according to Brandon Purcell, advocacy manager for prevention and early detection at the Canadian Cancer Society. 'In BC, a study found that for every 20% increase in privately owned stores selling alcohol, deaths caused by alcohol increased by 3.25%. Nova Scotia is proposing changes that would likely double the number of outlets where alcohol is sold, which likely means even greater public health risks,' Purcell explained. Alcohol is a group 1 carcinogen, on a par with tobacco and asbestos, he added. 'We know from Canadian research that greater availability of alcohol leads to higher consumption and more harm. At a time when provinces, including Nova Scotia, are seeing shutdowns of hospital emergency rooms, expanding access to alcohol is a policy that will predictably result in more emergency visits, hospitalizations, and preventable deaths.' Increased Disease and Death Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, noted that in BC, a 20% increase in private liquor outlets was associated with a 3% rise in per capita consumption. A similar impact was seen in Ontario. 'You're increasing consumption of a product linked to more than 200 health conditions, including multiple cancers and liver disease,' said Culbert. 'We're dealing with emergency rooms across the country that are already overwhelmed, and emergency care is the most expensive hospital care sector. 'The government has an addiction to the revenue from the sale of tobacco and alcohol, both of which kill people,' Culbert continued. 'We've had warning labels on tobacco for decades, and we should have the same for alcohol.' Alcohol's effect on public revenue is negative when one considers its cost to health systems and society, he added. 'The proposed change isn't a good deal for anybody except shareholders of distilleries, breweries, and wineries.' In May, Nova Scotia announced that it was launching a monthlong public survey of 1500 Nova Scotians older than 19 years to assess public opinion on retail options for alcohol sales and the health impact of possible changes. Robertson, Purcell, and Culbert reported having no relevant financial relationships.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
John Oliver Urges End To U.S. Complicity In Israel's Blockade: 'Gaza Is Being Starved By Israel'
John Oliver's jokes were secondary this evening as the host began Last Week Tonight by delivering an impassioned plea to stop the U.S. government's complicity in Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip, where roughly 2 million residents face imminent starvation and death. The late-night host singled out Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for claiming there is 'no starvation' crisis in Gaza despite all evidence to the contrary, saying the leader was doing so with the 'skill of a sh—y magician.' More from Deadline Trump Goes Looney Over "Sleazebag" Charlamagne Tha God's Epstein & GOP Coup Remarks On Fox News Senate Confirms Jeanine Pirro To Serve As U.S. Attorney For D.C. 50 Cent Gloats As Trump Nixes Pardon For "Half-Innocent" Diddy, For Now Of note, Oliver added, was that president Donald Trump also recently questioned Netanyahu's claims. 'Describing starving children as looking 'very hungry' is a massive understatement, right up there with: 'We were just friends,'' Oliver remarked, flashing an image of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein onscreen, adding that it was a 'rare moment of Trump expressing something resembling empathy.' Zeroing in on some figureheads who 'pounced on' a New York Times report that added an addendum about a starving child's pre-existing health conditions, Oliver slammed media personality Megyn Kelly, who denied the legitimacy of the images coming out of Gaza. 'I kind of hoped we were done with Megyn Kelly as a society,' he began to audience whoops, 'and collectively, you actually don't have to litigate this case one photo at a time,' he said, citing reports from the United Nations, numerous aid organizations and Israeli human rights groups, including conclusions reached by Israel's oldest daily newspaper and multiple first-hand accounts. 'What's happening in Gaza right now is a famine. All the information we have points to that, except for this f—ing guy [Netanyahu] and a few adult junior detectives squinting at each photo of a skeletal child to figure out if they're the right kind of dying,' Oliver stated. Referring to a 2024 CNN article in which Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said 'it may be just and moral' to starve 2 million Gazans, but 'no one in the world would let us,' Oliver concluded that the official is 'basically complaining that the world is c—blocking him from committing genocide better. And that is the argument for sustained international pressure here, and that country best positioned to apply it is this one [the U.S.], the one that gave Israel nearly $18 billion in military aid during the first year of this war alone. Look, 'Gaza is starving,' is a sentence that's objectively true, but it's also slightly misleading because it's too passive. Gaza is being starved by Israel.' According to leading humanitarian groups and experts — such as the UN Special Committee, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and international law scholars — Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. A May 2025 IPC analysis projected catastrophic levels of food insecurity for the entire population of Gaza by September, meaning at least half a million people are expected to be in IPC Phase 5 — the highest phase, known as catastrophe — which is marked by acute malnutrition and mortality. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More
Bloomberg
40 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
The Doom-Mongering About Britain Is Overdone
Britain is in fiscal dire straits, faces an imminent threat of serious civil disorder, is seeing many of its wealthy head for the exits, and has a rudderless and divided government that's unequal to the task. But the sense of crisis pervading much reporting and discussion on the state of the nation isn't doing the public psyche any good. The country badly needs a better story. Are things really as bad as the drumbeat of doom emanating from social media and newspapers would suggest? The picture is skewed, I would argue. The UK has some real and pressing fiscal challenges, but it's hardly alone in that; France's situation is arguably worse. The protesters who descended on asylum hotels in Epping and Canary Wharf were relatively small in number and included the usual suspects from far right and left — hardly evidence that Britain's entire social fabric is coming apart. Reports of a wealth exodus have rested on some dubious research commissioned by vested interests. The government, for all its missteps, remains in place with a huge majority. And so on.
