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A22 NATIONAL POST, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2005

MacDonald on Alexei Kovalev and the Canadiens’ return to thrill-a-minute glory ISSUES & DEAR BONO, …

P ETER A. SINGER First, as I argued on these pages two weeks ago, it should build on the US$432-million Bill and Melinda am sorry to Gates Foundation Grand Challenges miss your con- in Global Health Initiative (in which cert in the Canadian Institutes of Health Re- tonight. What search is already a partner) to create a you are doing Canadian Grand Challenges Program. …Ifor the developing world is amazing. The Gates program primarily targets Frankly, you deserve to add the infectious disease. Its Canadian Nobel Peace Prize to your collection equivalent should target non-commu- of Grammys. nicable diseases, such as diabetes. It Tonight, no doubt, you will repeat could also be used to provide access what you have done during past to safe drinking water. These are glob- Canadian U2 concerts, and flash the al problems, but also ones that have Prime Minister’s telephone number tragic relevance to our own aborigi- on the screen. You will encourage nal communities. fans to ask the PM to boost Canada’s Second, we should launch a “Giv- foreign-aid outlays to 0.7% of GDP, ing Back” program to assist the many the internationally recognized Canadians who have immigrated to benchmark for Western nations. Canada from developing and emerg- Certainly, you have given Mr. Martin ing-market countries. Through these fair warning: You once promised programs, doctors, researchers, engi- you would be a “pain in the butt” to neers and other professionals living the PM if he failed to make good on in Canada could share their knowl- the 0.7% target. edge and expertise with their coun- As you know, the 0.7% idea was tries of origin. In this regard, Canada first proposed by another Canadian is perhaps uniquely positioned in the prime minister, Lester Pearson, over world to combine two of its greatest 30 years ago. Although few countries strengths — multiculturalism and sci- now meet this standard, it has had a ence — to help to bridge the techno- galvanizing effect on the internation- logical divide that separates the de- al community. To your great credit, veloped and developing worlds. Bono, you have seized on this tangible Third, we should extend our Cana- target and done your best to shame da Research Chairs program — which world leaders into increasing their currently supports professors in Cana- foreign-aid commitments. dian universities — so that it supports But rather than focusing exclusive- professors in developing-world uni- ly on the 0.7% benchmark, you should versities, especially those in Africa. also ask fans to congratulate the PM Fourth, we should extend the fo- regarding another target — the one cus of our Networks of Centres of Ex- he set in his February, 2004, speech cellence Program, which helps scien- from the Throne. By pledging to de- tists and entrepreneurs co-operate to vote 5% of Canada’s research-and-de- tackle domestic problems, to global velopment spending to challenges problems like climate change and facing the developing world, Mr. Mar- adaptation. tin recognized that science can do as Finally, we should scale up the ex- much for the world’s poor as aid. isting Global Health Research Initia- Canada’s total research-and-devel- tive of the Canadian Institutes of opment spending — both public and Health Research, Canadian Interna- private — amounts to about $23.5-bil- tional Development Agency, Interna- lion per year, so the 5% target would tional Development Research Centre, yield a little more than $ 1-billion an- and Health Canada. nually. In last week’s economic up- JIM YOUNG / REUTERS If Canada shows leadership by date, the Finance Minister confirmed Bono on Parliament Hill on May 12, 2004. launching these and other initiatives, that the federal government would then other countries may well follow move toward that by investing in our lead. Consider this: Five percent a variety of developing-world priori- new anti-malarial drugs, supporting contrast, would, over time, eliminate ment that is constrained by very real of the research and development ties, including “health and environ- the development of a malaria vac- the need for bed-nets. And that’s budget limits, it should be noted that spending of industrialized countries mental technologies.” Currently, Ot- cine, or developing a genetic strategy where the 5% target comes in. some of Canada’s 5% spending would is $50-billion. tawa’s own R&D spending amounts to to incapacitate a malaria-transmit- This same argument plays out count toward the achievement of a So, Bono, when you flash the Prime about $5.5-billion per year, so meeting ting insect population? across dozens of health and environ- 0.7% target. So two humanitarian, Minister’s phone number tonight, ask its share of the 5% target would mean The answer is that all of these solu- mental challenges facing the develop- Bono-pleasing targets could be your fans to tell him his 5% target is about $300-million, double the cur- tions should be pursued. As you move ing world — including HIV, and un- achieved at once.) cool, and that these innovative initia- rent level of federal spending ear- down the list, the role of science be- safe drinking water. While the 0.7% But as you know, Bono, neither of tives should be implemented in Bud- marked for developing-world issues. comes more important, the time target was a product of the old econo- these targets is really about spending get 2006. You may ask, Bono, why your fans frame becomes longer, and you also my — food, clothing, shelter, infra- money. Rather, they are about using Anyway, I wish I could be there. should support this 5% target. Take, get closer to addressing the root of structure and so forth — the 5% tar- our resources to make a difference in Good luck, tonight! for example, the problem of malaria, the problem. Of course, we should be get is looking to harness the potential the lives of people in the developing National Post a disease that kills a child about once shipping bed-nets to save children of the new economy, biotechnology world who have, ethically, the same every 30 seconds, with most deaths now from this humanitarian catastro- especially, to find lasting solutions to right to a fulfilled, healthy life as we ❚ Dr. Peter A. Singer is Sun Life occurring in Africa. Which of the fol- phe — that’s where the 0.7% foreign- significant challenges in developing do; but for whom, in practice, this Financial Chair and Director of the lowing solutions is best: distributing aid target comes in. But if all we do is countries. As you say in your song, right has been eclipsed by poverty, University of Joint Centre insecticide-soaked bed-nets, improv- ship bed-nets, then 10 years from now Miracle Drug, “Of science and the hu- hunger and disease. for Bioethics and a Canadian Insti- ing access to existing anti-malarial we will still be shipping bed-nets. The man heart/ There is no limit.” So how should Canada implement tutes of Health Research drugs, supporting the discovery of development of a malaria vaccine, by (On the other hand, for a govern- the Prime Minister’s 5% target? Distinguished Investigator.

have won the 36 times.) have signed for more money somewhere Boivin has also played a leadership else, but chose to remain in Montreal be- role with the NHL board of governors in cause he wanted to play in a hockey The return of les glorieux lobbying for much needed improve- town. The city has fallen in love with the ments to the rules — none more so than Russian superstar. And the feeling is rec- the two-line pass — which have opened iprocal. When presented as one of the L. IAN M ACD ONALD Stanley Cup champions, a sound that Jackets, who sounded as if they had just up the game. So has the strict enforce- , a regular occurrence, he in Montreal has been largely missing since 1996, been called up from the International ment against hooking, tripping, holding blows kisses to the crowd. when the Canadiens moved to what was League. and interference. As a result, several As for the past, it is represented by Be- then the Molson Centre. The arrival of Pierre Boivin as the Montreal home games, notably against liveau — of five Stanley Cup win- he return of the game is the talk of It’s not a very good building — it’s far Canadiens’ president, and the hiring of Toronto and the very talented Ottawa ners, a member of 10, with his name on T the town. The Alouettes may be in too big to be user friendly and its corri- as general-manager, were Senators, have been wide-open end-to- eight more as an executive — sitting be- the Grey Cup, the Expos may be in dors are far too congested. Fans must evident turning points for the better. enders. hind the Canadiens bench. And there is Washington, but the Canadiens are in make a choice: They can have a beer or Boivin has both a sense of history and a But it’s also the players on the ice — the Rocket, , whose role the , sold out again the other go to the washroom during an intermis- sense of occasion (evident in this sea- especially Alexei Kovalev. José Theodore as a hero d’un peuple, is celebrated in the night for the 13th consecutive time this sion, but not both. son’s celebration of the team’s past — in- is a favourite son, and is an movie that opens today. In a radio inter- . And for many years, the Canadiens cluding the retirement of Yvan Cournoy- inspirational captain, but Kovalev is the view on his birthday in 1997, I asked him It isn’t just the fact that the Canadiens were not a very good team. A nadir was er’s and Dickie Moore’s #12 and of Bernie best puck handler the city has ever seen. what he thought of the eight-minute are winning that’s putting 21,273 people reached in the proud history of les glo- “Boom-Boom” Geoffrion’s #5). Gainey Not even Jean Beliveau, the greatest ovation that swept over him on the night in the building night after night. It isn’t rieux a few years ago when they were has a sense of what it takes to return the Canadien of them all, had Kovalev’s lat- they closed the Forum in 1996. He was even the way they’re winning one-goal shut out at home by a first-year expan- Stanley Cup to its rightful home. (In all, eral vision. overwhelmed, he said, “because I’m just games in the third period, in , sion team called the Columbus Blue Montreal teams, including the Maroons, As a free agent last summer, he could a hockey player.” or, as against Atlanta Tuesday night, in a The first time I went to the Forum in thrilling shootout. 1957, my father had the company seats in No, it’s the return of the game, Mon- the reds, and we could hear the Rocket treal’s brand of fire-wagon hockey, the call for the puck from his brother, Henri. game we knew and loved before it was He broke across the blue line, went in ruined by and the trap, and scored against Boston. “Daddy,” I the dump and run and the clutch and said, “the Canadiens are the greatest grab. It’s the return of the Habs, sweep- team in the world.” ing down the ice, headmanning the The last time I went to the Forum, on puck, and breaking, always breaking, for that final Saturday night in 1996, the the net. The image is framed in the im- Canadiens showed up and beat Pitts- mortal words of Danny Gallivan: “Now, burgh 7-3. My daughter Grace, then just here come the Canadiens!” five, was attending her first game. “Dad- Once again, they are wearing the Big dy,” she said, “the Canadiens are the Red at home, the preferred home jersey greatest team in the world.” of millions of Canadian kids even during It’s finally beginning to feel like that the years the Habs wore red on the road. at the Bell Centre. Finally, it’s the return of the noise, the National Post surging roar of a Montreal hockey [email protected] crowd, the most impassioned and dis- cerning in the game. It is the same ❚ L. Ian MacDonald is editor of Policy sound that was the trademark of the DAVE SIDAWAY / CANWEST NEWS SERVICE Options, the magazine of the Institute when it was home to 24 Alexandra Bilodeau and Melodie Huneault show their support at the Canadiens’ home opener at the Bell Centre on Oct. 14. for Research on Public Policy.

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