Friday August 15th, 2014 – 11 am
Posted Aug 15, 2014 01:28:20 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The second hour of the 570 Midday Show
11:00 Cormac MacSweeney, Parliament Hill Reporter
Former federal Conservative campaign worker Michael Sona was actively involved in an illegal scheme to send Guelph voters to the wrong polling station using automated “robocalls” during the 2011 federal election, a court has ruled. Judge Gary Hearn said that while he believed Sona did not act alone in the election-day calls that sent voters to the wrong polling locations, there was no reasonable doubt he was clearly involved in the plan. Sona was found guilty under the Elections Act Thursday of wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent a voter from casting a ballot. The court will hold a sentencing hearing on Oct. 17. The conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
11:30 Ellen Gregg, Dietitian with the Waterloo Region Public Health
This region is mired in a “food swamp” where unhealthy options for eating and drinking are all too abundant. And only a very small fraction of the region’s residents – 0.3 per cent – is eating what’s considered a good diet, according to an “eye-opening” report by Region of Waterloo Public Health. Convenience stores and fast food outlets outnumber by five times grocery and specialty stores within a kilometre of the study participants’ homes. More than three times as much shelf space was dedicated to “energy dense” snack food than vegetables and fruit.The study – a group project between public health, the University of Waterloo and two other Canadian universities – analyzed 1,334 retail food establishments and 1,170 individuals from 690 households across Waterloo Region in 2009 to find how our environment affects eating, travel behaviours and health. A new report based on this data, presented to a regional council committee earlier this week, focused on the local food environment and its effects on eating habits and health outcomes. Researchers found that rather than gaps in access to healthy foods – so-called food deserts that are prevalent in the United States – there’s an overabundance of unhealthy foods and beverages here.
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