Acton may refer to:

Places[link]

Antarctica[link]

• Mount Acton

Australia[link]

• Acton, Australian Capital Territory, suburb of Canberra
• Acton, Tasmania, suburb of Burnie, Tasmania
• Acton Park, Tasmania, suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton

Canada[link]

• Acton, Ontario
• Actons Corners, Ontario
• Acton Island, in the District of Muskoka, Ontario
• Acton, New Brunswick
• Acton Regional County Municipality, Quebec (MRC d'Acton)
  • Acton Vale, Quebec
  • Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Quebec
  • Saint-Théodore-d'Acton, Quebec

United Kingdom[link]

• Acton, Cheshire
• Acton, Dorset
• Acton, County Armagh
• Acton, Staffordshire
• Acton, Shropshire
• Acton, Worcestershire
• Acton, Suffolk
• Acton, London
• Acton, Northumberland
• Acton, Wrexham
• Acton (UK Parliament constituency)

Also:

• Acton Beauchamp, Herefordshire
• Acton Bridge, Cheshire
• Acton Burnell, Shropshire
• Acton Green, Herefordshire
• Acton Green, London
• Acton Pigott, Shropshire
• Acton Place, Suffolk
• Acton Reynald, Shropshire
• Acton Round, Shropshire
• Acton Scott, Shropshire
• Acton Trussell, Staffordshire
• Acton Turville, South Gloucestershire

United States[link]

• Acton, California
• Acton, Indiana
• Acton, Kentucky
• Acton, Massachusetts
• Acton, Maine
• Acton Township, Minnesota
• Acton, Montana
• Acton Township, North Dakota
• Acton, Tennessee
• Acton, Texas
• The Acton School of Business in Austin, Texas
• Acton State Historic Site, Texas

People[link]

• John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton: Lord Acton, the Catholic historian
  • Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton, his great-grandson, Labour peer and life peer
  • Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, his grandfather, admiral and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples
  • Charles Januarius Edward Acton, his uncle, Cardinal of Santa Maria della Pace
  • Guglielmo Acton, his first cousin once removed, officer in the Neapolitan Navy, attempted to intercept Garibaldi at Marsala
  • Harold Acton, his distant cousin, writer, dandy and dilettante
• Brigitte Acton, Canadian alpine skiier
• Charles Acton (critic) (1914–1999), music critic
• Edward Acton (Royal Navy officer) (died 1707), British naval captain
• James Acton (1848-1924), English cricketer
• Keith Acton, Canadian former National Hockey League player
• Samuel Acton (c.1773-1837), English architect
• Thomas Acton (1662–1721), English Jesuit
• Acton, minor character in The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
• Acton Bell, a pseudonym of Anne Brontë

Other[link]

• Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty
• An installation by James Turrell at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Linda West is a Canadian administrator, activist and politician. She is perhaps best known as an advocate for increased private health provision within Canada's public health system. She has been a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

Private life and career[link]

West has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laurentian University and a Master of Business Administration specializing in Health Care from the University of Toronto.^[1] She also holds a Ph.D. from Washington International University, an institution that is not accredited by any educational oversight body in Canada or the United States of America. West's Ph.D. credentials became a source of controversy during the 2006 federal election.^[2]

West was executive director of the James Bay General Hospital from 1992 to 1995, and of the Winnipeg River Health District from 1995 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000, she was executive director of labour relations for Manitoba Health.^[3] She has also been a health policy consultant for the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, and has taught nursing and business at the University of Manitoba.^[4] West is the author of a book entitled, Trends and Issues in Health Care.^[5]

In 2003, West helped organize a conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba on the role of women in politics.^[6] She received a Women of Distinction Award from the Winnipeg YMCA-YWCA in 2004, and was later chosen as the local director of Equal Voice, a group that promotes the increased participation of women in political life.^[7] In 2006, she helped organize a rebuilding effort in New Orleans for Habitat For Humanity.^[8]

In July 2007, West was hired as executive director for employment services in the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region's Human Resources Department. She was named acting vice-president of Human Resources in August of the same year, and became vice-president in December. West left employment with the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region on February 21, 2008.^[9] West also became vice-president of Human Resources with the Actyl Group, a recruitment agency that provides Canadian placements to migrant workers from the Philippines, in 2007.^[10] She argued in 2008 that Canada needs overseas recruitment to counter a domestic labour shortage.^[11]

Views on health delivery[link]

West has written several articles calling for Manitoba and Canada to develop new strategic plans for health care delivery. She believes that the Canada Health Act should be re-examined, and more private medicine introduced into the public system.^[12] West has written favourably of France and Sweden's combined public-private models, and has criticized the delivery system of the United States of America.^[13]

West and provincial Health Minister Dave Chomiak engaged in a public controversy over health care strategies in late 2001 and early 2002.^[14] In the same period, West argued that Manitobans should pay health-care premiums instead of paying for health expenses through general taxation.^[15]

Activist and political candidate[link]

West first ran for public office in the 2003 provincial election, as a candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party. She initially sought the party's nomination for Riel, but lost to former Member of the Legislative Assembly Shirley Render at a nomination meeting in late 2002.^[16] During the nomination contest, one PC insider suggested that West's views on private health care would be a liability for the party.^[17]

West subsequently convened a public meeting on Manitoba's physician shortage, which was held at Winnipeg's Transcona Inn in early 2003. During the question and answer session, she announced that she was considering a candidacy in the division of Radission. The political overtones of this meeting were noted in a newspaper report, though West denied that it had been called for political purposes.^[18] She won the Radisson nomination, but lost to New Democratic Party candidate Bidhu Jha in the general election.

West returned to writing opinion pieces on Canada's health-care system after the election. She reiterated her support for publicly funded private clinics, and criticized the provincial government's approach to the issue.^[19] She was also a vocal opponent of Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray's tax policies, which she spoke against at several public meetings.^[20]

The Manitoba Nurses' Union criticized West in late 2003, after she led a group of her own fourth-year undergraduate students in a rally outside the provincial legislature supporting an on-the-job training program. The students received 10% of their grade for participating in the rally, leading a union official to charge that West was manipulating the course for partisan ends. She denied this, and said that her students were taught to review both sides of the issue.^[21]

West was a supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the federal level, and supported its merger with the more right-wing Canadian Alliance to create the Conservative Party of Canada in 2003.^[22] She ran for the new party in the 2006 federal election, and finished second against New Democratic Party incumbent Bill Blaikie in Elmwood—Transcona.

West challenged Bidhu Jha a second time in the 2007 provincial election, initially centering her campaign around local opposition to a hog-processing plant planned for construction in the Radisson area. The NDP government withdrew its support for the project during the election, and indicated that the plant would not be built. Some NDP insiders nevertheless expressed concern that their early support for the unpopular project had made the seat vulnerable.^[23] On election day, however, Jha defeated West by an increased margin.

External links[link]

• - Actyl biography

Electoral record[link]

All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada and Elections Manitoba. Provincial expenditures refer to candidate expenses. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.

Footnotes[link]

Michael Acton Smith is CEO, Creative Director and Founder of online games developer and entertainment company Mind Candy. He has been described by The Daily Telegraph as "a rock star version of Willy Wonka" ^[1] and by The Independent as "a polite version of Bob Geldof."^[2]

Mind Candy created the transmedia hit Moshi Monsters, which has 60 million users around the world^[3] and has expanded offline into books, toys, music, trading cards, TV and film.^[4]

In July 2011, Mind Candy was valued at $200m.^[5]

Career[link]

In 1999 whilst in his early twenties, Smith co-founded online gadget and gift retailer Firebox.com with university friend Tom Boardman. The pair started out with a rent-free attic and a £1,000 loan from Smith’s mother. Their breakthrough moment came in the form of the “Shot Glass Chess Set”. Within five years they were listed by The Sunday Times 'Fast Track 100' as the 13th fastest growing, privately owned business in the UK.^[6]

Following his success with Firebox, Michael secured financing and launched Mind Candy in 2004. The company launched alternate reality game Perplex City, a global treasure hunt that played out across various media including websites, text messages, magazines, live events, skywriting and multiple helicopters. The game attracted only a niche audience and after three years (and $9m spent), Perplex was placed on indefinite hold.^[7]

Smith’s ultimate vision is to ‘build the largest entertainment brand in the world for this new digital generation of kids'.^[8]

Personal life[link]

Smith was born in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where he lived with his parents and sister. The family spent many summers in the USA, as Smith’s father is American.

Smith studied Geography at Birmingham University, England, and worked briefly in the City of London before starting his own business.

Smith lives in central London. In his spare time he organizes boutique music festivals and networking events including Berwickstock^[9] and Silicon Drinkabout.^[10] He was recently ranked among the Twitter elite. His official Twitter username is @acton.^[11]

Honours and philanthropy[link]

In May 2011, Smith was voted 12th in Wired Magazine’s Top 100 of Britain’s Digital Power List.^[12]

In November 2010, Smith was included in London's Evening Standard’s selection of ‘London's 1000 most influential people 2010: New Media'.^[13]

In December 2011, Smith was profiled on BBC Radio 4 as the 'Moshi Monsters mogul.'^[14]

In January 2012, Smith was listed as No.36 in The Times '100 to watch in 2012' list. ^[15]

Smith is a member of the Courvoisier Future 500, an exclusive network of pioneers, entrepreneurs and revolutionary spirits from the arts, social enterprise, business, science, gastronomy, fashion and other sectors.^[16]

In February 2011, Smith was ranked within the Twitter elite as part of The Independent’s Twitter 100.^[17]

Smith is a regular speaker at events and conferences around the world. In 2011 Michael has spoken at Kidscreen (New York, U.S.), MIPTV (Cannes, France), The Children’s Media Conference (Sheffield, UK) and Develop (Brighton, UK).

In March 2012, Smith won 'Tech Guru 2012' at The Guardian's Digital Innovation Awards. ^[18]

Smith also founded Silicon Drinkabout a weekly Tech/Media meet up in Shoreditch, London designed to bring together those working within the Tech community - supported by David Cameron's Tech City initiative.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mind Candy
• Firebox
• Michael Acton Smith's contact page on OneLeap
• Perplex City
• Smith interview on Guardian.co.uk
• Smith interview on Telegraph.co.uk
• Wired Magazine feature on Michael Acton Smith
• Smith interview in The Sun
• BBC News - Profile: Michael Acton Smith, the Moshi Monsters mogul