The Dick Morris Canadian Healthcare Deception!!!

Okay Dick Morris, you've successfully ignited a fire in my belly with your ill informed and biased attack on the Canadian Health Care System. One would assume that a requirement for a political strategist would be to seek out the truth before authoring a strategy, but I guess sometimes the truth takes a backseat to ensuring that your rich friends can continue to jump queu, and get services that are out of reach for John Q. Public who works part-time at McDonald's for minimum wage.

Yes, there are flaws in the Canadian Health Care System but those flaws are very much similar to those in the American System, too much bureaucracy and putting money ahead of patients. To blame workers and their unions for Canada's Health Care woes, demonstrates your ignorance and lack of research.

In my home province of Ontario, (that's Canada's largest and most populated province, in case you haven't researched that either), there is a Provincial Ministry of health which is well staffed, albeit not adequately funded, made obvious by the fact that health care institutions have received little, if any, budget increase in years. In days of old, when health care was at least semi-well managed, this Ministry administered budgets and policies for health care institutions.

Bureaucracy being contagious within government circles, it was no longer "rational" for the Ministry created to oversee medical services in the province to continue overseeing health care providers. Along comes a new level of bureaucracy, complete with highly paid bureaucrats who will be charged with administering budgets, overseeing and integrating health care services across the province. The province was divided into 14 LHINs, (Local Health Integration Networks). These LHINs would now be accountable to the Ministry of Health, and health care facilities would now be accountable to the LHINs. Ironically, Local does not have the same meaning in government speak as it has in Webster's dictionary, because the Local Health Integration Network my community belongs to covers an area which is comparable to the size of Texas give or take a few miles.

Government bureaucracy out of the way, I now direct your attention to the health care facilities themselves. My community has a 58 bed acute care Hospital which is administered by a Chief Executive Officer, 5 senior managers or directors and 7 managers to oversee roughly 200 staff.
Under government and LHINs regulations, the hospital can not run a deficit, and the CEO is required to sign an Accountability Agreement which makes that stipulation clear. There is no accounting for the fact that costs are significantly higher each year, budget increases are minimal therefore how can a hospital avoid a potential deficit. The only options are to cut services and/or staff and despite being top heavy in management the cuts are always made in the front line.

Now, Mr. Morris, please tell me how you can make the distinction that the Unions control health care and that they are responsible for the problems it faces. Contrary to your statement the Unions would never stand in the way of service delivery. Given the large amount of part-time workers, unions would welcome the opportunity for their members to get extra hours through night-time procedures and services. If those services aren't available, blame the government, blame the bureaucracy or blame top heavy management but in no way can you blame the workers and their unions who ensure that they make a living wage in a healthy and safe environment. Even the lowest paid manager has a much higher salary, and better benefits than the highest paid worker so look up the ladder if you are looking for the cause.

Public and accessible health care should be a fundamental right in any civilized nation that cares about it's people. How many Americans are bankrupt or homeless because of an extended hospital stay or overly inflated, make the providers rich cost of a procedure? How many Americans die needlessly because they can't afford insurance or health care services? How many much needed services are denied by American HMOs each year based solely on costs. Compare those figures to the same figures in Canada and you will notice that even with all it's flaws, Canada's Health care System is second to none. Clean-up your own back-yard, Mr Morris, before you tell me to clean mine.

Sharing Toys & Getting Along

What's up with this crazy world? Almost everywhere I go, I am confronted by someone who clings to their rights to free speach and freedom of expression, yet those very same hipocrites, in the very same breath, try to suppress my rights, and those of others to do the same. Since when does Freedom only exist for a precious chosen few?

Obviously, in a free country, there will always be differences of oppinion because no two people are alike, so let's have a healthy debate about those issues and then move on. I don't care who you are, what your race, creed or politics are, if you have something to tell me, I'll listen because I value freedom, yours and mine! I may not agree with you, and you may not agree with me but does that make either one of us evil or unworthy? Of course not, it makes us human!

I'm certainly not advocating for the right of fanatical factions to spew hatred, destruction and intollerance of those who look different, act different, think different and believe different then them. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who supresses the rights and freedom of others, lose the right to cling to their own rights and freedoms. As they say, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander!"

I'm reminded of the carnal rule at my house while I was growing-up. It didn't matter who came into my yard to play, the rule was I had to share my toys, and I had to get along with them, even if I didn't invite them. That rule still sticks with me and no matter who comes into my life, I just want to share my toys and get along with them, even if they look different, think different or act different than me.

Local TV Matters

Lately, I find myself bombarded by TV and print ads which push me to choose sides in the TV vs Cable/Satellite war, and I can remain silent no more. Forced to choose sides, I declare myself a Soldier for Local Television.

Living in Northern Ontario, I've come to depend on local television to keep me updated on local happenings, good and bad. My community is too small to have a local station, but stations in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie have a presence and do an excellent job of carrying the local message. Where is my Cable company and how are they keeping me informed of local happenings. Other than by carrying local stations, and a scrolling channel which tells me who's having a birthday, and where I can get a cheap sofa, they do absolutely nothing to help get the message out.

Local television provides local jobs which helps the local economy. Eastlink Cable, our local Cable company, have moved a big chunk of jobs out of province, apparently they believe someone in Halifax can better serve the needs of Northern Ontario than someone in Sudbury could. Cable and Satellite providers are quick to point out the Net Operating Profit of all the TV Networks combined, they claim it is around $400 million, hm, what is the Net Operating Profit of the Cable/Satellite providers combined, I bet it's many times more than $400 million. Who earns more from the work and programing that Local TV and the Networks provide?

I've yet to see a local event sponsored by Eastlink Cable, yet MCTV (a local CTV Affiliate) sponsors many events in my community. Sponsorship helps the community host events which would otherwise not be available to them, where are the Cable and Satellite providers when the community needs help to fund an event?

Who should pay the proposed Local TV Tax? The viewers who are already overpaying for cable services; the local stations and networks who support the local economy and keep the community informed, all without getting a dime from the providers; or the Cable/Satellite providers who stand to make millions in profit on the blood, sweat and tears of local and network programming? You can decide for yourself but for me, it's a no brainer! We don't need a TV Tax, we need Cable/Satellite providers to start paying their share, we the viewers already do!