When faced with underfunding, should hospital CEOs make clear the consequences, or should they quietly find ways to cut services that may be less noticeable to the public? For the first time since the Harris government, the McGuinty government has … Continue reading →
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Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Israeli Ambassador Told Canadian MP to Stay Home
A little strange news linked to the election fraud of last year: The Liberal MP Borys W., who led the case to have Etobicoke Centre’s results overturned successfully, was once told by Israel to not go to Lebanon. It’s presumably not usual for a country’s ambassador to demand an elected
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Tired of the high cost of hospital parking? Try not paying
If there is one universal issue that irks Ontario hospital patients, it’s hefty parking charges. In many towns the only “pay” parking is at the hospital. Where there are commercial parking lots in the surrounding area, hospitals routinely charge twice the going rate … Continue reading →
Continue readingLeft Over: Divide and Conquer…
Logging of old-growth forest mulled by B.C. government CBC online Oct 10, 2012 Can anyone think of a more emotional hot point to distract BCers from the resumption of the Enbridge talks? No, didn’t think you could..divide and conquer was always their agenda, and this proves that Crusty
Continue readingLeft Over: (Almost) The Last Picture Show….
Granville’s last movie theatre closes CBC online Oct 10,2012 I was shocked to read that this is the last of the Granville theatres..when I left Vancouver a few years ago, they were all still in business; the truth is, after having gone almost weekly for many years, home video
Continue readingLeft Over: You Had Me (Choking) at Affordable…
This morning, I had to control my urge to laugh while reading: Affordable Housing Canada: Housing Boom, Government Cutbacks Create ‘Rent Squeeze’ by Rachel Mendleson in HuffPost Oct 4, 2012 I knew, the minute I read the headline, that the author probably lived in Ontario, or, at least, definitely not
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Last days of free market capitalism and the true believer
Being an unapologetic capitalist is not all that it’s cracked up to be. John Hancock, senior counsellor at the World Trade Organization, was sweating profusely as he told his audience how capitalism was entering a more radical phase that would … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Patient-based nonsense
Patient-based health care: Take away the phrase and the Minister of Health’s speeches would be little more than clean white sheets of paper. There is an air of unreality when you see those trusted with stewardship of our health system … Continue reading →
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Obama
While at the Hoover Dam, we were told there were no tours available. We later found out it was not a technical issue and there was a VIP in a limo that had gone by while we were in the visitor centre. President Obama was visiting, on his way to
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Maybe the LHIN CEO was referring to Grease, the musical
Bill MacLeod told an Insight conference last week that the deficit was Ontario’s burning platform, that the province was “this close” to being Greece. Generally speaking, it’s a bit more complicated to compare provinces to nations, but the CEO of the … Continue reading →
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Pope Says Gays Aren’t Fully Developed Humans Who Threaten Families
In a speech to French bishops last week, Pope Benedict XVI announced that gay people aren’t fully developed humans and are threatening families. While I’m sure very few gay people actually care what the pope thinks of us, sometimes this guy’s just evokes imagery I really want to draw. “The family
Continue readingCritical Brain Candy: Justin Trudeau as a Prime Minister?
I have no idea what to think of this yet. I plan to read up on his opinions over the next while. All I know so far is that he’s already brought energy to the very boring political scene. All else being equal I would normally tend to lean towards
Continue readingNot an Official Green Party Canada Site: An Ill conceived Treaty with ZERO public debate…
Ever since my University days, I have been interested in Trade Theory, and the potential benefits of reduced trade barriers. Despite the strong currents opposing `globalisation`around the world, the last three decades have lifted literally billions of people out of abject poverty. Free capital flows have had enormously beneficial effects,
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: The Rankin Family
Sad morning in Canadian country/folk music as word spreads that Raylene Rankin of The Rankin Family has died of cancer at 52 . She passed away in hospital in Halifax. Last Summer, April and I went to the Red Shoe Pub, the Rankins’ cafe in Cape Breton, in hopes that
Continue readingLeft Over: Welcome Home, Omar…..or not…
Khadr eligible for parole next summer, lawyers say Let no one say that there be no trolls in this day and age…just read some of the comments at CBC online regarding Khadr’s repatriation… This man was railroaded at 15 years old..let’s see, how old were Rina Virk’s murderers? And
Continue readingLeft Over: Crusty Does Alberta…
B.C. premier heads to Alberta for pipeline talks Christy Clark and Alison Redford to discuss Northern Gateway concerns CBC online, Saturday Sep[t. 29, 2012 I cannot believe how delusional this woman truly is..why would she go to Alberta to discuss this issue when she knows that the majority
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Hardship: Sorry, none to spare
It is only people who face adversity who have the best stories to tell. No one wrote a book about a perfect family, where nothing ever went wrong. Maybe that is why I’m not such a great teller of stories, I had too easy a life? I don’t think I’d
Continue readingLeft Over: Rona, are You Paying Attention?
Democracy 101..When a person of either gender is elected to office, and then appointed to a Ministry, (s)he is obligated to vote based, not on personal belief, but on the verifiable will of the people…further, as a Federal Minister, that person should take into consideration the will of the majority
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: More managers to front line staff has an impact well beyond cost of salaries
Asking how the ratio of management to front line staff has changed at a public hospital seemed like a straight-forward question. In this era of obsession with hyper-efficiency, you’d think the Ministry of Health, the Local Health Integration Networks and … Continue reading →
Continue readingFalse positive: private profit in Canada's health care: Public Interest Duty Should Stop Shouldice Sale
Can Ontario’s Minister of Health, Deb Mathews, stop the transfer of the Shouldice Clinic to the health care conglomerate, Centric? Absolutely, it is within her powers under the Private Hospitals Act: as a friend of mine said, “they wrote better laws 50 years ago.” The Private Hospitals Act mandates that the
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