Services Lost

Living in rural western Canada one shutters when comparing basic services offered here to services offered back east in rural Newfoundland. For example, if one needs to see a doctor at our local clinic you do not have to wait "forever" as the case for an appointment back east. In our local area, one stop service is offered in a small clinic where the maximum time to wait for an appointment is a mere day or two. The waiting room is generally not full where people are sitting for hours on end. Follow up tests go in the clinic, and if one is early in the am, there is never a problem getting a series of blood work, xrays, and other diagnostic work done with no major wait. One stop full service that many rural communities in Newfoundland would cry for. So, why does one province have the service and the other does not. The day is over when we can say that one province is a have while the other is a have not. Both of the provinces are often compared as the poor house of Canadian politics. The answer lies in the will of government to not only make health care a priority but to follow up with action to ensure they "walk the talk." However, the buck not only rests with government. It rests with those employed to provide the service. Collectively, things can improve back east to allow for a level of service that mirrors what we have here in Western Canada. With the aging population the number one priority of those retirees that the government of Newfoundland hopes to attract back to their roots will be health care. It will not happen if the service does not improve.

pension woes

The stage has changed but the players remain the same. It is a different government. Different players, a new generation of people facing the plight of deciding to withdraw from the employment rolls and join the line of the retired on a government pension. A new generation of savoy politicians poised to reap the benefits of the booming resouce sector. Each trying to find a balance between what is an adequate reward for those who have given faithfully over decades of service to the government and the needs of this retired generation to maintain a life style above the survival mode. Given life expectancy statistics, one could be "drawing" a pension for a time equal to greater than their working life. For pension planners and politicians this creates an angonizing dilemma. How do we continue to support such an integral, growing component of society while balancing the cost to the publically supported government purse? Sadly, government had for too long taken money that was posted for pension support and used it to build the roads and bridges that guaranteed their political survival. Now, the pickle barrel that government finds itself in is not easily drained. On the one hand the aging, medically demanding still contributing sector of the population is lobbying government for more while government pleas there is no more to give. What is the solution? For those on pensions...organize, organize, organize...but not only at the top. Start with the bottom...your own decendents. Have them take the cause and pressure the politicians for it is the decendents of the family that will have to provide the support necessary when government fails...Doesn't this sound familiar? Where were we before the era of publically supported homes for the aged? Just a thought!

Billion Dollar Budget III

Wel, it is hard to comprehend. Not that its a billion dollar budget but it is a billion dollar surplus...Maybe, the time has come for the dream of a island where want is no more. The ultimate irony of this wealth is it comes from the very source of another resource that has been destroyed over decades of abuse...Never is a strong word but never is the word that comes to surface when discussing a return to the glory days of the cod fishery. So, how will we fair with the new wealth. Will it go the way of the fishery. Maybe, the provincial government should take some investment advise from the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund and make it work to develop an economy that will act as a magnet attracting the thousands and thousands that have been forced to leave...lost in that economic treadmill scratching out a living for necessities not reachable on the island. Yes, 'rant and roar', enjoy the moment rewarding those who patiently awaited a day when 'have not' will be no more. However, think in the long run for the oil will be gone and we need to build the economy of the future that will stop the exodus of people and guarantee the return of those who will be part of the better tomorrow.

Billion Dollar Budget II

Billion Dollar Budget