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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-01-22, Page 4NOTICE: SNOW AND 111Gi4 WINDS MAKE Vf.SAIS IL ITV POOR AND ROADS IM PASSIBLE ! SC.)-10CA-S A1JD c-ACTOOES CLOSED .401r 44.. 111 -‘tt —"NNW I 407 _J L_EDRELJ — '86 O r..1 7—AN Rio ta".rrt F The world view from Mabel's Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town (if not in the country) gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering Society. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations, we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: Billy Bean was talking about the doctors situation this morning and said he sure hoped Murray Elston had had his appen- dix out by now. If he hasn't, he said, the health minister might get some surgeon who had been told he couldn't extra-bill and was stuck getting only four-fifths of his old fee and he might decide to take only four-fifths of the appendix out. Worse, said Julia Flint, he might get an anaesthetist who is only getting four-fifth of his old fee. TUESDAY: What would the econo- my of this country do without murders, Hank Stokes wondered this morning. The paper is filled these days with the latest from the Buxbaum murder trial and the Jessop murder trial in London. How would they ever sell newspapers without good scandolous murder trials, he wondered? Then there'd be even more unemployment in the forest industry because they wouldn't be using so much pulpwood for paper and so on. Julia pointed out that the local community never seemed to bene- fit from the crime, though. They always moved the trial to some other town. The Buxbaum murder trial is in St. Catharines even though the murder was near London but the Jessop murder trial was in London although the murder was near Toronto. That's free trade, Hank says. Ward Black said that gave him an idea. Maybe instead of building an industrial park, the town should build a courthouse with plenty of room for spectators. Then they could offer to host all the controver- sial murder trials that had to be moved out of any other city. With all the reporters and lawyers and hangers on and the jury being tied up for months, it would mean we'd have to build new hotels and restaurants and there'd be hun- dreds of new jobs. WEDNESDAY: Tim O'Grady says listening to all this fuss about insurance and court settlements, he figures he'd be smart to get into litigation law, not just handling wills and real estate and such like he is now. If the settlements are as big as all that, he says, the clients THE EDITOR: The concern expressed by most of Ontario's 7,500 Family Doctors who oppose the Peterson govern- ment's proposed Health Care Accessibility Act deserves special attention. Unlike many of our physician colleagues, most Family Doctors (greater than 95 per cent are not opted out, and do not "extra bill". Our concern is for our patients and the future of our health care system, and our fight is for the freedom of those of us living and practising medicine in a country which once took pride in protecting the rights and respect- ing the integrity of individuals such as ourselves. Over the past decade, the cost involved in maintaining a quality health care system has escalated and the public purse has been stretched beyond its capacity to afford the resources required. Rather than admitting its failure to come to grips with this scenario, govenments have found it politi- cally expedient to create the myth should be able to pay their bills at least. Ward Black says it's all the fault of lawyers that the insurance rates are high as it is. Tim says don't blame him. He hasn't been lucky enough to find a client who had a good case that would bring a $6.3 million settlement. When he does, he'll be glad to take the blame, and the fee. that paying doctors is the problem. As Family Doctors whose role each day is to act as advocates on behalf of those for whom we care, we are asking our elected officials to review the facts and to address the real issues of concern to our patients. We applaud any discus- sion which honestly addresses the issue of "accessibility" -- but, surely, when we speak of better access, we must be speaking about issues such as improving the facilities and resources available to care for the elderly, the disabled, the abused, and the underprivileg- ed; surely we must be referring to the need for increased community services, improved home care programs, and more appropriate utilization of our hospitals for both in-patient and out-patientcare. Surely we must recognize that it is in areas such as these that the real problems with accessibility to health care exist. For most Family Physicians, passage of the Peterson govern- Continued on page 7 °t izen Letter to the editor [640523 Ontario Inc.] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. P.O. Box 152, P.O. Box 429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. NOG 1H0 NOM 1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $15.00; $35.00 foreign. Advertising and news deadline: Monday 4 p.m. Editor and Publisher: Keith Roulston Advertising Manager: Beverley A. Brown Production and Office Manager: Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration Pending PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1986. Everyone for himself Pure economic theory is that people's self-interest will govern their actions, that all that matters to the individual is saving money (or making more of it). In the 1980's, despite the complaints of ideologues that we've been slipping into the grips of the socialists, we must be closer to pure economics than ever before. Never has self-interest ruled the actions of scrmany people to the point where they ignore the effects of their actions on those around them. Take for instance, the recent demand for changes in legislation affecting Sunday and holiday closing laws. If the demandfor shedding the shackles of Sunday closings came just from the store owners, it might be ignored by government. But the columns of the "letters to the editor" sections of newspapers show that many people feel it is their right to be able to shop whenever they please whether it is Sunday or not. Likewise there were similar complaints of abridgement of rights whenever there were suggestions we don't need all-night stores, even in small towns. These shouts don't come from people who are likely to be asked to work Sundays, of course. There wouldn't be much to gain if we all had to work Sunday because there'd be nobody with free time to go shopping. But because those of us in non-retail jobs have time to shop on Sunday, we feel that the people who work in stores should have to work to accommodate our "rights". In an article in MacLean's Magazine, Peter C. Newman wrote recently about the cost of inefficiency in the Canadian textile industry. The quotas on imports that have helped protect 60,000 jobs in the textile industry have cost each of us Canadians $14 in the last year, he remarked. What a scandal! Fourteen dollars that we didn't have to spend on one case of beer or five packs of cigarettes or one meal out at McDonald's with the kids. Those people should be ashamed to keep their jobs at such a tremendous cost to the rest of us. The same attitude has been there with the demands by Consumer groups to kill off marketing boards because chicken or eggs are cheaper in the U.S. than here. A century ago, a handful of very rich people didn't care how many children died in mines or factories, didn't care if machinery was safe as long as they could continue to live the life of luxury they took as their right. Before that southern planters felt it was perfectly right to keep slaves so they could have mansions and servants. The ordinary middle class in Canada today wouldn't compare itself to the privileged of those times but we live in just as much luxury and we take it just as much for granted. The difference today is that it is no longer a minority that lives in luxury but a huge part of the population. But the people who live the good life today are just as close-minded, just as willing to see others suffer so they can continue to lead their life of luxury as the robber barons of a century ago. Modesty problems While Americans (and many Canadians) are gearing up for the Super Bowl in the U.S. this week, the future of professional football in Canada looks bleak. The contrast shows up once again that the nicest thing about Canadians is also one of our biggest problems. Canadians as a lot are pretty humble, quiet people. You'd never catch us calling something a "super" bowl. We'd never call the professional hockey championship the "World Series" even though we dominated the sport as long as the Americans did baseball. Canadians, however, love to be part of the hoopla. We went gag at the thought of having a "World Series" played in Toronto last year. Many Canadians who don't give a fig if the Calgary Stampeders get trampled, would love to have a National Football League team in Canada. The biggest problem Canadians have is one of perception. There are those who will tell you American Football is just so much better than Canadian football but if the Grey Cup game and the Superbowl were suddenly switched and the American hype was put towork on the Canadian game, most people would suddenly believe it was the better. If you could get an objective reading on hamburgers, for instance, a majority of people would tell you that Harvey's were better than McDonald's yet Canadians flock to the U.S. chain in far greater numbers because Americans know how to market better: i.e. blow their own horns. (A survey of McDonald's customers showed a large proportion of them didn't even think the hamburgers were good but had been sold so well by the advertising they came anyway.) While government people talk about the need for more research and development, the greatest strides Americans have made in the last few years is in marketing, in creating a sense of excitement even when there's nothing to get excited about. That's why our newspapers and radio and television stations still include only Hollywood gossip when they talk about "entertainment" news, even though we now have a vibrant theatre and movie industry in Canada. What Canada needs more than research is a development of an ability to put our natural modesty aside when it comes to promoting things Canadian.