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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2017-05-17, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday. May 17, 2017 ffi Nfortt uron Expositor Take two aspirin and PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 39, 53 Albert Street Clinton, Ontario NOM 1L0 phone: 519-482-3443 www. seaforthhuronexpositor np POSTMEDIA CURTIS ARMSTRONG Group Director of Media Sales 519-376-2250 ext.514301 or nt>Stro ppostmedlacom SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist sgregory@postmedia.com 519-482-3443 Ext. 527305 NANCY DEGANS Media Sales Consultant ndegans@postmedia.com 519-482-3443 Ext. 527306 TERESA SMITH Front Office TSmi h@poshnedia.com 519-482-3443 ext. 527301 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS BOWERS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 681) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDEUVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 39, 53 Albert Street, Clinton ON NOM 1L0 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-482-3443 Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Seaforth Huron Expositor is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, Mich is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www. mediabouncitca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. We acknowledge thee l financial support of the anaaa Government of Canada. vote Grit in morning For decades, liberal -minded politicians in Canada have struggled to introduce uni- versal drug coverage. Having decided that state -funded health care is the best way to ensure general prosperity, they've long wanted taxpayers to fund pre- scribed medicines, too. Problem: Pharmacare is very expensive. But Ontario's government has found a clever way to kickstart it: Make pharmacare available to the segment of the population least likely to need it. The provincial budget proposes universal drug coverage for all Ontarians under 25 years of age. The cost to the treasury is esti- mated at $465 million in year one, funding access to 4,400 drugs. The plan is skillful politics. Premier Kathleen Wynne, facing an election next year in which she is not the frontrunner, can outflank the NDP on the left. Leader Andrea Horwath recently proposed a pharmacare program for all, priced at $475 million but funding only 125 medications. 'the budget pitch also speaks to a slice of the population that doesn't always vote, but which might one day remember the favours the Liberals have larded on it (the government is also introducing more measures to help pay for postsecondary education). Third, it feels like a compas- sionate and affordable step: It doesn't cost billions, yet it helps our children. Who among us does not want to help our children? Thus, no future government is likely to rescind this measure. Which is the cleverest point of all: Pharmacare gets a toehold in Ontario that even Patrick Brown's Progressive Conservatives are unlikely to undo. Indeed, it can only expand in future. Good, say those on the left. But there's worry: Even the existing Way too many 'errors premier Kathleen Wynne's government wants you to believe its horrid treat- ment of Maureen, a 75 -year-old woman who was the victim of a government test program gone awry, is an exception to the rule. It was, the government says, a rare case of "human error," even if government bureaucrats had the gall to suggest she hire a law- yer to remove an obviously ficti- tious lien on her van placed by "Fred and Pebbles Flintstone" of "Yellow Brick Road" It wasn't until Maureen tried to sell the van that she learned of the lien. Thanks to Progressive Con- servative MPP Randy I Iillier, we know it took nine months for the government to acknowledge the lien was the result of a govern- ment worker erroneously put- ting the lien on her van — and possibly other vehicles — while testing Ontario's vehicle regis- tration system. Given the clearly fictitious names and address on the lien, this should have been resolved in a matter of hours, if not minutes, when the mistake was first brought to the government's attention. The larger problem is, this wasn't an isolated incident. Former Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin, for example, reported after an investigation into Hydro One that after the utility took too much money out of the bank accounts of its customers to pay their hydro bills, it refused to give it back, agreeing only to credit it against future charges. Former auditor general Jim McCarter revealed the govern- ment's own energy experts told the Liberals they didn't need to make the Feed -in -Tariff (FIT) program for wind and solar power developers as financially public health care system is stretched, underfunded at every turn. Wynne's government acknowledged that in the budget with its "booster shot" of $7 bil- lion to help deal with the grim overcrowding in hospitals, the shortage of long-term care beds and the difficulty of obtaining affordable home care. Hospitals had hoped for a funding increase of 4.9 per cent; they'll get three per cent. Ontar- io's doctors don't yet have a con- tract, and nurses and other generous as it was, to meet their environmental goals. The Liberals did it anyway, costing electricity ratepayers an extra $4.4 billion over 20 years, according to McCarter. A CBC news investigation found the Liberals' environment ministry misled people who con- tacted it to complain about ill health effects from wind turbines — telling them they were the only ones complaining, when in fact hundreds of people were. This happened even as the same min- istry was internally warning the government its noise limits and setbacks were inadequate, hard to monitor and difficult to enforce. These examples have nothing to do with "human error," which is forgivable when mistakes are quickly admitted and corrected. This is about a Liberal govern- ment that, demonstrably, no longer deserves the public's trust. levels of care worker aren't always paid what they deserve. Does piling on another pro- gram help? Ah, but the budget is bal- anced, you say. Well yes, but spending is still at record lev- els, and Ontario's debt is expected to hit $312 billion in 2017-18. Our debt -to -GDP ratio is far from admirable. Pharmacare is good medicine for the Liberals. For the long- term sustainability of health care? Maybe not. Quote of the week by Muhammad Ali "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." 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