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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-09-23, Page 5Wednesday, September 23, 2015 • News Record 5 www.clintonnewsrecord.com letters to the editor A call for stronger federal health care leadership Dear Editor, It is unfortunate that our government has abandoned its leadership role when it comes to Canada's public Medicare system. Said federal NDP Health Critic Libby Davies: "The federal government must work with the provinces to create health care reforms that ensure that Canadians continue to receive quality health care, and that this standard of care is guaran- teed across the country. Canadians deserve equal access to affordable medica- tions, team -based primary care clinics with doctors, nurses and allied health professionals; care across their lifespan; and preventa- tive health education and resources." Our Prime Minister and the Federal Health Minister should call for a First Minis- ters Meetings with all the provincial and territorial Premiers and Health Minis- ters in negotiating a new National Health Accord and expand and strengthen the Canada Health Act by implementing National Standards, especially for home care, pharmacare and medical or assistive devices (including ostomy and dia- betic supplies). Unfortunately, not once has Prime Minister Harper ever called for a National First Ministers Health Con- ference during his whole term in office (2006 to 2015). In his March 28, 2014 email message, Federal Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair states: "New Democrats are urg- ing the Harper government to work out a deal to ensure that every Canadian has access to physician and hos- pital care when they need it—regardless of the where they live, their economic or social status. This was the vision of Tommy Douglas who believed that "health services ought not to have a price -tag on them, and that people should be able to get whatever health services they required irrespective of their individual capacity to pay„ We know that there is an important leadership role for the federal government in health care delivery—the federal government should be providing a stable fund- ing formula for the Canada Health Transfer, ensuring that all provinces and terri- tories can provide a high standard of care and honour the Canada Health Act. But, instead of providing leadership and properly funding our health care sys- tem, the Conservatives are slowly strangling it. They're changing the way they divide federal health trans- fers, leaving some provinces worse off. They unilaterally imposed 36 billion dollars in cuts to health care funding and continue to refuse to negotiate with the provinces and territories on the health accords. The result of all these Conservative cuts and inac- tion? Canadians will face a diminished health care sys- tem: even longer wait times, unequal standards of care across provinces and territo- ries, reduced front-line ser- vices, continued inflation in drug costs and reduced access to home care and long-term care." We need to stress the importance of our provin- cial political leaders, espe- cially the Premier and the Minister of Health and Community Services to join their provincial and territo- rial Counterparts from Can- ada's nine other provinces and other territories to call on the Prime Minister, the federal Health Minister and the current/next federal government to come to the negotiating table and work out a new National Health Accord; to reintroduce the national pharmaceutical strategy and a national pharmacare program. The federal government needs to reverse it's unilat- eral decision to cut $36 Bil- lion from the federal health transfers to the provinces and territories. Such a huge cut will restrict or prevent provinces to implement improve- ments in our overall health- care system; to build new healthcare infrastructure and lower "wait -time s" to see specialists, such as psy- chiatrists, publicly funded psychologists, neuropsychi- atrists and other Health Providers. Edward Sawdon St. Johns, Nlfd. Reader tired of "political nonsense and parties remarks" Dear Editor, I am getting a little tired of the nonsense I keep reading regarding the three parties electioneering remarks. So I have come up with some wishes: I wish leaders would learn from the old scout promise, which starts off with "I promise that I will do my best to.." then we might have more faith in our politicians. For instance Mulcair promises, if elected to gov- ernment, to bring in 10,000 refugees by the end of the year. However, he may well find that there are not enough bureaucrats or there are some logistical problems to make this unrealistic or impractical. Similarly, any party's promise to balance the budget by year... may prove to be impossible or unwise due to changing eco- nomic conditions I wish that we end up with a coalition government that listens to other points of view and tries to come up with a consensus, it seems our prime ministers often end up more as dictators than true leaders and the best we can hope for is to elect a party with a leader who is a benevolent dictator. I wish the parties would not do attack ads especially against individuals. Instead a comment such as, "I believe the parties plan to ... is very misguided." The Liberals and NDP may end up having to work together to form a govern- ment and therefore I wish they were more diplomatic during the election campaign. I thought it was a bit of tragicomedy when Christian Paradis reportedly said, "The Syrian conflict is a trag- edy of huge magnitude, none of us can stand idle when we know the horrors that effect so many civilians." What was our government doing in the past year until they realized that admitting refugees was what the general public wanted? It appears that their major policy was to drop bombs on Syrians hoping they killed more combatants than civil- ians and doing very little in humanitarian aid or expedit- ing refugee claimants. Patrick Capper Clinton FROM THE ARCHIVES 15 Years Ago... • The Huron -Perth fall sports sea- son was suspended but those who attended a special meeting of the Huron -Perth Athletic Association said the season had not been cancelled. Teachers across the province were trying to show their disdain towards a government initiative, which made secondary school teachers provide mandatory extra -curricular activities for students. • "It's hard to explain to kids, it's hard to explain to parents, sometimes it's hard to understand yourself," said Bob Ellison, HPAA executive director at the time. • Skunks infected with rabies were believed to be living under a resi- dent's shed. Attempts were made to flush the animals from their home by pumping 2,000 gallons of water using a fire truck. No skunks were found. • Council passed a $650,000 tax cut by committing slot revenue to taxes. • The Betty Cardno Memorial Cen- tre opened at the west end of Clinton. 25 Years Ago... • Women Today celebrated 10 years. The for previous decade, Women Today had focused on rural women, recogniz- ing the need for support and advocacy roles delivered from a woman's per- spective, as well as information and resources on women's health and polit- ical issues. • Schools throughout Huron County were beginning to feel the pinch as their usable space shrank, said Bob Allan, county director of education at the time. A slight upswing in the stu- dent population and shrinking class sizes contributed to the loss of space. Previous class sizes of 30 to 35 students were deemed unacceptable. 35 Years Ago... • Vanastra residents prepared to oppose the Tuckersmith Township council's proposed bylaw amendment. The bylaw had been in effect for the previous six years could have left the cost of the Vanastra Recreation Centre on the shoulders of Vanastra commu- nity residents. • A severe thunderstorm ripped through town dumping 75 millimetres of rain on the area and lashed parts of the county with 100 kilometre per hour winds. It knocked down tree limbs on telephone and power lines and flat- tened crops. Power in the area was knocked out when a large limb on a tree was blown onto power lines and then went crashing across a car. clintonnewsrecord.com