Huron Expositor, 2016-12-07, Page 5Wednesday, December 7, 2016 • Huron Expositor 5
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Liberals must ensure
pipelines are built
The Justin Trudeau
government has
delivered some
good news for Canadians
who want a prosperous
economy -- the kind that
has the money to support
programs the public
relies on. The approval of
two pipeline projects
offers hope that Canada
can reduce its depend-
ence on the United States
as essentially its only oil
customer and fetch a bet-
ter price from other
buyers.
As expected, Trudeau
rejected Enbridge's
Northern Gateway pro-
ject. The two that received
the nod largely follow
existing right-of-ways,
making them more palat-
able than a new route
such as Northern
Gateway.
The prime minister
credited Alberta's climate
change plan for the
endorsement of twinning
Kinder Morgan's Trans
Mountain pipeline to
Burnaby, B.C., as well as
approval of Enbridge's
Line 3 application, which
replaces an existing pipe-
line running from Alberta
into the United States.
"Alberta's climate plan
is a vital contributor to
our national strategy,"
Trudeau said Tuesday. "It
has been rightly cele-
brated as a major step
forward, both by industry
and the environmental
community."
What was left unsaid
was that while Canadian
companies have to shoul-
der the extra cost of a car-
bon tax and other restric-
tions, competitors like
those in the United States
don't. Alberta has been
struggling to secure so-
called social licence
Paging Dr. Hoskins,
needs is more
doctors and
more nurses in our hospi-
tals helping those in
need.
What this province is
getting is more bureau-
crats, more red tape and a
new $90 -million
unneeded layer of lard in
a health-care system
where front-line practi-
tioners have been cut to
the bone.
The group Concerned
Ontario Doctors is rais-
ing the alarm that new
legislation will not just
siphon money from ser-
vices to sick people, it
will also allow for inva-
sion of people's privacy.
Bill 41 will allow
bureaucrats to access
patients' records
without their knowl-
edge or consent.
We've already been
warned that the 14 local
health integration net-
works (LHINs) are out of
control. Former provin-
cial ombudsman Andre
Marin slammed them for
their lack of accountabil-
ity and "clandestine"
decision making. Provin-
cial auditor -general Bon-
nie Lysyk has been criti-
cal of them for their
waste.
This new legislation will
spawn a network of 60 to
70 sub-LHINs.
Will we never learn?
These are unelected,
unaccountable people,
often with limited medi-
cal knowledge, making
far-reaching decisions
about hospital closures.
while, since 2010, the
equivalent of 10 Keystone
XL pipelines were built in
the United States with
nary a peep from envi-
ronmentalists who balk
so loudly on this side of
the border.
The prize for Canada is
getting the two pipelines
built while facing the bar-
rage of threatened pro-
tests and litigation.
"There will be mass
protests. There will be
lawsuits. This will become
a hotly contested issue in
the coming B.C. election.
And this pipeline will
never be built," wrote
Karen Mahon earlier this
week in a Vancouver Sun
opinion piece. Mahon is
the Canadian national
director of Stand.earth
and a member of the oil -
sands advisory group
appointed by the Alberta
NDP government.
a new Rx
It has to stop.
In the 2014 election,
former Progressive Con-
servative leader Tim
Hudak pledged to scrap
the LHINs. That's what
should happen. They
shouldn't multiply.
The more this Liberal
government adds to the
health-care bureaucracy,
the worse it gets.
Meanwhile, our doctors
and nurses are stretched
to the limit trying to pro-
vide more services to an
aging population with
fewer resources. We see
the results all the time.
Trent Hills Mayor Hec-
tor Macmillan was forced
to go to Germany for life-
saving NanoKnife treat-
ment for pancreatic can-
cer. We have the
technology here; we don't
Optimist Club donates $500
to Christmas Bureau
In the picture, Ueb Janmaat and Sandy McliIynn at the first Presbyterian l;hurcn in seatortn.
The Seaforth & District Optimist Club donated $500 of clothes to the Huron Christmas Bureau.
Another member of the
panel, Tzeporah Berman,
posted this message on
social media: "Justifying
#KinderMorgan & Line 3
because of Alberta Emis-
sions Cap ignores First
Nations treaty rights &
other serious environ-
mental impacts."
Alberta Party Leader
is needed
have the money to oper-
ate it.
We see it every day with
drugs that aren't funded
by OHIP — so patients
face the indignity of beg-
ging for money for cancer
drugs on GoFundMe.
We don't have a reve-
nue problem with health
care. The Liberals brought
in their health-care "levy"
in 2004 — until then, the
biggest tax hike in the
province's history —
ostensibly to pay for good
care. Then they squan-
dered it on eHealth,
Ornge, LHINs and count-
less other money pits.
Health Minister Eric
Hoskins — a doctor him-
self — should heed the
good doctors' diagnosis.
As the saying goes: Phy-
sician, heal thyself.
Greg Clark has called for
the pair to be removed
from the advisory group
because of their per-
ceived bias, but their
rhetoric reflects the
lengths pipeline
ea orthhuronexeositor.co
opponents will go to hob-
ble growth.
Having determined the
pipeline applications are
in the national interest,
the federal Liberals must
ensure they're built.
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