The Goderich Signal Star, 1976-05-13, Page 21•
A "masterpiece -of con-
fusion" is how ;,rttario:
Hospital- Association
:President. Donald, • A.
Robertson described the
Ontario Ministry -of ,Health's
hospital budgetary restraint
program to a meeting of.
hospital trustees and ad-
ministrators at the Red Oak
Inn, Peterbprou i,-
"In all of the
thousands of , words written
and; . "said ,,.about Hospital
constraints • the prevailing
sense is one of confusion;
"Toes anyone understand
the mechanism by which the
hospital budget cuts were
calculated?," he asked- "In
spite of several attempts at
explanation on the part of the
ministry, their mathematical
exercise. still seems designed
more to justify preconceived
decisions than to arrive at
objectiv'.,e' answers, .The
situation is compounded by
"chronic ministerial fog talk;
Their directives to hospitals
are couched in such careful
terms, that .it's ` hard not to
believe .that their intent is to
confuse. And of course;, they
always manage .to leave
loop -hole for future escape f
they get pinned down
"For instance, ,although we
hear, encouraging reports • of
hospitalsbeing, successful` in'.
their • appeals for re-
calculation of their budget
reductions, we -find Deputy
Health Minister Mr, Rackley,"
in his April I2 •.-letter • to
hospitals, threatening that if
the Ministry doesn't achieve.
its hospital savings 'target
through the present
measures, it will just change
the criteria as necessary.
"Four of the public
ire"
In. a recent issue of
Canada's. so-called. national
magazine, MVlacleari's, writer
Walter $tewartHas: anartic-le-
trying to show that Canadians
.are not the quiet, sober, gray,
decent- people they think they
- are. .
I could have told' him that
years' ago, and have used it as
a; theme in this • column on
some occasions-. • •
Perhaps the ' self-
perpet`uating myth,. at home
and abroad, that • we . are
sensibl, tolerant, respec-
•table, and rather .dull,: has
::.:been fostered,byl Qui
general' • colonels press and
equally colorless politicians.
-The facts, ask'Stewart.
pointed out, in describing
several • brutal and .,violent'
strikes; are otherwise.
Canadians, on the Whole,
are not tolerant. I am young
enough. to remember when
such . expressions as "J`ew.
him down" "nigger 'in the
woodpile" ``dumb H'unkie"
and "greasy wop" were
current in .the -home and on
the street. '
If you came out with one of
those. today, you might just be
looking 'for• a purple eye fir a
fat ,lip from a militant Jew,
black,`Vkrainian or Italian.
As a result, Canadians have
switched their intolerance a
We can°tell Newfie jokes,
because the victims are a f
.hospitals ordered .oto close,
• Doctor's Hospital, Toronto;
The -Willett Hospital, Paris;
and, Durham and Clinton
Host3itals launched appeals
against the orders, but, were
• granted only brief reprieves
until June I. The :ministry
,:p pos that .after that date
they; be '.converted . to am:=
buiatory care centres, with
one of. them, W{Ilett Hospital
in • Paris; being allowed to
maintain 25 chronic beds. ..
"Has anypne at the
niinistry calculated the cost
of these ambulatory services
which • the government
proposes to substitute for
active treatment beds? What
is the cold hard, evidence that
the total health care ,bi(11 is,
going to be any:less aftenthe
care has been spread around
the field? The justification for
all this ; swapping .around,
dnn't enrar•t iq mo+n1N. t'1 -,t
Att
the government will be able
to save money, not that'the
citizens of Ontario will have
better health care. There
May be a need for am-.
bulatory care in • those
hospital, communities„ but
what evidence do we see of a
master plan? . -
"Since Mr Mil'ler:. first;
announced: .his cut-backs,
there • have been 'so Many
•recent. changes that it is,quite
im-possible to make an ac-
curate up-to-date. tally of .the
number' of beds to be closed
and money to be saved:
• I -
doubt whether even the
people at the Ministry know.
For' the past few weeks I've,
found some new item almost
'daily:in the press*
"The whole constraint
. program raises an even more
fundafnental question in the
minds of some of our hospital
pPoPle, They are saying tha
public hospitals in -Ontari '
;are not government agencies
'b-ut -corporate bodies from
which the government •pur.
chases services for _Q,HIP
Subscribers. "Has the
government the'legal right
then, to refuse to ' pa
hospitals part. or all of the bill
far the Services it requires?
",Should not hospitals in-
stead`have the right to say to
the "Ministry, 'here is the cost
•ofthe services you want. We
cannot trim • it any more. 'If
you, cannot afford them all,
tell us . and the people of
Ontario which ones you want
to cut out. of your insurance
plan., and give us the right to
charge for them'"directly if
enough people' want them.'
Hospitals should not be asked
continually , to pare their
budgets in every service
merely •to make •their global
costs fit the provincial purse.
"Another thing , which
Confounds logic is the
government's continuing
-r.eluctance to break .off their
costly relationship with the
private laboratories, I fear
it's costing them not only
money but maybe also their
good • name: Yet they have
permitted this situation to
develop . despite repeated
warnings by hospitals and
non—profit laboratories.
We at the -On- tat io-Hospital_
Association-al'so feel, confused
as we look at: the long-
established mechanisms such
as the OHA-ministry of'health
liaison committee and the
financial adeisory'committee
which • we • set "'up with •the •
ministry supposedly,. `to
safeguard' against unilateral
directives and the very kind,
of mess that has developed.
"There" is no• evidence the'
govern•meiit gave much
thought ,either to the social
the l7th century gin places in` being the filling in the san- , But let's be honest. We are '
London, quail in his cravat: dwich. •not a• nation of gentle,
• I once sat in a bees 'parlor Ask The people'' of southern reasonable,• tolerant, dull,
-and-watched-th-is-scene Four• Err la nd--about tlre- First- --sober, clear-thinking_:nambie
,commercial fishermen carte Brigade • of, Canadians in ' pambies, es,so many nations,-
,
•
Tough, violent men. They World War II. Find out " and so many of our own
sailed into the beer as though sof»ething .about the Halifax politicians, think us:
,there' were . going to be a • riots at the end of that war. We. have -• too much . wild
brewery strike within-- the Ask your Dad if be was blood in us, froth all those,
hour. •among the' Canadian troops immigrants. who •have been.
And • Within the "hour they who 'booed their. own prime pouring into this paradise for
were drunk and. ugly and Minister at Aldershot, in the '200 -years.
vicious_ One Called'another..a same struggle.
"son-dyabitch," an old If I were in a tight•spot; I'd We are 'intolerant. We are
Canadian expletive often just:as soon have a Canadian bad drinkers and drivers.W6
used as a term of 'affection; •hack to back with me as have a. •propensity for. ,
The other, in maudlin mood,' anybody 'else. 'We are tough violence that'may explain our
retorted "Don't you talk and brave and resourceful. greatreputation,ina-coupleof
about `my mother^•like Chat '''' ertirave-a-- wry •gift- er=--not — :--wa-rs ;.-...........:.. _ _ . ;
c acked:l- ii's-gi ss in troll trxi SwaIIowmg BS, no r - �Yo1•n•-v,�atch-i . .
the .edge of,the table, and who' is dishing it out. - hockeyplayoffs. '
jammed the ragged P Y
edge :err`
the:first speaker's face. Blood ' •
and Ian u e flowed freely;
Bruce
maker
[
but there 'kasn't even a figh. bine k r
It was lust anotheri. Saturday
night. in Canada, and not'22 50
untypical of an evening in gets:
that beer parlor.. i 0 grant
Putting the ' boots"to = • ' • ,
someone who '4. is : down, is, An ARD.A grant of 22,500 to Ontario's minister. of
something' • you might: < il:. ; Bruce County cabinet agriculture and food, the -Hon.
associate • with the slums of maker will :create five, jobs William G:.Newman; and .'s
Glasgow or Paris or •Haim, and enable the coinpany :to Cahada's minister of •regional
burg. It is not all that unusual j,expand 'its line of products. econorriic' expansion; the Hon.
on' a Canadian Saturday Port Elgin 'Cabinet Makers Marcel -Lessard. '
night' l Ltd ;will use the fund's to build Fands -provided on a 50-50
an' addition to its' plant and basis under the federal -
OPE
CH SIGNAL -STAR, Hi
Aft, MAY. I;
d.,
confusion felt by various:
a sectors in the present crisis.
Now I have one more group to
talk about - the general
public.
"Hospitals closed down;
whole, communities ..left
without hospital services,
perhaps. without. any
economic• future, bread-
wainnei;,sthrown cut of work,
on to .a .barren job market;
hospital -;boards and: ad -;
ministrators treated as:
though they: were minor
"branch -plant officials;
•
"The: whole thing has
become a grotesque 'exercise
..and for what? To save $50
million. And why is that so
essential? Why not . $40
rrlillion;`or $30 million ,•' or $20
Million? Hew much has r eally
been sacrificed in.,.terms:of
human values -at thealtar of a•
false image?.A figure pulled:
cut: of the air? Without sub-
stance: Maybe we•'ll never
know. gut it must surely not
be.allowedto happereagain,,
"There has to be found e
better way of rationalizing
•
fi4S ita�I :costs k' t '
1? ,,. G 1<t s going t?
have to be based on sensible:
production unit+ values: -�,
including :a re Jistic out
atient:, •cost, , that :both.
'ospitals 'arid Ministr . 'find
Y
_a_cseptable. Above.' a.11;, the
staridards of financing' and
planning -• have :gat to `be'
•agreed well, in advance ,-so
that: hos ital rrtanagers ;caa
o ahead and man e, staff
can concentrate oat' their
patients, and- we can ,a11;stop
playing 'guessing 'games with
the Ministry.
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"
impact ofecam l te--:•hos; teal, .. Packaging seeds for Flowers of Hope .c'a
g g next week Rick McCann,
m'p p• p _,_. �_ p mai n star
trr'a`smati-com•mriri �wna .• ancl- t gft1rrenvie-n; Looking on• are:D;onC-ampbeli,recently,
ortothe impact.of substantial appointed director of ARC Dashwood, and :Donna Greb, Zurich. Chairman of the earn- '
layoffs on hospital personnel: paign. On her lap is Jamie Ramer; Zurich. •
Confidence wasn't raised
-
whentheprovincialtreasurer
canre.orft with a Wishful out-
of -date view- of the job
vacancies available and said
that those laid -off would soon
find•other hospital jobs.
"He '.didn't ask us for the
real • figures.' Th •-fa'ct, the
brinking hospital.job market
• ,in Ontario will •n•ot•be able to
re -absorb • even- a small
prope,r,tion of the thousands.of
people likely to be thrust back
-into it in the coming months.
".The Ontario Hos•pitai
Association undertook•, a
leading role in trying to help
these innocent casualties. As
Reasonable? .C.ourteous? buyriew machinery, provincial Agricultural and
Canadians? Don't' make me Announcement of the grant R u r a l •D e v e lop m en t
laugh; Just take a drive on a was made jointly by Canada's Agreement will be. used; by
our or six -lane highway minist•
er of regional economic ::Arctic Peat Moss Ltd,
'long wayoff. We can tell Paki v.
•okes becausg7-the-victixrrs
are pretty help ess. n. i you
are too "tolerant" to indulge.
in either of these, you can
always run down the Yanks,
and feel like a virtuous
nationalist: `
Sober? . Canadians'are
about the worstdrinkers in
the world, with the possible '
exception of Scots, who get
ugly, Irishmen, who get.
belligerent, and . Poles-, who
get.glamy. Maybe we are the
worst. We get all three. • were trying to get into my
If you do happen to be a lane, about 50 feet • ahead of
decent, sensible, middle-aged me.' They' almost collided,
person, and you don't believe ' before veering off like a
a word of this slander, drop in ' couple of ' startled trout.
to your==-1•aea-1-ba-r--or-beer-L- Neither`-h-ad•--anjt 're -a n fore
parlor on a Friday night. passing me; I found myself
There are scenes that would' almost• wishing they had
make Hogarth, chronicler of crashed-, if it weren't for me
Admittedly, .most people fit pansion., the Hon, Marcel located east of Rainy .River, soon as Mr.• Miller delivered
dTectpeoplebut. Lessard, and Ontario's to make improvements to its his constraints package,, the
'those :: 'two - a mmister---of-agrzcultui e:-eand---:imil-d g
-t ere is,a arge: minora y w o to ' `buy new- a soc-iaxiou.Pui1P�1 a sp�ci; l
make Canada one of 'the worst. food; the Hon.. William G. machinery. �`
Ne'wm'ari. The grant will enable the
places in the world to drive, 'Company
as any American will tell you, company to hire nine new.
Just tother'day Il was • One of the aims of the employees, increasing its
driving on a three -lane, one -
Agricultural
e d e'r a I pr o.v e n c ia 1 staff. to 27.
way .old Bill Agricultural • and Rural - Peat moss is mechanically
was in highway. Solid lold
• Development. Agreement, harvested . by vacuum..
was the the maddle 60 -mile per houru' under which the two senior machines and is loaded onto
limit. Suddenly a car cut in - governments provide grants ;,rucks by •conveyors. In the
front of me fromthe left lane, "" 50-50 basis, is the ex -
and, simultaneously, one -pansion and modernization df
from the 'right lane. Both present processing or
•
acturing . facilities
utilizing renewable natural
resources."
•
A Northern Ontario corn -
Early .will be able tostep up its
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•
•
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production- oL, 'peat ---moss-
thanks to a . $45,000' ARIDA
grant announced jointly by
plant, the moss -• is
hydraulically pressed to
remove excess moisture: A
separator removes foreign
matter.
The peat nes then blown
into a storage silo and red into
Nagging machines, whickf
compress 10 cubic feet o the.
€ku€€y-ri atei
vi-el-nto-5-6-out is
foot bags at the rate of 50 bags
per hour. '
examine the whole question
of the rights and benefits of
such employees. RNAO was'
included, as well as .people
-from the •ministries of health
and labour. Working groups
looked into the possibility of :,
relocating and retraining
programs and into - a ` ter- '
mination cost package for all
laid -off employees. We
recommend to the govern-
ment that it fund a severance
-,package we calculated to -be
equal in dollars to the one it
has for its own employees,
The government wouldn't
agree. to thine be and the .
legal limits. Not a very noble `-Tlier"e s: f1 ttfe19 Fln'e " achers examine a potafull" of swimming and' crawling
posture in the circumstances. creatures they fished out +af 'a pond on a conservation area in East Wawanosh'.last
"I'vebeen frank about the Tuesday. (staff -photo)
•L►ghte0 ►i�u��c
Conduetorr tion Cameron leads the Brookside Public School
arts' Choit,through a candlelight rendition of Morning Has
Broken. (5taff°photo)
D.
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The Holri esviile Public School band, one of. the few rural' life nirrectioi of Ml's. I. Stewitrt. The ba•d played
elen entary,school bands, entertained 'at Musk Night undervening Sting and Carrttivai'.forr Trumpets. t(Ma
�(staff photo)
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