Dear Liberal boss: You're an idiot [Health Care: Canadians are sick of it..]

TORONTO SUN ^ | 4th November 2009 | By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

[fight_truth_decay]

Federal Liberal Party President Alfred Apps recently wrote an e-mail to top Liberals suggesting the H1N1 flu virus could be Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Hurricane Katrina.

Here's my response to him.

Dear Mr. Apps:

You're an idiot. What's worse, you're a partisan idiot who doesn't appear to have an original idea in your head. More on that in a moment.

You wrote to your little circle of "Liberal friends" that they should read an article Michael Ignatieff wrote for the New York Times on Sept. 25, 2005, The Broken Contract, in which he blasted George Bush for his dismal performance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and "reflect on the analogous situation we face" with the Harper government and its "laissez faire, fend for yourself" attitude toward H1N1 victims.

Well, I'm not your pal. But I read it. Three observations.

First, maybe you don't want to call attention to another example of Ignatieff writing as if he was an American --this article having appeared soon after Ignatieff decided to come back to Canada to save us, in part due to your urging.

Second, why, whenever someone disagrees with a Liberal, do Liberals argue they're not just wrong, but reckless and uncaring?

Third, want to read a way better piece than your lame, after-the-fact, mindlessly partisan comparison of H1N1 and Katrina?

Try my column: "HINI virus could be our Katrina -- Toronto is woefully unprepared to handle a major swine flu outbreak."

I wrote it July 26, three months before the mess we're in now. You can look it up on my homepage at torontosun.com.

There you'll learn the real reasons for our poor response to H1N1 -- not just in Toronto. Kindly note I didn't waste time singling out Conservatives or Liberals for blame, because you both deserve it.

The problem isn't Conservative or Liberal government. The problem is what government has become thanks in part to partisans like you and your Conservative counterparts, who lie awake nights figuring out not how you can help Canadians, but how you can blame the other guys for everything.

Canadians are sick of it. Want to know why barely half of them bother to vote anymore? Look in the mirror.

One reason Canada is ill-prepared to deal with a pandemic, as my July column noted, is that hundreds of thousands of Canadians don't have a family doctor.

Maybe you should talk to Liberal MP Bob Rae, smugly blaming the Conservatives for HIN1 deaths now, about how, when he was the NDP premier of Ontario, he was instrumental in cutting back medical school enrolments -- as did politicians of all stripes across the country -- in a knee-jerk, disastrous attempt to save money.

Why? Because it led to today's doctor shortage and the fact that far too many Canadians don't have a family doctor -- one of the things you need to fight a pandemic effectively.

In July, Dr. Allison McGeer, head of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital, noted Liberal and Conservative governments had ignored 12 years of warnings from five royal commissions that they had gutted public health resources, reducing our ability to respond to a pandemic.

Finally, Conservative and Liberal governments have created a health care system where emergency rooms are overwhelmed in normal times, let alone during a pandemic.

Fact is, we were sitting ducks -- thanks to Conservative and Liberal governments.

Big surprise, eh Alfred?

Yours sincerely, etc.

LORRIE.GOLDSTEIN@SUNMEDIA.CA

[fight_truth_decay]

“Government’s most important job is protecting the public,” said Liberal Health Critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett. “The Harper Conservatives didn’t order H1N1 vaccines on time, haven’t kept Canadians informed, and aren’t planning or funding the pandemic response.”..."Half of Canadians don’t plan to get the H1N1 flu vaccine, and among young adults, 64% said they are unlikely to get vaccinated."-Source

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Don W]

I am likely not getting EITHER vaccine this year, even though vaccination is part of my compensation package, because of the perceived potential for drastic unpleasant side effects.

The way my contract is worded, I am financially better off being selfish and exposing my peers to my (potential) illness because I declined the shot rather than taking the time off to recover, since I will not get paid any sick time doctor’s note or not.

If I take the shot, I STILL have to get a ($40. out-of-pocket) doctor’s note to “prove” I’m sick, so what’s the point?

Oh, and the powers that be in my hospital also have a secondary memo out that one should NOT show up for work for 7 working days if showing symptoms, and supervisors are encouraged to NOT request doctor’s notes.

That last memo is yet to reach the pay office...

[fanfan]

Thanks for the ping, AAC.