My thoughts - sent to a member of the Ontario Legislature

I couldn't hold back any longer. Here is an edited version of a letter I sent to an Ottawa MPP who I respect as an individual but have a hard time swallowing his or her being part of a government that has stepped back from its own ideals time and time again... to the detriment of each and every Ontarian.

Had I known that helping get you elected as a member of a majority government would result in what has come down over the years, I would never have agreed to support your nomination. You were (and remain) far too valuable an asset to the community to end up being a puppet who is forced to nod and shake your head on cue when the leader of your party speaks.

What this Liberal government has done to the health care continuum in Ontario is laudable in some respects – the cranes in the ground in the Ottawa area are definitely numerous – but is for the most part reprehensible. Despite repeated efforts to cut down wait times, the line keeps growing for MRI’s in Ottawa. Newspapers have documented over and over again that the time one has to wait for certain forms of “elective” surgery (as if someone “elects” to walk properly) keeps growing. What good comes from putting up buildings without putting dollars into the budgets to efficiently make use of those buildings never come? I’m not talking LHIN efficient, I’m talking let’s fund the use of that new MRI machine 24 hours a day… or let’s fund the use of the new operating rooms at the Queensway Carleton Hospital 24 hours a day – your waiting lists will soon disappear! Well that’s not what Dr. Cushman has accomplished in this part of the province!

The “new Liberal government” screwed up when it introduced the new “health premium” – denying it was a tax until the courts ruled that the government would have to cover its payment due to the language in many collective bargaining agreements across the province, forcing the Minister of Health to admit at one point that it was in fact a tax. At least the government conceded that it was wrong in that respect but the possible “temporary” tax as we know was not temporary and will live on in perpetuity. Had this tax been part of Dalton McGuinty’s election campaign, he might have seen the same fate as John Tory saw. Ever brilliant, Mr. McGuinty feigned surprise when he got to see the province’s books and used them as an excuse to making the implementation of a new tax one of his first acts as Premier.

My second bone of contention is the ridiculous “LHIN” concept. I’ve held my tongue on this one but the main reason why I am no longer part of the “long term care continuum” at the Olde Forge – I worked twelve years to climb that career ladder to help seniors only to suddenly jump off in January 2008 to join the Ottawa Police Service – but one of the dumbest and short-sighted irresponsible moves your government has made is the closing down of District Health Councils and replacing them with the Local Health Integration Network.

What really gets my goat is how Dalton McGuinty and his robots argued over and over again how irresponsible and stupid the Harris regime was for amalgamating municipalities, hospitals and school boards. It was argued that true savings were never achieved and taxpayers (or end-users) only lost in the end. Then what happened? Some bright person in the Ministry of Health (or the Premier’s office) decided that the best way to “improve” and “save costs” in the health care continuum was to “integrate” organizations into one another. Not wanting to use Harris-like language, amalgamation was a term never used, but it’s one and the same.

Sure, the government finally got us the van we so desperately needed – yet we could not get day program funding… getting money moved from the Ottawa Hospital to the Olde Forge “funded” the program – and put it under the knife as well… for strings were attached. We were told we had to speak with a neighbouring multi-million dollar organization about finding “administrative savings” and other “efficiencies” – completely losing sight that forcing organizations like Nepean Seniors Home Support (oh – that’s right – they changed their name eliminating seniors because the geniuses at the Champlain LHIN forced seniors home support agencies to provide services to “adults with physical disabilities” while never once increasing funding to offset the massive expenses that came up as a result! Where did you think we would get the volunteers and paid workers to provide service when we did not have enough for the seniors to begin with? All that and not one nickel to do so! But I went off on a tangent there – but how will Nepean seniors benefit from seeing their organization swallowed up by the monolith in Kanata ? How will your Ottawa seniors benefit when the Olde Forge is swallowed up by the PQ centre?

You guys once screamed to anyone that would listen that amalgamation never benefits the taxpayer, client, patient, etc., and yet that is precisely one of the next ideas put into motion once the health tax was put in place.

Finally, another stealth sneak attack hits Ontarians at the worst possible time – “integration” of the Ontario Sales Tax with the federal Goods and Services Tax. Sure – people complained about the impact that this move would have on feminine hygiene products, baby diapers and books… resulting in the “rumoured” plan being modified to exempt these items from an 8% tax hike McGuinty and his cohorts are about to impose on us today. What about services? The $400 plumber’s bill will go from $420 to $452 with this change. Will gas prices go up if the “GST” in Ontario goes up to 13%? All this to save some admin time to the small businesses? What about those that might go out of business when people cannot afford to buy their services when they go up 8% overnight? And will the PST office disappear? I doubt it - so who's going to win here? Why are you guys so hell-bent on compromising your past ideals and raising taxes again and again?

I’m shocked that you have silently stood by watching this Liberal government systematically destroy grass-roots organizations from one of the end of the province to the other. The Olde Forge is on borrowed time – you may not admit it today, but your government has that organization on rails that will inevitably lead it to its own demise – and it’s a shame. All the other community-based organizations are headed that way too – for those who are not forced to look at it today will be some day. And finally, those who somehow escape Dr. Cushman’s grip will eventually initiate the process themselves – I saw more than one Executive Director lose sight of the fact they came into the field to help people… only to resort to contemplating how taking over a neighbouring organization might end up seeing them lead a bigger one with a slightly bigger budget – meaning their paycheque might be bigger as a result. "Why worry about the seniors? I’ll be ok!" What they don’t know is that they may not survive the process. I didn’t… but am much better off where I am.

Why am I ranting like this? Why am I speaking to an MPP like this? Because I know that years ago you would never have stood for this kind of thing. Now it seems that you’re telling all of us that we have to like being given money in one hand but having it taken away from the other… (referring to this one-time $1,000 payoff being offered today) and then to support you again next election. Remember how Dalton asked us to “choose change” way back when? I think the time is coming that we do so again - this sort of change we can do without… yet it keeps coming.

Is the real you still there somewhere? Come on out so we can see you again! You're not just another McGuinty drone!!

Being a politician means you MUST say sorry?

Ottawa Sun columnist Susan Sherring wrote a ridiculous column yesterday opening with the following: "Apparently, being a city councillor means never being forced to say you're sorry."

We have, in the last decade or two, become a society where we must make sure that we offend nobody... to the last possible individual. Why? One person gets offended by someone else's opinion and therefore the offender must be tarred and feathered? Fired? Forced to resign? Here's a link to the column in question, followed by a letter to the editor I wrote immediately after reading it.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/Sherring_Susan/2009/03/25/8876116-sun.html

Susan Sherring comments that it seems that "being a city councillor means never being forced to say you're sorry". When did it become absolutely essential for politicians to bow down and crumble each and every time someone is "offended"? Why should we be shocked that Gord Hunter told a constituent "tough luck" upon receiving a complaint that someone told him to stop smoking marijuana outside a comedy club? Shouldn't we be shocked that someone would have the gall to write to a city councillor about this in the first place?! Gord Hunter should be applauded for telling this guy what to do with his complaint and he should be applauded for sticking to his story. Hold your ground, Councillor - you have just as much right to free speach as anyone does - city councillor or not.

It's time for the pendulum to swing back to the other side a bit. It was not so long ago telling someone to stuff it didn't result in cries demanding your resignation.

You can have your opinion... why can't I?