Canada in Electoral Crisis

Canada is in an electoral crisis, and because of voter negligence, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Corruption, blatant disregard for rules, regulations and laws are rampant in all levels of government.

The disappointing thing is, the more we get taken advantage of; we seem to become increasingly apathetic, and even accepting, of these practices. It is time to stand and be counted and what better place to start than with the next Federal election.

How many of us would stand idly by as someone looted our homes or made decisions for us detrimental to our lives and that of our families? None, that’s how many. But increasingly we have become indifferent as politicians and bureaucrats at all levels of government take our most valued possessions, which we work hard for, and utterly destroy them. The decay of our society could easily be blamed on the people in power, as that would be the most obvious and logical conclusion.

That belief is where we have abandoned our duty as a responsible electorate and where we need to take up this fight. The truth is painfully obvious when voter turnout is at an all time low and respect for public institutions and politicians is virtually non-existent. The powers that be are just doing what has become acceptable practice, and we in fact reward them for their misdeeds and irresponsible decisions by electing the same people over and over.

Why would they change their ways when we, the supposed defenders of democracy, are not holding them to account at the ballot box and incumbent politicians have proven to be practically unbeatable in recent elections. What to do? The answer lies in this Federal election where we must flex our political will and muscle.

Local politicians are the closest to the people and their decisions have the biggest impact on the average citizen so this is where our votes count the most. Newspapers, radio programs and community meetings are overflowing with disgruntled citizens voicing endless complaints about how our country is being run and in particular how we as a province are being treated.

To make matters worse, while this goes on, we have watched our communities and neighbourhoods deteriorate to the extent that honest, law-abiding citizens are afraid to walk the streets after dark. This is not just a downtown problem but people in all areas of our province are beginning to feel uneasy about their safety and that of their families.

Over the past number of years we have had to watch our money squandered by the Federal and Provincial Governments while politicians take pot shots at each other over whose priorities are in the best interest of the province. It is our duty to take responsibility for our lives and know the important issues at election time. We must set the agenda for government by electing politicians who share our values and concerns instead of letting them dictate to us what their priorities are, or…what our priorities should be.

Fundamental change is needed in how government operates and a complete changing of the guard would send the message that we have had enough. Not until we elect politicians that put our interests first and implements policies that are good for everyone, instead of a select few, will voters see that casting a ballot is not a waste of time and we will be on the road to reclaiming our dignity one vote at a time.

Diagnosis Disaster for NL Healthcare

Originally published in June 2007 in the Newfoundland Herald


Over the past couple of weeks the news out of Eastern Health has been to say the least troubling. On Friday May 18th the Chief Executive Officer of Eastern Health George Tilley made a public apology for not disclosing the full details concerning the faulty tests that may have affected hundreds of breast cancer patients.

I am sorry but that apology to me is just unacceptable. Mr. Tilley you need to resign your post as CEO of Eastern Health and any of your conspirators on that board that participated in the deception should also be relieved of duty.

Our publicly funded healthcare system is an intricate part of Canada and something that Canadians and Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans hold dear. We place our faith in every aspect of this public institution and trust its caretakers always put the best interest of patients and their families as the number one priority.

As it appears right now the priority here was to protect Eastern Health as an organization and not the lives of those people that may have received false information. This false information which in some cases may have cost them their lives should have been disclosed right away. Some of these women may be still alive if they had received accurate test and subsequent treatment.

We may never know for sure if the actions of the board had a direct or indirect influence on the outcomes of any of these patients. One thing we do know for sure is the seed of doubt has been planted in the minds of Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans and will surely continue to grow if drastic steps are not taken to change public perception of our healthcare system.

The provincial government has announced that they will be holding a judicial inquiry into this matter to try and get to the bottom of it. I would hope that the inquiry has an unimpeded mandate to look into all areas of this debacle including the role government may or may not have had In fact one of the things that I think they should look at is the make up of that board.

Currently the board is made up primarily of people that are Nurses, Doctors and Executives from various areas of the health profession. That in itself is not a bad thing as we need to have knowledgeable people in these positions to make decisions based on experience and expertise. The problem that I see is that there needs to be a member of that board to represent the users and financiers of the healthcare system which is the people. Also the government should be represented on that board so that incidents like this can be reported to the minister as soon as they come to light and therefore enabling the government to act on these issues immediately or face the wrath of the electorate in they abdicate their responsibility.

To make matters worse in the wake of this startling discovery we are informed that another potential disaster is looming with regards to the work of a radiologist at the health centre in Salt Pond on the Burin Peninsula. They have temporarily relieved the physician of his duties pending a review of what appears to be every case that was worked on since starting, some 6000 cases involving about 3500 patients. This person only started working at that health centre last November and was recruited from outside the country; he graduated from an African medical school more than 20 years ago. This is sure to open another can of worms as it relates to hiring practices and the approval process of foreign doctors by the Newfoundland and Labrador College of Physicians and Surgeons which controls licenses that allow doctors to practice.

Originally Eastern Health estimated the review could take up to five weeks to complete and thankfully and to his credit Health Minister Ross Wiseman stepped in and has directed Eastern Health to get the review done in two weeks. That two weeks could be very tense and stressful for the patients waiting to have their various scans reviewed but it is certainly better than having to wait six.

These events raise very serious question with regards to Eastern Health and our healthcare system as a whole in my opinion. Would Eastern Health have been so quick to act on this latest incident if they had not been ridiculed so strenuously for hiding the facts from the receptor tests? I don’t know but it seems to me that these are the kinds of doubts people are going to have in this Eastern Health board as we move forward. In the future every time an issue is raised with Eastern Health or any area of our health care system people will be asking them selves, how long did they know? Are they hiding something? Is the diagnosis I am receiving accurate? Does this physician really know what he or she is doing? Sadly another question that will surely cross peoples minds will be in relation to foreign doctors and questioning whether they are actually qualified.

This is a sad commentary as it relates to one of our most treasured institutions and people are well within their rights to question every aspect of this unfortunate chain of events. If the government is diligent and the judiciary inquiry does its job then we may be able to begin to rebuild the trust we have in our healthcare system. Unfortunately until all of these cases are reviewed on the Burin Peninsula and the inquiry runs its course to get to the bottom of the receptor test issue then for many the Newfoundland and Labrador health care system will undoubtedly be a health scare system. Sadly many people impacted the hardest by these problems especially the ones that have died since they had their receptor test done will never know if their lives ended prematurely. I hope that all parties involved in this will put politics and legal mumbo jumbo aside to get these people the accurate tests they deserve so that no-one has to suffer unnecessarily while they fight over who is to blame.

Craig Scott
Torbay