Canadian Politics

[StevetheClub]

3 hours ago, 17to85 said:

No they're not really doing that at all. The Carbon tax they put in is supposed to be revenue neutral so it's not like they're trying to combat a deficit that way. It doesn't even really do anything about greehouse gas emissions if that's the goal of such things, all it does it take money from the people with more and give it to people with less, the ultimate socialist wet dream. They raised taxes a bit but they're still increasing the deficit spending. They should have kept rolling back the public service wages like the PCs intended to do because Alberta is paying too much as they had to pay salaries that were able to compete with the oil and gas industry, except everyone has taken a cut in that industry (if they're lucky it was just a cut) so why should the government keep paying artifically inflated wages? If they really wanted to make an attempt at doing the best in a bad situation they would have bit the bullet and put in a PST. Something that could actually raise revenue for the government, but nope they're just doing half measures hoping that people won't turn on them next election but it's not going to happen unless the oil and gas industry turns around in a hurry. 

I've been happy with the NDP government so far. Don't get me wrong, they haven't been perfect, but I do think they are doing a good job in a rough situation. What you see as "half measures" I see as being responsible; agree to disagree.

With respect to carbon tax, if the money goes where it should it sounds like a good idea to me and I have no problem with it being revenue neutral. I have no problem with rebates for those with lower incomes. "Take money from the people with more and give it to people with less" (which is hardly an exclusively socialist practice) oversimplifies its purpose for the sake of derisively drawing unfair socialist parallels.

As for public service wages, I agree (this coming from an AHS employee).

Edited April 18, 2016 by StevetheClub
Removed ' from its

[iso_55]

9 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Unfortunately its a sacred cow that is used for political reasons.  As long as its in rough shape, the opposition always has something to hang around the government's neck.

The wait time clock is also never correct and, in fact, at HSC ER, it was displaying a shorter time and the nurse remarked that it hadnt been accurate in weeks.  No one cares until its on the front page.

My friend lives in Phoenix. He has health care coverage for himself, wife & young son. He pays nearly $1,200 a month for premiums & has a $6,000 deductible. You guys want that? I sure don't.  I'm someone who wouldn't mind paying a little more in taxes if it went directly to health care. And if there's a health care premium like we used to have in Alberta I'd be okay with that too.

Yeah, there are problems with our health care system but I know from personal experience this past year having had 3 major surgeries that the level of patient care is outstanding. And I wasn't $18,000 in debt either.

 

[The Unknown Poster]

2 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

My friend lives in Phoenix. He has health care coverage for himself, wife & young son. He pays nearly $1,200 a month for premiums & has a $6,000 deductible. You guys want that? I sure don't.  I'm someone who wouldn't mind paying a little more in taxes if it went directly to health care. And if there's a health care premium like we used to have in Alberta I'd be okay with that too.

Yeah, there are problems with our health care system but I know from personal experience this past year having had 3 major surgeries that the level of patient care is outstanding. And I wasn't $18,000 in debt either.

 

Im pretty sure it isnt an either/or choice.  There are many problems with Canadian health care.  Money would solve many of them.  But there are too many people using ER's when they dont need it.  Doctor's who are seeing too few patients in a period of time.  You've got ambulance medics sitting around in the hallway with patients on stretchers for ages because they arent being triaged and the health authority is billed for the ambulance medics' time. 

[Rich]

8 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Im pretty sure it isnt an either/or choice.  There are many problems with Canadian health care.  Money would solve many of them.  But there are too many people using ER's when they dont need it.  Doctor's who are seeing too few patients in a period of time.  You've got ambulance medics sitting around in the hallway with patients on stretchers for ages because they arent being triaged and the health authority is billed for the ambulance medics' time. 

I agree with the bold part.

My personal experience with health care is that the ER absolutely sucks, but if you can ever can convince them that what you have is legit or they finally get around to looking at you, especially if it is really a life and death type of emergency, once you get in, the service is fantastic.

I like the idea of these quick care clinics to handle a lot of what people go to the ER for.  The problem is there isn't enough education around them, and people don't really know of them.

If you could expand them to also handle broken legs and things, it would take a strain off of ERs, where ERs could be saved for true emergencies.

[iso_55]

1 minute ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Im pretty sure it isnt an either/or choice.  There are many problems with Canadian health care.  Money would solve many of them.  But there are too many people using ER's when they dont need it.  Doctor's who are seeing too few patients in a period of time.  You've got ambulance medics sitting around in the hallway with patients on stretchers for ages because they arent being triaged and the health authority is billed for the ambulance medics' time. 

The major problem in Alberta is the Tories over the years refused to build more long term patient care facilities. They still aren't under the NDP so seniors with issues like dementia are being treated in acute care beds taking up space. I was in an ortho ward recovering from surgery last week & a nurse told me that there were Alzheimers patients staying in acute care beds on our ward. They don't have the resources to take care of these people & it is a sad situation. The problem is they have nowhere to go so they stick these people wherever they can. It's absolutely crazy that is even happening. Our population is aging & facilities for seniors need to be built but it isn't happening. So, they stick old & sick people in acute care beds plugging up the system. Meaning people who need to get into hospital can't or face long waits.

[The Unknown Poster]

6 minutes ago, Rich said:

I agree with the bold part.

My personal experience with health care is that the ER absolutely sucks, but if you can ever can convince them that what you have is legit or they finally get around to looking at you, especially if it is really a life and death type of emergency, once you get in, the service is fantastic.

I like the idea of these quick care clinics to handle a lot of what people go to the ER for.  The problem is there isn't enough education around them, and people don't really know of them.

If you could expand them to also handle broken legs and things, it would take a strain off of ERs, where ERs could be saved for true emergencies.

Yup.  Weeding out the non-emergencies would be great.  I havent had to go to the ER in ages but I used to go to Mis because for some reason they were always super fast in the middle of the night, not so fast during the day.  Went for stitches, broken bones a couple of times. 

But there seem to be a lot of people in ER's who are not in need of emergency care.  Some probably because they dont have a doctor so have nowhere else to go.  They should be attending Walk In Clinics during the day.  My local Walk In is terrific, they tell you a time for your appt so you dont have to wait around if you dont want to/cant.  No sitting around for four hours waiting.

[StevetheClub]

8 minutes ago, Rich said:

I agree with the bold part.

My personal experience with health care is that the ER absolutely sucks, but if you can ever can convince them that what you have is legit or they finally get around to looking at you, especially if it is really a life and death type of emergency, once you get in, the service is fantastic.

I like the idea of these quick care clinics to handle a lot of what people go to the ER for.  The problem is there isn't enough education around them, and people don't really know of them.

If you could expand them to also handle broken legs and things, it would take a strain off of ERs, where ERs could be saved for true emergencies.

Agreed.

With respect to the bolded, I would include mental health staff who could respond to mental health issues that don't require forming (i.e., significant risk is not an issue).

[17to85]

28 minutes ago, StevetheClub said:

I've been happy with the NDP government so far. Don't get me wrong, they haven't been perfect, but I do think they are doing a good job in a rough situation. What you see as "half measures" I see as being responsible; agree to disagree.

With respect to carbon tax, if the money goes where it should it sounds like a good idea to me and I have no problem with it being revenue neutral. I have no problem with rebates for those with lower incomes. "Take money from the people with more and give it to people with less" (which is hardly an exclusively socialist practice) oversimplifies it's purpose for the sake of derisively drawing unfair socialist parallels.

As for public service wages, I agree (this coming from an AHS employee).

See my problem with the carbon tax is that they talk about it doing one thing (helping climate change) when the reality is that it's simply a wealth transfer scheme. Call it what it is and stop pretending that implementing that is saving the world. Just say it's wealth redistribution and stop trying to bullshit everyone that it's actually something to help with carbon emissions. This government really hasn't done anything, that's my problem. They are so worried about being electable next election they are afraid to actually tackle the issues. Half measures and sleight of hand won't do anything to help this province so for that reason alone I will not give them credit for doing a good job. All they're doing is trying not to rock the boat, trouble is the boat is currently upside down so it could use some rocking. 

[17to85]

57 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

The problem is as AB consumers our electrical bills will skyrocket having to rebuild from coal generating plants. I think Notley wanted all coal generated electrical plants in Alberta to shut down by 2030. I reads that since they have no real future here companies are accelerating the shut down process. it'll cost billions to rebuild the system with natural gas as you suggested, for example. Expect more & more tax hikes with the NDP in power here.

But it's a worthwhile expense. It's sort of like saying "well the foundation of my house needs work but it's pretty expensive to do it so better just leave it as is" Alberta switching to burn natural gas also has the added benefit of actually using a plentiful fuel source in the province. Forget oil, natural gas is really what Alberta is rich in.

[bustamente]

29 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Im pretty sure it isnt an either/or choice.  There are many problems with Canadian health care.  Money would solve many of them.  But there are too many people using ER's when they dont need it.  Doctor's who are seeing too few patients in a period of time.  You've got ambulance medics sitting around in the hallway with patients on stretchers for ages because they arent being triaged and the health authority is billed for the ambulance medics' time. 

I know a few paramedics and if the administrators would listen they have some very good ideas on how to solve this problem, believe me they would rather be out doing there job than waiting around a hospital for hours on end. 

[Brandon]

Back to local elections...

I have yet to receive any material , visits, calls from the local Liberal candidate.

NDP robocalled me once, sent one pamphlet in the mail.

PC -  I have received 3 mail pamphlets,  2 phone calls,  2 at home visits  (one with the Candidate!) ......

It doesn't even seem like the other groups are even trying?

[kelownabomberfan]

46 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

The major problem in Alberta is the Tories over the years refused to build more long term patient care facilities. They still aren't under the NDP so seniors with issues like dementia are being treated in acute care beds taking up space. I was in an ortho ward recovering from surgery last week & a nurse told me that there were Alzheimers patients staying in acute care beds on our ward. They don't have the resources to take care of these people & it is a sad situation. The problem is they have nowhere to go so they stick these people wherever they can. It's absolutely crazy that is even happening. Our population is aging & facilities for seniors need to be built but it isn't happening. So, they stick old & sick people in acute care beds plugging up the system. Meaning people who need to get into hospital can't or face long waits.

Have to agree with you here ISO.  My wife had to spend 4 nights in our hospital here in Kelowna and she was probably the youngest on the entire floor by about 30 years.  All the rooms and beds were full of elderly folk who should have been in nursing homes but instead were long-term sitting in a hospital instead.  The woman in the same room as my wife had dementia and would essentially shriek most of the time, making it almost impossible to sleep.  I got her out of there after 4 nights even though the doctors wanted her to stay, but it's impossible to recover when you can't sleep. 

How the lunk-head politicians couldn't see this coming I don't know, as the demographics are all there.  Did they think everyone would just stay healthy and mobile and then just fall over dead when their time was up?  Aging is a degenerative process.  Most people aren't going to be able to support themselves and will require care in their last years on earth.  So why aren't we as a society ready for this demand?  Just boggles the mind.

[sweep the leg]

7 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Back to local elections...

I have yet to receive any material , visits, calls from the local Liberal candidate.

NDP robocalled me once, sent one pamphlet in the mail.

PC -  I have received 3 mail pamphlets,  2 phone calls,  2 at home visits  (one with the Candidate!) ......

It doesn't even seem like the other groups are even trying?

Are you in Southdale? That's been my experience here too. The candidate came to my house twice. The second time was to follow up b/c I had a bunch of questions for him the first time. I'm not a huge Pallister fan, but I really like my local PC candidate.

[StevetheClub]

45 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

See my problem with the carbon tax is that they talk about it doing one thing (helping climate change) when the reality is that it's simply a wealth transfer scheme. Call it what it is and stop pretending that implementing that is saving the world. Just say it's wealth redistribution and stop trying to bullshit everyone that it's actually something to help with carbon emissions. This government really hasn't done anything, that's my problem. They are so worried about being electable next election they are afraid to actually tackle the issues. Half measures and sleight of hand won't do anything to help this province so for that reason alone I will not give them credit for doing a good job. All they're doing is trying not to rock the boat, trouble is the boat is currently upside down so it could use some rocking. 

I can see what you mean on the carbon tax, I'm also in favour of calling things what they are. I'm in favour of the economics of it, not the rhetoric. 

I do think they should be given credit for a measured response, which is particularly difficult in times of crisis. I will agree the boat is upside down. 

[rebusrankin]

6 hours ago, StevetheClub said:

I'll be honest, I don't follow politics terribly closely, but I do try to keep informed. So far what I've seen is the NDP doing a good job at making the best of a horrible situation (that they had no part in) and setting us up so we can manage these situations better in the future.

I guess I keep asking myself, "would we be better off if any of the other parties were in power?" and I don't think we would be. 

They've been in power for 16.5 years what part of the situation are they not responsible for? Second highest rate of child poverty in Canada. Over 10,000 kids in care. Worst waiting times in Canada. All of these are whose fault?

[Jacquie]

3 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

They've been in power for 16.5 years what part of the situation are they not responsible for? Second highest rate of child poverty in Canada. Over 10,000 kids in care. Worst waiting times in Canada. All of these are whose fault?

He was talking about Alberta.

[kelownabomberfan]

11 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

They've been in power for 16.5 years what part of the situation are they not responsible for? Second highest rate of child poverty in Canada. Over 10,000 kids in care. Worst waiting times in Canada. All of these are whose fault?

In terms of child poverty, I think Manitoba is number one again.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/child-family-poverty-manitoba-1.3332545

[Brandon]

37 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Are you in Southdale? That's been my experience here too. The candidate came to my house twice. The second time was to follow up b/c I had a bunch of questions for him the first time. I'm not a huge Pallister fan, but I really like my local PC candidate.

North Kildonan...

Just drove home and saw a large amount of PC people with signs near the Superstore.

 

[kelownabomberfan]

3 minutes ago, Brandon said:

North Kildonan...

Just drove home and saw a large amount of PC people with signs near the Superstore.

 

doing a co-marketing campaign with President's Choice?

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

Back to local elections...

I have yet to receive any material , visits, calls from the local Liberal candidate.

NDP robocalled me once, sent one pamphlet in the mail.

PC -  I have received 3 mail pamphlets,  2 phone calls,  2 at home visits  (one with the Candidate!) ......

It doesn't even seem like the other groups are even trying?

Fortunately for my MLA I missed it when he came to the house. PC's called every friggen day until we finally answered. 

Got the usual sleazy robocall from the NDP. Were they calling everyone or targeting ridings they think they can still win?

i really really want that jerk geaudreu out of St Norbert 

[iso_55]

1 hour ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Have to agree with you here ISO.  My wife had to spend 4 nights in our hospital here in Kelowna and she was probably the youngest on the entire floor by about 30 years.  All the rooms and beds were full of elderly folk who should have been in nursing homes but instead were long-term sitting in a hospital instead.  The woman in the same room as my wife had dementia and would essentially shriek most of the time, making it almost impossible to sleep.  I got her out of there after 4 nights even though the doctors wanted her to stay, but it's impossible to recover when you can't sleep. 

How the lunk-head politicians couldn't see this coming I don't know, as the demographics are all there.  Did they think everyone would just stay healthy and mobile and then just fall over dead when their time was up?  Aging is a degenerative process.  Most people aren't going to be able to support themselves and will require care in their last years on earth.  So why aren't we as a society ready for this demand?  Just boggles the mind.

Agree 100%. It is criminal what is happening but for whatever reason our seniors just don't have the facilities needed.

[bustamente]

46 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

Agree 100%. It is criminal what is happening but for whatever reason our seniors just don't have the facilities needed.

And it's only going to get worse as the population ages and lives longer

[The Unknown Poster]

Quick bit of personal information.  My dad has Parkinson's.  He's now in the palliative program which is very good and does everything possible to keep you at home and comfortable.  And because its my dad's wish to be at home, he is.  But he has support around him.  It was also my parent's knowledge and research that made being in the program possible.  I wonder how many know about it.

[Fatty Liver]

4 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Have to agree with you here ISO.  My wife had to spend 4 nights in our hospital here in Kelowna and she was probably the youngest on the entire floor by about 30 years.  All the rooms and beds were full of elderly folk who should have been in nursing homes but instead were long-term sitting in a hospital instead.  The woman in the same room as my wife had dementia and would essentially shriek most of the time, making it almost impossible to sleep.  I got her out of there after 4 nights even though the doctors wanted her to stay, but it's impossible to recover when you can't sleep. 

How the lunk-head politicians couldn't see this coming I don't know, as the demographics are all there.  Did they think everyone would just stay healthy and mobile and then just fall over dead when their time was up?  Aging is a degenerative process.  Most people aren't going to be able to support themselves and will require care in their last years on earth.  So why aren't we as a society ready for this demand?  Just boggles the mind.

You should have done a survey, good chance 75% of them moved to BC as retirees.  I can believe exporting old people to BC was part of Alberta's solution to providing long term patient care services.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Throw Long Bannatyne

[bigg jay]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Quick bit of personal information.  My dad has Parkinson's.  He's now in the palliative program which is very good and does everything possible to keep you at home and comfortable.  And because its my dad's wish to be at home, he is.  But he has support around him.  It was also my parent's knowledge and research that made being in the program possible.  I wonder how many know about it.

I worked in the palliative program about 10 years ago and even back then it had a very good reputation (it was considered one of the best in Canada) so it's nice to see that it's still providing that level of care and comfort.

A close friend of mine is dealing with a parent in the early stages of Parkinson's so I've been trying to help steer them towards what help is out there for them.  It can be a tough system to navigate, even for people who know it, so I'm sure a lot of people miss out on some much needed resources.