I bet the Harpercrits have one of these

Today is the first day of the election in the UK and will also be the place of new toys for political junkies. New polls based on real time, instant punditry and one of these - a swingometer - a tool that analyses election results based on swings in public opinion. Play with it for a couple of minutes and you will be hooked. The BurdReport wonders just which website in Canada will have one for us in the next few days.

How do we represent ourselves?

With some difficulty! In this story it is related that the Federal government intends to expand the House of Commons by another 30 MPs - that's just what we need another bunch of trained seals. Eighteen more MPs for Ontario, not all in Tory territory, may yet be another ploy for the Harpercrits to get nearer to the majority they lust for. But think about it just how much common sense is in this. The reason for it is to rebalance large ridings and make smaller ridings more representative. But why do we not establish rules that will allow larger ridings and keep the same number of MPs?

On another front we have municipal councils that, in my mind are too small. Seven councillors to run Northumberland is ridiculous, where is the reasoned debate pondering such weighty County questions? There is none. A small coterie of busy councillors is shortchanging the voters. Too often we have items on the agendas being passed over because of the lack of attention and the desire to placate staff positions, after all if the council directs reports to the staff they cannot then just dismiss the report when it comes back.

So the sad situation is this: we have too many MPs in Ottawa and not enough councillors in Northumberland, each situation producing a frustrated voter base and a contented bureaucracy.

And just when thought all the fun had gone out of politics

In rides a man guaranteed to stir things up in Cramahe Township. In this story it is reported that former Mayor Lee Dekeyser has filed papers to run against Marc Coombs for the Mayor's job. Coombs defeated Dekeyser last time around after some pretty stinky backroom dealings with a majority on Council that made the then Mayor Dekeyser look bad. Perhaps this time because Dekeyser is running from the oustside and public sentiment is against incumbents he will prevail. One thing to bet on this fight will be in the muck at some time during the next six months.

One for the lawyers

I am perplexed, Never being able to sort out weighty problems without help I am throwing this one open.
In a recent trial of two youths accused of murderering a schoolboy the key witnesses recant, on the stand, their previous and critical to the crown, evidence. This caused doubts about the evidence and the jury could not agree on a verdict. The judge declared a mistrial and the youths went back to gaol. But here is my point - why is there going to be another trial and if the evidence still fails to hold up in court, will there be another trial.
So the question is, how many times can one be tried for the same offence?

Sunshine List Fascinating Reading

My eyes are bugged out from scrolling through the Province's annual Sunshine List of public sector employees who earn more than $100,000. Of interest locally is the Northumberland Hills Hospital, whose CEO is already in the daily paper assuring us again just how lean a machine their management team has become.

I guess when you took home $230,969 last year, the value of money takes on a different perspective from the rest of us, given the median wage in our area was only about $27,000 and change. According to the Sunshine List, when you leave out the one registered nurse who worked a lot of overtime, the management team pocketed about $950,000 between the seven of them, not including taxable benefits. How many others linger just below the cut-off is unknown, there could be a few, there could be many more amongst the 38 administrative positions the union counted. Reading newspaper archives I learned that management costs, as a percentage of the paid workforce, has risen from 4.4% two years ago to 6% now. Tell me how that represents cuts to management as claimed by the CEO recently, because I don't understand.

Having decided to check out the List for the Central East LHIN, I found just 4 names at the top of the heap, earning $710,508 between them. Who knows how many lower paid employees there are, hanging around looking for hospital services to eliminate in our region? If their pay scale is anything like the senior staff, the costs must be enough to run a few diabetes clinics.

How about the Community Care Access Centres, those co-ordinating, home care service providing people? You know, the ones who have to come up with the long term care beds the hospital wants to eliminate. Well, our Central East region employs a total of 30 of them who made the Sunshine List, and together they earn a whopping $3,432.882! Again, the lower tier employees aren't listed here, and who knows how much they take home for their efforts.

Finally, we have the Haliburton Kawartha Great Pine Ridge District Health Unit, who also provide health care services and programs in our neck of the woods. The Medical Officer of Health takes home $212,418, followed by the Director of Oral Care at $157,851. The Director of Communicable Disease Control and her Assistant together made $223,563, leaving four others on the Sunshine List at about $105,000 each for a grand total of just over a million dollars.

That is one giant pile of taxpayer money going to top executives; money that isn't spent on actually providing health care directly. If our region is indicative of the rest of Ontario, and I suspect our high end wages are lower here, it's no wonder health care costs have gotten out of hand. If doctor's wages were included, I might just have a heart attack, although at least a doctor can treat me for it, unlike the coffee slurping, kiwi eating folks at the top.

I can hardly wait to see the numbers for the County, Children's Aid, and school boards. That will truly be the icing on the cake.

I don't care why but I'm glad

That Mr Rinaldi has changed his mind. Whatever Lou was drinking yesterday morning worked he has now allowed himself to talk to his constituents.
After all isn't that what MPPs have to do - meet with all kinds of objectionable people because they are constituents. I once had a relative (nice man that disappeared when the first wife was gone) who often said that if you received a gift that you didn't like, thank the giver profusely and then toss it after they have gone. Much like the MPP meeting people they don't like - receive them graciously, speak to them nicely and then thank your lucky stars that they have left the building.
I just hope that when he talks to the representatives of the opponents of the hospital cuts that he realises the gravity of the situation and that they represent a lot more people than he can imagine, all of them willing not to vote for him again, if he disses them.
In the meantime "it may not be the end of the world" for him but it is for those who cannot afford the ride to out of town rehab centres, if they can find one open after the round of cutbacks. What he should be concentrating on is to get OHIP funding to stay with rehab services.
As a footnote Mr Rinaldi, says in an interview, "I don't care what Ben Burd thinks" that's good I don't expect him to but I care what Mr Rinaldi thinks and when he thinks "It is not the end of the world" that services are being cut I care very much as it displays a great ignorance of the impact on his constituents lives, and that should be important to him, but obviously isn't. Shades of Marie Antoinette.

What is the role of an MP, MPP?

Why to represent the people of course. But who are the people that the MP, MPP should represent? Why all of the people in the riding, silly! But if that's the case why do we allow our representatives to pick and choose who they meet with?
In this story here Lou Rinaldi, the MPP for this riding, explains that he will not meet with members of a citizens group, formed to protest the recent hospital cuts, because they are associated with an organisation called the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC).

Well the question now is just who gets access to the MPP? Is it a bunch of moneyed backroom elitists or is going to be normal hardworking citizens who, in the main, have never heard of the OHC. Because if that is the case then Mr Rinaldi should publish a list of his "banned" groups, so those who fall into the category won't waste their time in asking for an audience with the esteemed MPP.

Of course this tactic of demonizing citizens has been going on for a long time and this particular MPP, as well as the MP have long histories of deciding who wears the black hats. Nothing wrong with that but if these black hatted people ever get into the MPP's office don't blame them if the place gets trashed. Just remember it wasn't until Jim Flaherty's sofa got tossed onto the pavement that the group doing the tossing had its concern's addressed.

A new think on it, but an old idea!

With the closing of the "Thinkers' Conference" in Montreal yesterday we should all be thinking anew. How about this for an old idea, but we should look at it again. In 2008 (source cbc) Kevin Page estimated that the additional cost of the military in Afghanistan could cost 18 Billion dollars in 2011. Well we are nearly there (2011) and due to the non-transparency of the Harperites we still don't know the real cost of the war, and we should.
But whatever the cost we should stop it. Follow Bob Fowler's observations and stop our war. Put the money back into transfer payments to the Provinces for heath-care.

We can have a "peace dividend" - let's collect it!

A Guest Post - short and to the point

Martin Partridge

How's this for an idea? Let's immediately stop building the ridiculous ice rinks on D'Arcy Street and direct as much of the thirty-frickin-million dollars as possible to the real needs of our citizenry, in particular the hospital's capital and operating shortfalls. I think we're crazy to be throwing money away on frills as we enter the tightest fiscal period in almost a century.

Get it right Lou

In this quote Lou Rinaldi exposes his ignorance of the situation at the local hospital, "Northumberland-Quinte West M-P-P Lou Rinaldi says he's saddened by the emotional debate over the future of hospital services ."
It is no emotional debate Loo, it is a dispute about private billing, the outsourcing of services and the inability to provide OHIP funded services to local people. As the former Medical Officer of Heath, for Northumberland said recently, "Health Care is available but not accessible!"
If the nearest OHIP funded rehab clinic is in Oshawa, who will be going, on their dime, there? Will ambulances be ferrying stroke victims to rehab?
But even more importantly due to the lack of detailed financial statements the public does not know just how costly the Rehab Clinic is. OHIP funds in one side and hospital expenses on the other. What expenses get assigned to the Clinic, are the costs fair and properly apportioned? How much is the shortfall, if the Clinic was not paying its way with OHIP revenue and why cannot the subsidy, if there was one, be continued?
All we know is that people who need rehab will not be getting it and how much more of a burden will that be to the health system at large?

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