Bad Idea: Health transfer Cuts
The federal government’s decision to cut federal funding, by lowering the annual increase of the Canada Health Transfer to provinces and territories from six per cent to three per cent has not earned the praise of provincial leaders. Health ministers in B.C., Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been rightfully disappointed with the decision.
There is never, and probably never has been, a time in which it’s ever been advisable to make cuts to health care in any way. Caring for the sick and injured is not cheap, and that’s just a reality of health care.
The federal Health Minister Jane Philpott also managed to rub salt in the metaphorical wound, suggesting in talks with provincial and territorial ministers of health, that there needs to be more accountability with health-care funding, and more efficient delivery of health-care services on the part of provincial and territorial governments.
Her words are not helpful things to be saying to a province like ours, one that is already working pretty hard to manage health-care costs, shedding jobs like those lost in the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region last month. Our province contends with a constant need for doctors in smaller communities, and an HIV rate that is 11 times the national rate. Our health regions are already tasked with difficult decisions on how to balance budgets and utilize what resources they have to work with to provide health care that meets all that the needs in those regions. Having funds cut and being told “do better” is more than a little exasperating.
Good Idea: Pub Night
Nothing builds camaraderie and allows people to bond like a few drinks, some appetizers and some trivia. I have a litany of fond memories of my university days, hanging out with friends and classmates at the local pub in my hometown, engrossing ourselves in the classic game of team trivia.
When I had the privilege of covering the Chamber of Commerce’s pub night event last week, I was grateful to be able to relive some of that sense of fellowship from university, hanging around for a few rounds of trivia, with a handful of Estevan’s businesspeople and dignitaries.
Luncheon events definitely have their use in building connections and spreading information, but there was something downright jovial about the pub night that I don’t think can be achieved through a more formal event. There are all sorts of great opportunities when you get people to sit down and chat over a pint. A kudos is due to the people with the chamber and the library who got that event up and running—it was a blast.
Good Idea: Early shots for HPV
The Canadian Cancer society has recommended parents get their children vaccinated against human papilloma virus (HPV), referencing numbers that indicate a sharp rise in cancers caused by the virus in Canada. The recommendation says that both boys and girls should be getting vaccinated for the virus—one that doesn’t discriminate against any particular gender, and is a threat to both males and females.
This is a genuinely awesome advancement from 2006, when the first publicly funded HPV vaccine became available, but only for girls. However, some provinces and territories need to catch up, with only six provinces offering the publicly funded vaccine to boys today.
With the rate of mouth and throat cancers jumping up by 56 per cent in Canadian men between 1992 and 2012, and 17 per cent for women during the same interval, and 4,400 Canadians expected to be diagnosed with a form of cancer caused by HPV this year alone, that recommendation is spot-on. What makes this a particularly good turn of events is that the majority of cancers caused by HPV are unique in that they can be prevented with vaccine.
Bad Idea: Information shutdown
Of all the worst times to clamp down on Internet access, the Ethiopian government has restricted access to Internet in many regions, including its capital city, with a few exceptions being made for fixed Internet lines for businesses. This shutdown is part of a response to the state of emergency declared, as ethnic groups in the Oromia and Amhara regions of the country clash with the government over social and political marginalization.
Not only is this inconvenient, it will damage the economy, as Internet shutdowns cost countries millions of dollars. Critics of this move very rightly pointed out that crippling people’s ability to exchange information won’t help the government reconcile its problems. It will only increase the civil discontent already happening.
